The Future of Cruise Industry

The Future of Cruise Industry Abstract Cruise industry has rapidly developing since 1990s; it becomes not only as transportation tool, but a modern way of travel and even lifestyle. It is regarded as ‘floating resorts’. This journal article focuses on the future development of cruising industry.It examines cruise industry on five main factors: the structure of the industry: high concentration and enter of Low-Cost cruise lines; the potential customers: whether aging population or young generation would be the major group of consumers; destinations and markets: define the most popular destinations and core markets, as well as the exploration of new markets and destinations; the new innovation of sea-based apartment, the safety and security issues, which significant raised concern recently; and whether the cruise industry is environmental sustainable.Three key sources are used to compare and contrast the viewpoints: Hospitality 2010, which is written by Dr. Cetron; Cruise Ship Tourism, written by Dr. Dowling; and the Cruise Ship Experience, written by Dr. Douglas. These key sources are very up-to-date and reliable, the key authors are admitted as experts whether in the business or academic field, their works are in line with the topic. This journal article identifies current situation and the future developing trends of the cruise industry. It concludes that he cruise industry has a very bright future if proper measurements and regulation are being introduced and well implemented.Nowadays, Cruise industry is concerned as the most rapid growing sector in hospitality industry, which the business is expanding by 8 percent annually. In some specific area such as Alaska and Caribbean, it remains the top industry that contributes to the economy. Cruising business is expanding and changing world-wide; however, the industry is little understood by the society. Today, ships are not viewed as a means of transport but as floating resorts. Mega ships were introd uced to carry more than 5,000 people; new ports on call and destinations are been discovered and on the way of developing the business.However, accomplished by the booming of the industry, several issues have been risen concerns on. This journal article will discuss six issues relate to the developing trends of cruise industry: the structure of the industry and further trends; the potential passengers; the existing and potential markets and destinations; the sea-based apartment—will it be popular; the concern of safety and security which is considered as primary factor due to the terrorist attacks; and the environmental issue: should corporations be self-guarded or forced to implement regulations.The thesis statement of the article is that cruise industry will overcome the difficulties and have a fortunate future. The secondary research is based on both quantitative and qualitative data, include case studies, statistics and in-depth interviews. To support the secondary data, a primary research was conducted in the form of questionnaire. The sample gathered fourty international students that majoring in hospitality and tourism management in Sydney. The sample was gained from the Carrick College, International College of Management, Sydney and Holmes College.The nationalities are varies, include Sweden, Norwegian, Australian, Japanese, Korean and Chinese. The questionnaire combines ‘Yes or No’ questions, multiple choices and short answers. These questions are in line with secondary data that discussed in the journal article, identify whether people are interested and willing to experience cruising in the future. The aim of primary research is to explore whether the responses are support or against Dr Dowling (2006), Dr. Cetron (2006) and Dr. Douglas (2004)’ findings. Literature ReviewIdeas from two key sources are used to compare and contrast in this journal article. The first key source is chapter 8 from Hospitality 2010, which is wri tten by Dr. Marvin J. Cetron, who is a professional forecaster for over 40 years admitted both by corporate and American government. He is admitted as an expert in the fields of technological forecasting, strategic planning, technology assessment, R&D planning, resource allocation, economics, marketing, and the behavioral sciences. Dr. Cetron has written 36 books, numerous articles and papers.His most popular works are future orientated. Hospitality 2010 is written in the form of business report and is considered American biased (Hall, 2007); Chapter 8 explores most of the aspects of cruising industry briefly which brought out discussion. It examines potential trends and problems such as waste management, aging population and future destinations that are particularly useful for this journal article. Dr. Ross K. Dowling is Foundation Professor and Head of Tourism in the School of Marketing, Tourism and Leisure, Faculty of Business and Law, Edith Cowan University, Western Australi a.Professor Dowling is an international speaker, author, researcher and consultant on tourism with over 200 publications. He is passionate about Cruise Industry and he has lectured on board Silver Cloud around the east coast of Australia and New Zealand. The second source: Cruise Ship Tourism is the first comprehensive academic book to raise the awareness of cruise industry. It analyses current status of cruise industry and investigates a number of industry issues and predicts the future trends. This book gives clear direction from academic viewpoint. The third key source is The Cruise Experience written by Dr.Norman Douglas and Dr. Ngaire Douglas. Dr. Norman Douglas is Director of Pacific Profile and has taught at the University of New South Wales, the University of the South Pacific, Fiji and the University of Hawai’i. Dr. Ngaire Douglas is Associate Professor in the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW. The Cruise Experience examines cruising today, the economic impacts of cruising, and case studies from various perspectives. The Structure of Cruise Industry No doubt, three major companies control about 80% of the cruise market worldwide.The top three companies are Carnival Corporation, Royal Caribbean and Star Cruise. While the cruise industry’s capacity is increasing, the number of cruise companies is shirking. Douglas (2004) states that the move towards oligopoly will continually contribute to the disappearance of the mid-sized independent cruise companies which are rating from three-to-four star; only companies which have their own niche market or have strong economic background will survive. Furthermore, the Carnival Corporation aims not only the ‘world leading cruise lines’, but ‘the world only cruise line’.It means more cruise lines would likely be merged in the future; the concentration in the industry is possibly to increase even further (Dowling, 2006). Klein (2002) identifies bankruptcies as another reason for high concentration of the industry. In 2000 and 2001, seven cruise companies have ceased operations, include Premier Cruises, Commodore Cruise Line, Cape Canaveral Cruise Line and World Cruise Company, which eliminated more than 7,000 berths. Klein (2002) observes that the cruise industry’s expansion would be greater if the bankruptcies were not happened. Besides concentration that highly emphasised by experts, Dr.Dowling (2006) argues that Low Cost Cruising would make a significant growth of the industry. For example, Low Budget ‘no-frills’ style airlines had made a success in 2000s, such as Midway Airlines and SunJet Airlines. In 2005, the founder of one of the Low Cost airlines, EasyJet, has started a Low Cost no frills cruise line EasyCruise in Europe, targeted at younger generation between 20 and 40 years old; more than half of the customers are British, followed by Americans, Germans and the Swiss. Dr. Do wling (2006) asserts that there will be a rapidly growing niche market for low cost cruises. Potential PassengersAccording to Dr. Dowling (2006), a recent survey has shown that the passengers are becoming more youthful and are demanding more active itineraries. Take example of Alaska, the average age of passengers has fallen from 65 to 50 during 2004-2005. Furthermore, Dr. Dowling (2006) claims that family orientated cruises is becoming increasingly popular and will become a major niche market in future. Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA, 2004) showed 16% of cruisers bring children under age of 18 years sailed on their member line ships in 2004, which estimated number of more than one million. Dr.Cetron (2006) agrees that younger travelers form a profitable market for family cruising; to build up brand loyalty is one of the biggest advantages of catering them, cruise companies considered them as the most profitable cruisers for their later lives. Dr. Dowling (2006) observ es that compare to younger generation, the number of full-time retirees is declining due to the fact that mid-career baby boomers now make up the largest market for cruises of 42%. In contrast, Dr. Cetron (2006) strongly argued that due to the fact that people are living longer and growing older on average, these people make up a growing segment of the cruise market.According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, people over 65 were only 8% of the population in 1950 in the developed world, but 15% in 2000 and will be 27% in 2050. In some countries like Japan, the number will climb up to 37%. Secondly, senior generation take the longest and most luxurious cruises. Different from family and budget-minded passengers, elder people prefer small ships and regardless of the money just to have good times. They would be very profitable for cruise operators. Thirdly, Dr.Cetron (2006) believes that the growth of over 65 market will moderate the regular seasonality of tourism, because retirees can travel at any time; this can help cruise operators to adjust their cash flow. In addition, some cruise lines have already targeted retirees as core market and adjust their service to suit the market; Dr. Cetron (2006) recommends this market has potential consuming strength that could definitely increase revenue for the cruise company; others should follow their lead. New Markets and Destinations A number of new markets and destinations are rapidly recognised in the cruise sector.Dr. Cetron (2006) illustrates that by 2010, China is expected to be the single largest source of international tourists in the world, displacing Americans, Japanese and Germans. He predicts that 100 million Chinese will travel globally in 2020; even 1% of them take cruise trip, the market size will be more than doubled. In the meanwhile, although Dr. Dowling (2006) concerns China as a potential market as well, he suggests more studies should be conducted before enter of the market to und erstand and explore the possibility to develop cruise industry in China. Another emerging cruise destination both Dr.Cetron (2006) and Dr. Dowling (2006) have strongly emphasised is the Indian Ocean. South Africa and the Eastern African ports have already established some trade, 0. 