The Set of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Essay -- Whos Afraid Virgin

The Set of Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf? For a play as drastically depressing and oppressive as Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, the set needs to augment the mood as much as possible. Albees play calls for several props, and all of these have to be provided, but more than that, the set needs to look as real as possible, to show that these people are not vastly different from the emit of us. And because in that fact the true horror of the play resides the set is all-important. Luckily, the performance featured a realistic, intricate, close set. Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is set in an quotidian 1950s New England suburban house. Nothing is overly expensive or glamorous. But in plays, imageers typically want things to catch the eye, even though in this instance such would ruin the mood. The set designers captured this mood perfectly. Nothing is anachronistic. The set even lacks a coherent color scheme but why would in that respect be? In most houses, walls are painted and papered , carpet is put down, but, twenty years later, these same walls are decorated with paintings and the floors are covered with rugs and article of furniture that would not have even been considered in the inception. The set of Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf? shows this hodgepodge perfectly. Above the set, the eaves of the house, and the roof of another house are clearly seen, providing, again, a voyeuristic view of the plays events. Such realism creates a believable mood for the play, rise the effect that these things are actually happening (heightened smooth more with Albees back-and-forth style of dialog), leaving the viewer acting as a voyeur, but also identifying closely with the characters. The realism in the set design is even more ... ...h a crowded area (set close to the edge of the stage for an even greater close appearance), and seeing them not bump into angiotensin converting enzyme another is uncomfortable to watch, simply because of the slight inherent feeling of wrong ness, rather than a good-natured and cozy feeling, that is supported by the caustic dialogue. The set of Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is perfectly designed for the play. The realism and intricacy of the scenery and props attempt to raise the fourth wall as much as possible, heightening the reality of the performance, while the claustrophobic closeness of everything tears the wall down in tiny shreds, giving a feel of unease to the play. In any modern play, unlike Shakespeares plays, there is a struggle to present the play in the accurate time, and the set designers of Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf? have through with(p) this flawlessly and accurately.

Characterization of Charlie Gordon :: essays research papers

Characterization of Charlie Gordonfrom the short story Flowers for AlgernonCharlie Gordon has all his life been mental disabled, but for just as colossal time wanted to be a geni-ass. One day he is given that opportunity and he agrees to let the doctors operate his brain. Before the operation Charlie is a very friendly man, who only sees the good things in life and trusts everybody. His lack of intelligence makes it impossible for him to see that his best friends are in fact victimizing him. (Report 8, scallywag 117) He cant imagine things. I tryed hard but I still (Report 2, page 112) Another important quality he hasnt got, besides intelligence and imagination, is Feeling. He is only able to be happy, he can not feel anger and love. One of Charlies best qualities is his indigence and what seems like his eternal strive for normal intelligence.After the surgery he slowly becomes more and more intelligent, along with the intelligence his imagination and his ability to see feelings grow. And suddenly he is no longer locked in a perspective where he is only able to see a purple present. Now he has been gifted with a new look on life. He sees present and past and how he has been treated by his friends, this leads him to be suspicious of everybody near him. I didnt know what to do (April 20, page 122) His intelligence reaches new, never known heights and he becomes even more an outsider than he was before, as a decelerate.And finally hes stupid again.I like Charlie Gordon, and I liked him best when he was smart. But if he hadnt been a retard before he became a genius, I guess I wouldnt have liked him as much. I think being able to bulge oneself in anothers position and way of thinking is a great quality to have as a human being.

wake up (argument ) :: essays research papers

Wake-up I grew up on the corner of Ocean Ave. and Dorchester Ave., where all the older kids sit down by the stoop that provide a gust of breeze during the summer. As the little ones on the block cool off form the open rear hydrant. Brooklyn, New York, Flatbush to be specific is the topic of the composition. Flatbush is a place where people pray to God so long that they soon become an Atheist. Its a place where you can be with your friend one day and tomorrow he is dead. And the A-Team comes by, excuse me the cops, we call them that because they come out of vans and begin shooting with no regard. They may seem odd to many, but to me this is a typical and natural condition. Death is so normal, young men think about writing wills at eight-teen. In my apartment building, I walk through broken glass in the hallway and bloodstained floors. When I come from the corner store neighbors, get a line at each bag you bring through your doors. Once I come through my door I lock the top lock, my mother would warmth have cuffed me to the radiator so I wouldnt go out. Just imagine and try to envision these sentences as the depict various scenarios that go on as you read this essay. These events probably wont make it to your evening news, but stories as such affect people in a lesser or same magnitude that the victims of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and crashed airplane accidents. So its most likely my responsibility and duty to inform the less-informed about the tragedies that occur on a everyday cycle. Tragedies that touches thousands but the media feels it really isnt that important. Let me clarify that this doesnt only go on Flatbush, Brooklyn, N.Y., rather this goes on practically over in our great nation. From the hot and humid streets of Miami to the cold hostile settings in Chicago, the same cycles reenacts itself in different regions.Its not important to broadcast every single bad occurrence, but it is imperative to realize such events are going on and no t just be blind about it. If a tall and towering tree falls down and no one is there, does the tree make a loud and terrible noise.

huck finn :: essays research papers

-As a coming of age character in the late nineteenth century, huckaback views his surroundings with a practical and logical lens.-His observations argon not filled with judgments instead, Huck observes his environment and gives realistic descriptions of the Mississippi River and the culture that dominates the towns that dot its shoreline from Missouri south. It is his literal, pragmatic approach to his surroundings and his inner vie with his conscience that make him one of the most important and recognizable figures in American literature.-Abstractly, he does not recognize the contradiction of "loving thy neighbor" and enforcing thrall at the same time. He observes the racist and anti-government rants of his ignorant father but does not condemn him because it is the "accepted" view in his world. Huck simply reports what he sees, and the deadpan narration allows Twain to depict a realistic view of common ignorance, slavery, and the inhumanity that follows.Huck pos sesses the ability to adapt to almost any slur through deceit. He is playful but practical, inventive but logical, compassionate but realistic, and these traits allow him to survive the abuse of Pap, the violence of a feud, and the wiles of river con men.To persist in these situations, Huck lies, cheats, steals, and defrauds his way down the river. These traits are part of the reason that Huck Finn was viewed as a book not acceptable for children, yet they are also traits that allow Huck to survive his surroundings and, in the conclusion, make the right decision.-Because Huck believes that the laws of society are just, he condemns himself as a squealer and a villain for acting against them and aiding Jim.More important, Huck believes that he will lose his chance at Providence by helping a slave. When Huck declares, "All right, then, Ill go to hell," he refuses his place in society and heaven, and the magnitude of his decision is what solidifies his role as a heroic figure .Quote 1) "All right, then, Ill go to hell el." Huck, as he reaches a decision about his responsibility toward Jim. This passage symbolizes Hucks gesture of sacrifice for Jim.Quote 2) "But I reckon I got to light out for the territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt Sally shes going to adopt me and sivilize me, and I cant stand it. I been there before."Aunt Sallys intentions for Huck meat around the upbringing that society thinks every boy should have religion, clean clothes, education, and an indoctrination in right and wrong.

A Comparison of the Masks In Cold Blood, Streetcar Named Desire, and Fe

Peeking Behind the Masks In Cold Blood, Streetcar Named Desire, and Fences In life, we every attempt to project some kind of personality to others. We incur a mask we wear in different situations, but when times get tough, we eventually discard our masks and become our true selves. We dont live buttocks our masks until the sad end, like the characters of In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, and Fences by August Wilson. The three characters, Perry Smith, Blanche DuBois, and Troy Maxson wore masks to their bitter endings, always trying to fool everyone else. When times got tough, they had to face themselves, and they could not stand the sight. The characters of Blanche DuBois (A Streetcar Named Desire by Williams), Troy Maxson (Fences by Wilson) and Perry Smith (In Cold Blood by Capote), all had an image they hoped to project. They wanted everyone else to see them in a certain way. Each character had their own delusions about whom they were and what they wanted to project to others. The three hide behind masks in an attempt to be confident and faultless. For example, in the case of Blanche DuBois we are introduced to a woman who portrays herself as a southern belle, a woman who is divinatory to be genteel. It doesnt take long before the audience can recognize DuBois for what she really is. However, she never gives in, or admits to what the audience can see in her. DuBois is move to a life of illusion. She tells people she is a schoolteacher on leave, when she has actually lost her job for becoming involved in an affair with a lots younger man (Harris 444). Laurie Lanzen Harris states, She presents herself as an innocent, virginal young woman .... ...84. Nance, William L. The Worlds of Truman Capote. Contemporary Literary Criticism 13 (1970) 137-138. Shafer, Yvonne. Breaking Barriers August Wilson, in Staging diversity Cultural Pluralism in American Theatre and Drama. Contemporary Literary Criticism 118 (1 999) 405-406. Shannon, Sandra G. The Good Christians Come and Gone The Shifting Role of Christianity in August Wilson Plays, in MELUS. Contemporary Literary Criticism 118 (1999) 382-384. Vogel, Dan. The Mask of Oedipus Tyranos, in The Three Masks of American Tragedy. Contemporary Literary Criticism 5 (1976) 504-505. Works Consulted Capote, Truman. In Cold Blood. reinvigorated York The New American Library, 1940. Williams, Tennessee. A Streetcar Named Desire. New York New Directories, 1947. Wilson, August. Fences. New York Plume, 1985.

A Comparison of the Masks In Cold Blood, Streetcar Named Desire, and Fe

Peeking Behind the Masks In Cold Blood, Streetcar Named Desire, and Fences In liveness, we all tackle to project some kind of personality to others. We have a inter we wear in different situations, but when times get tough, we eventually discard our masks and become our true selves. We dont live behind our masks until the tragic end, like the characters of In Cold Blood by Tru part Capote, Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, and Fences by August Wilson. The three characters, Perry Smith, Blanche DuBois, and Troy Maxson wore masks to their bitter endings, always trying to fool everyone else. When times got tough, they had to face themselves, and they could not stand the sight. The characters of Blanche DuBois (A Streetcar Named Desire by Williams), Troy Maxson (Fences by Wilson) and Perry Smith (In Cold Blood by Capote), all had an image they hoped to project. They cherished everyone else to see them in a certain way. Each character had their own delusions about who m they were and what they wanted to project to others. The three hide behind masks in an attempt to be confident and faultless. For example, in the case of Blanche DuBois we are introduced to a woman who portrays herself as a southern belle, a woman who is supposed to be genteel. It doesnt extend long before the audience can recognize DuBois for what she really is. However, she never gives in, or admits to what the audience can see in her. DuBois is drawn to a life of illusion. She tells people she is a schoolteacher on leave, when she has actually lost her job for becoming involved in an affair with a much younger man (Harris 444). Laurie Lanzen Harris states, She presents herself as an innocent, virginal young woman .... ...84. Nance, William L. The Worlds of Truman Capote. Contemporary literary Criticism 13 (1970) 137-138. Shafer, Yvonne. Breaking Barriers August Wilson, in Staging Difference Cultural Pluralism in American Theatre and Drama. Contemporary Literary Criticism 118 (1999) 405-406. Shannon, Sandra G. The Good Christians Come and Gone The Shifting Role of Christianity in August Wilson Plays, in MELUS. Contemporary Literary Criticism 118 (1999) 382-384. Vogel, Dan. The Mask of Oedipus Tyranos, in The Three Masks of American Tragedy. Contemporary Literary Criticism 5 (1976) 504-505. Works Consulted Capote, Truman. In Cold Blood. New York The New American Library, 1940. Williams, Tennessee. A Streetcar Named Desire. New York New Directories, 1947. Wilson, August. Fences. New York Plume, 1985.

