A Dirty Job Chapter 16

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

Practicum in Educational Leadership

‘As for the best leaders, the people do non detect their being ; the following best, the people honour and praise ; the following, people fear ; the following, the people hate†¦ when the best leader ‘s work is done, the people say, â€Å" We did it ourselves. † ‘ Lao-tsu ( circa 500 BC ) . The Council of Chief State School Officers has adopted the undermentioned as the organisation ‘s mission statement: CCSSO, through leading, protagonism, and service, assists main province school officers and their organisations in accomplishing the vision of an American instruction system that enables all kids to win in school, work, and life. Introduction During old ages as a instructor, leading manner has been collaborative, enthusiastically seeking sense engagement. Always take part in determination devising and seeking an chance. I believe that instructors learn a great trade from their experience, and besides â€Å" I see failure as an chance for alteration † . I will seek to stand for the features of effectual leaders in schools. Research workers say that pupils gain important accomplishment in schools in which principals province a clear school mission, present in schoolrooms and hallways, hold high outlooks for instructors and pupils, spend a major part of the twenty-four hours working with instructors to better tuition, are actively involved in naming instructional jobs and make a positive school clime. A twenty-four hours in the life of a principal can be spent seeking to maintain little unpleasant incidents from going an unattractive chief catastrophe. Good principals in some manner find clip to develop a vision of what that school should be and to portion that vision with all members of the educational community. Successful principals can show a specific school mission, and they strain invention and betterment. A Clear School mission could be ‘providing instruction of first-class quality to all students irrespective of spiritual economic, cultural and societal background ‘ and a Clear School Vision could be ‘to aid upgrading the educational degree of Cyprus youth set uping Cyprus as an one good educated state with a really valuable human resource plus. In less effectual schools, instructors do non hold a common apprehension of the school ‘s mission, and they seem as persons be aftering their ain separate classs. The demand for the principal to portion his or her vision expands non merely to instructors but to parents as good. When instructors work as a group and parents are connected with the school ‘s mission, the kids are more likely to carry through academic success. The cardinal function for a caput instructor is that of authorization, making a civilization in which the ability and endowment of the staff is non merely valued, but to the full applied. If caput instructors do non do it clear that all staff ( learning and support staff ) have the authorization to do determinations, to be advanced and originative, so they will presume that they do non. If that happens, the immense assets of cognition and experience that exists in all schools will remain undeveloped. ASPECTS OF THE SCHOOL School context We consider a High School which functioning about 960 pupils. A large chance starts at a school which its edifice appears to be non to the full constructed and the school premises are 25-year-old. It is a challenge of first principal. It is really a comprehensive school, with approximately 85 % of bulk cultural pupils. The school enjoys a really good repute, locally and nationally, as a successful, advanced school and has done for many old ages. On entry to the school, pupil public presentation is loosely in line with national outlooks. More than 70 % of pupils systematically achieve nucleus topics. 58 % of pupils achieved five or more A* to C classs ( 2005 ) . 95 % of pupils achieved A-E classs at GCE A degree, with about all pupils deriving their first pick higher instruction topographic point. Consequences across the school have been systematically good for many old ages, although betterment is a current focal point for us. The aim is to make a unagitated professional environment in which pupils move about in smaller, calmer groups. Some schools have managed to accomplish a state of affairs where staff takes their categories down to interrupt or tiffin during an drawn-out lesson, and return to go on the lesson.A These relationships between staff and students are implicative of extremely effectual acquisition environments.Prosecuting instructorsAll of the developments discussed here rely on holding the right staff making the right occupations. Teachers should be involved in advancing the positive values of the school and the school civilization, planning and implementing the most effectual and motivational lessons possible. Teachers will be back uping all pupils to guarantee that they are larning every bit good as possible and supervising the advancement of all students so that they can move where advancement is unequal. That is a immense occupation. School leaders should non let instructors to go delayed in inordinate study authorship, look intoing behavioral issues, executing societal attention ( beyond that which we would anticipate from any caring instructor in that it could be provided in the schoolroom ) , school responsibilities, screen for absent co-workers ( unless there is a clear educational ground for making so ) . Workforce development has moved us on well with this. It is non that we should