Cost of Living

It’s December. At the beginning of the scene, Jess bathes John. We see her undressing him, testing the water temperature, and soaping and rinsing his body and hair. They have a much more comfortable rapport. Jess is talking about bartending. She describes a man who had tried to convince her to give more alcohol to a woman who was already drunk and asleep on the couch. The man had thrown a crumpled dollar in Jess’s face and said, “Listen bitch. […] Who’s got the money […] and who the fuck are you?” (51)

Jess complains about rich people and people who judge her based on her job. John says: “People have to judge you by something” (51), and Jess strongly disagrees. John insists that they judged each other when they met. Jess turns to give John privacy while he washes his genitals. Then, she asks how John judged her, and he playfully deflects. Jess jokes that John doesn’t leave the apartment, and John says that he does, but they never run into each other. Jess says that she only comes to the neighborhood for John and going out costs money. Her life revolves around work, and her recreation is sleeping, which John says, “doesn’t seem like much of a life” (53).