This story is the fifth in a series. The stories are told roughly in sequence and each story assumes knowledge of the prior stories. Therefore, I recommend reading my stories "Kelli," "Kelli CH 02," "Kelli CH 03," and "Kelli CH 04" before reading this story.
This story is a work of fiction. Perhaps the story's most fictional aspect is that it depicts a world untouched by the corona virus. There is, in my view, more than enough discussion of the virus and pandemic elsewhere. My intent here is to offer an escape. Hopefully, this story will continue to provide enjoyment when the virus is just a bad memory. In the meantime, I ask that my readers stay safe.
Real institutions are mentioned in this story, but they are used fictitiously. Insofar as the author knows, no real person affiliated with any of those institutions has ever behaved like the characters in this story. Any similarities between any character in this story and any real person are coincidental and unintended. Comments on this story, both favorable and unfavorable, are always welcome. Thank you for reading.
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I have been telling the story of my introduction to and relationship with the incomparable Kelli Stouffer in the chronological sequence in which it happened. However, I am departing from that approach in this chapter. Kelli wants me to tell the story of our trip to southern Germany to visit to my sister Lisa and her lover Kurt Kleist.
Even before our wedding, Kelli had been encouraging me to leave the large, old-line law I worked for. She thought that she and I should start our own "nude friendly" law firm. I had resisted because I was afraid that we would not make any money. After the wedding, other people like Karla, Judy and Tom Abbott, and Kelli's parents also began pushing the idea. Judy and Tom's upscale gourmet restaurant was in a building they owned in a suburb on the northeast side of the city. They offered us the second floor of their building as office space, rent-free if we handled their routine legal work without charge. Judy and Tom also promised to encourage people they knew to use us. Jeff and Kathleen Stouffer promised to steer some of their medical groups' work to us, although that would mean a lot of trips to Columbus. I was finally persuaded that we could, at least, survive financially. Lampe & Lampe Co., L.P.A. opened its doors on December 1 that year.
We did survive, just. We did not truly get on a path to success until we got the Pine Hills case the following spring. Pine Hills is an interesting story that I may tell sometime. The consequences for us were an ongoing client, two new friends, and something to substantiate our claim to be the State's leading nudist lawyers.
At our wedding, my sister's boyfriend, Kurt Kleist, had said he was going to bring Kelli and me to Munich the following summer at his expense. I didn't like the idea of someone we barely knew paying for our vacation. I had hoped Kurt was just talking and would forget his offer. He did not. Shortly after the New Year, Kurt was calling and e-mailing to arrange our trip in the summer. With Kelli's support, I pushed back. I got a call from Lisa, my sister and Kurt's girlfriend, in February.
Lisa made a point of explaining to me that Kurt owned a "private bank" based in Munich and he was wealthy. "Even if he spent $ 100,000 on you," Lisa said, "that's pocket change for Kurt, and, it won't cost anywhere near that much. More important, your stubbornness impacts me. First, I'm in love with Kurt and my brother and sister-in-law refusing his generosity is insulting to him. Second, Kurt and I are working on something that should guarantee my financial future. It's all up to Kurt. The absolute last thing I need right now is any antagonism between Kurt and anyone associated with me. PLEASE Will? Just forget about your touchy pride. For me? Please?"
I was still not persuaded. However, Lisa is a smart person and recognized my point of vulnerability. She began working on Kelli. Kelli and I boarded a flight to Atlanta on the afternoon of the last Sunday in July. We would change in Atlanta to an overnight flight to Munich. We would fly back on the second Sunday in August. Karla, who had taken over as our office manager/bookkeeper/general assistant would mind the practice in our absence and could reach us by phone in Germany.
My resentment at having the trip forced on me evaporated as I realized how excited Kelli was about the trip. She had been to Europe once before. The summer after her senior year of college, her family had gone to Paris and then visited some of her father's distant relatives in the south of France. I had been to Germany before. The summer between my junior and senior years of college, I had wrestled in a tournament in Frankfurt. That was the only international tournament I ever competed in. I did better than expected, finishing fifth in my weight class in freestyle. However, I had just gone over there, wrestled, and come home. I didn't see much of anything except the hotel, the arena, and the subway to and from the airport.
