Chapter 24 - The Hot Springs

Polly, I've got to hand it to you," Little Rose said. "You have a lot of nerve taking your parents on a hike to a clothing optional hot springs. For that matter, you have a lot of nerve going anywhere where clothing is optional!"

"What was I going to do? I already had four guests signed up for the hike so I couldn't cancel or change the place. And I don't intend to exercise my option! Notice I've got water shoes with me?"

"You better hope your parents don't want any exercise either!"

"You got that right. Here comes our first customer."

"Hi Craig," said Little Rose brightly. "All alone this morning?"

"Sandy will be along in a minute."

"That's great. Here come your parents, Polly."

"So I see. Hi guys."

"Hi, uh, Polly. This ought to be an interesting experience," said her dad."

"I hope so, replied Polly blandly. We're waiting for the McBrides, then we'll be ready to go."

"I passed them in the hall," said Craig. They might even beat Sandy."

"Just so long as you aren't beating Sandy," smirked Little Rose.

"You have a nasty sense of humor, little girl."

"Hey - I happen to know I'm older than you by three weeks."

"And I'm taller than you by about a foot."

"And how many feet do you need to take a hike?" asked Polly.

"Two to walk on and one for my mouth."

"Good answer. You are developing some self-awareness."

"You aren't going to get all mystical and new-age on us, are you?"

"Ommmmmm…" Polly intoned.

"Alright folks!" announced Little Rose. "I'm Rosie or Little Rose since my uncle Russ and aunt Rose own this place. We have a few rules to go over."

The girls had developed quite a polished tag-team routine to start their adventures.

"First," Polly took over, "we do these for the fun of it and invite you guys to come along if you want. We work here at the hotel, but these aren't official hotel activities. You follow us at your own risk."

"Been doing that since you were a toddler," answered her mother, which got her a laugh.

"In case you haven't guessed, that's my Mom Irene and that's my Dad Scott. Over there looking embarrassed is my sister Vicky. And I hope by now you've figured out I go by Polly."

To which announcement her family glanced at each other with a curious smile on their faces.

"Since we don't have a chauffeur or a fancy hotel bus, you all get to drive your own cars to the hot springs unless you want to strap yourself to the roof of Rosie's car. You might get away with it since it isn't deer season yet and the game wardens are not patrolling for illegal game hanging off the cars yet."

"Now, we want you all to be Bear Aware. Please stay on the trail and stay with us. If you wander off and get eaten by a bear the hotel and your guides assume no liability. Since we're both going to be college students in the fall we haven't got any money to sue us for."

"If you wander off the trail and start to get eaten by a raccoon, holler real loud and we might get there in time to save you before he finishes his meal."

"Seriously, be careful, it takes a long time for an ambulance to get here. It's a rather short hike, but there are rocks and tree stumps and suchlike just waiting to break your ankle. It looks like you all have good shoes so that's fine, but bring something to wade in if you want."

"If you want to do more than wade, you are welcome to do so, but you need to be Bare Aware here - that's B-A-R-E - as in 'Bigelow Hot Springs is clothing optional.' In plain language that means we might run into a bunch of naked people there."

"So watch where you're going if you don't want to run into them. Obviously they aren't wearing any padding and it might hurt."

"By the way, my parents will appreciate that I'm not going to avail myself of the no clothes option. You'll understand if I hope they are of similar mind. And Vicky - be a good girl."

"I'll be just as good a girl as you are, sis."

"What? You don't want to have any more surprises this week, daughter?" queried her father.

"Folks, I think we may be in trouble," snarked Little Rose.

"Now, if you haven't gotten eaten, be careful you don't get cooked, and no we don't recommend getting cooked before you get eaten. These are called hot springs for a reason. This time of year the Bigelow is about 100° and is pretty comfy, but that means we may have lots of company."

"Everybody comfortable with the idea of meeting bare people instead of bears in the woods?"

There was general agreement, even from Polly's parents. Who knew?

"By the way, if you want to check out any other hot springs in the area, be very careful. You could get a bad burn if you stick your foot in the wrong place."

"Now that we've scared you to death, we can go and have a fun time. Take a map and we'll meet you there in a few minutes. Just go over the bridge to the parking lot and gather there."

"Ladies and gentleman, and you too, Vicky, here we are. As you can see it's not all that big, and is only about a foot and a half deep. Enjoy yourselves and don't crowd As you can see, you don't have to be bare aware this morning."

"That's what you think, sis" taunted Vicky as she started to unbutton her blouse. Within seconds she had divested herself of clothing before any of her family or any of the guests could react.

"And just where did you get that bikini, young lady?" asked her mother in a tone that her children had learned to recognize. Preferably from a distance while it was directed at the other sibling.

