Chapter16. N-Day Minus 2

Donald Mays woke early on Tuesday morning. The barbecue of the previous evening had disappointed him. The people who came had seemed cooperative and had asked relevant questions, but did not seem to be really about to commit to the vision. It really had not seemed so tricky to him: accept the new rules and let the world know that they are welcome to come and spend some money around welcoming people. There was some devil in the details, but the community leadership, including the Family, was trying to do most of the legwork and make the transition as smooth as could be expected.

He decided that he needed a morning swim. A swim before breakfast had been almost a daily ritual when his wife was living, but he somehow didn’t seem to want to do it so much now. But this morning he showered and grabbed a towel and walked to the pool behind Adams. He did four laps and stopped in the shallow end to think a moment. He began to question just how committed even the others in the Family were to making the new arrangements work. He felt that Edna, Gordon, Emily, and Brenda were securely on board and he was assured that Jane was sincere in saying that she would not get in the way. And Christina would likely have run around town naked sometime even if there had never been a Bear case. But so many had been so silent. Apart from his brief conversation with Uncle John in Italy on Saturday, it seemed that all anybody had heard from Aunt Sarah and Uncle John in Italy was a message saying that they thought that those back home could handle things. Brenda’s husband Donald had made few of the meetings or conferences. He had attended the barbecue, but had been quiet the entire time.

While he was standing there in the pool he heard somebody approaching. Turning around he saw Edna approaching carrying a tray with coffees and Danish. She was wearing only a pair of Zubaz that he imagined she had slept in.

“I hope I didn’t wake you,” he told her.

“No. You know I rise early. You don’t swim much in the morning these days, usually only when something bothers you. I take it something is making you uneasy? Or are you hoping to get rid of some of that gut before you let the whole world see you in your glory Thursday?”

Edna wondered whether Donald’s early morning swims were an subconscious attempt to communicate with his dead wife when something was bothering him. They had swam togther almost every morning. She set the tray on a table and Donald came out from the pool and joined her sitting by the table.

“Thanks,” he told her. “No, I know that this gut will just have to show. You know, this whole thing isn’t going like I hoped. Maybe I was too willing to believe that a new era of freedom was what everybody would want or would at least jump to when they found it. And I guess I am baffled about what seems like the low level of support that we have had even from our own. Uncle John said they trusted us to handle things, but as far as I can tell have otherwise been quiet. It seems funny because it seems that if they were here that they’d be at that picnic Thursday letting the whole town see that even senior citizens can walk about naked and not be embarrassed. And despite Brenda’s willingness to work on this, Donald has been pretty quiet.”

“Well, Donald is not so strong willed. We know that. If Brenda is aboard, he will be. Brenda is going to be there Thursday, but I’m sure she will stay dressed. I really don’t blame her. We really don’t know how this is all going to play and she needs credibility in the capital. Sarah and Jim are retired. They don’t do much with any of our stuff anyway. They’ve earned that chance, to let our generation do the work, I guess, even though I can’t imagine ever retiring as much as they have. It is funny in a way. Simon stays more involved than they do and he’s ninety-two and has infirmities they don’t. And I’m sure that Maria and Bill will be there and will probably bring the boys which will be good at showing it as an all ages and family thing. Connor, jr. probably will show up too. Christina seems to have talked to him.”

“Well, maybe I’m just concerned too much. But things do seem to not be happening as I like.”

“Have you talked to my loving stepmother?”

Donald could always detect the sarcasm oozing from Edna’s voice whenever she referred to Jane, sarcasm even more evident when she used the word “stepmother.” The two women always did keep their distance. He suspected that Edna knew of Jane’s Saturday night’s visit.

“Well, I talked to her Saturday evening and she said that she wouldn’t join us, but wouldn’t do anything against us.”

“Which would be against Gordon, too.”

“Well, yes. Actually, she raised some of the things that Maria and Simon said Sunday.”

“Well, that all seems to fit. But you don’t think she’s going to sabotage us, do you?”

