Business law Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Business law - Case Study Example The customer or other persons should be protected from harm not only while he is performing a business transaction but also while entering and leaving the premises. This case comes under the purview of Occupier’s Liability Act 1957. The Occupiers Liability Act 1957 regulates occupiers liability to visitors or customers who pay visit to their premises. S 1(2) of the Act defines ‘visitors’ as persons who enter the premises with the permission by the occupier. The Learned Wig is a shop where visitors are invited to do a business transaction. As per the law, visitors are those persons who have the express or implied permission of the occupier to be on the premises to carry out a transaction. Therefore, Henry was a visitor to the occupier’s premises and hence comes under the provisions of this Act. If Henry was a trespasser the case would have come under the Occupiers Liability Act 1984. Section 2(4)(a) of Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 declares that a warning will only discharge the occupiers’ duty regarding danger, but the warning should be reasonable and must possess necessary guidelines to avoid such dangers. In Henry’s case there was no warning implying Henry to keep away from the pile of books, which was going to fall on him. A simple warning like ‘do not touch’ or ‘enter at your own risk’ could not be treated as warning because it is totally insufficient to invite the attention of the visitors against the danger waiting for them. The warning provided by The Learned Wig is not specific and is a willful desistance from taking liability of injuries caused by their negligence. The warning, which the management has put, was nothing but a sign cautioning the customers, and the same had hidden motives and was not expressive to the visitor or to the customer, and hence it cannot be treated as a sufficient warning under th e proviso. The legal approach is based on the

Chinese New Year Traditions Essay Example for Free

Chinese New Year Traditions Essay Tundra (Arctic and alpine) Boreal forest or taiga Temperate deciduous forest Scrub forest called chaparral in California) Tropical thorn scrub and woodland (Dry forest) Savanna Temperate grassland Desert (cold and hot) Tropical Rainforest I emperate RalnTorest Answer the following questions about biomes: 1 . What attributes are used to define biomes? 2. Which is the coldest biome? 3. Which the largest most precipitation? 7. The tropical rainforest is located between which two Tropics? 8. The changing season is best viewed in which biome? 9. Which biome has been mostly converted to agricultural use?

The Role of Femininity in Shakespeares Hamlet, Othello, and King Lear

The Role of Femininity in Shakespeare's Hamlet, Othello, and King Lear Hamlet, Othello, and King Lear similarly experience an "unhooking" (Tompkins) in the eponymous plays. These tragic figures struggle with internal and external femininity: after realizing their emotions and labeling them feminine, they identify women as the source of this negative femininity. Their inability to deal with the female gender in any form destabilizes their masculinity, causing an unhooking/unlatching within them. The origin of Hamlet's psychological decay lies in his anger towards Gertrude and his inability to adjust to her marrying Claudius. From Hamlet's perspective, Gertrude giving herself to a new husband signifies her failure to honor his father and her abandonment of Hamlet; he is figuratively orphaned, and he resents his sole living parent. Additionally, Hamlet's emotional confidence has been significantly damaged: seeing his mother with another man substantiates the possibility that his future wife could leave him for another man and cause him serious pain. This r ealization compels Hamlet to mask his feelings for Ophelia with madness, a defense mechanism intended to conceal his vulnerability. Ophelia reports that he appeared "with his doublet all unbrac'd,/No hat upon his head, his stockins fouled,/Ungart'red, and down-gyved to his ankle" (2.1.75-7), but as Hamlet is well-aware of the dress code, he likely intended for his behavior to be viewed as unacceptable and thus mad. Throughout the play, Hamlet has difficulty reacting to his feelings and the women who cause them. Because he wishes he could act instead of speculating, Hamlet curses his own femininity: "Fie upon't, foh!" (2.2.584-7). Secondly, his anger towards Ophelia is like... ...ing his death; however, this occurs too late, as Goneril and Regan have left his fate to Edmund, convinced that their father has lost all reason. Similarly, Othello's unhooking is so complete that the only way Desdemona could have survived is if he kills himself first. In contrast, Hamlet could have lived, feeling the grief of Ophelia's death, had he not rejected his characteristic inaction, which he believed to be connected with his emotions and thus feminine. Works Cited Bradley, A.C. "King Lear." 20Lh Century Interpretations of King Lear. Ed. Jane Adelman. New Jersev; Prentice-Hall, 1978. Neely, Carol. "Women and Men in Othello" Critical Essays on Shakespeare’s Othello. Ed. Anthony G. Barthelemy Pub. Macmillan New York, NY 1994. Shakespeare, William. King Lear. The Complete Works of Shakespeare. Ed. David Bevington. New York: HarperCollins, 1992.

Links in Virtual Space Essay -- Internet Web Cyberspace Papers

Links in Virtual Space Imagine a virtual community of more than 2.7 million residents. Individuals are almost always up-to-date on what their friends are up to and often converse with them on a daily basis, even if they live halfway across the world. They often meet others through mutual acquaintances or shared interests and can develop fast friendships. Communication is quick and easy; within minutes, one can publicize an event, engage in a debate, or publish a piece of writing, all without leaving the house. The community is LiveJournal, an online network of individual journals. A new user creates an identity (also known as a username), selects a journal layout and color scheme, and fills the journal with entries just as one would with a paper journal - except these entries are typed, allowing the user to add font styles, hyperlinks, and even graphics. LiveJournal (LJ) users are allowed to submit any number of entries, any time, any length. They will recount recent events, rant about their day, or spill out whatever it is they're thinking at the time - all things typical of a generic paper diary. However, what users may or may not be aware of is the possibility that the versatile online atmosphere of LiveJournal causes them to be less concerned with privacy and to write more for an audience than for themselves. Although each user ultimately determines the purpose of his or her journal, LJ developers immediately push the site's social aspects. Its frequently asked questions section answers the most generic query, "What is LiveJournal?", with the following paragraph: "LiveJournal is not just an online journal; it's an interactive community! You can meet new friends, read and comment in other journals, and interact wi... ...nabox/179565.html. "LiveJournal.com Statistics." LiveJournal. Accessed 4 April 2004. http://www.livejournal.com/stats.bml. "Niel." "I hope this helps." [Weblog comment.] 17 March 2004. "LiveJournal Survey." Lauren LaLonde. LiveJournal. 16 March 2004. http://www.livejournal.com/users/mooinabox/179565.html. "Rhi." "One of my friends†¦" [Weblog comment.] 16 March 2004. "LiveJournal Survey." Lauren LaLonde. LiveJournal. 16 March 2004. http://www.livejournal.com/users/mooinabox/179565.html. "Sarah." "from ann arbor/ypsi group†¦" [Weblog comment.] 17 March 2004. "LiveJournal Survey." Lauren LaLonde. LiveJournal. 16 March 2004. http://www.livejournal.com/users/mooinabox/179565.html. "Shawn." "Came here via†¦" [Weblog comment.] 18 March 2004. "LiveJournal Survey." Lauren LaLonde. LiveJournal. 16 March 2004. http://www.livejournal.com/users/mooinabox/179565.html.

Degree Level in Nursing Versus the Baccalaureate

The Associate-Degree Level in Nursing Versus the Baccalaureate-Degree Level in Nursing The Associate-Degree Level of Nursing Versus the Baccalaureate-Degree Level in Nursing Multiple pathways exist today for an individual deciding to seek a career in the nursing profession. It can be intimidating to an individual trying to decipher the various educational programs and the relationship of each program to the future nursing practice (Creasia, J. L. & Friberg, E. , 2011). Programs at all levels provide these multiple pathways that can lead an individual to one or more nursing credentials (Creasia, J. L. & Friberg, E. , 2011).The historical overview of the various programs available can help in building a greater understanding of the factors that are influencing nursing education (Creasia, J. L. & Friberg, E. , 2011). The associate-degree and the baccalaureate-degree levels of nursing both provide contributions towards the contemporary health care system, advancement of the nursing profe ssion, and promotion of a profession dedicated to lifelong learning. In 1965, the educational entry point into the professional practice of nursing was designated to be the baccalaureate degree by the American Nurses Association (ANA) (Creasia, J. L. & Friberg, E. 2011). Three educational pathways for the registered nurse (RN) still exist more than 45 years later. These educational pathways include the diploma programs, associate degree, and baccalaureate. For an individual trying to choose the best pathway to enter the nursing profession, it can be confusing with the existence of the various program types that still exist today. Associate-Degree Level of Nursing In 1952, the Associate Degree in Nursing was designed by Mildred Montag in to assist in the shortage of nurses caused by World War II. These programs were an alternative to the collegiate preparation of technical nurses (Creasia, J. L. amp; Friberg, E. , 2011). A pilot project funded by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation in 1958 successfully led to a large increase in the numbers of associate degree programs in the United States (Creasia, J. L. & Friberg, E. , 2011). Community colleges started offering the associate degree programs, along with four-year colleges and the universities. By 1973, approximately 600 associate degree programs existed in the United States (Creasia, J. L. & Friberg, E. , 2011). Nearly 1,000 state-approved associate-degree nursing programs now exist today according to the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission (NLNAC) (Creasia, J.L. & Friberg, E. , 2011). Out of these 1,000 programs, 652 of them are accredited (Creasia, J. L. & Friberg, E. , 2011). Designed to be two years in length, the associate degree programs provide academic credit and consist of a balance between general education and courses in clinical nursing (Creasia, J. L. & Friberg, E. , 2011). The purposes of the ADN programs are to prepare competent technical bedside nurses for care settings that included co mmunity hospitals and long-term health-care facilities (Creasia, J. L. & Friberg, E. , 2011).The intent Montag had towards associate degrees was that the ADN nurse would work under the direction of a baccalaureate level registered professional (Creasia, J. L. & Friberg, E. , 2011). This caused some confusion about the roles and relationships among the levels of nursing. According to the Maricopa Community Colleges in Arizona, their Associate in Applied Science (AAS) Degree in Nursing programs educate the registered nurse (RN) as a generalist who provides health care to clients and family groups. Their competencies relate to the art and science of nursing (Maricopa Community Colleges, 2011).Graduates from the Maricopa Community Colleges are able to utilizing therapeutic communication and caring to create an environment that achieves desired client outcomes, demonstrate verbal, behavior, and written communication skills that are effective with health team member, and can care to a div erse population because they are culturally competent (Maricopa Community Colleges, 2011). They gain competencies to be able to utilize research and recommend evidence-based nursing care to meet individualized needs across the care continuum (Maricopa Community Colleges, 2011).An ADN RN can demonstrate coordination of nursing care for multiple clients in collaboration with health team members (Maricopa Community Colleges, 2011). They demonstrate legal and ethical behaviors in all nursing activities, along with behaviors that promote the image and integrity of the nursing profession (Maricopa Community Colleges, 2011). The ADN RN will competently apply the nursing process to provide safe client care and produce positive client outcomes through the use of teaching and learning activities (Maricopa Community Colleges, 2011).Maricopa Community Colleges nursing programs allow the RN to be able to safely provide evidence-based clinically competent care within the current healthcare enviro nment by applying clinical reasoning and scientific principles (Maricopa Community Colleges, 2011). Last, but not least, the ADN graduate can demonstrate accountability for quality improvement in the health care system and provide safe, effective client care by integrating technology (Maricopa Community Colleges, 2011).Graduates of the AAS Degree in Nursing programs are provided with an educational foundation for delivery into the university setting (Maricopa Community Colleges, 2011). I am an ADN graduate from the Maricopa Community Colleges. Baccalaureate-Degree Level of Nursing The University of Michigan established the first baccalaureate of science in nursing program in the United States in 1909 (Creasia, J. L. & Friberg, E. , 2011). Baccalaureate programs consisted of five years of education until the mid-1950s (Creasia, J. L. & Friberg, E. 2011). Today, most baccalaureate programs are now four years in length (Creasia, J. L. & Friberg, E. , 2011). Compared to the ADN graduate s who are educated as generalists delivering health care to clients and family groups and their competencies are related to the art and science of nursing, baccalaureate graduates are â€Å"prepared as generalists to practice nursing in beginning leadership positions in a variety of settings† (Creasia, J. L. & Friberg, E. , 2011). Several components are essential to prepare nurses for this complex role.Quality and patient safety, liberal education, information management, evidence-based practice, communication/collaboration, health care policy and finance, professional values, and clinical prevention/population health are all essential components for all baccalaureate programs (Creasia, J. L. & Friberg, E. , 2011). According to Grand Canyon University College of Nursing’s philosophy, â€Å"the nursing programs prepare graduates to provide excellent, holistic care while encouraging a passion for achievement, a lifelong curiosity for knowledge, and pursuit of advanced p rofessional degree† (GCU, 2011).Transitioning to the Baccalaureate-Degree Level of Nursing The movement to increase the number of baccalaureate-prepared nurses in the workforce is accelerating due to the release of landmark reports from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (2009) and the Institute of Medicine (2011) (AACN, 2013). These reports have linked nursing education to enhanced patient outcomes. The need to advance education is also being recognized by registered nurses.In order to transition nurses to the baccalaureate level of proficiency, competencies must include the several essential components as listed in the baccalaureate-degree level of nursing section (AACN, 2013). The AACN Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice guides the curriculum for Grand Canyon University’s College of Nursing (GCU, 2011). Three dimensions of nursing education and formation were examined in the Carnegie National Nursing Education Study (Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, 2009).The study showed a major finding that due to the demands of nursing practice, today’s nurses are undereducated (Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, 2009). â€Å"To meet the demands of an evolving health care system and meet the changing needs of patients, nurses must achieve higher level of education,† states the expert committee charged with preparing the evidence-based recommendations contained in the landmark report on The Future of Nursing released by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in October 2010 (AACN, 2013).Education has strongly impacted a nurse’s ability to practice (AACN, 2013). AACN also believes that patients deserve the nursing workforce to be the highest educated possible and the nursing profession should strive to be able to give that to their patients. Research reinforces these beliefs. For example, Dr. Linda Aiken and her colleagues at the University of Pennsylva nia showed a clear link between higher levels of nursing education and better patient outcomes in their study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2003 (AACN, 2013).It was an extensive study on surgical patients and how their survival rate advantage was substantial if treated at a hospital with higher percentage of nurses with degrees at a baccalaureate level or higher (AACN, 2013). The study showed that â€Å"a 10% increase in the proportion of nurses holding BSN degrees decreased the risk of patient death and failure to rescue by 5% (AACN, 2013). † The IOM is recommending that by 2020, the workforce should contain 80% baccalaureate prepared RNs (AACN, 2013). The educational preparation of a BSN nurse versus a diploma or and ADN degree does improve patient care.An example of a patient situation I have experienced that supports this statement is when I witnessed my preceptor who is a BSN nurse educate a family on their child’s condition and h ospital care. Having the background of performing evidence-based research, the BSN RN understood the reasoning behind current practices and was able to educate the family on the patient's plan of care. Being a recent ADN graduate nurse, I felt undereducated and knew that my preceptor was better educated to assist the family with this task.I know my clinical skills, but I am continuing my education to be able to understand the reasons behind our nursing practices. BSN nurses also tend to take a step back and look at the whole picture of patient care before jumping into a situation. This is extremely important when it comes to being on a Rapid Response Team or a Trauma Team. In these situations, I have seen the difference in approach with ADN nurses versus the BSN nurses. I look forward to continuing my education to becoming a baccalaureate-degree nursing professional and providing an even higher level of care to my patients.According to Conceptual Foundations: The Bridge to Professio nal Nursing Practice, â€Å"the demands placed on nursing in the emerging health care system are likely to require a greater proportion of RNs who are prepared beyond the associate degree or diploma level† no matter which type of pathway one takes in the field of nursing (Creasia, J. L. ; Friberg, E. , 2011). I look at the pathway I have chosen in the nursing field and I feel that â€Å"it’s not where you start, but where you finish that counts (Dr.Tim Porter-O’Grady). † References American Association of College of Nursing (AACN). (2013). Creating a More Highly Qualified Nursing Workforce. Retrieved on February 15, 2013 from http://www. aacn. nche. edu/media-relations/fact-sheets/nursing-worforce American Association of College of Nursing (AACN). (2013). White Paper on Expectations for Practice Experiences in the RN to Baccalaureate Curriculum. Retrieved on February 15, 2013 from http://www. aacn. nche. edu Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teac hing. 2009). Book Highlights from Educating Nurses: A Call for Radical Transformation. Retrieved on February 15, 2013 from www. carnegiefoundation. org/elibrary/educating-nurses-highlights Creasia, J. L. ; Friberg, E. (2011). Conceptual Foundations: The Bridge to Professional Nursing (5th Ed. ). St. Louis, MO: Mosby, Inc. Grand Canyon University (GCU). (2011). Grand Canyon University College of Nursing Philosophy. Retrieved on February 15, 2013 from https://lc. gcu. edu/learningPlatform/user/users. html? oken=oxZQCy8VMjQpm14sIn3jTa0SXVNp6bLCdTzhVnvsNXrt%2bE4%2fDNAR1q2VJGlolDMG;operation=home;classId=707215#/learningPlatform/loudBooks/loudbooks. html? operation=landingPage; Institute of Medicine (IOM). (2011). The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health. Retrieved on February 15, 2013 from http://www. iom. edu/~/media/Files/Activity%20Files/Workforce/Nursing/Future%20of%20Nursing%20Education. pdf Maricopa Community Colleges. (2013). Nursing. Retrieved on February 15, 2013 from www. maricopa. edu/programs/index/show/id:3812

