Journey
of Discovery
By
Victoria Mystere
Edited
by Studbound
Chapter
Five
After dropping the kids off for the start of the last week of school, Lillian returned to the computer room to continue studying. This time she decided, rather than look at the pictures, she would try to learn a little more about the ways of the world she had newly discovered. In the course of her study she learned that what her husband enjoyed was not only bondage, it had an element of domination and submission. Typing these words into the computer unleashed another torrent of information. She tried to sort through them as best she could.
There seemed to be male domination and female submission and others she found immediately distasteful. Choosing to try the male domination sites, she found they irritated her. From her perspective there appeared be something deeply disturbing about them. In her mind it was impossible to separate the images from rape. Rape was not a romantic power struggle, rape was a viscous crime against women and the glorification of it was not something she was the least bit interested in.
Returning to the menu, she decided to look for female domination and male submission. Contrarily, this did not bother her but actually excited her. The difference seemed to be worlds apart. Primarily, she felt that because men are stronger -- they are in position of power. Seeing women with power was very interesting. Looking through the choices of web sites, she was flabbergasted -- again. That's when she heard the doorbell.
Not wanting to leave the site she was in, she simply turned the monitor off and went to answer the doorbell. It would never do to have her mother wander into the computer room and see what she had been reading. Barb Horowitz greeted her warmly as Lillian opened the door.
"Lillian, I was thinking about going out for a late breakfast, you want to come along?"
Barb and Lillian had been best friends since their years in college together. They were close, and often counseled each other. Their husbands were both lawyers and they worked together daily at the same firm. The two couples often did things together.
"Sure . . . I guess. I still have the computer on. I have to turn it off, do you mind waiting?"
"Not at all. What are you doing on the computer? I never thought you even liked the machines."
"I was just investigating some of the topics I have found on the Internet."
"Now, I have known you a long time and I can't believe anything on the Internet would be of interest to you. What are you doing -- looking up new recipes?"
Lillian's face was crimson as she replied, "Not exactly." Barb saw her discomfort and decided to drop the subject. "Do you mind if I wait in the living room?"
"No, not at all. It should only be a minute or two. Sometimes the machine is not all that easy to turn off."
"I know." Barb mumbled.
After five minutes Lillian returned to the living room with her purse under arm and said, "So, where do you want to go?"
"I thought we could go to that new restaurant in the mall, while we are there we can do a little shopping."
"That one that specializes in New York Style Bagels?"
"The very one. You ready?"
"Let's go."
The lunch was excellent and both ladies were drinking their third cup of coffee. While they were going to do some shopping, the time was not even close to 11 o'clock. That gave them plenty of time to enjoy a leisurely cup of coffee
"So, Lillian, what were you really doing on the Internet?"
Lillian looked at her friend and measured her need to tell someone what she had found and the responsibility that came with knowing that information. After many anxious moments she decided that after so many years of friendship, she could trust her and told her the story. She included everything. Barb looked at her quizzically and asked, "So, you were looking into female domination when I dropped by, why?"
"I don't know. I have tried to think of why such material interests him and I can't come up with a single reason. All those people running around in those ridiculous outfits doing outlandish things. It is nearly more than I can understand. Yet, when I tie him up, it does give me a sense of power and I'm afraid to let myself enjoy it. And he loves it!"
"Relax, girl, there is a brave new world out there. It isn't anything to get excited about. It is just one more expression of human sexuality."
"What are you saying? These people are weird and I mean weird!"
"Why? Because they are doing things you don't understand? I suppose you know all there is to know about human sexual fulfillment? Because a man likes to spend some time bound and gagged with his wife in control?"
"Hardly, Barb. No, I guess it is just such a long stride from the world I have been living in. What about you? Do you find the discussion of such things uncomfortable?"
"Not particularly. Have you ever noticed this pin I wear?" She placed her fingers around the pin she wore on her collar and showed it to Lillian. It was small and hardly noticeable. Besides it was a pure gold pin with an etched design -- not something that stood out from her person. As Lillian looked at it, she decided that the design seemed familiar but she couldn't place it.
"No, I guess I haven't. But it is striking. It is 14 karat?"
"I don't know and I don't care. Have you done enough investigation to identify this symbol?"
Lillian bent across the table to examine the pin more closely. She had definitely seen that symbol, but it still held no meaning for her. "No, it looks familiar, but I don't know what it is. What is it?"
"It is the three-parted design patterned on the Ying and Yang. The three parts represent Safe, Sane, and Consensual -- it is a domination/submission symbol."
