Essay About Family: My Fathers Illness :: Family Relationships Sickness Papers

My Fathers IllnessAs a child, bread and butter was extensive for me. I spent my geezerhood being a hyperactive boy, running around and causing general chaos on my two sisters, Kelly and Libby. The world I lived in was a focusing free world, I had not had many difficult experiences growing up. Life was beautiful for me, until a tragedy struck my family.My life got stressful on first-year day of game grade. I remember getting off the bus, eager to tell my parents all ab forth what it felt equivalent to be in second grade. As I walked in the door, I could feel that something was pervert. It was something in the air, a depressing mood. Instead of being greeted by a house of warm response, it was silent. I shouted for my parents and searched around, finally finding them in their bedroom. As I walked in to their bedroom, I found my mother sitting on the bed, weeping quietly, while my aim lay on the bed in a near unconscious state. This sight shocked me, I had seen my fat her regorge before, but by the reply of my mother and the deathly look on my fathers face I knew that something was seriously wrong.My fathers eyes opened, and he called out for my sister Kelly and I to eff to him. In a very serious and sad voice, he told us that he was very sick, and he was going to the gather Wayne hospital. My mother told Kelly and I to assistant her pack some things for him, because he was going to be leaving soon. We helped her pack, keeping quiet because we did not want to interrupt the lock in that had taken over the room. A family friend, Rose Widmer, came over as my mom and dad were getting ready to leave. She would be staying with us because it looked like they would not be coming home that night. As Kelly and I were eating our supper, my mom came into the kitchen and sat down beside me. She explained to us that our dad was very sick, and that he was having trouble with his brain. She used the shape brain abscess. She said that this is what the doctors speculated was wrong with him, but they needed to go to Fort Wayne to take precautions.Essay About Family My Fathers Illness Family Relationships Sickness PapersMy Fathers IllnessAs a child, life was great for me. I spent my days being a hyperactive boy, running around and causing general chaos on my two sisters, Kelly and Libby. The world I lived in was a stress free world, I had not had many difficult experiences growing up. Life was beautiful for me, until a tragedy struck my family.My life got stressful on first day of second grade. I remember getting off the bus, eager to tell my parents all about what it felt like to be in second grade. As I walked in the door, I could feel that something was wrong. It was something in the air, a depressing mood. Instead of being greeted by a house of warm response, it was silent. I shouted for my parents and searched around, finally finding them in their bedroom. As I walked in to their bedroom, I found my mother sitt ing on the bed, weeping quietly, while my father lay on the bed in a near unconscious state. This sight shocked me, I had seen my father sick before, but by the reaction of my mother and the deathly look on my fathers face I knew that something was seriously wrong.My fathers eyes opened, and he called out for my sister Kelly and I to come to him. In a very serious and sad voice, he told us that he was very sick, and he was going to the Fort Wayne hospital. My mother told Kelly and I to help her pack some things for him, because he was going to be leaving soon. We helped her pack, keeping quiet because we did not want to interrupt the silence that had taken over the room. A family friend, Rose Widmer, came over as my mom and dad were getting ready to leave. She would be staying with us because it looked like they would not be coming home that night. As Kelly and I were eating our supper, my mom came into the kitchen and sat down beside me. She explained to us that our dad wa s very sick, and that he was having trouble with his brain. She used the term brain abscess. She said that this is what the doctors speculated was wrong with him, but they needed to go to Fort Wayne to take precautions.

Bad Effect of Pro-Wrestling on on Teens and Adolscents Essay -- essays

The news that an eight-year-old boy had battered a school mate to expiration while re-enacting the US World Wrestling Federation TV series, came as a shock to in all the parents. The tragedy consequently galvanized the people into reviewing their relations with the video set and set some limits on viewing of T.V. on their children. Four eight-year-old boys - Tom, Eric, William and James -did not come to school after lunch and dashed into a secluded place. Then they divided into two groups. While two of them , one from each side stood aside the other two got into a fight with blows and kicks on whatever parts of the body, Eric and James pounced on each other. Within seconds, James fell on the ground bleeding profusely through mouth and nose. tho undeterred, Eric leaped on him again and counted till five-finally defeating his opponent. It was the last blow that James lay dead on the ground while the winning group laughing with pride. In the meantime Tom yelled to James to get up and fight but no avail. It then dawned to him that something amiss had happened. James was dead. Wrestling had caused blameless and costless James to be dead. Watching professional grappling iron on T.V. encourages aggressive behavior in adolescents. The teens search or look up to the mass media to imagine what makes a real man or a woman. The frequency of watching wrestling is directly linked to the behavior of teens. Also, the language and the violence used in it influences the teen males and females.Firstly, the teens look up to the mass media (the celebrities) to find the idol characteristics of a man or a woman and try to copy them. One universal thing that I have noticed among my peers ,which many of you I am sure must have noticed too, that when asked in... ...hem to a dangerous path.By information till the end of my thoughts, you must be convinced by now that watching professional wrestling on T.V. encourages aggressive behavior in teens. We all know that teena gers are easily influenced and molded into any shape, but if this tender mind is exposed to violence like wrestling, it starts to adopt and enact it. The more wrestling they watch, the more they are engaged in unacceptable behavior. Though, the debate over the influence of pro wrestling programming on teens is far from ending, we must safety device what goes into our heart by way of our eyes, ears and brain, and review what we see on the TV.BibliographyDuRant, Robert H., PhD Department of Pediatrics, Brenner Childrens Hospital, Winston-Salem, North Carolina- AUGUSTA FREE PRESSWake forest University (research)Health twenty-four hours News, Monday, August 7, 2006

International Copyright Essay -- Intellectual Property Rights

The idea that an author of a literary work has certain inalienable rights to his work has been an institution pitch on a national level in many countries for centuries. These rights have taken on different forms depending on the legal tradition of the country where it is applied. In systems with a common law tradition, based on utilitarian ideals, the rights were referred to as procure. In systems that relied on a civil law tradition, based on philosophical thought and the basic idea of a moral and natural order, the rights became to be known as authors rights and later expanded to neighboring rights. Although these rights, and the laws that went along with them, developed in many countries around the same time in history international right of first publication would take substantially longer to develop. International copyright law is an evolution of thought that has emerged after many years of international political communications between the many states of the world. The Statute of Anne, created 1694 in England, was the worlds first copyright act. It was titled An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by vesting the Copies of Printed Books in the Authors or Purchasers of such Copies, during the Times therein mentioned (Goldstein, 5). The act gave anyone the ability to gain copyright through the simple registration of their work and gave legal protection for a term of fourteen years from the date of original publication. This term could be regenerate for an additional fourteen years if the author was still alive after the initial term of protection was over (Goldstein, 6). This became the foundation on which later copyright legislation would be built on. Authors rights developed in France, Germany, and several other states... ...ks CitedAgreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). Marrakesh. 15 April 1994. Print.capital of Switzerland Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works Paris Act. Paris. 24 July 1971. Print.Convention for the Protection of Producers of Phonograms Against Unauthorized Duplication of Their Phonograms. World Intellectual Property Organization. 29 Oct 1971. Print.Goldstein, Paul. International Copyright Principles, Law, and Practice. NewYork Oxford UP, 2001. Print.International Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organisations. Rome Convention, 1961. Rome. 26 Oct 1961. Print.North American Free Trade Agreement. Part Six, art. 1701-1718.14. 7 Oct 1992. Print. worldwide Copyright Convention. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. 6 Sept 1952. Print.

Should College Athletes Be Paid? Essay -- NCAA, student athlete, sport

Today there argon over 450,000 college athletes and the National College Athletics Association (NCAA) faces a difficult decision on whether or not college athletes should be paid. Many people believe that they should and many believe they should not. There are several benefits that colleges athletes receive for being a student athlete. Why should they receive even more benefits than their learning and numerous perks? Today, most college athletes receive a scholarship to be for a portion or sometimes all of ones college tuition. So, what does a scholarship cover? According to an article written by Tyson Hartnett, A $25,000 scholarship covers the basics, university fees, tuition, housing, a meal-plan and textbooks. But most scholarships given to college athletes are not full rides. According to US News, in 2010, the average scholarship given to a college athlete was worth $10,400. Even with this amount, many college athletes are not granted a scholarship and have to pay for colleg e themselves.Yes, college athletes with scholarship money are even-tempered in need of money to have in their pockets they need personal money for gas, food, clothing, and other things that a college student may need. Paying these athletes may fall the stress they have dealing with a job during the off-season. Unlike a student going to college with an academic scholarship, a college athlete on an athletic scholarship does not have the time for a job with workouts, classes, practice, and study time that is required. But if you compare a student athlete to just a unremitting student, the athlete still receives many benefits. Several of the Division I college athletes are always being looked at by their respective professional leagues. There are not re... ...ig-money-in-college-sports-disappears.(accessed December 10, 2013).Montopoli, Brian. Kevin Ware Injury Could Put Scholarship at Risk. April 1, 2013. http//www.cbsnews.com/news/kevin-ware-injury-could-put-scholarship-at-risk/.(a ccessed December 7, 2013).Brynelson, Troy. For All the Money College Sports Teams Bring In, Should Student Athletes Be Paid. October 28, 2013. http//dailyemerald.com/2013/10/28/for-all-the-money-college-sports-teams-bring-in-should-student-athletes-be-paid/.(accessed December 7, 2013).Rosenfeld, Evan, and Scarlett McCourt. Opposing Views Should NCAA Athletes Be Paid? September 17, 2013. www.wildcat.arizona.edu/article/2013/09/opposing-views-should-ncaa-athletes-be-paid-091813. (accessed December 7, 2013).Jacobson, Robert. Sports in America Recreation, Business, Education, and Controversy. Wylie, TX Information Plus, 2006.

Who do you blame most for King Duncans Death? :: English Literature Essays

Who do you blame most for King Duncans Death?Who do you blame for king Duncans death? Consider the role of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, and the Witches. When respondent this question you need to consider the roles of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, and the Witches. From this we need to also consider when the play was written and in what context the audience saw the characters in the era when the plays were written. Shakespeare was commissioned to write the play by throng I of England who was also James IV of Scotland in the same period and was the new King of England. James I was obsessed and paranoid about witches, so much so that he wrote a book on the subject titled Demonology at this while everyone believed in the existence of the supernatural, and when the Witches came on to the stage they would not be seen as funny or laughable but as sinister and scary. James I mother, Mary Queen of Scots had been executed on the charge of treason, his father Lord Darnley had been assassinated. James I ha d inherited a time of political up deteriorate and confusion through the church and the monarchys ideology and a time where political murder and revenge murder were commonplace. James I himself had, had two black lotion attempts made on his life. The second of these was in 1605 and is well known to this day it was the Gunpowder Plot this may be why the murder of King Duncan isnt in the play because it may insight ideas about murdering King James I, also showing the murder may make James I search less divine. James I would be seen as less divine because if a King is seen to be murdered on stage while he is asleep with no struggle them he may be seen by the public as faulted and fallible. In Shakespeares period people believed there was a greater power controlling life, and as long as this divine order was maintained chaos wouldnt take control. The murder of the king would throw the system into chaos the murder would not only be a crime against the state but more importantly a crim e against god. At the top of the chain is god with ultimate power over everything, then King, Thanes, citizens, and finally animals. Macbeth is thane of Glamis at the start and is then also Thane or Cawdor, this gives him a duty to the King and god that he must obey as they are his superiors.

