Summary

Mae imagines that, when she completes the transcriptions, there will “be nothing left of me at all” (192). One day, she finds a letter on Shelley’s desk, clearly meant for her parents. In the letter, Shelley claims to be working at a department store. Mae feels as if “the person I looked up to had never existed at all” (194).

Shelley does not appear at the Factory for a week. One night, Shelley calls Mae and tells her to visit her at her apartment. To Mae’s surprise, the apartment is full of signs of “safety, luxury” (198). Shelley tells Mae that the tapes blurred her perception of reality; she reminds Mae that “the work we do is nothing” (200). Mae realizes that the apartment belongs to a wealthy man whom Shelley must be seeing. She accuses Shelley of constantly lying. Shelley notes that she “thought...