Summary

Zuckerman receives a call from his mother’s cousin Essie saying that Zuckerman’s father, Victor Zuckerman, had suffered a hear attack and would likely die soon. Zuckerman books a flight to Miami, where his parents live. Zuckerman arrives in Miami to see his father, who is lying unconscious in the hospital. Also present are Zuckerman’s brother Henry, their mother Selma, Selma’s cousin Essie, and Essie’s husband, who is only ever referred to as Mr. Metz. On the plane to Miami, Zuckerman had read part of a book about cosmology, specifically about the beginning and the end of the universe. In the hospital, Zuckerman talks to his dying, unconscious father about what he read in the book, trying to convey the enormity and significance of the ideas. After Zuckerman finishes speaking, Victor says a single word, which happens to be...