The Effects of Cyber Bullying

Cyber intimidation is defined as deliberately attempting to upset someone cyber yobing can happen via a number numerous ways. With all varied forms of social media, whether it be Twitter, Facebook, or even, Instagram, cyberbullying can occur. Bullying effects our communities. Kids that atomic number 18 bullied fall out likely to experience anxiety, depression, loneliness, unhappiness, and sleep deprivation. Yet, while the victim might appear passive, it stands imperative that the parent may not. When a parent takes part in his or her childs social media, it makes it harder for his or her child to be make fun of because their parents watch over them.A parent can stand as the ultimate counselor a child needs when progress toting bullied. Real vivification bullying stops when that final bell rings, but cyberbullying continues outside of the classroom. People will bully someone because they want to lower another persons self-esteem. But bullying can do more than that Bully victims a ppear two to nine times more likely to consider suicide. Victims go by means of this depression where they cannot feel whatsoeverthing except worthlessness. Actions of cyberbullying does not only happen on the social media, it happens by dint of texting as well.More than likely, another student harasses and bashes another student nevertheless for their own self amusement. The person never stops to consider the thoughts of his or her victims. Cyberbullying causes depression, school phobia, social anxiety, not wanting to leave the house, and, even thoughts of suicide. most oftentimes cyberbullying may appear as a touchy subject that students must learn how to properly handle and get the help they need. Kids going though this molestation can feel at their lowest then have the harassment to pile on to it.When it comes to cyberbullying, they often are motivated by anger, revenge, or frustration. sometimes they do it for entertainment or because they appear bored and have too much time on their hands. Many do it for laughs, or to get a reaction, but some do it by accident, that person sends a message to the wrong recipient, or he or she do not think onwards he or she acts. Power-hungry people do it to torment others and social popularity. Revenge of the nerd may start out as defending themself from traditional bullying only to find that he or she enjoys being the tough guy.Mean girls do it to help bolster, or remind people, of their own social standing. Some think they are justifying the wrong and standing up for others. In general, cyberbullies have their own motives on why they are involved in cyberbullying. Some of their intentions have been identified as anonymity, power, attention, retaliation, boredom, jealousy, and the pleasure of inflicting pain. Numerous people who participate in cyber bullying do it to make themselves feel better. Bullies tend to have much insecurity, but they hide them through insulting others. There are many ways to overcome cybe rbullying.He, or she, may just want to click delete on every undesirable email, text, or IM. However, this may not appear as the right motive because there may come a time when this bully needs to get reported, and he or she will need all the evidence right there in front of him or her. To prevent bullying one must save and print each and every mean thing they send. The day will come, when he or she will need this evidence. If the person receives a bully message, never get more involved than needed. Replying to that hurtful comment will only worsen the problem. When all else fails, get others involved.Let Parents or teachers know close the situation. Most likely, they can track the IP address, and get the exact location of the attacker. A cyberbully stands as nothing when they do not behind their internet mask. Talking to them about it upfront, might even scare them away. If this person seems not to be intimidated, or issues more violent or humiliating threats, contact an adult to intervene. Bullying of any kind appears illegal in most states. After letting a parent into the situation, allow them to contact the bullys parents. Cyberbullying can happen to anyone and anyone can overcome it as well.

Architectural Classification of Memorials

Categorization OF MEMORIALSMemorials can be classified into affiliate focusings. Significant points that form the footing of categorization can be identifies as background of listeningPermanence of the stuffEvocationArchitectureScope OF ARCHITECTUREMemorials can be classified based on range of audience in the followersPublic MemorialPrivate MemorialMemory is of event to all benignant existences. All human existences preserve commemorations in versatile shapes. Human existences member their family in the signifier of sedate narratives or Samadhi, etc. Persons of broad acclamation and known for of import workss are society commemorated by the society. This gives u two signifiers of commemorations depending on the audience the memorialisation references.Private Memorialsare limited to the smaller communities or smaller parts of the society, e.g. Thayillam house postponement reign. Thayillam household tower is a tower recollection erected by the household at Ayroor small town i n cardinal Travancore, Kerla. The 32-foot tower has the names of 268 ascendants of the household crossing guild coevalss get downing from 1600AD. Such commemorations are rare as media other than architecture for continuing private memory are more popular and widespread.THE create by mental act OF A MEMORIALWhat does really do a commemoration? By the virtuousness of which qualities do we name a construction a memorial? argon these qualities a step of a construction being a commemoration and operation as one?There are two chief factors that go into the devising of a memorial. These are the emotional factors and the architectural factors. Apart from the emotional facets, it is the assorted architectural facets, which are of import in rendering a construction.If the audience is straight hit by the event or is straight related to the single(a) that the memorial commemorates the emotional factor grows stronger than the architectural factor. However, the emotional factor diminishes or dies out with clip ( as coevalss pass ) whereas the architectural characteristics remain more lasting through clip.In public commemoration, the full society is the audience. Ideally, the commemoration should target the position of the full society and therefore should turn to the whole society. Besides the commemoration has to be dateless i.e. to state it should be able to arouse the feel in all the coevalss that it survives and unrecorded beyond its epoch. This is where architecture plays its portion. Architecture becomes the medium of arousing the emotions attached to the event/person that the memorial commemorates.Though commemorations name a intent, they ofttimes play certain different or added functions excessively. They may non be merely a ocular mastery in the urbanscape but excessively a policy-making and a historical statement. The undermentioned subdivision throws some visible radiation on the maps, functions, symbolism, and the architectural rules the commemoration s are based on.FUNCTION OF A MEMORIALThe premier map of a commemoration is to mark an event or a individual. This can be make through assorted mediums architecture, art, sculpture, Hagiographas, talks, etc. Commemoration of an event or a individual is a really big term and theFunctions of assorted commemorations can be farther broken up into inside informations.Memorials are shapers of memoryMemorials celebrate triumphMemorials regret deceaseMemorials pay testimonial or honorMemorials express feelingsMemorials maintan historyMemorials display powerMemorials symbolizeMemorials are frequently national symbolsLife of a memorial can frequently be divided into stages. The electric shock of the memorial diminishes with clip. When the commemoration is made to mark an event, which has occurred late it has the greatest shock absorber possible. The impact of the memorial extrapolateations ( diminishes normally ) with progressing clip, newer coevalss, alteration in sociopolitical order, civilization, and other facets. Over a period of clip commemorations become inert going more memorials, meager monitor lizards of what happened in the yesteryear.The three basic sorts of commemorations areMemorials sucker a individualMemorials marking an eventMemorials marking an emotionThese classs can be farther divided identifiable types. These areSITINGLocating w.r.t the metropolis cloth could beAway FROM THE CITY FABRICOn the main road ( en caterpillar track )In the natural milieus ( remote )WITHIN THE CITY FABRICEn pathJunctionalTermination PointApproachApproach could be evaluated based onEntranceWell definedNot so good definedNot definedPATH CONFIGUARTIONAxialBi-axialCoilingIndirectRadialPositionDirectObliqueCoilingSequence of positionsPATH OBJECT REALTIONPath object relationPath-goal relation ( Termination of way w.r.t end )SpaceORGANIZATION OF SPACESLinearCentralizedRadialClusteredSequence of SpacesBased onHierarchy of infinitesFlow of infinitesTransitional infinites an d elementsSPATIAL RELATIONSHIPSpace within a infiniteInter-locking infinitesAdjacent infinitesSpaces linked by a common infiniteFormForm could be evaluated based onCOMPOSITION OF FORMAgreement of the basic signifiersNature of the signifier ( linear or subtractive )Configuration OF THE FORMRegular ( centroidal or linear )IrregularFORM SPACE RELATIONKind of enclosureImpact of signifier on infiniteSCALE & A PROPORTIONEvaluated on the footing ofCOMPREHENSIBILITY OF THE SCALEHuman know tableMonumental graduated tablePROPORTIONING SystemBeing of proportioning system and deduction if anySymbolismSymbolism IN MEMORIALSymbolic contentSymbolism OF MEMORIALSAssociated valuesCHANGING ValuessAssociated values at the clip of construct, when built, and in clipMeans OF CONVEYING MEANINGSIndicationExemplificationMetaphorical lookMediated MentionsROLES OF A MEMORIALMemorials play assorted functions in the society or the urbanscape. These assorted functions played by commemorations can be identifi ed asMemorials as a political statementMemorials as a historical statementMemorials as a landmarkMEMORIALS AS A POLITIICAL STATEMENTAcommemoration has ever been and is the first and the first mark of power. History is a informant to the fact that merely the mighty and rich have been commemorated in a large manner and have been the 1s behind those brilliant architectural manifestations. Memorials of any sort are an attempt to commemorate man- to be celebrated by the futurity coevalss as a cultural testimony.Anything an object, an event of sheer religion that is larger than life and has surer opportunities of endurance has ever fascinated human being and adult manly has ever tried to tie in himself with such an object, event etc. in a monumental manner.Miki DesaiMan has ever tried to tie in himself with something that is larger than life and therefore his attempts have been directed towards making lasting architecture. This is one of the implicit in causes of many commemorations t hat have been erected all throughout history. Memorials are more or less governed by their demand to be lasting. This fact has led to the huge usage of rock, which is arguably one of the long permanent stuffs available, for commemorations or for that affair of fact for any other signifier of architecture required being lasting.Frequently commemorations have been a agency of self-propagation. WhenBartolomeo Colleonidied, he left money to hold a statue of himself erected in the chief square at Venice. Apparently, unable to throw out the petition wholly, the swayers of Venice decreed that Thursday statue be placed in the second-best square.MEMORIAL AS A HISTORICAL STATEMENTMemorial grade history, are the mileposts of history. Therefore, history can neer melt off. As said earlier commemorations over a period become inert one time the epoch has passed. After this point of clip, the memorial becomes a mere historical milepost reminding the undermentioned coevalss.ofttimes commemorations w ere made with the purpose of go forthing a grade behind for the approaching coevalss, to be remembered longer than merely the life-time an effort to commemorate the individual. Memorials serve as reminder of history and the present and assist the new coevalss to larn from it.SITINGAny memorial demands to be decently sited. If the commemoration is non decently sited ( decently located and has an appropriate context ) it may be unable to hold any impact on its audience. Siting is adjusted with date to the metropolis cloth. The commemoration may be sitedoff from the metropolis clothorwithin the metropolis clothwith severally holding its the ain giving up.One of the all right illustrations of good siting is the great Sanchi Stupa. King Ashoka really strategically and intelligently sited this whole coordination compound ( monasteries, temples, and tope ) . Sanchi hill was located on an of import crossing of route and river paths. Vidisha the ancient capital was merely 7 kilometres of f and was strategically situated on a major trade path fall ining the Patliputra and the western coastal ports.Locating can be evaluated based onLocating w.r.t City FabricWhich could beAway from the metropolis clothWithin the metropolis clothAway FROM THE CITY FABRICThe memorial sited off from the metropolis cloth could be either of the followersOn the main road ( en path )In the natural milieus ( remote )Rajiv Gandhi commemoration which has been sited off from the metropolis cloth lies on the main road and therefore could be described en path. Devals of Badabagh ( Jaisalmer boorish ) could be described as a distant location, off in the natural milieus.WITHIN THE CTY FABRICThe commemoration sited within the metropolis cloth could beEn pathJunctionalTermination PointTheDandi Yatra Statuecould be described as a memorial sited en path within the metropolis cloth. India gate is a good illustration of a junctional siting while, the Jaipur column is a good illustration of expiration poi nt.SymbolismSymbolism in commemorations can be explained as the symbolic content of the commemorations. The signifier, graduated table, stuff, motive or the entire agreement of signifier, infinite, attacks, decorate etc. in unison could be symbolic.Symbolism of commemorations on the other manus would be the perceptual experience of the commemoration in entirety by the audience it addresses. Every commemoration will stand for an thought or an emotion and could be associated with certain values and significances. Though significances may fluctuate from individual to individual, the indispensable value would stay reasonably much invariable.Valuess and significances of a commemoration of a commemoration could alter with passing of clip or with a transmutation of power. Thus the commemoration may non be associated with same significances and values as it may hold been when it was built. For illustration, the Jaipur Column in New Delhi ( located inRashtrapati Bhawan forecourt )could be associated with purplish regulation, but today with a displacement of power it stands simply as a commemoration which marked the edifice of New Delhi. It evokes a feeling of regard from the multitudes alternatively of a feeling of bitterness ( towards the British regulation ) , as it would hold been in the times when it was built.HOW DO MEMORIALS CONVEY MANINGSThere are different shipway in which the commemorations may convey significances, which depends on the pick made by the interior decorator. The four different ways in which this can be done isDenotation ( direct )Exemplification ( architecturally exemplifying )Metaphorical ExpressionMediated refrencesMemorials or parts of it may be frequently read literally or denoted straight. In the instance of the capital of Nebraska Memorial in Washington D.C. for illustration significances are denoted by infusions from capital of Nebraskas Speeches Lincoln carved into its walls and by the presence of a big statue of Lincoln himself.Memo rials frequently play up certain belongingss to derive attending. The method relies upon architectural techniques and rules. Uses of strong axis, monumental graduated table, making a sense of wonder utilizing the inclined media are some of the methods that could be used. Lincoln memorial uses a solid-void beat on its E fascade pulling attending to its centre and to the statue placed inside the edifice.A more common agencies of conveying the significance is its metaphoric look. Most of the commemorations make usage of this means. The Lincoln commemoration is treated as a sort of fit temple, with Lincoln taking the topographic point of a classical divinity. In this instance the metaphor is missed, the method is rather literally carved onto the wall to a higher place the statue IN THIS TEMPLE AS IN THE HEARTS OF THE PEOPLESymbolismSymbolism IN MEMORIALSBased onEvaluation of the symbolic contentSymbolism OF MEMORIALSbased onInterpretation of the commemoration in entiretyIdentifiable associated valuesCHANGING ValuessBased onAssociated values at the clip of construct ( interior decorators purpose )Associated values after the building has been builtAssociated values at the period of clipMeans OF CONVEYING MEANINGSIndicationExemplificationMetaphorical lookMediated mentionsDecisionMemorials are an of import portion of a mans society and urbanscape. They play an of import function architecturally, politically, historically and society. The premier map is to show and they do it subtly thus far really efficaciously. Architecture plays an of import function in the look of the commemoration. The chief characteristics of the send off of the commemoration areLocatingApproachSpaceFormScaleSymbolismHow and where the commemoration is located is of import for the design of the commemoration. A commemoration is a strong ocular statement and therefore demands to pull attending so that it can convey what it stands for. This can be done in two possible ways either bylocatingthe commemoration at astrategic locationwhere it is possibleforit to derive that attending or holding amonumental Scalupus erythematosussuch that the memorial makes a powerful ocular statement or in other words attains that character of monumentality. Ideally, it would be best for a commemoration to hold a strategic location and have a expansive graduated table, but both scale neodymium siting can be used to complement each other. Often monumentality is attained ina a memorial by clearly insulating it from other options.Scaleis besides s DeviCeof meaning, a agency of denoting domination, power, or simpleness. Monumental graduated tables attempt tooverpower the visitantthrough the consequence can be underplayed by utilizing certain stuffs and other characteristics such as the landscape depending on the purpose. A simple human graduated table is more comprehensible for the visitant change him to associate to the commemoration.Passageis of import for the commemorations to do an impact on the visitore totals head and to deduce entire attending. This is done through attack, which act as transitional infinites that would let the visiotr to alter the frame of head. Often te whole infinite has a certainsequence of visual aspectwith identifiablepassage elements and infinites. Often commemorations are marked by apparent hierarchy and a slack flow of infinites.Formsused for commemorations aresymbolic. Most of them over a period have been imbibed with certain significances,while there is besides an on-going procedure of introducing newer signifiers vested with significances. Forms like obelisks, triumphal arches, columns, statues are celebrated signifiers of commemorations. architectural and art motions consequence in newer signifiers for commemorations. Abstract sculptures a newer signifier of commemorations came in usage after their usage in art since early 20Thursdaycentury.Most master(prenominal) factor of the design of a commemoration is itssymbolism,the really facto r that makes it distinguishable from other pieces of architecture, symbolism is used to convey the emotions or other non-physical facets, which form the blood line of that peculiar commemoration. Symbolism is the unseeable synergistic portion of the commemoration. Symbolism in commemorations can be identified as built-in symbolism, which comes through the usage of signifier, graduated table, stuffs, location, orientation, etc. and non-inherent symbolism, which appears in signifier of messages on plaques or other media and are uually imbibed into the interior decorator. A memorial utilizations certain symbolswhich are frequently common and hold same significances for everyone e.g. the inveted rifle capped with a soldiers hemet in the war commemorations indicates the unknown soldier. The commemoration may expose its symbolic facets in assorted ways. These could be adirect indication, architecturally illustratedor ametaphorical look.Design of the memorial reflects THvitamin Epurposeof te commemoration. Often commemorations are delusory and the seeable purpose of the commemoration is non its existent purpose. Sepulchral monumnets or commemorations honouringthe stagnant are frequently made by the succecors, bespeaking more frequently their authorization than the ritual to honour the dead predecessor. Memorials, in the yearss of the point of view and authorization of those in power on their multitudes. Today with democracy as the prevailing signifier of the political order in the universe and strong emotions of nantionalism among citizens, th commemorations excessively have changed their behaviour. They are frequently vested with involvements refering the whole the whole society than those few in the power. This is non to state that commemorations are non a agency of exposing authorization, but that there is a essential alteration in their usage. In additon, there is a important relation between commemorations and political relations.Th altering times have beside s had an impact on commemorations. With the rapid urban agglomerations, commemorations have been made to come out and decorateour route intersections. This could be rated as a sightdegradation in the design of the memorialson one manus and as a agency to make up ones mind the importance of the commemorations on the other. As has been already discussed how of import it is for commemorations excessively have transitional infinites and elements, which create the certain atmosphere and the visitants, undergo an experience. The siting of te commemorations on traffic circles deficiencies this belongings. The experince is uncomplete as the passage clip is cut down phenomenally. Therefore, these commemorations become mere decorations of our urbanscpae devoid of their basic belongingss, which their opposite numbers possess. This tendency could be argued as a agencies of make up ones minding the importance of the commemorations, but that would be discriminatory and can non be entertained. Arg uably, this tendency is non new in the urban design and has been followed throughout history, but it must be pointed out that th manners of tranport wer besides slower than todays .

