By Willie B.
williebflorida@gmail.com
Copyright 2025 by Willie B., all rights reserved
[2,145 words]
* * * * *The Skylar Kids
A Stripped for Florida Story
By Willie B Florida
williebflorida@gmail.com
1.
The Skylar children lived in a conservative small town on the Florida
Georgia border. If you've been to that part of the world, you can
imagine that the fact that they technically lived in Florida made very
little difference to their lives. A rural culture isolated by rivers
and forest was by far the predominant influence. Amanda Skylar was a
schoolteacher who had kept her liberal views in check for many years in
order to keep her job. I should inform you that liberal here means that
she had let her own children read books in which people were cast in a
somewhat favorable light who were not fundamentalist Christians. She
had allowed her children to cut pumpkins and hang cobwebs on the porch
at the end of October. No one else celebrated the "Devil's holiday" so
there was no trick or treating. It was suspected by the gossips in town
that Amanda had been in a relationship prior to marrying local boy
Tyrone Skylar. For his part Tyrone was a happy-go-lucky guy who felt
he'd chanced into the best thing in the world when he met and
subsequently married Amanda. He felt doubly lucky that she consented
to live in the backwater town where his family had lived for
generations. Tyrone was a landscaper, which in those parts was nearly
akin to being a gay hairdresser. That he produced three healthy
children with Amanda only somewhat quelled the gossip about what other
activities he might enjoy.
As can be imagined, all these
factors meant that the three Skylar children were looked upon with some
suspicion. Nevertheless, they played sports, did well in school and
had friends, albeit only a few due to the fact that the Skylars did not
attend either of the two largest Baptist churches in the area,
preferring instead the much smaller Methodist church. Colin was 15 at
the time of this telling, just filling out into the handsomeness that
follows a young boy's growth spurt after the onset of puberty. Rachel
was an athletic and sturdily built 14 and very close to her brother.
Sherry was a lithe, small-boned child, dreamy and shy with a strong
artistic sensibility. At this time she was only eight years old, but
perhaps because of the close bonds within the family, she was more
advanced verbally, intellectually and artistically than might otherwise
have been the case.
Home life was fairly ordinary: the
children rose early, helped with chores, fed the chickens and the cow
that the Skylar's kept, put food and water out for the cats, and made
their lunches. Together they walked down the long sand road to the
county road and waited for the school bus that drove nearly 45 minutes
to the nearest Florida public school--a K-12 institution that collected
served children from the entire rural county. They stayed after school
most times for sports practice and games, after-school clubs or just to
play. The late bus dropped them back and they spent their time
wandering along the sand road, collecting leaves, toads, or lost baby
birds. They were fortunate that a stream ran through the forest within
trekking distance of their house, so the kids were also familiar with
the sandy bottomed creek. Wading and basking in the water made many a
hot day more bearable.
Homework was minimal and the children
were certain to stay outdoors as long as possible before being called
in for baths, practice and supper. Colin played clarinet, Rachel the
violin, and Sherry would get out her art supplies and draw or paint
while her siblings practiced. Their father had family in the area, so
there were lots of relatives. Cousins, grandparents, parents, aunts,
and uncles provided most of the social life of the family. But, for
the most part, the Skylars provided their own entertainment within the
confines of their tight knit immediate family. Amanda was from far
south Florida, but she had no immediate family left and any other
relatives were so distant she had no contact with them.
Our
story begins with a phone call. Amanda sat in the living room while
the rest of the family heard her voice go from caution to amazement,
followed by earnest chat punctuating long periods of silent listening.
Their father encouraged the children to keep eating dinner and let
their mother have some space. When Amanda finally came back to the
supper table everyone looked up expectantly.
"I can't
believe it," said Amanda, her voice in another world, her head
spinning. "Tyrone, that was my -- I guess she's my cousin -- the
grand-daughter of my great aunt Selma. She somehow tracked me down, I
guess on the internet! Anyway, she has three kids and lives near
Orlando. She's invited us to come visit."
"That's amazing,
Amanda," exclaimed Tyrone, feeling very happy for his wife. His family
was so large. Even if they didn't always see eye-to-eye or even spend
that much time together, he still had relatives by the score. Amanda
had no one. He couldn't even say that his family was a great substitute
for her not having one. It wasn't as if they were all that great, just
blood relatives and close by. "Did you ever know her?"
"No!
I didn't even know she existed. I guess her mother told her more about
family than mine did." Amanda put her head down. Tyrone got up and
put his arm around her, knowing that Amanda was trying not to cry. Her
mother had been sick for many years and died just after the two of them
had met.
"So, are we going?" asked Sherry.
"Hmmm, what's that?" replied her mother.
"Are we going to Orlando, then?"
"Oh, gosh, I don't know! This is all very overwhelming. I haven't even thought about it."
"Let's go!" exclaimed Colin. "We could go to Universal Studios and SeaWorld and all that!"
The kids had never been to Orlando, or much of anywhere outside their
corner of Florida. They started babbling excitedly about everything
they could do on a trip to Orlando and its theme parks.
"Listen kids, I know you're excited," cautioned their father, "but your
mother and I haven't even had the first word together about this.
Let's just put this on the back burner until we know more about what's
going on."