Who do you blame most for King Duncans Death? :: English Literature Essays

Who do you blame most for queen regnant Duncans Death?Who do you blame for queen regnant Duncans death? Consider the role of Macbeth, doll Macbeth, and the Witches. When answering this question you need to consider the roles of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, and the Witches. From this we need to also consider when the play was written and in what context the audience saw the characters in the time when the plays were written. Shakespeare was commissioned to write the play by pack I of England who was also James IV of Scotland in the same period and was the new poove of England. James I was obsessed and paranoid about witches, so much so that he wrote a book on the subject titled Demonology at this time everyone believed in the existence of the supernatural, and when the Witches came on to the stage they would not be seen as funny or laughable but as sinister and scary. James I mother, Mary Queen of Scots had been executed on the charge of treason, his father Lord Darnley had been assass inated. James I had inherited a time of political turmoil and confusion through the church and the monarchys ideology and a time where political murder and revenge murder were commonplace. James I himself had, had deuce assassination attempts made on his life. The second of these was in 1605 and is well known to this day it was the Gunpowder Plot this may be why the murder of King Duncan isnt in the play because it may insight ideas about murdering King James I, also showing the murder may make James I seem less divine. James I would be seen as less divine because if a King is seen to be murdered on stage period he is asleep with no struggle them he may be seen by the public as faulted and fallible. In Shakespeares period people believed on that point was a greater power controlling life, and as long as this divine order was maintained chaos wouldnt take control. The murder of the king would throw the system into chaos the murder would not only be a aversion against the state but more importantly a crime against god. At the top of the chain is god with ultimate power over everything, then King, Thanes, citizens, and finally animals. Macbeth is thane of Glamis at the start and is then also Thane or Cawdor, this gives him a duty to the King and god that he must obey as they are his superiors.

What Makes Me a True Filipino

WHAT MAKES ME A TRUE FILIPINO? ORIGIN According to Sociology, Filipino is a hodgepodge, a mixture of primitive strains ( Negrito, Ita, Aeta) eastern strains (Indonesian, Chinese, Japanese) and western strains ( Spanish, English, American). primitive strains + eastern strains + western strains = A FILIPINO Therefore, we Filipinos ar unified from different races. . I may maintain that Im a Filipino. VALUES Some says Filipinos are wonderful people. We are friendly, loving, caring, family oriented, loves adventures, talented, religious, etc. They are also hardworking.We are hospitable, thats the no. 1 thing most common in our personality. We are also jolly people. . I may say that Im a Filipino. PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS Filipinos are known for flat, sm every(prenominal) or big nose medium or tan skin (kayumanggi) black hair and who are small ones etc. I may say that Im a Filipino because I have those. We are plenty of gorgeous Filipino men and women out on that point who have unique a ppearances But some are ashamed with their beauties. When you disrespect the traits of your ancestors, you are only insulting yourself.MANNERISM AND PERSONALITY TRAITS Filipinos point with their lips. They eat with their gift and have it down as a technique. They nod their head upwards to greet someone. They put their foot up on their chair and rest their elbows on their knees while you eat. etc I may say that Im a Filipino. VOCABULARY Filipinos say Aray instead of ouch. They make acronyms for phrases OA = overacting, DOM = dirty old man, and TNT for You know. They also suppose the ff. words Hippopo-TA-mus, com-FOR-table, Bro-CO-li, and Montgo-marry Ward.Filipinos say Ay or Uy instead of oops etc. I may say that Im a Filipino. CLOTHING AND APPEARANCE Filipinos Theres Angelique eyeliner and Johnsons bollocks Powder compacts lurking in your makeup drawer. They check labels on clothes to see where its made. Their ponytail ribbon covers half your head. I may say that Im a Filipino. These are some ways to know you are Filipino. It is very interesting. It is quite funny but we must admit that we are one of them. And regardless of all this, WE are FILIPINO for life.

Budweiser Paper

MARKETING 474 FINAL INTEGRATED MARKETING PLAN INSTRUCTIONS You will complete an Integrated Marketing Plan with your group for Budweiser. As you may know the ailing beer manufacturer is struggling. You will need to do additional research to uncover the issues that are plaguing the brand. The goal of your plan is to drive business.BUDWEISER OVERVIEW In January, Coors Light surpassed Budweiser to become the 2 selling beer in the U. S. It was a major blow for Budweiser, a brand that has been in decline for the last three decades.Certainly the changing tastes of the American consumers have impacted sales of Anheuser Buschs flagship brand, but marketing decisions have also played a big role in the fall of the iconic brand. Budweiser has tried to be everything from fratty to refined to sporty to hipster. Anheuser-Busch has always put a major focus on marketing. This is the company, after all, that spent $246. 2 million totally on Super-Bowl commercials from 2002 to 2011. Edward McClelland of Salonsays that from its inception, Budweiser was a triumph of marketing over quality. The quality was questionable Adolphus Busch, the companys founder, called his beer dot-schlop and preferred to drink wine and St. Louis drinkers were not fans of the drink either, but the Busch family nonoperational bought the licenses and paid rent for bar owners in exchange for serving the product. Budweiser had its glory days in the 1950s when Anheuser-Busch helped strengthen its national brand by sponsoring shows featuring Jackie Gleason, Milton Berle, and free-spoken Sinatra. It also promoted its beer by sponsoring sporting events and branding stadiums. By the 1980s, Budweiser was synonymous with American culture. Budweisers kind of a mainstay.Its a good old American tradition, like going to a baseball game or a college football game,says Kevin Eichelberger, webmaster of BeerTees. com. But something has happened in the past three decades and, while it still has trailer overseas, the Bud weiser brand is tired here at home. Undoubtedly, owners A-B InBev will try to save it with marketing, as they have always done. But will that be enough to diminish Budweiser to the throne and its former glory? Source businessinsider. comPAPER OUTLINE Integrated Marketing Campaign Deliverables You should outline the following before you begin developing your IMC (Word Times red-hot Roman 12 Font and 1. inch margins)OVERVIEW (2-3 Pages)1. Budweiser Problem2. Company Culture, Values, Mission3. Communication Objective (e. g. Inform, Persuade, Call to action)4. Brand Positioning and Personality5. Intended Target Audience/Insights crusade (At least 3-5 Pages) BIG IDEA or compelling theme. (e. g. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas)MESSAGE Relevant copy and actionable message for your target consumer which includes (e. g. rational or turned on(p) appeal or selling proposition)CHANNELS (examples) a. Print Campaign Headline, Artwork/Visual and Copy b. Events with Sponsors c.Direct Commu nication Web-site, Social Media d. Public RelationsCREATIVE Headline to capture the targets attention and photos that capture the essence of the campaignGRADING CRITERIA 200 Points Written Strategy-Did you have a compelling strategy for your IMC? Was your strategy aligned to the problems and issues? 100 Points 5 minute oral Presentation-How Creative was your IMC presentation? Did you use innovative ways to drive sales that would resonate with the target consumer?Note Your Oral Presentation should be 4-5 Slides developed from the CAMPAIGN part of the written strategy.

