{Note: Please read Broke Oak: Cousin Sarah Chapters 1 and 2 first for this to make the most sense. These stories are from my experiences and I have changed names and obscured some descriptions, but what you read is real.}
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My cousin Sarah called out of the blue. She wanted to come and visit during one of her mom's trips abroad. School was out (like her mom before her retirement, she teaches high school); her recent divorce was final and the dust settling; and, we had not seen each other in about 10 years.
Sarah had arrived and she and I had crossed that first hurdle of being nude in front of each other. In our younger days, we had been as close as siblings, but it had been years now since we had seen each other, and suddenly here we were, both over sixty, and we were nude with each other and walking around Broke Oak introducing her to friends and showing her the pool, showers, hot tub, social hall, etc.
After a couple more days, Sara's visit was near the half-way mark and she was totally comfortable. In fact, it got so normal that I went golfing one morning with Hank and a couple of the other guys, leaving Sarah on her own -- and all without any sense of fear for Sarah feeling awkward or abandoned.
After golfing, I came back to an anything-but-normal day. When we got out of Hank's Suburban next to the clubhouse, Sarah appeared worried, not frantic, but very concerned. I knew immediately that she needed to talk. So I grabbed my clubs and, with a totally naked cousin Sarah, headed back to my lot.
When we got inside, I looked at Sarah with an open and concerned feeling. Sarah spoke with a stumble to her speech. "Gus, Linda - I mean Mom, she's had me call her by her first name for thirty years now -- had problems with her trip."
Quickly, I interjected "Is she OK, has there been an accident, did she get sick?"
"No, no, nothing like that. Her plans were to fly to Miami, catch a cruise ship and take it to Aruba, then she was going to be two weeks at a resort, catch another cruise ship back to Miami and fly home."
"Yes," I responded, "what happened?"
"Well, she got to Aruba and the resort cancelled her stay, the ship was over booked, and so she had to fly out today -- at their expense and first class, of course." Sarah rolled her eyes at that last part.
"Well, why did they cancel her resort reservation? That doesn't sound like a good business decision. Do you have to go back to Phoenix to meet her? Wow! This is a real change of plans, heh?"
"Well, the cancelled her reservation because she is single and the resort just sold to new owners that laid down a strict couples-only rule. They are going to cater to only swingers and the company her reservation was with doesn't have any international liability for cancelations -- it is a damn mess!" Sarah paused, looking at me, so I waited for her to go on. "And I don't have to go to Phoenix, because . . . because, she decided to fly here. She didn't want to disrupt our visit by making me go back home early. Gus, what are we going to do, she's coming here -- she lands in about 4 hours!"
"Shit! Well, she's my favorite aunt, so I will love to see her. But what to do about the nudism -- I'm stumped. Maybe we pick her up at the airport and stop for a bite to eat. We simply level with her. We are in our fifties and sixties and she is about eighty, she can maybe handle it. If she says she is not comfortable, we can agree to stay around the house clothed or go on a textile trip around Texas here. What do you think?"
The relief on Sarah's countenance was palpable. "Oh, Gus, you'd do that? You're not angry? I just love you so much!" she said, as she hugged me in a squeeze that almost hurt.
We straightened up the house, got dressed and headed to do some shopping, and still make the airport a good hour away.
Aunt Linda's flight from Houston was actually almost ten minutes early and it truly was good to see her. We hugged, grabbed her luggage and trekked out to the car.
McCaulley's has some of the best lunches around, so we stopped and had an early supper. We got a booth with privacy and chatted as we waited for our meals.
"So, Aunt Linda, in all your travels, is this the first time you've had a resort cancel your reservation?" I asked.
"Well, yes, at least this close to arrival. The biggest pain in the ass about it was that this was my first trip to Aruba and I really wanted to enjoy it. And the same thing I told Sarah years ago, my name is Linda so quit with the 'Aunt' stuff." She smiled warmly to assure me that she meant to be Linda, not Aunt Linda.
