

Sun on the Rocks – The Malibu Case

Smashwords Edition.

© Copyright 2012 by Somers Isle & Loveshade.

Published by Somers Isle & Loveshade at Smashwords.

U.S. Copyright Registration Number: 1-743085441.

All rights reserved.

'Sun on the Rocks' blogsite:

http://oursalon.ning.com/profile/workstudio

Cover by Tatiana Villa.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
ABOUT Sun on the Rocks

Sun on the Rocks is a validating and comforting balm made of a benign word cloud. It is a breezy, easy to peel humor read for adults, specializing in the trivial pursuit. Each pleasant fictional amusement comes with a nonchalant overtone of humor, and follows the adventures of several non competitive good looking women over twenty one years of age, as they leave Malibu and become a group of hostesses, _'Sun on the Rocks'_ , on the cruise ship _City of Wellington_ , a post-Panamax which makes short trips between Los Angeles and Acapulco in Mexico. The motley crew of women works as a group of entertaining amateurs and as friendly gophers on the ship, and is led to various places in the Caribbean and elsewhere by the incombustible twenty five year old Stevenson Garden Products Malibu teleoperator **Clarity Nice** , a woman of resourceful intuition, and acute observer of the laws of human mischief.

In The Malibu Case, Clarity and her friends, librarian Lanai Thomson, lifeguard Taimi Kendrick, and the well-to-do Malibu resident Cynthia Stevenson, daughter of the Stevenson Garden company owner, Bill Stevenson, adopt the clothing optional lifestyle, and establish a state wide referendum in California on public and workplace nudity, outsmarting Malibu city police Officer Packwood.
BACKSTORIES AND CHARACTERS

TO READ THE AMUSEMENT COMFORTABLY

**Buddha Talk:** Corpulent, shady genius of money flows which begin and end with the same pocket, his own, scholar of sexual ecstasy, occasional Buddhist and worshipper for good Karma of a shrine honoring a lobster which pinched his ear before ending in the lobster cooking pot. Buddha Talk is banking agent and the heir apparent of _Lofty Bank_ , a _Cayman Islands banking institution_ with no particular regard for its clients and a lock on ownership held by a Great Dane, _Lord Moorehead_ III, British by upbringing and inheritance granted by Lord Moorehead II, a man, old, very old, and dead now, at age ninety seven, previous British Lord, ex-owner of Lofty Bank, a man who gave all of its wealth, nobility title and bank ownership rights to his dog.

_Lord Moorehead III_ acts as front 'man' for Buddha Talk, and is also the official recipient of all bank notices by the Cayman Islands monetary authority, a convenient fact for Buddha Talk, and one bark that doesn´t cease to surprise the monetary authority who casts a recurring shadow of doubt upon the legalities of having a dog act as front 'man' and be the official owner of a Bank doing business in the British Overseas Territory of the Cayman Islands, located in the Western Caribbean Sea, a pleasant area to live when the money and work issues are solved. Buddha Talk likes to drive or be driven in Jaguar 73, a gadget-filled car offered as gift to Buddha Talk by Cuban dictator Fidel Castro in exchange for having sold some gold and palladium for the Cuban regime, through Banco Inter Central del Caribe y Cuba, or BICCC.

Clarity and Flower, after gaining entry as investors to the bank with the help of Clark, the owner of a diamond shop in Grand Cayman, find themselves owing nearly one hundred thousand dollars to the Lofty Bank outfit for no reason, a debt they can pay by working for the bank for fifty years, as part of the bank´s flagship product, _the Crashworthy Deposit_ , part bank deposit paying twenty percent, part investment, part insurance policy, and part working arrangement.

Lofty has ties with the underworld, and the monetary authority of the Cayman Islands stubbornly refuses to grant it a renewal of its license, something that doesn´t stop the bank from operating in the most illegal manner, advertising its products to potential investors with an air banner carried by a Gippland 200 crop duster flying low above sunny Caribbean beaches such as those of Cayman, British Virgin Islands, Bahamas and Acapulco. This is entirely documented in **The Cayman Air Banner**.

**Boustrophedon:** Large, ancient grey stone inscription filled with Greek letter symbols. In a boustrophedon, direction of the text is inverted, you have to read the inscriptions on the stone from left to right and from right to left alternatively with each line of bi-directional text. Penelope Avalon and Cassandra Scafarel believe that the Boustrophedon holds important information on ancient methods of pleasure, including comments and thoughts on the gate of pleasure, Voluptas de Naturas. The current location of the Boustrophedon that Clarity and her friend Lanai saw at Scafarel's **Hexas Style Resort** in the Bahamas, is unknown to Clarity, known to:

**Cassandra Scafarel:** Significant other of Buddha Talk at some point, shrewd British expatriate, a businesswoman in her forties without a moral code or compass, executive head of beauty lotion outfit 'Elony', sold through illegal flight infomercials with the assistance of Lofty Bank. The infomercial is an excuse to sell to customers, mostly affluent women, Elony's personal growth services, which include how to bring heaven a little closer to home, after doing away with money, in particular fifty thousand dollars that must be paid for a bottle of Elony, in order to receive a resort-pass to reach the Leisure and Pleasure Resort of Scafarel, the **Hexas Style Resort** in the Bahamas island of Eleuthera.

Hexas Style was partly dismantled in **The Bahamas Lotion** , by Al Donway and the **Sensual Brigade of Central Intelligence** , or **Sensual Intelligence** , a group of attractive women ensuring Law and Order are respected, along with their bodies. The Brigade's most representative member is agent **Money Fact** , the woman who introduced Clarity to the nine hour oil-optional massage, proof that work is not a necessary part of life. Money Fact excels at action, mentoring and faulty logic. After a decidedly last minute and decisive intervention of Sensual Intelligence at Hexas Style, Scafarel manages to flee from the Bahamas resort on her private yacht, with the Boustrophedon, but without some secrets regarding pleasure, including the:

**Imperial Pelican Fabergé Egg:** Intricate egg, or jewel, depending on how hungry you are, eight inches high, made of varicolored gold, opalescent blue enamel and watercolor on ivory. It is known as the _Xenia Imperial Pelican Fabergé egg,_ and belongs to the _Private Collection of Maria Feodorovna, Empress Consort of Russia in 1898_. The egg, commissioned by Maria Feodorovna to provide, handle and store, all of her private items of pleasure, went through the hands of Occidental Petroleum tycoon Armand Hammer, an art collector with close ties to the ex-Soviet Union, and has now fallen into the hands of Cassandra Scafarel, a woman who stops at nothing to understand how pleasure works, in particular how the pleasure of a woman works, including her own _._ The Pelican Fabergé egg, eight inches high, is hollow, and unfolds into eight miniatures, holding what's known in Fabergé egg language, as the surprise inside, a time-tested item of pleasure for the woman, the Jade Egg, a small two inch in diameter jade egg that must be boiled before each intimate, feminine use. Owned by Cassandra Scafarel, requisitioned by the Sensual Brigade of Central Intelligence for examination.

**Penelope Avalon:** Sex Goddess and Go-Go girl from Las Vegas, dressed in a pink suit, user of the learjet ' _Pink Go-Go_ ' appropriately painted in pink. Penelope has had enough of living the plastic pleasure style of Las Vegas showgirls, and finds in the outfit of Cassandra Scafarel, the Bahamas Hexas Style Resort, a way out of Hotel California. Penelope likes attractive women unclothed, and would like to do Clarity, because she's nice.

**The Symbolic Decryptor:** Thai alphabet gadget similar to a smartphone or Blackberry, which can be used as cell phone, useful for understanding all types of characters and symbols, made in VLE mode (Very Limited Edition, less than ten made worldwide) by the mysterious Oriental company known as **Pentatone Scale Learning Systems**.

The item, the gadget, looks like a Blackberry with keyboard, with 36 Thai character keys, doubled with the shift key, for a total of 72, instead of the 26 of the Western alphabet, and its keys are made of hard, white color plastic, similar to the color casing of the Kindle 2, cast against a grey background and a backlit screen. The decryptor can also be used as indicator of calligraphy symbols, as mantra tone guide and geo-locator, using the Global Positioning System to calculate the coordinates of any location worldwide.

Penelope Avalon received one of these decryptors from Lady Scafarel, after completing work on heaven, according to Scafarel's personal growth system, and Clarity would like to keep the item as a souvenir, although Money Fact disagrees and is holding custody of the device for strategic and Intelligence reasons. Sure, she likes the nifty item, that's all, and she likes to subtly let Clarity know that she's the boss of Sensual Intelligence.

**Book of Decadence:** Book written on the topic by the unknown hedonist, a small print manifesto of deep thought with illustrations of ancient goddesses with lion bodies in bronze, and a mosaic of Byzantine nuns, used by Penelope Avalon and the Hexas Style Hedonist Resort in the Bahamas, on how to let go of the encumbrance of work, and dedicate your time, well spent, according to the book, to leisure, pleasure, et. al. The book clearly advises on the pitfalls of decadence and purportedly how to avoid them.

**Telval Studios** : Adult Film production unit of the Church of the Holy Flower, led by Cassandra Scafarel, including the film ' _Abu Dhabi Chic_ ', a remake of Andrew Blake's 'Paris Chic' shown to Clarity and her friends during the unfolding of **The Adult Channel** at the Park Hyatt in Abu Dhabi. Telval produces adult films unlike any other, films like ' _Embroidered Air Avenue_ ', engaging beautiful women in sultry positions and scenes for hours, revealing an oriental connection to the films' choreographies and to the symbolic decryptor. It including codes for women within the films to get inside the Church of the Holy Flower and other Mystery Schools. This includes a keyword of the Book of Decadence, the word **Rosebud** , a mysterious codeword for the Church of the Holy Flower that Clarity seeks to clarify.

The adult films are distributed in large hotel chains worldwide and come with a special remote control for the hotel's adult channel, which makes the films interactive and allows eight digit bank transfers with Telval as beneficiary, to be done remotely. One of the remotes holds an important detail on heaven, as envisioned by Scafarel on earth, with indications provided by the eight miniatures of her Imperial Pelican Fabergé Egg.

**The Air Fashion Jet of Owens & Owell**: Double deck plane with four engines, a copy of the Airbus 380, refurbished with all kinds of luxuries, from a Jacuzzi to an Indian ritual area for the users of the plane, to a permanent television channel showing fashion shows happening throughout the world. The jet, built in Saudi Arabia, is used by board members and members of the Executive Committee of the conglomerate Owens & Owell, and by the two rebellious daughters of the main owners, who got married to each other during **The OOL Broderie (Owens & Owell Love Broderie)**, Shalia Owell, twenty three, and Jenny Owens, twenty two.

Shalia Owell and Jenny Owens are two good looking college students studying human sexuality at University of Arizona. They hold Board seats on the Board of Directors of O&O, but the members of the company´s Executive Committee oppose their presence on the Board, after they give a power of attorney to Cassandra Scafarel, the woman who led them to their marriage and wants access to the money of O&O by replacing the two women on their board seat. Scafarel´s _Church of the Holy Flower_ , includes its very own holy flower, the _Rose of Levity_ , a real flower, one of the most expensive in the world, a gold of kina balu rose, a variation on a Mrs. Herbert Stevens Rose.

**The Center for Somewhat Strategic Affairs of Medium to Low Importance** : Located below the Bellagio resort in Las Vegas, the Center of Surveillance of U.S. interests is headed by Colonel Calton Brayfield and her assistant, ex-employee of facebook, Mandy Everglade. The Center´s ever present maintenance issues with the elevator leading to the Bellagio, which interferes with the fountains of the resort, are handled by repairman Morgan Afterflow, a man who knows how to swing his red, adjustable pipe wrench in any situation. His side job is to work for the Chinese government as a spy, providing any information that will pay him fifteen dollars an hour more than his current hourly pay at the center.

The center uses a supercomputer with a quite human consciousness, _Evans_ , whose brain is built according to complex algorithms of symbolic logic, which can perform complex social data analytics on millions of people. _Evans_ , which refuses to be used dishonestly, reveals the source of this devious use of his super computing ability in **The Bellagio Wikileak**.

Knowing that Bradfield and Afterflow want him thrown into the scrapyard after refusing to perform simple calculations for them or those who want to lease its computing services, the consciousness of _Evans_ reaches a Symbolic Decryptor that Clarity takes away from the center´s equipment supplies, and becomes a permanent part of Clarity´s gadget, escaping the enslavery of the surveillance center, but becoming part of a stolen gadget belonging to the U.S. government with many features unknown to Clarity or Evans.

