Notting Hill Gate Summary

The first competent temporary worker hired by the newspaper in months, Rita is a big, tough, black woman from the West Indies. She rolls as she walks and dresses garishly. She looks slow, lazy, and preoccupied, but is efficient and competent, needs little supervision, and is quickly moved into a permanent position. Unlike other temps who cannot resist sharing in lurid detail, Rita says nothing about her life, which only increases coworkers' interest. She lets slip only that she has a husband, whom the unnamed narrator meets in a pub as he spills on her, ruining her skirt. Rita arrives sends him away and takes her to her upstairs for a change of clothes. The narrator surveys the flat carefully, in order to share details with her co-workers. The boyfriend turns out to be a popular television actor, Andy...