Lillian took another drink of her coffee and tried to understand what her friend had just said. "Are you saying you are involved in this?"
"Yes, have been for years. We find it endlessly fascinating."
"So what are you, a top or a bottom?" Lillian smiled at her use of the code words she had learned that very morning. It made her feel like she was an insider.
Barb looked at her for a long while and said, "I'm a top . My husband also loves to be dominated, tied, gagged, and all the rest. He's in heavy bondage at least once a week. Sometimes he spends almost all weekend and more tied up."
"Really! You really do that stuff? Bondage, domination, whips and chains, and everything?"
"Some of it, but not all of it -- that has to be up the individual. We have been a practicing couple for more than seven years. Does that shock you?"
"Not as much as it would have last week. But you are so normal, how can you do these things?"
"Come on, Lillian, what is normal? I think I'm pretty normal. My husband has a good job. I have two pretty neat kids, a house in the suburbs: all of the things I was told to have when I grew up. I guess the only difference is that we have a room in the basement where nobody goes -- nobody except Andy and me."
"So, what's in your room?"
"If you want to come over now, I can show you. It is pretty exciting."
"Sure thing, let's go. I didn't need anything from these stores anyway."
"Sure, Lillian, I'm ready."
It was only about a five-minute trip from the mall to Barb's house. The house was a two level house typical of the subdivision it was located in. In another time it would have simply been a ranch style house with a basement. Now, it was a two level house because the basement was open to the rear. Barb parked her Mercedes in the driveway and the two ladies exited the car. Barb knew she was taking a chance in sharing her life with Lillian, but what were friends for? The room, as she and her husband referred to it, had taken on an increasing amount of their time and energy. It had turned into the essence of their sexual existence.
Since there is a time and place for everything, the existence of the room was a secret shared by very few people. On occasion Barb's husband Andy let someone else use the room for the weekend but these were very rare. In Barb's mind she only recall a half-dozen times in the room's seven-year existence.
Still, if you were to walk into the house it is doubtful you could determine the room even existed. When they had the pool installed seven years ago, they had the contractors add the room. The room was completely outside of the structure of the house and was entirely below ground. There were no windows or vents or anything else that indicated that there was anything other than more dirt below the grass on the side yard.
Andy had completed the rest of the room over the last couple of years. The contractors had never flinched when Andy had told them he wanted to have twelve-foot ceilings. As long as his money was good, they didn't care. The room was made from poured cement. Everything about the room was made to escape notice by the outside world. Inside of the room Andy had first insulated it as well as he could. He used foam insulation nearly a foot thick. From there he had finished the room into a play area. He had added electric baseboard heaters that needed no venting, a bathroom with a special toilet that made no noise when it flushed, and other items of interest to his hobby.
Barb led the way down the basement stairs. They passed through the family room with its view of the pool and entered the utility area. "Lillian, you will have to watch your step here -- it is a fairly tight fit." Lillian watched as her friend stood sideways along side the furnace and inched her way to the back wall. Once there she turned and waited for Lillian to do the same. Lillian negotiated the narrow passageway and watched as Barb stood on her tiptoes with both hands on top of the cement blocks. She appeared to be putting significant force on something. Then, as if it were in the story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, the wall opened. Barb stood back and watched Lillian to see her reaction.
"How'd you do that, Barb?"
"Pretty neat, huh? Andy had the original cement blocks cut down so they were only an inch thick. He cemented them on a wide door so that it looks exactly like the surrounding bricks. The hinge that releases the door is activated by two handles on the top, and a small one on the bottom. All three must be activated for the door to work. If you don't know they are there – you would never see them."
Entering the room was no less of an adventure than discovering your neighbors really were aliens from Alpha Centari. Lillian followed closely behind as Barb turned on the lights. The lights consisted of groups of three electric candles spaced about every four feet around the room. While it was light enough to see easily, it was a more subdued effect than was normal for suburban existence. As if to make the point more clear, Barb dimmed the lights until there was only the hint of light coming from the fixtures.
Satisfied with the effect, she turned the switch until they were on full. Lillian looked around and could not believe what she was seeing. The bed, located precisely in the center of the room, was the one feature she settled on first. It was a normal bed, but only up to a point. The bed seemed to have a structure surrounding it. There were four by four posts at the corners of the bed. These extended nearly six feet above the ground. At the top, there was an elaborate canopy made of more four by fours. The canopy was supported by an elaborate system of pulleys and cables. It looked as if the canopy could be lowered or raised. This presented some interesting thoughts into Lillian's mind.