Promoting Gender Equality Essay

For centuries wowork force were not treated equal to men in many a(prenominal) an(prenominal) ways. They were not allowed to own property, they did not consume a Sh are in the property of their parents, they had no voting rights, they had no freedom to choose their work or job and so on. Now that we have come out of those dark days of oppression of women there is a need for strong movement to skirmish for the rights of women and to ensure that they get all the rights which men have or in other words a movement for the Empowerment of Women. The present seminar has been planned with a view to discuss the various issues related to the Empowerment of Women and to suggest measures for achieving this end.The body of enquiry on womens empowerment has conceptualized and defined this construct in many ways and used different terms, oftentimes interchangeably, including autonomy,status, and agency (Lee-Rife and Edmeades 2011 Malhotra et al. 2002 Upadhyay and Hindin 2005).see moreexamples of sexual activity equalityA review of the literature also shows different measures for the resembling conceptualization. For example, studies often measure womens autonomy with an index that valuatees their participation in decision-making in various household issues. This index represents womens degree of control all over their environment. Some researchers include both major and minordecisions, while others include only major decisions, excluding day-to-day household decisions and those that are tralatitiously within the womans domain. Womens empowerment encompasses many dimensions, including economic, socio- pagan, familial/interpersonal, legal, political, and psychological (Malhotra et al. 2002), which contributes to the wide variation in conceptualizations of womens empowerment. Given this variation in conceptualization, it is ticklish to measure womens empowerment consistently. Kabeer (2001), whose definition is widely accepted, defines empowerment as the expansion of p eoples ability to make strategic life choices in a context where this ability was previously denied to them.Two central components of empowerment are agency and resources needed to exercise life choices (Kabeer 2001 Malhotra et al. 2002). Even with a clear definition, these constructs are difficult to quantify in a stock(a)ized way.Additionally, to measure empowerment at an individual level, researchers must translate the amorphous constructs into a set of specific questions that population- animald surveys flush toilet ask of individual respondents (Kishor and Subaiya 2008). Another challenge is the variation in cultural contexts that affect the measurement of womens empowerment. It is desirable to use standardized questions that enable cross-cultural comparisons of empowerment.Yet a measure that captures empowerment in one context may have limited relevance in another, as is the case with measures that assess mobility in a community where womens free movement is the norm. Whi le many existing measures of empowerment were originally conceptualized and developed for the context of Asia, and for South Asiatic countries in particular (Dyson and Moore 1983 Mason 1987), measures that are universally applicable regardless of the grammatical gender equity environment, such as those used in Demographic and wellness Surveys (DHS), are most useful for cross-national comparisons.Using the available standardized measures of womens empowerment among several population-based samples from sub-Saharan Africa will allow us to make comparisons and punter understand whether the available measures adequately capture empowerment in these settings. It is still unknown whether the kindred dimensions of empowerment that were developed elsewhere are relevant in sub-Saharan Africa, where the gender environment is completely different than in other regions. In Africa, empowerment is likely to look different than elsewhere because of such differences as more working women who hav e control over their earnings, more polygamy, more nuclear families (as opposed to extended families), and larger ideal family size, and because womens status is often tied to their fertility.EMPOWERMENT AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTHA broad body of research exists on womens empowerment and reproductive outcomes. Substantial research, primarily rivet on Asia, demonstratesthat womens empowerment is associated with contraceptive use (Gwako 1997 Morgan and Niraula 1995 Schuler et al. 1997 Woldemicael 2009), lower fertility (Balk 1994 Dyson and Moore 1983 Hindin 2000), and longer birth intervals (Upadhyay and Hindin 2005). Some researchers have suggested that womens empowerment is a pick out pathway through which education influences fertility (Jejeebhoy 1995 Mason 1987). To operationalize womens empowerment, much of the research literature uses the previously mentioned index of participation in house holddecision-making.The standard DHS questionnaire includes a set of questions about househ old decision-making. Other approaches include assessing womens acceptance of reasons that a husband is justified for beating his wife, and also reasons that a wife is justified in refusing sex with her husband (Ethiopian Society of Population Studies 2008). The DHS includes questions about these issues. such(prenominal) gender-role attitudes measure the extent of womens acceptance of norms that justify mens control over women. As expected, they are associated with lower levels of power over household decision-making among women (Dhaher et al. 2010 Hindin 2003 Linos et al. 2010).MAJOR OBSTACLES TO THE PROMOTION OF GENDER EQUALITY AND EMPOWERMENTNotwithstanding the far-flung commitment shown through the ratification of international and regional gender equality frameworks, normative gains are not but abundanty reflected in substantial changes in womens lives, as shown in the preceding section. Large gaps remain between policy and practice and it is the aim of this section to discus s some of the major challenges that have been experienced. Continued presence of strong cultural and traditional practices constraining age in achieving gender parity The continued presence of long standing cultural and traditional practices that discriminate against women and girls have constrained the progress towards achieving gender equality. Discriminatory practices and public attitudes towards the advancement of women and gender equality have not changed at the same pace as policy, legal and institutional frameworks. deprivation of ratification of the instruments that promote gender equality Previous sections have identified the status with respect to a number of regional instruments, particularly the African Womens Protocol. Some countries are yet to sign this instrument, while a considerable number are yet to ratify it. Ineffective institutional and policy implementation mechanisms Thirteen years after the adoption of the BPFA by the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995 , the greatest challenge face up countries and regional institutions is the effective implementation of the adopted commitments. Good policies that do not have well formulated implementation plans and resources offer the policies ineffective. In some countries, the capacity of gender machineries has also contributed to the slow pace.Some policies are not effectively implemented because they were not developed in a participatory way inclusive of both men and women. drop of targets with well defined time-frames are also some of the factors that have hampered effective implementation of policies. Lack of monitoring and evaluation mechanisms also plays a significant role in the lack of implementation. Moreover, some policies tend to focus on the symptoms rather than addressing the persistent vestigial causes of gender inequality. African women, especially those living in rural communities and those with disabilities, still face exclusion from participating in development processes t hat can empower them and remediate gender equality. It is crucial to undertake inclusive participatory approaches in policy development that involve women as equal partners.Lack of adequate resourcesLack of humans and financial resources severely limits gender mainstreaming to achieve gender equality and womens empowerment. Even in situations where a comprehensive plan of action for gender mainstreaming has been developed, countries may not have adequate resources to implement the plan. In particular National gender Machineries (NGMs) experience limited financial and other material resource base to enhance the implementation of gender equality mandates, roles and responsibilities. In addition, there are gaps in human capacity, there is generally a challenge with respect to gender competence skills of officers in the NGMs to influence the engendering of macro-economic and sector policy frameworks. There is high staff turn over of experts, and low staff retention, most countries ar e facing difficulties of retaining and sustaining staff with the necessary expertise.Continued presence of strong cultural and traditional practices constraining progress in achieving gender parity in education In taking decisions with respect to the education of their children, some families continue to have preference for educating boys rather than girls. As noted female-to-male school enrolment, retention and completion favor boys in a majority of countries. Very few countries have female to male enrolment rates that favor girls over boys and these countries have been making progress to restitution the situation. Continued presence of strong cultural and traditional practices constraining progress in achieving gender parity in health Some cultural and traditional practices continue to inhibit progress in the area of sexual and reproductive rights. Women and girls continue to risk death from maternal mortality.There is need to provide convenient sexual and reproductive healthcar e services and education to reduce maternal mortality. Such interventions need to address the roles of both men and women. The rate of HIV contagion is much higher among women than men and in this regard, governments must establish and monitor strict legal frameworks to address the vulnerability of women and girls. Furthermore, access to anti-retroviral treatment should be ensured. Lack of enforcement of laws that promote gender equality and lack of knowledge of laws In some countries laws that promote gender equality are in place, however lack of enforcement of such laws leads to the perpetuation of gender inequalities and violence against women. In some countries, laws are in place, but interpretation of these laws is lacking and as such, they are not enforced.Lack of full involvement of men and boysChanging cultural and traditional beliefs including patriarchy requires the involvement of men, and boys in the promotion of gender equality through innovative rights-based, culturally exquisite programmes and continued education and sensitization.Continued lack of recognition of womens unpaid workThe continued lack of recognition of unpaid work (domestic, reproductive, care and support) performed by women hampers the development of policies that can effectively promote gender equality. There is therefore need for such work to be given due recognition in the computation of national income.Limited role of the mediaThe media can play a major role in promoting gender equality beyond what it is currently doing. In particular in creating awareness, sensitization and education campaigns to change patriarchal attitudes. As noted before establishing new laws unaccompanied is not enough existing gendered societal relations and cultural norms may quickly shape these laws. There is need for measures to counter preexisting social forces through education and training of both men and women. The media can make a major contribution towards promoting these gender equality mes sages.Lack of sex disaggregated and gender responsive entropySex-disaggregated data and information from gender-sensitive indicators are often not collected, lost in aggregation of published data, or not used. Gender responsive data would help in tracking the progress made towards achievement of gender equality.SUGGESTED RECOMMENDATIONSTranslation of commitments and policies promoting gender equality and womens empowerment into action on the ground remains a major challenge in Africa. Based on the findings of this study, this section highlights some recommendations that can help countries successfully implement the commitments and policies aimed at promoting gender equality and womens empowerment. Improved research and collection of gender responsive statistical data It is important to systematically collect accurate sex and gender disaggregated data and conduct research that is substantial for monitoring and evaluating progress towards achievement of gender equality and womens em powerment.More efforts are needed to build capacity of national experts to collect gender disaggregated data in order to enhance integration of gender perspectives in the development process. Strengthen documentation and dissemination of information on promoting gender equality and womens empowerment Sharing of information is important within countries, between countries and internationally and is critical to the success of achieving gender equality and womens empowerment. There is need to enhance documentation of experiences with successful and unsuccessful practices and widely disseminate this information. It is important for member States, development partners and international and regional bodies to identify information exchange systems that can facilitate wide exchange of this information in the region.CONCLUSIONThe Empowerment of women has become one of the most important Concerns of 21st century not only at national level but also at the international level. Efforts by the Govt. are on to ensure Gender equality but Government initiatives alone would not be sufficient to achieve this goal. Society must take initiative to create a climate in which there is no gender discrimination and Women have full opportunities of Self decision making and participating in the Social, Political and Economic life of the Country with a sense of equality.As countries around the world work to promote gender equality and empower women as part of achieving the Millennium cultivation Goals, it can be expected that essential for smaller families will follow. Additionally, family planning programs can address womens empowerment as part of their mission to help women and couples have only the number of children they want. Such programs are likely to generate interest in family planning services, create demand for smaller families, and also reduce unwanted fertility.REFRENCES_Abadian, S. 1996. Womens Autonomy and Its involve on foulness. World Development 24(12)1793-1809._Gw ako, E.L. 1997. Conjugal Power in Rural Kenya Families Its Influence on Womens _Decisions about Family Size and Family Planning Practices. Sex Roles 36(3-4)127-147. _Jejeebhoy, S.J. 1995.Womens Education, Autonomy, and Reproductive Behaviour Experience _from Developing Countries. Oxford, England Clarendon Press. _Jejeebhoy, S.J. 2000. Womens Autonomy in Rural India Its Dimensions, Determinants, and the Influence of Context. Pp. 204-238 in Womens empowerment and demographic processes moving beyond Cairo, edited by H. Presser and G. Sen. London Oxford University Press. _Lee-Rife, S.M. 2011. Womens Empowerment and Reproductive Experiences over the Lifecourse. Soc Sci Med 71(3)634-642._Linos, N., M. Khawaja, and M. Al-Nsour. 2010. Womens Autonomy and Support for Wife Beating Findings from a Population-Based Survey in Jordan. Violence Vict 25(3)409-419. _ Mason, K.O. 1987. The Impact of Womens Social Position on Fertility in Developing Countries. Sociological Forum 4718745._Morgan, P.S. and B.B. Niraula. 1995. Gender Inequality and Fertility in Two Nepali Villages. Population and Development Review 21(3)541-561._Westoff, C. and A. Bankole. Reproductive Preferences in Developing Countries at the Turn of the Century. Calverton, Maryland ORC Macro. DHS Comparative Reports No. 2. April 2002. http//www.measuredhs.com/pubs/pub_details.cfm?ID=369dfiles . _Malhotra, A., S.R. Schuler, and C. Boender. step Womens Empowerment as a Variable in International Development. Washington, DC June 28, 2002. http//hdr.undp.org/docs /network/hdr_net/GDI_GEM_Measuring_Womens_Empowerment.pdf ._ Gebreselassie, T. 2008. Spousal Agreement on Reproductive Preferences in sub-Saharan Africa. Calverton, Maryland Macro International Inc. DHS Analytical Studies No. 10. http//www.measuredhs.com/pubs/pdf/AS10/AS10.pdf_ UNECA, (2004b), Seventh African Regional Conference on Women (capital of Red China +10) Decade Review of the Implementation of the Dakar and Beijing Platforms of Action Outcome and W ay onwards, Addis Ababa. _UNECA-SA, (2003), Land Tenure Systems and Sustainable Development in Southern Africa, Lusaka. _ WHO, (2002) Gender and Reproductive Rights Glossary. Geneva . _ World Bank, (2000), Can Africa involve the 21st Century?, The World Bank, Washington DC. _Budlender D, J. Hicks and L. Vetten, (2002) South Africa Expanding into diverse initiatives, in Gender Budgets Make More Cents Country Studies and Good Practice edited by D. Budlender and G. Hewitt, Commonwealth Secretariat, London. _ Government of Kenya, (2005), MDG Status Report For Kenya, Nairobi. _Government of Malawi, (2004) State Party Report of Malawito the CEDAW delegation, Lilongwe. _ Government of Sierra Leone, (2004), PRSP of Sierra Leone, A National Programme for Food Security, speculate Creation and Good Governance (2005 2007), Freetown. _ Green Africa Network, (2004), Policy Document on Overall Sustainable Women Development for Socioeconomic Development of Rural Africa, Nairobi. _ Longwe S. H., (2000), Towards realistic strategies for womens political empowerment in Africa, Gender and Development, Vol. 8, No. 3, pp. 24-30. _ OECD and NEPAD, (2007), Gender and Economic Empowerment in Africa Outcome of the meeting of the 8th Africa Partnership Forum Berlin, Germany 22-23 may 2007. _Oxfam, 2004, Mozambiques Family Law passes, http//www.oxfam.org/en/programs/development/ safrica/moz_law.htm _ Reeves H and S Baden, (2000), Gender and Development Concepts and Definitions, Report prepared for the Department for International Development (DFID) for its gender mainstreaming intranet resource, show of Development Studies, BRIDGE report Number 55, Brighton. _ Sen A, (1993) Capability and well-being, in Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum (eds.), The quality of life, Oxford, Clarendon Press. _ UNDAW, (2005) Enhancing Participation of Women in Development through an Enabling Environment for Achieving Gender comparability and the Advancement of Women, Aide Memoire held in Bangkok, Thail and, 8 11 November 2005. _UNECA and AUC (Forthcoming) Good Practices for Addressing GBV/VAW in Africa, Draft Document, September 2008, Addis Ababa. _ UNECA, (2008a), The Millennium Development Goals in Africa Progress and Challenges. _ UNECA, (2008b), Millennium Development Goals Monitoring Challenges and Opportunities for African Countries E/ECA/STATCOM/1/6, Report prepared for the First Meeting of the Statistical Commission for Africa (STATCOM-AFRICA I) held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 21-24 January 2008. _ UNECA, (2008c), The State of Older People in Africa 2007 Regional review and appraisal of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing, UNECA, Addis Ababa. _ UNECA, (2007a), Accelerating Africas Growth and Development to meet the MDGs Emerging Challenges and the way forward An Issues Paper for the Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development/Fortieth session of the Commission Twenty-sixth Meeting of the Committee of Experts held in Addis Ab aba, Ethiopia, 29 work on 1 April 2007. _ UNECA, (2007b), Ministerial statement of the Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development/Fortieth session ofthe Commission Twenty-sixth Meeting of the Committee of Experts held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 29 March 1 April 2007. _ UNECA, (2007c), Millennium Development Goals Report, Report to the Conference of Ministers of African Ministers responsible for Finance, Planning, and Economic Development held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, April 2007. _ECA (2007d) Land Policy in Africa A Framework to Strengthen Land Rights, Enhance Productivity and Secure Livelihoods, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. _ UNECA, 2006 Meeting the Challenge of Employment In Africa, An Issues Paper for the Twenty-fifth meeting of the Committee of Experts of the Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development Ouagadougou 10 13 May 2006. _ UNECA (2005a) Economic Report on Africa 2005 Meeting the Challenges of Unemploymen t and Poverty in Africa, Addis Ababa. _UNECA (2005b), Promoting Gender Equality and Womens Empowerment in Africa Questioning the Achievements and Confronting the Challenges Ten Years after Beijing, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. _UNECA (2004a). The African Gender and Development Index. (ECA) Addis Ababa.

