"First thing you learn on welfare, you don't need meat if you have rice and beans." --Mama Ruiz
Marty has lost her job. Unable to find work, she has no option other than to apply for welfare.
She meets lively, intelligent Thea in the crowded waiting room of Tucson's unemployment office. Thea's optimism brings Marty out of her depression, and the two women decide to pool their resources. They wind up in a barrio apartment with no hot water, no refrigerator, no bathtub. But they have a diverse assortment of new neighbors, including the matriarchal Mama Ruiz. And they have each other...
Love grows between Thea and Marty. Until Joan arrives in her eighteen-wheeler, and Marty's life is once again turned upside down...
Pioneer lesbian writer Valerie Taylor, author of Prism as well as the Erica Frohmann series, returns to us with an authentic story of women struggling to find their place in a world of uncertain attachments.
