by P. Z. Walker
No one else from the group had responded to her last mail. It didn't surprise her. She switched the machine off and read a bit more in the book she'd borrowed from Wendy. In the afternoon she put on her clothes and left her apartment to visit a museum, something she'd planned a while ago. But before that she remembered to call to the resort and asked them to relay to Mike that she would come over again on Tuesday afternoon.
*
The Monday came and went without anything remarkable, and the Tuesday was only a half day at work. A short half day as well, as there were not many people coming in, so Sheila got to leave even an hour earlier. Soon she was at home again and changed into something comfortable, after which she waited for Wendy who arrived ten minutes early. This went well!
Sheila drove them to the Mighty Oaks Resort. During the trip she confided in Wendy about her home nudist attempts. Wendy just grinned and said she'd done well, but didn't elaborate on that. After arriving at the resort and parking, they got out of the car and then Wendy shocked the willies out of Sheila. The first thing her sceptical friend did was shedding all her clothes, as if it was the most normal thing for her to do. "Wendy, what the hell are you doing?"
"Come on, we're in a nudist camp so I'm going to be naked," Wendy grinned as she tossed her clothes in the back of the car and stretched out like a cat in the sun. "Aren't you going to?"
"Me?!"
"Yeah, you. Unless you see someone else here," Wendy shrugged as she looked around.
"I couldn't," Sheila resolutely said, "who wants to see me nude?" She wasn't sure what to do as Wendy walked around the car, all nude, and stood in front of her.
"It's not about others," Wendy said, "it's about being free." Damn, Wendy was the female version of Mike!
"And since when do you know?" Sheila asked as her resolve faltered a little. Dressed, Wendy always looked gorgeous, but now she noticed plenty of uneven bits on her friend's body.
"My parents took me to nudist camps and such since I was four of five," Wendy explained.
"You never told me. And why did you end up with our magical group when you're not against naked rituals?"
Wendy grinned. "You never asked. And about the group... that's simple. I like the people and the topics. I was with another group before this, they did nude rituals but there always was this sexual element involved that I didn't like. So, are you going to stay dressed? And by the way, feel free to look at me for a while. Trust me, it gets boring soon. Faces are far more interesting."
"What do you mean by that?" Sheila thought she knew what was coming, but she wanted to hear it from a woman.
"When you meet a woman, what do you look at?" Wendy asked. "Her clothes. You glance over them, assess them, and you know what's there. Same with a man. Here people wear no clothes, so you can glance over their skin, you know what's there, and that's it."
Sheila nodded. "Like with Mike," she said.
"Like with Mike," Wendy agreed even though she didn't know more than the man's name. "Speaking of which, where is the caveman?" She started walking from the car.
"Wendy, wait!" Sheila's fingers trembled as she started unbuttoning her blouse. Because of her jitters it took her longer than usual to take her clothes off, but then there she stood, naked next to her car and her friend, and her cheeks on fire. "I can't believe I'm doing this."
"Where's Mike?" was all Wendy asked. She hardly seemed to pay attention to Sheila's body.
"Maybe he's in the office." Sheila took her handbag and showed Wendy the way. Mike wasn't in the office, and to Sheila's surprise the people behind the counter didn't seem to recognise her, not even noticing her at first.
"Oh, it's you!" Jenny then said as she looked at Sheila's face. "Welcome. And good for you," she added with a wink. "Mike said you'd be here. He'll be here soon, just take a seat, or wait outside. Outside's nicer." Another wink.
"Sure, let's go outside," said Wendy, leaving Sheila no room to say something. "Oh," she then asked Jenny, "do we have to pay anything for the park?"
Jenny waved the offer away. "We know you're here for Josy and that's wonderful. The supervisor said to let you in for free until Josy's back." Her voice gave away that she didn't have much faith in that happening.
"Thank you." Wendy grabbed Sheila by the arm and almost dragged her outside.
Chapter 8.
Mike came walking to the small bench where Wendy and Sheila sat. "Hey, little sister. Did you bring your big sister?" he laughed as he appreciatively glanced Wendy over. "Heya. I'm Mike." Wendy introduced herself. "Trippy that you came along. Did you convince Sheils?" The two talked as if Sheila wasn't even there! Wendy just laughed.