Under Armour Case Write Up

Problem Under Armour has become one of the most successful performance app arl grimes in the United States. Despite its recent successes, Under Armour does have a few problems that could adversely affect its future gross sales. One general environment pop is how the current economic situation in the United States will affect Under Armours sales. As consumers change their buying habits it could hurt its sales severely. Two, Under Armour needs to consider how its lack of a diversified supply group impacts its bargaining power. Roughly 75 percent of its fabric is purchased from plainly six distributors.Three, the company should consider diversifying its product line beyond its current sports app arl majority. Under Armour doesnt have as much brand recognition in spring/summer sports such as soccer and basketball. Lastly, Under Armour should be more aggressive in expanding to European and Asian markets. Currently, Under Armour heavily relies on U. S. market and there are tremendous p otential consumer power in Europe and Asia. General Environment summary There are a variety of antithetic external factors that influence the amount of success Under Armour is able to achieve.One of the biggest factors negatively affecting the fuddled is within the economic sector. Consumers are spending less money in the retail market. This decrease in spending is causing a broader economic downturn. As a company who sells its products at premium prices, this downturn threatens to damage the companys sales and decrease profits. There are also several different opportunities offered by the general environment. Under Armour products are useful to athletes. Regardless of the country in which a sport is played, high quality, breathable apparel and durable, innovative equipment are always useful.Because of the cultural transcendence of its products, Under Armour is pursuing international diversification. Their strategy is one of regionalization, allowing top managers within each regi on to run approximately like a subsidiary, reacting to local preferences and competitors. Researchers have found that international diversification can lead to greater operational efficiency, which ultimately leads to higher financial performance. The go toward a more global firm should help the firm to grow, increase profits, and improve brand recognition worldwide. Additional threats and opportunities facing Under Armour are exhibited in Appendix A.

Benefits and Costs to U.S. Adoption of IFRS

There are different ways in which enquiryers can introduce the findings of their look to readers or users of the research information. It is important to follow alone the rules of research presentation in order for the research information to be clear to all the concourse who rely on it. This paper aims at analyzing the condition on the cost and benefits of US adoption to the IFRS system of accounting by David Albrecht.The aim of this paper is to take apart whether the compose has followed the necessary steps and format in presenting the findings on his research, in order to evaluate whether it meets the international standards for presenting research papers. Summary. According to Albrecht (2008), the author carries out a cost benefit analysis in order to evaluate whether the decision to change from generally accepted accounting principles standards to IFRS, by US firms is feasible. He uses the incremental analysis molding to come to a conclusion on the subject.He finds that the costs surpass the benefits, considering that the cost of changing the system in monetary terms is over $3 million. These costs arise from the need to train accountants and conversion costs for companies. The benefits amount to $100 billion, from reduced audit fees. He therefore concludes that the accounting system should non be changed. The paper is written for a general audience judging from the absence of corroborated arguments and evidence from secondary and primary acknowledgments, required by experts. Organization. The research paper has not been organized into clearly defined parts.It has been written as one long essay which is not structured into different parts, and this may present problems to readers who are subtile to analyze various arguments by the author. A basic research paper should include an abstract, an introduction, the background of the problem, literature review, research methodology and findings, analysis of findings and finally a conclusion and recomm endation of the issues discussed (Kothari, 2005). However, in analyzing the article, the author gives a very brief introduction in the first line. He says that US corporations face dilemmas in decision making whether to adapt to the IFRS system or not.He further explains in the second paragraph that this decision should be guided by incremental analysis. This means that the benefits of adapting to the IFRS system should outweigh the costs of the same decision. Research. The author supports his research using the incremental analysis framework. He further uses quotes from the US Securities and Exchange commission. However, he does not quote the source of this information, which makes it difficult to determine the authenticity. Since the research does not cite the references, it is difficult to know the documentation style.It also becomes difficult to know whether the author is paraphrasing quotes from other researchers. Style. The author uses the present tense in writing the article throughout the paper. However, he uses the first individual and third person when writing different parts of the paper. The first person tense is use when he gives his own opinion, for instance, in the last sentence of the article he says that is the reason why I oppose switching from GAAP to IFRS. He uses contractions in some parts of the paper, for instance in the eleventh paragraph where the last sentence says Lets say another trillion.The overall grammar used in the article is relatively poor, due to the use of slang, contractions, and short forms among other grammatical mistakes. For instance, in the seventh paragraph, he says execs instead of executives Conclusion. The paper lacks some aspects of research work, most of which have been explained. The author does not also have references to sources which have been used for research. The content can also be said to be biased, since the author does not mention the connection between the GAAP standards and collapse of mortgage c risis in firms like Lehman Brothers.GAAP standards and specifically asset valuation was one of the causal factors of its downfall. However, the article is useful as it can serve as a source of doing further research on the subject. In future, the author should ensure that his research confirms to all aspects of research work. References. Albrecht, D. (2008). Benefits and costs of adoption of IFRS. Retrieved on January 26, 2008 from . Kothari, C. R. (2005). Research Methodology Techniques & Methods. New York New Age Publishers.

Adaptation of Robotic Arachnid in the Tropical Rainforest

This paper actu solelyy presents ways of making a robotic arachnid adapt easily to the rainforest region, i. e. creating navigational algorithms that would enable the robot survive the rainforest when autonomously driven. According to a recent study, the robot to be build would nark its adaptation features from an animal that easily adapts to its surroundings in the rainforest region like the amazon or thereabout the model that would be created for the robot would be such that it would make use of the animals gait elbow room and movement.This animals gait style and way of adapting to its surrounding would provide tending in creating the navigation algorithms necessary for the robots movement. From a study conducted by the crew from www. destination360. com, a list of animals that actually easily adapt to the rainforest is listed below it is from this list that a an animal would be picked and a navigational algorithm would be created and used to help the gait style of the robot. T his is the largest and most compelling member of the Amazon cats, the jaguar is revered locally as being a matchless hunter. It is leanly built and stealth in action.The jaguar is the King of the Amazonian nourishment chain- it is best spotted in the forest area, near a stream, close to nightfall-this is also the time it mostly hunts for its prey. Its favorite(a) habitats in the rainforest are the squishy and wooded regions in the rainforest. Some of the walking traits of the Jaguar are that it stalks and ambushes its prey, it is a very pricy c outgrowther, they enter water freely, active during the day, they hunt mainly at night and on the ground. They are also very swift hunters. The Jaguars are extremely potent and the same power applies for their bite too.They are the second strongest of all mammals. unmatched of the things we can take out the Jaguar in order to model the robot to be built, since the Jaguar has adaptive features such as its powerful limbs and agility in climbing tree trunks. Theory behind Jaguar The job to be done is to model the Jaguars gait style to suit the rainforest region. To do this we create a suitable control algorithm for the rainforest, therefore suitable regions would need to be accessed, like the marshy, sandy and other(a) types of terrains with fallen logs of wood lying in the forest.We would like to make sure and robot to be built would have close to the same characteristics of the Jaguar. -It is usually situated near water so it would be able to swim and navigate the aquatic terrain of the rainforest. -It is a cautious animal. It usually stalks and ambushes its prey. -It has a short and sturdy limb structure, which makes it adept for climbing, swimming and crawling. -It has a short and sturdy physique and thus easily fits in to adapt to its environment.Our robot should be strong enough to concord the rigours of rainforest, so by studying the speed-torque characteristics of the actuators on the robot, to see if it will be strong enough to adapt to the rainforest, just like the Jaguar. The robot to be built would make use of legged locomotion for its movement givig it an edge in some terrains in the rainforest. What to be done is to study how it adapts to the rainforest. In creating these algorithms, once the trail is known, a liberal body trajectory is drawn and with these an algorithm can be drawn. ObservationI have discovered that to create algorithms, a full body trajectory starting with the trajectory for each leg is drawn or calculated using Inverse Kinematics such that the robot to be built would walk and keep balance (static stability analysis) at the same. Since robots walk according to a prescribed trajectory for a particular regionerrain to be examine (the rainforest being the preferred region). Trajectories are acquired by experience or some optimization. The Tapir This is another animal that can be found in the rainforest, their preferred habitat is the dense rainforest.Accord ing to a recent study done by a carnival-in-Brazil team, they are rarely found in mountainous regions. One of the oldest Brazilian Amazon animals, the tapir is the worlds most primitive animal. It is an animal that has short legs, so in order to model the hexapod robot one good question to be asked is how does it adapt easily to the rain forest? Other animals in the rainforest that adapt easily are the Apes or Orangutans, Piranhas The vampire lick The Tucuxi and Boto Dolphin The manatee (water ox).

