12 Fantastic Volunteer Opportunities for Teens

12 Fantastic Volunteer Opportunities for Teens SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Interested in volunteering? Volunteering is a great extracurricular activity that looks good on college applications. Volunteering shows colleges that you dedicated your time and effort to helping others! Not sure what volunteer opportunities are available to you? There are a lot to choose from! In this article, I’ll tell you what volunteering entails, list the types of volunteer opportunities for teens, and give a brief description of each. What Does Volunteering Entail? The exact tasks you’ll be doing while volunteering will vary by volunteer activity. However, all volunteering is essentially like having an unpaid job.You’ll be given a specific set of duties (which will vary based on where you choose to volunteer - if you're working at an animal shelter you’ll have different tasks than if you're working as a tutor for homeless youth). As a volunteer, you’ll be trained for your specific job, and you’ll be required to make a time commitment.Most (if not all) volunteer programs spend time and money training you to be a volunteer. They want to make sure that if they’re going to spend resourceson you that you’re committed to them.They expect you to commit to volunteering for at least one shift per week for a few months if not a full year.Again, the exact commitment will vary by volunteer program. Below, I’ll explain how to find out exactly what your volunteer work will involveand how to sign up to be a volunteer. 6Types of Teen Volunteer Opportunities I’ve organized this list of volunteer opportunities for teens into six subcategories: Hospitals Animals People in Need Literacy and Education Museums Community and Environment NOTE: Exact opportunities will vary by location.If you live in or close to a metropolitan area (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, etc.), you’ll likely have access to all of these volunteer opportunities. If you live in a more rural area, you may have access to feweropportunities. HospitalVolunteer Opportunities Thinking abouta career in medicine? Being a hospital volunteer is a great way to test out that interest and see if you enjoy working in a hospital setting.Typically, you have to be 16 or older to volunteer, and the hospital volunteer jobs you’ll be allowed to do as a teen will be more limited than hospital volunteer jobs for adults ( i.e. you won’t be allowed to do any jobs that require driving). For more information on hospital volunteer opportunities along with information on how to sign up, read our complete guide to being a hospital volunteer. Animal-Related Volunteer Opportunities Love animals? Interested in being a veterinarian or zoologist? Just hoping to play with animals in your spare time?There are several different animal-related volunteer opportunities for teens. One option is beingan animal shelter volunteer (usually you have to be 16 or older).As an animal shelter volunteer, it’ll be work first and then play. You’ll spend a lot of time cleaning up after the animals, feeding the animals, and helping potential adopters through the adoption process. After finishing these tasks, you will get to play with the animals.For more information on what being an animal shelter volunteer entails, along with information on how to sign up, read our guide to volunteering at an animal shelter. If you’re too young to be an animal shelter volunteer or if you don’t have the time to dedicate to working shifts every week at the animal shelter, consider signing up to be a foster volunteer.This opportunity means taking care of an animal at your house until it is adopted. You’ll need your parent's support and permission to foster animals. If you’re interested in being a foster volunteer, make sure that you and your family have the time to dedicate to caring for the animals you foster. If you’re interested in working with wild animals (rather than dogs and cats) or if you’re too young to volunteer at an animal shelter, you might want to see if you can be an animal sanctuary volunteer or zoo volunteer. Typically, you only need to be 14 or older to volunteer at an animal sanctuary or zoo.You will only be able to take advantage of this opportunity if you have an animal sanctuary or zoo in your area. If you don’t, the next best opportunity will be being an animal shelter volunteer. Before starting your volunteer work, most zoos/sanctuaries require you undergo a training program (the length of time will vary). During the training program, you’ll learn about conservation and ecology issues, biomes, and the species of the plants and animals at the zoo/sanctuary. Why do zoos and sanctuaries make you undergo an intensive training program?As a volunteer, you’ll be assisting with the educational programs offered there. You may even be running some of the lectures by yourself. The zoo/sanctuary wants you to be extremely informed so that you’ll be able to answer the questions you’re asked by visitors. Note: As a zoo/sanctuary volunteer, you most likely will not be allowed to interact with the animals. The people who work at these placeshave years of training and experience. These animals can be dangerous and need to be handled with care.You will not be getting the same training and will therefore not be allowed to have the same interactions with animals.Instead, you'll be doing the activities mentioned above (helping with educational programs and lectures). If you’re interested in signing up to be a zoo/sanctuary volunteer, conduct a Google Search for â€Å"[Your Hometown Name] Zoo Volunteer† or â€Å"[Your Hometown Name] Animal Sanctuary Volunteer† to find opportunities in your area. People in Need Volunteer Opportunities Interested in helping the homeless? Consider volunteering at your local soup kitchen.As a soup kitchen volunteer, you might cook food, help distribute food to the homeless, and clean up the food and plates/utensils. Note:Soup kitchen volunteering is oftennot as regimented as other volunteer opportunities. Many soup kitchens allow you to just show up for a shift without signing up in advance. Also, many soup kitchens are only open a few days per week. However, this will vary by soup kitchen. To find a local soup kitchen andtheir volunteer policies, Google Search â€Å"[Your Hometown Name] Soup Kitchen Volunteer.† If you’d like a slightly more regular volunteer activity that helps the homeless, consider signing up to be a food bank volunteer. Food banks typically allow volunteers 14 and older.As a food bank volunteer, you’ll help sort, inspect, and repackage donated food items from local food drives and donations.It can be a tediousjob, but it’s very important to make sure families in need are getting good, non-perishable food. To find a local food bank, Google Search â€Å"[Your Hometown Name] Food Bank Volunteer.† Interested in helping the elderly?You should consider volunteering at your local nursing home.As a nursing home volunteer, you might help with meal delivery, cleaning up meals, helping the elderly with daily tasks, or entertaining an elderly person (by reading to them, talking to them, watching movies with them, etc.). To find a local nursing home, Google Search â€Å"[Your Hometown Name] Nursing Home Volunteer.† Interested in construction? Want to help people in your community find homes? Likeworking with your hands? Consider becoming a volunteer with Habitat for Humanity.As a volunteer, you’ll be assisting in the construction of homes for people who couldn’t otherwise afford a house. You’ll be putting nails in the walls, painting, and more.Habitat for Humanity operates in most of the US. To find an opportunity near you, check out the Habitat for Humanity website. Literacy and Education Volunteer Opportunities Love being around books? You should consider being a library volunteer.As a library volunteer, you may organize books, help repair books, help visitors locate books, help visitors use the computer, or help younger students with their homework. Find out how to sign up to volunteer at your local library by doing a Google Search for â€Å"[Your Hometown Name] library volunteer.† Interested in becoming a teacher or helping other students with their homework? You should consider becoming a volunteertutor.As a tutor, you’ll help elementary or middle school students with their homework. There are various volunteer tutoring organizations throughout the country. Consider checking outSchool on Wheels, which offers free tutoring to homeless youth. It's a great option because you can participate no matter where you live.If you live in an area where School on Wheels operates, you will meet up with the program participants in person and tutor them one-on-one.If you live outside the area in which School on Wheels operates, you can still volunteer by becoming an online tutor, and you’ll tutor via Skype (or a similar program). To become a tutor, you must have a 3.0 GPA or better and must submit a letter of recommendation from a current teacher.To learn more about volunteering through School on Wheels, visit their website. Do you love writing? Consider checking out 826, which needs volunteers for their free after-school tutoring as well as other programs (field trips/writing workshops). 826 offers free tutoring and other programs to encourage students to get excited about their writing. There are 826 branches in Los Angeles, Valencia, NYC, Boston, Chicago, Michigan, and Washington, D.C. To explore other volunteer tutor opportunities in your area,Google Search â€Å"[Your Hometown Name] VolunteerTutor.