Culture Clash

[barelin]

The celebration of the New Year in Danubia brought several changes to my life. First came the celebration of Kivar Siminov’s birthday. The age of fifteen is of importance in the life of a Danubian teenager. He or she then had to make the decisions that would impact the rest of their adult life. Two main choices were in front of Kivar. The choice between trades education and university preparation education had to be made before the next school year.

If Kivar picked a trade, he would spend three days a week in classroom study and three days a week in an apprentice program for the trade he picked. Kivar was very capable working with his hands, he enjoyed helping his father redo tile and grout, or shingle the roof or do simple woodworking tasks. Kivar was also very smart with an interest in architecture or engineering.

Once a life path was chosen, it took a great deal of effort, or a criminal act, to change that path. Kivar did not wish to make the wrong choice. He had consulted his father, his mother, and the Priestess who served in the small neighborhood chapel. Finally, he came to Ivanka and me for our views. “I could just avoid the whole process and join the military at age sixteen. I would do my required two years of service and have a bit more time to think about what I want from life.” Kivar offered.

His sister, Ivanka, groaned, “Kivar, soldiering is for the unskilled, take the university preparation courses and train to be someone.”

I offered the other opinion, sort of, “Kivar, I have met some very bright and very good students working at the National Military Academy. All of them took the university track before being admitted to the Academy. Soldiering is not for the dull or clumsy. Those types don’t last long in training or in combat. I think you would excel as a soldier. Yet, I agree with your sister, stay in school and shoot for higher education.”

“Well, I have one more month before I need to commit to a path. I feel I will do more research and consult you both later on this matter,” Kivar left the room at this point, leaving Marcia to ask again the question she had started when Kivar had entered the bedroom the girls shared when I was not in the Academy barracks.

“So, what is up between you and Novotna, Ivanka?” I asked. “How can you work so closely with the woman who treated you so badly only seven months ago?”

“Professor Novotna, having dealt with instruction of classes while nude, has petitioned the University administration for permission to allow her students the freedom of a clothing optional class in the Spring semester. She asked me to help her write up a syllabus for the course, to be given in the Sociology department, called ‘An Exploration of Disciplines and Punishments in Danubian Culture and Society’. Students would be required to attend classes on Monday and Friday clothing optional with Wednesday’s session always being fully clothed, except for the professor, and with guest lecturers addressing the class that day. Students would also be required to spend time with a sentenced criminal, and follow his or her daily routine for a week. An interview with the criminal’s Spokesperson will be included in the reports that each student will present on their case studies. It is hoped that guest lecturers from the education administration, the therapeutic health care facilitators, the government, the criminal justice system, and the military, would present papers on their particular techniques of discipline and punishment during the Wednesday sessions. Oh, Professor Novotna is particularly interested in having you guest lecture,” Ivanka concluded.

I chuckled. “Is this my punishment for bruising the woman’s bottom?” I asked.

“No, believe it or not, Professor Novotna has been following your progress at the military academy with great interest. She was to have been your faculty advisor before all of the changes occurred, and she still needs to do the official evaluation of your progress to send to your university.” Ivanka then said, “I think she would feel safer evaluating you after seeing you work the room as a guest lecturer.”

Ivanka paused and I took a deep breath. “Just tell me where and when on a Wednesday she wishes me to be there and I’ll clear my schedule.”

My training continued in the military pool on a daily basis, several cadets now joined my swims as a voluntary part of the academy fitness program and some, Marcia noted, might have had futures as competitive swimmers if such a program existed in the Danubian Republic.

Well into March of my exchange year, I was beginning to perceive myself more as Danubian than American. The advisor from the American university assigned at the university in Danubia told me there were a few other students who achieved this level of assimilation during their student year and decided to continue on in Danubian academia.

During one of these sessions with Professor Novotna and the exchange advisor, I received word that my mother and brothers would be arriving for a ten-day stay on the first of April. Accommodations for them had been arranged at the Military Lodge just outside the Academy gates and several tourist trips were arranged so that they might be occupied while I taught my classes and trained.

“We would like to have your mother and brothers follow you about on a typical day, Instructor Shevat,” the exchange advisor noted, “would that present any problem to you?”