non make these things in school ; it is merely that we should use the right people to make them, and they are non teachers.A Many of these activities are so of import that we need professional staff to see them as their chief function in school. We should non go forth them in the custodies of instructors who may be able to suit them in between lessons, at interruption or at lunchtime, while seeking to concentrate on their instruction activities. Future programs We are committed to the thought that every pupil should win and accomplish, although they may show this in many ways.A The Government has set a considerable challenge for us through its docket, which opens up the course of study to present a scope of vocational and academic paths. It has besides challenged us to put a new outlook that most pupils will go on instruction in a coherent and planned manner to the age of 19, with GCSE, IGCE and tantamount makings merely a marker along the way.A To run into the challenge of this immense course of study entitlement, we must join forces with other schools and colleges in a manner we have non seen earlier. Schools and colleges will necessitate to better their footings to run into the demands of all pupils, instead than convert students that the footings we have traditionally offered is what they want.A To make this, the collaborative spirit will hold to replace the competitory spirit. The hereafter is non so much about being an effectual school as it is about being in an effectual teamwork to supply broad-ranging individualized acquisition. Plan OF ACTIVITIESSurviving the first twelvemonthPlan your clip. Decide what issues you are traveling to work on during the hebdomad. If you assign clip to work on fixing points required for regulating organic structure meetings, so seek to maintain to this timetable. It is impractical to believe that you will be able to maintain stiffly to the timetable you have made. Trust others and larn to depute. As a new caput instructor, deputation is sometimes a small hard to take clasp of. Schools are full of professional and really capable people. Let people cognize your outlooks and enable them to acquire on with the undertaking in manus. Get to cognize your leading squad. However large or little your school is, your senior leading squad is important and their support, committedness and finding to take the school with you are critical. Allocate quality clip to speak, work and reflect with this group of persons and listen to what they have to state. Stay focused and productive. Try non to do instant determinations and dramatic alterations that affect the work of other staff and kids, where they have had no engagement or make non understand the principle behind the determination made.Detecting effectual schoolsAn effectual school is a school in which pupils achieve high criterions that they can utilize in their future instruction or the workplace, a school where pupils experience safe and happy. It promotes those values that will assist pupils to go good and responsible citizens, enable them to go involved in their community and go good household members. We all write these kinds of things in our school mission statements and school paperss, but we are all excessively frequently distracted from them in daily planning.A High criterions are non the preserve of a few socially advantaged persons and we should ne'er take down our outlooks on the footing of societal background. For that ground, contextual informations can go forth us excessively easy satisfied with hapless performance.A I am privileged to hold worked in some effectual schools with staff that have developed extremely effectual schemes. There are many extremely effectual schools across the state. Visiting them with an unfastened head makes you come off with a firing desire to develop something of what you have seen for your ain school. I would urge this as a scheme for caput instructors every bit good as for instructors, support staff and pupils from across the school.A Establishing precedences in your ain school will needfully come from a audience with school stakeholders.A I have sometimes found it utile to keep visioning yearss, where stakeholders are invited to place future precedences for the school and these are so used to assist the senior squad set precedences within the school betterment program. When making this it is of import to affect all stakeholders: instructors, support staff, pupils, parents, governors, spouse schools and many other groups that work with the school.Bettering behaviorThe get downing point in any school has to be behaviour. We all know how to cover with the Acts of the Apostless of terrible verbal or physical aggression that sometimes take topographic point in our schools. They are upsetting but they are, in general, occasional and are non the major break from assisting pupils to learn.A The behavior jobs that cause a existent job in schools are by and large low degree, but can render everything else we attempt to make virtually useless. Lack of attending from pupils, speaking out of bend and small argues in the schoolroom are far more likely to damage effectual instruction than anything else.A It is this type of behavior that instructors seldom deal with efficaciously or mention to other school leaders. While it is of import that we continually back up instructors to make a schoolroom environment in which they are in charge and which encourages good behavior, we besides have a responsibility as school leaders to pull off the effects of hapless behaviors centrally.ADevelop Behaviour for larning