A reception followed the service. In a side room of the church, a table was laden with sandwiches, fruits, sweets, pastries, and other tasty eats. As Mark picked up an egg sandwich, he noticed a group of young men walking towards him: his former friends from school.
“Hey Mark,” Peter began in a mournful, apologetic voice. “That was a wonderful eulogy you made. It brought tears to my eyes. We came to Betsy's funeral to tell you that we are all very sorry we teased you in the cafeteria.”
Sebastian spoke up next. “The day we heard about the crash, and that she had died saving your parents, we felt terrible that you had lost your wife, and even more sorry about the way we had treated you for forming a relationship with her. Sounds like you loved her a lot.”
“I did,” Mark smiled, turning to his friends, “and I still do. I can still feel Betsy's presence in my heart and spirit. Thank you for your apology. I am glad to have you as my friends again.”
“I've been wanting to buy something of Betsy's for some time,” Tony explained. “When word about Betsy started going around, I looked up what she had made and it was stunning. But I didn't want to buy anything because I had laughed at her, and I couldn't get over the idea that someone like Betsy could do all that.”
“She could do all that and a whole lot more,” Mark told him. “I will remain her sales partner, and sell all that I can to honor her. Whatever you want to buy, that Betsy made, is yours.”
At the end of the funeral, the Parkers, Antonio, Catherine, Mark and all the guests left the church. Now, Mark knew that life was going to get better for him. Since that day at the funeral, Carl, Megan, Laura, Antonio, Mark and Catherine formed a pact, swearing to do everything they could to honor Betsy's name. They used the money Betsy and Mark had made from selling art to open a museum, called “The World in the Eyes of Betsy Parker” specifically for the purpose of displaying Betsy's art. It was located in the centre of the city, and everyone, whenever the museum was open, was welcome to come and pay to see what Betsy had made. The six arranged for a bench to be constructed near the museum entrance that bared a plaque, featuring Betsy's name. Sunny Palms was renamed to commemorate Betsy as well, and the new name was 'Betsy's Resort.'
Roger pleaded guilty to the charge of the hit and run death of Betsy, was sentenced to ten years in jail, and lost his driver's license permanently. Once a month, on the last Saturday of every month, Mark and his parents visit Roger. They talk about Roger's possibilities for his re-integration into society, the legacy Betsy left, and how the lives of Mark and the rest of his pact are playing out. Mark's parents still disapprove of the fact that their son has become a nudist, and they still haven't made a real apology about how they treated Betsy, or treated Mark for forming a relationship with her, but they accept Mark's presence whenever they go to visit Roger.
Mark sees Xavier as well. Rochelle is raising him, with the help of her parents and Mark. Mark is charmed by Xavier and impressed at what a sweet, playful, wonderful boy he is becoming. Xavier is now six years old, and Mark comes over from time to time to play with him. Mark, atop being a museum worker, and spending much time with the Parkers and Catherine, considers this a great honor. He cares for Xavier regularly, and is pleased that the little boy finally has a decent childhood.
“You want to play puppets?” Mark asked the little boy one day, while looking after him.
“Puppets?” laughed Xavier. “I love puppets.”
They proceeded to make finger puppets out of cut-out pieces of felt, glue, and googly eyes.
“Hey, I'm much bigger than you,” cried one of Mark's puppets to Xavier's.
“So?” cried the little boy. “I've got your nose,” and Xavier clamped his fingers tightly around Mark's pointer.
“Aaaaaaggghhh, he's got me!” Mark cried, and then Mark laughed.
Later, Mark and Rochelle brought Xavier into the back yard. They brought out children's finger paints and painted what they saw around them. Mark painted himself, Rochelle painted herself, and Xavier painted himself as a little stick-boy. Then, Xavier painted a tree on either side and a giant bird overhead, big enough to knock the trees down.
“Hey, that's a big bird!” Mark laughed.
“And he's coming to get you, uncle Mark!” Xavier laughed back.
At the end of August of that year, just before Labor Day, Mr. and Mrs. Parker, Laura, Antonio, Mark and Catherine embarked on a special vacation.
“Where are we going?” Mark asked Mrs. Parker.
“You will see when we get there,” she replied.
They packed their belongings, drove to the airport, boarded a plane and took off.
“I like flying on an airplane,” Laura smiled. “It has windows, rows of seats, a full crew, and everything.”
An hour into the flight, the crew served everyone lunch.
“And food too!” Laura cried, taking a bite of a salmon sandwich.
When the plane landed, the six stepped out onto a cooler, but still reasonably warm, late-summer landscape. The air was peaceful and carried a mellow quality, indicating that autumn was just around the corner. Some of the leaves were turning as well.
Mark looked at Catherine who carried an intrigued, curious, interested smile. They carried their luggage out of the airport, and walked around town until they came to a quiet, peaceful, sunny park.
“Where is this?” Mark asked. “Where ever it is, it sure is a pretty place.”
Megan smiled. “This is Lilly Park, the park in Betsy's home town of Meriton, where my husband and I met for the first time.”
