The Garden Centre of Eden

"So Eve, still sleeping in the buff?"

"Yes," I replied shyly. "It saves a bit on laundry!"

"That's my girl! I'll get you sunbathing nude before long! No more white suntan lines!" I snorted with disbelief. "Well, at least it's getting to sunbathing weather now, not that I do any of that -- I'm not the lie in the sun type. I think Al next door is pretty disappointed about that!" Al was a teenage boy, who often watched me when I was pottering in the garden and he thought I wasn't looking. Mind you, it was pretty obvious he was -- there's only one gap in the fence he can look through and he always found something imaginary to do in that particular part of his back yard! Not that he had much to look at -- I was mostly gardening or tidying the yard out there, and dressing provocatively was hardly my style, especially for yard work. I think he was very shy and doubtless unsure of himself around the opposite sex, something I could sympathise with. His parents, Jeff and Ayleen, were out a lot and he seemed to have few friends.

Marijka stretched and wiped her brow. "I wouldn't mind wearing a lot less now -- it's getting warm in these greenhouses!" As she was wearing the regulation green shorts and Mow & Grow polo shirt, she was hardly overdressed as it was. "I wonder if Luke would mind if I didn't wear a bra? All this bending down is not comfortable and it's making me feel hotter."

"Do you often go without a bra?"

"Quite often when I'm not at work. It feels freer and whilst my boobs are young and firm I might as well take advantage! Also it's amazing how many men notice and can't take their eyes off my shirt front!"

"Doesn't that bug you or make you nervous?" I asked.

"Hey, it's nice to be noticed! As long as they only look and don't act. I've had a few men chat me up but no-one has done anything threatening."

"It sort of seems a bit like flaunting, almost sexist... although it depends on how much you show I guess," I mused. I'd never really thought about this before. Mind you, the thought of being braless did seem to be attractively daring. "Well, if you want to, there aren't any customers going to come in here, and it's getting late so you won't get moved out front today..."

"What the hell! I will if you will join me!" and Maijka made as if to start.

"What, me?" I was shocked. I'd never gone without a bra in public since puberty.

"Sure, why not? You said yourself it's private in here."

"But what if one of the others comes in? Luke for instance?"

"Hey, we're not going to be topless! How much will they see? Come on, let's see if it is more comfortable!"

She reached behind under her shirt and unclipped the bra. She slid the straps down her arms and pulled her elbows through, then tugged the bra down the front and out from under the hem. "Come on, you can't pull out now!"

I didn't think I had made any commitment to join her, but found myself automatically following her. Off came the bra. I realised I hadn't got my bag there so it had to be rolled up and stuffed into a shorts pocket. Marijka applauded and gave a small cheer. "Ta-dah! See, the sky hasn't fallen down!"

My heart was racing and I was aware my nipples had gone very hard again. I looked at her. She struck a few poses. "See? Just looks natural!" Sure enough the thick cotton and loose nature of the polo shirts meant that you couldn't readily tell there was no bra. "I see you are enjoying the situation!" Marijka's words jolted me back and I realised I had been staring at her. I looked down my own chest and it seemed to me my nipples were quite prominent bumps in the cotton. It suddenly occurred to me that perhaps Marijka thought I was turned on by her!

"Oh, I -- er, sorry, I've never done this before!" I felt myself blushing yet again. Marijka seemed to have the knack of bringing this out in me.

"Forget it and just get on with life -- you will find it becomes natural."

Before I could think of anything to say, the noise of a trolley alerted us to Luke's arrival.

"Hi girls, just found this abandoned outside, returning it to the entrance. Marijka, are you using unconventional means of weed control or something?"

Marijka suddenly realised she was still holding her bra. "Oh, sorry, it was digging in a bit and so... um..." I hadn't seen her on the back foot before and it was a relief to discover she wasn't always so much more confident than me!

"OK! But I suggest you put it down somewhere so you can use both hands?" He grinned and pushed the trolley off.

