Molly moved from the Observer to the New York Times, where the voice she had developed in Austin--atypical of a Smith College graduate conversant in French--never quite fit. Her description of a community chicken slaughter in New Mexico as a "gang pluck" caught the attention of Times editor Abe Rosenthal, who told her he suspected she had tried to slip an off-color joke into her copy. "Abe, you're a smart man," Molly replied.