All Good Women by Valerie Miner Read Free Book Online Page A

song sheets. Don’t laugh; it happened to me in the seventh grade and it was humiliating. Being a receptionist isn’t a real job; it’s like being a mascot.’
    Wanda raised her eyebrows at Ann. Ann stirred another sugar into her coffee. Wanda marvelled at Moira’s capacity for self drama. Still, she enjoyed her quick wit.
    â€˜You’re just too negative,’ persisted Teddy. ‘They need lively people like you in an office. Sharp, outgoing …’ Frankly, Teddy still thought business college was a peculiar way for Moira to break into movies.
    The tea lady interrupted with a tray of gooey cakes. ‘Sweets to make you that way.’ Her sturdy hands claimed her hips as she shook her head in mock irritation at Teddy’s apple and Ann’s pack of Camels. Clearly Moira and Wanda were the only prospective customers at this table. All sophistication disintegrated as they selected their jelly donuts.
    They were each attractive women, thought Moira, alike and different, with their hair held off their faces in various permanent waves. Wanda always looked the brightest and neatest. Today in her purple sweater and cultured pearls, she could have passed for a university coed. She knew all the styles from her cousin Keiko who attended Berkeley. Moira envied her friend’s small, compact figure in comparison to her own loose, blowsy look. Perhaps the voluptuousness had a certain cinematic potential, but she admired Wanda’s containment and felt that in comparison she was coming apart at the seams. Ann, on the other hand, usually dressed as if she had a secret, in dark greens and browns and the occasional tweed. At first Moira thought Ann ignored clothes but she was expressing herself, too, in a way Moira hadn’t quite deciphered. Teddy, almost unconscious of fashion, wore the same navy sweater every day over a series of faded blouses handed down from her mother. She was used to being inconspicuous in a group. The shared house had been her brainchild.
    Ann slowly exhaled smoke. Watching the ring reach her forehead, she said, ‘So it’s settled, the housewarming party? Friday the 11th? We get to invite five people each.’
    Teddy wondered if Moira had ever noticed how Ann’s deep, throaty voice was like Greta Garbo’s.
    â€˜No, six people don’t you think?’ asked Wanda. ‘Three guys and three girls. We don’t want spare people mooning against the wall.’
    â€˜God knows, they might leave stains.’ Ann massaged the back of her neck.
    â€˜But,’ Moira burst in, ‘if we invite an even number, then we’ll be spare.’ She studied her fingernails, then licked powdered sugar from her donut.
    â€˜Good point.’ Wanda tapped Moira’s hand with her teaspoon.
    Ann wondered whether Herb Cohen would come. She thought how Herb and her other friends from Synagogue who had formed the Forum discussion group were important to her. Herb brought dreadful tales each week about what they were doing to Jews in Germany. Papa, of course, would not believe it. He insisted that the problems in Germany were economic, not racial. He had got out. Anyone could come to America. Ann hadn’t wanted to press him because she was getting one of her headaches; because she didn’t want to give too many details about Herb Cohen and because the discussion had started to bother Mama. She took a puff and returned to the women’s conversation. ‘Moira’s got her partner for the party all picked out, don’tcha?’
    Moira’s freckles receded in a bright blush. She continued licking the donut.
    â€˜You mean that mechanic down on Washington who whistles when we walk by?’ Wanda asked disingenuously.
    â€˜When Moira walks by.’ Teddy joined the banter reluctantly. She didn’t know why, but this party made her jittery. Wasn’t it enough that the four of them had each other? Why did they have to invite strangers to