We both reacted at the same moment. We were naked. There was a crowd of people on the beach ahead of us. We could hear children's and adults' voices. As one we dropped our bundles and feverishly searched for our shorts and shirts and shoes, the minimum that would render us decent.
"Leave the lunches here," I whispered. "By that tree stump. We'll find them again later. Come on."
He said nothing, but did as I asked and followed after me wide eyed with excitement. It was fortunate that we both knew how to move fairly quietly through undergrowth. We wormed and crawled our way to the open beach and then slowly lifted our heads above the convenient ridge of jetsam that marked the storm tide's limits. What we saw made him gasp but rendered me silent.
Four dinghies, two like ours and two with motors, lay drawn up to the shore. On rugs nearby were two sets of adults, sitting with their backs to us, watching along the beach. And there, running toward them in what looked like a game of tag, were six children, two girls and four boys, whose ages ranged from about eight to sixteen. Nothing spectacular? No. Except for one thing.
None of them had anything on.
I watched, conscious of my heart thumping, as the oldest one reached the adults, his accoutrements swinging freely, what I could see of them through the bush of dark hair that lay in a triangle above and around them. Two other boys and a girl got there next, and I just had time to register that one was about my build whilst the other might be a bit older and had only sparse hair round his thing, more than mine but nowhere near the forest of the first boy. The girl was well endowed, and pretty, and was bobbing fascinatingly.
Some way behind came a much younger boy and girl, laughing and pushing at each other as they ran. He was the eight year old and she looked about James' size.
They all flopped down on the sand, but to my annoyance facing out to sea. To sit and watch any further was pointless. All we could see were backs.
I started worming backwards, and James took the hint too. Suddenly he gave a sharp yelp of pain.
"Shhh!"
"Aahh…something's cut my leg."
"Damn. Can't you wriggle back and I'll look at it when we're out of range?"
"No. It hurts." He rolled over and sat up. "Look!"
There was blood dribbling down his leg. A large piece of broken glass had scratched his thigh just under the paler line of his shorts. It had fallen out and I could see none left in. I was looking at it carefully, wondering what to do about it when there was a rustle from behind us. We both looked up in alarm.
"Hallo," said a pleasant, deep but young sounding voice. "You are here then."
"Er…um…er…" My hesitation wasn't due to the fact that we had been discovered, but to the lack of clothes of the voice's owner. I tried hard to keep my eyes on his face. It was the sixteen year old from the group we had seen. He must have realised my predicament.
"Sorry. I wouldn't normally come over like this, but I heard your friend cry out and I thought there might have been an accident. I'm a Senior Scout, my Dad's a doctor, so I thought we might be able to help."
"I've cut myself on some glass."
"Have you? Badly?"
"Yes."
"No, not very," I said. "It's come out, and it's not deep. But I've got nothing to put on it." It was his matter of fact, down to earth tone that had given me back my power of speech, despite the effect the proximity of his unclothed body was having on me. If he was in the Scouts and his father was a doctor he couldn't be that bad. Despite wearing nothing in front of girls and his mother.
He looked carefully at James' leg. I was just glad it wasn't mine he was supporting and brushing the dirt off. If it had been I know there's no way I could have avoided him noticing a reaction.
"You'd better come back and let Dad have a look," he said. "I don't think there's anything left in it, but it's best to be sure."
"I'll wait here," I said quickly. Although I longed to look at the others I had a foreboding that the next requirement would be that we both strip off so we'd all be alike.
"You don't need to," he said. "We're naturists, not dangerous. So long as you and your friend don't mind it's OK by us."
"Can you come, please?" This from James, who didn't want to be on his own with strangers. At least he's used to seeing adults naked, I thought. I'm not. I never realised it could grow that long. What's his father's like?
Reluctantly I got up and followed the theatrically hobbling James and his saviour. I felt a bit foolish not being able to help him on my own, but we had no first aid kit. My eyes followed the older boys bottom as it walked muscularly through the undergrowth.
