The next morning after Kate had left for work, Betsy sat down at the computer to search for information on Huron's nudity laws. But before she could get very far the phone rang.

"Hello," a woman's voice said. "This is Lauren Jacobs calling for Betsy Andrews".

"Oh yes," Betsy said, excitedly, recognizing the name from the business card."

"I understand you’re going to be a student at Avery College?"

"Well I . . . I may be transferring there for my last year. That’s close to Kingsley, isn’t it?"

"Yes, it’s a lovely little college town, but right near the highway so it has easy access to downtown. I have several properties I can show you online."

Betsy sat down at the PC and spent the next hour looking at pictures of cute little houses. She was enchanted by several of them and narrowed her choices down to three. She wanted to let Kate make the final decision.

"Thank you so much," Betsy said as they were closing the conversation.

"Oh one more thing," Lauren said. "Have you filed your registration as a nudist yet?"

"Um, no, I didn’t know I had to register. How did you know I’m a ..."

"Kate told me in her e-mail. I wanted to talk to you about it because although we do have progressive laws regarding public nudity, they are not as liberal as some people assume based on what they see in the press. People in other provinces read about us in the paper and come to all kinds of ridiculous assumptions. Then tourists come and think they can disrobe, run about naked and get dressed again just like that!"

"Oh well," Betsy sighed, relieved. "I thought that sounded a bit--"

"But we respect diversity and believe that the larger community should be tolerant, within limits, of the beliefs of minoritities, including nudists. I just e-mailed you the registration form and the link to a page explaining nudist rights and issues in Huron. It's important that you understand the limitations of our laws. I wouldn't want any of my newcomers to get arrested because they misunderstood the rules!"

Betsy felt every muscle in her body relax with relief. "I'm so glad we talked. Kate thought that--"

"Oh, sorry Betsy but I just noticed the time. I have to run to an open house. Do you have everything you need to make a decision?"

"Um, yes, I think I do," Betsy said, wishing there was time to ask more questions.

"Bye for now then. If you and Kate make a decision, e-mail me right away and I’ll put things in motion."

"Okay, well . . .bye"

The line went dead and Betsy hung up the phone. Well, this was good. All three houses she’d picked were perfect, and apparently the nudism thing was not nearly so bad as she’d feared. She would investigate further to be sure of the details, but this was definitgely good news. Apparently nudism was protected in some way, but Betsy figured that probably was just in certain places like beaches and parks. Being nude in public at all was a bit scary but Betsy decided she could make herself deal with a nude beach. After all, everyone else would be naked too so that would take the attention off of her. That wasn’t so nearly so bad as the way Kate had been talking. Kate must have just misunderstood. Betsy wondered if she should tell her. But no, Kate hated to be wrong about anything. Betsy decided it would be best to just play along until they got there.

That evening when Kate came home from work Betsy was waiting for her. As always she was nude, but she also had a surprise. "I registered today," Betsy said as they kissed in the doorway.

"Registered?," Kate asked. "For what?"

"As a nudist, silly, The realtor told me about it so I went to the website of the Huron Department of Diversity and registered officially as a nudist so when we get there I’ll be all legal."

"Ooooh," Kate said, reading the certificate. "This is wonderful." She took Betsy in her arms and kissed her. "Betsy, I love you so much. You are just so completely perfect."

"I got rid of a lot of my clothing too," Betsy went on proudly, glowing from Kate’s affection. "I took almost everything I had to Goodwill."

"Good girl," Kate said. "But why ‘almost’? What did you keep?"

"Well . . . just a few things, really. After all, I still need to wear clothes here and--"

"Only for one more day."

"And . . . and well, you know, I’m bound to need something now and then, and . . . and I’ll need winter clothes."

"Oh, winter is a long way from now," Kate admonished. "Let’s go look at what you’ve kept."

Betsy ran ahead of her trying to shift her attention. "But don’t you want to look at the three houses I picked out? We need to choose one right away and I think--"

"We’ll do that next, sweetie." Now Kate was in the bedroom looking at the boxes Betsy had set aside. "Oh this will never do," she laughed.

"But I’ll need something for winter," Betsy repeated, falling back on her best excuse.

"When it gets cold I’ll buy something to keep you warm," Kate insisted, "but right now it’s the summer. There’s no need to move all of this."

"Okay," Betsy said, stifling a sigh. "I’ll pare it down some more before we leave, but can we look at the house pictures now?"

They sat at the computer and looked at all of the photos and floor plans of the three houses Betsy had selected. They all seemed ideal, but Kate liked the blue one with the white picket fence. Betsy would have preferred the yellow one with the rose bushes, but she did not say so and was just happy that they were about to move into their own home together.

That night they slept in Kate’s apartment for the final night. Betsy felt secure wrapped in Kate’s strong arms. She was apprehensive about what would happen when the reached Huron. She was confused about exactly how nudism was ‘protected’ and where exactly she would be allowed by law (and therefore, she knew, required by Kate) to be without clothing. But she took some comfort in remembering the words of Lauren, the realtor, who said the nudism laws were not nearly as liberal as what outsiders believed. With that thought in mind, Betsy put her trust in Kate and fell asleep.