Hungry mouths. She does what any other right-thinking thirty-five-year-old American girl would do. He finds a job, subscribes to Ms., erases the word girl from his vocabulary, along with housewife and humankind, limiting it further, and decides to take a lover. As for the children, he makes each of them get an extra key to the apartment and tells them to look after themselves. This is the American way. Finding a lover is difficult. Thirty-five-year-old female lovers, with small brains and impoverished vocabulary, are in short supply. Especially for those who have three children and various pets, even if they look after themselves. So he resigns himself to celibacy, broken by occasional casual encounters and bouts of masturbation. It's not an entirely satisfying life, but it has its rewards. He discovers, to his surprise, that she enjoys working and is good at her job. She is a teller at a savings and loan company. She is so friendly, so helpful and so precise in counting the amount of money in her drawer at the end of the day - without ever having to secretly add a cent or subtract two - that over time she is promoted to New Accounts. She will go far, they tell her, and she knows they are right. Now he earns more and hires a housekeeper. Children and pets are looked after