2% of the world market, as Dr. Dowling (2006) states; the National Ports Authority is working on the development of the cruise industry in this region in order to ensure that efficient, effective services and facilities are provided to cruise liners to populate the South African coastline. As Dr. Cetron (2006) observes, cruise lines will begin to offer cruises and on board amenities suited native Indian’s taste and serve the local market.A New Innovation: Sea-based Apartment Dr. Dowling (2006) states that another area of potential expansion in the future is the rise of service apartment ships. These type of ships represent another type of community, the service include Clinique, swimming pools, sev eral restaurants, grocery stores tennis court, disco, book store, mini golf course and helicopter pad. Already there is one privately owned residential cruise liner, the world, which houses 110 apartments that have already sold out, running the business. The residents mainly come from Europe and the USA.However, some apartments usually being left empty and treated as holiday homes. Dr. Dowling (2006) concludes that the possibility of whether sea-based apartment is a new opportunity for cruise lines or just a short term fashion will be identified by time. Safety and Security Anderson (2005) described security issues facing cruise industry include piracy, terrorism, drug smuggling, sexual assault and stowaways (Dowling, 2006). Piracy is a form of terrorism that exists for a long time. However, it has been largely ignored by the community due to the frequency of attacks. Dr.Dowling (2006) demonstrates the main cruise ships routes of piracy include the Straits and Malacca, the Red Sea a nd Indonesian and Malaysian waters. Another issue which has continually raising the concern is terrorism, despite of the infrequency of attack of cruise lines. The Caribbean has been identified as a major area of terrorist attack. Dr. Dowling (2006) detected that terrorist incidents within the cruise industry has been very rare, which is less than 2% of all terrorist attacks in the last thirty years. It may due to difficulty of accessibility and the specialist skills compare the way to attack land-based targets (Chalk, 2002).Dr. Cetron (2006) argued that cruise ships are ideal targets for terrorists who are willing to sacrifice themselves as they can take large number of people with them. The second reason is, as the government facilities and land-based buildings are becoming harder to attack, cruise ships are currently facing great risk. Furthermore, 94 percent of American rate the hotel safety as a primary factor in order to decide where to stay (Cetron, 2006). Regarding cruises a s floating hotels, terrorism becomes a top concern for passengers. Both Dr. Cetron (2006) and Dr.Dowling (2006) mentioned the highjack of the Italian cruise liner â€Å"Achille Lauro† in 1985, which a US citizen was killed. Great emphasis of improving passengers’ safety and security was implemented immediately after the attack. Even though, bomb threats on board have never stopped, accomplished by people being killed. Recently, The International Ship and Port Safety (ISPS) Code was fully implemented in order to control the situation. Dr. Dowling (2006) emphasises US and Australia have higher security measures than other countries to prevent terrorist attacks on maritime targets.In addition, Australia has some of the most secure ports in the world including the USA. Dr. Dowling (2006) concludes that there is little the industry can do to prevent terrorism, however, it can be minimised through better security both at sea and in port. In addition, Dr. Cetron predicts that the legislation will be much tighter in the future regarding to the prevention of terrorism on board. Environmental Sustainability: Environmental Policy Challenges The question has been raised that whether cruise industry is environment sustainable or not. As the primary survey shows, environmental issues are not being realised seriously by society.Surprisingly, 74 percent of the sample responded with no clue of what environmental impact the cruise industry would cause, which is very shock. In fact, the destinations that located in biodiversity hotspots are being highly concerned as they have the most diverse and threatened environments on Earth. The destinations include the Caribbean, The Mediterranean, Western Mexico, the Panama Canal Zone and the South Pacific. Over the last 40 years, the governments have already made some progress and implementing environmentally responsible legislation and policy guidelines.However, Furger (1997); Freeman (1997); Luke (1997) and Sinclair (1997 ) argues that â€Å"current debate shows ongoing progress will not be accomplished by government intervention alone† (cited in Dowling, 2006). To examine whether self-regulation and voluntary guidelines or control regulation is more suitable for the cruise industry, two case studies from Juneau, Alaska, USA and Sydney, NSW, Australia are examined in the article. No doubt, the state of Alaska has the strictest regulations for cruise ships in the world, as the state regards the industry as primary factor that contribute to the local economy.The sewage and grey water discharge are especially strict in Juneau. Dr. Dowling (2006) states The Clean Water Act in the USA allows sewage to be dumped into the ocean beyond 3 miles of shore but not navigable water. Grey Water can be discharged anywhere in the USA but Alaska and the Great Lakes. Once the legislation has set, cruise companies responded voluntarily and showed their enthusiasm to go beyond compliance, which effect their market ing, reputation and economic value. Their strategies include best practice management, eco-labelling and green marketing.In the meanwhile, innovative technology in the form of advanced on-board wastewater treatment facilities was introduced by the cruise industry that is commonly applied to the cruise ships today. However, Dr. Klein (2002) argues that environmental responsibility can never voluntarily assumed due to the disappointed history. Dr. Klein (2002) describes the pattern that most industry innovations follow is, deny their faulty behaviour, persuade government to not implement regulations, resist enforcement, and after being caught, announce new company’s regulations.He maintains that self-regulation is the way cruise companies to escape from being caught. The situation in Sydney is a reverse of Juneau, where ‘regulation stifles innovation and discourages beyond compliance behaviour’ (Dr. Dowling, 2006). The legislation of ‘no-discharge’ in Sydney has made shipping agents frustrated. In Juneau, those ships with the state-of-art wastewater systems can discharge continuously cannot make exceptions from no-discharge policy applies at Sydney Harbour.To reply these unhappy operators, Sydney ports argue that even advanced wastewater system installed in cruises, produce still excess nutrients (Sydney waterways, 2003). However, no-charge policy has made the new system become a financial liability to cruise companies. They have to afford the cost of installing and operating the system but still have to pay for sewage disposal. To reduce the cost, cruise companies use older ships with older technologies instead of new ships in Australia; they argue that the no-charge policy is actually posing a degree of harm to the environment, which because older ships poses even more environmental hazards.In summary, experts support various viewpoints: Sinclair (1997) noted that mix of policy mechanisms and technological innovation should be involved; Klein (2002) asserts the industry requires strong legislations to control the corporations’ behaviour; on the other hand, Rondinelli (2000) believes more industry self-regulation would work. The key author Dr. Dowling (2006) concludes that due to the failure of corporations to build up their credibility and continually being caught and charged, cruise companies should not be trusted by self-regulation; Dr.Dowling (2006) observes strong legislation would best control the disposal issue and maintains environmental sustainability efficiently. Conclusion It is obvious cruise industry is big business; not only for cruise operators, but valuable for many nations, cities, ports and communities. Just in North American region in 2004, it provided 135,000 jobs and contributed US$30 billion on the US economy, which increased more than 18% over the previous year.The business structure will be very similar to the current airline industry, which dominate by oligopolists but small growing sector for Low Cost cruises; and these large companies might implement predation strategy, increase the frequency of sailing routes and depress the prices to drive Cost cruises out, like what American Airline did in 1990s. Secondly, the passengers will not only be concentrated on elder generation, but involved all age groups; different cruise lines will particularly target different groups when considering purchase new vessels and planning market strategies.Thirdly, the progress of developing cruise industry in developing countries is on their ways, the future markets and destinations will not be only in developed nations, but spread globally. Next, the trend of sea-based apartment is difficult to predict, but due to the luxury and extremely high price of purchasing, one thing cannot deny that it is entertain for upper class only. Furthermore, due to the continue impact from terrorist attack and risen concern from passengers, the policy of safety and security will be increa singly tighter with new detecting technology involved.Lastly, the environmental sustainability issue will never be finished the discussion. In my opinion, doesn’t matter what action people take into account, when there is human activities, it will be no longer sustainability. However, due to the fact that it is merely impossible for human being to stop discovering the Earth, what government and non-profitable orgnisations can do is to minimise our influence to the environment, establish more policies to regulate and strict activities with monitoring, because I believe deeply that self-regulation will never work, as long as the improper discharge of wastes can save their cost.At the very end, I strongly believe the cruise industry will have a very bright future, for the cruise operators, the consumers, the employment, the society and the governments. References Cetron, M. (2006). Hospitality 2010— the Future of Hospitality and Travel. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall D owling, R. K. (2006). Cruise Ship Tourism. London: CABI. Douglas, N. & Douglas, N. (2004). The Cruise Experience – Global and Regional Issues in Cruising. London: CABI. Ebersold, W. B. Business Briefing: Global Cruise– Cruise Industry in Figures. 2004). [Online]. Available: http://www. touchbriefings. com/pdf/858/ebersold. pdf [Accessed 2008, April 1]. Klein, A. R. (2002). Cuise Ship Blues—The Underside of the Industry. Canada: New Society Publishers Ye, W. China’s Cruise Economy is Ready to Bloom. (2007). [Online]. Available: http://www. ccyia. com/english/News_View. asp? NewsID=154 [Accessed 2008, March 31]. Choi, C. Q. (2007, March 25). Cruise Lines Face More Policing of Waste Disposal. The New York Times. P5. Appendix Survey on Cruise Industry 1. Have you ever been taken a cruise trip?Yes No 2. Are you willing to take a cruise trip in the future? Yes No Not sure 3. Which type of cruise do you prefer? A. Small luxury ships with personalised service B. Big ships, 1000 – 2000 passengers, probably need to Queue for amenities/facilities C. Budgeted cruise trip 4. Who would you likely to travel with? A. Friends B. Family C. Alone 5. How many days do you prefer to spend on cruising? A. 3 days B. 3 to 7 days C. 14 days D. A month 6. What is your spending expectation during the stay on a cruise?A. AU$50 to 100 B. AU$100 To 300 C. More than AU$300 7. Is there any destinations you wish to visit? Eg, the Caribbean, Alaska, Australia round trip, Antarctic, Malaysia/Indonesia, China 8. Why you choose cruise trips but not land-based hotels/resorts? Give one or more reasons. 9. What is the most important factor that you consider when choosing a route or cruise line? 10. Do you know the cruise lines are damaging the environment especially the marines? If yes, what things should be done to prevent/reduce the impact of cruise industry?