The plan was that Kelli and I would fly into Munich and play tourist for a couple of days. Then, Lisa and Kurt were taking us to a lodge in the mountains southeast of Munich. We were going to stay there eight days. Lisa had been there before and assured us that we would (a) love the lodge and (b) had no risk of getting bored. Kurt's advice was "we'll be doing a lot of swimming and hiking. Please do not bring swimsuits. All you need are hiking boots and socks. Nudity is permitted everywhere in and around the lodge and is mandatory in places. Guests do, uh, dress up you may call it, for dinner. Lisa and I will take care of that for you."
Consequently, Kelli and I had only one checked bag between us when we arrived at Munich Flughafen extremely early, local time, on Monday morning. Despite the hour, Kurt was waiting for us when we cleared customs and immigration. "Lisa's clearing her desk at her office," Kurt explained as he drove us into the city center, "so she has tomorrow to show you the city. Wednesday we go into the mountains." Kurt dropped us at what I later learned was about the most expensive hotel in town. "Meet us at Chinese Tower at lunch," he said before he drove off to his office.
Upon checking in, Kelli and I were told "everything has already been taken care of." I was not even asked for a credit card for "incidental expenses." The young man behind the desk explained that the Tower was a wooden structure in the Englischer Garten park around which there was an outdoor beer garden. We could take the S-Bahn U-Bahn from the stop just outside the hotel, get off two stops to the east, and walk through the park or, since the weather was going to be lovely, just walk the few blocks from the hotel.
Kelli and I walked, which took us through the part of the park where nude sunning was permitted. Subject to Lisa's and Kurt's plans, Kelli and I decided we would like to spend some nude time in the heart of a major city after lunch. I had just gotten through the line to get beers for Kelli and me when we saw Lisa and Kurt walking towards us holding hands.
We had a good, if somewhat overpriced, lunch. Kurt had to go back to his office after we ate. Lisa laughed and said, "I'm free. You have a choice. I can give you the afternoon tour of central Munich or we can all walk over there, take our clothes off, lie in the sun, and have a few more beers." We opted to take our clothes off. We did not just sun, however. Some other people nude in the park were tossing a frisbee. They invited us to join in. We were running naked all over that part of the park, chasing the damn frisbee, and trying not to step on anyone. When we got too hot, we would take a dip in the icy cold stream that ran next to the nude area. It was a fun afternoon.
About mid-day on Wednesday, we were in the mountains in front of a large building designed in the style of a traditional Bavarian house. After checking in, we followed Kurt to our room on the second floor (designated as the first floor by German counting). Kurt had booked a suite consisting of a central room with a bedroom on each side. What caught your attention as you entered the room was the outside wall. It was clear glass, floor to ceiling, covering the width of the room. We had a panoramic view of the mountains behind the lodge. As we entered, we could clearly see hikers through the window.
After I got past the "wow" effect of the glass exterior wall, I noticed other details. Beyond the wall, I saw a couple of lounge chairs and a railing. I realized it was a small balcony. It took me a moment to realize that the left side of the glass wall included a clear glass door. Inside, in the center of the room almost against the wall/window was a Jacuzzi. To the right of it was a shower enclosure that had two clear glass walls enclosing it from the rest of the room. The exterior wall was the third wall of the shower enclosure. Only the side on the wall between that room and a bedroom was opaque. More towards the hall door, there was a large screen TV on one wall with some easy chairs facing it. Across the room from that was a kitchenette. I noticed six bottles of wine in a rack on the counter next to the sink.
"This isn't like your American hotels," Kurt said. "There is no 'mini-bar charge' and the wine is replenished daily. Let's get our clothes off and we'll show you around. The slippers in the closet in your room may be worn around the building and out on the grounds." Kurt smiled. "Please don't wear anything else," he added. Kelli and I went into one of the bedrooms, took everything off, put on the slippers, and went back into the front room.