"Is that everything?" I said.
"Think so, Mom," said Matt. "Sunblock and towels for the beach, change of clothes in case we go out for a meal, although we have enough food for the week in the cooler, reading material of choice, phones, and camera. If we've forgotten anything it's only a twenty minute drive to come back for it."
"True. Okay, honey, let's hit the road. Jane and the others will be expecting us."
It was only a two minute drive to where Jane and the twins live, and the three of them were already in Jane's VW. Mom pulled her Honda alongside, Jane signaled 'go' and the five of us headed off to spend a week at the Elm Cove nude beach. Twenty minutes later, we'd arrived. There were a couple of free short-term parking bays outside the admin building and Mom parked her Honda in one, Jane's VW pulling up alongside moments later. We all got out.
Inside the duty desk clerk smiled in welcome.
"Morning, folks. What can I do for you?"
"We have a cabin booked from today until next Wednesday. Booked in the name of Johansen."
A few seconds search and she'd found it.
"Yes, Cabin 3." She reached into a drawer on her desk and took out an envelope, opened it, and took out five cards, similar in style and shape to credit cards. "These cards will open the access gate so you can get your car in, or is it cars?"
"Cars," I replied. "Two of them."
"There are three parking bays at the cabin, so you're okay there. These cards will not only open the access gate, they also work on the cabin door, but only on your own cabin, the cards are coded. Not only that, but as you are all temporary members of the Sun Club for the duration of your stay, the cards will also give you access to any members-only facilities. Now the access gate is only about thirty yards that way," she said, pointing. "It's self-closing, so one of you might need to hold it open until the cars are through. Once you're through, just follow the access road. Yours is the third cabin along. You have your own path to the beach and you're about a hundred yards from the concession. If you have any questions there's someone here until eight this evening. You'll notice a telephone handset on the wall in the hallway of your cabin. Just lift it and wait and someone will answer. Now, go and enjoy yourselves!" And she passed each of us one of the cards.
Outside, I glanced along. Yes, there was the gate. I turned to Matt, to ask him to get the gate but he was already halfway there. Five minutes later, the two cars were parked outside Cabin three. Inside, we looked around. First floor, sitting room, kitchen, dining annex, and a bathroom with shower, toilet and hand-basin. And a bedroom, quickly revealed to be a single, but the bed was generously sized, not quite a double.
"I guess this one is nominally mine," said Natalie, "although I hope to be sharing a bed for at least a couple of nights."
"That's what we want too, sweetheart," said Jane. "Come on, let's check upstairs."
Where, as expected, we found the other two bedrooms, and a bathroom with tub and shower, toilet and washbasin, and next door another toilet. One of the bedrooms had a king-size bed, the other two beds, a double and a single.
"Which one do you want, sweetie?" I asked Jane.
"We'll take the king-size, if you don't mind. Okay with you, honey?" she asked Matt. He grinned, nodding.
"Okay, people, let's get our stuff in from the cars, get sorted and then let's all get naked. I, for one, want to explore!" I said, with a grin.
Half an hour later there were five naked people, all with sunblock applied. Jane and I both had sling bags with our valuables and phones, Natalie also a sling bag, with her phone and valuables, Jane had Matt's phone and I had Tony's, and Matt had his camera, with the 18-70 zoom attached.
"Concession first, for an ice-cream each, my treat," I said, and the others nodded smiling agreement.
The cabin had front and rear doors, and we checked that the cards would open both, then walked the few yards to the beach, looking left and right. To our right, the beach stretched to a headland, which I knew from the brochure we'd been given was the boundary of the sun club territory. To our left, about a hundred yards away, was the concession. Serving area, tables, some with sunshades, chairs, a couple of toilet blocks and an open-air communal shower area.
"Concession first, yes?" said Jane.
"Yep. I promised you all an ice-cream so let's go see what flavors they're offering."
Six different, was the answer and we were soon each supplied with our choice. We found an empty table and sat ourselves down. Settled, I looked around. I expected to see naked people, and that's what I saw. Young, middle-aged, a few elderly, Very few children as it was a school day, a few pre-schoolers. The only common factor, apart from the lack of clothes, was that everyone seemed to be relaxed.
Including us, of course, and I looked around at the others, seeing only contented acceptance on their faces.
"See anyone you know?" said Jane.
I laughed. "You mean, apart from us at this table?"
Jane nodded, laughing. "Yes, apart from us at this table."
"I haven't really been looking, so I have to answer no, I haven't seen anyone I know. Why? Have you?"
"Well, Natalie's friend Lucy is just over there with a couple of other girls. Ah! She's spotted us, she's coming over."
Moments later a slim blonde was hugging Natalie, then turned to the rest of us.
"Hi, folks. Good to see you here. Natalie told me you were coming, renting one of the cabins, yes?"
"That's right," said Jane, "Cabin 3. We're still in the exploring stage, we've only been here about an hour."
"Well, if you have any questions Natalie has my cell number. Enjoy yourselves," and she was away, back to her friends.
"Everyone finished their ice-cream?" I asked, and got affirmatives from everyone. "Then let's explore!"
Which didn't really take long. Apart from the concession area, there were other toilet blocks, a communal shower near the bottom of the path down from the admin block, some tennis courts -- and the thought of being hit by a high speed serve while naked didn't appeal -- some volleyball nets and a swimming pool. Reasonable extras for a place where people came to be naked and enjoy sunshine and fresh sea air. Plus the six cabins available to rent.
"So what do we do for the rest of the day?" said Jane. "It's just coming up to noon, we can either go back to the cabin and sort something out for lunch, or we can just buy something at the concession."
"I vote concession for lunch," I said, "then I think I'll sun myself for a while, maybe have a dip in the sea, or maybe the pool, and just be a hedonist for the afternoon."
"That sounds like a plan, let's do it!" said Jane, and the three youngsters signaled agreement. And that's pretty much how it went, although Natalie, Matt and Tony were ambushed into a volleyball game by Lucy and her friends during the course of the afternoon. At around five, we made our way back to the cabin, pausing only to use the communal shower at the foot of the path, being mostly dry when we got back to the cabin, a few dabs of the towel being enough to dry off, although Natalie, Jane and I all needed to use the hair-dryer thoughtfully provided with the cabin.
Shortly after six we conferred over dietary consideration and decided on pasta, and Jane and I got busy with tomatoes, onions, peppers, olive oil and chili flakes, and concocted a kind of penne arrabiata which went down well, followed by fruit and a coffee each.
By eight we'd finished eating.
"What time is bedtime?" said Tony, glancing over at me.
I grinned. "How about now, stud?"
He laughed. "Fine by me."
I looked over at Natalie. "Any thoughts on participation, honey?"
She nodded. "Yes, I have. We're here for six night, right? What I thought is this. I'll sleep by myself tonight, with Liz and Tony tomorrow night, then with Mom and Matt on Saturday. Sunday by myself again, with Liz and Tony on Monday and with Mom and Matt on Tuesday night. Does that sound reasonable?"
"Fine by me, sweetheart," I said, and Tony nodded agreement.
"And by me," said Jane, endorsed by Matt.