“It might be a shock to my brothers to see everyone nude at the pool, including me, as that is where most of my classes are held,” I noted. “After all, Tyler is fifteen and Timothy has just turned seventeen, and neither is used to nudity as a way of life. I would think, though, if Kivar gets to pal around with them, they might well get over their inhibitions more quickly. My mother, though, is quite another matter. I think she turns off the lights when she showers to avoid seeing herself naked, let alone anyone else.”

“Perhaps Vice Commandant Drakov can suggest a way to amuse your mother while you attend to those duties, or Professor Novotna here might let her sit in on her behavior class.” The advisor offered.

Professor Novotna chuckled, “Well, if the sight of a woman of my age teaching a class of university students nude does not change her attitudes, perhaps nothing will.”

I quickly added a note of agreement, “We may as well introduce all of them into the mores of Danubia as soon as possible. They will see enough to know what our standard of normalcy is and realize it is not their own, almost as soon as they get off the airplane.”

I was referring to the fact that most of the Danubian ticket agents and baggage handlers were collared criminals who worked their public jobs nude and very few noticed them except for the foreign tourists just off the aircraft in Danubia’s airport.

“Oh, something else,” the advisor reached into an in basket on her desk, “this came for you from your home university.”

I opened it and read, “Marcia Shevat, the University swimming and diving team has been invited to the Pan European Games in Munich, Germany. The University is requesting that you participate in these games, in the individual medley, the relay, and the one-hundred-meter freestyle events. Please make the necessary arrangements to meet the team in Munich on the Twentieth of April this year.”

“In all probability, Marcia,” the advisor noted, “Your family will want to stay in Danubia and go with you to the games. We will make the necessary accommodations for them if this is what they wish to do.”

“Well, I’m glad I’ve kept up my training. I feel ready to compete and look forward to doing so for the honor of both my University and Danubia.” I stated firmly.

[barelin]

[Editor’s note: The majority of this chapter is in 3rd person POV. That is because it is told by Marcia Shevat as told to her by her mother and brothers. The rest is in 1st person POV as told by Marcia about herself.]

Twelve days later I stood on the tarmac of the airport apron watching my brothers and mother deplane. As they exited toward customs, I noted to Mykel Drakov, who had accompanied me, that my brothers seemed a bit taller and more athletic and my mother was absolutely radiant.

“Mom, Tyler, Timothy, OVER HERE!” I shouted and jumped up and down more like a schoolgirl than a uniformed military officer. Hugs, kisses and introductions were made, with Mykel first saluting then shaking the hand of each of my brothers and politely bowing to then kissing the back of the hand of Vida Shevat. Mykel hustled the boys off to gather up the family’s baggage and my mother and I chatted in person for the first time in over seven months.

“He is quite handsome, Marcia,” Vida Shevat began, “are you sure he is the one? Or is he just the first to show interest in you in a strange land. Oh, MY!” Vida gasped.

A totally nude, save for a collar, young man of about twenty-two trotted past mother and daughter carrying a large pile of bags while being trailed by a couple in their late fifties.

“That is the way in this country, Momma, a criminal must hold a public job and must remain nude at all times except for his or her collar. The collar is radio controlled and has a chip that sets limits for each criminal as to when they may work, how long they must remain in the public eye and how far they may travel. Oh, and see that girl over there?” I nodded in the direction of a tall red headed teenager also nude and wearing a collar. “She is a Temple penitent; you can tell because the collar style is different. She is trying to amend her life path and get right with the Creator by serving time in prayer and penitential nudity under the instruction of a priest.”

“Well, I have never seen anything more disgusting in my life, why did you not come straight home when you found out about this insane way of life?” Vida muttered in a flustered voice.

“Well, almost as soon as I arrived here, I found out my host family, the Siminovs, you have spoken to them, and you have told me you like them, Momma, were doing public penance as a family in support of their daughter Ivanka. As I was to be a member of that family for the duration of my Danubian stay I decided to join them in penance. I spent my first four months in Danubia naked and collared, Momma.” I watched the disbelief wash over my mother’s face, then continued, “And even now most of my work is done nude, Momma, as Danubian society disallows swimsuits or athletic clothing for sports and swimming. That is all sport and swimming, Momma, so families on the beaches, at the lakes, and on the river are always nude. Families sunbathe nude in their yards when the weather is warm and it is not unusual to see groups of nude children playing in the streets or on the front lawns of the residential neighborhoods.”