We got to the open beach and the other nine pairs of eyes swivelled our way. My head felt hot, I knew I was blushing, and didn't know where to look. If it had been just one other naked person there, preferably male, I think I'd have been all right. But to be presented with so much new visual human biological information at once put my mind into overload. In fact it probably fused one circuit, because my body started to behave itself again. Which was fortunate, because I had no underwear on.
Swiftly the older boy explained to his father what had happened. The man looked at us and grinned, a bit sheepishly I thought. The other younger ones had by this time wandered off down the beach, having seen, I thought, that neither of us was interesting or attractive. The story of my life. Mind you, I was very interested in them, particularly the older ones, whether male or female, because I hadn't ever seen another completely naked body at close quarters. At least, not often enough to be bored. And certainly never adults.
"Better have a look then, hadn't I? I hope you don't object to the naked body, boys. We're naturists, we're staying on the island over there…" He pointed "…and we just wanted to get away for a day. So as this is the nearest one, and as some kids had been seen here recently who were also naturists, we thought it was OK. If you'd rather just go then I'll understand, but you should have that thigh looked at just in case, and before you move it too much."
He waited, looking at us. I should explain that all the adults were face down on the sand at this point, so all we could see was bums.
James looked at me, then at the man, the doctor. "Could you make it better, please sir?"
The man smiled at him, and sat up. To my surprise his was about as long as his son's. But his body was generally hairier, because there was hair on his chest and stomach, a little down his thighs, and a lot on his lower legs. More than his son, although his lower legs were quite hairy too. I felt very inadequate.
James' thigh was examined minutely while I stood and stared over the bare bottoms in front of me to the happy scene further down the beach where the two girls, the endowed elder and the thin younger, were playing quite unconcernedly with the two boys about my age and the little boy. I wondered if I could ever do that. It looked like fun.
But the doctor was talking to James. "It's clean. But it needs washing. The best thing you can do, rather than have me put TCP on it, is to go and swim. It'll sting to start with, but I'm sure you could put up with that if you really try, and it'll stop hurting and get better much quicker if you do."
"It's kind of you, sir," I put in. "But we've got no swimming things." Even as I said it I was realising how damn stupid I was being.
He laughed. "You really don't need to worry about that, do you? There are two lads here your own age, and girls, all running round as we do, so two more aren't going to make a difference. You don't need to worry about us at all. We're just two normal families who are all friends, who enjoy the freedom of not having to wear clothes. We believe that the human body, like most animals' bodies, are things of beauty. Look at the sleek elegance of - what — a panther. Can you imagine an animal as pleasing to the eye as that in a suit of clothes? Well, the human body, properly looked after, is a beautiful thing and certainly nothing to be ashamed about, or dirty. It's just that society…" he tailed off.
"Sorry. My soapbox. In fact it's probably just as well that most people do keep their clothes on, because they've let their bodies get so ugly that what I said isn't true for them. But that's beside the point here. Your bodies will hold no surprises for us and attract no comment either. Even if yours, young man," this was to me, "reacts in the way that most boys of your age react by having an erection. It's entirely normal, all males have them, and those two down there are no exceptions. So don't worry, especially as you're not used to others being naked round you. But if you'd rather sit there clothed while your friend swims, that's fine."
"We've bathed naked here before," burst out James. "In fact we do it every day." I looked at him with annoyance. I still hadn't made up my mind what I was going to do.
"So it was you two we saw the other day. We were looking through the glasses and we saw some boys playing in the mud, and they had no clothes on."
"Weren't you on the next island along on Monday?" asked his son's deep voice. "Tim and I saw two boys playing there then."
I admitted that it was.
"It's really your fault we're here, then. Because we saw you playing and swimming here the last few days, naturist style, you made us think that some others from the island were using it."
"Well, yes, we were," I burst out at last. "But we're not naturists. The first day I forgot my swimming things, and it just went on from there."
"So quite naturally you see no problem in swimming together with no clothes?"
"Well…er…no. It was a bit odd at first, but I got used to it. He doesn't mind at all!"
James giggled.
"Well, just as you don't mind between yourselves, we don't mind with our friends either. These are our family and friends. Because we think the same way as you two swimming and playing with no clothes is natural to us. There's no hidden problem with it, and just as you two do we find it natural."
