Naked in School
Freedom to be Free
Chapter 22 - Introspection
“Again, Drew, I just can’t believe how quickly you reacted—and your throwing aim is simply awesome. Did you get your combat training, plus a little Amazonian magic, from Wonder Woman while you were living in your nature-camp home in the woods? Where’s your magic tiara?”
“Very funny, sweetheart. Guess that I’m just self-taught. Sorry, no tiara.”
“And to hear what those offensive linemen said about your tackle of the Taser guy. They were all envious of your technique after seeing how hard you hit him. They said that your hit actually lifted him off the ground. Didn’t that hurt?”
Drew giggled. “Hell no. First, the adrenalin was so high, all I could feel was getting the target down. Second, the riding leathers and padding worked better than football pads ever could, I think. Those shoulder pads would have spread out my impact too much. Third, I used my soccer legs for the power and my shoulder as a battering ram. Damn, hitting him felt so good, ‘cause I had thought his Taser shot had gotten you.”
“No, one dart hit my side in an indirect hit and it got tangled there. The other one missed me. Or maybe it hit the top of my cycle boot ‘cause I think I felt an impact there. You know that tales of your fighting exploits will go viral, don’t you?”
“I guess. I’m glad that this happened during football practice and nobody had their phone with them—so there aren’t any videos to go on line. One of the student trainers had to get his phone from his duffel to call 911. Everyone else’s was in their locker.”
That evening, Jay came by the Ritters’ home with news.
“Yeah, the DA was so angry at this incident that she was sputtering with rage,” Jay told them. “She’s applying for a search warrant for any school records related to you and to get a phone calling record for this Werthur character. She wants to link his involvement with those enforcer agents and maybe even trace the chain back to OSA headquarters. So I’ll need to get her a copy of your religious declarations showing the school stamps. I also found out that the two of you are deadly dangerous,” he grinned. “Especially Drew. Connor, the guy you took down has ruptured eardrums and a concussion, a likely ruptured spleen, and a severely hyperextended knee with most of the ligaments and tendons torn or detached.
“And Drew, you tackled that one fellow. He has a separated sternum, broken second and third ribs, and a facial fracture of the upper jaw. The other two fared a little better; your lacrosse balls still did a fair amount of damage, though. They each suffered concussions and a kind of facial fracture; can’t recall the medical terms, but it doesn’t matter. They’ll all be charged with attempted kidnapping. Nowhere in the Social Awareness law does it allow for the creation of an enforcement branch of the agency; that’s completely the invention of the agency officials.
“That means that its agents have no legal powers and especially no powers to detain anyone. They can function in certain school disciplinary matters in the same way that a school administrator can, but they cannot legally detain any person or involuntarily transport them to any location. Here’s the legal definition of kidnapping: it’s the taking of a person against his will from one place to another through the use of force, violence, threat, or intimidation, such that he doesn’t have freedom of movement to leave.”
“So how can we get this harassment to stop?” Connor asked.
“I’ll ask the DA if a restraining order is possible, given the felonies committed against you,” Jay responded. “Since a federal agency is involved, this is a complicated matter. It does appear that coming after you two like they’ve been doing is personal targeting and not a general enforcement matter.”
It was quiet in school the following day. But the day after, a team of county police, state police, and police technicians invaded the school and began going through the administrative offices and student files. Of course, all the students were burning with curiosity, wondering what this affair was all about, and rumors were flying. But with the Labor Day weekend coming up and the Program starting in just two weeks, when the police teams left, their presence was ascribed to just another school mystery. Only the three Ritter family teens knew the truth, and they weren’t talking.
The weather was cool and rainy for most of the Labor Day weekend, so the Ritters didn’t visit Pine View. The idea of sitting in the clubhouse or on the cabin porch watching the rain wasn’t appealing. Instead, Drew, Connor, and Jennifer went to Sherrill’s home where she had arranged a meeting with Wilma and a few other friends; these were the core members of the group that had been planning the Project. All of them had heard about the enforcers’ attempt to detain Drew and Connor, of course, and everyone in the school had learned how the two teens had resisted them. Drew had some thoughts about how their encounter might help the Project.
After having a light lunch, Drew told the group about the enforcers in more detail, and told them about the encounter earlier in the summer.
