Progress of Malaysian Women Free Essays

string(139) This examination is proposed to catch the accomplishments of ladies in education,health,economy, governmental issues and force sharing, and choice making. The Progress of Malaysian Women Since Independence 1957 †2000 Published by: Ministry of Women and Family Development Level 1-4, Block E Bukit Perdana Government Office Complex Jalan Dato’ Onn 50515 Kuala Lumpur Tel:03-29630095 Fax:03-26938498 E-mail:info@kpwk. gov. my Website:www. We will compose a custom exposition test on Progress of Malaysian Women or then again any comparable theme just for you Request Now kpwk. gov. my With financing support from: United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam Published September 2003 ISBN:983-41432-0-6 Printed by: Bar Code Design Network Copyright  © 2003 Ministry of Women and Family Development. Okay Reser ved. Solicitation for consent to republish any material ought to be coordinated to the Ministry of Women and Family Development. Substance EXECUTIVE SUMMARY FOREWORD CHAPTER 1 †INTRODUCTION I. Foundation II. Targets OF THE STUDY III. Strategy IV. Outline OF THE REPORT V. Sex AND DEVELOPMENT PLANNING VI ADMINISTRATIVE MACHINERY FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF WOMEN VII. Legitimate STATUS OF WOMEN †Women under the Federal Constitution †Employment Legislation and Women †Other Laws Affecting the Status of Women VIII. End CHAPTER 2 †EDUCATION AND TRAINING OF WOMEN I. Presentation II. FORMAL EDUCATION †Enrolment in Primary and Secondary Schools †Female Enrolment in Technical and Vocational Education †Tertiary Education †Education Attainment of Rural Women †International Comparison in Educational Attainment III. NON-FORMAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING IV. FUTURE CHALLENGES V. Suggestions VI. End CHAPTER 3 †WOMEN AND THE ECONOMY I. Presentation II. Patterns IN WOMEN’S ECONOMIC PARTICIPATION †Women in the Labor Force †Employment Status of Women †Employment by Sector †Employment by Occupational Category †Potential Growth Areas: Women in Business and Professional Services Page vii x 14 16 17 18 19 23 26 27 28 30 33 34 37 39 42 43 47 50 51 53 54 55 56 61 64 The Progress of Women Since Independence III. IV. V. †Women Entrepreneurs: From Micro-Enterprises to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) FUTURE CHALLENGES RECOMMENDATIONS CONCLUSION 5 67 70 72 73 74 76 78 79 80 82 83 84 86 87 89 90 CHAPTER 4 †WOMEN AND HEALTH I. Presentation II. GENERAL HEALTH STATUS †Indicators of Health Status †Maternal Mortality †Nutritional Status of Women †Fertility Trends III. Regenerative HEALTH SERVICES †Family Planning †Antenatal and Postpartum Care †Management of Cervical and Breast Cancers IV. Wellbeing CONCERNS IN THE NEW MILLENNIUM †Health Needs of Older Women †Do mestic Violence †Mental Health †The HIV/AIDS Epidemic V. FUTURE CHALLENGES VI. Proposals VII. End CHAPTER 5 †WOMEN IN DECISION MAKING AND POWER SHARING 93 I. Presentation 93 II. Patterns IN LEADERSHIP AND POWER SHARING 94 †Political Membership and Leadership 94 †Political Candidacy 96 †Elected Offices and Appointments 97 †Representation in the State Assemblies 99 †Share of Leadership and Decision-Making Positions in the Public Sector 99 †Key Management Positions in the Public Sec tor 99 †Appointments in the Foreign Service 101 †Representation in Local Authorities 101 †The Grassroots Level 103 III. IV. V. †Management Positions in the Private Sector †Non-Government Organizations (NGO), Trade Unions and Cooperatives †Participation in NGOs †Participation in Trade Unions †Representation in Cooperatives FUTURE CHALLENGES RECOMMENDATIONS CONCLUSION 104 105 106 108 111 112 115 REFERENCES LISTS OF BOXES Box 1. 1. 2 1. 3 2. 1 3. 1 Titles Page Malaysia’s First Lady, Dato’ Seri Dr. Siti Hasmah bt. Mohd. Ali †An Inspiring Role Model for Malaysian Women 12 Definition of Discrimination 30 Selected Relevant Declarations and Action Plans Signed by the Government of Malaysia 31 Scaling Up Micro-Enterprises, Department of Agriculture 46 Datuk Muhaiyani Shamsuddin, Founder and Managing Director of Muhaiyani Securities Sdn Bhd and Deputy Chairperson of the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange 66 Dato’ Sharizat Abdul Jalil †An Advocate and Solicitor, an Eminent Corporate Figure and a Cabinet Minister 91 Tan Sri Datuk Nuraizah Abdul Hamid †A Woman of Distinction in the Public Service 113 . 1 5. 2 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2. 1 2. 2. 3 Title Page Primary School Enrolment by Sex, Malaysia,1957â€2000 34 Secondary School Enrolment by S ex, Malaysia,1957â€2000 35 Percentage of Males and Females in Primary and Secondary Schools, Malaysia,1957â€2000 36 2. 4 2. 5 2. 6 2. 7 2. 8 2. 9 2. 10 2. 11 2. 12 2. 13 3. 1 4. 1 4. 2 4. 3 4. 4. 5 4. 6 5. 1 5. 2 Number of Students Enrolled in Year Six to Form Five by Sex,1991â€1995 Enrolment in Vocational and Technical Schools by Sex, Malaysia,1957â€2000 Proportion of Female: Male Students in Vocational and Technical Schools, Malaysia 1957â€2000 Enrolment in Tertiary Institutions by Sex, Malaysia, 1957â€2000 Proportion of Males and Females in Tertiary Education, Malaysia,1959â€2000 Enrolment in Engineering Course, Malaysia,1991â€1998 Output of Graduates in Engineering, Malaysia,l991â€1998 Educational Attainment of Women by Stratum, Malaysia, 1970,1980 and 1991 Number of Students in Adult Education Classes by Sex, Malaysia,1958â€1967 Literacy Rate by Sex, Malaysia,1970â€2010 Percentage Distribution of Employed Persons by Occupation and Gender, Malaysia,1957â€2000 Maternal Mortality per 1,000 Live Births. 1956â€2000 Life Expectancy at Birth in Malaysia by Sex,1957â€2000 Number of Pap Smears Read by the Ministry of Health, 1982â€1998 Number of Reported Cas es of Domestic Violence, 1984â€1997 Number of Suicide and Self-inflic ted Injury Cases in Malaysia by Sex Number of Women Living with HIV and AIDS,and Deaths in Women from HIV/AIDS Percentage of Women in Elected Offices/Appointed Offices, Malaysia,1959â€2001 Women in Top Management in the Malaysian Foreign Service 1992,1994 and 1999 7 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 63 75 76 81 84 85 86 98 101 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I. Endeavors to produce more noteworthy sexual orientation uniformity have brought about Malaysian ladies accomplishing critical advancement in key financial zones since Malaysia picked up freedom in 1957. In any case, regardless of the advancement made, new worries on the job and status of ladies have developed that could antagonistically influence the support of ladies in the economy and social circles. Considering this, the Government of Malaysia, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) together attempted an investigation to report and assess the advancement of ladies in Malaysia during the period 1957â€2000. This investigation is planned to catch the accomplishments of ladies in education,health,economy, governmental issues and force sharing, and dynamic. Optional information from the Department of Statistics reviews and authoritative records from government offices and nongovernmental associations are utilized for the examination. The report for the investigation contains five sections, with parts 2 to 5 evaluating the advancement of ladies in explicit key regions while section 1 features the Government’s activities taken to propel ladies being developed. Improvement anticipating the progression of ladies was presented in the Sixth Malaysia Plan, which has a part on the advancement of ladies. The Sixth Plan and resulting plans contain systems to consolidate ladies during the time spent advancement in accordance with the goals of the National Vision Policy on Women (NPW). Evenhanded sharing of assets and access to open doors for people structures one of the destinations of the NPW. The definition and usage of an activity plan to operationalise the NPW during the Seventh Malaysia Plan brought about the execution of progressively lucid and centered projects to coordinate ladies being developed and hoist their status. Huge advancement has likewise been made in the setting up of the necessary institutional and regulatory apparatus to design, organize, actualize and screen the improvement of ladies. These incorporate the Ministry of Women and Family Development, the Department ii. iii. vii f Women Affairs (HAWA), the National Advisory Council for the Integration of Women in Development (NACIWID) and the National Council of Women’s Organizations (NCWO). Also, the authoriz ation of new laws and the constant survey and revision of existing enactment have been attempted to save, strengthen and ensure the rights and legitimate status of ladies. iv. Malaysian ladies have profited by expanded access to instruction and preparing as showed by the improvement in their proficiency rates and net enrolment at all degrees of training since 1957. The enrolment of female understudies at the essential level expanded by more than three and a half times during the period 1957â€2000. At the auxiliary level, the enrolment of female understudies expanded by in excess of multiple times to arrive at an absolute enrolment of 985,692 understudies in 2000. As to enrolment in specialized and professional schools the level of male understudies has consistently been higher than female understudies. The enrolment of Malaysian ladies in tertiary organizations mirrored the development of tertiary instruction in Malaysia, which has been slowly growing in all out number and relative terms, particularly after 1970. In 1959, female students included 10. 7 percent of the complete stu

John Steinbeck Essay -- essays research papers

John Steinbeck was conceived on February 27, 1902 in Salinas, California, a cultivating network with of around 2500 individuals. He was the third of four youngsters and the main child of John Ernst and Olive Hamiton Steinbeck. His sisters Beth and Esther were a lot more seasoned than John and he felt nearest to Mary, the most youthful. He spent his youth and pre-adulthood in the Salinas Valley, which he later called â€Å"the serving of mixed greens bowl of the nation.† John’s mother, Olive, was the little girl of Irish workers. She left her parents’ farm to turn into an instructor. John recalled his mom as lively and brimming with fun. He called his dad, conversely, â€Å"a uniquely quiet man.† Steinbeck’s father, likewise named John, functioned as the treasurer of Monterey County. He had picked a protected, down to earth course throughout everyday life, so as to help his family.      John delighted in writing since the beginning on. His mom read him the fantasies of Hans Christian Andersen, Robert Louis Stevenson, and the accounts of King Arthur.      John went to Salinas High School, an encounter he for the most part hated, yet one splendid spot in his secondary school carrer was his ninth grade English instructor, Miss Cupp. She respected the creations he composed and urged him to proceed with his composition. All through secondary school, John invested a large portion of his free energy composing stories in his room.      John moved on from HS in 1919 and afterward went to Stanford University. John needed to concentrate to be an essayist, yet his mom needed him to be something reasonable, similar to a legal advisor.      While going to Stanford University, John Steinbeck concluded that a degree was of no utilization to an essayist. Rather, he considered the things that intrigued him and would enable him to advance as an author. He examined writing, history, and old style Greek. He persuaded college authorities to let him learn human life structures close by the clinical understudies. Analyzing dead bodies would help him â€Å"know increasingly about people†, he clarified. Steinbeck’s exploratory writing instructor instructed him to compose stories that were â€Å"true.† She didn’t mean the occasions in the story needed to have really occurred, however rather the story and characters must reflect genuine human sentiments and clashes.      During his school years, Steinbeck worked at various occupations to help pay for his educ... ...gories including material science, science, physiology or medication, writing, harmony, and financial matters. The Prize is granted to the individuals who have made significant commitments to the â€Å"good of humanity.†      The Nobel Prize was the best respect of John Steinbeck’s life. His acknowledgment discourse finished up with the perception that â€Å"St. John the Apostle likely could be summarized: In the end is the Word, and the Word is Man- - the Word is with Man.†      After getting the Prize, John started having heart issues and he was moved to his home in New York. John Steinbeck kicked the bucket calmly on December 20, 1968, with Elaine lying next to him. He was 66 years of age.      As John Steinbeck experienced life in Ameria he recorded his perception, his happiness regarding life, and his confidence in human goodness. A few of his works are presently viewed as works of art. His books contrast in content and in structure, â€Å"Of Mice and Men† is like a play and â€Å"The Sea of Cortez† is a logical record. Be that as it may, Steinbeck composed the entirety of his books in view of a specific objective. As he clarified, â€Å"My entire work drive as been planned for causing individuals to see each other.†

Last-Minute Application Essay Edits from the Experts at CEA - College Essay Advisors Admissions Essay Experts