buy custom The Effect of Peer Pressure essay

buy custom The Effect of Peer Pressure essay Peer pressure has been, for a long time, a concern in our societal values and moral systems in various communities. It is something that has always been there and will always be present. Peer pressure is normally a decision or an action that an individual chooses to do something either because someone else is doing it or is being done by a friend. It is an influence, which is either a negative influence or a positive influence. This can be as a result of a feeling of not being included in the group or fear of doing the act they see other people or a group doing. Peer pressure has been, for a long time, a powerful mental force influencing every one, but has more strongly been seen amongst people in their teenage years. Depending on the kind of the pressure exerted by peers and what they are being pressured to do, it can result to be both good and bad effects. According to Horn and Keough in their book, they have made a statement, that peers have become more increasingly during the teenage years (Horn Keough 42) This has made an impact on their self esteem as teenage as they want to reach a degree where they feel accepted by the peer group as conformity is the price to be paid to be accepted by the group Among the teens, peer pressure has developed to have more of the negative effects in their lifes that a positive effect. It affects the way they speak, walk, act, dress and even their attitudes of who they hang out with as friends, and what they do. Although effects of peer pressure is often negative, but along with those negative effects, are also the positive effects. Peers influence, can make someone do only the smallest thing, and yet still be a large influence with a greater impact in their lives. There is the negative effect of peer pressure. This is mostly as a result of negative peer pressure, which is an influence to do something wrong which can be either stealing or drugs. One of the most popular negative effects of peer pressure mostly among the teenagers is the tendency use of drugs and alcohol substances at a younger stage if they are around others who choose to (Golden, Peterson, and Haley 169). According to a survey done in 2001 by the pew foundation in America, 82% of Americans accorded peer pressure to be a major factor in deterining whether a teen is using drugs or will use drugs in there latter years (Richard 25). In America, the use of marijuana has tremendously increased in the past five years. This is according to another study done by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which showed that teens with friends who are addicted to the use of marijuana are 40 times most likely to use the drug than teens that have friends who are not using the drugs. This has shown that this pressure to have drugs affects the child physically, mentally and socially which can be a short term or a long-term effect. The short-term effects of use of drugs are trouble breathing, drowsiness, black outs and trouble thinking (Danielle 263). Upon a continuous use of drugs, a long-term effect is felt in that they end up being addicted in the long run and insisting that everyone is doing it" and that "it's cool to do so" one gives into this horrible disease like liver problems and heart problems. In addition, more often than not, a person can become addicted and become dependent on this substance to the extent that someone will never do without it. Another negative effect of peer pressure is the act of having a low self-esteem in whatever work a person is undertaking. In a situation where a persons peer mocks him or her, or make him or her feel bad about an action, the person will forever remain insecure until an action is taken to make the person have confidence and appreciate himself. For instance among women, in a situation where friends makes a statement about one of them on how badly she looks when she puts on a certain dress, the person will find herself not in a position to come out well at the moment where she puts on the dress. They start feeling down and rejected with a feeling of worthlessness in their presence. In addition, somebody who has ever experienced this at one time, or another in life knows that this is one of, if not so the, worst feeling a person can possess during his or her lifetime. In the midst of all this negative effects, there is depression or obsession where a person is subjected to a constant betrayal on how to act and look like. It becomes a serious depression that a person feels that life is not worth living, and thinks about or attempt committting suicide. Teens in most circumstances are bound to conform to the people around them very quickly and easily. For example if a friend decides to skip school, there are more chances for the teen to also skip the school. However, the teen may think it is his or her decision, but in fact, it is the friend pressuring simply by implanting the thought into his or her mind and take action. On the other hand, peer pressure has some positive effect on a person. Positive effects of peer pressure come about when people feel pressured into doing something mainly for the betterment of their lifespan. Example of a positive impact of peer pressure is joining sport or extracurricular activities, and having team works in things like manual work or even business activities. Considering the fact that every person has different personalities, peer pressure can facilitate learning and understanding of how people live, share experience together and even enhance development of strong bonds. Though positive peer pressure is not limited to the act of setting good examples of what to do, it sometimes gives an example of what not to do. A teens friend who is not involve in drugs or alcohol taking will positively influenced to follow the example of the friends. A good peer group can create an impact in ones life by playing a vital role in shaping the personality of an individual. The way they view life can bring changes to ones life for the betterment. Most of the peers are normally close friends who at most instances do not pressurize someone to doing things but rather give an inspiration for someone to have a change in life. They may even go to the extent of persuading someone to bring about a constructive change in ones personality. Another effect of positive peer pressure has been seen among businesspersons whereby as they come together they think of an activity to benefit each one of them in terms of business wise. Most of the enduring businesses in the current world of business have been developed from peer pressure amongst the business people. Considering all this negative and positive effects of peer pressure among various categories of individuals in the society, one thing, which is outstanding, is the fact that every individual has a will and a choice to make. Buy custom The Effect of Peer Pressure essay

Understanding Assonance 6 Examples, Analyzed

Understanding Assonance 6 Examples, Analyzed SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Analyzing literature can be pretty confusing, especially if you’re reading something that’s pretty complicated. That’s why it’s important to understand literary devices, which are tools designed to help you unlock the meaning of a text. Think of literary devices like tools in a toolbox. Each device has a different use, so it’s important that you have a bunch of different options to choose from...especially when you’re crunched for time, like during an AP Literature exam. That’s why we’re going to teach you everything you need to know about assonance, which is a literary device that helps a writer create both rhythm and tone. To do this, we’ll: Define assonance and talk about why it’s helpful in analyzing literature, Walk you through assonance examples in poetry and prose, and Give you four expert tips to help you find an analyze assonance in any text. Ready? Let’s dive in! What Is Assonance: Definition and Meaning What is assonance, exactly? Luckily, the assonance definition is pretty straightforward! Assonance is defined as the repetition of similar vowel sounds within words, phrases, or sentences. (Remember that vowels are a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y.) When the same vowel sound is repeated multiple times in close proximity, you’ve found assonance. The best way to understand how assonance works is to see it in action. Let’s look at the following sentence: The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Read this sentence a few times. What vowel sound do you hear repeatedly? The answer: the long "e" sound (which you hear in words like â€Å"eek† and â€Å"creek†). Here’s the sentence again where we’ve bolded the repeated vowel sounds: The squeaky wheel gets the grease. As you can see, the long "e" sound repeats four times in the line, which is a textbook example of assonance! Want another example? Check out this clip from My Fair Lady, which has a whole song that revolves around assonance: Did you hear the assonance in the line, â€Å"the rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain†? Eliza Doolittle really helps that long â€Å"a† vowel sound shine! How Does Assonance Help You Analyze Literature? Now that you know what assonance is, you’re probably wondering how it helps you analyze literature. There are three major ways assonance works: by creating rhythm, drawing attention to specific words, and by shaping the tone- or feeling- of the work. How Assonance Creates Rhythm Because assonance involves repetition, it can be used to create rhythm. This is especially important in poetry, where the rhythm often affects the meaning of the poem. Take these lines from Edgar Allen Poe’s â€Å"The Raven,† for instance: And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door; There’s quite a bit of assonance here, especially with the short â€Å"i† sound, which we’ve highlighted in bold above. The assonance gives the poem a drumming, march-like rhythm that mimics the terrified pounding of the speaker’s heart! How Assonance Draws Attention to Specific Words Secondly, the repetitive nature of assonance draws the reader’s attention to those words and phrases. In some cases, it can be the equivalent of the writer waving a red flag at the reader, signalling that there’s something important going on in that part of the text. Let’s look at the first two lines of William Wordsworth’s â€Å"Daffodils† to see this in action: I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, Here, the assonance is in the long â€Å"o† sound, and it draws your attention to an important simile in the poem. In this comparison, the speaker imagines himself as a â€Å"lonely† cloud that â€Å"floats† high â€Å"o’er† the landscape. Through assonance, the speaker reveals that he sees himself as separate and isolated from the world around him. How Assonance Shapes Tone and Meaning Writers also use assonance to help create tones, or feelings, in their work. By stringing together different words and vowel sounds, writers can evoke everything from happiness to fear. Here’s an example of this at work in Dylan Thomas’ â€Å"Do not go gentle into that good night†: Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage, against the dying of the light To see how this creates a tone, try reading this passage out loud. The assonance of the long â€Å"a† makes you emphasize the sound as you read it, especially since those are also stressed syllables. (Not sure what a stressed syllable is? Check out our guide to iambic pentameter.) The assonance makes these lines sound forceful, which adds to the lines’ insistent- almost desperate- tone. When it comes to poetry, determining a poem’s tones is an important step to uncovering the work’s themes and messages. In the case of Thomas’ poem, the tone of these lines helps us understand how Thomas feels about death. For him, death isn’t something a person should accept passively- they should fight against it and embrace life as long as possible. So in this instance assonance helps us determine the poem’s tone, which in turn leads us to one of the poem’s major themes! Assonance Examples in Poetry Assonance is a pretty common literary device in poetry, especially because it helps poets shape a work’s rhythm, rhyme, tone, and theme. Let’s read one more poem to see how assonance examples help us analyze a poem and its themes. â€Å"The World Is Too Much With Us† by William Wordsworth The world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;Little we see in Nature that is ours;We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon,The winds that will be howling at all hours,And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers,For this, for everything, we are out of tune;It moves us not. - Great God! I'd rather beA Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;Or hear old Triton blow his wreathà ¨d horn. When you analyze a full poem, there’s a good chance that assonance will only occur in certain parts of the work (rather than from start to finish). So don’t panic if you only find assonance in a few lines. Remember that assonance is often used to draw your attention to a specific moment or set of words, so just think of it as a clue to read that section a little closer. In Wordsworth’s poem, assonance occurs in the very beginning of the poem with the long â€Å"a† and at the end of the poem with the long â€Å"o†. Let’s take a closer look at the poem’s last three lines: Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn; Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;Or hear old Triton blow his wreathà ¨d horn. This poem is about how people have become too enmeshed with civilization (that focuses on â€Å"getting and spending†) and have lost touch with nature. The assonance in last lines emphasize the poem’s theme and help reinforce the piece’s tone. The long â€Å"o† adds a mournful sound to the concluding lines, which reiterates the forlorn tone of the poem. The assonance also reinforces the speaker’s opinion that the way of the past is better than life in the present. By mentioning Proteus and Triton, two Greek gods, the speaker highlights how the modernization of the world has caused it to lose more than its connection to nature: it’s lost its wonder and mystery, too. Assonance Examples in Prose While assonance is most common in poetry, you can also find assonance in prose. In prose works like novels, short stories, and nonfiction, authors use assonance to make their work more vivid. It helps their ideas leap off the page, and it creates tones and feelings that resonate with readers (just like in poetry)! Here’s an assonance example in literature that demonstrates how it can work outside of poetry. Example : A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man tells the story of the religious and intellectual awakening of Stephen Dedalus, a young man who values beauty and art. Throughout the book, Stephen questions and rebels against the Catholic and Irish conventions of his childhood, and he eventually leaves Ireland for Europe. Given Stephen’s love of art, it’s no surprise that the book often relies on poetic techniques to tell his story. Joyce often uses assonance, which we see in the following line: Soft language issued from their spitless lips as they swished in low circles round and round the field, winding hither and thither through the weeds. The assonance here comes from the repetition of the short â€Å"i,† which occurs eight times in this one sentence! The assonance mimics the sound of whispering, which helps readers experience the â€Å"soft language† Joyce is writing about. Assonance causes this sentence to swish â€Å"in low circles round† the reader, too- which adds to the seductive tone of this short passage. 4 Expert Tips for Analyzing Assonance Now that you know what assonance is, here are a few expert tips to help you find assonance and use it to analyze literature like a pro! Tip 1: Read It Out Loud Assonance is something you hear, rather than something you see. While you can look for similar vowels in words, English is a strange language where pronunciation can vary wildly, even when spelling is almost identical. Take â€Å"laughter† and â€Å"slaughter,† for example. Add one letter...and the pronunciation becomes insanely different! By reading a poem out loud or listening to a recording of it, it becomes a lot easier to find the repetition of vowel sounds. It also is a lot easier to discern how assonance affects the poem’s rhyme, rhythm, and emphasis. Trust us: reading a poem out loud is the best way to find assonance! Tip 2: Look at How Assonance Affects How a Passage Sounds Once you’ve found the assonance, it’s time to think about how it affects the text you’re reading. One way to do this is to start thinking about how assonance contributes to how the passage and/or poem is read. Does it create short, staccato sounds or long, mournful ones? How do these sounds help show readers what the poem is about? For instance, when assonance happens in short words right next to each other (like â€Å"the hard, stark markings on the car assembly line†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ) can mimic the sound of factory, whereas longer, spread out assonance (the cool breeze moved along hills and moors) echoes the peacefulness of a breezy day! Tip 3: Examine the Word Choice Assonance only exists if a poet chooses a specific word that contains the same vowel sound as another word. That means each word in an assonant passage is important! Take a minute to examine the words the poet chooses. Are they related to each other in any way? Pull out a dictionary and look up each word. Along with their definition, do the words have connotative, or implied, meanings that change the way you might interpret the passage? How would using a synonym change the meaning of that line? Investigating why a writer uses the words he doesand paying close attention to what those words meancan help you uncover a poem’s important themes. Tip 4: Consider How Assonance Shapes the Poem as a Whole Look at passage, section, sentence, or line that contains the assonance. Like we mentioned before, assonance is often a way for authors to signal that a specific part of their work is important. Keeping that in mind, ask yourself what you think the purpose of that passage is in the overall scheme of the poem. What is the poet saying in this passage? Does it come at a key moment or an important turning point? Often, poets use assonance to make a point, so there’s a good chance they’re using assonance to communicate a specific message or idea! Now What? Remember: the best toolbox is a full toolbox. That’s why it’s important to understand more literary devices than just assonance! Here’s a list of the literary devices everyone should know and another in-depth guide to get you started. If you’re getting ready for the AP Literature exam- and you probably are!- it’s a good idea understand what’s on the test before you take it. That’s why we’ve put together an expert guide to the AP Literature exam that tells you everything you need to know to ace it! One of the most intimidating parts of the AP exam is the written portion, which requires you to use books you’ve read to answer essay prompts. But which books should you read to prepare? Check out this list of the best books to read for the AP Literature exam to help you build the best reading list possible.