"She did," Sheila confessed, "but I practised at home like you said, Mike." A mix of worry and pride filled her.
"Good little sister," the naked hippie smiled. "Wait for a moment, I'll get the canteen so we have something to drink. Dry day today." He sauntered off towards the office.
"Sheila, he's so cute!" Wendy whispered even though Mike was out of earshot. "If you don't want him, I'll take him!"
"You? Mike?" Sheila could not have been more surprised.
"Okay, that settles it, he's mine," Wendy beamed, craning her neck until the man come back. "There he is." She giggled like a little girl as they got up to meet him.
As they walked along the path that led up to the trees, Sheila noticed that none of the people who lounged around on the grass paid them any attention. How odd. Or not, come to think of it. She blended in now, without clothes. She still felt very exposed but set her jaw and decided to get through this. She had to; her clothes were in the car.
Once beneath the trees Sheila announced that she was switching on her colour vision. Wendy and Mike, who had been chattering like birds, promptly fell silent. Sheila blushed, knowing that both their attention was now on her - and she wore nothing. She shook off the idea. They wore nothing either. She glanced past her fingers and blinked, willing the ability to life, and it didn't fail. It had become so easy with practice.
"What do you see now?" Wendy asked, who hadn't witnessed Sheila doing this. "What do you see around me?"
Sheila looked around her friend. "Yellow, orange, red," she pointed out where she saw the colours. "Something silvery white too." It was the first time she'd seen that around someone. "Lots of red, by the way." It made her grin to see Wendy blush now and see her take a small step away from Mike.
"Come on, the trail up is close," Mike broke the little bit of tension that suddenly hung among them. As they progressed, Mike talked a bit more about the native Indian tribe that had lived here long ago. "Seems they were a split-off from the Crow that settled here."
"Crow?" Sheila interrupted him. "My mother's Dad was Crow."
"Really?" Both Mike and Wendy looked surprised. "So you have a quart Crow blood. Trippy. The Crow worshipped this area. I didn't find out very much, but I'm certain that the Five Oaks was a sacred spot to them." That didn't surprise Sheila. "Way further there's a few mountains with caves and a little waterfall. For a while they burnt their dead there. Some professors did digs and found a few remains, and some tools." As he talked, they reached the Five Oaks. From a distance Sheila had already seen the blue shimmer, and once there the shimmer turned into what looked like walls connecting the trees. Wendy asked Sheila if it was safe to go among the trees, as she'd explained what she saw.
"I guess so. You don't see it, so you don't feel it." A weird explanation, but one that was true. If Sheila switched off the colours, she could roam among the trees without a problem as well.
Mike sat down a few feet from the trees and together with Sheila he watched how Wendy located the centre of the trees. For Sheila it was strange to see how Wendy walked through the blue barriers without so much as disturbing them. Wendy sat down there and announced she'd try to meditate there. "Maybe I sense something."
As Wendy closed her eyes and sat in silence, Sheila walked around the blue shields with their swirling images a few times. None of the images made
sense, nothing looked like remotely familiar.
"See something?" Mike asked, not speaking loudly as Wendy was meditating.
"A jumble," Sheila replied as she sat back down next to him, wondering in what places of her body she'd find sand and leaves later.
"Too bad."
They both sat in silence for a while as Sheila kept studying the blue-flamed boundaries. "It makes no sense at all. I wonder why I saw Josy last time. Do you think it was wishful thinking?"
Mike shrugged. "The mind's a weird thing, little sister. My guru always said that. Trust your feeling over your eyes in things like this. You know how to meditate?"
"A bit." Sheila had never really looked into meditation, only practised it occasionally.
"Perhaps it's time to start for real," Mike said. "Too bad I don't have my drum with me, that would put you in the right mood quickly."
"And disturb the heck out of Wendy," Sheila grinned. "She's quite impressed with you, it seems."