† Museum Volunteer Opportunities Interested in someday working at a museum? Have a fascination with art, science or history?You may want to be a museum volunteer. Most museums offer volunteer programs for teens ages 16 or older.If you live in a rural area, you may not have access to this opportunity, or you might be more limited in your museum volunteer opportunities ( i.e. you might only have an art museum to volunteer at but no natural history museum).Find out what museums are in your area by doing a Google Search for â€Å"[Your Hometown Name] museum.† As a museum volunteer, you’ll educate guests about museum exhibits, conduct workshops and demonstrations for visitors, and/or provide administrative support (help with ticketing and directing visitors).Find a museum volunteer opportunity in your area by doing a Google Search for â€Å"[Your Hometown Name] [Museum Name] volunteer.† Community and Environmental Volunteer Opportunities Interested in helping the environment? Consider signing up to be a beach cleanup volunteer or forest/park/nature cleanup volunteer.Similar to being a soup kitchen volunteer, volunteering to do a cleanup is not as regimented as other volunteer opportunities. You usually just sign up to do one day and then can sign up for future cleanups if you want. You do not need to make a long-term volunteeringcommitment. As a cleanup volunteer, you’ll be helping pick up garbage on the beach or in the forest or park.This is an extremely important for reducing pollution and helping little creatures (many ingest or get tangled in our trash). To find a cleanup opportunity near you, search for â€Å"[Your Hometown Name] [beach, forest, or park] cleanup volunteer.† Do you enjoy gardening? Look into becoming a volunteer in a local community garden.This is a non-traditional volunteer opportunity in that you most likely will not be interacting with people. You’ll likely be given a portion of a community garden thatyou’re responsible for maintaining. Don’t worry! You don’t need to be a gardening whiz. You’ll receive training and support from the coordinators. Find a garden volunteer opportunity in your area by doing a Google Search for â€Å"[Your Hometown Name] community garden volunteer.† How Should You ChooseYour Volunteer Opportunity? With so many volunteer opportunities available to you, how should you decide what to do? To pick the perfect volunteer opportunity, you need to ask yourself a few questions. First, what are your interests? Do you love reading? Consider volunteering at a library. Do you love science? Mayvolunteering at a science museum is the best option for you. Is there a future career you'd like to explore?Are you interested in potentially being a doctor or nurse? Consider volunteering at a hospital to test out that career path. Are you thinking aboutbeing a veterinarian? Consider volunteering at an animal shelter. What are your favorite causes? Do you aspire to stop climate change? Consider volunteering for a beach/park/forest cleanup. Do you want to help the homeless? You may want to volunteerat a food bank or soup kitchen. How much time do you have to commit to your volunteer opportunity? Can you commit to volunteering for 4 hours every other week? If you can, great! You can do any of the opportunities listed above. However, if you're not able to commit to volunteering that often, consider trying to volunteer at a cleanup or at a soup kitchen, both of which require no long-term commitment. What is the age requirement?Most of the volunteer opportunities require you to be 16 or older, so if you're younger, your options may be somewhat limited. If you're under 16,you can volunteer at a soup kitchen, food bank, or zoo. You might be able to do one of the other volunteer opportunities, but you'll have to contact the specific volunteer programs to ask. Would you rather work with people, animals, or by yourself?Most volunteer opportunities listed above involve interactions with people and helping people. However, you don't have to work with people. If you volunteer at an animal shelter, you'll be working mostly with animals, and as a garden volunteer, you'll work primarily alone. Take all of these considerations into account when picking your volunteer opportunity, and hopefully, the answers to these questions will guide you to the perfectvolunteer match! Why Should You Volunteer? Volunteering has many benefits.Through volunteering, you'll get to explore a passion you have (such as literature or medicine).Also, by volunteering, you can support a cause you love such as helping the homeless.You can also meet like-minded students, who share your passion or want to support that cause. Volunteering is a great opportunity to test out whether you’d like to pursue a specific career (such as medicine, education, etc.).It's great to try and find your passion in high school, so you don't waste time and money during college trying to figure out what you want to major in.If you don’t enjoy volunteering at a hospital, maybe pre-med isn’t for you.If you love volunteering at an animal shelter, maybe you should pursue a career as a veterinarian. Volunteering is also a great extracurricular for your college application.It shows you selflessly dedicated your time and effort to helping others!Additionally, volunteering is a free experience that won’t cost you anything other than time. However, there are a few negative aspects of volunteer work.Volunteering can be extremely time-consuming.If you’re passionate about your volunteer work, hopefully, you'll be willing to dedicate 4 or more hours per week (or every other week) to volunteering.If you don’t like your volunteer work, you may find the time commitment to be a burden. If you don’t have the time to commit to regular volunteer work, consider trying one of the volunteer opportunities with no lengthy time commitment (such as being a soup kitchen volunteer or beach cleanup volunteer). Some students may find their volunteer work boring.As I said above, at a lot of these jobs, you’ll be doing menial work (cleaning up, answering phones).I still think it's valuable to try volunteering. If you don’t enjoy your initial volunteer work, consider looking into a different volunteer opportunity or looking into an entirely different extracurricular activity. What’s Next? Interested in learning about other extracurricular activities? Learn more about joining student council or joining a sports team. Do you want to volunteerover the summer? Learn more about the best volunteer abroad programs. Interested in doing a pre-college program over the summer? Learn more about Emory Pre-College Program and Boston University Summer Challenge. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Beautiful Happiness In A Meaningless Life Short Story English Literature Essay

Beautiful Happiness In A Meaningless Life Short Story English Literature Essay I intend to write a short story featuring a few of the more potent themes present within the novelette â€Å"The Outsider†. This short story has simply been written to entertain, and explore the central themes and issues that I have chosen. The content of the story is gruesome and described with vivid details in some cases, so the target audience would be fairly mature, and have an orientation towards fanciful fantasy worlds. The story is set in a land where the local entertainment consists of arena type pit fights. These pit fights are similar to a council of the city’s rich and wealthiest, with the lower classes also in attendance. These pit fights are also the place where status is gained and lost among these affluent members of society, with the slaves that compete being used as a means to this end. I have also interpreted the ending of â€Å"The Outsider† differently in my story, with my main character realising that he can make a difference with his life, and that he can live for other people rather than himself only. The content of the story is gruesome and described with vivid details in some cases, so the target audience would be fairly mature, and have an orientation towards fanciful fantasy worlds. The story is set in a land where the local entertainment consists of arena type pit fights. These pit fights are similar to a council of the city’s rich and wealthiest, with the lower classes also in attendance. These pit fights are also the place where status is gained and lost among these affluent members of society, with the slaves that compete being used as a means to this end. I have also interpreted the ending of â€Å"The Outsider† differently in my story, with my main character realising that he can make a difference with his life, and that he can live for other people rather than himself only. The ring of steel on steel resounded around the arena, to join the din of gaudy music and jeering shouts ensuing from th e on looking patrons of this violent event. The ‘Slave Games’ took place every day, from the blaze of the new fire in the sky at its start, to its dying embers at dusk. The games consisted of slaves and a monster entered by the ‘Games Keeper’. Of course to make it more complicated, there were two different types of slaves, the ones entered by their master, and the ones donated. By a slave being entered it was similar to a bet being placed, with a small fee for entry paid to the games master, the fee also gave slaves the privilege of a weapon of choice. At the conclusion of the battle if the monster was the last one standing, the games master would keep the majority of the winnings, otherwise if a slave was the victor; their master was granted higher standing in society and a large sum of gold as their winnings. There was also an unspoken tradition, that the victorious slave was granted freedom for their heroic deeds performed within the arena. The ‘do nated’ slaves on the other hand, were the unwanted outcasts of rich society that the Games Keeper bought for a small fee, to â€Å"liven up the games† as he would call it.