"Like it, Mom?"

"Uh Polly," grunted Little Rose, "I think your little sister isn't so little any more."

"Please remember we don't want to pollute the hot spring with anybody's blood," laughed Polly. "Better you than me, little sister. Mom, Dad, I think I can guarantee that you won't see me in a bikini any time soon."

"That's a shame," came a comment from the Peanut Gallery.

While Vicky was springing her little surprise, the McBrides - Sally and Gary - had quietly stripped and headed for the pool, very bare and very aware, both smiling broadly.

"I guess we forgot to tell you we were nudists," they told the girls as they slipped into the waters.

Little Rose elbowed Polly. "Remember that ogling women might be out of character, buster."

"Who's to say who I'm looking at? I don't suppose you'd try to convince me that he doesn't attract your attention."

"Now that you mention it…"

"I don't suppose you brought a bikini?"

"We semi-official group leaders have our dignity to maintain."

"I suppose you're right. I did bring my more modest swimmies, though."

With that she skinned off her T-shirt and shorts and headed for the hot spring.

"You get all kinds of surprises when you do things like this," Polly told her parents.

"I suppose you do," smiled her father. Then an impish look came over his face and he turned to his wife.

"It appears that this is a vacation full of surprises. Shall we join them, dear?" he asked.

With a wicked smile she replied "Certainly!" and they proceeded to remove their clothes. Polly stood there in complete amazement, looking at her mother in only her bra and panties. Then, with a grin for her husband unhooked her bra and she shucked her panties.

Naturally, her mother carefully folded each piece of clothing and placed them in her backpack while Polly stood frozen despite the proximity of the hot springs.

Her father, true to the stereotype, simply stuffed his clothes in the backpack and they joined the McBrides in their clothing optional swim, leaving Polly to stand there dumbfounded.

What the he... Mentally she changed 'hell' to 'heck', true to her resolution to clean up her language. My parents just took off their clothes in front of me and thought it was funny?

Now completely confused, she turned toward the water. Wading could be almost as much fun as swimming.

In a pig's eye, darn it!

"I tell you Sheila," enthused Little Rose. "It was the craziest thing I ever saw. Polly's parents really went into the hot springs totally nude!"

"Well, I suppose if Polly shocked them by dressing up then what else could they do but shock her by taking off their clothes?"

"But… but… my parents!"

"I hate to break this to you, Polly, but if your parents hadn't gotten nude and lewd with each other sometime then you wouldn't be here." snarked Little Rose.

"Have you," moaned Polly, "either of you, ever seen your parents without clothes?"

"Not since I got old enough to know what that could mean, lover boy." Sheila was greatly amused.

"Have you considered," queried Little Rose, "that maybe your parents trust you enough not to worry about nudity around their daughter. After all, you do partake of both sides of the divide. If you decide to be Polly full time, I hope the Boob Fairy is as generous to you as she was to your mother."

"Is it too weird to be attracted to your mother's breasts?"

"At least she doesn't have to hire Omar The Tentmaker to make her bras," complained Sheila. "I wouldn't mind having breasts like hers, either."

"You're wearing my breasts now, Polly, why not your mother's?"

"Rosie, you are just plain weird!" exclaimed Sheila.

"And proud of it! Would you really want to have breasts, Polly? Like for real?"

"I've dreamed of it since I knew that girls had breasts. I know a bit of what it must be like after this summer and I still think it would be nice. But it would be so permanent if I did and right now I'm not so sure that Polly is permanent. Then again, I really don't want to go back to being Peter when I go home. It's confusing!"

"Sounds like you need to be talking to a shrink." observed Little Rose.

"You got that one right. I did say something about that to my folks and they didn't freak out."

"If they didn't freak out when they met Polly like that then why would they freak out about you seeing a shrink?" asked Sheila.

"Yeah. Any parents who go skinny dipping with their kids have to be pretty laid back."

"By the way, asked Little Rose, "what did Vicky think about think about your parents going nude?"

"She just tossed her bikini on the shore and joined them."

"So now you're jealous of your sister's boobies?"

"If I had to pick, I'd take Mrs McBride's."

"She does rather stand out from the crowd," observed Little Rose.

"Even without her bra?" asked Sheila.

"You know all those T&A outlines on the signs for the so-called gentleman's clubs that infest Portland?"

"Kind of hard to miss."

"Well, she could be the model for the T part."

"And we're not talking LGBT here either."

"Why does all the good stuff happen while I'm working?" complained Sheila.

"We could go there on our day off if you want."

"Not a bad idea. Just hope that no one's around to see how you define the T in your life."

"That's it!" Little Rose cried. "I'm outta here, go get a room."

"Not a bad idea, is it sweetie?"

"Not bad at all. See you Rosie."