Last-Minute Application Essay Edits from the Experts at CEA - College Essay Advisors Admissions Essay Experts Last-Minute Application Essay Edits from the Experts at CEA Last-Minute Application Essay Edits from the Experts at CEA Are you coming down with something, or are college essays making you sick? Does the mere thought of reading over another draft make you nauseous? A normal medical doctor can’t help with these ailments, but without a quick shot in the arm, you and your essays could be in dire trouble. Luckily the specialists at College Essay Advisors have just the dose of inspiration you could be looking for. Call or message us today to book a College Essay Checkupâ„¢, and pick up a quick cure for grammatical mistakes, bandages for your structural issues, and maybe even a vaccination against boring opening sentences. One quick consultation with the essay doctor includes: A baseline checkup to identify content, structure and grammar issues, noted in handwriting that is far easier to decode than your average physician’s penmanship. A speedy phone diagnosis, explaining the checkup conclusions and highlighting areas of potential improvement. One quick follow-up scan to check your ensuing corrections. A lollipop for being such a brave patient. Contact us for a quote or call 347-927-9CEA (9232), and get on the road to essay wellness with CEA! Book Now. Need to start from scratch?  Take  our 3 hour  video crash course! Read our guide  to the 2015-16 Common App Essay. About Thea HogarthView all posts by Thea Hogarth »

The Three Strike Law Does It Actually Work Essay

The Three Strike Law: Does it Actually Work? By Marissa Smith United States throughout history has tried many different ways to deter criminals from committing crime. One of the more famous polices enforced was the Three Strikes sentencing laws, and other â€Å"get tough† approaches. In 1994, the Three Strikes sentencing law was first established (Couzens, J. Richards and Tricia A. Bigelow). The law stated that any defendant convicted of any new felony, having been convicted before of a serious felony to be sentenced to state prison for twice the term otherwise given for the crime. If the defendant was convicted of any felony with two or more prior strikes, the law mandated a state prison term of at least 25 years to life (Couzens, J. Richards and Tricia A. Bigelow). In California and Washington, the three strike law was adopted and in both states showed contradictive results. It has become a very controversial form of deterrence and is widely debated if the three strikes sentencing laws actually deter criminals from committing crimes. In several different states what actually counts as a strike against an offender varies dramatically (Clark, John). Violent felonies are typically counted as a strike offense; these include murder, rape, robbery, arson, aggravated assault, and carjacking (Clark, John). Although violent felonies are not the only offenses counted (Clark, John). In Indiana and Louisiana the sale of drugs can be considered a strike offense andShow MoreRelatedProblems with the Three Strikes Laws Essays1502 Words   |  7 Pagesmost controversial laws in the efforts to reduce crime has been the three-strikes laws that have been enacted. This law, which is already in twenty-seven states, requires that offenders convicted of three violent crimes be sentenced to life in prison without chance of parole. The law is based on the idea that the majority of felonies are committed by about 6% of hard core criminals and that crime can be eliminated by getting these criminals off the streets. Unfortunately, the law fails to take intoRead MoreCan Racial Profiling Be Justified1612 Words   |  7 Pages Can Racial Profiling in Law Enforcement Be Justified Cornelius Morgan CRJ 125: Criminology (W04) November 15, 2015 Abstract: In 1994 Polly Klaas was kidnapped from a slumber party at her home in California and later murdered by Richard Allen Davis who already had 2 prior convictions for kidnapping on his record. The public was outraged that a repeat offender was able to attack again. 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The drug trade in America simply continues to rise. The problem is that we are not fighting the war on drugs the right way. We have created laws that do not help the drug users with their addiction, in fact many actually make it more difficult for the drug addicts to start a new life. When a drug user is arrested he or she is often sentenced to prisonRead MoreThe Incarceration Of A Prisoner1464 Words   |  6 Pagesand educate the public about braking the law, yet many prisoners’ crimes are not met with equal sentences but too severe. America has high incarceration rates because of laws making it easy to get into prison, poor rehabilitation programs, and for the incarceration of people whom should not be. The purpose of laws in society is to provide guidelines by which citizens must live by. These guidelines are meant to protect everyone, yet sometimes these laws not only protect but over protect. For instanceRead MoreEssay on Prison Growth In American From 1970-20081674 Words   |  7 Pagesbehind bars; however just because there is an increase in the numbers it does not mean its due to an increase in crime. To further emphasize just how significant the growth is, the population in 1970 was around 300,000 but now the population in 2008 is over 2.3 million (BJS 2006). However there is not necessarily a parallel increase with crime; instead experts are putting the growth down to popular measures such as the three-strikes, truth in sentencing and broken window policies. Different statesRead MoreAgainst Mandatory Sentencing Debate970 Words   |  4 PagesA mandatory sentence is one where judicial discretion is limited by law; those convicted of certain crimes must be punished with at least a minimum number of years in prison. The most famous example of mandatory sentencing is the ‘three strikes and you’re out’ policy adopted first in California in 1994, and now more widespread in the USA. Three strikes laws require life imprisonment for a third criminal conviction, but other forms of mandatory sentencing are now being discussed and implemented

Anylitical Essay Topic the No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency...

Alexander McCall Smith, the author of the award winning novel The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency spoke in a recent interview in The Sydney Morning Herald (December 2006) about his famously optimistic views of Africa and its people. The works of many African authors express rather grim and bleak views in comparison to McCall Smith’s view. In a â€Å"Foreign Correspondent† interview McCall Smith says Botswana is a very beautiful country and that Africa transformed him into a best selling novelist and made him famous for his views on hope and optimism. There is a strong sense of family and community that gives cause for belonging, hope and optimism. McCall Smith creates hope and optimism in his novel through his characters and their events. The†¦show more content†¦He says of the white man He was a good man and he listened to me carefully when I told him that I would have to go. There was no other white man I could have spoken to like that, but he understood (McCall Smith 2003, 24) Obed also gives a sense of hope when a white man finally shakes hand with a black man ‘So I called him my brother, which is the first time I had done that to a white man’ (McCall Smith 2003, 25) showing that two races of people that have had so many transgressions in the past have now joined to give cause to optimism. Obed has had his life span shortened due to the fact that he is working in the mines and breathing in the dust has eaten away his chest. He is sad not for his own body but The only thing that makes me sad is that I shall be leaving Africa when I die. I love Africa, which is my mother and my father. I shall miss the smell of Africa (McCall Smith 2003, 15) McCall Smith shows that Obed is positive about living in Africa and he is a great example of optimism through his story. Mma Ramotswe is disappointed in her first month in opening her detective agency because she has a loss in profits but has hope that things will pick up for her. She has been given an opportunity when a very rich man, Mr Patel called her for a job ‘Mma Ramotswe was delighted when she received the telephone call from Mr Patel’ (McCall

Factors Affecting Sporting Performance Free Essays

Several factors affect our sporting performances, some of which are ‘natural’ factors, and some of which we cause. An example of a natural factor is our gender. We do not choose to be male or female and therefore it is something that occurs naturally. We will write a custom essay sample on Factors Affecting Sporting Performance or any similar topic only for you Order Now An example of a factor caused by ourselves is our diet- what we eat and drink. We can decide what we want to eat be it healthy or not healthy, the decision is ours. Age is a natural factor affecting performance. When you are very young, your bones and muscles are still growing and because your bones are still growing they are a lot softer than a fully-grown adults are. This helps young children to be very flexible and very supple, which in turn affects their performance. But being fully-grown in some sports is better than young and supple. Because adults are fully-grown, they are a lot stronger than a child is. All the muscles are developed properly and so in a sport such as cycling it would be an advantage to be a fully-grown adult than a developing child, whereas in gymnastics it would be an advantage to be very supple because of the certain exercises involved. Our gender affects our performance a great deal. A mans frame is generally wider and taller than a woman’s is. Women after they reach puberty develop wider hips which hinders their running ability, whereas a man develops larger muscles due to the increased level of testosterone in their bodies. Women generally have muscles smaller than a mans, so men have a head start already in any power sports such as weightlifting or sprinting which require a lot of physical strength. The size of your internal organs affects performance, in that if you have for example larger than average lungs, you can inhale an awful lot of air which contains oxygen, and so more oxygen can be sent to the muscles to keep them going for longer. Similarly if you have a healthy heart, it can pump the blood to your muscles quicker. And contained in the red blood cells is the oxygen that your muscles need to keep working. Having a healthy heart and large lungs can be a great advantage in an endurance sports event such as rowing or cross-country running. The use of drugs, banned substances, cigarettes and alcohol all effect the way in which we perform in sports. Drugs affect our performance in a positive way. They make us more alert, bulk up muscles and improve strength, increase speed and stamina, and get lots of oxygen to our muscles. Apart from cheating by taking drugs, they ruin our internal organs such as the liver and kidneys. In some cases drugs ruin your fertility because of the effect they have on the body. Cigarettes affect the way the heart and lungs work. The lung capacity of a smoker is considerably less than a non-smoker. Because the lung capacity is less than normal, this means that less oxygen enters the body and less oxygen goes into the red blood cells which are supposed to take oxygen to the muscles. Because of the lack of oxygen in the muscles, they can’t work as well as usual. And if the muscles aren’t working properly you can’t play any sport well. Alcohol slows down reaction time and de-hydrates the body. If your reactions are slowed down in a fast game such as squash, it is likely that you will lose because you have to be alert at all times and if alcohol is present in the body, your performance will be affected. Your diet is very important if you want to stay fit and healthy. If a professional athlete changed their diet to one with sweet and fatty foods it would affect their performance, because too much sugar and fat in the body is unhealthy and it makes you gain extra weight to carry around when you are in action. If the diet you currently have has too many bad things in it, it can start to strain your heart. If you have a very well balanced diet, which is full of fresh fruit and vegetables it keeps your body healthy and full of energy. Also, if your diet lacks a certain amount of sugar, you can have low energy levels which makes your body work slower and not up to speed. It is good to take certain vitamin supplements to make sure that your body is totally up to scratch and eating plenty of foods with iron and different minerals. Illness is quite a major factor in your sporting performance. If you have just started to recover from flu or a bad virus, your body will be very weak from fighting off the virus because lots of your energy is taken up by getting better, so if you went down to a football pitch and tried to play 90 minutes of football the chances are that your performance will be very poor because your muscles will be tired, you won’t be very alert and you will be fatigued and lethargic. An athlete who is clear from illness is far more likely to give a very good performance because they are fully fit, alert, and not tired. The environment makes a difference in most outdoor sports. Athletes who train at high altitude have an advantage, because there is a higher level of oxygen in the air and so more oxygen gets into the blood and to the muscles so they can keep going for longer in for example a marathon run or rowing. A high level of pollution in the air also means that there is difference in oxygen level, but instead of being higher like in high altitude, it is lower due to the impurities in the air. If there is less oxygen, less can be brought into the body, and so the muscles don’t receive the necessary oxygen, so they can’t work as well. The weather also makes a difference in performance outdoors. During a sprint race, if there is a wind blowing towards the athletes, it will be harder for them to run at a world record pace, because they have to work harder to run into an opposing force. Heat affects sprinters as well, if it is too cold, their muscles sometimes are not warm enough, so they could get injured or pull a muscle. If it is warm or even hot when they are running, their bodies and muscles will already be warm and ready to go, so when they are running, their muscles will be working at their best. Your lifestyle is a very important to keeping fit and healthy. A good active lifestyle will result in a healthy body. If you do plenty of exercise and eat healthily you can train for a sport easier, and your body has already set the foundations to keeping fit and keeping up with training. If you get little exercise and stay indoors most of the day, your body will be used to not doing anything too energetic, so if you suddenly go out and do an intense training session the chances are that your body will not be able to cope. How to cite Factors Affecting Sporting Performance, Papers

Physical Fitness Essay Example

Physical Fitness Essay Physical fitness is a general concept defined in many ways by differing scientists. Here two major categories are considered: general fitness (a state of health and well-being), and specific fitness (a task-oriented definition based on the ability to perform specific aspects of sports or occupations). Physical fitness is generally achieved through correct nutrition, exercise, hygiene and rest. Components of Health Related Fitness; Cardiovascular Endurance: is the ability of the heart and lungs to work together to provide the needed oxygen and fuel to the body during sustained workloads. Examples would be jogging, cycling and swimming. The Cooper Run is used most often to test cardiovascular endurance. Muscular Strength: is the amount of force a muscle can produce. Examples would be the bench press, leg press or bicep curl. The push up test is most often used to test muscular strength. Muscular Endurance: is the ability of the muscles to perform continuous without fatiguing. Examples would be cycling, step machines and elliptical machines. The sit up test is most often used to test muscular endurance. Flexibility: is the ability of each joint to move through the available range of motion for a specific joint. Examples would be stretching individual muscles or the ability to perform certain functional movements such as the lunge. The sit and reach test is most often used to test flexibility. Body Composition: is the amount of fat mass compared to lean muscle mass, bone and organs. This can be measured using underwater weighing, Skin fold readings, and bioelectrical impedance. We will write a custom essay sample on Physical Fitness specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Physical Fitness specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Physical Fitness specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Underwater weighing is considered the â€Å"gold standard† for body fat measurement, however because of the size and expense of the equipment needed very few places are set up to do this kind of measurement. Components of Skill Related Fitness; Agility: The ability to rapidly and accurately change the direction of the whole body in space. Balance: The ability to maintain equilibrium while stationary or moving. Coordination: The ability to use the senses and body parts in order to perform motor tasks smoothly and accurately. Power: The amount of force a muscle can exert. Reaction Time: The ability to respond quickly to stimuli. Speed: The amount of time it takes the body to perform specific tasks. Rafaela Casandra R. Dantes. (Bachelor of Arts in Communication) Assignment in Physical Fitness 1) Show the difference of aerobics and anaerobics Aerobics is a form of physical exercise that combines rhythmic aerobic exercise with stretching and strength training routines with the goal of improving all elements of fitness (flexibility, muscular strength, and cardio-vascular fitness). It is usually performed to music and may be practiced in a group setting led by an instructor (fitness professional), although it can be done solo and without musical accompaniment. With the goal of preventing illness and promoting physical fitness, practitioners perform various routines comprising a number of different dance-like exercises. Formal aerobics classes are divided into different levels of intensity and complexity. Aerobics classes may allow participants to select their level of participation according to their fitness level. Many gyms offer a variety of aerobic classes.