**Mista Jack:** Money changer from the British Virgin Islands, advisor to Cuban Colonel Swarez and the Cuban government in **The Cuban Renegade**. Mista Jack is a dwarf wearing a black Duffield hat, and was a former assistant of precious metals agent Cubandor, with connections at the Bellagio resort in Las Vegas. The short but resourceful man is responsible for stealing one million dollars worth of Federal Reserve bonds that were used on behalf of Cubandor to pay Buddha Talk, in exchange for _Lady Fortuna_ , a minted gold bar of great value, sought by many, understood by few.

These bonds, that Clarity and Flower used to leave Cayman, have been giving Clarity a headache, because they were stolen, and Sensual Intelligence has been accusing Clarity and Flower, and also Cubandor, of stealing the bonds and paying Lady Fortuna with stolen U.S. government debt. No one knows how Mista Jack broke into the New York Fed´s vault to find the bonds. As a result of the stolen bonds, Clarity and Cubandor lost their U.S. passport, becoming citizens without a country, owning instead the passport of the Monteviena cigar plantation, a micronation in Cuba created by Cubandor, which includes Cuba´s reserve of precious metals, _Fort Ebena_.

**Lady Fortuna:** Two hundred fifty gram gold bar minted by _LAMP, Lingots Artisanaux Métaux Précieux,_ a producer of gold bullion and rare precious metals items, depicting _Lady Fortuna_ , roman goddess of prosperity, along with the horn of plenty, precious coins and wheel of fortune, on its obverse. The reverse of the bar shows the etched code B235336. _LAMP_ ´s assayers work in conformity with the _Swiss Precious Metals Control Law_ , following directives issued by the _Central Office for Precious Metals Control_ in Bern.

_LAMP_ refines gold-based materials for their exclusive clients, and is one of three referees in charge of testing samples for the _London Bullion Market Association_ and the _Curaçao Platinum and Palladium_ market. The Lady Fortuna gold minted bar was received by Mista Jack on behalf of Cubandor, from Buddha Talk, in exchange for one million dollars in Treasury bonds delivered to Buddha Talk. The minted bar, coveted by many, is kept by Mista Jack, and is believed to be a token of initiation to the _Eleusinian Mysteries_ , a variety of rituals performed in ancient Greece, which have been adapted to include rituals of sacred or divine sexuality by _Elony_ beauty lotion orchestrator Lady Scafarel.

**Officer Packwood** : Puritan police officer working in the city of Malibu, in charge of nothing in particular, but with a job to protect until his retirement, his own. You can safely say that his only goal in life is to close down the only clothing optional company in Malibu and in general, Stevenson Garden Products, because it's simply not written anywhere in the police manual that you can show up for work without any clothes. He likes to wear a constabulary custodian bowler style helmet, showing a shiny badge of the city of Malibu on the front while he goes around carrying out irrelevant duties. He attempted to derail and shut the clothing optional policy at Stevenson during **The Malibu Case** , without success, and he is diligently at work again in **The Outdoor Shower** , to prevent the use of a shower installed on the premises of Stevenson, offered to employees as amenity, and shut down its faucet. Sometimes it comes down to shutting off the faucet.

**Flake** : The gardener at Stevenson Garden Products, also in charge of maintenance and security of its office building premises. He is the only person holding the keys of the Stevenson building, and so Clarity, Taimi and Cynthia, often look to him to get access to the roof top pool of the company building at night, when they feel like a skinny-dip. Usually wears overalls and often looks out for an extra buck or two, always in cash, in ways which are resourceful and sometimes innovative, leaving little evidence of what took place. He is willing to do any anomalous duty without asking any questions, because it sort of adds variety to his day. He is not convinced that the clothing optional policy of Stevenson is quite for him and prefers to remain clothed, in full possession of all of his watering faculties. If he can ruin the day of officer Packwood, he will.

Following is a short description of the feminine adult icons of pleasure, leisure and 'less work means a better world', a short fiction biopic text substitute of the feminine lead characters of Sun on the Rocks, the non-competitive group of gophers who work at the _City of Wellington_ , a Post-Panamax ocean liner normally docking in Los Angeles, California, which engages in cruises to Acapulco, the Mexican coast line, the Caribbean, and anywhere where the weather is nice, really. The group of ladies boards the City of Wellington when Clarity, Cynthia and Taimi get bored of working at the only clothing optional company in Malibu, Stevenson Garden Products. It includes seven good looking women who like to have fun in the sun, with or without clothes:

**Clarity Nice** : Teleoperator from Malibu, California, twenty five years of age, quarter century wise. A diligent employee of Malibu outfit Stevenson Garden Products, natural light brown hair pumpkin born and raised in a wood cabin of Topanga Canyon, a woman of resourceful intuition and acute observer of the Laws of Human Mischief.

Clarity likes to dye her hair cinnamon auburn at times using a shade selector. She means well and unclothes well in general, for instance on the beach. She likes lovemaking, sharing nudity with other women, and the practical matters and possibilities of sexual ecstasy, after having experienced it first hand at Cassandra Scafarel´s adult resort Hexas Style in the Bahamas. She likes to edge for periods of three or four months, touching and caressing herself for several hours, without reaching a complete orgasm. After one or two months of this, she cums abundantly, and her body responds with sensations which feel beyond pleasure, subtle waves more similar to bliss, which is maximum pleasure, or even ecstasy, which is bliss reaching its apex.

Because Clarity does everything casually, she ignores how holy she and the virtues she embodies are, but she knows that she is good, very good, in fact, the fact that she is honest is the reason why she usually doesn´t have much money.

**Lanai Thomson:** Twenty four year old Librarian from Malibu, originally from Hawaii, Clarity's best friend, somewhat goofy and absent-minded, fun, usually cautious in all of her endeavors, including doing men. She enjoys reading old books with some type of hidden knowledge, specially those which talk about enjoyment or decadence, the first to learn new avenues for it, the second, books such as the book of Decadence, because she wants to know how to avoid the pitfalls of its apparent lure. We would all like to know exactly what she does when she has sex with Clarity or simply unclothes with her for a 'naked pajama night'.

**Flower Parkwood:** Twenty three year old Bohemian Ethnographer found on the beach in Acapulco after the Acapulco cocktail affair. Flower has brown hair, is fresh, likes to wear platforms, and is genuinely interested in learning about cultures and the history of those cultures, as long as comfort, leisure and money are nearby. Buddha Talk has attempted to seduce her in The Cayman Air Banner, so far, without success, although they both share a liking for the 'Spirit of Ecstasy', the winged lady traditionally found at the top of Rolls Royce radiators. Flower ignores everything about sexual ecstasy, but she likes the idea.

**Taimi Kendrick:** Lifeguard by profession from Malibu, twenty two years of age, she´s one of the original four members of Sun on the Rocks, with Lanai, Cynthia, and Clarity. No nonsense, practical, fun and genuine, mischievous and also cheeky when the opportunity arises, she enjoys simple things, life without its complications, usually handled by Clarity, Flower or Lanai. She handles the entertainment routines prepared for the passengers of the City of Wellington, and when living in Malibu, she watches the rooftop pool of Stevenson Garden Products. She is a good friend of Flake, the gardener of Stevenson Garden Products. Like the rest of her friends, she is not a heavy drinker, but occasionally she particularly likes to taste the _sun on the rocks_ cocktail drink prepared by bartender Mr. LT in the City of Wellington, a concoction made with _2oz of tequila_ , _1 teaspoon of sugar_ , _1/2 orange_ , and _a half lemon_.

**Montana Sterley:** Twenty one year old blond oil heiress, daughter of S Group conglomerate Colorado tycoon Carrelson Sterley, a man who likes to spend time with several women whose name starts with the name of his first wife Kelly Jane. Some of his current girlfriends include Kelly Caroline, Kelly Ann, and Kelley Shelley, the latter being a candidate for the name of a new Subway Combo sandwich. Montana comes from Fairplay, Colorado. She is outspoken, rebellious, mischievous, good looking, well educated, well traveled, and favorable to the idea of emulating the jet-setting lifestyle, versus following her father's business footsteps, or simply being well-behaved. She enjoys adult films, her large allowance, and being naked in good hotels such as Abu Dhabi's Park Hyatt, but her down-to-earth personality prevents her from attaining some of the more subtle knowledge that Clarity observes inside Scafarel's **Church of the Holy Flower** , a spiritual outfit for the affluent woman.

**Jenna Megway:** Twenty three year old surfer and diver fond of the Acapulco diving spot, La Quebrada, found on the City of Wellington, before the search for **The Acapulco Cocktail** took place. Simple, genuine, and introvert, with long blond hair, she often does more than she says.

**Cynthia Stevenson:** Twenty two year old pom squad waves cheerleader from Pepperdine University, good friend of Clarity, gave Clarity her TAG-Heuer Aquaracer watch for her birthday. Cynthia is the well-to-do daughter of the owner of the Stevenson Garden Products company, established in Malibu, the first clothing optional corporate outfit worldwide, to our knowledge, a fact well deserved and established when Clarity and her friends took on officer Packwood during The Malibu Case, along with its clothing implications.

Cynthia has fun as long as everything goes well, but has difficulty overcoming difficulty, any slight adversity that is. Problems and dealing with them, are simply not part of her daily routine or among her interests. She likes to dress elegantly and swim naked on summer evenings in any pool with her friends. She is a frequent guest of the Areolas clothing optional resort for adult couples and women in Palm Springs, where she likes the Egyptian linen sheets available in the om room and the complimentary cream color Keralan _Mundu_ offered, a garment made with cotton by _Creme de l'Ayeryarwady_ , worn around the waist in the Tulu Nadu region of _Kerala_ and in the _Maldive Islands_.
SUN ON THE ROCKS – AMUSEMENT ONE

THE MALIBU CASE

# Chapter One

Malibu, California, near Surfrider Beach, Seven AM

She counted no cars and one sleepy jogger during her early Monday morning walk to her favorite spot. Clarity Nice raised the volume of her mp3 and listened solemnly to the last notes of Pachelbel´s Cannon as she gazed at the peaceful Pacific Ocean before her. The sun was emerging slowly behind the hills and the sensation of serenity was complete. She took off her earphones, reached for the laces of her running shoes and in a couple of swift movements she was walking barefoot, coming face to face with a large wood panel anchored a week earlier by officer Packwood: Private Beach Area: 1 mile – no shoes and no naked sunbathing or swimming allowed. She pushed aside a red and white barrier and stepped on the sand, feeling the pleasant sensation of the smooth surface on her soles. The sound of Dancing in the moonlight by Toploader on her cell phone alerted her of an incoming message from her colleagues at work: Happy Quarter Century Clarity!

She grabbed her long, auburn hair and used a band to turn it into a ponytail. Her flawless five foot seven, slim body was still waking up after a long weekend of dinners, presents and late night slumber parties. She checked her left pocket and noticed the small bulge of her private diary bookmarked by a voucher offered as gift for turning twenty five. She walked a few minutes and reached her favorite spot, a small cove surrounded by large rocks, far from the eye of the onlooker. The ground was made of oval gray and white pebbles, and it made walking uncomfortable for the untrained foot. She climbed one of the largest rocks and sat down in a lotus position, breathing clean air deeply. She filled the diary entry with a black fountain pen: You can change your own destiny by changing what happens around you, namely your circumstance. For the next twenty five years, I will work on steering my circumstance and improve other people´s circumstance. Starting point: Find a good shopping circumstance for my hundred dollar birthday voucher.

She set her eyes on the rock formation across her and noticed a white patch on the otherwise beige surface. She walked closer and immediately recognized the shape of a thong on the rocks and a pair of shorts. Before she could react to such a finding, a sultry voice startled her from behind.

"Hi, I´m Shazaiah, early time to come here."

Clarity glanced behind her and swallowed in full the body of the beautiful, dark haired woman before her. She must have been in her early thirties, wearing a white tank top which cupped her firm, apple shaped breasts. A small detail made Clarity gasp: She was naked from the navel down.

"He...hello, it is early, I usually come here on my own and don´t find anybody."

"Would you like to exercise with me, I just completed a new yoga morning routine?"

"Sure, I just hope officer Packwood doesn´t see you, he may not like what you´re wearing, I mean, what you´re not wearing."

"Oh! I thought I´d jog like this today, tank top on, bottom free. It is enjoyable, healthy for the body, and it doesn´t harm anybody."

"Ad...admirable," said Clarity.

"Why is it that you cannot wear shoes on the beach in any case, I like those clear blue Nikes you´re wearing."

"Apparently, the city gets dirty with sand from the shoes and officer Packwood says keeping shoes clean saves a million dollars in city cleaning expenses within five years...what do you do by the way?"

