“Notebook”

p. 13

A client of a NY lawyer that Lapham spoke with was a woman reconstructing her Central Park apartment. She wanted to impress the best people, and had already spent $3 million. “The woman wasn’t yet satisfied. In order to make a bath and dressing room spacious enough to accommodate her self-esteem, the contractor had broken through three walls and joined what once were two bedrooms into an arena that could bear decoration in the manner of the Louvre. Still, the result was somehow lacking in effect. That morning the woman had instructed the contractor to supply additional mirrors and to install a refrigerator in the marble wall next to the bath. ‘She needs the refrigerator to chill the cologne,’ the lawyer said. ‘She says it’s demeaning to step out of a bath on a warm day and have to wear tepid cologne.’”