Healing Hospitals Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Healing Hospitals - Essay Example Hence this suggests that those medical institutions which follow the concept of the healing hospital will be tagged on the principle of Golden Thread that is a symbol of faith, conviction and reliance upon the Almighty (Chapman & Chapman, 2004).   It is a common phenomenon for every medical center which aims to promote the model of a healing hospital all over the globe must provide and calm, peaceful and a quite internal environment to the patients. This would let them feel tranquility and harmony and assist in their fast recovery. Harmonious environment plays a great role for the sufferer as most part of their recovery takes place when their body is in sleep or hibernating peacefully. Thus it suggests the fact that not only proper medicines, staff, latest technologies and equipments make a good hospital but it’s the factor of concern, peace and tranquility that make up the hospital a healing one. Components of a Healing Hospital There are three basic key components of a hea ling hospital which are as follows: The assimilation of work layout and advancement It is one of the most important components of the healing hospital and plays a vital role in the scenario. ... By the adoption of such an obliging policy patients would feel loved, cared and concerned by the doctors and other hospital staff members which would lend a side hand to them for their fast recovery. A remedial substantial environment This component considers the fact that not only the doctors are responsible for the care and treatment of the patients but also it is essential for the other staff members of the hospital to connect with their families and relatives as caregivers. It has been proven widely that if the hospitals manage to establish an environment with compassion, love, care, concern, adore, empathy etc then the patients would depict a faster recovery from their pain, stress and illness. Hence it would also lead the family members of the patients to support the patient in a healthy and lovable environment where they are assured that their loved ones would be treated as home (Gaut et al, 1994). A background of fundamental affectionate heeds It is basically establishment of a radical loving care environment and this philosophy was initially proposed by Erie Chapman long time ago. This accounts for the fact that such a culture must be enforced in the healing hospital in which each staff member must be known as in why they have become part of this sacred industry and what their ultimate objectives in serving the humanity are. It endorses the recovery of patients by means of a holistic loom that not only caters to the patients need but also takes care of their divine and poignant needs as well. The challenges of creating a healing environment in light of the barriers and complexities of the hospital environment Although the establishment of a healing hospital seems an easy task however it is not a piece of cake. It requires a long tenure and excessive

History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 48

History - Essay Example They had no idea how the colonists would react, but they never assumed that it would lead to outright rebellion. This tax, called the Stamp Act, was perceived by the Colony leaders to be unjust. This disagreement would be the beginning of the end of the relationship that the Colonists had with Great Britain. The Stamp Act was repealed in 1766, but was replaced with another new law that allowed the British government to tax the colonies as they saw fit; and, indeed they did tax them. â€Å"The Boston Tea Party† was not this roaring attack by men hooting and screaming, while dressed as Native Americans, making a loud protest as we so often see in films and television; in fact, the â€Å"Tea Party† was rather covert, quiet, and over and done with quickly. Ultimately the episode concluded with the British response to the â€Å"The Boston Tea Party,† when armed warships surrounded the port city and were prepared to use force to gain obedience and order if necessary. T his miniseries uses actors to speak the words that reflected the real concerns of the people who were living in these times. It makes it very interesting to learn history in this way. The second part of the miniseries, Liberty! The American Revolution, covers the period between 1774-1776. This was the times when Americans took up arms and openly defied Britain. The British thought that the colonists were hardly a threat. Many colonists were still quite loyal to their homeland and were caught in the middle, and quite conflicted as to what they should do. It was a rebellion they thought could be put down quickly and then it would be over and forgotten. The famous skirmish at Lexington, may have been by accident, in that to this day no one is absolutely certain who fired the first shot. However, it was Bunker Hill where British losses were significant, and the Americans proved they could be a threat. The Americans held their ground until they ran out of ammunition and were

Compare and Contrast Germany and America :: Germany Europe North America Essays Culture

Compare and Contrast Germany and America Europeans and Americans have much more in common than most people think, making adjustments to life in a new country easier. Many customs are similar to practices in the United States. Germans have their own way of being German. Germany is a relatively small and densely populated country. Unlike the United States, which is a large, densely populated country. The greatest shock to Americans is the speed at which Germans drive. The roads and freeways are quite narrow. Speed limits in cities are strictly enforced, but on much of the Autobahn there is no limit on how fast drivers can go. Although it is against the law, impatient Germans may also tailgate at high speeds and/or flash their headlights when they want to pass your vehicle. If you are driving for the first time in Germany, keep right. Left lanes are for passing only. Unlike when you are driving in America; Americans tend to travel in the lane that is meant for passing and the faster drivers. Americans tend to think â€Å" I am going the speed limit, so I am going to stay in the left lane†, the Germany way of thinking is that if you are not passing anyone or if you are going too slow, your car needs to be in the right hand lane. Unlike in the United States, train travel is a German way of life. You can get on at train at any bahnhof (train station) and travel to any destination in Europe you would like. The Germans use the train as their main mean of travel due to pollution and the inflated gas prices. Americans tend to use the automobile as our main mean of travel more than we should. Nobody likes to wait in line – especially the German people, who seem to have to do it more often than Americans. Even normally courteous Germans may elbow their way ahead if you don't stand your ground. It's not unusual to get bumped by a "tailgating" shopping cart. Keep smiling; it is just the German way of life. It's usual to greet others when walking into a waiting room, small business or train compartment. A simple Guten Tag or, in southern Germany, Gruess Gott, is in order.