How to Get Started on a Literature Review

How to Get Started on a Literature Review If you are an undergraduate or graduate student, there is a good chance that you will be asked to conduct at least one literature review during your coursework. A literature review is a paper, or a part of a larger research paper, that reviews the critical points of current knowledge on a particular topic. It includes substantive findings as well as theoretical and methodological contributions that others bring to the subject. Its ultimate goal is to bring the reader up to date with current literature on a topic and usually forms the basis for another goal, such as future research that needs to be done in the area or serves as part of a thesis or dissertation. A literature review should be unbiased and does not report any new or original work. Starting the process of conducting and writing a literature review can be overwhelming. Here are a few tips on how to get started that will hopefully make the process a little less daunting. Determine Your Topic When choosing a topic to research, it helps to have a clear understanding of what it is you want to research before setting out on your literature search. If you have a very broad and general topic, your literature search is likely to be very lengthy and time-consuming. For example, if your topic was simply â€Å"self-esteem among adolescents,† you will find hundreds of journal articles and it would be nearly impossible to read, comprehend, and summarize every one of them. If you refine the topic, however, to â€Å"adolescent self-esteem in relation to substance abuse,† you will narrow your search result significantly. It is also important not to be so narrow and specific to where you find fewer than a dozen or so related papers. Conduct Your Search One good place to start your literature search is online. Google Scholar is one resource that I think is a great place to start. Choose several keywords that relate to your topic and do a search using each term separately and in combination with each other. For example, if I searched for articles related to my topic above (adolescent self-esteem in relation to substance abuse), I would conduct a search for each of these words/phrases: adolescent self-esteem drug use, adolescent self-esteem drugs, adolescent self-esteem smoking, adolescent self-esteem tobacco, adolescent self-esteem cigarettes, adolescent self-esteem cigars, adolescent self-esteem chewing tobacco, adolescent self-esteem alcohol use, adolescent self-esteem drinking, adolescent self-esteem cocaine, etc. As you start the process you will find that there are dozens of possible search terms for you to use, no matter what your topic is. Some of the articles that you find will be available through Google Scholar or whichever search engine you choose. If the full article is not available via this route, your school library is a good place to turn. Most college or university libraries have access to most or all academic journals, many of which are available online. You will likely have to go through your school’s library website to access them. If you need help, contact someone at your school’s library for assistance. In addition to Google Scholar, check your school’s library website for other online databases that you could use to search for journal articles. Also, using the reference list from articles that you gather is another great way to find articles. Organize Your Results Now that you have all of your journal articles, it is time to organize them in a way that works for you so that you don’t get overwhelmed when you sit down to write the literature review. If you have them all organized in some fashion, this will make writing a lot easier. What may work for you is to organize my articles by category (one pile for articles related to drug use, one pile for those related to alcohol use, one pile for those related to smoking, etc.). Then, after you are done reading each article, summarize that article in a table that can be used for quick reference during the writing process. Below is an example of such a table. Begin Writing You should now be ready to begin writing the literature review. The guidelines for writing will likely be determined by your professor, mentor, or the journal you are submitting to if you are writing a manuscript for publication. Example of a Literature Grid Author(s) Journal, Year Subject/Keywords Sample Methodology Statistical Method Main Findings Finding Relevant to My Research Question Abernathy, Massad, and Dwyer Adolescence, 1995 Self-esteem, smoking 6,530 students; 3 waves (6th grade at w1, 9th grade at w3) Longitudinal questionnaire, 3 waves Logistic regression Among males, no association between smoking and self-esteem. Among females, low self-esteem in grade 6 led to greater risk of smoking in grade 9. Shows that self-esteem is a predictor of smoking in adolescent girls. Andrews and Duncan Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 1997 Self-esteem, marijuana use 435 adolescents 13-17 years old Questionnaires, 12-year longitudinal study (Global Self-worth subscale) Generalized estimating equations (GEE) Self-esteem mediated the relationship between academic motivation and marijuana use. Shows that decreases in self-esteem associated with increases in marijuana use.

Ancient Greek Notes essays

Ancient Greek Notes essays 1. Mediterranean Sea- The body of water that along with the Aegean Sea surrounds the Greek peninsula. 2. peninsula- Land that is surrounded by water on three sides. 3. Crete and Rhodes- The largest of the Aegean islands. 4. sea travel- How the Greeks developed links with other societies. Their major vessel was the trireme, a ship powered by many oarsmen. 5. Phoenician alphabet- Developed around 900BC, it was the first "simple" alphabet with only 22 symbols. It greatly influenced our alphabet. 6. polis- The independent city-states of ancient Greece. 7. Sparta- A polis of Greece that is remembered for it's strict, harsh military lifestyle. Boys began military training at age seven. Girls were trained to defend their polis and to run the family estates. 8. Athens- The Greek polis where freedom and new ideas were welcome. The world's first democratic government was formed there. It differed greatly from Sparta, but they united to battle the Persians. 9. agora- The central marketplace of Athens. Food, pottery, cloth, jewelry, and perfumes were some of the items sold. People would gather there to talk about politics and life. Travelers would come from around the "Aegean World" to sell there goods. 10. Parthenon-(built ca. 500BC) The most famous structure of ancient Greece. A temple built on a hill-top fortress in Athens called the Acropolis. It 's been called one of the most beautiful buildings on earth. 11. Battle of Marathon- (490BC) Persian King Darius sent 25,000 soldiers to Greece. He wanted to enslave the Greeks.They landed at Marathon, about 26 miles from Athens, and were welcomed by 10,000 angry Athenian troops. Athens defeated Persia.Darius vowed revenge and ten years later invaded again and slaughtered the Spartan army. 12. monarchy- A system of government ruled by a king or queen. 13. tyranny- A form of government where all the power is in the hands of one individual called a dictator. ...

