Music Paper

In this essay an attempt will be made to compare and contrast the music styles and compositions of the two great musicians of 20th century: Charles Ives and Arnold Schoenberg. Arnold Schoenberg and Charles Ives are considered as the important music composers. They succeeded in redefining the contemporary music. Initially, their styles of composition and music philosophy attracted a few criticisms although later the Musicians realized the real value of their music styles. In this sense, although both Schoenberg and Ives belonged to different music schools, they shared a few similar features. However, one can also notice many differences in their music styles and philosophy. Schoenberg originally belonged to Vienna, Australia and later he settled down in USA. He and Charles Ives can be considered as the contemporaries. Schoenberg was also a teacher of the music compositions. There were different phases in his personal life. After his wife left him, Schoenberg began to compose several revolutionary musical notes. He decided to give more importance to atonical music by rejecting the music with tones. In fact, this led to the establishment of the new school of music philosophy named the Second Vienna School of Music. Schoenberg, unlike Ives, had no formal training in music and he was a self taught music composer. He gave importance to the freedom of the aesthetic thought. (Danuser, 1998) Particularly after the First World War, he composed several works. Schoenberg also decided to introduce the compositions with twelve notes which became very much controversial among the contemporary musicians. Initially, his new music attracted only a minority of music lovers. Later however, his music was criticized and even attacked by those people who did not like his music style. Schoenberg enjoyed the service of his students and he was able to obtain the support of the music composers such as Albon Berg and Anton Webern. The main interest of Schoenberg was to break the monotony of the classical musical notes. He wanted to produce simple and clear music. He found that the contemporary music tones lacked this quality. When he introduced the music with twelve tones, he considered this as a great discovery. In fact, after 1950s, many music composers have used the ideas of Schoenberg and have contributed to improve the dynamic quality of music. Schoenberg can be considered as belonging to the school of experimentation and modernism as he believed in introducing something new after experimenting with the tones. He composed the works such as Moses and Aron and many other compositions. (Wikipedia, 2005) Charles Ives, on the other hand, belonged to America and he was influenced by the American music composers and his own father who believed in experimentation. Ives used to accompany his father in the music composition and gained valuable experience to become an experienced music composer. His father encouraged him to experiment with music by introducing bitonal and multitonal compositions. In this respect, one can find similarities between Schoenberg and Ives. However, Ives composed more popular music although some of his compositions are known for their complexity of detail. He also worked in an insurance agency. The series of heart attacks led to increase in the creativity in Ivy and in 1922 he published his book – 115 Songs. (Ives, 2005) This collection included the various songs which were composed during the different periods of his life. He also composed the dissonant songs such as â€Å"The Majority†. He believed in the combination of the popular and the classical music leading to the creation of bitonal music. Ives belonged to the school of experimentation and dissonance. His philosophy of music is expressed by the use of the term â€Å"eternal question of existence† in his music. (Ives, 2005) He was influenced by the philosophers such as Emerson and Thoreau and this influence can be seen in the music composed by Ivy. However, his works, like those of Schoenberg, were also not liked by many music scholars as they could not understand his music philosophy. Ives was more concerned with popular perception of his music as he included many American folk songs. He was also praised by Schoenberg for his original compositions. He composed the works such as Variations on America for organ, Central Park in the Dark for chamber orchestra, and The unanswered question for chamber group. (Ives, 2005) In fact, Schoenberg was also influenced by the experimentation of Charles Ivy. However, later Schoenberg introduced the twelve note music. At the same time his music was not liked by the ordinary music lovers as they could not understand the complexity of his music. (Hawes, 1998) The above details show that although both Schoenberg and Ivis belonged to the school of experimentalism, there were major differences in their music compositions. Schoenberg worked as a teacher which allowed him to interact with his students regarding his music compositions. His works are influenced by the European musicians although he wanted to discover something new. Ives on the other hand gave more importance to the American folk music and integrated it with the classic music. He was also influenced by the American philosophers. However, both the composers were criticized for their unconventional approach to music. Both the musicians composed complex musical works which the ordinary people could not understand and appreciate. Schoenberg gave importance to the German tradition. He was influenced by the German composers such as Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner, and Brahms. He believed in the music philosophy of serialism which gave greater order to the twelve notes created by him. He also believed in the philosophy of modernism as he modernized the classical music by introducing radical changes to the earlier German compositions. (Modernism, 2005) Bibliography Danuser, von Hermann. (1998). â€Å"Arnold Schà ¶nberg – Portrait of a Century†, Arnold Schà ¶nberg Center, retrieved online on 10-12-2005 from Hawes, Peter. (1998). â€Å"Learning to Love A Cranky Composer†, Yale Alumni Magazine, retrieved online on 10-12-2005 from (2005). â€Å"Arnold Schoenberg†, retrieved online on 10-12-2005 from last updated in November 2005. (2005). â€Å"Charles Ives†, retrieved online on 10-12-2005 from last updated 10 December 2005. (2005). â€Å"Schoenberg’s Harmonielehre: Modernism through Tradition†, retrieved online on 10-12-2005 from

Robespierre – Evil or Virtuous?

Robespierre: Evil or Virtuous? â€Å"Virtue, without which terror is destructive; terror, without which virtue is impotent† (Zizek). Maximilien Robespierre said this in a speech when people were starting to question his judgment. He believed that to be only virtuous was difficult, and without some terror added in, the world would go into turmoil as no one would follow their leader. A leader has to be strong and forceful, and sometimes even terrifying to get their point across, or to get people to follow them.Robespierre always wanted what was best for France and was willing to do anything to get it, even if that meant causing harm to the people of France. He felt that as long as the outcome of his hard work came with the results he wanted, anything he did was justified. Despite all the horror of the Reign of Terror, Maximilien Robespierre was a virtuous man. He not only reacted to the problems in France with determination, but he created a clear program to help France in this troubled time. He also was the leader of many committees and he established many laws to further the French Revolution.Even when some of the people of France started to turn against him, he produced a program to help them, not to harm them. Robespierre always had France’s best interests at heart. He never wanted to have to use terror as a means of moving the French Revolution forwards, but he believed it had to happen for the better of France. He was a virtuous man from the beginning right up until the end and for that, he will be well remembered. In 1788, France was in turmoil and panic. France was going bankrupt and King Louis had to deal with disaster after disaster. The coldest winter in the history of France in seventy-nine years fell upon the nation.The price of bread almost doubled, the peasantry began to starve, and famine threatened whole sections of the population. By the end of 1788, Louis XVI received over eight hundred petitions demanding that the Commons, the Th ird Estate, have as many votes as the clergy and nobility combined in the Estates-General (Blumberg 291). By late November, King Louis became desperate and issued a proclamation convening the Estates-General for the following May, showing that already he was losing power over his people. Robespierre was elected as one of the twenty-four representatives of the Third Estate for Arras.He came in with a calm determination to fix everything and began to make his mark in history. As soon as the summoning of the Estates-General was proclaimed, Robespierre conceived the idea of seeking election. Unlike others who claimed to speak to the whole of France, he thought it better to deal with local matters, thus providing the people with issues of more immediate interest. Robespierre believed that the Estates were not representative since they were â€Å"constituted of a league of a few citizens who had seized power which belongs only to the people† (Matrat 43).He thought that the First Es tate held their seats only by virtue of their rank, and not by election and did not believe that this was fair. â€Å"By what right have they excluded the cures, the class that is without contradiction the most numerous; the most useful of this body; the most valuable because of the close relationship which binds it to the needs and interests of the people† (Matrat 43)? Robespierre went on to consider the composition of the Second Estate and found it no more representative. As for the Third Estate, he stressed that they represented neither the townspeople nor the country folk.Robespierre also protested strongly against forced labour among the farmers of Hainaut, which brought him the favour of these people as well as respect from many others. Robespierre was also in the National Assembly and was trying his hardest to restore the rights of man to his country. During these years, he earned a reputation for integrity and developed eloquence in his speeches that drew increasing a ttention from the Assembly. Robespierre proposed the self-denying law which made all the delegates to the first Assembly of 1789 ineligible for the second in 1791 and he also argued that liberty could not be spread by force.The Royal Family of France’s attempted escape on June 20th, 1791 made many people very unhappy with the King. The mob, ever ready to exercise the uncontrolled Rights of Men, made a mock parade of the King’s Arms in the market places, and, dashing them and the figure of a crown to the ground, they trampled upon them, crying out, â€Å"Since the King has abandoned what he owed to his high situation, let us trample upon the ensigns of royalty† (Ascherson 48)! The Royal Family not only lost many of its followers through their attempted escape, but also because King Louis XVI kept making bad decisions, ones that had no benefit to France or its people.The people wanted someone who would lead them into a revolution and change France for the better, not because they wanted the power, but because they believed in France and wanted it to become a great nation. That man was Robespierre, who after the flight of the King followed the Jacobin club in its move toward republicanism. He called for universal male suffrage and the end of property qualifications for voting and office holding (Blumberg 290). Robespierre wanted to make France a republic, a government for the people and by the people, a country where everyone had the freedoms and rights they deserved.In January of 1793, Robespierre voted on whether or not he thought that King Louis should be executed for his actions. At the Convention on the trial of the King, he looked towards the judges and stated; Because you have established yourselves the judge of Louis, without the usual forms, are you less his judges? You cannot separate your quality of Judge from that of Legislator. These two qualities are indivisible. You have acknowledged the crimes of the tyrant. It is your duty to punish them. No consideration should make you hesitate respecting the punishment reserved for the greatest criminal that ever existed.I vote for the punishment of death (Ascherson 84). Robespierre led the beginning of other members of the Assembly leaders voting for the Kings death. Out of a total of seven hundred and forty-five members, three hundred and sixty-six voted for King Louis death that was carried out on January 25th, 1793 (Ascherson 86-7). After the Kings death, Robespierre stood up as the leader of France and the Jacobins and began his attempts to make France the nation he hoped it would someday become. Robespierre accomplished much, establishing many committees and laws to further the French Revolution.The Declaration of the Rights of Man proclaimed freedom, propriety, the safety of the individual, resistance to oppression, the sovereignty of the nation, the participation of all citizens in the drawing up of laws, and the admission of all to situations and honours, wi th no other distinction than that of their virtues and their talents (Kreis). Robespierre believed in the Declaration and was against the establishment of any censorship. There ought to be no compromise in the matter. The freedom of the press ought to be established without any reservation.Free men cannot set out their rights in equivocal terms. Freedom of the press is the corollary of freedom of speech. In a free state each citizen is a guardian of freedom, who must shout at the smallest rumour, and at the least sight of any danger which threatens it (Matrat 67). Robespierre argued his beliefs and his dreams not only for himself, but for those people who did not have a voice. He argued for the people of France. Through newspapers and word of mouth, Robespierre became known as one of the most diligent defenders of the people.He made many speeches and put forth many proposals in the National Assembly that spoke on the changes he wanted to make in France. One such proposal was to crea te a tribunal made up of members of the Assembly who would be concerned with â€Å"plots and conspiracies against the people and freedom† (Matrat 79). Then the people, certain of the punishment of its enemies, would feel reassured and would calm down. When Robespierre was elected as the president of the Jacobins in March of 1790 he reacted with determination and a clear program.The nation had to mobilize all its resources for the war against Austria, draft every available man, ration food fix prices and wages, weed out opposition at home, punish slackers, speculators, and food hoarders, and suspend due process of law to accelerate the arrests of counterrevolutionaries (Blumberg 291). In April on 1793, the Committee of Public Safety replaced the Committee for General Defence with nine members. The Committee of Public Safety formed to keep chaos from reigning over France as counter-revolutionaries rebelled against the new French government.Soon after the Committee was establish ed, the Convention elected Robespierre to the Committee. Robespierre wanted to rally the masses to Jacobin doctrines and so he set up three laws to give them substantial advantages. One law set up the sale of the possessions of emigres in small lots, with a period of ten years for payment to be made. This made it possible for the less wealthy peasants to buy land (Duhaime). Another law provided for the subdivision of communal property in equal portions and the third law abolished hierarchy rights and dues founded on ancient charters.Finally, to cushion the effect of rising prices there was a general increase in the salaries of civil servants (Matrat 204). As Robespierre’s reign went on more and more people started attacking him, believing that he was working against the Revolution. Robespierre heard the people whispering about him when they thought he was not listening, but he was listening all the time. In a speech, he announced to everybody that he knew people where against them, but he wanted them to say it to his face. One man then spoke up against him and accused him.Robespierre looked at the man calmly and did not criticize him, but thanked him. â€Å"Citizen, you had the courage to accuse me of wanting to be my country’s enemy, in the face of the people’s representatives, in this very place where I defended their rights. I thank you. I recognize in this deed the citizenship that characterizes the famous city that has sent you† (Matrat 175). Robespierre wanted to give the people a chance to speak their mind, but he always defended himself against the crimes that they claimed he did.When being accused of â€Å"having ceaselessly slandered the purest patriots† (Matrat 178), Robespierre came back with a speech that was calm and precise, one that made a strong impression and won him back some of the people of France. While in the Committee of Public Safety, Robespierre continued to prove to the people that he was indeed on their side. He knew that there were some who criticized the committee for its military policy, but also knew that they could only do so with the intention of embarrassing the government.I realize that there is a scheme for paralyzing the Committee of Public Safety, by seeming to help it in its work, and that people are trying to vilify the executive power so that they can say that there is no longer an authority in France capable of holding the reins of government. The fact is that they want our places. Well, let them take them! I would like to see them, night and day, probing the wounds of the state, and spending their lives in finding a remedy for them. Do they want to extenuate out labours, or do they want to lead us to counter-revolution by betraying patriots in the hearts of the people (Matrat 223)?As always, Robespierre had captivated the crowd and won their applause. He proved that the job he was doing was hard, and that if others wanted to take over, they would not be able t oo. They would only lead to the downfall of France. The war against Austria was over in the spring of 1794 and the French armies began to come home. Robespierre continued to murder those he thought were against him and France but the people no longer understood his actions. Up to a certain point the Terror had been justified by reverses in the war, but France was now victorious.Robespierre was being called a tyrant for his murderous ways but he had a different view on the matter. â€Å"They call me tyrant. If I were, they would grovel at my feet, I would gorge them with gold, I would give them the right to commit any crime† (Matrat 267). Even with the people of France turning against him and calling him a tyrant, he continued to do his best to help them. Robespierre set up a program for France that included a guarantee of food for everyone at low prices, distribution of land to the poor, public education, social security for the aged, ill and injured, and a progressive income tax (Blumberg 292).Robespierre was the power and change France needed right up until the very end and no matter what the people did to him, said to him, or thought of him, he kept to his goals for France. Robespierre wanted a revolution, he wanted change and he, without a doubt brought it to France. Of all the Chiefs of the different groups which have successively reigned in the volcano of the French Revolution, Robespierre was the man whose Government promised to be the most durable; because he had the character of being the most incorruptible, and of being the man who had shown the least variation in his conduct (Ascherson 115).Despite all the horror of the Reign of Terror, Maximilien Robespierre was a virtuous man. When France was in turmoil and panic Robespierre came in to fix everything and helped move France forward and push the Revolution onwards. He was a leader in the Committee of Public Safety and created laws all to try and help France. Even when people started to turn o n him, he put forth a program to try and aid them. He cared about the people of France, and even France itself as a whole. Robespierre wanted France to change and develop into the country he knew it would someday be and he was willing to do anything to achieve this goal.

