A Bikini Beach Summer 01-04/21

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A Bikini Beach Summer
by Daphne Xu

Part 1

Thanks to ElrodW, Bikini Beach's creator, for invaluable comments on this story. The Bikini Beach universe and its principal characters are copyright 2001 by him.

Any comments about Bikini Beach, how it works, what it does, by characters other than Anya or Grandmother are potentially non-canonical and wrong. As this story is told from a particular point of view by the protagonist, this includes comments by the narrator. The protagonist, and thus the narrative, are what the protagonist believes or interprets from what he is experiencing. Thus some of the mechanics of BB are biased by the protagonist's view and experiences. Furthermore, because of the particular viewpoint of the story, those errors often won't be corrected. When the errors are corrected, the correction will often be disbelieved and rejected.

Despite this I will admit to pushing the limits of Bikini-Beach canon, perhaps even going outside on occasion.

Saturday, June 21
A Day at Bikini Beach

Was it my imagination or did I actually see a tint of pink in the diffusing shower mist? I forgot about it, jumping at the shriek of my little sister Ruth, in the next shower over. "What the HELL is going on?!"

"What happened? You okay, Ruth?" I said, worried. Good thing Ma wasn't around. Whatever happened, one must never curse. If either of us cursed, Ma punished us hard.

"It happened to you, too?" Ruth calmed down somewhat.

"Um," I was puzzled. The only thing strange was that she'd forgotten her bikini top. Oh, and that we were both in bikinis. Pa would really jump on us if he found out. But Ma had suggested we bring our bikinis, when she told us we were going to Bikini Beach. Pa didn't know we were coming here, I'm sure.

But forgetting her bikini top wouldn't make her scream and curse like that, would it? Definitely not curse, and definitely not wonder what was going on. "Um, what happened?"

"Look in the mirror!"

I looked over at the mirror, wondering what Ruth was talking about. I admit I looked attractive, and boys would surely find me hot -- especially the naughty way I was exposing myself in a sky-blue bikini, wearing nothing else but matching flip-flops and plastic beads around my left ankle. I really shouldn't have brought my bikini, and the beads didn't help either. Now, I had to go out into the world practically naked. Pa...

I brushed hair out of my eyes as I turned back to Ruth. "Well, I really shouldn't be wearing this bikini. Pa will be furious at me especially. Not so much you, although forgetting your bikini top like that, Ruth..."

"Stop doing that to me, Lucy! Please! And why did I just call you Lucy?! Why did you call me Ruth? I'm Ruth. No, I'm Ruth. No, no, NO!" Her voice degenerated into gargling. She made a bizarre image, stomping in anger in only her red bikini bottom and red flip-flops.

I knelt down in front of her. "You didn't hit your head or something, did you?"

"No, I didn't hit my head! Stop doing that to me!"

The door to the shower room opened, and Ma entered. Unlike us, Ma was in a solid navy-blue one-piece swimsuit. She was carrying Ruth's missing red bikini top. "Ma, something's wrong with Ruth! She's all upset." I was glad Ma hadn't heard Ruth curse. That had caught me by surprise, and I'm sure Ma would have killed Ruth.

"Lucy, I'll take care of Ruth. She'll be fine, I'm sure." She was putting Ruth's top on her, although why she didn't let Ruth put it on herself, I had no idea. "Go out and explore the park in the meanwhile. Have fun. Meet us at the office in about an hour."

Relieved that Ma was there to take care of Ruth, I walked out to my first real view of Bikini Beach.

So this was Bikini Beach. This must have been the biggest water park in the world! And so near my hometown as well. Why had I never heard of it until this morning, when Ma announced we were coming here? The name seemed peculiar too: why "Bikini Beach," rather than "Bikini Water Park"?

I followed one of the paths, passing a couple pools where women and girls were swimming and sunbathing. I reached a place with a big sign saying, "Princess Playland." It looked like a place for four-and-five-year-old kids – probably not for me.

Somewhat farther was the "Junior Lifeguard Academy." I wondered what that was about. It was a very long pool, with not only room to swim, but also a couple slides and various challenges. I tried the "Safety Scramble" once -- didn't even make it a quarter of the way across.

I didn't attempt it again, not just because of how hard it was, but because I noticed that everyone seemed to be younger than me. The average age looked about nine, my sister's age, and I felt rather out of place.

I did notice a few girls around my age at the far end of the pool, among many trying to climb a mountain-side to reach the top. I decided to try it myself.

The wall turned out to be not only steep but more than vertical. It actually faced down a bit. Of course, it had to do that so that if we fell, we fell cleanly into the pool rather than scraping and bouncing ourselves along the wall.

I jumped into the water and tried it. I couldn't get even a foot up, and I wondered how the heck those other girls were making it even halfway up. Then one of the girls swam over, a pretty Asian girl, at least half a foot taller than me, in a bright neon-orange bikini.

"Hey! You new here? Never tried these before?" she greeted me, treading water.

"Nope, never. It's my first time here at Bikini Beach."

"Well, you're in for quite a treat. There's no other park anywhere quite like this one. A little hint: always keep three hands and feet securely on the wall. Only move one at a time. I call it the Rule of Three. Follow that rule, and you can climb almost anywhere."

"Thanks!" I smiled at her.

"Any time. I'm Carol."

"Lucy." I stuck out my hand, which she took and gave a good firm shake, disrupting my water-treading. I had to scramble to get my head back above the water.

"Sorry about that, Lucy," said Carol.

I never managed to get more than a little bit up the wall before falling. It seemed that my hands or feet were getting tired, but I noticed that every time I fell, I'd violated the Rule of Three.

But I had lots of fun, and I got to know her friends as well. There were four who met almost every other day at Bikini Beach. In addition to Carol Hsu, there was red-headed Alice Candy who was a bit shorter than me and covered with freckles. She wore an orange one-piece suit that matched her freckles. Another was a tall black girl, Vanessa King, who seemed a little older than the rest, gorgeous in a white bikini, and bubbly stout Becky Miura who was cheerful and excited about everything.

I noticed Ma and Ruth at the other end of the pool. "Oh, no!" I exclaimed to my new friends. "I was supposed to meet Ma and Ruth after an hour. I must have lost track of time! I'm going to be in trouble. They're here now!"

"We'll go support you," said Vanessa.

We swam to the edge of the pool and climbed out. "Ma!" I called out. "Ma, Ruth!"

They turned around. Ma said something to Ruth, Ruth jumped into the water, and Ma walked fast toward us. "No running near the pool!" I'd heard the lifeguard shouting that often enough.

"Sorry, Ma. I must have lost track of time."

"No problem, Lucy. It's still early. Someone recommended the Junior Lifeguard Academy for Ruth, and we came to check it out. I was going to go back to the office to meet you, but it's not necessary now. I see you made new friends here. You must introduce them."

"Everyone," I told the girls. "This is Ma--"

"Ma, as in the Little House books?" asked one of the Asian girls, not Carol but the other one, who had a tendency to giggle.

I sighed. "Yes, like them. We get that a lot. Okay, this is Carol, the first girl I met in the group. And she is Vanessa King."

"Pleased to meet you, Ma'am," said Vanessa.

"And this is Alice Candy," I continued. "And, and, and..." Oh shoot! I couldn't for the life of me remember the fourth one's name, the name of the one who'd brought up the Little House books, the other Asian-American.

She giggled. "I'm Becky."

"Oh, right. Becky. Sorry about that." Becky giggled some more, joined by the other three girls.

"It's great to see you've made new friends already," Ma said to me. "It seems that parents are neither needed nor particularly wanted here, but they appear to have good supervision. So I'll just go look around, and enjoy myself. I'll be back in a couple hours to pick up Ruth. If you're not here, let's meet near the main entrance for lunch at noon."

"Sure, Ma." I said.

I was about to turn back to my friends, when Ma slipped out a tube of sunscreen. "You're already beginning to turn pink, Lucy, and the day's only barely begun. Turn around." She started with a huge glob of goo just under the back of my neck. "Ssssssttt!" Oooo, that was cold. I couldn't help clenching up hard. All business-like, she rubbed it over my sides, neck, and back -- even a little under my bikini bottoms. It was embarrassing in public in full view of not only numerous strangers -- even if they were all women and girls -- but especially my new friends. "Do your front and legs yourself, Lucy. Don't forget your nose and ears." She handed me the sunscreen.

"Your Ma has a point, Lucy," said Vanessa. "You're rather pale, and damage has already begun when pink appears. But it'll only get worse unless you promptly apply sunscreen." So I had to smother myself in sunscreen. It felt irritatingly slimy. The tube was empty by the time I finished, and Ma had already departed.

"Say, let's show Lucy the South Seas Adventure," said Alice. "The rides there are simply awesome."

"Awesome! Awesome! Awesome! Awesome!" echoed Becky, jumping up and down, her hair flying all over – until, "Yikes!" One foot landed on the edge of the pool and slipped into the pool. Her bottom landed on the edge, and she rolled into the pool, disappearing under water.

"Becky! Becky!" called out Vanessa, Alice, and Carol, as I stood frozen, not knowing what to do.

Becky surfaced, and scrambled back out of the pool.

"Are you okay?" asked Vanessa.

"Yeah, I'm fine. But my, was that a pain in the ass," said Becky. "Let's get outta here before that lifeguard chews us out."

We all walked with pretended nonchalance to the nearest trail leading away from the pool. I followed them, as they followed various trails -- I was lost by then, but at least they knew their way around. We eventually reached the entrance to a region, with a huge overhanging sign, "South Seas Adventure."

To the right, the ground rose gradually. Off in the distance, the hill or miniature mountain was topped off with a miniature volcano! That's right, this water park had an entire volcanic mountain within its bounds. It was artificial, no doubt.

"The best things, the Pipeline and the Tropical Waves, are at the farthest end," said Carol.

"The Pipeline begins near the top of that volcano up there," added Alice.

"Interested in a small hike and scramble?" asked Vanessa. "This path goes up the mountain, and follows it. It passes the tops of most of the slides, and goes up the volcano a little."

"Sure, I guess," I said.

"Let's swim in the Lagoon before we go on that hike up the mountain," said Carol. The Lagoon turned out to be over at the right, a circular pool of water about the size of a football field -- surrounded by sandy beach and strange, but very pretty, foliage. Statues decorated the area throughout, shooting water up and keeping everyone in a continuous spray of mist. Many girls and women were swimming and sunbathing on the sand.

Before I knew it, Becky and Alice were both racing toward the water. "Last one in's a rotten egg!" shouted Becky, as she splashed into the water.

The rest of us ran to follow them, as Carol shouted out, "First one has to eat it!" I'd never heard that one before.

The water in the Lagoon was a little cooler than in that other pool, but still nice and comfortable. We rough-housed, and I only occasionally noticed that the talk of hiking up to the volcano had apparently been forgotten. Carol came up behind me and splashed me with water. I shrieked and turned toward her -- just as Becky grabbed my bikini bottom and yanked it down.

"Girls, girls, girls, let's keep it wholesome!" shouted Vanessa. "None of that, now."

"Spoil sport," shouted Becky.

I crouched down and struggled to slide my bikini bottom back up, while keeping my bottom hidden underwater. You're in trouble now, Becky, I thought to myself. I ducked underwater, and slithered around to Becky's side, then leaped up with a roar. She shrieked and fell over into the water as I laughed. This WAS great fun.

Vanessa called out, "Dears, hug and make up now!" We had another group hug. I was coming to think that the group hugs were one of the best parts of this experience. Even if our hair was all soaking wet, and getting all over us.

After some more roughhousing, Alice said, "I'm bushed, guys. I'm getting out for a while."

I looked at a clock in the distance. It was now about ll:45. "I have to meet Ma at noon back at the entrance. I'll probably be late! I'm afraid I'll get lost, too."

"There are signs directing you to anywhere you want to go," said Vanessa.

"I'll go with Lucy, make sure she doesn't get lost," said Carol.

"Let's all go with her," said Becky. "We should have lunch anyway."

"Great idea!" said Vanessa.

So they all went with me back to the entrance to meet Ma again. We arrived about three minutes early. Ma was there waiting with Ruth.

"Ma," I called out, getting both her and Ruth's attention. Ruth seemed grumpy again. I didn't know why, and I wasn't sure I wanted to.

"You got here!" said Ma. "And your new friends came with you."

"I was afraid I might get lost coming back here. So they came with me."

"That was very nice of them. Ruth, meet Lucy's new friends."

"That's my little sister, Ruth," I told them.

"I hope I can remember your names," said Ma to my friends. "Vanessa, I definitely remember," she said to Vanessa, who smiled and nodded. "Carol?" she nodded at Carol, who nodded back. "Allie?" she said to Alice.

"Close. Alice," she replied.

"And Betsy, right?"

"Could have been, Mrs. -- Um, I didn't get your last name?" said Becky.

"Cuttington," answered Ma.

"Could have been Betsy, Mrs. Cuttington. But it's actually Becky."

"Becky's often silly," said Alice.

We found the eating place. Vanessa led us over to her mom and little sister, and was apparently about to introduce her, when Ruth said, "Hi, Mrs. King. Helen, this is Lucy, my older sister, and this is Ma."

"Just like `Little House on the Prairie' then?" giggled Helen as I shook her hand.

"We get that a lot," answered Ruth with her own giggle.

"I'm pleased to meet you," Mrs. King said to me as we shook hands. "I see you already met Vanessa."

My new friends all went to their own families and friends for lunch. "We'll get back together, no question," said Vanessa to me. "Don't you get lost on us, you hear?"

Ma, Ruth, and I got into line. "Look at the prices!" Ruth exclaimed.

Ma said, "The prices are always exorbitant like this at theme parks. This is standard. We deal with it." She bought us a good-sized filling meal.

Ruth was shifting in her chair, squeezing her legs together. A couple times, she slid a hand below the table. Seeing her do that made me distinctly uncomfortable, and I did my best to ignore her, but at one point Ma scolded her. "Keep your hands away from there, Ruth, and stop squirming."

"Ma, you have no idea how utterly creepy this feels," said Ruth.

"Ruth, that's Error whispering in your ear. Just reject it, and don't even think about it. It didn't bother you when you were playing and having fun with the other kids, right?"

"No, but--"

"So don't think about it. That's all it is, Error, mortal mind. It never really exists." This was straight Christian Science, something we all forgot too often to practice. "Or maybe you'd care to visit a gynecologist?"