A Dirty Job Chapter 6

He’d worked up a furious appetite because breakfast was running late today. The Emperor had slept on a bench by the Maritime Museum, and during the night his arthritic knee had snaked out of his wool overcoat into the damp cold, making the walk to North Beach and the Italian bakery that gave them free day-old a slow and painful ordeal. The Emperor groaned and sat down on an empty milk crate. He was a great rolling bear of a man, his shoulders broad but a little broken from carrying the weight of the city. A white tangle of hair and beard wreathed his face like a storm cloud. As far as he could remember, he and the troops had patrolled the city streets forever, but upon further consideration, it might have just been since Wednesday. He wasn’t entirely sure. The Emperor decided to make a proclamation to the troops about the importance of compassion in the face of the rising tide of heinous fuckery and political weaselocity in the nearby kingdom of the United States. (He found his audience was most attentive to his proclamations when the meat-laced focaccia were still nuzzled in the larder of his overcoat pockets, and presently a pepperoni and Parmesan reposed fragrant in the woolly depths, so the royal hounds were rapt.) But just as he cleared his throat to begin, a cargo van came screeching around the corner, went up on two wheels as it plowed through a row of garbage cans, and slid to a stop not fifty feet away. The driver’s-side door flew open and a thin man in a suit leapt out, carrying a cane and a woman’s fur coat, and made a beeline for the back door of Asher’s. But before he got two steps the man fell to the concrete as if hit from behind, then rolled on his back and began flailing at the air with the cane an d the coat. The Emperor, who knew most everyone, recognized Charlie Asher. Bummer erupted into a fit of yapping, but the more levelheaded Lazarus growled once and took off toward Charlie. â€Å"Lazarus!† the Emperor shouted, but the retriever charged on, followed now by his bug-eyed brother in arms. Charlie was back on his feet and swinging the cane as if he was fencing with some phantom, using the coat like a shield. Living on the street, the Emperor had seen a lot of people battling with unseen demons, but Charlie Asher was apparently scoring some hits. The cane was making a thwacking noise against what appeared to be thin air – but no, there was something there, a shadow of some sort? The Emperor climbed to his feet and limped into the fray, but before he got two steps Lazarus had leapt and appeared to be attacking Charlie, but he soared over the shopkeeper and snapped at a spot above his head – then hung there, his jaws sunk into the substantial neck of thin air. Charlie took advantage of the distraction, stepped back, and swung the cane above the levitating golden retriever. There was a smack, and Lazarus let go, but now Bummer launched himself at the invisible foe. He missed whatever was there, and ended up performing a doggy swish shot into a garbage can. Charlie made for the steel door of Asher’s again, but found it locked, and as he reached for his keys, something caught him from behind. â€Å"Let go, fuckface,† the shade screeched. The fur coat Charlie was holding appeared to be swept out of his hand and was pulled straight up, over the four-story building and out of sight. Charlie turned and held the cane at ready, but whatever had been there seemed to be gone now. â€Å"Aren’t you just supposed to sit above the door and nevermore and be poetic and stuff?!† he shouted at the sky. Then, for good measure, added, â€Å"You evil fuck!† Lazarus barked, then whined. A sharp and metallic yapping rose from Bummer’s garbage can. â€Å"Well, you don’t see that every day,† said the Emperor as he limped up to Charlie. â€Å"You could see that?† â€Å"Well, no, not really. Merely a shadow, but I could see that something was there. There was something there, wasn’t there, Charlie?† Charlie nodded, trying to catch his breath. â€Å"It will be back. It followed me across the city.† He dug into his pocket for his keys. â€Å"You guys should duck into the store with me, Your Majesty.† Of course Charlie knew the Emperor. Every San Franciscan knew the Emperor. The Emperor smiled. â€Å"That’s very kind of you, but we will be perfectly safe. For now I need to free my charge from his galvanized prison.† The big man tipped the garbage can and Bummer emerged snorting and tossing his head as if ready to tear the ass out of any man or beast foolhardy enough to cross him (and he would have, as long as they were knee-high or shorter). Charlie was still having trouble with the key. He knew he should have had the lock replaced, but it worked, if you finessed it a little, so he’d never made it a priority. Who the hell thought you’d ever have to get in quick to escape a giant bird? Then he heard a screech and turned to see not one, but two huge ravens coming over the roof and diving into the alley. The dogs arfed a frantic barking salvo at the avian intruders and Charlie put so much body English into wiggling the key in the lock that he felt an atrophied dancing muscle tear in his hip. â€Å"They’re back. Cover me.† Charlie threw the cane to the Emperor and braced himself for the impact, but as soon as the cane touched the old man’s hand the birds were gone. You could almost hear the pop of the air replacing the space they had taken up. The dogs caught themselves in mid-ruff; Bummer whimpered. â€Å"What?† the Emperor said. â€Å"What?† â€Å"They’re gone.† The Emperor looked at the sky. â€Å"You’re sure?† â€Å"For now.† â€Å"I saw two shadows. Really saw them this time,† the Emperor said. â€Å"Yes, there were two this time.† â€Å"What are they?† â€Å"I have no idea, but when you took the cane they – well, they disappeared. You really saw them?† â€Å"I’m sure of it. Like smoke with a purpose.† Finally the key turned in the lock and the door to Asher’s back room swung open. â€Å"You should come in. Rest. I’ll order something to eat.† â€Å"No, no, the men and I must be on our rounds. I’ve decided to make a proclamation this morning and we need to see the printer. You’ll be needing this.† The Emperor presented the cane to Charlie like he was turning over a sword of the realm. Charlie started to take it, then thought better of it. â€Å"Your Majesty, I think you’d better keep that. It looks as if you might be able to use it.† Charlie nodded toward the Emperor’s creaky knee. The Emperor held the cane steady. â€Å"I am not a worshiper of the material, you know?† â€Å"I understand that.† â€Å"I am a firm believer that desire is the source of most of human suffering, you’re aware, and no culprit is more heinous than desire for material gain.† â€Å"I run my business based on those very principles. Still, I insist you keep the cane – as a favor to me, if you would?† Charlie found himself affecting the Emperor’s formal speech patterns, as if somehow he had been transported to a royal court where a nobleman was distinguished by bread crumbs in his beard and the royal guard were not above licking their balls. â€Å"Well, as a favor, I will accept. It is a fine piece of craftsmanship.† â€Å"But more importantly, it will permit you to make your rounds in good time.† The Emperor now betrayed the desire in his heart as he let fly a wide grin and hugged the cane to his chest. â€Å"It is fine, indeed. Charlie, I must confess something to you, but I ask you to grant me the credulity due a man who has just shared witness, with a friend, of two giant, raven-shaped shades.† â€Å"Of course.† Charlie smiled, when even a moment before he would have thought his smile lost somewhere in the months past. â€Å"I hope you won’t think me base, but the second I touched this, I felt as if I had been waiting for it my whole life.† Then, for no reason that he could think of, Charlie said, â€Å"I know.† A few minutes before, inside the store, Lily had been brooding. It wasn’t her general brood, the reaction to a world where everyone was stupid and life was meaningless and the mere act of living was futile, especially if your mother forgot to get coffee at the store. This one was a more specific brood, that had started out when she arrived at work and Ray had pointed out that it was her turn to wear the vacuuming tiara, and insisted that if she wore the tiara, she actually vacuum the store. (In fact, she liked wearing the rhinestone tiara that Charlie, in a move of blatant bourgeois sneakiness, had designated be worn by whoever did the vacuuming and sweeping each day, and no other time. It was the vacuuming and sweeping she objected to. She felt manipulated, used, and generally taken advantage of, and not in the fun way.) But today, after she’d put the tiara and the vacuum away and had finally gotten a couple of cups of coffee in her system, the brooding had gone on, bu ilding to full-scale angst, when it began to dawn on her that she was going to have to figure out this college-career thing, because despite what The Great Big Book of Death said, she had not been chosen as a dark minion of destruction. Fuck! She stood in the back room looking at all the items that Charlie had piled there the day before: shoes, lamps, umbrellas, porcelain figures, toys, a couple of books, and an old black-and-white television and a painting of a clown on black velvet. â€Å"He said this stuff was glowing?† she asked Ray, who stood in the doorway to the store. â€Å"Yes. He made me check it all with my Geiger counter.† â€Å"Ray, why the fuck do you have a Geiger counter?† â€Å"Lily, why do you have a nose stud shaped like a bat?† Lily ignored the question and picked up the ceramic frog from the night before, which now had a note taped to it that read DO NOT SELL OR DISPLAY in Charlie’s meticulous block-letter printing. â€Å"This was one of the things? This?† â€Å"That was the first one he freaked out about,† said Ray matter-of-factly. â€Å"The truant officer tried to buy it. That started it all.