“Nothing was happening.”

From Oedipa’s first encounter with Metzger, she was setting herself up for an affair. She was surprised by the lawyer’s looks: “[h]e turned out to be so good-looking that Oedipa thought at first They, somebody up there, were putting here on.” She was persuaded by the idea that “somebody up there,” perhaps a God-like figure, was in control on this situation and therefore waved a sign of approval to act upon her feelings. Her encounter with Metzger is far less formal than a client-lawyer relationship; their games blur the line between business and flirtation. After making a bet, Metzger takes “her hand as if to shake on the bet and kissing its palm instead, sending the dry end of his tongue to graze briefly among her fate’s furrows…” This daring move on the part of Metzger reaffirms Oedipa’s “fate” set up by “somebody up there.”

Later, Metzger asks is Oedipa was close to Pierce and she quickly responds “No.” Metzger cannot claim innocence on with this question - it’s obvious he’s Oedipa’s lawyer to help her claim Pierce’s “domicile and headquarters”. What kind of relationship would one have to have in order to be granted such a large piece of property? Perhaps Metzger knows that power seduces Oedipa.

Contrary to the powerhouses Oedipa is attracted to, her husband, Mucho, is just “trying to believe in his job.” He was sad to see his wife leave town at the beginning of the second chapter, “but not desperate.” Such a feeling would require the level of emotion expressed only by a lover. Oedipa’s actual affair with Pierce and Metzger and flirtatious nature with others (such as the Paranoid band member and hotel manager, Miles) signal her own desperation to have “something happen” in life. As she drove into San Narciso, she claimed “nothing was happening” at the time. Wanting to stir this up a bit, she eagerly fell into the arms of Metzger.

At the end of the second chapter, as she looked into the broken mirror, Oedipa saw herself shattered and broken into many fragments. These fragments represented the many layers and pieces of Oedipa. Even as she layered on clothing for the inappropriate “strip” game with Metzger, she hid deeper from her own fragmented reality.