Instead, he turned his attention to the Loudoun Chronicle. The lead story had a headline, “Loudoun Board rejects new subdivision.” Another talked about a push to protect the site of a Civil War skirmish off Route 15. There was a giant photo of a football player catching a ball underneath a headline that read “PotomacFalls claims victory over Broad Run.”

At the bottom of the page was a smaller headline that said “Phillips Farm Debate Started.”

“Jesus, that will get their attention,” Quinn said sarcastically to the wall. The wall had never answered him, but Quinn had begun to worry in his present state it might. Then he knew he’d be in real trouble.

He sighed. The tiny by-line-By Quinn O’Brion-would undoubtedly go unnoticed by most who bothered to read the story. But it hurt just a little to know he had worked two days on a story only to see the headline turn into a bright neon sign warning people not to read any further.

“Phillips Farm Debate Started,” he said. “Why don’t they just say: ‘Boring White People Fight More,’ or ‘Trouble Sleeping? Read Further for Cure.’”

Quinn didn’t read any further.

It was hard not to be frustrated working for a paper that seemed to publish the same stuff every week, pouring over the most minute details of life in Loudoun County, Virginia. Year to year, you talked to the same people, wrote many of the same stories. And even when you had a good story-and the Phillips Farm debate mattered, he believed-it probably wouldn’t register.

He dropped the Chronicle on the ground and picked up the Post. He leafed through it to find the “Loudoun Extra”-a 15-page insert that attempted to replicate a local paper. The Post had been on a kick lately. Seeing increasing numbers of readers turn to the Internet for news-which was free-the paper had begun local inserts in several regions.

The end result was that fewer residents felt the need to subscribe to papers like the Chronicle. It did not matter that the Chronicle ’s staff had worked here longer or knew people better. People didn’t want to subscribe to two papers anymore.