programme.The attack is simple: no student is allowed to interrupt another pupil ‘s acquisition or to do anyone feel uncomfortable, threatened or unhappy. Students are made cognizant of the effects of making these things and all grownups in the school are empowered to enter the fact that a student has disobeyed this codification. A cardinal squad of staff, including senior staff and support staff, ensures that the effects are ever carried out.A Students and parents regard the programme as just and consistent. It empowers all staff ; given all staff do precisely the same thing when a pupil misbehaves. It besides ensures that instructors carry on making their occupation, learning the well behaved pupils who are all excessively frequently left waiting while they watch instructors seeking to cover with uncooperative students.A Wagess for larning are every bit of import and can be administered in accurately the same manner. The thought that pupils can derive wagess that have financial value and can be spent in a school wagess house is peculiarly effectual. Behaviour for larning schemes can hold dramatic effects on a school in footings of drawing the whole school community together around a common focal point.Making right larning environmentWe are seeking to develop a school that is professional larning environment, where pupils feel that they are in school to larn and will be supported from the minute they walk in through the door.A Create this through good thought out be aftering when the school was built. Whatever type of edifice we have, it will normally be possible to make the infinite to observe pupil accomplishment and guarantee that everyone who visits the school and every pupil who enters the school knows how well pupils achieve and how good they, as persons, will accomplish in the future.A The issue of corridor behavior and overcrowding may look unimportant but it is an facet of school life that pupils do non like and sometimes fright. Surely, overcrowded corridors and the hapless behavior that frequently accompanies them sabotage our efforts to make professional acquisition environments. We need to undertake the ‘school mill ‘ environment through originative timetabling and school administration. One manner we have gone about this is to make an uninterrupted twenty-four hours.Achieving personalised acquisition in patternMaking the right civilization, environment and ethos in a school, where pupils know they have come to larn, hold high self-pride and swear the school to present, are critical innovators to good instruction and learning.A No sum of attempt to better criterions of instruction will hold much impact unless they are in topographic point. However, holding established the right civilization, the schoolroom experience must present and run into the single demands of every student. This requires each instructor to cognize the demands of each single student, and for constructions to be where pupils can be assigned to the right instruction groups to run into those needs.A The personalizing acquisition docket presents us with many challenges. First of wholly, it is now indispensable that every instructor has instant entree to student informations in the schoolroom in an utile signifier. This means that either every schoolroom needs a computing machine or every instructor needs a laptop that will entree the school network.A Right construction If head instructors create level leading structures that inquire all staff to lend to problem-solving, that do non get down out with defined solutions that everybody else is supposed to think, so that corporate cognition and experience will be used to travel the school forward.A Structures need to reenforce the construct that every member of staff can do determination. This is non to state that staffs are non accountable for their determinations ; it is of import that they are. It is non to state that a caput instructor or other senior leader should non set forward their ain positions or solutions ; they should. It is non to state that we should non sometimes justice that, on this juncture, this is a affair that the caput instructor needs to make up one's mind. However, it is of import to listen to all members of staff ( and parents and pupils for that affair ) , to be clear about which determinations you are doing and which 1s they are able to do and to swear them to do many more determinations than has been the instance traditionally in schools. Trusting on coaction Making an effectual school is believing about coaction, sharing thoughts and networking. I am thankful to those who have shared their thought with me and look frontward to future duologue, which I trust will assist us all to develop first-class schools for all immature people. Choosing the appropriate webs to work with is a affair of personal pick and school context. It is deserving developing relationships through national webs excessively. The advantage to working in webs outside your ain vicinity is twofold. On the one manus the scope of schemes to which you become exposed is greater and will affect schools that have developed otherwise and under different restraints. It is frequently easier to look objectively at a school when you do non hold a preset image of the school and when you are non in competition with it for students.A Safe and organized ClimateSurely before pupils can larn or instructors can learn, schools must be safe. An insecure school is considered uneffective and besides the public see it as deficiency of subject to be among the most serious jobs confronting schools. Schools must supply