† Lily was shaken. She backed over to Charlie’s desk and sat in the squeaky oak swivel chair. â€Å"Do you see anything glowing or pulsating, Ray? Have you ever?† Ray shook his head. â€Å"He’s under a lot of stress, losing Rachel and taking care of the baby. I think maybe he needs to get some help. I know after I had to leave the force – † Ray paused. There was a commotion going on out in the alley, dogs barking and people shouting, then someone was working a key in the lock of the back door. A second later, Charlie came in, a little breathless, his clothes smudged here and there with grime, one sleeve of his jacket torn and bloodstained. â€Å"Asher,† Lily said. â€Å"You’re hurt.† She quickly vacated his chair while Ray took Charlie by the shoulders and sat him down. â€Å"I’m fine,† Charlie said. â€Å"No big deal.† â€Å"I’ll get the first-aid kit,† Ray said. â€Å"Get that jacket off of him, Lily.† â€Å"I’m fine,† Charlie said. â€Å"Quit talking about me like I’m not here.† â€Å"He’s delirious,† Lily said, trying to pry Charlie out of his jacket. â€Å"Do you have any painkillers, Ray?† â€Å"I don’t need painkillers,† Charlie said. â€Å"Shut up, Asher, they’re not for you,† Lily said, automatically, then she considered the book, Ray’s story, the notes on all the items in the back room, and she shuddered. It appeared that Charlie Asher might not be the hapless geek she always thought him to be. â€Å"Sorry, boss. Let us help you.† Ray came back from the front with a small plastic first-aid kit. He peeled back Charlie’s sleeve and began to clean the wounds with gauze and peroxide. â€Å"What happened?† â€Å"Nothing,† Charlie said. â€Å"I slipped and fell in some gravel.† â€Å"The wound’s pretty clean – no gravel in it. That must have been some fall.† â€Å"Long story.† Charlie sighed. â€Å"Ouch!† â€Å"What was all the noise in the alley?† Lily asked, needing badly to go smoke, but unable to pull herself away. She just couldn’t imagine that Charlie Asher was the one. How could it be him? He was so, so, unworthy. He didn’t understand the dark underbelly of life the way she did. Yet he was the one seeing the glowing objects. He was it. She was crestfallen. â€Å"Just the Emperor’s dogs after a seagull in the Dumpster. No big deal. I fell off a porch in Pacific Heights.† â€Å"The estate,† Ray said. â€Å"How’d that go?† â€Å"Not well. The husband was grief-stricken and had a heart attack while I was there.† â€Å"You’re kidding.† â€Å"No, he just sort of became overwhelmed thinking about his wife and collapsed. I gave him CPR until the EMTs came and took him off to the hospital.† â€Å"So,† Lily said, â€Å"did you get the – uh – did you get anything special?† â€Å"What?† Charlie’s eyes went wide. â€Å"What do you mean, special? There was nothing special.† â€Å"Chill, boss, I just meant will we get the grandma’s clothes?† He’s it, Lily thought. The fucker. Charlie shook his head. â€Å"I don’t know, it’s so strange. The whole thing is so strange.† He shuddered when he said it. â€Å"Strange how?† Lily said. â€Å"Strange in a cool and dark way, or strange because you’re Asher and you’re out of it most of the time?† â€Å"Lily!† Ray snapped. â€Å"Go out front. Dust something.† â€Å"You’re not the boss of me, Ray. I’m just showing my concern.† â€Å"It’s okay, Ray.† Charlie looked like he was considering how, exactly, to define strange, and not coming up with anything that was working. Finally he said, â€Å"Well, for one thing, this woman’s estate is way out of our league. The husband said he called me because we were the first secondhand store in the phone book, but he doesn’t seem like the kind of man to do something like that.† â€Å"That’s not that strange,† Lily said. Just confess, she thought. â€Å"You said that he was grief-stricken,† Ray said, dabbing antibiotic ointment on Charlie’s cuts. â€Å"Maybe he’s doing things differently.† â€Å"Yes, and he was angry at his wife, too, for the way she died.† â€Å"How?† Lily asked. â€Å"She ate silica gel,† Charlie said. Lily looked at Ray for an explanation, because silica gel sounded techno-geeky, which was Ray’s particular field of geekdom. Ray said, â€Å"It’s the antidesiccant that they pack with electronics and other things that are sensitive to humidity.† â€Å"The ‘Do Not Eat’ stuff?!† Lily said. â€Å"Oh my God, that’s so stupid. Everyone knows you don’t eat the ‘Do Not Eat’ stuff.† Charlie said, â€Å"Mr. Mainheart was pretty broken up.† â€Å"Well, I guess so,† Lily said. â€Å"He married a complete fucktard.† Charlie cringed. â€Å"Lily, that’s not appropriate.† Lily shrugged and rolled her eyes. She hated it when Charlie dropped into Dad mode. â€Å"Okay, okay. I’m going outside to smoke.† â€Å"No!† Charlie jumped out of the chair and put himself between Lily and the back door. â€Å"Out front. From now on if you have to smoke you go out front.† â€Å"But you said that I look like a child hooker when I smoke out front.† â€Å"I’ve reassessed. You’ve matured.† Lily closed one eye to see if she could better glimpse into his soul and thus figure out his true agenda. She smoothed over her black vinyl skirt, which made a tortured, squeaking noise at the touch. â€Å"You’re trying to say I have a big butt, aren’t you?† â€Å"I absolutely am saying no such thing,† Charlie insisted. â€Å"I am simply saying that your presence in front of the store is an asset and will probably attract business from the tourists on the cable car.† â€Å"Oh. Okay.† Lily snatched her box of cloves off the desk and headed out past the counter and outside to brood, grieve really, because as much as she had hoped, she was not Death. The book was Charlie’s. That evening Charlie was watching the store, wondering why he had lied to his employees, when he saw a flash of red passing by the front window. A second later, a strikingly pale redhead came through the door. She was wearing a short, black cocktail dress and black fuck-me pumps. She strode up the aisle like she was auditioning for a music video. Her hair cascaded in long curls around her shoulders and down her back like a great auburn veil. Her eyes were emerald green, and when she saw him looking, she smiled, and stopped, some ten feet away. Charlie felt an almost painful jolt that seemed to emanate from somewhere in the area of his groin, and after a second he recognized it as an autonomic lust response. He hadn’t felt anything like that since Rachel had passed, and he felt vaguely ashamed. She was examining him, looking him over like you would examine a used car. He was sure he must be blushing. â€Å"Hi,† Charlie said. â€Å"Can I help you?† The redhead smiled again, just a little, and reached into a small black bag that he hadn’t noticed she’d been carrying. â€Å"I found this,† she said, holding up a silver cigarette case. Something Charlie didn’t see very often anymore, even in the secondhand business. It was glowing, pulsating like the objects in the back room. â€Å"I was in the neighborhood and something made me think that this belonged here.† She moved to the counter opposite Charlie and set the cigarette case down in front of him. Charlie could barely move. He stared at her, not even conscious that to avoid her eyes he was staring at her cleavage, and she appeared to be looking around his head and shoulders as if following the path of insects that were buzzing around him. â€Å"Touch me,† she said. â€Å"Huh?† He looked up, saw she was serious. She held out her hand; her nails were manicured and painted the same deep red as her lipstick. He took her hand. As soon as she touched him she pulled away. â€Å"You’re warm.† â€Å"Thanks.† In that moment he realized that she wasn’t. Her fingers had been ice-cold. â€Å"Then you’re not one of us?† He tried to think of what â€Å"us† might be? Irish? Low blood pressure? Nymphomaniac? Why did he even think that? â€Å"Us? What do you mean, ‘us’?† She backed away a step. â€Å"No. You don’t just take the weak and the sick, do you? You take anyone.† â€Å"Take? What do you mean, ‘take’?† â€Å"You don’t even know, do you?† â€Å"Know what?† Charlie was getting very nervous. As a Beta Male, he found it difficult enough to function under the attention of a beautiful woman, but she was just plain spooky. â€Å"Wait. Can you see this thing glowing?† He held out the cigarette case. â€Å"No glow. It just felt like it belonged here,† she said. â€Å"What’s your name?† â€Å"Charlie Asher. This is Asher’s.† â€Å"Well, Charlie, you seem like a nice guy, and I don’t know exactly what you are, and it doesn’t seem like you know. You don’t, do you?† â€Å"I’ve been going through some changes,† Charlie said, wondering why he felt compelled to share this at all. The redhead nodded, as if confirming something to herself. â€Å"Okay. I know what it’s like to, uh, to find yourself thrown into a situation where forces beyond your control are changing you into someone, something you don’t have an owner’s manual for. I understand what it is to not know. But someone, somewhere, does know. Someone can tell you what’s going on.† â€Å"What are you talking about?† But he knew what she was talking about. What he didn’t know was how she could possibly know. â€Å"You make people die, don’t you, Charlie?† She said it like she had worked up the courage to tell him that he had some spinach in his teeth. More of a service to him than an accusation. â€Å"How do you – ?† How did she – â€Å"Because it’s what I do. Not like you, but it’s what I do. Find them, Charlie. Backtrack and find whoever was there when your world changed.