“You know, it really is a shame that you and she don’t get along better. She is a woman your father married. And it isn’t like he was cheating on your mother. Your mother had been gone a long time before your father even met Jane. You and Emily were grown and she was really good for Gordon who was still a little kid. She really is a smart woman with a good soul.”

“Well, for the thousandth time, spare me that speech. You know that Jane and I will never accept or trust each other. She and I both seem to acknowledge that. Gordon has accepted it. I know that families do not choose themselves and I have never thought that my father marrying her was some kind of infidelity, but I have never liked her and am never sure about how well she works with us.”

“Well, I think I’m going to talk with Donald and maybe try to call Italy, anyway. And I probably ought to talk to Barbara. She’s often a lot harder to deal with than Connor.”

They talked a bit more until the coffee carafe was finished and Edna excused herself. Donald concluded that Edna had her reservations about how things were happening also, but was more reluctant to admit it.

Donald went back into his house and dressed. He decided to try to contact Donald Kennedy before going to work, so he picked up his phone and called his cousin. Despite the fact that they had both been named after the same grandfather and spent their lives on the same compound, they really had never been very close. But Donald Mays thought Brenda made up for Donald’s inattention to family business matters.

He was only able to tell his cousin’s voice mail to call him back.




Karen Cahill arrived at Yankee Joe’s a bit early. She had scheduled two meetings for employees, one to begin an hour before opening and the other for after closing. She let herself in and went to her office, changed into her uniform, and began looking at the part of Monday’s mail that she had deferred from then. She knew that the day staff would be ringing for admission in a few minutes and guessed that Maddyson would be the first. A perky blonde newlywed whose husband worked at FSH, she was part of the full-time, year-around staff. Maddyson indeed arrive a good six minutes before anybody else.

“Good morning, Mad. When Carver comes in, can you tell me to see me as soon as he is ready?” she asked the younger woman as she let her in.

“Will do. But, can I talk to you for a minute first?”

“Can we do this before everybody else arrives or shall we book a time?”

“Well, the questions are easy. I just don’t know long the answers will take.”

‘Well, give it a try. If we need to talk later, we will.”

“Jayson and I have been talking about N-Day and what it will mean. I don’t think it will be that big a deal for most people, but I guess it might be here. You going to let us work naked?”

Karen sensed some concern in Maddyson’s voice and inferred that the question would have been better phrased with “make” rather than “let.” She also wondered how much of the fear belonged to Maddyson and how much to her husband.

‘No, absolutely not. There are good reasons. We aren’t going to let anybody work nude, even it they want to. I may do it, but I won’t even let Carver do it. We’ll explain some of that at the meeting.”

She put her hand on the younger woman’s shoulder and asked, “You feeling better with that answer.”

Maddyson looked at her and smiled.

“That helps a lot. But I do still have one problem. What about the guests? Jayson isn’t real comfortable with my having to see anybody else nude, either. I think he’s more concerned about my seeing the guys, of course, but what are we doing about that?”

“Well, that may be a bit trickier. We are intent on making this a friendly place for everybody, including those who want to keep their suits dry or maybe not even own any, as well as for our family trade which may not like that. We’re seeing what we can do. We’re going to play with the schedule a bit, but even if we made the guests wear suits all the time, I don’t think we’ll be able to stop them from coming through the door naked. And there will certainly be some naked people, and most of the will probably be men, all around town, all around the state, and that will include some outside our premises. You and Jayson will have to get used to seeing it. We all will. But don’t worry. I imagine that after a few days, just seeing a naked person won’t seem so offensive. And an awful lot of those you are going to see are folks you really won’t want to see naked anyway, certainly nobody to turn you on. Or me, either. I worked as a lifeguard at a naturist resort one summer when I was in college. Believe me. It’s not pretty. But I really don’t want to lose you. We’ll see what develops and I’m sure we will be able to work something out.”

“Thanks, Karen. Jayson can get a little jealous, I guess. And I’m not sure I want all those women where he can see them too. My boobs aren’t big and my ass is a little wider than I would like.”

