Pages 3-22 Summary

Frannie Benedetto is a middle-aged nurse who has been married to her first love for nearly twenty years. Bobby has been violent toward Frannie since the early days of their courtship and she has recently decided she needs to escape before he kills her.

Frannie Benedetto reflects on her husband and his infectious charm. Bobby is a police officer who once testified in a famous case in which he encouraged Frannie to see. Frannie recalls how the accused told the court that a cop kept hounding him until finally he broke. Frannie knows this was Bobby and she knows how it feels because he often did the same to her. Frannie reflects on the first time Bobby hit her, in the early days of their courtship, over some misunderstood fit of jealousy. Frannie could not wear a sundress for a week...