She walked into the office a few minutes later, and Rebecca couldn’t help but notice how flushed her assistant appeared to be.
“Are you all right?”
“Never better.”
####
“Hi Rebecca, it’s Carmen. It sounds like you have some excitement going on.”
“Hey Carmen! Thanks for getting back to me. I figured you would be interested in covering the story.”
“I might be. Are you serious that the town is voting on going nudist?”
“The town meeting is in two days. Do you want to come down and get an interview and the story?”
“I’ll talk to my producer as soon as I hang up. I’ll let you know when I have an answer.”
An hour later, Carmen let her know that she and a camera man would be there for the Town Meeting. Rebecca agreed to set aside time for an interview.
####
“Rebecca had a great suggestion…” Janine said.
“Oh? What’s that?”
“There are a lot of houses available in town. We can get a major upgrade from this apartment for a pretty reasonable price. A lot of the vacant real estate went to the town for non payment of taxes when people left.”
“Interesting idea. How about if the town goes nude?”
“Then you get an excuse to see me like this all the time.”
Tim grinned. “Good point. Let’s see about talking to a real estate agent then.”
Janine threw her arms around Tim’s neck and kissed him hard.
####
Carmen looked out the passenger seat of the van as she and her cameraman Matt drove to the Coral Point Town Park. The expected large turnout for the town meeting meant that there wasn’t a big enough indoor space for the crowd, so a small stage with a podium and sound system had been set up at the park, along with all the seating that the town had for public events.
Along the way, she saw a lot of signs in support of a clothes free Coral Point. There were a lot of people walking towards the park, more than half of them in various levels of undress.
They pulled into the parking lot and entered the town hall, looking for Rebecca’s office. Carmen spoke to a young man at front desk. “Hi, we’re here to meet with Rebecca Winslow.”
“You must be Carmen, please follow me.” He stood up and walked around the desk, at which point they couldn’t help but notice his nudity.
They followed him down the hall, passing other offices, where it was clear that the new municipal dress code was in full force. The young man led them to Janine’s desk and Carmen thanked him for his help.
“Hi, I’m Carmen Daley from Florida Online. We have an appointment with the mayor.” She and Matt handed over their press credentials.
“Hi Carmen, I love your show! Rebecca is expecting you.”
“Thanks, always glad to meet a fan!”
Janine knocked softly on the door and then ushered them inside.
Rebecca stood up from her desk, mildly self-conscious about meeting with her college roommate, and the handsome older man with her.
“I knew about the dress code, but somehow it didn’t occur to me that you would be like this for the interview.” Carmen said with a smile. She admired her old friend’s firm body, noting that time had been kind to her since college.
“Well, this is town business, and I’m the one who proposed the dress code.”
She held out her hand to Carmen, and was surprised by the genuinely affectionate hug she got instead. “It’s been too long, Rebecca. It’s great to see you… Pun COMPLETELY intended.”
They laughed and Carmen turned to introduce her cameraman, Matt Woods.
“A pleasure to meet you Madam Mayor.” He said, extending a hand.
“Please, just Rebecca is fine.” She smiled, feeling a twinge of attraction. She noted that he didn’t try to hide that he had looked at her naked body, but he didn’t make a big deal about it either.
“I’ll be right back, let me go get the equipment we need.”
“Thanks.”
####
“Carmen, thanks so much for coming out for the story.”
“I wouldn’t have missed it.”
The two spent about a half hour talking through some background while Matt set up the equipment for the interview.
For the next hour, they conducted the interview, with two cameras rolling.
“I hope I gave you everything you need!”
“That was great. We’ll get some more information from the town meeting, then we want to get some interviews with some of the people in town for the rest of the story. We’re planning on pushing the interest by releasing a version of the story with everything blurred out so it might get syndicated, and a second version without any censorship.”
“That all sounds good. We really want to bring interest to Coral Point.”
####
Matt left a short while later to set up cameras at the meeting site. Rebecca took Carmen to meet the rest of the town council. Carmen was again a little surprised at how casual they all seemed about their nudity. She arranged to meet them after the town meeting for a group interview.
Rebecca checked the time, and announced it was time to go meet the public. Other than a few nervous smiles, everyone seemed eager for the meeting.
As a group, they crossed from the town hall to the adjacent park, noticing that it was completely full with townspeople, in all states of dress. They walked around to the edge of the stage, and the crowd began to cheer. The council lined up behind Rebecca as she walked to the podium and greeted her constituents.
“Thanks everyone for coming out for this. It looks like we have a huge turnout!”
She spent the next ten minutes outlining how they got there, and what they proposed. She called each town councilor forward to offer their views on the subject, making it clear that everyone had agreed, and voted to bring it to the town. At the end, she let everyone know that they would answer questions for as long as the people liked.
“We all put on the extra strength sunscreen today!”
The crowd laughed, and soon began lining up to speak. All in all, the responses were enthusiastic, and mainly concerned how the idea would work.
“What about parking?”
“We’re going to set up a visitor parking lot just over the bridge and charge an all day flat fee to guests. Residents, employees, and people having business in town will have a separate entrance, controlled by automated key cards and a gate keeper.”
“What about clothed visitors?”
“Only contractors, delivery drivers, and those who have jobs where health and safety require clothes, such as kitchen staff and of course, law enforcement. All other visitors will be required to respect Coral Point as a clothes free community.”
“What about townspeople who don’t agree with this proposal?”
“We truly hope that all our friends and neighbors will join us. All of you are valued members of the community. If we get at least a two thirds majority, this measure will pass, and will go in effect on July 14th. If it does not pass, we will revert to our previous policies.
In any event, if it passes and people wish to leave Coral Point, we will negotiate to take over their properties at a mutually acceptable price. We hope it doesn’t come to that though.”
“Why July 14th?”
“I’m glad you asked! July 14th is National Nude Day, and we thought it would be fitting to make that the inaugural day of our new town policy! We hope to have celebrations throughout town, and I really wish that it becomes an annual tradition.”