"But…er…you've got girls with you…er…"
"And that makes it wrong? Not really. You see, Alice and I are married, and have been for long enough to have two children we love and respect. We know each other well, as married couples do, and we know each others' bodies so they hold no surprises for us. As our daughter and two sons were born, we said: 'gosh, they're naked! Just like us when we walk around the house.' So we continued doing just that, and they saw us, and grew up, and we all got used to each other's bodies. Then we said that if we did this at home, and were very comfortable doing it — so much so that it was completely natural for us — why didn't we do it on holiday too.
"So we did. It took a bit of getting used to because we'd never been able to go without clothes out of doors before, or in the company of others. But everybody was the same, we met lots of normal, happy people, and some very good friends, and…well, here we are."
I followed the logic of this completely. It seemed so right, explained like that. But to take off all my clothes in front of them…? But they were naked, and here was I, clothed in front of them. A corner of my mind started to think that I was the odd one out.
"I'm going for a swim," James announced. "I want to get my cut clean."
I looked at him, desperately undecided. But he took the initiative, as usual, and just peeled off his few clothes. There was no way I was going to let him swim on his own. He was still very much a learner. So I gulped hard and followed his lead, hoping that I was keeping the important bits out of sight. At this stage there was nothing extra to worry about, at least.
"Good lads," said the doctor. "Help your friend get his cut clean, and then see if you have the courage to go and talk to the rest of them down there. We'll make sure nothing happens to your clothes."
It took a lot of doing, turning my exposed bum toward them but I made myself casually follow James into the water. He did so slowly, and gave a cry as the cold salt water lapped against the cut. He backed out of the water in a hurry, jumping to avoid the wavelets as they lapped against him.
"Come on, James. It doesn't hurt that much. He said it'd sting, and that's all it is."
"No, it's worse. It really hurts."
"It'll only hurt for a moment, really. And think of the good it's doing."
"Don't care. It hurts."
"Quick, get under the water. The girls are coming."
He looked back swiftly. By the time he had seen I was wading out to deeper water as quickly as I could. He started to follow me and then stopped with a loud "Aahhhh." There was a splash behind him as the girls waded in. That was more than he was bargaining for. Determinedly he strode out towards me, and I could see him gritting his teeth and screwing his face up as he came. As soon as he got to me it was obvious that the cold salt water had done its trick, because his expression was one of astonishment.
"It's stopped."
"Told you."
"Yeah, but…"
"…And so did the doctor."
"Hallo."
This was from the smaller of the girls. She looked like an undeveloped mermaid, half girl and half boy. With her short hair wet and her undeveloped bust she looked boyish and rather sweet. Her friend was definitely the mermaid, though, and I felt embarrassed at being so near something so sought after. I wondered if this could be my opportunity. She was attractive, certainly, and was looking at me in a friendly way. But I had nothing to offer her. Only 3¼ inches, anyway. And with the cold water it was going to stay that way.
"Hallo," we both said back.
"How's your leg?" said the older one.
"Stopped hurting, thanks. Just like your Dad said it would."
She laughed. "That's not my Dad. Mine's the other one. I'm Hannah, and this is Rose."
"I'm James, and this is Martin," echoed James.
"Hallo."
"Hallo."
This was getting a bit monotonous, I thought, and I was wondering how to make small talk when Hannah started again.
"Are you really not naturists?"
"Not really," I started. "The first time we landed here I'd forgotten my swimming things. So James kept me company and we did without. After that, it just didn't seem to matter, and as it was hot and we were going to swim anyway we just carried on."
"I had to take his clothes off the first time," James smirked. "He wasn't going to strip off on his own."
"Shut up," I said furiously, blushing.
Rose laughed. "I like it. It's nice and free. It's funny putting on a costume when we swim at school."
"It's funny putting clothes back on when we get ready to go," said James.
"D'you swim well?" I asked, anxious to change the subject. He'll be telling them he's slept in my bed next.
"I swim quite well," answered Hannah. "Rose only learnt last term."
"Like me," said James. "I only had two lessons, then Martin taught me the rest this week."
