When the Devil Holds the Candle

by Karin Fossum

“I think women can see it faster than men. Think about it. I look at you. You look at me. We each think our own thoughts. We do this in a split second, before anything else. We appraise one another: would I make love with this man, with this woman? Yes or no? When we’ve decided that, then we can put the tension aside, move on and attend to whatever is our real objective. But that tension is always there to begin with, only we get so used to it throughout our lives that we don’t even think about it. Until one day we’re confronted with a man, and the tension isn’t there. That’s a strange experience: it makes us relax. Women enjoy the company of homosexual men,” she said. ”Men evidently don’t feel as comfortable in the company of lesbians. Isn’t that strange?”