Joan declares that she's going to be a psychiatrist, as she and Esther sip apple cider. Their relationship is deteriorating, and Esther is envious because Joan is going to move into an apartment with Nurse Kennedy in Cambridge. Esther is "staying on at the asylum," as Plath insists upon calling the mental institutions described in her book. Esther's doctors don't want her to live with her mother, and she has to wait for the winter term of her college to begin. During their conversation, Esther's mind drifts to her diaphram, which lies in a bottom drawer of her dresser. When Joan asks Esther if she'll come and visit, Esther lies and says, "Of course."
Actually, Esther does go visit Joan, but the visit is not like either of them would have imagined. Esther has met a man named Irwin on the library steps and decides to go to bed with him. He is a professor of mathematics, and thus, Esther reasons, he is intelligent enough to be allowed to have sex with her. In addition, one of his "ladies," as he refers to them, appears on the doorstep while he is entertaining Esther, and she sees that this woman is a sensual Slavic type, so Esther feels that Irwin is sexually qualified for the job too.
Irwin takes Esther to a French restaurant, where she is greedy for butter and wine after the dull institution food that she's been eating. When Irwin seduces her, he is very surprised to discover that Esther is a virgin. The sexual act hurts Esther, but Irwin tells her, "Sometimes it hurts." After he finishes and goes to take a shower, Esther discovers that she is bleeding profusely. To try and stop the bleeding, she wraps towels between her legs and then has Irwin drive her to Joan's apartment.
After making several confused phone calls and not knowing exactly what to do, Joan takes Esther in a taxi to the emergency room of a hospital. There, a doctor declares Esther to be "one in a million," but he assures her that he can "fix" her.