Behaviorism essays

Behaviorism essays Behaviorism is a school of psychology and theoretical viewpoint that emphasizes the scientific study of observable behaviors, especially as they pertain to the process of learning. That is the text book definition of behaviorism, my definition in my own words is, doing something that causes a response in someone or something, and by doing it enough times causes a constant reaction every time in the person or thing. John Watson founded behaviorism in the early 1900's. Watson emphasized the scientific study of observable behaviors rather then the study of subjective mental process. The behavioral theory dominated psychology for more then 50 years. Hockenbury and Hockenbury (170) Watson believed that as much as Pavlov's dogs reflexively salivated to food, human emotions could be thought of as reflexive responses involving the muscles and glands. In studies with infants Watson identified 3 emotions that he believed represented inborn and natural unconditioned reflexes, fear, rage, and love. According to Watson each of these emotions could be triggered by a stimuli. For example he found 2 stimuli that triggered fear, a sudden loud noise or sudden dropping A prime example of this is when you have a new puppy and you are training it To sit. Because he is just a puppy it will have no idea what the command "sit" is. So you Will have to teach it what the command means. When you give the command to the puppy you will push his butt down and show him what he is suppose to do when he hears the command. You will have to do this a few times until the dog gets used to it. Every time you give the command and the puppy follows it, you reward him for his Actions, either with a treat or pet and praise him. If the puppy doesn't follow the command you give him negative attention such as spank, or yell at him. Soon enough the dog will realize that every time I follow my masters command I get praised, but ...

Addictions in the 21st Century Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Addictions in the 21st Century - Essay Example The main trends incorporate internet surfing, pornography viewing, video gaming and social media. It can involve a single habit or a compilation of several habits within the same range. Addiction is experienced when the participants are constantly plugged into these devises. He states that anything else comes as a distraction. Alexander identifies the â€Å"tragically cool† group as the group that heavily relies on digital technology in their day-to-day life. Their daily interactions involve such activities; hence, they are the most prone to addiction. Indeed, Alexander’s assertions about addiction type 3 are valid. This is because of the increasing numbers of peoples checking into rehabilitative support groups, and the increased legal cases involving internet games addictions. An example was the litigation of the NCsoft Company, a manufacturer of video games. Smallwood sued the company because of his addiction to the Lineage II game. The case was not dismissed as a frivolous suit; thus, the judges found it valid to go through trial. Additionally, countries such as China and Korea consider video games addiction as the primary cause of health complications in their country. Moreover, Addiction 3 factors are gaining commendable attention from researches, medics and the legal world. There are more video game cases on litigation in the subsequent years. Online game producers are also compelled to display warning signs to the members. There are also compelled to derive safer methods to playing these games. Learning institutions and work places have installed devices to obstruct social sites and internet games. This is because of the perceived concern of the effects of internet addictions on time management and work quality. The human nature is viable to irrepressible compulsion thus everyone can easily be addicted. He asserts that addiction is an extrapolated human condition

Why the Drinking Age Should be Lowered Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Why the Drinking Age Should be Lowered - Essay Example The need is to comprehend how the drinking age has to be adjusted in the first place. There are different societies in the world which offer a host of explanations in the wake of the drinking age. However, what remains to be seen is how well this age represents the true mindsets of the people who are actually bringing about a positive change to begin with. The drinking age can only be seen as a number and nothing else. Drinking age should also be lowered because there is no need to set an age at all. When the teenagers have intellect to pick and choose pastimes of their own, then there is no use to ask them to change their habits or to follow a certain age category before drinking. Hence there comes the equation of the drinking age getting lowered and that too for all the right reasons. As the drinking age has been established in the Western countries, it would only be a given to comprehend how it will be seen within the Eastern nations as well. But then again, the bottom line remain s embedded in the fact that drinking age has to be brought down because the kids of today are no more the kids that used to be in the yesteryears. Drinking age must also be lowered because it is just a figure that needs to be followed. The young ones do not care what age they should be before they can start drinking. It is important for them to drink and feel good about their own selves.

Mid Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Mid - Essay Example Petrarch is known as the â€Å"Father of Humanism† because he was the one who theorized that â€Å"language was the key to learning and a window to the human soul† (Woods). In short, he was the one who first realized the interplay between language and the human being. For Petrarch, if only the human being can use language effectively, we can know ourselves and the world better and we can serve others better as well. Petrarch was also the first to theorize on the need to know the theoretical and practical purpose of human life in order that one may live well and happily (Woods). Petrarch, however, endured the Black Death because a woman whom he had met in his youth, Laura de Noves, died of Black Death, and of whom Petrarch could only write, â€Å"her soul, as I believe, returned to heaven, whence it came† (Petrarch on the Plague). Women were excluded from the history of our culture because â€Å"our tradition tells us†¦that philosophy itself [including history], and its norms of reason and objectivity, exclude everything that is feminine or associated with women† (Witt). Moreover, society is simply biased against women as it promoted the â€Å"negative characterization† of women or anything pertaining to the feminine aspect (Witt). Our culture and cultural heritage therefore have been not only biased against women and once did not recognize many of the rights that they freely exercise now. The passage actually comes from William Shakespeare’s play As You Like It, Act 2, scene 1, 12-17. This means that the speaker is sick and tired of the pretense that he experiences from the world around him. He seems to have been forced to adopt this insincerity ever since and that everytime he adopts this worldview, he suffers â€Å"adversity† in his life. However, without this adversity, he would not have realized the good thing that such adversity would bring him – the â€Å"precious

Organizational analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Organizational analysis - Essay Example Luke’s Hospital is the largest in the size as well as in number of nurses and doctors providing their services to the patients. With the collaboration of University of IOWA Hospitals and Clinics, St Luke’s Hospital is now focusing on open-heart surgeries, Intensive Care Units (ICU,) and neonatal services such that only St. Luke’s Hospital is providing such services in whole Cedar Rapids. The main reason behind the establishment of St. Luke’s Hospital was the lack of any good quality healthcare service-providers and hospitals. Increasing level of deaths and casualties due to lack of emergency services made the officials think of establishing a new hospital in order to control the death toll. Due to this legacy element of protecting public’s life, the overall image, and respect of St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapid is quite high and people remember the hospital’s image in good faith. The community impact of the hospital is also quite app reciable since the time it built an inpatient rehabilitation unit, which is accredited by Commission on Accredited of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF). Fourteen Forces of Magnetism As far as the forces of magnetism are concerned, St. Luke’s Hospital has remained successful in keeping the forces consistent with original intent. However, there are still some forces, which turned out to be rather inconsistent due to various reasons. The alone presence of St. Luke’s Hospital for a relatively longer period of time and the monopoly that it enjoyed over that time created some inconsistencies in the forces of magnetism. Since then nobody did not even notice them and therefore, did not make any changes to rectify those inconsistencies. The main forces, which are found to be inconsistent with their original intent, are fourth and thirteenth force, which relate to Personnel Policies and Programs, and Interdisciplinary Relationships respectively. Personnel Policies and Programs in volve the amount of compensation and benefits that are awarded to the employees of the organization. In St. Luke’s Hospital, the major kinds of employees are doctors and nurses. Doctors are paid competitively however nurses are underpaid. In this way, St. Luke’s Hospital remained a bit deficient in providing appropriate rewards and benefits to all levels of employees working in the hospital. Another main threatening inconsistency relates to thirteenth force such that the relationships developed between the doctors and their lower staff including nurses is not quite satisfactory. The behavior of doctors is quite harsh and underestimating with their lower staff mainly because of achieving higher qualification (Malloch and O’Grady, 2010). However, this inconsistency does not hinder the quality of healthcare services provided by the hospital to the patients. Force number eleven, which states that nurses should also be used as teachers is also lacking in St. Lukeâ₠¬â„¢s Hospital. It has been the practice of the management of St. Luke’s Hospital to recruit the qualified nurses rather than teaching the new comers and bringing them in the mainstream teaching profession. Force number nine, which is related to the autonomy provided to the employees is also quite lacking in the organizational dynamics of St. Luke’s Hospital. Both doctors and surgeons do possess some real kind of autonomy and they can take even strategic decisions, which are in the benefit of the hospital. However, staff working under these doctors and surge

Reclassification of marijuana Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Reclassification of marijuana - Essay Example Just so, considering the fact of a great number of painful diseases, marijuana has the cure for this problem, that is, â€Å"†¦cannabidiol, a non-psychoactive component that has been shown to have a number of therapeutic benefits, including those that limit seizure activity† (Drugs.com). In a condition of single application a person feels relieved condition, relaxing effect, improving of appetite and general well-being. Moreover, the most efficient cannabinoid in cannabis is Tetrahydrocannabinol, known in medicine as a contributing component in the treatment of cancer for relieving of symptoms (nausea, vomiting) while anticancer chemotherapy. In fact, marijuana has a benefit for treatment of mental illnesses, such as prolonged depression or panic disorders. One way or another, different forms of cannabis (extracts, oils) help to heal or ease numerous health problems, so positive effect of marijuana is of no doubt, and, surely, it must be reclassified. Talking about general mends as a result of occasional use of marijuana, â€Å"†¦there is evidence pointing to slight increases in lung air flow rates as well as enhancements in lung volume †¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Barrett). So, it is obvious that its equating to tobacco use in harmful scales is senseless. Naturally, the aspect of lasting period is of a great importance. Still, knowing the results of even somewhile smoking, it goes without question that cannabis is useful. Notably, it becomes evident from the last researches, which were aimed to investigate particular healing results of cannabis use for medical purposes. So, among vivid positive effects are: decrease of arthritis painful feelings, pain relief of multiple sclerosis and other muscle spasms, treatment of glaucoma, reversion of tobacco use impact and gain in lung health, control over epileptic seizers, decrease of symptoms of Dravet Syndrome, stop of cancer spreading, recession of Alzheimer disease,

Organizational analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Organizational analysis - Essay Example Luke’s Hospital is the largest in the size as well as in number of nurses and doctors providing their services to the patients. With the collaboration of University of IOWA Hospitals and Clinics, St Luke’s Hospital is now focusing on open-heart surgeries, Intensive Care Units (ICU,) and neonatal services such that only St. Luke’s Hospital is providing such services in whole Cedar Rapids. The main reason behind the establishment of St. Luke’s Hospital was the lack of any good quality healthcare service-providers and hospitals. Increasing level of deaths and casualties due to lack of emergency services made the officials think of establishing a new hospital in order to control the death toll. Due to this legacy element of protecting public’s life, the overall image, and respect of St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapid is quite high and people remember the hospital’s image in good faith. The community impact of the hospital is also quite app reciable since the time it built an inpatient rehabilitation unit, which is accredited by Commission on Accredited of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF). Fourteen Forces of Magnetism As far as the forces of magnetism are concerned, St. Luke’s Hospital has remained successful in keeping the forces consistent with original intent. However, there are still some forces, which turned out to be rather inconsistent due to various reasons. The alone presence of St. Luke’s Hospital for a relatively longer period of time and the monopoly that it enjoyed over that time created some inconsistencies in the forces of magnetism. Since then nobody did not even notice them and therefore, did not make any changes to rectify those inconsistencies. The main forces, which are found to be inconsistent with their original intent, are fourth and thirteenth force, which relate to Personnel Policies and Programs, and Interdisciplinary Relationships respectively. Personnel Policies and Programs in volve the amount of compensation and benefits that are awarded to the employees of the organization. In St. Luke’s Hospital, the major kinds of employees are doctors and nurses. Doctors are paid competitively however nurses are underpaid. In this way, St. Luke’s Hospital remained a bit deficient in providing appropriate rewards and benefits to all levels of employees working in the hospital. Another main threatening inconsistency relates to thirteenth force such that the relationships developed between the doctors and their lower staff including nurses is not quite satisfactory. The behavior of doctors is quite harsh and underestimating with their lower staff mainly because of achieving higher qualification (Malloch and O’Grady, 2010). However, this inconsistency does not hinder the quality of healthcare services provided by the hospital to the patients. Force number eleven, which states that nurses should also be used as teachers is also lacking in St. Lukeâ₠¬â„¢s Hospital. It has been the practice of the management of St. Luke’s Hospital to recruit the qualified nurses rather than teaching the new comers and bringing them in the mainstream teaching profession. Force number nine, which is related to the autonomy provided to the employees is also quite lacking in the organizational dynamics of St. Luke’s Hospital. Both doctors and surgeons do possess some real kind of autonomy and they can take even strategic decisions, which are in the benefit of the hospital. However, staff working under these doctors and surge

Femininity in the modern art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Femininity in the modern art - Essay Example For many years, painting has been considered as a form of art that is used for recreational purposes. The modern era, however, uses paintings a form of communication. People now use paintings as a form of expressing their views regarding certain societal issues that are of much concern. These emergences of new uses of paintings are regarded as the modernity of paintings. A good example of issues that have been greatly discussed by the use of paintings is femininity. For instance, Clark argues on the factors that might have been responsible for the options of modernity that eventually became to be regarded as the Manet territory. This case proves to the audience that artists have various impressions of their paintings. All that matters is the intended message and the target audience. This case also means that every painter has his or her own target audience. Femininity can be associated with the responsibilities that are often regarded as being directed to women. Therefore, some artis tic impressions can be associated to women. Female artists also have a say in the artistic world. For many years, men have been associated with performing various arts, as opposed to women. Therefore, it is time that the women in the society come out and show their ability in almost everything that men seem to outshine them in. good modernity examples that women would address in their pieces of art include modern life, the public modern, the issue of men and women involvement in the private sphere, and women and gaze.

