Summary

In “Treatment for a Story,” a woman arrives in heavy rain by taxi at a man’s room, where she is thrilled by his apartment even though it is dirty and filled with the scent of cigarette smoke and sex. He is distracted writing notes and smoking his pipe, and when he leaves to get food she feels as if the space is pressing in on her with the force of his personality, smell, and effects. She goes for a walk in the morning and purifies her body with food and drink and flowers she enjoys. She returns to the rain and the dirty apartment where again she feels “overpowered” by the space and by “Himself” (85). They have sex, during which time she feels “pure happiness” (85). She falls asleep, and Collins leaves it ambiguous whether the...