"No!" Ruth shrieked, turning as red as her bikini. The conversation around us softened momentarily, as people turned to look at us. I flamed silently in embarrassment. I'd heard talk of gynecologists in the locker rooms at school, and they were mentioned in a girls-only meeting of health class. I was always thankful that we were Christian Scientists and didn't have to deal with such icky, embarrassing, and obscene things.

I never thought Ma would ever mention such a thing. And how ever did Ruth even know about such things at nine? I certainly didn't.

After lunch, Ma called for an hour of nap-time. "We mustn't be active after eating. It slows us down and stresses us." I was momentarily confused now. Wasn't that mortal belief? I put it aside, realizing I didn't sufficiently understand Christian Science.

We found a place of reclined pool chairs in a shady spot, and laid out our towels, and sat and lay back. I dozed off for a while, but was annoyingly awoken by Ma shaking me. "You're turning pink, Lucy. Let's get more sunscreen on."

I glanced over and saw Ruth gleaming with sunscreen. She wasn't nearly as colored as I was. I noticed that our nap spot wasn't shady any more. Again, I had to cover myself with sunscreen.

We decided to go walking around to see the sights. Going off in a random direction, we reached the "South Seas Adventures" again. We walked along the trail between the Lagoon to the right and the mountain to the left. We saw in the distance various water slides, raft rides, and inner tube rides coming down from the mountain and ending in various pools.

I first noticed a tall black girl in a white bikini off to the side among some girls around my age -- Vanessa! I recognized the other three with her; they were the four friends I'd made this morning!

Right at the same time, the redhead turned and saw me, and called out, "Hey Lucy!" All at once the four of them turned and ran to us. To my utter embarrassment with Ma and Ruth present, and with both of us practically naked, Vanessa caught me up in a bear-hug.

She greeted Ma and Ruth after letting me go, while the others proceeded to hug me.

"We're headed for the Pipeline," said Carol. "Wanna join us?"

I glanced over at Ma, who said, "Go ahead. Have fun with your friends. Meet us back at the office at 5:00."

"Great!" I went off with the other girls, barely hearing Ruth say, "I wanna go, too." I didn't hear Ma's reply.

"You're in for the ride of your life!" said Alice, as we continued along the walkway.

"Yes, yes, awesome! Awesome!" Becky jumped up and down.

We shortly reached a path leading to the left up the mountain. "If we follow this, we can walk along the top to the volcano, and arrive at the top of the Pipeline," said Vanessa. "Otherwise, we have to go to the far end of the park."

"We avoid the main line going up a rather steep climb," added Alice.

We turned onto the path, and I found myself climbing a rather steep scramble up the mountain.

After a while, when the path became shallower, I said, "You know, it's strange. I never even heard of Bikini Beach until this morning, when Ma announced that we were coming for the day. Why isn't this as famous as Disney World?"

"A good thing it isn't," answered Vanessa. "Otherwise this place would be utterly crowded."

"Yeah, so crowded nobody would come here," giggled Becky. We all laughed at that joke.

Carol said, "I read somewhere that Disney World used to use about four percent of all Kodak film produced."

Becky whistled. I managed to contain my amazement.

The path reached another, near the top of the mountain, walking along the ridge toward the volcano. We chatted as we walked, approaching the volcano and then walking along its side with the summit looming up the left, passing the starting points of a couple water slides on the right.

We reached the entrance to the Pipeline. A worker was here, keeping an eye on the line of girls, and ready to merge into the line persons like us who took the mountain trail. I looked at the ride itself, and almost panicked. The starting downward slide looked like a vertical drop of fifty feet, and the slide had two other steep drops as well.

There were three separate slides, so three of the girls went first. Carol stayed with me, waiting for the next turn. Stomach in my throat, feeling queasy, wondering what the heck I was doing here, I stepped slowly up to the launch point and sat down. I kept hesitating to take the last final step of pushing forward, but someone pushed me from behind.

I shrieked louder than I'd ever yelled before, as I suddenly dropped down the steep slide. I was jostled all over -- bumped to the left, bumped to the right, dropped suddenly, rinse-and-repeat. I was screaming and wailing, my stomach bouncing around my insides, out of synch with the rest of my body.

I finally splashed down floundering, limbs flailing, into a deep pool. Under water, I finally got control of myself and pushed myself up. My head broke the surface of the water, and I reached up and instinctively grabbed something fluttering down. I noticed to my mortification that that was my bikini top.

After floundering trying to tie it back on, I stuffed it in my mouth and swam to the side of the pool, climbing out with my breasts bared for all to see.

"Great catch!" applauded Becky, as I tied my bikini top back on.

Feeling properly covered now, I said, "I can't believe I lost it like that. It's so embarrassing!"

"Don't worry about it," said Alice. "It happens to the best of us, if they're so naive as to wear a bikini on this ride. We're casual about such things." Alice was wearing a one-piece suit, of course.

Becky added with a laugh, "Alice, in fact, lost both pieces a couple weeks ago, down the Otter's R-- yikes!" She shrieked and twisted wildly away at Alice's swat to her rear end. "That's why she only wears one-piece suits now. And that's how we know she's a true redhead," she added, well out of Alice's reach.

"I'll get you for that!" shouted Alice. Becky ran, but Vanessa grabbed Alice's shoulder before Alice could make chase.

"Girls, girls!" shouted Vanessa. "Time out, time out! Group hug everyone!" She pulled Alice into an embrace, while Carol went over and hugged Becky. Then they came back, and Alice and Becky hugged along with Carol and Vanessa.

I was feeling morosely out of it, when both Vanessa and Carol reached out and pulled me into their hug. I almost got sandwiched between them, being way shorter than both. Eventually, I wound up hugging all four of them, both individually and in groups.

Becky's comment about Alice being a "true redhead" led me to glance surreptitiously at their bottoms. Not a single bit of hair was visible. In compared with theirs, I seemed to have hair sprouting around my bikini bottoms. How did I get away with looking like that? Thank goodness none of the girls actually brought it up.

"Last week, someone managed to lose a one-piece swimsuit coming down this very ride," said Carol.

"How did she do that?" I asked.

"Beats the heck out of me. I don't think anyone figured that one out. The suit floated down after her completely intact."

"I wouldn't be surprised if she deliberately removed her swimsuit while sliding down," said Alice.

"I can't imagine how anyone could do such a thing on that ride," said Becky. "Or why, for that matter."

"Why? For the mystery -- a magic trick. Or just to be perverted," answered Alice. "How? Well, I suppose it's possible to concentrate on doing something even while bumping and bouncing around on that ride."

Having made up, we went on an inner tube ride. It was vastly more relaxing. As we climbed to the top, Carol warned me to be careful. "The first time I rode this, I got caught in a particular pool, going around in circles for about half an hour with other tubes passing me by, before finally making it over the edge."

How boring that must have been. It didn't happen to me, thank goodness.

"Hey, I'm tired," said Alice.

"It's about that time in the afternoon," added Vanessa.

"What time?" I asked dumbly.

"Nap-time," said Vanessa. "Push yourself trying to have fun, and you hate it. Sometimes, it's just best to relax and go with the flow."

I'd already rested an hour with Ma and Ruth. Still, I felt I should go along with what these girls wanted. We found a bunch of inclined outdoor chairs and claimed five of them. The girls chatted casually, while I listened and relaxed. At one point, Vanessa said, "Lucy, tell us a bit about yourself."

Normally, I didn't like being put on the spot, but Vanessa said it in such a nice way that I didn't mind. "Well,..." at that point I had no idea what to say. "My name is Lucy Cuttington. There's Ma and Pa--"

"Yeah, definitely `Little House on the Prairie'," injected Alice.

I glared at her. "Yeah, like them. Of course, you met my little sister, Ruth. She's nine, and I'm fourteen."

"What school do you attend?" asked Carol.

"Do you have to bring up such a depressing subject?" asked Becky.

"No-no, that's okay. I went to Madison Middle School, but I'm starting at Westside High this fall," I said.

"Me too," said Becky. "Actually, I (um) recognized you." She turned her face down, with an embarrassed expression. "You probably don't recognize me." I looked over at her, trying to remember. True enough, I didn't recognize her. I wasn't surprised. There were quite a few Asian American girls at school, and I was mostly a shy loner.

"I'm going to Westside High this fall, too," said Carol. "But I went to Adams Middle School."

"I was going to go there too, but now I'm not so sure," said Alice.

I looked over at her, and was stunned to see her about to cry. "What's the matter?"

Vanessa moved over and took Alice in her arms. "It's okay, darling, it's okay." Alice cried into Vanessa's bosom.

I looked down, feeling distressed and embarrassed. What was happening? Vanessa leaned her head down and murmured in Alice's ear.

"I'm okay now, I think," Alice said eventually. "But I'm having fun here when my cousin..."

"Bad things sometimes happen to good people," said Vanessa somberly. "Sometimes, when things overwhelm you, you simply must escape just a little while."

"Tracy -- that's my big brother," Becky nodded to me, "is starting college this fall at Pacific Tech."

"Ooooooo!" said Carol and Vanessa simultaneously. I'd heard of Pacific Tech, didn't know much about it. Well, it was a technical college, obviously.

Becky continued, "He tells me that they have a weekend called Decompression at the end of every quarter, just before finals. Full of entertainment, it's supposed to be quite a stress reliever."

"Bikini Beach is truly a unique place," said Carol. "There's no other place like it for getting off the razor-blade of life." The others erupted with "Ewwwww!" That was a rather gruesome metaphor. "At least temporarily. It's good to be away from the ogling eyes of boys -- especially if you lose your swimsuit in a ride."

Vanessa said, "Bikini Beach was founded on that premise, a purely girls' water park." Becky began giggling. "Grandmother -- everyone calls her that -- built it –" Vanessa glared at Becky out the corner of her eyes. "– as a retreat for girls and women away from men's lecherous gaze." Becky's giggling turned uncontrollable. "It's true, Becky! What's got into you?!" Becky was now in outright hysterics. "Hush, Becky! Stop it! Now!!" By now, Vanessa was sounding like stern mother.

Becky immediately clammed up. "Sorry," she said contritely.

Vanessa continued, "You can temporarily escape day-to-day problems, pull yourself away and see them from a more distant perspective."

"Pa wouldn't have liked it, if he'd known that Ma was taking us here," I said. "He hates it when girls exhibit their bodies like this." I remembered all too many rants about girls these days. The very name of this place would probably have triggered another rant. "In fact, I really shouldn't have worn this." I peered down at my nearly naked body. "I hope he doesn't find out."

"You look wonderful, dear," said Vanessa.

"Absolutely," agreed Becky. Did she leer, or was it my imagination? "Anyway, how will he find out if you don't tell him. You did bring clothes, I assume."

"Of course."

I eventually dozed off, lying about half-asleep.

One idea had been nagging me ever since the inner tube ride. Would I ever see my new friends again? I was feeling a bit down, and Vanessa must have noticed because she asked me, "What's wrong Lucy, dear? You seem a bit down."

I hesitated. "It's just... well, will I ever see you again? All of you?"

"We always meet here at Bikini Beach," said Alice.

"You mean, you come here every day?"

"No, not every day. We've kind-of settled on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays," said Carol.

"Don't worry, you'll find us," said Vanessa. "We always find each other."

"Hey now, what's with all this moroseness?" asked Becky. "We have attractions to conquer and pools to dive in. Let's go!"

We spent the rest of the afternoon swimming, rough-housing and sliding down slides. All too soon, it was time to return to the entrance to meet Ma and Ruth. We all hurried back to the office. We found Ma with a group of other parents, talking and watching a bunch of girls Ruth's age swimming and yelling and splashing about in a pool. Ruth was among them, and she promptly shouted, "Hey, there's Lucy!"

"Hello again," said Ma to the other girls. "I see you've spent all afternoon with them," she added to me. "It's great you made friends so quickly."

"Here, let's get your phone number," said Vanessa. I gave mine, and then the other girls gave me their numbers.

Carol said, "The park closes at 8:30 this evening. Can't you stay until then?"

"Yeah, Ma. Can't we?" I asked excitedly. A little bit of me cringed inside at how I was begging, but mostly I was excited at possibly being with my new friends an extra three hours.

"Okay," agreed Ma. "I'll have to find a phone and tell Pa we'll be home late."

"Yeah!" exclaimed Becky.

All of us -- Ma, Ruth, me, my other friends, other parents and siblings, and some of Ruth's crowd of eight- and nine-year-old girls -- had supper. Then I went with the girls and we had much fun chatting and swimming and riding as twilight developed. Of course, all too soon, the fun had to come to an end, and we had to separate and go our merry ways home.

We had another group hug, saying our goodbyes. "We meet Tuesdays and Thursdays here as well," said Vanessa. "I really hope you'll join us again."

Ma and Ruth were already changing when we returned to the changing room. It looked like Ma was talking sternly to Ruth, as she slipped her dress on over her head. Ruth, already in tee-shirt and shorts and putting on her sneakers, had turned grumpy again. "We'll meet you at the car, Lucy," said Ma. "Come along, Ruth."

I wondered what was going on here. Ruth was excited about Bikini Beach and playing with the other girls her age, and now she was grumpy and angry? I opened my locker and pulled out my dress and underwear.

My skin was rather red, with distinct white matching the shape of my bikini. I could already feel the tightness and mild stinging of the sunburn. When I pulled on my underwear, I couldn't help noticing that my panties covered at least twice the area of my bikini bottom, and my bra about one and a half times the area of my bikini top. I flushed in shame as I realized how practically naked I'd been outside all day.

At least Pa wasn't there to see me, and I hoped he'd never find out. Pa strongly disapproved of girls displaying themselves in bikinis -- and I'd done exactly that all day. I vowed to wear a proper one-piece suit next time I came here. Pa was grudgingly okay with those for swimming, even though he found those over-exposing as well.

My bra was rubbing over my sunburn, and it felt distinctly uncomfortable. I thought of removing it. Would anyone notice I wasn't wearing one? Maybe my white unburnt bikini skin might resemble a bra if people could see through. Come to think of it though, nipples would be a dead giveaway. I decided not to risk it.

Finally I was dressed up. I spotted Alice as I went out, and called out, "Hey Alice!" We left together. She went to a car waiting to pick her up, and I found our car in the middle of the parking lot.

As I approached the car, I saw and heard Ma and Ruth arguing angrily. Ma was saying, "Stop crying or I'll put you over my knee and give you something to cry about."

Ruth glanced at me as I approached, got in the back seat, and slammed the car door. What was going on? Was Ma being mean? Or was Ruth being bratty? I got in the other side and sat down next to Ruth, who sullenly ignored me. I decided it wouldn't be a good I idea to try to talk to her, so I just leaned against the car door and dozed off, the dry pain of my sunburn hovering in the background.

