Cosmological Argument. The forms of cosmological arguments Essay

Cosmological Argument. The forms of cosmological arguments - Essay Example Cosmological arguments usually strive to explain the existence of God in many forms. Many philosophers in the past, from Aristotle and Kalam to Aquinas, tried to argue the existence of God in different ways (Taliaferro 21). The several forms of cosmological arguments usually explain the existence of God in the following ways: that there is the existence of things, that it is possible for the same things not to exist and that those that are non-existing, yet they exist, must have been caused to exist. On this note, it is an illogical fact that things cannot bring themselves into existence since they must exist to bring themselves into existence. The argument shows that an infinite number of causes that can bring something into existence cannot exist. This is because there is no initial cause of an infinite regression of causes, meaning that the cause of existence is not there. Cosmological arguments try to prove that the universe has a cause since it exists. This shows that all things have an uncaused cause, and the uncaused cause must be God (Craig and Moreland 52). The most successful cosmological argument is Thomas Aquinas’ argument of contingence. Aquinas (1225–1274) was a theologian born in Medieval Europe. ... One has to use all the five arguments since all of them form the basis of his argument (Craig and Moreland 56). The Argument from Motion Using the works of Aristotle, Aquinas through observation, concluded that any moving object is able to move because another supreme object or supreme force makes it move. He observed that there must have been a mover that was making the objects move. This mover must have been unmoved and it must have been God. Aquinas believed that of all the things that were moving, none could move itself. This means that nothing can move itself. He also noted that in order that all objects to be in motion, the first object to be in motion needed a mover. He also said that the mover was unmoved and was God and that movement cannot last forever. Aquinas believed that all things must be at rest and motion is unnatural. According to him, motion is any change that occurs, for example, growth, rotation, etc. He concluded that a supernatural power must have put the state of motion (Craig and Moreland 61). The Argument of Causation of Existence In the argument of causation of existence, Aquinas said that it was logical that nothing can create itself. There must have been a previous object, which created it. This first object must have been uncaused cause and it must have been God. He concluded that causation of all things that exist, are other things and that nothing can be the cause of itself. The things that cause other things to exist cannot be an endless string of objects; therefore, the first uncaused cause is God (Craig and Moreland 63). The Argument of Contingence The argument of contingence is the modal argument. Aquinas argued that an uncaused

Strategies in Teaching Literature Essay Example for Free

Strategies in Teaching Literature Essay Upon reading the introduction, I was interested to finish the entire reading. Not because it was assigned but because really I got excited and interested. As Rogoff says, (1990) ‘a child’s meaning construction involves a relation between the individual and the social and cultural environments in which each is inherently involved in the others definition. None exists separately.’(p.89). Which means, a person’s classroom practice and participation is related to the kind of environment that he has outside school. In my view, I would agree to what Rogoff has said, basing on my personal experience in the two types of school that I have attended. When I was in grade school, I have attended in both Private Catholic School and in an Elementary School in a small village. When I was in that private school, I lived in an exclusive subdivision with the cable TV as my best friend. If I’m not in school, I’ll be just at home watching the MTV Channel, Discovery Channel, HBO, and Cartoon Network. My friends visit rarely and if they do, we just play computer games or watch English movies. When I was forcibly transferred to a public school, I lived in a small village with no cable, no internet, no English movies and no computers or computer games. So when I am not in school, I’m with my friends and my cousins who only play birus, luksong-tinik and skipping rope. When I was in a private school, I notice that I participate less in any classroom or school activities. I only talk when called. When I was in a public school meanwhile, I love engaging in group activities whether it’s classroom or school. Well we can say that there are a lot of factors. And I think, undeniably, having been welcomed by peers and doing group activities outside school also developed my interpersonal skill. So it is a lot easier for me to participate in school activities. Who’s better at reading? I’d say that it’s definitely not because of gender that a person is good in reading. And I did not see reading as an activity for girls. I grew up in a family wherein I have never seen my mom read but my dad does. He reads the newspaper and legal books every morning. I have a brother but he abhors reading. He’d rather go out and play with his friends. We have a lot of books at home but I’d rather be in front of the television. If I am good in reading, that’s because I am good in listening, watching and most of all mimicking. I mimic those characters that I see on TV (good thing that I only watch English shows back then). I know a person who is very BAD with reading. He reads in a fragmented manner and ends up not understanding what he had read. He does not have books but owns a number of e-books. He said his dad reads self-help books but he never got interested in reading. He’d rather go out in the streets and play with friends. He also loves watching English movies which somehow explains why his English is phenomenal when he talks (sometimes he sounds like a native speaker) and how much his English sucks when he reads. In conclusion, the kind of environment that you have at home would manifest in your actions in school. A person’s society and culture at home greatly affects his or her performance in school. A person can be very good at school not because the school is great but because his home is or it can also be the other way around.

The Pros and Cons of the Industrial Revolution :: American America History

The Pros and Cons of the Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was a period in history when mankind found innovative and efficient ways of producing goods, manufacturing services and creating new methods of transportation. This not only revolutionized the way the market system functioned, but also changed the way people perceived their status in society and what they required as basic necessities. However, the price that humanity was forced to pay for the emergence of the Industrial Revolution greatly outweighed the rewards that accompanied it. Prior to the Industrial Age, the Western European market operated on a simple "putting-out" system. The average producer was able to manufacture a product in the same area that he or she lived on and the demand for that product was usually set by a few local consumers. The process was easy and simple, provided that the product being created was always required by someone else. However, the invention of Machinery and all of its accompanying peripherals allowed producers to start manufacturing on a mass scale. With factories placed in central locations of the townships (known as centralization), the previous system was dismantled and categorized into steps. No longer would one person be required to build, market or transport their product since the new system introduced the art of specialization. Specialization allowed a person to perform a single task and guarantee them wages as a source of income. However, as wonderful as this might seem, this new system led to the emergence of a n working class (proletariat) and forced them to depend on market conditions in order to survive as producers. Although seemingly content at first, those who became employed by these factories were immediately subjected to deplorable conditions. Arnold Toynbee made a scholarly assessment of this new wave of socio-economic behavior and concluded that the working class is suffering due to a series of hardships that make their lives miserable. He cited low wages, long hours, unsafe conditions, no provisions for old age, a discipline determined by machine and whole families being left with a low income rate as being a recurring problem that exploited the integrity and efficiency of Industrialization. This subsequently led to a period of "depersonalization" which meant that the employer-employee relationship was deteriorating in exchange for this new system. No longer could a worker befriend his boss or maintain a stable friendship since the divisions between their market classes made this al most impossible. One relied on the other for subsistence and therefore this dependency gave the property owners an upper edge in terms of negotiating income and support.

Origins, After/Otherworld & Codes Of Living Essay

Literature has been a useful way of understanding many aspects about the world and even the essence of the existence of mankind. The connection of literature with humanity can be evidently seen in different historical accounts of stories that have become famous internationally. These literary works may have been mythological, fantasy, religious or even non-fictional, but despite all of this. Finding greater realizations about man can be deeply understood within the confines of these stories. There can be similarities and differences that might appear at the stories. But sometimes, readers would find it surprising when he or she realizes the connections. To further understand man’s origins, understanding literature is one form of assistance. The contents within stories across the centuries of literature define and display messages about the possible origins of man. The following paragraphs showcase two examples of literary examples of the accounts of the creation of man. Genesis Then God said, â€Å"Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. † So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, â€Å"Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground. † (Genesis: 1: 26-28). Genesis, the initial part of the bible discusses the creation of everything. The book of Genesis made clear the importance of man and the explanation of how man came to be and how man should live. It stated clearly the purpose of man, to rule over the fish and the sea and the birds and every living creature. This account clearly states the importance of man and man’s role on earth. Greek Mythology’s Creation of Man â€Å"By now all was ready for the appearance of mankind. Even the places the good and bad should go to after death had been arranged. It was time for me to be created. There is more than one account of how that came to pass. Some say it was delegated by the gods to Prometheus, the Titan who had sided with Zeus in the war with the Titans, and to his brother, Epimetheus. Before making men he gave all the best gifts to the animals, strength and swiftness and courage and shrewd cunning, fur and feathers and wings and shells and the like – until no good was left for men, no protective covering and no quality to make them a match for the beasts. Prometheus, then, took over the task of creation and thought out a way to make mankind superior. He fashioned them in a nobler shape than the animals, upright like the gods; and then he went to heaven, to the sun. where he lit a torch and brought down fire, a protection to men far better than anything else, whether fur or feathers or strength or swiftness† (Hamilton, p. 71, 1942). The Creation of Man in Mythological description has been plenty. The above paragraph is just one account of man’s mythological creation. However, despite the various accounts, one common theme occurs, and that is man is created by the inspiration of the image of the gods. Death is inevitable.  One question that would come to mind to those who wonder about the afterlife is how does it look like? Is there such truth regarding life after death? These questions attract attention and interest. There are many literary accounts about the afterlife. Understanding them can help give a rather broad description or even just possible options of what the afterlife might really look like. Dante’s Divine Comedy This series shows the three phases of the afterlife according to Dante. Used in a 1st person point of view story-telling, Dante discusses the different places after a man dies. These places attributes to how man lived on earth. The places are the effect of life’s justice. The three places that were tackled are Hell, Purgatory and Paradise which is Heaven. Hell was described to have 9 circles, while Purgatory has 7 terraces, and then the 9 spheres of Heaven. Despite the religious transcription of the Divine Comedy, there are no other literary work that has become more influential about the afterlife than this work by Dante. It almost clearly describes the possibility of the afterlife. Greek Mythology Greek Mythology has been the product of classical literary work. Despite its mythological sense, there has been a good comparison with regards to the afterlife. Greek Mythology consists of the Heavens which is ruled by Zeus, the Waters which lorded over by Poseidon, and the Underworld which is under the control of Hades. The Underworld is the place for the dead. It’s description is a place of shadows and spirits. Most Greek Myths took place in the Underworld. Being considered as a place where the mortals live on after death, the concept of the afterlife is clear in this Greek Mythological place. There are many aspects of how man should live life. The Bible suggests a lot of stories that assists man in living the right kind of way. There are so many inspiring stories that advises how man should roam the earth and in the end reach the common goal of life. There are two striking accounts about the struggles in life but in the end achieving a positive result. The following literary accounts showcase stories about the remarkable aspect of life. These two stories display an interesting and enlightening statement about life.

