The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down essays

The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down essays In the book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman, a child named Lia Lee is taken away from her parents by Child Protective Services and placed in foster care. Because they arent giving her medication for epilepsy. Although resulting in some medical benefits those benefits were lost because of destructive psychological and emotional damage to Lia. Dr. Neil Ernst decided to call child protective services when Lia Lees parents Nou Kou and Foua were reluctant to give her her medicine. Dr. Neil Ernst said: I felt it was important for these Hmongs to understand that there were certain elements of medicine that we understood better than they did and that there were certain rules they had to follow with their kids lives. I wanted the word to get out in the community that if they deviated from that, it was not acceptable behavior.(pg. 79 Fadiman). Dr. Ernst could have also been arrested for not reporting it. There were some alternatives to calling Child Protective Services such as my favorite one; having a nurse visit the Lees three times daily to administer the medications, but this thought did not occur to Dr. Ernst and/or seemed unreasonable at the time. Although Fadiman does not mention what Dr. Ernst thought about this course of action, I can only suspect that it would have been too expens ive to have a nurse visit three times a day. Also they shouldnt be rewarded for their noncompliance by having someone else administer their daughters medication. It might have also provoked the Lees to anger because they didnt like to give Lia the medicine because of how the medicine made her depressed and sullen. After Lia was taken away for a period of a few weeks, Nou Kou almost beat an interpreter named Sue Xiong who was interpreting for a CPS ...

The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution deals with several aspects of U.S. citizenship and the rights of citizens. Ratified on July 9, 1868, during the post-Civil War era, the 14th, along with the 13th and 15th Amendments, are collectively known as the Reconstruction Amendments. Although the 14th Amendment was intended to protect the rights of the recently freed slaves, it has continued to play a major role in constitutional politics to this day.   In response to the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment, many Southern states enacted laws known as Black Codes designed to continue to deny African Americans certain rights and privileges enjoyed by white citizens. Under the states Black Codes, recently freed slaves were not allowed to travel widely, own certain types of property, or sue in court. In addition, African Americans could be jailed for not being able to repay their debts, leading to racially-discriminating labor practices like the leasing of convicts to private businesses. The 14th Amendment and the Civil Rights Act of 1866 Of the three Reconstruction amendments, the 14th is the most complicated and the one that has had the more unforeseen effects. Its broad goal was to reinforce the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which ensured that all persons born in the United States were citizens and were to be given full and equal benefit of all laws. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 protected the â€Å"civil† rights of all citizens, such as the right to sue, make contracts, and buy and sell property. However, it failed to protect â€Å"political† rights, like the right to vote and hold office, or â€Å"social† rights guaranteeing equal access to schools and other public accommodations. Congress had intentionally omitted those protections in hopes of averting the bill’s veto by President Andrew Johnson (1808–1875). When the Civil Rights Act landed on President Johnsons desk, he fulfilled his promise to veto it. Congress, in turn, overrode the veto and the measure became law. Johnson, a Tennessee Democrat and staunch supporter of states’ rights, had clashed repeatedly with the Republican-controlled Congress. Fearing President Johnson and Southern politicians would attempt to undo the protections of the Civil Rights Act, Republican congressional leaders began work on what would become the 14th Amendment. Ratification and the States After clearing Congress in June of 1866, the 14th Amendment went to the states for ratification. As a condition for readmittance to the Union, the former Confederate states were required to approve the amendment. This became a point of contention between Congress and Southern leaders. The 14th Amendment.   U.S. National Archives Connecticut was the first state to ratify the 14th Amendment on June 30, 1866. During the next two years, 28 states would ratify the amendment, although not without incident. Legislatures in Ohio and New Jersey both rescinded their states pro-amendment votes. In the South, Louisiana and North and South Carolina refused initially to ratify the amendment. Nevertheless, the 14th Amendment was declared formally ratified on July 28, 1868. The 14th Amendment and the Civil Rights Cases of 1883 With its passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1875, Congress attempted to bolster the 14th Amendment. Also known as the â€Å"Enforcement Act,† the 1875 Act guaranteed all citizens, regardless of race or color, equal access to public accommodations and transportation, and made it illegal to exempt them from serving on juries. In 1883, however, the U.S. Supreme Court, in its Civil Rights Cases decisions, overturned the public accommodation sections of the Civil Rights Act of 1875 and declared that the 14th Amendment did not give Congress the power to dictate the affairs of private businesses.   As a result of the Civil Rights Cases, while African Americans had been declared legally â€Å"free† U.S. citizens by the 14th Amendment, they continue to face discrimination in society, economics, and politics into the 21st century. Amendment Sections The 14th Amendment contains five sections, of which the first contains the most impactful provisions.   Section One guarantees all rights and privileges of citizenship to any and all persons born or naturalized in the United States. It also guarantees all Americans their constitutional rights and prohibits the states from passing laws limiting those rights. Lastly, it ensures that no citizens right to life, liberty, or property will be denied without due process of law.    Section Two specifies that the process of apportionment used to fairly distribute seats in the U.S. House of Representatives among the states must be based on the whole population, including freed African American slaves. Prior to this, African Americans had been under-counted when apportioning representation. The section also guaranteed the right to vote to all male citizens age 21 years or older. Section Three forbids anyone who participates or has participated in â€Å"insurrection or rebellion† against the United States from holding any elected or appointed federal office. The section was intended to prevent former Confederate military officers and politicians from holding federal offices. Section Four addresses the federal debt by confirming that the neither the United States nor any state could be forced to pay for lost slaves or debts that had been incurred by the Confederacy as a result of their participation in the Civil War.   Section Five, also known as the Enforcement Clause, grants Congress the power to pass â€Å"appropriate legislation† as necessary to enforce all of the amendments other clauses and provisions. Key Clauses The four clauses of the first section of the 14th Amendment are the most important because they have repeatedly been cited in major Supreme Court cases concerning civil rights, presidential politics and the right to privacy. The Citizenship Clause The Citizenship Clause overrules the 1875 Supreme Court Dred Scott decision that freed African American slaves were not citizens, could not become citizens, and thus could never enjoy the benefits and protections of citizenship. The Citizenship Clause states that â€Å"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.† This clause played an important role in two Supreme Court cases: Elk v. Wilkins (1884) which addressed citizenship rights of Native Americans, and United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898) which affirmed the citizenship of U.S.-born children of legal immigrants. The Privileges and Immunities Clause The Privileges and Immunities Clause states No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.  In the Slaughter-House Cases (1873), the Supreme Court recognized a difference between a persons rights as a U.S. citizen and their rights under state law. The ruling held that state laws could not impede a persons federal rights. In McDonald v. Chicago (2010), which overturned a Chicago ban on handguns, Justice Clarence Thomas cited this clause in his opinion supporting the ruling. The Due Process Clause The Due Process Clause says no state shall deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law. Although this clause was intended to apply to professional contracts and transactions, over time it has become most closely cited in right-to-privacy cases. Notable Supreme Court cases that have turned on this issue include Griswold v. Connecticut (1965), which overturned a Connecticut ban on the sale of contraception; Roe v. Wade (1973), which overturned a Texas ban on abortion and lifted many restrictions on the practice nationwide; and Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), which held that same-sex marriages deserved federal recognition. The Equal Protection Clause The Equal Protection Clause prevents states from denying to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.  The clause has become most closely associated with civil rights cases, particularly for African Americans. In Plessy v. Ferguson (1898) the Supreme Court ruled that Southern states could enforce racial segregation as long as separate but equal facilities existed for blacks and whites. It wouldnt be until Brown v. Board of Education (1954) that the Supreme Court would revisit this opinion, ultimately ruling that separate facilities were, in fact, unconstitutional. This key ruling opened the door for a number of significant civil rights and affirmative action court cases. Bush v. Gore (2001) also touched on the equal protection clause when a majority of justices ruled that the partial recount of presidential votes in Florida was unconstitutional because it was not being conducted the same way in all contested locations. The decision essentially decided the 2000 presidential election in George W. Bushs favor. The Lasting Legacy of the 14th Amendment Over time, numerous lawsuits have arisen that have referenced the 14th Amendment. The fact that the amendment uses the word state in the Privileges and Immunities Clause- along with interpretation of the Due Process Clause- has meant state power and federal power are both subject to the Bill of Rights. Further, the courts have interpreted the word person to include corporations. As a result, corporations are also protected by due process along with being granted equal protection. While there were other clauses in the amendment, none were as significant as these. Updated by Robert Longley   Sources and Further Reading Baer, Judith A. Equality Under the Constitution: Reclaiming the Fourteenth Amendment. Ithaca NY: Cornell University Press, 1983.  Lash, Kurt T. The Fourteenth Amendment and the Privileges and Immunities of American Citizenship. Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press, 2014.Nelson, William E. The Fourteenth Amendment: From Political Principle to Judicial Doctrine. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1988

