Her husband travels extensively. The evening that this event began, a Friday, Helen had gone to the symphony, alone, and there encountered a man, Tyrone, whom she had known well once and disliked- a tall, spare man of curious temperament, a hedonist, a true male chauvinist, stubborn, opinionated, willful- a type that Helen usually detested. That evening, after the concert, he offered her a drink, and thinking of avoiding a long cab ride home alone, she accepted. The thought of physical involvement with this man, though perhaps not repulsive, was certainly far from her mind. After stopping for a drink and a late, light supper, he did drive her to her house, made the expected pass, and she responded by giving him a stinging slap in the face. He replied as no man had before. He twisted her arm, turned her away from him, and using a hard bare hand, slapped her fiercely across the rump.