10 Activities That Will Make Your Trip to Germany Special

10 Activities That Will Make Your Trip to Germany Special Top 10 Things to See and Do in Germany Travelers are often attracted by different exotic options and unexplored routes that promise new emotions and unforgettable impressions. It is quite understandable, since tourism has become very developed sphere and a life passion for many people. Though along with the original and extraordinary trip opportunities, Europe remains the unfailing focal point of sight-seeing. Its priceless architecture, cultural and art heritage and original atmosphere represent the endless source for touristic inspiration and attraction. If you made your decision in favor of the sophisticated European sights, in particular Germany, we will advise you ten things and places that you shouldn’t miss in this country. Visit the Semperoper Opera in Dresden Even if you are not very fond of opera and ballet, this opera is really worth seeing. It fascinates by magnificent architecture and luxurious interiors. Being built in 1841, it represents the historical, architectural and cultural masterpiece, which dazzles and astonishes its visitors with beauty. The Semperoper Opera offers numerous operas and ballet performances and you for sure will find something to your taste. Besides the very first opera, which was performed here is the opera written by German composer Carl Maria von Weber. Take a tour or buy a ticket to one of the performances and view this outstanding and pompous sight with your own eyes. Spend Spring in Bonn Spring is the special part of the year, which brings inspiration; desire to live, to create and to make something original in this world. Moreover, we are sure that if you meet spring in unique and remarkable places, it will endow you with a lot more impressions, encouragement and delight. Undoubtedly, Bohn is one of such places. Its Heerstrasse or Cherry Blossom Avenue is adored by all tourists in spring due to its pink splendid blossoms. In the Internet you can find thousands of photos of the Cherry Blossom Avenue but they can be hardly compared with viewing it in person. So if you have free April, head for Bohn, enjoy beauty of blossom, walk through the city center and visit famous Beethoven’s House, everything is nearby. Calm Nerves in the Tropical Islands Resort This place helps to change every day routine and take you away from all troubles. Here you forget about rush and schedule and enjoy dozens of entertaining activities for the whole family. The park is opened 24 hours a day and offers sandy beaches, waterfalls, rainforests, waterslides, the Shopping Boulevard and acrobatic performances. Here you become the combination of different activities and a great opportunity of entertainment this spring. Try Ski Jumping in Steinach This offer seems pretty risky and unsafe from the first side. However, no one is born with the ability and knowledge in a certain sphere. A lot of people search for new sources of emotions and adrenaline burst and ski jumping is the right thing. Rennsteig Outdoor Center in Steinach provides numerous courses and decent level of safety. Thus, we advise you to consider the possibility of having 150-meter ski jump this spring. Take Wine Tasting Tour in Cochem Cochem is famous by its vineyards and picturesque landscapes and if you like nature and wine, trip to this town will be a great choice. Go on foot or rent a bicycle and set out on a journey. Besides except wine tasting there are a lot of other things to do. The architecture in Cochem is remarkable and attractive; in particular Cochem’s Imperial Castle is one of its greatest masterpieces. The town is not big but there are a lot of things to see and to do, so this touristic destination is an excellent choice for a weekend trip. Hike in Saxon Switzerland Both professionals and amateurs will find great opportunity for hiking in the beautiful area along the Elbe River. There are about 1000 peaks, which attracts hikers with the awesome views. Especially, we should mention a famous and fascinating rock formation – Bastei. Wooden bridge, which connects several rocks, uncovers unforgettable and stunning views. Combine extreme experience with the fascination of the nature beauty in Saxon Switzerland and enjoy every moment of this. Go to Lichtenstein Castle Feeling attraction to medieval period of time, one should not miss an opportunity to visit the Lichtenstein Castle. It is situated on the cliff in Swabian Alps and is a beloved attraction for tourists. It is significant that by going to the castle you explore the history and admire the nature. The interior of the castle represents armory, paintings, medieval furniture, you have everything to deep into the life of those times. Attend Cultural Events in Heidelberg Heidelberg is a popular tourist destination. The city offers for its visitors a lot of architectural attractions: Medieval and Baroque buildings, ruins of the famous Renaissance castle, the oldest university in Germany. However, architecture is not the only reason of influx of tourists. There are a lot of cultural events held in the city. They are various music, theater and art festivals and numerous entertaining and cultural events. Visit Bavarian Alps Are you looking for fresh mountain air and interesting activities that can distract you from academic or business activities? There is such place in southern Bavaria, where the Alps are situated. Here you can find a lot of outdoor activities: skiing and snowboarding in winter, cycling, hiking and camping in summer. Also there are a lot of different events, festivals and spa resorts. There is a wide choice for any preferences. Visit Munich Munich is the capital of Bavaria and is often called one of the most beautiful cities in Germany. It attracts visitors by its geographic location, since it is situated in the backdrop of the Alps. Munich has a remarkable architecture, outstanding museums and a lot of other interesting sites. In October Munich becomes the center of all beer lovers due to its annual beer festival. Munich is more than just a city, it is the spirit, and it is the atmosphere, which should be witnessed at least once in the life. As you see, there is a lot of exiting things to do in Germany this spring and all the year round. Do not miss your chance and indulge yourself with the unforgettable trips!

The Vietnam War Essays (426 words) - Vietnam War, Free Essays

The Vietnam War Essays (426 words) - Vietnam War, Free Essays The Vietnam War The Vietnam War was a brutal war that affected millions of people in many different countries. All wars start because their is a difference in people?s opinions, and the Vietnam War was no different. It started because France and a Vietnam leader, Ho Chi Minh, had a difference in opinion about the type of government Vietnam should have. To find out why the war broke out you will have to go back to the 1750?s. This is where the French started their so called protectorate state of Vietnam. For many years the people of Vietnam protested but could not organize into a force powerful enough to resist the French. Then in 1946 a communist educated individual called Ho Chi Minh organized the people of North Vietnam and drove out the French rulers in a war that took eight years. During peace settlements in Geneva they allowed North and South Vietnam to become separate nations, divided on the 17th parallel. This was only to last for two years. After two years the two countries would then vote on a common leader and reunite the two countries once more. This never happened. South Vietnam was afraid that a Communist leader would be chosen and the nation would be in ruins. Communist guerrillas in South Vietnam opposing the canceled election began attacks on Southern Vietnam and remaining French officials to gain co! ntrol of South Vietnam. If North Vietnam was to begin their invasion of South Vietnam the Communist ruler Ho Chi Minh was sure to have complete control over the nation and spread his ideas of communism to neighboring countries. The United States thought that this should not happen so in 1965 the president ordered the bombing of North Vietnam and the landing of US troops in South Vietnam. This then caused North Vietnam to send regular units to the South. That therefore, cause more US troops to become involved. All of this kept building and building until it was a full scale war. The main reason that the Vietnam War broke out was that the old imperial France thought they could keep a so called protectorate state without giving them any freedom. Then a communist leader came along that united the people and took over in the name of freedom. The U.S. thought that if Vietnam became communist then neighboring countries would soon follow. They did not want communism to spread so they tried to stop it. Stop it by war and it did not work out like they thought it would.

The Red Badge of Courage Book Summary

The Red Badge of Courage Book Summary The Red Badge of Courage was published by D. Appleton and Company in 1895, about thirty years after the Civil War ended. Author Born in 1871, Stephen Crane was in his early twenties when he moved to New York City to work for the New York Tribune. He was apparently fascinated and influenced by the people he observed living in the gritty art scene as well in the poverty-filled tenement housing. He is credited with being influential among the early American Naturalist writers. In his two major works, The Red Badge of Courage and Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, Cranes characters experience internal conflict and outside forces that overwhelm the individual. Setting The scenes take place in the fields and roads of the American South, as a Union regiment wanders through Confederate territory and encounters the enemy on the battlefield. In opening scenes, the soldiers wake slowly and seem to long for action. The author uses words like lazy, quaint, and retiring, to set the tranquil scene, and one soldier claims, Ive got ready to move eight times in the last two weeks, and we aint moved yet. This initial tranquility provides a sharp contrast to the harsh reality that the characters experience on the bloody battlefield in chapters to come. Main Characters Henry Fleming, the main character ( the protagonist). He undergoes the most change in the story, going from a cocky, romantic young man eager to experience the glory of war to a seasoned soldier who sees war as messy and tragic. Jim Conklin, a soldier who dies in an early battle. Jims death forces Henry to face his own lack of courage and reminds Jim of the stark reality of war. Wilson, a mouthy soldier who cares for Jim when he is wounded. Jim and Wilson seem to grow and learn together in battle. The wounded, tattered soldier, whose nagging presence forces Jim to face his own guilty conscience. Plot Henry Fleming begins as a naive young man, eager to experience the glory of war. He soon faces the truth about war and his own self-identity on the battlefield, however. As the first encounter with the enemy approaches, Henry wonders if he will be brave in the face of battle. In fact, Henry does panic and flee in an early encounter. This experience sets him on a journey of self-discovery, as he struggles with his conscience and re-examines his opinions about war, friendship, courage, and life. Although Henry fled during that early experience, he did return to the battle, and he escapes condemnation because of the confusion on the ground. He ultimately overcomes the fear and takes part in courageous acts.   Henry grows as a person by gaining a better understanding of the realities of war.   Questions to Ponder Think about these questions and points as you read the book. They will help you determine a theme and develop a strong thesis. Examine the theme of inner versus outer turmoil: What role does Henrys conscience play?What does Henry learn from each soldiers death? Examine male and female roles: What role does Henrys mother play?What does this novel suggest about our concepts of masculinity and courage? What does this novel suggest about our concepts of war? Possible First Sentences Sometimes, we have to come face to face with our fears to learn something about ourselves.Have you ever been really afraid?The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane, is a story about growing up.What is bravery? Sources: Caleb, C. (2014, Jun 30). The red and the scarlet.  The New Yorker,  90. Davis, Linda H. 1998.  Badge of Courage: The Life of Stephan Crane. New York: Mifflin.