ESSAY/ ARGUMENT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

/ ARGUMENT - Essay Example Money matters are the most widely discussed subjects around the world, not to mention a most sensitive one that can cause even siblings to battle among themselves. Politicians talking about money, especially not their own money but the citizenry’s might be most hated and controversial and this makes imposing taxes on people difficult. This paper discusses the implementation of taxes in the eyes of Christie, the real problem behind taxation and the beneficiaries of taxation. Labor unions and laborers may not consider it humane when a cut is imposed on their salaries but looking at the possibility of a government planned by the people, without taxes would mean no health benefits, no pensions and no help from the government. Democracy as the United States is, looks at the best interest of the people and does not exist to let the people unattended. Christie’s battle for a 1.5 percent tax imposed on teachers, cops and firefighters shows he understands this and his adherence to his mother’s advice as told by the governor himself, â€Å"Christopher, you’re going to have choices in your life between being loved and being respected. And you should choose respected.

Social Deviance and Autism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Social Deviance and Autism - Essay Example The society does not favor deviance as groups are more likely to work in a unified, product way if there is coherence and conformity in the acts and attitudes of the individual members; however, it is possible to observe positive effects of deviancy in certain cases especially for people who are unable to fit in the defined social structure. Social deviancy and crime are closely interrelated; criminals indulge in damaging activities which are a threat to the individual and societal rights and are prosecuted by the law according to preset regulations. These activities are often a more deliberate and extreme form of social deviance and are shunned by the society at large. But within different contexts a set of activities which are against a law may be accepted as commonplace such as speeding on the highway and similarly there are deviants who go against the norms of the majority but are not criminals. When distinguishing between ‘crime’ and ‘deviancy’, John Ha gan’s classifications provide a good reference point with the regards to individual acts. He gives the three dimensions on which deviancy can be measured, these include the perceived harmfulness of the activity to the society or any individual, the consensus of the society as to whether deviancy occurred and severity of action proposed against the perpetrators. Each of these dimensions can be ranged from high to low; an activity which ranks as high on all three will be immediately classified as ‘consensus crimes’ which provide immediate danger and are wildly against accepted social behavior. In the case given, the individual in question Mr. McCollum had a self confessed obsession with trains and places related to trains. Suffering from Asperger’s Syndrome, the man’s great interest in locomotives is not unusual for someone with the affliction. The problem arose when he tried to impersonate ticket wardens, steal a locomotive and indulge in other delin quent activities like joy riding and trespassing train control towers to satisfy his need to be ‘near trains or a train yard’. These activities got him arrested several times, yet he went against the terms of his parole in 2006 because of his obsession with trains. As far as social deviance goes, his behavior was potentially dangerous as it involved interfering with the mechanisms of sophisticated machinery which could endanger the people using or working with them. The consensus that his behavior is different from socially established rules is similarly high as safety protocols are given the highest importance in modern society and people breaking these regulations are looked upon very negatively. It is difficult to classify Mr McCollum’s actions as consensus crimes, however, because there is disparity in the opinion for the severity of his castigation- the reason being his suffering from Asperger’s syndrome. His advocates claim that even though Mr. McCol lum was aware that his actions were not acceptable at large he still felt a compulsion to perform them. This is true of people affected by Autism spectrum disorders which are one of the most common neurological disorders, and most common developmental disabilities in our society. Aspergers is classified as high functioning autism, marked by social inhibitions, a lack of relation to the social interactions which form the basis of the society and a compulsive behavior

Narrator in Mark Twains Huckleberry Finn Essay Example for Free

Narrator in Mark Twains Huckleberry Finn Essay Mark Twain chose Huck Finn to be the narrator to make the story more realistic and so that Mark Twain could get the reader to examine their own attitudes and beliefs by comparing themselves to Huck, a simple uneducated character. Twain was limited in expressing his thoughts by the fact that Huck Finn is a living, breathing person who is telling the story. Since the book is written in first person, Twain had to put himself in the place of a thirteen-year-old son of the town drunkard. He had to see life as Huck did and had to create a character that could see life as Mark Twain saw it. Huck is more than Twains mouthpiece because he is a living character and is capable of shaping the story. The language that Huck uses shows what he sees and how he will pass it on to us. Something else that is apparent is that the humor of the book often depends on Hucks language. In chapter fourteen, Huck is telling Jim about royalty in general which is an example of humor through language and incomplete education although sometimes he is not that far from the truth. They [royalty] dont do nothing! Why, how you talk! They just set around. No; is dat so? Of course it is. They just set aroundexcept, maybe, when theres a war; then they go to war. But other times they just lazy around; or go hawkingjust hawkingwhen things is dull, they fuss with the parlyment; and if everybody dont go just so he whacks their heads off. But mostly they hang round the harem. However, by using Hucks language Twain creates character and establishes realism. Huck is capable of making Twain write something merely because it is not the kind of thing Huck would say or do, and he can force Twain to leave something out because Huck would not do or say that kind of thing. Huck is essentially good-hearted, but he is looked down upon by the rest of the village. He dislikes civilized ways because they are too restrictive and  hard. He is generally ignorant of reading and writing, but he has a sharply developed sensibility. He is imaginative and clever, and has a good eye for detail, though he does not always understand everything he sees, or its significance. This enables Twain to make great use of irony. Huck is basically a realist. He knows only what he sees and experiences. He does not have a great deal of faith in things he reads or hears. He must experiment to find out what is true and what is not. With this kind of personality, Huck is able to believe Jims superstition at some times and to distrust others. He also see Huck as he is, the opposite of Tom Sawyer. He is as stated before, a realist, and generally a regular person except when he goes off on Toms adventures or when he follows Toms lead. He is not sivilizable. The end of the book makes this clear. He is where he was in the beginning: he left the Widows house, and he will leave Aunt Sallys. Something in society and civilization appalls Huck. Huck learns from Jim, who is in some ways his substitute father. He does not believe in Jims superstition until the superstition proves itself true. He mocks the snakeskin until the snakeskin does its work. Huck rises to Jims level by accepting Jims superstitions. Huck enters Jims primitive world which, though crude, is more honest and real than Miss Watsons world. He cannot go beyond this world. He wont pray because he has not had any benefits from prayer. Huck is involved in adventures and is continually bothered by his conscience. All during the trip down river, he tries to answer the question whether hes doing  right by the Widows sister and by Jim, or not. The obsession with justice  has him confused. Whatever he chooses to do, hes wrong. Hes wronging Jim if he returns him to slavery; hes wronging Miss Watson if he helps Jim escape. Huck has no way of knowing what is right. He must follow his feelings and the only thing he can do is to learn by experience. And he does. Using Huck Finn as the narrator of the book allowed Mark Twain to add more life, excitement, and realism in his writings. We can only think how good Mark Twain was at languages by how he writes. Twain created Huck, but soon Huck had his own personality and life and Mark Twain had to write with this character.

