why she was called “Tami Beethoven” -- I

       The wind and icy rain continued to pelt the quad.

        One might think that, of all people, changes in weather would affect Tami, whose naked body had no protection from the elements, the most. In fact it seemed to affect her the least. Summer or winter, hot sun or cold rain, gentle breeze or gale-force wind, Tami walked across the quad with pretty much the same pace, on this occasion her feet splashing casually through the melting slush, her upright frame accepting the cold shower from above, her hair unconcernedly plastered to her shoulders as it got wetter and wetter, rivulets of water ski-jumping unnoticed off her stiff nipples, her tan skin sleek and wet.

        Everyone else trudged slowly, shielding their faces from the rain, struggling with balky umbrellas, lurching ponderously in ponchos and raincoats, heavy steps in heavy boots. Tami passed through them easily, having learned the truth: that short term exposure to these conditions, once gotten used to, is not harmful.

        True, it was only in warm weather that Tami exhibited what Jeane’s boyfriend Tom called her “earth mother” walk -- slow, languid, shoulders thrown back, breasts arched out as if in offering to feed the whole world, soles broadly pressing against the earth as if joining it, arms swinging gently at her sides.

        But most times her walk was that of the high achiever she was -- a bit quick, purposeful, sure of where she was going and intending to get there on time.

        On this afternoon Tami glided effortlessly through the rain and into Rockley Hall, where in the basement lab she found Gretchen leaning over a table. Gretchen turned around upon hearing Tami dropping her backpack. Gretchen’s smile was so broad that it made her goggles slide up.

        Tami knew what that meant. Watching where she stepped, she made her way over to the lab table where Gretchen proudly showed her an entire tub filled with golden brown thread.

        “Woo hoo!!” Tami yelled, and she picked up the surprised Gretchen, who outweighed her by some 40 pounds, and twirled her around and around in a tight hug. “Come on, let’s go!” She tried to pull her by the hand.

        Gretchen made her wait while she cleaned up. Then she covered the tub and started for her coat and umbrella. “I’ll go,” Tami said breathlessly, “take your time.”

        A minute later a naked girl could be seen running across the freezing puddles of the main concourse, holding a closed tub above her head, breasts wobbling wildly from side to side in rhythm with her strides, a big smile on her face. Even those well used to seeing Tami in all her moods wondered what was up and looked back at her after she passed. Others moved out of the way so as not to get hit by the wide-angle splashes from her tough bare feet.

        As to Gretchen, she did take her time, deciding to record the day’s work, though with a hand shaking with excitement. She battled the elements and finally made it to the dress lab in Thayer Hall. There she found Tami, as expected, seated at a sewing machine. Nearby was the high-speed automatic loom, where almost all the fabric had already been woven.

        Tami was using the sewing machine she preferred, the real old style one she had found in a closet and reconditioned last year, the one operated by a see-saw pedal on the floor. She had one eye on a printout of one of her computer generated boot designs. As she worked the see-saw pedal with one foot, her other foot was up on the table where the thread was guided into the machine between her second and third toes, which grasped tightly and then let slack as required.

        Tami finished with what looked like a sock. She stuffed it into an unlined rubber boot she had been keeping under the machine.

        “OK. You know what to do,” she said.

        Gretchen bent down and slipped off one of her waterproof Uggs. A bit bashfully, she took off her white sock, exposing a pale white foot. She put on the new boot and stood up.

        “How does it feel?”

        Gretchen looked down at the boot next to Tami’s foot and wiggled her toes. “Strange. A little like cotton, but kind of like I’m in steel wool.”

        Tami looked down thoughtfully, in the process flicking a lingering drop of rain from her right nipple. “That’s not necessarily a bad thing... It’s good that it feels unique without being uncomfortable.”

        The two young women walked out of the dress lab and a bit down the hall, all the while looking at Gretchen’s foot. They sat down in one of the little alcoves that dotted the hallways. Tami sat up cross-legged as Gretchen turned the boot as if modeling it.

        This was a below ground level floor. High up on the wall was a little window half-encrusted with melting snow, sustaining the patter of raindrops.

        “It’s bunched up a little bit at the toes,” Gretchen said.

