Tangential Arousal

Claude stares at me as if what he's saying should be obvious, but my mind is blank. Why has he taken me to a gay nightclub, introduced me to the bartender, and said odd things I don't understand?

"What are you trying to tell me, Claude? Just spit it out."

Claude sighs, clearly frustrated. I realize that he's preparing to tell me something serious as he takes a deep breath. Then, with a shaky voice, he says, " I-I'm homosexual, Oscar. I'm gay."

I stare at him. My mouth is suddenly dry, and I can't speak.

Oscar is a rich man living in the jazz age of New York, with not much worry or conflict in his life. However, when his friend Claude's wife leaves him, Oscar notices that there is a mystery to Claude's situation. He doesn't seem too troubled by his wife's leave, and he is much more distracted than usual. More and more clues pop up, and when Oscar finally decides to ask what's going on with him, he does not expect Claude to break it to him that he's gay. In addition, he tells him of a secret society of homosexuals in New York. Read the story of the struggles of the LBGTQA+ community in the 1920s, and watch it through Oscar's eyes, who is thrown into the world of secrecy and conflict.