I woke up and dozed off every few seconds as we approached home, pretty much every time the car stopped or turned corners. It was quite annoying, and all I wanted was desperately to sleep.

"Lucy." Ma's voice woke me. "We're home now."

"Oh?" I yawned and slowly pulled myself up and awake. We were already in the garage, and Ruth was already out of the car and entering the house. I slipped my flip-flops back on and sleepily stepped out of the car and into the house.

I groggily greeted Pa and headed straight for my bedroom. I barely disrobed and slipped into my nightgown before flopping down onto my bed and conking out.

******************************

A Bikini Beach Summer
by Daphne Xu

Part 2
Daily Routine

Thanks to ElrodW, Bikini Beach's creator, for invaluable comments on this story. The Bikini Beach universe and its principal characters are copyright 2001 by him.

Any comments about Bikini Beach, how it works, what it does, by characters other than Anya or Grandmother are potentially non-canonical and wrong. As this story is told from a particular point of view by the protagonist, this includes comments by the narrator. The protagonist, and thus the narrative, are what the protagonist believes or interprets from what he is experiencing. Thus some of the mechanics of BB are biased by the protagonist's view and experiences. Furthermore, because of the particular viewpoint of the story, those errors often won't be corrected. When the errors are corrected, the correction will often be disbelieved and rejected.

Sunday, June 22

"Luke, rise and shine! Time to get up!" That was Pa calling me awake. It was Sunday morning, and that meant Sunday School and Church. I groaned and turned over, cringing at the agonizing pain and dryness covering my upper body. I'd burnt myself pretty badly at Bikini Beach yesterday.

I'd slept very well last night, only vaguely recalling awakening from some kind of dream about having to go -- really having to go badly -- really really badly -- and finding progressively more bizarre and more public places to try -- such as a floor-urinal on a grimy bathroom floor next to a long table in a banquet hall -- in my dream, I told myself that this time, I was fully awake and I'd really pee for sure. Ma was standing next to me, as I began to pee. Finally, I awoke in truth, stumbled out of bed, across the hallway into the bathroom, relieved myself, and returned to bed.

At least I hadn't wet my bed.

I glanced at the clock and found that it was already 8:30. How long had I slept?

It took me a good minute to slither out of bed. When I took off my pajamas, I noticed how dark pink my body was, except for my usual pale pink from my waist down to just above my knees, where my swimming trunks covered.

I slipped into a bathrobe to take my Sunday morning shower. As I crossed over to the bathroom, Ma handed me some lotion. "Use this for your sunburn, when you finish showering."

I didn't take too long in the shower. My sunburn was hurting above my waist. Warm water and cool water, both felt distinctly uncomfortable on my sunburn.

I dried off, and slimed Ma's goo over my sunburnt body. It made things feel a little better, although the sliminess itself was uncomfortable. I put the bathrobe back on, and stepped back into my room. I heard vague sounds through the wall of Ma and Ruth arguing. I didn't want to know anything about Ruth being disciplined; I tuned it out the best I could.

Sunburn aside, yesterday at Bikini Beach had been a most wonderful experience. The rides themselves were fun, but apart from those, a group of girls had taken me in and accepted me as one of their own almost immediately. I couldn't forget how bikini-clad Vanessa had hugged me in front of Ma and Ruth, to my major embarrassment. But all four of them were fun and exciting, and made everything at Bikini Beach all the more enjoyable.

After hesitating a few minutes, I put on my Sunday Suit. The sunburn lotion made my suit even more uncomfortable than usual. Always tight about my thighs and hips, the suit now felt cold and clammy as well.

I met Ruth and Ma in the hallway. Ma was saying to Ruth, "... proper dress for a church-going young girl."

"Yeah," I agreed. "You look great, kiddo." Indeed she did, in a plain bright-yellow knee-length dress with puffy short sleeves, white socks, and black shoes.

"Who are you calling Kiddo, Kiddo?" asked Ruth.

Ruth calling me Kiddo? That was a new one. "You may recall I am five years older than you and a foot taller," I said with a sniff.

Pa had cooked breakfast this morning: scrambled eggs and toast. Pa was the best at scrambling eggs, without question.

The four of us were sitting and eating at the breakfast table, and I was thinking about my day yesterday at Bikini Beach. How had I ever got caught up playing with four girls all day about my age? For the most part, they treated me as one of the girls. It was a cozy feeling how readily they hugged each other, and me as well. A couple things I remembered with considerable embarrassment -- introducing bikini-clad girls to Ma, being hugged in front of Ma, and a certain case where I'd reacted badly to a prank.

"Sit still, Ruth." Pa's admonition brought me out of my reverie.

"You have no idea how creepy this feels -- almost like an itch down there."

"Young lady, such topics are inappropriate at breakfast, and inappropriate in the presence of boys and men," said Ma.

I blushed furiously, and glanced over at Ruth blushing with equal ferocity. Her face was almost burning.

"Children, Erin," said Pa. "That is aggressive mental suggestion. Mrs. Eddy tells us that we must defend ourselves daily against aggressive mental suggestion." That admonition was one we heard every morning as part of the Mental Work.

"That reminds me," said Ma. She got up and retrieved the cassette player from the living room and turned it on to play the Mental Work. I spent the rest of breakfast in bored silence with the Mental Work sounding in the background.

Ma and Pa dropped us off at the church for Sunday School. They would return an hour later, and we would attend church services together as a family.

The first hymn was very familiar, by Mrs. Eddy herself: "Shepherd Show Me How to Go." I didn't even have to read it from the hymnal. When the Superintendent read this week's lesson-sermon subject, "Is the Universe, Including Man, Evolved by Atomic Force?" my silent reaction was the same as it had been every day this past week when we listened to the lesson on cassette -- "HUH?!?" During the week, I'd absently wondering what in heck these Bible verses had to do with atomic force. But as I absently recited the Golden Text and the Responsive Reading, I was preoccupied with the previous day's fun at Bikini Beach.

My Sunday School class had three of us students, sitting with the teacher around a small table. One was a boy about two years older than me. The other was a girl about one year younger than me. The teacher spoke out against "material intellectualism." It was important not to explain matter, but to deny matter as illusion of the material senses. "The sun gives you a nice tan, and supposedly supports life through plants. Yet too much sun can hurt and kill you! See how inconsistent and illogical matter is?" Only the good was real.

I couldn't identify anything specifically wrong with the teacher's argument, but somehow, it didn't sound quite right. I just couldn't articulate why.

"Material senses are but illusion," the teacher continued. "We look around, we see the world is flat. Our material senses do not tell us that the world is round." I imagined a ball 8000 miles across, and what it would look like to someone our size on the ball. It seemed to me it would automatically look flat. But I didn't know how to articulate it in class. "Human theories change all the time. Only God's Law is eternal, and therefore real." "Years ago, they thought that man was made from the dust of the ground. Now, human theories tell us that man comes from Atomic Force."

Overall, Sunday School was boring, and I was relieved when it was time to return to the front of the room for the second and final hymn and the Scientific Statement of Being: "There is no Life, Truth, Intelligence, or Substance in matter...."

Sunday School was over, a rather boring waste of an hour, that went on forever. I really should be more interested in learning about Christian Science, but I just couldn't. God would perhaps, in His own good time lead me to Him.

We had a little time to wait for Ma and Pa to arrive for Church services. I normally waited alone on one of the benches in the church hall, while Ruth chatted with other girls. But this time, Ruth joined me on the bench.

We sat in silence for a couple minutes. Then she said, "You know what Mrs. Vancourt said?" I looked at her. "She asked, `You know what supports the earth, keeps it in its path around the sun? It's not inertia.' I answered that inertia kept it going, and the sun exerted the gravitational force to pull it in a little, to keep it going around the sun instead of flying off." It was strange hearing Ruth talk like that. She continued, "The teacher then pointedly said that material theories are counterfeits of God's Law. `God is the only true Force, the only true Power.'"

I couldn't think of anything to say. I felt a bit angry at Ruth's teacher, since I liked astronomy -- frustrated, too because I felt like I couldn't think straight. It just sounded wrong. I also wondered at Ruth knowing this about the subject.

Ma and Pa showed up shortly. Apparently, Ma talked with Ruth's Sunday School teacher before joining us, because she called Ruth over. I overheard part of Ma's scolding of Ruth. "A child does not correct her elders." "You are here to learn about Christian Science, not debate your teachers." There was a lot more. I felt sorry for Ruth, and strangely bitter at Ma.

The service began shortly, with a hymn vaguely familiar. The First Reader then began his Scriptural Selection of readings from the Bible. Normally, I sat squirming in boredom, but now I let my mind wander over yesterday's events at Bikini Beach. Thinking about it, I was truly amazed -- how did I ever get involved with four bikini-clad (okay, only three of them bikini-clad) hot, very friendly, very nice girls, spending the good part of a day with them? How quickly they accepted me as one of their own.

I let my hymnal cover my crotch, opened to the second hymn, as my hard dick was pushing up my pants in a tent. The tightness of my suit tended to reduce the visible effect, but still. I hoped nobody noticed how I was flushing.

The first reader announced the "Moment of silent prayer, followed by the audible repetition of the Lord's Prayer with its spiritual interpretation as given in the Christian Science textbook." I kept thinking of the girls rough-housing and playing around, hugging, until the Second Reader opened with, "Our Father, which art in Heaven," and I automatically joined in with the rest of the congregation.

Then came the second hymn, various notices and announcements, and a soloist singing one of Mrs. Eddy's hymns. The words were familiar, but the melody utterly strange, especially as sung in an operatic voice.

Then came the Lesson-Sermon, read alternately by the Second Reader (the Bible) and the First Reader ("Science and Health"). Again, we had to participate in the Responsive Reading. I'd heard the Lesson every day at home in the morning, along with the Mental Work -- or rather, the lesson flowed over me every day the past week, and it did so now. It still seemed to have absolutely nothing to do with "Atomic Force." I sat back and day-dreamed more about Bikini Beach and the girls.

Mmmmm... hugging bikini-clad, practically naked girls, each of them several times -- once in front of Ma even! How could I ever have done that?! We weren't a hugging family, and I always froze when Grandma wanted to hug -- mushy stuff. Now I was flaming with major embarrassment. I glanced over at Ma, sitting motionless with eyes closed, apparently concentrating on the Lesson. Ruth, sitting next to me -- strange, she always sat next to Ma before -- also with eyes closed, more relaxed. I couldn't tell if she was asleep. I was most glad Pa never saw me hugging the girls.

One embarrassing incident could have been disastrous, but turned out quite heartwarming. It happened when Becky caught me by surprise and yanked my swimming trunks down -- the first time anyone saw me naked in years -- girls in particular! I reacted furiously, causing Becky to burst in tears. I tried to apologize, feeling terrible about it. Vanessa saved the day.

"All right everyone, out of the pool!" Vanessa sounded like a stern mother, and we complied immediately. "Group hug, everyone!" She immediately gathered Carol and Becky in her arms. Alice came and embraced me. I wound up hugging all of them individually and in groups, including one massive huddle hug.

Becky was initially hesitant when it came to me. I repeated, "I'm truly sorry, Becky. Really." We held each other at arms length for some time, until she melted in my arms and pressed against me.

I still felt bad about that incident, but at least the girls had forgiven me. The girls were all as touchy-feely with me as among themselves, afterwards. I wondered what would have happened otherwise.

I came to when the music began for the collection. Pa reached over and handed Ruth and me a dollar each. The collection-cap went by, and we slipped the cash in. I saw Ma and Pa both contributing checks.

Finally, the third hymn was sung, the First Reader went through the final short readings, and Church was over. At last!

But we still had to wait through Ma's mandatory socialization, chatting with fellow women at church. She called us over and introduced herself and us to some new-comer. "This is my husband, Daniel Cuttington. And these are my children -- my son Luke -- he's fourteen now -- and my daughter Ruth -- she's nine."

Additionally, a middle-aged man whom I recognized slightly from church was here with a girl Ruth's age. This time, Ruth did the introductions. Ruth went up and greeted her. "Hi, Beth."

"Hi, um -- I forget your name."

"That's okay. I'm Ruth, and this is my brother, Luke."

"Hi!" I said.

"Beth's visiting her grandpa for the summer, and she just started my Sunday School class. Ma and Pa are over there."

"Ma, Pa. Just like the Little House on the Prairie!" Beth said, laughing.

Ruth giggled, and I couldn't help laughing a little, even while sighing. We often got that reaction.

But finally we got in the car. I was quite itching to get out of this tight suit, especially with my sunburnt skin. Pa drove off.

On the way, Pa murmured to himself something about filling the tank. We drove past a gas station, one we often used, but Pa didn't stop there. A bunch of girls in bikinis, and a few guys also in swimsuits, were holding a car-wash. The girls seemed about my age or somewhat younger, and they were all in bikinis.

I held my head averted from them, not wanting my family to sense any interest in looking at bikini-clad girls. Pa despised girls in bikinis, and I sensed another rant coming up. I tried to close it out.

"Young girls these days, the way they dress up and expose themselves ... the good old days ... clothing common streetwalkers would be ashamed to be seen in ... unaware no doubt how they expose themselves ... the entertainment industry ..." We didn't have a television set, except for one in Pa's home office that we were never allowed in. "Don't let me catch you in anything like that, Ruth. Shorts are okay for you now, but when you're a couple years older, they'll only be appropriate for gym and exercise." Pa ranted on some more, about the state of the world and education these days.

Did Pa even know that we'd gone to a water park called Bikini Beach the previous day? I had no idea what Ma told Pa, other than we were going somewhere. Pa would have strenuously objected, had he known. Ma would have won in the end, though.

We had Sunday Dinner at home. Unfortunately, Ma demanded that I stay dressed up for Sunday Dinner. I had to stay in this uncomfortable suit, and couldn't change into tee-shirt and jeans until afterwards.

I went to the library to spend the afternoon. Pa handed me a bunch of books to return. I loved going to the library and reading there.

At the library, I made my way to an aisle in the adult section, where I often frequented when I was by myself at the library. I picked out a book discussing crime and criminal justice.

As usual, I burned in fury. I mean, how could they possibly think that making a person confess to a crime proves that he did it? I kept imagining myself in the back room of a police station while police officers kept at me. Could I resist the pressure to confess?

Something happened many years ago. A woman had been raped and left for dead in New York City's Central Park. It had been a case of black teens going wilding. But years later, apparently after most were released after serving their youth sentences, they were all exonerated through DNA testing.

