When most people were done eating, Gabriella opened a sort of portable speaker with a microphone attached to it. Now, I know it's a karaoke machine, but I didn't back then.
"Hello again, everyone. I hope you all ate with appetite! I want to thank Clara for most of the succulent desserts, Lucy for the perfectly cooked chicken breasts and the wonderful couscous, Kylie for the perfectly tender roast, and Ellie for the well-grilled vegetables. I also would like to thank my sister and my mom for helping me prepare all the pasta that I brought and my wonderful husband for patiently accepting his family-in-law under our small roof," she says, laughing.
A few people laugh.
"I know other people brought food. Carmen, the only reason I can't thank you personally for your calzones is that I didn't have enough room on my plate, and when I returned, they were all gone. Piper, your tuna salad blew my sister's head off, but as I told you, I hate tuna with a passion that sometimes keeps me up all night. It makes me wonder if one of us was adopted!" Gabriella says, laughing.
"And thank you all for your financial contribution for the meal. The plan was to pay the cooks, but most of them refused payment and chose to donate back to the club. My candidate for treasurer, Kylie, is to blame. Had I known, I would have lowered the meal cost," she says, laughing. Only a few laugh. "Last but not least, thank you again, Luke, for letting us organize this feast for you guys. I thought that having an election with an empty stomach was a bad idea."
Luke, however, spoke up. "Today isn't the election. You have 2 weeks to vote."
"Oh, Luke, almost everyone is here," says Gabriella. "And I have ballots. We might as well vote. Would you like to do an election speech? I can let you start, as you are the incumbent," she says, smiling.
He stands up. I had seen him at events, but I had no idea he was the president of the club.
When he gets to Gabriella, he takes the microphone a little too violently for my taste, and Gabriella makes a face that pretty much everyone saw.
She goes to sit down at her place.
Luke speaks up. "Don't let yourself be intimidated. You really have two weeks to vote, and on Monday, a flyer from my team will be going out to everyone by mail with our plans and platform for the next two years. You will see that we have a comprehensive plan to revamp the club and expand membership. I've overseen the club for 12 years now, and I have served you well. I am a pillar of this city, not just in the club, and I have lived all my life here. I didn't just arrive in town and want to change everything."
There were whispers in the audience.
"This supper could have been made by anyone. Don't get bought by false promises; vote for continuity, but not tonight. Wait until you have all the platforms," he says, putting the microphone on the desk, which made some feedback.
Gabriella picks it up.
"Give it up for Luke, our current president," but only a few people clap. "Ok, my turn. Yes, anyone could have organized this event. It's true. But it's not anyone who did it; it's me. And don't think it's the last. I have a Thanksgiving meal planned, granted, not on Thanksgiving since you will want to be with your family, and another one for the Christmas season. I also have a deal with the local naturist resort for joint events during the summer. And single guys? I know they restrict your number, but on those days, you will be with us and welcomed. Instead of paying a spa for an event where less than 5 people attend, we will use the money to add less lucrative events that actually appeal to other people. What do I mean by that? Simple, did you know we have a museum in town? We do! It's a quaint little museum about the industrial history of the city. I went there with my husband, and we loved it. But do you know what's so special about it? They show documentaries on the biggest movie screen in town. They do! Well, I tentatively booked them for a series of naturist events, where we will be able to watch movies nude. And visit the museum if we'd like. I loved it. But even if you don't do so, a movie night in the nude sounds fun. I am sure many of your teenagers might prefer that to a bowling night. Not that we will cancel those; we like them. However, we need to think about the children, the teenagers. I will also organize a cross-town membership link so that we can go to the non-landed club in the big city next door, and they can come to our events. They usually have events on Sunday evenings, and we have them on Saturday. Did you know they rent a restaurant for nude brunches a few times per year? I went there last year; it was a blast, but they lacked members to make it profitable. I say, let's pack their events, and they will pack ours. Everybody wins!"
She paused, and there was a lot of applause.
"It's true, your current president helped this club survive despite the town's general decline. But surviving isn't enough. We need to grow. We need to get more members to be hip. To coordinate with the AANR, with the other nearby clubs, and with ex-members who lost touch because they couldn't afford the new fees. I think we have to provide a form of financial support for the less fortunate. That, no questions asked, we provide 3 prices. Non-member prices, which should be much higher to drive membership, regular prices, and a financially distressed one. I will pay the full member's price. My candidate for treasurer, Kylie, will pay the full member's price. Ellie too! She is a new addition to our club, but a very valued one. And please, just because I am new in town doesn't mean I don't love this club. I teach social studies to many of the kids who were here or that sometimes come here but couldn't be with us tonight. And one of the things I teach them is how immigration improved our country. Well, I am a town immigrant with new ideas. And it's time we acted on it. You know my platform. I emailed all of you. Well, almost all of you, sorry Luke. I think I forgot your team. I didn't mail it because this is 2017, not 1817. And being a naturist, I don't want to pollute with more paper. I say, vote now, so you don't forget. And remember, you can vote for individual positions, but you can also just vote for a whole ticket. If you check my name and nothing else, my whole team will make this club bigger and better."
There was a lot of applause.
"Now, I talk a lot about kids and teenagers. Because they are our future. Without them, we are just old geezers hanging out in the buff. With our children, we are a family naturist club. So, before you vote, I want you to hear from one of those teenagers, Julie, daughter of my candidate for the treasury"
Right, I should have seen it coming. I wasn't to do a speech to inspire people to believe in naturism. I was to do a speech to inspire people to vote for her. But was that so wrong? I don't know the stakes. But I would like that movie night. That sounds fun. And that brunch? In a real restaurant? By then, my diet would be over, so count me in!
