History of Federation of Malaya Essay Example for Free

History of Federation of Malaya Essay The Federation of Malaya (Malay: Persekutuan Tanah Melayu) is the name given to a federation of 11 states (nine Malay states and two of the British Straits Settlements, Penang and Malacca) that existed from 1 February 1948 until 16 September 1963. The Federation became independent on 31 August 1957. It was reconstituted as Malaysia with the addition in 1963 of Singapore, Sabah, and Sarawak. History After World War 2, the British came again to Malaya and Britain suggested the formation of the Malayan Union. Malayan Union not only took away the power of the Malays over their nation, but also the rights that belong to the Malays. Then, the people of Malayan Union started to realise that their country has to be ruled by their own people and not to be ruled by other people of other nations. Due to opposition from Malay nationalists, the Union was disbanded and replaced by the Federation of Malaya, which restored the symbolic positions of the rulers of the Malay states in 1st of February 1948. The British government and Malaya leaders signing the agreement of establishing Federation of Malaya at King’s House, Kuala Lumpur. Within the Federation, while the Malay states were protectorates of the United Kingdom, Penang and Malacca remained British colonial territories. Like the Malayan Union before it, the Federation did not include Singapore, despite its traditional connections with Malaya. The Federation achieved independence within the Commonwealth of Nations on 31 August 1957. In 1963, the Federation was reconstituted as Malaysia when it federated with the British territories of Singapore, Sarawak, and British North Borneo (renamed Sabah); the latter territory was claimed to be a part of the Sultanate of Sulu. Singapore separated from Malaysia to become an independent republic on 9 August 1965. Agreement of Federation The Federation of Malaya Agreement was formulated by the British–Malay Pleno Conference between June and December 1946. At the end of the meeting, the Pleno Conference produced a 100-page Blue Book. The Federation of Malaya Agreement was signed on 21 January 1948 at King House by the Malay rulers, and by Sir Edward Gent as the representative of the British government. The Agreement superseded the Agreement creating the Malayan Union, and prepared for the establishment of the Federation of Malaya on 1 February 1948. The position of the Malay rulers was also restored. As with the Malayan Union, the Federation excluded Singapore, despite its traditional links to Malaya. List of member states * Johore * Kedah * Kelantan * Malacca * Negeri Sembilan * Pahang * Penang * Perak * Perlis * Selangor * Terengganu System of Government The government of the Federation of Malaya was headed by a British High Commissioner with executive powers, assisted and advised by the Federation of Malaya Executive Council and the Federation of Malaya Legislative Council. * The Federation of Malaya Executive Council comprised 7 official and 7 unofficial members. The Federation of Malaya Legislative Council comprised the High Commissioner as the Council President, 14 official and 50 unofficial members representing the Straits Settlements, business groups and all races. Additionally, 9 State Council Yang Di Pertua (heads of state), Chief Ministers and 2 representatives from the Straits Settlements became unofficial members. * The Malay Conference of Rulers would advise the High Commissioner on immigration issues. The British Resident was replaced with a Chief Minister in each state of the federation. Conditions of citizenship The conditions of citizenship of the Federation of Malaya were further tightened using law enforcement and naturalization by application. Under the laws, the following were automatically granted citizenship: 1. Citizens of the Sultan of any state 2. British citizens born in Penang or Malacca who have lived continuously for 15 years in the federation 3. British citizens born in the federation whose fathers were born or lived continuously for 15 years in the federation 4. Anyone born in the federation, conversant in the Malay language and following Malay traditions in his or her daily life 5. Anyone born in the federation whose parents were born and lived continuously for 15 years in the federation Via naturalization (by application), one could achieve citizenship, given these criteria: 1. Born and lived for at least 8 of 12 years in the Federation of Malaya before the application was made 2. Lived in the Federation of Malaya for at least 15 of 20 years before the application was made In both cases (via naturalization), applications must be well-behaved, swear allegiance and clarify their reasons for living in the federation, and are fluent in either the Malay or the English language. The Federation of Malaya, through its constitution, guarantees the rights and special position of the Malay people as well as rights, powers and sovereignty of the Malay rulers in their respective states. Separation of powers of the federal and state governments The federation agreement Perjanjian Persekutuan set the powers of the federal and state governments. Financial matters must be handled by the respective states. The Sultan was given full power on religious issues and Malay customs. Foreign policy and defense continued to be administered by the British government.

Electricity Reforms in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Electricity Reforms in Bosnia and Herzegovina During the conflict between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, huge number of transmission and distribution network was damaged. This resulted in a minimum electricity supply that was barely maintained. Thanks to a large number of donations, a major reconstruction occurred post-war of most of generation. Electricity as not the only sector affected by the war, coal, engineering and many other have suffered badly in during the 1992-1995 span. This has not been sufficiently monitored by the public sector due to weak and fragmented administrations. This has become a major barrier for the development and enforcement of electricity reforms to improve the overall performance of companies and to create effective markets. Both, the electricity demand and supply has greatly recovered and reached beyond the pre-war levels but the industrial consumption is low and still suffering, concentrated in a few large consumers. The main reason behind the household demand inflation is due to the excess use of electrical heating. Without an industrial recovery or development of new medium-sized, the likely trend in the medium term is for a reduction in household electricity heating consumption (with the expansion of the natural gas network) and a leveling of energy intensity of domestic electricity demand. Prior to electricity reforms, the electricity market in BiH was characterised by disintegration. All the power of the sector was controlled by Governments (Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Affairs, Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Industry) This affected and visibly slowed down the process of the reforms having a biggest impact on adopting of uniform laws that were the base for creating key institutions. Because of the unique situation in BiH with three entities, presidents, etc., there are three independent non-profit regulators as well, the state and two entity ones. Each one of them has clearly divided responsibilities which do not interfere in each others work. The commission of State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC) consists of three members who manage SERC according to the principle of annual rotation. It consists out of three members, two from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the third one from Republika Srpska. While the members from FBiH are proposed by the Parliament of FBiH while the member from RS is proposed by the National Assembly of RS. Currently, the Regulator has 26 employees which include commission members. These two gather money through different ways, while the financing of RERS is provided by the Law on Energy of RS, SERC gathers money from regulatory fees paid by licensed companies. FERK on the other hand operates in the way that it submits the budger proposal to the Parliament of FBiH and then the Parliament itself adopts the budget. FERK is financed by the Law on Energy of FBiH from compensations and taxes of companies. The institutional reform of the electricity power sector BiH has proved to be pretty sucessful and is consistent with good results and continuos improvement. But the electricity sector is still a long way off being stable and in good shape and form. Many deficiencies are still present as for example problems often occur in the distribution of profits and investments or for example a bigger and more serious problem, BiH does not have legislation on the energy efficiency at the state level although that should be obligatory according to Energy Community Treaty and many other signed documents in accordance to the EU legislation. Electricity Regulation and Reforms The power sector reform in BiH officially began with the adoption of the entity laws on electricity, though which a number of important institutions in the energy sector have been made. Bosnia and Herzegovina still relies on several important agreements which are closely related to the reform as they aim to join and keep coming closer to the EU. Due to their ambition to enter the EU as soon as possible, it is obvious that they would have to adapt to the single electricity market of the Union. Three main documents have been signed by the authorities in BiH which have been crucial for its improvement and movement towards the single market in electricity. These are: Energy Community Treaty Treaty establishing the Energy Community of South East Europe Agreement of Stabilisation and Association The first, Energy Community Treaty (ECT), is considered as one of the most important agreements that Bosnia and Herzegovina has ever signed in the energy sector. According to this agreement, the stable regulatory framework, single regulatory space, security of supply, energy efficiency, competition and use of renewable energy should all be visible and present in the energy sector of BiH. Through this agreement, BiH has forced itself to meeting certain obligations and goals which have been agreed upon the ECT. The