We carried on working, and as we both moved the plant trays around, I realised it was quite comfortable, but distracting to have the cloth rubbing over the nipples. I also noticed that when Marijka bent down, although the shirt was not especially low cut, it was loose enough that you could see her breasts. However, I hadn't realised that when a woman bends forward, the upper swell of the breast when hanging down masks the view of the nipple. Later however, as we searched on all fours for a dropped tool in amongst the discarded pots under the bench, I discovered that the converse meant that viewed from behind, Marijka's nipples were clearly in view as the shirt hung low. I realised this was the first female nipple I had clearly seen since the locker rooms at school, when each girl checked out her neighbours to assess their developing breasts. And then the emphasis was on the breast not the nipple. I realised I liked the view and suddenly wondered with a jolt if this meant I was attracted to women. I didn't think so but frankly I didn't know.

There seemed to be a lot about myself that I didn't know.

Later, I put my bra back on in the ladies room. I couldn't face driving home braless just yet.

That evening, as I was getting ready for bed, I thought again about what Marijka had said about masturbation. Was it wrong or just an innocent pleasure? The church had always taught that it was sinful, and only that past Sunday, the pastor had preached about 'scarlet women' -- he hadn't mentioned masturbation specifically, but you felt that it was part and parcel of being a scarlet woman -- whatever that was exactly.

I thought about the bible studies I'd done over the years in Sunday School. I couldn't actually remember anything about self gratification. So I decided to google it. And it seems the Bible is pretty silent on the matter. It talks a lot about adultery, lust and coveting, but apart from a passage in Leviticus saying that if a man has a "discharge" then he is "unclean" until he has washed -- which seems pretty ambiguous -- there wasn't any direct declaration that playing with yourself is wrong. And Marijka's declaration that it can't be wrong when nobody else is involved let alone harmed or upset seemed logical. So I thought, perhaps I should at least try it and see what I thought of it.

So I went to the bathroom and washed and cleaned my teeth as usual, my head full of equal amounts of excitement and trepidation. I went back to my bedroom and got undressed, and slipped under my duvet naked.

Now what? I hadn't ever masturbated before. In fact I don't think I had ever touched my pussy other than with toilet paper after a pee! How best to go about it? I presumed just touching my pussy would get me going. So I tentatively ran a finger along my slit. It felt alright. Was this being turned on? I slid my finger up and down my slit a few more times. It felt quite tingly, and a bit moist. I remembered at school one time, a group of girls gathered round reading an article in sex in a woman's magazine, giggling about it. One of them saw me and said, "Hey, Eve, want to read how to get your orgasm from clitoral stimulation?" Another one said with a grin, "It's no good asking Eve, I doubt she even has a clitoris!" and they all laughed. I blushed and left them to it. So now I thought, I don't actually know how to find my clitoris, or come to that, what to do if I can. Do I put my finger inside, I wondered? Then I thought, but I'm a virgin, will that break my hymen? Does it matter if it does? Maybe not, I thought, most men probably already have had sex before marriage, and if any future husband is upset at no hymen, even if I'm still technically a virgin, then I don't want to marry him. So as my pussy was starting to feel quite a bit damper, I tried pushing my finger inside. Was there a momentary pang of a breaking membrane, or was that just the sudden electric feeling of pleasure?

I remembered Marijka's question -- did I fantasise about Luke? Well, I'd never fantasised about anyone before, so I wondered what it would be like if it were his hands touching my stomach, my pubic hair, my pussy... my butterflies multiplied a hundred fold, and my pussy became definitely wet rather than moist. Every touch felt electric. It was a bit overwhelming, and I stopped for a sip of nearly cold tea. I'd have to get used to this in stages. I lay back to let my breathing return to normal, and almost at once fell asleep.

- 3 -

The days passed, and I was getting used to walking about the house naked, at least upstairs, but not downstairs again just yet. I hadn't nerved myself up to touch myself down there again, but I knew I would eventually. At least I hadn't spent time alone with Marijka to endure further teasing, until one day we were assigned to getting the geranium cuttings priced and ready for sale. Before we could start chatting, however, Luke came round and said,

"Girls, I'm going around all the staff, but as you are here, I'll speak to you now. I'd like to pick your brains... We need some kind of a sales boost, maybe a special event or something, and I don't want to have an 'everything discounted' type of sale, something a bit different. Any ideas?"

I was initially a bit alarmed. "Does this mean we are in financial difficulty?"