A Dirty Job Chapter 18

18 YO MOMMA SO DEAD THAT†¦ On her last day, Lois Asher rallied. After not having even been able to get up to go to the breakfast table, or into the living room to sit and watch TV for three weeks, got up and danced with Buddy to an old Ink Spots song. She was playful and full of laughter, she teased her children and hugged them, she ate a chocolate-marshmallow sundae, and she brushed and flossed afterward. She put on her favorite silver jewelry and wore it to the dinner table, and when she couldn't find her squash-blossom necklace she shrugged it off like it was a minor thing – she must have misplaced it. Oh, well. Charlie knew what was happening because he had seen it before, and Buddy and Jane knew because Grace, the hospice nurse, explained it to them. â€Å"It happens again and again. I've seen people come out of a coma and sing their favorite songs, and all I can tell you is to enjoy it. People see the light come back into eyes that have been dull for months, and they start to place hope on it. It's not a sign of getting well, it's an opportunity to say good-bye. It's a gift.† Charlie had also learned by observing that it really helped everyone to let go if they were at least mildly medicated, so he and Jane took some antianxiety pills that Jane's therapist had prescribed and Buddy washed down a time-released morphine pill with some scotch. Medication and forgiveness can make for joyous moments with the dying – it's like they get to return to childhood – and because nothing in the future matters, because you don't have to train them for life, teach lessons, forge applicable and practical memories, all the joy can be wicked from those last moments and stored in the heart. It was the best and closest time Charlie had ever had with his mother and his sister, and Buddy, in the sharing, became family as well. Lois Asher went to bed at nine and died at midnight. I can't stay for the funeral,† Charlie said to his sister the next morning. â€Å"What do you mean you can't stay for the funeral?† Charlie looked out the window at the giant ice pick of a shadow that had made its way down the mountain toward his mother's house. Charlie could see it churning at the edges, like flocks of birds or swarming insects. The point was less than a half mile away. â€Å"I have something I have to do at home, Jane. I mean, I forgot to do it and I really, really can't stay.† â€Å"Don't be mysterious. What the hell do you need to do that you can't attend your own mother's funeral?† Charlie was pressing his Beta Male imagination to the breaking point to come up with something credible on the spot. Then a light went on. â€Å"The other night, when you sent me out to get laid?† â€Å"Yeah?† â€Å"Well, it was an adventure, to be sure, but when I went to get my scalp sewed up, I also had a test. I talked to the doctor today, and I have to go get treatment. Right now.† â€Å"You moron, I didn't send you out to have unsafe sex. What were you thinking?† â€Å"It was safe sex.† Right, sure, he thought, he almost scoffed at himself. â€Å"It's the wounds they're worried about. But if I get on these drugs right away, there's a good chance that I'll be okay.† â€Å"They're putting you on the cocktail? As a preventative?† Sure, that's it, the cocktail! Charlie thought. He nodded gravely. â€Å"Okay, then, go.† Jane turned and hid her face. â€Å"Maybe I can get back in time for the funeral,† Charlie said. Could he? He had to retrieve two overdue soul vessels in less than a week, and hope that no new names had appeared in his date book. â€Å"We'll do it a week from today,† Jane said, turning back around, tears blinked away. â€Å"You go home, get treated, come back. Buddy and I will handle the arrangements.† â€Å"I'm sorry,† Charlie said. He put his arms around his sister. â€Å"Don't you die on me, too, you fucker,† Jane said. â€Å"I'll be fine. I'll be back as soon as I can.† â€Å"Bring back that charcoal Armani of yours for me to wear to the funeral, and Cassie's strappy black pumps, okay?† â€Å"You? In strappy black pumps?† â€Å"It's what Mom would have wanted,† Jane said. When Charlie landed in San Francisco there were four frantic messages on his cell phone from Cassandra. She had always seemed so calm, composed – a stable counterpoint to his sister's flights of fancy. She sounded a wreck on the phone. â€Å"Charlie, she's got him trapped and they're going to eat him and I don't know what to do. I don't want to call the cops. Call me when you land.† Charlie did call, all the way into the city in the shuttle van he called, but kept getting transferred to voice messaging. When he got out of the van in front of his store he heard a hiss coming out of the storm drain at the corner. â€Å"I missed finishing with you, lover,† came the voice. â€Å"No time,† Charlie said, hopping over the curb and running into the store. â€Å"You never called,† purred the Morrigan. Ray was behind the counter mousing through Asian cuties when Charlie came storming through. â€Å"You'd better get upstairs,† Ray said. â€Å"They're freaking out up there.† â€Å"No kidding,† Charlie said as he passed. He took the stairs two at a time. He was fumbling his key into the lock when Cassandra threw the door open and pulled him into his apartment. â€Å"She won't let him go. I'm afraid they're going to eat him.† â€Å"Who, what? That's what you said on my voice mail. Where is Sophie?† Cassandra dragged him to Sophie's room, where he was met in the doorway by a growling Mohammed. â€Å"Daddy!† Sophie shrieked. She ran across the room and leapt into his arms. She gave him a big hug and a sloppy kiss that left a chocolate Sophie-print on his cheek. â€Å"Down,† she said. â€Å"Down, down.† Charlie put her down and she ran back into her room, but Mohammed prevented Charlie from entering, pushed his nose into Charlie's shirt, leaving a giant dog-nose print in chocolate. Evidently there had been a chocolate orgy going on in his absence. â€Å"His mother is supposed to pick him up at one,† Cassandra said. â€Å"I don't know what to do.† Charlie strained to see around the hellhound and saw Sophie standing with her hand on Alvin's collar while he menaced a little boy who was crouched in the corner. The little boy was a little wide-eyed, but otherwise unhurt, and he didn't seem that frightened. In fact, he was hugging a box of Crunchy Cheese Newts, and was eating one, then feeding the next one to Alvin, who was dripping hellish dog drool onto the kid's shoes in anticipation of the next newt. â€Å"I love him,† Sophie said. She went to the little boy and kissed him on the cheek, leaving a chocolate smear. Not the first. It appeared that this little guy had been suffering Sophie's affections for quite some time, for he was covered with chocolaty goodness and orange Cheese-Newt dust. â€Å"I want to keep him.† The little boy grinned. â€Å"He came over for a playdate. I guess you scheduled it before you left,† Cassandra said. â€Å"I thought it would be okay. I tried to get him out of there, but the dogs won't let me by. What are we going to tell his mother?† â€Å"I want to keep him,† Sophie said. Big kiss. â€Å"His name is Matthew,† Cassie said. â€Å"I know his name. He goes to Sophie's school.† Charlie started into the room. Mohammed blocked the doorway. â€Å"Matty, are you all right?