Marketing Channel Management Exam Essay

recreate start each section on a new page. 3. Please compose clearly and neatly. label will be penalized for bad writing. 4. Cross out any unwritten pages in the answer sheet. 5. Calculators are allowed to be used during the exam. Section A 5 X 2 Marks = 10 Marks This section consists of Multiple Choice questions. Please mark you answer in the answer sheet by writing only the option number after the question number.Please write only what is asked. As a thumb rule, write a level best of a page for each 10 marks and half a page for a 5 marks question. 1. Define Marketing Channels. Explain how and wherefore marketing channels are managed. marks 2. What are the responsibilities of a gross revenue executive? 5 marks 3. Illustrate the sales call process and write down all the steps involved in the sales call. 5 marks 4. Draw a typical marketing channel for a crapper product and flesh out the flow with directions for the following A. Money B. Stock C. Information 10 marks Section C T his section consists of numerical questions. Please illustrate all steps and try to show calculations wherever possible. Please state any assumption you are making clearly. Question 15 marksPlease estimate the number of sales executives, and supervisors needed for the following Channel Partner for Hindustan Singleshaft which is a top FMCG company in India. The channel partner has to service gee outlets. The categorization is given below along with the time required to complete a sales call at each outlet and the frequency of tour the outlets.The time required to travel from one outlet to another is 10 minutes on an average. Each Sales Executive has a six solar day work week and works for 10 hours a day including an hour long lunch break. So each sales executive has 9 good hours of work for 6 six days a week. Assume a 10% buffer sales force in your estimation. For every 4 sales executives one supervisor is required to supervise them.

In What Ways and with What Results Did 19th Century Nationalism?

During the 19th century, themeistic thoughts began to infiltrate europium, which eventually lead up to unifications, as well as the original World War. Nationalism began as each ethnicity began to feel a sense of individuality and identity. Nationalism was the start of independence and revolutions, even after the coition of Vienna, which desire to continue conservative ways. With the rise of nationalism in the 19th, it catalyzed many wars including World War One.At the beginning of the 19th century, the Congress of Vienna was a reaction to the cut Revolution, in which they wanted to preserve the monarchies in Europe as well as conservative ways. Nationalistic ideas were surfacing across Europe however the Congress of Vienna did not prevent the nationalism uprisings of 1848. By combining the Netherlands with Belgium, and continuously not giving Poland its freedom, the Congress only furt presentd the nationalistic movements. Revolutions began to take Europe during the year of 1848 , the year of Revolutions.Up until then, different ethnic groups began to pride themselves in nationalism, and in their identities. Countries such as Poland, Belgium, Italy, and Germany started revolutions in order to gain independence. Each country was competitiveness for nationalism with their new sense of identity however many of them failed. Nationalism ultimately caused the independence of countries such as Germany and Italy. It encouraged people of each pronounce to think about their ethnicity as well as identity. Even though many states benefited, other states were suppressed and unable to break free.This is one of the factors that led up to the First World War. As the Ottoman Empire began to decline, it was right in the 19th -20th century, which was the prime time of nationalism. States wanted freedom from their reigning countries due to their national pride, yet the reigning countries were uncooperative. The Balkan areas were under the Austria-Hungary Empires rule, yet Se rbia wanted to create a new country with states that mostly contained Serbians. Their nationalism became ultra-nationalistic which led to the assassination of the crowned prince of Austria-Hungary.This was one of the reasons of World War I starting up-nationalism. The seed of nationalism in Europe not only created many new fissiparous nations but also created a sense of identity within states. Without nationalism uprisings in Europe, many of what the world looks like now would not be here and unified countries such as Germany and Italy may still be tiny states instead of a large country. Nationalism shaped Europes geographical state, and the course of events that led up to the 20th century.

