Emmagene, a 20-something orphan, moves from Hortonsburg to live in Nashville with her cousin Nan and her husband. The husband observes that their new house guest is very tidy, her hands frantically cleaning the house, always busy. She attended secretarial school but was desperate to enter the working world to put her hands to use. Even at night, she is always busy cleaning or answering phone calls. The couple sometimes answers the phone but their "hellos" are met with radio silence. They begin to notice that mysterious cars are stationed outside their house, "creeping" by at all hours. There are religious differences within the household as the couple is not very devout whereas Emmagene is a devoted fundamentalist Christian. She travels 13 miles each Sunday to attend church. One night, her hosts ask her why she has no friends. They offer to set her up with a boy friend. She informs them of several boys from home who are taken with her. The couple infers that she is referring to the callers and drivers. After this, Emmagene's hands start to fail her: she drops a precious artifact and then scolds her hand, wringing it compulsively as if to unscrew it from her wrist. Emmagene complains to Nan that the "trashy" boys who follow her have bad intentions. Though she suggests that she is afraid, she seems cheerful. She finds a job but she is not safe from her suitors as a boy from home named George works in her new building. She starts to carpool with George and spends her evenings out. As she gets busier she acts cheerier yet her clumsy mistakes increase. She drops devices and artifacts, ruining household items. She complains that George and the other men have been saying disgusting things to her on the telephone but later, she claims that she likes George. She puts on her nicest dress to go out with George. Nan insists she put on a shawl. In the commotion, Emmagene slips into the kitchen, knocking furniture along the way. The couple hears a scream from inside. The husband learns that Emmagene cut her hand off with a wooden ax before getting into George's car. George drove her directly to the hospital but she dies in the emergency room.