Embedding Core Skills Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Embedding Core Skills - Essay Example According to Moser report (1998), one in five people were found to be functionally illiterate. The more recent Leitch report (2006) also discovered that a third of adults are not equipped with the basic school-leaving qualifications. Chances of functioning or success are undermined without this minimum core level. The two reports were funded by the government that was concerned that learners were not being equipped with the required level in core subjects like information and communication technology, mathematics and literacy. Embedding core skills in vocational subjects with emphasis on transferred skills that could be applied to workplace was considered. That’s why screening assessment like the BKSB are very important especially at the start of a course as a section of their opening assessment. It is very essential to know the level that your learners are operating at for their functional skills. Knowing where your students are, makes it possible for you to make out what they need to be taught. Having this knowledge will help in building towards where the students need to be. Embedding is the term mostly used to refer to the inclusion of these functional skills. Embedding, as defined in the Oxford English Dictionary (2012), refers to fixing an object deeply and firmly in a surrounding mass. Additionally it refers to implanting a feeling or an idea for it to become ingrained in a certain context. This indicates clearly that trainers and teachers have a responsibility of incorporating functional skills at any available chance. Beginning with planning, by writing lesson plans and schemes of learning which take into consideration core elements, showing details how ICT, numeracy and Literacy will be included to some degree in every lesson, helps in finding creative solutions. Therefore, it is the responsibility of teachers to find actively out chances of

Symbolism and Polarization in Death in Venice by Thomas Mann Essay

Symbolism and Polarization in Death in Venice by Thomas Mann - Essay Example It is known as one of the richest novels in terms of symbolism; it is hard to deny this is a masterpiece which will never be written again. The author has also described phases of old age, obsession and solemnity, which profoundly represent the wealth and class of the main character and how he rejects his own self because of his respectable and wealthy status. The main character of Gustav von Aschenbach is a prototype of a fussy, aged German writer who is a highly disciplined, respectable and dignified man. He is a complicated and complex person. He is a wealthy and honourable man in the society and is well known in his profession. He sets out to travel to Venice after his experience in the city’s famed English gardens. He experiences terror and horror when he encounters a ghostly appearing figure. He wishes to go to Venice, which is known as the city of beauty and romance, but surprisingly enough becomes a creepy and sinister place for the protagonist (Mann 35). The depiction of Venice is itself a representation of class and culture in the novel, which also relates to the Mann’s class of being an educational writer visiting countries for his personal satisfaction. The novel represents the class and wealth in many ways. The way the writer has created a great piece of literature with the discussion and explanation of some amazing scenes and expressions in the novel has made it one of the best novels of its time. There are many authors and professionals who have considered this book as a representation of their work. This novel would give many aspects to the reader to think about, starting with its extreme sustainability in the character’s personality to the representation of wealth, class and society. His fame and wealth lead him to live a life respectable and dignified until he falls into the biggest trap of his life. He fights with himself and just because of his respect he lets go on some of his own desires. He knew that as his respect fa lls in people’s eyes, his status and wealth will both go away from him and it will ruin all his life, and with it he could not afford to play. Many other great literature works were published during that time period; some managed to show the essence of age, for example, Heart of Darkness. The story was representing the ages of man and the art in their life, but it did not solely relate to the artistic purpose; in fact it represented the age, the wealth, the fame that came with age, and the life from three different points of view. Notes from Underground is another publication of that time which showed the culture and the revolution. It was a great piece of literature and was subjected to classicism just like the Death in Venice was written representing the classism of the culture and symbolism. It also included the elements of obsession, passion, art and a full retreat of the society (O’ Hehir 11). Though many literature works were published during that time, the maste rpieces were those which represented wealth, class and culture. Thomas Mann and other writers wrote much about the class of great artists and gave their novels a very artistic approach to enable them to relate to the society in which there was fame, money and class. These books were usually written in fiction, and portrayed a great message for the readers to learn and open their minds. The work of Thomas Mann related very closely to his own life. His novel and his main character described what

Marketing Intelligence Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Marketing Intelligence Report - Essay Example They should devise suitable plans and choose appropriate methods in order to gain high quality marketing information to analyse and evaluate. To this end, the process of Marketing Intelligence is essential. This paper will identify appropriate marketing intelligence requirements for business decision-making that are required to design, plan and implement a marketing intelligence programme. This will be done by focusing on how quantitative and qualitative information can be interpreted and coherently presented with the appropriate intelligence that leads to effective marketing and business decisions. The process, quality and outcomes of a marketing intelligence project will be evaluated to substantiate the report. The paper will examine the marketing intelligence issues relative to financial institutions in the UK. The Marketing Concept and Marketing Intelligence Marketing is the procedure through which an organization plans and executes the creation, promotion, pricing and distribution of goods and services to sell and create satisfaction for consumers and to meet organizational objectives. It is thus required for the organization to focus on consumers in order to understand their needs and to make them satisfied in the shortest possible time and in the most efficient ways that prove to be beneficial for both consumers and the organization. This implies that any organization has to get involved in gathering information relative to consumer needs and collect marketing intelligence in order to efficiently meet the given needs. Marketing research is a crucial element of marketing intelligence and helps in improving the management’s decision making process through the availability of timely, specific and authentic information. All decisions taken by the management create specific needs for information without which the pertinent strategi es cannot be developed. In the context of financial institutions in the UK, market intelligence implies the ability of the institution to collect market information in objective and systematic ways and to effectively analyze and interpret the same. This information should be applied in the right context to come up with strategic proposals and action strategies. The application of the information in the right context is the element that differentiates marketing intelligence from market research. It essentially refers to the aspect of information gathering relative to the wider market intelligence processes. A market intelligent financial institution has the ability to ascertain the kind of efficient marketing research tools that are most applicable to resolve its current problems. It implements the most efficient strategies in ensuring outcomes that are reliable and of high quality. Eventually, such institutions are able to incorporate the outcomes of the research to develop efficien t strategies (Kim and Mauborgne, 2004 ). The process of gathering marketing intelligence The process of gathering marketing intelligence for financial institutions is characterized with a gap in terms of tools that enhance their operations. In most cases, the research outcomes are not fully scattered across the entire institution, which prevents them from being effectively included in the business operations. Mostly, marketing research is an isolated effort that does not allow the results to be acted upon effectively. In addressing this issue, it is important to develop a systematic strategy that takes the institution through the complete procedure of marketing activities from designing to implementing and applying. The institution should determine the objectives and