Planning and implementing classroom meetings Essay Essay Example

Planning and implementing classroom meetings Essay Essay Example Planning and implementing classroom meetings Essay Essay Planning and implementing classroom meetings Essay Essay Class room meetings do supply a perfect forum for the constitution of a contributing acquisition environment in the school scenario. It does give the scholars a perfect environment for them to pattern their communicating and socialisation accomplishments which are in cooperated in the instruction course of study. The category meetings are meant to function some intents which are listed below. Purpose of the category meetings: The chief intent or major purpose for category meetings is to seek and decide some cardinal subject jobs that are encountered in the acquisition environment. The category meetings do hence make the needed environment for the instructor and scholars to work together in seeking to decide some jobs that are ever encountered in the school scenario for illustration subject jobs whereby scholars harass other scholars in category or during play clip. doing noise that disturbs the acquisition environment negatively and other incidents. Through the category meetings. an attack is created whereby the instructor and the scholars try to decide the first few incidents of misbehaviour before they do acquire out of manus. An illustration of a minor struggle that can acquire out of manus and go a major full graduated table subject job is the instance whereby a given scholar is invariably being bullied by other scholars who happen to hold bigger and stronger organic structures as compared to him/her. If this sort of frailty continues for some clip so it is likely to take that peculiar scholar to a province of being depressed and experiencing unwanted in that environment. Once the scholar enters the province of being depressed so he/she is likely to get down utilizing drugs to get away the province of depression and sometimes it can take the scholar to dropping out of school. Therefore. when a meeting is held in the category. it serves a intent of seeking to steer and advocate the scholars to avoid such frailties and handle each other reasonably with some equity in order to make a more contributing environment for larning. The category meetings do besides function a intent of easing and making a positive relationship in the acquisition environment. The meetings provide an chance for the scholars and the instructors to be able to construct some signifier of trust. regard and assurance in each other which leads to the creative activity of a warm and caring environment. The assurance created by the category meetings leads to the creative activity of an environment that is full of common apprehension thereby enabling all the category members to do statements or province sentiments freely without experiencing unsecure. Classroom meetings do develop closer relationships between the scholars and even between the scholars and their instructors. This closer relationships come when the scholars are discoursing issues or are holding conversations in a relaxed mode whereby they do talk of where they come from. about their households and there general background. This relationships end up making a category that is manageable since the involved parties do acquire to cognize and understand each other consequently. A good illustration is when a instructor holds a meeting with her kindergarten scholars ; at foremost the kids are non so free with the instructor. They tend to make and maintain a certain distance between them and the instructor. A instructor may inquire them to react to some inquiry but they choose to be quiet and non that they do non cognize the response. but they could non be free with the instructor. But if she holds some meetings with them whereby she addresses them heartily so she is bound to interrupt the communicating barrier between her and the immature scholars. This ends up making a relationship of common benefit between the scholars and the instructor. ( Marshal 2001 ) . Through category meetings. scholars do get of import development accomplishments. The accomplishments include the ability to listen attentively and to hold an apprehension of each other. As the category meetings go on. scholars discover that if they do non pay attending or listen carefully and attentively to what the others are stating. so they are meant to lose some key interesting points and some humourous parts. ( Marshall 2001 ) . Class meetings besides have a intent in enabling the scholars to develop other accomplishment for illustration reflecting listening whereby a scholar is supposed to rephrase what he/she had heard earlier on from a schoolmate. This accomplishment enables the scholar to listen with some signifier of apprehension. A brooding duologue besides enables the scholar to develop a clear and concise address which is an of import component in the art of communicating. It enables the scholar to cognize that if there address is non clear so there point may non be understood decently or clearly and hence they won’t be able to do their point or position known ( Marshall 2001 ) . Learners gain accomplishments that enable them to be team participants. When they are keeping treatments in the category meetings. the assorted sentiments that they give from their point of position and parts that they make helps them in cultivating the squad liquors. Aims of category meetings. Classroom meetings do hold some aims that serve to better the life of the scholars and instructors in the acquisition environment. The aims are meant to: Better the general communicating accomplishments of the scholars. The communicating accomplishments include the hearing and speech production accomplishments. When the scholars are take parting in the treatment of issues that affect them in school they non merely nurture their speech production accomplishments but besides their hearing accomplishments which are an built-in constituent in the acquisition environment. The hearing accomplishments enable the scholars to pay close attending to what the others in category are seeking to pass on. Provide chances for the scholars to develop accomplishments for insightful. originative and critical speech production ( Marshall 2001 ) . Classroom meetings provide a platform that enables scholars to pattern their speech production accomplishments. When the scholars are engaged in arguments during the category meetings or when they are asked by the instructor to give their ain positions on some given issues. it does give them that chance that enables them to better and even cultivate better speech production accomplishments. Their creativeness is improved when they are asked to give solutions and supply a manner forward for some critical issues that affect their wellbeing in school. Create an chance for the scholars to interact respectfully and advance their squad work spirit. The interaction with each other in category meetings enables the scholars to understand each other from all positions. Team work spirit enables them to be squad participants and to work together in deciding any jobs and miss-understandings that they face non merely in school but besides in the outside universe besides where they run into bigger and tougher challenges. Foster societal accomplishments for illustration cut downing shyness ( Marshall 2001 ) . Classroom meetings enable scholars to interact positively through take parting in conversations and arguments in category which enable them to get the better of their shyness as they become more confident in keeping treatments. The more the scholars participate in category meetings. the more they overcome their shyness. Classroom meetings build a trusting and caring relationship between the scholar and the instructor. When the instructor holds a meeting to discourse with the scholar issues that do impact them in a friendly manner them the relationship between the instructor and the scholar is bound to better. The scholars will liberate being with that instructor which is a necessary demand for the acquisition procedure to be more effectual. The scholars will be free to inquire the instructor any inquiry which they do non understand and in bend the instructor will make what is required of him/her professionally. Agenda of schoolroom meetings. Agenda. from the position of category meetings is a term meant to mention to the different affairs that affect the scholars and are meant to be solved during meetings through giving suggestions. discoursing them or utilizing any other appropriate manner to work out them. Class meetings are designed in such a manner that they try to better the acquisition environment and alteration it positively get downing with the pupils themselves. Teachers have their ain dockets for schoolroom. for illustration the instructors use the meetings to derive some instructional aims from the scholars ( Marshall 2001 ) . Instructional aims are obtained when the instructor asks the scholars inquiries that pertain the category meeting or the lessons held in category. For illustration the instructor can inquire the scholars to give suggestions on how they could do the following lesson better than the present one. It gives the scholars the chance to reflect in their heads and seek to give suggestions that will assist better the following lesson. This sort of contemplation besides helps those childs who easy switch of from the current events to other 1s that are non portion of the category meetings. When they are asked to give suggestion refering the improvement of the meeting so they are likely to linger on when that lesson or meeting is held since they gave a suggestion refering it. Teachers can besides hold other dockets like puting up the tone of a category for acquisition. This is peculiarly an of import docket particularly when a given category is a really hard category to pull off for illustration a category that is full of mischievousness from the scholars. If a category meeting is held at the beginning of the acquisition procedure. so the instructor might be successful in implementing some regulations that will be used through the acquisition exercising and set the right tone for the acquisition procedure from the beginning of that session to the really terminal ( Marshall 2001 ) . Having Class meetings can besides hold dockets that involve scholars discoursing on the right attack for them to utilize in making their assignments and in reexamining them. For illustration they can discourse whether it is appropriate for them to keep treatments as a whole category in order to make reexamine an assignment that they had done earlier on or it will be appropriate for them to make the assignments in smaller groups or it will be more appropriate for them to make them separately through research. Such an docket enables the scholars to happen a better manner of managing their category work. a manner that will profit them more. They besides get to give grounds why they think a given attack will profit them more than the other attacks. Besides in the category meeting docket. the manner of covering with minor jobs should be spoken about or discussed. Covering with category room misbehaviours should be an docket. In some instances. particularly when covering with immature scholars of lower categories. a teacher gets ailments like â€Å"teacher this one is squashing my hand† . Both the scholars and the instructor should hold on what to make during such incidents. When the scholars decide for themselves. it becomes a certain manner of commanding some frailties in the category room as they will be witting of what they will be making in category and will evidently seek every bit much as possible to avoid acquiring into problem. Explicating inquiries. The intent. aims and ends of the meeting should be clear to the instructor in order to enable him/her to explicate the right sort of inquiries that will enable him/her to accomplish all the ends of the meetings. The instructor must explicate unfastened ended inquiries. Open ended inquiries ask for a treatment and are the best when keeping a category meeting as they require more than merely an reply. They let the scholars to give accounts as to why they feel as they feel. ( Marshall 2001 ) . Closed complete inquiries are those that require simple replies merely. They do non arouse any accounts from the scholars. They require a yes or no reply. Such inquiries should be avoided at all times. They do non even play a simple function of fostering the creativeness of the scholars. The unfastened ended inquiries help a batch in bettering the creativeness of the scholars as they give room for the scholars to believe widely and seek to come up with the right solutions or reply to a given job. The instructor should therefore formulate open-ended inquiries. An illustration of unfastened ended inquiries is a inquiry that begins with â€Å"Why? † or â€Å"How? † . This manner. a justification is given by the pupil and at the terminal does demo that the pupil did make some thought or logical thinking. The instructor should besides explicate inquiries that seek for elucidation. A scholar should seek to explicate the grounds why they chose on a given reply. In other words. the scholar should non merely give a level reply but besides explain that reply and seek to clear up it more. Some scholars have a inclination of allowing their heads wonder far off from the events that are presently taking topographic point in category and one time they are asked to reply a given inquiry they ask their neighbours in category and give an reply that serves the intent of delivering them from some shame. If a instructor formulates inquiries that seek elucidation so the learner’s attending will most probably be captured to stop of the meeting. Length. clip and frequence Length. clip and frequence of a category meeting depends on the category and age of the scholars. the nature of that group. the sort of involvements that they have during the meetings and the type or nature of subject that is being discussed. Meetings for immature kids. for illustration those in kindergarten should be planned and held for around 10 proceedingss while the 1 for older scholars i. e. those in higher categories can be held for a longer clip. about 20 proceedingss. ( Marshall 2001 ) . The meetings should ever be held at the same clip as planned or as in agenda. For illustration. some instructors do keep meetings before the category interruption for tiffin. at the terminal of the period or when the twenty-four hours ends. Teachers. who handle in-between and high school categories. keep meetings at the beginning of every category in order to discourse how the scholars are doing on and to look into on the advancement of the category undertakings. These meetings that are held at the beginning of the category in co-operate the scholars into the planning procedure which leads to increase in the acquisition processes even though merely a few proceedingss are spared for a treatment. Harmonizing to Marshall. the simple categories should keep meetings on a day-to-day footing as a manner of maintaining them in path. It checks on their behaviour and if they are making what they are supposed to make in school. Marshall besides argues that if the center and high school categories do non keep meetings on a regular footing so they will be striping themselves of the so many advantages that do come with the meetings when they are held on a regular basis. Physical environment. The physical environment should be created in a satisfactory mode. The sort of physical environment created should vouch the meeting some quality. For illustration if a instructor decides to make a circle or to follow a circle format for the meeting. so it is obvious that the meeting will hold a high quality attached to it since the scholars see each other face to face and are hence able to read each other’s looks every bit good as hear the words that are being spoken in a better manner as compared to them being seated in rows and confronting the instructor whereby the scholars won’t be able to see the 1s who are lending from the dorsum of the category ( Marshall 2001 ) When the scholars are seated in rows. they will writhe around to see the individual lending from the dorsum. This leads to miss of concentration that is a necessity in the treatment. Therefore. instructors should follow an environment that is more effectual for the treatment to be of a greater success. A circle format for the sitting agreement is the best for keeping category meetings. Furniture. Desks are a barrier to open treatments in category. They should be moved in order to pave manner for a circle. The scholars should merely utilize their chairs if the meeting is to be more effectual. For the younger scholars. those in lower classs. sitting on the floor will be more effectual in that motion will be minimum from them. It will besides salvage clip for traveling desks and chairs since they are immature and make non cognize the value of clip. ( Marshall 2001 ) . Role of the instructor. The major function of the instructor is to ease the meeting. For illustration. the instructor has to supervise the scholars. pose the right inquiries and give the right replies to the scholars. The instructor has to guarantee that the right remarks are made to every pupil who attempts to convey something into the treatment. If a instructor remarks on merely one learner’s part and ignores the other. so that pupil is bound to believe that his part was non worthwhile. The instructor has to reason the meeting. He/she has to sum up all the points that have been discussed and to do certain that all the scholars understand all that has been discussed. Role of the pupil. The pupil plays a function in implementing what has been discussed and agreed upon. If the meeting set an docket on maintaining silence in category. so the scholar has to seek and be soundless. If they agreed on how cleansing of schoolrooms should be done so the scholar has a function to play to do certain that all is a success. Closing the meeting. The instructor should give a sum-up of the whole meeting on what has been agreed upon. The instructor could besides pull a consensus or merely province the in agreement solution in a job work outing meeting. It serves to reenforce the treatments of the meeting. Evaluation. At the terminal of the meeting. the instructor should inquire himself or herself some inquiries that reflect on the meeting and are meant to better accomplishments. For illustration: are the scholars showing their ain sentiments? Are the pupils exposing any grounds of insightful thought? ( Marshall 2001 ) . The instructor can besides asses the degree of engagement of the scholars i. e. if they all took portion in the treatment. In decision. category meetings are an of import portion in the creative activity of a contributing acquisition environment. When meetings are held with the scholars. they non merely look into on the behaviour of the scholars but besides better the relationship of the scholars and the instructor which is an of import facet in the instructor pupil relationship. Mentions. Marshall. M. ( 2001 ) . Classroom meetings. . New York: Piper Press.