Stratification of Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Stratification of Education - Essay Example According to Pierre Bourdieu, low income families lack enough to offer for their sons and daughters to use as other learners from affluent families. The best they can do is to offer good counsel and encouragement regarding the issue of education and lack of finances. The children might not get sufficient education because of lack of adequate resources or send them to higher institutions of learning like universities as would richer families. He also argues that lower middle class does emphasize on the values of education given the school does offer them a chance to achieve all they want through mixing of values from cultural prestige and social classes. An elimination process does occur in the time spent in school for getting of education. Chances of entering higher institutions of learning do vary depending on social classes. The son of a company manager has an 8 time likelihood of getting to university, as that of an agricultural worker, and forty times as that of a factory worker and twice as that son or child of an employee in a very low salaried grade of a staff. A family does transit either directly or indirectly to the children of that family. This means that children from low income families have a lesser likelihood of acquiring education because of the income disparity in the society. Middle class children get exhortation and encouragement from their families regarding school work but get an ethos of moving on and being ambitious in the society. Individuals without education that is sufficient become burdens to the society because financially they feel impacted. They will always want to live on others and spend what they have not worked for. The society feels a pinch because of such individuals given they play a negative role in building the society. In most cases, they strain the meager resources and finances that those who attended school have. This makes them be parasites, not only to

Organizing, Decision-Making, Ethics, and the Law in Management - Case Essay - 1

Organizing, Decision-Making, Ethics, and the Law in Management - Case Study - The Vacation Request [S3] - Essay Example Properly communicated and followed reporting lines result in better clarity of objectives and lesser instances of mismanagement occur with effective controlling and monitoring mechanisms enhancing productivity of employees. Small businesses establish themselves quickly but most of the time they fail to convert themselves in to large enterprises as they fail to adopt or practice the formal management structures and reporting lines, hence decision making is ineffective or prolonged and the owner is involved in micro management of issues. With properly defined roles, job descriptions and established reporting lines small businesses can enhance their operations with supervisors entrusted to manage their staff while senior management concentrates on core business planning activities. In the case study Harry should have informed Tom to take approval from his reporting authority, i.e. Luther Jones. In this particular instance the decision on whether the leave should be approved or not was not made by the competent authority. In fact the authority of Luther was bypassed; this issue de-motivates the manager and encourages employees to reach senior management for their small issues this phenomenon shifts the focus of senior management from core business to micro managing and a loss of trust occurs amongst all three parties. Harry would not trust Luther’s ability to supervise Tom, Luther would not trust Tom in future and would develop negative feelings for Harry and Tom and other team members would always look up to Harry for trivial decisions related to their own employment. All three parties share the blame in this instance, Tom should have followed the hierarchy, Harry should have consulted Luther or should have turned down Tom sending him to Luther for approval and Luther should have met and discussed his responsibilities with Harry in order to avoid such confusions. In

Islamic Sharia Law in Present Day Nigeria Essay

Islamic Sharia Law in Present Day Nigeria - Essay Example Whether devout or not, the rulers benefited from the opportunities associated with Islam: the wealth of the transSaharan trade, the spread of ideas from North Africa, and the ability to forge diplomatic relations with Muslim rulers elsewhere. Islam an established system of public revenue based on tax and a judiciary based on the Sharia law and the alkali courts, started presided over by learned Islamic jurists. The Islamic jurispudence or Sharia law was allowed to be followed, but people started to practice it by combining the sharia laws with their new existing beliefs and this was obviously in their own interest as they were used to mould their religion accordingly. No doubt Sharia has always been a notion of conflict among Muslims and Christians in Nigeria. As Islam was being introduced into northern Nigeria in the 14th century, Muslims applied the Islamic law Sharia to their everyday lifestyle as they were bound to do so being Muslims and even those Muslims who were in favor of religious freedom, they also felt it hard to cope up with the 'Sharia' law. The conflict started with the advent of British rule, when the Muslims started feeling unsecured with a disrupted legal system because Nigerian Muslims particularly those of North were not in a position to tolerate any obstruction in between them and the 'Sharia' but at the same time they were bound to follow the legal system according to which the Sharia courts came under the supervision of Europeans probably the Christians. While recognizing Sharia law and courts, the British also restricted them in several respects. The 1906 Proclamation limited the application of Sharia to Muslims and provided that these courts could not give certain punishments, such as mutilation, torture, or others which were repugnant to "natural justice and humanity." (Bello, 2000) These changes reflected at least two principles. One was a belief that certain previously existing Sharia criminal penalties were inhumane. The other was that criminal law is a public matter to be implemented by the state rather than by private or social action. Some further changes in the implementation of Sharia occurred in the Native Ordinance of 1956, officially known as the "Native Courts Law of Northern Nigeria, No. 6 of 1956." (Bello, 2000) This provided for appeals from the Sharia courts to courts of appeal that reflected a more British understanding of justice, and the Ordinance provoked disagreement with the traditional emirs, who objected to this limit on Sharia law. In an attempt to pacify the emirs, the British then established Sharia Courts of Appeal, which were meant to protect Islamic law from excessive encroachhment through appeal to English courts. (Bello, 2000) Though well maintained, these courts were looked after by Europeans and in line with colonial policy, the British established a Muslim court of appeal in 1956, which was empowered to deal with matters of Muslim personal law only. This court was renamed the Sharia court of appeal just before independence in 1960. (Adamu, 2004) On one hand the Sharia courts were running under British authority while

Policy Issues Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Policy Issues - Essay Example The foreign policy focuses more on the international relationships between countries. All policy makers should be wary of any unintended negative outcomes of policy decisions made. The world experienced the Great Recession of 2007 to 2009 describe by rise in inflation, loss of the dollar value to other foreign currencies and general stagnation of the US economy. This called for government involvement in saving the economy and other adverse effects of the recession. The then president, George Bush instructed government officials to come up with measures to save the economy. An economic policy was devised where the government used economic interventions such as comprehensive tax rebate, control of business entities and funding the Toxic Asset Relief Program. Controlling of businesses received significant amounts of resistant from conservative economists (Lind, & Tamas, 2006). This is because, they believed that businesses have the ability to act rationally and maximize efficiency and profit. As a result, profitability in business will eventually stabilize the economy. However, Bush’s administration was keen to indicate that the government played a role in the private sector business. Economists and conservative policy makers viewed the recession issue as a result of inadequate regulation in the financial industry of the USA. The perception on economic regulation changed since it offered an opportunity for recovery. Consequently, the policy makers decisively concluded that economic regulation would maintain a good level of equity in the country’s economic system. The regulation aimed at changing some tax laws, adjusting ownership of property, an implementing the concepts of individual accountability. However, the issue of ownership of property was believed to have led to the supreme mortgage crisis. Moreover, there were minimal measures to regulate the financial institutions especially for the individuals who could not afford owning property. The

Short Story and Art piece Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Short Story and Art piece - Essay Example This confusion starts as Mr. Conroy enters the house and is greeted by the housemaid, Lily. As she helps him with his coat, he attempts to make a connection with her, remembering a time when she was a little girl playing with dolls as he says, "I suppose well be going to your wedding one of these fine days with your young man." However, he is quickly and firmly turned away from such a connection as she responds, "the men that is now is only all palaver and what they can get out of you." This response denies any connection between the two characters at the same time that it causes the reader to question the intentions being expressed. Perhaps Mr. Conroy was trying to be flirtatious instead of just family? It is difficult to know for certain, thus calling into question whether this short story is communicating in a conventional way. As Gabriel goes upstairs to talk with the people there, he eventually meets up with a fellow university instructor, Miss Ivors, and she teases him about hi s clandestine writings for a conservative newspaper, calling him a West Briton and forcing him to admit he is sick of Ireland. When Miss Ivors leaves the party suddenly, "Gabriel asked himself was he the cause of her abrupt departure. But she did not seem to be in ill humour: she had gone away laughing." He continues to be confused until the end of the story, when he learns that his wife, who was transfixed by a song sung as they were leaving, is still missing an old lover she had before him who died after taking a chill waiting outside her window. This ending leaves the reader as perplexed as the character, trying to puzzle out what the meaning was intended to be and where the attention should have been focused. In much the same way, "Deep in the very heart of Africa" is a painting that provides very little context as to where the viewer is supposed to look. The art work presents what seems to be a diagonal maze stretched across a

Policy Issues Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Policy Issues - Essay Example The foreign policy focuses more on the international relationships between countries. All policy makers should be wary of any unintended negative outcomes of policy decisions made. The world experienced the Great Recession of 2007 to 2009 describe by rise in inflation, loss of the dollar value to other foreign currencies and general stagnation of the US economy. This called for government involvement in saving the economy and other adverse effects of the recession. The then president, George Bush instructed government officials to come up with measures to save the economy. An economic policy was devised where the government used economic interventions such as comprehensive tax rebate, control of business entities and funding the Toxic Asset Relief Program. Controlling of businesses received significant amounts of resistant from conservative economists (Lind, & Tamas, 2006). This is because, they believed that businesses have the ability to act rationally and maximize efficiency and profit. As a result, profitability in business will eventually stabilize the economy. However, Bush’s administration was keen to indicate that the government played a role in the private sector business. Economists and conservative policy makers viewed the recession issue as a result of inadequate regulation in the financial industry of the USA. The perception on economic regulation changed since it offered an opportunity for recovery. Consequently, the policy makers decisively concluded that economic regulation would maintain a good level of equity in the country’s economic system. The regulation aimed at changing some tax laws, adjusting ownership of property, an implementing the concepts of individual accountability. However, the issue of ownership of property was believed to have led to the supreme mortgage crisis. Moreover, there were minimal measures to regulate the financial institutions especially for the individuals who could not afford owning property. The

