A sponsor, an insurance company, hires Estrella away from the radio station with big bucks and the promise of excitement. She gets the big bucks. Her savings grow until they produce a down payment for a little house close to her parents, but not too close. She gets up in the morning and smiles as she makes coffee in her own little kitchen. She laughs as she feeds her cats in the kitchen and birds at the bird feeder. She sings as she showers in her tiny bathroom. She scowls as she stuffs her body into pantyhose and suits. She checks hems and hairlines for neatness. Her hair is gathered behind her where it will not interfere with her deskwork.
She says good-bye to her beloved house and goes to work in the building where offices are either austere or overly opulent. She shares space with seven other women, all working at desks with adding machines and ledger sheets. She meets men: insurance executives. They are either austere or overly slick.
And she meets Lawrence. Lawrence James, the man with two first names. Estrella tries to call him Larry, once. He drives a Cadillac. He takes her to fine restaurants, concerts, and to places where he can pass out his business card to all the “right” people, people with new money. He takes her home to meet his mother and proposes marriage when Mother obviously approves of his choice. Estrella says yes, but she does not take him home to meet her mother because there is a crucifix over the dining room table. She tells herself it is religion, but she does not want to admit to herself that there is no one in her family that Lawrence James will give his business card to, not one person. Lawrence is Episcopalian, and he will not convert to Catholicism.
(continued)
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