The Shipping News: Chapter 27: Newsroom  Summary & Analysis

Two days later, Billy Pretty enters the newsroom with the latest on the dead body, which the authorities believe is Bayonet Melville. While Billy types up the story at his desk, Nutbeem complains that he never gets to cover anything exciting, just the sordid sexual assaults. Gruffly, Tert points out that these salacious stories are what sell the paper. Quoyle wonders what happens to offenders, but Nutbeem says he won’t be around long enough to figure it out. The Borogrove is almost fixed, and he plans to sail before the ice sets in.

Tert asks Quoyle for his accident writeup. This week, it’s about the sinking of a fishing boat that heeled over and sank under the weight of some brand-new, completely empty traps. The loss concluded a disastrous fishing season in which  the boat’s owner spent over $8,000 on licenses, equipment, and repairs only to catch a grand total of nine cod. The story strikes Tert as funny, but Quoyle hates the fact that poor fisherman’s life work “ended like a stupid joke.”

Recently, Quoyle received a letter from Partridge, describing his and Mercalia’s grand life in California. They’ve gotten into wine and built a cellar; they have a smoker, a $2,000 gas grill, and a clay oven in their backyard for cooking, and they even have a whole-house sound system. They would love for Quoyle to fly out for a visit anytime. Quoyle rereads this letter, then he invites Nutbeem to lunch at Skipper Will’s.

Hunched over a table in the back, Nutbeem asks Quoyle if he’s noticed Jack’s tendency to assign his reporters beats that involve their own fear and trauma. Quoyle has to cover the car accidents, even after Petal’s death. Nutbeem—who was abused for years as a schoolboy—is forced to cover the sexual assaults. Quoyle observes that it’s not unlike Jack’s insistence on fishing despite his fear of the ocean: constant exposure dulls the pain a little, because it makes one’s own experience feel less unique. But it still hurts.

At four o’clock, Quoyle goes to pick up Wavey. Each morning, he drops Sunshine at Beety’s, takes Bunny to school, then gives Wavey a ride into town. In the afternoons he takes Wavey home, then picks up the girls. Sometimes, he brings Bunny and Sunshine back to Wavey’s house—inside, it’s full of colorful furnishings, paintings, and the little wooden figures she and her father make a living selling to tourists—and they eat dinner together. People are noticing, but it’s still taking a long time for anything between Quoyle and Wavey to become official.