Lies my teacher told me- James Loewen Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Lies my teacher told me- James Loewen - Essay Example He says, â€Å"Some books go way beyond omitting the actor and leaving out the act itself† (Loewen 25). This paper shall seek to explain the key reasons as to why Loewen think that history textbooks used in the high school curriculum are giving students a raw deal. It will also examine the reasons as to why students seem to dislike history classes. Loewen asserts that much of American history isolates children of color in the manner they ignore that those who contributed greatly to the American history were not whites. He goes further to assert that the nature of history textbooks used in American high schools give insufficient information to students. This in turn affects the academic progress of students who join college to pursue History courses (J. W. Loewen). This is because most of the history classes in college are taken up fixing the information that the students acquired in the high school history lessons. He uses his book to analyze the textbook creation and adoption process, as well as explain causes that makes textbooks to turn out to be bad and of low quality. According to Loewen, history is a collection of stories and should not be boring. However, textbook companies have tendencies of leaving out information that reflect badly on the national character. He also connects the boring nature of history to the fact that â€Å"history textbooks do not use the present to illuminate the past† (Loewen). In this regard, students have difficulties comprehending the relevance and significance of history to their daily lives. Loewen also reveals that students dislike history since the subject is viewed as a morality play; thus, touchy areas in the society are not discussed or taught. He says, â€Å"There are three taboos in textbook publishing†¦social class, religion and sex†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Loewen 34). Loewen asserts that textbooks ignore several historical realities due to many reasons. The main

The Homo Erectus vs Modern Man Essay Example for Free

The Homo Erectus vs Modern Man Essay The 2002 discovery of a1. 77 million year old bones of an old man in Dmanisi, Georgia unveiled fertile grounds for a plethora of information about the Homo erectus. Dmanisi, a village characterized by its medieval ruins, is not far from Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital. Dmanisi has been the focus of archaeologists’ explorations since the early 1990s. Findings up to 2002 were typically comprised of early human fossils. The latest evacuations of 5 Homo erectus vertebrae in 2005 was even more infinitive providing anthropologists with a unique opportunity to make instructive comparisons to modern human beings. Anthropologist Marc Meyer from the University of Philadelphia together with David Lordkipandize and Abesalom Vekua from the Georgian State Museum in Tbilisi said that the vertebrae were compared to those of modern man, chimpanzees and gorillas. It is possible that the ancient Homo erectus spoke to one another. The Homo erectus’ remains unearthed at Dmanisi in 2005 and compared to modern man, chimpanzees and gorillas reveal that the ancient remains were capable of supporting respiratory organs that are necessary for oral speech. Although Meyer notes that it is not possible to prove that prehistoric man spoke, the Homo erectus remains evacuated at Dmanisi did not exhibit respiratory constraints relative to speech. The vertebrae of the Homo erectus, although significantly smaller than that of modern man is vastly similar. The similarities in vertebrae structures are indicative of similar human physical traits in terms of posture, mobility and quite possibly communication. This might explain why there is a large debate over the characterization of a 1. 6 million year old skeleton unearthed in Kenya in 1984. The skeletal remains were small and similar to that of a chimpanzee leaving some scientists to conclude that it was the remains of Homo ergaster rather than a Homo erectus. The fact is, scientists are more inclined to conclude that the Homo erectus was possessed of a speech-friendly physique. Previously, all other Homo genus forms were devoid of the vertebrae supportive of speech and had limited speech range. References Beers, K. ; Odell, L. ; Arpin, G. ; Brinnin, J. and Hermacki, T. (2003) Holt Literature and Language Arts. Holt, Rinehart and Winston Bower, B. and Lobdell, J. (2004) History Alive! Teachers’ Curriculum Institute. National Geographic (April 2005) â€Å"Human Erectus Discovery†. http://ngm. nationalgeographic. com/ngm/0504/feature2/gallery4. html (Retrieved July 7, 2010). The Dmanisi Site (n. d. ). http://www. donsmaps. com/dmanisi. html (Retrieved July 7, 2010).