† Charlie said. â€Å"Uh-huh,† said the chocolate-, cheese-, and dog-drool-sodden kid. â€Å"I want him to stay, Dad,† Sophie said. â€Å"Alvin and Mohammed want him to stay, too.† Charlie thought that perhaps he had not been strict enough in setting limits for his daughter. Maybe after losing her mother, he just hadn't had the heart to say no to her, and now she was taking hostages. â€Å"Honey, Matty has to get cleaned up. His mommy is coming to get him so he can go be traumatized in his own house.† â€Å"No! He's mine.† â€Å"Honey, tell Mohammed to let me in. If we don't get Matty cleaned up, he won't be able to come back.† â€Å"He can sleep in your room,† Sophie said. â€Å"I'll take care of him.† â€Å"No, young lady, you tell Mohammed to get – â€Å" â€Å"I have to pee,† Matthew said. He climbed to his feet and skipped by Alvin, who followed him, then under Mohammed and past Charlie and Cassandra to the bathroom. â€Å"Hi,† he said as he went by. He closed the door and they could hear the sound of tinkle. Alvin and Mohammed bullied their way through the doorway and waited outside the bathroom. Sophie sat down hard, her feet splayed out, her lower lip pushed out like the cowcatcher on a steam engine. Her shoulders started heaving before he could hear the sob – like she was saving up breath – then the wailing and the tears. Charlie went to her and picked her up. â€Å"I?CI – I?CI, he – he – he – he – â€Å" â€Å"It's okay, honey. It's okay.† â€Å"But I love him.† â€Å"I know you do, honey. It'll be okay. He'll go to his house and you can still love him.† â€Å"Noooooooooooooooooooooo – â€Å" She buried her face in his jacket, and as much as his heart was breaking for his daughter, he was also thinking about how much Three Fingered Wu was going to ding him for getting the chocolate stain out of his jacket. â€Å"They just let him go pee,† Cassandra said, staring at the hellhounds. â€Å"Just like that. I thought they were going to eat him. They wouldn't let me near him.† â€Å"It's okay,† Charlie said. â€Å"You didn't know.† â€Å"Know what?† â€Å"They love the Crunchy Cheese Newts.† â€Å"You're kidding?† â€Å"Sorry. Look, Cassie, can you clean up Sophie and Matty and take care of this? I have some stuff in my date book I have to take care of right away.† â€Å"Sure, but – â€Å" â€Å"Sophie will be fine. Won't you, honey?† Sophie nodded sadly and wiped her eyes on his coat. â€Å"I missed you, Daddy.† â€Å"I missed you, too, sweetie. I'll be home tonight.† He kissed her, got his date book from the bedroom, and ran around the apartment collecting his keys, cane, hat, and man purse. â€Å"Thanks, Cassie. You have no idea how grateful I am.† â€Å"Sorry about your mother, Charlie,† Cassandra said as he passed. â€Å"Yeah, thanks,† Charlie said, quickly checking the edge of the sword in his cane as he went by. â€Å"Charlie, your life is out of control,† Cassandra said, now slipping back into the unflappable persona that they were all used to. â€Å"Okay, I'll need to borrow your strappy black pumps, too,† Charlie said as he headed out the door. â€Å"I think I've made my point,† Cassie called after him. Ray stopped Charlie at the bottom of the stairs. â€Å"You got a minute, boss?† â€Å"Not really, Ray. I'm in a hurry.† â€Å"Well, I just wanted to apologize.† â€Å"For what?† â€Å"Well, it seems silly now, but I kind of suspected you of being a serial killer.† Charlie nodded as if he were considering the grave consequences of Ray's confession, when, in fact, he was trying to remember if there was any gas in the van. â€Å"Well, Ray, I accept your apology, and I'm sorry I ever gave you that impression.† â€Å"I think all those years on the force made me suspicious, but Inspector Rivera stopped by and set me straight.† â€Å"He did, did he? What exactly did he say?† â€Å"He said that you had been checking some stuff out for him, getting into places he couldn't get without a warrant and so forth, stuff that you'd both get in a lot of trouble for if anyone found out, but was helping to put the bad guys away. He said that's why you're so secretive.† â€Å"Yes,† Charlie said solemnly, â€Å"I have been fighting crime in my spare time, Ray. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you.† â€Å"I understand,† Ray said, backing away from the stairway. â€Å"Again, I'm sorry. I feel like a traitor.† â€Å"It's okay, Ray. But I really have to go. You know, fighting the Forces of Darkness and all.† Charlie held his cane out as if it were a sword and he was charging into action, which, bizarrely, it was and he was. Charlie had six days to retrieve three soul vessels if he was going to get caught up before he returned to Arizona for his mother's funeral. Two, the names that had appeared in his date book the same day as Madison McKerny were seriously overdue. The last had appeared in the book only a couple of days ago, when he was in Arizona – yet it was in his own handwriting. He'd always thought that he had been doing some kind of sleep writing, but now, this was a whole new twist. He promised himself he would freak out about it as soon as he had some time. Meanwhile, with the near-death hand job and the dead-mom thing, he hadn't even done the preliminary research on the first of the two, Esther Johnson and Irena Posokovanovich, and both were now past their pickup date – one by three days. What if the sewer harpies had already gotten there? As strong as they'd become already, he didn't even want to think about what they could do if they got hold of another soul. He considered calling Rivera to watch his back when he went to the house, but what would he say he was doing? The sharp-faced cop knew there was something supernatural going on, and he'd taken Charlie's word that he was one of the good guys (not a hard sell when he'd seen the sewer harpy driving a three-inch claw up his nostril only to survive nine rounds of 9 mm in the torso and still fly away). Charlie was driving with no destination, heading into Pacific Heights just because the traffic was lighter in that direction. He pulled over to the curb and called information. â€Å"I need a number and address for an Esther Johnson.† â€Å"There's no Esther Johnson, sir, but I have three E. Johnsons.† â€Å"Can you give me the addresses?† She gave him the two who had addresses. A recording offered to dial the number for him for an additional charge of fifty cents. â€Å"Yeah, how much to drive me there?† Charlie asked the computer voice. Then he hung up and dialed the E. Johnson with no address. â€Å"Hi, could I speak with Esther Johnson,† Charlie said cheerfully. â€Å"There's no Esther Johnson here,† said a man's voice. â€Å"I'm afraid you have the wrong number.† â€Å"Wait. Was there an Esther Johnson there, until maybe three days ago?† Charlie asked. â€Å"I saw the E. Johnson in the phone book.† â€Å"That's me,† said the man, â€Å"I'm Ed Johnson.† â€Å"Sorry to bother you, Mr. Johnson.† Charlie disconnected and dialed the next E. Johnson. â€Å"Hello,† a woman's voice. â€Å"Hi, could I speak to Esther Johnson, please?† A deep breath. â€Å"Who is calling?† Charlie used a ruse that had worked a dozen times before. â€Å"This is Charlie Asher, of Asher's Secondhand. We've taken in some merchandise that has Esther Johnson's name on it and we wanted to make sure it's not stolen.† â€Å"Well, Mr. Asher, I'm sorry to tell you that my aunt passed away three days ago.† â€Å"Bingo!