Peacemaking Process Essay -- International Conflict

WWI is considered the war to end all wars but what procedures were used to make this statement possible. In 4 years this war claimed the lives of approximately 20 million people and physically destroyed most of Europe. This left most of the world in despair and sparked the idea of obtaining world peace. The first step used to launch this task was the Treaty of Versailles. An organization known as the League of Nations was created as a result of this treaty and it played a vital role in this peace making process. This new organization drafted a plan known as the mandate systems which handled the dealings of the territory lost during the war. These steps were made to stop wars like this from ever happening again but did it accomplish that goal? Could any provisions be made to more successfully keep the world in peace after such a clash? Who was to blame for the war and how was Europe going to start the process of reconstructing? After such an epic battle questions like these were oblig ated to be answered. On June 28, 1914, a Siberian named Gavrilo Princip exterminated Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie in Sarajevo, Bosnia. (The Death of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the Outbreak of World War I) Ferdinand was the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. Ferdinand was seen as threat to an organization known as the Black Hand. Black Hand’s main goal was achieve independent Serbian state and they felt that Ferdinand's plans to grant concessions to the South Slavs would jeopardize that. (Archduke Franz Ferdinand) The assassination led to the Austro-Hungarian invasion of Serbia on July 28th. The invasion caused other countries such as Germany, France, Russia, and others to engage in battle because of treaties and deals made earlier... ...es." History Learning Site. 3 5 2012 . "League og Nations." History Learning Site. 3 May 2012 . "The Death of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the Outbreak of World War I." The History Channel. 3 May 2012 . "The Trusteeship Council - The mandate system of the league of nations." Nations Encyclopedia. 3 5 2012 . "Treaty of Versailles." History Learning Site. 3 May 2012 . "World War 1." Berkely . 3 May 2012 . Peacemaking Process Essay -- International Conflict WWI is considered the war to end all wars but what procedures were used to make this statement possible. In 4 years this war claimed the lives of approximately 20 million people and physically destroyed most of Europe. This left most of the world in despair and sparked the idea of obtaining world peace. The first step used to launch this task was the Treaty of Versailles. An organization known as the League of Nations was created as a result of this treaty and it played a vital role in this peace making process. This new organization drafted a plan known as the mandate systems which handled the dealings of the territory lost during the war. These steps were made to stop wars like this from ever happening again but did it accomplish that goal? Could any provisions be made to more successfully keep the world in peace after such a clash? Who was to blame for the war and how was Europe going to start the process of reconstructing? After such an epic battle questions like these were oblig ated to be answered. On June 28, 1914, a Siberian named Gavrilo Princip exterminated Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie in Sarajevo, Bosnia. (The Death of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the Outbreak of World War I) Ferdinand was the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. Ferdinand was seen as threat to an organization known as the Black Hand. Black Hand’s main goal was achieve independent Serbian state and they felt that Ferdinand's plans to grant concessions to the South Slavs would jeopardize that. (Archduke Franz Ferdinand) The assassination led to the Austro-Hungarian invasion of Serbia on July 28th. The invasion caused other countries such as Germany, France, Russia, and others to engage in battle because of treaties and deals made earlier... ...es." History Learning Site. 3 5 2012 . "League og Nations." History Learning Site. 3 May 2012 . "The Death of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the Outbreak of World War I." The History Channel. 3 May 2012 . "The Trusteeship Council - The mandate system of the league of nations." Nations Encyclopedia. 3 5 2012 . "Treaty of Versailles." History Learning Site. 3 May 2012 . "World War 1." Berkely . 3 May 2012 .

Information technology and college experience Essay

Technology is continually changing the way the world is going. Education is not an exemption. Today, it is helping shape the way students are procuring information, and the way teachers are getting the information which they share. In fact, many students, teachers, and schools now perceive that it is unimaginable to go back to the stage when there is no internet, electronic mail, or word processing. This shows that the partnership between education and technology should be further nurtured. Meanwhile, there are issues that need to be addressed. This research shows how all of these are happening, and how they are affecting college experience. THE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTINGS The paper will focus on the way technology has changed in the past ten years. In the process, it will also involve how technology is still changing the way in which education is being changed today by new innovations. There will be discussions on learning with technology, specifically through the use of online learning methods and distance education instruction. The research will focus on the college environment. The population for the research will likewise be college students. On the process, teachers will also be involved in the research to qualify or disqualify conclusions throughout the research. Overall, the goal of the research is to identify how technological changes in college education have impacted the experiences of the students studying in college. Sub-problems The following sub-problems will be posed in the research. The sub-problems are: 1. to compare college education today and ten years ago to determine the specific innovations that were introduced during the ten-year period; 3. to identify the positive and negative effects of the changes and the innovations; 4. to know how the changes affected the college experience of students; and 5. to recognize the needs of the students and the technological framework that is working in the education industry. Hypothesis This research hypothesizes that technology is a powerful tool. By its power, a great deal of innovations has been contributed to many industries. Thus, it can also be said that it has impacted and affected the education industry especially in the college level positively. Statement of delimitations The research will focus on college students who are taking courses in the traditional classroom setting. However, no limitations will be set pertaining to any determinants such as age, gender, location, or religion. There will also be no limitations as to the courses that they are taking. Students who are attending online courses while attending traditional classroom setting will also be allowed to join. There will also be points when teachers will also be tapped to provide information on several research sub-topics. This will give the paper a diverse yet focused population for its research. Definition of terms In the course of the study, several terms and jargons will come up. Most of these words are referring to terms used in technology and education. The following words are most likely to appear throughout the study. They are defined here for reference and clarity.