Vida Shevat looked as if she wished to get on the next airplane out of Danubia and go back to the States where sound heads were screwed onto clothed bodies.

“Hey, Mom, Hey, Marcia, did you see that red headed girl over there?” Timothy and Tyler were babbling with excitement over their first glimpse of a nude woman in public.

“Guys, you have seen me and my teammates plenty of times at home, why the oh my gosh moment now?” I asked.

“Yeah, but that was you and your girlfriends, heck that’s like family, and those girls saw us plenty, as well. This was a stranger in public for gosh sakes.” Timothy blurted.

Tyler added, “Oh, and did you see she is a natural redhead? Not like your friend Heidi whose curtains and carpet don’t match.”

Mykel jumped in with, “While I admire your powers of observation, boys, as your sister might say, ‘too much information.’ Now, in polite Danubian society we do not stare at a criminal or penitent going about their daily duties; however, should you need the assistance of one of them, say to carry a bag for you or if you needed directions, they are bound by their status to provide you with that service.” Mykel thought for a second, saw the expressions crossing the faces of the two boys and quickly added, “Not those kinds of services. Asking her for those services would wind up with you both dressed up like him,” Mykel pointed to the young man carrying the couple’s bags.

The ride on the express trolley to the Military Inn did not take long and luggage was quickly stored in the two rooms that had been provided for Vida Shevat and the boys. Mykel and I escorted my mother and brothers to the Siminov family home for a Danubian welcome dinner.

Proper introductions were made. Ursula and Ivan warmly greeted the mother of their guest daughter and richly heaped praises on Vida for raising such a beautiful, talented and adaptable daughter. Ivanka welcomed the parents of her ‘sister’ into her home and also thanked Vida for allowing me to become so much a part of Ivanka’s life path. Kivar, Timothy and Tyler were friends before they exchanged the few words of each other’s language each knew. Asking to be excused, the three boys wandered off to play a game of something or other in the Siminov backyard.

Kaleen and Martina were nowhere to be seen and I asked Ursula Siminov as to where the younger girls had gone. “They are out on the sunning platform, with three girlfriends,” Ursula smiled, “not even May yet and the warm weather has begun. It will be hard to keep a stitch on them if it is as hot as last summer.”

“Oh, yes,” Ivanka agreed, “I was happy to be collared and nude last summer, it was way too hot to wear clothing.”

“I have to agree, it felt wonderful to have the little breeze that blew do so on bare skin and not sweaty clothing,” I agreed with my hosts, “Momma, come on out and meet the girls.”

Ivanka and I pulled Vida out of the kitchen and out into the yard. Vida was shocked to see five young teens naked on the sundeck gossiping and giggling as girls have the tendency to do. Until Kaleen and Martina were called by Ivanka to come meet their guest and they quickly rose to come to Ivanka’s side, Vida said nothing, then to me, “They aren’t even trying to cover themselves.”

“Why should they, Momma? They are not embarrassed by their nudity, to them it is perfectly normal.” I whispered back to my mother.

Trying to remain as calm as possible, Vida Shevat exchanged greetings with Kaleen and Martina and then was surprised to hear them say, “Oh, your boys are just delightful, we so enjoyed meeting them before Kivar took them to play football with his friends,” Martina acted as translator for the girls and had spoken loudly enough that the other three girls still on the platform nodded and one muttered a very coy, “Oh, yes, dreamy.”

Ivanka whispered in my ear, “You know if they are playing soccer in the park, they are probably playing naked. How is your mom going to react to her sons running around chasing a ball naked?”

“I’m waiting to see if the steam in the kettle makes it whistle or blows its top off, Ivanka, Momma is in sensory overload right now and I do not think she is processing Danubia all that well.” I noted.