Overview of United States Government

Overview of United States Government The government of the United States is based on a written constitution. At 4,400 words, it is the shortest national constitution in the world. On June 21, 1788, New Hampshire ratified the Constitution giving it the necessary 9 out of 13 votes needed for the Constitution to pass. It officially went into effect on  March 4, 1789.  It was  consists of a Preamble, seven Articles, and 27 Amendments. From this document, the entire federal government was created. It is a living document whose interpretation has changed over time. The amendment process is such that while not easily amended, US citizens are able to make necessary changes over time. Three Branches of Government The Constitution created three separate branches of government. Each branch has its own powers and areas of influence. At the same time, the Constitution created a system of checks and balances that ensured no one branch would reign supreme. The three branches are: Legislative Branch- This branch consists of the Congress which is responsible for making the federal laws. Congress consists of two houses: the Senate and the House of Representatives.Executive Branch- The Executive power lies with the President of the United States who is given the job of executing, enforcing, and administering the laws and government. The Bureaucracy is part of the Executive Branch.Judicial Branch- The judicial power of the United States is vested in the Supreme Court and the federal courts. Their job is to interpret and apply US laws through cases brought before them. Another important power of the Supreme Court is that of Judicial Review whereby they can rule laws unconstitutional. Six Foundational Principles The Constitution is built on six basic principles. These are deeply ingrained in the mindset and landscape of the US Government. Popular Sovereignty- This principle states that the source of governmental power lies with the people. This belief stems from the concept of the social contract and the idea that government should be for the benefit of its citizens. If the government is not protecting the people, it should be dissolved.Limited Government- Since the people give the government its power, the government itself is limited to the power given to it by them. In other words, the US government does not derive its power from itself. It must follow its own laws and it can only act using powers given to it by the people.Separation of Powers- As stated previously, the US Government is divided into three branches so that no one branch has all the power. Each branch has its own purpose: to make the laws, execute the laws, and interpret the laws.Checks and Balances- In order to further protect the citizens, the constitution set up a system of checks and balances. Basically, each branch of government has a certain nu mber of checks it can use to ensure the other branches do not become too powerful. For example, the president can veto legislation, the Supreme Court can declare acts of Congress unconstitutional, and the Senate must approve treaties and presidential appointments. Judicial Review- This is a power that allows the Supreme Court to decide whether acts and laws are unconstitutional. This was established with Marbury v. Madison in 1803.Federalism- One of the most complicated foundations of the US is the principle of federalism. This is the idea that the central government does not control all the power in the nation. States also have powers reserved to them. This division of powers does overlap and sometimes leads to problems such as what happened with the response to Hurricane Katrina between the state and federal governments. Political Process While the Constitution sets up the system of government, the actual way in which the offices of Congress and the Presidency are filled are based upon the American political system. Many countries have numerous political parties- groups of people who join together to try and win political office and thereby control the government- but the US exists under a two-party system. The two major parties in America are the Democratic and Republican parties. They act as coalitions and attempt to win elections. We currently have a two-party system because of not only historical precedent and tradition but also the  electoral system itself. The fact that America has a two-party system does not mean that there is no role for third parties in the American landscape. In fact, they have often swayed elections even if their candidates have in most cases not won. There are four major types of third parties: Ideological Parties, e.g. Socialist PartySingle-Issue parties, e.g. Right to Life PartyEconomic Protest Parties, e.g. Greenback PartySplinter Parties, e.g. Bull Moose Party Elections Elections occur in the United States at all levels including local, state, and federal. There are numerous differences from locality to locality and state to state. Even when determining the presidency, there is some variation with how the electoral college is determined from state to state. While voter turnout is barely over 50% during Presidential election years and much lower than that during midterm elections, elections can be hugely important as seen by the top ten significant presidential elections.

Team motivation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Team motivation - Essay Example The organization is now on the treat o dissolving. In due with that, he should quickly establish many changes (which are actually revivals based on their history as currently they had not implemented) on the organization. He should revive the parliamentary rules and procedures on meetings. According to the code of ethics, it to make sure that the meeting shall go professionally, or is in other terms without bias (Slaughter, online, 2006). This is a kind if self-regulation on the president's part, which is technically backed up by a due process-i.e. he could not make decisions on his own, pass bias judgment. In fact he cannot even vote. In meetings, the writer must be careful of his nonverbal cues, which can influence other emotions (Academic, 1992, 18:12). He should smile often, and control the tone of his gestures into non-threatening, as Patton would suggest in her example (1997, 118-120). It is about 10 years ago that the since SAO had appointed chairpersons on its activities. Choosing the right people for the first time to chair the right activity was the next challenge. The writer must, prior on that meeting had asked members individually what event do they want to lead. During the past 10 years, the president always "led" all of the activities, which were just a carbon copy of that of last year.

Macroeconomics Bachelor Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Macroeconomics Bachelor - Essay Example It was noted that Central Banks have been successful in their policies which controlled inflation particularly in controlling insulating countries from shocks such as high oil prices. This mechanism will be explained using various macroeconomic principles. The money supply is directly linked with inflation as shown in the famous Quantity Theory of Money (QTM). This model links the level of money supply to the level of prices of goods and services sold, thus inflation. The famous equation of the TQM is MV = PT, where P is the average price level, T is the volume of transactions of goods and services, V is the velocity of circulation, and M is the money supply in the economy. From this equation, we can see that money supply and price level have direct relationship. We should note that TQM assumes that V and T are constant in the short term, leaving only M and P variable. Consequently, when the money supply doubles, the price level in the economy also doubles. Thus, Central Banks can either increase or decrease the money supply in order to do the same in inflation. In the statement being analyzed, Central Banks are able to avoid wage-price spirals (which are considered P in the QTM) by pursuing a contractionary monetary policy. According to Mishkin (2004), lowering the money supply is done by raising discount rates which discourages bank borrowings, open market sale which tightens reserves and monetary base, and raise the reserve requirement among banks which shrinks the available funds for banks to grant as loans to borrowers. Also, another method usually done in open economies and has replaced monetary targeting is called inflation targeting. Inflation targeting is "an economic policy in which the central bank of a country estimates and makes public a projected or 'target' inflation rate and then attempts to steer actual inflation towards the target through the use of interest rate changes and other monetary tools (Inflation Targeting 2006)." Instead of directly controlling inflation by changing the level of money supply, central banks opted to manipulate interest rates. As interest rates and inflation are inversely related, the central bank raises interest rates if inflation appears to move above its target. Meanwhile, if inflation appears to be below the target, the central bank will lower interest rates. This policy has been adopted first by New Zealand in 1989. Inflation targeting has also been adopted by countries like the United States, Britain, South Korea, and Brazil. Inflation targeters have also set a time horizon over which to reach their targets. This usually depends on how high the starting rate of inflation is relative to the desired rate. Since, inflation targeting requires transparency; central banks periodically release inflation reports, and press statements (IMF 2003). 2. Outline the effects of such monetary policy on price expectations in the central bank's domestic economy. Inflation targeting, in order to be fully effective in curbing hyperinflationary expectations require transparency which

Analysis of Lindt Sprüngli Chocolate Brand

Analysis of Lindt Sprà ¼ngli Chocolate Brand In 2001, chocolate production (without semi-finished products) in Germany reached to 730,000 tons, of which 50,000 tons were exported. Sales volume of German chocolate market was the biggest in the Europe (EUR 3.4 billion). Approximately 100 producers existed in the chocolate industry. 35% of the market was served by the 2 biggest players: Ferrero (from Italy) and Kraft Foods (from the USA). Both of them marketed multiple brands of chocolate and were producing mainly for mass market. There also existed many family-owned small confectioners. They were specialised in fine chocolates and exquisite pralines. Lindt Sprà ¼ngli, a medium-sized company, hold the 3rd position in the German chocolate market. The company served only premium segment. Market could be segmented by the type of chocolate used in the production: dark chocolate, white chocolate or whole milk chocolate. But the most common way was to distinguish the market by the product type: chocolate tablets, pralines, seasonal products, chocolate bars, chocolate surprise products and chocolate snacks. Lindt Sprà ¼ngli products comprised only the first 3 types: chocolate tablets, pralines, seasonal products. The following main distribution channels could be identified: Specialty stores carried high quality chocolate, provided good service to customers, enabled confectioners to receive direct feedback from consumers and to run promotions at the point of sale. General retailers consist of food retailers and discount stores. This channel distributes products for mass market. Discount stores are classified as hard (focusing only on price) and soft stores. General retailers provided low or no service for the customers. Proprietary shops or praline boutiques usually owned by small family-owned confectioners. This channel allowed the manufacturer to be very close to end-customer and evaluate their feedback. Flagship stores, also qualified as proprietary shops, were used mainly to promote brand image. Convineince stores focused mainly on impulse purchases. Online shops were only marginaly important in Germany. Factory outlets were used to sell the overproduction or second choice products. Specialty stores were the core distribution channel for the Lindt Sprà ¼ngli. But discount stores were putting high pressure on Specialty store. In 2000 discount store sales increased by approximately 40% compared to 1992, and Lindts sales in specialty stores dropped by around 14% compared to 1992 (though moderate increase from 1997). Since 1997 Lindt Sprà ¼ngli also used food retailers and soft discounters as additional distribution channel. Their step was made with caution and didnt take full advantage of segment growth, though raised high disapproval of specialty stores. Strategic Alternatives Lindt Sprà ¼ngli has different strategic alternatives. 1. Company can choose exclusive intensity for distribution: totally quit the mass market and sell only through specialty stores. (Michael R. Solomon, 2009) In this case, Lindts brand image would increase, appropriate service would be provided, control on the distribution channel would increase, emotional connection with the customer would be established, close feedback sales in specialty stores would be monitored and specialty stores will be satisfied with decision. The negative effects are decreased revenue (mass market is a big market), increased bargaining power of specialty stores. (Grant, 2010) 2. Intensive distribution largely focusing on mass market is another option (while distribution through specialty stores is sustained). For implementing this strategy the company should largely use food retailers and soft discounter. This will probably increase the sales, and lower specialty stores bargaining power. In this case Lindt Sprà ¼ngli could decrease its expenditure on RD. The negative effects of this option are lower brand image, little or no control on the quality of service, little or no feedback from consumer, vertical channel conflict (high competition will lead to lower margins) dissatisfaction of specialty stores. Use of hard discounter would have destructive negative affect on brand image. (Spekman, 2009) 3. Flagship stores could be used to increase brand image and brand identity. This would also decrease bargaining power of specialty stores and could bring dissatisfaction of the latter. 4. Factory outlets could be used to sell the overproduction at low price. The overproduction of high priced products shouldnt be sold here. 5. For using convenience stores Lindt have to develop new products like snacks. Use of this option will negatively affect the brand image. 6. Online shops could be used for premium products. Especially for the seasonal products, it could be used to arrange a delivery as a gift. Given to increase the sales and to sustain the companys philosophy of providing high quality chocolate, the best solution for Lindt Sprà ¼ngli could be the use of multi-channel distribution. Company can split into 2 different brand names: Lindt Luxury (for example) and Lindt. The first would be for high quality premium products with rigorous selected ingredients, and the second would serve mass market. This strategy only partly would harm brand image, but would increase the market share and revenues. Specialty stores would be only partly dissatisfied, as their products would differ from those of retailers and discounters. Online shops could be used additionally.

