Book Title: Caged Time
Author: Erik S. Meyers
Publisher: Mirador Publishing
Release Date: February 2, 2021
Genres: LGBTQ Jewish historical fiction
Tropes: Struggling to be yourself in a place/time that doesn’t really want you
Themes: Coming out, being yourself
Heat Rating: 4 flames
Length: 144 pages
It is a standalone book and does not end on a cliffhanger.
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David Tarniss faces his desire and his faith
Short Blurb
In 1930s New York, David Tarniss leads a quiet life as a cab driver-too quiet. In reality he is hiding a dark secret, his homosexuality, something for which he will pay dearly due to the unique circumstances of the time.
A fascinating, if disturbing, story about the challenges that confronted gays (and Jews) in 1930s New York.
Long Blurb
In 1930s New York, Jewish immigrant David Tarniss leads a quiet life as a cab driver—too quiet—In reality he is hiding a dark secret, his homosexuality, something for which he will pay dearly due to the unique circumstances of the time.
Based on the author’s fictional interpretation of a family tragedy, “Caged Time” is an attempt to explain how society can mold who you are and significantly impact your life. The novel focuses on a small group of characters that all have key significance in David’s life, the people that most affect what he does, how he thinks, and how he lives. The setting of the novel is even more impactful as it plays out in the context of a pre-World War II society haunted by the looming war. Most of the characters are Jewish, bringing another angle to the events.
Whenever things seem to be moving forward, David faces a setback. Whether being shunned by his brother when he reveals who he is, haunted by a strange encounter with a friend, or being beat up when he least expects it, he’s always taking two steps forward and one back. But he always seems determined to go on.
A fascinating, if disturbing, look at the challenges that confronted gays (and Jews) in 1930s New York with a glimmer of hope at the end.
Saturday, September 18, 1937, 3:00 a.m.
DAVID WOKE IN A SWEAT, his pillow soaked. He hoped maybe a bad dream had awakened him, but he knew better.
Today was the day he would do, well, something for the first time. Something that he had been scared to do for too many years.
He knew if he thought about it too much, it would never happen.
So, he took a deep breath and tried to relax. He closed his eyes.
Saturday, September 18, 1937, 9:00 a.m.
The alarm clanged and David almost fell out of bed.
He stretched, grabbed his shorts and t-shirt from the floor and slowly made his way down the short, narrow hallway to
the kitchen.
Fiddling for the light switch, he pushed past the fear and
allowed himself to feel excitement at what was to happen. ~5~
Suddenly, he felt like jumping for joy, no, screaming for joy, exploding with the beauty of the moment. He started the percolator and opened the small refrigerator next to the stove.
Sitting down at the round wooden table in the kitchen, he glanced at yesterday’s New York Times while wolfing down his cereal. The coffee was still too hot to drink.
He had quite a bit of time until he had to get downtown, but he was already feeling anxious.
He went for a shower, carefully soaping everywhere, like someone ritually cleansing themselves at the Mikva. The warm water felt good and he let it run for 15 minutes, even if that meant his neighbors would suffer.
Drying off with a large towel, he lay on the bed for a bit deciding what to wear. That was so important, or so he wanted to believe.
He opened his closet and selected a clean blue shirt and dark brown tie, checkered brown jacket and brown trousers, and finally his favorite bright green suspenders. He dressed carefully and went to the bathroom to double check everything in the mirror, front and back. He brushed his teeth and tried to tame his curly brown hair.
In the hallway, he grabbed his wallet and pack of Lucky Strikes from the tray on the cabinet and bounded out the door and onto the street headed for the 170th Street subway stop. He almost made a wrong turn by heading toward the garage and the cab he drove, but he realized before wasting too much time after heading three blocks in the wrong direction.
He inhaled deeply and smiled. He was glad he had made ~6~
the decision to change his Saturday routine and finally try something new, something scary, something exciting. He shivered in spite of the warm air as he headed toward the subway stop. David was sure this would be the start of really living in the city rather than being a bystander. He was ready to be true to himself.
What a strange time to be living here, David contemplated as the train rushed through the tunnel. The world seemed so modern; Roosevelt was actually creating excitement about the future after so many years of the terrible Depression. But not everyone was equal yet and his kind, the pansy kind, had to remain hidden.
What’s to stop me from really being who I am? he pondered.
Nothing, goddammit, he countered. Why can’t the world be different?
Because that’s how life is, you pansy!
As the train door opened, he jumped out and ran for the exit, clambering up the stairs and into the teeming life of what he thought was the most vibrant city in the world, deeply inhaling everything the city had to offer.
This is what life is; this is where I belong, he thought.
What is it about New York that makes me feel so full of joy, so full of freedom? he asked himself. Is it the vastness of the space, the anonymity of the endless population, or the limitless choices of what to do, when, and where?
Whatever the reason, David knew he belonged there. Nowhere else did life have purpose. He truly felt alive there: the large buildings, the bustling life, the heartbeat of the city he felt whenever he emerged from the subway.
Currently in Austria, Erik Meyers is an American abroad for years and years who has lived or worked in six countries on three continents, the longest in Germany. I’m an award-winning author and communications professional with 25 years of expertise in a variety of corporate roles. Reading and writing are my passions, when I’m not hiking one of the amazing trails in Austria or elsewhere.
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