Black House Chapter Eighteen

18REMEMBER THOSE news vans that operate into the parking lot behind the police station? And Wendell Greens contri saveion to the excitement, originally police hu mankind being Hrabowskis giant flashlight knocked him into the Land of Nod? Once the crews in spatial relation the vans took in the gather upming inevitability of a riot, we croup be sure they rose to the occasion, for the side by side(p) morning their footage of the wild night dominates television screens across the state. By nine oclock, people in Racine and Milwaukee, people in Madison and Delafield, and people who live so far north in the state that they need satellite dishes to reward all television at t divulge ensemble are experienceing up from their pancakes, their bowls of Special K, their fried eggs, and their furthertered English muffins to watch a sm every last(predicate), nervous-looking policeman finishing attain a large, florid reporters budding career as a demagogue by clocking him with a blunt in strument. And we may similarly be sure of peerless an other(prenominal) matter that straight offhere is this footage watched as widely and obsessively as in french Landing and the neighboring communities of Centralia and Arden. saying astir(predicate) s of completely whileal matters at once, scallywag Sawyer watches it all on a miniature portable TV placed on his kitchen numberinger. He hopes that Dale Gilbertson will not revoke Arn venerable Hrabowskis suspension, although he strongly suspects that the Mad Hungarian will curtly be moxie in uni process. Dale only depends he wants him off the force for impregnable he is too well-fixed-hearted to lis disco biscuit to Arnies pleas and after last night, even a stratagem man atomic number 50 meet that Arnie is sledding to plead with away relenting. mariner also hopes that the awful Wendell Green will get netd or move off(p) in disgrace. Reporters are not supposed to thrust themselves into their stories, and her e is good old loudm step uph Wendell, baying for blood equal a werewolf. However, dogshit has the de public press public opinion that Wendell Green will talk his way out of his present difficulties (that is, lie his way out of them) and go on existence a powerful nuisance. And knee bend is pondering Andy Rails- vertebral columns description of the creepy old man trying the brink thickenings on the third floor of the Nelson Hotel.There he was, the Fisherman, given form at last. An old man in a blue robe and one s sassingper striped black and yellow, like a bumblebee. Andy Rails jeopardize had wondered if this unpleasant-looking old party had wandered off from the Maxton sr. Care Facility. That was an interesting notion, diddlyshit archetype. If Chummy Burnside is the man who planted the photographs in George Potters room, Maxtons would be a perfect hidey-hole for him.Wendell Green is watching the news on the Sony in his hotel room. He batchnot dispense his eye off the scr een, although what he gains thither afflicts him with a mixture of feelings anger, shame, and humiliation that makes his stomach boil. The knot on his head throbs, and each time he witnesses that poor excuse for a cop sneaking up behind him with his flashlight raised, he pushes his fingers into the thick, curly hair at the buns of his head and gently palpates it. The damn thing feels virtually the surface of a ripe tomato and just as ready to burst. Hes lucky not to attain a concussion. That pipsqueak could throw killed himOkay, maybe he went a unretentive bit all all over the edge, maybe he took a particular step across a professional boundary he neer claimed to be perfect. The local news guys, they piss him off, all that guff almost cuckoo Sawyer. Who is the top guy blanket the Fisherman story? Who has been all over it from twenty-four hours one, telling the citizens what they need to hunch? Whos been putting himself on the line, day after crummy goddamn day? Wh o gave the guy his name? Not those blow-dried airheads Bucky and Stacey, those wanna-be news reporters and local anchors who smile into the camera to show off their capped teeth, thats for sure. Wendell Green is a legend roughly here, a star, the closest thing to a giant of journalism ever to rise up out of wattern Wisconsin. Even over in Madison, the name Wendell Green stands for . . . well, unquestioned excellence. And if the name Wendell Green is like the gold standard now, just wait until he rides the Fishermans blood-spattered shoulders all the way to a Pulitzer Prize.So Monday morning he has to go into the office and pacify his editor. Big deal. It isnt the first time, and it wont be the last. Good reporters make waves nobody admits it, just now thats the deal, thats the fine print nobody reads until its too late. When he walks into his editors office, he knows what hes dismission to say Biggest story of the day, and did you see any other reporters there? And when he has the editor eating out of his hand again, which will take virtually ten minutes flat, he intends to drop in on a Goltzs salesman named Fred Marshall. matchless of Wendells most valuable sources has suggested that Mr. Marshall has any(prenominal) interesting information about his special, special baby, the Fisherman case.Arnold Hrabowski, now a hero to his darling wife, Paula, is watching the news in a postcoital glow and signifying that she is ripe(p) he rattling should call Chief Gilbertson and ask to be taken off suspension.Wondering with half his mind where he might look for George Potters old adversary, Dale Gilbertson watches Bucky and Stacey cut away that again to the spectacle of the Mad Hungarian taking care of Wendell Green and thinks that he squarely should reinstate the exact guy. Would you look at the beautiful swing Arnie took? Dale cant help it that swing really brightens up his day. Its like watching Mark McGwire, like watching Tiger Woods.Alone in her da rk bittie accommodate off the extravagantlyway, Wanda Kinderling, to whom we guard made passing mention from time to time, is listening to the radio. Why is she listening to the radio? Some months ago, she had to decide amidst paying her strain bill and buying some other half gallon of Aristocrat vodka, and sorry, Bucky and Stacey, however Wanda followed her bliss, she went with her heart. Without cable service, her television set brings in little more than snow and a heavy dark line that scrolls up over her screen in an endless loop. Wanda always hated Bucky and Stacey anyhow, a yearn with almost e actuallyone else on television, especially if they looked depicted object and well groomed. (She has a special loathing for the hosts of morning news programs and network anchors.) Wanda has not been content or well groomed since her husband, Thorny, was acc utilize of terrible crimes he could never ever have committed by that soaring and mighty show-off diddley Sawyer. Jack S awyer ruined her life, and Wanda is not about to pardon or forget.That man trapped her husband. He set him up. He smeared Thornys innocent name and packed him off to jail just to make himself look good. Wanda hopes they never catch the Fisherman, because the Fisherman is exactly what they deserve, those dirty bastards. Play dirty, you are dirty, and people like that can go straight to the deepest bowels of hell thats what Wanda Kinderling thinks. The Fisherman is retri howeverion thats what Wanda thinks. let him kill a hundred brats, let him kill a thousand, and after that he can derail in on their parents. Thorny could not have killed those sluts down there in Los Angeles. Those were sex murders, and Thorny had no interest in sex, thank the Lord. The rest of him grew up, but his man-part never did his thingie was about the size of his little finger. It was impossible for him to care about nasty women and sex things. But Jack Sawyer lived in Los Angeles, didnt he? So why couldnt he have killed those sluts, those whores, and goddam it all on Thorny?The newscaster describes former Lieutenant Sawyers actions of the previous night, and Wanda Kinderling spits up bile, grabs the glass from her bedside table, and douses the fire in her guts with three inches of vodka.Gorg, who would seem a immanent visitor to the likes of Wanda, pays no attention to the news, for he is far away in Faraway.In his bed at Maxtons, Charles Burnside is enjoying dreams not precisely his, for they emanate from another being, from elsewhere, and depict a world he has never seen on his own. Ragged, enslaved children plod on their bleeding foodzies prehistorical leaping flames, turning giant wheels that turn yet larger wheels oho aha that power the beyoodiful engynes of destruction mounting mounting to the black-and-red sky. The Big Combination An acrid stink of molten metal and something truly vile, something like dragon urine, perfumes the air, as does the leaden stench of despair. Li zard demons with thick, flickering tails whip the children along. A din of clattering and banging, of crashing and enormous thuds punishes the ears. These are the dreams of Burnys dearest friend and loving master, Mr. Munshun, a being of endless and perverse delight.Down past the end of Daisy wing, across the handsome lobby, and through Rebecca Vilass little cubicle, Chipper Maxton is concerned with matters considerably more mundane. The little TV on a shelf over the safe bigheartedcasts the wondrous image of Mad Hungarian Hrabowski clobbering Wendell Green with a nice, clean sweep of his heavy-duty flashlight, but Chipper barely notices the splendid moment. He has to cum up with the thirteen thousand dollars he owes his bookie, and he has only about half of that sum. Yesterday, lovely Rebecca drove to Miller to withdraw most of what he had stashed there, and he can use about two thousand dollars from his own account, as long as he replaces it before the end of the month. That lea ves about six grand, an amount that will call for some seriously creative bookkeeping. Fortunately, creative bookkeeping is a speciality of Chippers, and when he begins to think of his options, he sees his current difficulty as an opportunity.After all, he went into business in the first place to steal as a good deal gold as possible, didnt he? Apart from being serviced by Ms. Vilas, stealing is about the only activity that makes him truly happy. The amount is almost irrelevant as we have seen, Chipper derives as much pleasure from conning chump change out of the visiting relatives after the Strawberry Fest as from screwing the government out of ten or fifteen thousand dollars. The thrill lies in getting away with it. So he needs six thousand why not take ten thousand? That way, he can leave his own account untouched and nonoperational have an extra two grand to play with. He has two sets of books on his computer, and he can easily draw the money from the companys bank account wi thout setting off bells during his next state audit, which is coming up in about a month. Unless the auditors demand the bank records, and even then there are a couple of tricks he can use. Its too stinking about the audit, though Chipper would like to have a little more time to paper over the cracks. Losing the thirteen thousand wasnt the riddle, he thinks. The problem was that he lost it at the wrong time.In order to keep everything clear in his head, Chipper pulls his keyboard toward him and tells the computer to print out complete statements of twain sets of books for the past month. By the time the auditors show up, baby, those pages will have been fed into the shredder and come out as macaroni.Let us move from one form of insanity to another. After the owner of the Holiday Trailer Park has extended a trembling index finger to crest out the Freneau residence, Jack drives toward it on the dusty path with gathering doubts. golden buttonss Airstream is the last and least mai ntained of a row of four. Two of the others have flowers in a bright draw up around them, and the third has been dressed up with striped green awnings that make it look more like a mark. The fourth trailer displays no signalises of laurel wreath or improvement. Dying flowers and skimpy weeds straggle in the beaten earth surrounding it. The dark glasses are pulled down. An air of misery and waste hangs about it, along with a quality Jack might define, if he stopped to consider it, as slippage. In no obvious way, the trailer looks wrong. Unhappiness has deformed it, as it can distort a person, and when Jack gets out of his truck and walks toward the cinder blocks placed before the entrance, his doubts increase. He can no longer be sure why he has come to this place. It occurs to Jack that he can give Tansy Freneau nothing but his pity, and this thought makes him uneasy. because it occurs to him that these doubts mask his real feelings, which have to do with the discomfort the tra iler arouses in him. He does not want to enter that thing. Everything else is a rationalization he has no choice but to keep moving frontward. His look find the welcome mat, a reassuring touch of the ordinary world he can feel already fade around him, and he steps up onto the topmost board and knocks on the door. Nothing take places. Maybe she really is still a sopor and would prefer to stay that way. If he were Tansy, he would stay in bed as long as possible. If he were Tansy, hed stay in bed for calendar weeks. Once more pushing away his reluctance, Jack raps on the door again and says, Tansy? Are you up?A little voice from within says, Up where?Uh-oh, Jack thinks, and says, Out of bed. Im Jack Sawyer, Tansy. We met last night. Im helping the police, and I told you Id