Someone else -- a serial killer -- had committed the crime. The police had made the boys confess, interrogating them hours on end. I couldn't imagine what they had gone through.

Finally, I couldn't stand the fury any more, and slipped the book back in the shelf. I went to another shelf just a few feet away, near one corner. I was feeling giddy and flushed as I looked both ways, not seeing anyone in this aisle.

Here were books about sex. I pulled down a book called "Forbidden Flowers" and opened at random. While reading some of the fantasies there, I kept thinking about the girls at Bikini Beach and found myself getting the most excited since I first looked at that book.

It was only when the library closed -- at four on Sundays -- that I walked home. Pa had watched the baseball game in his office. That was the only TV we had in our house, and only he and Ma were allowed to watch it, most of the time. Ruth was up in her room, and Ma was cleaning up something.

Monday, June 23

Like every morning, after breakfast we all had to listen to the Mental Work. It was an old cassette recording of my great-grandma, with various passages from the Bible, "Science and Health", and other works of Mrs. Eddy. Mrs. Eddy had founded Christian Science over a century ago, so what she had to say was pretty important.

But it was a boring ten minutes that went on forever. "Neither animosity nor mere personal attachment shall impel the motives or acts ..." "It shall be the duty of every member of this church to defend himself daily against aggressive mental suggestion..." "What is God? God is incorporeal, supreme, infinite, Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love" -- the Seven Synonyms of God everyone knew. "Animal Magnetism, hypnotism, etc. are disarmed by the practitioner..." "The mental malpractitioner is not, cannot be, a Christian Scientist. He is disloyal to God and man; he has every opportunity to mislead the human mind, and he uses it."

I noticed Ruth glaring at Ma. Both Ma and Pa seemed oblivious.

Of course, it wasn't the end when the Mental Work concluded. The Lesson-Sermon for the week followed. Mondays, we had to tape-record it so that we could listen the rest of the week. Ma and Pa recorded it together, playing the First Reader and Second Reader.

I started by listening, but as usual fogged out, only picking out isolated sentences: "And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd..." "His proof of Christianity was no form or system of religion and worship, but Christian Science, working out the harmony of Life and Love." "We cannot build safely on false foundations." "WINE. Inspiration; understanding. Error; fornication; temptation; passion." I blushed at hearing that; I'd learned what fornication was only a year or two ago. "For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little..."

Eventually it was over -- finally! Pa went off to work, and I spent the rest of the morning reading books I'd checked out yesterday.

But I had piano lessons at 11:30, a weekly event I always dreaded, and then Taekwondo at 1:00. I changed into my TKD uniform at home; as I did, I overheard Ruth complaining to Ma about ballet lessons, which she had the same time as my TKD. "I can't let Luke see me dressed like that!" I couldn't hear Ma's muffled reply, but I was puzzled. I always saw her in her pink leotard and white tights when we walked home together afterwards.

Hey, I even saw her in a red bikini at Bikini Beach last Saturday!

I gathered my piano music, and left the house to trudge off to the piano lesson. It was simpler to wear my TKD uniform, than to carry it with me to change when I reached the TKD dojang.

I arrived at Mrs. Prudence's house with time to spare, even though I always slowed down as I got closer and closer, and my stomach sank lower and lower. I practiced a few punches and kicks while waiting outside.

Eventually, the door opened and Mrs. Prudence's previous student came out -- "Hi," we greeted each other -- and I nervously entered. Mrs. Prudence was such a scold, although she seemed nicer now -- perhaps since I began TKD this summer? Or since I began wearing my uniform to lessons? I wasn't sure.

"Hello, Luke," she greeted me, ignoring my TKD uniform as usual.

"Hello, Mrs. Prudence."

At the piano, I stretched and exercised my fingers, and the lesson began. We did scales and arpeggios, and I had three pieces to learn and a fourth to memorize. It seemed that I was doing considerably better this summer, perhaps because she was being nicer.

But still -- "Turn your thumb under just when you play the note!" "No, no, that's sharped!" She rapidly wrote in the sharp next to the note. "No, use your *third* finger. Obey the marked fingerings!"

After the lesson ended, I walked the half-mile to the TKD dojang at the mall. TKD was more fun, as we practiced various punches and kicks, and even sparred together. We practiced roundhouse kicking against huge bags hanging from the ceiling. I'd thought it would seriously hurt when I first saw the instructor a month ago kicking the bag hard over a month ago, but it really doesn't.

TKD was in the same shopping center as Ruth's ballet, so I had to meet her after class and walk home with her. As I approached, a bunch of girls with a couple boys among them emerged, variously dressed -- leotards, tights, jeans, shorts, dresses, skirts.

Ruth was one of the last to emerge. She was in her usual pink leotard and white tights, but additionally wore a pink wrap-around skirt. She came out very slowly and stopped and blushed as pink as her leotard, and looked down when I called her. Very strange. Usually, she came out chattering with the other girls and guys. But now, I got the sense that she felt herself at the bottom of her world, utterly defeated.

"Hey, Kiddo." She let me take her hand, and we slowly descended the stairs to ground level. "What's wrong? Did something happen in ballet?"

She kept her face down, not looking at me. "I found that I remembered everything and understood everything."

"Well, yeah. You've done ballet for, like, two years? You're pretty good."

We walked in silence, exiting the mall and turning onto the street that led home.

"You really don't remember, do you, Luke?" Ruth asked.

"Uh, no. I don't understand." I really was puzzled. Ruth was getting really strange there, almost adult-like even. What on earth was she getting at?

"You don't remember -- Ru, ru, puh, p-p-Pater?" It seemed that she choked up on the word, and finally pronounced it the German way.

"You mean Peter?" There was a Peter in a couple of my classes last year in eighth grade, and a couple other Peters here and there. "A classmate of your?" It occurred to me to needle her about having a boyfriend, but then I sensed it wouldn't be a good thing to do.

"You really don't remember."

"Tell me, what should I remember?"

"You don't remember your little sister?"

Huh???

"Arrgh!!" Ruth pulled from my clasp suddenly, and ran off. I gave chase, but she was surprisingly as fast as me. I never knew she could run so fast.

"Ruth, wait up! Ruth!"

Continuing to run, she yelled out, "Mental malpractice! Animal magnetism, hypnotism, and so forth!" Gads, she was taking the Mental Work talk of mental malpractice too seriously. I wound up chasing her all the way home.

She ran right into the house, and up to her room.

Ma was out somewhere, probably shopping. Pa was at work of course. Ruth stayed in her room, coming out only to shower, even refusing to come downstairs when her best friend Daisy came over to play.

Daisy went up to Ruth's bedroom, then came back down in tears. "Daisy!" I exclaimed. I don't think we'd spoken five words together in the past; I mostly ignored her as Ruth's friend. But I couldn't bear to see her like that. "What happened?"

"Ruth just told me to go away! What did I do?" Daisy bawled.

"I'm so sorry. Ruth's been mad a lot lately. Would you like to do something with me, play a game perhaps?" I wasn't sure she'd like anything I did, or I'd like anything she did, but I felt I had to try. I handed her a Kleenex to wipe her eyes, and she blew her nose.

"Thanks, Luke. I'd like that." We wound up downstairs in the basement playroom playing Sorry, a children's board game that was still interesting. Daisy was beating me hands down on our first game, when Ruth came down, her face drawn from crying.

"I'm so very very sorry, Daisy. I was just bitchy and nasty; I'm very sorry." The two girls hugged, and both began crying again. I felt a bit like crying myself.

Eventually, we got back to the game. Ruth stayed and watched while Daisy got her four pieces into Home. Afterwards, the three of us played a second game.

We were still playing when it was time for dinner. Daisy called home and got permission to stay. Ma made Ruth go upstairs and change into a dress. It seemed unfair, as I was allowed to wear jeans. In fact, I thought of changing into slacks myself, but I wimped out. From the expression on Daisy's face, she thought it was unfair too.

After dinner, I practiced the piano for half an hour; then the three of us played another game until Daisy had to go home for the night and Ruth had to go to bed. I went to bed at the same time, feeling elated and surprised that I could have such a fun time with my little sister and her best friend.

***********************************

A Bikini Beach Summer
by Daphne Xu

Part 3
Back to Bikini Beach

Thanks to ElrodW, Bikini Beach's creator, for invaluable comments on this story. The Bikini Beach universe and its principal characters are copyright 2001 by him.

Any comments about Bikini Beach, how it works, what it does, by characters other than Anya or Grandmother are potentially non-canonical and wrong. As this story is told from a particular point of view by the protagonist, this includes comments by the narrator. The protagonist, and thus the narrative, are what the protagonist believes or interprets from what he is experiencing. Thus some of the mechanics of BB are biased by the protagonist's view and experiences. Furthermore, because of the particular viewpoint of the story, those errors often won't be corrected. When the errors are corrected, the correction will often be disbelieved and rejected.

Tuesday June 24

I had no scheduled activities the next day -- no Taekwondo, no piano lessons, no clarinet lessons. I woke up from a dream about the girls at Bikini Beach, and realized I really wanted to go back to Bikini Beach and see them again. They met on Tuesdays and Thursdays if I recalled correctly. I would die of embarrassment if anyone -- especially my parents -- knew how I wanted to be with the girls again.

Before breakfast, I sat down at the piano and practiced for half an hour. I didn't want to be chewed out thoroughly by the piano teacher again.

"Good work, son," said Pa as he came downstairs for breakfast. After breakfast as usual, we listened to the Mental Work and Ma and Pa's recording of the Lesson. I kept thinking about Bikini Beach and the girls, and kept wondering how to bring it up. I knew Pa was strongly against Bikini Beach and despised girls in skimpy dress in general, and girls in bikinis in particular.

After Pa left for work, Ma asked the two of us, "What are plans for today?"

"How about Bikini Beach?" I blurted out before I could stop myself.

"No!" shrieked Ruth. "Not there!"

"That's it," answered Ma sternly. "We're going."

"No, we don't have to..." I tried lamely. "I mean, if Ruth doesn't..." I trailed off. Why was she so vehemently against it, when she had fun last Saturday as well?

"No, we're going." Ma put her foot down. "Ruth must learn that she can't have everything her own way." I didn't like that, even though I wound up getting what I wanted. It left a sour taste.

I went upstairs to get my swimming trunks and a towel, and I made sure I brought plenty of SPF-50 sunscreen. I was still itching and sore from Saturday's sunburn. Fortunately, my swimming trunks were rather long, almost down to my knees. I could just imagine what would have happened if I'd worn a bikini or Speedo instead.

The huge parking lot was considerably emptier than last Saturday, and the ticket line was far shorter. I kept my eyes averted, to avoid being caught ogling the girls, as they were all very attractive. This was a place only for girls, although they'd accepted me last Saturday without any problems.

Ma handed me the pass as we went over to the turnstile After passing through, I went to the men's changing room while Ma and Ruth went to the women's.

I was alone in the men's room. I changed into my swimsuit, stuffing my clothes in a locker, and pinning the key to my swimming trunks. I slipped on a pair of flip-flops and headed to the shower to rinse off.

After the shower, I looked myself over in the mirror, and cringed at the idea of going out in public in this bikini, and at the memory of having done it last Saturday. Hadn't I vowed to wear a one-piece suit instead? Too late now, though. I definitely hoped Pa wouldn't find out.

I was itching and sore all over. I put on sunscreen, trying to reach every bit of exposed skin possible. Finally, with an embarrassed shudder, I left the locker room and emerged into the sunshine of Bikini Beach.

I had to check in with Ma and Ruth, and I was hoping to find the girls. But I was nevertheless surprised to spot a familiar figure in the distance, Vanessa! Yes, next to her were Carol and Becky, standing in a group by themselves.

"Hey, guys!" I called out, running toward them.

They turned as one toward me, and Vanessa shouted, "Lucy!"

"You actually came!" said Carol, as we all embraced.

"You got good and burnt last Saturday," added Becky, touching a particularly burnt spot on my arm.

I gestured at my sunscreen attached to my bikini bottom. "I made sure to have plenty close at hand. So where's Alice? Is she with you?"

"I haven't seen her," said Vanessa. "I hope she comes."

"I have to go check in with Ma," I said. "You'll wait for me, right?"

"We'll go with you," said Vanessa.

We entered the ladies' changing room, and in short order spotted Alice. She was in a bikini this time, in the middle of slopping sunscreen on.

"Hey, Alice!" Shouted Carol.

"So you've decided to risk wearing a bikini again," said Becky.

"I felt uncomfortable, out of place, being the only one in a one-piece," replied Alice.

"Oh, you shouldn't have," said Vanessa. "Not on our account at least. It's perfectly fine to be different from the rest of us. Differences are to be celebrated."

"I was wishing I'd brought my own one-piece instead," I added. "When I think about it, I feel awfully naked in this. And Pa hates girls wearing bikinis, or going around in skimpy clothing."

"So why didn't you?" asked Becky sassily.

"Um, I can't remember," I answered, a little disturbed. "I guess I just didn't think about it. Anyway, I need to find Ma."

Ma and Ruth were only a couple aisles away. Ma was putting sunscreen on Ruth, who was in a one-piece swimsuit this time. Again, I regretted not bringing mine.

Ma greeted me with, "I see you've met your new friends, Lucy. Hello, girls."

"What? Oh!" They'd followed me.

"Hello, Mrs. Cuttington," answered Vanessa. The other three all said, "Hi."

"Go, have fun with your friends, Lucy. Meet us -- oh, how about at the Tiki Hut this time -- around noon," said Ma. "It's in the South Sea Adventures." That was easy. "We'll spend some time together after lunch, though."

We were waiting in line for the Spillway Slide, when Carol brought up high school in the fall.

"Are you trying to depress us or something?" pouted Becky.

"To tell the truth, I'm scared," I admitted. "Classes will be hard."

"And we'll be the lowest of the low, as freshmen," added Carol.

"They'll be mean to us, and we can't talk back," said Becky.

Alice was silent throughout, as was Vanessa. Glancing over at Alice, I saw that she was about to cry, just barely holding it in.

Vanessa took her in her arms, and she opened up and cried. I just froze; I couldn't take it. Becky froze too, while Carol went and hugged her. Vanessa kept whispering soothing sounds in her ear. When Vanessa led Alice out of the line, she said, "You three go on. We'll be okay."

"No way!" exclaimed Becky. "We're all with you!" She glanced at us and we nodded, following them out of the line to a place to sit and relax.

I felt utterly distressed. What the heck happened?

"Should I tell them?" Carol asked Vanessa and Alice.

