Irene has had unpleasant s****l experiences, both as a child and as an adolescent. She was also exposed to the advances of an older lesbian. Indeed, it can hardly come as a surprise when she turns to women for emotional and s****l gratification. The question that remains is this: Is her lesbianism temporary and circumstantial?
"During the next couple of months of my senior year, there were damned few happy moments in my life. Only when I was in Carla's office, or having coffee with her in the cafeteria, did I seem to relax enough to feel good. Otherwise, my life was hell.
"At home, things were awful. I still wasn't speaking to my father, and my mother was gone most of the time working. So heading there after school was like going to a tomb.
"And at school Dan had spread all sorts of rum