Changes in Land Use Pattern

Urbanization becomes an essential part for any coarse with the development of civilization. Like other country of the world, urbanization also spread out all over Bangladesh. As a part of this every Upazila have municipality in Bangladesh. Proper development is term for proper urbanization and rural area procedure is directly related with the development. Human being mostly depended on land which is used as a settlement, awkward land, road, and infrastructure. All these are man made but some are used by natural process.With the development of civilization natural land use changed by man made process because of increasing population, technology and development of civilization. Development through proper planning is an all important(p) technique in amaze world for urbanization of an area. Madaripur mouza is very close to the Madaripur paurasava. It is the most developed place of the upazila. The rural characteristics of the mouza transformed to the urban characteristics day by d ay. So urban- rural land uses in the mouza, make mixed and diversified characteristics. We select Madaripur mouza as a representative of this type of land to show the changes in land use.Related obligate Padma Bridge ParagraphLand use changes are very rapid in residential and commercial sector among various land use changes. The consecrate of these changes is very rapid because of expansion of roads network. Non agricultural economic activities also added new term in these changes. Agricultural land is decreasing day by day. Because of increases various urban facilities, value of land increases 100% after 1995 (focus group meeting). Because of urbanization, various changes occurred in occupation in total area. Part time husbandman increases and full time farmer decreases and to a greater extent people involved in service activities.People migrate into this area from other upazila and surrounding area because of more facility. The influences of urbanization also fall into the soci al life of the area. For increases the population in the mouza, infrastructure also increasing in the area without planning. To solve this problem it is important to know the nature of problem. Because in which sector, what type and how many planning will be needed is depend on it. Present report is based on this practical knowledge. Pattern of land use change is most important for planning of an increasing urban area

IT-Management Essay

Assignment 10Question 1Global Information Systems are the systems developed for the multinational users in order to provide free flow of information within the divisions of a single company and between the MNCs.Question 2Think globosely and act locally means a product should suit the regional and cultural preferences of the local people and at the same term the product line should be global and strategic planning needs to be centralizedQuestion 4Yes every website is a global IS, because thither is a free flow of information through the website and almost all the websites are now catering to global customers irrespective of their location.Question 5If I were an executive of a multi lingual website, I would strike a balance between manual interpretation and software based translation, because at the end of the daylight the quality and accuracy of translation is more important.Question 7Data privacy laws are different in United States and European Union and on that point is a disc repancy in the collection & use of personal data in US and European countries.Question 10It is important to provide the beat Zone converter in the Global SCM because the shipping and delivery time and the payment time should match with the time zone of the customers and the suppliers.Assignment 11 sum-up of the Case Fairchild Semiconductor is world leader in design & manufacturing of microprocessors. It has 36 offices in 17 countries. Fairchild ships more than 17 billion units of its products annually to as some as 45 countries. The company has assembly and testing facilities in China, Malaysia & Philippines. The work-in-progress is often shipped from one country to another and back to the original country for further processing. Fairchild compound the software called Trade Export Solution into its ERP system. It helps automate the global logistics. The software has helped Fairchild cut costs by readily providing the trade residency documentation, avoiding shipping delays, tri m back the shipping staff and standardizing the shipping procedures worldwide.Question 1Answer The software reduces the risk of logistic & shipping delays due to non-compliance of export & import laws and regulations of country including US homeland security issues.Question 2Answer The software helps company cut the costs by shortening the shipping duration avoiding shipping delays minimizing the duties by providing fastest delivery and by reducing the shipping staff.Question 3Answer The integration of Management Dynamics software into ERP system helps automate the global logistics. The digital forms are generated, the information on fastest & least costly carriers is provided, various costs related to shipping and exports are calculated automatically, the trade compliance documentation is readily available saving the labor-intensive search and shipping procedures are standardized worldwide.Question 4Answer The standardization of processes is important in Fairchild because the compa ny has its global presence in 17 countries and the work-in-progress is often shipped from one country to another and back to the original country for further processing. Also it is easier to utilise the benchmarked procedures in the new facilities, in future.

The Monetarist Theory: Milton Friedman

Economic theories explore the relationships linking changes in the money put out to changes in stinting activity and prices. With a mixture of theoretical ideas, philosophical beliefs, and insurance prescriptions, these theories eject help elabo esteem on both historic and current financial situations. For instance, the general realizeing of the monetarist guess, founded by economist Milton Friedman, focuses on macro stinting activities that examine the impact of changes in the money depict and fundamental banking.This economic school of thought theoretically challenges Keynesian economics (OnlineTexts) to contend that variations in the money sum atomic number 18 the most significant determinants of the ramble of economic emergence, the behavior of the business cycle, the national rig in the minuscule run, and the price level oer longer extremitys of time (Investopedia). Through the developments from other theories, more than laissez-faire politics preliminaryes, an d the use of the quantity guess of money, monetarism has dramatically impacted and helped explain changes in monetary insurance and the banking system for nearly one snow years.To fully grasp this economic theory, the history behind it and what influenced its existence must be understood. Following the cracking Depression, Keynesian economics mainly dominated the United States as well as countries globally. This economic theory focused on total spending in the miserliness and its effects on output and flash (Blinder). Keynesians traditionally saw pecuniary policy as the find out tool for economic management, believed monetary policy should simply be used as a backup, and believed that the governments role was to maintain the economy at full employment (Biz/Ed).This theory besides emphasized interest positions as a target of monetary policy, raising rates to slow down the economy and reducing rates to rush along things up (Allen 283). Although these views were the main f ocus for some time, many economists saw that the theory was going away most of our economic problems unexplained. As Keynesian economics seemed unable to explain or cure the seemingly contradictory problems of emergent unemployment and inflation (Allen 284) economits like Milton Friedman began making different, more accurate observations.Monetarisms rise to intellectual prominence began with literary productions on basic monetary theory by Friedman and other economists during the 1950s (McCallum). These proposals were influential be apparent motion of their devotion to native neoclassical principles, particularly Friedmans presidential address to the American Economic Association in 1967, make in 1968 as The Role of Monetary Policy. In this paper Friedman developed the natural-rate hypothesis and used it as a pillar in the argument for less government intervention and a constant-growth-rate overtop for monetary policy (McCallum).From this point the monetarist theory drew its r oots from two almost entirely opposing ideas, the with child(p) money policies that dominated monetary thinking in the late 19th century, and the theories of Keynesian economics (Wikipedia). fleck Keynes had focused on total spending and the value stability of currency which resulted with problems based on an skimpy money supply, Friedman centered on price stability acting as the equilibrium between supply and demand for money (Wikipedia).Friedman and other monetarists began challenging Keynesian ideas and strongly started to suggest that money does non event (Wikipedia). Monetarists goals involved seeking to explain present problems while also striving to interpret historic ones. Since monetarists strongly believe that the money supply is the primary determinant of noun phrase gross domestic product in the short run and of the price level in the long run, they stress that the tame of the money supply should not be left to the discretion of central bankers and that the focus should shift to a more laissez-faire approach for the banking system (OnlineTexts).Monetarists do not believe that the government should intervene in economic and monetary decisions by trying to manage the level of aggregate demand or total spending (Biz/Ed). Friedman explains that if we are experiencing government deficits and must make a monetary decision, then the deficits should be financed by increasing the money supply instead of affecting aggregate demand, and vice versa for budget surpluses.Monetarists argue that interventionist policy regarding managing total spending lead be destabilizing in the long run and should thitherfore be avoided. By trusting free markets kind of than large governments, monetarists quickly and simultaneously agreed that government intervention will destabilize the economy more than it will help, since intervention typically interferes in the workings of free markets and can lead to bloated bureaucracies, unnecessary well-disposed programs, and l arge deficits (OnlineTexts).Markets will benefit by working on their own since market forces will cause inflation, unemployment and production to adjust themselves automatically and efficiently around a fixed amount of money (Milton Friedman and Monetarism). A key problem with discretionary demand management policies is the time lags, which monetarists believe make fiscal policy too difficult to use to manage the economy effectively (Biz/Ed). The best thing therefore, is to take a long-run view of price stability and use monetary policy to achieve this.Monetarists always give tongue to that where fiscal policy could be beneficial, monetary policy would do the job better. Government attempts to influence GDP and other economic measures through fiscal policy are at best ineffectual, mainly because expansionary fiscal policy only causes inflation (Monetarist Theory of Inflation). The monetarist theory believes that the feed should not contrive discretion provided rather be bound to fixed rules in conducting monetary policy.For example, monetarists prefer the money growth rule which states that the Fed should be required to target the growth rate of money so that it equals the growth rate of real GDP, leaving the price level unchanged (OnlineTexts). The relationship between inflation and money growth is virtually a one-to-one relationship, so if the economy is expected to grow at a real percent in a given year, the Fed should allow the money supply to increase by the identical percent. By following this rule there will be a tight control of money and credit allowing the economy to maintain price stability (Riley).Monetarists stress incorrect central bank policy is often the root of large fluctuations in inflation and price stability, showing that the key to success is to ensure that monetary policy is credible so that peoples expectations of inflation are controlled (Riley). Friedman states at heart his academic paper, The Role of Monetary Policy that monet ary authorities should croak themselves by magnitudes that they can control, not by ones that they cannot (Friedman 14), which is why the quantity theory of money and other monetarist concepts are of huge vastness and assistance.The quantity theory of money is a basic theoretical explanation for the link between money and the general price level. This theory helps describe how by controlling the growth of the money supply and leaving interest rates unchanged the Fed can better control inflation and foster inactive economic growth (Riley). This identity relates total aggregate demand to the total value of output, and holds that changes in nominal prices reflect changes in the money supply and the fastness of money (Monetarism). Monetarists assume that the velocity of money within the economy, or rather the average number of times a dollar is used to purchase last(a) good or service is assumed constant or changes at a predictable rate (Wikipedia). The value of real output (GDP), or the total volume of production of goods and services, is not influenced by monetary variables (Riley) allowing monetarists to also treat GDP as a constant. Looking at the quantity of money theory equation, M*V = P*Y, where M is the rate of growth in the money supply, V is the velocity of money, P is the overall price level, and Y is the total output or GDP, one can chink that with V and Y as constants, changes in the rate of money supply will equal changes in the price level (Riley).By using this equation and theory, economists can determine and solve problems within the economy and we have seen this end-to-end history. The monetarist theory can effectively explain the deflationary waves of the late 19th Century, the Great Depression, and the stagflation period beginning in the early 1970s (Wikipedia). Monetarists argue that there was no inflationary boom in the 1920s, while Keynesians argue that there was significant asset inflation and unsustainable growth.Monetarists claim t hat the contraction of the M1 money supply during 1931-1933 is to blame for the Great Depression and if the Fed had provided sufficient liquidity to make up for the insufficient money supply, then that financial crisis would have be avoided (Pettinger). In comparison, the increase in inflation rates throughout the 1970s led many to consider monetarist policies to steady the money growth (Hafer 18). Even though the explosive rise in inflation in the 1970s was related directly to oil price shocks, there was also a similar increase in the average rate of money growth.To combat this, the Fed began adopting a monetarist platform and monetary targets were effectively used in official policy analysis (Hafer 18). later(prenominal) in the 1980s President Reagan imposed strict monetarist policies of restricted money stock growth in an effort to stop the dramatic rise of inflation. At this time, the prime interest rate was at cardinal percent and unemployment reached double digits. The mone tarist policies Reagan proposed brought down inflation and unemployment rates, suggesting that monetarist policies were succeeding (Allen 284).Most recently in the early 1990s, John Taylor, an economics professor at Stanford, showed that U. S. monetary policy could be accurately described by relating movements in the national funds rate to deviations in inflation from a target rate and deviations in real output growth from potential growth (Hafer 19). This Taylor rule dominates much of the research on monetary policy during the quondam(prenominal) decade, both as a model of Fed behavior and as a model to guide policy decisions (Hafer 19).While some disagreement remains, certain things are clear. Since 1990, the classical form of monetarism has been questioned because of events that have been interpreted as inexplicable in monetarist terms, primarily the unhinging of the money supply growth from inflation in the 1990s and the misadventure of monetary policy to stimulate the econom y in the early 2000s (Wikipedia). Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the national Reserve, explains why the monetarist theory unfortunately had no success in combating early financial problems.He argued that the 1990s economic decline had little to do with the monetarist view of the money supply and rather was explained by a right cycle of productivity and investment on one hand, and a certain degree of irrational exuberance in the investment sector (Wikipedia). Along with Greenspan, economist Robert Solow of MIT suggested that the 2001-2003 failure of the expected economic recovery also was not attributed by monetary policy, but by the decreasing productivity growth in all important(p) sectors of the economy (Investopedia).Despite both the successes and failures of the monetarist theory, in 2005 most academic specialists in monetary economics described their penchant as pertly Keynesians (McCallum). However, even with that focus, most of the changes to Keynesian thinking that monetarists proposed are accepted today as part of standard macroeconomic and monetary analysis and most economists accept the proposition that monetary policy is more powerful and useful than fiscal policy for stabilizing the economy (McCallum).In addition, current thinking all the way favors policy rules in contrast to discretion of central banks and stresses the importance of maintaining inflation at low rates. With new Keynesian views prominent in todays society, it can be determine that it is only in the emphasis on monetary aggregates that monetarism is not being widely practiced today. Economic theories, including monetarism, are incessantly changing to provide outlets for research in all areas of economics based on theoretical reason and analysis of economic problems.Despite the drastic differences between the late 19th century and todays economy, the same economic problems remain the same. We cannot put so much doubt and negativity onto monetarist views as we can be ass ured that new economic theories will continuously emerge as changes in the economy solve fresh insights and cause existing ideas to become obsolete.Throughout these changes, the same motivating force is present regarding the need to understand the economy in order to achieve societys goals. These economic theories are highly significant in finding the right monetary policy to bring about economic growth and financial stability in a country. The monetarist theory, as well as others more prominent today, will continue to be debated and tried and true in order to find answers to some of the most troubling economic questions throughout our history.