"Did he? Let's see, then."
Hannah was quite positive about it, and my suddenly shy little friend forgot all about his body and the fact that his bottom would be visible above the waves as he swam. He just launched himself straight into the crawl and swam splashily away from them. Unfortunately he didn't check his direction and went straight away from the shore.
As soon as I realised, I swam after him anxiously. When I was abreast of him I called out.
"Swim in a curve, will you, and head back to shore."
"Why?" he asked between gasps.
"'Cos you're heading out to sea."
There was a squeak and all the mechanism of swimming left him. His feet went down and touched nothing, and there was immediately a thrashing about in the water. I couldn't get near or I'd have been hit by a flailing arm.
"Lie on your back," I shouted over the splashing. "FLOAT!"
Desperation made him do it. I could see he was scared, but as soon as he had turned onto his back and was lying still on the water he calmed down quickly.
The trouble was that he was playing submarines again, without meaning to. The cold had made the periscope contract, but it was still a visible periscope. I swam round him safely on my front and hung in the water with a doggy-paddle
"Come on, you can swim to the shore. It's just the same as swimming nearer in." I knew he was out of his depth but I wasn't going to say the words.
"I can't."
"'Course you can. You got here. I don't want to have to tow you in, in front of the others."
"Please, Martin…? I'm scared. I can't turn over again. Please?"
He was getting worked up again. I don't know why but I had to help. With a sigh of resignation I put my hand under his chin, kicked up my feet and propelled us both towards the shore. His back was pressed against my side. It felt good. He was still being a submarine, even more so as he was effectively being supported in the water by my body. We were nearing shallow water when Hannah's voice sounded by my left ear and made me jump.
"That looks like fun! Will you do it for me?"
What?! A girl asking me to tow her? Was this luck?
"All right," I said graciously, and left James there. Fortunately he was in his depth. I followed her out, and she lay as James had done, floating on her back. The wavelets lapping over her breasts fascinated me, as did the mysterious dark triangle of hair…
As I had done with James I swum up beside her, but then hesitated. Could I really do the same tow on her as had on James? I mean, we'd be touching…but then, she'd asked me to, and if I did a remote tow she'd think I was treating her differently. At least I wouldn't be a submarine, like James. Alongside a…a what? I could only think of 'mother ship'. But then, she was naked and unconcerned; why shouldn't I be. I took a deep mental breath, floated alongside and gently put my hand under her chin in the approved life saving manner. My body floated up, touched her side and I towed her to the shore. When we got there I floated, and was quite glad the periscope was not as far up as it might be, despite the unusual partnership, but I put that down to the water temperature.
"That's fun," she laughed when I deposited her in shallower water.
"What is?" asked a light tenor voice from behind me. I swivelled round. It was the older of the two boys of my age. My eyes were held by his. They were dark, so dark as to be almost black, and they fascinated me. The face was pleasing too. I thought I could like this boy.
"Being towed," she answered.
"Towed?"
"Yes. Rescued if you like. He does it well."
"D'you do lifesaving, then?"
"Yes," I answered truthfully. "We did a course at school. I got my bronze."
"How's it work?"
"Well, like I just towed Hannah in. You put your palm under the chin and just swim with one hand and your legs. You have to tell them what you're doing first, though, or they might think you're going to duck them."
"Will you show me?"
"OK."
So once again I swam out to sea with a stranger. He was alongside me, and I kept glancing at this slim, quite tall body at my side with the rounded, muscular bottom…fascinating. Another vision to add to the collection I'd started in school.
"I float, do I?"
"Yes. If you didn't I'd have to try and persuade you to."
He floated. Up periscope.
It wasn't so much the size, but the shape. Actually more torpedo than periscope, and with no perceptible bulge at the end. But what was at the end was the extension of the skin which came together there, and went on for another ¼ inch or so — not that I measured. It just looked right. And below, despite the water, was a deep hanging — floating at the moment - sack with two smallish but beautiful oval shapes clearly visible. Up from it the hair was just growing enough to be there, and further up still was his neat belly button, flat belly, and the signs of good muscles to come.