Energy Community Treaty was also the base for creating the road map for such market openness. It clearly prescribes guidelines and dynamics of key reforms in five key areas. The fact that BiH had only one real customer in Aluminij Mostar until 2012 speaks for itself about the market openness in the electricity sector. But an encouraging fact was that from 2008 all tariff customers, not including households, had the opportunity and freedom to choose their own suppliers and become eligible customers. When comparing BiH to the EU countries, there is an obvious and large distinction in the market openness of the electricity sector. From 2009, almost all EU countries bar a few were fully opened to competition. Two main reasons for low-market openness in BiH: Electricity prices for industrial customers in BiH are the lowest when comparing to EU countries. Electricity prices are equal to the prices at which they are supplied as tariff customers. The Electricity Policy Statement was adopted in 2000. The main reason and objective behind this policy was to establish and achieve in producing a competitive electricity market in Bosnia and Herzegovina which would enable all customers to have a choice between more electricity suppliers. The main goal of this reform plan was ensuring a long-term sustainable and a high-performing sector while introducing EU regulations which would be visible through effective competition. In this effort, the following laws were adopted at the State level: Æ’ Law on transmission, regulator and system operator of electricity (2002); Æ’ Law on establishing the Transmission Company, Elektroprenos BIH (2004); and Æ’ Law on establishing Independent System Operator, NOS BIH (2004) At the entity level, two separate laws on electricity generation and distribution were adopted by FBiH (2002, 2005) and RS (2002, 2003). DERK, as the State regulator, is responsible for electricity transmission while FERC and REERS, the entity regulators, cover generation and distribution in FBiH and RS, respectively. Further to the unbundling of the transmission grid, the restructuring of the vertically integrated state-owned electricity companies has been based on the â€Å"Harmonised Action Plans for the Restructuring of the power sector† adopted in 2003 in Republika Srpska and in 2005 in FBiH. The main stages of this Plan included the reallocation of assets into a joint stock company, the commercialisation and the unbundling of generation and distribution by 2008. While the state-owned electricity companies have been transformed into joint-stock companies (JSC), to date the other stages of the Plan have not been achieved, in particular the creation of a distribution system operator (DSO), a requirement of the Energy Community Treaty. On a positive note, corporate performance, in particular accounting transparency, has progressed. As of 2008, the opening of electricity markets in Bosnia and Herzegovina to domestic and foreign competition has focused on setting eligibility consumption thresholds and connecting directly to the network, as well as third party access to the transmission network as described by DERK’s â€Å"Rule on third party access† (2006). Third party access to 6 distribution networks is monitored by the entity regulators. To date, however, no supplier switch has been reported. Significant progress has been achieved at the national level in adopting a single regulation for transmission and merging national transmission ownership and operation under one regulator. As recently established bodies, the TSO and ISO need to strengthen their capacity and power. However, regulation and oversight for generation and distribution remains separated at the entity level. Furthermore, three (four with Bckro) separate companies operate a very fragmented distribution network over the territory (see map above), raising operational, efficiency and economic issues. The unbundling of these services has not advanced significantly, raising concerns about effective third party access to the respective distribution networks. While regulators set tariffs and prices, most of expenses for an adequate maintenance and replacement of facilities as well as for non-wage obligations (pensions) are not covered. The price structure still subsidises households and large industries (e.g. aluminium). There is a clear need to analyse the costs and benefits of this indirect support system and, if justified, to set up a transparent direct subsidy scheme. Although the TSO is responsible for the country’s transmission development plan and the ISO prepares an indicative generation development plan based on elements provided by the entity administrations and companies, the coordination and coherence of the system is inadequate and ineffective. For instance, the announced investment projects which would see a tripling of domestic installed capacity, with a focus on export markets, is not feasible within the context of the current grid and interconnection capacities. This will require major investments in the transmission network, extremely difficult to finance under the current tariff structure. These projects need to be assessed under a consolidated least cost plan with a more detailed analysis of domestic and export markets, in a context of high volatility. Also in the context of fragmented and weak regulation and administration, major investments by powerful foreign investors could lead to imbalances in the investment and operat ional oversight process and to a strong dependency. The recent decisions (2007) by entities to award concessions without open and transparent tenders to private investors have raised concerns over transparency and the effectiveness of economic benefits at the local and national level. This risks fragmenting the sector still further. At the 4th World Bank Poverty Reduction Strategies Forum it was â€Å"recommended urgent[ly] to develop, adopt and enforce a state-wide, uniform and transparent procedure for the construction of new generation plants in compliance with EU regulation†. A national least-cost electricity supply plan should provide a ranking of the most viable rehabilitation and construction projects and be coordinated with generation and transmission planning of the grid operators. The electricity sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina still faces the challenge of completing its rehabilitation, diversifying the power generation mix and complying with EU environmental standards, in particular the Large Combustion Plants (LCP) Directive. It also needs to improve overall technical and managerial performance, diversify the power mix notably with CHP, small hydropower and biomass in order to compete on export markets and prepare for effective domestic and regional market opening. At the company level, this will require sustained effort to reach EU corporate governance standards. At the ministry and regulator level, there is a clear need to strengthen ownership rights and oversight over the sector as well as to consolidate and coordinate the state and entity levels. The administration in Bosnia and Herzegovina needs to develop an overall, coordinated and coherent national policy and action plan backed by economic tools, in particular independent least cost plans and demand projections. An integrated supply and demand least cost plan would help prioritise refurbishment projects and reduce grid losses. In this respect, the World Bank’s energy study should provide crucial elements and tools to be further developed and used by the administration in coordination with electricity companies. Persistent fragmentation of the electricity sector structure and regulation is not sustainable in the longer term and will risk the sector’s marginalisation in the region. Key issues: Infrastructure rehabilitation, grid losses, non-cost reflective prices, system and regulation fragmentation These reforms had the aim and strived for the electricity sector to: Perform more efficiently, both technically and commercially; Enables efficient and effective competition (most important); Meet international standards in terms of cost effectiveness, quality of service, security of the system and the environment; Allows companies to recover their full costs including a reasonable return on investment; Has a universal service obligation; Attracts private capital to the sector; -Complies with EU rules for the internal electricity market in the medium term. Regulation of network prices All consumers in BiH with the exception of Aluminij-Mostar are captive consumers of their local utilities and have no freedom of choice when it comes to their suppliers. There are also no cases of contracting the supply outside local utility borders and the problem with importing electricity in BiH is that All consumers in Bosnia and Herzegovina except Aluminij–Mostar (8% of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s consumption in 2013) are captive customers of their local incumbent utilities. There are no cases of contracting the supply outside the local utility borders. The incumbent local suppliers were appointed as â€Å"reserve suppliers† in the transitional period before 2015 and â€Å"suppliers of last resort† by the regulatory authorities in all jurisdictions, and are likely to delay market opening in the future. Wholesale market opening suffers from the absence of liquid trading platforms. Trading takes place through bilateral transfers between dominant utilities and registered traders, including exports and transits. In terms of price regulation, the Law on Electricity in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina allows for access to regulated supply for all eligible customers, including large ones and without limitations. This violates Article 3 of Directive 2003/5 4/EC. Even worse, the price of generation for the supply of customers supplied at regulated prices (i.e. the wholesale price) is also regulated. The Law on Electricity in Republika Srpska makes electricity supply at regulated prices by subsidiaries of EP RS available to all customers. This exceeds what is allowed under Article 3 of the Directive. The Law similarly supports price regulation for production by EP RS sold to local utilities and Komunalno Brcko. The Electricity Law in Brcko District also misinterprets the concept of public service in providing regulated supply of all captive customers. This prevents supplier switching in practice. All three regulatory authorities have