“You look fine. And in a week, you will realize that almost nobody has a perfect body. And I think Jayson will have adapted. Guys are always afraid that they’re too small and that somebody with a bigger dick will take their women, but if you like what you have he will find that he really doesn’t have anything to worry about. I’m not into men, but you must have married him for who he was and not how many inches are hanging down off of him. Men seem to think that they’ll lose their women to a bigger dick.”

“Thanks again. Hell, I don’t want a bigger dick. His is fine. I had a boyfriend with a bigger dick before I met Jayson. And that’s all he was was a dick.”

Karen chuckled. Lindsey Appleton had approached the door and Maddyson let her in. Her conversation with Maddyson was over.

“Lindsey, good morning,” Karen greeted her. “And Maddyson, keep the door locked and just let employees in. We have some chairs set up by the kiddy pool. We told everybody to be in uniform first, so remind them. When everybody on the list has come in, come on back and join us.”

“I will,” Maddyson said.

“You going to be in your cute new uniform?” Lindsey teased Karen as they walked off.

“Not today.”

“Well, I’ll see you in a bit.”

Lindsey went to the women’s change room and Karen returned to her office. About two minutes later Carver Randolph came through her open door.

“You rang, boss?”

“Well, we haven’t had a chance to talk since the barbecue last night. I wondered what your impression was.”

“Well, those people sure have a nice place. I had actually figured that it would be lusher, more upscale since I am sure that they have the money to make it so, but it was damned nice. But I’m not sure that we learned much about how to approach N-Day. And I got to see you actually do lifeguard work.”

‘Well, it wasn’t that big a deal, pulling Mary out. Just a reminder of why we don’t allow inebriated people here. I am not sure what we learned, either, but I was disappointed that there seems to be so little community interest in the changes. Of course, we’re in the water park business. We pretty much have to change, I think, but some of the other places seem like they’re going to be keeping an almost hostile – or at least less than fully cooperative -- attitude.”

“Well, you probably gave some of those guys something to pleasure themselves with last night. Two naked women so close together and so wet probably got them thinking. And it you both made it look like you really were lesbians. Guys like that. You know, I think that that Mary might walk on your side of the street.”

“You guys always amaze me. You think you can tell which of us is straight or not by looking at us. Even we can’t do that. I don’t know Mary well. But she had too much wine. I don’t think she drinks very often. And I suspect that she doesn’t get much enjoyment from anybody else, male or female, but that’s not our business. Now, do you think you are set for our meeting?”

‘Well, I’ve gone over our notes from our talk yesterday. And I’ve gone over the paperwork we are passing out and it is all assembled and collated.”

“We’re probably set then and had better get out there pretty quick. We want to have enough time that if we get too many questions that we can get done before opening. And, I’m sorry. You and I are both going to stay dressed after N-Day. The reasons for you haven’t changed since we talked about it. The lawyers have asked me to hold back. Maybe I’ll be able to do it later, but I’m pretty sure that nobody else will.”

“It’s no real big deal to me. I just wanted to seem to extend the hospitality a bit. But I know that you were looking to wearing that uniform that you showed me yesterday. You would look damned good in it. There are guys who would have a sex change to have a chance at you if you wore that.”

“Thank you for the compliment. But they’d be wasting some good gonads for that. I’m spoken for and even if I wasn’t I like my women to be born women. Now let’s get out there.”

She rose and joined him as they walked out by the kiddy pool.



Brenda Allan answered her cell phone. It was Connor Fredricks, jr. She was one of the few in her generation with whom he communicated. He appreciated her mind and her sincerity. She accepted that there must be something bothering the young man that his parents had not been able to detect or help with and hoped that her continuing contact would enable her to help them or him sometime.

“Yes, Connor, what’s up?”

“Well, I knew that you had that barbecue last night which I gather is part of the Family’s plan to profit on other people’s nudity. But how did it go?”

“It’s a shame you weren’t there. Your parents and Anna were there. Anna actually spoke up well at the family meeting Sunday night. Your sister is going to be quite a woman some day, if she isn’t all ready.”

