Summary

Zuckerman thinks of Gloria, who is one of the four women with whom he is having an affair. Gloria is the wife of a financial adviser who had advised Zuckerman on stocks and bonds. Whenever Gloria visits Zuckerman, they have sex on the playmat that Zuckerman purchased so he could lie down upon it and relieve his pain. Gloria says that she is not sexually stimulated by her husband, but she does not desire to leave him for Zuckerman. Zuckerman is also having an affair with a woman named Jaga, who is an employee at a clinic where Zuckerman is having his male-pattern baldness treated. Jaga is originally from Poland and fled the communist rule of that country to come to America. Jaga’s outlook on life is rather grim and sardonic, and Zuckerman’s relationship with her appears to be based as...