The Manhattan Transcripts by Bernard Tschumi

The Manhattan Transcripts by Bernard Tschumi The Manhattan Transcripts proposed to show an architectural understanding of reality. Each point Tschumi aims to get across, is made through a series of three square panels, where photographs direct the action, plans, sections, etc. reveal the architectural construct, and diagrams indicate the movements of the main characters. The Transcripts are first and foremost a device with their explicit purpose being to transcribe things normally removed from conventional architectural representation, namely the complex relationship between spaces and their use; between the set and the script; between type and program; between objects and events. Their implicit purpose has to do with the twentieth-century city. The Transcripts try to offer a different reading of architecture in which space, movement, and events are separate, but standing in a new relationship with one another. This is meant to break down and rebuild the standard components of architecture along different axes. Tschumi takes th e Manhattan Transcripts program to formulate a plot based around a murder. MT 1 (Manhattan Transcripts 1) The Park is the first episode composed of twenty four sheets illustrating the drawn and photographed notation of a murder. The formula plot of the murder the lone figure stalking its victim, the murder, the hunt, the search for clues building up to the murderers capture. While the origin of MT 1 is in New Yorks Central Park, MT 2 The Street (Border Crossing) is based on 42nd street, from the Hudson to the East River. There are over a dozen different experiences along 42nd street by MT 2 does not represent these worlds, but the borders that describe them. Each border becomes a space with the events that it contains, with the movements that transgress it. In MT 3 The Tower (The Fall): This program proposes to highlight the fall of someone inside a common denominator like a home, office, prison, hotel or asylum. The set of drawings portrays someones flight and the preceding fall through the full height of a Manhattan tower block, its cells and its yards. The drastic change of perceptions caused by the fall is used to explore different spatial transformations and their typological distortions. In MT 4 The Block describes five inner courtyards of a simple city block witness contradictory events and programmatic impossibilities: acrobats, ice-skaters, dancers, soldiers, and football players all congregate and perform high-wire acts, games, or even the re-enactment of famous battles, in a context usually alien to their activity. Disjunctions between movements, programs, and spaces inevitably follow as each pursues a distinct logic, while their confrontations produce the most unlikely combinations. The Transcripts present three disjoined levels of reality at the same time: (i) The world of objects, composed of buildings abstracted from maps, plans, photographs; (ii) The world of movements, which can be abstracted from choreography, sport, or other movement diagrams; and (iii) The world of events, which is abstracted from news photographs. At first, the importance of each level depends only on how each is interpreted by the viewer, since each level can always be seen against the background of another. It appears to be the Transcripts argument that only the striking relationship between the three levels makes for the architectural experience. So entangled are these levels with one another that at any moment they are perfectly interchangeable. Making the Transcripts never attempt to rise above contradictions between object, man and event in order to bring them to a new synthesis; but instead, they aim to maintain these contradictions in a dynamic manner. Tschumi states, In their i ndividual state, objects, movement, events are simply discontinuous. Only when they unite do they establish an instant of continuity. Such disjunction implies a dynamic conception posed against a static definition of architecture, an excessive movement that brings architecture to its limits. Tschumis purpose of the tripartite mode of notation (events, movements, spaces) was to introduce the order of experience and the order of time (moments, intervals, sequences) for all inevitably intervene in the reading of the city. It is also seen as a need to question the modes of representation generally used by architects: plans, sections, axonometrics and perspectives. The insertion of movement into the overall architectural scheme meant that Tschumi had to breaking down some of the traditional components of architecture which permitted the independent manipulation of each new part according to narrative or formal considerations. For example, the plans of the Park, the section of the Street, the axonometrics of the Tower, the perspectives of the Block all follow (and sometimes question) the internal logic of their modes of representation. The compositional implications of an axonometric (an abstract projection according to the rules of descriptive geometry) are, as a result, widely different from those of a perspective with a single vanishing point. A particular case is explored in the forth episode of the Transcripts. As opposed to the plans, maps, or axonometrics used in the early episodes, the perspectiv al description of buildings is concomitant with their photographic record; the photograph acts as the origin of the architectural image. The perspective image is no longer a mode of three dimensional drawing, but the direct extension of the photographic mode of perception. The same applies to the movement notation. An extension from the drawn conventions of choreography, it attempts to eliminate the preconceived meanings given to particular actions so as to concentrate on their spatial effects: the movement of bodies in space. The early MTs introduce the idea of movement in general by freely improvising movement patterns, from the fugitives to the street-fighters. The last MT analyzes highly formalised movement diagrams of dancers, football players, skaters, army tacticians and acrobats. Rather than merely indicating directional arrows on neutral surface, the logic of movement notation ultimately suggests real corridors of space, as if the dancer had been carving space out of pliabl e substance; or the reverse, shaping continuous volumes , as if a whole movement had been literally solidified, frozen into a permanent and massive vector. Each event with in the Transcripts is represented by a photo, in an attempt to get to get the viewer closer to an objectivity which is often missing from architectural programs. Tschumi describes the Manhattan Transcripts as not an accumulation of events; they display a particular organisation. Their chief characteristic is the sequence, a composite succession of frames that confronts spaces, movement, and events, each with its own structure and inherent set of rules. The narratives implied by these composite sequences may be linear, deconstructed, or dissociated. MT 1 is linear, while MT 2 only appears to be so; MT 3 depicts two unrelated moments, while MT 4 exhausts the narrative, meaning it deconstructs programs in the same way that it deconstructs forms and movements. The Transcripts share a similarity to films. Both share a frame by frame technique, spaces are not only composed, but it is also developed from shot to shot so that the final meaning of each shot depends on its context. The relationship of one frame to the next is indispensable insofar as no analysis of any one frame can accurately reveal how the space was handled altogether. The Transcript s are thus not self-contained images. They establish a memory of the preceding frame, of the course of events. Their final meaning is cumulative; it does not depend merely on a single frame (such as a facade), but on succession of frames or spaces. In any case, the Transcripts always display at least two conflicting fields: first, the framing device square, healthy, conformist, normal and predictable, regular and comforting, correct. Second, the framed material, a place that only questions, distorts, compresses, displaces. Both are necessary. Neither is inherently special; neither communicates by itself. It is the play between them that does their distance and its occasional transgression, when the frame itself becomes the object of distortions. The frame permits the extreme formal manipulation of the sequence, for the content or congenial frames can be mixed up, superposed, faded in, cut up, giving endless possibilities to the narrative sequence. The last Transcript eliminates al l that is inessential to the architecture of the city. Spaces, movements, events are contracted into only fragments absolutely necessary to outline the overall structure. Since each frame is isolated from the next, architecture can begin to act as a series of surprises, a form of architectural jump-cut, where space is carefully broken apart and then reassembled at the limits. Tschumi records his classification of a number of words; two of them stand out, while researching the Manhattan Transcripts: Event: an incident, an occurrence; a particular item in a programme. Events can encompass particular uses, singular functions or isolated activities. They include moments of passion, acts of love and the instant of death. Events have an independent existence. Rarely are they purely the consequence of their surroundings. In literature, they belong to the category of the narrative (as opposed to the descriptive). Movement: the action or process of moving (In a poem or narrative: progress or incidents, development of a plot). Also: the inevitable intrusion of bodies into the controlled order of architecture. Entering a building: an act that violates the balance of a precisely ordered geometry (do architectural photographs ever include runners, fighters, lovers?); bodies that carve unexpected spaces through their fluid or erratic motions. Architecture, then, is only an organism passively engaged in constant intercourse with users, whose bodies rush against the carefully established rules of architectural thought. In the early days of developing and drawing The Manhattan Transcripts, Tschumi arrived at the tripartite notation of space, event, and movement and literally introduced the idea of movement as a separate term in the equation. Tschumis first assumption was that architecture begins with movement. For example, one enters a building, one passes through it, one climbs stairs, one goes from one space to another, and that network of routes being what really forms architecture. Even through architecture can be made of static spaces, the interaction between the static and the dynamic is what really constitutes it. This allowed Tschumi to take the argument to the next level and introduce and advance the notion of program, and then at a later stage to develop it more precisely. Traditional means of architectural representation (plans, sections, perspectives, axonometrics) have a number of limitations. Tschumi believed the idea of the event which evolved out of his theoretical work couldnt be re presented through these means. But it had been extensively documented in other disciplines such as dance, certain sports, and film theory, as well as in the work of a number of performance artists. Artist like Dan Graham, Bruce Nauman and Bruce McLean, all show an extensive representation of events and movement within their work. In the 1970s, Dan Graham worked with performance, film and video to explore changes in individual and group consciousness and the limits of private and public space. His video surveillance Time Delay and Present and continuous Past(s) installations create an event space that transforms the audience into part of the performance while also allowing interaction with the performer. The film Body Press show two filmmakers standing within a completely mirrored surrounding, without moving their bodies, hands holding and pressing a cameras back-end flush to, while slowly rotating it about, the surface cylinder of their individual bodies. One rotation goes around the bodys contour, spiralling slightly upwards with the next turn. This continues up and down the body and then the camera is exchanged and the process repeated. The cameras film the image reflected on the mirror, the body of the performer and possibly his eyes on the mirror. This movement of the camera tries to act or be seen as an extension of the bodys identity. The events created through the experience of his work are further highlighted through his built forms. The architecture of Dan Grahams own pavilions acknowledges the fantasy of the significance of the viewer in a space in culture. His structures are precisely designed for specific situations. People entering or observing them are able to look at these situations and their place within them. Any change in the lighting provokes a change in the relative reflectivity or transparency of the pavilions two-way mirror glass, putting the relationships between people and their surroundings into constant flux. People look at nature, at themselves superimposed on it, at others looking at them, at others looking at others looking at them: an endless equivalence directed at the possibility of acute social (self) consciousness In the 1970s, Bruce McLean changed the medium of his natural mode of expressive performance, from art, to live performance and pose. On his return to painting, the experience played a big role is his later work. He made a series of large works on paper inspired by some magazine photographs of Chinese acrobats. These were extremely simple and direct but where the first to exploit the possibilities of emblematic colour in relation to political symbolism. The acrobats of politics were depicted as engaged in their self-absorbed feats in arenas of performance suspiciously uncomplicated, against backgrounds that signified, in the way that flags do, certainties of value and allegiance; such certainties came in different colours. Even though simple these paintings expressed movement across a plane and the idea of event, a space where this movement is being enjoyed. Among many which represent some form of event and movement, McLeans Ambre Solaire painting highlights how well this medium captu res the movement and activity. Presented on a black background with neon orange figures and brushed bodies in bronze, the light green and white that represent the splash, perfectly brings it to life. It feels bright and inviting. The Transcripts represent a collects of drawings which proposed a new way of architectural interpretations. These try to also propose new ways to present movement and event. The Transcript achieves this is some areas, the event is only clearly represented within the photographs but fail to be clear within the drawings. Some photos also dont give a clear idea of the scene proposed. Where as representation of movement and event highlighted by the artist Dan Graham and Bruce McLean show with little interpretation what the main goal they are trying to present. The Manhattan Transcripts do portray is interesting and unique way for looking at a set of drawings with a very interesting program to follow which is hard to tie together but enjoyable to research.

Raising Children in Live, Love and Dance by D.H. Lawrence :: essays research papers

People make the statement that they are living life to the fullest but what do they really mean? D.H. Lawrence states that life is magnificent during the here and now. He also infers that our flesh is ours but not forever and we should enjoy it with emotional and spiritual ecstasy. While all of this is true, one should take responsibilities very seriously in rearing children, tend to their physical state to insure health and still take time to stop and smell the flowers. Although child rearing can bring about a dance it also requires serious responsibility. Most children will move and wiggle to any rhythm. They live for a pattern and enjoyment and it is the parent’s duty to give them both. Kids of all ages need guidance of a parent for school studies, relationships and the ways of the world. At the same time a parent is fulfilling their obligations they must take time to play dress up, throw the baseball, bake cookies and enjoy the time they have with their children. Just as nature grows so do children and in a flash they are ready to leave the nest to embark on their own lives. In addition to rearing responsibilities one should care for their physical being also. Mr. Lawrence voices that our flesh is ours but only for a time and he is correct. Humans are not immortal and just as a flower wilts and dies so do they. Many people invest in money, property and items of monetary value when they should invest in their bodies. Protecting the skin from the sun, not smoking, not drinking and eating properly are all ways of extending the physical well being of one’s life. After all, a dance is not as sweet and taking pleasure in the world is not as fulfilling if sickness interferes. In addition to health, children and all the to-do’s in life it is important to sit back and take in one’s surroundings. People in today’s world live for their employment and never take in the natural beauties that surround them. Pondering on the wonders of the world such as the beautiful sun that rises and sets softens the soul. Enjoying a long walk on the beach with a gentle breeze crossing a cheek and the soft touch of the sand on one’s feet should be a mandatory requirement of life.

Cars Versus motorcycles Essay

In the united states many people buy cars and motorcycles. Some people prefer driving cars rather than motorcycles. Both are very popular types of transportation these days. Cars and motorcycles have many differences in their cost, convenience ,safety, comfort and maintenance. The first difference between cars and motorcycles are the cost. For example, people need to pay a lot of money if they want to buy or lease a car. However, motorcycles are cheaper to rent or buy. Also, cars are more convenient than motorcycles. For instance, cars can transport many people but motorcycles do not do it. Also, cars have air condition and people can listen music while they drive. Other, advantages have a car is another person can drive for someone when he is drunk. Motorcycles are most popular in young people because is most exciting, easy to parking and avoids traffic. The second important difference is safety. For example, cars have seat beats and air bags can protect the drivers. However ,in motorcycles, people only can use helmet, so drivers are fragile. Also, cars have a cage most protectors in case of accident than motorcycles. Although, the car insurance is the most expensive than motorcycles it covers all damage. Also, people in motorcycle need to use sunglasses for protect their eyes. In case of terrible accident people in motorcycle died, so cars are most safety. Other essential differences are comfort and maintenance .Motorcycles do not have comfort because seats are very awkward. However ,cars have soft seats and if it is raining people will not get wet. When people need to change oil and tires, it is very expensive. Also, cars are most difficult to repair and use a lot of gas. However ,motorcycles are too easy repair because do not have a big motor. Motorcycles are not difficult to maintain. In conclusion ,cars and motorcycles are very different in their cost, convenience, safety, comfort and maintenance. A lot of people buy cars or motorcycles, it is a very common type of transportation .Each person buys a vehicle that they like for their features.