“She’s a good person. And I know that even though she hates wearing clothes at home that she won’t do anything like that at that picnic that Edna and Donald are having Thursday. You also like nakedness and I do too. I would go to the community picnic if I could be part of the community and not part of Edna’s or Dad’s show. But we know that won’t be. But I really am looking forward to the day, but I don’t want to use my nudity to be part of some marketing plan. So I was figuring that it might help if I knew what you were doing. I know that you like being naked, but are concerned about the image you present, so if I knew whether you were going to be naked at the picnic, it might affect my planning.”

“Well, I’ll be there and I’ll be dressed. I’m being hesitant about my public image for a while. My public image is my business. I don’t mean as my personal business which it is but my business as what I do professionally. But Aurora and Cody and Savannah are coming in tomorrow for a few days. It really wasn’t set up for N-Day, but I imagine they’ll be going. Whether either of them takes it off is hard to tell. It might be determined by how much Amanda and Antoine get them going.”

Connor knew that as long as they had been living that Amanda somehow could get Aurora, her twin, to do almost anything she wanted to. From what he could tell, she might still have that ability even though both of them were married now and Aurora had a daughter.

“Why don’t you come over for dinner tomorrow?” Brenda asked. I’m sure that Aurora would be glad to see you and we can all talk about Thursday.”

“I work until nine, sorry.”

“Let me get back to you. You able to make it to breakfast Thursday?”

“I suppose.”

“I’ll give you a call. That doesn’t leave a lot of time for talking, but I’m sure that Aurora will be glad to see you.”

“Have her call me.”



Phil O’Hara walked into Conway Tap. It was his bar and it sat a block south of Jim’s and attracted many of the same clientele, although his clientele might have been been just a smaller, barely discernable step more upscale. The opening hours were usually slow and when he got there the only people he saw were his brother John who bartended for him in the mornings behind the bar and two men in a booth across the room.

He had not discussed things much with John or any of his other staff about the Bear ruling and the possible developments that might come from it. He had been studying about both the possible and the probable effects and had attended the barbecue the night before hoping to obtain something. He had gone confused and left confused. His calls and emails to the Liquor Distributors Association had not helped him as he would have liked.

He usually did not come into the bar in the morning. John usually began the day for him. Phil walked behind the bar, grabbed a glass, and filled a glass with a regional microbrewery’s premium dark. Taking a seat at the bar he decided to talk to his brother about Thursday.

“The guys in the morning been asking when we’re going to have naked people here?”

“Not much. I think they think the whole thing ain’t going to happen.”

“You know, I somehow think they may be right, but Edna and Donald sure don’t.”

“Yeah, how did that go last night?”

“Fuckin’ waste of time, I think. Actually, it may have helped some people who aren’t in our business but we really won’t know what to think until the state tells us how they’re going to handle bars. I think I’ll take the attitude that somebody told me Jean has. ‘Fuck ‘em all. We’re here to drink not to ogle.’ But if they want to bring something else in for somebody else to look at, we might look the other way.”

“She’s not going for any topless or nude waitresses or bartenders, is she?”

‘Don’t think so. And from what I read that will most likely not be allowed, anyway.”

They were interrupted by a dirty blonde coming out of the women’s room who asked from her distance, “What was that about topless waitresses?”

Her voice was loud enough that the two men across the room turned their heads.

“Good morning, Denise,” Phil noted. “I had not realized that you were here. I was just talking to your father about N-Day.”

“Well, I’m not working naked – of topless, either.”

“Of course not,” Phil answered. “I am really disappointed that you thought you needed to say so. Your uncle wouldn’t do that to you. In fact I wouldn't do that even if you weren't my niece. I ain’t going to let any staff show their stuff off, no matter how much they want to. But I’ll bet the idea had crossed your mind now, hadn’t it?”

"If I was twenty again, I’d probably be excited to try. But I’m looking back at thirty, I’m married, and I have awful scars from that appendectomy and from that C-section. I don’t even go swimming in a two-piece anymore. I appreciate your attitude, but if Jean has that redhead working in the nude, some of our guys will end up there.”