Business sustainability Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Business sustainability - Essay Example If we observe closely, it can be seen that corporate partners of CDP are the companies who actually have the objective of carrying out their operations while having minimum effect on the environment. Companies like Nestle and Dell have always preached about sustainable development and recycling. They even use the eco-friendly material for the manufacturing of their products. This is the main reason why these and other companies voluntarily disclose their carbon emission rate, as their policies include the protection of environment. The CDP operates worldwide in most major economies channeling information and progressing through five different programs. These five programs include CDP public procurement, investor CDP, CDP cities, CDP water disclosure and CDP supply chains all of which allow the access towards and demonstrate the theories of environmental governance. CDP’s public procurement programs has been designed for enabling the national as well as the local government to determine the impact of climate change on their supply chain. Governments spend almost trillions of dollars annually which possesses the potential of imposing a great impact on the markets. This program provides a way to the government for asking their suppliers about the succeeding global warming implications, energy use and the greenhouse gas emission, allowing them to better understand the risk associated with the climate change which helps in the creation of supply chain with low carbon (Anon., 2013). The investor CDP program is based on the largest collaboration of the investors from all around the world and its purpose is to spread the relevant climate change information among its 551 institutional investors, so that these financial decision makers may turn towards low carbon economies. This program is considered to be an instrument for harnessing market forces that links the economic rationality with the environmental outcomes, making it a very effective and efficient way of

East Asia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

East Asia - Essay Example Although China had also influenced the country through its Chinese characters and its culture, Asian culture in general was not new to the Japanese people. By this point, they found Western influence completely different and new from what they have grown to know. Furthermore, the Japanese were also fascinated with the inventions the West was able to popularize. This was the start of the Japanese culture of importing and â€Å"imitating† ideas, especially technology, from foreign countries. One of the popular phrases in Japan, â€Å"Wakon-Yosai† is derived from the word â€Å"Wa† which means â€Å"Japan†. â€Å"Kon†, which is another word for â€Å"Tamashii† or â€Å"spirit†. The word â€Å"Yo† means â€Å"western† while the last syllable â€Å"Sai† denotes its short form â€Å"Saino† or â€Å"Saikaku†, which means technique, skill, or ability. As a tribute for the knowledge and skills they have learned from the Westerners, they commemorated this phrase to denote â€Å"Western technique with Japanese mind†. It has also been reported that this word was also used during the Meiji Era. With Japan’s history speaking for itself, it can be clearly concluded that Japan valued its inherent abilities from the West with â€Å"open arms†. And because of their eagerness to learn cultures other than their own, it has created the Japanese culture of being the â€Å"master of imitation† or their mindset of continuous adaptation and utilization of modern technologies from outer cultures. This can be exemplified by the rapidly emerging technologies that were imitated by Japan, from digital cameras to photocopying machines, sound systems, computer softwares, and other electronic gadgets.

Forces in the Context of KFC Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Forces in the Context of KFC - Research Paper Example There are various economic forces that have a significant impact on the business operations of KFC. This organization is greatly affected by global and national economic factors such as inflation and interest rates, cost of labor, stages of business cycle, unemployment rates and growth rates of economy. The recession factor has affected the overall income of KFC and this has resulted into making employees jobless, and some employees were hired for few hours (Ohme, Birinyi and Gupta, 2010). This was majorly due to cutting down of budget by the company. Economic forces restrict customers to spend lavishly in such fast food outlets. Government procedures and policies to certain extent provide the required guidelines for smooth functioning of business operations of an organization. There are certain political forces that affect operations of KFC and these forces encompass some legal factors (KFC, 2014). The stability of political environment, position of government in relation to market ethics, government view on religion and culture, policies of government with respect to economy, and taxation policy on incentives and tax rates are the major forces that outlines the political environment (Ohme, Birinyi and Gupta, 2010). It can be stated that these forces can have an adverse affect or prove to be beneficial for the company. There are some regulatory and legal forces which need to be taken into consideration by the organization in order to achieve their desired goals and objectives. KFC need to maintain the regulations and rules in relation to hygiene factors such as proper training of employees regarding personal hygiene, safety and food, proper usage of utensils and hygienic work environment (Ohme, Birinyi and Gupta, 2010). It even comprise of the legal environment within which a firm operates such as in United States, there has been a legislation passed related to minimum wages and more recycle requirement. Technological forces can be considered as the major drivers in context of globalization. These forces help to increase efficiency levels of production and even some of these forces can be treated as technological developments. In KFC, technology is the most vital component as this facilitates customer satisfaction at its food outlets (Ohme, Birinyi and Gupta, 2010). The organization has been able to incorporate the latest technology into the system.  

Analysis the artwork Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Analysis the artwork - Essay Example It is from the Neo-Assyrian era made around the eighth century B.C. from the Assyrian culture, created by an unknown artist. Its accession number is 60.145.11 and the credit line is Rogers Fund, 1960. The artwork stands 13.5 centimeters tall (Metropolitan Museum of Art). As mentioned earlier, the artwork as an example shows its relationship to the artist’s time and culture. The color, lines, shape and volume may as well give the meaning of the artwork as the composition, form and content do. The Assyrian sculpture is made of ivory which has been widely used during the time of its creation. Such use of the material shows the influence of Egyptian culture to Phoenician art. Moreover, the themes of the artworks also reflect the same influence (metmuseum.org). With the age of the sculpture, cracks and chips are seen all over it but one can just notice the quality of the material that lasted for millenniums with some of the parts still looking seemingly new, having the usual shiny and smooth surface typical of ivories. As formerly mentioned, ivory was used because of the influence of Egyptian culture to Phoenicia but perhaps also because of its availability and its tendency to last for years. In addition, the beauty that ivory holds is already a reason in itself for it to be used in the piece of art. Furthermore, the color of the sculpture speaks of its age. Most of the parts are faded while those which retained the color of the ivory are a bit darkened perhaps due to exposure to different seasons. The artwork in itself speaks of its early origins, having the customary characteristics of early artworks which do not show the meticulous and detailed general form of modern arts. Instead, the sculpture is roughly molded showing a big head which is not quite proportionate to the body and the faces which do not show fine details. In addition, the body of the tribute bearer and his gifts projected in the sculpture are slender, which is claimed to be Phoenician style (metmuseum.org). On the other hand, the other parts of the artwork have finer details which also give away the influence of culture to the artwork. For instance, the hair is obviously not natural because it looks curly, almost similar to the headdress of ancient English people. Moreover, the wrap around skirt is designed with intricate details that reflect Egyptian influence which is mostly observed in their respective artworks. The way the man is dressed shows his position, seen among common Egyptians in contrast to the other cultures where the upper body is also covered. The necklace the man is wearing also shows the use of ornaments of the early generations which is also reflective of Egyptian practice. Lastly, the use of sandals similar to what is used by the Egyptians clearly suggests a close relationship of Phoenicia to the renowned Egypt. The artwork is a reflection of the importance of giving gifts in the Phoenician culture. The man is perhaps sent to the leader of the stat e with the gifts as it was customary in the old times when visiting a leader. It could also be a personal decision for the tribute bearer to bring the gift to the receiver to ask for favors. This practice is widely known and practiced in early generations as often reflected in written literature and films set on such early times. Gifts then could be in the form of fruits, root crops and other foods, jewelries, clothes or animals such as the ones

Plato Analysis Essay Example for Free

Plato Analysis Essay Platos The Republic centers on a simple question: is it better to be just than unjust? In answering this overlying question, Socrates outlines the ideal city and how justice is a virtue of that city. From there, he characterizes justice as a virtue of the soul. It is while he is discussing the soul that Socrates begins to define the different types of souls. Rather than comparing and contrasting each soul, Plato quickly jumps into contrasting the tyrannical soul with the aristocratic soul ? the most unjust with the most just. In Book IX of Platos The Republic, Socrates describes a man in an awful state asserting that the worst of souls is the tyrant. This accurate assertion can be seen through the consideration of not only the tyrants personal characteristics but also the negative ______ he contributes to the city. In Book VIII of Platos Republic, the five types of people are presented in parallel to the fives types of regimes. The most inferior of the five regimes is tyranny. Correspondingly, the tyrannical soul is then the most inferior person. Socrates examines the steady decline from one regime to the next, starting with the fall from aristocracy to timocracy when factions arise between auxiliaries and guardians. This decline comes because of injustice and the spirit of the auxiliaries not abiding by the edicts of reason. Further decline due to an excess of desire and the degradation of spirit ultimately leads to tyranny. This is the most wretched of all the regimes as the tyrant is the most wretched of souls. Book IX of The Republic begins with a story of two young men whose lives take opposite paths. The first is raised in a home more Spartan than Athenian, born to a parsimonious father who honors the money-making desires while despising the ones that arent necessary but exist for the sake of play and showing off (572c). The son rebels against his austere upbringing, and revels in the company of subtler men who delight in the pleasures of the world (572c). However, because the young man has been brought up to abhor such worldliness, in the end he chooses a middle path ? neither illiberal nor hostile to law ? having become what Plato describes as a man of the people (572d). This introduction is important, because Plato uses the young man previously described to contrast the second. The second man is perhaps the son of the first, raised in moderation, to appreciate both the diligence of work and the joy of pleasure. When the same influences, friends, and ideas that changed his father begin to work on him, this young man does not have the inner moral courage to chart his own path. With his father urging moderation and his friends encouraging irresponsibility, the young man is torn between the two. Herein lies the downfall of the man ? the dread enchanters and tyrant-makers who espouse reckless pleasure-seeking realize that they will not win him over with continued persuasion, so they seek to make him a slave to his own desires (573a). Plato calls these desires love, but lust may be a more apt description (573b). Having now become a drone, the young man is imbued with desire to satisfy the temporal passions that bring momentary pleasure (573b). This desire drives him insane. He has madness as his bodyguard, and runs amuck, eliminating those whose own decency contrasts with his own lack thereof, killing them out of shame. The tyrant is characterized as the worst of souls because of his personal attributes that are detrimental and undesirable to any man. Drunken, erotic, and melancholic, he lives solely to satisfy the passions and desires that run rampant in his mind (573c). This man does little good by himself or his fellowmen, and, if given the opportunity, would become the most terrible of rulers. Plato defines this man to be his tyrant and describes him as the most miserable person in society. Socrates and Glaucon characterize the person ruled by lawless attitudes as enslaved, having the least amount of control to what he wants. The tyrant is full of confusion and regret, fearful and poor, with an insatiable appetite (577c-578a). To any human being, it would be least desirable to become a person as described above who is never satisfied. The greatest control an individual can obtain is control over their own thoughts and desires. Without this control, a person is miserable and relies on the outside world to fill his appetite. To illustrate the idea that a tyrant is simply one whose passions are out of control, Plato compares the tyrant to a drunken man. Just as a drunken man has a tyrannical spirit, so a man drunk on his own lustful desires has the same (573c). The tyrannical soul is seen as enslaved because it desires satisfactions that solely depend on external circumstances. As long as these desires continue to consume the tyrant and are never completely satisfied, the tyrant is least able to do what he wants. By virtue of not being able to do what he wants, the tyrant is full of confusion and disorder. This man is in an awful state and lives only in misery. By showing the development of the tyrant from undisciplined childhood to irrational adulthood, Plato shows his reader the warning signs that accompany such a person. He describes the despots of the ancient world for what they were: lustful men whose bodily appetites reign over their personal lives and the societies unfortunate enough to be at their command. Socrates explains that the only thing worse than the tyrannical soul is the tyrannical soul who goes public and becomes the political tyrant (578c). Socrates continues, The man who is mad and deranged undertakes and expects to be able to rule not only over human beings but gods, too (573c). With this phrase, Socrates begins to show why the reader should be wary of the rise of a political tyrant. He describes how a tyrants rule is bad for those he rules over. Having gotten the idea that he should rule over both men and gods, the tyrant uses this power, once obtained, to satisfy his selfish desires. Feasts, revels, parties, courtesans, and everything else of the sort, are hallmarks of his reign (573d). Such living, however, rapidly depletes his income and resources, and he is then forced to obtain resources from others which consequently becomes to the city. The tyrannical man can only give so much to the people of the city. He will therefore enlist them in necessary and just wars to continue his popularity and to account for the poor economy. These just wars serve to perpetuate the continual need for a tyrant. Because the tyrants actions displease those who helped set him up, he must gradually do away with them until he is left without a friend or foe. Socrates contrasts this to the work of a doctor. A doctor is seen as helpful and needed because he takes off the worst of the body and leaves the rest (567c). However, the tyrant does the opposite, taking off the best and leaving the worst. This is a necessity for him to rule; consequently, he hurts the city. The tyrant, slave to his love, or personal passions, becomes a tyrant over others. He begins to find those with means and seeks to deprive them of it, usually by force. He is addicted to his desires, racked with pains and aches when he cannot fill them (Plato, 263). No one is immune to his wild demands. He will victimize his own parents, claiming he deserves to get the better of his father and mother (574a). If they resist, they will meet the same fate as anyone else who opposes the madman. In short, his childhood of moderation has become a career of chaos. The tyrant is a slave to himself and his desires in the city. The moral of Platos argument is clear. Even a small minority of tyrants can cause trouble within a community. Plato suggests that in times of war, tyrants flock to the battlefront, volunteering their services to distant tyrants as mercenaries and bodyguards (Plato, 264). But in times of peace, they remain at home and comprise a class of lawless criminals. Thieves, burglars, cutpurses, pickpockets, temple robbers, kidnappers, all are tyrants waiting for their chance to take power (Plato, 265). Platos warning to society is to teach temperance and philosophy to the rising generation, so that they do not become tyrants and lead their city into ruin. In an age where democracy was a new and rare commodity, the threat of becoming subject to a tyrant in ancient Greece was very real indeed. Philosophers like Plato tried to discover how the tyrants of the age became so, so that they could avoid coming under their power. Having philosophically defined tyrants as evil and unjust in the realm of philosophy, Plato uses logic in Book IX of The Republic to support the assumption that totalitarian societies, like those of Athenss neighbors, suffer under the reign of such leaders. This argument will later lead to his assertion that philosophers are the best leaders a state can have. Bound by ethics and reason, philosopher-kings would ensure that society is properly educated, supremely tolerant, and, most importantly, true to the ideal of justice that Plato holds dear.

