Since the field wasn’t really a good option I turned and looked in the other direction toward the park. I quietly walked to the front of the house .At a distance I could see the road to the town and park entrance .Since there was no human movement I was suddenly thinking crossing the road and enter the park. I saw one RV and a trailer camped in the RV area. I’d have to pass by them to get to the park. Once there, well, who knows who might be in the park? And once I got past the park the entire town laid beyond. If I really wanted to challenge myself I knew that was the direction I needed to go. But I couldn’t really go that way could I? It was much too risky and I knew I wasn’t ready and might never be ready to do that.
So that’s when I found myself peering around the side of the house at the front yard. It was a cloudless night with a nearly a full moon so it was awfully bright out there. I decided …I would make it to the oak tree and back. The tree stood about thirty feet away and I sprinted to it and touched it and then ran back to the relative protection of the side of the house. I looked around for any sign that someone might have just witnessed a naked girl running through the front yard, but I heard and saw nothing. So I went to the tree a second time, this time forcing myself to walk as slowly as I dared. When I reached it I stood in an area shaded from the moonlight and made myself stay there, although my instincts were screaming for me to run back to what I now considered the safety of the backyard. I was almost trembling but somehow I managed to force myself to stay seated and stared ahead. My mind was developing the plan to cross the road and dip my toes into the creek. It really wasn’t very far away but it still required crossing a psychological barrier. It just seemed naughtier to be naked on public property rather than in the safe surrounding around the house and I’d been excited all time by the prospect of it. There was also more to it than that, though. I sensed that by passing beyond the edge of property I was opening up a whole world of possibilities – in this town and beyond – where I might get naked if I had the courage. The thought of it was both intoxicating and terrifying and I think that might have been the moment when I realized that my new addiction was easily getting out of control.
Leaving the property naked didn’t just involve crossing psychological barriers, though. There were very real risks involved and those risks increased with each step I took. It was a sleepy little town but there’s never any guarantee that there won’t be someone out wandering around, even in the middle of the night. I won’t say anyone in town knew me, but the odds were pretty good that if I was caught it would be a huge problem.
It took me a few minutes to work up my nerve before I finally stood up and walked to the edge of the front lawn. I looked around and then took a long, deep breath before scampering across the road ; running along the road for about 150 meters and down the small embankment to the creek below. I found a grassy spot to sit and stuck my toes into the creek.