“I don’t think she’s that crazy,” Phil answered. “She knows that capitalizing on nudity is clearly still illegal and likely all nudity, certainly all staff nudity, will be banned on licensed premises.”

“And I don’t think that redhead that works there would do it anyway,” her father added. “They say she is pretty feisty and will say ‘fuck you’ to Jean when she thinks she needs to. And the guys were telling me that Donald Mays went in there the other afternoon and Jean didn’t kowtow to him, either.”

“Donald Mays went into Jim’s?’ Denise asked. “That really seems astounding.”

“Well, he comes in here once in a while. Not very often, but he likes to check in on everybody, it seems,” Phil noted. “But he and Jean do have some kind of animosity. Jim always seemed to be able to tolerate that family, but Jean doesn’t think the same way.”

“Why was he there? Anybody know?” Denise asked.

“I think he wanted her to go to that barbecue that Phil went to last night,” John answered.

“Or at least think she was invited,” Phil observed. “But whatever it was, she wasn’t there.”

“What does seem to be the legal problem, Uncle Phil?”

“Well, you don’t seem topless female staff in bars anyway now, do you? And you don’t see topless men either. When the court ruled a few years ago that women could go topless anywhere men could, the ACB suddenly decided that men needed shirts also. I don’t think anybody had a topless guy bartending, but suddenly all employees had to have shirts. It seems that unless they change that that even if they don’t do anything else that all staff would have to have their tops covered. In other words, bottomless might be allowed, but not total nudity and that just seems somehow freaky enough that only government could come up with it. But in all likelihood, the ACB will mandate covered bottoms by Thursday. Somebody may try to take it to court. I have seen three lawyers’ interpretations of whether they think Bear v. Beardsley would overrule any of this and two of them don’t think so, so I guess we’ll just have to play some things by ear. But I really don’t want any naked staff, anyway. It seems that it would cause more problems than it would be worth.”

“What do you mean, Uncle Phil?”

“Well, there would be unknown number of sexual harassment issues and lawsuits and some employees would figure that they didn’t get a job or couldn’t keep one because they won’t strip or don’t look as good naked as somebody else or just are the wrong gender.”

“Well, I’m glad that you seem to be looking at all the angles on this. I just dropped Dad off and have several things to do before I come back to work. Call me later if Chang hasn’t finished the car, Dad.”

She planted kisses on both men’s cheeks and left by the side door.



The employees scheduled to be at the morning meeting at Yankee Joe’s had all assembled and were seated on folding chairs beside the kiddy pool. Karen and Carver were sitting on folding chairs behind a folding card table facing them. Karen rose to start the meeting.

“You all know that beginning Thursday at noon, public nudity will, with a few exceptions, no longer be illegal and I know that I have heard some of the tittering and whispering about what might happen, not only in town but here too. And I’m sure that you have been fearing some of what you heard and anticipating some of the other.

“This presents a big challenge to a water park. We’ve been checking around what other pools and water parks in the state are going to do and we aren’t learning much. I don’t think people are trying to confuse us – although they might, after all, we are competition – as much as it that they just don’t know. I have spoken to our owners and this meeting is to tell you what Yankee Joe’s is going to do.

“The first thing I want to say is to quiet all the fears that I have been hearing and have heard others whispering about. I cannot say this loudly enough or make it clear enough. None of you, no matter what your job, will be expected to be undressed here. None of you will even be allowed to be naked here, even if you want to be. I repeat, nobody who works here will be going about these premises without being dressed.”

She thought she detected a general sigh from the employees. She gestured to Carver to pick up on what she said.

Carver rose and continued, “You will all be clothed. Those of you who have uniforms will be wearing the same ones, but all of you will have to be able to accept seeing naked guests. If that especially bothers somebody, talk to Karen or me afterwards, but remember that if seeing people naked really bothers you, you will have to leave the state. We know that we will be having some of our own people who are naked in our town as well as guests from out of state who will be coming here so they can legally skinnydip.

“Starting Saturday morning, we’re going to open earlier, 9:00 in the morning. And we’re going to stay open until 11:00 at night, midnight on weekends. That means additional hours available for some of you and it may mean that we have to find new help, especially after the summer hires go back to whatever else it is that they do.