"Not really," said Luke, "but I'd like to redevelop and freshen up the plant display area, and the checkouts, and we need to get proper barcode checkouts installed, and the power tools shop is so cramped, it needs more space. There's a limit to what I can borrow, so I need a cash boost to improve liquidity."

"How soon do you need this?" Marijka asked.

"Let's say within the next ten to twelve weeks would be ideal, say by the end of July or so."

We ummed and ahed a bit, Marijka suggested getting a celebrity for a day, but Luke said he suspected the cost of anyone worthwhile might be a bit high. I suggested a series of themed events, such as a fairy grotto for Midsummer's day in June, maybe a barbecue day, a stars and stripes day for Independence Day. Luke quite liked that, if we could get a regular schedule of events planned out, and asked us to see what themes we could come up with over the next week or so. Further ideas seemed to elude us and Luke went off to find other groups to ask.

Marijka and I continued discussing themes, but couldn't come up with something that was a real slam-dunk, and after fifteen minutes or so work got in the way of further chat.

Over the next couple of weeks, there were tentative plans laid for a couple of theme days, but nothing that really inspired. Then one day, I had just arrived at work, and Marijka came through the door, and saw me, rushed over and said, "I've had an idea about an event, I want to see if Luke is bold enough to go for it!"

"What event?" I said, intrigued. Just then Marijka saw Luke coming into the shop area on the far side and yelled to him. "Come on!" she said and rushed off to intercept him. I tagged along, wondering what this was all about.

After a greeting, with Luke obviously in cheerful mood and enjoying Marijka's enthusiasm, she burst out with:

"I know what we can do! If you have the nerve!" she said. "I found out about it last night... It's on July 14th -- National Nude Day! We could have a nude day here!"

I was in shock, I couldn't speak. Luke however seemed to be considering it.

"How would that work I wonder... I guess our staff would need to be nude, we could perhaps invite customers to be nude... Perhaps we offer a discount to naked customers!"

I found my voice. "My God, you're serious!"

"I'll need to check on the legality, but I think it could cause quite a splash, if no other businesses are doing it... Marijka, can you see if you can get enough staff to agree to be naked? I guess we'll need to have -- er, let's see, about eight with rest period cover for the checkouts, say four floor walkers in the plants, about four in the power tools area, a couple for the hard landscaping, I guess around half a dozen in the café, kitchen staff in the back exempt from nudity I think, is that enough? Oh, and we will need at least one to manage the parking lot -- that's probably clothed -- and a couple at the entrance to welcome visitors and explain the day, say a couple more for the disrobing rooms -- need to work out how those will be set up.. See who is game, I'll let those who won't strip change their day off or work in the private areas like the nursery glass houses so no-one is out of pocket. And none of the temporary staff who are under 18. But a good idea, let's see if we can make it fly!" And with that he strode off smiling.

"So what do you think, Eve?" Marijka asked.

"Um... I don't know..." I was in a turmoil. "What if you have your period?" I made a quick mental calculation. I wouldn't be on mine. No excuse there.

"That's a good reason to decline. I'm sure we can work around those who won't or can't strip. What about you, Eve? Will you join in?"

No way, I thought. I'm not going to be naked in front of potentially hundreds of people.

"Of course, you'll get to see Luke naked!"

I had to admit that was an appealing thought, but still, no way was I going to be naked in public.

"OK I guess..." What, was that me? What on earth did I think I was agreeing to? Why didn't my mouth respect my mind's decision? I must speak up and say no, but before I could, Marijka exclaimed, "Great! We'll have so much fun!" and gave me a big hug.

I still felt appalled and horrified, but also I suddenly realised, part of me was excited at the prospect. How could that be?

"Is it really legal?" I asked.

"All I know is that there are Nude Day parades or pageants in some cities, especially it seems in San Francisco. I think there is some wriggle room depending on the state, but I don't know what is the case here. Anyway, we are talking about a private enterprise, not a public street. Maybe it is OK."

Over the next couple of days, I don't think Marijka got much work done, she was going round the staff cajoling and arguing, and slowly built up an unexpectedly impressive list of those consenting. The college students who normally worked weekends and between terms seemed particularly keen. Even Francine was game. "Hell, I ain't no fashion model," she said, "but I ain't ashamed of how I look. It was my Ethan persuaded me. He said he was lookin' forward to seeing me naked in front of everyone! He's gonna take time off work to come see for hisself!"