† Charlie looked at her, then at the cigarette case, then at the redhead again, who was no longer smiling, but was stepping backward toward the door. Trying to stay in touch with normal, he focused on the cigarette case and said, â€Å"I suppose I can do an appraisal – â€Å" He heard the bell over the door jingle, and when he looked up she was gone. He didn’t see her moving by the windows on either side of the door; she was just gone. He ran to the front of the store and out the door onto the sidewalk. The Mason Street cable car was just topping the hill up by California Street and he could hear the bell, there was a thin fog coming up from the Bay that threw colorful halos around the neon signs of the other businesses, but there was no striking redhead on the street. He went to the corner and looked down Vallejo, but again no redhead, just the Emperor, sitting against the building with his dogs. â€Å"Good evening, Charlie.† â€Å"Your Majesty, did you see a redhead go by here just now?† â€Å"Oh yes. Spoke to her. I’m not sure you have a chance there, Charlie, I believe she’s spoken for. And she did warn me to stay away from you.† â€Å"Why? Did she say why?† â€Å"She said that you were Death.† â€Å"I am?† Charlie said. â€Å"Am I?† His breath caught in his throat as the day played back in his head. â€Å"What if I am?† â€Å"You know, son,† the Emperor said, â€Å"I am not an expert in dealing with the fairer sex, but you might want to save that bit of information until the third date or so, after they’ve gotten to know you a little.† A Dirty Job Chapter 6 He’d worked up a furious appetite because breakfast was running late today. The Emperor had slept on a bench by the Maritime Museum, and during the night his arthritic knee had snaked out of his wool overcoat into the damp cold, making the walk to North Beach and the Italian bakery that gave them free day-old a slow and painful ordeal. The Emperor groaned and sat down on an empty milk crate. He was a great rolling bear of a man, his shoulders broad but a little broken from carrying the weight of the city. A white tangle of hair and beard wreathed his face like a storm cloud. As far as he could remember, he and the troops had patrolled the city streets forever, but upon further consideration, it might have just been since Wednesday. He wasn’t entirely sure. The Emperor decided to make a proclamation to the troops about the importance of compassion in the face of the rising tide of heinous fuckery and political weaselocity in the nearby kingdom of the United States. (He found his audience was most attentive to his proclamations when the meat-laced focaccia were still nuzzled in the larder of his overcoat pockets, and presently a pepperoni and Parmesan reposed fragrant in the woolly depths, so the royal hounds were rapt.) But just as he cleared his throat to begin, a cargo van came screeching around the corner, went up on two wheels as it plowed through a row of garbage cans, and slid to a stop not fifty feet away. The driver’s-side door flew open and a thin man in a suit leapt out, carrying a cane and a woman’s fur coat, and made a beeline for the back door of Asher’s. But before he got two steps the man fell to the concrete as if hit from behind, then rolled on his back and began flailing at the air with the cane an d the coat. The Emperor, who knew most everyone, recognized Charlie Asher. Bummer erupted into a fit of yapping, but the more levelheaded Lazarus growled once and took off toward Charlie. â€Å"Lazarus!† the Emperor shouted, but the retriever charged on, followed now by his bug-eyed brother in arms. Charlie was back on his feet and swinging the cane as if he was fencing with some phantom, using the coat like a shield. Living on the street, the Emperor had seen a lot of people battling with unseen demons, but Charlie Asher was apparently scoring some hits. The cane was making a thwacking noise against what appeared to be thin air – but no, there was something there, a shadow of some sort? The Emperor climbed to his feet and limped into the fray, but before he got two steps Lazarus had leapt and appeared to be attacking Charlie, but he soared over the shopkeeper and snapped at a spot above his head – then hung there, his jaws sunk into the substantial neck of thin air. Charlie took advantage of the distraction, stepped back, and swung the cane above the levitating golden retriever. There was a smack, and Lazarus let go, but now Bummer launched himself at the invisible foe. He missed whatever was there, and ended up performing a doggy swish shot into a garbage can. Charlie made for the steel door of Asher’s again, but found it locked, and as he reached for his keys, something caught him from behind. â€Å"Let go, fuckface,† the shade screeched. The fur coat Charlie was holding appeared to be swept out of his hand and was pulled straight up, over the four-story building and out of sight. Charlie turned and held the cane at ready, but whatever had been there seemed to be gone now. â€Å"Aren’t you just supposed to sit above the door and nevermore and be poetic and stuff?!† he shouted at the sky. Then, for good measure, added, â€Å"You evil fuck!† Lazarus barked, then whined. A sharp and metallic yapping rose from Bummer’s garbage can. â€Å"Well, you don’t see that every day,† said the Emperor as he limped up to Charlie. â€Å"You could see that?† â€Å"Well, no, not really. Merely a shadow, but I could see that something was there. There was something there, wasn’t there, Charlie?† Charlie nodded, trying to catch his breath. â€Å"It will be back. It followed me across the city.† He dug into his pocket for his keys. â€Å"You guys should duck into the store with me, Your Majesty.† Of course Charlie knew the Emperor. Every San Franciscan knew the Emperor. The Emperor smiled. â€Å"That’s very kind of you, but we will be perfectly safe. For now I need to free my charge from his galvanized prison.† The big man tipped the garbage can and Bummer emerged snorting and tossing his head as if ready to tear the ass out of any man or beast foolhardy enough to cross him (and he would have, as long as they were knee-high or shorter). Charlie was still having trouble with the key. He knew he should have had the lock replaced, but it worked, if you finessed it a little, so he’d never made it a priority. Who the hell thought you’d ever have to get in quick to escape a giant bird? Then he heard a screech and turned to see not one, but two huge ravens coming over the roof and diving into the alley. The dogs arfed a frantic barking salvo at the avian intruders and Charlie put so much body English into wiggling the key in the lock that he felt an atrophied dancing muscle tear in his hip. â€Å"They’re back. Cover me.† Charlie threw the cane to the Emperor and braced himself for the impact, but as soon as the cane touched the old man’s hand the birds were gone. You could almost hear the pop of the air replacing the space they had taken up. The dogs caught themselves in mid-ruff; Bummer whimpered. â€Å"What?† the Emperor said. â€Å"What?† â€Å"They’re gone.† The Emperor looked at the sky. â€Å"You’re sure?† â€Å"For now.† â€Å"I saw two shadows. Really saw them this time,† the Emperor said. â€Å"Yes, there were two this time.† â€Å"What are they?† â€Å"I have no idea, but when you took the cane they – well, they disappeared. You really saw them?† â€Å"I’m sure of it. Like smoke with a purpose.† Finally the key turned in the lock and the door to Asher’s back room swung open. â€Å"You should come in. Rest. I’ll order something to eat.† â€Å"No, no, the men and I must be on our rounds. I’ve decided to make a proclamation this morning and we need to see the printer. You’ll be needing this.† The Emperor presented the cane to Charlie like he was turning over a sword of the realm. Charlie started to take it, then thought better of it. â€Å"Your Majesty, I think you’d better keep that. It looks as if you might be able to use it.† Charlie nodded toward the Emperor’s creaky knee. The Emperor held the cane steady. â€Å"I am not a worshiper of the material, you know?† â€Å"I understand that.† â€Å"I am a firm believer that desire is the source of most of human suffering, you’re aware, and no culprit is more heinous than desire for material gain.† â€Å"I run my business based on those very principles. Still, I insist you keep the cane – as a favor to me, if you would?† Charlie found himself affecting the Emperor’s formal speech patterns, as if somehow he had been transported to a royal court where a nobleman was distinguished by bread crumbs in his beard and the royal guard were not above licking their balls. â€Å"Well, as a favor, I will accept. It is a fine piece of craftsmanship.† â€Å"But more importantly, it will permit you to make your rounds in good time.† The Emperor now betrayed the desire in his heart as he let fly a wide grin and hugged the cane to his chest. â€Å"It is fine, indeed. Charlie, I must confess something to you, but I ask you to grant me the credulity due a man who has just shared witness, with a friend, of two giant, raven-shaped shades.† â€Å"Of course.† Charlie smiled, when even a moment before he would have thought his smile lost somewhere in the months past. â€Å"I hope you won’t think me base, but the second I touched this, I felt as if I had been waiting for it my whole life.† Then, for no reason that he could think of, Charlie said, â€Å"I know.† A few minutes before, inside the store, Lily had been brooding. It wasn’t her general brood, the reaction to a world where everyone was stupid and life was meaningless and the mere act of living was futile, especially if your mother forgot to get coffee at the store. This one was a more specific brood, that had started out when she arrived at work and Ray had pointed out that it was her turn to wear the vacuuming tiara, and insisted that if she wore the tiara, she actually vacuum the store. (In fact, she liked wearing the rhinestone tiara that Charlie, in a move of blatant bourgeois sneakiness, had designated be worn by whoever did the vacuuming and sweeping each day, and no other time. It was the vacuuming and sweeping she objected to. She felt manipulated, used, and generally taken advantage of, and not in the fun way.) But today, after she’d put the tiara and the vacuum away and had finally gotten a couple of cups of coffee in her system, the brooding had gone on, bu ilding to full-scale angst, when it began to dawn on her that she was going to have to figure out this college-career thing, because despite what The Great Big Book of Death said, she had not been chosen as a dark minion of destruction. Fuck! She stood in the back room looking at all the items that Charlie had piled there the day before: shoes, lamps, umbrellas, porcelain figures, toys, a couple of books, and an old black-and-white television and a painting of a clown on black velvet. â€Å"He said this stuff was glowing?