safe acquisition environments. Safe schools focus on academic accomplishment, the school mission, affecting households and communities in school activit ies, and making an environment where instructors, pupils and staff are treated with regard. Student jobs are identified early, before they get worse into force. School psychologists, particular educationA plans, household societal workers, and school broad plans increase communicating and cut down school emphasis.Monitoring Student ProgressWe could observe attractive shows of pupil work on bulletin boards and walls. Besides, posted few pupil documents and charting of advancement towards academic ends. Students could hold a clear sense of how they were making in their surveies ; they kept advancement charts in their notebooks and think of ways to better their academic public presentation. Teachers referred to student booklets that contained thorough records of pupil tonss onA standardised trials, every bit good as samples of category work, prep, and public presentation on hebdomadal trials. It is really of import that school carefully proctors pupil advancement and communicates this information to pupils and parents. Effective schools carefully monitor and assess pupil advancement in a assortment of ways. Using trials such as Norm-referenced testsA and Objective-referenced testsA to compare single pupils with others in a nationwide mean group and step whether a pupil has a ‘chosen ‘ organic structure of cognition ( assessment trials ) . Furthermore, some instructors ask pupils to follow their ain advancement in acquiring class aims as a manner of assisting them presume more duty for their ain acquisition. Homework is another scheme to supervise pupils. Homework additions student achievement tonss and accomplishment is increased when prep is ranked and commented on. Even though ranked prep is an of import ingredient in pupil accomplishment.High ExpectationsStudents could have extraordinary tonss on a trial than predicted and kids could achieve outstanding academic additions. An effectual school ever depend on the power of instructor outlooks in determining pupil accomplishment. A termA of self-fulfilling prophecyA is publicized as ‘students may larn as much or every b it small as instructors expect ‘ . Although, teacher outlooks do, in fact, produce high pupil accomplishment, and low outlooks produce low accomplishment. Excessively frequently, teacher outlooks have a negative impact. An inaccurate judgement about a pupil can he do because of mistake, unconscious bias, or stereotype. For illustration, fine-looking, well-groomed pupils are often thought to be smarter than their less attractive equals. Often, male pupils are thought to be brighter in math, scientific discipline, and engineering, while misss are given the border in linguistic communication accomplishments. Students of coloring material are sometimes perceived as less capable or intelligent. A hapless public presentation on a individual standardised trial ( possibly due to illness or an â€Å" off † twenty-four hours ) can do instructors to keep an inaccurate appraisal of a pupil ‘s ability for months and even old ages. Even a insouciant remark in the instructors ‘ sofa can determine the outlooks of other instructors. When instructors hold low outlooks for certain pupils, their intervention of these pupils frequently differs in unconscious ways. Typically, they offer such pupils fewer chances to react, less congratulations, less ambitious work and fewerA nonverbalA marks ( oculus contact, smilings, positive respect ) . In effectual schools, instructors hold high outlooks that pupils can larn, and they translate these outlooks into learning behaviors. They set aims, work toward command of those aims, pass more clip on direction, and actively monitor pupil advancement. They are convinced that pupils can win. Do high outlooks work if pupils do non believe they be? Probably non, and that is excessively frequently the instance. While a bulk ofA secondary schoolA principals believe that their schools hold such outlooks for their pupils, merely 39 per centum of instructors believe this to be true and even more discouraging, merely one in four pupils believe their school holds high outlooks for them. We need to make a better occupation of pass oning these outlooks to pupils, and doing certain that these outlooks genuinely challenge pupils. And it is non lone pupils who benefit from high outlooks. When instructors keep high outlooks for their ain public presentation so the full school benefits. Always endeavoring for excellence, these instructors felt that no affair how good a category was taught, following clip it could be taught better. Methodology Actions to do effectual schooling ( Memoranda-Letter )Early startHigh-quality plans include parent preparation, particular showing services, and appropriate acquisition chances for kids. Such plans are rare, but can significantly raise IQ points and enhance linguistic communication accomplishments. Some of the kids are notA readingA at grade degree and by the terminal of the first class face a one-in-eight opportunity of of all time catching up. In math, pupils who do non get the hang basic constructs find themselves playing catch-up throughout their school old ages. Effective schools identify and rectify such lacks early, before pupil public presentation get worse.Smaller classesASmaller categories are associated with addition pupil larning, particularly in the earlier classs. Children in categories of 15 outperform pupils in categories of 25, even when the larger