Black House Chapter Eight

8 TWO TELEPHONE CALLS and another, private matter, one he is doing his best to deny, have conspired to pluck Jack Sawyer from his cocoon in Norway Valley and put him on the road to French Landing, Sumner Street, and the police station. The first call had been from Henry, and Henry, calling from the Maxton cafeteria during one of the Symphonic One's breaks, had insisted on speaking his mind. A child had apparently been abducted from the sidewalk in front of Maxton's earlier that day. Whatever Jack's reasons for staying out of the case, which by the way he had never explained, they didn't count anymore, sorry. This made four children who had been lost to the Fisherman, because Jack didn't really think Irma Freneau was going to walk in her front door anytime soon, did he? Four children! No, Henry had said, I didn't hear about it on the radio. It happened this morning. From a janitor at Maxton's, Henry had said. He saw a worried-looking cop pick up a bicycle and put it in his trunk. All right, Henry had said, maybe I don't know for certain, but I am certain. By tonight, Dale will identify the poor kid, and tomorrow his name will be all over the newspaper. And then this whole county is going to flip out. Don't you get it? Just knowing you are involved will do a lot to keep people calm. You no longer have the luxury of retirement, Jack. You have to do your part. Jack had told him he was jumping to conclusions, and that they would talk about it later. Forty-five minutes later, Dale Gilbertson had called with the news that a boy named Tyler Marshall had vanished from in front of Maxton's sometime that morning, and that Tyler's father, Fred Marshall, was down there right now, in the station, demanding to see Jack Sawyer. Fred was a great guy, a real straight arrow and family man, a solid citizen, a friend of Dale's, you could say, but at the moment he was at the end of his rope. Apparently Judy, his wife, had been having some kind of mental problems even before the trouble started, and Tyler's disappearance had driven her off the edge. She talked in gibberish, injured herself, tore the house apart. And I kind of know Judy Marshall, Dale had said. Beautiful, beautiful woman, a little thing but tough as all get-out on the inside, both feet on the ground, a great person, a tremendous person, someone you'd think would never lose her grip, no matter what. It seems she thought, knew, whatever, that Tyler had been snatched even before his bicycle turned up. Late this afternoon, she got so bad Fred had to call Dr. Skarda and get her over to French County Lutheran in Arden, where they took one look at her and put her in Ward D, the mental wing. So you can imagine what kind of shape Fred's in. He insists on talking to you. I have no confidence in you, he said to me. Well, Dale had said, if you don't come down here, Fred Marshall is going to show up at your house, that's what'll happen. I can't put the guy on a leash, and I'm not going to lock him up just to keep him away from you. On top of everything else, we need you here, Jack. All right, Dale had said. I know you're not making any promises. But you know what you should do. Would these conversations have been enough to get him into his pickup and on the road to Sumner Street? Very likely, Jack imagines, which renders the third factor, the secret, barely acknowledged one, inconsequential. It means nothing. A silly attack of nerves, a buildup of anxiety, completely natural under the circumstances. The kind of thing that could happen to anybody. He felt like getting out of the house, so what? No one could accuse him of escaping. He was traveling toward, not running away from, that which he most wanted to escape the dark undertow of the Fisherman's crimes. Neither was he committing himself to any deeper involvement. A friend of Dale's and the father of a child apparently missing, this Fred Marshall, insisted on talking to him; fine, let him talk. If half an hour with a retired detective could help Fred Marshall get a handle on his problems, the retired detective was willing to give him the time. Everything else was merely personal. Waking dreams and robins' eggs messed with your mind, but that was merely personal. It could be out-waited, outwitted, figured out. No rational person took that stuff seriously: like a summer storm, it blew in, it blew out. Now, as he coasted through the green light at Centralia and noted, with a cop's reflexive awareness, the row of Harleys lined up in the Sand Bar's parking lot, he felt himself coming into alignment with the afternoon's difficulties. It made perfect sense that he should have found himself unable well, let us say unwilling to open the refrigerator door. Nasty surprises made you think twice. A light in his living room had expired, and when he had gone to the drawer that contained half a dozen new halogen bulbs, he had been unable to open it. In fact, he had not quite been able to open any drawer, cabinet, or closet in his house, which had denied him the capacity to make a cup of tea, change his clothes, prepare lunch, or do anyt hing but leaf half heartedly through books and watch television. When the flap of the mailbox had threatened to conceal a pyramid of small blue eggs, he had decided to put off collecting the mail until the next day. Anyhow, all he ever got were financial statements, magazines, and junk mail. Let's not make it sound worse than it was, Jack says to himself. I could have opened every door, drawer, and cabinet in the place, but I didn't want to. I wasn't afraid that robins' eggs were going to come spilling out of the refrigerator or the closet it's just that I didn't want to take the chance of finding one of the blasted things. Show me a psychiatrist who says that's neurotic, and I'll show you a moron who doesn't understand psychology. All the old-timers used to tell me that working homicide messed with your head. Hell, that's why I retired in the first place! What was I supposed to do, stay on the force until I ate my gun? You're a smart guy, Henry Leyden, and I love you, but there are some things you don't GET! All right, he was going to Sumner Street. Everybody was yelling at him to do something, and that's what he was doing. He'd say hello to Dale, greet the boys, sit down with this Fred Marshall, the solid citizen with a missing son, and give him the usual oatmeal about everything possible being done, blah blah, the FBI is working hand in glove with us on this one, and the bureau has the finest investigators in the world. That oatmeal. As far as Jack was concerned, his primary duty was to stroke Fred Marshall's fur, as if to soothe the feelings of an injured cat; when Marshall had calmed down, Jack's supposed obligation to the community an obligation that existed entirely in the minds of others would be fulfilled, freeing him to go back to the privacy he had earned. If Dale didn't like it, he could take a running jump into the Mississippi; if Henry didn't like it, Jack would refuse to read Bleak House and force him to listen instead to Lawrence Welk, Vaughn Monroe, or something equally excruciating. Bad Dixieland. Years ago, someone had given Jack a CD called Fats Manassas & His Muskrat All Stars Stompin' the Ramble. Thirty seconds of Fats Manassas, and Henry would be begging for mercy. This image makes Jack feel comfortable enough to prove that his hesitation before cupboards and drawers had been merely a temporary unwillingness, not phobic inability. Even while his attention was elsewhere, as it chiefly was, the shoved-in ashtray below the dash has mocked and taunted him since he first climbed into the pickup. A kind of sinister suggestiveness, an aura of latent malice, surrounds the ashtray's flat little panel. Does he fear that a small blue egg lurks behind the little panel? Of course not. Nothing is in there but air and molded black plastic. In that case, he can pull it out. The buildings on the outskirts of French Landing glide past the pickup's windows. Jack has reached almost the exact point at which Henry pulled the plug on Dirtysperm. Obviously he can open the ashtray. Nothing could be simpler. You just get your fingers under there and tug. Easiest thing in the world. He extends a hand. Before his fingers touch the panel, he snatches the hand back. Drops of perspiration glide down his forehead and lodge in his eyebrows. â€Å"It isn't a big deal,† he says aloud. â€Å"You got some kind of problem here, Jacky-boy?† Again, he extends his hand to the ashtray. Abruptly aware that he is paying more attention to the bottom of his dashboard than to the road, he glances up and cuts his speed by half. He refuses to hit his brakes. It's just an ashtray, for God's sake. His fingers meet the panel, then curl under its lip. Jack glances at the road once more. Then, with the decisivesness of a nurse ripping a strip of tape off a patient's hairy abdomen, he yanks out the sliding tray. The lighter attachment, which he had unknowingly dislodged in his driveway that morning, bounces three inches into the air, greatly resembling, to Jack's appalled eye, a flying black-and-silver egg. He veers off the road, bumps over the weedy shoulder, and heads toward a looming telephone pole. The lighter drops back into the tray with a loud, metallic thwack no egg in the world could have produced. The telephone pole swims closer and nearly fills the windshield. Jack stamps on the brake and jerks to a halt, arousing a flurry of ticks and rattles from the ashtray. If he had not cut his speed before opening the ashtray, he would have driven straight into the pole, which stands about four feet from the hood of the pickup. Jack wipes the sweat off his face and picks up the lighter. â€Å"Shit on a shingle.† He clicks the attachment into its receptacle and collapses backward against the seat. â€Å"No wonder they say smoking can kill you,† he says. The joke is too feeble to amuse him, and for a couple of seconds he does nothing but slump against the seat and regard the sparse traffic on Lyall Road. When his heart rate drops back to something like normal, he reminds him self that he did, after all, open the ashtray. Blond, rumpled Tom Lund has evidently been prepped for his arrival, for when Jack walks past three bicycles lined up next to the door and enters the station, the young officer takes off from behind his desk and rushes forward to whisper that Dale and Fred Marshall are waiting for him in Dale's office, and he will show him right in. They'll be glad to see him, that's for sure. â€Å"I am, too, Lieutenant Sawyer,† Lund adds. â€Å"Boy, I gotta say it. What you got, I think, we need.† â€Å"Call me Jack. I'm not a lieutenant anymore. I'm not even a cop anymore.† Jack had met Tom Lund during the Kinderling investigation, and he had liked the young man's eagerness and dedication. In love with his job, his uniform, and his badge, respectful of his chief and awed by Jack, Lund had uncomplainingly logged hundreds of hours on the telephone, in records offices, and in his car, checking and rechecking the often contradictory details spun off by the collision between a Wisconsin farm-insurance salesman and two Sunset Strip working girls. All the while, Tom Lund had retained the energetic sparkle of a high school quarterback running onto the field for his first game. He does not look that way anymore, Jack observes. Dark smudges hang beneath his eyes, and the bones in his face are more prominent. More than sleeplessness and exhaustion lie behind Lund's affect: his eyes bear the helplessly startled expression of those who have suffered a great moral shock. The Fisherman has stolen a good part of Tom Lund's youth. â€Å"But I'll see what I can do,† Jack says, offering the promise of a commitment greater than he intends. â€Å"We can sure use anything you can give us,† Lund says. It is too much, too servile, and as Lund turns away and leads him to the office, Jack thinks, I didn't come here to be your savior. The thought instantly makes him feel guilty. Lund knocks, opens the door to announce Jack, shows him in, and vanishes like a ghost, utterly unnoticed by the two men who rise from their chairs and fasten their eyes upon their visitor's face, one with visible gratitude, the other with an enormous degree of the same emotion mixed with naked need, which makes Jack even more uncomfortable. Over Dale's garbled introduction, Fred Marshall says, â€Å"Thank you for agreeing to come, thank you so much. That's all I can . . .† His right arm sticks out like a pump handle. When Jack takes his hand, an even greater quantity of feeling floods into Fred Marshall's face. His hand fastens on Jack's and seems almost to claim it, as an animal claims its prey. He squeezes, hard, a considerable number of times. His eyes fill. â€Å"I can't . . .† Marshall pulls his hand away and scrubs the tears off his face. Now his eyes look raw and intensely vulnerable. â€Å"Boy oh boy,† he says. â€Å"I'm really glad you're here, Mr. Sawyer. Or should I say Lieutenant?† â€Å"Jack is fine. Why don't the two of you fill me in on what happened today?