“So we don’t know why they targeted us specifically,” she went on. “But here’s the background from stuff we do know about. You know that all the kids in our former high school—actually all the schools in the region—had gotten religious exemptions from being in the Program. Connor and Jen and me included. The exemptions were in the records our old school sent to Glen Burnie. Now this is a guess. I think that the Program official here was told about the exemptions when the office got our records. Probably Connor and I were singled out and not Jen, ‘cause we had gotten picked for the Program—but we didn’t know that we were selected, ‘cause the school just hung up a list of names each week that nobody ever looked at.
“So, when school started, the Program jerk had us called to the office and told us that ‘cause we didn’t do the Program when we were selected back in PA, we were being punished by being put in it here, and for a whole month.”
The kids all gasped.
“The guy also said that we had no exemption in our records, too; so he must have removed the copies that we know were there. When we refused, he told us that he was calling in the enforcers. Another thing. Early this summer, a car with two enforcers cut us off on our bike and forced Connor to the side of the road and tried to kidnap us then.”
More gasps.
“Obviously we got away. Now my question is, how can we use the story of what happened against the school and the Program?”
After a lot of discussion and suggestions, they decided to put a brief message out on the texting tree with a link to a document with the full description of the incident. The document would be hosted on a document-storage site in the cloud. Connor suggested that, in addition, a copy of the list of all the Program abuses that Drew had collected for the Pennsylvania clergy be added to the site, and that was agreed to as well.
The text message they sent was: Hey Gophers, follow these links to learn what can happen to a Program participant when the Program officials run amuck like they are doing right here at GBHS. And learn what has happened to other kids forced to be in the Program elsewhere. Join the Project and get your friends involved too. Together, we win; divided, we fail!
Later the same day, the county prosecuting attorney received a message about the search.
TO: Mrs Ruth Dowton,
District Attorney, Anne Arundel County
FROM: Maj Harry Whitney,
Assistant Chief, Criminal Investigation Bureau, Maryland State Police
SUBJECT: Results from the execution of search warrants, Glen Burnie High School
This is a summary list of findings from subject search:
Glen Burnie High School - Alleged missing student documents.
1. Investigators were provided with copies of documents titled: ‘Declaration of Religious Exemption’ and date-stamped on 15 June of this year at the Glen Burnie high school office. Student permanent files for Drew Harper and Connor Martin did not contain the Pennsylvania originals of these documents; however, the file for Jennifer Ritter, who transferred from the same Pennsylvania school at the same time, did contain an original Declaration, date-stamped at the same date and time as the allegedly missing ones. The folders were examined by the forensic team and fingerprints were found matching those of Mr Donald Werthur, a federal employee of the Office of Social Awareness (OSA) who is assigned to this school as a so-called Program coordinator. Examination of fifteen additional folders chosen at random found no match to Mr Werthur.
2. Dr Marcia Petersmith, Glen Burnie school principal, stated to investigators that Mr Werthur would have no official reason to access the student permanent record files. She also stated that Mr Werthur claimed, in her presence, that no such exemption documents existed in the two students’ files; however, the office clerk produced a memo dated 17 June, addressed to Mr Werthur, stating that the office had received the records of three student transfers which contained a Program exemption and asked for instructions. A reply memo from Mr Werthur and dated 18 June instructs the clerk that ‘I’ll look into this and let you know.’
3. A search warrant was executed of Mr Werthur’s office and the missing documents were found in his desk, together with handwritten notes about telephone contacts with his supervisor, Mr William Garcy, director of operations at OSA. Mr Werthur’s notes say that he is to remove the Declaration documents from the students’ files and require that Miss Harper and Mr Martin become immediate Program participants for a month’s term and that they are to be required to strip naked immediately. If they refused, he was to contact the Enforcement Branch of the OSA for what his note called a ‘pickup.’ His note read that these instructions were being relayed by Mr Garcy on behalf of Mr Ross Gerberin, director of Program compliance, OSA, who is the supervisor of the Enforcement Branch.
4. Examination of telephone records from the high school show calls to and from the OSA headquarters at the appropriate times to support the physical evidence.
Recommendation
Mr Don Werthur: Tampering with public records, conspiracy, accessory to attempted kidnapping.
