I was barely awake the next morning when I heard Mom call.

"Lily, are you and Mike awake?"

"I am," I said as soft as I could.

"OK. Your Dad had to go to the office for a couple hours, and I need to hit the grocery store. It’s eight o’clock, I won’t be back for an hour or so."

"OK." I lay back down where I was—with my face all snuggled into Mike’s chest—but he had heard the exchange.

"Mmmmmmm?" he said.

"Hi, sexy," I giggled.

His eyes flew open. "Well, hello. What a thing to wake up to. I forgot where I was for a second."

"Mom woke you up, she was telling me stuff."

"That’s fine, I slept enough. Plus you’re playing with my chest hair."

"I like it," I giggled. I kept running my fingers through it. "Such an impressive amount for a lad your age."

"Uh-huh," he said.

"You know what?" I said impishly. "My leg feels a lot better."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah." I kept playing with his chest hair. "And Mom and Dad aren’t here."

"Really?"

"Really." I was really getting into this chest hair thing. "And I hear mornings are fun."

"Are they?"

"That’s what I’ve heard. I’ve never had a boyfriend stay over." Look at all this lovely hair. Hmm. Do guys have sensitive nipples? Let’s find out.

"YEEEEE!" he jumped! Well, this guy certainly does! I think I’ll do that again. "LILY! JESUS!" Oh, this is fun! If a thumb works, how ‘bout a tongue? I clamped my mouth to his nipple. At this point, I wished for a little less hair, but, ah well. It was worth it. I’ve never seen a guy moan and squirm like that!

"Oh, Jesus!" he moaned when I was done. "I’ve never felt anything like that!"

"Now you know how I feel when you’re playing with my titties," I giggled. "Well, a close approximation, I’m guessing. Pretty damn close, judging how you were reacting."

"What on earth made you do that?"

"Just impulse." I giggled, and then moved up on top of him, and wrapped my arms around him, and kissed him. That’s when I felt the other reaction. All that nipple play got him rock hard. Anyhow, we were still kind of just kissing and fondling when he broke the kiss.

"Don’t look now, but we’re being watched," he whispered.

"Are we?" I whispered back.

"Your door is open a crack, and I see a hairy eyeball," he chuckled softly.

"What do you think?" I asked him.

"If she watches from that angle—you’re right. It’s going to be more scary than anything."

"I agree." I lie down next to him on the bed and said, out loud, "Amber?"

The door pushed open halfway, and there she was, looking mighty embarrassed. "Was there something you wanted?" I asked.

"Well, I heard noises, and, uh, was worried, and stuff."

"Sure you were," I smiled. She looked even more mortified. "Amber, would you like to watch?" Her eyes got all wide at that one. "It’s OK. We don’t mind." She just kept staring at me, but nodded yes.

"Fine, then. Come on in and close the door." She did. "Sit down in the chair right there. You can see everything right there."

"I’ve never done this in front of an audience," Mike said bemusedly.

"Hey, we could’ve been ‘caught’ in right field the other day. And that didn’t seem to affect your performance any."

"True."

"Amber, if you’re going to watch," I told her, "you have to understand a few things. It’s scary to watch at first. I make a lot of noise that might sound like I’m being hurt. I’m not."

"And it might look like I am hurting her," Mike interjected. "I’m not. Well, I’m still worried about her leg, but that’s different." Amber managed a giggle at that. "And we’re just getting started, so you’ll see more than just fucking."

"What do you mean?" Amber asked.

"You’ll see," I agreed. "Oh, and Amber? If what you’re watching makes you want to play with yourself, go for it. It’s perfectly normal." Her eyes really got wide at that!

After that, we just got back into it and pretended she wasn’t there. Mike had been playing with my boobs the whole time, so he just went right for my pussy with his mouth. Oh MAN. I think I was addicted to his tongue already.

I had completely forgotten about our audience, but after the second glorious cum and working up to the third, I happened to glance over. Amber’s eyes were as wide as a person’s could be. She was completely dumbfounded. But I also noticed that her panties were on the floor, her hand was up her skirt, and that hand was working away something furious.

After my third cum from Mike’s tongue, and while he was climbing up, preparing to mount me, I heard a definite moan-and-squeak from the corner.

Anyhow, in he went, and started fucking me. He was being gentle, because of my leg, but I that was fine with me. I was still going nuts, screaming and moaning.

I got another glimpse of Amber. Her clothes were completely off. She was spread-eagled on the chair, eyes wide open, covered with sweat, fingers plunging in and out of her, her other hand clutching one of her budding tits. I caught her eye, and grinned at her. She turned purple, but didn’t stop watching—or diddling herself. Then I started to cum again and forgot all about Amber.