Just then Vida blew the whistle and let the steam out of the kettle, “Well, if you can’t beat them join them,” Looking over at me she said, “If this is Rome, I guess I should do as the Romans, think these girls would make room for an old lady to join them?”

Ivanka and I exchanged glances that barely hid the laughter we wanted to let out. Ivanka spoke, “Momma Vida, you feel free to get comfortable and join the girls and if you wish Martina is excellent at braiding hair, I am sure yours would look beautiful in a Danubian style.”

I turned to go into the house, with Ivanka following, “Momma and Poppa Siminov, it seems my Momma has converted to Danubian. She is now sunbathing with your daughters and their friends. MY MOMMA! The prude ... is out in your yard getting naked to sunbathe with your daughters.”

Ursula slipped the caftan she was wearing over her head. Under it she was nude. “I should join your mother so she has the company of an adult. Those girls are a joy but they can wear you out quickly.”

Ivan looked at Ivanka and Marcia, “Well, it looks as if the meal will be delayed, unless you two take over momma’s kitchen. An act I would not recommend if you value your lives. Therefore, why do you not join the rest of the girls while I go see how Mykel and Kivar are getting along with Marcia’s brothers.”

The older girls were soon outside and mingling with the youngsters, largely fielding questions about the strange layers of garments Vida had removed. Pantyhose, girdles and corsets were unheard of in ‘tween and teen girl wardrobes in Danubia.

I found myself having to explain to a culture accepting to the human body as natural and ever different as blessed by the Creator, and why older American women found it necessary to force their bodies into shapes of conformity using elastic, bones and restrictive garments. Sadly, I found I did not have much interest in defending such a practice.

One of the girls, not the twins, broke the ice with Vida by telling me she wished to compliment my mother on her beautiful full breasts and she hoped the Creator blessed her with just such richness of body.

“Richness, my sweet,” Vida began, “Hardly richness. This body was left to me by three pregnancies and three nursing babies.” I translated to the girl.

“Yes, Mother, that is exactly what I meant,” the girl responded and I acted as translator, “After three children, the Creator has blessed you with a mother’s body. It is what all Danubian women wish to have as their blessing in their thirties and forties, a mother’s body.”

“It is true,” Ursula added. “Vida, in our culture a woman’s body is revered as a thing of beauty during pregnancy and afterward as a mother. You might be padded about the rear or your breasts might sag a bit after being suckled by babes but that is all beauty in a culture where a nurturing mother is the center of the family life.”

Dinner was, indeed, delayed that evening. The males had found in the soccer field the one common language between them all. Mykel returned from the park with three very dusty teenage boys in tow, all of them nude and needing the Siminov shower. Ivan Siminov walked between Kivar and Timothy using hand gestures and single words to demonstrate a technique of a left footed pass between players. The smiles and nods were all I needed to see to know that Ivan Siminov had just adopted two more children into his family.

The women, during that same time frame, sat around the sundeck until other moms opened kitchen windows and began calling the three girlfriends home to their own houses for their meals. Leaving only Ursula, Vida, Ivanka, Marcia and the young twins Martina and Kaleen to continue the rather deep philosophical topic of what is true beauty in the Siminov soak tub.

“Momma Shevat,” Kaleen entered the conversation, “When Marcia first arrived in our home, she told us how Americans look upon pubic hair and body hair as a bother to be removed. Martina and I could not understand this. After all, what woman wants to go through life looking like an immature little girl? In Danubian culture the development of a girl into a woman is celebrated both in family and Temple rituals.”

Ivanka entered the conversation, “Yes, they are called the First Budding, First Blooming, and Blossoming celebrations. After the Blossoming, girls are allowed to wear the adult prayer robe to Temple services and may enter the Temple service corps as acolytes.”

As Vida looked confused, Ursula offered the explanations, “First Budding is the showing of breasts and beginning of curves in a girl’s body. First Blooming is the beginning of Pubic Hair. Blossoming is the first menstrual cycle. Girls in Temple service assist the Priests and Priestesses in the ceremonies and services at the Temple and within the local chapels. This work is deemed part of the public giving back to the Creator which all Danubians seek to fulfill.”