The Earth Charter and the Environment

The Earth Charter and the Environment According to (Vilela, Soskolne and McDermott,1997), Buddhist influence the creation of the Earth Charter as an enshrined in what is a brief document that embodies the values and ethical principles necessary for the sustainability of life on earth. Move on, Virtue Ethics is a trait deemed to be morally excellent and thus is treasured as a foundation of value and good decent beings. Personal virtues are characteristics valued as promoting individual and collection of wellbeing. This essay will highlight and relate the principles in the Earth Charter to the theory of virtue ethics. Moreover, it will also elaborate on how understanding of principles could help us to address and possibly alleviate an environmental issue in the Pacific. To begin with, the Earth charter starts with a preamble, provides context and articulates its four major principles: Respect and Care for the community of life, Ecological Integrity, Social and Economic justice and Democracy, non-violence and Peace (Earth Charter, 2013). Therefore, the principles assert the basic value of the ethical system of the Charter, is that all livingbeings have intrinsic value and that human beings possess an equal inherent dignity. Each being is understood to be a â€Å"teleological center of life† The moral attitudes that logically follow from these values are enumerated in Principles 1 and 2. Principle 1 asserts respectfor life and the inherent dignity of persons, and Principle 2 asserts care â€Å"Care for the community of life with accepting, consideration, and sweetheart.† Respect and Care for life and human dignity are the two fundamental moral attitudes required by the Charter. A moral attitude is an understanding and outlook toward othe r beings that structure specific moral response sand relationships. The values of intrinsic value and dignity require the moral attitudes ofhumans (Taylor, 1986). Respect and Care for life in general and for specific manifestations of life on different levels of relationship for instance on the human level, respect and care for persons. What follows from virtue ethics are duties to respond to others in particularways? Principles pertain to rights and duties that follow from, are necessary to actualize, one’s values. These duties are codified in terms of Moral Principles. The moralprinciples are abstract expressions of forms of conduct, of moral responses to the call ofthe other, which one commits to with the adoption of a moral attitude. The moral attitudes of respect and care commit one to certain modes of conduct embodied inprinciples on each level of relationship. A central part of the articulation of the cosmopolitan (Weed and McKeown, 1998) ethics of the Earth Charter is the explication of principles on each level ofrelationship. The four categories of principles in the Charter speak to these different levels of relationship. Stand ards of character, in turn, pertain to dispositions or character traits thatpre-dispose one toward particular choices and actions. They constitute moral resources that comprise one’s moral sensibility, which enables one to act in accordance with what one understands in principle to be right. One can understand what the right thing to do isbut not have the will to do it. Dispositions pertain to the will, the character, to do what is right. A disposition is a character trait that enables one to fulfill one’s responsibility, as defined in principle. In addition, standards of character also entail capacities to respond. As Jonathon Glover posits there are two broad categories of moral capacities: restraint from doing harm and sympathy. These moral resources Are capacities and characters of consciousness and of natural human inclination that enhance our capacity to morally respond to others? Mahatma Gandhi once said that, â€Å"Mother Earth has enough for everyone’s need, but not enough for everyone’s greed.† The Earth Charter: â€Å"Once basic needs have been met, human development is about being more not having more.† To understand the principles mentioned in the Earth Charter can only be successful if people are truly concerned about the nature. Therefore, the second half of the essay wills eexplain how an understanding of specific principles in The Earth Charter could help us to address and possibly alleviate one pressing environmental issue in the Pacific. â€Å"At the Planning and Policy for Ecosystem-Based Management Forum held in January 2010, senior natural resource managers from eight Pacific Island countries recognized the following serious environmental issues: sea-level rise and coastal engineering, availability of resources and data, population and socioeconomic change, greenhouse gases and climate change, land-based pollution, livelihood of people – food and land security, invasive species, sustaining fish stocks, outdated and conflicting policies and regulations and enforcement† (SPREP, 2010). However, as the Pacific mostly relies on sea therefore the populace advance is liable for further burden on the biomes almost universally; commercial mining is worsening these effects in various cases. Overexploitation for both subsistence and commercial use has caused severe reduction of numerous important food and profitable species. Species such as trochus, crayfish and turtles though are under some form of security an d regulations are also endangered. In addition, the second principle in the Earth Charter which states Ecological Integrity has to be completely and properly understood by every begin in order to alleviate the issue of Fish Stock Depletion and Coral Reef Degradation(SPREP, 2010). As the principle suggests to Protect and restore the integrity of Earths ecological structures, with concern for biological diversity and the natural processes that sustain life. According to it, we need to adopt to all levels sustainable development plans and regulations to make environmental conservation and restoration essential to all development advantages, establish and safeguard the Mother Nature and planet reserves, including wild lands and marine areas, to protect Earths life support systems, maintain biodiversity, and preserve our natural heritage. Promote the recovery of endangered species and ecosystems. Control and eliminate non-native or genetically modified entities are dangerous to intrinsic species and the environs, and preve nt primer of such harmful organisms. Accomplish the use of renewable resources such as water, soil, forest products, and marine life in ways that do not outstrip rates of redevelopment and that protect the wellbeing of ecosystems. Manage the removal and use of non-renewable resources such as minerals and fossil fuels in ways that minimalize depletion and cause no severe environmental destruction. Therefore, if we adhere to the laws of the nature we will be able to care and respect our nature. For example, there is certain law that has been implanted to protect the marine ecosystem. The first one is the ecosystem approach — comprehensive, scientifically substantiated and integrated approach to management of human activity to identify adverse impacts on the marine ecosystem and perform efficient measures for reduction of such impacts preserving integrity and sustainability of the ecosystem (Saeima, 2010). Secondly, the Convention on Protection of Nature in the South Pacific the aim of the Convention is to preserve, exploit and develop the natural resources of the South Pacific region through careful planning and management for the benefit of present and future generations (UNCLOS, 1982). To conclude, we need to realize these goals, we must agree to live with a sense of universal responsibility, recognizing ourselves with the entire Earth community as well as our native communities. We are at once the citizens of different nations and of one biosphere in which the local and global are interconnected. Everyone bonds responsibility for the present and future wellbeing of the human family and the larger living biosphere. The soul of human harmony and relationship with all life is wired when we live with respect for the secret of being, thankfulness for the gift of life, and modesty regarding the human place in nature. Once said â€Å"For human societies to achieve a productive, healthful, and sustainable relationship with the natural world, the public and private sectors must make environmental considerations an integral part of decision making† unquoted. BIBLIOGRAPHY Athanassoulis N, Environmental issues for Pacific Island countries www.gefcoral.org//environmentalissuesforpacificislandcountries.aspx Christopher, BA., Likens, GE., Rozzi, R., Gutierrez, JR., 2008 ,Integrating Science and Society through Long-Term Socio-Ecological Research, University Press, New York Elisa, A 2008, Personhood and Animals, Keele University, United Kingdom, pp.93-175. Emily. B, Aesthetic Character and Aesthetic Integrity in Environmental Conservation. Folse, Henry J., Jr, 1993 ,The Environment and the Epistemological Lesson of Complementarity, Aron Printers, Sydney. Hardship Vulnerability are Pressing Issues for Pacific Island Countries: World Bank, March 11, 2014 www.worldbank.org//hardship-vulnerability-are-pressing-i Ralph, RA 1994, Using and Abusing Nietzsche for Environmental Ethics, UK Publishers, London. Taylor, PW 1986, Respect for Nature: A Theory of Environmental Ethics Studies inMoral, Political, and Legal Philosophy, Princeton, N.J, Princeton University Press, p. 79. Weed DL and McKeown RE, 1998, Epidemiology and virtue ethics. International Journal of Epidemiology; pp. 27: 343 1

