The paper

The announcement seemed to stun no one but Rock, but he had never believed the paper would shut down in his lifetime. Nevertheless, he heard the news as he walked through the newsroom.

A midlevel manager named Stacey met Rock in a small, dark room near sports. "I've known about it for the last couple of days," Stacey said. "I didn't see any reason to tell anyone."

The sports guys sat around in the office and told stories about the old days. No one seemed particularly troubled.