Please let us know if you require any further details.
None of the GBHS kids knew much about this search but rumors flew everywhere.
The week following Labor Day was a quiet and introspective time for all of the GBHS kids as they traveled around the school. Drew and Connor saw many familiar faces around the school, in all grades too. So many of their classmates had “practiced” being nudists at the resort that the teens recognized many, and this made them feel good—they didn’t feel like newcomers at the high school. And they knew many of the “in” kids too, since many had been involved in the Project.
Drew’s high spot was that the soccer season was in full swing with games on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. She had been elected as the defensive co-captain, and in a radical move by her coach, for certain plays and formations, when she would gain possession after a steal or interception, she would switch from her usual stopper or full-back role to a central attacking midfielder, very similar to how Trent Alexander-Arnold of Liverpool plays that position. In this position, she would become the team’s playmaker with her speed, field-sense, and her very accurate passes and crosses.
In their Tuesday game, playing in her new role, she carded an unassisted goal, four assists, three steals, and an interception, and her team’s time of possession was 67 percent, a hugely important metric. In the game, Drew had been watching how their opponents set up their attacks as they brought the ball through the midfield. She noticed how the attacking winger usually set up a pass to their striker, and that pass was generally a weak one. So on the next attack, Drew was ready, and began sprinting toward the open pitch between the winger and striker just as the striker began her pass. She intercepted the ball and, still on a full-speed run, lobbed it ahead of her over the head of their center midfielder, picked up the ball at the right side of the box, rouletted around a defender, faked a shot, juked to the right as the goalie was tricked left, and slammed the ball into the net. It was only the valiant defensive efforts of the opposing team that kept the game from being a blow out; their goalie stopped eleven shots on goal. Still, the Gophers won 5-1.
Thursday’s game faced a team with a strong midfield and good ball control, so Drew played her usual stopper, but she still scored a goal and two assists, one of which drew gasps and applause from the spectators. Her speed out of the backfield after a steal led opposing teams to try to double- or even triple-cover her, only to give her teammates scoring opportunities. In this game, Drew was playing in a 4-1-3-2 formation between the back line and midfielders. In the second half with the score tied, one of her team’s wingbacks stole the ball on the other team’s attack and passed the ball upfield to Drew, who raced upfield with it while three defenders began approaching her to try to mark her. This left her striker and a winger wide open and Drew saw them both racing toward the opponent’s box from the opposite side of the pitch. Still moving forward at half-speed, she launched a pretty rainbow flick over the heads of her defenders, leaving them flat-footed—they had never seen that move before. Drew picked up the ball behind the defenders and sent a high cross toward her striker, who met it on the fly at the right corner of the box and headed it into the goal. This broke the tie and they went on to win this game 4-3.
Drew found herself facing some deeply conflicted feelings that Friday evening as she was working on a homework project. She loved her friends—really loved them. Jennifer’s enthusiasm could light up the darkest room, and both Sherrill and Wilma had this uncanny way of knowing exactly what Drew needed to hear when Drew began to express her doubts and concerns about how the Project would work out. And Monday was coming.
She was so gratified that she and Connor were so close because those girls’ lives and morals seemed to be so... different. And it wasn’t simply their nudism either; they just liked sex. Not promiscuous sex; to them, just having sex was fun among their nudist friends. To Drew, this was a difficult concept.
I don’t feel like a prude, she mused, but I don’t see how relationships without love can be fulfilling.
She reached over the schoolbooks on the table and picked up the well-worn Bible lying there. Its spine was cracked and the corners of many pages were dog-eared, its wear coming from years of its readers’ flipping back and forth between favorite passages. It was her mother’s Bible and the only possession she had from her. Knowing that she was reading the same passages that her mom had done gave her peace and strength, especially during her extended camp-out times before she began high school.
Does freedom extend to being free to walk an alternative path than my friends’ path? She wondered. Is it being unfaithful to them if I don’t support them in their crazy Project, an idea that I had pushed?
She recalled a verse Pastor had mentioned in one of his early sermons, one he had delivered soon after they had met him, and it was on friendship. Turning to 1 Thessalonians 5:11, she read, “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.”