Mike got me to another one before he came inside me. As we were both coming down, I heard an "OH GOD!" from the corner. Amber was cumming up a storm. Good for her.

How many eleven-year-old girls get a live porno? Well, Mom and Dad did say to educate her, right?

Mike and I cuddled up to one another, amusedly watching Amber come down from what was probably the cum of her young life.

"Enjoy yourself?" I asked. She sighed, "Oh God," looked up at me and blushed.

"Well, you were wrong with what you said yesterday," Mike pointed out. "You can put yourself over by playing with yourself."

"That was the first time," she said. "Well, the first three times," she blushed. That’s when what had just happened dawned on her—and the blush spread from the top of her head to the tip of her toes. "Oh, God, I can’t believe you let me watch!" she gasped.

"You were gonna watch anyway, we just opened the door all the way," Mike laughed. Amber beamed at him. Oh, boy, did she have it bad! It was cute. "Now," Mike continued, "you do know that you’re still too young for that yourself, right?"

"Well, yeah, the second part. You know, the---fucking," Amber said with a huge blush. "I watched it go in, and you’re right—I’m a lot smaller down there. But wouldn’t the boys my age be smaller than Mike?"

Mike laughed. "Yes, they would—the problem is, the boys your age would see you sitting there naked and not have the slightest clue what to do with you. Trust me, I was once a boy your age. Girls mature faster, Amber. I guarantee every boy in school is scared to death of you."

"Yeah, we try to kiss them and they all run away," she giggled. "However, I was thinking, maybe the first part—what’s that called?"

"The proper term is cunnilingus," Mike said. "You’ll also hear slang terms. Eating her out, cunny-lapping, pussy-eating, going down on her, there are others." Amber was purple at this point! "Well, I just wanted you to know what people are talking about," Mike continued.

"Yeah, well, I was thinking—I’m not too small for that," Amber said.

"Oh, kid, are you in for a rude awakening!" I laughed. "You know the first time I ever had that done to me? Thursday."

"Huh?" Amber asked.

"Lots of guys don’t like doing that," Mike told her. " I think they’re nuts, but that’s me."

"Oh," Amber said. "Maybe Tiffany would."

"Well, if she did, you’d have to do it back," I said. "That would only be fair."

Amber made a face. We all laughed, and Mike said, "Nope, Amber, I don’t think you’re a lesbian." Amber blushed again.

"OK, well, I’m going to go now." She gathered up her clothes and headed out the door. "Thanks!" she said on the way out.

Mike and I just looked at each other and collapsed into giggles.

"Ah, man, now I’m a show and tell display for sex ed," Mike chuckled.

"And what a good one you were," I told him.

"Are you going to tell your mother about this?" he asked me.

"Yeah, I think I’d better. Anyhow, we need to get a move on if we’re going to your mother’s cookout!"

We took turns in the shower, then got dressed. Mike still had his clothes from yesterday—luckily, he hadn’t actually worn them much yesterday, so they were still clean. We went downstairs, and found Mom in the kitchen. We started helping her put the groceries away.

"Hey, Mom, I have to tell you something," I started. "Mike and I were in my room after you left, and we were just starting to, you know, fool around….." Mom’s cool, but I admit I was blushing!

"Yeah, we were just making out at that point," Mike continued, "when I noticed a hairy eyeball peeking in through the crack in the door."

"Ah." Mom said. "Amber was spying. Did she stay there the whole time?"

"Well, not quite," I admitted. "I have a confession. When I was her age, I spied on you and Dad."

"I’m not surprised," her Mom laughed.

"Anyhow, peeking through a crack in the door—which means I heard more than I saw—was scarier than it had to be. So, we didn’t leave Amber out there to get scared." I took a breath. "We invited her in."

"Ah," Mom said. "How was she?"

"Fine," I said.

"Probably too fine," Mike said with a chuckle. "I was actually afraid she was going to go try to lose her virginity more or less today. But we talked with her afterwards and she realizes she’s too young."

"Oh," Mom said. "So, you’re telling me she got turned on."

"I think she was more turned on than I was, and I was the one getting nailed," I laughed—to her credit, Mom broke up herself. "Look, we were trying to teach her what was natural, right, and I didn’t want her to get scared. So, when she came in, I told her that if what she was watching made her want to play with herself, she should go for it."

"I take it she did," Mom smiled.

"With a vengeance," Mike laughed.

"That’s fine, I expected this to happen after yesterday. But you didn’t scare her?" Mom asked.

"Nope, we warned her it might be scary. I told her that it might look and sound like I was being hurt, but that wasn’t the case. She didn’t seem scared at all. Dumbfounded, but not scared," I said.

Mom laughed and said, "I’ll have to talk with her, but that’s fine—I just want to make sure she realizes she’s too small for that right now."

