Submitted at the eleventh hour, but I've had an entry in the Nude Day contest every year since at least 2003, and I didn't want to miss this year!
* * * * *
"Mom?"
I looked across at my daughter. Sally was holding the local paper. Rarely carrying anything exciting, so why the look on Sally's face?
"Yes, dear? What is it?"
"You know I have Jenny and Michelle coming round on Sunday for a pool party, and Kenny, Bill and Hector are coming, too?"
"Yes, dear. I know that. If nothing else, by the size of the snacks bill you saddled me with. So what has you so excited?"
"Do you know what day it is on Sunday?"
"You mean, apart from it being Sunday?" Sally nodded. "Well, it's July 14, and if I remember my European history, that's Bastille Day in France. Is that it?"
"No, Mom, something else."
I shook my head. "Nothing else comes to mind, so what? Tell me."
Sally held out the paper. " Right-hand side, Mom, about halfway down the page."
I took the paper, curious, and glanced at the page. A shock went through me as I read the headline.
'July 14. National Nude Day. Free admission to the nude beach at Hay Cove. One day only.'
I looked across at my daughter, wondering, but I had a pretty good idea of what was coming. "So it's National Nude Day. So what? Or do you plan to make your pool party skinny-dip?"
Sally nodded eagerly. "Please, Mom? Please?"
I gazed at Sally, wondering. Home from college, about to start her final year, slender, attractive, and definitely not a virgin, for Sally had confided in me when she'd lost her cherry, saying it was only right that her best friend knew. I smiled at that thought. It was true. We were good friends, as well as mother and daughter, and I'd been able to offer my daughter advice as well as counsel, albeit with a few blushes on both parts.
"Will the others go along with it?"
"I think so, Mom, but I'll phone them later and check. I'm almost certain the girls will go for it, and if you give me the go-ahead, we'll make the whole house a nude zone for the day, and then the guys will have to put up or shut up!"
"And what about me? Do I hide in my room all day?" Maybe my other best friend Tess would like a shopping trip, and a meal in town.
Sally shook her head, a vivid smile on her face. "No, Mom, you take your clothes off and join us!"
A shock went through me. "Whoa, girl. You want me to be naked as well? Why?"
"One, because you're my best friend, and I don't want you hiding yourself away all day, and two, because your figure is easily as good as either Jenny's or Michelle's. Or mine, come to that. Come on, Mom, admit it, you know you look good!" Sally grinned. "And, three, because I might need someone to hold my hand."
I gazed at her. No, I tell a lie, I stared. "Okay, so I've kept my figure. What is it you're not telling me?"
Sally took a deep breath, and gave me a wry smile. "Mom, I've seen your centerfold." Oh, shit! "Not only that, but I often see you naked at home, when we use the pool and I have to say, Mom, you still look just as good now as you did then." Sally sobered. "Please, Mom? Please?"
"I'll think about it," I said, and paused. "Where did you see my centerfold? You haven't been prying among my private papers, I hope?"
"No, Mom, I wouldn't do that, you know I wouldn't."
I nodded, knowing it was true. "So where, then?"
"Kenny's dad has a load of old back issues and I think he sussed it out. He told Kenny, Kenny told me. Yes, and showed me, too."
"And no doubt the rest of the guys at college I suppose."
No, Mom, I asked him not to say anything and as far as I know he never has. Anyway, it's nothing to be ashamed of, is it?"
I shook my head, a rueful smile on my face. "I've never been ashamed about it, sweetheart. Embarrassed a few times, yes, but never ashamed. Your grandma and grandpa knew I was going to do it, and never told me not to." I laughed. "And the fee I earned came in very useful for college fees. It meant your grandma and grandpa could have the holiday they needed."
I paused for a moment, thinking, but I knew I was going to agree. After all, the pool, the whole back yard, in fact, was surrounded by a privacy fence and part of my fitness regime was twice-daily swims, usually nude. I turned back to Sally, nodding.
"Okay, young lady, your aging parent will also do without her clothes, although I get the feeling I'm being railroaded."
"That's rubbish, Mom, you know we always skinny-dip when we're private."
"True, but then there isn't a male around this house since your no-good father went off with his bimbo secretary."
"Do you miss him?"
"Only at night. For all his faults, your father was -- is -- a good lover." Damned good, but he strayed too easily, despite my best efforts, and it had to end.
"Well, that was candid!" Sally cocked her head. "Mom? When I said I'd seen your centerfold, you mentioned your private papers. Do you still have the picture?"
I laughed, nodding. "Yes, I do, along with several more that never made it into the magazine."
"Can I see them, Mom? Please?"
I sighed, but if she'd already seen the centerfold, she must have seen the other photos in the magazine. "Okay. After dinner, remind me, but for now, talking of dinner, I'd better start thinking about food, not eye-candy."
Sally laughed. "And I'll go phone the others, tell them about the skinny-dipping." She paused. "Mom? Can I mention that you'll be naked as well?"
I shrugged and gave my daughter a rueful smile. "Why not? Then I can't back out!"
Dinner was our usual cheerful time. We were comfortable in each other's presence and chatted on any topic that came to mind, but we were both conscious of what was to follow the meal, and I wasn't surprised when Sally raised the subject of her mother's centerfold appearance.
"Mom? Remember you said that grandma and gramps didn't object to you modeling nude?"
"Yes, I remember. It's true. The only condition they made was that I didn't do anything pornographic." I laughed. "Can I tell you something in confidence, and you'll promise never to say anything to anybody?"
Sally nodded. "You have my word."
"Well, it turns out that I wasn't the first woman in the family to model nude. Your grandmother did, too, only in her case it was for a painting, when she was twenty."
"Would I know it was her in the painting, if I saw it?" said Sally.
"You might, but the artist changed the color of her hair. And that's all I'll say on the subject."
"Okay, Mom, and thank you. Now, we've finished eating, so I'll make the coffee and clear away the dishes, while you get those pictures. Deal?"
"Deal!"
The photographs were in a polythene-wrapped folder tucked away at the back of my closet. I unwrapped the folder and quickly riffled through the photos, but they were exactly as I remembered them, and I smiled in recollection. Yes, I'd enjoyed the session -- it had made me feel good about myself. Still smiling, I took the folder and went back to the sitting room where Sally was waiting with two coffees. Sally held out her hand, but I kept the folder out of reach.