A Dirty Job Chapter 16

16 THE CALL OF BOOTY II: REQUIEM FOR A FUCK PUPPET Ray threw the door open so hard that the little bell went flying off its holder and tinkled across the floor. â€Å"Oh, jeez,† Ray said. â€Å"You won't believe it. I can't believe it myself.† Lily looked at Ray over her half-frame reading glasses and set down the French cookbook she'd been looking at. She didn't really need reading glasses, but looking over the top of them conveyed instant condescension and disdain, a look that she felt flattered her. â€Å"I have something I need to tell you, too,† Lily said. â€Å"No,† Ray said, looking around to make sure there were no customers in the store. â€Å"What I have to tell you is really important.† â€Å"Okay,† Lily said. â€Å"Mine's not that important to me. You go first.† â€Å"Okay.† Ray took a deep breath and launched. â€Å"I think Charlie may be a serial killer with ninja powers.† â€Å"Wow, that is good,† Lily said. â€Å"Okay, my turn. A Miss Me-So-Horny called for you. She wanted you to know that she's packing eight inches of luscious man-meat.† Lily held up Ray's cell phone, which he'd left under the register. â€Å"Oh my God, not again!† Ray cradled his head in his hands and fell against the counter. â€Å"She said she was eager to share it with you.† Lily examined her nails. â€Å"So, Asher's a ninja, huh?† Ray looked up. â€Å"Yes, and he's stalking a fuck puppet from my gym.† â€Å"Think you're living a rich enough fantasy life, Ray?† â€Å"Shut up, Lily, this is a disaster. My job and my apartment depend on Charlie, not to mention that he has a kid, and the new light of my life is a guy.† â€Å"No, she's not.† Lily wondered about herself, giving in so early – she didn't enjoy torturing Ray the way she used to. â€Å"Huh? What?† â€Å"I'm just fuckin' with you, Ray. She didn't call. I read all of your e-mail and IMs.† â€Å"That stuff is private.† â€Å"Which is why you have it all here on the store's computer?† â€Å"I spend a lot of time here, with the time difference†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"And speaking of privacy, what's the deal with Asher being a ninja and a serial killer? I mean, both? At the same time?† Ray moved in close, and talked into his collar, as if revealing a huge conspiracy. â€Å"I've been watching him. Charlie's been taking in a lot of stuff from dead people. It's gone on for years. But he's always having to take off on a moment's notice, having me cover his shifts, and he never explains where he's going, except soon after that happens, one of the dead people's things shows up in the shop. So today I followed him, and he was after a woman who goes to my gym, who we might have seen the other day.† Lily stepped back, crossed her arms, and looked disgusted with Ray, which was fairly easy, since she'd had years of practice. â€Å"Ray, did it occur to you that Asher handles estates, and that we've been doing much better business since he started doing more estates – that the quality of the merchandise is much higher? Probably because he gets there early?† â€Å"I know, but that's not it. You're not around as much now, Lily. I was a cop, I notice these things. For one thing, did you know that there was a homicide detective keeping track of Charlie? That's right. Gave me his card, told me to call if anything unusual happened.† â€Å"No, Ray, you didn't.† â€Å"Charlie disappeared, Lily. I was watching him, and he just blinked out of existence, right before my eyes. And last I saw him he was going into the fuck puppet's building.† Lily wanted to grab the stapler off the counter and rapidly drive about a hundred staples into Ray's shiny forehead. â€Å"You ungrateful fucktard! You called the cops on Asher? The guy who has given you a job and a place to live for what, ten years?† â€Å"I didn't call the black-and-whites, just this Inspector Rivera. I know him from when I was on the force. He'll keep it on the down low.† â€Å"Go get your checkbook and your car,† Lily barked. â€Å"We're going to bail him out.† â€Å"He probably hasn't even been processed yet,† Ray said. â€Å"Ray, you pathetic toss-beast. Go. I'll close up the store and wait for you out front.† â€Å"Lily, you can't talk to me that way. I don't have to put up with it.† Because he couldn't turn his head, Ray wasn't able to avoid the first two staples Lily put in his forehead, but by then he had decided it was best to go get his checkbook and his car, and backed away. â€Å"What's a fuck puppet, anyway?† Lily shouted after him, somewhat surprised at the violent intensity of her loyalty to Charlie. The policewoman fingerprinted Charlie nine times before she looked up at Inspector Alphonse Rivera and said, â€Å"This motherfucker got no fingerprints.† Rivera took Charlie's hand and turned it palm up, and looked at his fingers. â€Å"I can see the ridges, right there. He's got completely normal fingerprints.† â€Å"Well, you do it, then,† said the woman. â€Å"‘Cause alls I got on the card is smooth.† â€Å"Fine, then,† Rivera said. â€Å"Come with me.† He led Charlie over to a wall that had a big ruler painted on it and told him to face a camera. â€Å"How's my hair?† Charlie said. â€Å"Don't smile.† Charlie frowned. â€Å"Don't make a face. Just look straight ahead and – your hair is fine, though now you've got ink on your forehead. This is not that hard, Mr. Asher, criminals do this all the time.† â€Å"I'm not a criminal,† Charlie said. â€Å"You broke into a security building and harassed a young woman, that makes you a criminal.† â€Å"I didn't break into anything and I didn't harass anyone.† â€Å"We'll see. Ms. McKerny said you threatened her life. She's definitely going to press charges, and if you ask me, you're both lucky I showed up when I did.† Charlie wondered about that. The fuck puppet had started screaming and backed into her apartment, and he had followed her, trying to explain, trying to figure out how this was going to work, and at the same time paying way too much attention to her breasts. â€Å"I didn't threaten her.† â€Å"You said she was going to die. Today.† Well, they had him there. Charlie had, in all the confusion and screaming, mentioned that he had to get hold of her breasts because she was going to die today. In retrospect, he felt he probably should have kept that information to himself. Rivera led him upstairs and into a small room with a table and two chairs. Just like on TV, Charlie looked for a one-way mirror but was disappointed to see only concrete-block walls painted in easy-clean moss-green enamel. Rivera had him sit, but then went to the door. â€Å"I'm going to leave you here for a few minutes, until Miss McKerny comes down to file charges. It's more hospitable here than the holding cell. You want something to drink?† Charlie shook his head. â€Å"Should I call an attorney?† â€Å"It's up to you, Mr. Asher. That's certainly your right, but I can't advise you one way or another. I'll be back in five. You can make your call then if you'd like.† Rivera left the room and Charlie saw the inspector's partner, a gruff, bald-headed bull of a guy named Cavuto, standing outside the door waiting for him. That guy actually scared Charlie. Not as much as the prospect of having to retrieve Madison McKerny's breast implants, or what would happen if he didn't, but still scary. Cut him loose,† Cavuto said. â€Å"What, cut him loose? I just got him processed, the McKerny woman – â€Å" â€Å"Is dead. Boyfriend shot her, then, when our guys responded to the shots-fired call, did himself.† â€Å"What?† â€Å"Boyfriend was married, McKerny wanted more security and was going to tell the wife. He flipped out.† â€Å"You know all that already?† â€Å"Her neighbor told the uniforms as soon as they arrived. Come on, it's our case. We need to roll. Cut this guy loose. Ray Macy and some Goth-chef chick are waiting for him downstairs.† â€Å"Ray Macy is the one who called me, he thought Asher was going to kill her.† â€Å"I know. Right crime, wrong guy. Let's go.† â€Å"We still have him on the concealed-weapon charge.† â€Å"A cane with a sword in it? What, you want to go before a judge and tell him that you arrested this guy on suspicion of being a serial killer but he plea-bargained it down to being a huge fucking nerd?† â€Å"Okay, I'll cut him loose, but I'm telling you, Nick, this guy told McKerny that she was going to die today. There's some weird shit going on here.† â€Å"And we don't have enough weird shit to deal with already?† â€Å"Good point,† Rivera said. Madison McKerny looked beautiful in her beige silk dress, her hair and makeup perfect, as usual, her diamond-stud earrings and a platinum-diamond solitaire necklace complemented the silver handles of her walnut-burl casket. For someone who wasn't breathing, she was breathtaking, especially for Charlie, who was the only one who could see her hooters pulsing red in the casket. Charlie hadn't been to a lot of funerals, but Madison McKerny's seemed nice, and fairly well attended for someone who had been only twenty-six. It turned out that Madison had grown up in Mill Valley, just outside San Francisco, so a lot of people had known her. Evidently, except for her family, most of them had lost touch and seemed somewhat surprised that she had been gunned down by her married boyfriend who had kept her in an expensive apartment in the city. â€Å"Not like you vote ‘most likely' for that in the yearbook,† Charlie said, trying to make conversation with one of her classmates, a guy he'd ended up standing next to at the urinals in the men's room. â€Å"How did you know Madison?† said the guy, a condescending tone in his voice. He looked like he'd been voted â€Å"most likely to piss everyone off by being rich and having nice hair.† â€Å"Oh, me? Friend of the groom,† Charlie said. He zipped up and headed to the sink before hair guy could think of something to say. Charlie was surprised to see a few people at the funeral whom he knew, and each time he walked away from one, he'd run into another. First Inspector Rivera, who lied. â€Å"Had to come. It's our case. I've gotten to know the family a little.† Then Ray, who lied. â€Å"She went to my gym. I just thought I should pay my respects.† Then Rivera's partner, Cavuto, who didn't lie. â€Å"I still think you're kinky, and that goes for your ex-cop friend, too.† And Lily, who was also honest. â€Å"I wanted to see a dead fuck puppet.† â€Å"Who's running the store?† Charlie asked. â€Å"Closed. Death in the family. You know Ray called the cops on you, right?† They hadn't had a chance to talk since Charlie had been released. â€Å"I should've figured,† Charlie said. â€Å"He said he saw you go into the dead chick's building and just disappear. He thinks you have ninja powers. That part of the thing?† She bounced her eyebrows – a Groucho Marx conspiracy bounce – made less effective by the fact that her eyebrows were pencil thin and drawn on in magenta. â€Å"Yeah, it's kind of part of the thing. Ray doesn't suspect about the thing, does he?† â€Å"No, I covered for you. But he still thinks you might be a serial killer.† â€Å"I thought he might be a serial killer.† Lily shuddered. â€Å"God, you guys need to get laid.