Anita and Annette hold a photography exhibit.

[spelvin]

Annette began setting up the slide projector. “When the library administration asked us to give this talk, I made sure, sure, SURE that they knew what our specialty was.”

Anita was unwrapping the paper plates. “That’s good thinking, Anita. Anyone who expects us to show vacation snapshots is going to be surprised.”

The two girls began their hobby years ago in their elementary school days. During that time, they amassed boxloads and boxloads of photographs. They recently received a phone call asking them to present a small selection from those photographs, and that decision was difficult indeed.

While the two girls were making the preparations, the townspeople trickled in and eventually a few pages in the guestbook were filled. Within a half-hour, the slide projector was set up and in working order, the screen was set up, and the refreshments were on the table.

Anita stepped to the front of the room. The audience interpreted her polite smile and her erect posture as a signal for silence. “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I’m Anita, and this is my sister Annette. We are students here at Littleford High School. As we all know, there are many men who enjoy photographing women, and we think it is only fair that we enjoy photographing boys.”

The last sentence created a gentle chorus of chuckles.

Annette showed a single portrait on the screen. “This is a full-length portrait, and most of the selections you see tonight will be full-length portraits. We do not believe in giving arm close-ups, leg close-ups, or half-portraits. Nature intended for us to see the boy’s entire body, so that is we want our viewers to see.”

Annette showed another single portrait. “You will see no hats, jewelry, or footwear in this program. That is because Nature did not create hats, jewelry, or footwear.”

For the third portrait, Anita said, “A boy should not be scolded for showing his genitals, because his genitals are not dirty. A boy should not be teased for showing his genitals, because his genitals are not ridiculous. Rather, a boy should be admired for showing his genitals, because his genitals are beautiful. Genitals are a symbol of masculinity, and we pay tribute to the subject’s masculinity by share with the public a clear view of his genitals. This is why most of our shots are of the frontal view.”

The slide changed again. “We admire boys for their wide variety of skin tones. We noticed this boy because of his beautiful ivory color . . .”

Annette changed to another slide. “. . . and this one because of his nice beige color.”

The next slide showed two boys, one noticeably less lean than the other. “We respect all boys, and that includes boys of all body types.”

“We aren’t snobbish about the boy’s age either. Although we may only go out on dates with boys in the right age range, we respect boys of all ages, and we think boys of all ages are beautiful.” Annette showed a series of slides. The first slide was of an infant boy, the next of the same boy as a toddler, and in each succeeding slide, the boy appeared more mature than in the preceding slide. “We kept good tabs on the boy next door. Every time he grew shy and didn’t want us to see his body, we gave him a stern lecture and held another photo session.”

Next was a picture of a boy and a girl looking at each other in the eyes. “We take issue with photographers who limit their nude photography of boys to the studio. We think boys were made to be seen nude by everybody, and that includes girls.”

While more boy-and-girl portraits were shown, Anita continued. “We don’t think a boy should keep a secret crush on a girl. We think the girl has a right to know of the boy’s admiration, and we think the girl has a right to a good look at her admirer.

“When we visit a boy’s house, we ask him if there is any girl classmate that he especially likes. He usually thinks we are just making casual conversation, so he gives us a girl’s name. Then we pick up the phone and call the girl’s family, despite the boy’s screaming protests.

“Then we leave the boy’s clothes at his house and take a walk to the girl’s house. We sometimes find the girl offering to show some skin in return. The girl sometimes greets us at the door wearing a bikini or a halter outfit while clothes are strewn on the floor. This shows that the girl changed clothes only a few minutes before.”

The double portraits now showed boys kissing girls on the cheek. “We think it’s never too early to teach boys to kiss. In every visit to the girl’s house, we ask the girl, not the boy, if she would like to be kissed. If the girl says yes, the boy has nothing to say about it.”

The double portraits now showed the children embracing each other and kissing each other on the lips. “Our next question is to the girl is if she would like to kiss as well as be kissed. If the two children want to smooch, we let them keep at it as long as they wish.”

The next several slides showed a wider variety of subjects. “You are now seeing the girls’ brothers, sisters, cousins, and friends. Sometimes the other children like to participate. Both boys and girls at the girl’s house show interest, but we remind the boys of our number one rule. We sometimes meet either an older and younger brother who just LOVES for his sister to see him with no clothes on. We find ourselves photographing infants and toddlers, and we find ourselves photographing college students and men in their twenties.”

Next were pictures of infants and toddlers of both genders. “Sometimes the littlest girls don’t understand that our no-clothes rule applies only to boys, so they take off their clothes too. That’s okay, too.”

The next pictures were of toddlers and preschoolers hugging and kissing. “Some of the boy cousins like to kiss their sisters too.”

Next, there were a few more pictures of school-age children hugging and kissing. “And sometimes, the boy’s crush has a brother who likes to kiss her. In this case, we ask for the boy’s permission, because we don’t want him to feel jealous of his crush’s brother.”

The girls showed some reclining pictures. “Although we like clear depictions of the boy’s genitals, we make allowances for what the girl wants. Some girls like to pat their admirers on the bottom. Some girls also like to give their admirers back rubs and tummy rubs.

“If the girl doesn’t like the boy at the beginning of the visit, she usually feels differently by the end of the visit. We don’t want to exhaust our welcome, though, so we usually leave after about an hour. We take the walk back to the boy’s house. By this time, the shock is over for the nosy neighbors, so fewer of them peep through the Venetian blinds.”

The next photograph showed a teenage boy hoisting a giggling preschool girl over his shoulder while another giggling preschool girl patted the boy on the chest. “Boys should share their beauty not only with people of both genders, but girls of all ages. This young gentleman often babysits his kindergarten cousins. His cousins like to see everything he has and he likes to show them everything he has. Occasionally, he invites us over so that we could take pictures like this one.”

