Valerie

Valerie is Bobby’s wife and a recurring presence in Henry Chinaski’s social world, where she moves between domestic trouble, practical kindness, and deliberately conspicuous self-presentation. Her first extended encounter with Henry begins after he and Lydia have separated: Bobby leaves Valerie at Henry’s home, and Henry’s account turns her arrival into a short-lived intimacy abruptly interrupted by Lydia. Later appearances place Valerie alongside Bobby in a shared apartment building, on trips with Henry and other companions, and in a fashion show that makes her both a performer and the center of the group’s attention.

Identity and Introduction

Valerie is twenty-two when Bobby brings her to stay overnight with Henry. Henry describes her as beautiful, with long blond hair and striking blue eyes, and notes that, like Lydia, she had spent time in a mental institution. Bobby works in a pornography bookstore and also takes photographs; the couple’s relationship is already in difficulty when he arranges for Valerie to stay with Henry. The arrangement puts her in a vulnerable position, though the account gives little background on the causes of the couple’s trouble.

Before Valerie arrives, Henry recalls Bobby’s story about introducing her to his parents. They complimented her dress, and Valerie responded by drawing attention to what the dress concealed. This anecdote establishes her as sexually forthright in other people’s retellings, but it is Bobby’s story, not a scene in which she explains herself. The distinction matters: much of Valerie’s characterization is filtered through the men around her, even when her actions command the room.

Henry, Lydia, and the Interrupted Encounter

Henry and Lydia have just separated when Bobby phones to say he is bringing Valerie over for the night. Henry agrees. Bobby drives Valerie to Henry’s place, then leaves before she enters. Henry pours drinks; neither speaks at first. They continue drinking together, and Henry suggests going to a nearby bar, the Glue Machine, where he had recently been refused service. The two sit side by side, kiss, and later order steak. When a barmaid assumes they are in love, they laugh rather than confirm the label. Their choice not to eat the steaks becomes part of the episode’s abrupt, provisional mood: the evening advances through drinking and physical closeness without developing into a defined relationship.

On the drive back, Henry sees Lydia waiting in the driveway with an envelope. When Valerie asks who Lydia is, Henry identifies her as the woman he loves. Lydia responds by calling Valerie a bitch, and Valerie runs down the sidewalk. Henry invites Lydia inside, and she follows him. The encounter therefore ends not with an explicit decision between the two women, but with Valerie’s exit and Henry’s return to the unresolved relationship with Lydia. Her presence briefly exposes the contradiction between Henry’s claim of love and his willingness to pursue intimacy elsewhere.

Life in Bobby’s Circle

Later, Bobby and Valerie move across the court from Henry’s apartment. Henry calls them the “Barbie Dolls,” a nickname tied to their carefully coordinated appearance. He describes Bobby as meticulously dressed and Valerie as mod, though less self-conscious about it. His portrait is not wholly dismissive: when alone with Henry, he considers Valerie intelligent, energetic, and honest. By contrast, he finds Bobby dull when another woman is present, because Bobby directs his attention toward her and relies on predictable conversation. Valerie’s own character thus emerges partly through Henry’s contrast between her candor and Bobby’s social performance.

Valerie also takes practical action when Mindy is having a difficult time. Bobby tells Henry that he had slept with Mindy and asks him not to blame her, explaining that she had nowhere else to go. Valerie has taken Mindy to Frederick’s of Hollywood to cheer her up and bought her a new outfit. The gesture gives Valerie a role distinct from her appearances as Bobby’s wife or Henry’s brief romantic interest: she responds to another woman’s distress with companionship and material help. The account does not explain the circumstances of Mindy’s housing problem beyond Bobby’s remark, nor does it show Valerie’s motives in her own words.

Trips, Social Performance, and Later Appearances

Valerie and Bobby invite Henry and Cecelia to share a vacation rental in Manhattan Beach. The group moves into a waterfront apartment and goes out for dinner. Valerie and Bobby steal the salt and pepper shakers, two steak knives, and the tip Henry has left for the waiter. The episode presents them as a pair whose casual transgressions extend from social display into petty theft, a detail that sits alongside Henry’s otherwise more sympathetic assessment of Valerie in private.

On the return from the trip, Bobby offers to drive Cecelia and Henry to Los Angeles. Valerie sits in the front beside Bobby, while Cecelia and Henry share the back seat; Cecelia presses herself away from Henry. Valerie is present in the arrangement, but the account does not attribute Cecelia’s distance to her or suggest that Valerie intervenes. Elsewhere, Valerie phones Henry and asks who had been with him, briefly placing her among the people who monitor or inquire into his encounters. The exchange is too limited to establish what she knows or what follows from the call.

Valerie later appears in an elaborate fashion show at Bobby’s home. She has a dozen provocative outfits from Frederick’s of Hollywood and thirty pairs of shoes hanging on the bathroom door. She emerges repeatedly in increasingly striking clothes, at one point wearing exceptionally high heels that make walking difficult. Bobby takes photographs while she sits on Henry’s lap; later, Henry finds her in the bedroom with Bobby. The sequence makes performance central to the scene: clothing, shoes, poses, and photographs turn Valerie’s appearance into a shared spectacle, with Bobby acting as photographer and Henry among the viewers. It does not establish that Valerie’s display is intended as an invitation to Henry.

Character and Narrative Significance

Valerie’s role is episodic but revealing. Her first meeting with Henry shows how quickly his drinking and desire can intersect with the precarious arrangements of other people’s relationships; Lydia’s arrival turns that private encounter into an exposed conflict. Subsequent scenes broaden the portrait through details of Valerie’s friendship with Mindy, her marriage to Bobby, the couple’s shared ventures and petty theft, and her command of attention during the fashion show.

The narrative offers Valerie’s appearance and sexual reputation more often than her independent account of events. Yet the details resist reducing her to a single function: she can be the wife Bobby leaves with Henry, a friend who tries to lift Mindy’s spirits, one half of a conspicuously styled couple, and the subject and participant in a group performance. Her presence repeatedly reveals how Henry’s circle turns intimacy into social spectacle, while leaving Valerie’s own understanding of these relationships largely unstated.