Mike's beard formed into a super-smile. "She's very neat. A real trip, Sheils. I'm glad you brought her." He smiled another big one, squeezed a quick hug on her and then asked: "Would you like to try a meditation?"
"What, here?" What she really asked was 'in the nude', but Mike shrugged.
"Any place and state is good. Look at Wen." He pointed at the young woman who sat in the tree circle, fully relaxed with her eyes closed.
"Wen. Call her that and she'll gut you."
"Hah. She'll have to gut me three times already then. Now. Meditate. Sit somewhere comfy and close your eyes."
Sheila looked around. Comfortable meant a chair to her, not the forest floor, but since Wendy did it, she could do that too. They walked closer to the nearest of the Five Oaks, she brushed some leaves aside with her foot and sat down. She heard the crackle of the fence and sensed its warmth. Warmth, she realised, not heat. Amazing.
"Now close your eyes and simply breathe. Count your breaths and when you hit thirteen, start at one again."
"Why thirteen?"
"Because. Just do it." It sounded easy, but she discovered it wasn't. Each time a thought came up and interrupted her counting. Mike noticed her annoyance and convinced her it was normal in the beginning. "Just keep starting over, and listen to my voice." He started a slow, deep humming. Sheila listened to the sound and counted again, one, two, three... After a few restarts she suddenly reached thirteen and felt a jolt.
"Count, don't jump," Mike cautioned her, and continued his humming. Slowly Sheila fell into a drowse, still hearing the hum, but only noticing her breathing. The counting didn't happen, but it felt wonderful being calm this way. After a while, in the rhythm of his humming, Mike asked what she saw. "Don't tell. Just watch. And keep your eyes closed... hummm..."
Sheila focussed on the colours that danced in front of her. They were blue in many shades, swirling like the images in the strange flame-walls. The hum faded, and she saw shapes, almost like people, but missing clear contours. Three, five, one, six, their numbers kept changing. A sudden light touch on her shoulder dragged her out of the trance she'd been in.
"Sorry, little Crow sister. That was long enough," Mike said.
As Sheila opened her eyes she saw that Wendy was sitting next to her, looking intently at her face. "This was really special," she said and explained about the shapes and human forms she'd seen. "And why do you call me Crow sister?"
"You told me you have Crow blood. That makes you Crow to me, the more as we're technically on your land," he smiled.
"Oh." Sheila blushed. Never before had her little bit of native heritage made such an impression on others, and now it did on her as well.
"Even when you're the first Crow with blond hair, I think," Wendy grinned. "So, what's next?"
"Maybe I should meditate inside the circle," Sheila suggested as she started rummaging in her bag. She took out the coloured feathers. "And then I keep those with me."
Mike nodded. "Another short meditation can't hurt. Wen and I can hum for you."
Wendy simply nodded in agreement, no reaction to the odd shortening of her name. Sheila was convinced that her sceptical friend had a super-crush on the caveman. Making things easy on herself, she went into the circle with the colours off. Mike and Wendy joined her. Once they all sat in the circle, Sheila activated her strange gift again and closed her eyes. The hum from two people, the different voices matching surprisingly well, made her drift into a trance very quickly.
The knowledge of this country being Crow and how much Mike appreciated Sheila's heritage of that tribe went around in her head for a while as she counted her breathing. At moments she was aware of sitting on the ground and then she'd look at the blue shimmer through barely opened eyes. The swirls were still there, but seemed to be slower. Everything around her was peaceful now, tranquil up until the moment that she heard a warm, male voice say: "You are finally here."
Having a bucket filled with ice cubes thrown over her could not have shocked her out of the meditation faster. With a yelp Sheila kicked her legs, rolled onto her back and scrambled to her feet, her chest heaving with fright. "Who said that?!"
Wendy and Mike looked up at her. "Who said what?" Their faces showed genuine surprise instead of mischief. Sheila told them about the voice as she looked around to find the man who had spoken to her, but there was no one but the three of them.
"Calm down, Crow sister," Mike said as he got up and put his arms around Sheila. "Whoa, you're really shaking." Wendy also got up and put her arms around Sheila and Mike, as she whispered soothing words, telling Sheila there was no one around but them.