Bag of Bones CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

After that I was more often than not in the z angiotensin-converting enzyme. I came taboo a some condemnations when that scratched- start scrap of genealogy dangle from at heart one of my senior steno books, for instance provided those interludes were brief. In a way it was standardised my fancy of Mattie, Jo, and Sara in a way it was the like the terrible fever Id had as a child, when Id more or less died of the measles gener completelyy it was like nothing plainly itself. It was s simple machinece the zone. I was belief it. I wish to God I hadnt been.George came e very(prenominal)place, herding the manhood in the blue robe ahead of him. George was limping now, and badly. I could smell hot oil and gaso limn and burning tires. Is she dead? George asked. Mattie?Yes. conjuring trick?Dont know, I said, and then arse twitched and groaned. He was alive, besides in that location was a lot of squanderer.Mike, listen, George began, scarcely before he could say more, a terrible liquid yell began from the burning car in the ditch. It was the driver. He was cooking in at that place. The stumbleer started to turn that way, and George brocaded his gun. egg on and Ill kill you.You cant let him die like that, the shooter said from stub his mask. You couldnt let a dog die like that.Hes dead already, George said. You couldnt arise within ten feet of that car unless you were in an asbestos suit. He reeled on his feet. His face was as unobjectionable as the spot of whipped cream Id wiped hit the bar of Kis nose. The shooter do as if to go for him and George brought the gun up higher. The next season you move, dont s spinning top, George said, beca delectation I wont. Guar anteed. Now constitute that mask remove.No.Im done fucking with you, Jesse. Say hello to God. George quilted grit the hammer of his revolver.The shooter said, Jesus Christ, and yanked off his mask. It was George Footman. non a easily deal surprise thither. From behind him, the driver gave one more shriek from within the Ford bolide and then was silent. Smoke rose in mysterious billows. More thunder ro atomic number 18d.Mike, go in side of meat and recollect nearlything to tie him with, George Kennedy said. I can go him an early(a) minute devil, if I crap to unless Im expel like a stuck pig. Look for strapping tape. That shit would hold Houdini.Footman stood where he was, feel from Kennedy to me and book binding to Kennedy again. and so he peered shore at Highway 68, which was eerily deserted. Or mayhap it wasnt so eerie, at that the advance storms had been swell up forecast. The tourists and summer folk would be under coer. As for the locals . . .The locals were . . . consort of listening. That was at least close. The minister of religion was speaking most Royce Merrill, a life which had been long and fruitful, a man who had served his country in sleep and in war, scarcely the old- beatrs werent listening to him. They we re listening to us, the way they had once gathered scarcely intimately the plump d inducele cask at the Lakeview General and listened to prizefights on the radio.Bill Dean was holding Yvettes wrist so tightly his fingernails were white. He was hurting her . . . just now she wasnt complaining. She wanted him to hold onto her. why?Mike Georges voice was perceptibly weaker. Please, man, help me. This jackass is dangerous.Let me go, Footman said. Youd better, dont you think?In your cockeyedtest dreams, m separatefuck, George said.I got up, went past the pot with the key underneath, went up the cement-block looks. Lightning exploded crossways the sky, followed by a costow of thunder.Inside, Rommie was sitting in a c tomentum cerebri at the kitchen queer crosswise. His face was regular whiter than Georges. Kids okay, he said, forcing the rule books. But she looks like waking up . . . I cant walk anymore. My ankles totally fucked.I locomote for the telephone.Dont bother, R ommie said. His voice was harsh and trembling. Tried it. Dead. Storm must already gull hit nigh of the other towns. Killed some of the equipment. Christ, I neer had anything hurt like this in my life.I went to the knee pants in the kitchen and began yanking them turn give away one by one, looking for strapping tape, looking for clothesline, looking for any damned thing. If Kennedy passed get on with forth from blood-loss charm I was in here, the other George would take his gun, kill him, and then kill John as he lay unconscious on the smoldering grass. With them taken cargon of, hed come after in here and shoot Rommie and me. Hed finish with Kyra.No he wont, I said. Hell leave her alive.And that might be rase worse.Silverware in the showtime drawer. Sandwich bags, garbage bags, and neatly banded stacks of grocery-store coupons in the second. Oven mitts and potholders in the third Mike, wheres my Mattie?I glum, as guilty as a man who has been caught mixing illegal drugs. Kyra stood at the living- get on terminal of the dorm with her h stock go slightly her sleep-flushed g overnances and her sc pull come to the forechy hung over one wrist like a bracelet. Her eyeball were childlike and panicky. It wasnt the shots that had awakened her, belike not even her mothers scream. I had wakened her. My cerebrations had wakened her.In the instant I realized it I tried to vindication them somehow, but I was too slow. She had read me more or less Devore well sufficiency to reveal me not to think about sad stuff, and now she read what had happened to her mother before I could go by her out of my mind.Her mouth dropped open. Her eyes widened. She shrieked as if her clear had been caught in a vise and ran for the approach.No, Kyra, no I sprinted crosswise the kitchen, almost tripping over Rommie (he looked at me with the dim incomprehension of someone who is no long-term completely conscious), and grabbed her honorable in time. As I did, I tru ism Buddy Jellison leaving grace of God Baptist by a side gateway. Two of the men he had been smoking with went with him. Now I tacit why Bill was holding so tightly to Yvette, and loved him for it loved both of them. Something wanted him to go with Buddy and the others . . . but Bill wasnt spillage.Kyra struggled in my fortification, making big convulsive thrusts at the door, gasping in breathing place and then screaming it out again. Let me go, want to peck Mommy, let me go, want to gull Mommy, let me go I called her name with the lone(prenominal) voice I knew she would genuinely hear, the one I could use only with her. She relaxed in my arms light by gnomish, and turned to me. Her eyes were huge and confused and ignite with tears. She looked at me a moment longer and then attend tomed to understand that she mustnt go out. I go down her down. She just stood there a moment, then gageed up until her bottom was against the dishwasher. She slid down its smooth white take care to the floor. Then she began to wail the most awful sounds of grief I have ever heard. She understood completely, you see. I had to show her exuberant to keep her inside, I had to . . . and be micturate we were in the zone together, I could.Buddy and his friends were in a pickup truck headed this way. BAMM CONSTRUCTION, it said on the side.Mike George cried. He sounded panicky. You got to hurryHold on I called back. Hold on, GeorgeMattie and the others had started stacking picnic things beside the sink, but Im almost positive that the stretch of Formica counter higher up the drawers had been clean and bare when I hurried after Kyra. Not now. The yellow sugar cannister had been overturned. compose in the spilled sugar was thisNo shit, I muttered, and checked the remaining drawers. No tape, no rope. Not even a lousy tog of pass alongcuffs, and in most well-equipped kitchens you can count on finding ternion or four. Then I had an idea and looked in the cabinet under t he sink. When I went back out, our George was swaying on his feet and Footman was looking at him with a kind of predatory concentration.Did you get some tape? George Kennedy asked.No, something better, I said. speciate me, Footman, who actually paid you? Devore or Whitmore? Or dont you know?Fuck you, he said.I had my justly hand behind my back. Now I pointed down the hill with my left(p) one and endeavored to look surprised. What the hells Osgood doing? Tell him to go awayFootman looked in that direction it was instinctive and I hit him in the back of the head with the artisan hammer Id found in the toolbox under Matties sink. The sound was horrible, the spray of blood erupting from the flying blur was horrible, but worst of all was the feeling of the skull giving way a spongy collapse that came right wing up the handle and into my fingers. He went down like a sandbag, and I dropped the hammer, gagging.Okay, George said. A little ugly, but probably the best thing you could h ave done under . . . under the . . . He didnt go down like Footman it was slower and more controlled, almost graceful but he was just as out. I picked up the revolver, looked at it, then threw it into the woods across the road. A gun was nothing for me to have right now it could only get me into more trouble.A couple of other men had also left the church a carful of ladies in black dresses and veils, as well. I had to hurry on even faster. I unbuckled Georges pants and pulled them down. The bullet which had taken him in the leg had torn into his thigh, but the wound looked as if it was clotting. Johns velocity arm was a different story it was compose pumping out blood in frightening quantities. I yanked his belt free and cinched it rough his arm as tightly as I could. Then I slapped him across the face. His eyes assailable and stared at me with a bleary lack of recognition.Open your mouth, John He only stared at me. I leaned down until our noses were almost touching and screa med, OPEN YOUR MOUTH DO IT immediately He opened it like a kid when the nurse tells him just say aahh. I stuck the end of the belt between his teeth. Close He closed. Now hold it, I said. Even if you pass out, hold it.I didnt have time to see if he was paying attention. I got to my feet and looked up as the upstanding world went glare-blue. For a second it was like being inside a neon sign. in that location was a black suspended river up there, roiling and coiling like a basket of snakes. I had never seen such a baleful sky.I dashed up the cement-block steps and into the trailer again. Rom-mie had slumped forward onto the table with his face in his folded arms. He would have looked like a kindergartner taking a timeout if not for the downcast salad bowl and the bits of lettuce in his hair. Kyra still sat with her back to the dishwasher, weeping hysterically.I picked her up and realized that she had wet herself. We have to go now, Ki.I want Mattie I want Mommy I want my Mattie, figure out her stop being hurt Make her stop being deadI hurried across the trailer. On the way to the door I passed the end-table with the Mary Higgins Clark novel on it. I noticed the span of hair ribbons again ribbons perhaps tried on before the party and then discarded in favor of the scrunchy. They were white with self-luminous red edges. Pretty. I picked them up without stopping, stuffed them into a pants pocket, then switched Ki to my other arm.I want Mattie I want Mommy Make her come back She swatted at me, trying to make me stop, then began to buck and kick in my arms again. She drummed her fists on the side of my head. sic me down Land me Land meNo, Kyra.Put me down Land me Land me PUT ME DOWNI was losing her. Then, as we came out onto the top step, she abruptly stopped struggling. Give me smitten I want illAt first I had no idea what she was talking about, but when I looked where she was pointing I understood. assembly on the walk not far from the pot with the key underneath it was the stuffed toy from Kis Happy Meal. Strickland had gift in a fair amount of after-school(prenominal) runtime from the look of him the light-gray fur was now dark-gray with dot but if the toy would calm her, I wanted her to have it. This was no time to worry about dirt and germs.Ill cave in you Strickland if you promise to close your eyes and not open them until I tell you. exit you promise?I promise, she said. She was trembling in my arms, and great globular tears the kind you expect to see in fairy-tale books, never in real life rose in her eyes and went spilling down her cheeks. I could smell burning grass and charred beefsteak. For one terrible moment I fancy I was going to vomit, and then I got it under control.Ki closed her eyes. Two more tears put down from them and onto my arm. They were hot. She held out one hand, groping. I went down the steps, got the dog, then hesitated. First the ribbons, now the dog. The ribbons were probably okay, but it seemed wrong to give her the dog and let her bring it along. It seemed wrong but . . .Its gray, Irish, the UFO voice whispered. You dont need to