categories have a instructor ‘s protagonist in attending.Increased acquisition timeALonger school yearss, longer s chool old ages, more efficient usage of school clip, and more ranked prep are all proved methods of heightening academic acquisition clip and pupil public presentation. Appraisal: A Investing clip is utile, but measuring how efficaciously the clip is spent is besides of import. Testing pupil public presentation has been tied to greater accomplishment, and some territories have gone so far as to pay instructors inducements for betterments in student trial tonss.Teacher trainingAThe best manner to better school effectivity is by puting in teacher preparation. Stronger instructor accomplishments and makings lead to greater pupil larning. On the other manus, pupils pay an academic monetary value when they are taught by unqualified and uncertified instructors.TrustTrusting relationships among parents, pupils, principals and instructors is a necessary ingredient to regulate, better, and reform schools. As trust degrees addition, so does academic public presentation.What about engineering? ASchools that are unsure to pass financess on instructor preparation, category size decreases, orA early childhood educationA plans nevertheless are speedy to put important amounts in computing machines and upgraded engineering.Get to cognize the schoolACreate an being without being over-powering. Spend some clip standing in the resort area in the forenoon and after school. Welcome the kids into school in the forenoon, smiled and talked to parents as they looked suspiciously at the new caput and spoke to the community constabulary officers who control the traffic in the busy route around the school. You will derive a huge sum of information about the school from the kids, got to cognize the parent population and enabled them to see that you are interested in what they had to state about the issues that mattered to them. Do non walk around the school without a clear intent. Teachers and learning helpers have categories to settle at the beginning of the twelvemonth and do non desire to experience that they need to affect the new caput as you all of a sudden turn up in their schoolroom. By no agencies that you do non see schoolrooms and spend clip observing and acquiring to cognize staff and kids, but this should be planned into your apprehension of the school procedure and should hold an purpose of which the staff should be made cognizant.Developing the bigger pictureA ATell staff and kids ( what you feel is relevant ) about yourself, your experiences, and your outlooks. It is of import that they see you as a individual and non merely as the caput ship. Ask the staff what they expect of your function and what they hope you will accomplish in your first twelvemonth. I personally found this a really interesting exercising. Expectations ranged from back uping them and listening to their positions to bein g a confident leader and enabling them to portion and contribute.A It is of import to pass planned clip with each of the categories speaking to the students. Ask them what they like larning about, what frustrates them about the school, what their want for the school would be, what they believe your function within the school is and how are they able to assist you better the school. Above all, ask for the staff and kids to state you about what they truly like about the school, what would do it even better for them personally and for the school community as a whole. Remember that this is the ‘getting to cognize the school ‘ procedure and, while you will derive priceless cognition about the school, staff and kids, store the information you gain to develop your apprehension of the school you have been appointed to take. Do n't, nevertheless, promise to alter the universe or connote that you will take on every suggestion for betterment it will non go on overnight and you will merely be puting self-expectations that you may non be able to run into instantly. Always remember that you are non entirely. The fantastic staffs in the office frequently have a immense sum of cognition, understanding and skill that they are trusting you will do usage of. Their cognition of the parent population, pupil attending forms and local concern contacts should surely non be underestimated. Parents It would be a fantastic accomplishment if all parents were all of a sudden on the side of the new caput ; eager to delight, raise tonss of money for the school fund and line up up to lend to the school betterment program. It may be an unrealistic idea ab initio, but working on acquiring the relationship right with parents will guarantee that positive support is achieved from these valuable stakeholders. Invite parents to run into with you in an informal but structured scene. Held two separate meetings in order to supply parents with a pick of clip. During the meetings acquiring the balance right is important. Do n't offer a vision that you may non be up to gaining in the immediate hereafter as it will merely take to discouragement. Do portion with them, nevertheless, some of your values and rules and how you see them working with you. Invite them to state you in the signifier of a simple questionnaire what they believe to be positive facets of the school, countries they would wish to see improved in the immediate hereafter and what they would wish to see improved in the longer term. Keep parents good informed of any school betterments, peculiarly when a alteration has been made in response to facets that parents have suggested. Memoranda – Letterss Beloved