Luster

Two days later, Edie releases a mouse she has caught in her apartment. She and her roommate have been living with a mice infestation for the past six months. Edie gets ready for work and packs only a can of black olives for lunch. She plans to starve herself in anticipation of having sex with Eric on their date later. She arrives late to work, where she has recently been moved to a more central location within the office by her manager, who Edie suspects has a “growing concern” for her. She struggles to connect with most of her coworkers at the publishing house where she works in the editorial department. Edie tries “to be approachable” while also actively avoiding one coworker in particular named Aria, who is “the only other black person in our department, which forces a comparison between us that never favors me” (21). Edie describes Aria’s seeming ease at fitting in their predominately White workplace be saying, “she plays the game well…better than I do” (22). Edie confesses that there is friction between her and Aria as “it is not a question of whether she will take my job, it is a question of when” (22).