Which Computer Is The Fastest :: essays research papers

Which Computer Is The Fastest What computer is the fastest? What computer is the easiest to use? What computer is number one in education, and multimedia? That's right, the Macintosh line of computers. A strong competitor in the realm of computing for a number of years, the Macintosh is still going strong. The reasons are apparent, and numerous. For starters, who wants a computer with no power? Macintosh sure doesn't! Independent tests prove that today's Power Macintosh computers, based on the PowerPC processor, outperform comparable machines based on the Intel Pentium processor. In a benchmark test, conducted in June 1995, using 10 applications available for both Macintosh, and Windows 3.1 systems, the 120-megahertz Power Macintosh 9500/120 was, on average, 51 percent faster than a 120-megahertz Pentium processor based PC. The 132-megahertz Power Macintosh 9500/132 was 80 percent faster when running scientific and engineering applications, and 102 percent faster when running graphics and publishing applications. You can understand why the education market is almost entirely apple based.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Recent surveys confirm that from kindergarten through college, Apple has cornered the market in education, and remains number one in this U.S. market. Apple Macintosh computers account for 60% of the 5.9 million machines in U.S. schools for the 1995-96 school year. Only 29% of schools use the Microsoft/Intel platform, and DOS only accounts for a measly 11%. Also it was reported that 18.4% of 4 year college students own the Macintosh. 55% of college students own a computer, and Apple's in the lead for that market too! The reason Apple says for this continued success is the Mac's ease of use.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There is no doubt that the Macintosh is the easiest computer around. The scrolling menu bar is the first example. If a Macintosh menu is too long to fit on the screen, you can scroll down to see all of the items. Windows 95 menus, by contrast, don't scroll up or down. So if you put too many items into the Windows 95 Start button, some will remain out of reach, permanently! Windows 95 hierarchical menus can become confusing as they become more crowded. When you install many applications onto a PC, so they form two columns from the Start Programs menu, the menus may not be able to flow well together. You'll have to jump quickly across from menu list to menu list, which can be difficult to do. The second example I site is the better integration of hardware and software. Because Apple makes both the hardware and the operating system, the two work together easily; when a change is made at the hardware level, the software

Does the I-Function Control Dreaming? :: Biology Essays Research Papers

Does the I-Function Control Dreaming? Imagine you are in a dream. The world is different from the way it normally appears. Things that would normally be impossible are happening. You have no clue this is a dream. All of a sudden things start falling into place within your brain. You realize you are dreaming. By exerting your will you can alter the scene. You can do all of the things you always wanted to do. With a bounding leap you are flying. You are controlling this and you know no harm can come from it. This is lucid dreaming. Does the I-function control this? It would appear that it does because it is creating everything and you can direct what happens. Everyone dreams. It is a natural part of the sleep cycle. It occurs during the rapid eye movement (REM) stage. Do dreams stem from the brain going through normal activity or do they come from a controlled portion of the brain? This question raises continual debate among people. However, both sides may be correct. Most of the time a person dreams and is not aware of it occurring. There are other times when a person becomes aware they are dreaming and can influence it. This is lucid dreaming. It appears that the I-function plays a more active role during lucid dreaming. This could be a new outlet where the I-function is allowed to run without constraints and produces more influences than it normally does. Regular dreaming occurs without one being aware of it whereas the I-function brings consciousness and control to lucid dreaming that does not occur at any other time during sleep. An introduction to sleep provides important background to understanding when dreaming occurs and the state of the brain. The whole process is initiated by the release of various chemicals in the brain. They cause particular areas to shut down and this is sleep. There are various stages to the sleep cycle. They are NREM, Stages 1-4, and REM. During the first five stages, NREM and 1-4, brain activity continually decreases. An electroencephalogram (EEG) reveals this by measuring all action in the neocortex. However, during REM abnormal activity begins to take place and the brain function resembles that of a person who is awake. The EEG shows fast, random waves indicating increased activity (6). Typically a person goes through many cycles of this process during a normal sleep pattern.

Psycho-Sexual Reading of The Fall of the House of Usher Essay -- Fall

Psycho-Sexual Reading of The Fall of the House of Usher      Ã‚  Ã‚   The idea that "The Fall of the House of Usher" is in part an investigation into sexual motivation and sexual guilt complexes has often been hinted at but never critically pursued as the dominant theme in the tale. But such a reading is at least prepared for in important essays by D. H. Lawrence and Allen Tate which make the essential recognition that "The Fall of the House of Usher" is a "love" story (1). Lawrence and Tate, however, mistakenly attempt to purge the love concerned of all physical meaning. What they see Usher wanting is possession not of Madeline's body but her very being (Lawrence, p. 86). Theirs is essentially an anti-biological reading of the tale in which the Poe hero tries in self-love "to turn the soul of the heroine into something like a physical object which can be known in direct cognition" (fate, p. 115). But if "The Fall of the House of Usher" is a drama of cognition, its cognitive impact is not circumscribed by "metaphysical speculation on the i dentity of matter and spirit" (2).    In this connection, Patrick F. Quinn's suggestion that Usher is a criminal merits attention (3). He is, in a biological reading of the story, a sexual criminal, and a critic like Richard Wilbur, who suggests that the poetic soul is out to "shake off this temporal, rational, physical world and escape . . . to a realm of unfettered vision," lifts us out of rather than urges us into the depths which humanity in the person of Usher has touched (4). Caroline Gordon and Allen Tate are closer to the truth when they call [column 2:] Usher "a 'Gothic' character taken seriously" and when they view "The Fall of the House of Usher" as "a serious story of moral perv... ...267. (5) Caroline Gordon and Allen Tate, The Ho?`se of Fiction (New York: Scribner's, 1960), p. 53. (6) See Albert Mordell's comment on the tale and Usher in The Erotic Motive in Literature, rev. ed. (New York: Collier Books, 1962), p. 173: "As we learn from psycho-analysis, morbid fear is inhibited sexual desire; it is reaction against the libido." [column 2:] (7) The editors of The Literature of The United States (Chicago: Scott-Foresman, 1949), p. 317, note 17, favor the more familiar explanation which links the doctor with a gang of body-snatchers. Thus Usher chooses to entomb his sister in the vaults of the house rather than in the family graveyard. (8) Darrel Abel, "A Key to The House of Usher," rpt. in Interpretations of American Literature, ed. Charles Feidelson, Jr. and Paul Brodtkorb, Jr. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1959), p. 53.