Parent ( s ) : It is hard to show the exhilaration I am experiencing in being the new principal. It is an honor and privilege to be at the service of an outstanding faulty and the fantastic parents and pupils that make up the community of the school. With the reaching of new first, 3rd, and 4th class instructors, every bit good as a new secretary, I think you will experience and see a sense of newness and exhilaration as you walk through the halls of our school. I hope that you will experience welcome as you become involved with your kid ‘s experiences. Throughout the school twelvemonth, your kid ‘s instructor and I will be doing a particular attempt to remain in touch with you. We will maintain you informed of your kid ‘s advancement and school activities. Look for documents coming place from school each twenty-four hours, newssheets, invitations, updates, tips, and reminders. Your communicating with us is really of import, excessively. Please do n't waver to reach your kid ‘s instructor, or me, whenever you have a inquiry or concern. The school ‘s phone figure is 22-xxxxxx, and our facsimile figure is 22-xxxxxx. I hope you will take portion in your kid ‘s instruction by asking about their clip spent at school. Ask about their friends and instructors. Get involved as they complete their prep or seek you help on particular projects.. I am confident that your kid will show greater motive as you continue to demo involvement in their academic and societal experiences. We will surely work on our terminal to supply your kid with the best instruction possible. Let ‘s work together to do this an first-class school twelvemonth in every manner! Thank you for your support. Sincerely, PrincipalPrincipal ‘s Message to instructorsOctober is here and larning is in full move backwards and forwards! Before I highlight the exciting activities we can anticipate toA enjoy this twelvemonth, allow me foremost reexamine the work that has occurred this far.A Thank you to everyone who attended our New Families Orientation, The Welcome Coffee, Back to School Night, Parent Volunteer meeting and a host of grade degree events. It ‘s ever a dainty to see old faces, recognize new 1s, and to see the exhilaration that these events bring to the beginning of the twelvemonth. As usual, your energy and enthusiasm for doing this a fantastic twelvemonth is infective and exciting! Along with the societal events, the start of the school twelvemonth besides marks the beginning of instructors acquiring to cognize their pupils. In September, we began the first of a series of treatments refering to our appraisals and the analysis of our SPSA ( Single Plan for Student Achievement ) . These treatments involved grade degree and cross class degree analysis of pupil public presentation and how we as a staff can aline our resources to guarantee the academic advancement and accomplishment of our pupils. These conversations will be ongoing throughout the twelvemonth and will climax in the development of new ends and challenges for ourselves and for our students.A Even though we are difficult at work, there is still clip for merriment by implementing some alterations! In October we start the month off with our fund-raising event of the twelvemonth, Family Picnic on first Sunday! This is a fantastic event that showcases our school and our community. Thankss to the dedication and coordination attempts of many, the twenty-four hours is filled with walking, games, nutrient and merriment. I look frontward to seeing everyone there.A During the twelvemonth, every Wednesday is walk to school twenty-four hours, staff and parents will be observing the twenty-four hours by walking to school with those of you who choose to make so. Come walk with us and assist the environment at the same clip! It ‘s of import that we support and provide the construction and assortment of a ambitious academic plan every bit good as a rich array of extracurricular activities. Our larning environment must supply our pupils with the chance to meet issues, inquire examining inquiries, appreciate differing positions, and grapnel with understanding. In making such an environment, we need to maintain in position, a vision. The confidently cognizant and oddly engaged alumnus, armed with a important organic structure of cognition, plus the tools to encompass, decipher and contribute to the universe which awaits them. With this terminal in head we are challenged to make much more than merely present a prescribed course of study. We must continually look for chances for pupils to build significance, make connexions across subjects, engage in relevant and ambitious undertakings and show their sentiments on a broad array of subjects drawn both from their texts and their experiences. This twelvemon th, we will be committed to supply clip for the module to work together in grade-level squads to put wide aims for all pupils to get the hang and so to analyze the chances which exist to incorporate and organize the bringing of lessons in such a manner that pupils can associate what they are larning to the universe around them. Keeping the pupil ‘s learning experience at the Centre of our planning, we will be taking a close expression at prep outlooks and all of the excess demands our school plan demands with the end of streamlining and incorporating these demands in a manageable work burden and calendar. We will besides be concentrating on the usage of engineering in direction, the development of strong research accomplishments in all class degrees and increasing an consciousness of environmental issues in our school, community and beyond. We have a strong course of study, knowing and inspiring instructors, a supportive community and ample resources to maintain our school invariably working to supply the best possible acquisition experience for our pupils. I will be describing our advancement in making our ends as the twelvemonth in front unfolds. We ‘re off to a great start! PleaseA allow me cognize if you have any inquiries or concerns.A Sincerely, PrincipleA