Challenges of special needs education Essay Example for Free

Challenges of special needs education Essay Efforts involved in implementation of Special needs education in Uganda today have got challenges that are facing them. These challenges are Handling the problems of an inclusive classroom. The concept of having classrooms that contain both special needs students and students who are developing typically is becoming a popular one. This type of education poses new challenges for a special education teacher. For example, many students who have no disabilities are unaccustomed to dealing with those who do. Teachers in these classes are charged with eliminating cruelty and insensitivity from among  their students and ensuring that those with special needs are treated with respect. Professional Isolation. The nature of a special education teacher’s work is very different from that of traditional teachers; the result of this is that standard classroom teachers may not view them as colleagues. There may be a professional stigma attached to the work of teaching â€Å"slow† students. Special education teachers often work with smaller groups and may focus on skills rather than content, thereby leading to the perception that their work is easier or less important. Lack of support from parents. Some parents of special needs children are disinterested in the welfare of their children and fail to provide them with adequate care. Alternatively, they may be overly protective. Both can be problematic for the child and for their teacher. Disinterested parents may have no involvement with their child’s education or interaction with their teachers, WHEREAS OVERPROTECTIVE PARENTS MAY HAVE UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS FROM THE CHILD AND THE CHILD’S teachers. Both attitudes can shape children in negative ways. Parental disinterest may make special needs students less motivated and parents who are overprotective often diminish their  child’s confidence and make it harder for them to learn. 2 [emailprotected] com The difficulty of discipline in a special needs classroom. Disabled children may have behavioral issues including restlessness and moodiness. They may also exhibit problems like a short attention span or an inability to understand what is being taught. Special education teachers have to learn how to deal with these problems as well as how to take appropriate disciplinary measures. Budget problems. Across the nation, special education programs are facing increasing enrollment and decreasing budgets. The result is that there are fewer teacher assistants available, which results in a greater workload for special education teachers. They may also face shortages of essential resources and equipment for delivering effective lessons. Shortage of teachers to handle learners with special needs. Most of the teachers refuse to offer a hand once told to handle a class and later identify that learners in that class are disabled in one way or the other. Many teachers like to teach only learners who are able to do things without any difficulty. They fail to understand that ability is not to everyone. Shortage of teaching materials. Some schools in Uganda today support the learners with special needs but they are faced with a problem of the materials they are to use to teach the learners for example having brails for the blind. This poses a challenge to special needs education in Uganda today. Statistics about the number of the children with special needs. There is no correct statistical approximation of the number of the children with special needs in Uganda today. Supplemented by the enumeration of people taking place after a long period. With miss appropriated number of  children with special needs, there comes a challenge to the state to budget for them in terms of the resources like human resource available. 3 [emailprotected] com Rigid curriculum. Rigidity of the curriculum is also a challenge as it does not clearly show how to handle people with disabilities. The curriculum provides the content but not the pedagogy. This poses achallenge to the teachers who handle learners with special needs on how to handle and present or deliver the content. There are few schools that offer special needs education in Uganda today. They are faced with  a problem of handling the whole multitude of learners all over the country. The population of learners in those schools is high becoming a challenge to teaching and special needs education in general. There are few training institutions for those who would wish to understand the necessary basics of handling learners with disabilities. Assumptions tend to be taken that it is automatic that an individual cannot fail to handle a person with any form of disability. This is a real misconception as for example a person may just think that he knows but when a disabled person asks him for some help, he directs him to specialists. Despite the fact that Special needs education is faced with a number of challenges. Some of those challenges can be mitigated. I suggest the following ways that can be used to act as solutions t the number of challenges above are:- Comprehensive review of state laws, regulations and policies should be done to in cooperate policies for efficient implementation of special needs education in Uganda today. In addition government policies should be put in place with clearly well-defined measures to the rights of the disabled and what is expected from the community as far as providing special needs education is concerned. This will enable the learners to be helped in whatever form the help may be but not being isolated and thus their presence in society thought of as being useless. 4 [emailprotected] com Tertiary institutions that train teachers should in cooperate into their curriculum courses that train teachers to handle learners with special needs. This will help increase the human resource that handle learners with special needs eliminating the challenge of the shortage of teachers with skills of handling learners with special needs. Sensitization of stake holders of their roles regarding the support they should render to people  with disabilities. This will make parents not to keep their children at home rather send them to schools where they may be fully partially included in regular classes thus will end up having achieved their right to education. Parents should made aware of the consequences of not rendering a hand in the education of their children. The government should consider the special needs education sector on their budget. This will make them cater for the materials that the students need to learn. With these materials like the brails available, the implementation of education of learners with special needs will not have  much trouble. Review of the curriculum to check where people with various forms of disabilities can be infused into the system needs to be done as this will help teachers have at least some basics of handling the disabled not leaving everything tothose whom they claim to be experts inthat field. With maximum cooperation of teachers in the school, all the students will thus be catered for. REFERENCES Fanning, B. , Veale, A. , OConnor, D. (2001). Beyond the pale: Asylum seeking children and social exclusion in Ireland. Dublin: Irish Refugee Council. Farrell, P. (1997). The integration of children with severe learning difficulties: A review of the recent literature. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 50(2), 26-31 Ferguson, D. L. (2008). International trends in inclusive education: The continuing challenge to teach each one and everyone. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 23(2), 109-120 Gutman, L. M. , Midgley, C. (2000). The role of protective factors in supporting the academic achievement of poor African American students during the middle school transition. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 29(2), 223-248.

Biblical References in Shakespeares the Tempest

Biblical References in Shakespeares the Tempest Biblical references in Shakespeares The Tempest So much concerns, so much has been said, done, or written about William Shakespeare and his works; there are memorials, museums, theaters in his honor, full actors and actresses companies dedicated to perform only Shakespearean drama, there are even lots of â€Å"Shakespearean scholars†, biographers, etc. He had been given the title of â€Å"The Bard of Avon†, because of the old English word which means â€Å"Poet†, and also because of the Avon river which flows through his hometown, Stratford-Upon-Avon, in which he was born and baptized in April 1564. Notwithstanding, Shakespeares reputation is nowadays so huge among English poets that hes often called just The Bard; the one and the only English poet who has transcended so many generations and has served as a source of inspiration for so many writers throughout history. His life has been subjected to deep research, analysis, and infinite speculations with many different points of view. One of the fields in which one can go through (and which it will be certainly done) is Shakespeares religion and the influence this could have had into his life and works. So many scholars have dared to give their opinions and make judgments of Williams religion according to his life, his family, and by analyzing his works as well. Some of them adjudicate him as a Catholic, regarding specially his origins and Catholic backgrounds; According to Peter Ackroyd (2005) in Shakespeare the Biography, Shakespeares mother, Mary Arden, was the member of a noticeable and firmly Catholic family in Warwickshire. Other scholars and biographers say that William Shakespeare was actually a Protestant. The Shakespeare editor and historian A. L. Rowse (1963) firmly assures that Shakespeare was baptized, grew up, married, and buried into the arms of the Orthodox Church.(p.43). And finall y, the most common trend among modern scholars is that of Shakespeares atheism, based on absence towards two different conceptions; absence of direct references to any sacred book or verse; and absence of Shakespeare himself at the religious services. According to Joseph Pearce (2008), there was a man called John Payne Collier, (a notorious forger of historical documents) who examined the records of St Saviours, South wark Cathedral, and found that Shakespeare, alone among his fellow actors, was not shown as regular attendant to the church. (p.126). Thomas Carter in Shakespeare and Holy Scripture argues that no writer has assimilated the thoughts and reproduced the words of Holy Scripture more copiously than Shakespeare.(Carter, 1905, p. 3) The following paper argues the fact that William Shakespeares Biblical knowledge has had a deep and clear influence in the writing of â€Å"The Tempest†. Three main aspects are going to be considered: The references to Ariel in the books of Isaiah, Psalms, and proverbs; and the story of Joseph, the later leader of one of the Tribes of Israel, in the book of Genesis which inspired Shakespeare order to shape the plot line and development of the character Prospero, in The Tempest.For this purpose, The Tempest, The Holy Bible (in the Geneva Version), the comic The Tempest by Gaiman are going to be the resources to be cited, among others. ADD MORE INFO ROAR OF LIONS=ARIEL= Psalm 22:12-13= Proverbs 19:12, 20:2 WOE TO YOU ARIEL=Isaiah 29= LION OF GOD? Joseph Prospero The Bible tells us in Genesis 39-47 about the story of Joseph, one of the twelve sons of Jacob, Hebrews living in the land of Canaan. He was the favorite son among his brothers, and they were so jealous because of that, that they plotted to kill him. However, they did not fear to kill him and decided to throw him into a pit, and then sell him to some Midianites merchants on their way to Egypt. The merchants finally sold him to the Egyptians, and once there, even though Joseph went through some distress (getting in jail for example), Gods favor was always with him. This made him able to interpret the Pharaohs dreams, and due to that, they could predict and get prepared for seven years of hunger, and Joseph won the Pharaohs trust. He finally had the possibility to meet with his brothers again, and forgive them for their betrayal. Now, in which way can these events and facts be related to the ones which Prospero had to go through? A step to step analysis is going to be developed. First of all, Joseph and Prospero parallel each other as victims of jealous siblings. Unfavored siblings in both works cannot stand the fact that the protagonists are receiving special privileges and that potentially (in the case of Joseph) or actually (in the case of Prospero) are ruling them. The narration in Genesis states, â€Å"So when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, then they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.† (37:4 Geneva Bible) They hate Joseph even more after he tells them of dreams suggesting that someday he will rule over them. â€Å"[†¦] shalt thou reign over us, and rule us? Or shalt thou have altogether dominion over us?† (37:8) In The Tempest, Prospero did not need a dream to reign over his brother Antonio; he actually was the original ruler of their home city-state, Milan. But Prospero, as well as Joseph,was somehow a dreamer too, more interested in books rather than in the affairs of the government, giving Antonio the opportunity to plot with Alonso, King of Naples, and overthrow Prospero usurping the dukedom for himself. (Shakespeare, 1611. Act 1, sc, 2, 66- 132). Since Prospero was popular with the common people, they did not dare to kill him. Instead, they put him and his daughter Miranda in a boat, and leaving them adrift in the sea, leaving their fate to the mercy of the elements: In few, they hurried us aboard a barque, Bore us some leagues to sea, where they prepared A rotten carcass of a butt, not rigged, Nor tackle, sail, nor mast—the very rats Instinctively have quit it. There they hoist us, To cry to th sea that roared to us, to sigh To th winds, whose pity, sighing back again, Did us but loving wrong. (Act I, sc 2, 144-151) These harsh conditions can be clearly compared to the ones in Genesis, as something very similar happens to Joseph; when the opportunity is given, his brothers â€Å"conspired against him for to slay him.† (37:18) but then they decided to â€Å"Shed not blood† (37: 22) and throw him into a pit without any food or water for then selling him to Midianite merchants, leaving his fate to the mercy them (37:23-28). Later on then, in both works, Joseph and Prospero use their ingeniousness to success in an foreign and unknown land. Actually, they both become rulers of their new land, by using their wisdom and abilities combined with supernatural forces (magic, Gods favor) to gain power. On one hand, Joseph is sold again, this time in Egypt, where he is imprisoned on false charges. But â€Å"the LORD was with him; for whatsoever he did, the LORD made it to prosper.† (39:23) Joseph was given the ability to interpret dreams, and this talent calls the Pharaohs attention; Joseph interprets Pharaohs dreams which no other wizard or soothsayer could, foretelling seven years of plentiful harvests followed by seven years of hunger, and suggesting a plan for crop rationing in order to save food for the famine times. This impresses the Pharaoh so much, that he gives Joseph domain over the whole land of Egypt (41: 41). On the other hand, Prospero comes ashore on a unknown island, in his own words, â€Å"By Providence divine† (Act. I, sc 2, 159) and there, he uses the magic he has learned from books to overthrow the witch who had ruled and become ruler himself—although the island is so desolate that as Caliban points out to him, â€Å"I am all the subjects that you have† (1.2.344). Joseph and Prospero eventually achieve positions of power over their former betrayers. Both can choose from a variety of actions: seek revenge, test for signs of repentance, or offer forgiveness. Both men eventually choose all three, in the aforementioned order. -By the time Joseph and Prospero confront their former betrayers, years after the betrayal, the onetime conspirators are helpless, having been humbled and unknowingly brought to the protagonist by what appear to be forces of nature but are actually supernatural forces. In Genesis, when the famine comes—reflecting Gods will, given that Joseph, the man favored by God, could predict it—Israel and his sons are starving, while Joseph and the Egyp- tians have plenty. Thus, Josephs brothers—all except Benjamin, the youngest and the new favorite of the father—must go to Egypt and beg to buy corn from Joseph. Although they do not recognize him, he recognizes them, and he real- izes, as they bow helplessly before him, that his earlier dreams of ruling over them have been fulfilled (41.50-42.9). Prospero, in turn, after twelve years on the island creates his own â€Å"supernatural nature†: when a ship carrying his former enemies passes near, Prospero conjures up the tempest that gives the play its name, and his enemies are washed ashore after a shipwreck, with Alonso disconsolate because he thinks his son Ferdinand has drowned in the storm. Although they cannot see Prospero unless he chooses, he can see them when he chooses (3.3.17-93), and he realizes, as they struggle helplessly before his magic, that his longtime dreams of repaying his enemies can now be fulfilled. Initially, Joseph and Prospero make their former betrayers squirm and regret their past cruelty, even associating that cruelty with the possible death of a beloved child. Although Joseph provides his siblings with the corn they seek, he employs subordinates to confuse and torment them by planting circumstantial evidence suggesting they are thieves (42.24-28). He also briefly imprisons them on false charges, thus making them undergo what he suffered after their transgressions in the past. He leaves one brother imprisoned, so that their father thinks he may be dead (42.36), and pressures the others to produce Benjamin, the youngest brother, moving the remaining brothers to say to each other, â€Å"No doubt we deserve to be punished because of our brother [Joseph], whose suffering we saw; for when he pleaded with us we refused to listen† 226(42.9-21). In The Tempest, Prospero employs spirits to confuse and torment his former betrayers, and has his supernatural servant Ariel remind them of their past transgressions until Alonso laments that the thunder proclaimed his transgressions against Prospero, transgressions for which he believes he has been punished by his sons death (3.3.97-100). But Joseph and Prospero do not simply torment their former betrayers into repentance; they also test them by virtually replicating the circumstances of the original betrayal, in effect giving the betrayers a second chance. Joseph manipulates the brothers into agreeing that if one of them can be proven to have stolen from Joseph, he should become Josephs slave; he then uses planted evidence to frame Benjamin. Thus, the brothers face essentially the same question they faced years earlier when they sold Joseph: Will they be party to the enslavement of their younger brother, their fathers favorite, despite his innocence? They redeem themselves by pleading Benjamins case, one even offering to take Benjamins place as slave (44.1-34). While The Tempest resembles the Joseph account in replicating the circumstances of the initial betrayal, the guilty brothers response is much different—a contrast contributing to the unstable nature of the ending to Shakespeares play. Prospero causes Alonso and his guards to fall asleep, while Antonio and Alonsos brother Sebastian remain awake, unaware that Prospero is alive and following their actions. Thus, the earlier situation is replicated: An oblivious ruler could be supplanted by a conspiracy between that rulers brother and the ruler of another Italian city-state. But far from redeeming himself, Antonio suggests to Sebastian that the two of them should kill the sleeping Alonso, thus allowing Sebastian to usurp his brothers kingdom (2.1.205-98); they even explicitly compare this with Antonios earlier overthrow of Prospero as they prepare to carry out the murder (2.1.271-76, 292-94). Prospero must employ Ariel to save Alonsos life (2.1.299-307). Unlike Josephs brothers, Prosperos brother Antonio remains a dangerous man, one to be watched closely. Despite Antonios unrepentant nature, in both works the protagonists eventually forgive their brothers—although they do so from a position of absolute power. His torments and tests of his brothers complete, Joseph finally reveals his identity to them (45.1-4). And although his brothers fear further reprisals and beg forgiveness (50.15-18), Joseph magnanimously tells them, â€Å"Do not be distressed or take it amiss that you sold me into slavery here . . .† (45.5)—a statement made easier by his brothers groveling before him in his role as virtual ruler. Similarly, Prospero eventually decides to act â€Å"in virtue [rather] than in vengeance† (5.1.28) and reveals himself to Antonio and Alonso. He also tells his brother, â€Å"I do forgive thy rankest fault†Ã¢â‚¬â€although he forgives only on the condition that he be restored to his former, and rightful, position as Duke of Milan (5.1.131-34).227Last, in their entire experience with betrayal, exile, redemption, and reconciliation, Joseph and Prospero are instruments of a divine plan to save not only the current generation but also its descendants. Moreover, through forgiving those who betrayed them, Joseph and Prospero not only unite families but also unite states that had been historically unfriendly to each other. Joseph invites all his brothers and their father, Israel—effectively inviting â€Å"the twelve tribes of Israel†Ã¢â‚¬â€to live with him in Egypt, and they accept (45.9-13, 46.1-7). Joseph explains to his brothers that the reason they should not feel guilty about having sold him into slavery is that if they had not done so, many people would have starved and the â€Å"tribes of Israel† would have been wiped out: â€Å"[I]t was God who sent me ahead of you to save mens lives. . . . [and] to ensure that you will have descendants on earth, and to preserve you all, a great band of survivors† (45.5-7). In addition, Joseph has by now married and had sons by the daughter of an Egyptian priest, giving Jews and Egyptians a shared set of descendants (41.45, 50-52). Thus, Josephs early misfortunes were part of a divine plan for the future state of Israel. In The Tempest, Prospero has arranged that his daughter (the rightful Duchess of Milan) and Alonsos son (the heir to the throne of Naples) should fall in love with each other, and as the play ends, the lovers imminent marriage promises to unite the formerly hostile Italian city-states and give them a shared set of descendants. This conclusion supports Prosperos earlier observation that although he and Miranda were exiled from Milan through foul play, they were â€Å"blessedly† helped onto the island (1.2.62-63). And Gonzalo, a courtier and an old friend of Prosperos, states on learning of the upcoming marriage of Prosperos daughter to Alonsos son that it is the gods that â€Å"have chalked forth the way / Which brought us hither† and that Prospero was â€Å"thrust from Milan, that his issue / Should become kings of Naples† (5.1.2058). Although Shakespeare perhaps had to refer to â€Å"the gods† rather than â€Å"God† because of a 1606 law banning r eferences to â€Å"God† onstage (Bevington 1204), the play suggests that Prosperos earlier misfortunes were part of a larger divine plan for â€Å"descendants on earth.† In Genesis, however, Gods divine plan for Josephs descendants has a darker side. Many years earlier, God had told Josephs great-grandfather Abraham, â€Å"[Y]our descendants will be aliens living in a land that is not theirs; they will be slaves, and will be held in oppression there for four hundred years† (15:13). Years after Josephs people were reunited in Egypt, the Egyptians enslaved the Jews, treating them â€Å"with ruthless severity† and subjecting them to â€Å"every kind of hard labor† (Exod. 1.13-14). It is here that a typological reading destabilizes the optimistic ending of The Tempest. While Shakespeares play seems to end with a vision of perfect order and reconciliation, the forces of disorder remain intact and largely unrepentant. For Prospero and his people, as for Joseph and his, the â€Å"reconciliation to a 228richer and fuller life† may be only temporary (Traversi 269-70). Shakespeare may have at least subconsciously created a level of religious allegory that undermines the â€Å"brave new world† (5.1.185) and subtly questions the wisdom of Prosperos decision to act in â€Å"virtue [rather] than in vengeance† (5.1.28).

