II. AT THE FAIR III. OUR SECOND ANNIVERSARY FOLSOM STREET FAIR ’98 We’ll write about Folsom in a separate diary though. On second thought, I’ll just do it here and like to this section maybe. We had to rush away to get to the 12th Street Stage in time for the two o’clock parade of title holders. I drop off my boi with the camera and go to park the van in the Grocery Outlet. When I arrive he’s up front and very ‘busy’. You’ll see. Now it’s time to stroll the circuit from 12th Street down to 7th and back. I’m wearing my leather overalls and boots. Boi has on leather pants and his vest. Pretty basic this time. It’s weird. We don’t get all radical for big events because we run into so many people to talk to. It’s all pretty much a social event for us rather than the cruise event it is for others - like us two years ago when we met. When you know you can have/do anything you want, you don’t always do it - at least there’s not a compulsion to do it. It’s about being yourself - whatever that is. And *that* in a nutshell is what LeatherFetish is all about. Just being yourself - with your sexuality thrust forward. More than anything, leather is honest. After the first circuit it’s been raining pretty good - enough to get pretty wet. So we truck on over to the van and change. Dad puts on his leather jacket and boi wears his new rubber wind braker - it’s tight. Back we go to do another circuit. By now I’m getting pretty stoned from the *enriched* brownies I ate at the brunch. But I’m not telling my boi - he’s never seen me that way - and basically we don’t do drugs. But today is different perhaps. So I’ll tell him later - like here, now. He figures it out though when a friend come towards us waving his hands and snapping his fingers in my face and I don’t see him at all until he’s past us. Woops, I know I’ll hear about this in his next e-mail from L.A. It’s not so much that I was ripped, it’s more that it’s been a long time. The fair lasts longer this year it seems and we stay until almost closing. The only thing the rain affects Is the sound stages and there is less nudity. But when we stop to chat with some friends from NYC and Portland we notice that across the street in the window of a second story flat, there is a house full of naked women dancing. Some are hanging out the window. Folsom is about people - kinky people of every sort. Sure there are booths and entertainment and such - but basically everyone is there to see and be seen. The most popular exhibition at Folsom is the spanking and flogging areas. This year there was also an upside down suspension rack with no shortage of non-stop ‘entertainment’. Every possible fetish you could imagine or invent is represented at Folsom. The crowd is estimated between 3 & 4 hundred thousand. It’s the third largest event of it’s type in California and the World’s largest Leather gathering. I guess you could say you’ve arrived when you realize you’re not *at* Folsom, you *are* Folsom. OUR SECOND ANNIVERSARY At Folsom 1996 we cruised one another at the Fair, looking over our shoulders until we were out of sight. We didn’t speak. But we met anyway - later at the Pendulum Bar in the Castro. After we met that first Sunday night, we went out to eat at the Bagdad Café (which we now call "Bag-a-Dad Café") So each year we retrace our steps and celebrate. This time we go to dinner first and sit at the same table in the center of the corner window and drink lemonade from each other’s crossed straws. boi eats fish and chips and his Master orders Chicken Fried Steak - hey, after all, He’s a mid-western meat and potatoes kind of guy. And by now we’re showing it. We’ve gained almost a pound for each of the 24 months we’ve been together. Dinner is fun and romantic. We also pump up the volume of our Master/slave vows. It’s going to be a year of alignment and perfection for us. Our discussion is about all the things we’ve done together: Places, People; and a lifestyle that only a Master and slave Together can live. After awhile, we walk up Market Street and down to the Pendulum on 18th Street and perch ourselves along the wall across from the pool table where I ‘re-take’ my boi again and again. Before long we’re visited by the men of ONYX who’ve come by to meet. One by one, each one comes up and wishes us will with another rum and coke. We thought we’d be having an after dinner drink - but it turns out to be an after dinner party. Everyone says they’ve had a fantastic weekend. So you can bet they’ll be back next year. Everyone goes somewhere after the Fair: The Lone Star, The Powerhouse, The Eagle Tavern. Our ‘Home Bar’ is The Loading Dock. For us it’s foreplay par-excell-ance. Between the Fair and dinner, this is where we went. When we entered there was already quite a crowd. It’s a long narrow club with a bar along one side in the front and a pool room in the back. Mr. ‘S’ has a leather shop upstairs on the balcony which is visible from down below. Right now, this minute as I’m writing I’m having a fantasy for our next visit there. I’m gonna put my slave in bondage up there on display for awhile. Hummmn, nice fantasy to actualize. This time we did something different. On the right of the room across from the bar are high benches with lights underneath. The decor is accessorized with huge ship anchor chain I sit on the bench and have my slave stand facing me. I remove his rubber jacket and his vest underneath exposing his black t-shirt with LeatherWeb on the back. The boi is dispatched to the bar for drinks. Upon return the slave is instructed to drink up and his shirt is now removed. Leather Pants and boots with a large chain collar and lock. "Pull that chain out here in front of Me" is the command. "Sir Yes Master, Sir" is the response. When he’s done I tell him to sit on the floor with his back against the post between my legs. This he does: "Sir, Yes Master, Sir". I lean down and say, "Hand me the end of the chain, slaveboi!. "Sir, Yes Sir!" We’re talking links that are inches - four to six inches long here. I drape the chain across the boi’s heck and across his arms and legs and lay the rest in his crouch. There is a flood light shining down on the positioned slave from over the bar. Everyone’s looking and commenting on the ‘architecture’ as one of them called it. Several came and sat next to me to show their respect. "Beautiful boy, you have there, Sir!" Two other slaves stop to see if the Master would like to use them as well. One uniformed Master reminded this Master that we had mentioned these chains during our presentation at the Leatherman’s Discussion Group earlier in the year. My slaveboi ‘knows’ that he was a cabin boy in a past life - and he is becoming one again when we get our boat. One comment was, "The slave looks like he’s happy." I reply, "It’s meditation for him". "I know the place", was the response. (When I asked the boi the next day about the experience, he said, "The Chains were heavy"; and I responded, "That’s how much you belong to your Master." he understood: "Sir, Yes, Master, Sir!" We got home in the woods about 01:30 Monday. But we didn’t go to bed until almost daylight. We had foreplay and fantasies and memories of all those we had flashed on during the day to bring to a rousing climax. The next day was our ‘real’ anniversary date so we celebrated throughout most of the day with time out only to pay the bills. Late in the evening Dad cooked steak and baked potatoes for dinner while boi rested in bondage. And this mornin’ (it’s Tuesday now), I made ‘gems’ (biscuits) for brunch. Life is good; All the time - 24-7/3-6-5 !