The Satyr in Bungalow D

The resorts in the Catskill Mountains are struggling in 1963, but the town of Fleischmanns has a secret that keeps the tourists coming back: A hidden colony of satyrs.

Strikingly good-looking and differing from humans only because of their short horns and delicate hooves, it is easy for satyrs to pass. In the summer, when New York City ladies take solitary and hopeful walks up the mountain paths, they frequently do. That great-looking guy who gave a New York City college girl the best sex of her life behind the tennis courts and refused to take off his hat? Most likely a satyr.

Danny, a young satyr who hunts for books on hotel grounds when no guests are around, does not want to seduce every woman he meets. He wants the one great love he read about in "The Great Gatsby," which he found near a hotel pool. Danny could not finish the book as the last chapters were ruined in a rainstorm, but he is certain that a passion as powerful as Gatsby's can end only in one way: With Gatsby and the woman he loves together for the rest of their lives.

Joyce Wadler is an award-winning New York City author and journalist who wrote the "I Was Misinformed" humor column for The New York Times and is now on Substack. Joyce grew up in a small hotel in the Catskills and lives in Greenwich Village. She insists that she and the satyrs she knew back in the mountains were just friends.