Conversation Topics for business occasions Essay

Discussion Topics for business events - Essay Example Attention to these objectives furnishes the subordinates with a course so they can outfit themselves with the aptitudes required to be qualified for the open doors lying ahead. The subordinate ought to especially attempt to ask the supervisor how he/she would be associated with the task. The subordinate should attempt to assent with the manager over the fundamental methodology and gauges. The subordinate should impart to the manager what he/she thinks the perfect methodology is and afterward he/she may approach the supervisor for input. â€Å"Be sure you comprehend forthright what the core values are for the work †not simply the strategic components. These standards are what you ought to examine with your boss† (Chatman refered to in Gallo, 2011). Notwithstanding that, the odds of subordinates’ thought for those open doors by the supervisor are upgraded in light of the fact that the manager has just examined the plans with them. A generally excellent and useful sub ject of conversation is innovation. Talking about most recent innovative exploration and items with a manager not just sets a decent impression upon the chief, yet in addition shapes a fascinating subject of conversation. Nowadays, with the pace of mechanical advancement being so quick, there is a great deal to talk about. Subordinates can talk about the imaginative highlights of the most recent devices, draw correlation between the freshest and the old models of contraptions, examine whether a specific device merits putting cash in or not, and above all, regardless of whether a specific device can be utilized to improve the business they are worried about somehow or another. Conferences are entirely appropriate events to examine creative thoughts in. Subordinates can propose to a supervisor how the utilization of another contraption can help them in the business tasks, and how it very well may be coordinated into the hierarchical culture. This puts forth for the manager that the su bordinates are entirely proficient, dedicated, and can add to the advancement of the association. Governmental issues may be a decent subject of conversation with a supervisor in a conference furnished that the subordinates can assent with the boss’s assessment and show regard for his/her perspectives. By and by, it is an unsafe point to talk about with a supervisor in light of the fact that numerous individuals host passionate associations with their political gatherings and when they examine legislative issues, they enjoy into a warmed contention with the pundits. On the off chance that this occurs between a chief and a subordinate, it isn't useful for the relationship. While talking about governmental issues, it is recommendable for the subordinates to initially tune in to the boss’s position, on the off chance that they can concur with that, they ought to examine it; on the off chance that they can't, they ought to either stay quiet or attempt to change the theme a rticulately. Each subject that is talked about in a conference between a chief and the subordinates doesn't really need to identify with business. Sports is another intriguing and drawing in subject to talk about with a manager on a conference. Gatherings are magnificent events for examining sports in light of the fact that the chief and the subordinates are having a coordinated conversation, and have adequate chance to talk about such things. This is not quite the same as the day by day association that occurs in the workplace which is compelled by restricted time and weight of work. â€Å"During the frantic work week, they experience the manager as the wellspring of control, assignments, periodic censures and, normally, next to no close to home chit

Assigment 7 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Assigment 7 - Assignment Example mindful and concealing it for organization benefits, I would move toward the chief and disappointment of co-activity from him would prompt moving toward the press. This is on the grounds that there are as of now gauges set up to manage an unnatural weather change, which makes it unreasonable to chance executing 200,000 every year in Hover-Vehicle mishaps despite the fact that they will take out a dangerous atmospheric devation. My own moral way of thinking originates from the idea of doing unto others as you would they to you, guided by the scriptural instructing of cherishing one’s neighbor as you love yourself. Subsequently, in the event that I had the subsequent ring, the main thing I would consider is the thing that someone else would do to me on the off chance that they had it. Not wanting damage for myself, I would, in this way, not hurt anybody with the ring. The idea of morals educates on the protection and suggestion of right direct instead of wrong (Vendemiati, 2004). This assists with clarifying this imaginary

Essay on Unemployment in Dubai

Essay on Unemployment in Dubai Unemployment in Dubai Dec 20, 2018 in Economics Introduction Unemployment is a major social and economic problem which is affecting both the developing and developed countries. Having information about the employment and unemployment rates of a country helps a lot in putting in place methods and policies which help sustain the economy by curbing the rate of employment. The economy of the United Arab Emirates is mainly sustained by oil, and most of the employment opportunities are found in the oil industry and related sectors such as finance and infrastructure (Muwia, 2004). Unemployment rate is defined as the number of people who are able and willing to work, but cannot find job opportunities, divided by the number of families in that selected region. Employment, on the other hand, is defined as the number of people who are actively employed.

The Human Eye Is A Perfect Well Designed Optical System

Abstract According to the report for the 2012 National Health Interview Survey, at least 1.5 million Americans weakened their vision due to use of technology. However, thanks to advanced technology and innovation people can choose between glasses and contacts as a therapy for improving their eyesight. Contact lenses have become the fastest progressing medical devices in optometry and have seen a number of significant improvements and developments since its existence (Schaeffer, 2011). According to Centers For Disease Control And Prevention, the first plastic contact lenses were produced between 1938-1940 in the United States and the first soft lenses came later in the 70s. Keywords: Contact lenses, glasses, cornea, astigmatism, eye†¦show more content†¦Perovic had. I did not want to look anything like her! First day of school was right around the corner and as I was getting ready for it questions kept circulating in my mind. What would my friends think? I was the only one with glasses. How would I play sports with glasses? Would I still get invited to birthday parties? Will boys like me? Some of my friends thought my glasses were cool, but deep inside I knew they were just trying to make me feel good. I still got invited to the parties, but boys did not like me. But all of that did not bother me as much. What bothered me the most is that I could not play sports with my glasses. They kept slipping from my nose or falling off my face on the ground whenever I tried jumping or doing cartwheels. I thought my life would never be the same.  ¬ Loss of vision can happen at any age, even at birth, it is not only geriatric condition. With increased use of technology people’s eyesight gets worse causing eyestrain, loss of vision and other problems. More than 30 million people in the U.S. wear contact lenses due to eye conditions such as myopia, hyperopia, keratoconus, astigmatism, or presbyopia (Ã… ¢Ã„Æ'lu et al., 2011). Though contact lenses seem to be a recent phenomenon, the famous Italian architect, mathematician and inventor Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) produced the first known sketches for it five hundred years ago (Siviglia, 2010). This paper will examine the

Grief, By William Shakespeare - 863 Words

Grief is keen mental suffering or distress over affliction or loss; and sharp sorrow. Grief is something that can take a massive toll on one’s mental health and actions. It can change a person’s thinking and what they do. In â€Å"Hamlet† by William Shakespeare, grief is shown in many ways but with each person who is grieving they begin to act differently than they normally would. The first way grief is shown is by Hamlet when his father, King Hamlet, dies. The passing of the king had hurt everyone in his city but they were able to move on. Hamlet was the only one that was not able to return to everyday life. He was still grieving and this changed the way he lived life. Hamlet is talking to his mother about how he needs to return to normal life but he refuses. Hamlet says, â€Å"Seems, madam? Nay, it is. I know not ‘seems’. ‘Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother, Nor customary suits of solemn black†¦ But I have that within which passes show—these but the trappings and the suits of woe† (Shakespeare 1716). Hamlet is only showing a little bit of the grief he feels but will not let go of it. His mother is telling him to get rid of his mourning clothes but he refuses because he still feels too much grief for his father. In â€Å"Accommodating Death: The Ending of Hamlet† by Richard Fly, he says, â€Å"Hamlet’ s impious stubbornness seems willful and arbitrary to the conventional wisdom of the court, merely the response of an understanding simple and unschooled in social realities. But it if hisShow MoreRelatedElements Of Tragedy In King Lear1627 Words   |  7 PagesThroughout the years, William Shakespeare creates a name for himself as a master of intertwining pathos in his plays by effectively evoking pity from readers. 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Instead he got marriedRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s Macbeth 1363 Words   |  6 Pagescaptivating plays, in my opinion written by William Shakespeare. Throughout this play there is definitely a numerous amount of things that can catch your attention, whether it is a trio of witches appearing, committing murder, or keeping secrets. However, what really catches my attention is the way Shakespeare uses language and unique style to create a distinct mood, and reveal characters’ inner thoughts. In the play Macbeth written by William Shakespeare, Macbeth had came back from battle where he Read MoreHamlet: a Feminist Approach Essay examples1224 Words   |  5 Pagespsychological oppression of women (Tyson 83), often creating controversy and causing criticism from feminists and other readers. Tragic play Hamlet, by author William Shakespeare, is a story that displays characteristics of a patriarchal society and fails to acknowledge a female perspective. 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Both were written after the loss of a close male friend, and both are only one poem from a series of poems. Shakespeare lived in England where he was born in 1564 and died in 1616 and Tennyson also lived in England where he was born in 1809 and died in 1892, the poems being writtenRead MoreEssay about Reaching Acceptance: the Five Stages of Grief1141 Words   |  5 Pagesfaced with grief, an individual must go through all of the five stages, whether it is for a brief or ex tended period of time in order to reach the final stage of acceptance. Denial is the first logical stage that one feels when trying to cope with trauma because it feels safe to trick oneself into thinking that the event did not actually occur. Anger follows when the individual realizes that the trauma did occur and there is nothing to make it better. Depression is the third stage in the grief process

