Link’s father takes him shopping for a suit to wear to his bar mitzvah. His lessons with Rabbi Gold have taught him about Jewish history and the Jewish people’s fight for survival. “[B]ecoming a bar mitzvah,” the rabbi has told him, means “taking some of that history on [his] shoulders” (108). The idea scares Link, but the rabbi has encouraged him. Wearing the suit makes Link feel that he is making a passage from a former stage of life, and he feels conflicted. His father offers him the opportunity to back out, but Link is fully committed.

As they leave the shop, they spot a news crew from Denver Action News in town to cover the paper chain. Since the project resumed, it has grown exponentially. Everyone in town has joined the project, not only the elementary and high schools but also families, the retirement village, and the YMCA. The paper chain has grown so large that it has to be stored in a farm equipment warehouse. A local trucking company transported it in three dump trucks for free.

The news crew wants to interview Link. Though he is wary of the way reporters twist a story for their own ends, he agrees.