The females, on the other hand, sport striking colors under their eyes, throughout their hair, and on the tips of their fingers. Teenagers line their nests with discarded undergarments. The females hold telephone receivers to their ears an average of six hours a day. The males lie immobile for hours at a time, conserving energy and listening to violent electronic signals from radios.
Females burst into tears and slam doors.
These host families often develop a resistance to the parasite, rejecting them some time in the eighteenth year of life. A request for sympathy, offered by adult parents to each other in support. Often accompanied by sighs, headshaking, tongue clucking, and shoulder shrugging.