- It's the first of April, and this means it's party time again, Shmoopsters—pox party time, to be exact.
- People arrive in their fancy clothes, with trunks of stuff and loads of gossip; Mr. Gitney's at the front of the arrival line.
- He cuts each guest on the arm and puts a strand of hair, laced with smallpox, into the cut.
- He does the same to Octavian, while informing Octavian that the cure for smallpox came from Africa and that Constantinople also had smallpox parties.
- After everyone's been inoculated, a red banner that says "God Have Mercy Upon Us" is unfurled. That's what they do for houses infected with smallpox.