Bag of Bones CHAPTER FIFTEEN

State your name for the record.' ‘Michael Noonan.' ‘Your address?' ‘Derry is my permanent address, 14 Benton Street, but I also maintain a home in TR-90, on Dark Score Lake. The mailing address is Box 832. The actual house is on Lane Forty-two, off Route 68.' Elmer Durgin, Kyra Devore's guardian ad litem, waved a pudgy hand in front of his face, either to shoo away some troublesome insect or to tell me that was enough. I agreed that it was. I felt rather like the little girl in Our Town, who gave her address as Grover's Corner, New Hampshire, America, the Northern Hemisphere, the World, the Solar System, the Milky Way Galaxy, the Mind of God. Mostly I was nervous. I'd reached the age of forty still a virgin in the area of court proceedings, and although we were in the conference room of Durgin, Peters, and Jarrette on Bridge Street in Castle Rock, this was still a court proceeding. There was one mentionably odd detail to these festivities. The stenographer wasn't using one of those keyboards-on-a-post that look like adding machines, but a Stenomask, a gadget which fit over the lower half of his face. I had seen them before, but only in old black-and-white crime movies, the ones where Dan Duryea or John Payne is always driving around in a Buick with portholes on the sides, looking grim and smoking a Camel. Glancing over into the corner and seeing a guy who looked like the world's oldest fighter-pilot was weird enough, but hearing everything you said immediately repeated in a muffled monotone was even weirder. ‘Thank you, Mr. Noonan. My wife has read all your books and says you are her favorite author. I just wanted to get that on the record.' Durgin chuckled fatly. Why not? He was a fat guy. Most fat people I like they have expansive natures to go with their expansive waistlines. But there is a subgroup which I think of as the Evil Little Fat Folks. You don't want to fuck with the ELFFS if you can help it; they will burn your house and rape your dog if you give them half an excuse and a quarter of an opportunity. Few of them stand over five-foot-two (Durgin's height, I estimated), and many are under five feet. They smile a lot, but their eyes don't smile. The Evil Little Fat Folks hate the whole world. Mostly they hate folks who can look down the length of their bodies and still see their own feet. This included me, although just barely. ‘Please thank your wife for me, Mr. Durgin. I'm sure she could recommend one for you to start on.' Durgin chuckled. On his right, Durgin's assistant a pretty young woman who looked approximately seventeen minutes out of law school chuckled. On my left, Romeo Bissonette chuckled. In the corner, the world's oldest F- 111 pilot only went on muttering into his Stenomask. ‘I'll wait for the big-screen version,' he said. His eyes gave an ugly little gleam, as if he knew a feature film had never been made from one of my books only a made-for-TV movie of Being Two that pulled ratings roughly equal to the National Sofa Refinishing Championships. I hoped that we'd completed this chubby little fuck's idea of the pleasantries. ‘I am Kyra Devore's guardian ad litem,' he said. ‘Do you know what that means, Mr. Noonan?' ‘I believe I do.' ‘It means,' Durgin rolled on, ‘that I've been appointed by Judge Rancourt to decide if I can where Kyra Devore's best interests lie, should a custody judgment become necessary. Judge Rancourt would not, in such an event, be required to base his decision on my conclusions, but in many cases that is what happens.' He looked at me with his hands folded on a blank legal pad. The pretty assistant, on the other hand, was scribbling madly. Perhaps she didn't trust the fighter-pilot. Durgin looked as if he expected a round of applause. ‘Was that a question, Mr. Durgin?' I asked and Romeo Bissonette delivered a light, practiced chip to my ankle. I didn't need to look at him to know it wasn't an accident. Durgin pursed lips so smooth and damp that he looked as if he were wearing a clear gloss on them. On his shining pate, roughly two dozen strands of hair were combed in smooth little arcs. He gave me a patient, measuring look. Behind it was all the intransigent ugliness of an Evil Little Fat Folk. The pleasantries were over, all right. I was sure of it. ‘No, Mr. Noonan, that was not a question. I simply thought you might like to know why we've had to ask you to come away from your lovely lake on such a pleasant morning. Perhaps I was wrong. Now, if ‘ There was a peremptory knock on the door, followed by your friend and his, George Footman. Today Cleveland Casual had been replaced by a khaki Deputy Sheriff's uniform, complete with Sam Browne belt and sidearm. He helped himself to a good look at the assistant's bustline, displayed in a blue silk blouse, then handed her a folder and a cassette tape recorder. He gave me one brief gander before leaving. I remember you, buddy, that glance said. The smartass writer, the cheap date. Romeo Bissonette tipped his head toward me. He used the side of his hand to bridge the gap between his mouth and my ear. ‘Devore's tape,' he said. I nodded to show I understood, then turned to Durgin again. ‘Mr. Noonan, you've met Kyra Devore and her mother, Mary Devore, haven't you?' How did you get Mattie out of Mary, I wondered . . . and then knew, just as I had known about the white shorts and halter top. Mattie was how Ki had first tried to say Mary. ‘Mr. Noonan, are we keeping you up?' ‘There's no need to be sarcastic, is there?' Bissonette asked. His tone was mild, but Elmer Durgin gave him a look which suggested that, should the ELFFS succeed in their goal of world domination, Bissonette would be aboard the first gulag-bound boxcar. ‘I'm sorry,' I said before Durgin could reply. ‘I just got derailed there for a second or two.' ‘New story idea?' Durgin asked, smiling his glossy smile. He looked like a swamp-toad in a sportcoat. He turned to the old jet pilot, told him to strike that last, then repeated his question about Kyra and Mattie. Yes, I said, I had met them. ‘Once or more than once?' ‘More than once.' ‘How many times have you met them?' ‘Twice.' ‘Have you also spoken to Mary Devore on the phone?' Already these questions were moving in a direction that made me uncomfortable. ‘Yes.' ‘How many times?' ‘Three times.' The third had come the day before, when she had asked if I would join her and John Storrow for a picnic lunch on the town common after my deposition. Lunch right there in the middle of town before God and everybody . . . although, with a New York lawyer to play chaperone, what harm in that? ‘Have you spoken to Kyra Devore on the telephone?' What an odd question! Not one anybody had prepared me for, either. I supposed that was at least partly why he had asked it. ‘Mr. Noonan?' ‘Yes, I've spoken to her once.' ‘Can you tell us the nature of that conversation?' ‘Well . . . ‘ I looked doubtfully at Bissonette, but there was no help there. He obviously didn't know, either. ‘Mattie ‘ ‘Pardon me?' Durgin leaned forward as much as he could. His eyes were intent in their pink pockets of flesh. ‘Mattie?' ‘Mattie Devore. Mary Devore.' ‘You call her Mattie?' ‘Yes,' I said, and had a wild impulse to add: In bed! In bed I call her that! ‘Oh Mattie, don't stop, don't stop,' I cry!' ‘It's the name she gave me when she introduced herself. I met her ‘ ‘We may get to that, but right now I'm interested in your telephone conversation with Kyra Devore. When was that?' ‘It was yesterday.' ‘July ninth, 1998.' ‘Yes.' ‘Who placed that call?' ‘Ma . . . Mary Devore.' Now he'll ask why she called, I thought, and I'll say she wanted to have yet another sex marathon, foreplay to consist of feeding each other chocolate-dipped strawberries while we look at pictures of naked malformed dwarves. ‘How did Kyra Devore happen to speak to you?' ‘She asked if she could. I heard her saying to her mother that she had to tell me something.' ‘What was it she had to tell you?' ‘That she had her first bubble bath.' ‘Did she also say she coughed?' I was quiet, looking at him. In that moment I understood why people hate lawyers, especially when they've been dusted over by one who's good at the job. ‘Mr. Noonan, would you like me to repeat the question?' ‘No,' I said, wondering where he'd gotten his information. Had these bastards tapped Mattie's phone? My phone? Both? Perhaps for the first time I understood on a gut level what it must be like to have half a billion dollars. With that much dough you could tap a lot of telephones. ‘She said her mother pushed bubbles in her face and she coughed. But she was ‘ ‘Thank you, Mr. Noonan, now let's turn to ‘ ‘Let him finish,' Bissonette said. I had an idea he had already taken a bigger part in the proceedings than he had expected to, but he didn't seem to mind. He was a sleepy-looking man with a bloodhound's mournful, trustworthy face. ‘This isn't a courtroom, and you're not cross-examining him.' ‘I have the little girl's welfare to think of,' Durgin said. He sounded both pompous and humble at the same time, a combination that went together like chocolate sauce on creamed corn. ‘It's a responsibility I take very seriously. If I seemed to be badgering you, Mr. Noonan, I apologize.' I didn't bother accepting his apology that would have made us both phonies. ‘All I was going to say is that Ki was laughing when she said it. She said she and her mother had a bubble-fight. When her mother came back on, she was laughing, too.' Durgin had opened the folder Footman had brought him and was paging rapidly through it while I spoke, as if he weren't hearing a word. ‘Her mother . . . Mattie, as you call her.' ‘Yes. Mattie as I call her. How do you know about our private telephone conversation in the first place?' ‘That's none of your business, Mr. Noonan.' He selected a single sheet of paper, then closed the folder. He held the paper up briefly, like a doctor studying an X-ray, and I could see it was covered with single-spaced typing. ‘Let's turn to your initial meeting with Mary and Kyra Devore. That was on the Fourth of July, wasn't it?' ‘Yes.' Durgin was nodding. ‘The morning of the Fourth. And you met Kyra Devore first.' ‘Yes.' ‘You met her first because her mother wasn't with her at that time, was she?' ‘That's a badly phrased question, Mr. Durgin, but I guess the answer is yes.' ‘I'm flattered to have my grammar corrected by a man who's been on the bestseller lists,' Durgin said, smiling. The smile suggested that he'd like to see me sitting next to Romeo Bissonette in that first gulag-bound boxcar. ‘Tell us about your meeting, first with Kyra Devore and then with Mary Devore. Or Mattie, if you like that better.' I told the story. When I was finished, Durgin centered the tape player in front of him. The nails of his pudgy fingers looked as glossy as his lips. ‘Mr. Noonan, you could have run Kyra over, isn't that true?' ‘Absolutely not. I was going thirty-five that's the speed limit there by the store. I saw her in plenty of time to stop.' ‘Suppose you had been coming the other way, though heading north instead of south. Would you still have seen her in plenty of time?' That was a fairer question than some of his others, actually. Someone coming the other way would have had a far shorter time to react. Still . . . ‘Yes,' I said. Durgin went up with the eyebrows. ‘You're sure of that?' ‘Yes, Mr. Durgin. I might have had to come down a little harder on the brakes, but ‘ ‘At thirty-five.' ‘Yes, at thirty-five. I told you, that's the speed limit ‘ ‘ -on that particular stretch of Route 68. Yes, you told me that. You did. Is it your experience that most people obey the speed limit on that part of the road?' ‘I haven't spent much time on the TR since 1993, so I can't ‘ ‘Come on, Mr. Noonan this isn't a scene from one of your books. Just answer my questions, or we'll be here all morning.' ‘I'm doing my best, Mr. Durgin.' He sighed, put-upon. ‘You've owned your place on Dark Score Lake since the eighties, haven't you? And the speed limit around the Lakeview General Store, the post office, and Dick Brooks's All-Purpose Garage what's called The North Village hasn't changed since then, has it?' ‘No,' I admitted. ‘Returning to my original question, then in your observation, do most people on that stretch of road obey the thirty-five-mile-an-hour limit?' ‘I can't say if it's most, because I've never done a traffic survey, but I guess a lot don't.' ‘Would you like to hear Castle County Sheriffs Deputy Footman testify on where the greatest number of speeding tickets are given out in TR-90, Mr. Noonan?' ‘No,' I said, quite honestly. ‘Did other vehicles pass you while you were speaking first with Kyra Devore and then with Mary Devore?' ‘Yes.' ‘How many?' ‘I don't know exactly. A couple.' ‘Could it have been three?' ‘I guess.' ‘Five?' ‘No, probably not so many.' ‘But you don't know, exactly, do you?' ‘Because Kyra Devore was upset.' ‘Actually she had it together pretty well for a ‘ ‘Did she cry in your presence?' ‘Well . . . yes.' ‘Did her mother make her cry?' ‘That's unfair.' ‘As unfair as allowing a three-year-old to go strolling down the middle of a busy highway on a holiday morning, in your opinion, or perhaps not quite as unfair as that?' ‘Jeepers, lay off,' Mr. Bissonette said mildly. There was distress on his bloodhound's face. ‘I withdraw the question,' Durgin said. ‘Which one?' I asked. He looked at me tiredly, as if to say he had to put up with assholes like me all the time and he was used to how we behaved. ‘How many cars went by from the time you picked the child up and carried her to safety to the time when you and the Devores parted company?' I hated that ‘carried her to safety' bit, but even as I formulated my answer, the old guy was muttering the question into his Stenomask. And it was in fact what I had done. There was no getting around it. ‘I told you, I don't know for sure.' ‘Well, give me a guesstimate.' Guesstimate. One of my all-time least favorite words. A Paul Harvey word. ‘There might have been three.' ‘Including Mary Devore herself?. Driving a ‘ He consulted the paper he'd taken from the folder. ‘ a 1982 Jeep Scout?' I thought of Ki saying Mattie go fast and understood where Durgin was heading now. And there was nothing I could do about