"She does," I said. "Though she did express interest in trying Act One."

"Act one?" Mom asked.

"Oral," I admitted.

"Well, I think she’d have a little trouble getting one of those in her mouth right now, too." Mom smiled.

Oh, Jesus. All I could do was laugh and blush. "Uh, no, Mrs. Woodard, not that," Mike said. "Other way around."

Mom just looked at him, and burst out laughing. "Yeah, I can see that. If I had ever seen that demonstrated, I would’ve tried that one a lot earlier myself."

I couldn’t stop laughing and blushing. Mom really was cool. "Believe me, I would’ve tried it before Thursday if I had ever known."

"Lots of guys won’t do that," Mom said.

"Don’t I know it," I agreed.

"I’m a man of many talents," Mike said smugly.

Mom looked at him and grinned. "You don’t lack confidence, do you?"

Mike let out a snort of laughter. "If I lacked confidence, how long, exactly, do you think I’d last with your daughter before she ran me over like a steamroller?"

"Good point," Mom laughed. I just rolled my eyes at him.

Just then Amber came running downstairs. She saw us, and started grinning and blushing. Then saw Mom and tried to cover it.

"Don’t worry, Amber, they told me." Amber really blushed at that one. "It’s fine, though you shouldn’t be spying, you know that. But the rest of it was fine. We’ll talk about it later."

I got an idea, and whispered into Mike’s ear. He grinned and nodded, and said, "Hey, Amber. Were you going to the carnival at the high school tonight?"

"We were discussing whether or not I would take her," Mom said.

"You can go with us," Mike said.

"REALLY?" Amber lit up like a Christmas tree.

"Sure," I said. "Just be warned, though, it’s a school function and the week’s not over, so Mike and I have to go naked."

"I don’t mind," Amber blushed.

"Good, then," Mike said. "We have something else to do this afternoon, but we’ll be back to pick you up about four."

"OK," she grinned.

After that very interesting beginning to the day, we headed over to my place.

Did I mind about Amber watching? No, actually, I didn’t. It was a bit uncomfortable at first, but I think Amber got a lot out of it. And she really was a good kid. Though, somehow, I had a strange feeling that the details of our performance were going to be all over the sixth grade in no time at all!

Anyhow, we headed over to my place. Mom and Marina were still setting up and cooking and stuff, so we pitched in and helped. Eddie arrived soon after we did.

"Well, as soon as Amanda and Jared show up, the entire token heterosexual contingent will be here, and we can get this show on the road," Ed teased my Mom.

"There might be a few more around." Mom teased back. "Maybe we can even find a girl for you."

"Ellie, your potato salad is enough of a miracle for one day," Ed said.

"Flatterer." She looked at Lily. "Have you figured out yet that Eddie was named correctly? His surname should be Haskell, not Bauer."

"And you sure are looking very nice today, Mrs. Cleaver," Ed deadpanned.

Lily turned to me, grinning, and said, "Ward, I’m worried about the Beaver."

"Yeah, I was worried about the beaver, too," Ed said. "Yesterday. When you slid into home." It took us a minute, but we howled—Lily most of all.

"Ed Bauer, you’re a reprobate," Mom said through giggles.

"All part of my wit and charm, Ellie, all part of my wit and charm." He kissed her on the cheek and reached for a plate of stuff. "This go on the picnic table?"

"Yes. Go. Quickly," Mom laughed. Mom and Ed, just in case you couldn’t tell, adore one another.

We helped Mom and Marina finish up, and then people started showing up. I introduced Lily around. We met up with Jared, Amanda, and Allie.

"I know more people here than I thought I did," Lily told me.

"Yeah. You know Lisa Sherrick?"

"Yeah," she answered, "but who is that girl standing next to her?"

"The tall blonde in the green dress?" She nodded. "That’s one of the people I want you to meet. Look closer."

"She looks like she could be Steven Dunn’s sister."

"Steve doesn’t have a sister."

She looked again, and her eyes got wide. "Wait a minute—is that Steve?"

"Yes," I chuckled. "Though sie prefers Stef, or Stephie, when sie’s dressed like that."

"’Sie’?" she asked.

"Sie. S-I-E. That, along with hir—H-I-R—are gender neutral pronouns. Often used in the transgender community."

"So Stev—I mean, Stef, is a transsexual?" Lily asked.

"No. Stef’s transgendered. There’s a difference." I grabbed her hand. "Come on, I’ll introduce you. Stef’s cool, and doesn’t mind being questioned about this. Only a few people know about Stef. "

I brought her over to introduce her. Allie—very interested—tagged along.

"Hey, gorgeous," I said, kissing hir on the cheek.

"Mikey!" Sie said. Stef had really done a great job on hir voice—sie had been working on that for some time.