Part Five Chapter III

III To Gavin's disappointment, it seemed that he would have to attend Howard Mollison's birthday party after all. If Mary, a client of the firm and the widow of his best friend, had asked him to stay for dinner, he would have considered himself more than justified in skipping it †¦ but Mary had not asked him to stay. She had family visiting, and she had been oddly flustered when he had turned up. She doesn't want them to know, he thought, taking comfort in her self-consciousness as she ushered him towards the door. He drove back to the Smithy, replaying his conversation with Kay in his mind. I thought he was your best friend. He's only been dead a few weeks! Yeah, and I was looking after her for Barry, he retorted in his head, which is what he'd have wanted. Neither of us expected this to happen. Barry's dead. It can't hurt him now. Alone in the Smithy he looked out a clean suit for the party, because the invitation said ‘formal', and tried to imagine gossipy little Pagford relishing the story of Gavin and Mary. So what? he thought, staggered by his own bravery. Is she supposed to be alone for ever? It happens. I was looking after her. And in spite of his reluctance to attend a party that was sure to be dull and exhausting, he was buoyed inside by a little bubble of excitement and happiness. Up in Hilltop House, Andrew Price was styling his hair with his mother's blow-drier. He had never looked forward to a disco or a party as much as he had longed for tonight. He, Gaia and Sukhvinder were being paid by Howard to serve food and drinks at the party. Howard had hired him a uniform for the occasion: a white shirt, black trousers and a bow tie. He would be working alongside Gaia, not as potboy but as a waiter. But there was more to his anticipation than this. Gaia had split up with the legendary Marco de Luca. He had found her crying about it in the back yard of the Copper Kettle that afternoon, when he had gone outside for a smoke. ‘His loss,' Andrew had said, trying to keep the delight out of his voice. And she had sniffed and said, ‘Cheers, Andy.' ‘You little poofter,' said Simon, when Andrew finally turned off the drier. He had been waiting to say it for several minutes, standing on the dark landing, staring through the gap in the door, which was ajar, watching Andrew preen himself in the mirror. Andrew jumped, then laughed. His good humour discomposed Simon. ‘Look at you,' he jeered, as Andrew passed him on the landing in his shirt and bow tie. ‘With your dicky-bow. You look a twat.' And you're unemployed, and I did it to you, dickhead. Andrew's feelings about what he had done to his father changed almost hourly. Sometimes the guilt would bear down on him, tainting everything, but then it would melt away, leaving him glorying in his secret triumph. Tonight, the thought of it gave extra heat to the excitement burning beneath Andrew's thin white shirt, an additional tingle to the goose-flesh caused by the rush of evening air as he sped, on Simon's racing bike, down the hill into town. He was excited, full of hope. Gaia was available and vulnerable. Her father lived in Reading. Shirley Mollison was standing in a party dress outside the church hall when he cycled up, tying giant gold helium balloons in the shapes of fives and sixes to the railings. ‘Hello, Andrew,' she trilled. ‘Bike away from the entrance, please.' He wheeled it along to the corner, passing a brand-new, racing green BMW convertible parked feet away. He walked around the car on his way inside, taking in the luxurious inner fittings. ‘And here's Andy!' Andrew saw at once that his boss's good humour and excitement were equal to his own. Howard was striding down the hall, wearing an immense velvet dinner jacket; he resembled a conjuror. There were only five or six other people dotted around: the party would not start for twenty minutes. Blue, white and gold balloons had been fastened up everywhere. There was a massive trestle table largely covered in plates draped with tea-towels, and at the top of the hall a middle-aged DJ setting up his equipment. ‘Go help Maureen, Andy, will you?' She was laying out glasses at one end of the long table, caught gaudily in a stream of light from an overhead lamp. ‘Don't you look handsome!' she croaked as he approached. She was wearing a scant, stretchy shiny dress that revealed every contour of the bony body to which unexpected little rolls and pads of flesh still clung, exposed by the unforgiving fabric. From somewhere out of sight came a small ‘hi'; Gaia was crouching over a box of plates on the floor. ‘Glasses out of boxes, please, Andy,' said Maureen, ‘and set them up here, where we're having the bar.' He did as he was told. As he unpacked the box, a woman he had never seen before approached, carrying several bottles of champagne. ‘These should go in the fridge, if there is one.' She had Howard's straight nose, Howard's big blue eyes and Howard's curly fair hair, but whereas his features were womanish, softened by fat, his daughter – she had to be his daughter – was unpretty yet striking, with low brows, big eyes and a cleft chin. She was wearing trousers and an open-necked silk shirt. After dumping the bottles onto the table she turned away. Her demeanour, and something about the quality of her clothing, made Andrew sure that she was the owner of the BMW outside. ‘That's Patricia,' whispered Gaia in his ear, and his skin tingled again as though she carried an electric charge. ‘Howard's daughter.' ‘Yeah, I thought so,' he said, but he was much more interested to see that Gaia was unscrewing the cap of a bottle of vodka and pouring out a measure. As he watched, she drank it straight off with a little shudder. She had barely replaced the top when Maureen reappeared beside them with an ice bucket. ‘Bloody old slapper,' said Gaia, as Maureen walked away, and Andrew smelt the spirits on her breath. ‘Look at the state of her.' He laughed, turned and stopped abruptly, because Shirley was right beside them, smiling her pussycat smile. ‘Has Miss Jawanda not arrived yet?' she asked. ‘She's on her way, she just texted me,' said Gaia. But Shirley did not really care where Sukhvinder was. She had overheard Andrew and Gaia's little exchange about Maureen, and it had completely restored the good mood that had been dented by Maureen's evident delight in her own toilette. It was difficult to satisfactorily puncture self-esteem so obtuse, so deluded, but as Shirley walked away from the teenagers towards the DJ, she planned what she would say to Howard the next time she saw him alone. I'm afraid the young ones were, well, laughing at Maureen †¦ it's such a pity she wore that dress †¦ I hate seeing her make a fool of herself. There was plenty to be pleased about, Shirley reminded herself, for she needed a little bolstering tonight. She and Howard and Miles were all going to be on the council together; it would be marvellous, simply marvellous. She checked that the DJ knew that Howard's favourite song was ‘The Green, Green Grass of Home', Tom Jones' version, and looked around for more little jobs to do: but instead her gaze fell upon the reason that her happiness, tonight, had not quite that perfect quality she had anticipated. Patricia was standing alone, staring up at the Pagford coat of arms on the wall, and making no effort to talk to anybody. Shirley wished that Patricia would wear a skirt sometimes; but at least she had arrived alone. Shirley had been afraid that the BMW might contain another person, and that absence was something gained. You weren't supposed to dislike your own child; you were supposed to like them no matter what, even if they were not what you wanted, even if they turned out to be the kind of person that you would have crossed the street to avoid had you not been related. Howard took a large view of the whole matter; he even joked about it, in a mild way, beyond Patricia's hearing. Shirley could not rise to those heights of detachment. She felt compelled to join Patricia, in the vague, unconscious hope that she might dilute the strangeness she was afraid everyone else would smell by her own exemplary dress and behaviour. ‘Do you want a drink, darling?' ‘Not yet,' said Patricia, still staring up at the Pagford arms. ‘I had a heavy night last night. Probably still over the limit. We were out drinking with Melly's office pals.' Shirley smiled vaguely up at the crest above them. ‘Melly's fine, thanks for asking,' said Patricia. ‘Oh, good,' said Shirley. ‘I liked the invitation,' said Patricia. ‘Pat and guest.' ‘I'm sorry, darling, but that's just what you put, you know, when people aren't married – ‘ ‘Ah, that's what it says in Debrett's, does it? Well, Melly didn't want to come if she wasn't even named on the invitation, so we had a massive row, and here I am, alone. Result, eh?' Patricia stalked away towards the drinks, leaving Shirley a little shaken behind her. Patricia's rages had been frightening even as a child. ‘You're late, Miss Jawanda,' she called, recovering her composure as a flustered Sukhvinder came hurrying towards her. In Shirley's opinion, the girl was demonstrating a kind of insolence turning up at all, after what her mother had said to Howard, here, in this very hall. She watched her hurry to join Andrew and