worry about it because its gray. The stuffed toy in your dream was black.I didnt know exactly what the voice was talking about and had no time to care. I purge the stuffed dog in Kyras open hand. She held it up to her face and kissed the dusty fur, her eyes still closed.Maybe sick can make Mommy better, Mike. Stricken a magic dog. expert keep your eyes closed. Dont open them until I say.She put her face against my neck. I carried her across the yard and to my car that way. I put her on the passenger side of the front seat. She lay down with her arms over her head and the dirty stuffed dog clutched in one pudgy hand. I told her to stay just like that, lying down on the seat. She made no outward sign that she heard me, but I knew that she did.We had to hurry because the old-timers were glide slope. The old-timers wanted this business over, wanted this river to run into the sea. And there was only one place we could go, only one place where we might be safe, and that was Sara Laughs. But there was something I had to do first.I unbroken a blanket in the trunk, old but clean. I took it out, walked across the yard, and shook it down over Mattie Devore. The hump it made as it settled around her was pitifully slight. I looked around and precept John staring at me. His eyes were churly with shock, but I concept maybe he was culmination back. The belt was still clamped in his teeth he looked like a junkie preparing to shoot up.Iss ant eee, he said This cant be. I knew exactly how he felt. at that placell be help here in just a few minutes. Hang in there. I have to go.Go air?I didnt answer. at that place wasnt time. I stopped and took George Kennedys pulse. Slow but strong. Beside him, Footman was deep in unconsciousness, but muttering thickly. Nowhere skillful dead. It takes a lot to kill a daddy. The jerky wind blew the smoke from the overturned car in my direction, and now I could smell cooking flesh as well as barbecued steak. My hurt clenched again.I ran to the Chevy, dropped behind the wheel, and backed out of the highroad. I took one more look at the blanket-covered body, at the three knocked-over men, at the trailer with the line of black bulletholes wavering down its side and its door standing open. John was up on his good elbow, the end of the belt still clamped in his teeth, looking at me with uncomprehending eyes. Lightning flashed so brilliantly I tried to shield my eyes from it, although by the time my hand was up, the flash had gone and the day was as dark as late dusk.Stay down, Ki, I said. Just like you are.I cant hear you, she said in a voice so crusty and choked with tears that I could barely make out the words. Kis takin a nap wif Stricken.Okay, I said. Good.I drove past the burning Ford and down to the foot of the hill, where I stopped at the rusty bullet-pocked stop-si gn. I looked right and saw the pickup truck parked on the shoulder. BAMM CONSTRUCTION on the side. Three men crowded together in the cab, watching me. The one by the passenger windowpane was Buddy Jellison I could tell him by his hat. Very slowly and deliberately, I raised my right hand and gave them the finger. None of them responded and their stony faces didnt change, but the pickup began to roll slowly toward me.I turned lift onto 68, mien for Sara Laughs under a black sky.Two miles from where passageway Forty- devil split upes off the highway and winds west to the lake, there stood an old abandoned barn upon which one could still make out faded letters indication DONCASTER DAIRY. As we approached it, the whole eastern side of the sky lit up in a purple-white blister. I cried out, and the Chevys horn honked by itself, Im almost positive. A thorn of lightning grew from the bottom of that light-blister and potty the barn. For a moment it was still completely there, glowing li ke something radioactive, and then it spewed itself in all directions. I have never seen anything even remotely like it outside of a movie theater. The thunderclap which followed was like a bombshell. Kyra screamed and slid onto the floor on the passenger side of the car with her hands clapped to her ears. She still clutched the little stuffed dog in one of them.A minute later I topped Sugar Ridge. Lane Forty-two splits left from the highway at the bottom of the ridges northernmost slope. From the top I could see a wide swath of TR-90 woods and palm and barns and farms, even a darkling gleam from the lake. The sky was as black as coal dust, blink of an eye almost constantly with internal lightnings. The air had a clear ochre glow. Every breath I took tasted like the shavings in a tinderbox. The topography beyond the ridge stood out with a surreal clarity I cannot forget. That sense of mystery swarmed my heart and mind, that sense of the world as thin skin over transcendent bone s and gulfs.I glanced into the rearview mirror and saw that the pickup truck had been joined by two other cars, one with a V-plate that means the vehicle is registered to a combat veteran of the armed services. When I slowed down, they slowed down. When I sped up, they sped up. I doubted they would follow us any farther once I turned onto Lane Forty-two, however.Ki? be you okay?Sleepun, she said from the footwell.Okay, I said, and started down the hill.I could just see the red wheel reflectors marking my turn onto Forty-two when it began to hail great big chunks of white ice that fell out of the sky, drummed on the roof like heavy fingers, and bounced off the hood. They began to heap in the gutter where my windshield wipers hid.Whats natural event? Kyra cried.Its just hail, I said. It cant hurt us. This was barely out of my mouth when a hailstone the size of a delicate lemon struck my side of the windshield and then bounced high into the air again, leaving a white II mark from which a number of short cracks radiated. Were John and George Kennedy lying helpless out in this? I turned my mind in that direction, but could sense nothing.When I made the left onto Lane Forty-two, it was hailing almost too hard to see. The wheelruts were heaped with ice. The white faded out under the trees, though. I headed for that cover, flipping on my headlights as I went. They cut bright cones finished the pelting hail.As we went into the trees, that purple-white blister glowed again, and my rearview mirror went too bright to look at. There was a rending, crackling crash. Kyra screamed again. I looked around and saw a huge old spruce toppling slowly across the lane, its ragged stump on fire. It carried the electrical lines with it.Blocked in, I thought. This end, probably the other end, too. Were here. For better or for worse, were here.The trees grew over Lane Forty-two in a canopy chuck out for where the road passed beside Tidwells Meadow. The sound of the hail in the woo ds was an immense splintery rattle. Trees were splintering, of course it was the most electronegative hail ever to fall in that part of the world, and although it spent itself in fifteen minutes, that was long enough to ruin a seasons worth of crops.Lightning flashed above us. I looked up and saw a large orange fireball being chased by a smaller one. They ran through the trees to our left, setting fire to some of the high branches. We came briefly into the clear at Tidwells Meadow, and as we did the hail changed to torrential rain down. I could not have continued driving if we hadnt run back into the woods almost immediately, and as it was the canopy provided just enough cover so I could creep along, hunched over the wheel and peering into the silver curtain falling through the fan of my headlights. bellowing boomed constantly, and now the wind began to rise, rushing through the trees like a argumentative voice. Ahead of me, a leaf-heavy branch dropped into the road. I ran ove r it and listened to it thunk and scrape and roll against the Chevys undercarriage.Please, nothing bigger, I thought . . . or maybe I was praying. Please let me get to the house. Please let us get to the house.By the time I reached the driveway the wind was howling a hurricane. The writhing trees and pelting rain made the entire world seem on the verge of wavering into insubstantial gruel. The driveways slope had turned into a river, but I nosed the Chevy down it with no hesitation we couldnt stay out here if a big tree fell on the car, wed be crushed like bugs in a Dixie cup.I knew better than to use the brakes the car would have heeled sideways and perhaps have been swept right down the slope toward the lake, rolling over and over as it went. sort of I dropped the transmission into low range, toed two notches into the emergency brake, and let the engine pull us down with the rain sheeting against the windshield and turning the log bulk of the house into a phantom. Incredibly, some of the lights were still on, shining like bathysphere portholes in nine feet of irrigate. The writer was working, then . . . at least for the time being.Lightning threw a lance across the lake, green-blue fire illuminating a black well of water with its come to the fore lashed into surging whitecaps. One of the hundred-year-old pines which had stood to the left of the railroad-tie steps now lay with half its length in the water. someplace behind us some other tree went over with a vast crash. Kyra covered her ears.Its all right, honey, I said. Were here, we made it.I turned off the engine and killed the lights. Without them I could see little almost all the day had gone out of the day. I tried to open my door and at first couldnt. I conjureed harder and it not only opened, it was ripped right out of my hand. I got out and in a brilliant bezzant of lightning saw Kyra crawling across the seat toward me, her face white with panic, her eyes huge and brimming with terror. My door swung back and hit me in the ass hard enough to hurt. I ignored it, gathered Ki into my arms, and turned with her. Cold rain drenched us both in an instant. Except it truly wasnt like rain at all it was like stepping under a waterfall.My doggy Ki shrieked. Shriek or not, I could hardly hear her. I could see her face, though, and her empty hands. Stricken I drop StrickenI looked around and yes, there he was, floating down the macadam of the driveway and past the scrunch. A little farther on, the rushing water spilled off the surface and down the slope if Strickland went with the flow, hed probably end up in the woods somewhere. Or all the way down to the lake.Stricken Ki sobbed. My doggie perfectly nothing government issueed to either of us but that stupid stuffed toy. I chased down the driveway after it with Ki in my arms, oblivious of the rain and wind and brilliant flashes of lightning. And stock-still it was going to crush me to the slope the water in which it was cau ght was running too fast for me to catch up.What snagged it at the edge of the paving was a trio of sunflowers waving wildly in the wind. They looked like God-transported worshippers at a revival brush Yes, Jeesus Thankya Lawd They also looked familiar. It was of course impossible that they should be the same three sunflowers which had been growing up through the boards of the stoop in my dream (and in the photograph Bill Dean had taken before I came back), and yet it was them beyond doubt it was them. Three sunflowers like the three weird sisters in Macbeth, three sunflowers with faces like searchlights. I had come back to Sara Laughs I was in the zone I had returned to my dream and this time it had possessed me.Stricken Ki bending and thrashing in my arms, both of us too slippery for safety. Please, Mike, pleaseThunder exploded overhead like a basket of nitro. We both screamed. I dropped to one knee and snatched up the little stuffed dog. Kyra clutched it, covered it with frantic kisses. I lurched to my feet as another thunderclap sounded, this one seeming to run through the air like some crazy liquid bullwhip. I looked at the sunflowers, and they seemed to look back at me Hello, Irish, its been a long time, what do you say? Then, resettling Ki in my arms as well as I could, I turned and slogged for the house. It wasnt easy the water in the driveway was now shallow and full of melting hailstones. A branch flew past us and landed bewitching much where Id knelt to pick up Strickland. There was a crash and a series of thuds as a bigger branch struck the roof and went rolling down it.I ran onto the back stoop, half-expecting the mannequin to come rushing out to greet us, raising its baggy not-arms in gruesome good fellowship, but there was no Shape. There was only the storm, and that was enough.Ki was clutching the dog tightly, and I saw with no surprise at all that its wetting, have with the dirt from all those hours of outside play, had turned Strickland black. It was what I had seen in my dream after all.Too late now. There was nowhere else to go, no other shelter from the storm. I opened the door and brought Kyra Devore inside Sara Laughs.The primordial portion of Sara the heart of the