I thought I saw a subtle nod of Alice in Vanessa's chest, and Vanessa nodded to Carol, "Go ahead."

"Alice's cousin was raped and murdered. Shortly after high school let out for the summer."

I could feel my mouth working soundlessly. I felt distinctly nauseated, about to collapse. I vaguely noticed Becky bursting into tears, and push by Carol and hug Alice. I think I fainted.

I came to, and burst into tears myself. "Oh, Alice, Alice, Alice!"

"Jill was sixteen. She was going to be a senior next year. She was a cheerleader." Alice kept talking her cousin, tears running down her face, for the next half hour, as we listened. "She skipped eighth grade and went into high school a year early."

"Alice was sent here," Carol told us, "to escape some of the distress and help her recover. She was close to her cousin."

"Did they catch the killer?" Becky asked.

"Yeah," answered Alice. "The police caught him and made him confess to it. He's going to prison, or will die."

I was a little bit relieved. At least they caught him.

We lay about the rest of the morning, not in the mood for fun and excitement. I ate lunch with Ma and Ruth. Ruth was quite excited and chattering, and I briefly wondered what made her so opposed to Bikini Beach this morning. Mostly, I just let her chatter on, caught up in my own thoughts.

We spent some time together, mostly relaxing and napping for an hour. Then I rejoined the girls. Things were better that afternoon, and we had a little fun on the water rides. But then Ruth and I had to leave at five with Ma because Ma had to go to a weekly meeting that evening. We girls shared a tearful goodnight, hugging each other. "You okay?" I asked Alice and she nodded somberly.

Back home, Ma started dinner while Ruth and I showered and dressed up. We always had to dress properly for dinner. Ruth excitedly told Pa about a prize she had won at Bikini Beach. Pa just grunted; he hated anything to do with bikinis.

I practiced piano for half an hour after dinner. Ma went out to her meeting with "Firm Love" or something like that. After practicing piano, I went to my room to practice my clarinet. I kept thinking about my hunk of a clarinet teacher, Brandon Oregon, and I wanted to play extra-special-well for him. After working through the exercises in Klose, I played some dreamy music, eyes closed, Brandon's face floating in my mind.

At one point, memories of the day intruded, and I felt guilty about such selfish fantasizing when a friend had been horribly wronged. Crying, I automatically took apart and cleaned my clarinet, putting it away, as I kept thinking about Alice and her cousin's murder.

Eventually, I went to bed haunted by the murder.

Wednesday, June 25

I woke up the next morning utterly distressed about Alice's cousin being murdered. I tried to imagine Ma being murdered, or Pa, or even my baby sister Ruth! I don't think I could stand it.

I didn't know my own cousins very well, but I heard that in some families, cousins were closer than brothers and sisters. Suppose one of the girls at Bikini Beach were murdered -- could I take that?

I also felt conflicted yet guilty about having thinking exclusively of the scary experiences of criminal suspects with police, while ignoring what the victims went through. But what if the suspect were innocent? It was just so confusing. What did Alice say? Something about making him confess? Oh, I hope not!

I got up finally and showered. My skin was beginning to peel from last Saturday's sunburn. At least yesterday, I'd used plenty of sunscreen. Carol rubbing it into my back had been wonderful.

Listening to the Mental Work and the Lesson, I kept thinking about Alice and her murdered cousin. I wondered if this preoccupation with death was aggressive mental suggestion. I felt comforted when the Mental Work recited Mrs. Eddy's version of the 23rd Psalm, with "the Lord" replaced by "Divine Love" or just "Love." "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, for [Love is] with me."

I tried to listen more to the Lesson, and understand that sin, disease, and death were unreal and illusion, and that the murder never really happened -- it was Error. "The exterminator of Error is the great truth that God, good, is the only Mind." Error had to be exterminated -- a powerful unreality that we had to stand porter and guard against.

Wednesday was mostly a free day for Ruth and me. I managed to get myself to practice a half hour on the piano, and I also played some random scales and songs on the clarinet. I felt too lazy to get out the Klose and work at those difficult exercises. Then I joined Ruth and Daisy in a game of Life.

I had Taekwondo at one, and Ruth had ballet. Both of us dressed up at home, me in my TKD uniform and Ruth in her leotard and tights, and a wraparound skirt she wore for her recent uncharacteristic modesty.

As we left the house together, I reached out to take Ruth's hand. She looked at me out the corner of her eye with an expression that clearly said, "Whaddya think you're doing?!" and whipped her hand away. Humph!

It was a mile or so walk, and I left her at her ballet studio while I crossed the mall to the TKD dojang. I picked her up again afterwards, and we walked home together.

Back at home that afternoon, Ma was out somewhere, and I was back in my ordinary jeans and tee-shirt, reading. I got up for something, and heard a "Hah!" from down in the basement. That sound, common in TKD, was puzzling coming from Ruth; I wondered what was up.

I went partway down the stairs to see what was up. I saw both Ruth and Daisy doing a front kick, a roundhouse kick, and a punch -- just like what we did in TKD. Ruth was in a tank-top and shorts, while Daisy was wearing a short dress. Ruth's moves seemed quite good, while Daisy was more clumsy. It seemed like Ruth was teaching Daisy.

They both immediately spotted me. "Are they teaching you that in ballet, or something?" I asked Ruth.

"Nope. Come down and join us, Luke!" said Ruth excitedly.

"I already did Taekwondo today and I'm a bit tired and sore, and I'm not dressed for it now," I said, indicating my jeans.

"That's not a problem," she replied. "Just take'em off. You *are* wearing underwear, right?" she added with a giggle.

Daisy echoed her giggle. "Luke, I'm showing my underwear when I do this. I'm sure you can, too."

"Uh, no thanks. I'll take a pass on that." Ruth and Daisy laughed further as I made a hasty, embarrassed exit.

Unfortunately, it was Wednesday. That meant we had to go to the Wednesday Evening Meeting at Church, an intolerably boring hour except for the hymn-singing. I had to dress up in my ill-fitting suit again. Ruth looked great in her dress.

The service opened with a hymn, followed by the First Reader reading from the Bible and "Science and Health" -- his own readings, not the Lesson-Sermon. I tuned out and thought back to Bikini Beach, the girls, the fun, the affectionate hugging and touching, Alice's cousin being murdered. That last was a downer, haunting all else.

My musings ended when the First Reader announced the moment of silent prayer followed by the Lord's Prayer. After that, we had the second hymn, a familiar one by Mrs. Eddy, but with the adult music.

The second half, longer than the first half, was the most boring part. The audience was "invited," in the words of the First Reader, "To give testimonials of healing and comments about Christian Science." I slithered down to fantasize more about the girls, when a man stood up.

At the First Reader's nod, he spoke. "I am exceedingly grateful to Mrs. Eddy for her teachings on Christian Science. As the sign says, `Divine Love always has met, and always will meet, every human need.' I have been blessed by Divine Love with numerous healings and demonstrations.

"Several years back, I experienced a claim of facial paralysis; the right side of my face wouldn't move. A doctor suggested a couple of drugs, but told me there was nothing they could really do. Rejecting the drugs, I turned to `Science and Health.'

"`What is Man?' `Man is not matter. He is not made up of brain, blood, bones, and other material elements. The scriptures inform us that Man is made in the image and likeness of God.' I understood that God cannot be paralyzed, and Man in God's image cannot be. I could never be paralyzed in reality.

"To make a long story short, after a couple weeks of Knowing the Truth about Man, I realized that my face was perfectly whole, perfectly mobile. I am so grateful for Mrs. Eddy and Christian Science." The man sat down, and the First Reader nodded with a smile.

I'd never given a testimonial myself, and I kept dreading the time when I had to stand up and give one. That prospect was scary, terrifying. A couple more persons stood up and gave testimonies. Then, after a few minutes of silence, the First Reader said, "Let us close this service by singing hymn number 97." It was another vaguely familiar hymn, a nice haunting one.

The service ended at that point. We listened to the organist playing random music and waited for Ma to chat and gossip with a few other women, then finally went home. I dozed off in the car. When I got home, I went straight to my room, got out of that suit and into my pajamas, and went straight to bed even though it was an hour before my bedtime.

Even so, I had trouble falling asleep. I kept thinking about the four girls, and couldn't wait to join them again. I found myself on my stomach, pillow rotated longways under me, excitedly imagining myself with the four girls all naked, me looking at them, touching, kissing, licking... Oh, what a scene! I was moving my knees up and down, rocking back and fourth, breathing in gasps, feeling ever more excited, when a wonderful paralyzing buzzing sensation swept over me, and my dick pulsated and spurt goo into my underpants and pajamas.

I felt very guilty afterwards, thinking about them like that, especially Alice with her murdered cousin. And I couldn't bear for Ma or anyone to find that mess in my underwear, or find out that I thought and did such things at night. I got up out of bed, opened the door to check -- nobody visible. I crossed the hallway to the bathroom, took a washcloth and tried to clean everything up.

I ended up with distinctly wet pajama bottoms, with still a little bit of stickiness remaining. I changed into a clean set of pajamas, and returned to bed. I fell asleep shortly.

Thursday, June 26

All through the morning activities, I kept hoping and praying that we'd return to Bikini Beach. I didn't want to ask right out; I was terrified they would guess how eager I was to see the girls again. Anyway, after Pa left for work, Ma announced that we were going to Bikini Beach. I was so excited and elated! I quickly wrapped my swimming trunks and sunscreen in a towel and went downstairs, all ready to go.

Ruth emerged slowly from her room with her stuff, and stopped at the top of the stairs. I went back up and said, "You don't seem very excited."

"I can't say why, Luke. Literally," she answered. "Won't let me." Who wouldn't let her? Or what? "I don't think I could have said that if I'd said, `Bikini Beach'" Ruth continued, apparently as explanation -- but it didn't help.

"You seem happy and excited when we get there and meet your group of friends," I pointed out.

"Yeah, that's the good part of Bikini Beach. That and the water rides. Then there's what it does to our minds. That may be partly why we make friends so quickly, and are so excited about our friends. I can tell, you're excited at meeting your new friends there."

I blushed. I wasn't that obvious, was I? I wasn't even sporting an erection now.

"Hey, it's cool, Luke. You're just one of the girls when you're with them, right?" said Ruth with a smirk.

That was actually what it was like. I was one of the girls -- not literally, of course. But the way I remembered it, I hardly thought of my maleness at all when I was actually with them. But how could nine-year-old Ruth say something like that? It sounded almost adult.

"Luke! Ruth! Are we ready to go?" Ma called from downstairs.

"Coming, Ma," I called out. We went down together.

At Bikini Beach, as soon as I showered, I realized damn! I'd completely forgotten again. I was going to wear a one-piece swimsuit. I was so scared that one of these days, Pa would catch me. I definitely looked hot, looking at myself in the mirror, but that was another problem: I was exposing myself practically naked to the world. Giving into sensuality and material sense -- so contrary to Christian Science. This was a form of Error.

One other thing kept bugging me. Worrying about it was due to the insidious influence of Error, of course, but I didn't seem to have the mental strength to deny Error. Lots of stray hair stuck out around my bikini bottom. The other girls didn't have that problem. I'd peeked a number of times.

"Hey, Lucy!" Alice called me over as I exited the changing room. I ran over and hugged Vanessa, Alice, and Becky. It was so wonderful seeing them again.

"Vanessa! Alice! Becky! Where's Carol?" I looked them up and down, glancing quickly at their crotches. Yep, perfectly clean of hair. I was embarrassed anew at my own exposed hairy bottom. Becky caught my eye, and I blushed, wondering if she'd caught me focusing on the girls' crotches. She winked.

I saw Ruth coming out of the changing room with some of her friends, all excitedly talking. They all ran off. She'd lost her reservations about Bikini Beach for now.

Carol joined us shortly, and we made our way across the water park to a large pool with heavy surf.

WHUMP! came the sound at the far end, and a wave left the far end and rolled toward us as we dashed into the water. The wave was ten feet high at the far end, when first generated. It was somewhat smaller when it reached the floats limiting where swimmers could swim, and a lot smaller by the time it reached us. It broke right over me, dumping me down. I clambered back up shrieking and laughing. The water was wonderfully cool, with the hot weather we had.

After a few more waves, I announced, "Hey guys, I'm rather tired. I'm going out for a while, okay?" The girls joined me as I left the pool.

We headed toward a group of mostly empty beach chairs, occupied by a lone -- and lonely looking -- girl in a one-piece swimsuit. She was Asian, likely younger than us, and looked sad as we approached.

"Hey darlin'" Vanessa greeted the girl. "You look rather down." Vanessa sat down next to the girl, as the girl began crying, and drew her into her bosom. They were whispering, and I couldn't tell what they were saying. I was curious, but Carol touched my shoulder and said, "Let's back off and leave them alone together." So Carol, Becky, Alice, and I found places a little ways off to relax and soak up some rays.

Too soon, it was time for lunch with Ma and Ruth. "I'll return soon, I promise." We had a light but expensive lunch -- Ma paid for it without complaining, of course. Afterwards, Ruth had to return to the dressing room for something, and Ma and I followed.

In the dressing room, I spotted a vending machine selling razor blades among other intimate objects that I blushed at. Very embarrassed, I asked, "Ma? Could I have some change? I need to get something."

"What do you need?"

"It's... um." I was feeling really embarrassed about wanting to shave my pubic region. I couldn't say it; I was glancing down.

"Lucy, dear, you know you don't have to be embarrassed about anything with your Ma. You can ask me anything, and discuss anything. I agree, your legs, arms, and underarms do need shaving. Get several razors." She handed me some money and I was relieved that she'd missed my primary concern.

I got two razors from the machine, and also some lotion. I found a private shower stall and removed my bikini. Ma was right; I needed to shave my arms just a little bit, and my armpits. I finished them in short order, then set about removing the hint of hair from my legs. I told myself that would make my legs look a notch -- perhaps subliminally -- better at my clarinet lesson tomorrow. My clarinet teacher, Brandon Oregon, a man in his twenties -- probably twice my age -- was such a hottie and a hunk.

Shaving my legs led directly to my crotch. Of course, Brandon would never see the difference there, but anyone here at Bikini Beach would. I began intending to leave my hair under my bikini intact, but as I progressed, it never looked or felt right. I wound up shaving it all off, except for isolated patches right between my legs.

I definitely felt cooler and crisper once I finished and put my bikini back on. Unfortunately, I nicked myself a few times, and it itched down there. But at least I no longer had hair around my bikini.

I was feeling rather shy and embarrassed about meeting Ma and Ruth now, but Ma said, "I'm happy you're taking more of an interest in your appearance, Lucy. Your friends at Bikini Beach seem to be a good influence on you."