Gaia, and thought that she would tell Howard that they ought to let Sukhvinder go. She was tardy, and there was probably a hygiene issue with the eczema she was hiding under the long-sleeved black T-shirt; Shirley made a mental note to check whether it was contagious, on her favourite medical website. Guests began to arrive promptly at eight o'clock. Howard told Gaia to come and stand beside him and collect coats, because he wanted everyone to see him ordering her around by name, in that little black dress and frilly apron. But there were soon too many coats for her to carry alone, so he summoned Andrew to help. ‘Nick a bottle,' Gaia ordered Andrew, as they hung coats three and four deep in the tiny cloakroom, ‘and hide it in the kitchen. We can take it in turns to go and have some.' ‘OK,' said Andrew, elated. ‘Gavin!' cried Howard, as his son's partner came through the door alone at half-past eight. ‘Kay not with you, Gavin?' asked Shirley swiftly (Maureen was changing into sparkly stilettos behind the trestle table, so there was very little time to steal a march on her). ‘No, she couldn't make it, unfortunately,' said Gavin; then, to his horror, he came face to face with Gaia, who was waiting to take his coat. ‘Mum could have made it,' said Gaia, in a clear, carrying voice, as she glared at him. ‘But Gavin's dumped her, haven't you, Gav?' Howard clapped Gavin on the shoulder, pretending he had not heard, and boomed, ‘Great to see you, go get yourself a drink.' Shirley's expression remained impassive, but the thrill of the moment did not subside quickly, and she was a little dazed and dreamy, greeting the next few guests. When Maureen tottered over in her awful dress to join the greeting party, Shirley took immense pleasure in telling her quietly: ‘We've had a very awkward little scene. Very awkward. Gavin and Gaia's mother †¦ oh, dear †¦ if we'd known †¦' ‘What? What's happened?' But Shirley shook her head, savouring the exquisite pleasure of Maureen's frustrated curiosity, and opened her arms wide as Miles, Samantha and Lexie entered the hall. ‘Here he is! Parish Councillor Miles Mollison!' Samantha watched Shirley hugging Miles as though from a great distance. She had moved so abruptly from happiness and anticipation to shock and disappointment that her thoughts had become white noise, against which she had to fight to take in the exterior world. (Miles had said: ‘That's great! You can come to Dad's party, you were only just saying – ‘ ‘Yes,' she had replied, ‘I know. It is great, isn't it?' But when he had seen her dressed in the jeans and band T-shirt she had been visualizing herself in for over a week, he had been perplexed. ‘It's formal.' ‘Miles, it's the church hall in Pagford.' ‘I know, but the invitation – ‘ ‘I'm wearing this.') ‘Hello, Sammy,' said Howard. ‘Look at you. You needn't have dressed up.' But his embrace was as lascivious as ever, and he patted her tightly jeaned backside. Samantha gave Shirley a cold tight smile and walked past her towards the drinks. A nasty voice inside her head was asking: but what did you think was going to happen at the concert, anyway? What was the point? What were you after? Nothing. A bit of fun. The dream of strong young arms and laughter, which was to have had some kind of catharsis tonight; her own thin waist encircled again, and the sharp taste of the new, the unexplored; her fantasy had lost wings, it was plummeting back to earth †¦ I only wanted to look. ‘Looking good, Sammy.' ‘Cheers, Pat.' She had not met her sister-in-law for over a year. I like you more than anyone else in this family, Pat. Miles had caught up with her; he kissed his sister. ‘How are you? How's Mel? Isn't she here?' ‘No, she didn't want to come,' said Patricia. She was drinking champagne, but from her expression, it might have been vinegar. ‘The invitation said Pat and guest are invited †¦ huge bloody row. One up to Mum.' ‘Oh, Pat, come on,' said Miles, smiling. ‘Oh, Pat, fucking come on what, Miles?' A furious delight took hold of Samantha: a pretext to attack. ‘That's a bloody rude way to invite your sister's partner and you know it, Miles. Your mother could do with some lessons in manners, if you ask me.' He was fatter, surely, than he had been a year ago. She could see his neck bulging over the collar of his shirt. His breath went sour quickly. He had a little trick of bouncing on his toes that he had caught from his father. She experienced a surge of physical disgust and walked away to the end of the trestle table, where Andrew and Sukhvinder were busy filling and handing out glasses. ‘Have you got any gin?' Samantha asked. ‘Give me a big one.' She barely recognized Andrew. He poured her a measure, trying not to look at her breasts, boundlessly exposed in the T-shirt, but it was like trying not to squint in direct sunlight. ‘Do you know them?' Samantha asked, after downing half a glass of gin and tonic. A blush had risen before Andrew could marshal his thoughts. To his horror, she gave a reckless cackle, and said, ‘The band. I'm talking about the band.' ‘Yeah, I – yeah, I've heard of them. I don't †¦ not my kind of thing.' ‘Is that right?' she said, throwing back the rest of her drink. ‘I'll have another one of those, please.' She realized who he was: the mousy boy from the delicatessen. His uniform made him look older. Maybe a couple of weeks of lugging pallets up and down the cellar steps had built some muscle. ‘Oh, look,' said Samantha, spotting a figure heading away from her into the growing crowd, ‘there's Gavin. The second most boring man in Pagford. After my husband, obviously.' She strode off, pleased with herself, holding her new drink; the gin had hit her where she most needed it, anaesthetizing and stimulating at the same time, and as she walked she thought: he liked my tits; let's see what he thinks of my arse. Gavin saw Samantha coming and tried to deflect her by joining somebody else's conversation, anybody's; the nearest person was Howard and he insinuated himself hastily into the group around his host. ‘I took a risk,' Howard was saying to three other men; he was waving a cigar, and a little ash had dribbled down the front of his velvet jacket. ‘I took a risk and I put in the graft. Simple as that. No magic formula. Nobody handed me – oh, here's Sammy. Who are those young men, Samantha?' While four elderly men stared at the pop group stretched across her breasts, Samantha turned to Gavin. ‘Hi,' she said, leaning in and forcing him to kiss her. ‘Kay not here?' ‘No,' said Gavin shortly. ‘Talking about business, Sammy,' said Howard happily, and Samantha thought of her shop, failed and finished. ‘I was a self-starter,' he informed the group, reprising what was clearly an established theme. ‘That's all there is to it. That's all you need. I was a self-starter.' Massive and globular, he was like a miniature velvety sun, radiating satisfaction and contentment. His tones were already rounded and mellowed by the brandy in his hand. ‘I was ready to take a risk – could've lost everything.' ‘Well, your mum could have lost everything,' Samantha corrected him. ‘Didn't Hilda mortgage her house to put up half the deposit on the shop?' She saw the tiny flicker in Howard's eyes, but his smile remained constant. ‘All credit to my mother, then,' he said, ‘for working and scrimping and saving, and giving her son a start. I multiply what I was given, and I give back to the family – pay for your girls to go to St Anne's – what goes round, comes round, eh, Sammy?' She expected this from Shirley, but not from Howard. Both of them drained their glasses, and Samantha watched Gavin drift away without trying to stop him. Gavin was wondering whether it would be possible to slip out unnoticed. He was nervous, and the noise was making it worse. A horrible idea had taken possession of him since meeting Gaia at the door. What if Kay had told her daughter everything? What if the girl knew that he was in love with Mary Fairbrother, and told other people? It was the sort of thing that a vengeful sixteen-year-old might do. The very last thing he wanted was for Pagford to know that he was in love with Mary before he had a chance to tell her himself. He had imagined doing it months and months hence, perhaps a year down the line †¦ letting the first anniversary of Barry's death slip by †¦ and, in the mean time, nurturing the tiny shoots of trust and reliance that were already there, so that the reality of her feelings stole gradually upon her, as they had upon him †¦ ‘You haven't got a drink, Gav!' said Miles. ‘That situation must be remedied!' He led his partner firmly to the drinks table and poured him a beer, talking all the while, and, like Howard, giving off an almost visible glow of happiness and pride. ‘You heard I won the seat?' Gavin had not, but he did not feel equal to feigning surprise. ‘Yeah. Congratulations.' ‘How's Mary?' asked Miles expansively; he was a friend to the whole town tonight, because it had elected him. ‘She doing OK?' ‘Yeah, I think – ‘ ‘I heard she might be going to Liverpool. Might be for the best.' ‘What?' said Gavin sharply. ‘Maureen was saying this morning; apparently, Mary's sister's trying to persuade Mary to go home with the kids. She's still got a lot of family in Liver – ‘ ‘This is her home.' ‘I think it was Barry