But doesn’t that one from Colossians on cooperation apply too? She wondered and flipped to chapter 3:12-14, where she read, “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”
But thinking about the Project, which in a way is like fighting fire with fire, seems to me to emphasize the wrongness of nudity just for the sake of nudity. It’s just gratuitous. It’s not nudism, like at the resort. Naked people everywhere and a respectful, peaceful atmosphere.
As Drew’s thoughts continued, and she tried to visualize herself being among the naked kids in the Project, she felt that almost-forgotten pressure begin to tighten in her chest. Anxiety.
But I vowed to be free. Am I being too rigid? Or am I failing to stand firm in what I believe?
“Jesus quoted Leviticus 19:18 where it states, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself,’ she murmured quietly. That part I understand. The loving part’s easy. But what about all the rest of the support? What about supporting my friends while they do the really difficult crap? What about my supporting their version of morality and watch them walk paths I don’t fully understand—paths that I’m afraid might hurt them?
“Say something, darling?” Connor asked, looking up from across the table. “Oh, you’re reading the Bible, so you’re into introspection mode.”
“Just thinking about Monday, sweetie. Can I be a true friend if I can’t do what our friends are doing?”
“Darling, to be a good person and friend doesn’t mean you have to copy them. Didn’t Pastor say more then once something from Luke, um, ‘A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart’? And your heart is truly good.”
“Nice verse, yeah, thanks, sweetie. I know that one, it’s from Luke ... ah, here, 6:45. You know the right stuff to keep me oriented. I’m not gonna get naked Monday, I decided. I had my own Program challenge and resistance. Twice. Like they say, I got no irons in this here fire.”
“Hey, all of our friends are agreed about that, right?” Connor replied. “They’re just delighted that you’re involved in the Project and go to the resort too. Hey, has anyone ever mentioned your wearing a cover-up there?”
“Um, no, never...”
“So there. As you said, the Glen Burnie Program is their fire. We’ve already got the battle scars to show from when we were in our own same fire ... fires. And me too; I’ll be on the cheering section and not in the game.”
“Connor, honey, you’re not just doing that to make me happy...?”
“I’d do lots to keep you happy but this time, no, it’s not just for you. ONG, do I need to remind you again of our talk back at your MacTent campsite?” Drew smiled and shook her head. “I’m not spiritual the way you are, but for me, seeing what Dad did to his life made me rethink my morals. Forcing one group’s morals on another group or person is so cringeworthy. Dad did that in his dealing, capturing people into addiction. Our elected morons want to have schools social-engineer teens. Supporting friends is important, sure, and we’ve been doing that, big time—even back at Memorial.”
“But this group is special. I get hit right in the feels when I think that I should be right up on the front lines too.”
Connor got up, walked around the table, and hugged her.
“Hell, you should never feel overcome by those kinds of conflicting emotions. You know? You’re a master at keeping it 100; you always stay true to yourself. Do it now.”
They kissed.
When Monday’s first period arrived, everyone was on edge; even the teachers in the teens’ classroom wing looked jittery as they watched the students file into their classrooms as the day began.
“Mmm, teachers are on alert,” Sherrill commented as Wilma came trotting up.
“Saw that Werthur jerk,” she told them. “He was talking to a few P.E. teachers and pointing to the field house. So maybe that’s where they plan to do the strip-off.”
“Makes sense. Also when it gets cold,” Connor remarked.
Their first period passed with no surprises; when it ended, they went off to their home-room classroom.
“Wonder how many kids will get picked today,” Drew remarked as they went to their seats.
“Well, statistically I think that it would be two in each senior home room. They said they’d pick sixteen seniors each week,” Connor replied. “Changed from that summer letter.”
“So two, maybe three of us in home room will get picked.”
Then the bell rang and the room settled. The teacher began the usual home-room activities and several minutes later, the P.A. system bonged and crackled to life.
“Good morning. This is Program Coordinator Werthur. We will start the Program very soon. First, this is what you will do when your name is called. Leave your classroom with your belongings. Bring those to your lockers. Next, go to the field house where you’ll strip naked and boxes will be provided to store your clothes. They are numbered and you’ll get the lock combination number. At the bell, you can return to your locker and get any materials you need for your second period class.