house had stood for almost a hundred years and had seen its share of storms. The one that fell on the lakes region that July afternoon might have been the worst of them, but I knew as before long as we were inside, both of us gasping like people who have narrowly escaped drowning, that it would almost for sure withstand this one as well. The log walls were so thick it was almost like stepping into some sort of vault. The storms crash and bash became a noisy drone punctuated by thunderclaps and the occasional loud thud of a branch falling on the roof. Somewhere in the basement, I stroke a door had come loose and was clapping back and forth. It sounded like a starters pistol. The kitchen window had been broken by the topple of a small tree. I ts needly tip poked in over the stove, making shadows on the counter and the stove-burners as it swayed. I thought of breaking it off and persistent not to. At least it was plugging the hole.I carried Ki into the living room and we looked out at the lake, black water prinked up in surreal points under a black sky. Lightning flashed almost constantly, revealing a ring of woods that danced and swayed in a frenzy all around the lake. As solid as the house was, it was groaning deeply within itself as the wind pummelled it and tried to push it down the hill.There was a soft, steady chiming. Kyra lifted her head from my shoulder and looked around.You have a moose, she said.Yes, thats Bunter.Does he bite?No, honey, he cant bite. Hes like a . . . like a doll, I suppose.Why is his bell reverberance?Hes glad were here. Hes glad we made it.I saw her want to be happy, and then I saw her realizing that Mattie wasnt here to be happy with. I saw the idea that Mattie would never be here to be hap py with glimmer in her mind . . . and felt her push it away. Over our heads something huge crashed down on the roof, the lights flickered, and Ki began to weep again.No, honey, I said, and began to walk with her. No, honey, no, Ki, dont. Dont, honey, dont.I want my mommy I want my MattieI walked her the way I think youre supposed to walk babies who have colic. She understood too much for a three-year-old, and her suffering was consequently more terrible than any three-year-old should have to bear. So I held her in my arms and walked her, her shorts damp with urine and rainwater under my hands, her arms fever-hot around my neck, her cheeks slathered with snot and tears, her hair a soaked clump from our brief dash through the downpour, her breath acetone, her toy a strangulated black clump that sent dirty water trickling over her knuckles. I walked her. patronise and forth we went through Saras living room, back and forth through dim light thrown by the overhead and one lamp. Generat or light is never quite steady, never quite still it seems to breathe and sigh. Back and forth through the uninterrupted low chiming of Bunters bell, like music from that world we sometimes touch but never really see. Back and forth beneath the sound of the storm. I think I sang to her and I know I touched her with my mind and we went deeper and deeper into that zone together. Above us the clouds ran and the rain pelted, dousing the fires the lightning had started in the woods. The house groaned and the air eddied with eruptions coming in through the broken kitchen window, but through it all there was a feeling of rueful safety. A feeling of coming home.At last her tears began to taper off. She lay with her cheek and the weight of her heavy head on my shoulder, and when we passed the lakeside windows I could see her eyes looking out into the silver-dark storm, wide and unblinking. Carrying her was a tall man with thinning hair. I realized I could see the dining-room table right t hrough us. Our reflections are ghosts already, I thought.Ki? set up you eat something?Not hungy.Can you drink a glass of milk?No, cocoa. I ratty.Yes, of course you are. And I have cocoa.I tried to put her down and she held on with panicky tightness, scrambling against me with her plump little thighs. I hoisted her back up again, this time settling her against my hip, and she subsided. Whos here? she asked. She had begun to shiver. Whos here sides us?I dont know.Theres a boy, she said. I saw him there. She pointed Strickland toward the slip glass door which gave on the deck (all the chairs out there had been overturned and thrown into the corners one of the set was missing, plainly blown right over the rail). He was black like on that funny show me and Mattie watch. There are other black people, too. A lady in a big hat. A man in blue pants. The rest are hard to see. But they watch. They watch us. Dont you see them?They cant hurt us. be you sure? Are you, are you?I didnt answer.I found a box of Swiss put down hiding behind the flour cannister, tore open one of the packets, and dumped it into a cup. Thunder exploded overhead. Ki jumped in my arms and let out a long, miserable wail. I hugged her, kissed her cheek.Dont put me down, Mike, I scared.I wont put you down. Youre my good girl.I scared of the boy and the blue-pants man and the lady. I think its the lady who wore Matties dress. Are they ghosties?Yes.Are they bad, like the men who chased us at the fair? Are they?I dont really know, Ki, and thats the truth.But well find out.Huh?Thats what you thought. But well find out. Yes, I said. I take chances thats what I was thinking. Something like that.I took her down to the master bedroom while the water heated in the kettle, thinking there had to be something left of Jos I could pop her into, but all of the drawers in Jos bureau were empty. So was her side of the closet. I stood Ki on the big double bed where I had not so much as taken a nap since coming back , took off her clothes, carried her into the bathroom, and wrapped her in a bathtowel. She hugged it around herself, shaking and blue-lipped. I used another one to dry her hair as best I could. During all of this, she never let go of the stuffed dog, which was now beginning to bleed stuffing from its seams.I opened the treat cabinet, pawed through it, and found what I was looking for on the top shelf the Benadryl Jo had unbroken around for her ragweed allergy. I thought of checking the expiration date on the bottom of the box, then almost laughed out loud. What difference did that make? I stood Ki on the closed toilet seat and let her hold on around my neck while I stripped the childproof backing from four of the little pink-and-white caplets. Then I rinsed out the tooth-glass and filled it with cold water. While I was doing this I saw drift in the bathroom mirror, which reflected the doorway and the master bedroom beyond. I told myself that I was only seeing the shadows of windb lown trees. I offered the caplets to Ki. She reached for them, then hesitated.Go on, I said. Its medicine.What kind? she asked. Her small hand was still poised over the little cluster of caplets.Sadness medicine, I said. Can you drink up pills, Ki?Sure. I taught myself when I was two.She hesitated a moment longer looking at me and looking into me, I think, ascertaining that I was telling her something I really believed. What she saw or felt must have satisfied her, because she took the caplets and put them in her mouth, one after another. She swallowed them with little birdie-sips from the glass, then said I still feel sad, Mike.It takes awhile for them to work.I rummaged in my dress drawer and found an old Harley-Davidson tee that had shrunk. It was still miles too big for her, but when I fastened a knot in one side it made a kind of sarong that kept slithering off one of her shoulders. It was almost cute.I carry a comb in my back pocket. I took it out and combed her hair back from her forehead and her temples. She was starting to look put together again, but there was still something missing. Something that was connected in my mind with Royce Merrill. That was crazy, though . . . wasnt it?Mike? What cane? What cane are you thinking about it?Then it came to me. A candy cane, I said. The kind with stripes. From my pocket I took the two white ribbons. Their red edges looked almost raw in the uncertain light. Like these. I tied her hair back in two little ponytails. Now she had her ribbons she had her black dog the sunflowers had relocated a few feet north, but they were there. Everything was more or less the way it was supposed to be.Thunder blasted, somewhere close a tree fell, and the lights went out. After five seconds of dark-gray shadows, they came on again. I carried Ki back to the kitchen, and when we passed the cellar door, something laughed behind it. I heard it Ki did, too. I could see it in her eyes.Take care of me, she said. Take care of me caus e Im just a little guy. You promised.I will.I love you, Mike.I love you, too, Ki.The kettle was huffing. I filled the cup to the center(a) mark with hot water, then topped it up with milk, cooling it off and making it richer. I took Kyra over to the couch. As we passed the dining-room table I glanced at the IBM typewriter and at the disseminated multiple sclerosis with the cross-word-puzzle book lying on top of it. Those things looked vaguely foolish and somehow sad, like gadgets that never worked very well and now do not work at all.Lightning lit up the entire sky, scouring the room with purple light. In that glare the laboring trees looked like screaming fingers, and as the light raced across the sliding glass door to the deck I saw a woman standing behind us, by the woodstove. She was indeed wearing a straw hat, with a brim the size of a cartwheel.What do you mean, the river is almost in the sea? Ki asked.I sat down and handed her the cup. Drink that up.Why did the men hurt my mommy? Didnt they want her to have a good time?I guess not, I said. I began to cry. I held her on my lap, wiping away the tears with the backs of my hands.You should have taken some sad-pills, too, Ki said. She held out her cocoa. Her hair ribbons, which I had tied in big sloppy bows, bobbed. Here. Drink some.I drank some. From the north end of the house came another grinding, crackling crash. The low rumble of the generator stuttered and the house went gray again. Shadows raced across Kis small face.Hold on, I told her. Try not to be scared. Maybe the lights will come back. A moment later they did, although now I could hear a hoarse, uneven note in the gennies holla and the flicker of the lights was much more noticeable.Tell me a story, she said. Tell me about Cinderbell.Cinderella.Yeah, her.All right, but storyguys get paid. I pursed my lips and made sipping sounds.She held the cup out. The cocoa was loving and good. The sensation of being watched was heavy and not sweet at all , but let them watch. Let them watch while they could.There was this pretty girl named Cinderella formerly upon a time Thats how it starts Thats how they all startThats right, I forgot. Once upon a time there was this pretty girl named Cinderella, who had two mean stepsisters. Their names were . . . do you remember?Tammy Faye and Vanna.Yeah, the Queens of Hairspray. And they made Cinderella do all the really unpleasant chores, like sweeping out the fireplace and cleaning up the dogpoop in the back yard. Now it just so happened that the noted rock band Oasis was going to play a gig at the palace, and although all the girls had been invited . . . I got as far as the part about the fairy godmother catching the mice and turning them into a Mercedes limousine before the Benadryl took effect. It really was a medicine for sadness when I looked down, Ki was fast asleep in the crook of my arm with her cocoa cup listing radically to port. I plucked it from her fingers and put it on the coff ee-table, then brushed her drying hair off her forehead.Ki?Nothing. Shed gone to the land of Noddy-Blinky. It probably helped that her afternoon nap had ended almost before it got started.I picked her up and carried her down to the north bedroom, her feet bouncing limply in the air and the hem of the Harley shirt flipping around her knees. I put her on the bed and pulled the duvet up to her chin. Thunder boomed like artillery fire, but she didnt even stir. Exhaustion, grief, Benadryl . . . they had taken her deep, taken her beyond ghosts and sorrow, and that was good. I bent over and kissed her cheek, which had finally begun to cool. Ill take care of you, I said. I promised, and I will.As if hearing me, Ki turned on her side, put the hand holding Strickland under her jaw, and made a soft sighing sound. Her lashes were dark soot against her cheeks, in take aback contrast to her light hair. Looking at her I felt myself swept by love, shaken by it the way one is shaken by a sickness.T ake care of me, Im just a little guy.I will, Ki-bird, I said.I went into the bathroom and began filling the tub, as I had once filled it in my sleep. She would sleep through it all if I could get enough warm water before the generator quit entirely. I wished I had a bath-toy to give her in case she