† â€Å"True, but right now I'm here to do a thing regarding the thing.† â€Å"You still haven't gotten her thing thing?† â€Å"I can't even figure out how to get it. Her thing is still in the thing.† He nodded to the casket. â€Å"You're fucked,† Lily said. â€Å"We have to go sit now,† Charlie said. He led her into the chapel, where the service was beginning. Behind him Nick Cavuto, who had been standing three feet away with his back to Charlie, made a beeline for his partner and said, â€Å"Can we just shoot Asher and find cause later? I'm sure the fucker's done something to deserve it.† Charlie didn't know what he was going to do, how he was going to retrieve the soul implants, but he really thought something would occur to him. Some supernatural ability would manifest itself at the last minute. He thought that all through the ceremony. He thought that when they closed the casket, during the funeral procession to the cemetery, and all through the graveside ceremony. He began to lose hope as the mourners dispersed and the casket was lowered, and by the time the ground crew started throwing dirt down the hole with a backhoe, he'd pretty much given up on having an idea. There was grave robbing, but that really wasn't an idea, was it? And even with his years of experience in the death-dealing business, Charlie didn't think he was up for breaking into a cemetery, spending all night digging up a casket, then cutting the implants out of a dead woman's body. It wasn't the same as swiping a vase off the mantel. Why couldn't Madison McKerny's soul be in a vase on the mantel? â€Å"Didn't get the thing, then,† said a voice beside him. Charlie turned to see Inspector Rivera standing not a foot away. He hadn't even seen him since they'd left the funeral home. â€Å"What thing?† â€Å"Yeah, what thing?† Rivera said. â€Å"They didn't bury her with those diamonds you saw, you know that, right?† â€Å"That would have been a shame,† Charlie said. â€Å"Sisters got them,† Rivera said. â€Å"You know, Charlie, most people don't stay to watch them actually cover the box.† â€Å"Really?† Charlie said. â€Å"I was just curious. See if they used shovels or what. How about you?† â€Å"Me? I'm watching you. You ever get over that thing with the storm sewers?† â€Å"Oh, that? I just needed a little adjustment in my medication.† It was an expression that Charlie had picked up from Jane. She wasn't actually on medication, but the excuse seemed to work for her. â€Å"Well, you keep an eye on that, Charlie. And I'll keep an eye on you. Adios.† Rivera walked off. â€Å"Adios, Inspector,† Charlie said. â€Å"Hey, by the way, nice suit.† â€Å"Thanks, I bought it from your store,† Rivera said without turning around. When was he in my store? Charlie thought. For the next couple of weeks Charlie felt as if someone had dialed his nervous system up past the recommended voltage and he was nearly vibrating with anxiety. He thought that perhaps he should call Minty Fresh, warn him of his failure to retrieve Madison McKerney's soul vessel, but if the sewer harpies weren't rising because of that, maybe the contact with another Death Merchant would put them over the top. Instead he kept Sophie home and made sure that she was never out of sight of the hellhounds. In fact, he kept the hellhounds locked in her room most of the time; otherwise they kept dragging him to his day planner, which had no new names. Only the overdue Madison McKerny and the two women – Esther Johnson and Irena Posokovanovich – who had appeared on the same day, but still had some time left before expiration – or whatever you called it. So he started his walks again, listening as he passed storm drains and manhole covers, but the darkness didn't appear to be rising. Charlie felt naked walking the street without his sword-cane, which Rivera had kept, so he set out to replace it, and in the process found two more Death Merchants in the city. He found the first at a used-book store in the Mission, Book 'em Danno. Well, it wasn't really a bookstore anymore – it still had a couple of tall cases of books, but the rest of the store was a bricolage of bric-a-brac, from plumbing fittings to football helmets. Charlie understood completely how it happened. You started with a bookstore, then you made a single innocent trade, a set of bookends for a first edition maybe, then another, you picked up a grab-all box at a yard sale to get one item – pretty soon you had a whole section of unmatched crutches and obsolete radio tubes, and couldn't for the life of you remember how you'd acquired a bear trap, yet there it was, next to the lime-green tutu and the Armadrillo penis pump: secondhand out of hand. In the back of the store, by the counter, stoo d a bookcase in which every volume was pulsing with a dull red light. Charlie tripped over a spittoon and caught himself on an elk-antler coatrack. â€Å"You okay?† asked the proprietor, looking up from the book he was reading. He was maybe sixty, skin spotted from too much sun, but he hadn't seen any in a while and he'd gone pasty. He had long, thinning gray hair and wore oversized bifocals that gave him the look of an educated turtle. â€Å"No, I'm fine,† Charlie said, ripping his gaze off the soul-vessel books. â€Å"I know it's a little cluttered in here,† the turtle guy said. â€Å"I've been meaning to clear it out, but then, I've been meaning to clear it out for thirty years and I haven't managed it yet.† â€Å"It's okay, I like your store,† Charlie said. â€Å"Great selection.† The owner looked at Charlie's expensive suit and shoes and squinted. It was clear he recognized the worth of the clothes and was qualifying Charlie as a rich collector or antiques hunter. â€Å"You looking for anything special?† he asked. â€Å"Sword-cane,† Charlie said. â€Å"Doesn't have to be antique.† He wanted to buy this guy a coffee and share stories of snatching soul objects, of confronting the Underworlders, of being a Death Merchant. This guy was a kindred spirit, and from the size of his collection of soul objects, all of them books, he'd been doing this longer than Minty Fresh. Turtle guy shook his head. â€Å"Haven't seen one for years. If you want to give me a card, I'll put out feelers for you.† â€Å"Thanks,† Charlie said. â€Å"I'll keep looking. That's part of the fun.† He started backing down the aisle, but he couldn't leave without saying something else, getting some kind of information. â€Å"Hey, how is it, doing business in this neighborhood?† â€Å"Better now than it used to be,† said the guy. â€Å"The gangs have settled down some, this part of the Mission has turned into the edgy, artsy-fartsy neighborhood. That's been good for business. You from the City?† â€Å"Born and raised,† Charlie said. â€Å"Just haven't been to this neighborhood much. You haven't had any weird stuff on the street last couple of weeks, then?† The turtle guy looked fully at Charlie now, even took off his giant glasses. â€Å"Except for the thumper sound systems going by, quiet as a mouse. What's your name?† â€Å"Charlie. Charlie Asher. I live over in the North Beach – Chinatown area.† â€Å"I'm Anton, Charlie. Anton Dubois. Nice meeting you.† â€Å"Okay,† Charlie said. â€Å"I have to go now.† â€Å"Charlie. There's a pawnshop off Fillmore Street. Fulton and Fillmore, I think. The owner carries a lot of edged weapons. She might have your cane.† â€Å"Thanks,† Charlie said. â€Å"You watch yourself, Anton. Okay?† â€Å"Always do,† said Anton Dubois, and he looked back to his book. Charlie left the store feeling even more anxious, but not quite as alone as he had five minutes before. The next day, he found a new sword-cane at the pawnshop in the Fillmore, and he also found a case of cutlery and kitchen utensils that pulsated with red light. The owner was younger than Anton Dubois, late thirties maybe, and wore a.38 revolver in a shoulder holster, which shocked Charlie less than the fact that she was a woman. He'd envisioned all the Death Merchants as being men, but of course there was no reason to think that. She wore jeans and a plain chambray shirt, but was dripping with mismatched jewelry that Charlie guessed was a self-indulgence she justified for being â€Å"in the business† the same way he justified his expensive suits. She was pretty in a lady-cop sort of way, with a nice smile, and Charlie found himself wondering if he should maybe ask her out, then heard an audible pop in his head as that bubble of self-destructive stupidity exploded. Sure, dinn er and a movie, and release the Forces of Darkness on the world. Great first date. Everyone was right, he really needed to get laid. He bought the sword-cane for cash, without quibbling, and left the store without engaging the owner in conversation, but he took a business card from the holder on the counter as he left. Her name was Carrie Lang. It was all he could do to not warn her, tell her to be careful of what might be coming from below, but he realized that every second he was there, he was probably increasing the danger to all of them. Watch yourself, Carrie, he whispered to himself as he walked away. That evening he decided to take action to ease some of the tension in his life. Or at least it was decided for him when Jane and her girlfriend Cassandra showed up at the apartment and offered to watch Sophie. â€Å"Go, find a woman,† Jane said. â€Å"I got the kid.† â€Å"It doesn't work that way,† Charlie said. â€Å"I was gone all day, I haven't spent any quality time with my daughter.† Jane and Cassandra – an athletic, attractive redhead in her midthirties, who Charlie promised himself he would have asked out if she hadn't been living with his sister – pushed him out the door, slammed it in his face, and locked it. â€Å"Don't come home until you've gotten some,† Jane shouted over the transom. â€Å"Does that work for you?† Charlie shouted back. â€Å"Just go find someone to do you, like a scavenger hunt?† â€Å"Here's five hundred dollars. Five hundred dollars works for anyone.† A wad of bills came flying over the transom, followed by his cane, a sport coat, and his wallet. â€Å"This is my money, isn't it?† Charlie shouted. â€Å"It's you that needs to get laid,† Jane shouted back. â€Å"Go. Don't come back until you've done the dance of the beast with two backs.† â€Å"I could just lie.† â€Å"No, you can't,† Cassie said. She had a sweet voice, like you'd want her to tell you a bedtime story. â€Å"The desperation will still show in your eyes. And I mean that in a nice way, Charlie.† â€Å"Sure, how else could I take it?† â€Å"Bye, Daddy,† Sophie said from the other side of the door. â€Å"Have fun.† â€Å"Jane!† â€Å"Relax, she just came in. Go.† So Charlie, thrown out of his own home, by his own sister, said good-bye to the daughter he adored and went out to find a total stranger with whom to be intimate. Just a massage,† Charlie said. â€Å"Okay,† said the girl as she arranged oils and lotions on a shelf. She was Asian, but Charlie couldn't tell from where in Asia, maybe Thailand. She was petite and had black hair that hung down past her waist. She wore a red silk kimono with a chrysanthemum design. She never looked him in the eye. â€Å"Really, I'm just tense. I don't want anything but a completely ethical and hygienic massage, just like it says on the sign.