Ham on Rye

One day, Henry Senior takes his son to work. Henry Senior delivers milk on a truck. They stop at a café for breakfast, after which Henry Senior begins the difficult part of his job: collecting the money. Not everyone pays him. One woman, the narration implies, pays for her milk by having sex with Henry Senior. Some time later, Henry sees the same woman sat with his parents in their kitchen. His mother is crying, and his father claims he loves both women. When Henry Senior refuses to take a side, the woman, named Edna, runs out to his car and drives away in it. Henry Senior chases after her, but she drives away. He returns to the house, locks Henry in the bathroom, and then violently argues with his wife. Henry hears his father abusing his mother, and then he hears her sobbing.

In fourth grade, Henry learns about the mechanics of sex from a boy at school. He is horrified at the thought of his parents having sex but then intrigued by the “thought about doing It with Lila Jane” (55). He spends the next day thinking about sex, even when Mrs. Westphal, his teacher, keeps him behind after school.