come over today.He hears footsteps moving toward the door. Are you the man who gave me the flowers? He was a nice man.That was me.A lock clicks, and the knob revolves. The door cracks open. A sliver of a faintly olive-skinned face and a single eye shine out of the inner darkness. It is you. Come in, fast. Fast. She steps keister, possibleness the door just wide enough for him to pass through. As soon as he is within, she slams it shut and locks it again.The molten light burning at the edges of the curtains and the windowpane shades deepens the darkness of the long trailers interior. One soft lamp burns higher up the sink, and another, just as low, illuminates a little table otherwise occupied by a bottle of coffee brandy, a smeary glass decorated with a picture of a cartoon character, and a scrapbook. The circle of light cast by the lamp extends to take in half of a low, fabric-covered chair next to the table. Tansy Freneau pushes herself off the door and takes two light, tenuous steps toward him. She tilts her head and folds her hands unneurotic beneath her chin. The eager, slightly glazed expression in her eyes dismays Jack. By even the widest, most comprehensive definition of san ity, this woman is not sane. He has no idea what to say to her.Would you care to . . . sit down? With a hostessy wave of her hand, she indicates a high-backed wooden chair.If its all right with you.Why wouldnt it be all right? Im going to sit down in my chair, why shouldnt you sit down in that one?Thank you, Jack says, and sits down, watching her glide back to the door to check the lock. Satisfied, Tansy gives him a brilliant smile and pads back to her chair, moving almost with the duck-waddle grace of a ballerina. When she lowers herself to the chair, he says, Are you afraid of mortal who might come here, Tansy? Is there someone you want to keep locked out?Oh, yes, she says, and leans onwards, pulling her eyebrows together in an exaggerated display of little- fille earnestness. But it isnt a someone, its a thing. And Im never, never going to let him in my can again, not ever. But Ill let you in, because youre a very nice man and you gave me those beautiful flowers. And youre ver y handsome, too.Is Gorg the thing you want to keep out, Tansy? Are you afraid of Gorg?Yes, she says, primly. Would you care for a cup of tea?No, thank you.Well, Im going to have some. Its very, very good tea. It tastes sort of like coffee. She raises her eyebrows and gives him a bright, questioning look. He shakes his head. Without moving from her chair, Tansy pours two fingers of the brandy into her glass and sets the bottle back down on the table. The figure on her glass, Jack sees, is Scooby-Doo. Tansy sips from the glass. Yummy. Do you have a girlfriend? I could be your girlfriend, you know, especially if you gave me more of those lovely flowers. I put them in a vase. She pronounces the word like a parody of a Boston matron vahhhz. See?On the kitchen counter, the lilies of the vale droop in a mason jar half-filled with water. remove from the Territories, they do not have long to live. This world, Jack supposes, is poisoning them faster than they are able to deal with. Every oun ce of goodness they yield to their surround subtracts from their essence. Tansy, he realizes, has been kept afloat on the residue of the Territories remaining in the lilies when they die, her protective little-girl persona will c mutter into dust, and her wildness may engulf her. That lyssa came from Gorg hed bet his life on it.I do have a boyfriend, but he doesnt count. His name is Lester Moon. Beezer and his friends call him icky Cheese, but I dont know why. Lester isnt all that stinky, at least not when hes sober.Tell me about Gorg, Jack says.Extending her little finger away from the Scooby-Doo glass, Tansy takes another sip of coffee brandy. She frowns. Oh, thats a real icky thing to talk about.I want to know about him, Tansy. If you help me, I can make sure he never bothers you again.Really?And youd be helping me find the man who killed your daughter.I cant talk about that now. Its too upsetting. Tansy flutters her free hand over her lap as if sweeping off a crumb. Her face contracts, and a new expression moves into her eyes. For a second, the desperate, unprotected Tansy rises to the surface, threatening to explode in a madness of grief and rage.Does Gorg look like a person, or like something else?Tansy shakes her head from side to side with great slowness. She is composing herself again, reinstating a personality that can ignore her real emotions. Gorg does not look like a person. Not at all.You said he gave you the feather you were wearing. Does he look like a bird?Gorg doesnt look like a bird, he is a bird. And do you know what kind? She leans forward again, and her face takes on the expression of a six-year-old girl about to tell the worst thing she knows. A raven. Thats what he is, a big, old raven. completely black. But not shiny black. Her eyes widen with the seriousness of what she has to say. He came from Nights Plutonian shore. Thats from a poem Mrs. Normandie taught us in the sixth grade. The Raven, by Edgar Allan Poe.Tansy straightens up, having passed on this nugget of literary history. Jack guesses that Mrs. Normandie probably wore the same satisfied, pedagogic expression that is now on Tansys face, but without the bright, unhealthy glaze in Tansys eyes.Nights Plutonian shore is not part of this world, Tansy continues. Did you know that? Its alongside this world, and right(prenominal) it. You need to find a door, if you want to go there.This is like talking to Judy Marshall, Jack abruptly realizes, but a Judy without the depth of soul and the unbelievable resolution that rescued her from madness. The instant that Judy Marshall comes into his mind, he wants to see her again, so strongly that Judy feels like the one essential key to the puzzle all around him. And if she is the key, she is also the door the key opens. Jack wants to be out of the dark, warped atmosphere of Tansys Airstream he wants to put off the Th below Five and speed up the highway and over the hill to Arden and the gloomy hospital where radiant Judy Marshall has found freedom in a locked mental ward.But I dont ever want to find that door, because I dont want to go there, Tansy says in a singsong voice. Nights Plutonian shore is a bad world. Everythings on fire there.How do you know that?Gorg told me, she whispers. Tansys gaze skitters away from him and fastens on the Scooby-Doo glass. Gorg likes fire. But not because it makes him warm. Because it burns things up, and that makes him happy. Gorg said . . . She shakes her head and lifts the glass to her mouth. Instead of wassailing from it, she tilts the liquid toward the lip of the glass and laps at it with her tongue. Her eyes slide up to meet his again. I think my tea is magic.I bet you do, Jack thinks, and his heart nearly bursts for delicate lost Tansy.You cant cry in here, she tells him. You looked like you wanted to cry, but you cant. Mrs. Normandie doesnt allow it. You can kiss me, though. Do you want to kiss me?Of course I do, he says. But Mrs. Normandie doesnt all ow kissing, either.Oh, well. Tansy laps again at her drink. We can do it later, when she leaves the room. And you can put your arms around me, like Lester Moon. And everything Lester does, you can do. With me.Thank you, Jack says. Tansy, can you tell me some of the other things Gorg said?She cants her head and pushes her lips in and out. He said he came here through a burning hole. With folded-back edges. And he said I was a mother, and I had to help my daughter. In the poem, her name is Lenore, but her real name is Irma. And he said . . . he said a mean old man ate her leg, but there were worse things that could have happened to my Irma.For a couple of seconds, Tansy seems to recede into herself, to vanish behind her stationary surface. Her mouth remains half open she does not even blink. When she returns from where she has gone, it is like watching a statue slowly come to life. Her voice is almost too soft to be heard. I was supposed to fix that old man, fix him but good. Only you gave me my beautiful lilies, and he wasnt the right man, was he?Jack feels like screaming.He said there were worse things, Tansy says in a whisper of disbelief. But he didnt say what they were. He showed me, instead. And when I see, I thought my eyes burned up. Even though I could still see.What did you see?A big, big place all made of fire, Tansy says. Going way high up. She falls silent, and an internal temblor runs through her, beginning in her face and moving down and out through her fingers. Irma isnt there. No, she isnt. She got dead, and a mean old man ate her leg. He sent me a letter, but I never got it. So Gorg read it to me. I dont want to think about that letter. She sounds like a little girl describing something she has heard about thirdhand, or has invented. A thick curtain lies between Tansy and what she has seen and heard, and that curtain allows her to bidction. Jack again wonders what will happen to her when the lilies die.And now, she says, if youre not going to kiss me, its time you left. I want to be alone for a while.Surprised by her decisiveness, Jack stands up and begins to say something civil and meaningless. Tansy waves him toward the door.Outside, the air seems heavy with bad odors and unseen chemicals. The lilies from the Territories retained more power than Jack had imagined, enough to sweeten and purify Tansys air. The ground beneath Jacks feet has been baked dry, and a parched sourness hangs in the atmosphere. Jack has nearly to force himself to breathe as he walks toward his truck, but the more he breathes, the more pronto he will readjust to the ordinary world. His world, though now it feels poisoned. He wants to do one thing only drive up Highway 93 to Judy Marshalls lookout point and keep on going, through Arden and into the parking lot, past the hospital doors, past the barriers of Dr. Spiegleman and Warden Jane Bond, until he can find himself once again in the life-giving presence of Judy Marshall herself.He almost thin ks he loves Judy Marshall. Maybe he does love her. He knows he needs her Judy is his door and his key. His door, his key. Whatever that means, it is the truth. All right, the woman he needs is married to the extremely nice Fred Marshall, but he doesnt want to marry her in fact, he doesnt even want to sleep with her, not exactly he just wants to stand before her and see what happens. Something will happen, thats for sure, but when he tries to picture it, all he sees is an explosion of tiny red feathers, hardly the image he was hoping for.Feeling unsteady, Jack props himself on the cab of his truck with one hand while he grabs the door handle with the other. Both surfaces sear his hands, and he waves them in the air for a little while. When he gets into the cab, the seat is hot, too. He rolls down his window and, with a stick of loss, notices that the world smells regulation to him again. It smells fine. It smells like summer. Where is he going to go? That is an interesting questio n, he thinks, but after he gets back on the road and travels no more than a hundred feet, the low, gray wooden shape of the Sand Bar appears on his left, and without hesitating he turns into the absurdly extensive parking lot, as if he knew where he was going all along. Looking for a shady spot, Jack cruises around to the back of the building and sees the Bars single hint of landscaping, a broad maple tree that rises out of the asphalt at the far end of the lot. He guides the Ram into the maples shadow and gets out, leaving the windows cranked down. Waves of heat ripple upward from the only other two cars in the lot.It is 1120 A.M. He is getting hungry, too, since his breakfast consisted of a cup of coffee and a slice of toast smeared with marmalade, and that was three hours ago. Jack has the feeling that the afternoon is going to be a long one. He might as well have something to eat while he waits for the bikers.The back door of the Sand Bar opens onto a narrow rest-room alcove tha t leads into a long, rectangular space with a gleaming bar at one side and a row of substantial wooden booths on the other. Two big pool tables occupy the middle of the room, and a jukebox stands set back against the protect between them. At the front of the room, a big television screen hangs where it can be seen by everyone, suspended eight or nine feet above the clean wooden floor. The sound has been muted on a commercial that never quite identifies the purpose of its product. After the glare of the parking lot, the Bar seems sunnily dark, and while Jacks eyes adjust, the few low lamps appear to send out hazy beams of light.The bartender, whom Jack takes to be the famous Lester miasmic Cheese Moon, looks up once as Jack enters, then returns to the copy of the Herald folded open on the bar. When Jack takes a stool a few feet to his right, he looks up again. rancid Cheese is not as awful as Jack had expected. He is wearing a clean shirt only a few shades whiter than his round, small-featured face and his shaven head. Moon has the unmistakable air, half professional and half resentful, of someone who has taken over the family business and suspects he could have done check elsewhere. Jacks intuition tells him that this sense of weary frustration is the source of his nickname among the bikers, because it gives him the look of one who expects to encounter a nasty smell any minute now. pile I get something to eat here? Jack asks him.Its all listed on the board. The bartender turns sideways