For a moment, I wondered at that, about paying attention to the material aspect in Christian Science. Then I recalled something in "Science and Health" where Mrs. Eddy refuses to tolerate a speck of dirt on someone.

Then I went back out to find my friends. "Over here, Lucy!" Becky called out before I saw them, in line for a water slide. The new girl was with them, and seemed better now.

"Our new friend is Jen," Carol told me. "Jennifer Lam, right?"

"Yes," she answered softly, shyly.

"Hello." I took both her hands, wondering if hugging her would be appropriate. Then I brushed aside the worry and hugged her to me. She wrapped her arms tightly around me and we stood a moment before separating.

"A friend of hers is in jail for murder," Becky told me.

"But Tim couldn't have done it. He's not like that. They must have framed him!" Jen burst into tears. Vanessa went to console her.

"Becky Miura," said Alice. "You might consider thinking just a bit before running your mouth."

Becky burst in tears. "I'm so sorry. I know I'm bubble-headed I just can't help it."

"Well, you just might focus on sealing your lips, unless you want them sealed the hard way," said Alice mercilessly.

Becky turned away and leaned against a pole, continuing to cry. I couldn't bear to see her cry further, so I went and put my arms around her. I couldn't think of anything to say, so I just stood and held her until she stopped crying.

We continued spending the afternoon together, but it wasn't very happy overall for us. Near the end of the afternoon, we were close to our usual happy selves. Even Jen was chatting and laughing on occasion, having fun with the rest of us.

Back home, as usual I wondered if Pa would find out I'd been wearing a bikini all day. I found some Post-Its and put a note on my bikini when I hung it in the closet, to bring a one-piece swimsuit to Bikini Beach. I didn't want to keep disobeying Pa and fearing being caught. I labeled the note, "IMPORTANT!!"

Ruth and I had to shower and dress up for dinner. In my shower, I inspected my noon handiwork down there. I looked almost like a little girl. The nicks were healing nicely.

After dinner, I changed back into jeans and tee-shirt and practiced on my piano. After a half-hour of practice, I heard Ruth down in the playroom, and thought I'd join her. Again, like yesterday afternoon, she was kicking and punching the air. What was it called again? Oh yeah, Taekwondo. How bizarre, girls actually wanting to fight and kick.

"Come on down," Ruth said. "I have to be rather quiet about this when Ma's home." I noticed she wasn't doing any of the shouts she did yesterday. "I'd like to attend Taekwondo class, but Ma would never allow it."

"No, of course not. How can a girl actually want to do that kind of thing," I said. "Fight? Kick? If you were a boy, I'd call it a macho thing."

"And if you were a boy," retorted Ruth, "You'd do it yourself. Instead of ballet."

I couldn't imagine being male. "Good thing I'm a girl then, right?"

"Ballet's okay, I guess." Okay? Just okay? She GUESSES? She continued, "I never imagined saying that. Only a couple weeks ago the idea of ballet would have been wonderful -- I mean, I never thought I would demean ballet." What the heck was she saying?! "No-no-no! It's scrambling my words!" She spun around with a hard kick to the air. "Take that, Bikini Beach!" Another hard kick. "Take that, Ma!" Another hard kick, and she rolled to the floor crying and curling up.

"Ruth!" I knelt down and took her in my arms, sitting down back so her head was in my lap. She continued weeping. It didn't sound like she'd hurt herself falling; it was something else. Something bizarre was going on, and I had no idea what. Whatever it was, Ruth was distressed and I had to comfort her.

After a couple minutes, she rose up and said, "I'm okay now. Thank you, Lucy." We went upstairs together, meeting Ma on the way down.

"I heard something," said Ma.

"Everything's okay," I told Ma. I knew from Ruth's acts earlier, that Ruth didn't want me to tell Ma anything.

"You sure?"

"Yes, we're fine," answered Ruth.

We went to our rooms. I changed into my nightgown, and got out my clarinet to practice. Tomorrow, I had clarinet lesson, and I wanted to do my absolute best for Brandon. Ah, Brandon...

Friday, June 27

There they were, all my girlfriends: Chinese Carol, Tall Black Vanessa, Short Redheaded Alice, Japanese Becky, even the new Chinese girl Jen, all waiting for me at a pool in Bikini Beach, all gorgeously clad in bikinis and flip-flops of various colors and designs.

We ran into each others' arms in a mass group hug, pressing up skin against skin. Flush with excitement, I kept my arms around two of them and turned toward Ma and Pa behind me. "Pa, these are my Bikini Beach friends," I began, when I realized how my dick was tenting my bikini bottom -- Oh God, I was introducing bikini-clad girls to Pa, and I was wearing a bikini bottom, practically naked myself, sporting a boner! Big trouble, horror, panic!

I woke up gasping, finding myself in bed, my dick tenting the sheet and blanket the way it did my bikini(?!) in the dream. I waited for my breathing and heartbeat to slow down, then got up and used the bathroom, returning to bed much relieved.

I snuggled back down in bed and promptly fell fast asleep.

I woke up in the morning absently scratching an itch just above my dick. My dick and balls were now hairless, I could feel. I cringed. For some reason I couldn't fathom in the least, I'd shaved myself yesterday at Bikini Beach. Arms, legs, underarms, and most of all my dick and balls and everything around. I guess I'd thought it'd be cool to look more like my girlfriends there.

I tossed my blankets off, got out of bed, dropped my PJs and looked down there. Yuck! My dick and balls were all wrinkled, shriveled up, bare, a dingy puce-pink, missing all the surrounding hair. Stray hairs protruded all around. Whatever possessed me to do such a thing?!

It was just so ridiculous.

After piano practice, on the way to breakfast, I saw Ruth, she turned her head away and down, with an embarrassed smile. I wondered if she somehow detected my shaved groin, but then I remembered our uncharacteristic emotional moment together last night. I felt a little embarrassed, but also somehow happy at the memory.

During breakfast, and listening to the Mental Work, I kept dreading that Ma or Pa would somehow detect that I'd shaved my crotch. It was nerve-wracking During the Mental Work, when it reached the mental malpractice part, I glanced over at Ruth and yes, she was glaring.

"Stop making faces, Ruth," said Pa curtly.

After the Lesson, Pa left for work and I got out my clarinet for another practice session before that day's lesson. The clarinet method book, Klose, was thick and very tough -- even the early sections. Mr. Oregon, the clarinet teacher, was overall nicer and friendlier than Mrs. Prudence, and a lot younger. In his twenties, I thought. But clarinet lessons were still rather scary.

Daisy came over to see Ruth while I was still practicing. I was going to spend the morning reading, but Daisy wanted me to join them in a game of Careers. Initially annoyed, I got caught up in the game and had lots of fun.

Eventually, I had to get ready for clarinet lessons. I changed into my TKD uniform, packed my clarinet and Klose, and headed out for the mall. The clarinet lessons were held in Shandy's Music. I arrived early and half-listened to the saxophone lesson before mine as I put my clarinet together. I fingered a couple Klose exercises while waiting.

The saxophonist came out, a girl perhaps my age, followed by Mr. Oregon. "Hello, Luke," he greeted me. "Prepared for Taekwondo as usual, I see." Like the piano teacher, he'd changed a bit upon my starting TKD, but the difference was subtle and I couldn't identify it.

As the lesson began, my hairless crotch stood out in my mind, although eventually the lesson itself pushed the thought out. We played a hard eighth-note syncopation duet that I'd worked on quite a bit this past week, and I actually played the hard part fairly well -- cracking up only at the easier end of the passage.

"You've definitely worked on that," said Mr. Oregon. "I think we'll only need another week."

We were on the E and B major scales. They felt unnatural because we had to use the wrong pinky finger for low E and the B -- right-left-right was required for B-C#-D# and E-F#-G#. I was beginning to get used to the odd fingering though. We finished with a medley of old American folk songs, including "My Darling Clementine" and "Old Folks at Home."

The lesson ended with plenty of time to walk to the TKD gym. Again, I hoped and prayed that nobody would notice anything different about my crotch. Then I got caught up in kicking, punching, and shouting.

After TKD, I walked over to Ruth's ballet school. To my surprise, she was already waiting outside, back in her usual uniform, pink leotard and white tights without the wrap-around dress, chatting with a couple others, a boy and a girl.

"There's your brother," said the boy.

"Your brother's so cool! My big brother would never do anything like meet me after ballet and take me home," said the girl.

"Hi Luke!" she said. "Seeya guys!" I wondered, was Ruth back to her old self now? We started off together, and I reached to take her hand, and she whipped it away again with that look. Oh, well.

As we started the mile-walk home, Ruth said, "We ended early today because I confronted the ballet instructor, when she snapped at a student once too often. We wound up in a stand-off, with me in fighting stance ready for a front side kick followed by a roundhouse kick. During the standoff, I told her about Stockholm Syndrome, explaining the success of her meanness to students. You've heard of Stockholm Syndrome?"

"Um, no I haven't." Ruth was being strange again.

"Well, it's what happens when someone controls someone else, sometimes through pain or threats or verbal abuse. After a few days, the victim turns to the abuser's side. It was named after some crime in Stockholm, Sweden, where the criminals took hostages. The hostages sided with the criminals in the prosecutions, and one of them even married one."

Fancy words from a nine-year-old girl. How did she come to know all this? Or was there anything to it? I didn't know what to say.

We walked on in silence, and then I casually said, "It seems that another person has joined my friends at Bikini Beach. Vanessa tells us that Bikini Beach was therapeutic -- something like that. Helping people who've had bad things happen."

Ruth looked as if she was about to say something, but kept silent. I continued, "A dear friend of the new girl was jailed for murder. Not only that, Alice's cousin was r--" I stopped, embarrassed mentioning rape, remembering that this was my nine-year-old sister. "Murdered. They caught someone and made him confess. I hope they didn't get the wrong man." I spat that last out in a burst of anger.

"You were about to say, `Raped and murdered,' weren't you?" said Ruth in a bitter tone.

"Yeah." This was getting really uncomfortable.

"What was her name, do you know?" asked Ruth.

"Alice's cousin, the victim?"

"Yeah."

"Alice told us, but I don't remember. Sixteen-year-old girl, went to the school I start this fall. Cheerleader."

"Her name wouldn't be, by any chance, Jill, would it?" asked Ruth after a moment.

"Now, that you mention it, I think Alice mentioned that name." Now how would Ruth know anything about it?

Ruth faced forward, biting her lip. She seemed to be thinking rather hard. We said nothing further until we got home.

Ma was doing laundry. "Both of you, you're just in time. Change, and I'll wash your things." We went to our rooms and I slipped out of my TKD uniform and put on a bathrobe.

Carrying my uniform with me, I knocked at Ruth's door. "Ruth, I'll take your stuff downstairs."

"Just a minute!" I heard a little motion, and Ruth, also in a bathrobe, opened the door and handed me her leotard and tights. "Thanks a lot, Luke. I'll only take a minute or so in the shower."

I delivered the dirty stuff to Ma, and returned, ready to take my shower. Ruth came out wearing her usual tee-shirt and shorts. She dashed downstairs and shouted out, "Ma I'm going over to Daisy's house now!"

I showered and dressed in jeans and tee-shirt, and went down. "Ma, is it okay if I go to the library?"

"Yes you may. Be back by 5:30 for dinner."

At the library, I thought of finding the politics section, but I started fuming horribly again about coerced false confessions. Instead, I went to find "Forbidden Flowers." That was a lot more pleasant, a lot more exciting even. I was deep in the aisles, yet I kept looking around. I knew I would be in deep trouble if I were caught. I turned to the "Gena" fantasy, flushing and breathing heavily, yet in terror of being caught.

Eventually, it was time to head home. When I arrived, Ma said, "Ruth's having supper with Daisy and spending the night. It's just the three of us here now."

After supper, Ma and Pa watched some old movie on video in Pa's office, while I went to my room to practice clarinet. I practiced a half-hour of piano as well. Monday was approaching, I told myself.

As I lay in bed for the night, I kept thinking about the girls. I tried to fantasize hugging the girls, seeing them naked, and having sex with them, but reality kept intruding. Alice's cousin raped and murdered. Jen's friend in jail for murder. I wondered if any of the others also had a dark secret background they were escaping from.

I was very lucky, I told myself. Nothing bad happened to myself or my family. Perhaps Christian Science actually had something to do with it.

It took forever to fall asleep.

******************************

A Bikini Beach Summer
by Daphne Xu

Part 4

Thanks to ElrodW, Bikini Beach's creator, for invaluable comments on this story. The Bikini Beach universe and its principal characters are copyright 2001 by him.

Any comments about Bikini Beach, how it works, what it does, by characters other than Anya or Grandmother are potentially non-canonical and wrong. As this story is told from a particular point of view by the protagonist, this includes comments by the narrator. The protagonist, and thus the narrative, are what the protagonist believes or interprets from what he is experiencing. Thus some of the mechanics of BB are biased by the protagonist's view and experiences. Furthermore, because of the particular viewpoint of the story, those errors often won't be corrected. When the errors are corrected, the correction will often be disbelieved and rejected.

Saturday, June 28

I woke up that morning eagerly looking forward to returning to Bikini Beach. I couldn't wait to see the girls. My dick was hard at the idea. I got up to use the bathroom, wincing at the ugly view of my hairless dick and balls. Ewwwww!

Ruth had spent the night at Daisy's, so she wasn't home for breakfast. She was going to spend the day as well, instead of going to Bikini Beach. But I still had to do the morning ritual of breakfast, the Mental Work, and the Lesson.

I found the note I left Thursday pinned to my swimming trunks: "IMPORTANT!! Bring swimming trunks to Bikini Beach!" What the heck?! I always brought my swimming trunks to Bikini Beach. What was I thinking when I wrote that? I tossed the note in the trash and gathered my trunks, towel, flip-flops, and sunscreen.

Ma and I were the only ones in the car as we drove to Bikini Beach, and standing in line with Ma was different without Ruth. We were mostly silent, just occasionally saying things.

Ma brought up the subject that would embarrass me the most. "You have made new friends here at Bikini Beach."

I blushed, looking down at the ground. I couldn't face Ma.

"I approve," she continued. "You've been very much a loner. It's good to have good friends, and you're getting more exercise. You know, those girls could become your BFFs. That's girl-talk these days: Best Friends Forever." She touched my chin with a fingertip and forced my head up to face her. "Tell me, Luke. Is there any special girl in particular?" she asked in a voice designed to humiliate me thoroughly.

