(Section I)
- We're back at the Zenith Boosters' Club, where Babbitt enjoys an afternoon palling around with his buddies. They tease a fellow Booster about getting older, since it's the man's birthday.
- They deal with some of the afternoon's business, such as voting which man is the room is the handsomest and which is the ugliest.
- Then Chum Frink gets up and talks about why they should support a local symphony orchestra, even though classical music is too high-brow for many of them.
- Before the lunch is over, Babbitt is surprised to find out that he's been elected the new Vice President of the Boosters' Club. Everyone pats him on the back and shakes his hand. And he's feeling as good as a pig in… let's say mud.
- Babbitt's happiness quickly disappears, though, when he calls home to tell Myra. Before he can explain his good fortune, she informs him that his friend Paul has shot his wife, Zilla.