adopted rules for supplier switching and price methodologies for supply services available to eligible customers in the transition period before 1 January 2015, and to households and small customers as last resort supply. As the electricity market is very specific and almost unique, the market must be regulated in order for the network fees to be reasonable. The reason behind this is that the competition in this market in BiH is almost non-existent what then creates monopolistic tendencies by the authorities in BiH. For instance, FERK and RERS are entity regulators which adopted and developed separated Rules of Tariff Methodology and Tariff Proceeding regarding the distribution tariffs. In the other hand meanwhile, SERC is occupied with approving prices for transmission network that are the same for all participants in BiH. Quality regulation One of the most important parts of the electricity market which needs to be regulated and closely observed is most definitely the quality in the electricity supply. It is perhaps the most essential indicator of successful business of electric power companies. It is crucial for the customers to have a freedom of choice when it comes to the selection of the electricity suppliers, and as the competitiveness increases, so does the quality and service in the electricity market. If companies do not proceed to adapt and improve in order to be competitive in the market, they will soon lose out all their customers and the funds which are necessary in order for their company to operate and exist on the market. Competition As mentioned previously, the competition is the healthiest way to improve and motivate companies to continue improving their supply, quality, decrease costs and many other factors which would satisfy the customers further more and be positive for the country in the long run. Also, EU regulations emphasizes competitiveness as a step forward to meeting their standards and achieving one goal more towards entering the EU market. Recommendations: Reorganize and reinforce the way in which the regulators operate. Emphasizing the unity of the three regulators into one single structure with more entity branches and dividing the power and duties by those branches; Unify regulation for generation and distribution in line with EU requirements, ensure cost-reflective tariffs and reduce cross-subsidies; if justified, set up a transparent direct subsidy scheme for large industries; Proceed with improving the restructuring of electricity companies towards European standards Adopt a national least-cost supply plan, generation planning and demand forecast under the supervision of the national regulator and ISO. Sources: http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/env/epr/experts/BosniaAndHerzegovina/UNDP/UNDP_Bosnia.pdf Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems, Volume 1 edited by N.H. Afgan, R. Della Morte https://www.energy-community.org/portal/page/portal/ENC_HOME/AREAS_OF_WORK/Implementation/Bosnia_Herzegovina/Electricity http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/env/epr/experts/BosniaAndHerzegovina/UNDP/UNDP_Bosnia.pdf http://fipa.gov.ba/doc/brosure/Energy%20sector.pdf http://www.elektroprivreda.ba/eng/page/general-information

Behaviorism Essay -- Psychology Psychological Essays

Background and Description of Behaviorism in Relation to Learning The background of behaviorism is associated with many scientists. Behaviorism started back in 400 BC with Aristotle. Aristotle believed in association and that "the objects being associated are similar, or opposite, or near each other". Then, behaviorism came into play with Ivan Pavlov, a Russian physiologist. He studied the behavior of dogs and how they would salivating (conditioned reflex) when shown just the food dish without food (conditioned stimulus or conditioned response). Next, John B. Watson wrote a book called Behavior, where he described psychology as the process where behavior can be predicted and controlled. Watson also studied how learning can be achieved through a repeated stimulus and specific responses. Edward Thorndike described behaviorism as "a description of a man’s mind is that it is his connection system, adapting the responses of thought, feeling, and action that he makes to the situation that he meets". Thorndike also studied how the "law of effect" a nd "law of exercise" affects a person’s learning abilities. In other words, if an individual is positively reinforced, without punishment, and if a stimulus was followed by a response with repeated practice, stronger learning would take place. One of the main behaviorist that will be discussed is B.F. Skinner. Skinner studied what individuals "do and don’t do" in relation to behavior. He also believed that the actions that people take are in response to whatever happened to them in their past. Skinner came up with the idea of "operant conditioning". In operant conditioning, the organism’s behavior (response) is controlled by the use of positive reinforcement (stimulus) (Behaviorism As a ... ...orida: Harcourt Brace & Company. Nnedu, Cordelia. (1997, November 19) Auburn University: Educational Foundations, Leaderships, and Technology. EM 600 Behaviorism. Retrieved on October 29, 1999 from the World Wide Web: http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/eflt/beh.html Ormrod, Jeanne, E. (1995). Human Learning. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc. Shrock, Sharon, A.(1995). A Brief History of Instructional Development. In G. Anglin (Ed.), Instructional technology: Past, Present and Future (p. 15-16). Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, Inc. White, Andy. (1995) Theorist of Behaviorism. Retrieved on October 29, 1999 from the World Wide Web: http://www.coe.missouri.edu/~t377/btheorists.html UHCL Home Page: Behaviorism As A Learning Theory. (1995, June 13) Retrieved on October 29, 1999 from the World Wide Web: http://inst.cl.uh.edu/inst5931/Behaviorism.html

The Mathematical Aspects of Lewis Carrolls Alice in Wonderland Essay

The Mathematical Aspects of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland The story Alice in Wonderland was written about a little girl named Alice who was a child of the dean of the Church of Christ. Alice Liddell was the one who convinced Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) to write down the verbal story originally known as "Alice's Adventure Underground".Actually, the book is known by several different names, Alice's Hours in Elfand,Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and Alice in Wonderland.I found it interesting that the Mid-Continent Public Library once listed the book under Lewis Carroll and has recently changed it to Charles L. Dodgson. If one looks on the side of the book, Carroll was actually crossed off and Dodgson written over(Lewis Carroll Biography, The Victorian Web). As I began reading the book Alice in Wonderland, it was very obvious that Lewis Carroll was a logical mathematician.The contemporary math class that I am currently taking has opened a new level of understanding for myself; if I had read the book anytime prior it would have read simply as an unusual child's fairytale.I find it interesting that the book Alice in Wonderland follows the first couple sections of our contemporary math book.I actually see the mathematics behind the story.I never knew that math could be turned into a fairytale(Johnson/Mowry 46-47). The book begins with Alice and her sister sitting by the bank as Alice grows tired.Alice believes she sees a white rabbit running by and decides to run after it.The rabbit jumps into a hole and Alice follows.I believe Lewis Carroll was a very intelligent man and like to state his complex ideas through the use of Alice: "for you see Alice had learned several things of this sort in her lessons in the sch... ...ting effect(Weber,Food ,Drink,and Public Health in the Alice Books). Works Cited Carroll,L.(1952). Alice in Wonderland.Philadelphia Toronto:The John C. Winston Company. Johnson,D.,& Mowry,T.(1988).Mathematics,A Practical Odyssey (3rd ed.). California: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company. Connell, Kate. Opium as a Possible Influence upon the Alice Books: December 1993. Brown University/Victorian Web. July 17,2000 <http://landow.stg.brown.ed/victorian/carroll/aiw14.html. Lewis Carroll: Biography: December 1992. Brown University/Victorian Web. July 17,2000<http//llandow.stg.brown.ed/victorian/carroll/dreamchild/creamchild2.html.> Weber,Anya.Food,Drink,andPublic Health in the Alice Books: December 1995. Brown University/Victorian Web.July18,2000 <http://landow.stg.brown.ed/Victorian/Carroll/weber.html.> Reflection - Alice in Wonderland

Planning for Business Growth and Expansion Essay

There is a tremendous amount of information to be considered when starting a business. Not only is there planning for the business you are experiencing at the current moment, to maintain success an owner must plan ahead for growth and expansion. This planning should include the structure of the company as it grows as well as planning for any type of business product. I plan to discuss the detailed projects and plan regarding growth and expansion of a dot. com start up and the challenges that may be faced along the way. Business Phases The business at hand is a dot. om start up that involves renting apartments to students. Phase One (see example page 6) has five employees. The original organizational structure of the company had three Salespersons, one Accounting/ Billing person, and the owner. The owner handles all of the apartment maintenance, is an extra salesperson and performs any extra duties as needed. Organizational structure helps to define how Job tasks are formally divided, grouped, and coordinated, (Robbins, 2010). The Salespersons and the Accounting person are specialized into their departments but due to the small size of the company there may be some overlap in duties. Phase Two (see example page 6) has developed very quickly and without planning. The company is currently at 30 employees and has grown 500% over the last six months. This growth has required a more in depth look at each individual Job and has required more work specialization. Work specialization is the degree to which activities are subdivided into separate Jobs, (Robbins, 2010). A manager has been brought in to strengthen the chain of command and manage all the processes and employees to ensure each area is running