On a Saturday morning at Heaven & Earth Grocery, Patty Millison—nicknamed Newspaper, or “Paper”—holds court with her usual stream of gossip while Chona is absent (it is her Sabbath). The crowd treats Chona’s risky decision to hide deaf, orphaned Dodo from the state as grimly inevitable background; what they want is Paper’s latest news.

Paper announces that “Big Soap” (Enzo Carissimi) knocked out Fatty Davis’s gold tooth. Pressed by Rusty to “story it up,” Paper reenacts what she saw: Fatty and Big Soap walking home from work, Fatty repeatedly daring Big Soap to hit him, and Big Soap finally delivering one massive punch that drops Fatty and sends the tooth into the dirt. Paper describes helping Fatty search until they find the tooth, leaving Fatty humiliated and injured enough to go to Philadelphia for treatment.

Paper adds what she later learned from Dick Clemens at Flagg Industries: a Philadelphia inspector found that a fire hose hadn’t been tested, exposing Fatty’s lie and Big Soap’s confused agreement. The inspector fired both men on the spot, and Paper concludes that Fatty’s bossiness and deception pushed Big Soap into anger and fear—especially because Big Soap’s strict mother will punish him for losing his job.

After the laughter and speculation about Big Soap’s loyalty and Fatty’s many hustles, Paper quietly joins Addie at the back counter. They notice a tall Black stranger watching the store while pretending to inspect vegetables, and Paper is convinced he is “from the state,” possibly connected to Pennhurst and sent to find Dodo.

Addie and Paper decide to keep Chona out of it to avoid more conflict and illness, and Addie tells Paper to note the man’s license plate if he drives away. Paper admits she can barely write, then turns to the bigger implication: if the state is still searching after Chona told officials Dodo is gone, someone on Chicken Hill must be talking. Paper promises Addie she will identify the blabbermouth.