† Dale points toward a waiting chair; the three men take their places; the painful but essentially simple story of Fred, Judy, and Tyler Marshall begins. Fred speaks first, at some length. In his version of the story, a valiant, lionhearted woman, a devoted wife and mother, succumbs to baffling, multifaceted transformations and disorders, and develops mysterious symptoms overlooked by her ignorant, stupid, self-centered husband. She blurts out nonsense words; she writes crazy stuff on sheets of notepaper, rams the papers into her mouth, and tries to swallow them. She sees the tragedy coming in advance, and it unhinges her. Sounds crazy, but the self-centered husband thinks it's the truth. That is, he thinks he thinks it's the truth, because he's been thinking about it since he first talked to Dale, and even though it sounds crazy, it kind of makes sense. Because what other explanation could there be? So that's what he thinks he thinks that his wife started to lose her mind because she knew that the Fisherman was on the way. Things like that are possible, he guesses. For example, the brave afflicted wife knew that her beautiful wonderful son was missing even before the stupid selfish husband, who went to work exactly as if it were a normal day, told her about the bicycle. That pretty much proved what he was talking about. The beautiful little boy went out with his three friends, but only the three friends came back, and Officer Danny Tcheda found the little son's Schwinn bike and one of his poor sneakers on the sidewalk outside Maxton's. â€Å"Danny Cheetah?† asks Jack, who, like Fred Marshall, is beginning to think he thinks a number of alarming things. â€Å"Tcheda,† says Dale, and spells it for him. Dale tells his own, far shorter version of the story. In Dale Gilbertson's story, a boy goes out for a ride on his bicycle and vanishes, perhaps as a result of abduction, from the sidewalk in front of Maxton's. That is all of the story Dale knows, and he trusts that Jack Sawyer will be able to fill in many of the surrounding blanks. Jack Sawyer, at whom both of the other men in the room are staring, takes time to adjust to the three thoughts he now thinks he thinks. The first is not so much a thought as a response that embodies a hidden thought: from the moment Fred Marshall clutched his hand and said â€Å"Boy oh boy,† Jack found himself liking the man, an unanticipated turn in the evening's plot. Fred Marshall strikes him as something like the poster boy for small-town life. If you put his picture on billboards advertising French County real estate, you could sell a lot of second homes to people in Milwaukee and Chicago. Marshall's friendly, good-looking face and slender runner's body are as good as testimonials to responsibility, decency, good manners and good neighborliness, modesty, and a generous heart. The more Fred Marshall accuses himself of selfishness and stupidity, the more Jack likes him. And the more he likes him, the more he sympathizes with his terrible plight, the more he wishes to help t he man. Jack had come to the station expecting that he would respond to Dale's friend like a policeman, but his cop reflexes have rusted from disuse. He is responding like a fellow citizen. Cops, as Jack well knows, seldom view the civilians caught up in the backwash of a crime as fellow citizens, certainly never in the early stages of an investigation. (The thought hidden at the center of Jack's response to the man before him is that Fred Marshall, being what he is, cannot harbor suspicions about anyone with whom he is on good terms.) Jack's second thought is that of both a cop and a fellow citizen, and while he continues his adjustment to the third, which is wholly the product of his rusty yet still accurate cop reflexes, he makes it public. â€Å"The bikes I saw outside belong to Tyler's friends? Is someone questioning them now?† â€Å"Bobby Dulac,† Dale says. â€Å"I talked to them when they came in, but I didn't get anywhere. According to them, they were all together on Chase Street, and Tyler rode off by himself. They claim they didn't see anything. Maybe they didn't.† â€Å"But you think there's more.† â€Å"Honest to God, I do. But I don't know what the dickens it could be, and we have to send them home before their parents get bent out of shape.† â€Å"Who are they, what are their names?† Fred Marshall wraps his fingers together as if around the handle of an invisible baseball bat. â€Å"Ebbie Wexler, T. J. Renniker, and Ronnie Metzger. They're the kids Ty's been hanging around with this summer.† An unspoken judgment hovers about this last sentence. â€Å"It sounds like you don't consider them the best possible company for your son.† â€Å"Well, no,† says Fred, caught between his desire to tell the truth and his innate wish to avoid the appearance of unfairness. â€Å"Not if you put it like that. Ebbie seems like kind of a bully, and the other two are maybe a little on the . . . slow side? I hope . . . or I was hoping . . . that Ty would realize he could do better and spend his free time with kids who are more on, you know . . .† â€Å"More on his level.† â€Å"Right. The trouble is, my son is sort of small for his age, and Ebbie Wexler is . . . um . . .† â€Å"Heavyset and tall for his age,† Jack says. â€Å"The perfect situation for a bully.† â€Å"You're saying you know Ebbie Wexler?† â€Å"No, but I saw him this morning. He was with the other two boys and your son.† Dale jolts upright in his chair, and Fred Marshall drops his invisible bat. â€Å"When was that?† Dale asks. At the same time, Fred Marshall asks, â€Å"Where?† â€Å"Chase Street, about ten past eight. I came in to pick up Henry Ley-den and drive him home. When we were on our way out of town, the boys drove their bikes into the road right in front of me. I got a good look at your son, Mr. Marshall. He seemed like a great kid.† Fred Marshall's widening eyes indicate that some kind of hope, some promise, is taking shape before him; Dale relaxes. â€Å"That pretty much matches their story. It would have been right before Ty took off on his own. If he did.† â€Å"Or they took off and left him,† says Ty's father. â€Å"They were faster on their bikes than Ty, and sometimes they, you know . . . they teased him.† â€Å"By racing ahead and leaving him alone,† Jack says. Fred Marshall's glum nod speaks of boyhood humiliations shared with this sympathetic father. Jack remembers the inflamed, hostile face and raised finger of Ebbie Wexler and wonders if and how the boy might be protecting himself. Dale had said that he smelled the presence of falsity in the boys' story, but why would they lie? Whatever their reasons, the lie almost certainly began with Ebbie Wexler. The other two followed orders. For the moment setting aside the third of his thoughts, Jack says, â€Å"I want to talk to the boys before you send them home. Where are they?† â€Å"The interrogation room, top of the stairs.† Dale aims a finger at the ceiling. â€Å"Tom will take you up.† With its battleship-gray walls, gray metal table, and single window narrow as a slit in a castle wall, the room at the top of the stairs seems designed to elicit confessions through boredom and despair, and when Tom Lund leads Jack through the door, the four inhabitants of the interrogation room appear to have succumbed to its leaden atmosphere. Bobby Dulac looks sideways, stops drumming a pencil on the tabletop, and says, â€Å"Well, hoo-ray for Hollywood. Dale said you were coming down.† Even Bobby gleams a little less conspicuously in this gloom. â€Å"Did you want to interrogate these here hoodlums, Lieutenant?† â€Å"In a minute, maybe.† Two of the three hoodlums on the far side of the table watch Jack move alongside Bobby Dulac as if fearing he will clap them in a cell. The words â€Å"interrogate† and â€Å"Lieutenant† have had the bracing effect of a cold wind from Canada. Ebbie Wexler squints at Jack, trying to look tough, and the boy beside him, Ronnie Metzger, wriggles in his chair, his eyes like dinner plates. The third boy, T. J. Ren-niker, has dropped his head atop his crossed arms and appears to be asleep. â€Å"Wake him up,† Jack says. â€Å"I have something to say, and I want you all to hear it.† In fact, he has nothing to say, but he needs these boys to pay attention to him. He already knows that Dale was right. If they are not lying, they are at least holding something back. That's why his abrupt appearance within their dozy scene frightened them. If Jack had been in charge, he would have separated the boys and questioned them individually, but now he must deal with Bobby Dulac's mistake. He has to treat them collectively, to begin with, and he has to work on their fear. He does not want to terrorize the boys, merely to get their hearts pumping a bit faster; after that, he can separate them. The weakest, guiltiest link has already declared himself. Jack feels no compunction about telling lies to get information. Ronnie Metzger shoves T.J.'s shoulder and says, â€Å"Wake up, bum-dell . . . dumbbell.† The sleeping boy moans, lifts his head from the table, begins to stretch out his arms. His eyes fasten on Jack, and blinking and swallowing he snaps into an upright position. â€Å"Welcome back,† Jack says. â€Å"I want to introduce myself and explain what I am doing here. My name is Jack Sawyer, and I am a lieutenant in the Homicide Division of the Los Angeles Police Department. I have an excellent record and a roomful of citations and medals. When I go after a bad guy, I usually wind up arresting him. Three years ago, I came here on a case from Los Angeles. Two weeks later, a man named Thornberg Kinderling was shipped back to L.A. in chains. Because I know this area and have worked with its law enforcement officers, the LAPD asked me to assist your local force in its investigation of the Fisherman murders.† He glances down to see if Bobby Dulac is grinning at this nonsense, but Bobby is staring frozen-faced across the table. â€Å"Your friend Tyler Marshall was with you before he disappeared this morning. Did the Fisherman take him? I hate to say it, but I think he did. Maybe we can get Tyler back, and maybe we can't, but if I am going to stop the Fisherman, I need you to tell me exactly what happened, down to the last detail. You have to be completely honest with me, because if you lie or keep anything secret, you will be guilty of obstruction of justice. Obstruction of justice is a serious, serious crime. Officer Dulac, what is the minimum sentence for that crime in the state of Wisconsin?† â€Å"Five years, I'm pretty sure,† Bobby Dulac says. Ebbie Wexler bites the inside of his cheek; Ronnie Metzger looks away and frowns at the table; T. J. Renniker dully contemplates the narrow window. Jack sits down beside Bobby Dulac. â€Å"Incidentally, I was the guy in the pickup one of you gave the finger to this morning. I can't say I'm thrilled to see you again.† Two heads swivel toward Ebbie, who squints ferociously, trying to solve this brand-new problem. â€Å"I did not,† he says, having settled on outright denial. â€Å"Maybe it looked like I did, but I didn't.† â€Å"You're lying, and we haven't even started to talk about Tyler Marshall yet. I'll give you one more chance. Tell me the truth.† Ebbie smirks. â€Å"I don't go around flipping the bird at people I don't know.† â€Å"Stand up,† Jack says. Ebbie glances from side to side, but his friends are unable to meet his gaze. He shoves back his chair and stands up, uncertainly. â€Å"Officer Dulac,† Jack says, â€Å"take this boy outside and hold him there.† Bobby Dulac performs his role perfectly. He uncoils from his chair and keeps his eyes on Ebbie as he glides toward him. He resembles a panther on the way to a sumptuous meal. Ebbie Wexler jumps back and tries to stay Bobby with a raised palm. â€Å"No, don't I take it back I did it, okay?† â€Å"Too late,† Jack says. He watches as Bobby grasps the boy's elbow and pulls him toward the door. Red-faced and sweating, Ebbie plants his feet on the floor, and the forward pressure applied to his arm folds him over the bulge of his stomach. He staggers forward, yelping and scattering tears. Bobbie Dulac opens the door and hauls him into the bleak second-floor corridor. The door slams shut and cuts off a wail of fear. The two remaining boys have turned the color of skim milk and seem incapable of movement. â€Å"Don't worry about him,† Jack says. â€Å"He'll be fine. In fifteen, twenty minutes, you'll be free to go home. I didn't think there was any point in talking to someone who lies from the git-go, that's all. Remember: even lousy cops know when they're being lied to and I am a great cop. So this is what we are going to do now. We're going to talk about what happened this morning, about what Tyler was doing, the way you separated from him, where you were, what you did afterward, anyone you might have seen, that kind of thing.† He leans back and flattens his hands on the table. â€Å"Go on, tell me what happened.† Ronnie and T.J. look at each other. T.J. inserts his right index finger into his mouth and begins to worry the nail with his front teeth. â€Å"Ebbie flipped you,† Ronnie says. â€Å"No kidding. After that.† â€Å"Uh, Ty said he hadda go someplace.† â€Å"He hadda go someplace,† T.J. chimes in. â€Å"Where were you right then?† â€Å"Uh . . . outside the Allsorts Pomorium.† â€Å"Emporium,† T.J. says. â€Å"It's not a pomorium, mushhead, it's a em-poree-um.† â€Å"And?† â€Å"And Ty said † Ronnie glances at T.J. â€Å"Ty said he hadda go somewhere.† â€Å"Which way did he go, east or west?† The boys treat this question as though it were asked in a foreign language, by puzzling over it, mutely. â€Å"Toward the river, or away from the river?† They consult each other again. The question has been asked in English, but no proper answer exists. Finally, Ronnie says, â€Å"I don't know.† â€Å"How about you, T.J.? Do you know?† T.J. shakes his head. â€Å"Good. That's honest. You don't know because you didn't see him leave, did you? And he didn't really say he had to go somewhere, did he? I bet Ebbie made that up.