As polio starts to spread through Australia under the name of 'Infantile Paralysis', the Jewish protagonist describes the superstitious measures she, her sister, and her family take against it. They stop going to school; they cannot talk to any other children for fear of the 'paralsis' being breathed towards them; they go to a film with glycerine-soaked cotton wool up their nostrils as a safeguard. The protagonist thinks she falls victim to the 'paralsis' but it is only a stiff neck from sleeping under a draught.