† Charlie said. â€Å"Pardon?† â€Å"Sorry,† Charlie said. â€Å"My associate is playing a scratch-off lotto ticket here in the shop, and he's just won ten thousand dollars.† â€Å"Mr. Asher, this isn't really a good time. Is this merchandise you have valuable?† â€Å"No, just some old clothes.† â€Å"Another time, then?† The woman sounded not so much bereaved as harried. â€Å"If you don't mind.† â€Å"No, I'm sorry for your loss,† Charlie said. He disconnected, checked the address, and headed up toward Golden Gate Park and the Haight. The Haight: mecca for the Free Love movement of the sixties, where the Beat Generation begat the Flower Children, where kids from all over the country had come to tune in, turn on, and drop out – and had kept coming, even as the neighborhood went through alternating waves of renewal and decline. Now, as Charlie drove down Haight Street, amid the head shops, vegetarian restaurants, hippie boutiques, music stores, and coffeehouses, he saw hippies that ranged in age from fifteen to seventy. Grizzled oldsters panhandling or passing out pamphlets, and young, white-Rastafarian dreadlocked teenagers in flowing skirts or hemp drawstring trousers, with shining piercings and vacant pot-blissed stares. He passed brown-toothed crackheads barking at cars as they passed, a spiky holdover here and there from the punk movement, old guys in berets and wayfarers who might have stepped out of a jazz club in 1953. It wasn't so much like the hands of time had stood still here, more like they'd bee n thrown in the air in exasperation, the clock declaring, â€Å"Whatever! I'm outta here.† Esther Johnson's house was just a couple of blocks off Haight, and Charlie was lucky enough to find parking in a twenty-minute green zone nearby. (If the time came that he ever got to talk to someone in charge, he was going to make a case for special parking privileges for Death Merchants, for while it was nice that no one could see him when he was retrieving a soul vessel, some cool Death plates or â€Å"black† parking zones would be even better.) The house was a small bungalow, unusual for this neighborhood, where most everything was three stories tall and painted in whatever color would contrast most with the house next to it. Charlie had taught Sophie her colors here, using grand Victorians as color swatches. â€Å"Orange, Daddy. Orange.† â€Å"Yes, honey, the man barfed up orange. Look at that house, Sophie, it's purple.† The block did have its share of transients, so he knew the doors of the Johnson house would be locked. Ring the bell and try to sneak through, or wait? He really couldn't afford to wait – the sewer harpies had hissed at him from a grate as he approached the house. He rang the bell, then quickstepped to the side. A pretty, dark-haired woman of about thirty, wearing jeans and a peasant blouse, opened the door, looked around, and said, â€Å"Hello, can I help you?† Charlie nearly fell through a window. He looked behind his back, then back at the woman. No, she was looking right at him. â€Å"Yes, you rang the bell?† â€Å"Oh, me? Yes,† Charlie said. â€Å"I'm, uh – you meant me, right?† The woman stepped back into the house. â€Å"What can I do for you?† she said, a bit stern now. â€Å"Oh, sorry – Charlie Asher – I own a secondhand store over in North Beach, I just talked to you on the phone, I think.† â€Å"Yes. But I told you that it wasn't important.† â€Å"Right, right, right. You did, but I was in the neighborhood, and I thought, well, I'd just drop by.† â€Å"I got the impression you were calling from your shop. You got all the way across town in five minutes?† â€Å"Oh, right, well, the van is like a mobile shop to me.† â€Å"So the person who won the lotto is with you?† â€Å"Right, no, he quit. I had to kick him out of the van. New money, you know? All full of himself. Will probably buy a big rock of cocaine and a half-dozen hookers and he'll be broke by the weekend. Good riddance, I say.† The woman backed another step into the house and pulled the door partway shut. â€Å"Well, if you have the clothes with you, I suppose I can take a look at them.† â€Å"Clothes?† Charlie couldn't believe she could see him. He was completely screwed now. He'd never get the soul vessel and then – well, he didn't want to think of what would happen then. â€Å"The clothes you said you thought might belong to my aunt. I could look at them.† â€Å"Oh, I don't have those with me.† Now she had the door closed to the point where he could see just one blue eye, the embroidery around the neckline of her blouse, the button on her jeans, and two toes. (She was barefoot.) â€Å"Maybe you'd better check another time. I'm trying to get my aunt's things together, and I'm doing it all by myself, so it's a little hectic. She was in this house for forty-two years. I'm overwhelmed.† â€Å"That's why I'm here,† Charlie said, thinking, What the hell am I talking about? â€Å"I do this all the time, uh, Ms. – â€Å" â€Å"Mrs., actually. Mrs. Elizabeth Sarkoff.† â€Å"Well, Mrs. Sarkoff, I do this sort of thing a lot, and sometimes it can get overwhelming going through the possessions of a loved one, especially if they've been in one place for a long time like your aunt. It helps to have someone who doesn't have an emotional attachment to help sort things out. Plus, I have a pretty good eye for what's valuable and what's not.† Charlie wanted to give himself a high five for coming up with that on the spur of the moment. â€Å"And do you charge for this service?† â€Å"No, no, no, but I may make an offer to buy items you'd like to get rid of, or you can place them in my shop on consignment if you'd prefer.† Elizabeth Sarkoff sighed heavily and hung her head. â€Å"Are you sure? I wouldn't want to take advantage.† â€Å"It would be my pleasure,† he said. Mrs. Sarkoff swung the door wide. â€Å"Thank God you showed up, Mr. Asher. I just spent an hour trying to figure out which set of elephant salt-and-pepper shakers to keep and which to throw away. She has ten pairs! Ten! Please come in.† Charlie sauntered through the door feeling very proud of himself. Six hours later, when he was waist deep in porcelain-cow figurines, and he still hadn't located the soul vessel, he lost all sense of accomplishment. â€Å"So she had a special connection to Holsteins?† Charlie called to Mrs. Sarkoff, who was in the next room, inside a walk-in closet, sorting through yet another huge pile of collectible crap. â€Å"No, I don't think so. Lived her whole life here in the City. I'm not sure if she ever saw a cow outside of those talking ones that sell cheese on TV.† â€Å"Swell,† Charlie said. He'd been through every inch of the house except the closet where Elizabeth Sarkoff was working and he hadn't found the soul vessel. He'd peeked into the closet a couple of times, taking a fast inventory of the contents, and didn't see anything glowing red. He was starting to suspect that either he was too late, and the Underworlders had gotten the soul vessel, or it had been buried with Esther Johnson. He was heading down toward the basement again when his cell phone rang. â€Å"Charlie Asher's phone,† Charlie said. â€Å"Charlie, it's Cassie. Sophie wants to know if you're going to come home in time to tell her a story and tuck her in. I gave her dinner and her bath.