Like Warm Sun on Nekkid Bottoms - Charles Austen [89]
“Then why does Mindie think she’s getting married to you?”
“Long, weird story. But trust me. You’re the one I’m here for.”
“Is it possible?” she asked, profound hope in her voice. “I mean, us? Now that you know?” She glanced around at the restaurant and all the naked people contained therein.
“Corky!” Mindie interrupted. “Why do you keep talking to her?”
I became angry. Surprise, surprise. “Because…”
“We were just discussing whether you would like something to eat while you wait,” Ms. Nuckeby said, diving in to defuse my irritation, gathering menus and becoming Super-Cordial Woman. “Would you?”
Everyone hesitated, clearly hungry but not wanting to dine in the midst of so many nudists. What if they accidentally touched one? And stuck?
“We need to eat,” I pointed out.
And I needed more time with Wisper. I longed for her in a way that surprised me. Oh, Orsino, thou wise and knowing fictional character.
Trust your feelings, Aunt Helena had said, Obi Wan Kenobi-like. Well, Wisper knew I came here for her, yet had dropped me onto an anthill out of jealousy. A gold-digger would have lifted me up and fought Mindie for the money. Here—in spite of herself—Wisper had been as warm and funny to me as she had been in my closet. Perhaps she was genuine. Just a charming, small-town girl who liked being naked. And really, I thought, staring at her breasts, what was wrong with that?
Clearly, my reptilian brain was now in complete control. Maybe I should…
‘Trust your feelings, Luke.’ A ghostly voice called to me from the beyond, startling me. I looked around nervously, a little scared, and saw a naked kid watching Star Wars on a video iPod. I shoved him away from me.
Returning my attentions to Ms. Nuckeby I warmed with hope.
“Isn’t there somewhere else to eat?” Mindie asked. “Where people have the decency to wear clothes?”
“Not in this town,” Ms. Nuckeby shot back, unintimidated, and motioned to the exit. “Feel free to look.”
“We really should eat,” I said, pressing the issue.
“I’d rather starve,” Mindie said.
“Well, I’m eating here,” I said. “I like the help,” I whispered, so no one else could hear. Ms. Nuckeby smiled at me shyly. “Anyone else?” I asked.
Slowly, reluctantly, the others agreed to sit down to a meal and moved around Mindie—the rock, and the hard place. I heard her stomach growl, and she flinched, apparently annoyed that people might know she required food like normal human beings.
“Sure you won’t join us?” the pastor asked, seemingly more comfortable in Mindie’s company than ours. There was no accounting for taste.
“Oh,” Ms. Nuckeby said, “don’t force her if she doesn’t want to.”
“No,” Waboombas said. “Please don’t force her if she doesn’t want to.
“I don’t want to.” Mindie snipped.
There you go.
“Who knows how long it will be before we can get to another restaurant?” the pastor encouraged her, not really helping at all.
Mindie sulked silently for a moment. Then her stomach roared again. The beast demanded to be fed and would not be denied.
“All right,” she said, defeated, and stepped forward. But Ms. Nuckeby would not be so easily trumped. She held up a hand, pointing to the sign.
“I’m sorry,” she said, “nudity—is—required.”
Mindie was momentarily caught off-guard.
“What?” she said, finally. “But…but that’s outrageous! You’re letting them in with clothes.”
“They weren’t rude to me.”
Everyone looked at Mindie. For a moment, she was cowed. It couldn’t last, I knew, my life couldn’t be that easy. But for now, at least momentarily stunned and revolted by the very thought of naked strangers looking at her naked body, she appeared to feel even more exposed in her underwear and buttonless shirt-dress than if she were actually in the all-together. She clamped the shirt fronts so tightly over herself that her breasts rose fully under her chin, making her head look as though it were sticking out of an ass.
Eventually the fear receded, as I knew it must, and her face darkened with a scowl that took