In the next photograph, a smiling teenage boy stood in the presence of smiling younger girls. “This chap is fourteen years old. He stays naked at home, even when his sister has overnight guests. He figures that his sister’s guests enjoy it, so why shouldn’t he.”

Next, another teenage boy stood with his mother, who affectionately laid her right hand on his right shoulder and her left hand on his left shoulder. The boy and his mother looked at each other affectionately. “It is unfortunate that so many mothers still have to bathe their fifteen-year-old sons, despite their sons protesting that they can bathe themselves. But if this is the only time the mothers get to see their sons in all their splendor, what else can they do? Here is a guy we know from school whose mother likes to look at him, who likes for his mother to look at him, and we can hardly blame either one of them. And if this means both of them are neurotic and incestuous, so be it.

“So far, we’ve only talked about boys in private situations. But that’s not enough. We want to get the message across that a boy’s nudity should not be limited to a particular time or place.

“That’s why we don’t take very many shots of boys skinny-dipping or boys in swim meets. We don’t want to imply that boys have to be swimming in order to justify their nudity. Our subjects are nude because they’re nude.”

The next few slides showed family outings of the next door neighbor boy in different stages of maturity. Anita, Annette, the girls’ parents, and the boy’s parents appeared in some of the slides. From the background, we see that the outings took place on playgrounds, at carnivals, and at various other settings. “You see we kept a good watch over the boy next door.”

“We sometimes meet a boy who has a fetish. We are adaptable, so we incorporate that fetish. One boy we met liked to be spanked. So we took him to the park and told everyone we saw that he was naughty for going out to the park with no clothes on after we told him not to. Here you see little girls, big girls, and women both young and old, giving the boy his just desserts.

“We also met a boy who liked to pee while everybody watched. So we took him to the park with all the women and girls in his own family and his girlfriend’s family. We took three or four bottles of water for him to drink so the trip wouldn’t be in vain. Here you see pictures of the boy urinating while the mothers and sisters and grandmothers guided him.”

In the next series, Anita and Annette were accompanied by a boy of their own age. “And here are pictures which we had to ask people on the street to take for us. Here’s a guy taking us to the movies . . . to a rock concert . . . and to a dance.

“We kept asking him who he liked better, her or me, but he kept saying he liked both of us. But that’s neither here nor there, so let’s change the subject.

“You probably know from looking at National Geographic that even boys who live in tropical villages, who can usually go almost anywhere they want, have to get dressed before going to school. We wish boys weren’t expected to wear clothes in school anywhere, but we can’t go all over the world and change that rule, but we can do our little bit to make things better here.

“We know one daredevil who is a real smooth operator. He not only goes to school with no clothes on, but he keeps the girls reminded. Here you see a girl studying at a table at the school library. The guy comes by, stands right next to her, rests back backward on the table, and talks to the girl.

“This is only one of the pictures we took of this daredevil. Here he is, standing as close as he can get to a girl’s desk, and talking to her. And here he is standing at another girl’s desk and talking to her. And here he is, doing the same thing to a woman teacher sitting at the teacher’s desk.”

Next were pictures of boys in Sunday school classrooms and sanctuaries. There were also pictures of boys with their parents, cheerfully greeting girls with their parents, standing in front of a church where a service had just finished. In all of these pictures, everyone is immaculately dressed except for the boys. “We bristle at the notion that what we are doing is evil or sinful. On the contrary, there is nothing holier than a boy in his unadorned splendor. Nature created boys as we are showing them to you, so Nature must like to see them that way. If there is any place that boys should be seen in their very best, it is in a place of worship.

“We said earlier that the time and place for a boy to show his majesty is any time and any place. We want to make it clear that we mean not only twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week, but twelve months a year. Here is boy with his girlfriend, planting vegetables, here they are, eating ice cream cones, here they are, throwing leaves at each other, and here they are, building a snowman. And who says childhood romances don’t last!

“We made a point to put in a word on erections. It is ironic that boys, even the ones who are usually the biggest showoffs, get embarrassed when their blood starts to rush in that one place. But girls love to see boys’ genitals any way they come. We try to express that by taking pictures where that moment happens, the boys aren’t embarrassed, and the girls aren’t teasing him.” The remote control clicked again. “Here is a guy who had an erection during study hall. He knew the girl next to him would enjoy it, so he stood up and showed it to her.”

Click. “And here’s another guy whose girlfriend not only liked to see his tumescence, but liked to show it off to her friends. You see that they’re smiling and he’s smiling.

Annette said, “And that’s all we have prepared for you this evening. I move that we adjourn to the refreshment table.”

Anita said, “I second the motion.”

The audience applauded.

The girls met some of the townspeople, and some of the townspeople met the girls. A woman came up to the girls and introduced them to a small boy who was hiding behind her skirt. “My son Gerhart whispered something to me during the program, ‘I sure wish they’d take a picture of me.’”

The two girls beamed pleasantly. Anita said, “Why, we would LOVE to! We still have enough time before the library closes.”

Annette handed Gebhart’s mother a plastic bag. “The rest room is right down the hall. You can put his clothes in this bag. As soon as you’re ready, bring him back and we’ll take the finest picture you ever saw.”

After the woman and the boy left, the pleasantries and the socializing continued. The soft chattering changed to sighs and gasps when a proud mother and a skyclad little boy returned to the room.

Anita said, “Oh, what a fine-looking young man. Excuse me for just a moment.” She took the camera out of the case and knelt on the floor. “Give us a good smile, Sten. No, move your hand. That’s a good boy. Look at the birdie. Now ‘cheese.’”