- An outbreak of polio threatens to disrupt New Bedford's summer fishing tournament.
- Toppy hears from the publisher that they have accepted her book for publication. Hub is away working at a logging camp at Alawanda for the summer. Jim is also looking for a summer job, and Grace urges Callie to offer him a position at the radio station as the news announcer. Jim is grateful for the job, but when he finds out Grace was the one who recommended him, he is angry as he feels this recommendation is his consolation prize for letting her go as his girlfriend. But he comes around to the fact that Grace did it purely as a friend helping a friend. The entire town of New Bedford is excited as the annual bass fishing tournament, sponsored by Silver Dome Mine, and the associated picnic, sponsored by the bank, is upcoming. Combined, they are the biggest economic event of the year for New Bedford as it draws tourists to the area. On a more serious note, infantile paralysis is slowly spreading through the region, but public health officials are uncertain of the source of the infections. The closest case is in Pinebury, 30 miles away. The current heatwave does not help the matter, the heat which exacerbates the rate of infection. On advice from Dr. Barlow, Max, as Mayor, wants to issue a public health warning, with cautions of children being in large crowds or near bodies of water, two seeming causes of infection outbreaks. The merchants association in general is angry that Max would issue such a warning as the infection has not yet hit New Bedford and they know such a warning would negatively affect attendance at the tournament and picnic. Honey takes the warning to heart and orders both Henry and Violet to stay indoors until further notice. Henry disobeys orders, and with Violet and Zach in tow, goes outside for a brief period. With information that affected children vacationed at Bass Lake and without Dr. Barlow who is away and out of contact, Juanita suggests in front of the merchants association that the tournament be canceled. Matters gets worse when Zach comes down with symptoms of the infection. In private, Max chastises Henry for putting 'his only son' at risk despite medical evidence stating that Zach could not have come down with symptoms so quickly after exposure. With help from May, Max and Honey quarantine Zach at the hospital in North Bridge. But in public, Max the mayor needs to act. Without Dr. Barlow or any public health official to offer advice, Max decides to persuade May and Otto Graham, the bank manager, to cancel their respective events. Both are wary of doing so, especially without conclusive evidence from medical health. And the militant merchants association, the opposition led by Archie, Callie, Myrt Dumphry and Sam Wilamot, does whatever it can to keep both events going, with some individuals taking drastic measures. Finally, both May and Otto issue their official cancellation/postponement of the events, and Jim, in his new capacity, manages to take the health warning to the masses, much to Callie's consternation. In the end, Zach ends up not being infected and Dr. Barlow, upon his return, applauds both Juanita and Max's actions despite the differences he has had with Juanita in the past.—Huggo
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