V: À propos de la fille aux cheveux bleus

Adele, aided by the wine, recounted her love affair with Emma, the blue haired love of her life.

'I first saw her when we were still at school, I was crossing the road and saw her as we walked past each other. I couldn't get her out of my head ever since that moment. Then once I went out clubbing with my gay friend Valentin - remember him? — but I got bored so wandered in to another club across the street and it was a lesbian bar. Emma, the blue haired girl, rescued me from a dyke who was flirting with me. We hit it off right away. She was smart, beautiful, so cool. Everything about her lit a flame inside my soul. After that initial meeting, she surprised me by coming to our school and waiting for me outside. I'm sure you remember that afternoon? I went off with her and she took me to a park not so far away. The sun was shining through the leaves on the tree branches, we just lay on the grass and talked and talked. She was fascinating. She drew a sketch of me in pencil. That was the first one of many. We ended up kissing', Adele said dreamily and Beatrice could tell she still had not gotten over it.

'We soon became lovers and no one before or since has come anywhere close to satisfying me sexually like she did. It was sex as spiritual nirvana. For both of us. We pored all our all-consuming love into each other's bodies. We were lovers! She introduced me to her family as her lover but I couldn't do the same as my parents are homophobic. I said she was a friend and tutor. Eventually they found out and kicked me out. Just after I graduated high school. I moved in with her whilst I was doing my degree in education. We lived together for years. She did her art work, I taught kindergarten. She was away a lot with her artistic circle and I eventually got bored. I cheated on her with a colleague from work. She found out about it and kicked me out after a terrible row. It was the worst moment of my life. I still have nightmares about it.

I fell apart completely and was on antidepressants for ages. We met up one more time about three years later— in this exact restaurant—where she told me that she no longer loved me though I still loved her. After that, I saw her one more time at an art exhibition of her work to which she had invited me not long after the meeting in this restaurant. I realised then that she really had moved on and left after a few minutes. I haven't seen or heard from her since. I even stopped checking the newspaper culture sections as a result as I didn't want to accidentally read about her. I buried all my energies into my career instead since then,' Adele finished. She hadn't realised but she was crying silently. It was the first time she had ever spoken to another person about her life with Emma.

Beatrice held her hand and looked at her. She took out some tissues from her handbag and offered them to Adele who wiped her tears away and forced a weak smile. There was an awkward silence for a while and then Beatrice spoke.

'Adele',she said. 'I'm so sorry. I am also envious. What you have experienced is very rare and very precious: true love. Most people go through their whole lives wishing for such an all consuming love.'

Shortly afterwards they paid their bills and left.