I called home as soon as you made it to Marge's house, and my dad answered.

"Oh, Mom is with Marge's mother"

"Good, I am at her home."

"Let's hope it goes well with them. Had a good day after all?"

"I had geometry problems, but Marge will help me"

"Good for you. I can help you too"

"Thanks dad"

We installed ourselves at the kitchen table, and she began helping me make sense of the geometry problems.

Despite working hard, I didn't solve all my problems. It would take more than one work session. But Marge put her finger on my issue, and that is precious!

To do these problems, there are multiple parts to solve.

There is a purely arithmetical part, and that, I was able to do. There was an analytical part, which is where most people struggled. Well, I got that too.

My issue, was with the diagrams. It's like the lines "dance" in front of my eyes, and I lose track of what I am doing when there are too many of them on the sheet.

Marge created exercises for me , one per sheet, and I did much better.

So, she made me a complex sheet with 8 exercises, but this time, we used paper tissues to hide the 7 problems I was not working on.

Bingo, I got it. Again, it wouldn't solve my problems with geometry. Some complex questions in just a few days would be on their own enough to overwhelm me, but now, I have an idea of what to do to help me.

I thanked her and hugged her, which made her feel odd.

"Sorry, maybe I shouldn't have"

"No, it's just. Perhaps it's part of my condition. I don't like getting touched, but like, this felt good, and wrong. Like, part of me is happy I helped you, and part of me is angry you touched me. "

"I won't touch you again"

"No, I don't think it's the solution. I think you need to adjust to geometry problems, and I need to adjust to having friends who like to touch me"

"Most likely"

"Can you hug me again?" she says.

"Sure", I say, but this time, instead of a quick hug, it was a warmer one.

When I let you. She shivers a little.

"Felt wrong?"

"Sorry", she says.

"Don't be. You tried."

She took out her homework, and I took out mine. We both worked on it, until the front door opened.

It's Ellie, who is shocked to find me.

"Didn't I ban you from seeing this girl?"

"No, you banned me from being nude in the company of others, of being with nude people, and of going to her home. Bringing her here and both of us staying dressed wasn't part of the ban"

"But it's against the spirit of my rules"

"I told you, I don't get the spirit of rules. If you didn't want her here, you should have said so. You wanted me to make friends, I made friends, and now you want to ban me from seeing them. You are impossible", but I realize that Marge is standing up, she has her fists closed up, and she is yelling.

The quiet, calm Marge that you thought you knew is gone.

"Are you boiling with rage?"

"I am. You keep pushing me, and I try to do what you say, but it makes no sense"

"Good"

"Good?"

"I wanted to check. Are you always boiling like that?"

"No, but you have a knack for putting me darn close"

"Julie, so do you want to stay here if we calm down?"

"I like your daughter. She helped me with geometry, and we were calmly doing our homework. She is introverted like me, and I like that"

"I was talking to you", yells Marge.

"And I will return to you shortly, but I am attending to your guest. Once I am done, we will talk, you and me, little lady"

"So I am just to shut up until you are ready for me?"

"Yes, are you still capable of doing that?"

"I am "

"Julie, if it were up to you, would you be dressed right now"

"Honestly?"

"Honestly"

"No"

"Ok, Marge's room is that door there. I want you to go undress in that room, I will grab a towel for you to sit on, and you can remain as such until you leave. Is that acceptable for you?"

"But..."

"Is that acceptable?"

"It is"

"Then go, so I can speak with my daughter"

I left, but I didn't close the door, so I could listen.

"Listen, little lady, changes of rules. Change 1: You are no longer banned from Julie's house. But, you will alternate between going there and here and or Edith coming here. You can have them over as often as you want, but to go there, you need to have not spent more than 1 excess day there without me. Currently, it's 1 to 1. Tomorrow, you can go to her house"

"So I am no longer banned from there?"

"Rule change number 2. Listen to it. In this house, you are again allowed to be nude in your room, alone. I know you preferred to sleep in the nude, and it was wrong of me to force you into pajamas because of yesterday"

"Thank you. I just sleep better nude. It has nothing to do with naturism"

"I know. Rule change number 3. You are allowed to be nude if you want at Julie, or Mindy's house. If you'd like. Not if she wants. You decide. And I want you, at least once per month, to keep your clothes on at her place, so you can force yourself out of an imposed routine"

"I can be nude with them?"

"And them with you"

"Thank you"

"Rule change number 4. They can be nude here, but not you. You live under my rules, not theirs"

"I get that"

"These are all conditional. They might change. Nothing is final. And your respect of those rules, will help them stay in place"

"I understand"

"New rule. You cannot go to Mindy this week. Only next week"

"I can respect that"

"New rule: Saturday, there is a non-landed club event. We are invited, you and me, by Kylie. It's a naturist event at a pool and a gym. If you don't want to go, you don't go. But I go, and until I do, you will not get permission to go to Mindy's house"

"Wait, I don't understand", she says.

