Chapter 1
Housemaid, Willie B. Reed, drops a red checker piece inside one of the plastic yellow slots. She’s playing a game of Connect Four with the Schlaflys’ youngest daughter. Anne picks up a black checker and slips it into the same row as the red one to stack on top.
“Is that how we play now?” she questions, taking another red checker to slide two rows away from where she first started off.
Anne deliberately drops another black checker on the row where the second red checker remains.
“Eleanor... Get rid of those curtains... The sooner, the better once you get your money back!” Phyllis walks into the kitchen with her sister-in-law trailing after her. The anti-ERA leader stops to look at the Milton Bradley Connect Four game with mild surprise.
“Mrs. Schlafly… Anne and I were just playing a quick game while a load of laundry finishes drying...” Willie picks herself up from the table with a few checker pieces dropping back into the box.
“Yes, I can see that,” Phyllis breaks into her wide, commercial smile. The conservative blonde then moves towards her daughter to gather up her long, brown hair. “I think you should go practice your laps in the pool, honey.”
“We just started to play our game.”
Anne jerks her head away. Eleanor shyly suggests that she could take Willie’s place and finish the game after the swimming lessons.
“See? Aunt Eleanor will play with you,” Phyllis grins.
Anne gets up and runs out of the kitchen.
“I don’t know what’s gotten into her,” Phyllis frowns.
Eleanor goes ahead and starts putting away the game back in its box.