Salt Marshes :: essays research papers

Oceanography  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Salt Marshes Salt marshes are coastal wetlands rich in marine life, which are covered by water at least once per month. They are found in the intertidal zones along low-energy coastlines, forming along the margins of estuaries, where freshwater from the land mixes with seawater. These marshes can be found near the Great South Bay and the Long Island Sound. The entire south shore of Long Island is considered to be a salt marsh important to the health of the marine life. Beginning in Jamaica Bay and extending to Montauk Point, Long Islands salt marches help remove toxic chemicals that are caused by pollution, thus making them a vital part of the eco-system. The Salt Marshes contain different types of grasses that grow out of the water and along the water's edge. This grass can be seen when the tide is low and is covered by water when the tide comes in. This grass helps hold the soil together by dispersing any wave energy and creating a breeding ground for many important marine animals. Also, the plants act as a natural filter, removing any chemicals that might be in the seawater. Some of the plants that are found in salt marshes are: Salt Marsh Grass or Spartina Alterniflora and Cord grass as well as reeds, sedges and golden rod. At low tide, nutrient-rich water flows from the marsh back into the sea, feeding the plankton upon which all other life depends. Peat, which is what the march is mostly made of, is very absorbent. In some areas, it limits coastal flooding by containing the water that comes in during a very high or storm-driven tide. Peat also acts as a filter, cleaning water by removing various compounds and either storing or breaking them down. The salt marsh is also an important breeding ground for many species of marine life. These animals use the marsh and its tall grasses for protection from predators. Some of the marine life is: clams, mussels, shrimp, oysters and small fishes such as killies and spearing. Some mammals use the salt marsh also. These animals include: mice, skunks and many, many species of water fowl. These animals use the marsh not only as a home, but as a place to find food as well. There are destructive forces at work against the salt marsh. While a slowly rising sea level has had some effect, the greatest destruction of salt marshes that has taken place is urban and suburban development. Salt Marshes :: essays research papers Oceanography  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Salt Marshes Salt marshes are coastal wetlands rich in marine life, which are covered by water at least once per month. They are found in the intertidal zones along low-energy coastlines, forming along the margins of estuaries, where freshwater from the land mixes with seawater. These marshes can be found near the Great South Bay and the Long Island Sound. The entire south shore of Long Island is considered to be a salt marsh important to the health of the marine life. Beginning in Jamaica Bay and extending to Montauk Point, Long Islands salt marches help remove toxic chemicals that are caused by pollution, thus making them a vital part of the eco-system. The Salt Marshes contain different types of grasses that grow out of the water and along the water's edge. This grass can be seen when the tide is low and is covered by water when the tide comes in. This grass helps hold the soil together by dispersing any wave energy and creating a breeding ground for many important marine animals. Also, the plants act as a natural filter, removing any chemicals that might be in the seawater. Some of the plants that are found in salt marshes are: Salt Marsh Grass or Spartina Alterniflora and Cord grass as well as reeds, sedges and golden rod. At low tide, nutrient-rich water flows from the marsh back into the sea, feeding the plankton upon which all other life depends. Peat, which is what the march is mostly made of, is very absorbent. In some areas, it limits coastal flooding by containing the water that comes in during a very high or storm-driven tide. Peat also acts as a filter, cleaning water by removing various compounds and either storing or breaking them down. The salt marsh is also an important breeding ground for many species of marine life. These animals use the marsh and its tall grasses for protection from predators. Some of the marine life is: clams, mussels, shrimp, oysters and small fishes such as killies and spearing. Some mammals use the salt marsh also. These animals include: mice, skunks and many, many species of water fowl. These animals use the marsh not only as a home, but as a place to find food as well. There are destructive forces at work against the salt marsh. While a slowly rising sea level has had some effect, the greatest destruction of salt marshes that has taken place is urban and suburban development.

What Time is It? :: Essays Papers

What Time is It? Before meeting with my friend Leticia from Honduras, Central America, I would ask her if she was arriving according to North American time or Latin American time. Smiling, she would answer, "A la hora Latina, of course." This meant that she would be late. The concept of time is very different for Latin Americans than for North Americans. Life in the United States is fast-paced. There are fast food restaurants, overnight delivery services, shuttle services, instant cash machines, fast weight loss plans, and even instant minute rice. Avidly following such sayings as, "The early bird gets the worm," and, "First come, first served," North Americans even have their meals in an efficient manner. Microwaves help nuke their early breakfasts, noon lunches, and five-o'clock dinners. "Time is money" for big businesses. Everyone follows set agendas. Minutes are taken at meetings that are precisely scheduled. North Americans take pride in juggling busy work schedules and still finding time to spend with family and friends. Latin Americans stroll leisurely through life. They amble past open-air restaurants, across shaded patios tucked behind walls of Bougainvillea. In the cafes, the service is slow but courteous. Outside on the streets, people walk by, not for weight purposes, but to get somewhere. Buses arrive and depart on their own schedule, sometimes sooner or later than their printed times. And if you miss the bus, wait. One will come along eventually. Mid-morning breakfasts are homemade. Lunch is around three in the afternoon and dinner could be anytime after the arranged time. No one follows a set agenda, but business is accomplished at a gradual and comfortable pace. Watches are not followed precisely, and one barely ever hears the question, "What time is it?" This cultural difference has proven to be a problem for many North Americans visiting Latin American countries and vice versa. For example, this problem has escalated on the issue of adoption. While in Honduras the summer of 1989, I translated for couples from the United States who were looking for children to adopt from Central America. All legal procedures were transacted between a lawyer from the U.S. and a Honduran lawyer. Legal matters on the North American end were handled almost immediately. The Honduran lawyer, however, was considerably slower with field work and paper work and was unable to give definite dates or times for the completion of the adoption. This created a cultural barrier and added to the confusion of the situation.