it. ‘Yes, it was her and it was a Scout. I don't know what year.' ‘Was she driving below the posted speed limit, at the posted speed limit, or above the posted speed limit when she passed the place where you were standing with Kyra in your arms?' She'd been doing at least fifty, but I told Durgin I couldn't say for sure. He urged me to try I know you are unfamiliar with the hangman's knot, Mr. Noonan, but I'm sure you can make one if you really work at it and I declined as politely as I could. He picked up the paper again. ‘Mr. Noonan, would it surprise you to know that two witnesses Richard Brooks, Junior, the owner of Dick's All-Purpose Garage, and Royce Merrill, a retired carpenter claim that Mrs. Devore was doing well over thirty-five when she passed your location?' ‘I don't know,' I said. ‘I was concerned with the little girl.' ‘Would it surprise you to know that Royce Merrill estimated her speed at sixty miles an hour?' ‘That's ridiculous. When she hit the brakes she would have skidded sideways and landed upside down in the ditch.' ‘The skid-marks measured by Deputy Footman indicate a speed of at least fifty miles an hour,' Durgin said. It wasn't a question, but he looked at me almost roguishly, as if inviting me to struggle a little more and sink a little deeper into this nasty pit. I said nothing. Durgin folded his pudgy little hands and leaned over them toward me. The roguish look was gone. ‘Mr. Noonan, if you hadn't carried Kyra Devore to the side of the road if you hadn't rescued her mightn't her own mother have run her over?' Here was the really loaded question, and how should I answer it? Bissonette was certainly not flashing any helpful signals; he seemed to be trying to make meaningful eye-contact with the pretty assistant. I thought of the book Mattie was reading in tandem with ‘Bartleby' Silent Witness, by Richard North Patterson. Unlike the Grisham brand, Patterson's lawyers almost always seemed to know what they were doing. Objection, Your honor, calls for speculation on the part of the witness. I shrugged. ‘Sorry, counsellor, can't say left my crystal ball home.' Again I saw the ugly flash in Durgin's eyes. ‘Mr. Noonan, I can assure you that if you don't answer that question here, you are apt to be called back from Malibu or Fire Island or wherever it is you're going to write your next opus to answer it later on.' I shrugged. ‘I've already told you I was concerned with the child. I can't tell you how fast the mother was going, or how good Royce Merrill's vision is, or if Deputy Footman even measured the right set of skid-marks. There's a whole bunch of rubber on that part of the road, I can tell you. Suppose she was going fifty? Even fifty-five, let's say that. She's twenty-one years old, Durgin. At the age of twenty-one, a person's driving skills are at their peak. She probably would have swerved around the child, and easily.' ‘I think that's quite enough.' ‘Why? Because you're not getting what you wanted?' Bissonette's shoe clipped my ankle again, but I ignored it. ‘If you're on Kyra's side, why do you sound as though you're on her grandfather's?' A baleful little smile touched Durgin's lips. The kind that says Okay, smart guy, you want to play? He pulled the tape-recorder a little closer to him. ‘Since you have mentioned Kyra's grandfather, Mr. Maxwell Devore of Palm Springs, let's talk about him a little, shall we?' ‘It's your show.' ‘Have you ever spoken with Maxwell Devore?' ‘Yes.' ‘In person or on the phone?' ‘Phone.' I thought about adding that he had somehow gotten hold of my unlisted number, then remembered that Mattie had, too, and decided to keep my mouth shut on that subject. ‘When was this?' ‘Last Saturday night. The night of the Fourth. He called while I was watching the fireworks.' ‘And was the subject of your conversation that morning's little adventure?' As he asked, Durgin reached into his pocket and brought out a cassette tape. There was an ostentatious quality to this gesture; in that moment he looked like a parlor magician showing you both sides of a silk handkerchief. And he was bluffing. I couldn't be sure of that . . . and yet I was. Devore had taped our conversation, all right that underhum really had been too loud, and on some level I'd been aware of that fact even while I was talking to him and I thought it really was on the cassette Durgin was now slotting into the cassette player . . . but it was a bluff. ‘I don't recall,' I said. Durgin's hand froze in the act of snapping the cassette's transparent loading panel shut. He looked at me with frank disbelief . . . and something else. I thought the something else was surprised anger. ‘You don't recall? Come now, Mr. Noonan. Surely writers train themselves to recall conversations, and this one was only a week ago. Tell me what you talked about.' ‘I really can't say,' I told him in a stolid, colorless voice. For a moment Durgin looked almost panicky. Then his features smoothed. One polished fingernail slipped back and forth over keys marked REW, FF, PLAY, and REC. ‘How did Mr. Devore begin the conversation?' he asked. ‘He said hello,' I said mildly, and there was a short muffled sound from behind the Stenomask. It could have been the old guy clearing his throat; it could have been a suppressed laugh. Spots of color were blooming in Durgin's cheeks. ‘After hello? What then?' ‘I don't recall.' ‘Did he ask you about that morning?' ‘I don't recall.' ‘Didn't you tell him that Mary Devore and her daughter were together, Mr. Noonan? That they were together picking flowers? Isn't that what you told this worried grandfather when he inquired about the incident which was the talk of the township that Fourth of July?' ‘Oh boy,' Bissonette said. He raised one hand over the table, then touched the palm with the fingers of the other, making a ref's T. ‘Time out.' Durgin looked at him. The flush in his cheeks was more pronounced now, and his lips had pulled back enough to show the tips of small, neatly capped teeth. ‘What do you want?' he almost snarled, as if Bissonette had just dropped by to tell him about the Mormon Way or perhaps the Rosicrucians. ‘I want you to stop leading this guy, and I want that whole thing about picking flowers stricken from the record,' Bissonette said. ‘Why?' Durgin snapped. ‘Because you're trying to get stuff on the record that this witness won't say. If you want to break here for awhile so we can make a conference call to Judge Rancourt, get his opinion ‘ ‘I withdraw the question,' Durgin said. He looked at me with a kind of helpless, surly rage. ‘Mr. Noonan, do you want to help me do my job?' ‘I want to help Kyra Devore if I can,' I said. ‘Very well.' He nodded as if no distinction had been made. ‘Then please tell me what you and Maxwell Devore talked about.' ‘I can't recall.' I caught his eyes and held them. ‘Perhaps,' I said, ‘you can refresh my recollection.' There was a moment of silence, like that which sometimes strikes a high-stakes poker game just after the last of the bets have been made and just before the players show their hands. Even the old fighter-pilot was quiet, his eyes unblinking above the mask. Then Durgin pushed the cassette player aside with the heel of his hand (the set of his mouth said he felt about it just then as I often felt about the telephone) and went back to the morning of July Fourth. He never asked about my dinner with Mattie and Ki on Tuesday night, and never returned to my telephone conversation with Devore the one where I had said all those awkward and easily disprovable things. I went on answering questions until eleven-thirty, but the interview really ended when Durgin pushed the tape-player away with the heel of his hand. I knew it, and I'm pretty sure he did, too. ‘Mike! Mike, over here!' Mattie was waving from one of the tables in the picnic area behind the town common's bandstand. She looked vibrant and happy. I waved back and made my way in that direction, weaving between little kids playing tag, skirting a couple of teenagers making out on the grass, and ducking a Frisbee which a leaping German shepherd caught smartly. There was a tall, skinny redhead with her, but I barely got a chance to notice him. Mattie met me while I was still on the gravel path, put her arms around me, hugged me it was no prudey little ass-poking-out hug, either and then kissed me on the mouth hard enough to push my lips against my teeth. There was a hearty smack when she disengaged. She pulled back and looked at me with undisguised delight. ‘Was it the biggest kiss you've ever had?' ‘The biggest in at least four years,' I said. ‘Will you settle for that?' And if she didn't step away from me in the next few seconds, she was going to have physical proof of how much I had enjoyed it. ‘I guess I'll have to.' She turned to the redheaded guy with a funny kind of defiance. ‘Was that all right?' ‘Probably not,' he said, ‘but at least you're not currently in view of those old boys at the All-Purpose Garage. Mike, I'm John Storrow. Nice to meet you in person.' I liked him at once, maybe because I'd come upon him dressed in his three-piece New York suit and primly setting out paper plates on a picnic table while his curly red hair blew around his head like kelp. His skin was fair and freckled, the kind which would never tan, only burn and then peel in great eczema-like patches. When we shook, his hand seemed to be all knuckles. He had to be at least thirty, but he looked Mattie's age, and I guessed it would be another five years before he was able to get a drink without showing his driver's license. ‘Sit down,' he said. ‘We've got a five-course lunch, courtesy of Castle Rock Variety grinders, which are for some strange reason called ‘Italian sandwiches' up here . . . mozzarella sticks . . . garlic fries . . . Twinkies.' ‘That's only four,' I said. ‘I forgot the soft-drink course,' he said, and pulled three long-neck bottles of S'OK birch beer out of a brown bag. ‘Let's eat. Mattie runs the library from two to eight on Fridays and Saturdays, and this would be a bad time for her to be missing work.' ‘How did the readers' circle go last night?' I asked. ‘Lindy Briggs didn't eat you alive, I see.' She laughed, clasped her hands, and shook them over her head. ‘I was a hit! An absolute smashola! I didn't dare tell them I got all my best insights from you ‘ ‘Thank God for small favors,' Storrow said. He was freeing his own sandwich from its string and butcher-paper wrapping, doing it carefully and a little dubiously, using just the tips of his fingers. ‘ so I said I looked in a couple of books and found some leads there. It was sort of wonderful. I felt like a college kid.' ‘Good.' ‘Bissonette?' John Storrow asked. ‘Where's he? I never met a guy named Romeo before.' ‘Said he had to go right back to Lewiston. Sorry.' ‘Actually it's best we stay small, at least to begin with.' He bit into his sandwich they come tucked into long sub rolls and looked at me, surprised. ‘This isn't bad.' ‘Eat more than three and you're hooked for life,' Mattie said, and chomped heartily into her own. ‘Tell us about the depo,' John said, and while they ate, I talked. When I finished, I picked up my own sandwich and played a little catch-up. I'd forgotten how good an Italian can be sweet, sour, and oily all at the same time. Of course nothing that tastes that good can be healthy; that's a given. I suppose one could formulate a similar postulate about full-body hugs from young girls in legal trouble. ‘Very interesting,' John said. ‘Very interesting indeed.' He took a mozzarella stick from its grease-stained bag, broke it open, and looked with a kind of fascinated horror at the clotted white gunk inside. ‘People up here eat this?' he asked. ‘People in New York eat fish-bladders,' I said. ‘Raw.' ‘Touch? ¦' He dipped a piece into the plastic container of spaghetti sauce (in this context it is called ‘cheese-dip' in western Maine), then ate it. ‘Well?' I asked. ‘Not bad. They ought to be a lot hotter, though.' Yes, he was right about that. Eating cold mozzarella sticks is a little like eating cold snot, an observation I thought I would keep to myself on this beautiful midsummer Friday. ‘If Durgin had the tape, why wouldn't he play it?' Mattie asked. ‘I don't understand.' John stretched his arms out, cracked his knuckles, and looked at her benignly. ‘We'll probably never know for sure,' he said. He thought Devore was going to drop the suit it was in every line of his body-language and every inflection of his voice. That was hopeful, but it would be good if Mattie didn't allow herself to become too hopeful. John Storrow wasn't as young as he looked, and probably not as guileless, either (or so I fervently hoped), but he was young. And neither he nor Mattie knew the story of Scooter Larribee's sled. Or had seen Bill Dean's face when he told it. ‘Want to hear some possibilities?' ‘Sure,' I said. John put down his sandwich, wiped his fingers, and then began to tick off points. ‘First, he made the call. Taped conversations have a highly dubious value under those circumstances. Second, he didn't exactly come off like Captain Kangaroo, did he?' ‘No.' ‘Third, your fabrication impugns you, Mike, but not really very much, and it doesn't impugn Mattie at all. And by the way, that thing about Mattie pushing bubbles in Kyra's face, I love that. If that's the best they can do, they better give it up right now. Last and this is where the truth probably lies I think Devore's got Nixon's Disease.' ‘Nixon's Disease?' Mattie asked. ‘The tape Durgin had isn't the only tape. Can't be. And your father-in-law is afraid that if he introduces one tape made by whatever system he's got in Warrington's, we might subpoena all of them. And I'd damn well try.' She looked bewildered. ‘What could be on them? And if it's bad, why not just destroy them?' ‘Maybe he can't,' I said. ‘Maybe he needs them for other reasons.' ‘It doesn't really matter,' John said. ‘Durgin was bluffing, and that's what matters.' He hit the heel of his hand lightly against the picnic table. ‘I think he's going to drop it. I really do.' ‘It's too early to start thinking like that,' I said at once, but I could tell by Mattie's face shining more brightly than ever that the damage was done. ‘Fill him in on what else you've