Housing Association and the different types of accommodation Free Essays

string(102) " Whitmore was a prominent local builder who served on the Board of Utopia Housing Trust for 14 years\." Introduction Welcome to your new job in Utopia Housing Trust (UHT). This booklet is designed to give you a brief overview of our Housing Association and the different types of accommodation we offer, the services we provide to our community, our values, particularly Equality and Diversity in housing and housing legislation. It will also give you an outline of other types of affordable Social Housing available and information on legislation and regulations that you as a new employee will need to know about. We will write a custom essay sample on Housing Association and the different types of accommodation or any similar topic only for you Order Now This booklet is a brief overview and is not a replacement for the formal Induction training you will receive where these subjects (and others relating to your specific role) will be considered in greater depth. An electronic copy of this leaflet is available on our Intranet site (on the training pages) where you will be able to â€Å"click the links† listed under Further Reading† at the end of the booklet. Section 1 Utopia Housing and the services we offer UHT is a Housing Association which offers several types of housing to enable our residents to maintain affordable housing through different stages in their lives. We aim to support residents in maintaining their independence, to enable people to lead fulfilled lives in a range of accommodation which will also provide vulnerable people with homes where they are able to live safely and securely. Our top priority is to ensure that our residents can enjoy their homes and communities safely, in an atmosphere of tolerance. We also aim to use eco-friendly technology wherever possible making our homes cheaper to heat and to maintain. That’s good for our residents and good for our planet! What exactly is a Housing Association? We are an independent society whose aim is to provide low cost social housing for people on a ‘not for profit basis’. Any money left over after collecting the rent andservice charges is used to maintain and improve our portfolio of accommodation as well as building new homes such as the Whitmore Estate (we also get Government funding to assist us to build new properties). We are governed by a voluntary board which includes resident representatives as well as a local community group, local business people and 3 representatives from our local authority. We are members of the National Housing Federation. Other types of Housing providers include: Abbeyfields Almshouses Co-operatives and co-ownerships Sale/leasehold associations What is Social Housing and how do you apply? Social housing is provided by various organisations (like UHT) to provide affordable accommodation to people on low incomes. The rents in these properties are in general lower than private rented properties and are allocated on the basis of need. We work closely with our local authority to offer properties to local people. We have a joint waiting list with the authority and 2 other Housing Associations. Applications for homes are made by completing an application form available from the estate office or local authority offices. Properties are awarded on a point system (see Page 5 footnote about Choice Based Lettings). What services do we offer? We offer a wide range of services to support our residents: Residential estate staff to oversee the daily management and general maintenance of the estate (including managing the cleaners and gardeners) Residential Scheme Manager in our sheltered housing unit to support our older and disabled residents. Carers are recruited as required by individual residents Residential staff in our Foyer and hostel buildings (Ben’s Foyer and Hostel) Rainbow Nursery run by a local charity for children 2 – 5 years (held in the Communal hall) After School club Health Centre (2 doctors, 2 part time nurses and other health care professionals Home Safety checks for residents over age 60. [3] Social activities – Movie club, Knit Stitch and Natter club, Bingo, Quiz nights. All residents can attend open board meetings held quarterly. This meeting allows residents the opportunity to put forward suggestions for improvements, question the board on their activities, raise issues affecting the community etc. Other providers of social housing Local Authority (LA) housing – our local authority has transferred the management of all their housing stock to an Arms Length Management Organization (ALMO). An ALMO is a nonprofit company set up by and works for, the Local Authority. This allows the LA to maintain the ownership of their properties while not having the responsibility of the management, maintenance and improvement of the housing stock, ie the daily responsibility for the properties belongs to the ALMO. The ALMO is paid a fee from the LA which they use to manage the housing stock. (This includes improving properties to the Decent Homes Standard.The LA still has the responsibility to deliver quality services to the tenants but they do this through the contract they have with the ALMO. The disadvantage that ALMOs have is that they are restricted by government policy on the range of services they can manage for the local authority. For instance they cannot raise funds to undertake regeneration or new building as Housing Associations can. This means that as residents exercise their right to buy their homes the ALMO cannot replace those homes by building new ones, as they are unable to raise the income to do so. This has wide reaching implications for the availability of affordable housing in the future. The LA retains the allocation policy of the properties and tenants remain secure tenants of the local authority. Not all local authorities have chosen to use ALMOs to administer their housing stock and they manage it themselves. There are wide ranging changes in recent government policy on social housing and housing benefits and this subject will be looked at in more detail on your induction course. The Whitmore Estate The estate is part of a regeneration area and was purpose built 4 years ago after the land was left to us in his will by Mr George Whitmore a local business man who was committed to improving housing for the City. Mr Whitmore was a prominent local builder who served on the Board of Utopia Housing Trust for 14 years. You read "Housing Association and the different types of accommodation" in category "Essay examples" There are excellent facilities nearby, schools, shopping centre, sports and leisure complex, and good transport links into the city. Types of Housing on Whitmore Estate There are maps of the estate on notice boards throughout the complex which are interactive – should you need to find an address, simply type it into the key pad and the map will highlight the directions to that property. Our complex is composed of: General needs housing (David Tower and Mark Terrace) – there are 82 flats and 12 terraced houses for couples and families. These are 1, 2, 3, and 4 bedroom properties which are allocated on a points basis through Choice Base Lettings[7]. Sheltered Housing (Paul House) – there are 22 studio flats and 10 one bedroom flats which are self contained homes designed with additional social and domestic facilities providing independent and secure accommodation for single people and couples over the age of 60. As part of the sheltered housing complex we also have an additional 7 properties that have been especially adapted for people with disabilities. Each of these properties has been designed to enable the resident to live as independently as possible whilst supporting their disability. Ben’s Foyer – this unit is designed specifically to support young people at risk. It has both self-contained and shared flats, accommodating 24 young people with support to help develop their independent living skills, while also focusing on learning and work opportunities. It is similar to a hostel and is for those aged 16 – 25 years. Residents can stay at Ben’s foyer from 1 month up to 2 years.In order to stay at Ben’s Foyer, residents must engage with staff and undertake some form of learning or work, be able to pay rent and service charges either through employment income, grants or any relevant benefits. They have to sign an agreement to participate in either work or education whilst maintaining their accommodation. Most of the residents living here have been referred via the local authority or the Homeless Centre. UHT expects residents in Ben’s foyer to become involved in the community by giving time each month to help with social event s on the complex. Ben’s Hostel – attached to Ben’s Foyer this is a small building of 6 rooms with shared bathing and kitchen facilities used as a direct access hostel for people under the age of 25. These rooms are specifically held as emergency accommodation for single homeless people who are rough sleepers or in urgent need of accommodation. Unlike Ben’s Foyer the residents here are self referring and can only remain here for 21 nights. The aim of the hostel is to support users in their first steps into obtaining a settled home. Section 2 Service users, their needs and how they participate in UHT’s activities We live in a rapidly growing and diverse community which means there are more demands on the services we offer. For instance there are more single people; older people are living longer with increasing need of support in their homes; we have more black and ethnic minority residents with varying needs because of their culture. We strive to meet the needs of our residents in various ways – a few are listed below as an example but you should look at our Internet site for up to date information. www.Utopiahousing.co.uk/activitiesinvolvement We also provide newsletters to our residents at the end of each month outlining the activities available in the following month. The notice boards are updated regularly. Clinics: Stevie’s clinic One of the support services offered to our Sheltered Housing residents is Stevie’s Memory Clinic which is held in the communal hall.[8] This clinic hosts a variety of events aimed at supporting residents who have been diagnosed with Dementia. As our aging population increases we have found many of our residents are being diagnosed with the most common types of dementia (Alzheimer’s disease and Vascular Dementia). The aim of Stevie’s clinic is to support these residents in the early stages of memory loss to maintain their everyday skills. By offering this help we enable residents to keep their independence for longer, whilst supporting them, their families, friends and carers in understanding how to live with their illness. Aids and Adaptations Specialist equipment and adaptations to a property are used to support residents of any age. They are invaluable to help residents to continue living independently in their own homes. Aid equipment available ranges from large items like stair lifts, to smaller gadgets designed for people with specific needs like a kettle support. Adaptations can be a ramp for access to a home or even a bathroom conversion to a wet room for those unable to get into and out of the bath. This service is offered through the Charlotte’s Health Centre by the Occupational Therapist. She will recommend aids and adaptations required by the resident to remain safe and independent in their home after an assessment of their needs. Communications There are many residents whose first language is not English and all our leaflets are available in the following languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Ukrainian, Romanian, Arabic, Punjabi, Somali and Turkish. All our newsletters have pictorial items which supports non English speakers as well as some of our residents with learning disabilities. We produce a quarterly newsletter with resident involvement.[12]All our leaflets can be translated into other languages as required. Our website is a vital source of information: www.Utopiahousing.co.uk We also have leaflets in Braille, on audio cds and video. We review our leaflets on a regular basis and use simple language without jargon. Communication and involvement of our residents is vital in developing our values as a housing trust. We are members of the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) and ‘tap into’ their expertise on many subjects. See further reading section for information on CIH. When we have a matter to discuss with our residents we either Encourage them to participate in the decision making – giving them the facts and they decide what they prefer. Or we consult resident’s views in the matter. The difference is that in the first point residents decide; in the second we listen to residents preferences/opinions but may not be able to do as they wish and we decide the course of action required. Section 3 Legislation and regulation Under the coalition government and as a result of Spending Reviews there is a raft of new legislation in relation to the provision of social housing and housing benefit. You will be given full training on how these reforms will affect us and our residents if it is part of you new job. Regulation of our services The Tenant Services Authority is the regulator for all social housing in England. From April 2010 there is a common set of standards that applies to all providers. The basis of how we will comply with these is set out in Appendix 2: We inform everyone on our performance each year by producing an annual report. In this report we identify what has gone well and what hasn’t gone well and how we intend to improve. After the report is published we hold a tenant conference to hear our tenant’s opinions and involve them in decisions on our performance and any improvement plans should we fail in one of our standards. This is another of our values – resident participation is key to developing a community as it makes it their community. We have a resident involvement team who encourage our residents to take more responsibility for their community. They have their own web pages and also can be contacted at: [email protected] Equality and Diversity Many people think that Equality is about treating everyone the same – not true! Equality is about making sure that everyone has the same ability to access to goods, services and employment by breaking down barriers and for some that means they need extra support to be at the same ‘level’ as everyone else. Discrimination is to treat a person or a group of people less favourably than others because of they are different to you.[13] Eliminating discrimination and ensuring access for all is protected by legislation, the Equality Act 2010. Key areas of the Act came into force in October 2010 and the new Act pulls together previous equality legislation into one law ie separate legislation on disability, race, religion, sexual orientation are all covered and strengthened in the new equality act. At UHT we recognise that many of our households contain higher than average proportions of people who experience discrimination because of their ethnicity, disability, social financial status, education, and religion. It is a recognised statistic in social housing. Our aim is to ensure we support our residents to be equal to everyone else in our community and employment. Equality and Diversity is one of UHT’s key values – if we perform poorly it has a negative effect on tenant’s lives, which will have a knock on effect on our business ie when people feel undervalued they are less likely to treat their homes and communities with respect and tolerance . Equality and diversity are not interchangeable but interdependent. There can be no equality without recognising the value in the differences we all bring into our community in our workplace, home life or wider community. How to cite Housing Association and the different types of accommodation, Essay examples

Role Of ICT In Business Operation of a courier Company†Samples

Question: Discuss about the Role Of ICT In courier Company. Answer: Introduction Information and communication technology (ICT) can be defined as an infrastructure and component of modern computing that increases the efficiency of communication process thereby integrating the different telecommunication services. The role of ICT is widespread globally and is widely implemented for increasing the efficiency of business process. The report discusses the role of information and communication technology in everyday business operation of a courier company. Role of information and communication technology With the increase in sophistication of the ICT, many business organizations are incorporating ICT services in their day to day business operation. Information and communication technology plays a significant role in providing value in everyday operation of a courier company (Kanuna, 2013). Use of ICT in Courier Company is expected to improve the financial outcome of the company as well. The work of a Courier Company mainly deals with the movement of goods and services, messages, packages and mails across the world and therefore, the use of ICT is significant. Couriers are quite distinguished from ordinary mail services and make use of ICT for designing and implementing certain business processes, such as use of RFID for tracking the packages or use of mobile apps for tracking the packages (Agu, Nwoye Ogbuokiri, 2015). ICT in Courier Company has a critical role in collecting, processing and storing the data that is to be transferred to its intended destination. With the help of ICT, different courier company across the world have undergone service technology innovation that contributes to a better time and space utility along with the improvement in operational efficiency of the company. Use of time tracking systems and advanced loading and unloading equipments have made it easier to access the real time data and provide better services to the customers. The integration of different ICT services in business helps in efficient communication of the business provider (the courier company) with the customer (Noordin, Hasnan Osman, 2012). This increases the customers satisfaction and efficiency of the business processes. Furthermore, proper use of the information and communication technology services increases the marketing efficiency of the business along with proper resource management. The use of internet has made it easier for the courier companies to keep a track of the customers data and the bookings. It helps in faster data processing and reduces the redundancies in the stored data. Thus it enhances the business process of the courier company and helps in giving a fast delivery of the packages and letters. The use of different ICT services makes the process of searching the process of data searching faster. The digital storage of the customer details and the delivery details helps in storing a lot of physical space and reduces paper work as well (Hasnan, Noordin Osman, 2014). The communication processes becomes faster and accurate with the help of ICT. Therefore, in short the use of ICT has revolutionized the business process of Courier Company over the years to a large extent. Conclusion Therefore, from the above discussion, it can be concluded that there is a huge role of ICT in day to day business processes of a courier company. It has considerably increased the efficiency of business processes and the way of performing different business operations. References Agu, M. N., Nwoye, C. I., Ogbuokiri, B. O. (2015). Enhancing Courier Service with the Development of an Interactive Mobile App in Android Platform.IOSR J. Mobile Comput. Appl.,(IOSR-JMCA). e-ISSN, 2394-0050. Hasnan, N., Noordin, A., Osman, N. H. (2014). Six main innovation issues: A case of service innovation of postal and courier services in Malaysia.Journal of Technology Management and Business,1(1). Kanuna, L. M. (2013).The Effects Of Information Communication Technology On Financial Performance Of Courier Service Providers In Kenya: A Case Study Of Document Handling Limited(Doctoral dissertation, University of Nairobi). Noordin, A., Hasnan, N., Osman, H. (2012). Service Innovation of Postal and Courier Services in Malaysia: Will It Lead to Customer Responsiveness.International Proceedings of Economics Development Research,42, 205-209.

