Alice slowed down as she approached the point on her route that was her only decision each morning – straight on took her home and round the corner to the left took her to The Planet.  Could it still be considered a decision when each day she’d been engaging in this morning torture that others considered a pleasure, she had made the same choice.  Alice remembered how Dana used to tell her that an early morning work-out was just the thing to wake you up and prepare you for the day.  As she and Shane would revel in those first ten minutes in The Planet nursing their first caffeine fix of the day Dana would huff and puff like a small child being ignored waiting for them to engage with her

“Rule number one Miss Fairbanks if you are going to be joining us for our morning rendezvous,”

Shane had said to Dana the first morning Alice had invited her to join them at the planet

“Until you are sure that I have consumed at least one espresso shot do not engage me in any form of conversation that requires anything more sophisticated than a grunt in response and under no circumstances should you raise your voice.”  

Eager to make her new friend feel welcomed by the group and worried she would be scared off by Shane’s abruptness, Alice had made light of it. 

“Don’t worry Dana; Shane here rarely communicates with anything much more than a grunt anyway so that makes most topics suitable first thing!  But when she does decide to speak be sure to listen, in fact take notes if you can, for she is Yoda fountain of all wisdom specialising  particularly in lesbian wisdom.” 

“Fuck you Al” grumbled Shane.

The following morning however Dana realised it was no joke.  She had arrived into the parking lot of The Planet just as Alice was getting out of her blue mini.  She jogged over to say hi and started to ask Alice about her morning so far.  Alice lifted her head slightly and waved her arm about in a gesture which could have held a variety of meanings and mumbled “Sshh Dana!, Coffee.”   They went inside in silence as Dana tried to work out what was meant by the arm waving.  Was it a greeting, was Alice asking her to go away, was it a meaningless gesture….God Dana was confused.   Confusion was a state that she was becoming more familiar with since she had started hanging out with this quirky journalist and her friends.  The confusion itself further confused Dana who wondered if the fact that she was so unable to understand what was going on so much of the time when she was with this group of gay women meant that she wasn’t as gay as them.  Did the fact that she was still in the closet prevent her from fully understanding the subtle dynamics that took place amongst the group?   All these thoughts were swirling around in her head as she slurped on her smoothie.