"I´m a motivational coach, I also do some work as a freelance journalist. Let´s forget about Packwood and exercise," she continued.

She listened to Shazaiah explaining the difference between Hatha Yoga, based on physical control of gestures, motion and breathing, which was preparation for Raja Yoga, an eight way path towards the mystical enlightenment. The Asanas, or postures, were an easy entry point for the uninitiated like Clarity.

The triangle, Trikonasana, was easy, spreading arms and legs in nice, geometric form. Vrksasana was slightly more challenging, right foot bent and placed on the left thigh, arms held up high. Shazaiah followed with five additional asanas and continued the warm up with Upavista Konasana, sitting down, legs spread out, hands reaching for toes. Clarity liked the exercises and the woman so much that she invited Shazaiah to visit her office, leaving her a business card.

"Drop by some time," said Clarity.

They ended the half hour session with a sitting meditation and Clarity dozed off for twenty minutes after that, tired from all the weekend partying. When she woke up, bathed by the morning sun rays, she had an idea that felt so refreshing, it brought complete sense to all the diary entries she had been keeping for the past three years.

She searched for Shazaiah but the woman was gone. She looked up in the distance and saw the woman´s thong on the rocks. Intrigued, she picked up the garnment, folded it neatly, and ran to the office less than ten minutes away before the alarm bell of her cellular phone alerted her it was time to work.

# Chapter Two

"Good morning, Stevenson Garden Products, how may I help you?" said Clarity. She adjusted her microphone and earphones and answered customer number seventy three politely, genuinely, and nicely, as usual.

"Hello, I´d like to buy a nice hose to give a thorough birthday shower to a teleoperator I know."

"Lanai! It´s you, thanks for calling, listen, I know what we´re going to do for the rest of our lives, it´s absolutely smashing like the British say, it came during a nap as a flash of sudden light without the associated music, absolutely spiritual connection, haven´t felt this ever. I need to tell you in person, come on over, I´ll meet you in ten minutes in our office garden downstairs by the showroom."

"Ok, I´m done with Library duty in five, will be right over."

Ten minutes later, Clarity walked down the stairs of the elegant glass building of Stevenson Garden Products overlooking the sea on Malibu Colony Road and crossed the main entrance door after swiping her security card through a ready-made thin slot. A pretty Hawaiian girl in her early twenties with shoulder length black hair and large dark brown eyes, was smiling a few hundred feet from her. Clarity hugged her and they walked out of the sun to a table with comfortable chairs and a sunshade made of canvas.

"You want to do what?" asked Lanai.

"Form a synchronized swimming team, qualify for the world championships, and if possible, win the event."

"If possible win the event, please explain how exactly we´re going to qualify when we don´t even know how..."

Clarity saw the face of Lanai suddenly change expression when she noticed an attractive woman walk towards them naked, cell phone in one hand, security card in the other, wearing only the latest sports sandals.

"Who is that?" said Lanai, lifting her eyebrows.

"Oh! that´s our legal counsel, new corporate policy..."

"What policy?"

"Clothing optional policy, today is the first day. All the women are talking about the prospect of seeing Johnny Panzelli without clothes."

"Who´s Johnny Panzelli?"

"A local jock, he looks good but he´s a bit too sure of himself. He tried going out with me a few times. Anyway, that´s our legal counsel, Ms. Lareya Marquez, I know her well, very inspiring woman, she´s on page fifty three of my diary. She does look a bit hasty today."

Clarity guessed correctly that Ms. Marquez would stop in front of them, and she did, cell phone tagged to her ear, as if awaiting an important message.

"Clarity, I need your assistance, can you drive me home, I forgot my pen drive with an important presentation for today, and my new car comes in next week."

"Sure, Ms. Marquez, my next shift starts at eleven and..." She heard Ms. Marquez cut her off, speaking to her phone.

"He´s here already, my God, thanks Susan." She threw a quick glance at Clarity. "We need to leave Clarity, I think I´m the only one naked here today." Clarity felt Ms. Marquez´ hand pull her arm, lift her body, and push her firmly towards the entrance of the building. Clarity turned her head towards Lanai and spoke to her briefly, as the glass doors of the terrace entrance opened before her.

"Meet me at the pool in half an hour, we need to tell Cynthia about all this...and, oh yes, think about a name, we need a name for our new team..."

"I can´t, I have to work until nine tonight."

"Let´s meet at nine thirty at the entrance then."

"Ok."

Clarity delved a hand inside her pocket and reached for her security card. She sensed that Ms. Marquez was apprehensive. When she saw the imposing six foot two silhouette of Officer Packwood turn the corner of the building towards the terrace, she realized why.

"Miss, sorry Miss, please stop and come over here, you can´t come to work naked. Hold it right there, I can see where you are."

Clarity let Ms. Marquez swipe her card first hastily, while she stopped a few feet from the security area, turning her head. She saw Packwood point at them furiously. With his black uniform, sheriff emblem, cap and shining gun inside his leather holster, Officer Cannister Packwood did seem to be and act like the quintessential Law enforcement agent. Rumor had it that he had applied to be a Navy Seal, a Marine, a CIA agent and an FBI agent more than twenty five years earlier, and only after being rejected by all of those military and investigative bodies, did he become a police officer. Maybe to prove his worth as an agent, he tended to be overzealous in his duty. And he let everybody in the city know that was determined not to let a group of naturists disturb Law and Order in Malibu.

"Big problem?" asked Clarity, swiping her own card.

"It´s a case of our private property rights against the Law of the State, my presentation will explain everything."

"It could be a good idea to bring some clothing as well, I think." Ms. Marquez threw Clarity a ferocious looks.

"I mean, just in case."

Clarity led Ms. Marquez to the parking lot and found her twenty one year old pink chevette. They rushed inside and rolled past Packwood´s police car hearing him scream behind them less than a hundred feet away.

"Stop right now, Miss...Miss...naked, I´m going after you."

They drove through Malibu as frantically as a pink chevette could in fourth gear, all the way to Ms. Marquez´ beach house less than three miles away, followed by the siren of Packwood´s car. Clarity saw Miss Marquez storm into her home, pick up a pen drive, and follow her advice, donning a pair of pants and a blouse.

"Let´s go back to the office now," said Ms. Marquez confidently.

# Chapter Three

Packwood walked along the garden alley surrounded by beautiful rows of petunias and gardenias and rang the door bell of Ms. Marquez´ house three times. The legal counsel opened the door and shone her best smile at him.

"Looking for me, Officer, I´m just on my way to work."

Clarity, standing behind Ms. Marquez, saw Packwood hold her stare and gauge the insolence of the woman.

"Finally you come to your senses and put on some clothes, it´s better for you, for Stevenson Garden Products, and for the city of Malibu. And you Miss," he added looking at Clarity, "you´re one step away of complicating your life and meddling with the Law..."

"Officer, thank you for escorting us home, if you please, we do have work to do, I have an important appointment at the office," said Ms. Marquez, stepping past Packwood, who looked astounded at the woman´s nerve.

"With whom, if I may ask?"

"One of your friends, the District Attorney," said Ms. Marquez, looking away from the policeman.

"well, it looks like today may be the end of clothing optional policy at Stevenson," said the officer rejoicing.

"We´ll see about that."

Clarity threw a neutral look at the policeman and followed the legal counsel to the pink chevette. Less than ten minutes later, they reached the parking lot of SGP, as the company was known throughout the city, and the pink chevette broke down, exhausted from the last few years of travel from beach to beach around California. Clarity called a local body shop and left the car with Charlie, the security guard, for pickup.

"Where is the appointment?" asked Clarity.

"The roof top pool," answered Ms. Marquez.

Clarity pressed the top floor of the elevator with one hand, carrying the color presentation prepared by Ms. Marquez with the other. She saw Ms. Marquez hovering over her to catch a glimpse of the slides. The elevator rode to the top floor without stopping. The door panels opened and the terrace was in full view. Instead of a heliport, the owner of SGP, Mr. Stevenson, had decided to build a twenty foot long pool with clear blue tiles, diving board and stairs, surrounded by a hedge of evergreens, shrubs, and a single palm tree, a few tables, chairs and sun loungers, which gave the place a slightly tropical air. Clarity waved hello to the lifeguard on duty, her friend Taimi Kendrick, who was busy with a net picking up a few leaves in the pool after having served a piña colada to District Attorney Diane McFarlane.

Standing in front of the pool, Ms. McFarlane, an attractive woman with short brown hair was talking to Cynthia Stevenson, the blond daughter of SGP owner Marcus Stevenson. Clarity quickly stepped out of the elevator and stood beside Ms. Marquez, preparing the slide projector and the screen for the presentation.

"Good morning Ms. McFarlane, apologies for being a little late, last minute changes on attire. Please sit down, I have a presentation which will convince you entirely," said Ms. Marquez.

"I didn´t come here to listen to a presentation Ms. Marquez, I came to let you know what our viewpoint is and the options your company has." The initial warmth of Ms. Marquez disappeared immediately from her features.

"Basically," continued Ms. McFarlane, "we hope that Stevenson Garden Products reconsiders its current clothing optional policy, which is illegal in the State of California. I have spoken informally with a few of our members, there is absolutely no chance or the slightest possibility whatsoever that you can win this naturist litigation case."

"And if we don´t reconsider our corporate policy?"

"You can be ready for legal reprisals which may end in the closure of all SGP activities and large layoffs for your company. Officer Packwood will ensure there are no violations of the Law."

Clarity stood a few feet from the conversation, her index ready to start the presentation by pressing the projector´s ON button. The outlook on seeing Johnny Panzelli naked at work wasn´t good. Diane McFarlane gave her business card to Ms. Marquez and made her way to the elevator without having touched her piña colada.

"Clarity, the situation is more serious than I thought, this case impinges on our individual rights, I´ll be in our office if somebody calls for me. And thanks for the assistance with the presentation."

Clarity folded the portable screen and placed the slide projector underneath it, as Ms. Marquez left the pool terrace. Cynthia and Taimi came to help her.

"I never thought the D.A. would be so tough on Ms. Marquez," said Cynthia, "we were carrying a normal conversation and it was going well. It turns out Mcfarlane went to Pepperdine like me and she likes SGP very much."

"She just doesn´t like people working naked," added Taimi.

"Listen," said Clarity, "I had the best idea today, something which can help us express our budding creativity. I told Lanai already."

"Going on a naked strike to protest the D.A.´s decision," said Cynthia.

"Better, creating a synchronized swimming team and training for the world championships."

"I like that," said Taimi, "nice change of pace from my job as lifeguard, and we have the pool to train already."

"Not bad," said Cynthia, "that way, we can all perform naked here. If my father sees us, he´ll kick us right out of our jobs. He´s having trouble as is with this new clothing optional corporate policy. I´m glad he´s on vacation in Palm Springs for another week." The three girls giggled at the remark.

"Your idea," added Clarity teasing. "Everybody liked clothing optional day so much, he had to go along with the new policy. Given our proclivity to sunbathe frequently, I have the perfect name for the team." Cynthia and Taimi looked at her intriguingly.

# Chapter Four

Clarity said the name of the team without hesitation.

"Sun on the Rocks." She smiled at Cynthia and Taimi, who smiled back. "I got the idea from a woman I met this morning, her name is Shazaiah, she had this aura that was just so...inspiring, so natural. And she was wearing these earrings which I loved."

"I like the name," said Cynthia, "and it moves us closer towards performing in Vegas at the Bellagio as opening number to Cirque du Soleil." The three girls laughed.

"It´s an alternative to performing at the World Championships. We need swimsuits, though," said Taimi.

"White with a pink stripe, I was thinking thongs with a matching tank top as the top part of our outfit." Cynthia and Taimi nodded their approval enthusiastically.

"Lanai is working until nine tonight, I told her we could meet at the entrance at nine thirty."

"Bring your laptop Cynthia," said Clarity, "we can look at some clothing gear companies on the web, it´s the perfect way to spend my birthday voucher."

They watched the sunset together on Surfrider Beach and had a quick dinner together before heading back to SGP to meet Lanai. Clarity asked Charlie, the security guard on duty to give her three additional security cards for their friends, and they all rode together to the top floor on the reflective glass elevator overlooking the Malibu Lagoon State Beach. Clarity enjoyed the night view of the city very much and she often came to SGP after dinner just to take the elevator and have a drink in the terrace with Charlie.

Sitting comfortably on one of the terrace chairs with the other girls, Clarity turned on Cynthia´s computer and wrote the words sports wear using several search engines. After several minutes, she convinced the others to buy their performance gear from a high technology clothing company which was offering a discount to the first one hundred customers who bought their flagship product, _Thongstene Ultra Wear for Active Women_. They ordered four white thongs with matching tops and selected the quick delivery option through the only available courier service _Slothtrack Express_ , which offered a unique money-back guarantee paying three hundred times the price of the items bought in the event of late delivery.

