In spite of being a religious woman, Julie read all the latest magazines and she knew that she was not just supposed to be a receptacle for a man. She was supposed to get some kind of joy from sex too. She was owed an orgasm! Trouble was that she was too shy to discuss the matter with Brad and he seemed to treat sex as some kind of mechanical release for himself. Sometimes she just felt like throwing in the towel. Is this what life is all about? Thirteen years of marriage with her minister husband and she still didn't enjoy sex. Of course, she had Janice, her sweet daughter but somehow it seemed that she should have more fulfillment as a human being. She couldn't live vicariously through her daughter and her husband for much longer, Julie admitted to herself. She was bored! Her marriage was boring! Her life was boring!

Dispiritedly, the minister's wife picked up one of the latest magazines and turned to an article on female fulfillment. Fat lot of good it's going to do to read about it, she thought bitterly. She was just flipping the page of the article when the telephone rang. She reached for the receiver wondering if it was Janice telling her she was going to be home late.

"Hello," came a throaty voice on the other end. It was remotely familiar to her and she wracked her brain trying to think who it was. Even when the voice said. "My dear, this is Arlene."

Even that didn't ring a bell. Arlene who?

"Arlene Lowell."

"Arlene Lowell."

It took a few seconds for the words to sink in, for them to make sense. And then Julie breathed into the telephone. "Mrs. Lowell, sorry I didn't recognize your voice at first."

"Call me Arlene for God's sake. I was wondering if you might be free this evening. We really haven't had much time to get to know each other and I thought we might have dinner tonight."