who liked Pagford. I'm not sure Mary will want to stay without him.' Gaia was watching Gavin through a chink in the kitchen door. She was clutching a paper cup containing several fingers of the vodka that Andrew had stolen for her. ‘He's such a bastard,' she said. ‘We'd still be in Hackney if he hadn't led Mum on. She's so bloody stupid. I could have told her he wasn't that interested. He never took her out. He couldn't wait to leave after they'd shagged.' Andrew, who was piling additional sandwiches on an almost empty platter behind her, could hardly believe that she was using words like shagged. The chimeric Gaia who filled his fantasies was a sexually inventive and adventurous virgin. He did not know what the real Gaia had done, or not done, with Marco de Luca. Her judgement on her mother made it sound as if she knew how men behaved after sex, if they were interested †¦ ‘Drink something,' she told Andrew as he approached the door with the platter, and she held up her own polystyrene cup to his lips, and he drank some of her vodka. Giggling a little, she backed away to let him out and called after him: ‘Make Sooks come in here and get some!' The hall was crowded and noisy. Andrew put the pile of fresh sandwiches on the table, but interest in the food seemed to have waned; Sukhvinder was struggling to keep up with demand at the drinks table, and many people had started pouring their own. ‘Gaia wants you in the kitchen,' Andrew told Sukhvinder, and he took over from her. There was no point acting like a bartender; instead, he filled as many glasses as he could find, and left them on the table for people to help themselves. ‘Hi, Peanut!' said Lexie Mollison. ‘Can I have some champagne?' They had been at St Thomas's together, but he had not seen her for a long time. Her accent had changed since she had been at St Anne's. He hated being called Peanut. ‘It's there in front of you,' he said, pointing. ‘Lexie, you're not drinking,' snapped Samantha, appearing out of the crowd. ‘Absolutely not.' ‘Grandad said – ‘ ‘I don't care.' ‘Everyone else – ‘ ‘I said no!' Lexie stomped away. Andrew, glad to see her go, smiled at Samantha, and was surprised when she beamed at him. ‘Do you talk back to your parents?' ‘Yeah,' he said, and she laughed. Her breasts really were enormous. ‘Ladies and gentlemen!' boomed a voice through the microphone, and everyone stopped talking to listen to Howard. ‘Wanted to say a few words †¦ most of you probably know by now that my son Miles has just been elected to the Parish Council!' There was a smattering of applause and Miles raised his drink high above his head to acknowledge it. Andrew was startled to hear Samantha say quite clearly under her breath, ‘Hoo-fucking-ray.' Nobody was coming for drinks now. Andrew slipped back into the kitchen. Gaia and Sukhvinder were alone in there, drinking and laughing, and when they saw Andrew they both shouted, ‘Andy!' He laughed too. ‘Are you both pissed?' ‘Yes,' said Gaia, and ‘no,' said Sukhvinder. ‘She is, though.' ‘I don't care,' said Gaia. ‘Mollison can sack me if he wants. No point saving up for a ticket to Hackney any more.' ‘He won't sack you,' said Andrew, helping himself to some of the vodka. ‘You're his favourite.' ‘Yeah,' said Gaia. ‘Creepy old bastard.' And the three of them laughed again. Through the glass doors, amplified by the microphone, came Maureen's croaky voice. ‘Come on, then, Howard! Come on – a duet for your birthday! Go on – ladies and gentlemen – Howard's favourite song!' The teenagers gazed at each other in tantalized horror. Gaia tripped forward, giggling, and pushed the door open. The first few bars of ‘The Green, Green Grass of Home' blared out, and then, in Howard's bass and Maureen's gravelly alto: The old home town looks the same, As I step down from the train †¦ Gavin was the only one who heard the giggles and snorts, but when he turned around all he saw were the double doors to the kitchen, swinging a little on their hinges. Miles had left to chat with Aubrey and Julia Fawley, who had arrived late, wreathed in polite smiles. Gavin was in the grip of a familiar mixture of dread and anxiety. His brief sunlit haze of freedom and happiness had been overcast by the twin threats of Gaia blabbing what he had said to her mother, and of Mary leaving Pagford for ever. What was he going to do? Down the lane I walk, with my sweet Mary, Hair of gold and lips like cherries †¦ ‘Kay not here?' Samantha had arrived, leaning against the table beside him, smirking. ‘You already asked me that,' said Gavin. ‘No.' ‘Everything OK with you two?' ‘Is that really any of your business?' It slipped out of him before he could stop it; he was sick of her constant probing and jeering. For once, it was just the two of them; Miles was still busy with the Fawleys. She over-acted being taken aback. Her eyes were bloodshot and her speech was deliberate; for the first time, Gavin felt more dislike than intimidation. ‘I'm sorry. I was only – ‘ ‘Asking. Yeah,' he said, as Howard and Maureen swayed, arm in arm. ‘I'd like to see you settled down. You and Kay seemed good together.' ‘Yeah, well, I like my freedom,' said Gavin. ‘I don't know many happily married couples.' Samantha had drunk too much to feel the full force of the dig, but she had the impression that one had been made. ‘Marriages are always a mystery to outsiders,' she said carefully. ‘Nobody can ever really know except the two people involved. So you shouldn't judge, Gavin.' ‘Thanks for the insight,' he said, and irritated past endurance he set down his empty beer can and headed towards the cloakroom. Samantha watched him leave, sure that she had had the best of the encounter, and turned her attention to her mother-in-law, whom she could see through a gap in the crowd, watching Howard and Maureen sing. Samantha relished Shirley's anger, which was expressed in the tightest, coldest smile she had worn all evening. Howard and Maureen had performed together many a time over the years; Howard loved to sing, and Maureen had once performed backing vocals for a local skiffle band. When the song finished, Shirley clapped her hands together once; she might have been summoning a flunkey, and Samantha laughed out loud and moved along to the bar end of the table, which she was disappointed to find unmanned by the boy in the bow tie. Andrew, Gaia and Sukhvinder were still convulsed in the kitchen. They laughed because of Howard and Maureen's duet, and because they had finished two-thirds of the vodka, but mostly they laughed because they laughed, feeding off each other until they could barely stand. The little window over the sink, propped ajar so that the kitchen did not become too steamy, rattled and clattered, and Fats' head appeared through it. ‘Evening,' he said. Evidently he had climbed onto something outside, because, with a noise of scraping and a heavy object falling over, more and more of him emerged through the window until he landed heavily on the draining board, knocking several glasses to the ground, where they shattered. Sukhvinder walked straight out of the kitchen. Andrew knew immediately that he did not want Fats there. Only Gaia seemed unperturbed. Still giggling, she said, ‘There's a door, you know.' ‘No shit?' said Fats. ‘Where's the drink?' ‘This is ours,' said Gaia, cradling the vodka in her arms. ‘Andy nicked it. You'll have to get your own.' ‘Not a problem,' said Fats coolly, and he walked through the doors into the hall. ‘Need the loo †¦' mumbled Gaia, and she stowed the vodka bottle back under the sink, and left the kitchen too. Andrew followed. Sukhvinder had returned to the bar area, Gaia was disappearing into the bathroom, and Fats was leaning against the trestle table with a beer in one hand and a sandwich in the other. ‘Didn't think you'd want to come to this,' said Andrew. ‘I was invited, mate,' said Fats. ‘It was on the invitation. Whole Wall family.' ‘Does Cubby know you're here?' ‘Dunno,' said Fats. ‘He's in hiding. Didn't get ol' Barry's seat after all. The whole social fabric'll collapse now Cubby's not holding it together. Fucking hell, that's horrible,' he added, spitting out a mouthful of sandwich. ‘Wanna fag?' The hall was so noisy, and the guests so raucously drunk, that nobody seemed to care where Andrew went any more. When they got outside, they found Patricia Mollison, alone beside her sports car, looking up at the clear starry sky, smoking. ‘You can have one of these,' she said, offering her packet, ‘if you want.' After she had lit their cigarettes, she stood at her ease with one hand balled deep in her pocket. There was something about her that Andrew found intimidating; he could not even bring himself to glance at Fats, to gauge his reaction. ‘I'm Pat,' she told them, after a little while. ‘Howard and Shirley's daughter.' ‘Hi,' said Andrew. †M Andrew.' ‘Stuart,' said Fats. She did not seem to need to prolong conversation. Andrew felt it as a kind of compliment and tried to emulate her indifference. The silence was broken by footsteps and the sound of muffled girls' voices. Gaia was dragging Sukhvinder outside by the hand. She was laughing, and Andrew could tell that the full effect of the vodka was still intensifying inside her. ‘You,' said Gaia, to Fats, ‘are really horrible to Sukhvinder.' ‘Stop it,' said