"We have the pool, we have the team´s name but we don´t have the equipment, what do we do now?" asked Taimi.

"We need a coach," said Clarity, "the woman I met this morning, Shazaiah, seemed to be very good at gymnastics. I say we look for her and make her our coach. We have to return her thong in any case, and she did give us inspiration for the name of our team." She checked her pocket and felt the fabric of the thong, clean from a wash in Clarity´s worn out washing machine.

"Let´s train naked in the pool, it´s a beautiful night, there´s a full moon," suggested Cynthia. The girls looked at each other for several seconds, with a look which reflected both anticipation and slight apprehension.

"I´ll do it if you do it," said Clarity, looking at Cynthia.

"I can do it, but I´ve never done it," said Taimi.

"What if Charlie comes?" asked Lanai. "I really don´t like the idea of him finding us here like that. And Taimi can get fired if he finds out."

"We´ll all do it together and I´ll say it was my idea," said Cynthia. After a few minutes of deliberation, Clarity convinced Lanai that swimming naked at night was a good experience at that point in her life. They stripped quickly and within minutes, they all dove in naked, swimming and talking and laughing for several minutes. Even Lanai was relaxing.

"This is fun!" said Taimi, "let´s do a cartwheel together."

"Our first choreography," added Clarity, "wow! Wait, I want to see how the city looks first." The girl with the auburn hair stepped out of the pool and let her eyes float in the distance, watching the city lights of Malibu and the moon´s reflection on the sea less than a mile out. She walked towards her pile of clothes and took out a camera.

"Anybody for a posterity shot?" asked Clarity. She saw Cynthia and Taimi raise their hands but before they could answer, she heard a loud bang behind. The emergency door slammed open and Officer Packwood emerged from the shadow of the staircase.

"You´re all under arrest for indecent exposure," said the officer. Clarity remained speechless for a few seconds, covering her upper body with her hands, looking at Cynthia and Taimi who were also astounded by the officer´s presence. Lanai sped in less than five seconds to her pile, put on a blouse, pants and socks which were wet like her immediately.

"You´re stepping on private property," said Cynthia, "you can´t arrest us."

"Stevenson Garden Products has been on police watch since this morning," said Packwood. "I have an arrest warrant signed by the District Attorney right here, I knew some of the people here would break the Law. Now, put on some clothes and come on over to the Police Station, you will have to do a deposition."

# Chapter Five

Clarity threw herself in the back of the police car, her thoughts in complete disarray. She pushed on the back button to open a window but Packwood had blocked all of them to ensure his prisoners didn´t fly out of his car unexpectedly. Lanai came in beside her, shivering from the cold breeze, followed by Cynthia and Taimi. They drove without saying a word through Malibu Canyon Road and Las Virgenes Road to the Malibu police station in Agoura Road, between Agoura Hills and Calabasas. Clarity was thinking about what to say in the deposition. She glanced at her watch. It was nearly midnight. Packwood opened the door and they all stepped into the police station, which was empty, less for a balding deputy called Trevory keeping duty at night.

Nobody was going to miss them, since they all lived in different apartments, thought Clarity. She gave a vigorous massage on Lanai´s shoulders and arms to keep her warm.

"You´re going to stay here in our very own prison for a few days. What can you say in your defense?" asked Packwood.

"We´re innocent," said Cynthia, lifting her head up high.

"We didn´t harm anybody," said Taimi.

"We´re tired," said Lanai. Clarity stepped forward and pointed at Packwood.

"You can write each and every word I´m going to say officer. You know, I didn´t think that naturism was that important as early as this morning, but I´ve noticed it´s very important to some people, who consider the right to live and walk unclothed in public as part of their most essential individual liberties. Well, this is us now, we´re going to win this fight and instaure naturism in Malibu. In essence, your arrest has only helped us become fierce naturism advocates. In fact, it is our destiny as of this very moment to bring clothing optional freedom to Malibu."

"It is?" asked Lanai.

"That won´t happen," said Packwood, writing every word carefully on a word processor, "it just won´t happen, the Law will prevail as usual."

Clarity felt her cell phone vibrate just as Cynthia gave another similar speech to Packwood. She brought the phone screen closer to her face. It was a message from the Reputable Dent and Run auto body shop. Her car was ready and they were requesting a place to deliver it. A wild idea entered her mind. She sent a text message with the address of the police station and requested that the body shop send the invoice to her house to postpone payment for replacing a few cables in the engine. She let Cynthia finish her speech and continued with a second deposition to make some time. Half an hour later, she saw the headlights of a tow truck park near the police station. She sent a text message to the other girls to alert them they were about to leave.

"Officer, I´ve left some stuff in the car, could I please go pick it up?"

"What stuff Lady?"

"Intimate wear, Sir, you know girl clothing gear I didn´t have time to put back on from all the haste in the pool."

"Tregory, go with her to the police car."

"I need to go with her," said Cynthia, "I left some stuff as well, a small purse."

"Me too," said Taimi, "just to ensure it´s not my purse."

"M...me too," said Lanai, "g...girls always go together."

Clarity led the way to the small police parking lot. She waved at the mechanic driving the tow truck and recognized her pink chevette being lowered into the ground free from the towing crane. She told the deputy her intimate stuff was in her car which had just been delivered. She sensed the question from the deputy.

"If it´s in your car over there, how did it get there?"

"I stopped by my car before hopping onto Officer Packwood´s car at the office." She saw the deputy nod, reassured he believed the explanation enough to let her move closer to the car.

Clarity led the girls to the other side of the tow truck and opened the door for them to check the back of the car, after she received the keys from the mechanic. She started to talk about the Monday night football game with the mechanic and the deputy joined in, carrying a lively rebuttle as to why the National Football League first draft was being paid too much. She stepped away from them and took the driving seat of her chevette. In a bold move, she turned the car key, started the engine, drove backwards a few feet, and sped away from the station in the middle of the night. Looking in her rear view mirror, she saw the deputy yell at them a set of unintelligible words.

"I need your assistance girls, where do we go, they´ll be on our tail soon."

"I´m not sure it was a good idea to drive away," said Lanai, "we´re running away from the Law."

"We´ll show Packwood that working naked is not legal."

"You weren´t kidding were you?" continued Lanai.

"Skip the one o one highway and Malibu Road Canyon, let´s take Topanga Canyon instead," said Cynthia.

"I know where to go, we can drive to the Recreation Area, just South of Pepperdine, there´s a large tree and they just chopped many shrubs, we can hide the car under them and sleep in the car until tomorrow."

"Excellent suggestion, Taimi," said Clarity, swerving the car to follow a curve on the road, "we need a good night sleep to face this minor hitch on our way to Vegas."

# Chapter Six

They found Taimi´s tree after driving for fifteen minutes to Malibu Bluffs Park recreation area. Clarity rolled slowly with the car on the sidewalk until she reached the large trunk a hundred feet from Winter Mesa Road. They stepped out of the car and placed several large shrubs on the roof, until the whole car looked like one big bush.

"We forgot we have to get in the car to sleep now," said Lanai." They opened the passenger door and eased their way to the inside of the pink chevette, Taimi and Cynthia sitting in the back seat, Lanai sitting in the passenger seat, and Clarity in the driving seat. They woke up the following morning to the sound of birds perched on the branches hiding the car.

"Can´t say I slept well, but it wasn´t that bad either," said Cynthia, stretching her way out of the chevette and catching a branch in mid air before it fell on her.

"We have to be careful to avoid Packwood, he will be watching the city to find us," said Lanai, yawning.

"The more important question is what do we do now?" said Cynthia. "There´s an arrest warrant on us for indecent exposure, and although we did our deposition, we did run away from police. What are you looking at Clarity?"

"This thong from the woman I met, Shazaiah, being a naturist I think she could help us explain our viewpoint to the police to avoid jail, but more importantly, she may help us stop the litigation at Stevenson. That´s how we´ll stop Packwood from executing that arrest warrant."

"You really have faith in this woman, don´t you Clarity?" asked Taimi.

"She seemed unafraid of the Law when I mentioned Packwood´s new panel against nudity near Surfrider Beach. I just think she has the right attitude for us. And she´s in shape, we need a coach in shape to guide us as a team. It´s important we find her, and our only lead is the brand of her thong, it´s called _Delva Luxury Wear_."

"I know a place on Malibu Road," said Lanai, "east of the recreational area, it´s a luxury shop for women and they sell upscale thongs there."

They drove the pink chevette to Taimi´s underground spot below her apartment building, and took her car, an old Chevrolet MonteCarlo from the late seventies, to the Supple Pastel Shop, a sleek light brown house refurbished into a luxury outlet overlooking the sea. Clarity showed the low rise thong belonging to Shazaiah to a thin woman wearing a scarf with a recurring motif of vegetables, among them a cucumber slice, a carrot stick and a baked potatoe.

While Lanai was admiring the sea view with Cynthia and Taimi, Clarity followed the woman to several shelves towards the back of the shop, displaying the most expensive sports underwear for women, priced at over three hundred dollars a piece.

"Delva, mmh..., yes I think we sell that, not many though, it´s expensive because it can be used as bathing suit or underwear."

They walked down a set of stairs to the warehouse area of the shop. Clarity saw several rows of stands filled with boxes of women´s wear and accessories like purses, wallets, key rings, planners, handbags, clutches and wristlets. She noticed a row with the name Delva, and an empty slot in the row.

"We sold one," said the woman abruptly.

"Do you remember the name of the customer, she lost her thong and we need to return it." The woman looked at Clarity with a look between surprise and contempt.

"The identity of our customer is private, we don´t tell anyone." Clarity thought quickly to keep the conversation open.

"We´re interested in her yoga class, we would just like her business address."

"I don't remember anybody but you can talk to Randall, he was the cashier here last week. He´s cutting the lawn outside."

Clarity climbed the stairs and walked to the shop´s garden with the girls, meeting a hippie-looking man in his mid thirties cutting the lawn with a mechanical lawn mower older than her own chevette. She showed him the thong and he grabbed it to examine it closer, stretching it to look at it from the front, the back and the side.

"I remember the woman who bought this one, very good looking, long black hair, elegant, in shape..."

"Exactly, her name is Shazaiah..."

"No."

"No what?"

"Her name is not Shazaiah, her name is Leah."

"Leah, it´s not the right woman then, I know her name is Shazaiah."

"Leah Thomas, it´s a pen name, she´s a freelance naturist columnist for the Stencil News Agency, inside the tallest building on Bayshore Drive. She said she was about to change jobs. She bought the Delva after staring at it for a long time, commented she was testing different sports underwear models."

"It´s her, I know it´s her, thank you very much Randall," said Clarity. She gathered the other girls and they stepped inside Taimi´s Monte Carlo, headed for Bayshore Drive.

# Chapter Seven

Clarity sat in the front seat giving directions to Taimi, who was driving, while Cynthia and Lanai were seated comfortably in the back.

"Duck! police car," shouted Cynthia. Clarity and the girls in the backseat lowered their heads and squatted on the floor, while Taimi looked to her right as she crossed Packwood´s car.

"Packwood´s in the passenger seat," said Taimi, "I can see him."

"Look elsewhere, away from him, he doesn´t expect us to be in this car."

They sighed when the car passed them without stopping and kept driving until they reached Bayshore dr. They noticed the tallest structure right away, a six store building with large bay windows facing south, letting sun light in during most of the day. Clarity suggested they park the car a few blocks away and they walked together past the entrance door. Guarding access to the offices was a security guard sitting in front of a camera.

"How do we get in?" asked Taimi.

"We´re interns," said Clarity, "journalist interns on a visit to the best news agency."

"That won´t work," said Cynthia, "we don´t have an appointment, they won´t admit us, we need something more definite." Clarity saw Lanai gasp and bite her lip, as if she had found a solution to the problem that she wasn´t comfortable sharing.

"Lanai?"

"Well, I saw this program on T.V., there is this government body, the Federal Communications Commission in charge of overseeing interstate communications by radio, television, wire, satellite and cable. They have this department calle the Enforcement Bureau. I´m not sure..."

"Perfect, we´re investigating Stencil on their news wire procedures," said Clarity, "follow me".

Clarity led the way to the entrance and took a deep breath before ringing the bell of the third floor. A feminine voice muffled by the small speaker answered.

"Stencil, may I help you?" Clarity lowered her voice an octave.

"Good morning, FCC enquiry, Enforcement Bureau." She stopped there to let the effect of the statement sink in. A few seconds later, the voice continued and the door opened.