Franz Kafka Essays (854 words) - Modernist Literature, Diarists

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka was born in Prague, Bohemia, July 3, 1883 and died June 3, 1924 of tuberculosis at the age of 40. He came from a middle-class Jewish family. His father was a shopkeeper and tried to climb up the social ladder by working hard at his shop and sending Franz to a prestigious German high school. He went on to get a law degree and worked for two insurance companies (not at the same time) When his .tuberculosis got bad in 1917 he was put on temporary retirement with a pension. German was the language the upper class spoke and by sending Franz to German schools his father tried to disassociate from the lower class Jewish who lived in the ghetto. They were always moving from apartment to apartment advancing as the business grew. Franz had a very strained relationship with his father that traumatically affected his whole life. This is apparent in a letter to his father he wrote, ?What was always incomprehensible to me was your total lack of feeling for the suffering and shame you could inflict on me with your words and judgments. It was as though you had no notion of your power? (Letter) . Max Brod and Franz met in college and became life long friends. It was Max who persuaded Franz to publish some of his work and it was Max who was responsible for most of the Kafka writings that are available today. Franz had entrusted his manuscripts to Max and in his last will and testament specified that all his work was to be destroyed. Instead Max had them published after Franz' death. Although he never married, he was engaged several times but always broke the engagement as the wedding day would approach. Most of the biographies about him tell of his problem with women and repulsion from sex and say that it was evident in his writings. In an entry in his diary he wrote ?Coitus as the punishment for the happiness of being together? (Constructing). His romances and engagements are well documented and it is interesting to note his selection of books that he gave to Felice Bauer: ?Tolstoy's diaries, the New and Old Testament, and Gerhart Hauptmann's ?Fool in Christ Emanuel Quint' (Times ). Franz met Felice Bauer at Max' house and they had a five year courtship mainly through letters. He wrote to her daily when at the sanatorium in Italy even while he was carrying on with an 18 year old Swiss girl who was there also. Felice inspired him and he wrote several pieces during this time; ?The Judgment,? which he dedicated to her, then ?The Metamorphosis? and he started Amerika (Kafka.) According to Daniel Hornek ?None of Kafka's novels was printed during his lifetime, and it was only with reluctance that he published a fraction of his shorter fiction. This fiction included Meditation (1913), a collection of short prose pieces; The Judgment (1913), a long short story, written in 1912, which Kafka himself considered his decisive breakthrough (it tells of a rebellious son condemned to suicide by his father); and The Metamorphosis (1915), dealing again with the outsider, a son who suffers the literal and symbolic transformation into a huge, repulsive, fatally wounded insect. In the Penal Colony (1919) is a parable of a torture machine and its operators and victims---equally applicable to a person's inner sense of law, guilt, and retribution and to the age of World War I. The Country Doctor (1919) was another collection of short prose. At the time of his death Kafka was also preparing A Hunger Artist (1924), four stories centering on the artist's inability either to neg ate or come to terms with life in the human community.? Franz Kafka's writings can be best described as nightmarish or dreamlike. He has impacted twentieth century literature greatly as evidenced by a word in the dictionary coined after him: ?Kafkaesque (adj): Characteristic of the novels of Franz Kafka; especially, bizarre or absurd, and often marked by the ineffectuality of the individual? (Funk ). Bibliography Bibliography The Castle. Hp. 1995 [copywright]. Online. Available: http://family.knick.net.thecastle/timeline. 2 Mar. 2000. Constructing Franz Kafka. Hp. 1996 [last update]. Online. Available: http://info.pitt.edu/~kafka/biblio.html. 1 Mar. 2000. Contemporary Authors. Vol. 26. Detroit: Gale Research, 1989. Funk & Wagnalls

Needle in the Hay Song Analysis Essays

Needle in the Hay Song Analysis Essays Needle in the Hay Song Analysis Paper Needle in the Hay Song Analysis Paper â€Å"Needle in the Hay† by Elliott Smith Your hand on his arm The haystack charm Around your neck Strung out and thin Calling some friend Trying to cash some check Hes acting dumb Thats what youve come To expect (Chorus) Needle in the hay Needle in the hay Needle in the hay Needle in the hay Hes wearing your clothes Head down to toes A reaction to you You say you know what he did But you idiot kid You dont have a clue Sometimes they just Get caught in the eye Youre pulling him through *Chorus* Now on the bus Nearly touching This dirty retreat Falling out 6th and Powell A dead sweat in my teeth Going to walk, walk, walk Four more blocks Plus the one in my brain Down downstairs To the man Hes going to make it all ok I cant beat myself I cant beat myself And I dont want to talk Im taking the cure So I can be quiet Whenever I want So leave me alone You ought to be proud That Im getting good marks *Chorus 2x* In health class, we just finished a unit on drugs and addictions. We learned about the different classifications of drugs, their effects, and symptoms of addiction. Our current assignment is to analyze a song that describes the negative effects of drugs, and share our personal reaction to it. The song I chose is â€Å"Needle in the Hay† by Elliott Smith. This song can be interpreted in many different ways, but it’s almost always recognized as being about drugs, specifically heroin. Though Smith only became addicted to heroin in his later life, he writes about drugs, alcohol, and addiction in many of his songs, from his first album on. â€Å"Needle in the Hay† seems to be about a girl who is addicted to heroin, and is in a relationship with a guy who is beginning to use heroin himself. I chose this song because it’s beautifully written, and uses many interesting metaphors to help tell the story. The first line in the song is â€Å"Your hand on his arm, the haystack charm around your neck. † I think this is saying that she is beginning to become a bigger part of his life, but she is bringing her addiction into it also. â€Å"Strung out and thin, calling some friend, trying to cash some check. † The girl is thin from heroin use, as the drug causes loss of appetite, which leads to weight loss. She is stressed from not having the drug, so she calls a friend, hoping she can buy more. â€Å"He’s acting dumb, that’s what you’ve come to expect. † Her boyfriend knows what is going on with her, but he plays dumb and doesn’t acknowledge it. She knows that he knows, but doesn’t say anything. The song then goes to the chorus, which just repeats â€Å"Needle in the hay†, referring to the hidden, unspoken addiction(s) in the relationship. The next verse begins with â€Å"He’s wearing your clothes, head down to toes, a reaction to you. † I don’t think that he is literally wearing her clothes; I think it is a metaphor meaning that ever since he’s been with her, he’s becoming just like her, especially after acquiring the addiction. â€Å"You say you know what he did, but you idiot kid, you don’t have a clue. The girl thinks that she knows the guy so well, but she does not realize the severity of the situation, or the fact that she has brought this on him. â€Å"Sometimes they just get caught in the eye, you’re pulling him through. † Sometimes people just get caught up in bad things, and she’s only worsening his problem. In the third verse, the point of view seems to shift from third person into the girl’s eyes. â€Å"Now on the bus, nearly touching this dirty retreat. † The girl is going to get drugs, and she’s almost there. She knows what she’s doing is wrong, but by now it almost feels like a comfort, or an old friend. Falling out, 6th and Powell, a dead sweat in my teeth. † She’s now walking to the place where she’s going to get her drugs. The â€Å"dead sweat in my teeth† part is a bit hard to understand but I have a few ideas. It may just be symbolizing her craving, her need for the drug. It may be referring to the actual condition of her teeth, as heroin can cause teeth rotting and gum disease. Or, it could be a combination of both. â€Å"Going to walk walk walk, four more blocks, plus the one in my brain. Down, downstairs, to the man, he’s going to make it all okay. † Her addiction is so serious that she is willing to walk blocks and blocks to get to th e drug. She feels that once she gets it from the dealer, she will feel better and everything will be okay. She is dependant on the drug. â€Å"I can’t beat myself, I can’t beat myself, and I don’t want to talk. I’m taking the cure, so I can be quiet whenever I want. † She has gotten to the point where she no longer has faith in herself, and she needs the drug to feel okay. She’s so focused on the drug and feeling better that she’s becoming withdrawn and shutting the rest of the world out. She’s using heroin to ease her pain; she thinks that it will make things easier. â€Å"So leave me alone, you ought to be proud that I’m getting good marks. She wants everyone to leave her alone. She wants to keep her problem a secret, so she tries to hide it by doing well in other aspects of life, perhaps school or work. I think that this song’s view of addiction and the problems that come with it is simply brilliant. It shows the depen dency on the drug, the user’s personal feelings and hopes for what the drug will do, and the way drug addiction can affect relationships. What I learned in health class helped greatly with this project. I have loved this song for a long time, and getting this in-depth look at it by doing the analysis has only made me love and appreciate it more.

Journal Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 12

Journal - Assignment Example nducted by three institutions jointly, namely New Buildings Institute, Skanska-Sweden and International Living Future Institute is intended at acting as an eye opener to the District taking into consideration its findings and recommendations. Largely, the District’s official perceives the report as essential in the sense that it would greatly enable them to achieve their policy goals based on the study’s presented framework; thus, attain the slashing of the rate of energy used by the District to half of its 2010 consumption in 2032. Subsequently, the study’s report is targeted at enabling the District to obtain data that it can use to back up its green technology projects, starting with the reduction of energy use. According to Bill Updike, who is a specialist in green building in the District Department of the Environment, the District’s history in relation to the uptake of progressive policies in green building has been outstanding and with the new report, the District’s efforts will be aided further in the advancement of the building industry to curtail more invigorating and irrepressible structures. This takes into consideration the key findings of the study that are as described herein. First, the District can be able to make energy consumption savings in new developments it has by about 60% based on the added initial cost of construction by about 1 to 3 percent. Second, there is an increase in the percentage of energy’s efficiency return on investment from about 6% to 12%. This figure may be deemed to rise further to between 33% - 36% should the net-zero energy be modeled through the use of solar power. Third, the study suggests the adoption of advanced measures in the conservation of water with the aim of reducing the consumption of the same and the amount that is lost in storm water runoffs from buildings in the District by about 1% to 3%. Subsequently, the study seeks at enhancing a return on investment rate by 5% to 10% through a further

Control Systems and Quality Management in Relation to Motivation Essay

Control Systems and Quality Management in Relation to Motivation - Essay Example Control systems and quality management incorporates techniques which motivate the behavior of employees in evaluating their performance. Quality control and quality management systems in the healthcare company ensure quality of products and services. They involve a planned and organized approach to monitoring, analyzing and enhancing organizational performance which is a source of motivation. Most healthcare organizations have established continuous quality control and improvement systems for an excellent and constant quality management program as suggested by Shortell and Kaluzny (1997). Healthcare companies should consider that institutions with constant quality control systems desire to adopt positive changes in all aspects of the organization’s activities. Quality management in healthcare companies offers a framework for service delivery and helps hospitals organize their operation to provide quality services. Management control systems aim at bringing commonness of goals and coordination of processes in health care organizations for dysfunctional control systems. The control systems are expected to monitor and regulate the behavior of workers in the organization. For instance, the top management depends on information provided at different management levels to make decisions and to evaluate processes. Management control systems in healthcare organizations are concerned with resource allocation, coordination and motivation of the employees. The control system in management of healthcare organizations applies techniques such as total quality management. Total quality management is an aspect of management which constantly aims at enhancing quality services and management. Every healthcare organization’s management should develop a control system customized to its goals and resources. These control systems relate to motivation of employees in healthcare organizations through different principles as outlined below: Focus in critical points: for in stance, controls are used where failure is a threat and the costs do not exceed a specific amount. This critical point involves all healthcare operations that affect the motivation of workers. Established processes integration which implies that controls in healthcare organizations must work in coordination within various processes in order to motivate the employees for improved performance. Control systems are important in providing information on the organization’s resources including human, financial and physical resources. This is because they are manipulated to improve the use of these resources mostly during strategy implementation Information availability is another important principle that goes toward the motivation of employees through quality management. This can be achieved by ensuring that there are set targets in various processes including deadlines for project completion, priority aspects in services, and cost effectiveness. Comprehensibility is another princip le which implies that motivational controls must be easy and simple for employees to understand Accuracy demands that an effective and motivational control system should offer real information which is useful, consistent, valid and reliable to workers. Economic feasibility is an important control systems motivational aspect as it ensures that control benefits are above the costs. Functional and Dysfunctional Control Systems Functional and dysfunctional control systems are applied in management to combine data collection. The data collected is normally used to determine employee motivation and evaluate their performances. These types of control systems a