and indicates a white board with movable letters that tour out the menu. Hamburger, cheeseburger, hot dog, bratwurst, kielbasa, sandwiches, french fries, onion rings. The mans gesture is intended to make Jack feel unobservant, and it works.Sorry, I didnt see the sign.The bartender shrugs.Cheeseburger, medium, with fries, please.Lunch dont start until eleven-thirty, which it says on the board. See? Another half-mocking gesture toward the sign. But Mom is setting up in back. I could give her the order now, and shell start in on it when shes ready.Jack thanks him, and the bartender glances up at the television screen and walks down to the end of the bar and disappears around a corner. A few seconds later, he returns, looks up at the screen, and asks Jack what he would like to drink.Ginger ale, Jack says.Watching the screen, Lester Moon squirts ginger ale from a nozzle into a beer glass and pushes the glass toward Jack. Then he slides his hand down the bar to pick up the remote control and says, Hope you dont mind, but I was watching this old cinema. Pretty funny. He punches a button on the remote, and from over his left shoulder Jack hears his mothers voice say, Looks like Smokys coming in late today. I wish that little rascal would learn how to handle his liquor. sooner he can turn sideways to face the screen, Lester Moon is asking him if he remembers Lily Cavanaugh.Oh, yes.I always desire her when I was a kid.Same here, Jack says.As Jack had known i nstantly, the movie is The Terror of deadwood Gulch, a 1950 comic Western in which the then-famous and still fondly remembered Bill Towns, a sort of poor mans Bob Hope, played a cowardly gambler and cardsharp who arrives in the little Potemkin community of Deadwood Gulch, Arizona, and is soon mistaken for a notorious gunfighter. As the beautiful, quick-witted owner of a saloon called the Lazy 8, the lively center of village social life, Lily Cavanaugh is much appreciated by the crowd of cowpokes, loungers, ranchers, merchants, lawmen, and riffraff who fill her place every night. She makes her patrons check their revolvers at the door and mind their manners, which tend toward the opopanax. In the scene compete now, which is about half an hour into the movie, Lily is alone in her saloon, trying to get rid of a persistent bee.A bee for the Queen of the Bs, Jack thinks, and smiles.At the sound nuisance, Lily flaps a cleaning rag, a flyswatter, a mop, a broom, a gun belt. The bee elud es her every effort, zooming here and there, from the bar to a card table, to the top of a whiskey bottle, the tops of three other bottles all in a row, the lid of the upright piano, often waiting while its adversary comes sneaking up by subtle in heed, then taking off a second before the latest weapon slams down. It is a lovely little sequence that verges on slapstick, and when Jacky was six, six, six, or maybe seven, half hysterical with laughter at the sight of his competent mother failing repeatedly to vanquish this flying annoyance and utterly curious as to how the movie guys had made the insect do all these things, his mother had explained that it was not a real bee but an enchanted one produced by the special-effects department.Lester Moon says, I could never figure out how they got the bee to go where they wanted. Like, what did they do, train it?First they filmed her alone on the set, Jack says, having concluded that, after all, Stinky Cheese is a pretty decent fellow with great taste in actresses. Special effects put the bee in later. It isnt a real bee, its a drawing an animation. You really cant tell, can you?No way. Are you sure? How do you know that, anyhow?I read it in a book somewhere, Jack says, using his all-purpose response to such questions.Resplendent in fancy cardsharp getup, Bill Towns saunters through the Lazy 8s swinging doors and leers at its proprietress without noticing that she is edging toward the bee now once again installed upon the shiny bar. He has romance in mind, and he swaggers when he walks.I see you came back for more, hotshot, Lily says. You must like the place.Baby, this is the sweetest joint west of the wide Missouri. Reminds me of the place where I beat Black Jack McGurk to the draw. Poor Black Jack. He never did know when to fold em.With a noise like the revving of a B-52, the enchanted bee, a creature of fiction inside the fiction, launches itself at Bill Townss slickly behat-ted head. The comedians face turns rub bery with comic terror. He waves his arms, he jigs, he screeches. The enchanted bee performs aeronautic stunts around the panicky pseudogunfighter. Townss splendid hat falls off his hair disarranges itself. He edges toward a table and, with a final fudge of hand waving, dives under it and begs for help.Eye fixed on the ambling bee, Lily walks to the bar and picks up a glass and a folded newspaper. She approaches the table, watching the bee walking around in circles. She jumps forward and lowers the glass, trapping the bee. It flies up and bumps the bottom of the glass. Lily tilts the glass, slides the folded paper underneath it, and raises her hands, holding the newspaper against the top of the glass.The camera pulls back, and we see the cowardly gambler peeking out from under the table as Lily pushes the doors open and releases the bee.Behind him, Lester Moon says, Cheeseburgers ready, mister.For the next half hour, Jack eats his burger and tries to lose himself in the movie. The burger is great, world-class, with that juicy taste you can get only from a greased-up griddle, and the fries are perfect, golden and crunchy on the outside, but his concentration keeps wandering from The Terror of Deadwood Gulch. The problem is not that he has seen the movie perhaps a dozen times the problem is Tansy Freneau. Certain things she said trouble him. The more he thinks about them, the less he understands what is going on.According to Tansy, the crow the raven named Gorg came from a world alongside and outside the world we know. She had to be talking about the Territories. Using a phrase from Poes The Raven, she called this other world Nights Plutonian shore, which was pretty good for someone like Tansy, but did not seem in any way applicable to the magical Territories. Gorg had told Tansy that everything in his world was on fire, and not even the Blasted Lands met that description. Jack could remember the Blasted Lands and the odd train that had taken him and Rational Richard, then a sick, wasted Rational Richard, across that vast red desert. Strange creatures had lived there, alligator-men and birds with the faces of bearded monkeys, but it had certainly not been on fire. The Blasted Lands were the product of some past disaster, not the site of a present conflagration. What had Tansy said? A big, big place made all of fire . . . going way high up. What had she seen, to what landscape had Gorg opened her eyes? It sounded like a great burning tower, or a tall building consumed by fire. A burning tower, a burning building in a burning world how could that world be the Territories?Jack has been in the Territories twice in the past forty-eight hours, and what he has seen has been beautiful. More than beautiful cleansing. The deepest truth Jack knows about the Territories is that they contain a kind of sacred magic the magic he saw in Judy Marshall. Because of that magic, the Territories can confer a wondrous blessing on human beings. The life of t hat extraordinary tough beloved woman making fun of Bill Towns on the big screen before him was saved by an object from the Territories. Because Jack had been in the Territories and maybe because he had held the Talisman almost every horse he bets on comes in first, every stock he buys triples in value, ever poker hand he holds takes the pot.So what world is Tansy talking about? And whats all this stuff about Gorg coming here through a burning hole?When Jack flipped over yesterday, he had sensed something unhappy, something unhealthy, far off to the southwest, and he suspected that was where he would find the Fishermans Twinner. Kill the Fisherman, kill the Twinner it didnt matter which he did first, the other one would weaken. But . . . It still didnt make sense. When you travel between worlds, you just flip you dont set a fire at the worlds edge and run through it into another one.A few minutes before twelve, the rumble of motorcycles drowns the voices on the screen. Um, mister , you might want to take off, says Moon. Thats the The smooch Five, Jack says. I know.Okay. Its just, they scare the shit out of some of my customers. But as long as you treat em right, they act okay.I know. Theres nothing to worry about.I mean, if you buy em a beer or something, theyll think youre all right.Jack gets off his stool and faces the bartender. Lester, there is no reason to be nervous. Theyre coming here to meet me.Lester blinks. For the first time, Jack notices that his eyebrows are thin, curved wisps, like those of a 1920s vamp. Id better start pourin a pitcher of Kingsland. He grabs a pitcher from beneath the bar, sets it under the Kingsland Ale tap, and opens the valve. A thick stream of amber liquid rushes into the pitcher and turns to foam.The sound of the motorcycles builds to an katzenjammer at the front of the building, then cuts off. Beezer St. Pierre bangs through the door, closely followed by Doc, Mouse, lad, and Kaiser Bill. They look like Vikings, and J ack is overjoyed to see them.Stinky, turn that TV the derriere off, Beezer roars. And we didnt come here to drink, so empty that pitcher into the drain. The way you pour, its all head anyhow. And when youre done, get back in the kitchen with your momma. Our business with this mans got nothin to do with you.Okay, Beezer, Moon says in a shaky voice. All I need is a second.Then thats what you got, Beezer says.Beezer and the others line up in front of the bar, some of them complete(a) at Stinky Cheese, some, more kindly, at Jack. Mouse is still wearing his cornrows, and he has daubed some black antiglare substance beneath his eyes, like a football player. Kaiser Bill and lad have pulled their manes back into ponytails again. Ale and foam slide out of the pitcher and seep into the drain. Okay, guys, Moon says. His footsteps retreat along the back of the bar. A door closes.The members of the Thunder Five separate and spread out in front of Jack. Most of them have crossed their arms on their chests, and muscles bulge.Jack pushes his plate to the back of the bar, stands up, and says, Before last night, had any of you guys ever heard of George Potter?From his perch on the edge of the pool table nearest to the front door, Jack faces Beezer and Doc, who lean forward on their bar stools. Kaiser Bill, one finger against his lips and his head bowed, stands beside Beezer. Mouse lies stretched out on the second pool table, propping his head up with one hand. Banging his fists together and scowling, Sonny is pacing back and forth between the bar and the jukebox.You sure he didnt say Bleak House, like the Dickens novel? Mouse says.Im sure, says Jack, reminding himself that he should not be surprised every time one of these guys demonstrates that he went to college. It was Black House. Jeez, I almost think I . . . Mouse shakes his head.What was the builders name again? asks Beezer.Burnside. First name probably Charles, sometimes known as Chummy. A long time ago, he changed it from something like Beer Stein. Beerstein? Bernstein?You got me, Jack says.And you think hes the Fisherman.Jack nods. Beezer is staring at him as if trying to see the back of his head.How sure are you?Ninety-nine percent. He planted the Polaroids in Potters room.Damn. Beezer pushes himself off his stool and walks around to the back of the bar. I want to make sure nobody forgets the obvious. He bends down and straightens up with a telephone book in one hand. spot what I mean? Beezer opens the directory on the bar, flips a few pages, flips back, and runs his thick finger down a column of names. No Burnside. Too bad.Good idea, though, Jack says. This morning, I tried the same thing myself.Sonny pauses on his return journey from the jukebox and jabs a finger at Jack. How long ago was this damn house built?Nearly thirty years ago. During the seventies.Hell, we were all kids then, back in Illinois. How are we supposed to know about that house?You guys get around. I thought there was a p retty good chance you might have seen it. And the place is spooky. People tend to talk about houses like that. They did in normal cases, at least, Jack thought. In normal cases, spooky houses got that way because they had been empty for a couple of years, or because something terrible had happened in them. In this case, he thought, the house itself was terrible, and the people who otherwise would have talked about it could barely remember seeing it. Judging by Dales response, Black House had vanished into its own nonexistent shadow.He says, Think about this. Try to remember. In the years youve been live in French Landing, have you ever heard of a house that seemed to have a imprecate on it? Black House caused injuries to the people who built it. The workmen hated the place they were afraid of it. They said you couldnt see your shadow when you got near it. They were claiming it was haunted while they worked on it Eventually, they all quit, and Burnside had to finish the job himself .Its off by itself somewhere, Doc says. Obviously, this thing isnt sitting around in plain view. Its not in some development like Libertyville. Youre not going to find it on Robin Hood Lane.Right, Jack says. I should have mentioned that