I introduced Stef to Lily and Allie. "I think Lily is burning up with curiosity."

"Great," Stef said. We went and found a table to sit at. "Ask away."

"Well, Mikey said you’re transgendered but not transsexual. I don’t understand the difference," Lily began.

"OK. Transsexuals believe that their gender is the exact opposite of the one they were born into. A male to female TS considers hirself to be all female. A TG doesn’t necessarily believe that. I’m somewhere in the middle. Because of this, TSs take medical steps to completely change their physical sex. I’m not planning that."

"What kind of physical steps?"

"Well, the sex-change operation, for one. Also, hormones. Even if you don’t want to change your genitals, many TGs go on hormones. That will give you breast growth, a more feminine shape, and you’d lose your body hair. Unfortunately, it also makes what’s between your legs somewhat useless. I had laser hair removal to take off my body hair—and electrolysis on my face—and I’ve been wearing corsets since I was 13, which is why I have a reasonable facsimile of a waist and an ass. These," Stef waved at her bust, "are falsies. I could get implants, which I might at some point, but only when I’m ready to come completely out of the closet about this. But I have no intention of getting a sex change."

"Are you gay?" Lily asked.

"I know all about you, you know," Stef told her. "Ellie told me. Are you gay?" Lily just looked at him. "I mean, I know I’m deeper on the transgendered scale than you are, but Ellie also told me you get that assumption a lot."

"Me? Transgendered?" Lily asked in amazement.

"Let’s see. You play baseball. You’re muscular. Your body language is female, but only to a point—there’s male in there, too. You don’t mind getting dirty. Ellie told me that Mike told her that you’re perfectly at ease being one of the guys. I’d say you’re somewhere on the gender scale other than ‘pure girl’. I believe gender is a spectrum. I’m probably 60 or 70 percent girl. Not a hundred, but more girl than boy. You most likely are not 60 or 70 percent guy. Probably about 40. Like I said, I’m "more" TG than you are, if I can put it that way. But you know there’s male in you. And it’s probably caused you problems."

"Yeah," Lily admitted.

"Of course, not as many as I’ve had. And, to answer your earlier question, I’m bi, but I prefer women. By a lot. I’ve only gone out with a girl once that found out about Stef, and she dumped me right after. Any girl that would accept me like this would almost have to be bi, which limits my possibilities."

I didn’t say anything to Stef right then, but I noticed Allie—who was bi—looking at hir like sie was a particularly delectable piece of chocolate!

"I do know that score," Lily laughed. "I got lucky. Though Mike isn’t bi."

"No, but Mike’s very open minded and doesn’t let stereotypes cloud his feelings," Stef said. "Thank your mother, Mikey," sie giggled.

"I do anyway," I grinned. "But Stef’s right. I might not be bi, but I don’t wrap my heterosexuality around me like a shield, either. Not after growing up in this house."

"I’ll thank your mother myself," Lily giggled. "Anyhow, Stef, I know you’re not "out" completely, but you’re dressed like this here. Sometimes people you don’t know can be at a place like this. You didn’t now me, for instance. So, you could run into people that aren’t open-minded."

"Yes, that can be hellish," Stef said.

"So why do it?" Lily asked. "Why put yourself through that?"

"Why do you play baseball?" Stef asked. "Because it’s who you are. It’s part of you. This is who I am, who I want to be. I can’t do it in school. But, frankly, if Ellie—or Mike—likes you enough to invite you to one of their bashes, you’re all right. That’s almost guaranteed. I have been out in public—the mall, and stuff—but I’m lucky. Because I have feminine features and long hair that can be styled in a feminine way, and because I’m small and have a waist, I "pass". When I go to the mall, nobody realizes who I am. I look like just another teenaged girl."

"I had to look really close, and only with Mikey prompting me. My first reaction was, ‘does Steve Dunn have a sister?’"

Stef laughed. "I’ve gotten that. In an emergency, I’ve passed myself off as a cousin. Oh, and I do let it out in little ways. I think I’m building up to coming all the way out, but I let it out in little ways. I rarely wear anything other than panties for underwear—which can be a pain in the ass in gym, but I manage. I often go to school with very slight barely noticeable makeup on. And, of course, I wear my hair long, and I wear earrings all the time." He looked at Lily. "Now, I know about the baseball thing, but I’m looking at you now and I’m seeing pretty much girl."

"You should’ve seen her Thursday night. She was in full girl mode. I almost swallowed my tongue," I interjected.

"I can imagine," Stef giggled. "You’ve got earrings on, lipstick, nail polish." Lily nodded. "You ever wear any of that on the mound?"

"No," Lily admitted.

"Why not?"

"I don’t know. That’s a good question."

