Love and a black eye

Notice Allan's proud, chagrined expression. He really shouldn't have fought that common fellow, and he knows he's going to hear about it later.

Also, about the manhandling:

I've noticed something about men; when they express affection, it's often accomplished through harassment. I would say "mild harassment" but sometimes it isn't so mild. Depends if you understand the subtext or not. My husband says this is a trait of immature males, but I'm not so sure.

Women and girls tend to express affection through nurturing and efforts to please. Take a cat; a woman will feed and stroke it, and scratch the sweet spot under the chin to make it purr. A man might ruffle its fur, tweak its tail, attack its belly, generally tease it, and laugh at its indignant expression.

Men who are good friends might trade casual insults as a greeting. If two women do that, there's nothing casual about it and you'd better break it up before they start pulling hair.

We know boys tease the girl they like. I can also attest that young fathers like teasing their toddlers, chasing them around the house, tickling them til they scream, and issuing various playful threats, from "I'm gonna get you!" to "I'll sell you to the gypsies!" Which just goes to show how early we learn to equate male aggression with affection- if you take these threats at face value, they're pretty disturbing.

With this understood, catcalls such as "You so foooiiiine!" can be understood. I guess. At least the subsequent "I was giving you a compliment, bitch!" can be chalked up to the difference between Venus and a very primitive Mars. But that veers over into control and aggression more than affection.

But back to my topic. Is Allan manhandling Siloen a sign of affection, like teasing a cat? Or a show of aggression and control, since Sally wounded his pride? Or perhaps, practically speaking, he's trying to keep her from picking his pockets.

Not that Allan isn't an insensitive jerk, but there's a lot of cultural conditioning involved.