smoothly. At this point, the small size is still manageable but the chain of command is not a hard and fast rule with the wner still very involved in the day to day aspects of the business. The owner still makes all of the decision regarding the business and is an example of a Centralized management style. Challenges of the business at this point can be no formal Job descriptions, Jobs getting lost in the shuffle due to business growth and the owner and manager trying to run the business at the same time. Phase Three (see example page 7) of the business becomes more involved in a variety of ways. Once a company grows to fifty employees, the majority of labor laws begin to apply. The next forecast for growth is for two hundred employees and is rojected for one year out. We begin to see a more de-centralized approach as operations of their departments and are responsible for carrying out the objectives set by the owner. Human Resources is formed to manage the legal employee aspects of a company this size as well as recruiting, new hire orientations, payroll and any type of employee relations issues. The Sales Department has the largest growth due to the fact that this department brings in the most revenue. As this department continues to grow, support staff will be needed to manage calendars, maintain files and any other as needed duties. Where the sales staff may have been creating their own documents when the company was smaller, they may now rely on administrative help to perform their general maintenance of documentation. As the company grows, an Information Technology Department will be needed to create a network for the business and ensure all employees have the technology they need. Sales representatives may require laptops as opposed to regular employees that can use a stand-alone personal computer. As growth continues, problems will occur which presents the need for a Help Desk department to correct computer roblems and help employees manage day to day technology challenges. As the company expands, so does the need for Maintenance. The Maintenance staff is responsible for cleaning and preparing an apartment to rent when an old renter moves out. They are also responsible for responding to any problems with the rental units. In addition to the rental units, some maintenance employees will be assigned to cleaning and maintaining the corporate building that houses the employees. Looking to the future, it is important to plan ahead to and create a formalized structure. The owner should create a mission statement and yearly goals to share ith the employee. Human Resources should have formal Job descriptions for each job title in the company. An appraisal process should be implemented and as the company grows, career paths should be created. There should be a formal employee orientation process with a well thought out socialization process. â€Å"The most important socialization stage is at the time of entry into the organization. This is the time to mold the employee into an employee in good standing†, (Robbins, 2010). If an employee is not socialized properly and allowed to flourish in their position, they may be frustrated, resign, or cause problems within the department. Each department should have their own formal policies and goals that tie into the corporate goals of the company. It is important to formalize all policies and procedures in an effort to protect the company from law-suits and employee ethics charges. Formalized policies will make it clear what the company stands for and how to enforce the rules and regulations. It will also be necessary to create an employee management process for employees that are not performing up to standard. A written policy will enable managers to follow-through with employee performance issues and not miss any steps that could create a liability for the company. Phase Four (see example page 8) of the Growth and Expansion plan is for two into specific roles and models. The division of labor is highly specialized and grouped into individual departments. Each individual department reports into their department manager creating a decentralized management process. Each manager then reports into the owner which is an example of a centralized management chain of command. The current set-up of each department utilizes a Bureaucratic organizational design style. Each department will have highly routine operating tasks achieved through specialization, (Robbins, 2010). All of the company policies and rocedures should have been developed and enforced. As the company continues to grow, each individual department will need to be assessed to evaluate if the current reporting structures is effective. Rapid growth will require the additions of sub- categories such as assistant manager or supervisors that report to the individual department manager. Additional support Jobs may be needed and lor more specialized Jobs may be created as the business grows and changes. The company will need to learn to react to the changing external environment of the business which could require changes to the organizational design process or structure of the ompany. Conclusion Starting a business can happen from inspiration or simply a great idea as in the example for our study. There is much more to consider beyond the product itself. Organizational design and culture can make or break a company and be the determining factor as to whether your employees will stay and flourish or leave for a competitor.

Corporate Sponship in Event

Thanks to increases in leisure time and discretionary spending nowadays, community groups as well as individuals are becoming enthusiastic in events according to their interests. Events have occupy our newspapers and television screens as well as much of our free time and enrich our lives (Bowdin et al. , 2011). Moreover, events have a substantial contribution to the national economy. In UK, the event industry generates over ? 36 billion every year, which sustain at least 530,000 full-time jobs (Bladen et al. 2012). Under the trend, the business sector has take events and events’ sponsorship into consideration when making their marketing strategies. Globally, expenditure on event sponsorship has been escalating each year – from USD 44 billion in 2009 to an estimated USD 51. 1 billion in 2012 (IEG, 2013). The overall sponsorship spending in the UK each year is around ? 934 million, made up of sports (51%), arts and business (18%), broadcasting (20%) and others (10%) (Mer miri and South, 2009).Before analyzing the relationship between sponsorship and event, the two concepts should be clarified first. An event can be defined as â€Å"an organized occasion such as meeting, convention, exhibition, special event, gala dinner, etc. an event is often composed of several different related functions† (Getz, 2005, p. 16). According to International Events Group (IEG, 1995), sponsorship is â€Å"a cash and/or in-kind fee paid to a property in return for access to the exploitable commercial potential associated with the property†.In this essay, the scope of the event industry and main types of sponsorship will be introduced at first. Then, the importance of corporate sponsorship in the event industry will be examined by considering the benefits to both sponsors and events. Next, the essay will critically analyze the risks of corporate sponsorship and discuss other sources of event funding. Finally, the conclusion can be drawn as corporate sponsors hip plays a significant role in the event industry but potential risks such as ambush marketing should not be ignored.In addition, other sources of funding are essential to successes of events. The event industry has a large scope; here, only some key components will be presented. Event organisations, staging or hosting events, are core element of the event industry. Besides, professional groups or individuals who organize events on behalf of their clients are called event management companies are emerging with the event industry. There are also various suppliers covering staging, lighting , transport, accommodation and security of the event industry.External regulatory bodies and publications have tight relations with the event industry as well (Bowdin et al. , 2011). As for types of sponsorship, cash is the most common source provided by sponsors to support the event (Wagen & Carlos, 2006). Sponsors can also offer ‘value in kind’ by providing free goods and services t o events (Wagen, 2007). Other sponsorship may cover the media coverage, IT support, entertainment speaker sessions and etc.From the sponsor’s perspective, sponsors have objectives that fit into one or more of these areas: to increase product or brand awareness, to develop corporate image, to drive sales, or to develop market strategy (Yeoman et al. , 2004). To begin with, sponsors can gain benefits from marketing area through sponsoring the event industry. Sponsorship is acting as a more effective way of market promoting, sales driving and reaching the target market (Bowdin et al. , 2011).Among various traditional marketing promotion methods such as advertising or personal selling, sponsorship is argued to be one of the most effective means of communicate and form relationships with consumers and business partners (Grey and Skildum-Reid, 2003). Siegel (2001) investigated the sponsorship of tobacco industry and found that despite a federal ban on tobacco advertising on televis ion, tobacco companies achieve the equivalent of more than $150million in television advertising per year through their sponsorship of televised motor sports events.From 1997 through 1999, tobacco companies achieved 169 hours of television advertising exposure and $410. 