“The new hours will allow us to have both suits required and suits optional hours and allow those who wish to come here and not look at any skinnydippers the chance. We are going to require that suits be worn by all guests between 11:30 in the morning and 7:30 in the evening. But, as Karen said, all staff will be clothed as you are now. That’s the basic format. I think Karen wants to take a couple of questions now before we go on.”

Karen stood up again.

“I’ll take a couple of questions and maybe find out what you want to know most, and then we’ll continue with what is left.”

Crystal White asked the first question.

“How will people know when they come in what the rules are? And will it affect the entrance fees?”

“Good questions,” Karen replied. “Well, we intend to have clear and unambiguous signage telling people what's up and if we don’t have the signs ready we’ll have flyers to give everybody. And we’ll make sure that morning staff mentions the 11:30 changeover when people come in and that staff during the afternoon and early evening make people coming in aware that there is a change coming. And no, we aren’t changing our admission fees, at least not right away. We will be allowed to have nude guests, but we can’t market it. It may take a while to get the word out, but we expect that there will be many new guests eventually. And we’ll still charge by the day. If a naked person wants to dress they can stay past 11:30 and if you don’t mind naked people you can stay after 7:30 in the evening and keep your suit on. We will have some of you going among the clients about an hour before each change and giving the proper warning and will use the PA to announce every five minutes or so for probably twenty minutes before each change. You know, nude swimming is addictive to a lot of people. I doubt that most of you have had much chance to try it, but if you have, you will understand why we think we will have a lot of new customers.”

Somebody shouted out, “If skinnydipping is so good, can we do it?”

Karen knew that this question would come up and was not comfortable with the answer she was going to have to give.

“No, I’m afraid, at least not at first. I’m not sure about later on, but no, we can’t allow it at first. The lawyers and insurance people won’t allow it. I’m sorry.”

The same voice asked, “How about on our day off?”

Karen recognized the voice now as being Jacob Ricci whom she had hired as a lifeguard earlier in the summer.

She answered, “A good question and I’ll look into it. But I think that just to be safe we’ll say no for the time being.”

She decided to go back to her notes.

“We will not allow any change in behavior just because somebody is naked. What was acceptable before will still be acceptable and what was not acceptable will stay unacceptable. If you see somebody engaging in something that is not allowed ask them to quit and if they don’t get the manager on duty. We will tell them to quit it or get out as the case warrants. A man’s hand may brush against his penis and it may not mean anything. That is going to be a little subjective and you’ll have to make the best determination that you can. Of course, if you see a guy stroking himself or having somebody else stroking him make them stop at once.”

“What about people hitting on each other?”

“They already do that and we tell people to let each other alone when we need to. But the point is well taken. We will need to be more vigilant. No woman should be considered more propositionable just because she is nude. No man either, for that matter, but we probably won’t get that complaint as much. And no man should figure that his nudity gives him the right to approach others. And we won’t allow anybody who wants call undue attention to the fact that he or she is naked. And no adult approaching any child in anyway that looks even slightly irregular will be tolerated.”

“What about kids? They allowed to go naked?”

“Well, apparently the law says they can. And I know that some parents will allow their kids to run about without anything on. For some of the younger ones they may even encourage it. But I also know that every person who goes naked here for more than a few minutes probably has a better than fifty-fifty chance of being naked someplace on the internet pretty quick and forever. Our signs telling people that we don’t require suits during certain hours will also have warnings about this. We will also be asking people to check their cameras and cell phones when they come in, just like they’re supposed to do now, but I don’t think it will work. It doesn’t now. But the signs will give us something to work with and let us confiscate what we can. What we decided to do, getting back to your question about kids, is say that no minor can undress without a parent or guardian present. It will be hard to enforce, but we’ll have to do the best we can. A lot of people will want to take pictures here and other places in Conway Corners and other places in the state and Yankee Joe's which is the closest water park to the state line will seem like easy pickings to some people. Some of these people will just be looking for something for their personal collections, but some of the pictures will be posted someplace and sooner or later get around. I personally think that eighteen isn’t old enough to make that decision, but the law says that you reach majority at eighteen.”