Vida was beginning to realize that not only externally, but also philosophically and culturally, Danubia was an entirely new world to the American mind set.

“Are your girls in Temple Service?” Vida asked Ursula.

“Not yet, they are late in the passing of Blossoming,” Ursula said, “but all women know the Creator has the right time for them to Blossom,” nodding to the girls.

“True,” Kaleen said,” one of the girls you met this afternoon, Andre, has passed Blossoming and is now studying to be a Maiden of the Four Positions at the Temple.”

The look on Vida’s face indicated her mind had gone to a place the young Kaleen had not intended.

“Momma,” I interjected,” the Four Positions are Fetal, Kneeling, Standing, and Prone. Each High Holiday ceremony has a maiden posed in each position facing in each of the primary compass points. Sixteen girls, nude, and who must remain absolutely stationary. This is the hardest job a Maiden can have and it requires long hours of discipline and training.”

“Oh my,” Vida nodded, then had a thought, “Getting sixteen teenage girls to stay still that long must be a real job for the Priestess in charge.”

All the females in the soak tub were laughing at that when the males walked in to shower. I watched my mother for a reaction and there was none. Vida was becoming more adapted to the fact that nudity was exactly what it was in Danubia, another form of clothing when done with the right attitude and proper hairstyle.

Room was found for the Shevat family under the Siminov roof that night and early the next morning the entire combined group took the trolley to the Military Inn where Vida and the boys had their rooms. I had to report in to the Academy and begin her morning classes, so it was Mykel who escorted Vida and Timothy and Tyler to the Academy.

The first stop was not the pool area, but the offices above where Vice Commandant Drakov waited to meet the mother of her son’s American girlfriend.

Cadet Kara was enlisted by Lt. Drakov to take Tyler and Timothy on a long informative tour of the post and academy facilities. “End at the pool area, Cadet, so the brothers might see their sister fulfilling her life path as our Aquatics Instructor,” the Lieutenant ordered.

“Yes, Sir,” Kara responded and led the boys out at a brisk pace.

Mykel excused himself to return to his own duties and left the mothers to converse about their life experiences. Like most senior officers, Vice Commandant Drakov was fluent in English, so there were no problems with language. The two women found they had much more in common than one would have initially thought. Raising children on military posts, moving from place to place every few years, watching children grow up with few long-lasting friendships because of rank and military occupation differences of the parents, all these things down to each having borne three children to military husbands they had in common.

“Mykel seems like a fine young man,” Vida said to me, the women having dropped formality and gone to first names within five minutes of starting to talk with each other.

“Your Marcia is a remarkable young woman as well, I find Mykel well met with her, though I worry about his becoming attached to her,” Magda responded.

“Why so?” Vida asked.

“For the same reasons we have discussed. Marriage within the military and raising children under difficult circumstances,” Magda replied.

“You see marriage in their future, not a passing fling or infatuation?” Vida sounded more concerned.

“The signs are there and if the Creator and the Ancestors have set them on the same life path, who are we to argue? We can be concerned, and love them and advise them, but their life path is their own to follow.” Magda stated.

Vida nodded, after all, her parents had objected to her marrying a soldier. They had asked what kind of happiness could she find in a life like that. Yet, she and Jacob Shevat had spent the best fifteen years together a man and woman could have and she would change nothing in her life, given the chance.

“Let’s go downstairs and see your daughter at work,” Magda offered, “Only ten months ago we as an institution knew nothing about Aquatics training. Your daughter has developed a program that not only teaches lifesaving skills and water safety, but has also included aquatic strength training, kinesiology and endurance training. Add to this her taking classes here to fulfill her university requirements and being at the top of her class while using only a language for which two short college courses were her only preparation. I would say you have raised an amazing child, Vida” Magda finished as the pair entered the locker room. “To enter the pool requires you be nude and have taken a shower.”

Vida started to unpin her hair and Magda quickly stopped her. A dignified Danubian woman always had her hair in braids in public. Magda quickly shed her uniform and waited while Vida took off the added burden of girdle and pantyhose and was finally ready to shower and go to the pool. Timothy and Tyler were already on the side of the pool, quietly watching their sister conduct a swimming class and unabashedly admiring their cadet escort Norlina Kara.

