Play It As It Lays

Maria fantasizes about living with Kate and Les in a house by the sea. By morning, she realizes this is impossible. She worries that she will never be able to live the kind of wholesome, happy life she desires. Instead of focusing on these depressing thoughts, Maria buys a silver vinyl dress.

Maria runs into Carter unexpectedly and tells him she is going to New York for a few days, which is a lie. She looks unkempt and avoids Carter’s eyes. Maria is still plagued by horrific images of the abortion: “All that day Maria thought of fetuses in the East River, translucent as jellyfish” (116). 

Maria has a flashback to talking with an actress who has had an abortion. The woman seemed nonchalant, telling Maria how she falsely testified in a sex-ring operation case in exchange for the District Attorney to set her up with a reputable doctor in New York. Maria tries to put her own experience in a similarly anecdotal light but cannot.