Wow.
Trembling, I put my hand under the chin, floated up and broke the water.
The periscope could have seen all the shipping from there to France.
There was nothing I could do about it. I just had to tow him in, our bodies touching, mine offering greater resistance to the water than his, until we swam alongside Hannah and James. Hurriedly I let go and stood in the water which was just high enough to cover my embarrassment. He stood too.
"That's good. I'd like to learn to do that. Perhaps our school does it."
"I'll teach you, if you like." Now why did I say that?
"Would you? I'm Mark, by the way."
"Martin. This is James."
"Don't I get to learn too?"
"Yes, I suppose so."
"Brother?"
"No, friend."
"Hallo James."
"Hallo Mark."
Introductions over, I had to take little Rose a bit further out and 'rescue' her too. The captain had finished looking for other shipping by this time and had ordered the periscope down.
It ended, of course, with my having to take Ralph, the other boy of my age, and Billy, the young one to an appropriate depth and rescue them too. None had the same effect on me as Mark, although I could really get to like Ralph as a friend, I thought. But his body was — well — not as interesting as Mark's.
Eventually we decided we were hungry. I wondered what the time was. As we followed the others out of the water I watched Mark's good looking bum muscles helping him to force his way through the water. So intent was I in the sight that it wasn't until I was walking on the sand that I remembered I wasn't wearing anything and was in the company of strangers. Well, not exactly strangers. I'd towed them all in from the sea. We'd talked. We'd swapped experiences. James had been rabbitting on to Rose and Billy. They'd been playing in the shallows as if they'd known each other for ages.
And nobody was taking the slightest bit of notice of the fact that anyone else was naked, not even we two new boys.
Something clicked with me. With that and a bit of bravado I told myself I was going to be very happy wandering around nude with them all, even the adults. We were all in the same boat, anyway. So I found myself with Mark on one side and James on the other, about to eat our packed lunches as the others were starting on their picnic. A thought crossed my mind, apart from the fact that I was ravenous.
"Excuse me", I asked no one in particular, "but what's the time, please?"
There was some fumbling to my right. "Ten past two", said the doctor.
"WHAT? I mean, I beg your pardon…" I remembered my manners. The man laughed.
"You've been in the water for two hours. You didn't get here until about midday."
"I thought I was hungry. No wonder."
"I could eat a horse," said James. "No, a rhinoceros."
They all laughed. He grinned. We fetched our packed lunches from where we had dropped them and ate.
Afterwards we lay in the sun. I was tired by my frequent trips towing people, James was tired because he'd had an interrupted night. I kept comparing my feeling for James with my attraction to the boy lying next to me. Physically he was the better looking; more muscular, more…mature? Was that the word? Well, he would be — he was older. But James was…my little Jimmy, who had shared my shower and my bed, who liked to cuddle up to me when he was cold or scared. I wondered if Mark would ever let me do that with him. And wouldn't it be fun if we could help each other get that feeling. I couldn't with James, he was too young. But Mark was older than me. In fact he would probably produce white stuff. I looked at the instrument he'd use for doing so……
Well, my front was getting sunburnt anyway. I rearranged things to get more comfortable.
When I woke I was hot. The afternoon was getting stuffy again, I decided. Then there was a giggle from down beyond my feet, and why was there a heavy weight on my legs and back? I puzzled for a good few seconds, and then came to properly.
They'd piled sand on my legs and over my back. Deep sand. Only my bum was cool. I nearly twisted my head off trying to see the culprits. Mark was lying facing me, grinning in a friendly way at me. James had gone from the other side, and I was sure it was his laugh I'd heard. Not being a contortionist I couldn't see him or the others.
With some difficulty, but with a strength that came from the desire not to hide my bottom but to have it on the same basis of exposure as the rest of me, I pushed myself up. As I did so I thought how strange it was. It was bare, and the rest of me wasn't. And an exposed bum is less embarrassing than an exposed willy. And all I wanted to do was get everything exposed at once. Odd.