“At the end of the day, when weather permits, your clothing boxes will be in the main courtyard where you can get dressed, otherwise go to the field house. For the rest of the week, you’ll strip in the courtyard each morning. When the weather is inclement, you’ll use the field house.
“You all have a copy of the Program booklet and the list of FAQs that covers many items. Let me go over your major responsibilities now.”
He then spoke about all the Program rules and requirements and mentioned the standard punishments for violators.
“The teachers have the names of this week’s participants in their classrooms. We have selected sixteen seniors, ten juniors, and six each sophomores and freshmen for this and subsequent weeks. Teachers, please begin.”
Everyone in the room began shifting nervously in their seats as the teacher opened an envelope. She read out three names to huge sighs from class members.
Then Sherrill called out, “Project begins!”
She stood up and began disrobing and virtually everyone else in the room gave a half-hearted cheer; then most followed her lead as louder cheering and whistles broke out. Similar sounds could be heard from nearby classrooms. Then, naked, everyone sat.
GBHS Project--Home room
Drew noticed that only nine kids in the room, including herself and Connor, remained dressed, and it was those dressed kids who looked embarrassed. The others were joking and laughing, but there was still a bit of tension in the room.
But the teacher looked bewildered. “Audrey, Mitchell, and Jonas. You were asked to leave for the field house but...”
“But we’re not going, ma’am,” Mitchell answered. “And our friends are supporting us by stripping with us. We all are...”
The P.A. bonged, interrupting Mitchell.
“Students whose names were called, please obey our request to come to the field...”
Then Drew heard unintelligible speech in the background.
“They’re doing what? .... Naked? ... Not the selected... those too?” Werthur’s voice could be heard. “All right,” he said, now back at the P.A. “Apparently many students have disrobed in the classrooms and the selected students are not responding to my request to go to the field house. This is not acceptable and the named students are to come to the field house as requested. Not participating will result in additional weeks in the Program. That is all.”
Drew’s phone was humming with incoming text signals so she decided, despite the no-phone use rule during classes, to peek. The messages were mainly text-tree ones with thumb’s up emojis but a few gave details. None of the texts reported that any kids had left their classrooms and it appeared about three-quarters of the kids in each class were naked. Drew caught Sherrill’s eye and gave her a big finger-circle-okay sign and Sherrill responded with a grin.
GBHS Project--Period change
After the period change bell rang, the halls were becoming packed with naked kids—some nervous and some apprehensive, but all stoically naked—the second period began. One of the senior Project organizers in that room called out the suggestion, “Feel chilly in class, then put a top on, guys. No point in catching a cold.”
Meanwhile, in the office, a bewildered Werthur was talking to Dr Petersmith.
“Why is everyone stripping? How can we tell if the participants are stripping too? For that matter, how can anyone tell who the Program participants are? You need to announce to the school that the students have to obey...” he began.
“Mr Werthur, this is your show. I’ve already told you that the school board will let the feds run it in the county schools but are allowing principals leeway in giving the amount of direct support that we will allow. In my school, teachers will be allowed to use the federal curriculum only where using it meets class objectives. But I will not allow overt actions like forcible stripping. That’s illegal. And I will not tolerate any violence in my school either.”
Werthur hustled to his office and phoned his boss at OSA.
“I need to update you on the situation here,” he began and described what he had seen. “At the last class change, it looked like everyone in the halls was naked, just about. There was no way to tell which were the participants. Many kids also get partly dressed during classes and there’s no way to tell if the locker room and restroom rules are being followed. The principal is not cooperating with me to stop the extra nudity. That’s what’s happening.”
“We haven’t seen this happen before, so I can’t tell you what to do. Perhaps require arm bands or something for the participants? The problem there is that we don’t have a supply of anything like that. A few schools bought sports whistles which the participants used for security and we reimbursed them but I don’t think arm bands would be visible enough. And what would you do if the others started wearing them too? The principal would have to set up the purchase of the arm bands, as well, and apply for reimbursement.”
“From my interactions with her, it’s highly unlikely that she’d cooperate. She told me that ‘this is my show.’”
“Maybe sending letters to parents advising them to have their student obey school authorities would work. We’ll see. Carry on as best as you can and I’ll talk to the planners here about how to respond to this problem.”
