Summary

As Cantor continues to supervise the students, he sees them becoming increasingly agitated by the spread of polio. One of the kids says that Herbie Steinmark was recently killed by polio. Cantor calls the hospital, and an administrator confirms that Herbie did die very recently. Cantor experiences a private fit of anger and grief upon hearing this. A few days later, he attends Alan Michaels’ funeral at a local synagogue. As part of the service, Alan’s uncle gives a eulogy about how kind and intelligent Alan was. The eulogy is eloquent and even somewhat uplifting. However, as Cantor rides to the cemetery in a car with some of Alan’s family, a few of the members speak with anger and bitterness about Alan’s death. Some of them blame the hot dog shop for infecting Alan; they refer to the shop as...