"Hey, be who you are," Stef said. "Don’t restrict yourself to ‘this is a boy thing’ and ‘this is a girl thing’. I know, I’m one to talk, being in the closet—but I’m working on that. You have it a little easier. Plus you have Mr. Understanding here," sie laughed, pointing at me.

"Yeah, I am lucky," she beamed at me. I grinned back.

"Ah, true love," Stef giggled. "I’ve just about given up. I either have to put Stef in the closet, or be celibate."

"Oh, yeah? Look slightly to your right. Grab a towel to catch the drool," I teased. I probably shouldn’t have done it, because poor Allie, when she realized I was talking about her, blushed deep red.

"Uh, well, I mean…." Allie sputtered. "All right, dammit, I admit it. Stef, I am bi. And you are the most gorgeous creature I’ve ever seen in my life. How anyone can be that beautiful and still be a guy—it makes me tingle." And then she blushed deeper. Stef just looked very happy at that.

That’s when I whispered a suggestion to Lily that we make a discreet exit. She giggled and agreed.

I’m glad Mike introduced me to Stef. It gave me a lot to think about.

Anyhow, we spent the rest of the afternoon there, just mingling and chatting and eating all the great food. And I noticed that, over in the corner, Allie and Stef seemed to be getting very close!

I ended up learning something about learning something, even. Mike and I ended up sitting with his mom and Marina. I told them about talking to Stef.

"You never stop learning," Ellie said. "My psychology deals with children, who have the most to learn—and I concentrate on kids your age, who really have a lot to learn--but you never stop learning."

"I can attest to that," Marina said. "I was pretty much sure I was a lesbian when I was your age, but I was still trying to ‘figure it out’. I still went out with boys in high school. I thought I might have been bi. Until I was date-raped. Twice, within the space of a year."

"Oh, Jesus," I hissed.

"If I wasn’t convinced I was a lesbian before that, well after it I surely was," Marina continued. "But the bad part of that was that I hated all men. I mean hated them. Could not stand the sight of the male half of the species. Would’ve gone around castrating the lot of them, if I thought I could have gotten away with it."

She took a deep breath. "But then I fell in love with a woman, who I found out—to my horror—had an eleven year old son. Ellie and I almost didn’t get together, because I was horrified that there would be this male thing in my life. But we did get together. And I learned different."

"And not just from Mike, either. I learned from his friends. Not three weeks ago, I found myself playing poker with Mike, Ed, and Frankie Gutierrez—and I had a blast. If I were 18 years younger, and straight, I’d be head over heels in love with Ed Bauer. That boy is sweet, generous, and he makes me laugh. And six years ago, I just would’ve looked at him and said to myself, ‘Male. Yuck.’ And how wrong I would’ve been. To say nothing of how much I love this guy." She ruffled Mike’s hair. "You never stop learning."

"Just don’t let any of this get back to Ed!" Mike laughed.

After that, I drove home and Mikey followed me so we’d have his car. We got Amber and headed on over to the school.

They had set the carnival up all out on the football field. There were rides, and games, and food—though we were pretty well stuffed by the time we got there, thanks to Ellie’s feast. The seniors ran it every year. There were fun booths, too, like a dunk tank for charity.

We met up with Jared and Amanda in the parking lot. We introduced them to Amber, and then headed towards the entrance. At the entrance, there was a box for clothes for those of us in The Program. Mike and I started stripping.

Jared looked at Amanda. "It’s a nice day, right?"

"Yeah," Amanda said—and the two of them started shedding clothes.

"Are you two in The Program, too?" Amber asked.

"No," Amanda laughed. "We were actually in it in September—and we figured out we like going naked on a nice day."

I could see the wheels turning in Amber’s mind, as she looked back and forth between the four of us, all in various stages of undress. Then she grabbed her shirt and lifted it over her head.

"You don’t have to, you know," I told her.

"I want to," she said determinedly. "Do you mind?" she asked.

"Of course not," I told her. She got all her clothes off and dumped them in the box. Then she blushed.

"I feel funny," she said.

"You can put them back on, Amber," Mike told her.

"It’s not a bad funny, it’s a good funny," she declared. Then she led us to the entrance.

We walked in, and of course people were staring. The only clothes any of us had on were shoes and socks. Well, unless you count the couple of bandages on my leg. Well, unless you count the purses both Amanda and I were carrying—got to keep the money somewhere. But we were being stared at. Mike and I were used to that by now, and Jared and Amanda had been for some time. Amber wasn’t, but—except for the constant blush—she seemed to be adjusting well.

Suddenly Ed appeared out of nowhere. "Hello, nice to meet you, I’m Overdressed," he said, shaking all our hands and cracking us up. "So, who’s the pint-sized nudist?"