The rest of the day at the school, Drew thought, went well, based on her two past schools. Lunch was quieter than usual since so many of the kids were naked and most seemed a bit self conscious. Of course this was a different experience from when the majority of the students were at the resort, being outside naked and swimming or doing an activity. It was different too from when they had been sitting naked in their classrooms, since here at lunch, they could interact with each other in a familiar environment but they were completely naked.
Project kids entering the lunchroom at the high school
Drew asked Connor, “Did you notice how the clothing status kinda changes here? How some kids put something on to go on the serving line and then took it off at their tables?”
“Saw that. And the dressed kids and naked ones are really mixed together—nobody’s being shut out socially ‘cause they’re either naked or clothed. Let’s join Sherrill and Wilma.”
When they got to that table, Wilma had some news.
“Sherrill and I heard from some of the guys on the planning group. The teachers seem to be confused about what to do in classes so they’re conducting them as usual. I heard about one bio class where the two Program kids got plenty of support from their classmates, so no abuse or humiliation happened.”
“Yeah, and I heard that kids in the P.E. classes appeared to be splitting locker-room use by their comfort level,” Sherrill added.
After lunch, as they walked to their next class, Drew joked to Sherrill, “I think that it’d be kinda funny if on some class changes, only the boys are naked, and the next time, the girls go naked.”
“Cool idea!” Sherrill exclaimed and got on her phone to start a text message.
After school, Drew had soccer practice in preparation for their Tuesday game, a non-conference game against a powerful team. If they made it to the regionals, they would certainly meet this school there.
On Tuesday during home room, Sherrill and Wilma were paged to go to the office and Drew and Connor insisted that they had to go too. Werthur was there, of course, as the teens were pretty certain that they were called because of their leadership in the Project. They were sent to the conference room where the Robbins girls’ assistant principal was waiting with Werthur.
“I only had the two Robbins girls called,” Werthur complained. “Why are you two troublemakers here too?”
Drew answered, “All the trouble you’re complaining about was caused by OSA, not us. And now you think that you’ve figured out who the nudity organizers are, and you’re gonna try to persuade or threaten us to stop it. Well, the idea for a nudist high school actually came from a kid in a different county and that idea caught on here. Lots of kids bought into it and it’s become a voluntary movement to resist how the Program causes abuses. The four of us are only part of the organizers and nothing we’re doing violates Program rules.”
“You’re wrong, miss,” Werthur retorted. “The Program does allow children to volunteer, but the booklet says that they must register in the office, get approval, and spend a month naked. No one’s done that.”
“That’s in the ‘Volunteer’ section. Look at the ‘Outreach’ section where it says, ‘Nude individuals, including fellow students who choose a nude lifestyle, are not subject to the rules of the Program and should not be treated as such.’”
“But nude lifestyles aren’t recognized in Maryland...”
“Look at the first two words. ‘Nude individuals.’ Those who choose to be nude, just like all the students at the school here. The Program rules allow for nude individuals and that’s what’s happening,” Drew retorted.
“All the nude students you see out there are nudists and most have been going to a nudist resort this past summer,” Wilma rejoined. “Your stupid Program rules have given them the chance to be nude here in school, just like everyone can do the Outreach part and be naked in public places.”
“But nobody can tell who the Program participants are and, ah...” Werthur began.
“You mean for Reasonable Requests?” Wilma interrupted.
“That’s right. How can the participants do the Requests?”
“We know who they are, at least those in our classes. And as nudists, we’re very familiar with the bodies of the other sex so we’ve got no need to make Requests.”
“But the participants need to ...” Werthur tried to rebut.
The door opened and the principal, a woman, and a county police officer entered.
Dr Petersmith spoke, “Mr Werthur, these people are here for you.”
He saw the officer.
“What? Why?”
The woman spoke. “I’m District Attorney Dowton. Mr Donald Werthur, I have a warrant for your arrest. You are charged with tampering with public records, conspiracy, and accessory to attempted kidnapping...”
She continued with the Miranda notice while Werthur was sputtering in denial. Then the officer cuffed him and led him out of the room.
