- Augie is living in a student house. He has customers and friends here.
- In exchange for his rent, he answers calls and distributes mail, leaning a lot about his housemates as he reads postcards and overhears telephone conversations.
- Clem Tambow takes to visiting him a lot. He's sort of a student himself, although he's more interested in opportunities for sex than in chances for learning.
- Augie describes him as a fee paying visitor.
- Disappointed in Augie's laidback lifestyle, Clem asks Augie what he's postponing everything for.
- Clem has ambitions, and right now his ambition is to get with a young woman who lives in the student house named Mimi Villars.
- Augie knows Mimi, but isn't interested in her himself. She's dating a graduate assistant named Hooker Frazer. He's one of Augie's customers.
- A lot of what Augie knows about Mimi comes from overhearing her phone conversations. She never holds back what she's really thinking.
- Frazer is still married, but separated from his wife.
- Augie and Mimi become good friends due to their close proximity, the fact that he overhears her conversations and knows about her troubles, and the fact that they're both honest with each other, even when it hurts.
- They're also both people of strong emotion. Mimi once took the gun from a robber and shot him. Feeling remorse for injuring him and wrecking his life, she tried to convince the judge to go easy, and when he went to prison for five years, she sent him packages.
- Sylvester, for whom Augie used to pass out movie handbills, reappears. He used to be married to Mimi's sister and wants Mimi to plead his case with her. She's not impressed with him enough to try.
- Like Frazer, Sylvester has been expelled from the Communist Party. He's with the Trotskyists now and has to ask permission to go anywhere.
- Sylvester asks about Augie's brother. He once tried to recruit Simon into Communism.
- Simon has been doing well, putting his plan of marriage into action. He and Charlotte have married, secretly to keep it out of the papers, but with plans for an engagement and wedding to please the family.
- Simon takes Augie to dinner at the Magnuses' home. It's a big place—oversized in Augie's estimation.
- Charlotte really does love Simon, but she also understands at some level that he married her not for love, but for money. They deal with this trouble by joking about it.
- Charlotte is on guard with Augie, possibly afraid of his criticism, but she softens after a time.
- Simon convinces her that Augie is affectionate but not long on good sense.
- At the dinner, Simon puts on a good show, praising the closeness of the Magnuses' family—to Augie, but really for their ears.
- Augie doesn't like this, feeling that Simon is insulting Mama and Grandma. His emotions make it difficult for him to play Simon's game.
- Simon reassures the Magnuses that Augie is a good kid who just doesn't yet know his own mind.
- Augie tries to make himself more acceptable by having more fun and dancing after dinner.
- He follows Simon around as his brother works the guests.
- He takes a liking to one of the other young marriageable women, Lucy Magnus, but he has no interest in marriage for himself.
- Her father calls him over and asks him what he does.
- Simon interjects, saying Augie's in the book business.
- Augie repeats this when the man tells Simon to shut up.
- The brothers tell Lucy's parents that Augie plans to be a lawyer.
- One of the other guests, Kelly Weintraub, says with a hint of menace he knows them and their little brother George.
- Simon isn't worried about him. He's already told Charlotte about George. She wants to move him to a private institution.
- Over the next couple of weeks, Simon has Augie accompany him on trips around town.
- Augie notices that Simon is becoming more quarrelsome now that he has the power that comes with money.
- Simon insists that Augie dress well. His cuffs must strike his shoes right. His nails must be polished. Simon is training him to have expensive needs. Then the desire for dough will come.
- Simon hires a manager to run the office of his new business and Augie to learn the ropes from the manager.
- Business doesn't go all that well during the summer, unfortunately, and Simon becomes a real pain to be around. He shoots rats in the stockyard and makes bullish approaches toward women.
- The manager, Happy Kellerman, threatens to quit.
- Simon starts playing things more politically, befriending lawyers, the police, and others, enlisting their protection for his business interests.
- Before things get better, however, Mimi takes an interest in Simon, asking Augie about his brashness and anxiety.
- Charlotte does her best to pacify Simon, even though he calls her a goofy cow.
- Simon recognizes her strong business sense, however, and relies on her knowledge and confidence.
- The brothers visit Mama.
- Simon is harsh with the home's director for not having better living conditions.
- Later, seeing his mother fitting pins into Roosevelt campaign buttons, he goes into a rage.
- The director's wife calmly explains that his mother was asked and wanted to do the job.
- Simon finds other conditions in the place to be unreasonably upset about.
- Augie tells him to calm down.
- When they leave, the director's wife says to Augie that she hopes at least FDR is good enough for him personally.