"That’s my sister, Amber," I told him. "Amber, this is Ed, Mike’s best friend and the third baseman on the baseball team."

"Nice to meet you," Ed shook her hand while she blushed. "Have they extended The Program to middle school?"

"No," she giggled, "I just saw all of them, you know, and I, you know……"

"I think that’s very cool. You’re a very brave girl," Ed told her. Amber beamed. "Now, since you went and got yourself all naked, the least a gentleman like me can do is win you a teddy bear, right?" Amber giggled, and we all headed to the game area. "Pick out one you like," Ed told her. She did, it was at one of those throw-the-darts games, and Ed won it for her on the second try. She was thrilled.

"I think you have a rival for my sister’s affections," I whispered to Mike.

"I think you’re right," he grinned back.

"HEY, JARED! COME GET ME, I DARE YOU!" We looked in the direction of the shout—and it was coming from the dunk tank. There was a tall, slim blonde sitting on the platform, wearing a bikini, grinning and waving in our direction. Jared started cracking up.

"That’s my sister, Tina," he told us that didn’t know. "Let’s go dunk her."

We went, laughing, over to the dunk tank. "C’mon, Jared, give it your best shot," she taunted. "You’ll never get me wet." Jared paid his money for a few balls, and threw them. All misses. "Come on, you rag arm," Tina taunted. "My little brother gets me in a potentially embarrassing position, and can’t even seal the deal." Jared threw a few more and kept missing. Tina kept shouting at him.

"May I?" I asked him with an evil grin.

"You? Oh, yeah!" he giggled. "Hey, Tina, this is my friend Lily. I’m going to pay for her to take a few shots at you."

"Can’t do it yourself, got to get a girl to do it, huh?" Tina taunted.

"Lily’s no ordinary girl. You might have heard of her. She just made the baseball team."

"Baseball team?" Tina said.

"As a pitcher," Jared said with an evil grin. Tina’s grin disappeared, she went "whoops", and I wound up and threw. First try. SPLISH! One very wet Tina!

"A ringer! You brought a damn ringer!" she yelled as she climbed out of the tank.

"I got to see you get dunked, that’s all that counts," he laughed. "See you later, Sis."

"Later, little brother," she grinned. We all took off to walk around a bit more.

It was a good carnival. We walked around, played some games, got Amber cotton candy. Well, Ed got Amber cotton candy. Which she found out was very messy to eat when you’re nude!

"Ed’s charming the pants off your sister—well, if she were wearing any pants, that is." Mike whispered to me with a chuckle.

"Poor Ed. He thinks he’s being nice to a young girl. Little does he know that she’s probably trying, right now, to figure out a way into his pants."

Mike laughed out loud. "We’d better go warn him before she asks him if he does cunnilingus!"

"Oh shit!" I roared.

We sent Amber off to buy a coke, and told Ed what had happened that morning. He laughed. Mike told him, "Yeah, but the problem is, now she’s got ideas. And she’s clearly developing a thing for you, my friend."

Ed laughed harder. "Let her. You know damn well I’d never take advantage of a kid that young. So, let her daydream. It’s safe. I don’t mind, in fact I’m flattered. She’s a damn good kid. She wants to fantasize, she can go right ahead."

Have I mentioned how much I like Ed?

The six of us did the whole carnival. Amber had forgotten to put sunscreen on some of her not-usually-exposed areas, so we bought her some. I took her on a few rides—as did Ed—and it’s a good thing they provide towels to us nudists! We ran into Frankie, Ty, and Ty’s girlfriend Emma. Ed introduced Amber to them as "my miniature nude date," which pretty much made Amber’s day.

However, while walking, we saw a woman glaring at us with undisguised contempt. I clearly heard her say, "I hate that program thing." Then Amber looked at the girl that was with this woman and said, "Tiffany!"

"Amber!" the girl returned. "You’ve got no clothes on!"

"Yeah, and it’s so much fun!" Amber told her.

"Uh-oh, this is trouble," I whispered to Mike.

"Amber! What are you doing like that! Go put some clothes on!" the woman was saying.

"Uhm, hello," I said. "I’m Lily, Amber’s sister. This is my boyfriend Mike. We’re in The Program this week, so we have to be here like this, and Amber decided she didn’t want to be left out."

"It’s disgusting! It’s obscene! The Program is bad enough, but this? A little girl like her running around with no clothes on!" This woman was rapidly beginning to piss me off. "What would her mother say?"

" Our mother would say something like, make sure she has enough sunscreen on," I said, and not too nicely. "She doesn’t know Amber did this yet, but she won’t have a problem with it."

