Act 1, Scene 3, Part 1 Summary

Veronique, Marie-Adele, Annie, and Zhaboonigan arrive at the store. There they meet Emily Dictionary, a tough woman with a black eye, which she says was the result of a "tussle," but refuses to say with whom. Annie tells Emily that she wasn't able to find out from Philomena or Pelajia whether Gazelle is going to Toronto with Big Joey, so Emily asks the gossipy Veronique. Their subsequent argument reveals that Veronique saw Emily come out of Big Joey's, and Emily knows she saw. As Emily teasingly calls Zhaboonigan a pagan, Veronique tells her to not make fun of Zhaboonigan's name, saying that Emily shouldn't make jokes about the names of other people when she herself has such a strange one. Emily attacks Veronique and the two of them fight as the other women try to intervene.

Pelajia arrives in...