Oxygen Consumption in Cellular Respiration

Oxygen Consumption in Cellular Respiration Introduction   Dormant seeds are seeds that are living but have a seed coat around them. They have all the supplies they need to process and have a metabolism, and they would be able to germinate if they were under the right conditions.1 Germination occurs when dormant seeds are placed in the right conditions to start to enlarge and open so roots start to protrude. Oxygen, water, temperature, and amount of light are all important factors for germination. For peas to germinate, they need a dark, warm environment after soaking in water.   Cellular respiration is a metabolic process. Eventually, catabolic reactions are used to break down an organic molecule to release energy. Cellular respiration occurs through three stages: Glycolysis, the Krebs Cycle, and oxidation phosphoralation. Cellular respiration is aerobic, and glucose (C6H12O6) and oxygen (O2) go into the reaction, and through the process, carbon dioxide (CO2), water (H2O), and up to 38 ATP are produced. This means that during the process, the glucose is broken down and the oxygen is consumed. As this happens, carbon dioxide and water come out and energy is released into the cell.   The general gas equation, otherwise known as the Ideal Gas Law, states: PV=nRT such that P is pressure, V is gas volume, n is the amount of gas molecules, R is the gas constant that remains the same and is measured in units of the other aspects, and T is temperature of the gas. The general gas equation is important because it shows that pressure and volume are inversely proportional in the molecules and temperature stays the same. Also, if the molecule number stays the same, but the temperature changes, the pressure and volume are directly proportional to temperature and one or both will change in the same direction. A respirometer measures how much oxygen is used during cellular respiration. The basic concept is, as oxygen from the air in the respirometer will be consumed in the reaction; the volume of the oxygen gas decreases, and the pressure decreases as well. When the pressure decreases, water from outside the respirometer will proportionally come into the pipette, and if the amount entering is measured, then the amount of oxygen consumed is the same. Potassium hydroxide solution reacts with carbon dioxide to form potassium carbonate. The carbon dioxide will be completely used in the reaction, so none will be left in the surroundings. In the experiment, the carbon dioxide that is produced will move towards the 15% KOH solution and will create the solid potassium carbonate. Therefore, any volume change is not related to the CO2.   The purpose of the experiment is to determine how much O2 is used in cellular respiration. In addition, the different rates of reactions of germinated peas compared to dry peas is tested to determine if one is more efficient, and different temperatures are tested to see which has the greatest effect. It was hypothesized that the germinated peas will have a higher rate of reaction and therefore consumes more oxygen than the dry peas. Also, the peas in the warmer water will have a higher rate of reaction as well. Materials and Methods 50mL tube H2O Tub with 10 ° C Water Extra ice Tub with room-temperature Water 50 germinating peas 50 dried peas Glass beads Paper towels Six vials Six stoppers with glass calibrated pipettes attached Absorbent cotton Nonabsorbent cotton Dropper 6mL 15% KOH solution 6 weights Tape Thermometer The room temperature water tub was placed out before the experiment took place to insure that the water reached equilibrium. Ice was added to the water of the second tub to keep a constant temperature of 10 ° C. This temperature was maintained by adding ice when needed throughout the experiment. A tube was filled with 25mL of H2O. 25 germinating peas were added, and the water displacement was recorded. This was the volume of the 25 germinating peas. The peas were then placed on a paper towel to dry off. The tube was refilled, and 25 dried peas were added. Glass beads were added until the same volume of germinating peas was reached. The peas and beads were placed on a paper towel to dry. The tube was refilled and only glass beads were added until the germinating peas volume was reached. The beads were placed on a paper towel to dry. The process of adding germinating peas, dried peas, and glass beads to 25mL of H2O was repeated so there were two sets of each. Next, the respirometers were created. Absorbent cotton was placed on the bottom of each of the six vials. One milliliter of 15% KOH was placed on the cotton, making sure that the sides of the vials remained dry. Nonabsorbent cotton was placed on top of the moistened cotton. For vial 1, the first set of germinating peas was placed on top of the cotton. Vial 2 had the first set of dried peas and beads, and vial three had the first set of only beads. Vial four had the second set of germinating peas, vial five had the second set of dried peas and beads, and vial six and the second set of beads. The stoppers with the pipettes were placed in each vial. A weight was attached to the bottom of each. Tape was placed across each tub to create a sling. The first 3 vials were placed in the tub of room-temperature water, and the last three were placed in the 10 ° C water tub. The pipettes of all were placed on the sling so that the vials were not completely in the water. After seven minutes, all the respirometers were submerged in the water so that the numbers on the pipette could still be read. After 3 minutes, the initial water amount was recorded for each vial. The temperature in both tubs was recorded. The water position was recorded for each vial in both tubs every 5 minutes for 20 minutes. Once done, the respirometers were taken apart, the cotton and peas were discarded, and the rest of the respirometers were washed and dried. The water in the tubs was discarded in the sink. Results It was hypothesized that the germinating peas would have a faster rate of reaction than the dried peas, and the ones in the room temperature water would have a better reaction rate than the ones in 10 ° water. The results support the hypothesis. As shown in Table 3, the difference column shows the initial reading minus the reading of the time for each vial, this represents how much water has entered into the pipette since the beginning of the experiment. If the water entered more, then the pressure inside the vial must have decreased, therefore the oxygen in the vial must have been consumed during the experiment. The germinating peas had much more of a difference than the dried peas. Therefore, oxygen was consumed must faster in the germinating peas than the dried ones. The hypothesis was correct. The glass beads were the control of the experiment, since there was no respiration taking place in those respirometers; therefore, if there were any outside forces affecting the experiment, they would be detected in this respirometer. In table 3, the difference in the initial and each time check was shown for beads. The pressure did change slightly in both the room temperature and 10 ° C water. This could be due to the temperature change of the air, resulting in the temperature change in the water and respirometer. According to the general gas law, if the temperature increases, the pressure or volume will also increase, and this would cause the water to leave the pipette. Therefore, the difference would be negative since there is less water in the tube than the initial amount. The corrected differences shown in Table 3 are found by subtracting the difference of the beads initial reading and reading at the moment from the difference between the initial amount and the reading of the moment of the peas. This is the amount of pressure just lost only due to cellular respiration. When the corrected difference is negative, that means that the pressure increased in the vial, as discussed above. The corrected differences in the 20 ° water are shown in Figure 1. The germinating peas increased a lot more than the dried peas, shown by the steep slope of the germinating peas in 20 ° C water. The dried peas actually had a negative corrected difference, which indicates either an increase in pressure or increase in temperature. Figure 2 shows the corrected differences in the 10 ° C water. The germinating peas still had a higher rate of reaction for cellular respiration in the colder water. The dried peas had a negative corrected difference, so like the ones in the r oom temperature water, this indicates either temperature of pressure increases around the respirometers. The hypothesis that cellular respiration would occur more in the room temperature respirometers than the 10 ° C water was correct. The germinating peas in the room temperature water consumed far more oxygen than the ones in the 10 ° water. As shown in Table 3, in the first five minutes, the germinating peas in the room water caused the pressure to drop .2 mL in the respirometer. The ones in the cold water only caused the pressure to drop .06mL, the big difference already shows that higher temperatures affect cellular respiration positively. Figure 3 shows the two germinating peas in the different water. The ones in room temperature water have a steep slope compared to the ones in the 10 ° C water. The curves indicate that the cellular respiration increased faster in the germinating peas in the room temperature water than the ones in the 10 ° C water. The difference between the two temperatures shows that the cellular respiration has an ideal temperature to achieve efficiency of the respiration, and that room temperature is better than 10 ° C water.

First Writing Assignment “Two Views of the Mississippi” Essay

As Mark Twain learned the trade of steamboating he needed to be able to discern between the beautiful aspects of the river which he talked about figuratively and the critical awareness of those same aspects as they pertain to navigation. The two sets of details are in juxtaposition. However, there is something larger happening in the excerpt. What is it? Define it as the thematic concern for your paper. Develop your thesis around the larger message. In other words, what is the big picture here? What is the larger message that the writing attempts to engage for the audience? Most, if not all, of the language speaks about two views of the river, but the tension between those descriptions is both explicit and implicit. What are the implied factors (implications) beyond the language of the piece? The explicit examples (tools/devices/strategies of rhetoric) of language will help you speak specifically about the evidence on the page as it pertains to the global outlook that the piece hints at. The two sets of descriptions set up a much larger concept and that concept permeates into the real world. What is that concept or what are those ideas? They are wide ranging. The ideas are crucial in the understanding of the piece itself, no doubt, however it (they) reach further? How much further do they reach? Respond to the prompt in a way that you touch on the larger messages that are inherent in the piece. Do the ideas shape the reality you are currently forming for yourself? The specific language of the piece are nice examples and activities of rhetoric, so how do they ultimately point to and lead us into answering the bigger question/concept of the piece? In your quest to develop and support your interpretation as to the message of the piece you will find it important to identify tools of figurative language and how they differ from the literal translations of those same descriptions. Identify tools of figurative language: What does that language say? How does it help support your case? Why does the language work? Furthermore, identify the language that juxtaposes the appearance of the figurative language: How does that language differ? How does it help support your ideas? What does the language reiterate about the larger picture? Essay will be 5 pages. It will discuss the main idea and  support it by defining the moments of language that are pertinent to the discussion of the larger message.