"Okay," said Rachel, "but it would be really cool, you know!"
That night Amanda and Tyrone stayed up late talking in bed. The
conversation got them excited enough to overcome the tiredness of a
long day and a much longer evening than usual. They made love with a
passion unusual even for the two of them!
At breakfast the
kids looked from mom to dad, knowing something was going on between
them. Secret smiles, glances, a touch here and there. But no one
asked the question on all the kids' minds before heading down the road
for school.
"What do you think," asked Rachel, "Orlando or not?"
"I don't know," replied her brother, "but something's up with those two!"
"Would we miss school, or go during vacation?" asked Sherry.
"Who knows if we'll go at all. It's expensive, a long trip, and mommy
never even knew she had this cousin. We'll have to wait and see." said
Rachel, taking her sister's hand and continuing the walk up the road.
For no discernible reason Colin did a cartwheel, throwing sand up as
his hands and feet touched down. "Just have a good feeling, that's
all!" he said by way of explanation, sporting a goofy grin.
Mom and dad waited until the weekend to bring up the subject of travel
plans. Tyrone made a big stack of pancakes and the family had a
leisurely and late breakfast out on the porch. The rustic wood table
was covered with a red and white checked cloth, the pancakes were in
the center along with cane syrup, mayhew jelly, fresh butter and
applesauce. "Alright kids," announced dad once they were all eating.
"I want to commend you for your patience. I know you've been bursting
with curiosity, but your mother and I had to figure out what we wanted
to do first. Now we're going to ask you what you want to do!"
"We're discussing a trip to Orlando," said Amanda, taking her turn,
"wait . . . before you jump in we need to explain a couple of things.
Then you can decide."
"It's okay mom, we all know what we
want. We'll go to Orlando if you want to take us. If not, that's fine
-- we understand," said Rachel.
"I've spoken to my cousin
twice more since the first time she called," said their mother. "She
thinks it would be fun if you three kids met her three kids. Dad and I
think it would be fun to meet her. She's a single mom, now, and she
lives in a small town about an hour south of Orlando. An added benefit
is that we could take you to a theme park and we could go camping as
well."
"Wow, camping and a theme park!" exclaimed Sherry, "I say yes!"
"There are two things we want you to consider first. The rest of
Florida is not like it is where we live. You'll see a lot of things
you're not used to. Second, this experience may change your lives --
perhaps permanently."
"What are you talking about, mom?" asked Colin, confused that his mom wasn't being very direct.
"Lots of children in Florida don't wear clothes," explained Tyrone.
"They don't?" asked Sherry in surprise.
"I know about that," replied Colin, "parents strip their kids -- it's some kind of law. But what's that got to do with us?"
"Yeah, I don't care if anyone is naked," added Rachel. "We've all seen
each other's bodies before -- what's the big deal?” Indeed, in summer
the three kids often skinny-dipped in the stream at the edge of their
property. And, being three kids very close to one another, they
weren't worried about sharing the bathroom, changing in front of one
another, or sleeping naked on hot Florida nights. Their parents
weren't that shy about it either. They weren't nudists by any means,
but they'd been raised not to worry about the usual course of family
nudity.
"Charlene, that's my cousin, is considering stripping
her kids. And she's thinking of doing it while you three are visiting,"
explained Amanda.
"Oh," said Colin, considering this fact.
His mind quickly wondered how old Charlene's three kids were, whether
they were boys or girls, and if they were really good looking. But,
now that the subject was stripping, he thought it would betray his
thoughts too much to come out and ask for the information.
"Um, I don't mind," said Sherry, shrugging her shoulders.
"Do her kids know about that? Do they know we might visit them? What are they like?" inquired Rachel.
"She's told them we are thinking about visiting. I really don't know
what they're like. I don't even know my own cousin! As for the
stripping part, I’m not sure. She says most parents don't tell their
kids they will be stripped and I have a feeling that she's going to do
it that way."
"Wow!" Rachel thought about what it would be
like to suddenly be stripped naked in Orlando without advance warning.
To her surprise she blushed at the thought and felt herself becoming
aroused. "Um, I guess if I were going to be stripped I might not want
to know about it ahead of time either. It could make a person spend a
lot of time worrying."
"Yeah, Orlando's a big place I hear,"
said Colin, "it could be exciting for those kids to be naked on
vacation, especially if a lot of other kids are too. Maybe your cousin
wants it to be a surprise!"
"I wouldn't mind either way," said Sherry, "It's just naked."
Amanda and Tyrone looked at one another. Their children were unknowingly giving them permission to move forward.
"So, am I hearing that you want to go to Orlando?" asked their dad.
"Yes!" they cried in unison.
"Even if it is really new and different, there are lots of surprises,
and you come home -- maybe -- thinking about the world in a different
way?"
"Of course, Dad. It's not like we're some narrow-minded small town kids, you know!" protested Rachel, somewhat offended.
"It will be an adventure, so I'm sure it will be fun,” added Colin.
"I would like to see a new place, mommy and daddy," Sherry intoned solemnly.
"Okay, it's decided. We'll take you out of school for a week. We'll
visit my cousin, go to a couple places in Orlando, and go camping!"
— to be continued in part 2 —
* * *