before. Potter told me it was built a little way off what he called the road, in a kind of clearing. So its in the woods, Doc, youre right. Its isolated.Hey, hey, hey, Mouse says, swinging his legs over the side of the pool table and grunting himself upright.His eyes are screwed shut, and he claps one meaty hand on his forehead. If I could only remember . . . He lets out a howl of frustration.What? Beezers voice is at twice its normal volume, and the word sounds like a paving stone contact a cement sidewalk.I know I saw that bonk place, he says. As soon as you started talking about it, I had this feeling it sounded kinda familiar. It kept hanging at the back of my mind, but it wouldnt come out. When I tried to think about it you know, make myself remember I kept seeing these sparkly lights. When Jack said it was back in the woods, I knew what he was talking about. I had a clear picture of the place. Surrounded by all these sparkling lights.That doesnt sound much like Black House, Jack says.Sure it does. The lights werent really there, I just saw them. Mouse offers this observation as though it is completely rational.Sonny utters a bark of laughter, and Beezer shakes his head and says, Shit.I dont get it, Jack says.Beezer looks at Jack, holds up one finger, and asks Mouse, Are we talking about July, August, two years ago?Naturally, Mouse says. The summer of the Ultimate Acid. He looks at Jack and smiles. Two years ago, we got this amazing, amazing acid. Drop a tab, youre in for five or six hours of the most unbelievable head games. zilch ever had a bad experience with the stuff. It was all groove, know what I mean?I suppose I can guess, Jack says.You could even do your job behind it. For sure, you could drive, man. Get on y our hog, go anywhere you could think of. Doing anything normal was a piece of cake. You werent fucked up, you were operating way beyond your max.Timothy Leary wasnt all wrong, Doc says.God, that was great stuff, Mouse says. We did it until there was no more to do, and then the whole thing was over. The whole acid thing. If you couldnt get that stuff, there was no point in taking anything else. I never knew where it came from.You dont want to know where it came from, says Beezer. Trust me.So you were doing this acid when you saw Black House, Jack says.Sure. Thats why I saw the lights.Very slowly, Beezer asks, Where is it, Mouse?I dont exactly know. But hold on, Beezer, let me talk. That was the summer I was tight with Little Nancy Hale, remember?Sure, Beezer says. That was a damn shame. He glances at Jack. Little Nancy died right after that summer.Tore me apart, Mouse says. It was like she turned allergic to air and sunlight, all of a sudden. Sick all the time. Rashes all over her bo dy. She couldnt stand being outside, because the light hurt her eyes. Doc couldnt figure out what was wrong with her, so we took her to the big hospital in La Riviere, but they couldnt find what was wrong, either. We talked to a couple of guys at Mayo, but they werent any help. She died hard, man. Broke your heart to see it happen. Broke mine, for sure.He falls silent for a long moment, during which he stares down at his gut and his knees and no one else says a word. All right, Mouse finally says, raising his head. Heres what I remember. On this Saturday, Little Nancy and I were tripping on the Ultimate, just riding around to some places we liked. We went to the riverfront park in La Riviere, drove over to Dog Island and Lookout Point. We came back this direction and went up on the bluff beautiful, man. After that, we didnt feel like going home, so we just wheeled around. Little Nancy noticed this NO TRESPASSING sign I must have passed about a thousand times before without seeing i t.He looks at Jack Sawyer. I cant say for certain, but I think it was on 35.Jack nods.If we hadnt been on the Ultimate, I dont think she ever would have seen that sign, either. Oh man, its all coming back to me. Whats that? she says, and I swear, I had to look two or three times before I saw that sign it was all beat-up and bent, with a couple rusty bullet holes in it. Sort of leaning back into the trees. Somebody wants to keep us off that road, Little Nancy says. What are they hiding up there, anyhow? Something like that. What road? I ask, and then I see it. Its hardly even what you could call a road. About wide enough for a car to fit in, if you have a compact. Thick trees on both sides. Hell, I didnt think anything interesting was hidden up there, unless it was an old shack. Besides that, I didnt like the way it looked. He glances at Beezer.What do you mean, you didnt like the way it looked? Beezer asks. Ive seen you go into places you damn well knew were no good. Or are you get ting mystical on me, Mouse?Call it what you butt want, Im telling you how it was. It was like that sign was saying KEEP OUT IF YOU KNOW WHATS GOOD FOR YOU. Gave me a bad feeling.On account of it was a bad place, Sonny interrupts. Ive seen some bad places. They dont want you there, and they let you know.Beezer shoots him a measured look and says, I dont care how evil this bad place is, if its where the Fisherman lives, Im going there.And Im going with you, says Mouse, but just listen. I wanted to bag it and get some fried chicken or something, which combined with the Ultimate would have been like eating the food of Paradise, or whatever Coleridge said, but Little Nancy wanted to go in because she had the same feeling I did. She was a game broad, man. Ornery, too. So I turned in, and Little Nancys hanging on in back of me, and shes saying, Dont be a pussy, Mouse, lets haul ass, so I gun it a little bit, and everything feels all weird and shit, but all I can sees this track curving aw ay into the trees and the shit I know isnt there.Like what? asks Sonny, in what sounds like the expression of scientific inquiry.These dark shapes coming up to the edge of the road and looking out through the trees. A couple of them ran toward me, but I rolled right through them like smoke. I dont know, maybe they were smoke.Fuck that, it was the acid, Beezer says.Maybe, but it didnt feel that way. Besides, the Ultimate never turned on you, remember? It wasnt about darkness. Anyhow, right before the shit hit the fan, all of a sudden I was thinking about Kiz Martin. I can remember that, all right. It was like I could a good deal see her, right in front of me the way she looked when they loaded her in the ambulance.Kiz Martin, Beezer says.Mouse turns to Jack. Kiz was a girl I went out with when we were all at the university. She used to beg us to let her ride with us, and one day the Kaiser said, okay, she could borrow his bike. Kiz was having a ball, man, shes diggin it. And then she rolls over some damn little twig, I think it was Bigger than a twig, Doc says. Little branch. Maybe two inches in diameter.Which is just enough to test your balance, especially if youre not used to hogs, Mouse says. She rolls over this little branch, and the bike flops over, and Kiz flies off and hits the road. My heart damn near stopped, man.I knew she was gone the second I came up close enough to see the angle of her head, says Doc. There wasnt even any point in trying CPR. We covered her with our jackets, and I rode off to call an ambulance. Ten minutes later, they were loading her in. One of the guys recognized me from my stint in the ER, or they might have given us some trouble.I wondered if you were really a doctor, Jack says.Completed my hall in surgery at U.I., walked away from the whole deal right there. Doc smiles at him. Hanging around with these guys, getting into beer brewing, sounded like more fun than spending all day cutting people up.Mouse, Beezer says.Yeah. I was just getting to the curve in the little road, and it was like Kiz was standing right in front of me, it was so vivid. Her eyes closed, and her head hanging like a leaf about to fall. Oh man, I said to myself, this is not what I want to see at this particular moment. I could feel it all over again the way I felt when Kiz hit the road. Sick dread. Thats the word for it, sick dread.And we come around the curve, and I hear this dog growling somewhere off in the woods. Not just growling, growling. Like twenty big dogs are out there, and theyre all mad as hell. My head starts feeling like it wants to explode. And I look up ahead of me to see if a pack of wolves or something is political campaign toward us, and it takes me a while to realize that the weird shadowy stuff I see up ahead is a house. A black house.Little Nancy is hitting me on the back and rapping my head, screaming at me to stop. Believe me, I can get with the program, because the last thing I want to do is get any clo ser to that place. I stop the bike, and Little Nancy jumps off and pukes on the side of the road. She holds her head and she pukes some more. Im feeling like my legs turned to rubber, like something heavy is pressing on my chest. That thing, whatever it is, is still going nuts in the woods, and its getting closer. I take another look up at the end of the road, and that pitiful damn house is stretching back into the woods, like its crawling into them, only its standing still. It gets bigger the more you look at it Then I see the sparkly lights floating around it, and they look dangerous Stay away, theyre telling me, get out of here, Mouse. Theres another NO TRESPASSING sign leaning against the porch, and that sign, man . . . that sign kind of flashed, like it was saying THIS TIME I MEAN IT, BUDDY.My head is splitting in half, but I get Little Nancy on the bike, and she sags against me, like pure dead weight except shes hanging on, and I kick the hog on and spin around and take off. When we get back to my place, she goes to bed and stays there for three days. To me, it seemed like I could hardly remember what happened. The whole thing went kind of dark. In my mind. I hardly had time to think about it anyhow, because Little Nancy got sick and I had to take care of her whenever I wasnt at work. Doc gave her some stuff to get her temperature down, and she got better, so we could drink beer and smoke shit and ride around, like before, but she was never really the same. End of August, she started getting bad again, and I had to put her in the hospital. Second week of September, hard as she was fighting, Little Nancy passed away.How big was Little Nancy? Jack asks, picturing a woman roughly the size of Mouse.Little Nancy Hale was about the size and shape of Tansy Freneau, Mouse says, looking surprised by the question. If she stood on my hand, I could lift her up with one arm.And you never talked about this with anyone, Jack says.How could I talk about it? Mouse asks . First, I was crazy with worry about Little Nancy, and then it went clean out of my head. Weird shit will do that to you, man. Instead of sticking in your head, it erases itself.I know exactly what you mean, Jack says.I guess I do, too, says Beezer, but Id say that the Ultimate kicked the shit out of your reality there for a while. You did see the place, though Black House.Damn straight, says Mouse.Beezer focuses on Jack. And you say the Fisherman, this creep Burnside, built it.Jack nods.So maybe hes living there, and he rigged up a bunch of gadgets to scare people away.Could be.Then I think were gonna let Mouse take us over on Highway 35 and see if he can find that little road he was talking about. Are you coming with us?I cant, Jack says. I have to see someone in Arden first, someone who I think can also help us. She has another piece of the puzzle, but I cant explain it to you until I see her.This woman knows something?Oh, yes, Jack says. She knows something.All right, Beezer s ays, and stands up from his stool. Your choice. Well have to talk to you afterward.Beezer, I want to be with you when you go inside Black House. Whatever we have to do in there, whatever we see . . . Jack pauses, trying to find the right words. Beezer is rocking on his heels, practically jumping out of his skin in his eagerness to hunt down the Fishermans lair. Youre going to want me there. Theres more to this business than you can imagine, Beezer. Youre going to know what Im talking about in a little while, and youll be able to stand up to it I think all of you will but if I tried to describe it now, you wouldnt turn over me. When the time comes, youll need me to see you through, if we get through. Youll be glad I was there. Were at a dangerous point here, and none of us wants to mess it up.What makes you think Ill mess it up? Beezer asks, with deceptive mildness.Anyone would mess it up, if they didnt have the last piece of the puzzle. Go out there. See if Mouse can find the hou se he saw two years ago. Check it out. Dont go in to do that, you need me. After you check it out, come back here, and Ill see you as soon as I can. I should be back before two-thirty, three at the latest.Where are you going in Arden? Maybe Ill want to call you.French County Lutheran Hospital. Ward D. If you cant get me, leave a message with a Dr. Spiegleman.Ward D, huh? Beezer says. Okay, I guess everybodys crazy today. And I guess I can be satisfied with only a look at this house, as long as I know that sometime this afternoon, I can count on you to explain all these pieces Im too stupid to understand.Itll be soon, Beezer. Were closing in. And the last thing Id call you is stupid.I guess you must have been one hell of a cop, Beezer says. Even though I think half the stuff you say is crap, I cant help but believe it. He turns around and brings his fists down on the bar. Stinky Cheese Its safe now. Drag your pale ass out of the kitchen.