Summary

In Chapter 19, Leah tells Michel about the phone call, and he gets very angry. The chapter analogizes Michel to a “male ape protect[ing] his female” (89) and Leah also to a “good ape…want[ing] to contribute to the greater happiness of her ape family” (89) by telling Michel that the caller was Nathan. She says she cannot be entirely sure. Leah chooses not to tell Michel that the caller also called her a dyke.

In Chapter 20, Michel and Leah are leaving the grocery store when Leah says that she thinks she sees Nathan in the phone booth. Michel confronts the man and they “bump chests like primates” (91). The man turns out not to be Nathan. When he starts kicking Michel, Leah pleads with the man to stop, saying she is pregnant. The man kicks their dog, Olive, instead and threatens to shoot Michel if...