I am already nude, and I am listening, but I don't risk getting close.

"I need to know that you will be safe there in particular, and in a naturist setting in general"

"But you will need to be nude too"

"So be it. I care more about you, than about me, little lady"

"Mom?"

"Yes?"

"Thanks"

"Don't thank me. Kylie did the heavy lifting"

I approached.

"My mom proposed all of that?"

"Well, no. But she opened the door. Oh, and Marge, I will schedule an appointment to get you tested for autism. Your reaction, and I apologize for pushing you to make sure, shows me that maybe Kylie is right. You do have repressed anger, you are masking. And I don't want that for you. I want you to feel calm. Once we know more, I will make everything possible to make you be more honest with me"

"Thank you, Mom," says Marge.

We both return to our homework, and it feels natural to be nude. Even when Ellie brought us glasses of water, and sat with us.

She was silent at first, but then, began asking us what we were doing, and offered help to both of us.

When it became clear she couldn't really help, she asked me if she should raise the heating.

"Kylie told me that naturists kept the temperature 2 or 3 degrees higher"

"We do, but I am comfortable enough."

"Perhaps one degree won't kill."

She raised it, maybe just to convince herself she was doing something.

But she returned, and it's while she was reading something on her phone that her husband, Richard, arrived. Marge's father.

You were presented to him, he saluted you, and he said he was happy to put a face on one of her daughter's friends, but then, he went into the living room to sit on a sort of sofa chair that faces the television. He sat on it, sighed, and just stayed there, with the television off.

"I'll prepare supper for you and the girls soon, I ate an early lunch, my dear"

"It's ok, I just have one of those headaches", he said, and returned to his half-catatonic state.

Neither Marge nor Ellie seemed surprised.

"Is spaghetti ok with you, Julie?"

"I could also eat at home, I came to get help from Marge, you don't have to feed me"

"It's up to you, Julie. I can call your parents right away to come pick you up, I can drop you off, or you can eat before you leave. It's all up to you, and Marge."

"I'd like for Julie to stay longer," said Marge.

"So it's up to you"

"I told my dad I was here. My mother probably arrived home, if she wanted me home, she would call."

"That's not an answer", says Ellie, smiling.

"I would gladly eat your spaghetti, but I am a bit of a messy eater with it"

"Oh, well, it looks like you won't stain your clothes"

I look at her. She is smiling, and proud of her joke, so I laugh.

"No, I suppose not"

"Marge had problems with spaghetti as a kid. I'll cut it for you if you want"

"I can cut it myself, but people usually look at me weird"

She restrained a laugh.

"What?"

"If my mother saw you cut your spaghetti tonight, it's not the cutting she would complain about"

I look at her.

"Will you really come Saturday?"

"Do you know what I see all day at school, Julie?"

"Students?"

"Students with problems. Small ones, bigger ones. Do you know what I do not see?"

"Solutions?"

"No, we have solutions. It's parents helping those kids that I fail to see. I will be there for Marge, like Kylie was there for her, and is for Edith, and for you. And if I can be there for you and return the favor, I will. I have preconceived ideas put in my mind by years of raising this little one, but also from being raised by a closed-minded mother of another era."

"Thank you for that. For being there. Marge needs you"

On that, Marge puts her hand on my hand, but says nothing and keeps her eyes on her homework.

It doesn't last, but it's all the vote I needed. And it's all the endorsement that Ellie needed.

Soon enough, Ellie was cooking, making the sauce on her own, often singing with a very pleasant voice, while Marge and I focused on finishing our homework.

Once, Ellie was singing, and her husband, from his chair, joined her for the chorus. I don't recall the song, and it wasn't melodious, but for a brief moment, I could feel that these two were indeed married.

It didn't last, and Ellie didn't comment, but I could almost feel a hint of sadness, like she almost touched something with her husband and it faded away.

Marge went to the restroom first, I followed soon after, and perhaps 10 minutes later, I was done with my homework.

Marge needed a few more minutes of revision, and we could put our homework back in our backpacks, talking for a minute or two in her room.

"Julie, I just need to confirm something with you"

"Anything Marge"

"We said nothing to each other for about an hour"

"Yeah, about that, give or take"

"Were you happy to be with me, or angry I didn't talk to you?"

"Marge, I am surrounded by people who talk too much to say nothing. This was one of my favorite parallel homework sessions of my life"

"Funny you say that, my mother calls that parallel play. Like if you play one game, and I am with you playing another. We are not interacting. To her, it's bad."