5 million of advertising value for their products by sponsoring motor sports events. In addition, events provide sponsors with an environment where consumers are relax and better accept marketing message; therefore, sponsorship is key driver of product sales (Bowdin et al. , 2011). There are two main ways for companies with products achieve high sales goals including an exclusive in-game presence at sporting events or exclusive rights in their product ategory at a festival. For instance, Tiger Beer sponsors the Tartan Asian Extreme Festival and distributes samples of their beer to attendants as part of an integrated marketing campaign which also included the launch of The Tigers’ awards to celebrate Asian film s in the UK (Anon, 2005c). The Stongbow Rooms, an online game company, launched the Scottish Courage Strongbow Rooms concept resulted in an estimated increase in 12% monthly sales gain (Scottish Courage, 2005). The sponsorship of the event industry is an emerging new channel of sales driving for sponsors.Moreover, events also help sponsors get access to specific niche/target markets. For example, O2 sponsored music concerts to appeal to a youth market and establish itself as the biggest mobile network in the youth market (Carter, 2004). Saudia Private Aviation (SPA), an affiliate of Saudi Arabian Airlines, has renewed its sponsorship of the 6th edition of EXCS International Luxury Motor Show. The company believed that the event offer a platform for them to reach prominent people and the high-class segment of the community, who SPA targets through its marketing programs. (AMEinfo, 2012).Next, brand awareness and brand image of sponsors’ can also be created and developed throug h sponsorship, especially for companies expanding into new international markets (Noordin et al. , 2011; Bowdin et al. , 2011; Yeoman et al. , 2004; Aaker and Joachimsthaler, 2000; Cornwell et al. , 2001). Perceptions of a brand are increasingly linked to consumers’ experience with the brand. Thus, in brand strategy, delivering a comprehensive brand experience is becoming paramount, whereby ‘‘marketing and external communications help build the brand, but nothing is more powerful than the customer’s actual experience’’ (Berry, 2000, p. 36). The case of Vodafone entering New Zealand mobile telecommunications market is a suitable example to illustrate the effectiveness of brand awareness and image building in the new markets through sponsorship. The initial step of Vodafone setting into the New Zealand mobile telecommunications market was in 1998, and it had dominated 45% of the market until 2003. Sponsorship was an integral component of Vodafon e’s brand strategy. Vodafone sponsored Rugby, New Zealand’s national mass-audience sports, in order to quickly and effectively reated brand awareness among target groups when entering the new market. Then Vodafone use sponsorship as a platform to let customer experience products and develop emotional connections. Thus, it not only create broad awareness alone but also build brand personality among consumers and create links to popular youth culture, facilitating much closer bonds between customer and the brand (Cliffe & Motion, 2005). Besides obvious financial benefits, sponsorship allow sponsors to build up corporate images Bowdin et al. , 2011. Corporate image and brand image are two different concepts.Corporate image may or may not be related with its products or services and usually be associated with corporate social responsibility (CSR) (Godfrey, 2006). Usually, companies support charity events to create goodwill in the community. For example, NPower became headl ine sponsor for Macmillan Cancer Relief World's Biggest Coffee Morning improve to its brand perception (Anon, 2004). Wu (2002) added that companies such as petroleum, tobacco and weapon industries whose image need some polishing were likely to offer sponsorships to arts, culture and charity events to leave good impressions to the public.Furthermore, sponsorships are also used as incentives for a company’s workforce and create better employee relations IEG (2008). Companies often perceive event sponsorship as a way to offer their employees access to the events or corporate rewards to motivate them. For example, Royal Bank of Scotland’s and Edinburgh International Festival secured New Partnership funding from Arts ; Business which enabled the bank’s staff to take part in ‘Royal Bank Turn Up and Try It’ workshops.By involving staff in the arts sponsorship, the bank wanted to form more creative thinking, dealing effectively with customers or colleagues of their employees (Royal Bank of Scotland, 2003). The business involving staffs events aims to creating more intensive inter-staff relationships and loyalty to companies as well as staff moral and the like (Godfrey, 2006). From the event’s perspective, the financial investment, in-kind support and media exposure are three main benefits that event organizers seek from sponsors (Watt, 1998).Watt (1998) argued that events could not be successful happen without adequate financial support. Financial investment is the most obvious and direct income for events. The 2004 Edinburgh International Festival received around ? 1. 73 million from sponsors and donator, accounting for 27% of the total income (Bowdin, 2006). Except for cash, in-kind support is vital to event organizers as well. Crompton (1994) summarize four main types of in-kind services including product support, personnel support, communication resources and expertise and intangible benefit of â€Å"institutional cloutâ⠂¬  conferred on the event.According to the research done by Cultural Ministers Council (2002) on cultural sponsorship in Australia, in-kind support approximate 83% of organizations’ sponsorship commitment. Over 60% of respondents provide in-kind services covering legal and financial advisory services, IT support, auditing, marketing and management expertise and etc. (Richards ; Palmer, 2010). As for â€Å"institution clout†, if an event links to a sponsor with a strong, positive public image, then sponsorship may help legitimize the event and improve its public profile (Crompton, 1994).In addition, media exposure is also beneficial for events by not only promoting events to the public but also securing financial sponsorships easier (Crompton, 1994). In addition, media exposure is also beneficial for events by not only promoting events to the public but also securing financial sponsorships easier (Crompton, 1994). In 2000 Sydney Olympics, Nike, one of official sponsor s, launched its pre-Olympic advertising campaign, which not only promote its own brand but also the Sydney Olympic Games (Tripodi and Hirons, 2009).In spited of all the benefits brought to both sponsors and event organizers, there are still a number of potential risks associated with implementation of sponsorship, which should be paid enough attention to (Wagen, 2007). For the sponsors, first and the foremost is the â€Å"ambush marketing† issue. McKelvey (1994) describes it as â€Å"a company's intentional effort to weaken or ambush its competitor's official sponsorship and seek to confuse the buying public as to which company really holds official sponsorship rights. Ambush marketing reduces the effectiveness of the sponsors message as well as pose a threat to sponsorship agreements (Meenaghan, 1996). In the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the torchbearer was Li Ning, a former gymnast and now the chairman of Li Ning company, which easily made the greatest 2 or 3 minutes of fre e advertising for Li Ning company. Although Adidas was the official footwear sponsor other than Li Ning, 67. 4% respondents incorrectly recognized Li Ning as the official footwear sponsor (Pitt et al. , 2010). Moreover, the ‘fit’ between a sponsor and an event is vital for the success of the sponsorship (Wagen & White, 2010).Not every company is the potential sponsor for every enent (Decker, 1991). Inappropriate sponsorships not only cannot achieve the desired outcomes of sponsors’ but also waste time and money or may even negatively influence their brand images. For example, Southland Corporation, the former owner of 4,000 7-Eleven convenience stores, sponsored cycling events. There was no obvious link between the stores and cycling so that the target audience did not get the marketing information of the company thus no significant increase in sales(Crompton, 1994).For the event organizers, it is well worth remembering sponsors are temporary and unstable for var ious reasons such as economic recession or government ban. For example, the government ban tobacco sponsorship in sport; thus, event organizers will lose all sponsorship from tobacco companies immediately (Bowdin et al. , 2011). In addition, sponsors are a stakeholder that event organizers have to make additional efforts to satisfy their requirements (Crompton, 1994). Sometimes, sponsors can be more trouble than they are worth.Significant time can be spent in servicing sponsorship and sometimes this time would be useful to the event if it were devoted to other forms of support (Watt, 1998). Finally, the image of sponsors’ may also leave bad impression on audience due to unpredicted failure, which may result in jeopardize the event itself (Crompton, 1994; Walker et al. , 2011). Therefore, other types of funding are essential to success of events. Ticket sales are one of the major revenue generating strategies for the event organizer to adopt in the modern events market (Raj et al. 2009). In the 2012 London Olympics, the ticket sales was reached 587,294 million (London 2012 Organising Committee, 2012). Moreover, government grants are keen to provide support to events not only for financial reasons but also expert advice and information (Raj et al. , 2009). Selling merchandises, broadcasting rights, perceiving donations and other types of funding can also act as financial support for the event industry. In conclusion, corporate sponsorship is important in the event industry for both event organizers and sponsors receive benefit from it.On the one hand, event organizers gain finical support, in-kind services and media coverage from sponsor, which can secure the income of events. In addition, intangible benefits such as positive influence from sponsors’ brand images are also pointed out. On the other hand, sponsors invest on events in exchange of more effective marketing strategy for financial purposes, brand building, better corporate image and facil itating employee relation. However, some pitfalls associated with sponsorship for both sponsors and event organizers are also critically discussed.The ambush market and â€Å"fit† theory between sponsors and events are two main issues that sponsors should take into consideration before investing on events. The unstable feature and sponsors’ influence on events’ performances are critical to event organizers when seeking for corporate sponsorships. Last but not the least, other sources of funding such as ticketing and government grants are vital financial support for events. It can be conclude that corporate sponsorship is important in the event industry, but the drawbacks should not be neglected and other types of funding are also necessary.