“Cadet, did your tour go well and did your charges enjoy your informative talk?” Vice Commandant Drakov asked her subordinate.

Standing to attention but not saluting, (one does not salute while nude), Kara responded, “Ma’am, we went on the tour as directed. I explained about our uniforms, the Griffin and its role in Danubian life, and I showed the boys the weapons museum. They then asked me to bring them here, which you see I have done. Ma’am, I admit my time with them in the locker room was a bit awkward. They clearly were not used to co-ed locker rooms, nor with watching a woman their age disrobes in front of them.”

“Yet, you handled the situation professionally and overcame the awkwardness, Cadet?” The Vice-commandant asked.

“Yes, Ma’am, as you can see, they have acclimated nicely, Ma’am,” the Cadet concluded.

“Would you consider it an undue burden to have them accompany you to classes and cadet activities for the next two days, Cadet?” Colonel Drakov asked in a tone that suggested even if Norlina Kara had considered it a burden, she was to do so. A request made by a superior was an order in civilian clothing.

“Ma’am, if so, ordered I would allow the boys to reside in my barracks room with me to give them a complete daily circuit of cadet routine,” Cadet Kara answered, and silently prayed she would not be taken up on her statement.

“Is yours a co-ed room, Cadet?”

“No, Ma’am, it is presently all female, just my roommate and me, that is Cadet Enova and me, Ma’am,” Kara responded.

“Well and good, when you are finished here, take the young men to the quartermaster, have them issued first day gear and bedding and take them to your barrack. They are your charges for the next forty-eight hours. Do not lose or break them.” The Vice Commandant was not known for humor, yet, Kara caught an undertone that said, “Ride them hard, but don’t put them away wet.”

“Ma’am, yes Ma’am,” Kara replied.

Seeing Cadet Enova in Instructor Shevat’s class, the Vice Commandant called, “Enova, to me.”

The Cadet, as tall and blond as Kara was petite and dark haired, responded immediately.

“Ma’am, how may I be of service, Ma’am?” Enova offered as she quickly walked up to the Colonel and stood at attention.

“Do you see those two young men, seated by the pool?” the Colonel asked.

“Instructor Shevat’s brothers? Yes, Ma’am. We were introduced in passing as the class began.” Enova replied.

“I have given Cadet Kara full charge over them for the next forty-eight hours. They shall be bunking in with you and her for the next two nights if you have no objection.” The Colonel was using her ‘you will have no objections’ tone and Enova responded with, “No objection, Ma’am.”

“Then the same orders I have given Kara apply to you, Enova, do not lose or break these young men.” The Colonel finished and dismissed Enova back to her class.

Magda and Vida, military wives and military mothers, together watched as Marcia Shevat drilled her cadets in proper stroke technique and breathing for the freestyle and then walked the edge of the pool as each cadet swam a length correcting mistakes as they occurred.

“She is good at what she does, isn’t she?” Vida was forced to acknowledge.

“We have been blessed by the Creator and the ancients to have her life path cross ours. She has added much to the richness of our training program and we now have a potential officer corps with more skills than ever before.” Magda agreed, hoping to persuade Vida that Marcia Shevat’s place in life was in Danubia for the moment at least.

The women left the pool area showered again and dressed. Vida, at Magda’s suggestion, left off the girdle and pantyhose and as an act of liberation tossed them into a trash bin.

Ivanka Siminov met Vida at the outer gate of the Academy. The arrangement had been made that Ivanka would escort Vida on a tour of the outlying parks and lake region while the boys spent time at the Academy.

Cadets Kara and Enova escorted Tyler and Timothy Shevat to the Academy Quartermaster. There the Shevat boys were given one pair of socks, one pair of athletic footwear, one coarse woolen blanket, a bucket, and a bar of soap. Told to remove their civilian clothing and leave it in a bin in the Quartermaster storage area, the boys were now officially first day cadets of the National Military Academy of Danubia.

“As you might gather, cadets, the first seventy-two hours of the Academy are spent nude for all incoming prospects.” Cadet Enova lectured as she and Cadet Kara quick-timed the pair of nude young men across the academy quadrangle.