"I don't think it's the same, homework is meant to be done alone, or with help. Not a cooperation"

She looked at me.

"Can I hug you even if you are nude?"

"Is there a reason why in particular?"

"You just solved a major anxiety topic in my mind, Julie. I don't like physical contact, but I want to be better"

I opened my arms, and she hugged me. It didn't last. She is really not comfortable with physical contact, and that's okay. That's fine.

But she is smiling.

"Tomorrow, your place, and we are both nude?", she says.

"Suits me. But only if you want"

"I don't get that. I don't want much. But I need a lot", says Marge.

"I can accept that"

By the time we go back to the kitchen, Ellie needs help setting the table, so Marge takes out the utensils, placemats, and glasses, and I place them around the table.

When I make some noise, her father leaves the living room, and comes to sit at his place, thanking me for setting the places.

"We have spaghetti tonight, dear", says Ellie

"Thank you, it smells amazing", says Richard.

"It's the herbs from our garden"

"We still have some?"

"Not a lot more." she says, a little sad.

"When we run out, tell me, there is the herb shop next to the town hall. I could go on my lunch break"

"I finish school early. Rest on your lunch break, dear", says Ellie.

I decide to try to engage him.

"You work at the Townhall?"

"I handle permits. With the economy, the rules aren't changing fast enough, and I have to reject a lot. I got yelled at 7 times today"

"Oh, that's bad", says Ellie.

"I cried on the drive home. I wanted to help each of them, but rules are rules"

"Rules are rules", says Marge, almost mechanically.

"I used to break some, but I almost lost my job"

"Mr Patterson asked for a renovation, and he didn't even follow the plan he submitted", says Ellie.

"He filled an invalid one, I claimed that on paper, it looked good, but I knew. I knew his house"

"He used to be a friend of my husband", added Ellie.

"It's not why I helped him. He wanted to sell his house and to leave town, he needed something to distinguish it", says Richard.

"He thought adding a staircase to the basement would make it an intergenerational"

"But he didn't put the staircase where he said he would. He did it 3 feet closer to the wall, where I would have refused it"

"What happened?", I asked

"Part of the house collapsed. It was a big thing", says Ellie.

"Is that the house on 3rd street that collapsed?", I asked.

"It is. My husband could have been blamed, it might have collapsed even if he followed the plan because he neglected to put a few essential details on the plan. We got lucky because he didn't follow the plan"

Soon enough, the meal is ready, and the four of you are sitting at the table.

"Can you tell me more about the non-landed club, Julie, so I know what to expect and Marge can decide if she wants to go?"

I realize that she isn't mentioning her husband, but to be honest, after that talk, he just about checked out.

Ellie did confirm she could cut my spaghetti, and then, Marge asked her to do it for her too. In the end, she even precut the spaghetti for herself and her husband, who said nothing, but who ate with appetite.

It was good. Not Clara, or even Kylie, level good, but good. Better than cafeteria level good, that's for sure. I tried, and my mother's crappy lunches, as she sometimes calls them, are banquets compared to the cafeteria.

Ellie and I did most of the talking, as I described, full of disclaimers, the one time I went to the non-landed club. I did explain that I preferred going to Mindy and being nude outside, but everyone agreed it was too cold now for that.

Even Richard spoke up. "It's time for a coat now".

He hadn't seemed to be listening, but he was. In his own way.

For dessert was cake, maybe between mother and daughter over the weekend.

"I did all the icing", said Marge, proud.

Ellie was surprised at the number of kids. And the number of families.

"It really is a family activity"

"I guess I'll see Saturday"

"Wait, so we don't change in our gender's changing room?", asked Marge with a delay.

"Well, to be honest, we don't change, we just undress"

"Right", says Ellie. "I guess it doesn't matter which one is used"

"But that way, families aren't split up", I say.

After supper and dessert, it was time to drop me off. I got dressed in Marge's room, but with Marge by my side, actually feeding me my clothing.

I know she meant well, but it was a little weird being given my clothes by a friend.

When I was dressed, and had put my shoes and my coat on, Ellie asked if I wanted her drop me off, so that maybe, Ellie would stay to speak a little more with my mother, so Marge might have some time with Edith and me?

"Could I undress?", asked Marge.

"Would you be allowed?"

"New rule number 3, I would be"

"Would my presence there change the rule?"

She thinks. "It's not in the rule"

"So if you want to undress, you can."

"You are the best mom ever"

And soon enough, the three of us were in Ellie's car, an old, partially rusted one, not that the other one in the driveway was much better, but it was marked by the city.

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