Black House Chapter Twenty-seven

27 WHEN JACK AND Dale step into the air-conditioned cool, the Sand Bar is empty except for three people. Beezer and Doc are at the bar, with soft drinks in front of them an End Times sign if there ever was one, Jack thinks. Far back in the shadows (any further and he'd be in the dive's primitive kitchen), Stinky Cheese is lurking. There is a vibe coming off the two bikers, a bad one, and Stinky wants no part of it. For one thing, he's never seen Beezer and Doc without Mouse, Sonny, and Kaiser Bill. For another . . . oh God, it's the California detective and the freakin' chief of police. The jukebox is dark and dead, but the TV is on and Jack's not exactly surprised to see that today's Matinee Movie on AMC features his mother and Woody Strode. He fumbles for the name of the film, and after a moment it comes to him: Execution Express. â€Å"You don't want to be in on this, Bea,† Woody says in this film Lily plays a Boston heiress named Beatrice Lodge, who comes west and turns outlaw, mostly to spite her straitlaced father. â€Å"This is looking like the gang's last ride.† â€Å"Good,† Lily says. Her voice is stony, her eyes stonier. The picture is crap, but as always, she is dead on character. Jack has to smile a little. â€Å"What?† Dale asks him. â€Å"The whole world's gone crazy, so what's to smile about?† On TV, Woody Strode says: â€Å"What do you mean, good? The whole damn world's gone crazy.† Jack Sawyer says, very softly: â€Å"We're going to gun down as many as we can. Let them know we were here.† On the screen, Lily says the same thing to Woody. The two of them are about to step aboard the Execution Express, and heads will roll the good, the bad, and the ugly. Dale looks at his friend, dazed. â€Å"I know most of her lines,† Jack says, almost apologetically. â€Å"She was my mother, you see.† Before Dale can answer (supposing any answer came to mind), Jack joins Beezer and Doc at the bar. He looks up at the Kingsland Ale clock next to the television: 11:40. It should be high noon in situations like this, it's always supposed to be high noon, isn't it? â€Å"Jack,† Beezer says, and gives him a nod. â€Å"How ya doin', buddy?† â€Å"Not too bad. You boys carrying?† Doc lifts his vest, disclosing the butt of a pistol. â€Å"It's a Colt 9. Beez has got one of the same. Good iron, all registered and proper.† He glances at Dale. â€Å"You along for the ride, are you?† â€Å"It's my town,† Dale says, â€Å"and the Fisherman just murdered my uncle. I don't understand very much of what Jack's been telling me, but I know that much. And if he says there's a chance we can get Judy Marshall's boy back, I think we'd better try it.† He glances at Jack. â€Å"I brought you a service revolver. One of the Ruger automatics. It's out in the car.† Jack nods absently. He doesn't care much about the guns, because once they're on the other side they'll almost certainly change into something else. Spears, possibly javelins. Maybe even slingshots. It's going to be the Execution Express, all right the Sawyer Gang's last ride but he doubts if it'll be much like the one in this old movie from the sixties. Although he'll take the Ruger. There might be work for it on this side. One never knows, does one? â€Å"Ready to saddle up?† Beezer asks Jack. His eyes are deep-socketed, haunted. Jack guesses the Beez didn't get much sleep last night. He glances up at the clock again and decides for no other reason than pure superstition that he doesn't want to start for the Black House just yet, after all. They'll leave the Sand Bar when the hands on the Kingsland clock stand at straight-up noon, no sooner. The Gary Cooper witching hour. â€Å"Almost,† he says. â€Å"Have you got the map, Beez?† â€Å"I got it, but I also got an idea you don't really need it, do you?† â€Å"Maybe not,† Jack allows, â€Å"but I'll take all the insurance I can get.† Beezer nods. â€Å"I'm down with that. I sent my old lady back to her ma's in Idaho. After what happened with poor old Mousie, I didn't have to argue too hard. Never sent her back before, man. Not even the time we had our bad rumble with the Pagans. But I got a terrible feeling about this.† He hesitates, then comes right out with it. â€Å"Feel like none of us are coming back.† Jack puts a hand on Beezer's meaty forearm. â€Å"Not too late to back out. I won't think any less of you.† Beezer mulls it over, then shakes his head. â€Å"Amy comes to me in my dreams, sometimes. We talk. How am I gonna talk to her if I don't stand up for her? No, man, I'm in.† Jack looks at Doc. â€Å"I'm with Beez,† Doc says. â€Å"Sometimes you just gotta stand up. Besides, after what happened to Mouse . . .† He shrugs. â€Å"God knows what we might have caught from him. Or fucking around out there at that house. Future might be short after that, no matter what.† â€Å"How'd it turn out with Mouse?† Jack inquires. Doc gives a short laugh. â€Å"Just like he said. Around three o'clock this morning, we just washed old Mousie down the tub drain. Nothing left but foam and hair.† He grimaces as if his stomach is trying to revolt, then quickly downs his glass of Coke. â€Å"If we're going to do something,† Dale blurts, â€Å"let's just do it.† Jack glances up at the clock. It's 11:50 now. â€Å"Soon.† â€Å"I'm not afraid of dying,† Beezer says abruptly. â€Å"I'm not even afraid of that devil dog. It can be hurt if you pour enough bullets into it, we found that out. It's how that fucking place makes you feel. The air gets thick. Your head aches and your muscles get weak.† And then, with a surprisingly good British accent: â€Å"Hangovers ain't in it, old boy.† â€Å"My gut was the worst,† Doc says. â€Å"That and . . .† But he falls silent. He doesn't ever talk about Daisy Temperly, the girl he killed with an errant scratch of ink on a prescription pad, but he can see her now as clearly as the make-believe cowboys on the Sand Bar's TV. Blond, she was. With brown eyes. Sometimes he'd made her smile (even in her pain) by singing that song to her, the Van Morrison song about the brown-eyed girl. â€Å"I'm going for Mouse,† Doc says. â€Å"I have to. But that place . . . it's a sick place. You don't know, man. You may think you understand, but you don't.† â€Å"I understand more than you think,† Jack says. Now it's his turn to stop, to consider. Do Beezer and Doc remember the word Mouse spoke before he died? Do they remember d'yamba? They should, they were right there, they saw the books slide off their shelf and hang in the air when Jack spoke that word . . . but Jack is almost sure that if he asked them right now, they'd give him looks that are puzzled, or maybe just blank. Partly because d'yamba is hard to remember, like the precise location of the lane that leads from sane antislippage Highway 35 to Black House. Mostly, however, because the word was for him, for Jack Sawyer, the son of Phil and Lily. He is the leader of the Sawyer Gang because he is different. He has traveled, and travel is broadening. How much of this should he tell them? None of it, probably. But they must believe, and for that to happen he must use Mouse's word. He knows in his heart that he must be careful about using it d'yamba is like a gun; you can only fire it so many times before it clicks empty and he hates to use it here, so far from Black House, but he will. Because they must believe. If they don't, their brave quest to rescue Ty is apt to end with them all kneeling in Black House's front yard, noses bleeding, eyes bleeding, vomiting and spitting teeth into the poison air. Jack can tell them that most of the poison comes from their own minds, but talk is cheap. They must believe. Besides, it's still only 11:53. â€Å"Lester,† he says. The bartender has been lurking, forgotten, by the swing door into the kitchen. Not eavesdropping he's too far away for that but not wanting to move and attract attention. Now it seems that he's attracted some anyway. â€Å"Have you got honey?† Jack asks. â€Å"H-honey?† â€Å"Bees make it, Lester. Mokes make money and bees make honey.† Something like comprehension dawns in Lester's eyes. â€Å"Yeah, sure. I keep it to make Kentucky Getaways. Also â€Å" â€Å"Set it on the bar,† Jack tells him. Dale stirs restively. â€Å"If time's as short as you think, Jack â€Å" â€Å"This is important.† He watches Lester Moon put a small plastic squeeze bottle of honey on the bar and finds himself thinking of Henry. How Henry would have enjoyed the pocket miracle Jack is about to perform! But of course, he wouldn't have needed to perform such a trick for Henry. Wouldn't have needed to waste part of the precious word's power. Because Henry would have believed at once, just as he had believed he could drive from Trempealeau to French Landing hell, to the fucking moon if someone just dared to give him the chance and the car keys. â€Å"I'll bring it to you,† Lester says bravely. â€Å"I ain't afraid.† â€Å"Just set it down on the far end of the bar,† Jack tells him. â€Å"That'll be fine.† He does as asked. The squeeze bottle is shaped like a bear. It sits there in a beam of six-minutes-to-noon sun. On the television, the gunplay has started. Jack ignores it. He ignores everything, focusing his mind as brightly as a point of light through a magnifying glass. For a moment he allows that tight focus to remain empty, and then he fills it with a single word: (D'YAMBA) At once he hears a low buzzing. It swells to a drone. Beezer, Doc, and Dale look around. For a moment nothing happens, and then the sunshiny doorway darkens. It's almost as if a very small rain cloud has floated into the Sand Bar Stinky Cheese lets out a strangled squawk and goes flailing backward. â€Å"Wasps!† he shouts. â€Å"Them are wasps! Get clear!† But they are not wasps. Doc and Lester Moon might not recognize that, but both Beezer and Dale Gilbertson are country boys. They know bees when they see one. Jack, meanwhile, only looks at the swarm. Sweat has popped out on his forehead. He's concentrating with all his might on what he wants the bees to do. They cloud around the squeeze bottle of honey so thickly it almost disappears. Then their humming deepens, and the bottle begins to rise, wobbling from side to side like a tiny missile with a really shitty guidance system. Then, slowly, it wavers its way toward the Sawyer Gang. The squeeze bottle is riding a cushion of bees six inches above the bar. Jack holds his hand out and open. The squeeze bottle glides into it. Jack closes his fingers. Docking complete. For a moment the bees rise around his head, their drone competing with Lily, who is shouting: â€Å"Save the tall bastard for me! He's the one who raped Stella!† Then they stream out the door and are gone. The Kingsland Ale clock stands at 11:57. â€Å"Holy Mary, mothera God,† Beezer whispers. His eyes are huge, almost popping out of their sockets. â€Å"You've been hiding your light under a bushel, looks like to me,† Dale says. His voice is unsteady. From the end of the bar there comes a soft thud. Lester â€Å"Stinky Cheese† Moon has, for the first time in his life, fainted. â€Å"We're going to go now,† Jack says. â€Å"Beez, you and Doc lead. We'll be right behind you in Dale's car. When you get to the lane and the NO TRESPASSING sign, don't go in. Just park your scoots. We'll go the rest of the way in the car, but first we're going to put a little of this under our noses.† Jack holds up the squeeze bottle. It's a plastic version of Winnie-the-Pooh, grimy around the middle where Lester seizes it and squeezes it. â€Å"We might even dab some in our nostrils. A little sticky, but better than projectile vomiting.† Confirmation and approval are dawning in Dale's eyes. â€Å"Like putting Vicks under your nose at a murder scene,† he says. It's nothing like that at all, but Jack nods. Because this is about believing. â€Å"Will it work?† Doc asks doubtfully. â€Å"Yes,† Jack replies. â€Å"You'll still feel some discomfort, I don't doubt that a bit, but it'll be mild. Then we're going to cross over to . . . well, to someplace else. After that, all bets are off.† â€Å"I thought the kid was in the house,† Beez says. â€Å"I think he's probably been moved. And the house . . . it's a kind of wormhole. It opens on another . . .† World is the first word to come into Jack's mind, but somehow he doesn't think it is a world, not in the Territories sense. â€Å"On another place.† On the TV, Lily has just taken the first of about six bullets. She dies in this one, and as a kid Jack always hated that, but at least she goes down shooting. She takes quite a few of the bastards with her, including the tall one who raped her friend, and that is good. Jack hopes he can do the same. More than anything, however, he hopes he can bring Tyler Marshall back to his mother and father. Beside the television, the clock flicks from 11:59 to 12:00. â€Å"Come on, boys,† Jack Sawyer says. â€Å"Let's saddle up and ride.† Beezer and Doc mount their iron horses. Jack and Dale stroll toward the chief of police's car, then stop as a Ford Explorer bolts into the Sand Bar's lot, skidding on the gravel and hurrying toward them, pulling a rooster tail of dust into the summer air. â€Å"Oh Christ,† Dale murmurs. Jack can tell from the too small baseball cap sitting ludicrously on the driver's head that it's Fred Marshall. But if Ty's father thinks he's going to join the rescue mission, he'd better think again. â€Å"Thank God I caught you!† Fred shouts as he all but tumbles from his truck. â€Å"Thank God!† â€Å"Who next?† Dale asks softly. â€Å"Wendell Green? Tom Cruise? George W. Bush, arm in arm with Miss Fucking Universe?† Jack barely hears him. Fred is wrestling a long package from the bed of his truck, and all at once Jack is interested. The thing in that package could be a rifle, but somehow he doesn't think that's what it is. Jack suddenly feels like a squeeze bottle being levitated by bees, not so much acting as acted upon. He starts forward. â€Å"Hey bro, let's roll!† Beezer yells. Beneath him, his Harley explodes into life. â€Å"Let's â€Å" Then Beezer cries out. So does Doc, who jerks so hard he almost dumps the bike idling between his thighs. Jack feels something like a bolt of lightning go through his head and he reels forward into Fred, who is also shouting incoherently. For a moment the two of them appear to be either dancing with the long wrapped object Fred has brought them or wrestling over it. Only Dale Gilbertson who hasn't been to the Territories, hasn't been close to Black House, and who is not Ty Marshall's father is unaffected. Yet even he feels something rise in his head, something like an interior shout. The world trembles. All at once there seems to be more color in it, more dimension. â€Å"What was that?† he shouts. â€Å"Good or bad? Good or bad? What the hell is going on here?† For a moment none of them answer. They are too dazed to answer. While a swarm of bees is floating a squeeze bottle of honey along the top of a bar in another world, Burny is telling Ty Marshall to face the wall, goddamnit, just face the wall. They are in a foul little shack. The sounds of clashing machinery are much closer. Ty can also hear screams and sobs and harsh yells and what can only be the whistling crack of whips. They are very near the Big Combination now. Ty has seen it, a great crisscrossing confusion of metal rising into the clouds from a smoking pit about half a mile east. It looks like a madman's conception of a skyscraper, a Rube Goldberg collection of chutes and cables and belts and platforms, everything run by the marching, staggering children who roll the belts and pull the great levers. Red-tinged smoke rises from it in stinking fumes. Twice as the golf cart rolled slowly along, Ty at the wheel and Burny leaning askew in the passenger seat with the Taser pointed, squads of freakish green men passed them. Their features were scrambled, their skin plated and reptilian. They wore half-cured leather tunics from which tufts of fur still started in places. Most carried spears; several had whips. Overseers, Burny said. They keep the wheels of progress turning. He began to laugh, but the laugh turned into a groan and the groan into a harsh and breathless shriek of pain. Good, Ty thought coldly. And then, for the first time employing a favorite word of Ebbie Wexler's: Die soon, you motherfucker. About two miles from the back of Black House, they came to a huge wooden platform on their left. A gantrylike thing jutted up from it. A long post projected out from the top, almost to the road. A number of frayed rope ends dangled from it, twitching in the hot and sulfurous breeze. Under the platform, on dead ground that never felt the sun, were litters of bones and ancient piles of white dust. To one side was a great mound of shoes. Why they'd take the clothes and leave the shoes was a question Ty probably couldn't have answered even had he not been wearing the cap (sbecial toyz for sbecial boyz), but a disjointed phrase popped into his head: custom of the country. He had an idea that was something his father sometimes said, but he couldn't be sure. He couldn't even remember his father's face, not clearly. The gibbet was surrounded by crows. They jostled one another and turned to follow the humming progress of the E-Z-Go. None was the special crow, the one with the name Ty could no longer remember, but he knew why they were here. They were waiting for fresh flesh to pluck, that's what they were doing. Waiting for newly dead eyes to gobble. Not to mention the bare toesies of the shoe-deprived dead. Beyond the pile of discarded, rotting footwear, a broken track led off to the north, over a fuming hill. â€Å"Station House Road,† Burny said. He seemed to be talking more to himself than to Ty at that point, was perhaps edging into delirium. Yet still the Taser pointed at Ty's neck, never wavering. â€Å"That's where I'm supposed to be taking the special boy.