Black House Chapter Sixteen

16 6:45 P.M. FRENCH LANDING is fogged out, fagged out, and uneasy in its heart, but quiet. The quiet won't last. Once it has started, slippage never stops for long. At Maxton's, Chipper has stayed late, and considering the leisurely (and really quite sensational) blow job being administered to him by Rebecca Vilas as he sits sprawled in his office chair, his decision to put in a little overtime isn't that surprising. In the common room, the old folks sit transfixed by Julie Andrews and The Sound of Music. Alice Weathers is actually crying with happiness Music is her all-time favorite movie. Singin' in the Rain comes close, but close never won the cigar. Among those MEC inmates who are ambulatory, only Burny is missing . . . except no one here misses him at all. Burny is deep in sleep. The spirit that now controls him the demon, we might as well say has its own agenda in French Landing, and it has used Burny roughly over these last few weeks (not that Burny's complaining; he is a very willing accomplice). On Norway Valley Road, Jack Sawyer is just pulling his Dodge Ram into Henry Leyden's driveway. The fog out here is thinner, but it still turns the truck's headlamps into soft coronas. Tonight he will recommence Bleak House at chapter 7 (â€Å"The Ghost's Walk†) and hopefully reach the end of chapter 8 (â€Å"Covering a Multitude of Sins†). But before Dickens, he has promised to listen to the Wisconsin Rat's latest candidate for hot rotation, a number called â€Å"Gimme Back My Dog† by Slob-berbone. â€Å"Every five years or so, another great rock-‘n'-roll song comes break-dancing out of the woodwork,† Henry has told him over the phone, and Jack's damned if he can't hear the Rat screaming around the edges of his friend's voice, popping wheelies out there on the edge of darkness. â€Å"This is a great rock-‘n'-roll song.† â€Å"If you say so,† Jack replies dubiously. His idea of a great rock-‘n'-roll song is â€Å"Runaround Sue,† by Dion. At 16 Robin Hood Lane (that sweet little Cape Cod honey of a home), Fred Marshall is down on his hands and knees, wearing a pair of green rubber gloves and washing the floor. He's still got Tyler's baseball cap balanced on his head, and he's weeping. Out at the Holiday Trailer Park, the Crow Gorg is dripping poison into the porches of Tansy Freneau's ears. In the sturdy brick house on Herman Street where he lives with the beautiful Sarah and the equally beautiful David, Dale Gilbertson is just getting ready to head back to the office, his movements slightly slowed by two helpings of chicken pot pie and a dish of bread pudding. When the telephone rings, he is not terribly surprised. He's had that feeling, after all. His caller is Debbi Anderson, and from her first word he knows that something has popped. He listens, nodding, asking an occasional question. His wife stands in the kitchen doorway, watching him with worried eyes. Dale bends and jots on the pad beside the phone. Sarah walks over and reads two names: Andy Railsback and M. Fine. â€Å"You've still got Railsback on the line?† he asks. â€Å"Yes, on hold â€Å" â€Å"Patch me in.† â€Å"Dale, I don't know if I know how to do that.† Debbi sounds uncharacteristically flustered. Dale closes his eyes a moment, reminds himself that this isn't her usual job. â€Å"Ernie's not there yet?† â€Å"No.† â€Å"Who is?† â€Å"Bobby Dulac . . . I think Dit might be in the shower . . .† â€Å"Put Bobby on,† Dale says, and is relieved when Bobby is able to patch him quickly and painlessly through to Andy Railsback in Morty Fine's office. The two men have been upstairs to room 314, and one look at the Polaroids scattered on the floor of George Potter's closet has been enough for Morty. He's now as pale as Andy himself. Maybe paler. Outside the police station, Ernie Therriault and Reginald â€Å"Doc† Amberson meet in the parking lot. Doc has just arrived on his old (but perfectly maintained) Harley Fat Boy. They exchange amiable greetings in the fog. Ernie Therriault is another cop sort of but relax: he's the last one we'll have to meet (well, there is an FBI agent running around here someplace, but never mind him right now; he's in Madison, and he's a fool). Ernie is a trim sixty-five, retired from full-time police duty for almost twelve years, and still four times the cop Arnold Hrabowski will ever be. He supplements his pension by doing night dispatch at the FLPD (he doesn't sleep so well these days, thanks to a cranky prostate) and pulling private security time at First Bank of Wisconsin on Fridays, when the Wells Fargo people come at two and the Brinks people at four. Doc looks every inch the Hells Angel, with his long black-and-gray beard (which he sometimes braids with ribbons in the style of the pirate Edward Teach), and he brews beer for a living, but the two men get along very well. For one thing, they recognize each other's intelligence. Ernie doesn't know if Doc really is a doctor, but he could be. Maybe at one point he was. â€Å"Anything changed?† Doc asks. â€Å"Not that I know of, my friend,† Ernie says. One of the Five comes by every night, in turn, to check. Tonight Doc's got the duty. â€Å"Mind if I walk in with you?† â€Å"Nope,† Ernie said. â€Å"Just as long as you respect the rule.† Doc nods. Some of the other Fives can be pissy about the rule (especially Sonny, who's pissy about lots of stuff ), but Doc abides by it: one cup of coffee or five minutes, whichever comes first, then down the road you go. Ernie, who saw plenty of real Hells Angels when he was a cop in Phoenix back in the seventies, appreciates how deeply patient Beezer St. Pierre and his crew have been. But of course, they are not Hells Angels, or Pagans, or Beasts on Bikes, or any of that nonsense. Ernie doesn't know exactly what they are, but he knows that they listen to Beezer, and he suspects that Beezer's patience is growing thin. Ernie knows his would be by now. â€Å"Well, then, come on in,† Ernie says, clapping the big man on the shoulder. â€Å"Let's see what's shaking.† Quite a lot, as it turns out. Dale finds he is able to think quickly and clearly. His earlier fear has left him, partly because the fuckup has already happened and the case the official case, anyway has been taken away from him. Mostly because he knows he can now call on Jack if he needs to, and Jack will answer. Jack's his safety net. He listens to Railsback's description of the Polaroids mostly letting the old fella vent and settle a bit and then asks a single question about the two photos of the boy. â€Å"Yellow,† Railsback replies with no hesitation. â€Å"The shirt was yellow. I could read the word Kiwanis on it. Nothing else. The . . . the blood . . .† Dale says he understands, and tells Railsback an officer will join them shortly. There is the sound of the phone shifting hands, and then Fine is in his ear a fellow Dale knows and doesn't much care for. â€Å"What if he comes back, Chief ? What if Potter comes back here to the hotel?† â€Å"Can you see the lobby from where you are?† â€Å"No.† Petulant. â€Å"We're in the office. I told you that.† â€Å"Then go out front. Look busy. If he comes in â€Å" â€Å"I don't want to do that. If you'd seen those pitchers, you wouldn't want to do it, either.† â€Å"You don't have to say boo to him,† Dale says. â€Å"Just call if he goes by.† â€Å"But â€Å" â€Å"Hang up the telephone, sir. I've got a lot to do.† Sarah has put her hand on her husband's shoulder. Dale puts his free one over hers. There is a click in his ear, loud enough to sound disgruntled. â€Å"Bobby, are you on?† â€Å"Right here, Chief. Debbi, too, and Dit. Oh, and Ernie just walked in.† He lowers his voice. â€Å"He's got one of those motorcycle boys with him. The one who calls himself Doc.† Dale thinks furiously. Ernie, Debbi, Dit, and Bobby: all in uniform. Not good for what he wants. He comes to a sudden decision and says, â€Å"Put the hogger on.† â€Å"What?† â€Å"You heard me.† A moment later he's talking to Doc Amberson. â€Å"You want to help bust the fucker who killed Armand St. Pierre's little girl?† â€Å"Hell, yes.† No hesitation. â€Å"All right: don't ask questions and don't make me repeat myself.† â€Å"I'm listening,† Doc says crisply. â€Å"Tell Officer Dulac to give you the blue cell phone in evidence storage, the one we took off the doper who skipped. He'll know the one I mean.† If anyone tries to star-69 a call originating from that phone, Dale knows, they won't be able to trace it back to his shop, and that's just as well. He is, after all, supposed to be off the case. â€Å"Blue cell phone.† â€Å"Then walk down to Lucky's Tavern, next to the Nelson Hotel.† â€Å"I got my bike â€Å" â€Å"No. Walk. Go inside. Buy a lottery ticket. You'll be looking for a tall man, skinny, salt-and-pepper hair, about seventy, khaki pants, maybe a khaki shirt, too. Most likely alone. His favorite roost is between the jukebox and the little hall that goes to the johns. If he's there, call the station. Just hit 911. Got all that?† â€Å"Yeah.† â€Å"Go. Really shuck your buns, Doctor.† Doc doesn't even bother to say good-bye. A moment later, Bobby's back on the phone. â€Å"What are we gonna do, Dale?† â€Å"If he's there, we're gonna take the son of a bitch,† Dale says. He's still under control, but he can feel his heartbeat accelerating, really starting to crank. The world stands out before him with a brilliance that hasn't been there since the first murder. He can feel every finger of his wife's hand on his shoulder. He can smell her makeup and her hairspray. â€Å"Get Tom Lund. And lay out three of the Kevlar vests.† He thinks that over, then says: â€Å"Make it four.† â€Å"You're going to call Hollywood?† â€Å"Yeah,† he says, â€Å"but we're not gonna wait for him.† On that he hangs up. Because he wants to bolt, he makes himself stand still for a moment. Takes a deep breath. Lets it out, then takes another. Sarah grasps his hands. â€Å"Be careful.† â€Å"Oh yeah,† Dale says. â€Å"You can take that to the bank.† He starts for the door. â€Å"What about Jack?† she calls. â€Å"I'll get him from the car,† he says without slowing. â€Å"If God's on our side, we'll have the guy in lockup before he makes it halfway to the station.† Five minutes later, Doc is standing at the bar in Lucky's, listening to Trace Adkins sing â€Å"I Left Something Turned On at Home† and scratching a Wisconsin instant-winner ticket. It actually is a winner ten bucks but most of Doc's attention is focused in the direction of the juke. He bops his shaggy head a little bit, as if he's really getting off on this particular example of Shitkicker Deluxe. Sitting at the table in the corner with a plate of spaghetti in front of him (the sauce as red as a nosebleed) and a pitcher of beer close at hand is the man he's looking for: tall even sitting down, skinny, lines grooving his tanned hound dog's face, salt-and-pepper hair neatly combed back. Doc can't really see the shirt, because the guy's got a napkin tucked into the collar, but the long leg sticking out from under the table is dressed in khaki. If Doc was entirely sure this was the baby-killing puke who did Amy, he'd make a citizen's arrest right now an extremely rough one. Fuck the cops and their Miranda shit. But maybe the guy's only a witness, or an accomplice, or something. He takes his ten-spot from the bartender, turns down the suggestion that he stay for a beer, and strolls back out into the fog. Ten steps up the hill, he takes the blue cell phone from his pocket and dials 911. This time it's Debbi who answers. â€Å"He's there,† Doc says. â€Å"What next?† â€Å"Bring the phone back,† she says, and hangs up. â€Å"Well, fuck you very much,† Doc says mildly. But he'll be a good boy. He'll play by their rules. Only first He dials another number on the blue phone (which has one more chore to do before it passes out of our tale forever) and Bear Girl answers. â€Å"Put him on, sweetness,† he says, hoping she won't tell him that Beezer's gone down to the Sand Bar. If the Beez ever goes down there alone, it'll be because he's after one thing. A bad thing. But a moment later Beezer's voice is in his ear rough, as if he's been crying. â€Å"Yeah? What?† â€Å"Round 'em up and get your heavyset ass down to the police station parking lot,† Doc tells him. â€Å"I'm not a hunnert percent certain, but I think they might be getting ready to nail the motherfucker done it. I might even have seen â€Å" Beezer is gone before Doc can get the phone off his ear and push the OFF button. He stands in the fog, looking up at the bleary lights of the French Landing cop shop, wondering why he didn't tell Beezer and the boys to meet him outside of Lucky's. He supposes he knows the answer. If Beezer got to that old guy before the cops, spaghetti might turn out to be the old guy's last meal. Better to wait, maybe. Wait and see. There's nothing but a fine mist on Herman Street, but the soup thickens almost as soon as Dale turns toward downtown. He turns on his parking lights, but they're not enough. He goes to low beams, then calls Jack's. He hears the recorded announcement start, kills the call, and dials Uncle Henry's. And Uncle Henry answers. In the background, Dale can hear a howling fuzz-tone guitar and someone growling â€Å"Gimme back my dog!† over and over. â€Å"Yes, he's just arrived,† Henry allows. â€Å"We're currently in the Musical Appreciation phase of our evening. Literature to follow. We've reached a critical juncture in Bleak House Chesney Wold, the Ghost's Walk, Mrs. Rouncewell, all of that and so unless your need is actually urgent â€Å" â€Å"It is. Put him on now, Unc.† Henry sighs. â€Å"Oui, mon capitaine.† A moment later he's talking to Jack, who of course agrees to come at once. This is good, but French Landing's police chief finds some of his friend's reactions a trifle puzzling. No, Jack doesn't want Dale to hold the arrest until he arrives. Very considerate of him to ask, also very considerate of Dale to have saved him a Kevlar vest (part of the law enforcement booty showered on the FLPD and thousands of other small police departments during the Reagan years), but Jack believes Dale and his men can nab George Potter without much trouble. The truth is, Jack Sawyer seems only slightly interested in George Potter. Ditto the horrific photos, although they must certainly be authentic; Railsback has I.D.'d Johnny Irkenham's yellow Kiwanis Little League shirt, a detail never given to the press. Even the loathsome Wen-dell Green never ferreted out that particular fact. What Jack asks about not once but several times is the guy Andy Railsback saw in the hallway. â€Å"Blue robe, one slipper, and that's all I know!† Dale is finally forced to admit. â€Å"Jesus, Jack, what does it matter? Listen, I have to get off the telephone.