As I got up, the conspirators came into view. James, Rose and Billy. I might have guessed. I looked back at Mark — the others were in the sea again. He raised his eyebrows and inclined his head to the kids. Cottoning on, I nodded. The next minute we were both in hot pursuit of three childish bottoms which had got a scant fifty feet advantage. They dodged us and ran into the wood. We slowed. A quick start from immobility had left us both breathless and we wondered about following them into the gloom.
"I've got an idea," I said. "We could really give them a shock. James has seen it before, but the others haven't."
So we went back down to the stream with its muddy banks, and really wallowed hard. By the time we'd finished we were both black.
"You've got a thin spot on your lower back," I said, suddenly having an idea. I took a handful of mud and rubbed it on him, just above the start of his cleft.
"And how about your face?" he asked. "Shut your eyes."
I could feel his nearness, even through the mud. Things reacted. I was effectively a captive; if I'd moved he'd not be able to do my face. What the doctor had said about having an erection sprang to mind. Well…do I trust him? Do I have a choice?
"There you are. That should do. Is it OK?"
The mud was starting to stiffen already. I opened my eyes with some difficulty. My mouth wasn't keen to move either, especially when I laughed.
"I'd better do yours," I said, and grabbed another handful of mud.
Why did being so near him, and gently rubbing the mud over his face, make me tremble? With the shakes came the knowledge that my body was returning to normal. I looked down.
His was starting to react.
Wow.
It beat me. By about two inches. I was jealous as hell.
"That's OK," I said. "Can you open your eyes?"
It wasn't easy for him, either. We waded out. He rubbed some mud over his nether regions, so I did the same. It would have been nice to…no. Don't think about it.
The youngsters hadn't returned to the shore, so we went into the woods where they had and stood listening. Nothing, only birdsong.
"Where would they have gone?" He whispered.
"Could be anywhere. Would he have taken them to your boat?"
"That's a thought. We'll try there."
He followed me most of the way. It was peculiar to have someone who I really wanted to look at at close quarters following my bare but mud-caked bum. But I put up with the thought, and hoped it wasn't too unmuscular and wobbly.
As we neared the north shore I could hear voices. By this time we were both highly uncomfortable. The layer of rapidly drying mud was acting as an insulator, and the day was already hot. Patches of our covering were starting to flake off, and my forehead felt as if it was already washing itself off, so heavily was I sweating. He came up beside me, having heard the shouts and laughter. His disguise was also falling off in places, and there were rivulets of sweat, pink in black, down his face. With the dark eyes he looked positively demonic.
We indianed our way along toward the shouts, keeping just inside the shelter of the trees. He had overtaken by now. We were in single file, and every now and again I caught a glimpse of up and down pink as his buttocks separated.
It was too hot for my body to react. I had this odd urge to touch, but resisted.
He stopped at last, shortly before the hard mud wore through our skin, and we watched. Tag again? It was rather sweet, two small boys and a small girl playing naked and unashamed so happily. I was on the verge of suggesting that we should leave them, or just watch, when he turned round, grinned, beckoned with his head, and with one bound charged along the beach. I followed, but rather less eagerly.
The sight of two jet black figures running towards you, when you are young and not expecting it, is quite daunting. One of the tag players screamed, the other started, then just stood there as he recognised the make up. But the third, young Billy, amazed me.
He quickly pushed his sister behind him and stood there, fists at the ready, like a guardian. We skidded to a halt about six feet from him.
"What d'you want? You're scaring my sister." The voice was only a little quavery, but the expression in the eyes was what they call in the old books 'steadfast'. I was impressed. So, I think, was Mark. Rose was sniffing in the background.
The guardian looked closer at us, and something struck a chord. "Mark? It is you isn't it? I can tell you by the eyes."
"Yes, it is."
"I knew that!" James shouted. "Martin did the same to me the other day. It's scary, but you can see who it is once you know."
I just about followed the logic.
Mark crossed to Rose, who was still sniffing. "Don't be silly, Rose. It's only me. It's only a joke."
"You scared me."
"It was only fun. Don't be silly. Look, it's mud. It'll wash off. In fact it's getting so uncomfortable I'm going to wash it off now. Coming, Martin?"
