On Time

"Okay, so according to your questionnaire," she said, touching it as if reading, "you got together over forty-two years ago. In 1977."

"September 21, 1977," I specified. "It was a Thursday."

"And how did this come about? How did you meet?"

"Actually, we'd met the previous Monday, but it was Thursday the first time we made love. Or tried to. That's what we've always celebrated as our anniversary."

So begins the love story of Gregor Carlyle and Tim Sellers, as told to reporter Joanne Arnold over martinis at Twin Peaks Tavern in San Francisco's famed Castro District. Based on the author's own relationship with his long-time partner, this novella chronicles the couple's journey, beginning with their meeting at seminary in 1977.

Forsaking ordination for love, the two remain inseparable, from Illinois to Kansas to California, from the AIDS years to COVID 19. Their story, however, is not one of earth-shattering pandemics and sweeping political movements; it is a story of particulars, of the sweet, intimate details that make up a life.

Passionate, profound, and deeply moving, On Time is a remarkable achievement, and a loving tribute to a truly time-tested partnership.