Bag of Bones CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Inspiration isn't always a matter of ghosts moving magnets around on refrigerator doors, and on Tuesday morning I had a flash that was a beaut. It came while I was shaving and thinking about nothing more than remembering the beer for the party. And like the best inspirations, it came out of nowhere at all. I hurried into the living room, not quite running, wiping the shaving cream off my face with a towel as I went. I glanced briefly at the Tough Stuff crossword collection lying on top of my manuscript. That had been where I'd gone first in an effort to decipher ‘go down nineteen' and ‘go down ninety-two.' Not an unreasonable starting-point, but what did Tough Stuff have to do with TR-90? I had purchased the book at Mr. Paperback in Derry, and of the thirty or so puzzles I'd completed, I'd done all but half a dozen in Derry. TR ghosts could hardly be expected to show an interest in my Derry crossword collection. The telephone book, on the other hand I snatched it off the dining-room table. Although it covered the whole southern part of Castle County Motton, Harlow, and Kashwakamak as well as the TR it was pretty thin. The first thing I did was check the white pages to see if there were at least ninety-two. There were. The Y's and Z's finished up on page ninety-seven. This was the answer. Had to be. ‘I got it, didn't I?' I asked Bunter. ‘This is it.' Nothing. Not even a tinkle from the bell. ‘Fuck you what does a stuffed moosehead know about a telephone book?' Go down nineteen. I turned to page nineteen of the telephone book, where the letter F was prominently showcased. I began to slip my finger down the first column and as it went, my excitement faded. The nineteenth name on page nineteen was Harold Failles. It meant nothing to me. There were also Feltons and Fenners, a Filkersham and several Finneys, half a dozen Flahertys and more Fosses than you could shake a stick at. The last name on page nineteen was Framingham. It also meant nothing to me, but Framingham, Kenneth P. I stared at that for a moment. A realization began to dawn. It had nothing to do with the refrigerator messages. You're not seeing what you think you're seeing, I thought. This is like when you buy a blue Buick ‘You see blue Buicks everywhere,' I said. ‘Practically got to kick em out of your way. Yeah, that's it.' But my hands were shaking as I turned to page ninety-two. Here were the T's of southern Castle County, along with a few U's like Alton Ubeck and Catherine Udell just to round things out. I didn't bother checking the ninety-second entry on the page; the phone book wasn't the key to the magnetic crosspatches after all. It did, however, suggest something enormous. I closed the book, just held it in my hands for a moment (happy folks with blueberry rakes on the front cover), then opened it at random, this time to the M's. And once you knew what you were looking for, it jumped right out at you. All those K's. Oh, there were Stevens and Johns and Marthas; there was Meserve, G., and Messier, V., and Jayhouse, T. And yet, again and again, I saw the initial K where people had exercised their right not to list their first name in the book. There were at least twenty K-initials on page fifty alone, and another dozen C-initials. As for the actual names themselves . . . There were twelve Kenneths on this random page in the M-section, including three Kenneth Moores and two Kenneth Munters. There were four Catherines and two Katherines. There were a Casey, a Kiana, and a Kiefer. ‘Holy Christ, it's like fallout,' I whispered. I thumbed through the book, not able to believe what I was seeing and seeing it anyway. Kenneths, Katherines, and Keiths were everywhere. I also saw Kimberly, Kim, and Kym. There were Cammie, Kia (yes, and we had thought ourselves so original), Kiah, Kendra, Kaela, Keil, and Kyle. Kirby and Kirk. There was a woman named Kissy Bowden, and a man named Kito Rennie Kito, the same name as one of Kyra's fridgeafator people. And everywhere, outnumbering such usually common initials as S and T and E, were those K's. My eyes danced with them. I turned to look at the clock didn't want to stand John Storrow up at the airport, Christ no and there was no clock there. Of course not. Old Krazy Kat had popped his peepers during a psychic event. I gave a loud, braying laugh that scared me a little it wasn't particularly sane. ‘Get hold of yourself, Mike,' I said. ‘Take a deep breath, son.' I took the breath. Held it. Let it out. Checked the digital readout on the microwave. Quarter past eight. Plenty of time for John. I turned back to the telephone book and began to riffle rapidly through it. I'd had a second inspiration not a megawatt blast like the first one, but a lot more accurate, it turned out. Western Maine is a relatively isolated area it's a little like the hill country of the border South but there has always been at least some inflow of folks from away (‘flatlanders' is the term the locals use when they are feeling contemptuous), and in the last quarter of the century it has become a popular area for active seniors who want to fish and ski their way through retirement. The phone book goes a long way toward separating the newbies from the long-time residents. Babickis, Parettis, O'Quindlans, Donahues, Smolnacks, Dvoraks, Blindermeyers all from away. All flatlanders. Jalberts, Meserves, Pillsburys, Spruces, Therriaults, Perraults, Stanchfields, Starbirds, Dubays all from Castle County. You see what I'm saying, don't you? When you see a whole column of Bowies on page twelve, you know that those folks have been around long enough to relax and really spread those Bowie genes. There were a few K-initials and K-names among the Parettis and the Smolnacks, but only a few. The heavy concentrations were all attached to families that had been here long enough to absorb the atmosphere. To breathe the fallout. Except it wasn't radiation, exactly, it I suddenly imagined a black headstone taller than the tallest tree on the lake, a monolith which cast its shadow over half of Castle County. This picture was so clear and so terrible that I covered my eyes, dropping the phone book on the table. I backed away from it, shuddering. Hiding my eyes actually seemed to enhance the image further: a grave-marker so enormous it blotted out the sun; TR-90 lay at its foot like a funeral bouquet. Sara Tidwell's son had drowned in Dark Score Lake . . . or been drowned in it. But she had marked his passing. Memorialized it. I wondered if anyone else in town had ever noticed what I just had. I didn't suppose it was all that likely; when you open a telephone book you're looking for a specific name in most cases, not reading whole pages line by line. I wondered if Jo had noticed if she'd known that almost every longtime family in this part of the world had, in one way or another, named at least one child after Sara Tidwell's dead son. Jo wasn't stupid. I thought she probably had. I returned to the bathroom, relathered, started again from scratch. When I finished, I went back to the phone and picked it up. I poked in three numbers, then stopped, looking out at the lake. Mattie and Ki were up and in the kitchen, both of them wearing aprons, both of them in a fine froth of excitement. There was going to be a party! They would wear pretty new summer clothes, and there would be music from Mattie's boombox CD player! Ki was helping Mattie make biscuits for strewberry snortcake, and while the biscuits were baking they would make salads. If I called Mattie up and said Pack a couple of bags, you and Ki are going to spend a week at Disney World, Mattie would assume I was joking, then tell me to hurry up and finish getting dressed so I'd be at the airport when John's plane landed. If I pressed, she'd remind me that Lindy had offered her her old job back, but the offer would close in a hurry if Mattie didn't show up promptly at two P.M. on Friday. If I continued to press , she would just say no. Because I wasn't the only one in the zone, was I? I wasn't the only one who was really feeling it. I returned the phone to its recharging cradle, then went back into the north bedroom. By the time I'd finished dressing, my fresh shirt was already feeling wilted under the arms; it was as hot that morning as it had been for the last week, maybe even hotter. But I'd be in plenty of time to meet the plane. I had never felt less like partying, but I'd be there. Mikey on the spot, that was me. Mikey on the goddam spot. John hadn't given me his flight number, but at Castle County Airport, such niceties are hardly necessary. This bustling hub of transport consists of three hangars and a terminal which used to be a Flying A gas station when the light's strong on the little building's rusty north side, you can still see the shape of that winged A. There's one runway. Security is provided by Lassie, Breck Pellerin's ancient collie, who spends her days crashed out on the linoleum floor, cocking an ear at the ceiling whenever a plane lands or takes off. I popped my head into Pellerin's office and asked him if the ten from Boston was on time. He said