“I love it,” Mark smiled back. “I have never seen anything like this before. How did Betsy like living around here?”
“She adored it,” Megan breathed, her voice slow, smooth and content.
“Then I adore it too,” replied Mark in a similar voice.
“Come on,” Carl smiled. “Let's go bask under that big Beech Tree over there.”
“You're on, dear,” his wife replied.
“I met your mother here, Laura,” explained Carl, turning to his daughter. “I met her right here in this very park, under this very tree.”
“That's wonderful, dad,” smiled Laura. “I'm so glad you met Megan, and had Betsy and me.”
The six walked over to the tree, and sat down, all around the base of its trunk, under its sheltering branches.
For a long time, nobody said another word. They sat there, breathing, quiet, relaxing in the shade, with the warm sun all around them, sometimes gazing into the branches, sometimes listening to the song of the birds, sometimes taking in a long draft of the sweet air, on this mellow evening on August 31.
Afterword
I began to write “The Sheltered Life of Betsy Parker” one warm summer's day in July 2014. I'd had the novel idea among my creative thoughts for a few years about a girl, called Betsy Parker, who suffered an allergic condition that prevented her from being able to wear any clothes at all. However, I never thought the idea would evolve into a story, as the idea seemed too implausible. I have been involved in the naturist lifestyle since 2005 when I was 17 years old, and I suffer from Autism Spectrum Disorder, which has made it difficult for me to fit in with my peers. It was these two factors that inspired the idea, about how difficult it would be for someone to fit in who truly could never have any clothing on.
As the years passed, the story idea remained an idea, nothing more. It wasn't until the spring of 2014, when I was rummaging for something to write in my free time, when I remembered Betsy Parker, and decided to expand the idea into a synopsis. With a full-plot synopsis at hand, I expanded that synopsis into a novel the following summer, and completed the first draft in a swift six weeks.
To me, “The Sheltered Life of Betsy Parker” is not about a naked girl. It is not even, so much, about nudity itself. Rather, this novel is about struggle, acceptance, unconditional love and finding one's true self. Betsy Parker's clothes-free condition only serves as a vehicle for conveying these themes.
Th
e reader might ask “Why pick a sensitive subject like nudity to use in conveying these themes?” I would answer with two reasons:
Firstly, almost invariably, the unclothed human form is either hidden beneath clothes, or shown in demeaning, lustful, lewd, pornographic ways. Literature and films are often teeming with violence and profanity, while at the same time, going to great lengths to avoid any nudity at all of any kind, and if they do portray nudity, it's either done in a degrading, shameful, or lewd manner, or done as some kind of an embarrassing situation for the character who is unclothed. However, seldom does literature or a film write about, or show a completely unclothed human merely being naked, behaving just as casually as the person would if the person were wearing clothes. I believe that a novel focussing on nudity as simple, casual, and non-sexual serves to remind readers of the true way we are all born: naked, and completely innocent and unashamed in our nakedness. This is the way I have shown Betsy in this novel, as she grows from being a baby, to a toddler, to a school-age girl (homeschooled), to a young woman, living all these stages of life in nothing but her birthday suit.
Secondly, as the author, I am aware that I could cope with the struggle of the heroine through a real, existing disability, such as blindness, deafness, or being mentally or physically impaired. These conditions do present a struggle for those who suffer them, and could potentially trigger a storyline. However, I believe that the exotic, unique condition that affects Betsy would draw the reader into Betsy's world all the more, because her condition remains a condition that the reader can only imagine, and presents the optimal struggle for the heroine, not only because she is alone with it, but it's hard for her to even have people respect her because of it.
The reader might ask, “But why make her have to live her whole life completely naked? Can't you make it so that Betsy can, at least, wear clothing around her “private” parts, or have her find something obscure and unusual that she can use to clothe her body?”
I chose to have Betsy naked because, when questioning a taboo, either as a reader or as an author, one has to approach the issue face-to-face, rather than create ways to lessen the issue. The struggle that Betsy faces would lose impact and strength if she were able to find some way to clothe her way around her allergic condition. If Betsy were to be able to clothe her bum, vulva and breasts, or if she could find some rare material that doesn't affect her, it would only serve to reinforce the common societal belief that simple nudity is always something that has to be hidden, or that nudity can only ever be shown in a sexual manner.
I bear in mind the sensitive subject matter that this book depicts, so I have taken care to be sensitive to my readers. Hence, I only use nudity in this book in a naturist context, and I have limited themes of harsh language and violence only where truly necessary for the storyline. In doing so, I hope to maintain a balance between success for Betsy, and opposition against Betsy as she fights for success, acceptance and happiness throughout the novel.
Along with this book's underlying themes of acceptance, struggle, unconditional love and finding one's true self, I see a theme that proclaims the natural human form, not as indecent, but, rather, as a natural, beautiful, creative work of art; a family of body parts, making a complete person who can live, think, talk, laugh, play, and, most importantly ... love.
It is with great joy that I bring to you “The Sheltered Life of Betsy Parker.”
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