We had agreed that I would 'break the news' to her, so I responded "Okay Linda, okay. We need to tell you something though and we want you to be absolutely assured that you can be open and honest with us about your wishes. The truth is that I live year-round in a nudist resort. I don't have anywhere else to take you. You are absolutely welcome at home, of course, but we want to assure you that we will wear clothes and we can hang around the house -- or, if you would be more comfortable, tomorrow we can head over to the gulf coast or up into the Hill Country and have a vacation within a vacation."
Sarah was worried, embarrassed, and holding her breath. I was a little anxious, but mostly for Sarah's comfort. And I did feel a bit of a heel for putting Linda on the spot, but this conversation had to happen.
Linda looked at me, paused and, quiet as a church mouse, looked at her daughter. I no longer felt like a bit of a heel, now I felt like a complete heel. Linda never said a thing for quite a while, until at last she ventured, "So you mean that your home is inside a nude resort and typically you don't wear clothes and the people outside don't either? And you, Sarah, have been running around naked with Gus and the others that live there?" And her eyes zeroed in directly on Sarah.
Sarah gulped and eased out the words "Yes that is right. I had never been a prude, but had not lived this way before." And with a tone of, not defiance, but resolution she added "And, Linda, it is nothing like folks imagine, it really is a wonderful way of living."
The ball was definitely in Linda's court at this time.
When the waitress brought our food it seemed to both exaggerate and end the silence. The next exchanged were about passing salt, requesting drink refills, and commenting on first bites.
Thankfully, Linda then eased the tension with "Look, let's just go home, unpack, and relax and see how things work out?"
Partly from hunger, but mostly from relief, Sarah and I both assented and we had a great lunch while catching up on the part of Linda's trip that was successful before Aruba.
I paid the tab; we loaded ourselves into the car and set off on the way home. The ride was somewhat quiet. Sarah sat in the back seat and Linda sat up front with me, just as we had when we left the airport. Because I was occupied with driving and also because of the seating, neither Sarah nor I could really see Linda well enough to detect her demeanor. I just assumed that she was doing OK.
Let me take a moment to describe folks here. All the folks on my Mom's side of the family (which obviously includes her sister Linda) are a relatively healthy group. They tend to be tall and slender and most of them seem to live long, healthy lives. Linda was nearing or at eighty and looked and appeared younger because of her tall and erect stature, evident vitality, and generally cheerful countenance. She stood almost five foot, ten inches and I imagine she weighed under one seventy-five. Her hips were those of a child bearing woman and her breasts appeared small. While her face had wrinkles, they were wrinkles of smiles and activity. The women in the family were naturally quite attractive. I could easily see Sarah's looks inherited mostly from Linda.
When we got to the gate, I entered the gate code and stated the obvious "Well, we're here" as I drove in.
With the nervousness of the unknown, Sarah and I were not surprised that at least eight of our friends were out and walking about in the nude, waving at us as we drove to my home. Linda simply looked this way and that as we navigated the one and a half block trip.
Fortunately, we exited the car and got into the house with further nude encounters. After getting the ladies inside, Sarah showed Linda to the bedroom while I went out and retrieved Linda's luggage.
I showed Linda some empty dresser drawers she could unpack to and she shooed us nto the front room so she could unpack. In the front room, I told Sarah I would make out the hide-a-bed at nights and she and her mom could have the bedroom. I grieved the loss of intimacy Sarah and I had developed, because since we had been sharing a bed we had been mutually masturbating together for a few nights at this point and that would clearly end.
We puttered around the kitchen for a few minutes putting some iced tea and glasses out so we could have 'the talk' that we knew was coming. Both of were silently convinced that the new-found openness to our cousin-relationship had come to a screeching halt. In the meantime, we heard drawer openings and closings, and hustle and bustle out of the bedroom.
About five minutes after the last sound we heard, we had looked at each other and were almost to the point of starting to worry. But just before either of us moved, we looked up just as a very naked Linda walked in from the hallway carrying a towel.
"So when are you two going to get nude with me?" Linda asked.