Georgie is pounding on Andrew’s apartment door. It has been a long and fractious day at the law firm where she works as a secretary, and after riding the subway for more than an hour, she cannot wait to shed her office outfit, including a painful pair of spike heels: “I have ruined my arches just so a bunch of stupid men can have a good time looking at my fucking legs” (8). She needs the comfort of her friend Andrew, a college professor who for the last six months has taken an interest in her that reminds Georgie of George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion, in which a college professor teaches a Cockney flower girl refinement. Andrew has upgraded Georgie’s dress, improved her vocabulary (particularly her fondness for expletives), and got her to give up cigarettes. He has given Georgie books—most recently the Iliad, which she says would make a great mini-series. Finally, Andrew asked his college friend, a defense attorney named Edward, to hire Georgie.

Once Andrew lets her in, Georgie goes into Andrew’s bedroom, quickly strips off her office outfit and her heels, and comes out wearing one of Andrew’s fiancée Lydia’s most expensive silk dresses as a joke.