Gay fiction

Fin is visiting from Los Angeles. Here for Gay Pride, are you serious? Of course I don’t say that because we’ll just argue. Why do I always have to be the holier-than-though, uppity bitch who ruins all the fun? Well…. But we’re only hanging out for one afternoon so I’m just going with it. It’s kinda fun shopping on Haight Street because it’s been forever. Every street in San Francisco is basically memory lane at this point. Fin seems happier than when he lived in San Francisco. He’s got that fake LA glow. And he’s vegan now which might be part of it. I truly can’t believe he’s vegan. He used to get mad when I would make fun of him going to KFC. We LOVE Chicken! Okay, I admit it, I stole that line from a Pamela Sneed poem. He’s not a vegan because he’s cares about the planet or animals, but because dairy is not good for his emotions. That’s a fine reason, I suppose. He’s very LA and New York(his hometown, Flushing, Queens to be exact) at the same time. I’m not sure about that combo. We’re talking about sexual addiction in the Army Surplus store and then he says he might want to go to Buena Vista Park. I’m always up for that, but wait, then he says he’s never been. What? Never been? I’ve never heard of that ailment before. Of course, we have to go now and this makes it all worth it. Buena Vista will turn this day into a real adventure, and who better than me to initiate a fellow fag into the world of park cruising. How does this work, he asks? I’m like um… what planet are you from, Mary? I keep talking about the view as were walking up. Look, look, and the he almost trips. They don’t call it Buena Vista for nothing. I tell him there probably won’t be anyone here. They’ve decimated one side of the cruisy part, and it’s Monday afternoon. I’m truly stunned when we get to the top. Now they’re decimating this little patch of cruisy heaven too. Trees that once provided the perfect cover and are just branches on the ground. There’s fewer and fewer spaces to live the faggot’s dream. Fewer and fewer places to be a dirty whore. It must be for the good of the park, stopping erosion and protecting native plants, right? Or maybe they’re trying to make it safe for people jogging and walking through. But this has been a cruisy park at least since the seventies. I will not give up! Oh, and we both found people to have sex with regardless of the decimation.

still

I don’t feel scared as I’m walking to the park. I’m just reminded again of how gorgeous it is. And it’s not only the trees, so tall it’s hard to believe they’re right here in the middle of the city, but the views, a new one at every turn. I want to look at the spot where it happened. To see if I could have possibly  just run into a big branch, and to see if being here will awaken my memory. I look for blood but I don’t see any and I’m not sure that it matters. I’m relieved that there are no branches jutting out into this little trail that are big enough to have caused what happened. There are lot’s of little bushes with thin little branches that could cause a scratch, but not any that would have knocked me to the ground and given me a gash and a swollen face.

I’m surprised to see two guys having sex at this hour–it’s before noon. Since they upgraded the trails, there are less safe places for sex away from the tourists and the dog walkers.  But these guys don’t care, and I say yay!  I’m supposed to be doing research here, but they’re distracting me. And then there’s more men-two, three, a dozen, hell, I don’t know-looking for discrete places or just doing it in the open. I watch two other mid-day cruisers having sex, the one who is on his knees is wearing slacks and dress shoes and the one getting sucked has a backpack and is wearing sunglasses. The one with the sunglasses keeps motioning me over to join them, i’m surprised and flattered because of the state of my face after getting hit. I’m tempted but I stay where I am. If I get too close they might be scared off by my yellow-bruised and nasty cut. Or they might be into it.  Who knows.  I’m just glad that I still have Buena Vista Park.  I leave happy this time.