Naked Innocence

This is my submission (due today) to get into a creative writing workshop class next semester. I used the backbone of a story I wrote a year ago and added a character and story line. This is not my best work, and I'm embarrassed that it's all I have to give the professor today. (I just found out about the deadline two days ago.) I also don't expect you to read this!!! I just wanted to give you the option if you wanted it.





Naked Innocence
By Emily Potter


A pleading river in a dark night asked Eve for nothing of propriety. She gave him no amount of decent modesty, no sting of philosophy. Such a moment needed nothing but her naked body.

Listening to the river, all of a sudden Eve’s clothes were nothing but a rash. In that moment, she had more in common with the flow of the water than with Adam. She sank down into a small eddy near the bank. Eve unrolled her bun and allowed her long hair to fan in the water and transform into smooth brown moss. The green lichen watched jealously, unable to compete to the beauty of this woman's hair clinging to their rocks in their river's lackadaisical rush.

Naked. Eve remembered once, long after leaving the garden, overhearing her young children playing. Before having her first child, she understood how to protect herself from cold weather. Eve dressed their miniature bodies in coats of skin. To her disappointment, "nude" had become almost a bad word, and paired up with giggling almost every time. Even as adults her children don’t understand, now thinking that being naked automatically pairs up with sex. Oh how limiting, she sighed. She wished she had taught them better how to enjoy their wondrous bodies. Slipping deeper into the river she imagined her children young again, splashing in the water nearby. In her mind she spoke to them. “Yes! My sweet naked cherubs! You’re allowed to be naked. You're allowed to love your body for its smallest intricacies and miracles. Remain in your sweet innocence...”

Eve remembered the first time she discovered her own naked body. On a blue midnight walk, a lake invited her to jump in him. He was very fresh with her, curling and caressing his arms around her soft feminine curves. Eve’s skin was receptive and young, and the lake took good advantage of it. She looked up at the stars, soothed by every touch. The night flickered brilliantly. The endless waves of the lake seeped into her soul effortlessly. Since that day, many rivers and lakes in the desert wilderness also became acquainted with her bathing body. Most recently, even a rain storm spotted a woman with long flowing hair running bare and beautiful among its silver lines, porous and free.

For the last several years, Eve has watched her children grow up and move away. They’ve learned about love, but also about hate. She’s witnessed the evolving tides of their youthful innocence turn into greed and lust. Eve stood up from the river and wrung out her long hair. She walked lazily downstream, kicking her feet lightly in little splashes. She loved her alone time being naked. For her, these moments acted as a personal measuring tool; how much will she allow even herself to be affected by the cruelty of the world. How much will she always be a naked, vulnerable child.

Eve reflected on the first day she opened her eyes and saw her body. Everything felt sensational and surprising. She was in awe at the phenomenon of being the one to control this awkward new entity. “Perhaps,” she thought, “I believe in miracles too much.” The thought intrigued her and she followed it in her mind as she made her way around a large boulder in the middle of the stream. “I am a miracle.” Eve stopped walking, squatted down in the water and concentrated on her arm. With one finger, she touched the fine hairs lightly. The stimulating touch of her skin tickled pleasantly. She then moved her hand to her breasts. “Incredible...milk can form in my breasts.” Her hand came up to her eyes and explored them as if for the first time. “Soft hairs grow from the top and bottom of my eye lids...” Eve splashed her hands in the water and shouted to the sky. “I’m so beautiful!” Eve splashed some of the water on herself and shook her head back and forth in amazement before standing up slowly. “Mmmm...” she mumbled happily.

She walked upstream to the place she had left her clothing. Through the black night, she saw the flicker of the home fire across the field. After she dried off and dressed, she swung her hair to one side entangling her fingers one by one in a systematic braid.

She thought again of the innocence she wished carried her children to adulthood. The thought was softened by the acknowledged realization and assurance that she had done her best. She had her own life to think about now, and her own innocence to uphold. “The river itself lives purely,” she thought meditatively, mindful of how fresh and clean her skin felt under her leather dress. A thought flickered and stopped her. With all the fervor she could muster, she looked solemnly to the sky, clasping her hands together and prayed aloud, “May this river’s pure virtues rush to my children this night. May it find them, living naked and innocent.”