Sukhvinder, tugging against Gaia's hand. ‘I'm serious – let me – ‘ ‘He is!' said Gaia breathlessly. ‘You are! Do you put stuff on her Facebook?' ‘Stop it!' shouted Sukhvinder. She wrenched herself free and plunged back inside the party. ‘You are horrible to her,' said Gaia, grabbing onto the railings for support. ‘Calling her a lesbian and stuff †¦' ‘Nothing wrong with being a lesbian,' said Patricia, her eyes narrowed through the smoke she was inhaling. ‘But then, I would say that.' Andrew saw Fats look at Pat sideways. ‘I never said there was anything wrong with it. It's only jokes,' he said. Gaia slid down the rails to sit on the chilly pavement, her head in her arms. ‘You all right?' Andrew asked. If Fats had not been there, he would have sat down too. ‘Pissed,' she muttered. ‘Might do better to stick your fingers down your throat,' suggested Patricia, looking down at her dispassionately. ‘Nice car,' Fats said, eyeing the BMW. ‘Yeah,' said Patricia. ‘New. I make double what my brother makes,' she said, ‘but Miles is the Christ Child. Miles the Messiah †¦ Parish Councillor Mollison the Second †¦ of Pagford. Do you like Pagford?' she asked Fats, while Andrew watched Gaia breathing deeply, her head between her knees. ‘No,' said Fats. ‘It's a shithole.' ‘Yeah, well †¦ I couldn't wait to leave, personally. Did you know Barry Fairbrother?' ‘A bit,' said Fats. Something in his voice made Andrew worried. ‘He was my reading mentor at St Thomas's,' said Patricia, with her eyes still on the end of the street. ‘Lovely bloke. I would have come back for the funeral, but Melly and I were in Zermatt. What's all this stuff my mother's been gloating about †¦ this Barry's Ghost stuff?' ‘Someone putting stuff on the Parish Council website,' said Andrew hastily, afraid of what Fats might say, if he let him. ‘Rumours and stuff.' ‘Yeah, my mother would love that,' said Patricia. ‘Wonder what the Ghost'll say next?' Fats asked, with a sidelong glance at Andrew. ‘Probably stop now the election's over,' muttered Andrew. ‘Oh, I dunno,' said Fats. ‘If there's stuff old Barry's Ghost is still pissed off about †¦' He knew that he was making Andrew anxious and he was glad of it. Andrew was spending all his time at his poxy job these days, and he would soon be moving. Fats did not owe Andrew anything. True authenticity could not exist alongside guilt and obligation. ‘You all right down there?' Patricia asked Gaia, who nodded, with her face still hidden. ‘What was it, the drink or the duet that made you feel sick?' Andrew laughed a little bit, out of politeness and because he wanted to keep the subject away from the Ghost of Barry Fairbrother. ‘Turned my stomach too,' said Patricia. ‘Old Maureen and my father singing along together. Arm in arm.' Patricia took a final fierce drag on her cigarette and threw the end down, grinding it beneath her heel. ‘I walked in on her blowing him when I was twelve,' she said. ‘And he gave me a fiver not to tell my mother.' Andrew and Fats stood transfixed, scared even to look at each other. Patricia wiped her face on the back of her hand: she was crying. ‘Shouldn't have bloody come,' she said. ‘Knew I shouldn't.' She got into the BMW, and the two boys watched, stunned, as she turned on the engine, reversed out of her parking space and drove away into the night. ‘Fuck me,' said Fats. ‘I think I might be sick,' whispered Gaia. ‘Mr Mollison wants you back inside – for the drinks.' Her message delivered, Sukhvinder darted away again. ‘I can't,' whispered Gaia. Andrew left her there. The din in the hall hit him as he opened the inner doors. The disco was in full swing. He had to move aside to allow Aubrey and Julia Fawley room to leave. Both, with their backs to the party, looked grimly pleased to be going. Samantha Mollison was not dancing, but was leaning up against the trestle table where, so recently, there had been rows and rows of drinks. While Sukhvinder rushed around collecting glasses, Andrew unpacked the last box of clean ones, set them out and filled them. ‘Your bow tie's crooked,' Samantha told him, and she leaned across the table and straightened it for him. Embarrassed, he ducked into the kitchen as soon as she let go. Between each load of glasses he put in the dishwasher, Andrew took another swig of the vodka he had stolen. He wanted to be drunk like Gaia; he wanted to return to that moment when they had been laughing uncontrollably together, before Fats had appeared. After ten minutes, he checked the drinks table again; Samantha was still propped up against it, glassy-eyed, and there were plenty of fresh-poured drinks left for her to enjoy. Howard was bobbing in the middle of the dance floor, sweat pouring down his face, roaring with laughter at something Maureen had said to him. Andrew wound his way through the crowd and back outside. He could not see where she was at first: then he spotted them. Gaia and Fats were locked together ten yards away from the door, leaning up against the railings, bodies pressed tight against each other, tongues working in each other's mouths. ‘Look, I'm sorry, but I can't do it all,' said Sukhvinder desperately from behind him. Then she spotted Fats and Gaia and let out something between a yelp and a sob. Andrew walked back into the hall with her, completely numb. In the kitchen, he poured the remainder of the vodka into a glass and downed it in one. Mechanically he filled the sink and set to washing out the glasses that could not fit in the dishwasher. The alcohol was not like dope. It made him feel empty, but also keen to hit someone: Fats, for instance. After a while, he realized that the plastic clock on the kitchen wall had leapt from midnight to one and that people were leaving. He was supposed to find coats. He tried for a while, but then lurched off to the kitchen again, leaving Sukhvinder in charge. Samantha was leaning up against the fridge, on her own, with a glass in her hand. Andrew's vision was strangely jerky, like a series of stills. Gaia had not come back. She was doubtless long gone with Fats. Samantha was talking to him. She was drunk too. He was not embarrassed by her any more. He suspected that he might be sick quite soon. ‘ †¦ hate bloody Pagford †¦' said Samantha, and, ‘but you're young enough to get out.' ‘Yeah,' he said, unable to feel his lips. ‘An' I will. ‘Nigh will.' She pushed his hair off his forehead and called him sweet. The image of Gaia with her tongue in Fats' mouth threatened to obliterate everything. He could smell Samantha's perfume, coming in waves from her hot skin. ‘That band's shit,' he said, pointing at her chest, but he did not think she heard him. Her mouth was chapped and warm, and her breasts were huge, pressed against his chest; her back was as broad as his – ‘What the fuck?' Andrew was slumped against the draining board and Samantha was being dragged out of the kitchen by a big man with short greying hair. Andrew had a dim idea that something bad had happened, but the strange flickering quality of reality was becoming more and more pronounced, until the only thing to do was to stagger across the room to the bin and throw up again and again and again †¦ ‘Sorry, you can't come in!' he heard Sukhvinder tell someone. ‘Stuff piled up against the door!' He tied the bin bag tightly on his own vomit. Sukhvinder helped him clear the kitchen. He needed to throw up twice more, but both times managed to get to the bathroom. It was nearly two o'clock by the time Howard, sweaty but smiling, thanked them and said goodnight. ‘Very good work,' he said. ‘See you tomorrow, then. Very good †¦ where's Miss Bawden, by the way?' Andrew left Sukhvinder to come up with a lie. Out in the street, he unchained Simon's bicycle and wheeled it away into the darkness. The long cold walk back to Hilltop House cleared his head, but assuaged neither his bitterness nor his misery. Had he ever told Fats that he fancied Gaia? Maybe not, but Fats knew. He knew that Fats knew †¦ were they, perhaps, shagging right now? I'm moving, anyway, Andrew thought, bent over and shivering as he pushed the bicycle up the hill. So fuck them †¦ Then he thought: I'd better be moving †¦ Had he just snogged Lexie Mollison's mother? Had her husband walked in on them? Had that really happened? He was scared of Miles, but he also wanted to tell Fats about it, to see his face †¦ When he let himself into the house, exhausted, Simon's voice came out of the darkness from the kitchen. ‘Have you put my bike in the garage?' He was sitting at the kitchen table, eating a bowl of cereal. It was nearly half-past two in the morning. ‘Couldn't sleep,' said Simon. For once, he was not angry. Ruth was not there, so he did not have to prove himself bigger or smarter than his sons. He seemed weary and small. ‘Think we're gonna have to move to Reading, Pizza Face,' said Simon. It was almost a term of endearment. Shivering slightly, feeling old and shell-shocked, and immensely guilty, Andrew wanted to give his father something to make up for what he had done. It was time to redress balances and claim Simon as an ally. They were a family. They had to move together. Perhaps it could be better, somewhere else. ‘I've got something for you,' he said. ‘Come through here. Found out how to do it at school †¦' And he led the way to the computer.