† â€Å"Ding-dong,† Jack replies, equably enough, and rings off. Dale turns into the foggy parking lot. He sees Ernie Therriault and the biker-brewer called Doc standing outside the back door, talking. They are little more than shadows in the drifting fog. Dale's conversation with Jack has left him feeling very uneasy, as if there are huge clues and signposts that he (dullard that he is) has entirely missed. But what clues? For Christ's sake, what signposts? And now a dash of resentment flavors his unease. Perhaps a high-powered Lucas Davenport type like Jack Sawyer just can't believe in the obvious. Perhaps guys like him are always more interested in the dog that doesn't bark. Sound travels well in the fog, and halfway to the station's back door, Dale hears motorcycle engines explode into life down by the river. Down on Nailhouse Row. â€Å"Dale,† Ernie says. He nods a greeting as if this were any ordinary evening. â€Å"Hey, Chief,† Doc chips in. He's smoking an unfiltered cigarette, looks to Dale like a Pall Mall or a Chesterfield. Some doctor, Dale thinks. â€Å"If I may egregiously misquote Misterogers,† Doc goes on, â€Å"it's a beautiful night in the neighborhood. Wouldn't you say?† â€Å"You called them,† Dale says, jerking his head in the direction of the revving motorcycles. Two pairs of headlights swing into the parking lot. Dale sees Tom Lund behind the wheel of the first car. The second vehicle is almost certainly Danny Tcheda's personal. The troops are gathering once more. Hopefully this time they can avoid any cataclysmic fuckups. They better. This time they could be playing for all the marbles. â€Å"Well, I couldn't comment on that directly,† Doc says, â€Å"but I could ask, If they were your friends, what would you do?† â€Å"Same damn thing,† Dale says, and goes inside. Henry Leyden once more sits primly in the passenger seat of the Ram pickup. Tonight he's dressed in an open-collared white shirt and a pair of trim blue khakis. Slim as a male model, silvering hair combed back. Did Sydney Carton look any cooler going to the guillotine? Even in Charles Dickens's mind? Jack doubts it. â€Å"Henry â€Å" â€Å"I know,† Henry says. â€Å"Sit here in the truck like a good little boy until I'm called.† â€Å"With the doors locked. And don't say Oui, mon capitaine. That one's wore out.† â€Å"Will affirmative do?† â€Å"Nicely.† The fog thickens as they near town, and Jack dips his headlights high beams are no good in this shit. He looks at the dashboard clock. 7:03 P.M. Things are speeding up. He's glad. Do more, think less, Jack Sawyer's recipe for E-Z care sanity. â€Å"I'll whisk you inside as soon as they've got Potter jugged.† â€Å"You don't expect them to have a problem with that, do you?† â€Å"No,† Jack says, then changes the subject. â€Å"You know, you surprised me with that Slobberbone record.† He can't really call it a song, not when the lead vocalist simply shrieked most of the lyrics at the top of his lungs. â€Å"That was good.† â€Å"It's the lead guitar that makes the record,† Henry says, picking up on Jack's careful use of the word. â€Å"Surprisingly sophisticated. Usually the best you can hope for is in tune.† He unrolls his window, sticks his head out like a dog, then pulls it back in. Speaking in that same conversational voice, he says: â€Å"The whole town reeks.† â€Å"It's the fog. It pulls up the river's stinkiest essence.† â€Å"No,† Henry replies matter-of-factly, â€Å"it's death. I smell it, and I think you do, too. Only maybe not with your nose.† â€Å"I smell it,† Jack admits. â€Å"Potter's the wrong man.† â€Å"I think so.† â€Å"The man Railsback saw was a Judas goat.† â€Å"The man Railsback saw was almost certainly the Fisherman.† They drive in silence for a while. â€Å"Henry?† â€Å"Affirmative.† â€Å"What's the best record? The best record and the best song?† Henry thinks about it. â€Å"Do you realize what a dreadfully personal question that is?† â€Å"Yes.† Henry thinks some more, then says: † ‘Stardust,' maybe. Hoagy Carmichael. For you?† The man behind the wheel thinks back, all the way back to when Jacky was six. His father and Uncle Morgan had been the jazz fiends; his mother had had simpler tastes. He remembers her playing the same song over and over one endless L.A. summer, sitting and looking out the window and smoking. Who is that lady, Mom? Jacky asks, and his mother says, Patsy Cline. She died in an airplane crash. † ‘Crazy Arms,' † Jack says. â€Å"The Patsy Cline version. Written by Ralph Mooney and Chuck Seals. That's the best record. That's the best song.† Henry says no more for the rest of the drive. Jack is crying. Henry can smell his tears. Let us now take the wider view, as some politician or other no doubt said. We almost have to, because things have begun to overlap. While Beezer and the rest of the Thunder Five are arriving in the FLPD parking lot just off Sumner Street, Dale and Tom Lund and Bobby Dulac bulky in their Kevlar vests are double-parking in front of Lucky's. They park in the street because Dale wants plenty of room to swing the back door of the cruiser wide, so that Potter can be bundled in as fast as possible. Next door, Dit Jesperson and Danny Tcheda are at the Nelson Hotel, where they will cordon off room 314 with yellow POLICE LINE tape. Once that's done, their orders are to bring Andy Railsback and Morty Fine to the police station. Inside the police station, Ernie Therriault is calling WSP officers Brown and Black, who will arrive after the fact . . . and if they're pissed about that, good deal. At the Sand Bar, a dead-eyed Tansy Freneau has just pulled the plug on the jukebox, killing the Wallfl owers. â€Å"Listen to me, everybody!† she cries in a voice that's not her own. â€Å"They've got him! They've got the baby-murdering son of a bitch! His name's Potter! They'll have him up in Madison by midnight, and unless we do something, some smart lawyer will have him back out on the street by next Monday! WHO WANTS TO HELP ME DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT?† There is a moment of silence . . . and then a roar. The half-stoned, half-drunk habitu? ¦s of the Sand Bar know exactly what they want to do about it. Jack and Henry, meanwhile, with no fog to slow them down until they hit town, swing into the police station parking lot just behind the Thunder Five, who park in a line around Doc's Fat Boy. The lot is filling up rapidly, mostly with cops' personal vehicles. Word of the impending arrest has spread like fire in dry grass. Inside, one of Dale's crew we need not bother with exactly which one spots the blue cell phone Doc used outside Lucky's. This cop grabs it and ducks into the closet-sized room marked EVIDENCE STORAGE. At the Oak Tree Inn, where he has checked in for the duration of the Fisherman case, Wendell Green is getting sullenly drunk. In spite of three double whiskeys, his neck still aches from having his camera pulled off by the biker asshole, and his gut still aches from being sucker punched by the Hollywood asshole. The parts of him that hurt most of all, however, are his pride and his pocketbook. Sawyer concealed evidence just as sure as shit sticks to a blanket. Wendell is halfway to believing that Sawyer himself is the Fisherman . . . but how can he prove either thing with his film gone? When the bartender says he has a call, Wendell almost tells him to stick the call up his ass. But he's a professional, goddamnit, a professional news hawk, and so he goes over to the bar and takes the phone. â€Å"Green,† he growls. â€Å"Hello, asshole,† says the cop with the blue cell phone. Wendell doesn't yet know his caller is a cop, only that it's some cheery ghoul poaching on his valuable drinking time. â€Å"You want to print some good news for a change?† â€Å"Good news doesn't sell papers, my pal.† â€Å"This will. We caught the guy.† â€Å"What?† In spite of the three doubles, Wendell Green is suddenly the most undrunk man on the planet. â€Å"Did I stutter?† The caller is positively gloating, but Wendell Green no longer cares. â€Å"We caught the Fisherman. Not the staties, not the Feebs, us. Name's George Potter. Early seventies. Retired builder. Had Polaroids of all three dead kids. If you hustle, you can maybe be here to snap the picture when Dale takes him inside.† This thought this shining possibility explodes in Wendell Green's head like a firework. Such a photo could be worth five times as much as one of little Irma's corpse, because the reputable mags would want it. And TV! Also, think of this: What if someone shot the bastard as Marshall Dillon was taking him in? Given the town's mood, it's far from impossible. Wendell has a brief and brilliant memory of Lee Harvey Oswald clutching his stomach, mouth open in his dying yawp. â€Å"Who is this?† he blurts. â€Å"Officer Fucking Friendly,† the voice on the other end says, and clicks off. In Lucky's Tavern, Patty Loveless is now informing those assembled (older than the Sand Bar crowd, and a good deal less interested in non-alcoholic substances) that she can't get no satisfaction and her tractor can't get no traction. George Potter has finished his spaghetti, neatly folded his napkin (which in the end had to catch only a single drop of red-sauce), and turned seriously to his beer. Sitting close to the juke as he is, he doesn't notice that the room has quieted with the entrance of three men, only one in uniform but all three armed and wearing what look too much like bulletproof vests to be anything else. â€Å"George Potter?† someone says, and George looks up. With his glass in one hand and his pitcher of suds in the other, he is a sitting duck. â€Å"Yeah, what about it?† he asks, and then he is snatched by the arms and shoulders and yanked from his spot. His knees connect with the bottom of the table, overturning it. The spaghetti plate and the pitcher hit the floor. The plate shatters. The pitcher, made of sterner stuff, does not. A woman screams. A man says, â€Å"Yow!† in a low and respectful voice. Potter holds on to his partly filled glass for a moment, and then Tom Lund plucks this potential weapon from his hand. A second later, Dale Gilbertson is snapping on the cuffs, and Dale has time to think that it's the most satisfying sound he's ever heard in his life. His tractor has finally gotten some traction, by God. This deal is light-years from the snafu at Ed's; this is slick and tidy. Less than ten seconds after Dale asked the only question â€Å"George Potter?† the suspect is out the door and into the fog. Tom has one elbow, Bobby the other. Dale is still rattling off the Miranda warning, sounding like an auctioneer on amphetamines, and George Potter's feet never touch the sidewalk. Jack Sawyer is fully alive for the first time since he was twelve years old, riding back from California in a Cadillac Eldorado driven by a werewolf. He has an idea that later on he will pay a high price for this regained vividness, but he hopes he will just button his lip and fork over when the time comes. Because the rest of his adult life now seems so gray. He stands outside his truck, looking in the window at Henry. The air is dank and already charged with excitement. He can hear the blue-white parking lot lights sizzling, like something frying in hot juices. â€Å"Henry.† â€Å"Affirmative.† â€Å"Do you know the hymn ‘Amazing Grace'?† â€Å"Of course I do. Everyone knows ‘Amazing Grace.' â€Å" Jack says, † ‘Was blind but now I see.' I understand that now.† Henry turns his blind, fearfully intelligent face toward Jack. He is smiling. It is the second-sweetest smile Jack has ever seen. The blue ribbon still goes to Wolf, that dear friend of his wandering twelfth autumn. Good old Wolf, who liked everything right here and now. â€Å"You're back, aren't you?† Standing in the parking lot, our old friend grins. â€Å"Jack's back, that's affirmative.† â€Å"Then go do what you came back to do,† Henry says. â€Å"I want you to roll up the windows.† â€Å"And not be able to hear? I think not,† Henry tells him, pleasantly enough. More cops are coming, and this time the blue lights of the lead car are flashing and the siren is blurping. Jack detects a celebratory note to those little blurps and decides he doesn't have time to stand here arguing with Henry about the Ram's windows. He heads for the back door of the police station, and two of the blue-white arcs cast his shadow double on the fog, one dark head north and one south. Part-time officers Holtz and Nestler pull in behind the car bearing Gilbertson, Lund, Dulac, and Potter. We don't care much about Holtz and Nestler. Next in line is Jesperson and Tcheda, with Railsback and Morton Fine in the back seat (Morty is complaining about the lack of knee room). We care about Railsback, but he can wait. Next into the lot oh, this is interesting, if not entirely unexpected: Wendell Green's beat-up red Toyota, with the man himself behind the wheel. Around his neck is his backup camera, a Minolta that'll keep taking pictures as long as Wendell keeps pressing the button. No one from the Sand Bar not yet but there is one more car waiting to turn into the already crowded lot. It's a discreet green Saab with a POLICE POWER sticker on the left side of the bumper and one reading HUGS NOT DRUGS on the right. Behind the wheel of the Saab, looking stunned but determined to do the right thing (whatever the right thing might be), is Arnold â€Å"the Mad Hungarian† Hrabowski. Standing in a line against the brick wall of the police station are the Thunder Five. They wear identical denim vests with gold 5's on the left breast. Five sets of meaty arms are crossed on five broad chests. Doc, Kaiser Bill, and Sonny wear their hair in thick ponytails. Mouse's is cornrowed tonight. And Beezer's floods down over his shoulders, making him look to Jack a little like Bob Seger in his prime. Earrings twinkle. Tats flex on huge biceps. â€Å"Armand St. Pierre,† Jack says to the one closest the door. â€Å"Jack Sawyer. From Ed's?† He holds out his hand and isn't exactly surprised when Beezer only looks at it. Jack smiles pleasantly. â€Å"You helped big-time out there. Thanks.† Nothing from the Beez. â€Å"Is there going to be trouble with the intake of the prisoner, do you think?† Jack asks. He might be asking if Beezer thinks it will shower after midnight. Beezer watches over Jack's shoulder as Dale, Bobby, and Tom help George Potter from the back of the cruiser and begin walking him briskly toward the back door. Wendell Green raises his camera, then is nearly knocked off his feet by Danny Tcheda, who doesn't even have the pleasure of seeing which asshole he's bumped. â€Å"Watch it, dick-weed,† Wendell squawks. Beezer, meanwhile, favors Jack if that is the word with a brief, cold glance. â€Å"Wellnow,† he says. â€Å"We'll have to see how it shakes out, won't we?† â€Å"Indeed we will,† Jack agrees. He sounds almost happy. He pushes in between Mouse and Kaiser Bill, making himself a place: the Thunder Five Plus One. And perhaps because they sense he doesn't fear them, the two wide-boys make room. Jack crosses his own arms over his chest. If he had a vest, an earring, and a tattoo, he really would fit right in. The prisoner and his custodians kill the distance between the car and the building quickly. Just before they reach it, Beezer St. Pierre, spiritual leader of the Thunder Five and father of Amy, whose liver and tongue were eaten, steps in front of the door. His arms are still folded. In the heartless glare of the parking lot lights, his massive biceps are blue. Bobby and Tom suddenly look like guys with a moderate case of the flu. Dale looks stony. And Jack continues to smile gently, arms placidly crossed, seeming to gaze everywhere and nowhere at once. â€Å"Get out of the way, Beezer,† Dale says. â€Å"I want to book this man.