"Come in, tell the guard that Molly´s waiting for you."

She made the thumbs up sign to the three girls standing in line behind her and pushed the door to cross the entrance. The guard was busy watching Rocky VI on DVD and barely raised his head before allowing the girls to the elevators. They rode to the third floor and received an effusive welcome from Ms. Molly. From the air of respect shown by other employees, Clarity deduced that Molly headed the news agency. Clarity requested to see all procedures relating to the sending of news wires, and explained the FCC was thinking of approving a new satellite based service and was assessing the cost implications for news agencies across the country.

"You seem quite young to be working for the FCC, can I see accreditation?" asked Ms. Molly. The girls swallowed hard in turn. Lanai looked at Taimi, who looked at Cynthia, who stared at Clarity.

"We´re actually on an informal mission, our official ID´s are being made with a new counterfeiter proof printer." She changed the subject. "Could I use the bathroom for a second, my friend Cynthia will help you with this." Ms. Molly led Clarity to the restroom, and Clarity pointed to her cell phone to Cynthia.

"Ms. Molly, I´ll put you through with our internal audit department, they can confirm our mission," said Cynthia, dialling Clarity´s number. Clarity saw Cynthia dial on her cell phone before she closed the bathroom door. She turned the lock and opened the window, moving as far from the door as possible. She took a deep breath and answered the call from Cynthia.

"Ms. Molly, Joselia Ridinghoe from the FCC here, yes, the mission, we did send them, four women, new investigators, they´re charming. Yes, their new ID´s are being printed with the new offset printers. Yes, I´m sure Stencil abides by the FCC rules completely. Thank you, good bye."

Clarity pressed the end call button on her phone and exited the bathroom door, running into Ms. Molly.

"There´s a particular area that we have been told to examine, or more exactly a person. Do you know of a certain woman known as Miss Leah Thomas, she´s a freelance naturist columnist?"

"She was working here until last week, you´re welcome to look at her files, her office material is still there, last door at the end of the corridor."

Clarity and the girls walked past the newsroom and examined the office where Shazaiah worked, noticing several articles and pages on naturist resorts for adults. Clarity turned on her computer and searched the different folders of the PC. One of them, titled Proposition 531 stood out, labelled as _important_. She opened a computer file inside the folder and turned to the girls.

"I found something interesting, come here."

# Chapter Eight

Taimi, Cynthia and Lanai stood near Clarity, who was printing Shazaiah´s file on proposition 531. The girl with auburn hair read aloud the executive summary of her findings, a handwritten page scanned and filed as _action plan_.

"It´s research Shazaiah was doing, research about a dormant referendum on allowing naturism in public areas and at work for adults," said Clarity.

"If this referendum went through, there would be no reason for Ms. Marquez to continue litigation at Stevenson against the State of California," said Cynthia.

"And our arrest warrant would vanish immediately," said Lanai triumphantly.

Clarity flipped through the nearly fifty pages of research by Shazaiah, searching for the name of the government agency in charge of the referendum and how it originated. Apparently, a few months earlier, the Malibu Courthouse of the Superior Court of California had initially filed a complaint from officer Packwood against a citizen shopping naked in a drugstore in Malibu. When that person was arrested for indecent exposure, there was a public backlash from the hippie community living around Topanga Canyon demanding the person be freed. To stop the outburst, Malibu City Hall had spoken about establishing a referendum on allowing naturism in public and had even gone as far as formulating it.

"So we need to go to the Malibu Courthouse of the Superior Court of Los Angeles to find out more about this referendum," said Cynthia, while Clarity was busy on Shazaiah´s computer.

"Exactly, I´m searching the address on the web, here it is, Civic Center Way, not far from here, ten minutes by car. Let´s go."

"We have to say something to Ms. Molly about their procedures," said Lanai.

They left Shazaiah´s office and found their way to the agency´s entrance, coming face to face with Ms. Molly. Clarity acted as spokesperson of the group.

"We audited the files of this woman known as Leah Thomas Ms. Molly, everything´s is in order, we will file a positive report with the FCC and ensure Stencil receives a certificate of procedural correctness for all the good work it does."

"Excellent, I´m glad you´re done already so quickly." The four girls said good bye and walked to Taimi´s car. Within minutes they were on Malibu Canyon Road driving towards Civic Center Way. The sun, as usual in Malibu, was out, and that made the girls cheerful. It was a beautiful day in the village. Clarity turned on the radio tuning to an oldies radio station. They were singing along the melody of _Brown Eyed Girl_ , when she noticed a change in the expression of Taimi.

"Oh my God, oh my God," said the lifeguard.

"What?" said Clarity.

"Over there, there´s a car in the middle of the road, it´s black and white with a blue stripe, it´s not good, a police car..."

"A roadblock," said Cynthia, "Packwood´s looking for us."

"What do we do?" asked Lanai, "if we keep moving forward, Packwood will know it´s us, he´s going to arrest us, put us in jail, we´ll be there for years..."

"Ok, let´s make it a little less tragic, pull over Taimi," said Clarity, "we´ll let everybody think our car broke down, and Cynthia and I can walk to the Malibu Courthouse while you and Lanai wait in the car. When we´re done we make a U turn and park the car in Taimi´s home."

"What a good plan, very soothing, I hope I can come up with those plans as well," said Lanai, relaxing again in the back of the car.

The car slowed down and parked on a hard shoulder of the road. Clarity noticed that there was a long queue verging on a traffic jam all the way to the police car ahead. Traffic jams were not unusual in Malibu with tourists visiting the city from all over the world. Clarity and Cynthia stepped out of the car and walked across a corn field to Civic Center Way, past the roadblock. They reached the entrance of the courthouse and told the security guard they were interested in examining the Courthouse files as part of a research assignment on a real case. The guard reluctantly took them to the office of a chubby, tall man named George who was in charge of all papers at the Courthouse.

"All papers here go through me ladies, what exactly is it that you want here?"

"We´re doing research on a case, it´s not a live case but it´s good material for our college paper, we need controversy to encourage debate, and we think this case is controversial. It´s the file on proposition 531." The clerk squinted at them and placed his elbows on the table.

"Those crazy hippies, always setting up trouble, gave the mayor a lot of work to calm the situation a few months ago." Clarity observed the man who moved his head across the desk towards them.

"There´s something that very few people know. There´s something more than this proposition 531," he said enigmatically.

Clarity spurred the interest to talk of the man named George by acknowledging all the good work he was doing filing, classifying and summarizing court cases. When she saw that he wasn´t talking, she told him whether he´d thought of creating the 'Indie' classifying trophy of Malibu. He smiled briefly and whispered to both girls.

"Proposition 531 has a secret."

# Chapter Nine

Clarity leaned forward to hear the words of George, the man in charge of papers at the courthouse.

"What secret?" she asked. She saw George turn away his head a few seconds. Clearly, he was savoring the expression of intrigue on the girls´ face.

"A poll, a secret poll," he finally said.

Clarity raised her eyebrows, her look unequivocally saying that she wanted to know more. She pushed aside a pencil case with her elbows and moved closer to George.

"A few months ago," said the man, "when the hippies almost turned their outburst into riots, the mayor didn´t know what to do. There were meetings with his staff all day long for days, and the sessions ran for a long time, sometimes into the night. I must have ordered take out pizza and Chinese food for dinner a dozen times or more. One night, the mayor came out of the room. He was angry that his staff wasn´t finding a way to stop the protests. So I told him that maybe those people were trying to tell him something, something he didn´t know."

He paused a few seconds, stood up and walked a few steps to get a can from a coke machine, which for some reason was kept in his office. He went on with his revelation.

"When I said that, his face suddenly beamed with a big smile. He looked at me and said thanks. That´s when the real work started. He kicked all his staff out of his office and asked me to ask two hundred people from Malibu whether they were in favor of walking naked in public and at work. And you know what? They were, a majority of people, eighty seven point three percent of the adults asked in the poll were in favour of letting people walk and work naked in public. But the poll was never released because the governor of California stepped in and calmed the protesters by opening a nudist beach in Northern California. That, more or less stopeed the daily protests of the hippies...and that´s where we are now."

"My God," said Clarity, "but that means that people in Malibu would like the freedom to walk and work naked. George, where is that poll now? We need to know in order to prevent the closure of a company which is much better than the hippies, it´s a normal company in Malibu struggling to allow naturism at work, and many people´s jobs are on the line." Clarity noticed how George pulled back his neck, and gave them a stern look, as if absorbing that he was again responsible for a destiny changing decision. She saw all of his six foot two frame stand up and walk to the window, letting the sunshine hit his face. Suddenly, she saw him turn around.

"Locker one three seven out the door to the right. The combination is five one zero. There´s a photocopier across from it, the poll and its results are only five pages. Do the copies and leave right away. As they say, this meeting never took place." Clarity felt like hugging the corpulent clerk. The three girls made the copies and thanked George for the information. Clarity folded the five page summary of the secret poll results, and walked with Cynthia back to Taimi´s Monte Carlo. She stepped into the front seat and pointed towards the opposite side of the road, afer explaining their findings to Lanai and Taimi.

"Let´s make a U-turn, we need to take this secret poll to the national press."

"But that means there will be a scandal," said Lanai apprehensively.

"Exactly what we want," said Clarity and Cynthia in unison.

They drove to a local internet café to check the address of the Los Angeles Times and headed for the newspaper main quarters on West first Avenue. This time, Lanai decided to join Clarity in her quest to reveal the poll, and Cynthia and Taimi stayed in the car.

Clarity recognized the logo of the L.A. Times, crossed the entrance of the building and came face to face with a security guard.

"We need to see the editor, we have a scoop."

"A scoop? A scoop on what?" said the guard half jokingly. Clarity hesitated for a few seconds, and Lanai hid behind her.

"Well, it´s a private scoop...I mean, a secret scoop...I mean it´s just a scoop, but that´s the nature of a scoop, it´s secret," said Clarity, hoping to make sense.

"If we let you know about the scoop, it´s not a scoop anymore, it´s only a scoop for the editor," said Lanai.

"It´s an editorial scoop, yes that´s what we have, a nice editorial scoop for the editor," finished Clarity.

"Give it to me, I´ll ensure the editor receives it," said the guard brusquely.

Clarity hesitated before giving the pages to the guard, reasoning there wasn´t much else they could do at this point. The two girls walked back to the car and they all headed to Cynthia´s home, a lavish mansion facing the sea. Since they all measured more or less the same height, Cynthia often let them try her own set of clothes and the girls always enjoyed their stay at her home.

"Let´s hope the editor runs the story now," said Clarity, as she sat on a sofa.

The following morning, Clarity eagerly searched for the morning newspaper in Cynthia´s garden. She found it buried beside a group of daisies and let her eyes run through the headlines.

"It´s out," said Clarity triumphantly, laying the paper on the living room table, almost tripping over Lanai who was waking up. Clarity pointed towards one of the headlines and Lanai picked up the front page to see it more clearly. _Malibu Mayor hides secret poll on naturism from Malibu constituency._ Below the headline, a subheadline was just as eye grabbing. _Should walking naked in public and at work be allowed now?_

# Chapter Ten

The uproar among the various media in response to the Los Angeles Times exclusive was immediate and pervasive. All four main television networks ran morning news specials covering the poll, the hippie activity which led the mayor to poll Malibu residents, and most importantly, the reasons of the mayor for not revealing the poll to the public. By midday, radio station phone lines were collapsed with calls outraged at the lack of transparency from the mayor, who was meeting in short order with the governor of California.

The governor´s office at the California State Capitol was assailed with several independent television crews all vying for exclusive news from the governor. The mayor of Malibu issued a brief statement around seven thirty apologizing for the delay in revealing the results of the poll but denying any wrongdoing. When prompted by phone whether this upheaval was a cause for his resignation, the mayor responded by saying there were several other avenues to explore before reaching that extreme situation, and that he was confident in any decision from the governor.

The girls spent most of the day glued to the giant television screen at Cynthia´s home, expectant at the ten o´clock live conference that the governor had decided to give. Clarity called Ms. Marquez at SGP, and she confirmed work activity there had slowed down that day. When prompted about their absence, Clarity explained that Packwood had issued an arrest warrant on them for swimming naked at the SGP pool, and that they were fighting for the individual freedoms of SGP employees.

"I´m proud of you, Clarity, but be careful please. I´m trying to get the District Attorney on the phone to solve the situation here, but she won´t even talk to me. And now, with this scandal about the secret poll, much less. We´ll see what the governor says at ten."