† T.J. wriggles, and Ronnie gazes at Jack with wondering awe. He has just revealed himself to be Sherlock Holmes. â€Å"Remember when I drove past in my truck?† They nod in unison. â€Å"Tyler was with you.† They nod again. â€Å"You'd already left the sidewalk in front of the Allsorts Emporium, and you were riding east on Chase Street away from the river. I saw you in my rearview mirror. Ebbie was pedaling very fast. The two of you could almost keep up with him. Tyler was smaller than the rest of you, and he fell behind. So I know he didn't go off on his own. He couldn't keep up.† Ronnie Metzger wails, â€Å"And he got way, way behind, and the Misherfun came out and grabbed him.† He promptly bursts into tears. Jack leans forward. â€Å"Did you see it happen? Either one of you?† â€Å"Noooaa,† Ronnie sobs. T.J. slowly shakes his head. â€Å"You didn't see anyone talking with Ty, or a car stopping, or him going into a shop, or anything like that?† The boys utter an incoherent, overlapping babble to the effect that they saw nothing. â€Å"When did you realize he was gone?† T.J. opens his mouth, then closes it. Ronnie says, â€Å"When we were having the Slurpees.† His face pursed with tension, T.J. nods in agreement. Two more questions reveal that they had enjoyed the Slurpees at the 7-Eleven, where they also purchased Magic cards, and that it had probably taken them no more than a couple of minutes to notice Tyler Marshall's absence. â€Å"Ebbie said Ty would buy us some more cards,† helpful Ronnie adds. They have reached the moment for which Jack has been waiting. Whatever the secret may be, it took place soon after the boys came out of the 7-Eleven and saw that Tyler had still not joined them. And the secret is T.J.'s alone. The kid is practically sweating blood, while the memory of the Slurpees and Magic cards has calmed down his friend to a remarkable degree. There is only one more question he wishes to ask the two of them. â€Å"So Ebbie wanted to find Tyler. Did you all get on your bikes and search around, or did Ebbie send just one of you?† â€Å"Huh?† Ronnie says. T.J. drops his chin and crosses his arms on the top of his head, as if to ward off a blow. â€Å"Tyler went somewheres,† Ronnie says. â€Å"We didn't look for him, we went to the park. To trade the Magic cards.† â€Å"I see,† Jack says. â€Å"Ronnie, thank you. You have been very helpful. I'd like you to go outside and stay with Ebbie and Officer Dulac while I have a short conversation with T.J. It shouldn't take more than five minutes, if that.† â€Å"I can go?† At Jack's nod, Ronnie moves hesitantly out of his chair. When he reaches the door, T.J. emits a whimper. Then Ronnie is gone, and T.J. jerks backward into his chair and tries to become as small as possible while staring at Jack with eyes that have become shiny, flat, and perfectly round. â€Å"T.J.,† Jack says, â€Å"you have nothing to worry about, I promise you.† Now that he is alone with the boy who had declared his guilt by falling asleep in the interrogation room, Jack Sawyer wants above all to absolve him of that guilt. He knows T.J.'s secret, and the secret is nothing; it is useless. â€Å"No matter what you tell me, I'm not going to arrest you. That's a promise, too. You're not in any trouble, son. In fact, I'm glad you and your friends could come down here and help us straighten things out.† He goes on in this vein for another three or four minutes, in the course of which T. J. Renniker, formerly condemned to death by firing squad, gradually comprehends that his pardon has come through and his release from what his buddy Ronnie would call vurance dile is imminent. A little color returns to his face. He returns to his former size, and his eyes lose their horror-stricken glaze. â€Å"Tell me what Ebbie did,† Jack says. â€Å"Just between you and me. I won't tell him anything. Honest. I won't rat you out.† â€Å"He wanted Ty to buy more Magic cards,† T.J. says, feeling his way through unknown territory. â€Å"If Ty was there, he woulda. Ebbie can get kind of mean. So . . . so he told me, go downstreet and get the slowpoke, or I'll give you an Indian burn.† â€Å"You got on your bike and rode back down Chase Street.† â€Å"Uh-huh. I looked, but I didn't see Ty anywheres. I thought I would, you know? Because where else could he be?† â€Å"And . . . ?† Jack reels in the answer he knows is coming by winding his hand through the air. â€Å"And I still didn't see him. And I got to Queen Street, where the old folks' home is, with the big hedge out front. And, um, I saw his bike there. On the sidewalk in front of the hedge. His sneaker was there, too. And some leaves off the hedge.† There it is, the worthless secret. Maybe not entirely worthless: it gives them a pretty accurate fix on the time of the boy's disappearance: 8:15, say, or 8:20. The bike lay on the sidewalk next to the sneaker for something like four hours before Danny Tcheda spotted them. Maxton's takes up just about all the land on that section of Queen Street, and no one was showing up for the Strawberry Fest until noon. T.J. describes being afraid if the Fisherman pulled Ty into that hedge, maybe he'd come back for more! In answer to Jack's final question, the boy says, â€Å"Ebbie told us to say Ty rode away from in front of the Allsorts, so people wouldn't, like, blame us. In case he was killed. Ty isn't really killed, is he? Kids like Ty don't get killed.† â€Å"I hope not,† Jack says. â€Å"Me, too.† T.J. snuffles and wipes his nose on his arm. â€Å"Let's get you on your way home,† Jack says, leaving his chair. T.J. stands up and begins to move along the side of the table. â€Å"Oh! I just remembered!† â€Å"What?† â€Å"I saw feathers on the sidewalk.† The floor beneath Jack's feet seems to roll left, then right, like the deck of a ship. He steadies himself by grasping the back of a chair. â€Å"Really.† He takes care to compose himself before turning to the boy. â€Å"What do you mean, feathers?† â€Å"Black ones. Big. They looked like they came off a crow. One was next to the bike, and the other was in the sneaker.† â€Å"That's funny,† says Jack, buying time until he ceases to reverberate from the unexpected appearance of feathers in his conversation with T. J. Renniker. That he should respond at all is ridiculous; that he should have felt, even for a second, that he was likely to faint is grotesque. T.J.'s feathers were real crow feathers on a real sidewalk. His were dream feathers, feathers from unreal robins, illusory as everything else in a dream. Jack tells himself a number of helpful things like this, and soon he does feel normal once again, but we should be aware that, for the rest of the night and much of the next day, the word feathers floats, surrounded by an aura as charged as an electrical storm, beneath and through his thoughts, now and then surfacing with the sizzling crackle of a lightning bolt. â€Å"It's weird,† T.J. says. â€Å"Like, how did a feather get in his sneaker?† â€Å"Maybe the wind blew it there,† Jack says, conveniently ignoring the nonexistence of wind this day. Reassured by the stability of the floor, he waves T.J. into the hallway, then follows him out. Ebbie Wexler pushes himself off the wall and stamps up alongside Bobby Dulac. Still in character, Bobby might have been carved from a block of marble. Ronnie Metzger sidles away. â€Å"We can send these boys home,† Jack says. â€Å"They've done their duty.† â€Å"T.J., what did you say?† Ebbie asks, glowering. â€Å"He made it clear that you know nothing about your friend's disappearance,† Jack says. Ebbie relaxes, though not without distributing scowls all around. The final and most malignant scowl is for Jack, who raises his eyebrows. â€Å"I didn't cry,† Ebbie says. â€Å"I was scared, but I didn't cry.† â€Å"You were scared, all right,† Jack says. â€Å"Next time, don't lie to me. You had your chance to help the police, and you blew it.† Ebbie struggles with this notion and succeeds, at least partially, in absorbing it. â€Å"Okay, but I wasn't really flippin' at you. It was the stupid music.† â€Å"I hated it, too. The guy who was with me insisted on playing it. You know who he was?† In the face of Ebbie's suspicious glower, Jack says, â€Å"George Rathbun.† It is like saying â€Å"Superman,† or â€Å"Arnold Schwarzenegger†; Ebbie's suspicion evaporates, and his face transforms. Innocent wonder fills his small, close-set eyes. â€Å"You know George Rathbun?† â€Å"He's one of my best friends,† Jack says, not adding that most of his other best friends are, in a sense, also George Rathbun. â€Å"Cool,† Ebbie says. In the background, T.J. and Ronnie echo, â€Å"Cool.† â€Å"George is pretty cool,† Jack says. â€Å"I'll tell him you said that. Let's go downstairs and get you kids on your bikes.† Still wrapped in the glory of having gazed upon the great, the tremendous George Rathbun, the boys mount their bicycles, pedal away down Sumner Street, and swerve off onto Second. Bobby Dulac says, â€Å"That was a good trick, what you said about George Rathbun. Sent them away happy.† â€Å"It wasn't a trick.† So startled that he jostles back into the station house side by side with Jack, Bobby says, â€Å"George Rathbun is a friend of yours?† â€Å"Yep,† Jack says. â€Å"And sometimes, he can be a real pain in the ass.† Dale and Fred Marshall look up as Jack enters the office, Dale with a cautious expectancy, Fred Marshall with what Jack sees, heartbreakingly, as hope. â€Å"Well?† Dale says. ( feathers) â€Å"You were right, they were hiding something, but it isn't much.† Fred Marshall slumps against the back of his chair, letting some of his belief in a future hope leak out of him like air from a punctured tire. â€Å"Not long after they got to the 7-Eleven, the Wexler boy sent T.J. down the street to look for your son,† Jack says. â€Å"When T.J. got to Queen Street, he saw the bike and the sneaker lying on the sidewalk. Of course, they all thought of the Fisherman. Ebbie Wexler figured they might get blamed for leaving him behind, and he came up with the story you heard that Tyler left them, instead of the other way around.† â€Å"If you saw all four boys around ten past eight, that means Tyler disappeared only a few minutes later. What does this guy do, lurk in hedges?† â€Å"Maybe he does exactly that,† Jack says. â€Å"Did you have people check out that hedge?† ( feathers) â€Å"The staties went over it, through it, and under it. Leaves and dirt, that's what they came up with.† As if driving a spike with his hand, Fred Marshall bangs his fist down onto the desk. â€Å"My son was gone for four hours before anyone noticed his bike. Now it's almost seven-thirty! He's been missing for most of the day! I shouldn't be sitting here, I should be driving around, looking for him.† â€Å"Everybody is looking for your son, Fred,† Dale says. â€Å"My guys, the staties, even the FBI.† â€Å"I have no faith in them,† Fred says. â€Å"They haven't found Irma Freneau, have they? Why should they find my son? As far as I can see, I've got one chance here.† When he looks at Jack, emotion turns his eyes into lamps. â€Å"That chance is you, Lieutenant. Will you help me?† Jack's third and most troubling thought, withheld until now and purely that of an experienced policeman, causes him to say, â€Å"I'd like to talk to your wife. If you're planning on visiting her tomorrow, would you mind if I came along?† Dale blinks and says, â€Å"Maybe we should talk about this.† â€Å"Do you think it would do some good?† â€Å"It might,† Jack says. â€Å"Seeing you might do her some good, anyhow,† Fred says. â€Å"Don't you live in Norway Valley? That's on the way to Arden. I can pick you up about nine.† â€Å"Jack,† Dale says. â€Å"See you at nine,† Jack says, ignoring the signals of mingled distress and anger emanating from his friend, also the little voice that whispers ( feather). â€Å"Amazing,† says Henry Leyden. â€Å"I don't know whether to thank you or congratulate you. Both, I suppose. It's too late in the game to make ‘bitchrod,' like me, but I think you could have a shot at ‘dope.' â€Å" â€Å"Don't lose your head. The only reason I went down there was to keep the boy's father from coming to my house.† â€Å"That wasn't the only reason.† â€Å"You're right. I was feeling sort of edgy and hemmed in. I felt like getting out, changing the scenery.† â€Å"But there was also another reason.† â€Å"Henry, you are hip-deep in pigshit, do you know that? You want to think I acted out of civic duty, or honor, or compassion, or altruism, or something, but I didn't. I don't like having to say this, but I'm a lot less good-hearted and responsible than you think I am.† † ‘Hip-deep in pigshit'? Man, you are absolutely on the money. I have been hip-deep in pigshit, not to mention chest-deep and even chin-deep in pigshit, most of my life.† â€Å"Nice of you to admit it.† â€Å"However, you misunderstand me. You're right, I do think you are a good, decent person. I don't just think it, I know it. You're modest, you're compassionate, you're honorable, you're responsible no matter what you think of yourself right now. But that wasn't what I was talking about.† â€Å"What did you mean, then?† â€Å"The other reason you decided to go to the police station is connected to this problem, this concern, whatever it is, that's been bugging you for the past couple of weeks. It's like you've been walking around under a shadow.† â€Å"Huh,† Jack said. â€Å"This problem, this secret of yours, takes up half your attention, so you're only half present; the rest of you is somewhere else. Sweetie, don't you think I can tell when you're worried and preoccupied? I might be blind, but I can see.