† And what of George Potter? Is he stunned? Resigned? Both? It's hard to tell. But when Beezer's bloodshot blue eyes meet Potter's brown ones, Potter does not drop his gaze. Behind him, the lookie-loos in the parking lot fall silent. Standing between Danny Tcheda and Dit Jesperson, Andy Railsback and Morty Fine are gawking. Wendell Green raises his camera and then holds his breath like a sniper who's lucked into a shot just one, mind you at the commanding general. â€Å"Did you kill my daughter?† Beezer asks. The gentle inquiry is somehow more terrible than any raw yell could have been, and the world seems to hold its breath. Dale makes no move. In that moment he seems as frozen as the rest of them. The world waits, and the only sound is a low, mournful hoot from some fogbound boat on the river. â€Å"Sir, I never killed no one,† Potter says. He speaks softly and without emphasis. Although he has expected nothing else, the words still box Jack's heart. There is an unexpected painful dignity in them. It's as if George Potter is speaking for all the lost good men of the world. â€Å"Stand aside, Beezer,† Jack says gently. â€Å"You don't want to hurt this guy.† And Beezer, looking suddenly not at all sure of himself, does stand aside. Before Dale can get his prisoner moving again, a raucously cheerful voice it can only be Wendell's yells out: â€Å"Hey! Hey, Fisherman! Smile for the camera!† They all look around, not just Potter. They have to; that cry is as insistent as fingernails dragged slowly down a slate blackboard. White light strobes the foggy parking lot one! two! three! four! and Dale snarls. â€Å"Aw, fuck me till I cry! Come on, you guys! Jack! Jack, I want you!† From behind them, one of the other cops calls, â€Å"Dale! You want me to grab this creep?† â€Å"Leave him alone!† Dale shouts, and bulls his way inside. It's not until the door is closed behind him and he's in the lower hall with Jack, Tom, and Bobby that Dale realizes how certain he was that Beezer would simply snatch the old man away from him. And then crack his neck like a chicken bone. â€Å"Dale?† Debbi Anderson calls uncertainly from halfway down the stairs. â€Å"Is everything all right?† Dale looks at Jack, who still has his arms crossed over his chest and is still smiling his little smile. â€Å"I think it is,† Dale says. â€Å"For now.† Twenty minutes later, Jack and Henry (the latter gentleman retrieved from the truck and still reet-petite) sit in Dale's office. Beyond the closed door, the ready room roars with conversation and laughter: almost every cop on the FLPD force is out there, and it sounds like a god-damn New Year's Eve party. There are occasional shouts and smacking sounds that can only be relieved boys (and girls) in blue high-fiving each other. In a little while Dale will put a stop to that shit, but for now he's content to let them go ahead. He understands how they feel, even though he no longer feels that way himself. George Potter has been printed and stuck in a cell upstairs to think things over. Brown and Black of the State Police are on their way. For now, that is enough. As for triumph . . . well, something about his friend's smile and his faraway eyes have put triumph on hold. â€Å"I didn't think you were going to give Beezer his moment,† Jack says. â€Å"It's a good thing you did. There might have been trouble right here in River City if you'd tried to face him down.† â€Å"I suppose I have a better idea tonight of how he feels,† Dale replies. â€Å"I lost track of my own kid tonight, and it scared the living shit out of me.† â€Å"David?† Henry cries, leaning forward. â€Å"Is David okay?† â€Å"Yeah, Uncle Henry, Dave's fine.† Dale returns his gaze to the man who now lives in his father's house. He's remembering the first time Jack ever laid eyes on Thornberg Kinderling. Dale had at that point known Jack only nine days long enough to form some favorable opinions, but not long enough to realize how really extraordinary Jack Sawyer was. That was the day Janna Massengale at the Taproom told Jack about the trick Kinderling did when he was getting squiffy, that little trick of pinching his nostrils shut with his palm turned out to the world. They had just arrived back at the police station from interviewing Janna, Dale in his personal unit that day, and he'd touched Jack on the shoulder just as Jack was about to get out of the car. â€Å"Speak a name, see the face it belongs to before suppertime, that's what my mother used to say.† He pointed down to Second Street, where a broad-shouldered bald fellow had just come out of News ‘n Notions, a newspaper under his arm and a fresh deck of smokes in his hand. â€Å"That's Thornberg Kinderling, his very own self.† Jack had bent forward without speaking, looking with the sharpest (and perhaps the most merciless) eyes Dale had ever seen in his life. â€Å"Do you want to approach him?† Dale had asked. â€Å"No. Hush.† And Jack simply sat with one leg in Dale's car and one out of it, not moving, eyes narrowed. So far as Dale could tell, he didn't even breathe. Jack watched Kinderling open his cigarettes, tap one out, put it in his mouth, and light it. He watched Kinderling glance at the headline of the Herald and then saunter to his own car, an all-wheel-drive Subaru. Watched him get in. Watched him drive away. And by that time, Dale realized he was holding his own breath. â€Å"Well?† he'd asked when the Kinderling-mobile was gone. â€Å"What do you think?† And Jack had said, â€Å"I think he's the guy.† Only Dale had known better. Even then he had known better. Jack was saying I think only because he and Chief Dale Gilbertson of French Landing, Wisconsin, were still on short terms, getting-to-know-you, getting-to-work-with-you terms. What he had meant was I know. And although that was impossible, Dale had quite believed him. Now, sitting in his office with Jack directly across the desk from him his reluctant but scarily gifted deputy Dale asks, â€Å"What do you think? Did he do it?† â€Å"Come on, Dale, how can I â€Å" â€Å"Don't waste my time, Jack, because those assholes from WSP are going to be here any minute and they'll take Potter heigh-ho over the hills. You knew it was Kinderling the second you looked at him, and you were halfway down the block. You were close enough to Potter when I brought him in to count the hairs in his nose. So what do you think?† Jack is quick, at least; spares him the suspense and just administers the chop. â€Å"No,† he says. â€Å"Not Potter. Potter's not the Fisherman.† Dale has known that Jack believes this knew it from his face outside but hearing it is still an unhappy thump. He sits back, disappointed. â€Å"Deduction or intuition?† Henry asks. â€Å"Both,† Jack says. â€Å"And stop looking like I plugged your mother, Dale. You may still have the key to this thing.† â€Å"Railsback?† Jack makes a seesawing gesture with one hand maybe, maybe not, it says. â€Å"Railsback probably saw what the Fisherman wanted him to see . . . although the single slipper is intriguing, and I want to ask Rails-back about it. But if Mr. One-Slipper was the Fisherman, why would he lead Railsback and us to Potter?† â€Å"To get us off his trail,† Dale says. â€Å"Oh, have we been on it?† Jack asks politely, and when neither of them answers: â€Å"But say he thinks we're on his trail. I can almost buy that, especially if he just remembered some goof he might have made.† â€Å"Nothing back yet on the 7-Eleven phone one way or the other, if that's what you're thinking of,† Dale tells him. Jack appears to ignore this. His eyes gaze off into the middle distance. That little smile is back on his face. Dale looks at Henry and sees Henry looking at Jack. Unc's smile is easier to read: relief and delight. Look at that, Dale thinks. He's doing what he was built to do. By God, even a blind man can see it. â€Å"Why Potter?† Jack finally repeats. â€Å"Why not one of the Thunder Five, or the Hindu at the 7-Eleven, or Ardis Walker down at the bait shop? Why not Reverend Hovdahl? What motive usually surfaces when you uncover a frame job?† Dale thinks it over. â€Å"Payback,† he says at last. â€Å"Revenge.† In the ready room, a phone rings. â€Å"Shut up, shut up!† Ernie bellows to the others. â€Å"Let's try to act professional here for thirty seconds or so!† Jack, meanwhile, is nodding at Dale. â€Å"I think I need to question Potter, and rather closely.† Dale looks alarmed. â€Å"Then you better get on it right away, before Brown and Black † He comes to a halt, frowning, with his head cocked. A rumbling sound has impinged on his attention. It's low, but rising. â€Å"Uncle Henry, what's that?† â€Å"Motors,† Henry says promptly. â€Å"A lot of them. They're east of here, but coming this way. Edge of town. And I don't know if you've noticed this, but it sounds like the party next door is like, over, dude.† As if this were a cue, Ernie Therriault's distressed cry comes through the door. â€Å"Ohhhh, shit.† Dit Jesperson: â€Å"What's â€Å" Ernie: â€Å"Get the chief. Aw, never mind, I'll † There is a single perfunctory knock and then Ernie's looking in at the brain trust. He's as collected and soldierly as ever, but his cheeks have paled considerably beneath his summer tan, and a vein is pulsing in the middle of his forehead. â€Å"Chief, I just took a call on the 911, twenty was the Sand Bar?† â€Å"That hole,† Dale mutters. â€Å"Caller was the bartender. Says about fifty to seventy people are on their way.† By now the sound of approaching engines is very loud. It sounds to Henry like the Indy 500 just before the pace car runs for dear life and the checkered flag drops. â€Å"Don't tell me,† Dale says. â€Å"What do I need to make my day complete? Let me think. They're coming to take my prisoner.† â€Å"Umm, yes, sir, that's what the caller said,† Ernie agrees. Behind him, the other cops are silent. In that moment they don't look like cops at all to Dale. They look like nothing but dismayed faces crudely drawn on a dozen or so white balloons (also two black ones can't forget Pam Stevens and Bob Holtz). The sound of the engines continues to grow. â€Å"Also might want to know one other thing the caller said?† â€Å"Christ, what?† â€Å"Said the, um . . .† Ernie searches for a word that isn't mob. â€Å"The protest group was being led by the Freneau girl's mom?† â€Å"Oh . . . my . . . Christ,† Dale says. He gives Jack a look of sick panic and utter frustration the look of a man who knows he is dreaming but can't seem to wake up no matter how hard he tries. â€Å"If I lose Potter, Jack, French Landing is going to be the lead story on CNN tomorrow morning.† Jack opens his mouth to reply, and the cell phone in his pocket picks that moment to start up its annoying tweet. Henry Leyden immediately crosses his arms and tucks his hands into his armpits. â€Å"Don't hand it to me,† he says. â€Å"Cell phones give you cancer. We agreed on that.† Dale, meanwhile, has left the room. As Jack digs for the cell phone (thinking someone has picked a cataclysmically shitty time to ask him about his network television preferences), Henry follows his nephew, walking briskly with his hands now held slightly out, fingers gently fluttering the air, seeming to read the currents for obstacles. Jack hears Dale saying that if he sees a single drawn weapon, the person who drew it will join Arnie Hrabowski on the suspension list. Jack is thinking exactly one thing: no one is taking Potter anywhere until Jack Sawyer has had time to put a few pointed questions. No way. He flicks the cell phone open and says, â€Å"Not now, whoever you are. We've got â€Å" â€Å"Hidey-ho, Travelin' Jack,† says the voice from the phone, and for Jack Sawyer the years once more roll away. â€Å"Speedy?† â€Å"The very one,† Speedy says. Then the drawl is gone. The voice becomes brisk and businesslike. â€Å"And as one coppiceman to another, son, I think you ought to visit Chief Gilbertson's private bathroom. Right now.† Outside, there are enough vehicles arriving to shake the building. Jack has a bad feeling about this; has since he heard Ernie say who was leading the fools' parade. â€Å"Speedy, I don't exactly have the time to visit the facilities right n â€Å" â€Å"You haven't got time to visit anyplace else,† Speedy replies coldly. Only now he's the other one. The hard boy named Parkus. â€Å"What you're gonna find there you can use twice. But if you don't use it almighty quick the first time, you won't need it the second time. Because that man is gonna be up a lamppost.† And just like that, Speedy is gone. When Tansy leads the willing patrons into the Sand Bar's parking lot, there is none of the carnival raucousness that was the keynote of the cluster fuck at Ed's Eats & Dawgs. Although most of the folks we met at Ed's have been spending the evening in the Bar, getting moderately to seriously tanked, they are quiet, even funereal, as they follow Tansy out and fire up their cars and pickups. But it's a savage funereality. She has taken something in from Gorg some stone powerful poison and passed it along to them. In the belt of her slacks is a single crow feather. Doodles Sanger takes her arm and guides her sweetly to Teddy Runkleman's International Harvester pickup. When Tansy heads for the truck bed (which already holds two men and one hefty female in a white rayon waitress's uniform), Doodles steers her toward the cab. â€Å"No, honey,† Doodles says, â€Å"you sit up there. Be comfy.