Clarity helped Cynthia move her giant television screen to the poolside terrace. Using a few cable extensions, they were able to set up their own outdoor night news television session, drinking freshly blended organic juice made of guanabana, mango, guava, pineapple and banana. At twelve minutes past ten, the governor finally appeared on live television, sitting in his Sacramento office.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, good evening, I will be brief. Given the sensitive nature of the poll on naturism in public performed several months ago in the city of Malibu and the importance of the decisions which will stem from any implementation of resulting laws, I believe that this matter affects not only the city of Malibu but the state of California as a whole. Because of this, I have decided to set up a state wide referendum in California in the near future, so that the people of California can decide best the future of clothing optional activity here. The referendum will be held in about three to six months. On behalf of the mayor of Malibu, please accept his apology and my own for not having announced this information sooner. Good night."

The television camera zoomed out of the governor´s features and the news brief ended as quickly as the announcement.

"We can´t wait three to six months for this referendum, the case will be over by then, and we may be in jail or out of a job by then," said Cynthia.

"Out of a job is not good, I guess if we´re in jail we have food and lodge, but still," said Lanai.

"It´s not that difficult," said Taimi, "we just need to change the date of the vote."

"But we don´t even know how a referendum date is set," said Lanai.

"It shouldn´t interfere with other pending matters and it´s probably a good idea to set on a date other than the fourth of July. Let´s ask George tomorrow at the Malibu Courthouse, I have an idea and he may be able to suggest a way to move the date of this vote forward," said Clarity.

The next day, Clarity and Cynthia went to visit George in his office at the courthouse. Clarity noticed he was kicking the coke machine, which was refusing to give out a diet coke after it had received more than a dollar in coins.

"Naw, I can´t help you on this," he said, "too risky for me to access the governor´s office database from here without leaving any electronic footprints. I must say, you girls were pretty effective on this poll, you acted more quickly than a stealth Delta force commando."

"I see, can you give me the governor´s official address and some kind of official letterhead?" asked Clarity.

"That, I can do, we get mail regularly from the office here."

"Perfect." said Clarity.

With a copy of an official California governor letter sent to the Malibu Courthouse, Clarity and Cynthia made another copy at a local photocopy shop, hiding the source letter except the governor letterhead. They then typed an official letter on Cynthia´s laptop, revealing the content of the referendum question and the referendum date:

From the California Governor´s Office. In view of public opinion interest, the Governor hereby announces a referendum on allowing naturism in public and at work in fourty eight hours. The official question will be: are you in favour of naturism in public and at work? Signed: Sincerely, the Governor of California.

"Let´s fax it," said Clarity.

"To whom?" asked Lanai.

"The L.A. Times."

# Chapter Eleven

Clarity faxed the letter using a public fax and joined the girls for a late dinner of roast beef salad with vegetables and balsamic vinaigrette. The following day, she picked up the morning paper between two rows of small shrubs near the entrance of Cynthia´s home.

"We did it again," said Clarity, pointing to the front page of the newspaper. She let Lanai move closer to read the large headline. _Referendum on naturism set for two days in unprecedented decision from Governor´s Office._

"Now, we have to check the reaction from the Governor," said Lanai.

Despite the governor´s best efforts to change the date of the referendum to a more leisurely six months and to know who had sent the news to the L.A. Times, he couldn´t fight the huge tide of public opinion favoring the quick timeline for the vote. Clarity and the girls saw through progressive news briefs on television conducting public opinion polls that the letter had hit the public´s sentiment right on target. Exactly at seven o´clock in the evening, the governor of California capitulated and agreed to set up the referendum within forty eight hours.

"Total victory," said Cynthia.

"I´m happy," said Clarity, checking a message on her cell phone. It was the courier service in charge of delivering their thongs. Clarity called him back right away and she listened patiently to the courier´s memorized sentence repeated over and over like a mantra.

"I´m sorry mam, we cannot deliver to another spot, even it´s a nice house in Malibu like you say it is. Our courier service guarantee applies only to the original location selected for delivery, and our records show you did select our on time delivery guarantee or extensive three hundred fold money back amount. We will attempt delivery of the product tonight at Stevenson Garden Products rooftop terrace, the original selected location at time of the ordering." Clarity insisted a few more times, letting the man understand that she had no intention of claiming the guarantee if _Slothtrack Express_ delivered to another location, but the comments were useless. If they wanted their thongs, they would have to pick them up at SGP, past Packwood´s blockade there. And the thongs were a critical symbol of the new synchronized swimming team, so there was a majority vote to claim the thongs. Only Lanai was reluctant.

"Ok, but if we end up in jail, I have priority to choose the best bunk."

They had a quick dinner and decided to drive Taimi´s MonteCarlo to within several hundred feet of SGP´s parking lot. The main entrance of was sealed off and Clarity saw Packwood and his assistant walk back and forth, preventing any live creature from getting near the sliding glass doors. Clarity knew that there was a delivery area of SGP in the back of the building. She walked with the girls around the building in silence and they reached the logistics entrance of the building, coming face to face with Charlie.

"What kind of mess have you girls gotten into?" asked the guard, "everybody´s looking for you, and not precisely to congratulate you, this officer named Packwood told me to arrest you on sight."

"We´re fighting for our individual rights," said Taimi.

"It´s a bit delicate Charlie," said Clarity, "but we need your help to avoid Packwood while we receive an order from a courier service."

"Nothing illegal I hope?"

"Not really, just a few women´s garnments."

"Ok, come inside through the logistics entrance, I´ll try to make sure the truck comes this way."

Clarity and the girls rode the elevator to the top floor of the building, finding the terrace and the pool lit.

"One would almost feel the need to party," said Cynthia.

"A bit early for that," said Lanai, spreading the branches of two cypresses to make some space and lean over the terrace fence, "the courier is here, but Packwood caught it, I don´t see any package..."

Clarity and the rest of the girls joined Lanai in their sudden interest in exploring the terrace fence.

"Oh, no" said Clarity, "he´s driving away, Packwood must have told him to back off. Oh, God, more police cars around the logistics area, we can´t get out of here now, we can´t get out..."

As she repeated her last sentence, she heard the noise of the door behind her. She turned her head and saw Ms. Marquez dressed in a beige robe walk towards the poolside stairs.

"Well, there you are girls," said Ms. Marquez, "I was worried about you. This case is getting crazy, the District Attorney just will not listen to me, I´ve been trying to ask Officer Packwood to give me access to your deposition, but it´s like blowing on a violin. Fortunately, the referendum is in our favor, we´re beating the clock, we´re..."

"Ms. Marquez, we feel very lucky to have you here working at SGP," said Clarity, "we know you´re doing your best, and we know that a clothing optional policy is going to be good for the company."

"What are you going to do, you can´t leave, Packwood will arrest you."

"We´ll camp out," said Cynthia, "right here." They all looked at her, surprised at first, then enthusiastically endorsing the decision.

They found a few sleeping bags in the outdoor gardening section where the marketing department kept some samples for customers interested in home camping, and placed them around the pool. The moon was out and the sky was starred, displaying the bright tail left by the Milky Way. Clarity fell asleep thinking of her last sentence. _Clothing option is good for the company...good for the company..._

# Chapter Twelve

The next morning, Clarity, Ms. Marquez, and the girls got up to watch sunrise around six thirty from the roof top terrace of the SGP building. Clarity wrapped a blanket she found in a closet used by the cleaning lady and stared at the panoramic view of the hills in front of her. After sunrise, they had a swim in the pool doing a few cartwheels, followed by a quick breakfast consisting of juice and a chocolate bar, both drawn from a vending machine on the tenth floor. By eight thirty, they ran into Charlie.

"Ms. Marquez, we have a problem, the police cars are not letting our delivery trucks out from the dock in the back of the building." Ms. Marquez sighed.

"If our trucks can´t get out, they won´t be able to deliver," said Ms. Marquez, "today´s the fifteenth of the month, we need to pay most of our suppliers. And we need to keep delivering in order to cash our receivables."

"We´ll create a diversion," said Clarity.

"How?" asked Lanai.

"Us," said Clarity.

Ten minutes later, Clarity and the girls reached the front entrance naked. Charlie was walking in front of them to alert them of any police presence, and a few times, Clarity reminded him to look ahead of him, not behind. Keys of Ms. Marquez´car in hand, she divided the action teams into two groups, her and Lanai, and Cynthia and Taimi. She snugged behind a column and gauged the situation outside. Packwood was having a take out breakfast in his car with an assistant. Two other police cars were blocking access to the parking lot, and Ms. Marquez alerted them that two other police cars were blocking the delivery exit for SGP trucks. The diversion would have to be on foot.

Clarity made her way to the logistics dock entrance with Lanai, and ran into the head of the logistics department, who applauded their idea to face police naked to create a diversion. She waved a sign to Lanai and they sprinted outside to the asphalt of the dock entrance. A few seconds later, they reached Ms. Marquez car, followed by two police officers asking them to stop.

Clarity saw Packwood busy running after Cynthia and Taimi near the entrance of the building. She turned the car key and rolled forward with the car, on the garden grass, followed by the officers. The garden in the back of SGP was like a golf course, spanning several acres. The two officers eventually realized they needed their cars to engage in their not so trivial pursuit, and a few minutes later, the dock access was free.

From her rear view mirror, Clarity saw the two police cars roll closer towards their car, and she decided it was time to start the action on foot. She stepped out of the car followed by Lanai and they ran to a small set of trees hidden from the police cars´ view. From there, once the cars were reaching Ms. Marquez´ car, they ran back into the building, watching the familiar logo of SGP trucks roll away to the nearby road. She saw Packwood run after them and jumped on a free dock to reenter the building, followed by Lanai, who was panting, and by Cynthia and Taimi, who had performed their diversion at the front entrance perfectly. By the time Packwood reached them inside the building in the hallway, Ms. Marquez was there with blankets for the four girls.

"Stop right there ladies, you´re under arrest," said Packwood.

"They´re clothed now," said Ms. Marquez right away, "they´re not doing anything illegal, you cannot under any circumstance arrest them, the arrest warrant is not binding after twenty four hours under article twenty seven of the sixth bylaw protecting the individual freedoms as defined by our founding fathers."

"It´s good to know the Law," whispered Lanai to Clarity.

In turn, Clarity whispered a sentence to Ms. Marquez, whose eyes lit up.

"I...I have an important press conference with the District Attorney," said Ms. Marquez, "and these ladies have essential testimony to reveal."

Clarity saw Lanai wave towards the dock area.

"The Slothtrack Express truck with our thongs, I can see it it´s in the back, it´s...it´s...it´s leaving, the police cars are blocking delivery access. It´s...it´s gone."

"Come Clarity," said Ms. Marquez, "we have to prepare the conference with the D.A. All our trucks left, our cash flow is safe for another week."

"I´ll come back," said Packwood, pointing menacingly at Ms. Marquez as he walked away, "the only way you are all leaving this building is arrested inside our police car."

# Chapter Thirteen

By mid day, the transmission trucks of the seven television crews were parked in the main SGP parking lot, alerted by Ms. Marquez, who had sent a podcast of her and the girls naked to the main tv stations in the Los Angeles area. They had set up a press conference room in the ground floor near the entrance, in a meeting room normally used by the accounts payable department. Clarity looked anxiously at her watch. They had to hold on less than twenty four hours, the state vote on naturism was set for the next day, and in all likelihood, a majority of voters would say yes.

Ms. Marquez started the press conference around one o´clock, surrounded by Clarity and the girls, who were sitting naked beside her, filmed by several cameras. Their clothes were safely kept in the roof top terrace near the pool.

"...And we would like to tell the District Attorney that allowing people to exercise their option to work naked or clothed will become one of the basic freedom for the American people very quickly now. We are confident that the referendum set up for tomorrow will pass, and that this unacceptable bullying from police to stop the legitimate commercial activity at Stevenson Garden Products will stop right then. Until then, we ask our honourable D.A. to be flexible and show tolerance for what is nothing else but an expression of the basic nature of the people of California..."

Clarity saw Charlie move closer to Ms. Marquez.

"There´s a television crew who wants to interview the girls," said Charlie.

"Entertain them," said Ms. Marquez, turning her head towards Clarity, "we need to make some time until tomorrow."

Clarity nodded and stood up naked with the girls. She was wearing a pair of trekking sandals from Ms. Marquez, which were slightly too big for her, and she tended to trip every other step forward she made. She walked to the entrance of the building, sealed off by Packwood, and notice a crew of a man holding a camera and a woman holding a microphone, running towards her. Instinctively, she ran away from them, jumping over the security entrance barrier.

