Summary

Chapter 3. Molina begins telling a new story, which Valentin claims is deeply propagandistic, about a young singer-actress in occupied France during World War II, Leni, who meets the head of the German counterintelligence department and falls in love with him, despite her hatred for the Nazis. In the middle of this tale, Molina interrupts himself to talk about the man he is in love with, a straight, married waiter named Gabriel. A footnote, the first of many in this book, accompanies Valentin’s comment that he does not understand homosexuality very well; it discusses D.J. West’s refutations to three theories of the origins of homosexuality in individuals—the first deals with hormones, the second with intersexuality or hermaphroditism, and the third with genetics. Molina confesses his desire to help Gabriel live a better life by financing his college education, and the two go...