Chapter 3 Summary

It takes Jess a year to gather up the courage to go to Tifka's and she finds it to be a bar like any other but, she spots a woman who looks a bit like a man. In the back room, Jess finds what she has been hoping for - masculine women, dressed in men's suits, dancing with other women wearing high heels. When Butch Al comes into the bar. Jess freezes; here is a real butch, the butch Jess wants to grow up to be.

Jess goes to Tifka's every weekend of the summer and spends most of her time with Butch Al and Jacqueline, her femme. Butch Al becomes a mentor to Jess, teaching Jess what she needs to know to survive as a butch. One night Jess is caught in a police raid at Tifka's. The police pick out arrestees...