"I certainly am. The edges start digging into you after a bit and it hurts."
"Serves you right."
"Sorry, Rose. But didn't Billy defend you well?"
"S'pose."
Mark gave his brother a squeeze on his shoulder. The smaller boy grinned up at him.
We got the mud off with the same difficulty as last time. Helping each other was fun, but the force needed to remove the hard-set gunge was not exactly conducive to interesting reactions. The only reaction either of us gave was the frequent 'OW, that HURTS!' as one of us rubbed harder than comfortable at a particularly sticky bit. As a way of getting to know somebody well, though, it's beyond compare.
We returned companionably across the island to where the others were now once again in the water. This time both sets of parents were swimming too. We joined them, and by this time all thoughts of being embarrassed by my nudity had vanished.
When at last we were once again drying in the sun which was once again almost too hot for comfort, Ralph spoke to me, for almost the first time.
"You know what you said about life saving?"
"Er…yes."
"Will you teach us?"
I thought. "Well, I want to spend some time sailing, and I said I'd take James with me……"
"I'd like to learn too."
"You need to learn to swim better before you can do that. You need to be able to keep afloat out of your depth."
He looked downcast. Then:
"I could be the rescued one."
"True, I suppose. And it's quite tiring, so we'd only be able to do a couple of hours a day. I could show you, then you could practise together."
"Yeah…we could end up teaching Hannah, and Mum and Dad."
They laughed. "I think you'd find us a bit difficult to tow," his mother said. "We're quite a bit heavier than you people."
"Oh no," I said seriously. "We were taught to rescue anybody. Once they're in the water weight hardly matters. It's just a question of getting them to lie still and getting them moving. After that it's all the same."
The doctor looked at me thoughtfully. "You know what you're about, don't you?"
"I was taught well…sir."
He laughed. "Then this is what we'll do, if it's all right with you. If you come here tomorrow, say about ten o'clock, we'll bring Ralph and Mark over, and you can spend a couple of hours teaching them and using James as the casualty, if he agrees."
The casualty nodded vigorously.
"Then you can sail over to the main island and spend the afternoon with us. They've got all sorts of things there — table tennis, volleyball, archery, swimming of course, and snorkelling. We'll book you in as guests and you'll be fine. You've settled down well with us without needing clothes, so a few more people in the same condition won't make a difference, will it? Will you come?"
I wasn't sure about the 'few extra people' bit. But it sounded good. I liked table tennis, and snorkelling sounded fun.
"I'll have to ask my parents. But we'll come here at ten tomorrow anyway."
"That's good. I don't know what view your parents have about naturists, of course. But if they want to meet us — with clothes on! — then you just tell me tomorrow and we'll rearrange it for Saturday. It might be better then, actually, 'cos the people are changing over and it's not so busy. And the newcomers are a bit less used to having nothing on, so if you're still a bit shy you'll not be alone."
I wasn't sure if that was a good idea or not. But I nodded anyway.
The afternoon got hotter, if that was possible. We were in and out of the sea like fiddlers' elbows.
At last I could stand it no longer, and asked the time.
"Five o'clock."
"I think we'd better go, if you don't mind. I feel as if I'm sunburnt all over."
"You probably are a bit," said the doctor. "I should cover your shoulders at least when you get back. It's been good to see you both, and do meet them here tomorrow unless it's raining."
"Thank you for doing my cut," piped up James.
"And thanks for making us welcome," I added.
They laughed and made polite noises. We turned. "See you tomorrow!"
"I'm coming across the island with you," said Mark. My heart gave a leap. I wanted to see more of him.
"Me too," said Rose, and she looked up at James and made him blush.
We chatted about nothing much as we crossed through the wood. As we got onto the beach I stopped and got my clothes out.
"Sorry. We've got to get them on now, 'cos dressing in a sailing dinghy doesn't work."
"That's OK. We don't mind."
They watched with interest as we made ready, then helped us push her down to the water. I poled off with an oar and, drifting slowly away from them, we set sail. They stood at the water's edge, waving: a male naked savage and his small mate, and only turned away as we got too far away to hear their shouts.