† Charlie ran up the stairs and looked out the front windows. It had gotten dark and he hadn't even noticed. â€Å"Crap, Cassie, I'm sorry. I didn't realize it was so late. I'm with an estate client. Tell her I'll be home to tuck her in.† â€Å"Okay, I will,† Cassandra said, sounding exhausted. â€Å"And, Charlie, you can clean up the bathroom floor. You've got to do something about those dogs getting in the tub with her. There are drifts of Mr. Bubble suds all over your apartment.† â€Å"They do enjoy their bath.† â€Å"That's cute, Charlie. If I didn't love your sister I'd hire someone to break your legs.† â€Å"My mom just died, Cassie.† â€Å"You're playing the dead-mom card? Now? Charlie Asher, you – â€Å" â€Å"Gotta go,† Charlie said. â€Å"Be home soon.† Charlie pushed the disconnect button four times, then one more time, just to be sure. Cassandra had been such a sweet woman, only days ago. What happened to people? Charlie bounded into the bedroom. â€Å"Mrs. Sarkoff?† â€Å"Yes, still in here,† came a voice from the closet. â€Å"I'm going to have to be going. My daughter needs me.† â€Å"I hope everything is all right.† â€Å"Yes, not an emergency, I've just been gone for a couple of days. Look, if you need any more help – â€Å" â€Å"No, I wouldn't think of it. Why don't you give me a few days to sort things out and I'll bring some items by your shop.† â€Å"I don't mind, really.† Charlie felt silly yelling to someone who was in a closet. â€Å"No, I'll be in touch, I promise.† Charlie couldn't think of any way of pressing the situation right now, and he needed to get home. â€Å"Okay, then. I'll be going.† â€Å"Thank you, Mr. Asher. You've been a lifesaver.† â€Å"You're welcome. Bye.† Charlie let himself out and the front door locked behind him with a click. He could hear stirring below the street – the rustling of feathers, the distant calls of ravens – as he made his way back to where he had parked his van. And when he got there, of course, it had been towed. When she heard the front door lock, Audrey went to the back of the closet and moved the big cardboard wardrobe box aside to reveal an elderly woman who was sitting calmly in a folding lawn chair, knitting. â€Å"He's gone, Esther. You can come out now.† â€Å"Well, help me up, dear, I think I'm stuck like this,† Esther said. â€Å"I'm sorry,† Audrey said. â€Å"I had no idea he'd stay that long.† â€Å"I don't understand why you let him in in the first place,† Esther said, creaky but on her feet now. â€Å"So he could satisfy his curiosity. See for himself.† â€Å"And where did you get that Elizabeth Sarkoff name?† â€Å"My second-grade teacher. It was the first thing I could think of.† â€Å"Well, I guess you fooled him. I don't know how to thank you.† â€Å"He'll be back. You know that, right?† Audrey said. â€Å"I hope not too soon,† Esther said. â€Å"I really need to visit the powder room.† Where is it, lover?† hissed the Morrigan from the grate on Haight Street, near where Charlie was trying to flag down a cab. â€Å"You're slipping, Meat,† said the hellish chorus. Charlie looked around to see if anyone else had heard, but passersby seemed very intent on their own conversations, or if alone, were staring intently at a point only twelve feet in front of them on the sidewalk, both strategies to avoid eye contact with the panhandlers and crazy people who lined the sidewalk. Not even the crazy people seemed to notice. â€Å"Fuck off,† Charlie said, in a furious whisper at the curb. â€Å"Fucking harpies.† â€Å"Oh, lover, this teasing is so delicious. The little one's blood will be so delicious!† The young homeless guy sitting just down the curb looked up at Charlie. â€Å"Dude, get the clinic to up your lithium and they'll go away. It worked for me.† Charlie nodded and gave the guy a dollar. â€Å"Thanks, I'll look into that.† He'd have to call Jane in Arizona in the morning and find out how far the shadow had moved down the mesa, if it had moved. Why would what he did or didn't do in San Francisco affect what was happening in Sedona? All this time he'd been trying to convince himself that it wasn't about him, and now it appeared that it very much was about him. The Luminatus will rise in the City of Two Bridges, Vern had said. What kind of dependable prophecy can you get from a guy named Vern, anyway? (Come on down to Vern's Discount Prophecy – The Nostradamus with the Low-Price Promise.) It was absurd. He had to keep going forward, doing his part, and doing his best to collect the soul vessels that came to him. And if he didn't, well, the Forces of Darkness would rise and rule over the world. So what. Bring it on, sewer hoes! Big deal. But his inner Beta Male, the gene that had kept his kind alive for three million years, spoke up: Forces of Darkness ruling the world? Okay, that would be bad, it said. She so loved the smell of Pine-Sol,† said the third woman that day to claim to have been Charlie's mother's best friend. The funeral hadn't been so bad, but now there was a potluck in the clubhouse of a nearby gated senior community where Buddy had lived before he moved in with Charlie's mom. The couple had returned there often to play cards and socialize with Buddy's old crew. â€Å"Did you get some sloppy joe?† asked best friend number three. Despite the hundred-degree heat, she wore a pink sweatsuit emblazoned with rhinestone poodles and carried a nervous little black poodle under her arm everywhere she went. The dog licked her potato salad while she was distracted by talking to Charlie. â€Å"I don't know if your mother ever ate sloppy joe. Only thing I ever saw her take in was an old-fashioned. She did enjoy her cocktails.† â€Å"Yes, she did,† Charlie said. â€Å"And I think I'm going to go enjoy one myself, right now.† Charlie had flown into Sedona that morning after spending the night in San Francisco trying to find the two overdue soul vessels. Although he couldn't find a burial notice for Esther Johnson, the pretty brunette woman at her house had told him that she had been interred the day after he'd first gone to the house in the Haight, and he assumed that the soul vessel had been, once again, buried with her. (Was the brunette's name Elizabeth? Of course it was Elizabeth, he was fooling himself to even pretend to forget. Beta Males do not forget the names of pretty women. Charlie could remember the name of the centerfold of the first Playboy he'd ever swiped from the shelves in his dad's shop. He even remembered that her turnoffs were bad breath, mean people, and genocide, and resolved that he would never have, be, or commit any of those things, just in case he ran into her sometime when she was casually sunning her breasts on the hood of a car.) There was no trace of the other woman, Irena P osokovanovich, who was supposed to have died days ago. No notice, no records at hospitals, no one living in her house. It was as if she'd evaporated, and taken her soul vessel with her. He had a couple more weeks to get to the third name in his date book, but he wasn't sure what he was going to have to deal with to get to it. Darkness was rising. Someone beside him said, â€Å"Small talk doesn't really get any smaller than when you've lost a loved one, huh?† Charlie turned toward the voice, surprised to see Vern Glover, diminutive Death Merchant, munching some coleslaw and ranch beans. â€Å"Thanks for coming,† Charlie said automatically. Vern waved off the thanks with his plastic fork. â€Å"You saw the shadow?