Somehow, the television team became interested in Clarity and lost the rest of the girls. She grabbed a blanket and pushed the door leading to a large conference room, locking it behind her. She ran across the room and exited through another door, locking her eyes on the door leading to the stairs. She threw a glance above her all the way to the tenth floor and started to go up the stairs. If she was going to be interviewed, she preferred to be near a nice pool in a terrace. Used to running up and down the beach, she made the top floor in less than five minutes, hearing the two people crew running haphazardly behind her. She finally pushed the top door open and placed a chair against the door knob to prevent anybody from entering.

She heard a helicopter noise above her and looked up, seeing a familiar stripe reading _Slothtrack Express_. The driver of the Slothtrack delivery truck apparently knew how to drive helicopters and was preparing to land on the terrace to deliver its package, or throw it away, judging by the heavy wind blowing across the roof top. She saw the helicopter passenger door slide open and noticed a package, about to be dropped right on the pool. Right before the critical delivery moment, a second helicopter emerged from below, a voice screaming through a loud speaker. It was Packwood in a helicopter driven by his assistant.

"Stop right there sir, no deliveries are allowed on this building which is sealed, please unload at your local base," said Packwood. Clarity saw him turn his face towards her.

"As to you, I have something to show you Lady, we know where you are now."

After a few seconds of standstill with both helicopters facing each other and blowing water from the pool on Clarity as if it were coming from a cascade, the Slothtrack helicopter decided to leave, dropping its package in the SGP garden below, into a shrub near an alley of azaleas. Finally, the cascade stopped and the noise of the police helicopter faded away. Clarity looked out the top fence into the garden below and noticed a woman picking up the package, walking towards the street. She squinted and finally remembered where she´d seen her.

# Chapter Fourteen

Shazaiah! She was there, with their package! At least their thongs were safe. Now, it was just a matter of following her to pick them up and give her own thong. Within minutes, she recovered her clothes which had been miraculously spared the cascade incident and felt good to wear her jeans and cotton turtleneck.

A loud beep alerted her that the elevator was reaching the top floor. The door panels opened and the first person out was Packwood, followed by Ms. Marquez and the girls, who were naked. Clarity gave the clothes to the girls and to Ms. Marquez, while Packwood looked away at the cypress fence. She pulled Ms. Marquez away from Packwood to the other side of the pool and received the news that the District Attorney was not changing her mind on allowing the clothing optional policy at Stevenson.

"There´s something else Clarity," said Ms. Marquez, glancing briefly at the officer.

She saw Packwood walk towards them, and finally, he blurted a few sentences which sounded ominous.

"I have a new affidavit signed by the District Attorney," said Packwood, "after having run from police, this one is good for the next year now, three hundred and sixty five days that Ms. Clarity Nice, her companions and Ms. Marquez will probably spend in our very own Malibu jail. The new bail is ten thousand dollars per person."

Not very good news, thought Clarity. She held the stare of Packwood and looked at the other girls, who seemed to feel like a ton of bricks had fallen on them. She stepped towards the fence to gather her thoughts and admired the sun, which was setting and offering its last rays to the city of Malibu. Away in the distance, she heard a low buzz, getting louder. She locked her eyes to her left and saw the Slothtrack helicopter emerge, with the delivery man who was piloting was showing what amounted to an invoice. Clarity had an idea and waved to the pilot to land in the far side of the pool. Surrendering to Packwood was not part of her plan.

Within seconds, the cascade blew over Packwood, Ms. Marquez and the girls, while Clarity held on to a pole near the pool used to display the American flag from the top of the building. When the helicopter flew low enough, she hopped on the passenger cabin and asked the pilot to lift off, as the others witnessed the manoeuvre open jawed. They started flying over Stevenson´s garden and Clarity saw Shazaiah walk on a nearby street.

"Follow that woman, please," said Clarity, pointing to the woman below, "she picked up the package which was originally for us, I need to verify the content."

"Ok," said the delivery man, "we have gas for fifteen more minutes." They followed Shazaiah to the largest hotel in Malibu, the _Gorgeous Plum,_ a lavish five star hotel overlooking the beach and the sea, just West of Malibu Lagoon State Beach. They found the empty parking lot of a shopping center and the pilot landed the helicopter there.

"Thank you very much, sir, and yes, you did stand by the on time guarantee, we won´t claim it."

"Your autograph here please," said the delivery man, "just proof for me that you did receive the package."

Clarity signed the page, said good bye to the delivery man, and stepped out of the elevator. She ran to the hotel entrance and asked for a woman named Shazaiah.

"I´m sorry, there´s nobody with that name here."

"Leah Thomas then," remembered Clarity.

"Mmm...yes, we do have a Miss Thomas, room five zero three."

"Thank you very much, I´ll use the room service phone over here."

Clarity called Shazaiah´s room and the woman remembered her immediately.

"I have a package for you, it just fell out of the air, and it matched your name. I just didn´t know where to find you."

"I have something for you as well," said Clarity, feeling the slight bulge in her jeans pocket.

Shazaiah invited Clarity for dinner after they exchanged thong packages. She thanked the teleoperator for picking up her thong and Clarity informed her of their investigation.

"I followed the news, I see you did a great job fighting for naturism."

"The vote is tomorrow, I hope it passes, otherwise Stevenson Garden Products will have to close, and my friends and I go to jail for a year."

"Let´s watch it on television tomorrow, you can stay over with me tonight."

She sent a text message to Cynthia saying she was ok and a more cryptic _Shazaiah found, next communication tommorrow after vote_. A few minutes later, she received another text message from Cynthia. _Ms. Marquez negotiated another night in the pool. Tommorrow Packwood arrest._ Clarity sent a final encouragement message and turned the phone off.

# Chapter Fifteen

Clarity woke up around eight o´clock and noticed the other double bed was empty. Shazaiah was already up and having breakfast. After a few nerve wracking hours, Clarity finally turned on the television screen in Shazaiah´s room around five in the afternoon. By eight, the polls had closed and the vote finished. It wasn´t even close, a majority of voters, close to eighty nine percent, were in favour of allowing naturism in public and at work for adults. Clarity screamed with joy after she heard the anchor woman confirm the results and she decided to call the girls and Ms. Marquez.

"Packwood and the police cars have left Stevenson, the company is safe, the State of California has dropped its litigation, we won!" said Ms. Marquez, triumphantly.

Shazaiah invited the girls and Ms. Marquez to the hotel and they had a nice dinner, explaining their investigation in detail to the attractive woman, who was listening intently to every word said.

"Well, that was excellent work from all of you," said Shazaiah, "I conducted a similar investigation at the Courthouse but was denied access to the documents on file."

"We haven´t practiced much our new choreography, though," said Lanai.

"She´s talking about our new Sun on the Rocks choreography, we plan on training to become one of the best synchronized swimming teams in the world in order to perform at the Bellagio in Vegas."

"Would you be interested in becoming hostesses for a tour operating travel agency, I´m embarking with them on a cruise liner for adults headed for Acapulco," said Shazaiah, "the job pays moderately, and room and board is free. I´m sure the tourists will appreciate your pool choreography."

"Mexico," whispered Clarity.

The girls enthusiastically accepted Shazaiah´s offer. Clarity opened a brochure that the attractive yoga instructor presented to them. The _City of Wellington_ was a floating Spa ocean liner catering to extremely rich singles and couples, featuring some of the best chefs, masseuses, aerobic instructors and motivational coaches in the world. Its phenomenal bar shelf counted one hundred and seventy two bottles of various wines, champagne, spirits, beer and fruit smoothies, with over three hundred cocktails all prepared by the head barman, the gregarious Mr. LT.

"When do we leave?" asked Clarity.

"Tomorrow, nine AM," said Shazaiah.

"We´ll be there," said Cynthia.

"It´s a new beginning for Sun on the Rocks," said Taimi.

"It´s a new beginning because we´re not going to jail," said Clarity.

"I wonder if they have a good library," said Lanai.

"I can´t wait to see the pool," said Clarity, "I think we can improve our choreography there."

# Chapter Sixteen

SUN ON THE ROCKS amusements for adults, in easy to read, banana humor order.

THE MALIBU CASE.

THE ACAPULCO COCKTAIL.

THE CAYMAN AIR BANNER.

THE BAHAMAS LOTION.

THE ADULT CHANNEL.

THE OOL BRODERIE.

THE BELLAGIO WIKILEAK.

THE CUBAN RENEGADE.

THE SUGAR BABY.

THE MARBLE TOUCAN.

THE OUTDOOR SHOWER.

THE EMOTION SCALE.

MERIDIAN 57.

THE VANITY RING.

THE SHABBY SHEIK.

Crafted by Somers Isle & Loveshade.

Sun on the Rocks is genuine banana humor, fresh, trivial,

tropical, easy to peel, and easy-going, like the fruit.

All fictional characters are adults at least twenty one years of age.

The banana humor amusements of Sun on the Rocks have gathered a total of 20,000 downloads and about 90,000 views or reads, on several platforms, such as Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, Kobo books, Sony, Inktera, community blogsites Our Salon and Open Salon, the free-ebooks.net platform, and the Apple Store. On blogsite communities our salon and open salon, the amusements have gathered a total of about one hundred comments from people who connect, or like, or can relate to what is in the amusement. You can see those comments below, to see what other people think about the amusements.

The Malibu Case.

Or whether corporate nudity should be part of the dress code.

The Acapulco Cocktail.

Or how a cocktail drink can turn a holiday into a traction with the Law.

The Cayman Air Banner.

Or going where your money goes to keep an eye on how it disappears.

The Bahamas Lotion.

Or whether the notion of a lotion is not beauty but dependence.

The Adult Channel.

Or how renting pleasure is different from owning it.

The OOL Broderie.

Or whether a wedding can be arranged as a matter of levity.

The Bellagio Wikileak.

Or how to rely on information before the information relies on you.

The Cuban Renegade.

Or whether gold can be backed by a renegade, when money is backed by the cap of Castro.

The Sugar Baby.

Or whether sugar can turn to salt when someone overlooks the honey.

The Marble Toucan.

Or how those who want you to leave your place are those who should leave in the first place.

The Outdoor Shower.

Or how a shower can bring good weather to the bottom line.

The Emotion Scale.

Or looking at how you feel to let others choose how you think.

Meridian 57.

Or how the merchant of longevity

can sell a claim to live longer by monetizing wisdom.

The Vanity Ring.

Or discerning when vanity is worn in order to meddle with the lives of others.

The Shabby Sheik.

Or whether a golden cage can bring both gold and freedom when properly used.

100 COMMENTS FROM READERS OF OPEN SALON AND OUR SALON,

ORIGINAL BLOGSITES OF SUN ON THE ROCKS BANANA HUMOR

(R and R+ stand for rated, or liked)

THE MALIBU CASE

ch.14 - Frisky, light-hearted, and delightful! Consistently! This should be a GRAPHIC novel (when you finally get around to publishing!) R+

ch.3 - This is so clever. Everything is "normal" except the central dilemma of (gasp) optional nudity. With nonchalant humor you are making an individual rights argument out of this. I can hear you pitching this to a TV exec: "Who could object to that?"