† â€Å"Okay. Let's suppose that something has been on my mind lately. What could that have to do with going to the station house?† â€Å"There are two possibilities. Either you were going off to confront it, or you were fleeing from it.† Jack does not speak. â€Å"All of which suggests that this problem has to do with your life as a policeman. It could be some old case coming back to haunt you. Maybe a psychotic thug you put in jail was released and is threatening to kill you. Or, hell, I'm completely full of shit and you found out you have liver cancer and a life expectancy of three months.† â€Å"I don't have cancer, at least as far as I know, and no ex-con wants to kill me. All of my old cases, most of them, anyway, are safely asleep in the records warehouse of the LAPD. Of course, something has been bothering me lately, and I should have expected you to see that. But I didn't want to, I don't know, burden you with it until I managed to figure it out for myself.† â€Å"Tell me one thing, will you? Were you going toward it, or running away?† â€Å"There's no answer to that question.† â€Å"We shall see. Isn't the food ready by now? I'm starving, literally starving. You cook too slow. I would have been done ten minutes ago.† â€Å"Hold your horses,† Jack says. â€Å"Coming right up. The problem is this crazy kitchen of yours.† â€Å"Most rational kitchen in America. Maybe in the world.† After ducking out of the police station quickly enough to avoid a useless conversation with Dale, Jack had yielded to impulse and called Henry with the offer of making dinner for both of them. A couple of good steaks, a nice bottle of wine, grilled mushrooms, a big salad. He could pick up everything they needed in French Landing. Jack had cooked for Henry on three or four previous occasions, and Henry had prepared one stupendously bizarre dinner for Jack. (The housekeeper had taken all the herbs and spices off their rack to wash it, and she had put everything back in the wrong place.) What was he doing in French Landing? He'd explain that when he got there. At eight-thirty he had pulled up before Henry's roomy white farmhouse, greeted Henry, and carried the groceries and his copy of Bleak House into the kitchen. He had tossed the book to the far end of the table, opened the wine, poured a glass for his host and one for himself, and started cooking. He'd had to spend several minutes r eacquainting himself with the eccentricities of Henry's kitchen, in which objects were not located by kind pans with pans, knives with knives, pots with pots but according to what sort of meal required their usage. If Henry wanted to whip up a grilled trout and some new potatoes, he had only to open the proper cabinet to find all the necessary utensils. These were arranged in four basic groups (meat, fish, poultry, and vegetables), with many subgroups and subsubgroups within each category. The filing system confounded Jack, who often had to peer into several widely separated realms before coming upon the frying pan or spatula he was looking for. As Jack chopped, wandered the shelves, and cooked, Henry had laid the table in the kitchen with plates and silverware and sat down to quiz his troubled friend. Now the steaks, rare, are transported to the plates, the mushrooms arrayed around them, and the enormous wooden salad bowl installed on the center of the table. Henry pronounces the meal delicious, takes a sip of his wine, and says, â€Å"If you still won't talk about your trouble, whatever it is, you'd better at least tell me what happened at the station. I suppose there's very little doubt that another child was snatched.† â€Å"Next to none, I'm sorry to say. It's a boy named Tyler Marshall. His father's name is Fred Marshall, and he works out at Goltz's. Do you know him?† â€Å"Been a long time since I bought a combine,† Henry says. â€Å"The first thing that struck me was that Fred Marshall was a very nice guy,† Jack says, and goes on to recount, in great detail and leaving nothing out, the evening's events and revelations, except for one matter, that of his third, his unspoken, thought. â€Å"You actually asked to visit Marshall's wife? In the mental wing at French County Lutheran?† â€Å"Yes, I did,† Jack says. â€Å"I'm going there tomorrow.† â€Å"I don't get it.† Henry eats by hunting the food with his knife, spearing it with his fork, and measuring off a narrow strip of steak. â€Å"Why would you want to see the mother?† â€Å"Because one way or another I think she's involved,† Jack says. â€Å"Oh, come off it. The boy's own mother?† â€Å"I'm not saying she's the Fisherman, because of course she isn't. But according to her husband, Judy Marshall's behavior started to change before Amy St. Pierre disappeared. She got worse and worse as the murders went on, and on the day her son vanished, she flipped out completely. Her husband had to have her committed.† â€Å"Wouldn't you say she had an excellent reason to break down?† â€Å"She flipped out before anyone told her about her son. Her husband thinks she has ESP! He said she saw the murders in advance, she knew the Fisherman was on the way. And she knew her son was gone before they found the bike when Fred Marshall came home, he found her tearing at the walls and talking nonsense. Completely out of control.† â€Å"You hear about lots of cases where a mother is suddenly aware of some threat or injury to her child. A pyschic bond. Sounds like mumbo jumbo, but I guess it happens.† â€Å"I don't believe in ESP, and I don't believe in coincidence.† â€Å"So what are you saying?† â€Å"Judy Marshall knows something, and whatever she knows is a real showstopper. Fred can't see it he's much too close and Dale can't see it, either. You should have heard him talk about her.† â€Å"So what is she supposed to know?† â€Å"I think she may know the doer. I think it has to be someone close to her. Whoever he is, she knows his name, and it's driving her crazy.† Henry frowns and uses his inchworm technique to entrap another piece of steak. â€Å"So you're going to the hospital to open her up,† he finally says. â€Å"Yes. Basically.† A mysterious silence follows this statement. Henry quietly whittles away at the meat, chews what he whittles, and washes it down with Jordan cabernet. â€Å"How did your deejay gig go? Was it okay?† â€Å"It was a thing of beauty. All the adorable old swingers cut loose on the dance floor, even the ones in wheelchairs. One guy sort of rubbed me the wrong way. He was rude to a woman named Alice, and he asked me to play ‘Lady Magowan's Nightmare,' which doesn't exist, as you probably know â€Å" â€Å"It's ‘Lady Magowan's Dream.' Woody Herman.† â€Å"Good boy. The thing was, he had this terrible voice. It sounded like something out of hell! Anyhow, I didn't have the Woody Herman record, and he asked for the Bunny Berigan ‘I Can't Get Started.' Which happened to be Rhoda's favorite record. What with my goofy ear hallucinations and all, it shook me up. I don't know why.† For a few minutes they concentrate on their plates. Jack says, â€Å"What do you think, Henry?† Henry tilts his head, auditing an inner voice. Scowling, he sets down his fork. The inner voice continues to demand his attention. He adjusts his shades and faces Jack. â€Å"In spite of everything you say, you still think like a cop.† Jack bridles at the suspicion that Henry is not paying him a compliment. â€Å"What do you mean by that?† â€Å"Cops see differently than people who aren't cops. When a cop looks at someone, he wonders what he's guilty of. The possibility of innocence never enters his mind. To a longtime cop, a guy who's put in ten years or more, everyone who isn't a cop is guilty. Only most of them haven't been caught yet.† Henry has described the mind-set of dozens of men Jack once worked with. â€Å"Henry, how do you know about that?† â€Å"I can see it in their eyes,† Henry says. â€Å"That's the way policemen approach the world. You are a policeman.† Jack blurts out, â€Å"I am a coppiceman.† Appalled, he blushes. â€Å"Sorry, that stupid phrase has been running around and around in my head, and it just popped out.† â€Å"Why don't we clear the dishes and start on Bleak House?† When their few dishes have been stacked beside the sink, Jack takes the book from the far side of the table and follows Henry toward the living room, pausing on the way to glance, as he always does, at his friend's studio. A door with a large glass insert opens into a small, soundproofed chamber bristling with electronic equipment: the microphone and turntable back from Maxton's and reinstalled before Henry's well-padded, swiveling chair; a disc changer and matching digital-analog converter mount, close at hand, beside a mixing board and a massive tape recorder adjacent to the other, larger window, which looks into the kitchen. When Henry had been planning the studio, Rhoda requested the windows, because, she'd said, she wanted to be able to see him at work. There isn't a wire in sight. The entire studio has the disciplined neatness of the captain's quarters on a ship. â€Å"Looks like you're going to work tonight,† Jack says. â€Å"I want to get two more Henry Shakes ready to send, and I'm working on something for a birthday salute to Lester Young and Charlie Parker.† â€Å"Were they born on the same day?† â€Å"Close enough. August twenty-seventh and twenty-ninth. You know, I can't quite tell if you'll want the lights on or not.† â€Å"Let's turn them on,† Jack says. And so Henry Leyden switches on the two lamps beside the window, and Jack Sawyer moves to the overstuffed chair near the fireplace and turns on the tall lamp at one of its rounded arms and watches as his friend walks unerringly to the light just inside the front door and the ornate fixture alongside his own, his favorite resting place, the Mission-style sofa, clicking first one, then the other into life, then settles down onto the sofa with one leg stretched out along its length. Even, low light pervades the long room and swells into greater brightness around Jack's chair. â€Å"Bleak House, by Charles Dickens,† he says. He clears his throat. â€Å"Okay, Henry, we're off to the races.† â€Å"London. Michaelmas Term lately over,† he reads, and marches into a world made of soot and mud. Muddy dogs, muddy horses, muddy people, a day without light. Soon he has reached the second paragraph: â€Å"Fog everywhere. Fog up the river, where it flows among green aits and meadows; fog down the river, where it rolls defiled among the tiers of shipping, and the waterside pollutions of a great (and dirty) city. Fog on the Essex marshes, fog on the Kentish heights. Fog creeping into the cabooses of collier-brigs; fog lying out on the yards, and hovering in the rigging of great ships; fog drooping on the gunwales of barges and small boats.† His voice catches, and his mind temporarily drifts off-focus. What he is reading unhappily reminds him of French Landing, of Sumner Street and Chase Street, of the lights in the window of the Oak Tree Inn, the Thunder Five lurking in Nailhouse Row, and the gray ascent from the river, of Queen Street and Maxton's hedges, the little houses spreading out on grids, all of it choked by unseen fog; which engulfs a battered NO TRESPASSING sign on the highway and swallows the Sand Bar and glides hungry and searching down the valleys. â€Å"Sorry,† he says. â€Å"I was just thinking â€Å" â€Å"I was, too,† Henry says. â€Å"Go on, please.† But for that brief flicker of an old NO TRESPASSING sign completely unaware of the black house he one day will have to enter, Jack concentrates again on the page and continues reading Bleak House. The windows darken as the lamps grow warmer. The case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce grinds through the courts, aided or impeded by attorneys Chizzle, Mizzle, and Drizzle; Lady Dedlock leaves Sir Leicester Dedlock alone at their great estate with its moldy chapel, stagnant river, and â€Å"Ghost's Walk†; Esther Summerson begins to chirp away in the first person. Our friends decide that the appearance of Esther demands a small libation, if they are to get through much more chirping. Henry unfolds from the sofa, sails into the kitchen, and returns with two short, fat glasses one-third filled with Balvenie Doublewood single-malt whiskey, as well as a glass of plain water for the reader. A couple of sips, a few murmurs of appreciation, and Jack resumes. Esther, Esther, Esther, but beneath the water torture of her relentless sunniness the story gathers steam and carries both reader and listener along in its train. Having come to a convenient stopping point, Jack closes the book and yawns. Henry stands up and stretches. They move to the door, and Henry follows Jack outside beneath a vast night sky brilliantly scattered with stars. â€Å"Tell me one thing,† Henry says. â€Å"Shoot.† â€Å"When you were in the station house, did you really feel like a cop? Or did you feel like you were pretending to be one?† â€Å"Actually, it was kind of surprising,† Jack says. â€Å"In no time at all, I felt like a cop again.† â€Å"Good.† â€Å"Why is that good?† â€Å"Because it means you were running toward that mysterious secret, not away from it.† Shaking his head and smiling, deliberately not giving Henry the satisfaction of a reply, Jack steps up into his vehicle and says good-bye from the slight but distinct elevation of the driver's seat. The engine coughs and churns, his headlights snap into being, and Jack is on his way home.