“This is because the first seventy-two hours of your cadet life are spent in pure physical testing to assess if you are worthy to wear the uniform of the Danubian Republic.” Cadet Kara yelled as the two women quickened the pace.

“For the time you are with us, you will do as you are told, when you are told to do it.” Cadet Enova yelled as the pace quickened yet again.

“You will rest when we are tired, you will eat when we are hungry and you will sleep, perhaps not at all.” Cadet Kara called as the pace picked up to a full run.

The boys, both fit athletes in their own right, kept up with the two female cadets for the first half-mile. Tyler, a gymnast, began to lag at that point. Cadet Enova dropped back and motivated Tyler with a sharp slap across his buttocks. “You will keep up the pace or you will pay the price,” she hissed in his ear, “and don’t drop your bucket.”

With that he found the reserve to pick up his pace and keep up with his brother, who as a soccer player was more used to long distance running. When the run ended, the brothers found themselves at an obstacle course. They ran through truck tires set on the ground and then climbed a cargo net over a six-meter wall dropping into a pool of muddy water. A crawl under a net stretched over a sand pit followed by a rope climb up and over a shorter brick wall left the Shevat brothers fifty meters from the back doors of the cadet barracks.

The two female cadets handed the boys back their buckets and stopped them by a set of water pumps. “Fill your buckets, wash yourselves thoroughly, and then remove your shoes, wash your socks and carry your buckets to the rear entrance of the barracks.” Cadet Kara ordered.

“Rinse your feet in your bucket, then turn it over to empty it and leave it by the back door,” Cadet Enova finished.

A climb up the stairs to the female cadet’s room and the Shevat teenagers were shown the bunk beds in which they would sleep for the next two nights. By noon of the next day another visit to the quartermaster had the boys outfitted in regulation sleeveless undershirts the color of mud, matching boxer-brief type underpants and an anorak-type top paired with loose legged trousers. The athletic shoes and socks completed their attire.

Timothy attended activities and classes with Cadet Enova while his brother Tyler teamed up with Cadet Kara. Following classes and a meal in the cadet mess hall, the four teen-ages attended a night lecture. Night lecture could be on any topic and all cadets of a particular level attend a general session. This one happened to be on the topic of field hygiene. Ninety minutes later the lecture ended and study time began. Followed by next day preparations of uniform and gear then floor vespers with a cadet chaplain, who is a man or woman studying to become a Priest or Priestess in military service. Then it was lights out and the boys found themselves silently thanking the end of the day.

The morning found the four awake before dawn and dressed for the daily routine. The difference was that today Timothy was paired with Norlina Kara and Isabella Enova had charge over Tyler.

Mom and I were waiting at the gates at the end of the day to receive sons and brothers back from their taste of Danubian military life. The boys, still in Danubian issue clothing and carrying soft cloth satchels with the Danubian griffin emblem embossed upon them, were escorted off the post by Colonel Magda Drakov.

I saluted my superior officer and then mother embraced mother.

“Vida Shevat, I formally relinquish custody of your sons Timothy and Tyler to you,” Magda completed the formality of Danubian custom.

“Colonel Drakov, I accept custody of my sons, Timothy and Tyler,” Vida responded as I had couched her.

The boys, usually not expressive with their mother, oozed with the urge to tell her everything that had happened over the last few days. I left the three family members at the military lodging and went back on post. I had a meeting of my own with the Military Priestess, and then one with Colonel Magda Drakov. I had made a decision and I wanted to be assured it was a good one.

[barelin]

Two days later, in the office occupied by the Director of Exchange Students for the University, I was making a commitment.” I have decided to compete for the University in the Pan-European games as a Danubian.”

The Exchange Director responded with, “How are you going to do that, Marcia?”

“I will swim for the University, Ma’am, but it is my intent to do so nude, as is the Danubian custom. I have committed myself to a full year living as a Danubian, and I feel it would be an affront to the Danubian culture to wear this.”