Autobiographical Writing

Buzz. That's the alarm. I guess it must be 7.30 I reached from my warm quilt to activate the snooze button to grab an extra six minutes kip. Just turning over and getting comfy. Buzz. There it goes again. At this point I've also got my mom shouting up the stairs â€Å"Ian you're going to be late for school if you miss the bus I'm not taking you† I kicked off the covers and dragged myself onto my feet. Half an hour later I was out the door jogging for the bus as it came up the hill. â€Å"Ian put your shoes on before you come to class, Ian take your coat off and sit down, make it look like your staying.† What a way to start the day nag nag nag. First lesson maths, â€Å"Ian take your coat off and sit down, Ian stop talking and pay attention.† The usual crowd in math's just telling my mate about the weekend then all I hear â€Å"Ian get out.† So its 9.40 and here I am outside the door I Know more about this corridor than the cleaners. Oh no here comes the teacher think of a good excuse â€Å"Miss I was asking him the answer to a question.† Ring. Thank God for that. Its break time. Grabbed a can of coke from the machine and straight down the football pitch for a quick fifteen minute kick around before I was back in French and being nagged. Well least I thought I would be back in French in fifteen minutes. The game was in full swing we were playing the year 11. We were all over them I went in for a sly tackle and before you knew it I went down hit the floor, heard a snap, and I was nursing a funny shaped arm that looked like the u-bend of a sink. â€Å"Ian are you alright?† all the lads were shouting to me as I walked up the hill to Mr. Roycroft â€Å"Ian follow me mate I will take you to the office, that looks nasty I think you'll have to go to the hospital.† Before you know it I was in the office with a crowd of spectators outside the door. If I had charged I would of made a fortune! In comes my sister â€Å"Oh my God. Oh my God, Ian are you alright? Does mom know yet?† Lying on the hospital bed with my shoes off everything started to sink in. Now the shock had passed the pain started to kick in I wasn't even aloud pain killers until my parents arrived WHERE ARE THEY! First on the scene dad calm as ever â€Å"Oh dear you've made a mess of that haven't you son what's happening has anyone seen you yet.† So here I am lying in agony in a bed that more than a thousand people have been in with a dad as calm as ever and no doctors coming to sort me out although my arm is hanging off, I am obviously not very important. At least I didn't have to go back to French and it looks like there wont be any school for a while I wonder if they'll miss me? Eventually the doctors arrive like a pack of wolves gathering round me humming and arring talking about me like I was invisible. Ten minutes later they decide I needed to go to theatre to be put back to normal. They gave me some pain killers of some sort, which did the trick because the rest was a blur. â€Å"Ian it's all over now you might feel some discomfort but the worst is over.† â€Å"Ian are you alright do you want me to prop up your pillows.† So in 24 hours I have got my arm in plaster to the shoulder I am lying in the same place as before, and I am in more pain now than when I did it. Next day nothing has changed not been out of bed and now I know these four walls just as well as the corridor outside the math's room. â€Å"Ian I have some good news for you its time to go home and you will have to have six weeks off school.† That was the best news I had heard all year six weeks off school. Well I have had a really good rest without anybody nagging at me how long will that last I wonder? â€Å"Ian your teas ready. Are you listening to me? I hope you have been doing some of your school work. Ian answer me! Didn't last very long I think I am going to change my name to Paul! Autobiographical Writing I still remember my visit to Oostende, a small town in Belgium, with school staff and students in Year 8. We went there to play in a football tournament against teams from all over Europe. To me, this trip is unforgettable because I had such a great time and I felt free from the troubles of school and life in general. Oostende was a pleasant town on the coast of Belgium. Unfortunately, the sea was deemed hazardous so we weren't allowed on the sandy beach. But that didn't seem to affect the holiday. The nightlife was fantastic. The staff that came with us were Mr Fletcher, Mr Fuller and Mr Curry and they let us stay out until midnight. I think they let us stay out late so that they could get drunk! Every night after dinner I would go out and buy chips and coke. I hated the food in the hotel, infact I hated the entire hotel. When I told this to Mr Curry he said, ‘what do you expect for two hundred pounds'? We often went to the arcades and played games. Once we went to play pool in a club and I proved too good for my friends. In the end we got chucked out of the club for being too noisy. The teachers often fined us. We got fined for things like swearing or forgetting something. Thankfully I didn't get fined too much but my friend