Whatever one thought about Mother, and Heaven knew there were a wealth of possibilities, breakfasts were much better since she passed on. Lucy was on her second bowl of Marshmallow Cinnamon Crunchies, new and improved, but retaining excellent taste. Mr. Slater was due soon, and he was always on time. Be sure to brush teeth first, she thought. Last time she had forgotten until he'd mentioned he was a Colgate graduate, and she'd had to excuse herself, leaving him alone in the living room with all his papers, while she brushed.
Mr. Slater was much nicer than her last trust officer, that one who’d made her live in this apartment building. Oh, it had a beautician, a travel agent and a lobby, but it was an apartment building! Some people might have to live like that, but she had known other lives. All that cramped feeling of useless windows and white walls and elevators – it wasn’t for her. She couldn't believe Mr. Slater wanted her to live there; he was blameless!
After all, it was Mother who had loved Wordsworth, quoting all those depressing poems about a girl named Lucy. Bad enough that, but if you had only one daughter, would you name her Lucy, after some girl who was pretty only if you had never seen any other girls, and then who died and made Wordsworth sad? Where would you get self-confidence from then, she thought. But Mother hadn't thought about it, and now the damage was done.
If only she had been named Diana, like some kind of goddess, or Princess Diana, who’d been unhappy too, or Diana Fensby, who was a real bitch actually, but there she was, sleeping with Roy Hetton anyway. Some people in Inheritance Unlimited didn't like Roy, but he was handsome and brown-haired, so distinguished, and altogether too old for Diana! Let her pick on someone her own age!
Mr. Slater was very nice, although too young, but it was a cruel twist of fate to have him as a trust officer instead of Roy, to enjoy Mr. Slater's polite pleasantries instead of Roy's leers. Everyone in Inheritance Unlimited said Roy Hetton was base through and through. Lucy hadn't ever heard even one nice thing about him. Mother had always said, you may marry a good man, but your only true love is a cad. Mother's cad had been a Mr. Dwyer, who had always brought Lucy butterscotch candy and told her to go play while he and Mother visited, but that had been ages ago when she was a child. Lucy had never had a cad of her very own.
After the last Inheritance Unlimited meeting, Freddy said Roy and Diana were using each other, and that she went through men as quick as – what was it? – something or other. He said that Diana thought she'd get more money out of her trust if she slept with her trust officer, and that Roy thought he'd be accepted as an equal by top society if he slept with Diana, and that each was sadly mistaken, which was just fine by Freddy, because they deserved each other. Of course, Freddy had been married to Diana a few years back, so he might have reason to misjudge her, or maybe reason not to misjudge her. But everyone of Lucy’s acquaintance who knew Roy Hetton thought that he was a piece of dirt, not worth the paper he was printed on. And he did seem prone to casual affairs.
So he was probably exactly the right person for her, Lucy thought, because, frankly, decent men don't get involved with fifty-seven-year-old maiden ladies. They seemed to think if you had gone that long without losing your virtue, you were meant to keep it. She hadn't much considered it while Mother was living. Mother hadn't encouraged her to date; she really hadn't encouraged Lucy very much other than in regard to scarves, gloves and keeping her mouth shut. As Lucy figured it, she'd need to find some man so low that he'd take advantage of her, so she could become experienced, which is what men seemed to want.
Because the trust didn't give her any money to buy a house! That might be all right for some, but her kind had big houses with history and tradition, not icy, fly-by-night condominiums. Whatever had Mother been thinking, to sign such odd papers as to have her only child sharing walls with strangers! If only Lucy could find someone proper to marry her – they wouldn't have to be in love – just to be in a house with windows that made it worthwhile to look outside! Losing her virginity would be a small sacrifice; it had never been useful in the least. And Roy Hetton could make a suitable venue for gaining experience, because, although he was the lowest of the low, he was not too bad looking.
Which is what lead to the further points of her schedule. Number one, brush teeth; number two, entertain Mr. Slater and listen to his report about the state of her investments; number three, take her walk past Diana's house, in case Roy Hetton happened to come out (one would have to strike up an acquaintance with him somehow); number four, Inheritance Unlimited meeting tonight.
Oh, and water all those foolish plants!
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