Almost Perfect by Alice Adams

Author:Alice Adams [Adams, Alice]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780517137529
Publisher: Random House Value Publishing
Published: 1993-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

16

Successful Stella

About three weeks after the celebration party, Gloria Bergstein calls early one morning to say that The Gotham has taken another piece of Stella’s, one that she has worked on off and on for a couple of years, about volunteer workers in local hospices, burnout, all that; it is somewhat grim, and the paper turned it down, finally, on the grounds that no one would want to read it. It is fairly short, and this time The Gotham is offering $7,500. “The best I could do, babycakes,” rasps Gloria, inhaling an early cigarette; it is 9:00 a.m. in New York, 6:00 in California. “But I’ll get them back up to ten next time, or else spit in their eyes.”

“God, Gloria, that’s okay, seventy-five hundred is terrific, I can’t believe it. That’s marvelous!”

“Just keep working, kiddo. We’ll be in touch.”

Stella hangs up the phone and turns to Richard, lying beside her in bed. Now wide-awake and propped up to listen. Stella asks him, “Did you hear that—can you believe it?” She is almost in tears.

“Why didn’t you hold out for ten? why are you so grateful?” But he is smiling and happy and warm, kissing and embracing her, telling her then, “You’re so lovely, I’m so happy you’re happy.”

“Where shall we go for dinner?” asks Stella. “Let me take you. Somewhere great.”

They settle on the Nob Hill, the grandest restaurant they know; they agree to meet there at seven.

All that day long Stella is smiling. This is what happiness is, she thinks. To have love in your life, and especially love in the beautiful form of Richard. And some success in your work, people saying that what you do is really okay, is in fact quite good. And lots of money. Oh, those three things are really enough to make her (or anyone!) entirely happy. How lucky she is! Even if The Gotham never takes another piece by her, she will still be very happy, Stella thinks, and for the moment she believes that this is true.

At work everyone congratulates her. “The Gotham, wow!” “That’s really the best in the business right now. As good as The New Yorker used to be.” “That’s super! How lucky those old fools upstairs turned it down.” “That’s great!”

Stella is struck by the real warmth in all those reactions; today she feels that everyone genuinely wishes her well, that everyone is pleased for her.

“It’s partly because they know you’ve paid your dues,” says Justine, over a quick but celebratory lunchtime salad. “They all know you’ve been working very hard and you’ve been as underpaid as they are.”

“And I’m not twenty-one. Not some bumptious suddenly successful kid,” says Stella, very seriously.

“No. It’s lucky you’re so old. Otherwise everyone would be very mean and envious.”

They laugh, and then Justine asks, very lightly, “Richard’s pleased?”

“Of course. Really pleased. But why? You’d think he wouldn’t be?”

“Well, it’s supposed to be very hard on men. The success of women.”

“I know, but Richard isn’t like that. Not a dumb macho bone in his body.

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