"Sure, but I knew I could clobber him with that lamp. I was scared though and still am. Gee, what if he's hurt?"

"That lug? I'll bet he's marching right off somewhere looking for us," I said.

"I'll call him later," she said, lowering her head in deep thought. Then she looked right into my eyes and said, "I've been kidding my- self, Al. If I was really lesbian why would I take up with a drag queen like Jamie?"

"Because Jamie is so much like a girl--but you really know he's a man?" I said.

She blinked her eyes knowingly saying, "Something like that, oh, he's a real goofy guy, but he's lonely, too. I mean I felt sorry for him in a way--but not after tonight. He's just too weird, pull- ing this caper with you and all."

"Well, he is weird," I said. But I was thinking about my closet and how weird Doris would find the stack of girl's clothes, falsies, and wigs. And yet, would it be so weird to her if I could explain it right? Doris got up to leave and I asked her if I could give her a ring tomorrow.

"I'd like that, Al," and again I held her real close and our lips came together with a lonesomeness I knew we both ached with. And I wanted tomorrow to be right that instant. I stood by the door listen- ing to her footsteps fade off in the distance.

It was Doris's footsteps that brought me out of my long reminis- cence. As I hurried to the door it seemed like years had passed since the phone call only minutes before. But I was now determined to tell her the whole, the complete story, and with an anxious, hun- gry nervousness I threw open the door.

Without speaking we embraced with a warmth that shut out the chill of the evening air that hung in the doorway. And something told me that even if Doris didn't believe a male lesbian was possible, she would believe in me. And that was all that mattered.

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