Andrew got fined the most because he kept on farting! The football tournament was held in a leisure centre and it was held over three days. There were nineteen teams in the tournament and we were drawn in Group A with the stronger teams. We played well and after intense competition, ended the group in third place. This was a remarkable achievement for us as we were expecting to lose hopelessly to every team. I think we did this well because the holiday also allowed the team to bond with each other and great team spirit was created. By finishing in third, we had given ourselves an outside chance of making it to the final. The next day was the playoffs. We had to win four matches to make it into the final. We won the first three matches 3-0, with me getting a hat trick in the second match, and managed to scrape through to the final with a narrow victory over Chiswick United in the final game. We were ecstatic and jubilant about making it to the final but out coaches told us not to get arrogant and boastful. The final kicked off at three o'clock and proved to be a close encounter. The match was like a chess match; every move or pass had to be precise- there was no room for mistakes. Our star striker, Sanjay, had given us the lead thanks to an exquisite volley but a blunder by Sid, our keeper, meant we went to half time with the scores level. The scores stayed the same until the ninetieth minute. I collected a pass from Sanjay and he made a run towards the goal. I played a through ball into his path. The defenders didn't move, as they were appealing for offside but the decision wasn't given. He was onside. My heart was in my mouth. He was on his own with only the goalkeeper to beat. He deceived the keeper by pretending to shoot. All he had to do was to go around him. He did but just as he was about to shoot the keeper brought him down. The referee blew his whistle. He had given us a penalty in the final minute. Sanjay was our regular penalty taker but he got injured when the keeper brought him down. The team gathered near the penalty spot to discuss who should take it. The team was panicking and, as captain, I decided that I was the only person suitable to take the penalty. I was quietly confident of scoring because I enjoyed being in pressure situations. I placed the ball on the spot and stepped backwards measuring my run up. I looked up at the keeper and he snarled at me. He said a few words to put me off. It worked. Suddenly I wasn't so confident anymore. My heart was beating like a drum and my legs felt like jelly. The goal was shrinking every time I looked at it. I tried to pull myself together. I picked a part of the goal to aim for and said a prayer. After putting my head down I started my run up and kicked the ball with the toe of my lucky Nike boots. The ball spent an eternity in the air. ‘Yeesssss' the crowd shouted. The ball went in. The keeper dived the wrong way. I had won the tournament for the team. In a moment of sheer jubilation, I took off my shirt and ran around the pitch. As I reel back the memories in my head I still remember how I felt that Sunday afternoon. It was one of my proudest ever moments but there was an another moment that I was equally as proud of. On the final night of the holiday, the teachers called us to the hotel for a meeting. They told us they had really enjoyed this holiday and were really impressed by the way we had played. Furthermore they said that they used the money they collected for fines to buy trophies for us. There were four trophies to acquire, and I won the player's player award. This was an immense honour for me as I was voted for by my fellow counterparts. I had a really valuable experience on this trip. I got to know people that I didn't really know well and became more responsible for myself. I became more independent and gained maturity as the holiday went on.

Indians & Indian Policy in the USA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Indians & Indian Policy in the USA - Essay Example According to Philip, in his book on the termination policy, he talks of the effect of the policy on native Indians. This is because the living condition of Indian tribes in reserves was worse and the government had to find a way to change the lives of Indians into normal lives. The termination policy took long to enforce and eventually it gave way to recognition of indigenous Indians as Americans1. One of the people involved in change of policy was the then American President, Harry Truman who wanted Indians to be recognized as Americans. However, this was not the only policy that affected the Indian Americans in the United States since other polices were effected on American Indians. Cynthia Cumfer in her book explains the experiences that the Cherokee and the Tennesseans underwent in the USA. For instance, the refusal by Indians to be civilized led to the white administration colonizing their lands for different uses. During the presidency of Andrew Jackson, the government wanted to engage the Indians in a manner that could ensure equal rights were awarded to Indians. According to Jackson, Indians were naturally liberal and that they could not be considered as primitive and uncivilized. This is because he thought that if Indians could be taught on civilization then they would enjoy equal rights and privileges as the white Americans2. As a result, the government saw the need for integration of the Indians into main stream American societies. This policy ensured that economic equality and education handed to the Indians at the expense of Indian traditions and culture3.