† she asked Ray, who stood in the doorway to the store. â€Å"Yes. He made me check it all with my Geiger counter.† â€Å"Ray, why the fuck do you have a Geiger counter?† â€Å"Lily, why do you have a nose stud shaped like a bat?† Lily ignored the question and picked up the ceramic frog from the night before, which now had a note taped to it that read DO NOT SELL OR DISPLAY in Charlie’s meticulous block-letter printing. â€Å"This was one of the things? This?† â€Å"That was the first one he freaked out about,† said Ray matter-of-factly. â€Å"The truant officer tried to buy it. That started it all.† Lily was shaken. She backed over to Charlie’s desk and sat in the squeaky oak swivel chair. â€Å"Do you see anything glowing or pulsating, Ray? Have you ever?† Ray shook his head. â€Å"He’s under a lot of stress, losing Rachel and taking care of the baby. I think maybe he needs to get some help. I know after I had to leave the force – † Ray paused. There was a commotion going on out in the alley, dogs barking and people shouting, then someone was working a key in the lock of the back door. A second later, Charlie came in, a little breathless, his clothes smudged here and there with grime, one sleeve of his jacket torn and bloodstained. â€Å"Asher,† Lily said. â€Å"You’re hurt.† She quickly vacated his chair while Ray took Charlie by the shoulders and sat him down. â€Å"I’m fine,† Charlie said. â€Å"No big deal.† â€Å"I’ll get the first-aid kit,† Ray said. â€Å"Get that jacket off of him, Lily.† â€Å"I’m fine,† Charlie said. â€Å"Quit talking about me like I’m not here.† â€Å"He’s delirious,† Lily said, trying to pry Charlie out of his jacket. â€Å"Do you have any painkillers, Ray?† â€Å"I don’t need painkillers,† Charlie said. â€Å"Shut up, Asher, they’re not for you,† Lily said, automatically, then she considered the book, Ray’s story, the notes on all the items in the back room, and she shuddered. It appeared that Charlie Asher might not be the hapless geek she always thought him to be. â€Å"Sorry, boss. Let us help you.† Ray came back from the front with a small plastic first-aid kit. He peeled back Charlie’s sleeve and began to clean the wounds with gauze and peroxide. â€Å"What happened?† â€Å"Nothing,† Charlie said. â€Å"I slipped and fell in some gravel.† â€Å"The wound’s pretty clean – no gravel in it. That must have been some fall.† â€Å"Long story.† Charlie sighed. â€Å"Ouch!† â€Å"What was all the noise in the alley?† Lily asked, needing badly to go smoke, but unable to pull herself away. She just couldn’t imagine that Charlie Asher was the one. How could it be him? He was so, so, unworthy. He didn’t understand the dark underbelly of life the way she did. Yet he was the one seeing the glowing objects. He was it. She was crestfallen. â€Å"Just the Emperor’s dogs after a seagull in the Dumpster. No big deal. I fell off a porch in Pacific Heights.† â€Å"The estate,† Ray said. â€Å"How’d that go?† â€Å"Not well. The husband was grief-stricken and had a heart attack while I was there.† â€Å"You’re kidding.† â€Å"No, he just sort of became overwhelmed thinking about his wife and collapsed. I gave him CPR until the EMTs came and took him off to the hospital.† â€Å"So,† Lily said, â€Å"did you get the – uh – did you get anything special?† â€Å"What?† Charlie’s eyes went wide. â€Å"What do you mean, special? There was nothing special.† â€Å"Chill, boss, I just meant will we get the grandma’s clothes?† He’s it, Lily thought. The fucker. Charlie shook his head. â€Å"I don’t know, it’s so strange. The whole thing is so strange.† He shuddered when he said it. â€Å"Strange how?† Lily said. â€Å"Strange in a cool and dark way, or strange because you’re Asher and you’re out of it most of the time?† â€Å"Lily!† Ray snapped. â€Å"Go out front. Dust something.† â€Å"You’re not the boss of me, Ray. I’m just showing my concern.† â€Å"It’s okay, Ray.† Charlie looked like he was considering how, exactly, to define strange, and not coming up with anything that was working. Finally he said, â€Å"Well, for one thing, this woman’s estate is way out of our league. The husband said he called me because we were the first secondhand store in the phone book, but he doesn’t seem like the kind of man to do something like that.† â€Å"That’s not that strange,† Lily said. Just confess, she thought. â€Å"You said that he was grief-stricken,† Ray said, dabbing antibiotic ointment on Charlie’s cuts. â€Å"Maybe he’s doing things differently.† â€Å"Yes, and he was angry at his wife, too, for the way she died.† â€Å"How?† Lily asked. â€Å"She ate silica gel,† Charlie said. Lily looked at Ray for an explanation, because silica gel sounded techno-geeky, which was Ray’s particular field of geekdom. Ray said, â€Å"It’s the antidesiccant that they pack with electronics and other things that are sensitive to humidity.† â€Å"The ‘Do Not Eat’ stuff?!† Lily said. â€Å"Oh my God, that’s so stupid. Everyone knows you don’t eat the ‘Do Not Eat’ stuff.† Charlie said, â€Å"Mr. Mainheart was pretty broken up.† â€Å"Well, I guess so,† Lily said. â€Å"He married a complete fucktard.† Charlie cringed. â€Å"Lily, that’s not appropriate.† Lily shrugged and rolled her eyes. She hated it when Charlie dropped into Dad mode. â€Å"Okay, okay. I’m going outside to smoke.† â€Å"No!† Charlie jumped out of the chair and put himself between Lily and the back door. â€Å"Out front. From now on if you have to smoke you go out front.† â€Å"But you said that I look like a child hooker when I smoke out front.† â€Å"I’ve reassessed. You’ve matured.† Lily closed one eye to see if she could better glimpse into his soul and thus figure out his true agenda. She smoothed over her black vinyl skirt, which made a tortured, squeaking noise at the touch. â€Å"You’re trying to say I have a big butt, aren’t you?† â€Å"I absolutely am saying no such thing,† Charlie insisted. â€Å"I am simply saying that your presence in front of the store is an asset and will probably attract business from the tourists on the cable car.† â€Å"Oh. Okay.† Lily snatched her box of cloves off the desk and headed out past the counter and outside to brood, grieve really, because as much as she had hoped, she was not Death. The book was Charlie’s. That evening Charlie was watching the store, wondering why he had lied to his employees, when he saw a flash of red passing by the front window. A second later, a strikingly pale redhead came through the door. She was wearing a short, black cocktail dress and black fuck-me pumps. She strode up the aisle like she was auditioning for a music video. Her hair cascaded in long curls around her shoulders and down her back like a great auburn veil. Her eyes were emerald green, and when she saw him looking, she smiled, and stopped, some ten feet away. Charlie felt an almost painful jolt that seemed to emanate from somewhere in the area of his groin, and after a second he recognized it as an autonomic lust response. He hadn’t felt anything like that since Rachel had passed, and he felt vaguely ashamed. She was examining him, looking him over like you would examine a used car. He was sure he must be blushing. â€Å"Hi,† Charlie said. â€Å"Can I help you?† The redhead smiled again, just a little, and reached into a small black bag that he hadn’t noticed she’d been carrying. â€Å"I found this,† she said, holding up a silver cigarette case. Something Charlie didn’t see very often anymore, even in the secondhand business. It was glowing, pulsating like the objects in the back room. â€Å"I was in the neighborhood and something made me think that this belonged here.† She moved to the counter opposite Charlie and set the cigarette case down in front of him. Charlie could barely move. He stared at her, not even conscious that to avoid her eyes he was staring at her cleavage, and she appeared to be looking around his head and shoulders as if following the path of insects that were buzzing around him. â€Å"Touch me,† she said. â€Å"Huh?† He looked up, saw she was serious. She held out her hand; her nails were manicured and painted the same deep red as her lipstick. He took her hand. As soon as she touched him she pulled away. â€Å"You’re warm.† â€Å"Thanks.† In that moment he realized that she wasn’t. Her fingers had been ice-cold. â€Å"Then you’re not one of us?† He tried to think of what â€Å"us† might be? Irish? Low blood pressure? Nymphomaniac? Why did he even think that? â€Å"Us? What do you mean, ‘us’?† She backed away a step. â€Å"No. You don’t just take the weak and the sick, do you? You take anyone.† â€Å"Take? What do you mean, ‘take’?† â€Å"You don’t even know, do you?† â€Å"Know what?† Charlie was getting very nervous. As a Beta Male, he found it difficult enough to function under the attention of a beautiful woman, but she was just plain spooky. â€Å"Wait. Can you see this thing glowing?† He held out the cigarette case. â€Å"No glow. It just felt like it belonged here,† she said. â€Å"What’s your name?† â€Å"Charlie Asher. This is Asher’s.† â€Å"Well, Charlie, you seem like a nice guy, and I don’t know exactly what you are, and it doesn’t seem like you know. You don’t, do you?