The others looked on in surprise and then Dowton explained, “You all, except possibly AP West, know much about the events leading up to this arrest. I’ve seen problems in several county high schools but none like this. Let me see. You clothed students must be Drew Harper and Connor Martin, am I correct?”
They acknowledged her.
“It’s clear that the OSA has been harassing both of you for reasons that cannot be justified. But Werthur is small fry here. We’ll indict him and release him on a low bail. We want to see if he can lead us to bigger prey, the people who are harassing you.”
“Thanks, Mrs DA,” Connor said. “Werthur told us that we were singled out ‘cause we got a religious exemption back at our old school when we were picked to participate and then when two OSA people interviewed us, they began trying to get us to justify our reasons. Doing that was actually forbidden by the court injunction, our attorney had told us, so we refused to continue the interview. So Werthur told us that we’d have to spend a month in the Program.”
“Yes, I did know those details. All right, then, carry on. Your Mr Werthur might actually return to the school by this afternoon.”
Except he didn’t; he went to the OSA headquarters to discuss his arrest.
After the DA left, Petersmith asked the four teens, “May I ask if it is actually you four who organized this demonstration opposing the Program?”
“We were part of it, plus about a dozen others,” Sherrill acknowledged. “We heard what was happening with the Program in other schools and didn’t want that here.”
“Well, I think that you did something that seems impossible, to mobilize such a large part of the student body over the summer. And using the Program rules to support the idea that being a nudist would flood the school with naked students so that participants wouldn’t be easy to identify. That was your intention, am I right?”
“Dr Petersmith, you seem to be in the same camp as us, opposing the Program, but you can’t come out against it, right?” Sherrill asked.
“You know I can’t make a direct statement about that,” she demurred.
“Of course. Yes, we did flood the school with nudists, but it was to see how what we saw at our nudist resort, where mutual respect is the norm, would work in the school with the Program, where any respect is absent.”
“Dr Petersmith, while the nudity that the Program requires isn’t its biggest problem by any measure, we wanted to demonstrate to the kids that just being nude with others isn’t such a big deal.” This comment was from Wilma.
Drew broke in, “Totally. Connor and I have attended two schools where the Program was running and can agree that the nudity, in itself, wasn’t the real problem—it was the egregious humiliation forced on the kids by those Requests, and worse, how some teachers would use the kids for demos which were terribly embarrassing for both the participant and the whole class, too. In one class, I couldn’t bear to watch. From what I’ve seen of the classroom demos, none of them make any sense, that is, any more than a good video would.”
“Another thing we wanted to stop was the opposite sex in the locker room rule,” Connor said. “Back in our first high school, a girl was raped in the boys’ locker room.”
Petersmith gasped.
“Yeah, it happened and she got pregnant. We don’t know what happened after that; Drew’s contact from that school graduated. Anyway, if the Program’s idea is to get kids familiar with the bodies of the other sex, then we’re doing that. Why should groping and posing be part of that? And modesty is a very personal matter, obviously. Our Project gives the more modest kids here a chance to either invisibly resist participating in the Program and not getting naked, or if they choose, they can stretch their boundaries and join all the other nudists. Judging from how many kids got nude shows that excessive modesty isn’t a teen social problem, I would think. But using force does cause bad problems, and again Drew and I saw that too.”
“Very cogent and strong arguments against the Program, Connor,” Petersmith replied. “What are your plans going forward?”
“We’ll be nude in school as long as the Program’s running,” Sherrill answered. “And the temps allow it. Those enclosed walkways between buildings do get cold too. I mean the hard core of our group will keep it up and that’s maybe four hundred kids. We think that if a reluctant kid is picked and they see that so many others are nude too, they might get the strength to join us, even if it’s just for a week.”
Michael West, the AP for the Robbins cousins, spoke for the first time.
“Drew and Connor, you speak very well for your nudity opposition plan, but...”
“But we’re clothed. Sure. We did the Program at our last school by getting an exemption, along with the kids in the entire school. The OSA tried to overturn them but failed in federal court. We support the kids in what they’re doing here but see no need to be nude ourselves. We have a religious exemption here too,” Drew responded.
“Very good,” he replied. “All right, let’s see about getting you back to class.”
They got their passes and returned to class.
Copyright © 2024 Seems Ndenyal. All Rights Reserved.