† Charlie nodded. When he'd gotten to his mother's house this morning, the shadow of the mesa had reached his mother's front yard, and the calls of the carrion birds that churned in its edges were deafening. â€Å"You didn't tell me that no one else could see it. I called my sister from San Francisco to check the progress, but she didn't see anything.† â€Å"Sorry, they can't see it – at least as far as I've ever been able to tell they can't. It was gone for five days. It came back this morning.† â€Å"When I came back?† â€Å"I guess. Did we cause this? Doughnuts and coffee and it's the end of the world?† â€Å"I missed two souls back home,† Charlie said, smiling at a gentleman in burgundy golf wear who held his hand to his heart in sympathy as he passed them. â€Å"Missed? Did the – what did you call them – the sewer harpies get them?† â€Å"Could be,† Charlie said. â€Å"But whatever is happening, it seems to be following me.† â€Å"Sorry,† Vern said. â€Å"I'm glad we talked, though. I don't feel so alone.† â€Å"Yeah,† Charlie said. â€Å"And sorry about your mother,† Vern added quickly. â€Å"You okay?† â€Å"Hasn't even hit me yet,† Charlie said. â€Å"I guess I'm an orphan.† â€Å"I'll make sure and check out whoever gets her necklace,† Vern said. â€Å"I'll be careful with it.† â€Å"Thanks,† Charlie said. â€Å"You think we have any control over who gets the soul next? I mean really. The Great Big Book says it will move on as it should.† â€Å"I guess,† Vern said. â€Å"Every time I've sold one the glow has gone out right away. If it wasn't the right person, that wouldn't happen, right?† â€Å"Yeah, I guess so,† Charlie said. â€Å"So there is some order to this.† â€Å"You're the expert,† Vern said – then he dropped his fork. â€Å"Who is that? She's so hot.† â€Å"That's my sister,† Charlie said. Jane was coming across the room toward them. She was wearing Charlie's charcoal double-breasted Armani and the strappy black pumps; her platinum hair was lacquered into thirties finger waves, which flowed out from under a small black hat with a veil that covered her face down to her lips, which shone like red Ferraris. To Charlie, she looked, as usual, like the cross between a robot assassin and a Dr. Seuss character, but if he tried to squint past the fact that she was his sister, and a lesbian, and his sister, then he could possibly see how the hair, lips, and sheer linear altitude of her might strike someone as hot. Especially someone like Vern, who would require climbing equipment and oxygen to scale a woman Jane's height. â€Å"Vern, I'd like you to meet my incredibly hot sister, Jane. Jane, this is Vern.† â€Å"Hi, Vern.† Jane took Vern's hand and the Death Merchant winced at her grip. â€Å"Sorry for your loss,† Vern said. â€Å"Thanks,† Jane said. â€Å"Did you know our mother?† â€Å"Vern knew her very well,† Charlie said. â€Å"In fact, it was one of Mom's dying wishes that you let Vern buy you a doughnut. Wasn't it, Vern?† Vern nodded so hard that Charlie thought he could hear vertebrae cracking. â€Å"Her dying wish,† Vern said. Jane didn't move, or say anything. Because her eyes were covered, Charlie couldn't see her expression, but he guessed that she might be trying to burn holes in his aorta with her laser-beam vision. â€Å"You know, Vern, that would be lovely, but could I take a rain check? We just buried my mother and I have some things to go over with my brother.† â€Å"That's fine,† Vern said. â€Å"And it doesn't have to be a doughnut, if you're watching your figure. You know, a salad, coffee, anything.† â€Å"Sure,† Jane said. â€Å"Since it's what Mom wanted. I'll give you a call. Charlie told you I'm a lesbian, though, right?† â€Å"Oh my God,† Vern said. He almost doubled over with excitement before he remembered that he was at a postfuneral potluck and he was openly imagining a mnage trois with the deceased's daughter. â€Å"Sorry,† he squealed. â€Å"See you, Vern,† Charlie said as his sister hustled him toward the kitchen cubicle of the clubhouse. â€Å"I'll e-mail you about that other thing.† As soon as they rounded the corner into the kitchen Jane punched Charlie in the solar plexus, knocking the wind out of him. â€Å"What were you thinking?† Jane hissed. She flipped back her veil so he could see just how pissed off she was, just in case the punch in the breadbasket hadn't conveyed the message. Charlie was gasping and laughing at the same time. â€Å"It's what Mom would have wanted.† â€Å"My mom just died, Charlie.† â€Å"Yeah,† Charlie said. â€Å"But you have no idea what you've just done for that guy in there.† â€Å"Really?† Jane raised an eyebrow. â€Å"He will remember this day always,† Charlie said. â€Å"That guy will never again have a sexual fantasy in which you do not walk through, probably wearing borrowed shoes.† â€Å"And you don't find that creepy?† â€Å"Well, yes, you're my sister, but it's a seminal moment for Vern.† Jane nodded. â€Å"You're a pretty good guy, Charlie, looking out for a tiny stranger like that.† â€Å"Yeah, well, you know – â€Å" â€Å"For an ass bag!† Jane said as she sank a fist into Charlie's solar plexus. Strangely, as he gasped for breath, Charlie felt that wherever his mother was right now, she was pleased with him. Bye, Mom, he thought. PART THREE BATTLEGROUND Tomorrow we shall meet, Death and I – And he shall thrust his sword Into one who is wide awake. – Dag Hammarskj;ld

Religious Views On Euthanasia And Assisted Suicide

Daniel Kessler Professor Brislen GREL 101 15 November 2014 Religious Views on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide Throughout the millennia since the origin of man, technology has continuously evolved contributing to a longer life expectancy among humans. Now, even terminally ill patients can be kept alive by medications and machines. These life saving devices also carry the potential to kill a human with little effort or time. The debate has arisen as to whether people have the â€Å"right to die† or often referred to dying with their dignity. The modern dictionary defines the right to die as, â€Å"a person s right to refuse extraordinary life-sustaining measures intended to prolong life artificially when the person is deemed by his or her physicians to be terminally or incurably ill†(right-to-die). As the questions circling these methods of killing grow, religious groups are beginning to take stances on the issue. Two of the largest religions in the world, Buddhism and Hinduism, have denounced the idea of death with dignity but f or different reasons. While neither religion is a supporter of the right to die, the rejections are not unanimous for either group. The history and core beliefs of each religion can help one understand why Buddhists and Hindus are against the concept of assisted suicide. Hinduism is the older of the two religions with its origination believed to be around 2500 B.C.E and some think it’s twice as old (V). Within Hinduism, there is no central founder and HindusShow MoreRelated Euthanasia Essay - Religious Views on Assisted Suicide1212 Words   |  5 PagesOfficial Religious Views on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This essay is dedicated to the expression of the various official views of religious bodies within our nation. Most major denominations are represented. 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