Highsmith : un amour des années cinquante

There were the guests of the Ferreses who smiled at us across the table and inquired, "You two young women live together alone?" Pat replied, "We two young women live together together."

She could speak Arabic, if you can believe that. She taught herself, the way I taught myself German. She had this Arab girlfriend. She'd get these letters from her. The page looked like chicken scratches. She'd look at the page and say, `She misses me.' " Pat began to laugh. "These chicken scratches told her that!"

One of the good things about lesbian life is that most often you become good friends with your ex, or exes. They are more like family to you than family, usually, and eventually all is forgiven, whatever happened in the breakup.

She was one of those women you love even if you get nowhere.

She was amused by my "crush" and she let me hang around her and her friends, at her apartment on Charles Street, across from Seville. This was a serious, role-playing crowd: butch/femme. Lilo said I was a "ki ki," the slang for someone in-between.