I had a lot of fun so far, so I want more of that.
I came to the microphone, hyped.
"My name is Julie," I said, from my practice, but I corrected myself. "As Gabriella said. My parents are naturists. I was one. You saw me at this club, in this school, when I was twelve. I was happy to be a naturist. But then, tragedy struck. I had to take medication that scrambled my brain and made me gain a lot of weight. Enough that I grew ashamed of my body. When I could finally stop, I couldn't even look at myself in the mirror. But I worked hard to regain control over my body, and naturism allowed me to love myself again. It gave me the tools to just be myself. I know plenty of teenagers stop with naturism because they are awkward. However, maybe we need to give them, to give us, to give me, a proper place to just be ourselves. Thank you."
Gabriella smiled. She took the microphone back. "See, teenagers want to do things they like. Why do you think I organized a teenager table for the meal? And I want more events specifically for them. Do you know why I didn't name them in my platform? Because I want them to decide. If elected, I will organize a teenager council to brainstorm ideas to let your own textile teenagers at home right now rediscover the naturism they liked as kids. And it's not adults who will have that solution."
I went back to sit at my place, unsure if I felt proud to be allowed to speak or bad for being used politically.
All I know is that when she asked who wanted a ballot, almost every adult raised their hand.
And like that, I knew she had won. Of course she did. This was a charisma and organization contest. I didn't know Luke, but he had no chance.
Later, I joined her in the dance studio for another nude practice.
"You know, Julie, maybe we can skip it, since we will be with the lasers tomorrow. Perhaps you can hang out with your friends? For once, we have all the school. Even the library..." she says, whispering the last part.
"Nice. Did you mean it for the teenage council and the museum movies?"
"Of course, Julie. And I even know who I want to preside over it... you will be done with the recital by then."
I looked at her. She was serious. "I'll think about it."
She smiles. "Go have fun. And tomorrow, at 8:00 sharp. Kylie already knows."
"Yeah, I also told her."
"We think so alike that it's scary," she says.
I left unsure of what she meant and found the various other teenagers, many of whom had different ideas.
Marge was swimming. Mindy and Billy were playing volleyball. Lucy was with Clark, who was weightlifting.
I gathered them all, and we went to explore Billy and Lucy's library.
They had board games. We were 6, so we looked at the selection when we heard a voice behind us.
"Pardon me, are you about to play a board game?" Says a woman. I turn, and it's Sandra, the lifeguard I was hoping to look like when an adult.
Seeing her put a knot in my stomach, as she was even more fine.
"Sure," I said.
"Do we have a 7-player game?" Says Mindy.
"We can always team up."
But they had 7 wonders, which I have at home and which Clark was able to explain.
Somehow, Sandra ended up sitting on my right and Marge on my left. Lucy and Clark were somewhat in front of me, with Mindy and Billy on the left.
Both Clark and I tried to monopolize the science cards, but I was a little luckier, giving me more science points. The main reason I won over him is that Sandra and Lucy beat him on military, but I beat both Sandra and Marge on that front. Clark was second, however, with more blue cards than I did.
We had fun, and Sandra was surprisingly funny and chill.
She is the worst of all, with none of her plans working out. Granted, she was sitting between the two most experienced players, so that didn't help.
Marge didn't do so badly. Finishing 4th, behind Lucy, who managed to intercept plenty of good cards before Clark could get them, and which Billy and Mindy let go.
Right, I assume everyone knows what 7 Wonders is. You start with 7 cards, pick up and pass the remaining 6 to your neighbors, and get the 6 from your other neighbor. You then pick one and pass the remaining 5 until you have only 2 cards left. Then, you take one and discard the other one.
I think that Mindy and Billy simply didn't have enough resource cards and picked the wrong strategies. It could have panned out for them; it didn't.
Still, none of us were in a bad mood.
It was late, and some wanted to swim, but not everyone. We ended up finding beanbags, putting towels over them, and just talking.
To my surprise, even Sandra stayed as we talked about the teenager council.
Lucy and Clark barely contributed, as they were on the older side, but Marge and Mindy were excited by the idea. Billy seemed afraid. He was indeed on the varsity team now and didn't want to risk his position.
"I don't think the council will be public, you know?" I said.
"Oh, ok then."
In the process, I turned to Sandra. "Are you still the lifeguard?"
"Well, one of our lifeguards. There is Grant too. It's his shift tonight. I was tired of always missing out on the fun."
"I get that," I said.
Soon enough, we were just putting the board games where we got them and going to meet our parents. Well, not Sandra; she is alone, but you know what I mean.
We got to dip in the pool a little, but then it was time to get dressed and say goodbye to Lucy, who was just an important part of my discovery of naturism.
It's funny how people get into your life and then sort of drift away. Beth came for a weekend, and I would never see her again. Mindy was my childhood friend. I lost her for 8 long years, reconnected, and then lost her for 18 months.
Would I get close to her again?
When we got home, we caught Edith and Charlie nude in the living room. Charlie had quickly wrapped himself in a towel so that it only inferred that he was nude. I couldn't confirm he wasn't wearing shorts.
"Do you need a lift home, Charlie?" Asked my dad.
"I was planning to sleep over, if that is okay with you."
"Sure."
I didn't so much go to sleep as collapse into bed, barely having time to undress and half-mindedly brushing my teeth. I think I was nonverbal, not out of autism, but out of social exhaustion.