        “That’s just my fault. I was in such a hurry I didn’t cut it right.”

        “Do you think this material will ever get to Joe and Roger?”

        “Actually I hope they’re home before then. Joe comes back from Iraq in three months.”

        “Roger comes back in four. Oh Lord...” Gretchen shook her head. “I hope they’re safe.”

        They sat awhile in silence. Tami clasped her fingers with her toes with the same ease that anyone else would clasp their hands.

        As their minds wandered a bit, Gretchen looked at the nearby candy machine. Resist... resist... she was a chocolate addict and was trying to reform. Suddenly she realized that this was the perfect time. She had thought and thought and thought about it...

        “Tam, I’m going home the weekend after next. Want to come with me?”

        Tami looked at her for a moment. “What?”

        “Come see my family. I’ve told them about you.”

        “About me?”

        “About you being my good friend,” she quickly said. “I’d love for you to meet my folks, and the rest of the clan. It’s about a two hour drive. We can go Saturday morning, come back Sunday night.”

        “You mean Jim-Bob and all that?”

        It was Gretchen’s standing Waltons joke about her family. She was the second youngest of seven.

        Gretchen looked down at the boot and then made herself look up at her naked friend.

        Tami smiled. “If it’s OK with you, it’s OK with me.”

        This was a relief, but it also would have been a relief if Tami had said no. Gretchen was trying to treat Tami as a regular good friend. Her upbringing said it was just courteous to invite her. But then --

  Suddenly Tami looked up at the window. “Whoa! This is the perfect time! Let’s go outside!” She hopped out onto the floor with a determined double slap.

        “What?”

        “There’s freezing cold puddles out there now. It’s like the perfect way to test whether it holds heat!”

        Gretchen’s mind quickly changed gears. “Tami, it’s a mess out there.”

        “Exactly. Who knows -- this might be the last time it’s that cold outside. It might be an early spring. And in the cold water the loss of heat will be the most acute. Wicking properties!”

        “Uh, yes...” Gretchen had to admit that Tami was right. And so she followed her naked friend as they ran out of the building.

        Unfortunately Gretchen had forgotten her umbrella, but a few minutes of freezing rain on her head was a small price to pay for what would be a great breakthrough. Tami took her by the hand out to the grass, where there were still soft patches of snow. Hunting around, they found a large puddle that looked especially deep.

        And so it was. Planting the boot in it, the water came halfway up. There must have been a rut here. It was so wide that Gretchen had to stretch a bit to keep her other foot out on the relatively firm snow. Tami stood in the puddle next to the test boot, the water up past her ankles.

        Tami said, loudly so as to be heard over the rain, “Does your foot feel cold?”

        “What?”

        “Does... your... foot... feel... cold?”

        Gretchen saw Tami’s bare foot submerged in the freezing cold water right next to the boot, icy mud swirling from between her toes.

        “Does your foot feel cold?” Tami shouted again. Sometimes Tami could get a little impatient and testy when she was excited.

        “Oh Tam...” Gretchen thought of her foot in the boot and sock and could not stop looking at Tami’s bare toes in the icy puddle.

        Tami appeared to recognize the problem. She climbed out of the watery rut and said, “I’ll be at the doorway. Wait one minute if you can. Feel your foot!!”

        Gretchen took a deep breath and looked down, finally undistracted. She wiggled her toes again. Then closed her eyes, trying to feel. Yes, her foot was staying warm. There was no chill, or at least very little, possibly due to the poor fit of the sock. She felt the cold rain pelting her hair and face and vowed to endure...

        Sixty seconds later she was splashing back to Thayer Hall, each step a great effort trying to lift the test boot, and the Ugg on the other foot, out of mud that was like glue. Tami was in the doorway as promised, but came out to the sidewalk to meet her. “Well?”

        Gretched smiled as if to bring warmth to her friend. “Yes! It’s nice and warm and snuggly!”

        “Yes! Yes!” The two friends, rain pouring down on their heads, hugged. Tami once again picked Gretchen up and twirled her around, the water from their wet hair spraying out in a double helix around them, prompting a second glance from the passersby as they trudged slowly through the wind and the icy rain in their umbrellas and boots and raincoats.