been doing,' Mattie told John. ‘Then I've got to get to the library.' ‘Where do you send Kyra on your workdays?' I asked. ‘Mrs. Cullum's. She lives two miles up the Wasp Hill Road. Also in July there's VBS from ten until three. That's Vacation Bible School. Ki loves it, especially the singing and the flannel-board stories about Noah and Moses. The bus drops her off at Arlene's, and I pick her up around quarter of nine.' She smiled a little wistfully. ‘By then she's usually fast asleep on the couch.' John held forth for the next ten minutes or so. He hadn't been on the case long, but had already started a lot of balls rolling. A fellow in California was gathering facts about Roger Devore and Morris Ridding (‘gathering facts' sounded so much better than ‘snooping'). John was particularly interested in learning about the quality of Roger Devore's relations with his father, and if Roger was on record concerning his little niece from Maine. John had also mapped out a campaign to learn as much as possible about Max Devore's movements and activities since he'd come back to TR-90. To that end he had the name of a private investigator, one recommended by Romeo Bissonette, my rent-a-lawyer. As he spoke, paging rapidly through a little notebook he drew from the inside pocket of his suitcoat, I remembered what he'd said about Lady Justice during our telephone conversation: Slap some handcuffs on that broad's wrists and some tape over her mouth to go along with the blindfold, rape her and roll her in the mud. That was maybe a bit too strong for what we were doing, but I thought at the very least we were shoving her around a little. I imagined poor Roger Devore up on the stand, having flown three thousand miles in order to be questioned about his sexual preferences. I had to keep reminding myself that his father had put him in that position, not Mattie or me or John Storrow. ‘Have you gotten any closer to a meeting with Devore and his chief legal advisor?' I asked. ‘Don't know for sure. The line is in the water, the offer is on the table, the puck's on the ice, pick your favorite metaphor, mix em and match em if you desire.' ‘Got your irons in the fire,' Mattie said. ‘Your checkers on the board,' I added. We looked at each other and laughed. John regarded us sadly, then sighed, picked up his sandwich, and began to eat again. ‘You really have to meet him with his lawyer more or less dancing attendance?' I asked. ‘Would you like to win this thing, then discover Devore can do it all again based on unethical behavior by Mary Devore's legal resource?' John returned. ‘Don't even joke about it!' Mattie cried. ‘I wasn't joking,' John said. ‘It has to be with his lawyer, yes. I don't think it's going to happen, not on this trip. I haven't even got a look at the old cockuh, and I have to tell you my curiosity is killing me.' ‘If that's all it takes to make you happy, show up behind the backstop at the softball field next Tuesday evening,' Mattie said. ‘He'll be there in his fancy wheelchair, laughing and clapping and sucking his damned old oxygen every fifteen minutes or so.' ‘Not a bad idea,' John said. ‘I have to go back to New York for the weekend I'm leaving aprs Osgood but maybe I'll show up on Tuesday. I might even bring my glove.' He began clearing up our litter, and once again I thought he looked both prissy and endearing at the same time, like Stan Laurel wearing an apron. Mattie eased him aside and took over. ‘No one ate any Twinkles,' she said, a little sadly. ‘Take them home to your daughter,' John said. ‘No way. I don't let her eat stuff like this. What kind of mother do you think I am?' She saw our expressions, replayed what she'd just said, then burst out laughing. We joined her. Mattie's old Scout was parked in one of the slant spaces behind the war memorial, which in Castle Rock is a World War I soldier with a generous helping of birdshit on his pie-dish helmet. A brand-new Taurus with a Hertz decal above the inspection sticker was parked next to it. John tossed his briefcase reassuringly thin and not very ostentatious into the back seat. ‘If I can make it back on Tuesday, I'll call you,' he told Mattie. ‘If I'm able to get an appointment with your father-in-law through this man Osgood, I will also call you.' ‘I'll buy the Italian sandwiches,' Mattie said. He smiled, then grasped her arm in one hand and mine in the other. He looked like a newly ordained minister getting ready to marry his first couple. ‘You two talk on the telephone if you need to,' he said, ‘always remembering that one or both lines may be tapped. Meet in the market if you happen to. Mike, you might feel a need to drop by the local library and check out a book.' ‘Not until you renew your card, though,' Mattie said, giving me a demure glance. ‘But no more visits to Mattie's trailer. Is that understood?' I said yes; she said yes; John Storrow looked unconvinced. It made me wonder if he was seeing something in our faces or bodies that shouldn't be there. ‘They are committed to a line of attack which probably isn't going to work,' he said. ‘We can't risk giving them the chance to change course. That means innuendos about the two of you; it also means innuendos about Mike and Kyra.' Mattie's shocked expression made her look twelve again. ‘Mike and Kyra! What are you talking about?' ‘Allegations of child molestation thrown up by people so desperate they'll try anything.' ‘That's ridiculous,' she said. ‘And if my father-in-law wanted to sling that kind of mud ‘ John nodded. ‘Yes, we'd be obligated to sling it right back. Newspaper coverage from coast to coast would follow, maybe even Court TV, God bless and save us. We want none of that if we can avoid it. It's not good for the grownups, and it's not good for the child. Now or later.' He bent and kissed Mattie's cheek. ‘I'm sorry about all this,' he said, and he did sound genuinely sorry. ‘Custody's just this way.' ‘I think you warned me. It's just that . . . the idea someone might make a thing like that up just because there was no other way for them to win . . . ‘ ‘Let me warn you again,' he said. His face came as close to grim as its young and good-natured features would probably allow. ‘What we have is a very rich man with a very shaky case. The combination could be like working with old dynamite.' I turned to Mattie. ‘Are you still worried about Ki? Still feel she's in danger?' I saw her think about hedging her response out of plain old Yankee reserve, quite likely and then deciding not to. Deciding, perhaps, that hedging was a luxury she couldn't afford. ‘Yes. But it's just a feeling, you know.' John was frowning. I supposed the idea that Devore might resort to extralegal means of obtaining what he wanted had occurred to him, as well. ‘Keep your eye on her as much as you can,' he said. ‘I respect intuition. Is yours based on anything concrete?' ‘No,' Mattie answered, and her quick glance in my direction asked me to keep my mouth shut. ‘Not really.' She opened the Scout's door and tossed in the little brown bag with the Twinkies in it she had decided to keep them after all. Then she turned to John and me with an expression that was close to anger. ‘I'm not sure how to follow that advice, anyway. I work five days a week, and in August, when we do the microfiche update, it'll be six. Right now Ki gets her lunch at Vacation Bible School and her dinner from Arlene Cullum. I see her in the mornings. The rest of the time . . . ‘ I knew what she was going to say before she said it; the expression was an old one. ‘ . . . she's on the TR.' ‘I could help you find an au pair,' I said, thinking it would be a hell of a lot cheaper than John Storrow. ‘No,' they said in such perfect unison that they glanced at each other and laughed. But even while she was laughing, Mattie looked tense and unhappy. ‘We're not going to leave a paper trail for Durgin or Devore's custody team to exploit,' John said. ‘Who pays me is one thing. Who pays Mattie's child-care help is another.' ‘Besides, I've taken enough from you,' Mattie said. ‘More than I can sleep easy on. I'm not going to get in any deeper just because I've been having megrims.' She climbed into the Scout and closed the door. I rested my hands on her open window. Now we were on the same level, and the eye-contact was so strong it was disconcerting. ‘Mattie, I don't have anything else to spend it on. Really.' ‘When it comes to John's fee, I accept that. Because John's fee is about Ki.' She put her hand over mine and squeezed briefly. ‘This other is about me. All right?' ‘Yeah. But you need to tell your babysitter and the people who run this Bible thing that you've got a custody case on your hands, a potentially bitter one, and Kyra's not to go anywhere with anyone, even someone they know, without your say-so.' She smiled. ‘It's already been done. On John's advice. Stay in touch, Mike.' She lifted my hand, gave it a hearty smack, and drove away. ‘What do you think?' I asked John as we watched the Scout blow oil on its way to the new Prouty Bridge, which spans Castle Street and spills outbound traffic onto Highway 68. ‘I think it's grand she has a well-heeled benefactor and a smart lawyer,' John said. He paused, then added: ‘But I'll tell you some-thing she somehow doesn't feel lucky to me at all. There's a feeling I get . . . I don't know . . . ‘ ‘That there's a cloud around her you can't quite see.' ‘Maybe. Maybe that's it.' He raked his hands through the restless mass of his red hair. ‘I just know it's something sad.' I knew exactly what he meant . . . except for me there was more. I wanted to be in bed with her, sad or not, right or not. I wanted to feel her hands on me, tugging and pressing, patting and stroking. I wanted to be able to smell her skin and taste her hair. I wanted to have her lips against my ear, her breath tickling the fine hairs within its cup as she told me to do what I wanted, whatever I wanted. I got back to Sara Laughs shortly before two o'clock and let myself in, thinking about nothing but my study and the IBM with the Courier ball. I was writing again writing. I could still hardly believe it. I'd work (not that it felt much like work after a four-year layoff) until maybe six o'clock, swim, then go down to the Village Cafe for one of Buddy's cholesterol-rich specialties. The moment I stepped through the door, Bunter's bell began to ring stridently. I stopped in the foyer, my hand frozen on the knob. The house was hot and bright, not a shadow anywhere, but the gooseflesh forming on my arms felt like midnight. ‘Who's here?' I called. The bell stopped ringing. There was a moment of silence, and then a woman shrieked. It came from everywhere, pouring out of the sunny, mote-laden air like sweat out of hot skin. It was a scream of outrage, anger, grief . . . but mostly, I think, of horror. And I screamed in response. I couldn't help it. I had been frightened standing in the dark cellar stairwell, listening to the unseen fist thump on the insulation, but this was far worse. It never stopped, that scream. It faded, as the child's sobs had faded; faded as if the person screaming was being carried rapidly down a long corridor and away from me. At last it was gone. I leaned against the bookcase, my palm pressed against my tee-shirt, my heart galloping beneath it. I was gasping for breath, and my muscles had that queer exploded feel they get after you've had a bad scare. A minute passed. My heartbeat gradually slowed, and my breathing slowed with it. I straightened up, took a tottery step, and when my legs held me, took two more. I stood in the kitchen doorway, looking across to the living room. Above the fireplace, Bunter the moose looked glassily back at me. The bell around his neck hung still and chimeless. A hot sunpoint glowed on its side. The only sound was that stupid Felix the Cat clock in the kitchen. The thought nagging at me, even then, was that the screaming woman had been Jo, that Sara Laughs was being haunted by my wife, and that she was in pain. Dead or not, she was in pain. ‘Jo?' I asked quietly. ‘Jo, are you ‘ The sobbing began again the sound of a terrified child. At the same moment my mouth and nose once more filled with the iron taste of the lake. I put one hand to my throat, gagging and frightened, then leaned over the sink and spat. It was as it had been before instead of voiding a gush of water, nothing came out but a little spit. The waterlogged feeling was gone as if it had never been there. I stayed where I was, grasping the counter and bent over the sink, probably looking like a drunk who has finished the party by upchucking most of the night's bottled cheer. I felt like that, too stunned and bleary, too overloaded to really understand what was going on. At last I straightened up again, took the towel folded over the dishwasher's handle, and wiped my face with it. There was tea in the fridge, and I wanted a tall, ice-choked glass of it in the worst way. I reached for the doorhandle and froze. The fruit and vegetable magnets were drawn into a circle again. In the center was this: help im drown That's it, I thought. I'm getting out of here. Right now. Today. Yet an hour later I was up in my stifling study with a glass of tea on the desk beside me (the cubes in it long since melted), dressed only in my bathing trunks and lost in the world I was making the one where a private detective named Andy Drake was trying to prove that John Shackleford was not the serial killer nicknamed Baseball Cap. This is how we go on: one day at a time, one meal at a time, one pain at a time, one breath at a time. Dentists go on one root-canal at a time; boat-builders go on one hull at a time. If you write books, you go on one page at a time. We turn from all we know and all we fear. We study catalogues, watch football games, choose Sprint over AT. We count the birds in the sky and will not turn from the window when we hear the footsteps behind us as something comes up the hall; we say yes, I agree that clouds often look like other things fish and unicorns and men on horseback but they are really only clouds. Even when the lightning flashes inside them we say they are only clouds and turn our attention to the next meal, the next pain, the next breath, the next page. This is how we go on.