Story: Julia Smallet is a local piano teacher whose husband, George, has a nasty habit of beating her. Julia's student, 20 year old Ronny Hughes, notices Julia is a bit discolored at times. Julia explains the beatings are the result of her not letting George own a dog due to her neurosis. George sends Julia to a shrink and then buys a Doberman (Atilla) while Julia is at the doctor. After another beating, Ronny takes it upon himself to confront George. George 1 - Ronny 0
During a regression-hypnosis session we learn that when Julia was a young girl, she had a dog that she used to attack another kid. After her third session, Julia appears to have kicked her problem... but old habits are hard to lose. Will Julia play the Atilla card?


Favorite Quote: "Nothing will ever take the smell of George out of anything."


Comment: The story is a mix of "Burning Bed" meets "They Kill their Masters" and "The Graduate". When I was a kid, my piano teachers were about my grandmother's age, so the relationship b/t Ronny and Julia started to "gross me out." But, Ronny may have merely been ahead of his time....it was another 20 years before Anna Nicole perfected the neo natal-grandparent relationship.
Anyway, the focus on domestic abuse was truly ahead of the curve. Kudos to writer Henry Slesser for beating the visual media to the punch on the domestic abuse issue, as I don't think "Burning Bed" came out for at least another five years.
I have to say that George's fight with Ronny, while not justified, did give me a vicarious thrill - Ronny seemed like a couple of snot-nosed, silver spooners I knew in college. Ahh, if only I wasn't a pacifist at the time (I really wasn't, but hey, it got chicks).
The story's ending is merely a suggestion of things to come. I don't think today's audience would be satisfied by the lack of "closure", but I found it unique in a retro-refreshing kind of way...kind of like the spinning question mark at the end of "The Thing."
Parting shot - The latest version would substitute two feuding magicians for Julia and George and a white tiger in place of the Dobie - nah, nobody would believe it...... 