"Um, they're all special," I said. Then I realized what I'd just said. My face was about to catch fire.

"Say, Luke? Would it be okay if I left you here and returned home? I have chores to do."

"Um, uh, sure," I answered dumbly, still brain-fried from the inquisition.

"Here's the admissions fee, and enough for lunch and whatever else you may need here." She opened her purse and pulled out several bills. "Call me around 5:00 and I'll come and pick you up."

"That's fine, Ma. Have a nice day, Ma." I said in a rapid patter.

"You enjoy your day, and I'll see you this evening." Ma hugged me briefly, as I froze again in embarrassment.

The line was extremely long on Saturday, of course. The lines through the turnstile were just as long, although moving much faster, for those already with passes. I wondered how I'd ever find the girls in this crowd, once I changed inside.

As I approached the sales booths, I got progressively more and more nervous about facing the saleslady on my own. Suppose I did or said something wrong? I was a boy trying to enter a girls' water park. Ma always got the passes before, and I never paid much attention to the transactions -- except for the admonition to shower. But now, I had to face the saleslady myself.

When I reached the ticket counter, I asked for a day pass. The saleslady was very pretty, which didn't help my nervousness one bit. I couldn't help looking down, away from her face. I noticed the name tag, and focused on it. Her name was Anya. No doubt I'd forget it as soon as I entered the park.

She told me, "We only have a limited set of passes for men and boys. I will have to check on availability." She turned away a moment, then turned back to me. "You're in luck. We have a day guest membership, and a special offer of a two-week membership for the price of three day memberships."

I didn't have the greater price on me. Even if I had the cash, I wasn't sure if Ma would like it if I got the two-week membership. So I stuck with the day membership.

"Remember to shower after you change, before entering the water park," she told me. That was always their policy.

I got in line for the turnstiles, and waited another endless time. Finally, I reached a turnstile, swiped my pass, and entered the park. I found the small men's changing room, changed into my swimming trunks, and showered.

After the shower, I inspected myself in the mirror. Ahhh! What the heck was wrong with me! I'd left myself a note reminding me to take a one-piece suit and wear that at Bikini Beach. This morning, I'd discarded the note, then forgot about it and took the bikini.

Oh well. At least no hair protruded out of my bikini bottoms. No, that wasn't quite true. A few strands were visible down at the bottom of my crotch, where I wasn't quite able to reach properly. Nobody should notice, unless she was looking carefully. It felt cool down there -- cool, crisp, and sexy. Yes, definitely an improvement, even though a couple nicked spots still itched. I felt much better about my bikini bottoms. I hooked my arms about my head -- yep, my underarms were properly shaved as well. My green and white striped bikini looked quite dashing on me, if I may brag a little.

I returned to my locker, got out my purse, and smothered myself in sunscreen. I was still peeling from last Saturday and I didn't want to make it worse.

I left the changing room, and entered the water park, hoping to find my friends.

"Hey Lucy!" came a familiar voice from a distance away. It was Vanessa. She looked hot in her rainbow skintight bikini, contrasting with her dark-chocolate skin. I ran over and she caught me in a hug, lifting me off my feet. She was tall and very strong. This was followed by hugs from Jen and Alice, both right next to her.

"So are the others here yet?" I asked.

"Carol's still in the changing room," replied Alice. "She'll be out shortly."

Both Carol and Becky emerged and ran up to us. We were all hugging and laughing. It was good to be together again. It would make for a perfect Bikini Beach day, no matter what else happened.

We went on a couple water rides, gossiping and chatting.

Around 10:45, I spotted a bulletin board with various events scheduled. I noticed a schedule of gymnastics classes -- all ages and levels at 11:00 and again at 2:00.

"Hey guys!" I called the others over. "Look at this."

"Gymnastics?" asked Jen.

"I attended a few of their classes a while back," said Becky. "You wanna try it?"

"I'm thinking of it." I started off toward the site. "By the way, any of you heard of Taekwondo?"

"Taekwondo's like karate," answered Vanessa. "They teach to fight by kicking and punching."

"I caught Ruth kicking and punching the air a couple times, and she called it Taekwondo. Where she got it, I haven't the foggiest."

"Probably from a friend," answered Vanessa. "Anyway, I'm in on gymnastics if you are. That's the advantage of classes here: they're included in the admissions fee. I understand the gym attached to the park is a recent addition, built only a few months ago.

So at 11:00, Vanessa, Alice, and I entered the gymnastics class. Unlike ballet and ordinary gymnastics classes, this class didn't require any special clothing. Everyone wore their regular Bikini Beach attire, mostly bikinis with a few tankinis, one-pieces, and thongs. Becky, Carol, and Jen watched us from the stands.

My six years of ballet definitely helped, although gymnastics was rather different. I was definitely flexible enough, having absolutely no problem with the splits, either front or center. I also had some experience in tumbling. Other things such as vaulting were completely new to me.

The arena was huge, with large bins of colored foam scraps to jump or fall into. There were bars to walk on, bars to vault over, bars to hang from,...

My legs were strong from ballet, although my arms were much less so. At least I was light and thin, so I could pull myself to a chin-up without too much trouble. Swinging myself up and over the top to a handstand on the bar was impossible, though.

Before we knew it, the hour was up. I'd worked up quite a sweat. As Vanessa, Alice, and I regrouped, the other three girls ran up and joined us, hugging us all.

"I gotta take a shower," Vanessa declared. "I'm so sweaty it's disgusting." Vanessa's dark skin gleamed and glistened all over with sweat. I felt rather grimy myself.

"I'll join you," I replied. Alice came as well.

"We'll wait outside," said Becky.

Inside the shower room, Vanessa removed her bikini before soaping herself all over. I noticed a nice, neat, vertical patch of hair above her pussy cleft. Alice removed her one-piece suit as well. I hesitated a moment, then took off my bikini, and soaped myself all over.

I made sure my bikini was thoroughly cleansed of the perspiration, before putting it back on. Meanwhile, Alice changed into a spare tankini.

We rejoined the other girls, and the six of us went to lunch. Carol's older sister Nancy joined us, with a friend. Nancy was sixteen, almost seventeen. Carol was slightly taller than Nancy, even though she was only fourteen. They looked very much alike. Nancy's friend Cindy was a very pretty blonde, blue-eyed girl, exactly Nancy's height.

Vanessa's comment, "Rather hungry, aren't we?" made me notice that I was wolfing my lunch down. It must have been the gymnastics class. I slowed down immediately, as Becky giggled in amusement.

Afterwards, we all, including Nancy and Cindy, found a nice area off to the side, spread out our towels, and sunbathed and napped for a while.

I awoke shrieking, brushing away a clammy touch.

"Very sorry," said Carol above me. "I noticed you were beginning to turn red, and I took the liberty of applying more sunscreen. I didn't mean..."

"Thanks," I hugged her. "I hope it isn't too late. I'm still peeling from before." I pulled off a bit of dead skin from my right shoulder, and took the bottle of sunscreen and applied it generously all over.

"Lucy," said Alice to my right. "You are tanner now. You won't burn or peel as much this time. As for me, though..." she didn't continue, but I could imagine, given the freckles covering her body.

"Hey, let's go on the Pipeline!" exclaimed Jen, jumping up. Cindy and Nancy joined us, and stayed with us the rest of the afternoon.

Sometime later, it was approaching 5:00. "Guys? I have to call home now. Ma's going to come pick me up."

Carol and Nancy leaned together to whisper, and then Carol said, "We could take you home, Lucy. Nancy drives; it won't be too far out of the way. It would be nice if you could stay until closing time, too."

We found a public phone nearby, and I phoned home.

"Lucy!" Ma answered the phone. "I'll be there in half an hour to pick you up."

"Ma? Carol's sister has offered to drive us home, so you won't have to make the trip."

"Let me speak with her a moment." I handed the phone to Nancy, and they talked a couple minutes.

When Nancy returned the phone to me, I queried, "Ma?"

"Lucy, they wish to stay until the park closes, and then take you to dinner. I okayed that, so I'll expect you home around 9:30."

I was happy with that, although just a bit nervous. I stuck to Carol like glue, to make sure I wouldn't get lost at any point. We spent a fun two-and-a-half hours that evening.

We returned to the changing room, and I changed back into the skirt and blouse I'd worn today, carefully rolling my bikini up in my towel.

Upon leaving Bikini Beach, we stopped at a small pizza joint and ordered a large supreme pizza. Clothed and hair-styled as they were, Nancy and Carol looked like identical twins. Both were in jeans, sandals, and tee-shirt with identical Chinese characters. Nancy's tee-shirt was green, while Carol's was red. Otherwise, their clothing was identical.

Nancy's friend Cindy was dressed similarly -- jeans, sandals, and gray tee-shirt telling us that, "My eyes are up there." Tall as all three girls were, that tee-shirt could have been speaking to me.

When they dropped me off at home, I invited them in for a moment. Ruth and Ma were both in the living room. Ruth was reading -- "Astronomy Magazine"? How bizarre! What a boring, adult, nerdy subject. Pa emerged from his home office to meet my friends.

They talked a little, and I was relieved that Pa didn't mention his distaste for girls in bikinis. Carol joined Ruth and talked some; apparently, she found that magazine interesting as well.

Eventually, they said goodbye and left, and Pa returned to his home-office. It was my bedtime and past Ruth's bedtime, so we both slipped upstairs. I was kicking myself for ignoring my note this morning, so I created several notes and put them at several locations to remind myself that I was to wear a one-piece swimsuit to Bikini Beach.

I went straight to bed, falling asleep instantly.

Sunday, June 29

Ooo, aya, ow! I was all sore and stiff. It wasn't just the new dosage of sun I'd received yesterday at Bikini Beach; it was that gymnastics class. Taekwondo didn't help much with gymnastics at all. I think I stretched and contorted parts of my body further than they had any right to go.

The memories were utterly embarrassing. I think I was the only one over half and under twice my age there who couldn't come close to doing the splits. And all the trouble I had with balance... To cop it all, I think I was the only boy in the class. I had a partner, an adult woman, and she spotted me during certain stands and flips. I found myself getting aroused and excited. My dick made a tent in my swimming trunks, noticeable to her and anyone else watching me. It reached the absolute nadir of mortification while I was stretching and bending my back on my hands and feet with the spotter's help. I orgasmed, soaking the front of my swimming trunks. The feeling buzzing through me was one of the most pleasurable and most intense I'd ever experienced. I'm sure everyone around me noticed. It stank to high heavens as well, with that distinct smell that shouted out to the world that I had just masturbated and jizzed. Sweat from the exercise only exaggerated the smell.

Thank goodness, the girls hadn't made fun of me. It seemed like they were all happy for my trying it in the first place. They'd all hugged me afterwards. Hmmm.... Being hugged by five girls at once.... Awaking to Carol massaging sunscreen on me... Spending the day playing and laughing with the five girls... I was on my stomach, thrusting back and forth with my legs, remembering the times with the girls, bikini-clad, hugging. My dick was pulsing, and the wonderful buzzing feeling swept over me again.

My underpants and pajamas felt icky afterwards. It had that same distinct smell as at the gym. Phew! It was Sunday Morning, too -- Church day. That was just all the more wrong.

Last night, I'd eaten out with Carol, Nancy, and Cindy. Then I'd invited them in and introduced them to Ma, Pa, and Ruth. Introducing three girls to my family was another of the most embarrassing things of my life. I wondered if they thought one of them -- or heaven forbid, all of them -- were my girlfriends. At least my family was nice to the girls. And Carol talked with Ruth about the latest Astronomy magazine.

At least they weren't in bikinis when I introduced them, unlike my recent nightmare.

I had to shower and put on the hated Sunday suit, and clean out my sleepwear.

I grabbed the Astronomy magazine, when I went down for breakfast. Ruth had been reading it last night, when we got home, and I wanted my opportunity to read it. I kept it with me at breakfast, and listening to the Mental Work, although I couldn't read it then. I brought it with me to Sunday School, reading it in the car and while waiting for things to begin.

Ruth sat down next to me. "Yesterday, when I first began reading the magazine, Ma grabbed it away. `Such a magazine is utterly inappropriate reading for a young girl!'" I couldn't help laughing at Ruth's imitation of Ma's scolding, and Ruth laughed as well. "Then Pa intervened. `Astronomy Magazine is appropriate for anyone interested in the subject, who has any chance of understanding it.' He returned the magazine to me. Remember last week, Mrs. Vancourt said some horrid anti-astronomy things?"

I recalled that rather well. Then Ma had scolded Ruth about respect for her elders. I didn't know what to say, other than, "That was terrible."

It was a bit strange seeing Ruth interested in astronomy, but more power to her. Come to think of it, though, Ruth had been strange all week.

In Sunday School, our teacher pointed out how, "God's spiritual Law is perfect, eternal, immutable. Mortal so-called laws of nature, are temporary. They always change." He reminded us that at one time, there were only seven planets. Then there were only six. Then seven again, then eight, and then there were nine. "We grew up learning that there were nine planets. Now they tell us that numerous planets orbit other stars." "They used to tell us that Jupiter had twelve moons. Now do you know how many moons Jupiter is supposed to have?" None of us answered that question. "It depend on who you ask. They'll all give you different numbers!"

Why? They are based on the illusion of material sense. The teacher illustrated how railroad tracks are parallel -- they never get closer together or farther apart. "Yet, when you look at them, they appear to get closer together the farther away they are."

I sensed that something was wrong with his argument, but I was at a loss for words to express it -- something about anything appearing smaller father away, material sense telling you that the railroad tracks are there in the first place. I just couldn't figure out how to put it in words.

He also told us about the water on the road, that never seems to get closer. "The water on the road is illusion." An integral part of Christian Science is that material senses are illusion, nothing more.

At one point, I noticed Ruth getting up, going over to a bookshelf, and pulling out a small book that looked like the Church Manual. I guessed she might be asking about something from the Mental Work.

I was relieved when we were all called together for the final part of Sunday School, and more or less forgot what the teacher taught us. When Sunday School ended, I went into the church auditorium and sat down with Astronomy Magazine. Ruth joined me, and I handed her the magazine.

She took it, but set it down, and turned back to me. She paused, looking like she wanted to say something. I waited, and eventually she spoke. "I asked Mrs. Vancourt about resisting or fighting mental malpractice as the Mental Work demands. Mrs. Vancourt was unfamiliar with Mrs. Eddy's words that I quoted from the Mental Work. I had to show her a passage in the Church Manual -- the duty to defend against aggressive mental suggestion. I didn't even attempt to search `Prose Works' for the other quotations."