I held up a tiny nylon-spandex slip of material that represented the University swim team competition suit. She then dropped it into the trash can in the Exchange Director’s office, and said, “Therefore, should the University still wish me to compete in Munich, I shall do so nude.” She turned and left the Director’s office before a word of protest could be uttered.

Munich was known for its pageantry and pomp during athletic ceremonies and competition. Two Olympic games and several Pan-European competitions held there over the years had proved to the world that Munich knew how to be a good host.

Three flights of Griffin Airways aircraft landed in Munich and discharged the Military Corps of Cadets and their officer instructors the evening before I was to compete.

Rumors were already flying in the media that a non-conformist athlete would be swimming in a non-traditional outfit. Most of the media were speculating that Speedo or Tyr had come up with yet another variation of the skin suit that had become popular in competitions in the past several years.

The morning of the competition, the Corps of Cadets marched in formation from the hotel hosting them to the Aquatic Stadium and took their seats. At ten o’clock in the morning my first event was called. It was the one-hundred-meter freestyle, one length down the pool and one back up to the starting blocks.

The announcer gave the name and the university each athlete represented. I was announced as competing for both her home university and the Military Academy of Danubia. A gasp collectively went out of the audience, and several directors were told by their studios to cut live feed to the event when I stood on the starting block and waved to the crowd.

The starter gun sounded and I hit the water smoothly, cutting through the pool like she had never done before. My time at the turn was less than a second off the record for this facility and when I finished and touched the poolside, I was only three tenths of a second off of that record. I won the event. The media, still blacking out the fact that on the medal stand she was nude, panned to the cadets who had risen and were singing the National Hymn of Danubia in my honor. The flag bearing the Griffin Emblem of Danubia rose behind me as she was presented with the medal and a bouquet of flowers.

Still photographs of that presentation, with me blocked by officials or by the large flower bouquet, did make it on the news and into the scandal sheets and gossip magazines around the world. One headline read, “THE NEW SKIN SUIT. REAL SKIN”.

The event committee politely asked the university to withdraw me from future events in the meet. Both the Danubian Military and my home university declined just as politely. My relay team won their event, and surprisingly the other three girls on the team appeared on the medal stand nude, in support of me. They also celebrated their victory under the Danubian flag and with the Corps of Cadets singing the National Hymn.

My second place finish for a silver medal in the Individual Medley event finished my competition. The finish of that event was so close the recording had to be played back in frame-by-frame stop action. In the end the judges ruled a girl from Austria had touched the wall a hundredth of a second before me, giving the other girl the win.

The parade held in my honor from the Airport down the main streets of Danubia City to the steps of the Defense Ministry Building in Government Square was lined with every man, woman and child who could get free from their daily work. The schools were closed for the day, and people leaned out of every window of every building along the parade route to catch a glimpse of the girl who had captured not only three medals but also the hearts of the Danubian people.

Standing atop a horse drawn antique military ammunition carrier, I was naked except for my three medals. I proudly waved to the crowd, while my mother and two brothers rode along the route in an open carriage directly behind my caisson. With Brigadier Drakov and Colonel Drakov astride horses and dressed in old style cavalry uniform riding beside the caisson and the Siminov clan in a carriage in front of her, I was completely surrounded by my ‘family’.

At the Defense Ministry Building, a brief ceremony officially granting me dual citizenship was held and she was presented with a Danubian medal of achievement. I, in turn, thanked the people of Danubia for opening their homes, hearts and country to me and presented my three medals to the Defense Ministry as a token of my thanks. Private celebrations followed, with me finally getting back into uniform. First, she stopped at the Cadet Mess Hall where she thanked the Corps for its support and for allowing her to be on their life path with them.

The next celebration was at the Officers Club. Brigadier Mykel Drakov formally announced that I was out of uniform. Colonel Drakov walked up to me and unpinned the “I” devices on her tunic and cap and quickly replaced them with silver Griffin devices indicating I was promoted to Junior Lieutenant.

“You can now hold that rank, Lieutenant, as you are now a citizen of Danubia,” the Brigadier announced.

The final celebration was a very private one, in a very private place with Lieutenant Mykel Drakov and me, Junior Lieutenant Marcia Shevat, the only ones in attendance. How they celebrated has not been documented.

The End