In the beginning he was ecstatic about that offer, to write his own advice column in the newspaper, for the job seemed to be a joke and he didn’t want to continue as a leg man. He became Ms. Lonelyhearts, an almighty comforter of struggling and suffering ones. Contrary to his expectations, the reality proved to be exhausting. Soon enough he stopped differentiate between Ms. Lonelyhearts and himself. The piles of letters on his desk screamed with desperation, loneliness, fear, exhaustion and hurt. Every day was like a replica of a previous one! Ms. Lonelyhearts soaked up like other people’s doom and gloom like a sponge. Moreover, a feeling of anger and anxiety started getting on his nerves. Order became his new obsession and the disorganized crowds of people drove him crazy. However, the most frightening thing for him was that he, Ms. Lonelyhearts, lost faith. No matter how hard he wanted to believe in God, no matter how fervently he repeated the name of Jesus Christ, it felt wrong. He started fooling around with his boss’s wife, but it didn’t seem to help, for Mrs. Shrike had her own share of problems, just like Mr. Shrike did. Even Betty, the columnist’s fiancée, didn’t have a clue how to help him. They had agreed to get married, but Ms. Lonelyhearts seemed to kill any wish to start a family.
One night the columnist drank so much that he couldn’t go to work the next day. It was Betty who helped him, but event that care and attention repulsed him. As soon as he had managed to pull himself together and went to work, there was a letter waiting for him. It was from a woman whose husband was a cripple. She begged for a chance to meet Ms. Lonelyhearts in person and after some hesitation he agreed to do that. They didn’t waste their time on talking, for Mrs. Doyle knew that he was a man and the latter knew why she had asked him to meet her. Everything became even worse and soon enough Ms. Lonelyhearts was so sick that Betty took him to an old farm that belonged to her family. They spent several nice days there, but as soon as they returned to the city, Ms. Lonelyhearts knew that Betty failed to cure him. He met Mr. Doyle, the husband of the woman he had slept with, in the bar one night. The cripple was so pleased to see him that he invited him to visit his place.
Mrs. Doyle started flirting with him as soon as they stepped into the flat. The rest of the night was spent in the rather awkward atmosphere and when the woman tried to touch and kiss him, Ms. Lonelyhearts hit her. He was beating her until she stopped moving and then he left. Ms. Lonelyhearts got engaged in the same old routine he wanted to escape so much. During one of the parties, he noticed that Betty behaved strangely. She tried to avoid him and was rather reluctant to tell him what was going on. It turned out to be that she was pregnant. Ms. Lonelyhearts persuaded her to keep the child and start a family with him. The next day, Mr. Doyle paid a visit to him. Accidentally, when Ms. Lonleyhearts tried catch the cripple, the latter dragged out a gun. An explosion and Ms. Lonelyhearts fell.