8 errores que como turista debes evitar en USA

8 errores que como turista debes evitar en USA Millones de extranjeros viajan a Estados Unidos cada aà ±o como turistas. Para evitar problemas migratorios muy serios estos son 8 errores que se deben evitar. 8 errores migratorios que no debes hacer como turista Primero   Mentir en un formulario de inmigracià ³n o a un oficial consular (cà ³nsules). Se puede viajar a Estados Unidos como turista con una visa B2 (tambià ©n conocida como de placer o paseo).   Tambià ©n se puede ingresar con la lser o tarjeta de cruce si se vive a lo largo de la frontera mexicano-estadounidense e, incluso, sin visado si se tiene pasaporte de uno de los paà ­ses incluidos en el Programa de Exencià ³n de Visas. En este à ºltimo caso, si se llega a Estados Unidos por avià ³n, se necesita llenar un formulario por internet que se conoce como ESTA. Sea cual fuera la forma de ingreso como turista es muy importante no mentir en ningà ºn formulario ni en la entrevista consular ya que las consecuencias, si lo agarran a uno, son muy graves.   Segundo Creer que tener visa vigente o ESTA garantiza el ingreso a Estados Unidos. El oficial migratorio en puertos, aeropuertos y puestos fronterizos terrestres tiene la à ºltima palabra y puede decidir que un extranjero no entra. La informacià ³n que tienen las computadoras de aduanas es muy completa y por eso son ellos los que deciden. Si se produce una expulsià ³n inmediata, hay que conocer las consecuencias. Tercero Tratar de ingresar artà ­culos prohibidos. Especial mencià ³n merecen los alimentos y las medicinas. No traer remedios que no existen en Estados Unidos ni tampoco cantidades grandes de los que existen o medicacià ³n sin receta mà ©dica. Por ejemplo, no se puede traer antibià ³ticos ms all que la cantidad necesaria para la enfermedad que se tiene en ese momento. Estas conductas pueden traer consecuencias muy graves, desde que en el aduana quiten el producto a multa, expulsià ³n inmediata y cancelacià ³n de la visa.   Cuarto   Viajar sin seguro mà ©dico. La medicina en Estados Unidos es, posiblemente, la mejor del mundo. Y tambià ©n la ms cara. Para evitar sustos comprar seguro mà ©dico antes de viajar. Si se necesita ir a un mà ©dico y no se tiene seguro o no lo cubre todo, intentar una clà ­nica comunitaria, por cuestià ³n de precio, o consultar costos para el mismo procedimiento en diversos hospitales. Puede haber una diferencia de miles de dà ³lares en operaciones sencillas. Conservar siempre la factura y si se tiene un bebà © con visa de turista, tener muy presentes las posibles consecuencias negativas. Quinto   No pagar las multas de trfico (trnsito). Esta es una manera tonta de buscarse problemas ya que la informacià ³n en las computadoras de los oficiales migratorios es cada vez ms completa. Sexto Quedarse ms tiempo del permitido. Jams es una buena idea ya que puede dar lugar a la cancelacià ³n automtica de la visa (y si se ingresà ³ sin visa, a perder ese derecho para el futuro). Adems, si la estancia se alarga ms de seis meses despuà ©s del plazo autorizado entra en aplicacià ³n el castigo de los tres y de los diez aà ±os una vez que se sale de Estados Unidos. Es cierto que en muchos casos se puede solicitar  un perdà ³n migratorio cuando no se puede ingresar  a Estados Unidos. Pero es difà ­cil obtenerlo. Sà ©ptimo Utilizar la visa de turista con otro fin, como por ejemplo estudiar a tiempo completo o trabajar. Incluso acciones como casarse deben realizarse con cuidado, ya que pueden tener consecuencias negativas. Octavo Ingresar con demasiada frecuencia. Se puede viajar a Estados Unidos como turista tantas veces como se quiera. Pero las entradas y salidas continuadas pueden resultar sospechosas y, en ese caso, el oficial de inmigracià ³n puede impedir el ingreso. A tener en cuenta Para obtener una visa de turista, renovarla y asegurarse el ingreso a Estados Unidos en el control de paso migratorio es necesario ser, en todo momento, elegible para la visa y admisible al paà ­s. Si no es asà ­, la visa puede negarse, cancelarse o no renovarse. Tambià ©n es posible que el oficial de inmigracià ³n en la aduana impida el paso y ordene el regreso inmediato al paà ­s de origen. Estas son causas que convierten a una persona en inelegible para la visa y estas lo convierten en inadmisible para ingresar a USA. Aprende jugando Se recomienda tomar este quiz o test de respuestas mà ºltiples sobre viajar como turista a Estados Unidos ya que puede servir para evitar errores tontos en el futuro y que pueden costar muy caro. Este es un artà ­culo informativo. No es asesorà ­a legal.

Vocabulary Describing Physical Characteristics

Vocabulary Describing Physical Characteristics These words are used when describing people and their physical characteristics, including nouns and adjectives. Each word is placed into a related category and example sentences are used to provide context.   Age baby - Everyone goes through a lot of diapers when they are a baby.toddler - Toddlers take their first steps around the age of two.child - Having a child is one of the great joys in life.teenager - Many teenagers have to deal with a lot of stress because of testing.teens - I played a lot of sports in my teens.thirties/forties/ fifties - Most people have settled down by their forties.young man/woman - That young man was very kind and gave me directions.youth - We need to develop some more sports programs for the youth. middle-aged (man/woman) - That middle-aged man asked me for directions.elderly (man/woman) - Take time to listen to an elderly woman. Shell teach you a lot.early  /mid/late - He looks like hes in his mid-twenties.about - Shes about thirty years old.thirtysomething - She told me that shes thirtysomething. Describing How People Look / Seem good-looking - Hes a good-looking doctor with a wife and two kids.beautiful - The beautiful actress turned to the cameras with a glowing smile.pretty - He fell in a love with a pretty girl from Las Vegas.cute - That guy is really cute! Whats his name?handsome - The handsome actor was famous for his love of riding horses.glamourous - The glamorous couple climbed onto their private jet and flew to Paris.elegant - Shes an elegant woman with lots of poise.sophisticated - He was a sophisticated man who enjoyed many different hobbies.ugly  - I look so ugly today! Why dont these pimples go away!hideous - I havent slept in three days. I must look hideous.unsightly - Hes worried that the scar is unsightly.   Build fat - Unfortunately, Peter has become rather fat in his old age.overweight - Many Americans are overweight these days.slim - Hes that slim guy standing next to Peter over there.thin - Angela is tall, thin and very beautiful.skinny - Many people might say that models are skinny these days. Thats very different from being slim.plump - If you drink a lot of beer, youll certainly become plump.stocky - Hes a tall, stocky guy that looks like a lumberjack.well built - Todd is very well built and looks great in a suit.   Complexion pale - If you spend too much time indoors, you might become very pale.tan - After two weeks on the beach, he was very tan.clear - I was happy that I finally had a clear complexion when I become twenty.good - He has good skin. I think hed make a great model.spotty - Older people often have spotty skin on their hands.pimpled - I walked through the crowd of pimpled teenagers and knew I was in the wrong place!freckles - The freckles on your cheeks make you so cute!spots - I cant get rid of these spots on my hands.pimples - I had so many pimples when I was a teenager. It drove me crazy! Facial Features on Men mustache - Curly mustaches are coming back into fashion in places like Portland.clean-shaven - Most men in this city prefer a clean-shaven look these days.beard - Some men wear a beard because theyre lazy and dont want to shave. Hair long - Alice has long blonde hair.short - I like to wear my hair short during the summer.shoulder length - She has beautiful black shoulder-length hair. She looks like a movie star.black / red / brown / grey / silver - Tom has thick black hair.blonde - Hollywood tends to prefer blonde women for certain types of roles.brunette - I have brunette, shoulder-length hair.white - Hes gone complete white in his old age.curly - She likes to wear her hair curly.spiky - Some punks like to wear spiky hair.

Imagine you are a small business owner Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Imagine you are a small business owner - Essay Example Net margin can be calculated dividing net income by total sales. The managers of small businesses must pay close attention to the profitability of the business as well as its cash flow position. The current ratio is a good ratio to analyze small businesses because it measures the liquidity of a company. It measures the ability of the company to pay off its short term debt. A current ratio is positive if is above 1.0. The inventory turnover ratio measures how many times a company sold its inventory during a year. The desired outcome is to have a high inventory turnover rate. Three ratios that are suitable to evaluate the financial performance of a large enterprise are return on assets (ROA), return on equity (ROE), and debt to equity ratio. Return on asset measures how well assets were employed by management, while return on equity measures the extent to which financial leverage is working for or against common stockholders (Garrison & Noreen, 2003). The debt to equity ratio is calcul ated dividing total liabilities by stockholder’s equity. B) Explain the advantages and disadvantages of debt financing and why an organization would choose to issue stocks rather than bonds to generate funds. Debt financing has become an extremely popular financing tool in today’s global economy. ... â€Å"Another advantage of debt financing is that interest paid on debt reduces tax burden of the business† (Kido, 2012). Despite the advantages of debt financing it also has cons. A drawback of debt financing is that in cases of business failure lenders have first option at the liquidating assets of a firm. A second drawback of using debt financing is the obligation to pay interest to the lenders. Sometimes interest expenses of debt instrument can be very high. A third con of debt financing is that if it is excessively used it can negatively impact the credit rating of the company (Simplyfinance, 2007). C) Discuss how financial returns are related to risk. Financial returns and risk are two factors that are positively related. This means that to obtain higher rewards managers must assume greater risk. In the stock market companies that have higher risk have a greater chance of equity appreciation. Risk adverse people try to stay away from risk. Being risk conservative can hel p a company minimize the risk of financial loss. â€Å"Financial risk is the loss probability arising from adverse price fluctuations in financial markets or business partner defaults† (Codjia, 2012). When companies get too greedy they often make bad business decisions by incurring in too much risk. Firms that have higher risk tend to have higher cost of capital. When the cost of capital is high the profitability of the company is adversely affected. D) Describe the concept of beta and how it is used. The beta coefficient is a measure of an asset’s risk in relation to the market or to an alternative benchmark or factor (Thefreedictionary, 2012). The average beta coefficient of the stock market is 1.0. When the beta coefficient of a company is higher than 1.0 the stock has