This section sent my imagination wild! I was so turned on by the obvious affection Erica has for her rubber gloves, the comfort and safety they represent for her and in her choosing to wear them to perform unneccesary functions. And, reading between the lines a little, she reluctantly believes her adolescent son Eric had taken one of her gloves for his personal pleasure time (earlier in the chapter he is described masturbating into a condom over a picture of Jayne Mansfield), and the mocking of her husband Rick presents a possible clue into their use as a prop for their own sex lives. The mental images these paragraphs conjure up, my goodness... what colour are her gloves, how tight do they fit, what does she do with them besides wash the dishes..."One of her kitchen gloves was missing - she had many pairs - and she wanted to believe Eric had borrowed it for one of his chemistry assignments. But she was afraid to ask. And she didn't think she looked forward to getting it back...
The men went out to find the orbiting satellite. Erica cleared the table, put on her rubberoid gloves and began to do the dishes. Rick had kidded her about the gloves a number of times. The kitchen was equipped with an automatic dishwasher of course...
And the gloves protected her from scalding water and the touch of food scraps. Erica loved her gloves. The gloves were indestructible, basically, made of the same kind of materials used in countertops and TV tubes... The gloves were important to her despite the way they felt, clammy but also dry, a feeling that defied innate contradiction.
Also, how silly was Eric in only taking one glove, when taking both from a woman with many pairs would surely have been less noticeable?
Have you come across any other books or passages from books featuring household gloves that turn you on in this way? I would be keen to read some more!