Lindsey noted that some of the men would likely be becoming erect and wondered what the policy would be when that happened.

Carver answered her question, “We were wondering how soon that question would come up. Some of you are concerned about this and so are we. I doubt that erections will happen as often as some of you think or fear, but they will happen. And, as probably most of the male employees are aware, they can happen naturally sometimes in a totally sexless context. What we will not be able to tolerate here is men strutting their erections around or attempting to call attention to them. A conscientious guy will turn away, grab a towel, jump in the water, or something. Most of them will lose their hardness before you even know they had it. But we will expect that any man who gets an erection will attempt to cover it or get rid of it. And certainly we cannot accept anybody, the guest or somebody else, touching a penis, erect or not, no matter what the relationship between them is. There may be some incidental contact sometimes, but if the contact doesn’t look like an accident, warn them politely to stop and if they don’t have security or management evict them.”

“In other words, pretty much as we do it now, only some of them may have their clothes off,” a male voice from the back asked.

“Yes, that’s a good summary,” Carver answered. “But it is even more important now because we want to make our state and our town welcoming to good, social nudists and one pervert or one person or couple who just don’t understand the right time and place probably kills out the work of a hundred good people who just want to have their clothes off. And we figure that Yankee Joe’s and other water parks will be magnets to all of them.”

Karen stepped in.

“And we’re going to have to step up our policy on cameras a bit. I know that we aren’t doing very well as it is, that cameras, especially those on phones, get taken through the locker rooms every day despite our signs and staff reminders to check them in. A lot of this isn’t done with evil intentions, it’s just that people are so convinced that they need their phones next to them and don’t want to make us return them to them when they have changed and do the same things again when leaving. And also a lot of people forget they have their phones with them. We are going to change the rules a bit so that we keep the phones until they are leaving, not just until they have changed. But we know that no matter how much we try to stop cameras that we aren’t going to keep them away.”

“So far, the only pictures we’ve been worrying about have pretty much been perverts or pornographers sneaking pictures in the changing and shower areas. But now the whole park has perils. Pictures that we don’t want to have taken can be taken any place here now. We may not be able to keep the no cameras away from the pool areas rule. We may get too many complaints from good people. But we’re going to try it.

“And if you ever see somebody shooting a picture of a naked child, naked -- or in the case of a girl over about three -- even topless, tell them to stop. Get control of the camera, even if it is a phone. Take them to the security office and we’ll give them back the camera if we can remove the stick or card or film or whatever contains the images. And if it turns out that the person taking the picture is indeed the parent or guardian we can give it back, but probably with a lecture on what can happen to digital images. If you see somebody loitering around outside the fence with a camera tell security or if they are off our property, all the police.”

“And, as always, we’ll need to be especially vigilant about people approaching minors, both children and teens. Use some common sense and if you’re not sure ask a manager or a security person.”

The conversation continued on about twenty more minutes as they answered more questions and re-answered some they already had.

As they dismissed the employees to go to work and get the park open, Karen asked Carver if he thought the meeting had been successful. Carver answered that he thought so and was impressed with how seriously the employees seemed to take the situation and how little snickering or giggling he had heard.


Danielle Irons arrived at Downtown Books shortly before her one o’clock starting time.

“Good afternoon,” Phil greeted her.

“Good afternoon, Phil,” Danielle greeted her boss.

“This is the last time I have you scheduled before Thursday, Danielle. Do you have any questions?”

“Not really. You know I’m not taking anything off and you weren’t going to ask anyway. But I’m sure that you will let us know what to do about guests.”

“Unless I tell you otherwise – and I guess that’s always a possibility since things are pretty fluid right now – we will allow it. But I’ll have some towels behind the counter. If they feel like sitting in the chairs, offer them a towel to sit on. We’ll see how it goes. We’re going to be like almost everybody around here, doing a lot of ad libbing.”

Phil cleaned out the cash register and left for the bank.