The woman just snorted, then looked over at Amber and Tiffany. They had their arms around each other and were giggling about something. Probably Jared, they were looking in his direction. (Mike wasn’t kidding about him. Oh My God. Good thing I’m already in love!) Anyhow, the mother saw them and said, "Tiffany! Get your hands off her! I don’t want you touching her when she’s like that!"

Uh-oh. I saw Mike boiling already.

"Why not?" Tiffany asked reasonably. "I’ve touched Amber before when she was naked."

"Yeah, me too," Amber giggled. "It’s fun."

"WHAT!?!? Are you telling me that you two…..that’s disgusting! Where do you get these perverted ideas?"

That’s when the kettle boiled over. I saw it coming. The kettle’s name was Mike.

"Newsflash number one," he started, in the most furious tone I’ve ever heard him use, "girls experimenting with each other is normal, not perverted. Newsflash number two: my mother, a nationally recognized child psychologist, would vehemently agree with me. Newsflash number three: most people with half a brain recognize this in this day and age and you might want to wake up and smell the coffee. Newsflash number four: My mother, the nationally recognized child psychologist? Well, she touches a naked woman every night. I live with two women, both of whom I love more than I can say, that share a bed. So take your bigotry and stick it up your ass. Fuck you." The woman was looking at him in complete shock by now. "Oh, and if I could do it legally, I’d arrange for my Mom to adopt Tiffany before you completely fuck her up. As it is—in a couple years, she’ll most likely be making an appointment with her, trying to undo the damage." He looked at the rest of us. "Come on, guys. It smells too bad right around here."

We walked away from the woman, who was staring back at us open-mouthed. Amber—in a nice display of guts—kissed Tiffany on the cheek, then came with us.

"I think I really got Tiff in trouble," Amber said dejectedly.

"That’s not your fault, and it’s not Tiffany’s," Mike said. "Tiffany’s mother is the one with the problem, not either of you. Understand me?"

"Yeah," she smiled at him. "Thanks."

"Yeah, she understands," Ed said. "Who’s going to tell Tiffany? The poor kid. ‘Oh no, my baby girl might be a lesbian! Let’s kill her now!’ It disgusts me."

"I don’t think Tiffany’s a lesbian," Amber said.

"What makes you think that?" I asked.

She giggled, and blushed. "Because she kept saying how she much she wanted to go grab Jared’s weenie!"

"Oh, Jesus," Jared said.

"Jared’s Weenie," Ed said. "A beacon in the night, brining all the girls through the fog to its magnificence."

"Yeah, fine, but you try being the guardian at the gate!" Amanda laughed.

"Could we have enough about my ‘weenie’, please?" Jared said in mock-exasperation.

"Well, it is really big," Amber pointed out in a completely serious tone of voice. Even Jared couldn’t help crack up at that.

We spent another hour or so at the carnival. Amber was down in the dumps a bit at first, but Ed got her to laugh. Except for Tiffany’s horrible mother, it was a great time.

When we left, we just grabbed our clothes and headed for the car.

"Aren’t you guys going to get dressed?" Amber asked us.

"Nah," Lily said. "You can, though." Amber looked at us, shrugged her shoulders, grabbed her clothes, and followed us.

"You liked it, didn’t you?" Lily asked her.

"Yeah," she admitted. "It feels very, I don’t know, free. And I like the wind blowing on—you know," she blushed.

"I can tell," Lily said. Then she whispered to me, "She might not have much in the way of boobs yet, but what she does have are erect as all get-out." I had to stifle the laughter because Amber was looking at all this whispering mighty suspiciously.

Anyhow, we got in the car. I was still a bit upset. "I apologize for losing my temper," I said.

"With Tiffany’s Mom? I’m glad you did it," Amber said.

"Me, too," Lily said.

"Tiffany always tells me what a witch she is," Amber continued. "She’ll probably make Tiffany stop being friends with me, though."

"Probably," Lily said. "I’m sorry about that."

"Ah, well. Tiffany knows how to sneak," she giggled.

We laughed at that, as we pulled up in front of Lily’s house.

"Should I put my clothes on?" Amber asked.

"No," Lily said. We walked to the front door. "Just wait here." We walked in, and Lily’s parents greeted us. "Where’s Amber?" her mom asked.

"Hold on a second," Lily told them. "I want you to know that this was not anyone’s idea except Amber’s—but I did tell her it was OK." Her Mom looked at her with a question. "OK, Amber, you can come in now!" In she walked, stark naked, blushing up a storm, and looking at her parents hopefully.

"Did you go to the carnival like that?" her Mom asked. Amber shyly nodded. "That was very brave!" she told her.

"I liked it," Amber said. "It was fun. All of us were naked except Ed." Her parents looked at us questioningly.

