Chapter 1 Summary

Mrs. Oedipa Maas arrives home from a Tupperware party, a bit drunk from a fondue with too much kirsch, to find that she has been named executor of the estate of Pierce Inverarity. A former lover of Oedipa, Inverarity was a real estate mogul with sufficient assets to make the execution of his will a large job. The letter, from a legal firm, states that Pierce died in the spring and his will has just been found. It takes Oedipa the rest of the afternoon -- while shopping, harvesting herbs from her garden, reading book reviews, cooking, and mixing cocktails - to remember a three a.m. phone call last year from Inverarity. Pierce spoke with several kooky impersonated voices. Oedipa's husband, Wendell 'Mucho' Maas, lying in bed beside her, advised her to hang up. Pierce heard the comment, and said it was...