† Taging the sbecial bouy. â€Å"That's where the special ones go. Mr. Munshun's gone to get the mono. The End-World mono. Once there were two others. Patricia . . . and Blaine. They're gone. Went crazy. Committed suicide.† Ty drove the cart and remained silent, but he had to believe old Burn-Burn was the one who had gone crazy (crazier, he reminded himself ). He knew about monorails, had even ridden one at Disney World in Orlando, but monorails named Blaine and Patricia? That was stupid. Station House Road fell behind them. Ahead, the rusty red and iron gray of the Big Combination drew closer. Ty could see moving ants on cruelly inclined belts. Children. Some from other worlds, perhaps worlds adjacent to this one but many from his own. Kids whose faces appeared for a while on milk cartons and then disappeared forever. Kept a little longer in the hearts of their parents, of course, but eventually growing dusty even there, turning from vivid memories into old photographs. Kids presumed dead, buried somewhere in shallow graves by perverts who had used them and then discarded them. Instead, they were here. Some of them, anyway. Many of them. Struggling to yank the levers and turn the wheels and move the belts while the yellow-eyed, green-skinned overseers cracked their whips. As Ty watched, one of the ant specks fell down the side of the convoluted, steam-wreathed building. He thought he could hear a faint scream. Or perhaps it was a cry of relief ? â€Å"Beautiful day,† Burny said faintly. â€Å"I'll enjoy it more when I get something to eat. Having something to eat always . . . always perks me up.† His ancient eyes studied Ty, tightening a little at the corners with sudden warmth. â€Å"Baby butt's the best eatin', but yours won't be bad. Nope, won't be bad at all. He said to take you to the station, but I ain't sure he'd give me my share. My . . . commission. Maybe he's honest . . . maybe he's still my friend . . . but I think I'll just take my share first, and make sure. Most agents take their ten percent off the top.† He reached out and poked Ty just below the belt-line. Even through his jeans, the boy could feel the tough, blunt edge of the old man's nail. â€Å"I think I'll take mine off the bottom.† A wheezy, painful laugh, and Ty was not exactly displeased to see a bright bubble of blood appear between the old man's cracked lips. â€Å"Off the bottom, get it?† The nail poked the side o f Ty's buttock again. â€Å"I get it,† Ty said. â€Å"You'll be able to break just as well,† Burny said. â€Å"It's just that when you fart, you'll have to do the old one-cheek sneak every time!† More wheezing laughter. Yes, he sounded delirious, all right delirious or on the verge of it yet still the tip of the Taser remained rock-steady. â€Å"Keep on going, boy. ‘Nother half a mile up the Conger Road. You'll see a little shack with a tin roof, down in a draw. It's on the right. It's a special place. Special to me. Turn in there.† Ty, with no other choice, obeyed. And now â€Å"Do what I tell you! Face the fucking wall! Put your hands up and through those loops!† Ty couldn't define the word euphemism on a bet, but he knows calling those metal circlets â€Å"loops† is bullshit. What's hanging from the rear wall are shackles. Panic flutters in his brain like a flock of small birds, threatening to obscure his thoughts. Ty fights to hold on fights with grim intensity. If he gives in to panic, starts to holler and scream, he's going to be finished. Either the old man will kill him in the act of carving him up, or the old man's friend will take him away to some awful place Burny calls Din-tah. In either case, Ty will never see his mother and father again. Or French Landing. But if he can keep his head . . . wait for his chance . . . Ah, but it's hard. The cap he's wearing actually helps a little in this respect it has a dulling effect that helps hold the panic at bay but it's still hard. Because he's not the first kid the old man has brought here, no more than he was the first to spend long, slow hours in that cell back at the old man's house. There's a blackened, grease-caked barbecue set up in the left corner of the shed, underneath a tin-plated smoke hole. The grill is hooked up to a couple of gas bottles with LA RIVIERE PROPANE stenciled on the sides. Hung on the wall are oven mitts, spatulas, tongs, basting brushes, and meat forks. There are scissors and tenderizing hammers and at least four keen-bladed carving knives. One of the knives looks almost as long as a ceremonial sword. Hanging beside that one is a filthy apron with YOU MAY KISS THE COOK printed on it. The smell in the air reminds Ty of the VFW picnic his mom and dad took him to the previous Labor Day. Maui Wowie, it had been called, because the people who went were supposed to feel like they were spending the day in Hawaii. There had been a great big barbecue pit in the center of La Follette Park down by the river, tended by women in grass skirts and men wearing loud shirts covered with birds and tropical foliage. Whole pigs had been roasting over a glaring hole in the ground, and the odor had been like the one in this shed. Except the smell in here is stale . . . and old . . . and . . . And not quite pork, Ty thinks. It's â€Å"I should stand here and jaw at you all day, you louse?† The Taser gives off a crackling sizzle. Tingling, debilitating pain sinks into the side of Ty's neck. His bladder lets go and he wets his pants. He can't help it. Is hardly aware of it, in truth. Somewhere (in a galaxy far, far away) a hand that is trembling but still terribly strong thrusts Ty toward the back wall and the shackles that have been welded to steel plates about five and a half feet off the ground. â€Å"There!† Burny cries, and gives a tired, hysterical laugh. â€Å"Knew you'd get one for good luck eventually! Smart boy, ain'tcha? Little wisenheimer! Now put your hands through them loops and let's have no more foolishness about it!† Ty has put out his hands in order to keep himself from crashing face-first into the shed's rear wall. His eyes are less than a foot from the wood, and he is getting a very good look at the old layers of blood that coat it. That plate it. The blood has an ancient metallic reek. Beneath his feet, the ground feels spongy. Jellylike. Nasty. This may be an illusion in the physical sense, but Ty knows that what he's feeling is nonetheless quite real. This is corpse ground. The old man may not prepare his terrible meals here every time may not have that luxury but this is the place he likes. As he said, it's special to him. If I let him lock both of my hands into those shackles, Ty thinks, I've had it. He'll cut me up. And once he starts cutting, he may not be able to stop himself not for this Mr. Munching, not for anyone. So get ready. That last is not like one of his own thoughts at all. It's like hearing his mother's voice in his head. His mother, or someone like her. Ty steadies. The flock of panic birds is suddenly gone, and he is as clearheaded as the cap will allow. He knows what he must do. Or try to do. He feels the nozzle of the Taser slip between his legs and thinks of the snake wriggling across the overgrown driveway, carrying its mouthful of fangs. â€Å"Put your hands through those loops right now, or I'm going to fry your balls like oysters.† Ersters, it sounds like. â€Å"Okay,† Ty says. He speaks in a high, whiny voice. He hopes he sounds scared out of his mind. God knows it shouldn't be hard to sound that way. â€Å"Okay, okay, just don't hurt me, I'm doing it now, see? See?† He puts his hands through the loops. They are big and loose. â€Å"Higher!† The growling voice is still in his ear, but the Taser is gone from between his legs, at least. â€Å"Shove 'em in as far as you can!† Ty does as he is told. The shackles slide to a point just above his wrists. His hands are like starfish in the gloom. Behind him, he hears that soft clinking noise again as Burny rummages in his bag. Ty understands. The cap may be scrambling his thoughts a little, but this is too obvious to miss. The old bastard's got handcuffs in there. Handcuffs that have been used many, many times. He'll cuff Ty's wrists above the shackles, and here Ty will stand or dangle, if he passes out while the old monster carves him up. â€Å"Now listen,† Burny says. He sounds out of breath, but he also sounds lively again. The prospect of a meal has refreshed him, brought back a certain amount of his vitality. â€Å"I'm pointin' this shocker at you with one hand. I'm gonna slip a cuff around your left wrist with the other hand. If you move . . . if you so much as twitch, boy . . . you get the juice. Understand?† Ty nods at the bloodstained wall. â€Å"I won't move,† he gibbers. â€Å"Honest I won't.† â€Å"First one hand, then the other. That's how I do it.† There is a revolting complacency in his voice. The Taser presses between Ty's shoulder blades hard enough to hurt. Grunting with effort, the old man leans over Ty's left shoulder. Ty can smell sweat and blood and age. It is like â€Å"Hansel and Gretel,† he thinks, only he has no oven to push his tormentor into. You know what to do, Judy tells him coldly. He may not give you a chance, and if he doesn't, he doesn't. But if he does . . . A handcuff slips around his left wrist. Burny is grunting softly, repulsively, in Ty's ear. The old man reaches . . . the Taser shifts . . . but not quite far enough. Ty holds still as Burny snaps the handcuff shut and tightens it down. Now Ty's left hand is secured to the shed wall. Dangling down from his left wrist by its steel chain is the cuff Burny intends to put on his right wrist. The old man, still panting effortfully, moves to the right. He reaches around Ty's front, groping for the dangling cuff. The Taser is once more digging into Ty's back. If the old man gets hold of the cuff, Ty's goose is probably cooked (in more ways than one). And he almost does. But the cuff slips out of his grip, and instead of waiting for it to pendulum back to where he can grab it, Burny leans farther forward. The bony side of his face is planted against Ty's right shoulder. And when he leans to get the dangling handcuff, Ty feels the touch of the Taser first lighten, then disappear. Now! Judy screams inside Ty's head. Or perhaps it is Sophie. Or maybe it's both of them together. Now, Ty! It's your chance, there won't be another! Ty pistons his right arm downward, pulling free of the shackle. It would do him no good to try to shove Burny away from him the old monster outweighs him by sixty pounds or more and Ty doesn't try. He pulls away to his left instead, putting excruciating pressure on his shoulder and on his left wrist, which has been locked into the shackle holding it. â€Å"What † Burny begins, and then Ty's groping right hand has what it wants: the loose, dangling sac of the old man's balls. He squeezes with all the force in his body. He feels the monster's testicles squash toward each other; feels one of them rupture and deflate. Ty shouts, a sound of dismay and horror and savage triumph all mingled together. Burny, caught entirely by surprise, howls. He tries to pull backward, but Ty has him in a harpy's grip. His hand so small, so incapable (or so you would think) of any serious defense has turned into a claw. If ever there was a time to use the Taser, this is it . . . but in his surprise, Burny's hand has sprung open. The Taser lies on the ancient, blood-impacted earth of the shed floor. â€Å"Let go of me! That HURTS! That hurr â€Å" Before he can finish, Ty yanks forward on the spongy and deflating bag inside the old cotton pants; he yanks with all the force of panic, and something in there rips. Burny's words dissolve in a liquid howl of agony. This is more pain than he has ever imagined . . . certainly never in connection with himself. But it is not enough. Judy's voice says it's not, and Ty might know it, anyway. He has hurt the old man has given him what Ebbie Wexler would undoubtedly call â€Å"a fuckin' rupture† but it's not enough. He lets go and turns to his left, pivoting on his shackled hand. He sees the old man swaying before him in the shadows. Beyond him, the golf cart stands in the open door, outlined against a sky filled with clouds and burning smoke. The old monster's eyes are huge and disbelieving, bulging with tears. He gapes at the little boy who has done this. Soon comprehension will return. When it does, Burny is apt to seize one of the knives from the wall or perhaps one of the meat forks and stab his chained prisoner to death, screaming curses and oaths at him as he does so, calling him a monkey, a bastard, a fucking asswipe. Any thought of Ty's great talent will be gone. Any fear of what may happen to Burny himself if Mr. Munshun and the abbalah is robbed of his prize will also be gone. In truth, Burny is nothing but a psychotic animal, and in another moment his essential nature will break loose and vent itself on this tethered child. Tyler Marshall, son of Fred and the formidable Judy, does not give Burny this chance. During the last part of the drive he has thought repeatedly of what the old man said about Mr. Munshun he hurt me, he pulled my guts and hoped he might get his own opportunity to do some pulling. Now it's come. Hanging from the shackle with his left arm pulled cruelly up, he shoots his right hand forward. Through the hole in Burny's shirt. Through the hole Henry has made with his switchblade knife. Suddenly Ty has hold of something ropy and wet. He seizes it and pulls a roll of Charles Burnside's intestines out through the rip in his shirt. Burny's head turns up toward the shed's ceiling. His jaw snaps convulsively, the cords on his wrinkled old neck stand out, and he voices a great, agonized bray. He tries to pull away, which may be the worst thing a man can do when someone has him by the liver and lights. A blue-gray fold of gut, as plump as a sausage and perhaps still trying to digest Burny's last Maxton cafeteria meal, comes out with the audible pop of a champagne cork leaving the neck of its bottle. Charles â€Å"Chummy† Burnside's last words: â€Å"LET GO, YOU LITTLE PIIIIG!† Tyler does not let go. Instead he shakes the loop of intestine furiously from side to side like a terrier with a rat in its jaws. Blood and yellowish fluid spray out of the hole in Burny's midsection. â€Å"Die!† Tyler hears himself screaming. â€Å"Die, you old fuck, GO ON AND DIE!† Burny staggers back another step. His mouth drops open, and part of an upper plate tumbles out and onto the dirt. He is staring down at two loops of his own innards, stretching like gristle from the gaping red-black front of his shirt to the awful child's right hand. And he sees an even more terrible thing: a kind of white glow has surrounded the boy. It is feeding him more strength than he otherwise would have had. Feeding him the strength to pull Burny's living guts right out of his body and how it hurt, how it hurt, how it dud dud dud hurrrrr â€Å"Die!† the boy screams in a shrill and breaking voice. â€Å"Oh please, WON'T YOU EVER DIE?† And at last at long, long last Burny collapses to his knees. His dimming gaze fixes on the Taser and he reaches one trembling hand toward it. Before it can get far, the light of consciousness leaves Burny's eyes. He hasn't endured enough pain to equal even the hundredth part of the suffering he has inflicted, but it's all his ancient body can take. He makes a harsh cawing sound deep in his throat, then tumbles over backward, more intestines pulling out of his lower abdomen as he does so. He is unaware of this or of anything else. Carl Bierstone, also known as Charles Burnside, also known as â€Å"Chummy† Burnside, is dead. For over thirty seconds, nothing moves. Tyler Marshall is alive but at first only hangs from the axis of his shackled left arm, still clutching a loop of Burny's intestine in his right hand. Clutching it in a death grip. At last some sense of awareness informs his features. He gets his feet under him and scrambles upright, easing the all but intolerable pressure on the socket of his left shoulder. He suddenly becomes aware that his right arm is splashed with gore all the way to the biceps, and that he's got a handful of dead man's insides. He lets go of them and bolts for the door, not remembering that he's still chained to the wall until he is yanked back, the socket of his shoulder once more bellowing with pain. You've done well, the voice of Judy-Sophie whispers. But you have to get out of here, and quick. Tears start to roll down his dirty, pallid face again, and Ty begins to scream at the top of his voice. â€Å"Help me! Somebody help me! I'm in the shed! I'M IN THE SHED!† Out in front of the Sand Bar, Doc stays where he is, with his scoot rumbling between his legs, but Beezer turns his off, levers the stand into place with one booted heel, and walks over to Jack, Dale, and Fred. Jack has taken charge of the wrapped object Ty's father has brought them. Fred, meanwhile, has gotten hold of Jack's shirt. Dale tries to restrain the man, but as far as Fred Marshall's concerned, there are now only two people in the world: him and Hollywood Jack Sawyer. â€Å"It was him, wasn't it? It was Ty. That was my boy, I heard him!† â€Å"Yes,† Jack says. â€Å"It certainly was and you certainly did.† He's gone rather pale, Beezer sees, but is otherwise calm. It's absolutely not bothering him that the missing boy's father has yanked his shirt out of his pants. No, all Jack's attention is on the wrapped package. â€Å"What in God's name is going on here?