Her boyfriend called two other women that day, both of them younger than Ms. Mysnyk, who was 34.

"But my boyfriend called me a sap," she said.

Even her name is an embarrassment, what her boyfriend calls "an insult to the Negro people."

The mothers, he adds, "could find other boyfriends and the kids would be calling them Daddy."

The boyfriend called the police late last night, the sergeant said.

Rosalyn's boyfriend, Charlie, never appears in the strip, but calls her on the telephone sometimes.

He said the former boyfriend had repeatedly called, threatened and stalked her in an attempt to win her back.

My boyfriend called me the next day and asked if I was sleeping in the same room with Nuvo.

Wanda works at the local hospital, and had a boyfriend called Frank.