Like Warm Sun on Nekkid Bottoms - Charles Austen [111]
I smiled thanks and moved off. Then I stopped short and slowly turned back to her.
“Left by aliens?”
“That’s the story!” Bounce! “Some guy wrote a book about it once. Scientists dispute his ideas, of course, but they don’t live here!” Ba-bounce! “Personally, I believe it.”
And I have no doubt that she did.
Outside in the valet area I went up to the concierge—a cheerful, rosy-cheeked, naked man wearing golf shoes and a colorful beanie— and asked about bike rentals. He had two-wheelers, three-wheelers, and several types of pedal-carts. I noticed his member, and was pleased to see that not everyone around here was hung like a rogue elephant during mating season.
“Like to take a little ride?” he asked cheerfully.
“I think I would,” I responded with equal brightness. “Down to the Little Giant Head.”
“Oh, of course. That’s quite the tourist attraction around here. But keep in mind that to get there, you have to go through a part of town that’s primarily for the locals, and they prefer that visitors stay away. It’s the one place where we natives can avoid being ogled by the clothey types,” he said, and glanced meaningfully at Morgan, who was drooling over a lovely young brunette in sunglasses and tennis shoes with low-slung breasts who was naked to her deeply tanned and flawless skin, waiting near her car for a valet.
“I understand,” I said, signing off on the receipt with a substantial tip. “I understand completely.” Of course, that didn’t mean I wasn’t going anyway.
“Thank you, sir,” he said, eyeing the tip with surprised eyes. “Thank you very much.”
“My pleasure,” I said, mounting up.
Morgan climbed onto his bike but wouldn’t stop looking at the brunette long enough to pay attention to what he was doing and fell over the concierge’s collection of vehicles. As my clueless friend flopped around like a dying fish desperately trying to return to the sea, he knocked over every rental vehicle in the man’s arsenal as if they were dominoes set up for just that purpose.
I put my kickstand down, walked over to the concierge, gently took the receipt, and doubled the tip.
“Thank YOU, sir,” he said to me.
Then—as Morgan and I finally pedaled away toward the beach— he told someone else to pick up the bikes.
Along the way, we kept passing naked people. I suppose you’d think one might get used to it eventually, but not really. Morgan had several near fatal accidents by continually turning to look behind him at the fronts, or behinds, of various attractive women we passed.
“Is it just me,” he asked, “or are there a lot more people here now?”
I had noticed it, too. When we’d arrived, the town seemed deserted. Now it was beginning to overflow with people—and contrary to what the concierge had seemed to imply—Morgan and I were the only two even remotely clothed. There weren’t too many ‘gawkers’ other than us. Everyone else was very naked, and comfortably so. One or two wore partial clothing—belts, knapsacks, bikini bottoms, or small shorts. But no one was as completely clothed as we were—even without my shoes and shirt.
“Getting toward the end of the workday,” I said. “They must all be arriving for the Summertime Soiree.”
I noticed more banners and festive displays—several with the dancing, burning, cartoon Pilgrim, and I wondered absently what that signified.
“Yeah. I guess so,” Morgan said, staring at everything but the road ahead. “It’s just so weird. We’re a couple hours out of the city, and I’ve never even heard of this place.”
“Yeah, me neither,” I agreed.
“It should be legendary.”
True. Jokes about it should be rampant, Fire Island-like.
“Where’s this beach you wanted to see?” he asked.
“Down that cobblestone path. We just keep heading to the right.”
“Why do you want to go to this particular beach?”
I considered telling him, then decided against it. It’s not that I didn’t trust Morgan, it’s just that I…
No. It’s that I didn’t trust him.
“I overheard a hot girl in the restaurant say she was heading down that way to meet some of her friends.”
“Aaah. Good plan then,” Morgan said, getting visibly