"What did she say?"

"She first told me I was too young to worry about such things. I had to learn and remember the seven synonyms of God. Focus on God is Truth and God is Mind, and God can't be manipulated by mental malpractice. When I asked about Bikini Beach, she called it a place that encourages immodesty in girls and young ladies."

"That sounds like something Pa would say," I said, Pa's distaste for girls in bikinis and skimpy clothing very much in my mind.

"I asked her about changing people, changing their memories, making them forget -- that type of mental malpractice." Huh? I looked pointedly down at her. Was she accusing Bikini Beach of something? Ruth burst out laughing. "That's exactly how Mrs. Vancourt looked. She warned me to be careful about rumors and stories and accusations."

I didn't know what to say about that, but fortunately I didn't have to. Ruth said, "There's Ma and Pa out in the lobby, with Mrs. Vancourt." I looked, and indeed, there they were, along with an elderly woman, the church practitioner, Mrs. P--. "They're probably talking about me; I want to hear what they're saying."

Ruth slipped off the end of the bench, and I followed her. We went to the bench at the rear, and sat where we could barely hear them talking.

Mrs. P-- was talking, and made no attempt to tone down her voice. "Children her age aren't ready for instruction in animal magnetism, mesmerism, and the like. Teaching such things to a child induces fear, and fear brings on the very result we wish to avoid. Children are influenced most by their parents. Protect yourself against animal magnetism, and you shield your children."

Ma said, "I was raised with the daily Mental Work and the Lesson, as was my mother. We turned out all the better as Christian Scientists for it."

Mrs. Vancourt said, "Ruth appears to have heard the strange rumors about Bikini Beach, and seems to take those rumors seriously, accusing Bikini Beach of mental malpractice. I doubt strongly that she would not take those rumors seriously if not for your fear-inducing Mental Work."

Mrs. P-- said, "You may continue as you wish, Mrs. Cuttington, but I strongly urge you to stop the Mental Work, at least your grandmother's version that emphasizes mental malpractice."

Ma said, "You do realize that the mental malpractice passages of the Mental Work are Mrs. Eddy's words, Mrs. Eddy's warnings and admonitions, Mrs. Eddy's command to defend ourselves. In the Church Manual, we are told that it's the duty of every member to defend himself daily against aggressive mental suggestion. The Mental Work is an important part of that defense."

Pa said, "One thing I've noticed this past week, now that it's been brought up. Ruth has sometimes been looking angrily at you, Erin, during some of the malpractice sections. I'm not sure what it means, but with Ruth bringing it up in Sunday School, I'm concerned."

"Oh, I'm sure there's nothing to be concerned about," said Ma.

Ruth whispered in my ear, "Liar!"

"Oh, you're probably right," said Pa. "I was probably needlessly concerned."

Mrs. P-- said, "I'll work on it and see if I can see what the problem is."

Again, Ruth whispered, "I hope she does hit on the truth." Ruth grabbed me, and pulled me along the bench and back down to a bench closer to the front. "I don't want to whisper," she said when we sat down. "And I want to be sure to be here when Ma and Pa come down. You may have noticed that the Mental Work says nothing about how to fight mental malpractice."

"Well," I said with some hesitation, "it does tell us be ever on guard, to watch our thoughts `and see whether they lead you to God and into harmony with His true followers.'"

Ruth said, "Mrs. Eddy was talking of the mode of mental malpractice, `working so subtly that we mistake its suggestions for the impulses of our own thought'. The admonition is useless when, because of mental malpractice, you try to say something about a particular subject, and bingo -- you find yourself scrambling your words, no matter how hard you try otherwise."

"Another Mental Work passage," I said. "We are told to lean not on our strength, but to trust God."

"Actually, it's lean not on our understanding. However we would be told not to lean on our strength, but to trust God. This might be the only thing I can do. But I'm trying various things, hoping something works. As they said about Br'er Rabbit being caught in the trap, he had to stop using his feet and start using his head."

The organ music began. We turned and sat forward, and Ma and Pa joined us. The church service would begin shortly.

In church service, I sat back, closed my eyes, and daydreamed. After all, I'd already heard the Lesson-Sermon every day for the past week. My mind went over all sorts of things, mostly about Bikini Beach. My wonderful friends there, Jen and Alice's misfortunes, Ruth linking Bikini Beach with mental malpractice, her teacher mentioning rumors about Bikini Beach -- rumors I'd never heard of, especially since I hadn't heard of Bikini Beach until we went there.

That afternoon, after Sunday socialization with Ma and Sunday dinner, Ruth joined me going to the library. I dropped the books in the book return, saw Ruth off at the children's section, and walked a bit faster -- too eager, too excited, too scared -- to find "Forbidden Flowers."

I glanced about -- nobody around, good -- and slipped out "Forbidden Flowers" and read. I was so engrossed that I jumped practically out of my skin at a loud whisper of "Hey, Luke!" The book fell out of my hands.

Oh God, caught -- the mortification! It was Ruth, so perhaps she wouldn't understand what her big brother was reading. She set down the three or four books she was carrying, and picked up my book and glanced at it.

"Forbidden Flowers, eh?" she said, opening it and flipping through the pages. "A clue, Luke." She showed me a passage, one quite familiar to me -- in fact, one of my favorite passages from one of my favorite fantasies in the book. "Lick or tongue a girl's p-- down there, and she'll love you forever. Any girl, any age."

I stood there flabbergasted, my mouth opening and closing noiselessly. My little sister, my baby sister, Ruth?!

She continued confidentially, "She'll love being kissed and licked all over. Neck, breasts, elbows, knees... On the other hand..." She paused, turned to another fantasy, and pointed to an account involving an ice cube. "Many girls won't like this."

She giggled at my continued petrified reaction, slipped the book back into my shaking hands, while I continued to stand there in shock and embarrassment. "Meet you in an hour at the checkout stand, just before the library closes." She picked up her books and departed.

The book slid out of my hands, while I just stood there, feeling faint and immobile.

Once I was able to move, I picked the book back up, and slid it back into the shelf. I couldn't bear to look at the book any more. I made my way toward a table and flopped down in one of the chairs, and rested my head face-down on the table.

All sorts of thoughts ran through my mind. I was almost sick at being caught by my little sister. She knew what it really was -- and didn't hate me for it. I told myself I should be relieved, but somehow it being my little sister made it worse. I wasn't sure how I could ever face Ruth again. But I still had to get her home safely.

"The library will be closing in fifteen minutes," came the announcement. I got myself up, and made my way to the checkout desk to wait for Ruth, and collapsed onto a chair near the desk, feeling faint -- very much not looking forward to the meeting.

"Luke." Ruth's voice startled me. "You okay, Luke? You look a bit green. Take a long, slow, deep breath." I did as she told, and felt better -- then wondered how she knew about that. I knew it from test-taking, but how did she know? "It'll keep you from fainting at the very least." After a pause, she said, "I need you to check out these books for me." She handed me two books, both fantasy paperbacks. "They're from the adult section." You had to be thirteen to get an adult library card.

We checked out the books and left the library together in silence. I couldn't bear to look at her.

"Luke? Can we talk just a little? Please?" She took my hand in both of hers. "I think both of us agree that we don't want Ma and Pa to know anything about this."

"Definitely," I admitted, my voice shaking.

"And I have to admit that there was a time when I would have been mortified if you discovered me reading books like that. So I can guess how you feel. Being caught by anyone is bad enough. Discovering that your nine-year-old little sister knows about the subject -- well..."

For a moment I wondered. Was she really my nine-year-old little sister? There was the astronomy stuff as well. "I suppose I'll get over it," I conceded.

"I hope we can talk about this subject, and any other subject freely -- by ourselves of course. But if you want, we can agree never to mention this again."

Never is an awful long time, I thought. Turning to her, I said, "I don't want to say never, forever. I think I might want to talk about it some time. I agree, we should at least try to be able to talk about any subject. I'm feeling better now."

We spontaneously embraced, and I lifted her up so her head was level with mine, and she wrapped herself around me. This reminded me of the girls at Bikini Beach. We stood like that for a couple minutes before I let her down. We continued walking home, hand in hand. I felt a whole lot happier. I knew that things had changed between us.

Ruth brought up a completely different subject. "You know why I spent Friday night sleeping over with Daisy?"

"Well, you're best friends, and girls always have sleepovers," I answered.

"Well, yeah. But there was another reason. Daisy's dad is a lawyer. You told me about your friend's cousin being raped and murdered. I already knew about such a case, and was pretty sure that was it. I was also pretty sure they got the wrong man, from laziness and stupidity in their investigation.

"I wanted to persuade her dad to look into the case, and have DNA tested. You know what DNA is?"

"I heard of it in science class, but not really. It's a chemical in all of our cells. It determines inherited characteristics," I answered.

"Yes. Some parts are different for everyone," Ruth said. "DNA can be tested to see who was involved in the crime and who wasn't. I wanted Daisy's dad to get the crime scene DNA and suspect's DNA tested." Ruth sighed. "I don't know if I successfully persuaded him."

That was a lot to take in. We walked home in silence. And how did Ruth know about such things? The same way she knew about Astronomy, perhaps?

Monday, June 30

Despite Mrs. P--'s advice to the contrary, we listened to the Mental Work over breakfast. Then we had to record the new Lesson-Sermon for the week. After we listened to the Mental Work, Ma said, "Luke, I want you to record the Lesson with me, as Second Reader."

Oh, phooey. I knew better than to object. Ma always got what she wanted. Being Second Reader meant I had to read half the Responsive Reading and the Bible part of the Lesson. I had to stand up in front and perform in front of Ruth and Pa, and my voice would be heard every day this week.

Ma, playing the part of the First Reader, led off with, "Subject: God. Golden Text: Psalms. `God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding.' Responsive Reading: Acts. `Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.'"

It was my turn now. "`For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.'"

We continued with the Responsive Reading, Ma and I alternating verses. Then we got to the Lesson proper, the readings from the Bible and "Science and Health."

I began with "Psalms: `Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.' Isaiah: `I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.'" I continued on that way.

Then Ma continued with readings from "Science and Health." We alternated through six whole sections of this; it took about twenty-five minutes. I was quite relieved when it was over.

The rest of the day went as usual, piano lessons and Taekwondo for me, ballet for Ruth. Walking home with Ruth, I was still embarrassed from yesterday's events. We walked home together in silence, although she let me hold her hand. I couldn't think of anything to say, and it seemed as if she couldn't either.

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Comments

OMG!!!

I love this series! I wont spoil the ending but I'm glad you're posting to BC. Sorry I gave you so much trouble over at FM (If you haven't guessed I'm Kitty) I wasn't meaning to insult you or anything in any way and I deeply apologize if I offended you.

Still am super hoping to see more stuff from you, love your writer's voicee mew :D

I know who I am, I am me, and I like me ^^
Transgender, Gamer, Little, Princess, Therian and proud :D

Wow!

Daphne Xu's picture

Nice to hear from you. And I assure you, I wasn't in any way offended. I was quite flattered to get such a fan of my story and the (true) principle character.

No, I wouldn't have guessed you were Kitty over there.

-- Daphne Xu

-- Try saying freefloating three times rapidly.

I refresh

FM nightly hoping for another gem or story from you. I saaw your new one for tonight, read it and OMG it makes so much sense :D

But yeah, cant wait to see what happens with your stuff :D

I know who I am, I am me, and I like me ^^
Transgender, Gamer, Little, Princess, Therian and proud :D

this is funny and disturbing at the same time

Ruth's predicament is disturbing.

The christian science stuff reminds me of medieval military history rewritten frm the proletariat viewpoint. It was hilarious and stupid. Yes, that crap was actually published.

I can't wait to learn how Ruth and Luke resolve their relationship and what they do about the silly church.

This is a very good story.

I won't post spoilers, but it was well done and showed the evolution of characters, even minor ones, quite skillfully. I highly recommend it to anyone.

Maggie

mental work sounds like a

mental work sounds like a politically corrected way of saying brainwashing

Great Story

I have read the complete story and I give it a 10 on the worth reading scale , stay with it to the end for so surprises . This is a great addition to the Bikini Beach Universe. KUDOS :-) Richie2

I was hoping this tale would migrate to Big Closet

A complex tale. The odd viewpoint our hero/heroine has because of his/her family's faith makes this all the more intricate.

I got busy and was unable to keep up with it at Fictionmania.

So nice to see it here.

I do recall some of the family stuff involving their religion seemed a bit tedious at times but it serves to reinforce WHERE the main characters are coming from.

IE they're seeing Bikini Beach thru a far different *lens* than most. Thus their strange take on what may or may not be happening.

As I recall their faith is so strong at times they seem to ignore the obvious because it does not fit in with their world view. In fact their faith is so strong at times it conflicts with the magic at Bikini Beach. Or so it seemed to me.

Hum, could the protagonist of the tale have an unknown talent for magic? Magic which if I understood their family right would be seen as error or even in conflict with his/her faith?

I saw some of them making the logical error -- so many of us do it BTW -- of bending the *facts* to fit the theory. Or out right ignoring facts that contradict their beliefs as those MUST be wrong. IE whatever disputes/contradicts their religion/belief is a lie, a deceit... the temptation of the Devil, error, propaganda etc.

Thank you for bringing it here.

Welcome to BC.

John in Wauwatosa

John in Wauwatosa

Thank you

Daphne Xu's picture

I'm not sure how far you got with the story so far. If you're interested and in a hurry, the story is complete on FM, along with a short side (spoiler) story. (And yes, I mean short.) I'm posting it here at a steady pace.

It's quite interesting to see the speculation (in the comments) about what really happened, what's happening, or what is going to happen -- how things will resolve themselves out. It's all too difficult to resist giving out even hints.

-- Daphne Xu

-- Try saying freefloating three times rapidly.

Kinda confused

So...does Luke turn into Lucy whenever he goes to Bikini Beach?

mysteryman

Don't want to...

Daphne Xu's picture

I don't want to spoil any of the later parts, but, well, um, yes.

-- Daphne Xu

-- Try saying freefloating three times rapidly.

Surprising Story

Luke/Lucy is in a huge mental puzzle. What is reality for him/her? I look forward to the character's growth. Ruth is a generation older than her sibling. How can that be? Don't know yet but it is still true of her. A challenging start to this series.

Ruth

Daphne Xu's picture

Thanks for the comment -- the first in possibly four years.

It's about Ruth's behavior, and how she talks and appears to think? The parts will reveal new things, of course. This story has been called strange and peculiar.

-- Daphne Xu

-- Try saying freefloating three times rapidly.