Each corner of the bed and along the rails there were heavy-duty eyebolts. Lillian assumed these were for attaching bonds of one sort or another. There was a ladder located near the rear for reaching the framework surrounding the bed. Lillian's eyes grew wide imagining what the bed would be used for. Barb demonstrated, since the bed caught Lillian's eye, and stretched out her legs until they nearly reached the corners. Then she placed her hands on the bedposts as high as she could. Lillian was not surprised to see two more eyebolts attached at a spot not more than a few inches from where her hands rested. Lillian looked at her and she could almost see the heavy leather bonds holding her husband in place.
"It's our place," Barb explained.
"Here he spends hours, sometimes days bound, trussed up, always gagged, in very heavy bondage. He loves it, and I love doing it to him, and watching him."
For over an hour Barb showed Lillian the private dungeon, the equipment, and the ways she tied up her husband. Lillian went home, her head swimming.
A few days later Lillian called Barb.
"Barb, you're home. I tried to call you yesterday but you weren't there."
"I was here, but we were busy. You know, in the room. Did you want me to come over today?"
"Yes. I wanted you to show me more. This world is so new and frightening"
"'Nuff said. I will be over in about fifteen minutes. Get the computer and coffee warmed up."
Lillian left the kitchen after clearing her breakfast dishes and went upstairs to the computer room. She turned the machine on and made the necessary connections to the Internet. While she was waiting she retrieved the document she had been looking at yesterday when she had ran out of time. It was a contract for domination of a male slave. She quickly downloaded it and exited the system. She loaded the contract file into the word processor and read it through thoroughly.
Certainly some changes would have to be made, but it appeared to be a good workable document. The stupid HMTL protocol kept getting in her way and she quickly highlighted and deleted the unnecessary characters. When she was finished, the doorbell rang and she saved the file. Taking care to reattach the computer to the net, she went to answer the door.
Barb walked in and said, "Hi, Pilgrim, how are you doing?"
"Pretty well, I guess.
Let's talk!"
The two women discussed domination and bondage for two hours, with Barb giving Lillian tips and suggestions. "And I have a surprise," said Barb. "Here's a box of toys that we aren't using at the moment. Try some of them."
Barb opened the box with a flourish and Lillian stared at the black leather items. She looked at the hood with the Velcro closures. She removed two sets of cuffs -- these were different -- smaller and lighter and without lining. "Andy doesn't like these kind -- he prefers the heavier ones. One thing you might want to do is get a collar, a leash, and some small padlocks. When you do some grocery shopping at the super store, just stop by the pet departments and hardware departments. It makes the bondage more secure when the restraints are locked in place. The collar is a means of making the wearer submissive and the person with the leash dominant. Are there any other questions?"
"I'm still not sure," Lillian said. "Will Howard really like this?"
"He will," Barb assured her.
"Certain kinds of men love to be dominated. Doctors, lawyers, professors, professional men. Not truck drivers or laborers. The intellectual type. They just adore being trussed up and gagged, dominated, made into sexual prisoners by lovers or wives. It seems like they must be in charge all day, and being tied up allows them to relax. And Howard is a lawyer. You can keep him in bondage for a weekend and he'd love it. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about."
Howard called later that afternoon. "What have you been doing?"
"I spent the day talking with Barb. Nothing else. How was your day?"
"Pretty good. I finished the Brack Deal and sent it on. I suppose I will be given another in the morning. Besides, tomorrow is Friday and it will be an easier day. Thursdays always suck."
The phone rang again and Lillian answered it. "Hello."
"Hello Lillian, this is dad. Your mom and I were thinking of going to the lake tomorrow, would the kids like to come along?"
"I don't know. Let me ask."
"Paula, Wally, would you like to go the lake with grandma and grandpa tomorrow?"
"For the whole weekend?" Wally asked.
"Are you interested?"
Wally looked at his sister and she nodded her approval. Lillian said, "Dad, it looks like you have company. When did you want to pick them up?"
"After school tomorrow will be good. Have their stuff ready by five and we'll run by. When are you coming up Saturday?"
"Shortly after noon. We can see how you are holding up then." She said with a laugh.
After exchanging some small talk, she said good-bye. Returning to the
dinner table, her eyes met her husband's and she winked.
story continues in Journey of Discovery 6 by Victoria Mystere - Edited
o0o