"We were with our friends Jared and Amanda, who went through The Program in September, and who now get naked for the hell of it." Her parents laughed at that. "I think that’s what pushed Amber over, watching all four of us undress at the entrance. Ed hasn’t been through the program yet so doesn’t know what the fuss is about. Ed’s my best friend—he plays third base on the team."

"Oh, he’s the one that caught the final out for you," Lily’s dad said.

"Exactly," Lily replied.

"He won me this teddy bear!" Amber said excitedly. "And he bought me cotton candy, and took me on the rides, and everything! He’s really neat!" She grinned at her parents. "I’m gonna go to my room and find a place for the teddy bear," and she was off.

"Ed’s your age?" Lily’s dad asked, a bit suspiciously.

"Yes, he is," I told him.

"I don’t know if I like that. It seemed like he was showing quite a bit of attention to a little girl. A naked little girl. Oh, I know she’s not that little, but she’s little to him," Lily’s Dad said.

"That’s Ed," I smiled. "Protector of the helpless, healer of the wounded, and the guy who shows little girls a good time at carnivals. He made her day, Mr. Woodard—and deliberately."

"She’s got a crush on him," Mr. Woodard pointed out. "And I know what she saw this morning, so she’s also got ideas."

"He knows that," Lily grinned. "Besides which, she’s got a crush on Mikey, too."

"True," her mom smiled.

"Look, what do you folks think of me?" I asked.

"Well, we think you’re great," Lily’s mom said. "Absolutely," her Dad agreed.

"Do you think I’m trustworthy?"

"From what we’ve seen, yes," Mrs. Woodard said. "Lily trusts you a lot, which counts a lot with us."

"Good," I said. "Then, let me tell you something—I’d trust Ed Bauer with my life. He’s that loyal. Of all the people in the world that you’d want escorting Amber around a carnival when she’s stark naked, he’s at the top of the list. If I didn’t know that, I’d never have let it happen. "

"I don’t know Ed as well as Mike does," Lily said, "but I know him well enough. We told Ed what Amber had seen today, and that she had a crush on him, and might be getting ideas. You know what he said? Fine. I’m safe, I don’t hurt little girls, let her fantasize."

"You won’t find a finer human being than Ed Bauer," I concluded. "And if you don’t believe me, call my Mom. She’s known Ed since he was 8. As far as she’s concerned, Ed’s her second son."

"OK," Mr. Woodard smiled. "You convinced us. And what he said about Amber fantasizing was very mature and classy."

"She had a blast with him," Lily said. "He made her feel special. Which was important after the other thing that happened. Which I have to warn you about." She took a deep breath. "Be prepared for a very nasty phone call from Tiffany’s mother."

"Why?" her Mom asked. Lily and I explained, told them the whole story.

"Oh, Jesus," her Dad said.

"I apologize for losing my temper," I told them. "I think that didn’t help much."

"Losing your temper?" Mrs. Woodard said. "I would’ve slugged her. And I’m not the child of a lesbian. Poor Tiffany."

"Got that right," I agreed. "Thank you for saying that, I do feel a bit guilty. That woman’s not going to let her precious little baby go anywhere near Amber anymore, and I feel bad about that."

"I think she would’ve done that if you hadn’t said a word," Mr. Woodard said. "Just seeing you all there naked set her off."

Amber came back downstairs, then—still not wearing anything, in fact she had taken her shoes and socks off so was now completely naked.

"Amber," her Mom asked, "are you going to get dressed?"

"Uh, do you want me to?"

"Completely up to you."

"Well, then, no. I like being like this."

"We have a family of nudists," Mr. Woodard laughed.

"I just like how I feel," she said. She came over to the couch and managed to worm her way between me and Lily. We just laughed and let her. "Mike?" she asked me. "Does Ed have a girlfriend?"

Whoops, I thought to myself—how am I gonna handle this one? "No, Amber, he doesn’t."

"That’s too bad. He’s very nice. Anyone that nice should have a girlfriend." I was waiting for it, trying to come up with a response—and the little bugger surprised me. "I can’t be his girlfriend, I’m too little. So you two, you have to find Ed a girlfriend."

"That’s very wise of you," I told her.

"Well, you know, he’d want someone his own age, right? He wouldn’t want a little kid like me."

"Yes," I said, "but, you know, he liked you very much."

"I like him too," she grinned. "He’s the nicest." She grinned and blushed—and then headed out into the kitchen.

"Remind me again," Mr. Woodard said to his wife with a laugh. "Why do we even worry about these two at all? Damn. Amber’s more mature than I realized."

"She’s been impressing me all day," Lily said. "And it’s been quite a day for her. God knows I wasn’t that mature when I was eleven."

"You didn’t have a big sister," I told her.

"He’s right," Mrs. Woodard said. Lily just grinned.

--End of part seven—