† â€Å"I’ve been going through some changes,† Charlie said, wondering why he felt compelled to share this at all. The redhead nodded, as if confirming something to herself. â€Å"Okay. I know what it’s like to, uh, to find yourself thrown into a situation where forces beyond your control are changing you into someone, something you don’t have an owner’s manual for. I understand what it is to not know. But someone, somewhere, does know. Someone can tell you what’s going on.† â€Å"What are you talking about?† But he knew what she was talking about. What he didn’t know was how she could possibly know. â€Å"You make people die, don’t you, Charlie?† She said it like she had worked up the courage to tell him that he had some spinach in his teeth. More of a service to him than an accusation. â€Å"How do you – ?† How did she – â€Å"Because it’s what I do. Not like you, but it’s what I do. Find them, Charlie. Backtrack and find whoever was there when your world changed.† Charlie looked at her, then at the cigarette case, then at the redhead again, who was no longer smiling, but was stepping backward toward the door. Trying to stay in touch with normal, he focused on the cigarette case and said, â€Å"I suppose I can do an appraisal – â€Å" He heard the bell over the door jingle, and when he looked up she was gone. He didn’t see her moving by the windows on either side of the door; she was just gone. He ran to the front of the store and out the door onto the sidewalk. The Mason Street cable car was just topping the hill up by California Street and he could hear the bell, there was a thin fog coming up from the Bay that threw colorful halos around the neon signs of the other businesses, but there was no striking redhead on the street. He went to the corner and looked down Vallejo, but again no redhead, just the Emperor, sitting against the building with his dogs. â€Å"Good evening, Charlie.† â€Å"Your Majesty, did you see a redhead go by here just now?† â€Å"Oh yes. Spoke to her. I’m not sure you have a chance there, Charlie, I believe she’s spoken for. And she did warn me to stay away from you.† â€Å"Why? Did she say why?† â€Å"She said that you were Death.† â€Å"I am?† Charlie said. â€Å"Am I?† His breath caught in his throat as the day played back in his head. â€Å"What if I am?† â€Å"You know, son,† the Emperor said, â€Å"I am not an expert in dealing with the fairer sex, but you might want to save that bit of information until the third date or so, after they’ve gotten to know you a little.†

Career Progress Initiating, Inspiring, Leading Essay

Career Progress Initiating, Inspiring, Leading - Essay Example When I worked as an engineer at Intel from 2001 to 2004, I inspired my mediocre team into a top unit, by initiating an out-of-the-box thinking environment that resulted in over 30 technical innovations in just 1 year. I followed up this innovation culture by leading a cross-departmental platform where engineers from across the company could contribute and share a think tank of ideas that solved several long-running problems of many a unit. I learnt that inspiring others to achieve their dreams is a wonderful achievement in itself. I also learnt that taking initiative to lead a change process is well worth the risk of failure. The team of engineers that I led published ten articles on the prestigious Intel Disclosure Forum in one year - a record by far. From 2004 to 2007, I worked as a business consultant at Accenture, in charge of setting up the billion-dollar industry giant's operations in China. It was a daunting task to apply the best practices of the company in the traditional Chinese environment. I found my way around the problem in two ways. Customizing these practices to best suit the local needs, and innovating new ideas that helped the client learn and adopt them. I learned to interact with the top management and the employees of several Chinese companies to make them familiar of the changing business realities and inspiring them to embrace new ideas. This consulting experience gave me tremendous insight into different businesses, managerial philosophies, operational styles and global perspectives. I also got to learn how to communicate with top executives and persuade them to see my point of view. My Candidacy Since I worked as tennis coach I have always dreamed of building a tennis school of my own. Since I applied last time at Wharton my life has been very eventful. I have gone ahead and implemented my dream to some extent. I have been making plans and accumulating a small fortune on my own for my school all this time and things finally fell into place early this year. A high school was on sale in the neighborhood and I decided to buy this school and transform it into to a sports school. This sudden turn of events has caught me unawares on several skills of entrepreneurship that I had no idea about. First, I learnt how to write a business plan and persuade others to invest in it. I raised money from eleven colleagues in Intel and Accenture and four alumni. They became my founding shareholders. Secondly, I learnt the psychological side of managing people. It took a lot of efforts to make the former management team of the school to understand my ideas and to keep them from quitting. Third, I learnt about marketing & sales, a function that I had never touched before. This entrepreneurship experience has given me tremendous confidence in myself and hands-on experience in setting-up and running a business from the scratch. I feel, I am better equipped to understand the latest theories and practices of the business world than last year. I am also more focused in my approach to studies, with a well etched out career plan. Career Goals Based on the current business, I set my short-term career goal to build a brand name for this sports education venture by associating it with famous athletes, pioneering education philosophies, and sponsoring local sports events. I want to

Fiscal Impact That Economic Crisis Has Had On Law Enforcement Essay

Fiscal Impact That Economic Crisis Has Had On Law Enforcement Organizations - Essay Example Since then, policing has been a significant division of the public. Since policing is an important sector in the society. The police of the 21st century are faced with new challenges that need to be discussed. This easy is going to take the readers through the five most important challenges that the 21st centaury police are facing. These five main challenges include governance, cost and cuts, resources, crime and detection and operational priority. Considering the above challenges brings as to the main statement: The officers of Law Enforcement are faced with numerous challenges today as they risk their lives to defend and serve their communities. The tripartite model of Police Authority, Chief Constable and Home Office is very unclear with the existing grate confusion over the roles and responsibility. A solution needs to provide for the professional governance of the police service which is in a confused mess. The removal of NPIA and the changes cried out in SOCA model are a sign the challenges are being treated with seriousness. There are numerous quangos and technical empires and fiefdoms. The skills and expertise contained inside the large number of departments need consolidation and identification, applying the formulae of money value for areas and individuals. The ACPO statue plus all of his 349 members need to be repositioned and remodeled so that there is an increment in accountability and transparency. For there to be confident from the public, the reposition must start from the top with the structure of governance that makes the people who found it accountable, instead of the self perpetuating oligarchy that curren tly pervades. The question that the readers need to ask themselves is that, should there be 43 separately governed different forces within Wales and England (May and Herbert, 2010)? After many years of growth, the pressure in the service has heightened for them to demonstrate that they

An Interview with George Washington Research Paper

An Interview with George Washington - Research Paper Example Instead, I celebrate the time that they had in this world and the difference they made in the lives of those they touched. I was also blessed to have family and friends to get me through those hard times. My brother Lawrence became like a parent to me after the demise of our father and his father-in-law William Fairfax also played a large role in molding me into the man you see standing before you. As you can see, the almighty may have taken my father to be with him but he provided me with two capable replacements in return and thus I was never lacking. Washington: (Laughing) Ah yes, not many predicted this path for me when I was young lad. My father, God rest his soul, was a slave owner and a farmer of tobacco. I can say he had enterprising spirit within him and he liked to try new things for he later also tried his luck in the iron mining business. Washington: Well after my father’s demise, I unfortunately could not follow in the steps of my older brothers and cross the seas for an education from Appleby School in England. Thus alternative choices had to be sought elsewhere nearer home. Funnily enough, I was to join the Royal Navy on my 15th birthday but our poor mother could not bear to see her son taken through such rigorous experiences! Little did she know that my path would still cross with the military’s later on. Washington: Alas no, my dear brother Lawrence assisted me in getting a job as an official surveyor for Culpeper County and my involvement with the military only occurred after he had breathed his last on this earth. (Pauses) Lawrence was a good man. He held a position in the militia as Adjutant General and his true value was revealed when they divvied this position into four parts after his death. Few people can say that they did the work of four men but my brother is one of them. I was appointed to occupy one of these four positions and thus my stint in the military began as a district adjutant