"But I heard it. That man. He said You're finally here. As if he sat next to me."
Her friends didn't ridicule the experience. They said that with Sheila going through such experiences perhaps meant something more than just seeing colours. "Maybe there is a local spirit trying to reach you, Sheils," Mike offered. "Would be a trip, and I'd be dead jealous, but switch off your colours and let's take a walk. Seeing something else will help you relax, otherwise this place may get to you."
Sheila nodded and soon they were strolling along the path, going further up the hill. Wendy had picked up the feathers Sheila had brought, and stuck them in her blond hair, together with one more that she'd found on the ground. "You look like a real squaw now," Wendy laughed.
Sheila then resorted to find some feathers so she could adorn Wendy short, black manes as well. The light grey pigeon feathers stood out against the black as the two coloured and the black one did with Sheila's blond head. Mike just laughed at the silliness the two women enjoyed. After reaching the top of the hill, he pointed out a rocky peak. "See there? That's the place with the caves. The waterfall is on the other side, maybe we can go there some day. It's really pretty up there."
"I hope Josy's back with us safe and sound then, so she can come with us," Sheila mumbled. The thought of her friend still being gone suddenly made her shiver, and a few tears welled up in her eyes.
Wendy pulled her in a gentle hug. "She'll be back. I'm going to burn a candle for her, every evening, until she's back."
Sheila nodded her thanks, slightly confused by the reassuring feeling of Wendy's naked body against hers, and the words of her friend who didn't even know Josy and still had come up here with her. "Thanks, Wendy." She turned to Mike. "Thank you too, Mike."
"All cool, little Crow sister," the caveman said with a smile.
They continued their walk, down the other side of the hill. Mike pointed out a quaint little cabin that was hidden in the woods. Long time ago it had belonged to one of the last gold prospectors who had tried to make their fortune sifting the sand of the river that wasn't far away. "When they discovered the place, they restored it to sort of its original looks. It's open, we can go have a look."
Wendy and Sheila were thrilled by the idea, so they walked down a little further and moved along a tiny path. Sheila was glad she had her sandals with her, there were lots of stinging things in the sand. The cabin was
amazing. Rough wood and nothing of comfort, it existed only for pure functionality, and even that seemed to be sparsely. There was a bunk, hooks on the wall for tools, and some of the original gold-washing pans. At least Mike seemed convinced they were original. After the tour of the cabin, Mike suggested to start the way back. The sun was already sinking, and he was afraid that the ladies with him would be cold before long, but Sheila noticed she felt quite fine the way she was.
They reached the spot where the five oaks stood as sentries over the secret of Josy vanishing. Sheila touched one of the trees. "We're bringing you back, Josy." Even to her own ears it sounded a bit absurd, but with the police not making any progress, she felt she had to do something. Then they walked on, down the hill and from there back to the grassland of the resort.
"Do you want to have a bite to eat here? Behind the office we have a small restaurant thingy," Mike explained, "nothing fancy but good food."
Wendy checked her watch. "Might as well. It's almost dinner time by the time we get back." Sheila needed a few moments more to agree. They'd encounter more naked people, and even though she'd grown to feel safe with Mike and Wendy, there would be folks she didn't know. Mike and Wendy almost teamed up to convince Sheila she'd be fine, so they walked to the restaurant. It was indeed small, some fifteen tables. The food was very good, as Mike had promised, and the prices were amazing.
"That's because they don't have to invest in waitress' uniforms," Mike said, making them laugh.
Chapter 9.
After dinner they walked to Sheila's car where they said goodbye to Mike. Wendy and he swapped phone numbers and e-mail addresses, much to Sheila's surprise and entertainment. Sheila hopped in the car, as they seemed to take forever. She had to grin about that, until Wendy opened the door again.
"Hey. Isn't it about time you put some clothes on, woman? I'm pretty sure if naked driving isn't allowed beyond the gate."
"Oh, shit," Sheila cursed, her cheeks flushing again. "I forgot to get dressed!" Hearing herself say it was almost a shock, and she quickly put her things back on, as Wendy and Mike laughed.