Play It As It Lays

Carter has moved out of the Beverly Hills home he shared with Maria. To cope, Maria drives the Los Angeles freeways in her Corvette. Maria is lonely. “To hear her own voice she would sometimes talk to the [gas station] attendant, ask advice on oil filters, how much air the tires should carry, the most efficient route to Foothill Boulevard in West Covina” (17). 

Chapter 2 flashes back to the films Carter made with Maria. In one called Angel Beach, Maria played a girl who was raped by a biker gang. Maria likes the character she played because, despite the rape, the girl seemed “to have a definite knack for controlling her own destiny” (19).

The other film in which Maria starred was a sequence of footage Carter shot of Maria without her knowledge. Maria dislikes this film, which shows her in vulnerable moments and was produced without her consent. 

Maria goes to see her agent, Freddy Chaikin. The receptionist says he is not available, and as Maria leaves, she has an awkward encounter with a B-list actor and his agent. The actor’s agent compliments Carter’s latest film, and the actor looks at her “with sexual appreciation, meant not for Maria herself but for Carter Lang’s wife” (23).