Summary

In the short story “Vallies,” Valerie Gordon was first hired as a nanny for Desmond Chapin and his family. They wanted Valerie to live with them, but she refused. Even when she had to stay late at night, she insisted on walking home herself. Though he probably couldn’t see it, Val would give Desmond the same impish grin each night when she left. Val worked for the Chapins for five years until they went bankrupt. They got her a position working with the Greens which lasted several years until that family moved.

The next family for whom Val worked insisted that she live with them. Val finally agreed because her apartment building had been purchased and might be turned into condominiums. The family was very severe and distant but enjoyed the stories she told. In these stories she presented dilemmas in which those...