it 'twas, although he hoped the paa'ty I was meetin planned to either fly back out before mid-afternoon or stay the night. Bad weather was comin in, good gorry, yes. What Breck Pellerin referred to as ‘lectrical weather. I knew exactly what he meant, because in my nervous system that electricity already seemed to have arrived. I went out to the runway side of the terminal and sat on a bench advertising Cormier's Market (FLY INTO OUR DELI FOR THE BEST MEATS IN MAINE). The sun was a silver button stuck on the eastern slope of a hot white sky. Headache weather, my mother would have called it, but the weather was due to change. I would hold onto the hope of that change as best I could. At ten past ten I heard a wasp-whine from the south. At quarter past, some sort of twin-engine plane dropped out of the murk, flopped onto the runway, and taxied toward the terminal. There were only four passengers, and John Storrow was the first one off. I grinned when I saw him. I had to grin. He was wearing a black tee-shirt with WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS printed across the front and a pair of khaki shorts which displayed a perfect set of city shins: white and bony. He was trying to manage both a Styrofoam cooler and a briefcase. I grabbed the cooler maybe four seconds before he dropped it, and tucked it under my arm. ‘Mike!' he cried, lifting one hand palm out. ‘John!' I returned in much the same spirit (evoe is the word that comes immediately to the crossword aficionado's mind), and slapped him five. His homely-handsome face split in a grin, and I felt a little stab of guilt. Mattie had expressed no preference for John quite the opposite, in fact and he really hadn't solved any of her problems; Devore had done that by topping himself before John had so much as a chance to get started on her behalf. Yet still I felt that nasty little poke. ‘Come on,' he said. ‘Let's get out of this heat. You have air conditioning in your car, I presume?' ‘Absolutely.' ‘What about a cassette player? You got one of those? If you do, I'll play you something that'll make you chortle.' ‘I don't think I've ever heard that word actually used in conversation, John.' The grin shone out again, and I noticed what a lot of freckles he had. Sheriff Andy's boy Opie grows up to serve at the bar. ‘I'm a lawyer. I use words in conversation that haven't even been invented yet. You have a tape-player?' ‘Of course I do.' I hefted the cooler. ‘Steaks?' ‘You bet. Peter Luger's. They're ‘ ‘ the best in the world. You told me.' As we went into the terminal, someone said, ‘Michael?' It was Romeo Bissonette, the lawyer who had chaperoned me through my deposition. In one hand he had a box wrapped in blue paper and tied with a white ribbon. Beside him, just rising from one of the lumpy chairs, was a tall guy with a fringe of gray hair. He was wearing a brown suit, a blue shirt, and a string tie with a golf-club on the clasp. He looked more like a farmer on auction day than the sort of guy who'd be a scream when you got a drink or two into him, but I had no doubt this was the private detective. He stepped over the comatose collie and shook hands with me. ‘George Kennedy, Mr. Noonan. I'm pleased to meet you. My wife has read every single book you ever wrote.' ‘Well thank her for me.' ‘I will. I have one in the car a hardcover . . . ‘ He looked shy, as so many people do when they get right to the point of asking. ‘I wonder if you'd sign it for her at some point.' ‘I'd be delighted to,' I said. ‘Right away's best, then I won't forget.' I turned to Romeo. ‘Good to see you, Romeo.' ‘Make it Rommie,' he said. ‘Good to see you, too.' He held out the box. ‘George and I clubbed together on this. We thought you deserved something nice for helping a damsel in distress.' Kennedy now did look like a man who might be fun after a few drinks. The kind who might just take a notion to hop onto the nearest table, turn a tablecloth into a kilt, and dance. I looked at John, who gave the kind of shrug that means hey, don't ask me. I pulled off the satin bow, slipped my finger under the Scotch tape holding the paper, then looked up. I caught Rommie Bissonette in the act of elbowing Kennedy. Now they were both grinning. ‘There's nothing in here that's going to jump out at me and go booga-booga, is there, guys?' I asked. ‘Absolutely not,' Rommie said, but his grin widened. Well, I can be as good a sport as the next guy. I guess. I unwrapped the package, opened the plain white box inside, revealed a square pad of cotton, lifted it out. I had been smiling all through this, but now I felt the smile curl up and die on my mouth. Something went twisting up my spine as well, and I think I came very close to dropping the box. It was the oxygen mask Devore had had on his lap when he met me on The Street, the one he'd snorted from occasionally as he and Rogette paced me, trying to keep me out deep enough to drown. Rommie Bissonette and George Kennedy had brought it to me like the scalp of a dead enemy and I was supposed to think it was funny ‘Mike?' Rommie asked anxiously. ‘Mike, are you okay? It was just a joke ‘ I blinked and saw it wasn't an oxygen mask at all how in God's name could I have been so stupid? For one thing, it was bigger than Devore's mask; for another, it was made of opaque rather than clear plastic. It was I gave a tentative chuckle. Rommie Bissonette looked tremendously relieved. So did Kennedy. John only looked puzzled. ‘Funny,' I said. ‘Like a rubber crutch.' I pulled out the little mike from inside the mask and let it dangle. It swung back and forth on its wire, reminding me of the waggy clock's tail. ‘What the hell is it?' John asked. ‘Park Avenue lawyer,' Rommie said to George, broadening his accent so it came out Paa-aak Avenew lawyah. ‘Ain't nevah seen one of these, have ya, chummy? Nossir, coss not.' Then he reverted to normal-speak, which was sort of a relief. I've lived in Maine my whole life, and for me the amusement value of burlesque Yankee accents has worn pretty thin. ‘It's a Stenomask. The stenog keeping the record at Mike's depo was wearing one. Mike kept looking at him ‘ ‘It freaked me out,' I said. ‘Old guy sitting in the corner and mumbling into the Mask of Zorro.' ‘Gerry Bliss freaks a lot of people out,' Kennedy said. He spoke in a low rumble. ‘He's the last one around here who wears em. He's got ten or eleven left in his mudroom. I know, because I bought that one from him.' ‘I hope he stuck it to you,' I said. ‘I thought it would make a nice memento,' Rommie said, ‘but for a second there I thought I'd given you the box with the severed hand in it I hate it when I mix up my gift-boxes like that. What's the deal?' ‘It's been a long hot July,' I said. ‘Put it down to that.' I hung the Stenomask's strap over one finger, dangling it that way. ‘Mattie said to be there by eleven,' John told us. ‘We're going to drink beer and throw the Frisbee around.' ‘I can do both of those things quite well,' George Kennedy said. Outside in the tiny parking lot George went to a dusty Altima, rummaged in the back, and came out with a battered copy of The Red-Shirt Man. ‘Frieda made me bring this one. She has the newer ones, but this is her favorite. Sorry about how it looks she's read it about six times.' II ‘It's my favorite, too,' I said, which was true. ‘And I like to see a book with mileage.' That was also true. I opened the book, looked approvingly at a smear of long-dried chocolate on the flyleaf, and then wrote: For Frieda Kennedy, whose husband was there to lend a hand. Thanks for sharing him, and thanks For reading, Mike Noonan. That was a long inscription for me usually I just stick to Best wishes or Good luck, but I wanted to make up for the curdled expression they had seen on my face when I opened their innocent little gag present. While I was scribbling, George asked me if I was working on a new novel. ‘No,' I said. ‘Batteries currently on recharge.' I handed the book back. ‘Frieda won't like that.' ‘No. But there's always Red-Shirt.' ‘We'll follow you,' Rommie said, and a rumble came from deep in the west. It was no louder than the thunder which had rumbled on and off for the last week, but this wasn't dry thunder. We all knew it, and we all looked in that direction. ‘Think we'll get a chance to eat before it storms?' George asked me. ‘Yeah. Just about barely.' I drove to the gate of the parking lot and glanced right to check for traffic. When I did, I saw John looking at me thoughtfully. ‘What?' ‘Mattie said you were writing, that's all. Book go tits-up on you or something?' My Childhood Friend was just as lively as ever, in fact . . . but it would never be finished. I knew that this morning as well as I knew there was rain on the way. The boys in the basement had for some reason decided to take it back. Asking why might not be such a good idea the answers might be unpleasant. ‘Something. I'm not sure just what.' I pulled out onto the highway, checked behind me, and saw Rommie and George following in George's little Altima. America has become a country full of big men in little cars. ‘What do you want me to listen to? If it's home karaoke, I pass. The last thing on earth I want to hear is you singing â€Å"Bubba Shot the Jukebox Last Night.