Summary

In “New York, New York (The Mysterious East Lures the Innocent Virgin),” Jacaranda finally takes the plane ride to New York. She still is not drinking, even though “New York is the ninth circle of hell under any circumstance” (135). She plans to stay for one week and has packed everything she needs in a carry-on suitcase, especially “loose cotton pants and loose smocky tops” to hide her weight. In New York, Jacaranda allows herself to “to inhale” the skyscrapers and feels “the bristling of desire” (136). She is let out of the cab to meet her friend Winifred and Winifred’s dog, Hudnut.

In “The Beach Boy Girls,” Jacaranda describes meeting Winifred at a rock-‘n’-roll group’s offices years before, when Winifred was a disaffected secretary. Now, she has made a career for herself by being “unimpressed” and was given the opportunity...