Summary

Part One

Upper East Side, November 1957 – Marty de Groot, a patent lawyer, and his wife Rachel are set to host a party at their New York place for the Aid Society. Clay and Celia Thomas are the first to arrive. Clay is Marty’s boss. Sixty or so people attend, and the evening is going well. Marty addresses the guests as he clutches his Beagle, Carraway. He comments that the Russians have launched a dog into space, a dog whose final meal is laced with poison. Marty tunes the radio in to hear Sputnik 2 as it orbits the Earth.

The entertainment for the evening, the Rent-A-Beats (three women and three men, all beatniks) arrive, but they make a mess of things as some of them are high. Clay takes the initiative by shoving one...