By the same token, Kathy hoped the principal’s praise and recognition hadn’t made Liza feel bad. Liza might be prettier and get better grades, but that didn’t make up for the fact that Kathy came from a better family. Her father was a well-known businessman and her mother was often mentioned in the society section of the local paper. Kathy and her parents went to church together every Sunday, Kathy wearing her short white gloves and carrying the white leather Bible she’d been given at Easter. So what if she had to buy her clothes in the chubby department? Her mother said it was all baby fat and she’d turn into a swan. Poor Liza’s mother was divorced and she drank all day long. Kathy didn’t know how Liza could hold her head up, but Livia had explained that girls from broken homes deserved sympathy, not blame. She said Liza was doing the best she could under the circumstances. The important thing was not to lord it over her.

Kathy could see her point. Not only did Kathy have nice clothes, but her mother had a new two-door GE refrigerator with a separate freezer compartment. Also, the refrigerator came with a magic ice tray you twisted and the cubes popped right out. For Christmas, her father had given her mother a brand-new Waring blender that Kathy used to make real milkshakes after school every day until her mother stopped buying ice cream. Livia said Kathy should count her blessings, which she most certainly did. She knew how lucky she was to have a real job working at her father’s dealership while Liza could only earn money babysitting and ironing Violet’s clothes, which made her practically a servant.