† Doodles wants that last place in the truck bed. She's spotted something, and knows just what to do with it. Doodles is quick with her hands, always has been. The fog isn't thick this far from the river, but after two dozen cars and trucks have spun out of the Bar's dirt parking lot, following Teddy Runkleman's dented, one-taillight I.H., you can barely see the tavern. Inside, only half a dozen people are left these were somehow immune to Tansy's eerily powerful voice. One of them is Stinky Cheese, the bartender. Stinky has a lot of liquid assets to protect out here and isn't going anywhere. When he calls 911 and speaks to Ernie Therriault, it will be mostly in the spirit of petulance. If he can't go along and enjoy the fun, by God, at least he can spoil it for the rest of those monkeys. Twenty vehicles leave the Sand Bar. By the time the caravan passes Ed's Eats (the lane leading to it cordoned off by yellow tape) and the NO TRESPASSING sign alongside the overgrown lane to that queer forgotten house (not cordoned off; not even noticed, for that matter), the caravan has grown to thirty. There are fifty cars and trucks rolling down both lanes of Highway 35 by the time the mob reaches Goltz's, and by the time it passes the 7-Eleven, there must be eighty vehicles or more, and maybe two hundred and fifty people. Credit this unnaturally rapid swelling to the ubiquitous cell phone. Teddy Runkleman, oddly silent (he is, in fact, afraid of the pallid woman sitting beside him her snarling mouth and her wide, unblinking eyes), brings his old truck to a halt in front of the FLPD parking lot entrance. Sumner Street is steep here, and he sets the parking brake. The other vehicles halt behind him, filling the street from side to side, rumbling through rusty mufflers and blatting through broken exhaust pipes. Misaligned headlights stab the fog like searchlight beams at a movie premiere. The night's dank wet-fish smell has been overlaid with odors of burning gas, boiling oil, and cooking clutch lining. After a moment, doors begin to open and then clap shut. But there is no conversation. No yelling. No indecorous yee-haw whooping. Not tonight. The newcomers stand in clusters around the vehicles that brought them, watching as the people in the back of Teddy's truck either jump over the sides or slip off the end of the tailgate, watching as Teddy crosses to the passenger d oor, at this moment as attentive as a young man arriving with his date at the junior prom, watching as he helps down the slim young woman who has lost her daughter. The mist seems to outline her somehow, and give her a bizarre electric aura, the same blue of the sodium lights on Beezer's upper arms. The crowd gives out a collective (and weirdly amorous) sigh when it sees her. She is what connects them. All her life, Tansy Freneau has been the forgotten one even Cubby Freneau forgot her eventually, running off to Green Bay and leaving her here to work odd jobs and collect the ADC. Only Irma remembered her, only Irma cared, and now Irma is dead. Not here to see (unless she's looking down from heaven, Tansy thinks in some distant and ever-receding part of her mind) her mother suddenly idolized. Tansy Freneau has tonight become the dearest subject of French Landing's eye and heart. Not its mind, because its mind is temporarily gone (perhaps in search of its conscience), but certainly o f its eye and heart, yes. And now, as delicately as the girl she once was, Doodles Sanger approaches this woman of the hour. What Doodles spotted lying on the floor of Teddy's truck bed was an old length of rope, dirty and oily but thick enough to do the trick. Below Doodles's petite fist hangs the noose that her clever hands have fashioned on the ride into town. She hands it to Tansy, who holds it up in the misty light. The crowd lets out another sigh. Noose raised, looking like a female Diogenes in search of an honest man rather than of a cannibal in need of lynching, Tansy walks delicate herself in her jeans and bloodstained sweatshirt into the parking lot. Teddy, Doodles, and Freddy Saknessum walk behind her, and behind them come the rest. They move toward the police station like the tide. The Thunder Five are still standing with their backs to the brick wall and their arms folded. â€Å"What the fuck do we do?† Mouse asks. â€Å"I don't know about you,† Beezer says, â€Å"but I'm gonna stand here until they grab me, which they probably will.† He's looking at the woman with the upraised noose. He's a big boy and he's been in a lot of hard corners, but this chick frightens him with her blank, wide eyes, like the eyes of a statue. And there's something stuck in her belt. Something black. Is it a knife? Some kind of dagger? â€Å"And I'm not gonna fight, because it won't work.† â€Å"They'll lock the door, right?† Doc asks nervously. â€Å"I mean, the cops'll lock the door.† â€Å"I imagine,† Beezer says, never taking his eyes from Tansy Freneau. â€Å"But if these folks want Potter, they'll have him on the half shell. Look at 'em, for Christ's sake. There's a couple of hundred.† Tansy stops, the noose still held up. â€Å"Bring him out,† she says. Her voice is louder than it should be, as if some doctor has cunningly hidden an amplifying gadget in her throat. â€Å"Bring him out. Give us the killer!† Doodles joins in. â€Å"Bring him out!† And Teddy. â€Å"Give us the killer!† And Freddy. â€Å"Bring him out! Give us the killer!† And then the rest. It could almost be the sound track of George Rathbun's Badger Barrage, only instead of â€Å"Block that kick!† or â€Å"On Wisconsin!† they are screaming, â€Å"BRING HIM OUT! GIVE US THE KILLER!† â€Å"They're gonna take him,† Beezer murmurs. He turns to his troops, his eyes both fierce and frightened. Sweat stands out on his broad forehead in large perfect drops. â€Å"When she's got 'em pumped up to high, she'll come and they'll be right on her ass. Don't run, don't even unfold your arms. And when they grab you, let it happen. If you want to see daylight tomorrow, let it happen.† The crowd stands knee-deep in fog like spoiled skim milk, chanting, â€Å"BRING HIM OUT! GIVE US THE KILLER!† Wendell Green is chanting right along with them, but that doesn't keep him from continuing to take pictures. Because shit, this is the story of a lifetime. From the door behind Beezer, there's a click. Yeah, they locked it, he thinks. Thanks, you whores. But it's the latch, not the lock. The door opens. Jack Sawyer steps out. He walks past Beezer without looking or reacting as Beez mutters, â€Å"Hey, man, I wouldn't go near her.† Jack advances slowly but not hesitantly into the no-man's-land between the building and the mob with the woman standing at its head, Lady Liberty with the upraised hangman's noose instead of a torch in her hand. In his simple gray collarless shirt and dark pants, Jack looks like a cavalier from some old romantic tale advancing to propose marriage. The flowers he holds in his own hand add to this impression. These tiny white blooms are what Speedy left for him beside the sink in Dale's bathroom, a cluster of impossibly fragrant white blossoms. They are lilies of the vale, and they are from the Territories. Speedy left him no explanation about how to use them, but Jack needs none. The crowd falls silent. Only Tansy, lost in the world Gorg has made for her, continues to chant: â€Å"Bring him out! Give us the killer!† She doesn't stop until Jack is directly in front of her, and he doesn't kid himself that it's his handsome face or dashing figure that ends the too loud repetition. It is the smell of the flowers, their sweet and vibrant smell the exact opposite of the meaty stench that hung over Ed's Eats. Her eyes clear . . . a little, at least. â€Å"Bring him out,† she says to Jack. Almost a question. â€Å"No,† he says, and the word is filled with heartbreaking tenderness. â€Å"No, dear.† Behind them, Doodles Sanger suddenly thinks of her father for the first time in maybe twenty years and begins to weep. â€Å"Bring him out,† Tansy pleads. Now her own eyes are filling. â€Å"Bring out the monster who killed my pretty baby.† â€Å"If I had him, maybe I would,† Jack says. â€Å"Maybe I would at that.† Although he knows better. â€Å"But the guy we've got's not the guy you want. He's not the one.† â€Å"But Gorg said â€Å" Here is a word he knows. One of the words Judy Marshall tried to eat. Jack, not in the Territories but not entirely in this world right now either, reaches forward and plucks the feather from her belt. â€Å"Did Gorg give you this?† â€Å"Yes â€Å" Jack lets it drop, then steps on it. For a moment he thinks knows that he feels it buzzing angrily beneath the sole of his shoe, like a half-crushed wasp. Then it stills. â€Å"Gorg lies, Tansy. Whatever Gorg is, he lies. The man in there is not the one.† Tansy lets out a great wail and drops the rope. Behind her, the crowd sighs. Jack puts his arm around her and again he thinks of George Potter's painful dignity; he thinks of all the lost, struggling along without a single clean Territories dawn to light their way. He hugs her to him, smelling sweat and grief and madness and coffee brandy. In her ear, Jack whispers: â€Å"I'll catch him for you, Tansy.† She stiffens. â€Å"You . . .† â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"You . . . promise?† â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"He's not the one?† â€Å"No, dear.† â€Å"You swear?† Jack hands her the lilies and says, â€Å"On my mother's name.† She lowers her nose to the flowers and inhales deeply. When her head comes up again, Jack sees that the danger has left her, but not the insanity. She's one of the lost ones now. Something has gotten to her. Maybe if the Fisherman is caught, it will leave her. Jack would like to believe that. â€Å"Someone needs to take this lady home,† Jack says. He speaks in a mild, conversational voice, but it still carries to the crowd. â€Å"She's very tired and full of sadness.† â€Å"I'll do it,† Doodles says. Her cheeks gleam with tears. â€Å"I'll take her in Teddy's truck, and if he don't give me the keys, I'll knock him down. I â€Å" And that's when the chant starts again, this time from back in the crowd: â€Å"Bring him out! Give us the killer! Give us the Fisherman! Bring out the Fisherman!† For a moment it's a solo job, and then a few other hesitant voices begin to join in and lend harmony. Still standing with his back against the bricks, Beezer St. Pierre says: â€Å"Ah, shit. Here we go again.† Jack forbade Dale to come out into the parking lot with him, saying that the sight of Dale's uniform might set off the crowd. He didn't mention the little bouquet of flowers he was holding, and Dale barely noticed them; he was too terrified of losing Potter to Wisconsin's first lynching of the new millennium. He followed Jack downstairs, however, and has now commandeered the peephole in the door by right of seniority. The rest of the FLPD is still upstairs, looking out of the ready-room windows. Henry has ordered Bobby Dulac to give him a running play-by-play. Even in his current state of worry about Jack (Henry thinks there's at least a 40 percent chance the mob will either trample him or tear him apart), Henry is amused and flattered to realize that Bobby is doing George Rathbun without even realizing it. â€Å"Okay, Hollywood's out there . . . he approaches the woman . . . no sign of fear . . . the rest of them are quiet . . . Jack and the woman appear to be talking . . . and holy jeezum, he's givin' her a bouquet of flowers! What a ploy!† â€Å"Ploy† is one of George Rathbun's favorite sports terms, as in The Brew Crew's hit-and-run ploy failed yet again last night at Miller Park. â€Å"She's turnin' away!† Bobby yells jubilantly. He grabs Henry's shoulder and shakes it. â€Å"Hot damn, I think it's over! I think Jack turned her off!† â€Å"Even a blind man could see he turned her off,† Henry says. â€Å"Just in time, too,† Bobby says. â€Å"Here's Channel Five and there's another truck with one of those big orange poles on it . . . Fox-Milwaukee, I think . . . and â€Å" â€Å"Bring him out!† a voice outside begins yelling. It sounds cheated and indignant. â€Å"Give us the killer! Give us the Fisherman!† â€Å"Oh nooo!† Bobby says, even now sounding like George Rathbun, telling his morning-after audience how another Badger rally had started to fizzle. â€Å"Not nowwww, not with the TV here! That's â€Å" â€Å"Bring out the Fisherman!† Henry already knows who that is. Even through two layers of chicken-wire-reinforced glass, that high, yapping cry is impossible to mistake. Wendell Green understands his job don't ever make the mistake of thinking he doesn't. His job is to report the news, to analyze the news, to sometimes photojournalize the news. His job is not to make the news. But tonight he can't help it. This is the second time in the last twelve hours that a career maker of a story has been extended to his grasping, pleading hands, only to be snatched away at the last second. â€Å"Bring him out!† Wendell bawls. The raw strength in his voice surprises, then thrills him â€Å"Give us the killer! Give us the Fisherman!† The sound of other voices joining in with his provides an incredible rush. It is, as his old college roommate used to say, a real zipper buster. Wendell takes a step forward, his chest swelling, his cheeks reddening, his confidence building. He's vaguely aware that the Action News Five truck is rolling slowly toward him through the crowd. Soon there will be 10-k's and 5-k's shining through the fog; soon there will be TV cameras rolling tape by their harsh light. So what? If the woman in the blood-spattered sweatshirt was in the end too chicken to stand up for her own kid, Wendell will do it for her! Wendell Green, shining exemplar of civic responsibility! Wendell Green, leader of the people! He begins to pump his camera up and down. It's exhilarating. Like being back in college! At a Skynyrd concert! Stoned! It's like There is a huge flash in front of Wendell Green's eyes. Then the lights go out. All of them. â€Å"ARNIE HIT HIM WITH HIS FLASHLIGHT!† Bobby is screaming. He grabs Dale's blind uncle by the shoulders and whirls him in a delirious circle. A thick aroma of Aqua Velva descends toward Henry, who knows Bobby's going to kiss him on both cheeks, French style, a second before Bobby actually does this. And when Bobby's narration resumes, he sounds as transported as George Rathbun on those rare occasions when the local sports teams actually buck the odds and grab the gold. â€Å"Can you believe it, the Mad Hungarian hit him with his ever-lovin' flashlight and . . . GREEN'S DOWN! THE FUCKIN' HUNGARIAN HAS PUT EVERYONE'S FAVORITE ASSHOLE REPORTER ON THE MAT! WAY TO GO, HRABOWSKI!† All around them, cops are cheering at the tops of their lungs. Debbi Anderson starts chanting â€Å"We Are the Champions,† and other voices quickly lend support. These are strange days in French Landing, Henry thinks. He stands with his hands in his pockets, smiling, listening to the bedlam. There's no lie in the smile; he's happy. But he's also uneasy in his heart. Afraid for Jack. Afraid for all of them, really. â€Å"That was good work, man,† Beezer tells Jack. â€Å"I mean, balls to the wall.† Jack nods. â€Å"Thanks.† â€Å"I'm not going to ask you again if that was the guy. You say he's not, he's not. But anything we can do to help you find the right one, you just call us.† The other members of the Thunder Five rumble assent; Kaiser Bill gives Jack a friendly bop on the shoulder. It will probably leave a bruise. â€Å"Thanks,† Jack says again. Before he can knock on the door, it's opened. Dale grabs him and gives him a crushing embrace. When their chests touch, Jack can feel Dale's heart beating hard and fast. â€Å"You saved my ass,† Dale says into his ear. â€Å"Anything I can do â€Å" â€Å"You can do something, all right,† Jack says, pulling him inside. â€Å"I saw another cop car behind the news trucks. Couldn't tell for sure, but I think this one was blue.† â€Å"Oh-oh,† Dale says. â€Å"Oh-oh is right. I need at least twenty minutes with Potter. It might not get us anything, but it might get us a lot. Can you hold off Brown and Black for twenty minutes?† Dale gives his friend a grim little smile. â€Å"I'll see you get half an hour. Minimum.† â€Å"That's great. And the 911 tape of the Fisherman's call, do you still have that?† â€Å"It went with the rest of the evidence we were holding after Brown and Black took the case. A trooper picked it up this afternoon.† â€Å"Dale, no!† â€Å"Easy, big boy. I've got a cassette copy, safe in my desk.† Jack pats his chest. â€Å"Don't scare me that way.† â€Å"Sorry,† Dale says, thinking, Seeing you out there, I wouldn't have guessed you were afraid of anything. Halfway up the stairs, Jack remembers Speedy telling him he could use what had been left in the bathroom twice . . . but he has given the flowers to Tansy Freneau. Shit. Then he cups his hands over his nose, inhales, and smiles. Maybe he still has them after all.