the fishing trip
That was how I found him. He’d written a story with that title and posted it to alt.sex.spanking (a.s.s as it was called in those days). “The Fishing Trip” was a first person narrative by Mark about kipping off school with his two friends for a fishing trip and then facing the music with his headmaster and housemaster. Setting: modern(ish) day English Public School. Implement: cane. I liked it a lot, partly because it was so matter-of-fact and true to life sounding, unlike a lot of the stories I had been reading. I wrote him a fan email. The rest is history.
History:
June 7, 1995: “The Fishing Trip”
August, 1995: (600+ emails later) M’s first trip to Gotham, USA. Casey’s first experience playing and first experience of the cane.
May, 1996: (1000+ more emails and 4 visits later) M moves from Englandland to Gotham. I say, You have to get your own place. We can’t move in together yet. You can stay with me two months while you find somewhere. He never gets his own place.
2001: We marry in church.
May, 2008: M dies, suddenly and unexpectedly. He is 46. I am 39. Life as I have known it ends.
May 2008 – now: breathing in and out, sometimes
January 29th, 2009 at 10:17 pm
Oh, Casey. I’m so sorry! I remember you and Mark so vividly from the newsgroup. Some of your stories are part of the furniture of my mind, though I haven’t read them in years. (Especially the one with “You did it indoors, out of the cold and wet. It was slightly odd. It was very Sam.”)
Mark was very kind to me when I needed reassurance (as well as writing a couple of incandescent stories that pushed buttons I don’t usually like to talk about, but I figure you understand them.) It’s shocking to think of him being gone. May G-d comfort you, along with all those who are bereaved.