Summary

Pierre's research assistant, Shari, comes in one morning red-eyed and disheveled. He notices that she seems to be crying and asks her what's troubling her. Shari tells him she's broken up with her fiancée because they both carry the genes for Tay-Sachs—a genetically-caused disease among Ashkenazi Jews that causes dementia, convulsions, paralysis, and death in childhood. Since they both carry the gene, there is a 25 percent chance their child would develop Tay-Sachs, Pierre says. Shari tells Pierre she was brought up with the notion she should bear children to help compensate for the murder of six million Jews during the Holocaust. She says her boss couldn't understand because he is not Jewish.

Pierre tells Molly he hasn't taken a test to determine whether he has Huntington's because many who test positive commit suicide. She tells him she wants to marry him...