† Dale asks plaintively. He looks at Beezer. â€Å"Do you know?† â€Å"The kid's in a shed somewhere,† Beezer says. â€Å"Am I right about that?† â€Å"Yes,† Jack says. Fred abruptly lets go of Jack's shirt and staggers backward, sobbing. Jack pays no attention to him and makes no effort to tuck in the tail of his crumpled shirt. He's still looking at the package. He half-expects sugar-packet stamps, but no, this is just a case of plain old metered mail. Whatever it is, it's been mailed Priority to Mr. Tyler Marshall, 16 Robin Hood Lane, French Landing. The return address has been stamped in red: Mr. George Rathbun, KDCU, 4 Peninsula Drive, French Landing. Below this, stamped in large black letters: EVEN A BLIND MAN CAN SEE THAT COULEE COUNTRY LOVES THE BREWER BASH! â€Å"Henry, you never quit, do you?† Jack murmurs. Tears sting his eyes. The idea of life without his old friend hits him all over again, leaves him feeling helpless and lost and stupid and hurt. â€Å"What about Uncle Henry?† Dale asks. â€Å"Jack, Uncle Henry's dead.† Jack's no longer so sure of that, somehow. â€Å"Let's go,† Beezer says. â€Å"We got to get that kid. He's alive, but he ain't safe. I got that clear as a bell. Let's go for it. We can figure the rest out later.† But Jack who has not just heard Tyler's shout but has, for a moment, seen through Tyler's eyes doesn't have much to figure out. In fact, figuring out now comes down to only one thing. Ignoring both Beezer and Dale, he steps toward Ty's weeping father. â€Å"Fred.† Fred goes on sobbing. â€Å"Fred, if you ever want to see your boy again, you get hold of yourself right now and listen to me.† Fred looks up, red eyes streaming. The ridiculously small baseball cap still perches on his head. â€Å"What's in this, Fred?† â€Å"It must be a prize in that contest George Rathbun runs every summer the Brewer Bash. But I don't know how Ty could have won something in the first place. A couple of weeks ago he was pissing and moaning about how he forgot to enter. He even asked if maybe I'd entered the contest for him, and I kind of . . . well, I snapped at him.† Fresh tears begin running down Fred's stubbly cheeks at the memory. â€Å"That was around the time Judy was getting . . . strange . . . I was worried about her and I just kind of . . . snapped at him. You know?† Fred's chest heaves. He makes a watery hitching sound and his Adam's apple bobs up and down. He wipes an arm across his eyes. â€Å"And Ty . . . all he said was, ? ®That's all right, Dad.' He didn't get mad at me, didn't sulk or anything. Because that's just the kind of boy he was. That he is.† â€Å"How did you know to bring it to me?† â€Å"Your friend called,† Fred says. â€Å"He told me the postman had brought something and I had to bring it to you here, right away. Before you left. He called you â€Å" â€Å"He called me Travelin' Jack.† Fred Marshall looks at him wonderingly. â€Å"That's right.† â€Å"All right.† Jack speaks gently, almost absently. â€Å"We're going to get your boy now.† â€Å"I'll come. I've got my deer rifle in the truck â€Å" â€Å"And that's where it's going to stay. Go home. Make a place for him. Make a place for your wife. And let us do what we have to do.† Jack looks first at Dale, then at Beezer. â€Å"Come on,† he says. â€Å"Let's roll.† Five minutes later, the FLPD chief's car is speeding west on Highway 35. Directly ahead, like an honor guard, Beezer and Doc are riding side by side, the sun gleaming on the chrome of their bikes. Trees in full summer leaf crowd close to the road on either side. Jack can feel the buzzing that is Black House's signature starting to ramp up in his head. He has discovered he can wall that noise off if he has to, keep it from spreading and blanketing his entire thought process with static, but it's still damned unpleasant. Dale has given him one of the Ruger .357s that are the police department's service weapons; it's now stuck in the waistband of his blue jeans. He was surprised at how good the weight of it felt in his hand, almost like a homecoming. Guns may not be of much use in the world behind Black House, but they have to get there first, don't they? And according to Beezer and Doc, the approach is not exactly undefended. â€Å"Dale, do you have a pocketknife?† â€Å"Glove compartment,† Dale says. He glances at the long package on Jack's lap. â€Å"I presume you want to open that.† â€Å"You presume right.† â€Å"Can you explain a few things while you do it? Like whether or not, once we get inside Black House, we can expect Charles Burnside to jump out of a secret door with an axe and start â€Å" â€Å"Chummy Burnside's days of jumping out at folks are all over,† Jack says. â€Å"He's dead. Ty Marshall killed him. That's what hit us outside the Sand Bar.† The chief's car swerves so extravagantly all the way across to the left side of the road that Beezer looks back for a moment, startled at what he's just seen in his rearview. Jack gives him a hard, quick wave Go on, don't worry about us and Beez faces forward again. â€Å"What?† Dale gasps. â€Å"The old bastard was hurt, but I have an idea that Ty still did one hell of a brave thing. Brave and crafty both.† Jack is thinking that Henry softened Burnside up and Ty finished him up. What George Rathbun would undoubtedly have called a honey of a double play. â€Å"How â€Å" â€Å"Disemboweled him. With his bare hands. Hand. I'm pretty sure the other one's chained up somehow.† Dale is silent for a moment, watching the motorcyclists ahead of him as they lean into a curve with their hair streaming out from beneath their token gestures at obeying Wisconsin's helmet law. Jack, meanwhile, is slitting open brown wrapping paper and revealing a long white carton beneath. Something rolls back and forth inside. â€Å"You're telling me that a ten-year-old boy disemboweled a serial killer. A serial cannibal. You somehow know this.† â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"I find that extremely difficult to believe.† â€Å"Based on the father, I guess I can understand that. Fred's . . .† A wimp is what comes to mind, but that is both unfair and untrue. â€Å"Fred's tenderhearted,† Jack says. â€Å"Judy, though . . .† â€Å"Backbone,† Dale says. â€Å"She does have that, I'm told.† Jack gives his friend a humorless grin. He's got the buzzing confined to a small portion of his brain, but in that one small portion it's shrieking like a fire alarm. They're almost there. â€Å"She certainly does,† he tells Dale. â€Å"And so does the boy. He's . . . brave.† What Jack has almost said is He's a prince. â€Å"And he's alive.† â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"Chained in a shed somewhere.† â€Å"Right.† â€Å"Behind Burnside's house.† â€Å"Uh-huh.† â€Å"If I've got the geography right, that places him somewhere in the woods near Schubert and Gale.† Jack smiles and says nothing. â€Å"All right,† Dale says heavily. â€Å"What have I got wrong?† â€Å"It doesn't matter. Which is good, because it's impossible to explain.† Jack just hopes Dale's mind is screwed down tightly, because it's apt to take one hell of a pounding in the next hour or so. His fingernail slits the tape holding the box closed. He opens it. There's bubble wrap beneath. Jack pulls it out, tosses it into the footwell, and looks at Ty Marshall's Brewer Bash prize a prize he won even though he apparently never entered the contest. Jack lets out a little sigh of awe. There's enough kid left in him to react to the object that he sees, even though he never played the game once he was too old for Little League. Because there's something about a bat, isn't there? Something that speaks to our primitive beliefs about the purity of struggle and the strength of our team. The home team. Of the right and the white. Surely Bernard Malamud knew it; Jack has read The Natural a score of times, always hoping for a different ending (and when the movie offered him one, he hated it), always loving the fact that Roy Hobbs named his cudgel Wonderboy. And never mind the critics with all their stuffy talk about the Arthurian legend and phallic symbols; sometimes a cigar is just a smoke and sometimes a bat is just a bat. A big stick. Something to hit home runs with. â€Å"Holy wow,† Dale says, glancing over. And he looks younger. Boyish. Eyes wide. So Jack isn't the only one, it seems. â€Å"Whose bat?† Jack lifts it carefully from the box. Written up the barrel in black Magic Marker is this message: To Tyler Marshall Keep Slugging! Your pal, Richie Sexson â€Å"Richie Sexson,† Jack says. â€Å"Who's Richie Sexson?† â€Å"Big slugger for the Brewers,† Dale says. â€Å"Is he as good as Roy Hobbs?† â€Å"Roy † Then Dale grins. â€Å"Oh, in that movie! Robert Redford, right? No I don't think . Hey, what are you doing?† Still holding the bat (in fact he almost bashes Dale in the right cheekbone with the end of it), Jack reaches over and honks the horn. â€Å"Pull over,† he says. â€Å"This is it. Those dopes were out here only yesterday and they're going right past it.† Dale pulls over on the shoulder, brings the cruiser to a jerky stop, and puts it in park. When he looks over at Jack, his face has gone remarkably pale. â€Å"Oh man, Jack I don't feel so good. Maybe it was breakfast. Christ, I hope I'm not going to start puking.† â€Å"That buzzing you hear in your head, is that from breakfast?† Jack inquires. Dale's eyes go wide. â€Å"How do you â€Å" â€Å"Because I hear it, too. And feel it in my stomach. It's not your breakfast. It's Black House.† Jack holds out the squeeze bottle. â€Å"Go on. Dab some more around your nostrils. Get some right up in. You'll feel better.† Projecting absolute confidence. Because it's not about secret weapons or secret formulas; it's certainly not about honey. It's about belief. They have left the realm of the rational and have entered the realm of slippage. Jack knows it for certain as soon as he opens the car door. Ahead of him, the bikes swerve and come back. Beezer, an impatient look on his face, is shaking his head: No, no, not here. Dale joins Jack at the front of the car. His face is still pale, but the skin around and below his nose is shiny with honey, and he looks steady enough on his feet. â€Å"Thanks, Jack. This is so much better. I don't know how putting honey around my nose could affect my ears, but the buzzing's better, too. It's nothing but a low drone.† â€Å"Wrong place!† Beezer bawls as he pulls his Harley up to the front of the cruiser. â€Å"Nope,† Jack says calmly, looking at the unbroken woods. Sunlight on green leaves contrasting with crazy black zigzags of shadow. Everything trembling and unsteady, making mock of perspective. â€Å"This is it. The hideout of Mr. Munshun and the Black House Gang, as the Duke never said.† Now Doc's bike adds to the din as he pulls up next to Beezer. â€Å"Beez is right! We were just out here yesterday, y'damn fool! Don't you think you know what we're talking about?† â€Å"This is just scrap woods on both sides,† Dale chimes in. He points across the road where, fifty yards or so southeast of their position, yellow police tape flutters from a pair of trees. â€Å"That's the lane to Ed's Eats, there. The place we want is probably beyond it â€Å" Even though you know it's here, Jack thinks. Marvels, really. Why else have you gone and smeared yourself with honey like Pooh-bear on a lucky day? He shifts his gaze to Beezer and Doc, who are also looking remarkably unwell. Jack opens his mouth to speak to them . . . and something flutters at the upper edge of his vision. He restrains his natural impulse to look up and define the source of that movement. Something probably the old Travelin' Jack part of him thinks it would be a very bad idea to do that. Something is watching them already. Better if it doesn't know it's been spotted. He puts the Richie Sexson bat down, leaning it against the side of the idling cruiser. He takes the honey from Dale and holds it out to the Beez. â€Å"Here you go,† he says, â€Å"lather up.† â€Å"There's no point in it, you goddamn fool!† Beezer cries in exasperation. â€Å"This . . . ain't . . . the place!† â€Å"Your nose is bleeding,† Jack says mildly. â€Å"Just a little. Yours too, Doc.† Doc wipes a finger under his nose and looks at the red smear, startled. He starts, â€Å"But I know this isn't â€Å" That flutter again, at the top of Jack's vision. He ignores it and points straight ahead. Beezer, Doc, and Dale all look, and Dale's the first one to see it. â€Å"I'll be damned,† he says softly. â€Å"A NO TRESPASSING sign. Was it there before?† â€Å"Yep,† Jack says. â€Å"Been there for thirty years or more, I'd guess.† â€Å"Fuck,† Beez says, and begins rubbing honey around his nose. He pokes generous wads of the stuff up his nostrils; resinous drops gleam in his red-brown Viking's beard. â€Å"We woulda gone right on, Doctor. All the way to town. Hell, maybe all the way to Rapid City, South Dakota.† He hands the honey to Doc and grimaces at Jack. â€Å"I'm sorry, man. We should have known. No excuses.† â€Å"Where's the driveway?† Dale's asking, and then: â€Å"Oh. There it is. I could have sworn â€Å" â€Å"That there was nothing there, I know,† Jack says. He's smiling. Looking at his friends. At the Sawyer Gang. He is certainly not looking at the black rags fluttering restively at the upper periphery of his vision, nor down at his waist, where his hand is slowly drawing the Ruger .357 from his waistband. He was always one of the best out there. He'd only won badges a couple of times when it was shooting from a stand, but when it came to the draw-and-fire competition, he did quite well. Top five, usually. Jack has no idea if this is a skill he's retained, but he thinks he's going to find out right now. Smiling at them, watching Doc swab his schnozz with honey, Jack says in a conversational voice: â€Å"Something's watching us. Don't look up. I'm going to try and shoot it.† â€Å"What is it?† Dale asks, smiling back. He doesn't look up, only straight ahead. Now he can quite clearly see the shadowy lane that must lead to Burnside's house. It wasn't there, he could have sworn it wasn't, but now it is. â€Å"It's a pain in the ass,† Jack says, and suddenly swings the Ruger up, locking both hands around the stock. He's firing almost before he sees with his eyes, and he catches the great dark crow crouched on the overhanging branch of an oak tree entirely by surprise. It gives one loud, shocked cry â€Å"AWWWWK!† and then it is torn apart on its roost. Blood flies against the faded blue summer sky. Feathers flutter down in clumps as dark as midnight shadows. And a body. It hits the shoulder in front of the lane with a heavy thud. One dark, glazing eye peers at Jack Sawyer with an expression of surprise. â€Å"Did you fire five or six?† Beezer asks in a tone of deep awe. â€Å"It was so fast I couldn't tell.† â€Å"All of them,† Jack says. He guesses he's still not too bad at draw-and-fire after all. â€Å"That's one big fucking crow,† Doc says. â€Å"It's not just any crow,† Jack tells him. â€Å"It's Gorg.† He advances to the blasted body lying on the dirt. â€Å"How you doin', fella? How do you feel?† He spits on Gorg, a luscious thick lunger. â€Å"That's for luring the kids,† he says. Then, suddenly, he boots the crow's corpse into the underbrush. It flies in a limp arc, the wings wrapping around the body like a shroud. â€Å"And that's for fucking with Irma's mother.† They are looking at him, all three of them, with identical expressions of stunned awe. Almost of fear. It's a look that makes Jack tired, although he supposes he must accept it. He can remember his old friend Richard Sloat looking at him the same way, once Richard realized that what he called â€Å"Seabrook Island stuff † wasn't confined to Seabrook Island. â€Å"Come on,† Jack says. â€Å"Everybody in the car. Let's get it done.† Yes, and they must move quickly because a certain one-eyed gent will shortly be looking for Ty, too. Mr. Munshun. Eye of the King, Jack thinks. Eye of the abbalah. That's what Judy meant Mr. Munshun. Whoever or whatever he really is. â€Å"Don't like leaving the bikes out here by the side of the road, man.† Beezer says. â€Å"Anybody could come along and â€Å" â€Å"Nobody will see them,† Jack tells him. â€Å"Three or four cars have gone by since we parked, and no one's so much as looked over at us. And you know why.† â€Å"We've already started to cross over, haven't we?† Doc asks. â€Å"This is the edge of it. The border.† â€Å"Opopanax,† Jack says. The word simply pops out. â€Å"Huh?† Jack picks up Ty's Richie Sexson bat and gets in on the passenger side of the cruiser. â€Å"It means let's go,† he says. â€Å"Let's get it done.† And so the Sawyer Gang takes its last ride up the wooded, poisonous lane that leads to Black House. The strong afternoon light quickly fades to the sullen glow of an overcast November evening. In the close-pressing trees on either side, dark shapes twine and crawl and sometimes fly. They don't matter, much, Jack reckons; they are only phantoms. â€Å"You gonna reload that Roogalator?† Beezer asks from the back seat. â€Å"Nope,† Jack says, looking at the Ruger without much interest. â€Å"Think it's done its job.† â€Å"What should we be ready for?† Dale asks in a thin voice. â€Å"Anything,† Jack replies. He favors Dale Gilbertson with a humorless grin. Ahead of them is a house that won't keep its shape but whirls and wavers in the most distressing way. Sometimes it seems no bigger than a humble ranch house; a blink, and it seems to be a ragged monolith that blots out the entire sky; another blink and it appears to be a low, uneven construction stretching back under the forest canopy for what could be miles. It gives off a low hum that sounds like voices. â€Å"Be ready for anything at all.†