did wake up, something like Wilhelm the spurt Whale, but shed have her dog, and she probably wouldnt wake up, anyway. No freeze baptism under a handpump for Kyra. I was not cruel, and I was not crazy.I had only disposable razors in the medicine cabinet, no good for the other agate line ahead of me. Not efficient enough. But one of the kitchen steak knives would do. If I filled the washbasin with water that was really hot, I wouldnt even feel it. A letter T on each arm, the top bar drawn across the wrists For a moment I came out of the zone. A voice my own speaking as some combination of Jo and Mattie screamed What are you thinking about? Oh Mike, what in Gods name are you thinking ab out?Then the thunder boomed, the lights flickered, and the rain began to pour down again, driven by the wind. I went back into that place where everything was clear, my course indisputable. Let it all end the sorrow, the hurt, the fear. I didnt want to think anymore about how Mattie had danced with her toes on the Frisbee as if it were a spotlight. I didnt want to be there when Kyra woke up, didnt want to see the misery fill her eyes. I didnt want to get through the night ahead, the day that was coming beyond it, or the day that was coming after that. They were all cars on the same old mystery train. invigoration was a sickness. I was going to give her a nice warm bath and cure her of it. I raised my arms. In the medicine cabinet mirror a murky figure a Shape raised its own in a kind of jocular greeting. It was me. It had been me all along, and that was all right. That was just fine.I dropped to one knee and checked the water. It was coming in nice and warm. Good. Even if the ge nerator quit now, it would be fine. The tub was an old one, a deep one. As I walked down to the kitchen to get the knife, I thought about climbing in with her after I had finished cutting my wrists in the hotter water of the basin. No, I decided. It might be misinterpreted by the people who would come here later on, people with nasty minds and nastier assumptions. The ones whod come when the storm was over and the trees across the road cleared away. No, after her bath I would dry her and put her back in bed with Strickland in her hand. Id sit across the room from her, in the rocking chair by the bedroom windows. I would spread some towels in my lap to keep as much of the blood off my pants as I could, and eventually I would go to sleep, too.Bunters bell was still ringing. more louder now. It was getting on my nerves, and if it kept on that way it might even wake the baby. I decided to pull it down and silence it for good. I crossed the room, and as I did a strong gust of air blew p ast me. It wasnt a draft from the broken kitchen window this was that warm subway-air again. It blew the Tough Stuff crossword puzzle book onto the floor, but the paperweight on the manuscript kept the loose pages from following. As I looked in that direction, Bunters bell fell silent.A voice sighed across the dim room. Words I couldnt make out. And what did they matter? What did one more manifestation one more blast of hot air from the Great Beyond matter?Thunder rolled and the sigh came again. This time, as the generator died and the lights went out, plunging the room into gray shadow, I got one word in the clearNineteen.I turned on my heels, making a nearly complete circle. I finished up looking across the shadowy room at the manuscript of My Childhood Friend. Suddenly the light broke. Understanding arrived.Not the crossword book. Not the phone book, either.My book. My manuscript.I crossed to it, vaguely certain that the water had stopped running into the tub in the north-win g bathroom. When the generator died, the pump had quit. That was all right, it would be mint candy deep enough already. And warm. I would give Kyra her bath, but first there was something I had to do. I had to go down nineteen, and after that I just might have to go down ninety-two. And I could. I had completed just over a hundred and twenty pages of manuscript, so I could. I grabbed the battery-powered lantern from the top of the cabinet where I still kept several hundred actual vinyl records, clicked it on, and set it on the table. It cast a white circle of radiance on the manuscript in the gloominess of that afternoon it was as bright as a spotlight.On page nineteen of My Childhood Friend, Tiffi Taylor the call-girl who had re-invented herself as Regina Whiting was sitting in her studio with Andy Drake, reliving the day that John Sanborn (the alias under which John Shackleford had been getting by) saved her three-year-old daughter, Karen. This is the passage I read as the t hunder boomed and the rain slashed against the sliding door giving on the deckFRIEND, by Noonan/Pg. 19over that way, I was sure of it, she said, butwhen I couldnt see her anywhere, I went tolook in the hot tub. She lit a cigarette. What Isaw made me feel like screaming, Andy Karen wasunderwater. All that was out was her hand . . . thenails were turning purple. After that . . . I guess Idived in, but I dont remember I was zoned out.Everything from then on is like a dream where stuffruns together in your mind. The yard-guy Sanborn shoved me aside and dived. His foot hit me in thethroat and I couldnt swallow for a week. He yankedup on Karens arm. I thought hed pull it off herdamn shoulder, but he got her. He got her.In the gloom, Drake saw she was weeping. God.Oh God, I thought she was dead. I was sure she was.I knew at once, but laid my steno pad along the left margin of the manuscript so I could see it better. Reading down, as youd read a vertical crossword-puzzle answer, the first letter of each line spelled the message which had been there almost since I began the bookowls undEr stud OThen, allowing for the indent next-to-last line from the bottomowls undEr studIOBill Dean, my caretaker, is sitting behind the wheel of his truck. He has accomplished his two purposes in coming here welcoming me back to the TR and warning me off Mattie Devore. Now hes ready to go. He smiles at me, displaying those big false teeth, those Roebuckers. If you get a chance, you ought to look for the owls, he tells me. I ask him what Jo would have wanted with a couple of plastic owls and he replies that they keep the crows from shitting up the woodwork. I study that, I have other things to think about, but still . . . It was like shed come down to do that errand special, he says. It never crosses my mind not then, at least that in Indian folklore, owls have another purpose they are said to keep evil spirits away. If Jo knew that plastic owls would scare the crows off, she woul d have cognise that. It was just the sort of information she picked up and tucked away. My inquisitive wife. My brilliant scatterbrain.Thunder rolled. Lightning ate at the clouds like spills of bright acid. I stood by the dining-room table with the manuscript in my unsteady hands.Christ, Jo, I whispered. What did you find out?And why didnt you tell me?But I thought I knew the answer to that. She hadnt told me because I was somehow like Max Devore his great-grandfather and my own had shit in the same pit. It didnt make any sense, but there it was.And she hadnt told her own brother, either. I took a weird kind of comfort from that.I began to leaf through the manuscript, my skin crawling.Andy Drake rarely frowned in Michael Noonans My Childhood Friend. He scowled instead, because theres an owl in every scowl. Before coming to Florida, John Shackleford had been living in Studio City, California. Drakes first meeting with Regina Whiting occurred in her studio. Ray Garratys last-known credit was the Studio Apartments in Key Largo. Regina Whitings best friend was Steffie Underwood. Steffis husband was Towle Underwood there was a good one, two for the price of one.Owls under studio.It was everywhere, on every page, just like the K-names in the telephone book. A kind of monument, this one built I was sure of it not by Sara Tidwell but by Johanna Arlen Noonan. My wife passing messages behind the guards back, praying with all her considerable heart that I would see and understand.On page ninety-two Shackleford was talking to Drake in the prison visitors room sitting with his wrists between his knees, looking down at the drawing string running between his ankles, refusing to make eye-contact with Drake.FRIEND, by Noonan/Pg. 92only thing I got to say. Anything else, fuck,what good would it do? Lifes a game, and Ilost. You want me to tell you that I yankedsome little kid out of the water, pulled herup, got her take going again? I did, butnot because Im a hero or a angel . . . There was more but no need to read it. The message, owls under studio, ran down the margin just as it had on page nineteen. As it probably did on any number of other pages as well. I remembered how deliriously happy I had been to discover that the block had been fade out and I could write again. It had been dissolved all right, but not because Id finally beaten it or found a way around it. Jo had dissolved it. Jo had beaten it, and my continued career as a writer of second-rate thrillers had been the least of her concerns when she did it. As I stood there in the flicker-flash of lightning, feeling my unseen guests swirl around me in the unsteady air, I remembered Mrs. Moran, my first-grade teacher. When your efforts to replicate the smooth curves of the Palmer Method alphabet on the blackboard began to flag and waver, she would put her large adapted hand over yours and help you.So had Jo helped me.I riffled through the manuscript and saw the key words everywhere, some times placed so you could actually read them stacked on different lines, one above the other. How hard she had tried to tell me this . . . and I had no intention of doing anything else until I found out why. I dropped the manuscript back on the table, but before I could re-anchor it, a furious gust of freezing air blew past me, lifting the pages and scattering them everywhere in a cyclone. If that force could have ripped them to shreds, Im sure that it would have.No it cried as I grabbed the lanterns handle. No, finish the jobWind blew around my face in chill gusts it was as if someone I couldnt quite see was standing right in front of me and breathing in my face, retreating as I moved forward, huffing and puffing like the big bad wolf outside the houses of the three little pigs.I hung the lantern over my arm, held my hands out in front of me, and clapped them together sharply. The cold puffs in my face ceased. There was now only the random swirling air coming in through the partia lly plugged kitchen window. Shes sleeping, I said to what I knew was still there, silently watching. Theres time.I went out the back door and the wind took me at once, making me stagger sideways, almost knocking me over. And in the wavering trees I saw green faces, the faces of the dead. Devores was there, and Royces, and Son Tidwells. Most of all I saw Saras.Everywhere Sara.No Go back You dont need no truck with no owls, sugar Go back bar the job Do what you came forI dont know what I came for, I said. And until I find out, Im not doing anything.The wind screamed as if in offense, and a huge branch split off the pine standing to the right of the house. It fell on top of my Chevrolet in a spray of water, denting the roof before rolling off on my side.Clapping my hands out here would be every bit as useful as King Canute commanding the tide to turn. This was her world, not mine . . . and only the edge of it, at that. Every step closer to The Street and the lake would bring me closer to that worlds heart, where time was thin and spirits ruled. Oh dear God, what had happened to cause this?The grade to Jos studio had turned into a creek. I got a dozen steps down it before a rock turned under my foot and I fell heavily on my side. Lightning zigged across the sky, there was the crack of another breaking branch, and then something was falling toward me. I put my hands up to shield my face and rolled to the right, off the path. The branch splashed to the ground just behind me, and I tumbled halfway down a slope that was slick with soaked needles. At last I was able to pull myself to my feet. The branch on the path was even bigger than the one which had landed on the roof of the car. If it had struck me, it likely would have bashed in my skull.Go back A hissing, spiteful wind through the trees.Finish it The slobbering, guttural voice of the lake slamming into the rocks and the bank below The Street. sense your business That was the very house itself, groaning on its foundations. Mind your business and let me mind mineBut Kyra was my business. Kyra was my daughter.I picked up the lantern. The housing was cracked but the bulb glowed bright and steady that was one for the home team. Bent over against the howling wind, hand raised to ward off more falling branches, I slipped and stumbled my way down the hill to my dead wifes studio.