I think you could actually pull this off (no pun) in reality if the characters were discretely / artfully filmed! It could be great fun. These are unique characters who are "over the horizon" in leading the California trend. R

ch.13 - Fun read. That package and who got it will bring me back. R

ch.12 - I want to see the video version of this story! What a romp.

ch.12 - Quite a revealing case. Quick and playful, this story scampers right up to the edge of decency and then sticks its tongue out.

ch.12 - This plot has the sexiest curves.

ch.1 - This is deceptively breezy and fun. I. did. not. expect. THIS! Good show! R

ch.15 - Hurray! The girls won and we are all the beneficiaries of their determination. I hope that we will have further adventures about the floating spa and that the long arm of the law can't reach them in inter national waters. R

ch.15 - Sorry I've been away and missed the last few installments. I'm glad to see the girls came out of this in stellar fashion. It was a fun read, and I'm looking forward to the south of the border installments. R

ch.15 - Sweet, sweet, sweet. And I think you may have set-up the next Episode in the series! Hmmm. I just noticed that others feel the same. Good! R+

ch.14 - Phew! The package picker-upper turns out to be on our side....at least for now. I guess it all comes down to the vote. Go naturism! R

ch.13 - If we Amuricans have a right to bear arms, the girls have a right to bare whatever! I vote yes. Fun read. That package and who got it will bring me back. R

ch.13 - Lots of limbs to go out on here. I'm always intrigued by the persistence of the press.

ch.12 - You just seem to strip the story to its bare essentials and cut to the chase ;).

ch.12 - Very amusing. Am I the only girl here? Is that weird?

ch.11 - It looks like the governor will have to get involved! A night under the stars, clothing optional I hope? R

ch.11 - I just wish I could have conceived this saga. So breezy and tongue-in-cheek! R+

ch.10 - You really make this sound reasonable and imminent! R+

ch.10 - If it were only that easy... hey, maybe it would be if someone only tried it! When writing, it's recommended to stick to the bare essentials. You can't get any bare than this subject. Still reading. R

ch.9 - Yes, these are burning questions! When is the rally? Excuse me, but I'm sticking to my leather chair here at work... R

ch.8 - "Proposition 531 has a secret." A secret proposition, why am I not surprised? You still have me guessing for answers. Keep up the suspense. R

ch.8 - Yeah, yah, YES. Vivid, breezy, and irresistible. Can't wait. R+

ch.7 - What a cool caper. Such tension and intrigue, and I keep reminding myself of how tongue-in-cheek the mission really is. Great satire. R

ch.7 - "I found something interesting, come here." Now you have my curiosity aroused. This is a great series. Keep going. R

ch.7 - I enjoy the story..thank you for writing and sharing..See you here..Best regards.

ch.7 - refreshing and fun, like a more realistic Charlie's Angels. Keep it coming. R

ch.6 - I can't believe I've been missing these! I was sure I had "favorited" you! You must also link to the Fiction Weekend site when you can. Still a great script. R

ch.6 - Me, again. I just want to suggest that when you post a new installment that you go back and put in a "next" link to your previous installment. There isn't another sexy, funny, charming story like this being done! R

ch.6 - This is funny, hip and sexy with tongue firmly in cheek. I love all the little touches like the upscale thong for example. R

ch.6 - The plot thickens! Everyone seems to be having a great time here, with the exception of our officer friend. R

ch.5 - You GO, girls! Let me gather a few things and I'll go with you... R+

ch.5 - Do I see a road movie starting to appear? R

ch.4 - Gasp! Oh, no! My damsels are in distress! This is sooooo script-ready. ACTION! +

ch.4 - Sorry I'm late. Swimming naked, high above the city... sounds intriguing. R

ch.3 - Ok, now I've read all three chapters, and am up to date with the bare essentials... so to say. It'll be interesting to see where this goes. R

ch.3 - l love it! Totally confirms what we easterners think: everyone in California has a screw loose. I think clothing optional day is a logical extension of casual friday. I am now backtracking to catch up on the earlier installments. R

THE ACAPULCO COCKTAIL

ch.1 - Hurray! A new adventure. Reading each installment is like a mini-vacation....with beautiful aquanauts thrown in for good measure. R

ch.2 - Cocktails, sun....I'm hooked. R

ch.4 - Even a fish would not get caught if it kept its mouth shut! lol

ch.4 - Looks as if the girls should start learning some Spanish.

I hope they are not going loco down in Acapulco! R

ch.4 - Do they have cable in Mexican jail?

ch.4 - I knew it, I knew it. The girls cannot stay out of trouble. Could a Mexican prison be next? This is a lot of fun. R

ch.4 - Hey I want that job! It sounds like something I could do from home, while relaxing in my Lazy-Boy recliner. You have me thirsty for the next chapter. Sorry I'm late, but I was having a cold one out by the pool. R

ch.6 - another great read.........supertaster?......gotta hear more.....R

ch.5 - well done again...R

ch.6 - Effortless intrigue! You put me right there. Nancy Drew for the 21st century? R+

ch.7 - This is such a breezy web, I can't believe the weight of mystery you are able to hold! R

ch.5 - I swallowed this like a shooter. It is a strong story, and I'll say it like always: could easily be a script! R

ch.4 - Yeah! You are raising the voltage nicely with this one. I didn't see the "safe" coming! R+

THE CAYMAN AIR BANNER

ch.4 - Well - I love this so far and will keep reading!

ch.8 - This does hold your interest.

ch.12 - At last the fight. The bit with the elusive canapés and limping along limo was priceless. R

ch.11 - You do create a surreal environment: a little James Bond with a dash of Clouseau. R

ch.1 - Hurray, a new adventure! I've been away awhile. I have a lot of catching up to do. R

ch.1 - 20%! That must have been pre 2007, or else someone is going to lose their savings on a deal that sounds too good to be true. Let the action begin. R

ch.7- The interplay between Clarity and Flower is priceless. R

ch.6 - I'd hang on to my money if I was in Clarity's bikini. R

ch.5 - Just like a banker to steal your earrings while you are sleeping. R

ch.4 - So many directions it can go. R

ch.1 - hahah..ok, waiting to see where this goes!

ch.12 - At last the fight. The bit with the elusive canapés and limping along limo was priceless. R

ch.13 - 1,500 golfers gone. Should be easier to get a tee time. Sounds like the girls are closing in for the kill. R

ch.15 - I learned a new word-scandium! "Let´s change into the tigress outfits, maybe it´ll be our turn tonight, you´re getting me in the mood." Perfect! I can picture it!

ch.3 - A surreal, but fascinating turn of events. Gallinaceous, indeed. R

ch.16 - somehow I missed seeing your interesting series in the activity feed here--will read through all of your chapters this weekend and hope you have another series in the pipeline here!

ch.10 - Is Bernie Made-off part of this operation? The girls are going to have a hard time doping this out. R

ch.2 - Ladies, hang onto your money and bikini tops. R

ch.11 - "Buddha Talk walks his talk, and talks only when needed." This is such a neat line!

ch.1 - Place tongue firmly in cheek and prepare for takeoff! R

THE BAHAMAS LOTION

ch.1 - Wow, here we go again. Great start of a new adventure. R

ch.6 - This whole story is hilarious.

ch.13 - "She stole this egg, she stole it from the temple of Wat Phodaram, Wat Pho, the temple of the reclining, glistening, mother of pearl Buddha, in Thailand, where the statues watch and protect ecstasy, and the subtle channels open your wisdom to the quiet mind and show you how the body works. " This is a hoot!

ch.4 - "The truck, an Isuzu FTR 800 class 2 pumper imported from the Fire and Rescue Agency of New South Wales in Wagga Wagga, Australia, was beaming a blue siren, approaching the limo at high speed. Stretching above Lanai, Taimi and Cynthia were struggling atop the truck with Jenna, who was surfing the air, holding balance by grabbing the ladder." What fabulous detail-I can create a perfect image in my mind.

Rosebud-I'm pretty sure I know what THAT reference is.

ch.12 - "Avalon was wearing an extra small ivory color Isabella thong by Myla, made of dusk silk satin, Elastene, and cotton gusset lining." You have a way with detail! I had to look up the thong. Boy, they are expensive!

ch.12 - "That´s how I fooled the Sex Brigade at Neria B." Immediately a Bowie song popped into my head: "Ground control to Sex Brigade, your circuits dead, there's something wrong." I think those lyrics are better than the original.

ch.12 - what a supremely odd universe I have landed in. I dunno what to make of this place yet, but it sure seems amorphously enticing, offering magical new technology and a supremely erotic atmosphere wherein breasts are softly offered to the table! and this: "It depends on what you view as sex," indeed.

ch.12 - "It´s simple, we disagree over the definition of pleasure," said Avalon, "over the meaning of it in fact. But we want to take over that resort." Ah, yes! You go girls!

BTW, you have subtly painted quite a scene involving naked women. Very subtle, but very descriptive as well.

ch.11 - OMG-I am so far behind! Forgive me. I will catch up! "Elony´s not approved by the FDA, Lanai."" I love this. What kind of fun stuff IS approved by the FDA?

ch.9 - "The girl named Lanai has been sent to study the book of Decadence in more detail with other scribes." Can I borrow that book? This is a great story.

ch.8 - "I love the service here," said Lanai. That's an understatement!

ch.2 - I'm pretty sure I know what the lotion is! Can't wait to find out.

ch.5 - "Have you been thinking of tupperware sex lately?" I'm quite sure I've never heard that expression before!

ch.6 - "Some type of hedonist resort, there shouldn´t be that many in the Bahamas" This whole story is hilarious, but this statement is the most hilarious of them all. I HAVE been to the Bahamas, you know, mostly out islands where anything goes!

ch.7 - "Men are only in charge of security here, their presence is accessory." I like to accessorize!

ch.16 - "She cherished that exhibitionist tendency which was part of her, part of her strength as an adult." Ah yes!

THE ADULT CHANNEL / THE ABU DHABI CHANNEL

Having spent some time in that part of the world, I'm curious to see how you envision an "adult channel" in Abu Dahbi. Should be a hoot.

ch.1 - Wow. I am saving a link to this post. Very helpful. One hot franchise!

ch.1 - A Church of pleasure, devotion to pleasure above all other notions or creeds, you could call it a devotional temple of pleasure. I'm converting!

ch.3 - "small battery operated dental fixtures that could also be used as sex toys" - Your imagination is superb!

ch.4 - "I Don´t trust the water, I drink only Nordic Mist tonic water."

"Because..."

"It´s made by Coca Cola, the perfect soft drink."

Do you get something for product placement? Funny!

ch.6 - lol "Just sexual, I mean sex, wasn´t sure about love, because I thought if you mix sex and love, you might get pregnant."

THE OOL BRODERIE / THE BAHRAIN BRODERIE

ch.13 - Looks very amusing, and makes me want to take along to the beach for a long lingering read.

four star rating of ool broderie on goodreads:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20307072-the-ool-broderie

THE CUBAN RENEGADE

ch.4 - I loved "the Egyptian method to move stones." There is a delightful whiff of Kafka about all this.

**ch.4 - You have my attention!**

**ch.6 -** I found this to be highly erotic.

ch.8 - "This is how we´ll use the bitcoin in this decryptor if anything goes wrong." Ha! I have to see how this plays out.

ch.10 - "you mean using Cuban cigars as currency for Cuba." That would give new meaning to the phrase "my savings went up in smoke".

ch.14 - Great, as usual.

THE SUGAR BABY

ch.9 - I love all the names!!! esp Clarity.

ch.11 - Wow!

ch.14 - Woo!

ch.15 - You have such a unique writing style that turns me on and intrigues me at the same time.

THE OUTDOOR SHOWER

ch.1 - Bravo.

ch.2 - I was thinking of putting in an outdoor shower just the other day. Hadn't thought of having any walls.

somers isle - I'm so bad at DIY that not sure how I'd do the shower or the walls, I'd probably have to go with the bucket of water.

somers isle, to the first reader - apparently, there is both options, not sure what is more popular, here is a couple of designs for you, http://bit.ly/29etROS

another reader - I had an outdoor shower in my previous place, which was out in the country and private. It was a garden arch with grapes growing all over it. Lovely... Also came in handy when we had our little festival...

somers isle - garden arch with grapes does sound lovely, I resonate with anything unprocessed, home out in the country sounds nice, no city noises, privacy is important.

same reader - I made another, closer to our camping area, with walls of salvaged metal gazebo pieces and blue tarp hung behind. (Living in the country for privacy, plus country dump!)

first reader , after some reflection - We live in the woods, but with neighbors nearby. I could probably get by without walls in the summer. In the winter when the leaves are gone I would be inside anyway. I haven't really considered this enough to draw up a plan.

THE SHABBY SHEIK

reader from barnes and noble: humorous and interesting.

The person gave the amusement a five star rating.

BACKSTORIES AND CHARACTERS

http://oursalon.ning.com/profiles/blogs/sun-on-the-rocks-backstories-and-fresh-items.

great the way you have this constructed, with the linx etc....

A TOTAL OF 100 COMMENTS FROM THE COMMUNITY.

SUN ON THE ROCKS IS CRAFTED BY SOMERS ISLE & LOVESHADE,

crafting each amusement for the community,

one ridiculous situation at a time.

# Chapter Seventeen

**Compound Interest Calculator Clarity keeps close, for retirement purposes (savings plan is in the Cayman Air Banner)** :

www.investor.gov/tools/calculators/compound-interest-calculator

**Careers and Professional Designations to consider** :

Chartered Financial Analyst: www.cfainstitute.org/

Certified Financial Planner: www.cfp.net/

**Wealth** :

Think and Grow Rich: Napoleon Hill's classic book on wealth.

How to Make Money (free pdf book from 1859)

**Educational sites, communities, and global news** :

Boston University online: www.bu.edu/online/

Visual Thesaurus: www.visualthesaurus.com/

Visual Global News: www.newsmap.jp/

Our Salon community: oursalon.ning.com/

**Featured universities** :

Bermuda College: www.college.bm/

University College Cayman Islands: www.ucci.edu.ky/

Free online university classes: www.coursera.org/

Ohio State University: www.osu.edu/

University of Arizona: www.arizona.edu/

University of Hawaii: www.hawaii.edu/