† Charlie stood at the end of a narrow cubicle, fully dressed, with a massage table on one side of him and the masseuse and her shelf of oils on the other. â€Å"Okay,† said the girl. Charlie just looked at her, unsure of what to do next. â€Å"Clothes off,† said the girl. She placed a clean white towel on the massage table near Charlie, nodded to it, then turned her back. â€Å"Okay?† â€Å"Okay,† Charlie said, feeling now that he was here, he needed to go through with it. He'd paid the woman at the door fifty dollars for the massage, after which she made him sign a release that stated that all he was getting was a massage, that tipping was encouraged, but did not imply any services beyond a massage, and that if he thought that he was getting anything but a massage he was going to be one disappointed White Devil. She made him initial each of the six languages it was printed in, then she winked, a long slow wink, exaggerated by very long false eyelashes, and performed the internationally accepted blow-job mime, with round mouth and rhythmic tongue pushing out the cheek. â€Å"Lotus Flower make you bery relax, Mr. Macy.† Charlie had signed Ray's name, not so much as a small revenge for calling the cops on him, but because he thought the management might recognize Ray's name and give him a discount. He kept his boxers on and climbed on the table, but Lotus Flower slipped them off him as deftly as a magician pulling a scarf from his sleeve. She draped a towel over his bottom and dropped her kimono. Charlie saw it fall and glanced back to see a tiny, seminaked woman rubbing oil on her palms to warm it. He looked away and slammed his forehead into the table several times even as he felt his erection struggling for freedom beneath him. â€Å"My sister made me come here,† he said. â€Å"I didn't want to come.† â€Å"Okay,† she said. She rubbed the oil into his shoulders. It smelled of almonds and sandalwood. There must have been menthol or lavender or something in it, because he felt it tingle on his skin. Every place she touched hurt. Like he'd dug a ditch to Ecuador the day before, or pulled a barge across the Bay with a rope. It was like she had special sensory powers, she could find the exact spot where he carried his pain, then touch it, release it. He moaned, just a little. â€Å"Bery tense,† she said, working her fingers up his spine. â€Å"I haven't slept well in two weeks,† he said. â€Å"That nice.† She reached across to work his rib cage and he felt her small breasts press against his back. He stopped breathing for a second and she giggled. â€Å"Bery tense,† she said. â€Å"I had this thing happen at work. Well, not at work, but I'm afraid I did something that could put everyone I know in danger, and I can't make myself do what needs to be done to fix it. People could die.† â€Å"That nice,† said Lotus Flower, kneading his biceps. â€Å"You don't speak English, do you?† â€Å"Oh. Little. No worries. You want happy ending?† Charlie smiled. â€Å"Can you just keep rubbing?† â€Å"No happy ending? Okay. Twenty dollar, fifteen minute.† So Charlie paid her, and talked to her, and she rubbed his back, and he paid her again, and he told her all the things that he couldn't share with other people: all the worries, all the fears, all the regrets. He told her of how he missed Rachel, yet how sometimes he would forget what she looked like and would run to the dresser in the middle of the night to look at her photo. He paid her for two hours in advance and dozed off, feeling her hands on his skin, and he dreamed of Rachel and sex, and when he woke up Lotus Flower was massaging his temples and tears were running into his ears. He told her it was the menthol in the oil, but it was the lonely coming up in him, like the pain in his back that he hadn't known he'd had until it was touched. She massaged his chest, reaching over his head and letting her breasts rub against his face as she worked, and when he rose again under the towel, she asked, â€Å"You want happy ending now?† â€Å"Nah,† he said. â€Å"Happy endings are so Hollywood.† Then he caught her wrists, sat up, kissed the back of her hands, and thanked her. He tipped her a hundred dollars. She smiled, put on her kimono, and left the cubicle. Charlie dressed and left the Happy Relax Good Time Oriental Massage Parlor, which he had walked by a thousand times during his life, always wondering what was behind the red door with brown paper taped over the window. Now he knew: the pathetic puddle of lonely frustration that was Charlie Asher, for whom there would be no happy ending. He made his way up to Broadway and headed up the hill into North Beach. He was only a few blocks from home when he sensed someone behind him. He turned, but all he saw was a guy a couple of blocks back buying a newspaper from a machine. He walked another half block and could see the activity on the street up ahead: tourists out walking, waiting for tables in Italian restaurants, barkers trying to lure tourists into strip clubs, sailors barhopping, hipsters smoking outside of City Lights bookstore, looking cool and literary before the next poetry slam, which would go off in a bar across the street. â€Å"Hey, soldier,† a voice at his side. A woman's voice, soft and sexy. Charlie turned and looked down the alley he was passing. He could see a woman in the shadows, leaning against the wall. She was wearing an iridescent body stocking or something and a mercury light at the other end of the alley was drawing a silver outline of her figure. The hair rose on his neck, but he felt something twinge in his loins as well. This was his neighborhood, and the hookers had been calling to him since he was twelve, but this was the first time he'd ever stopped and paid more attention than a wave and a smile. â€Å"Hey,† Charlie said. He felt dizzy – drunk or stoned – maybe all the toxins had broken loose from the long massage, but he had to lean on his cane to steady himself. She stepped away from the wall and the light silhouetted her, highlighting outlandish curves. Charlie realized he was grinding his teeth and his right kneecap began to bounce. This was not the street-worn body of a junkie – a dancer maybe, a goddess. â€Å"Sometimes,† she said, hissing the last s, â€Å"a rough fuck down a dark alley is the best medicine for a weary warrior.† Charlie looked around: the party a block ahead, the guy reading his newspaper under the streetlamp two blocks back. No one down the alley waiting to ambush him. â€Å"How much?† he asked. He couldn't even remember what sex felt like, but all he could think about right now was release – a rough fuck down a dark alley with this†¦this goddess. He couldn't see her face, just the line of a cheekbone, but that was exquisite. â€Å"The pleasure of your company,† she said. â€Å"Why me?† Charlie said, he couldn't help himself – it was his Beta nature. â€Å"Come find out,† she said. She cupped her breasts, fell back against the wall, and propped one heel up on the bricks. â€Å"Come.† He walked into the alley and leaned the cane on the wall, then took her uplifted knee in one hand, a breast in the other, and pulled her against him for a kiss. She felt like she was wearing velvet, her mouth was warm and tasted base, gamy, like venison or liver. He didn't even feel her undo his jeans, just a strong hand on his erection. â€Å"Ah, strong meat,† she hissed. â€Å"Thanks, I've been going to the gym.† She bit his neck, hard, and he squeezed her breast and thrust against her hand. She threw her uplifted leg around his back and pulled him hard against her. He felt something sharp, painful digging into his scrotum and he tried to pull away. She pulled him tighter with her leg. She was incredibly strong. â€Å"New Meat,† she said. â€Å"Don't fight me or I'll tear them off.† Charlie felt the claw on his balls and the breath caught in his throat. Her face was an inch from his now, and he looked for her eyes, but could see only an obsidian blackness reflecting the highlights from the streetlight. She held her free hand in front of his face and he watched as claws began to grow out of her fingertips, reflecting the streetlight like brushed chrome, until they were three inches long. She poised them over his eyes and he reached for his sword-cane against the wall. She knocked it away, and the claws were at his face again. â€Å"Oh no, Meat. Not this time.† She hooked a claw into his nostril. â€Å"Shall I drive it into your brain? That would be quickest, but I don't want quick. I've waited so long for this.† She released the pressure on his balls, and to his horror, he realized that he was still hard. She started rubbing his erection, pushing the claw deeper into his nose to hold him steady. â€Å"I know, I know – when you come, I'll put it in your ear and yank. I've taken off a half a man's head that way. You'll like it. You're lucky, if Nemain had been sent you'd be dead already.† â€Å"Bitch,† Charlie managed to say. She was stroking him harder and he was cursing his body for betraying him this way. He tried to pull away and her leg wrapped behind him crushed the breath out of him. â€Å"No, you come, then I'll kill you.† She pulled the claw from his nose and put it next to his ear. â€Å"Don't make me leave unsatisfied, Meat,† she said, but in that instant her claw caught the side of his scalp and he hit her as hard as he could in the ribs with both of his fists. â€Å"You fuckface!† she shrieked. She let her leg fall; yanked him aside by his penis, and reared back for a full slash of her claws to his head. Charlie tried to raise his forearm to take the blow, but then there was an explosion and a piece of her shoulder splattered on the wall, spinning her around. Charlie felt her release his penis, and he threw himself across the alley. She rebounded off the wall with both claws aimed at his face. There was another explosion and she was knocked back again. This time she came up facing the street, and before she could brace to leap, two more shots hit her in the chest and she screeched, the sound like a thousand angry ravens set afire. Five more quick shots and she was danced backward by the impacts; even as she went she was changing, her arms getting wider, her shoulders smoothing. Two more shots, and the next screech wasn't even remotely human, but that of a huge raven. She rose into the night sky trailing feathers and spattering a liquid that might have been blood, except that it was black. Charlie climbed to his feet and staggered out of the alley to where Inspector Alphonse Rivera was still in shooting stance, holding a 9 mm Beretta aimed at the dark sky. â€Å"Do I even want to know what the fuck that was?† Rivera said. â€Å"Probably not,† Charlie said. â€Å"Tie your coat around your waist,† said the cop. Charlie looked down and saw that the front of his jeans had been shredded as if by razors. â€Å"Thanks,† Charlie said. â€Å"You know,† Rivera said, â€Å"this could have all been avoided if you'd just taken the happy ending like everybody else.†