Luke reported that his chat with the lawyer indicated that there shouldn't be a problem on our premises, with the law pretty much untested if anyone was naked on the road out front. In theory it should only be a problem if there was 'indecent behaviour' but no-one had any real idea of what that meant. Did it mean simply nudity, or did it require some sort of lewdness?

So it was decided the event would go ahead. Luke called a meeting of all staff who were to be involved, plus any others interested, at the end of one working day. He announced that customers would be limited to over 18s, and would be invited to strip themselves -- there'd be 20% discount for all customers, but naked customers could claim double that. We'd set up temporary changing rooms just inside the entrance where customers could strip and leave their clothes -- like a cloakroom, only a bit more comprehensive! As for the staff, we'd get a bonus for participating, and would be expected to be naked apart from the Mow & Grow branded baseball caps if we wanted, just as normal, and of course for shoes and socks. Normal rules applied to makeup, jewellery, glasses and sunglasses. It would be up to us if we took part in photos by visitors. We'd have one or two clothed wardens in the carpark to organise traffic.

Luke was really enthused about the publicity and the potential boost to footfall, and hoped that would translate into money in the tills. We would start publicising the event about ten days before, with banners outside, posters in the town and advertising on local radio. Luke said he hoped we'd get four or five thousand visitors!

Someone asked, what if a visitor got an erection? (Sniggers from the assembled staff!) "Well," said Luke, "we should ask them politely to hide it with something -- maybe we'll keep some sun hats to hand for that!"

Someone at the back called out, "We'd need some extra large if they are like Adam!"

Adam was a young man from Lawnmowers who was probably six ten or maybe even seven feet, a gangling man who was cheerful and friendly but seemed to blush profusely at anything. Needless to say, the resulting laughter had him beetroot coloured in no time.

Someone else called out, "If we are going to have Adam and Eve naked, it will be like the Garden of Eden!"

Marijka piped up, "You mean the Garden Centre of Eden!" When the laughter died down, Luke exclaimed, "Perfect, Marijka! I think you just nailed our publicity slogan!"

Eventually a pretty eventful week came to an end, and I got home on Sunday evening tired out. (I'd taken to working Saturdays and Sundays -- busy days at Mow and Grow -- and having Monday and Tuesday off, an arrangement which suited me but Pastor Brown was not pleased about, although I said I'd arrange to be available special Sundays for church events.) I'd been getting home late, after a busy day, and pretty much grabbing something to eat, watering the plants in my own greenhouse, and falling into bed and asleep in seconds. Tonight I thought I'll open a bottle of wine and try to relax and wind down. So I sat down after dinner -- takeaway pizza bought on the way home, I'm afraid -- with an inexpensive but pleasant California Chardonnay, and allowed myself more or less for the first time to think over what had happened.

In just a few weeks' time, I would be naked in front of maybe five thousand people. My track record to date was a handful of girls in the sports changing rooms at High School! I'd never been naked in front of a man -- even my doctor was a woman.

Come to think of it, I'd never had a naked man in front of me either. I mean, I knew about human biology from a purely academic point of view, but I'd never seen a real live penis, let alone an erection. I know, I thought, I'll Google it. So I went online and tried 'erection', and got nothing much except medical references and definitions. I tried a few other search terms, and after twenty minutes or so the only picture of a penis I'd found was a photo of Michelangelo's David. I leant back on the settee and closed my eyes to try to gain some inspiration; the next I knew I awoke in the dark, my laptop gone into hibernation. Nature's way of telling me to go to bed!

- 4 -

The next few weeks seemed to be a blur. I used my days off collecting various goods donated for a grand garage sale in aid of the Christian orphanage we sponsored in Africa -- the actual sale would be a week before Nude Day, about three weeks away - and work at Jackson's was also pretty busy. I had frankly used this as an excuse not to think any more about Nude Day or about my own body. Luke had given me more responsibility for monitoring stock levels and re-ordering, and helping cash up at the end of the day; and with that came a welcome if modest increase in my salary. It also meant more frequent meetings with Luke at the Garden Centre and sometimes having lunch together in a quiet corner, me with my packed lunch brought to work and Luke usually with something from the café.