†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ ‘Oh, it's better than that,' he said. ‘Miles better.' He opened his briefcase, rooted through it, and came out with a plastic cassette box. The tape inside was marked 7-20-98 yesterday. ‘I love this,' he said. He leaned forward, turned on the radio, then popped the cassette into the player. I was hoping I'd already had my quota of nasty surprises for the morning, but I was wrong. ‘Sorry, I just had to get rid of another call,' John said from my Chevy's speakers in his smoothest, most lawyerly voice. I'd have bet a million dollars that his bony shins hadn't been showing when this tape was made. There was a laugh, both smoky and grating. My stomach seized up at the sound of it. I remembered seeing her for the first time standing outside The Sunset Bar, wearing black shorts over a black tank-style swimsuit. Standing there and looking like a refugee from crash-diet hell. ‘You mean you had to turn on your tape-recorder,' she said, and now I remembered how the water had seemed to change color when she nailed me that really good one in the back of the head. From bright orange to dark scarlet it had gone. And then I'd started drinking the lake. ‘That's okay. Tape anything you want.' John reached out suddenly and ejected the cassette. ‘You don't need to hear this,' he said. ‘It's not substantive. I thought you'd get a kick out of her blather, but . . . man, you look terrible. Do you want me to drive? You're white as a fucking sheet.' ‘I can drive,' I said. ‘Go on, play it. Afterward I'll tell you about a little adventure I had Friday night . . . but you're going to keep it to yourself. They don't have to know' I jerked my thumb over my shoulder at the Altima ‘and Mattie doesn't have to know. Especially Mattie.' He reached for the tape, then hesitated. ‘You're sure?' ‘Yeah. It was just hearing her again out of the blue like that. The quality of her voice. Christ, the reproduction is good.' ‘Nothing but the best for Avery, McLain, and Bernstein. We have very strict protocols about what we can tape, by the way. If you were wondering.' ‘I wasn't. I imagine none of it's admissible in litigation anyway, is it?' ‘In certain rare cases a judge might let a tape in, but that's not why we do it. A tape like this saved a man's life four years ago, right around the time I joined the firm. That guy is now in the Witness Protection Program.' ‘Play it.' He leaned forward and pushed the button. John: ‘How is the desert, Ms. Whitmore?' Whitmore: ‘Hot.' John: ‘Arrangements progressing nicely? I know how difficult times like this can ‘ Whitmore: ‘You know very little, counsellor, take it from me. Can we cut the crap?' John: ‘Consider it cut.' Whitmore: ‘Have you conveyed the conditions of Mr. Devore's will to his daughter-in-law?' John: ‘Yes ma'am.' Whitmore: ‘Her response?' John: ‘I have none to give you now. I may have after Mr. Devore's will has been probated. But surely you know that such codicils are rarely if ever accepted by the courts.' Whitmore: ‘Well, if that little lady moves out of town, we'll see, won't we?' John: ‘I suppose we will.' Whitmore: ‘When is the victory party?' John: ‘Excuse me?' Whitmore: ‘Oh please. I have sixty different appointments today, plus a boss to bury tomorrow. You're going up there to celebrate with her and her daughter, aren't you? Did you know she's invited the writer? Her fuck-buddy?' John turned to me gleefully. ‘Do you hear how pissed she sounds? She's trying to hide it, but she can't. It's eating her up inside!' I barely heard him. I was in the zone with what she was saying (the writer her fuck-buddy) and what was under what she was saying. Some quality beneath the words. We just want to see how long you can swim, she had called out to me. John: ‘I hardly think what I or Mattie's friends do is any of your business, Ms Whitmore. May I respectfully suggest that you party with your friends and let Mattie Devore party with h Whitmore: ‘Give him a message.' Me. She was talking about me. Then I realized it was even more personal than that she was talking to me. Her body might be on the other side of the country, but her voice and spiteful spirit were right here in the car with us. And Max Devore's will. Not the meaningless shit his lawyers had put down on paper but his will. The old bastard was as dead as Damocles, but yes, he was definitely still seeking custody. John: ‘Give who a message, Ms. Whitmore?' Whitmore: ‘Tell him he never answered Mr. Devore's question.' John: ‘What question is that?' Does her cunt suck? Whitmore: ‘Ask him. He'll know.' John: ‘If you mean Mike Noonan, you can ask him yourself. You'll see him in Castle County Probate Court this fall.' Whitmore: ‘I hardly think so. Mr. Devore's will was made and witnessed out here.' John: ‘Nevertheless, it will be probated in Maine, where he died. My heart is set on it. And when you leave Castle County the next time, Rogette, you will do so with your education in matters of the law considerably broadened.' For the first time she sounded angry, her voice rising to a reedy caw. Whitmore: ‘If you think ‘ John: ‘I don't think. I know. Goodbye, Ms. Whitmore.' Whitmore: ‘You might do well to stay away from ‘ There was a click, the hum of an open line, then a robot voice saying ‘Nine-forty A.M. . . . Eastern Daylight . . . July . . . twentieth.' John punched EJECT, collected his tape, and stored it back in his briefcase. ‘I hung up on her.' He sounded like a man telling you about his first skydive. ‘I actually did. She was mad, wasn't she? Wouldn't you say she was seriously pissed?' ‘Yeah.' It was what he wanted to hear but not what I really believed. Pissed, yes. Seriously pissed? Maybe not. Because Mattie's location and state of mind hadn't been her concern; Rogette had called to talk to me. To tell me she was thinking of me. To bring back memories of how it felt to tread water with the back of your head gushing blood. To freak me out. And she had succeeded. ‘What was the question you didn't answer?' John asked me. ‘I don't know what she meant by that,' I said, ‘but I can tell you why hearing her turned me a little white in the gills. If you can be discreet, and if you want to hear.' ‘We've got eighteen miles to cover; lay it on me.' I told him about Friday night. I didn't clutter my version with visions or psychic phenomena; there was just Michael Noonan out for a sunset walk along The Street. I'd been standing by a birch tree which hung over the lake, watching the sun drop toward the mountains, when they came up behind me. From the point where Devore charged me with his wheelchair to the point where I finally got back onto solid ground, I stuck pretty much to the truth. When I finished, John was at first utterly silent. It was a measure of how thrown for a loop he was; under normal circumstances he was every bit the chatterbox Ki was. ‘Well?' I asked. ‘Comments? Questions?' ‘Lift your hair so I can see behind your ear.' I did as he asked, revealing a big Band-Aid and a large area of swelling. John leaned forward to study it like a little kid observing his best friend's battle-scar during recess. ‘Holy shit,' he said at last. It was my turn to say nothing. ‘Those two old fucks tried to drown you.' I said nothing. ‘They tried to drown you for helping Mattie.' Now I really said nothing. ‘And you never reported it?' ‘I started to,' I said, ‘then realized I'd make myself look like a whiny little asshole. And a liar, most likely.' ‘How much do you think Osgood might know?' ‘About them trying to drown me? Nothing. He's just a messenger boy.' A little more of that unusual quiet from John. After a few seconds of it he reached out and touched the lump on the back of my head. ‘Ow!' ‘Sorry.' A pause. ‘Jesus. Then he went back to Warrington's and pulled the pin. Jesus. Michael, I never would have played that tape if I'd known ‘ ‘It's all right. But don't even think of telling Mattie. I'm wearing my hair over my ear like that for a reason.' ‘Will you ever tell her, do you think?' ‘I might. Some day when he's been dead long enough so we can laugh about me swimming with my clothes on.' ‘That might be awhile,' he said. ‘Yeah. It might.' We drove in silence for a bit. I could sense John groping for a way to bring the day back to jubilation, and loved him for it. He leaned forward, turned on the radio, and found something loud and nasty by Guns ‘n Roses welcome to the jungle, baby, we got fun and games. ‘Party 'til we puke,' he said. ‘Right?' I grinned. It wasn't easy with the sound of the old woman's voice still clinging to me like light slime, but I managed. ‘If you insist,' I said. ‘I do,' he said. ‘Most certainly.' ‘John, you're a good guy for a lawyer.' ‘And you're a good one for a writer.' This time the grin on my face felt more natural and stayed on longer. We passed the marker reading TR-90, and as we did, the sun burned through the haze and flooded the day with light. It seemed like an omen of better times ahead, until I looked into the west. There, black in the bright, I could see the thunderheads building up over the White Mountains.