Taking another Pass at Passed

Taking another Pass at Passed Taking another Pass at â€Å"Passed† Taking another Pass at â€Å"Passed† By Maeve Maddox In my early days as a classroom teacher, I would occasionally finish giving a lesson on some aspect of English grammar or punctuation with the feeling that it had been so clear and so filled with wonderful examples that my students would never commit a related error again. It didn’t take me long to learn that common errors are common for a reason. Minds differ. Not everyone perceives things in quite the same way. A case in point is the problem that many writers have with the words past and passed. So far we’ve had two DWT posts on the past/passed usage: Alis Passed vs Past and my Confusing Passed with Past A recent e-mail question sent me back to read the comments and questions prompted by these posts. The comments indicate the extent and nature of the confusion that exists concerning the use of passed and past. Even some of the commentators who felt they understood the usage gave incorrect information in the explanations they offered. Some remarks suggest that the writer is trying to read more into the choice between passed and past than is warranted by a choice between a verb form and an adverb or a preposition. Dr. Babosar, the founder of GHB BioMedical Inc. who dedicates his life in the XXX industry for the Passed/Past 20 years. (the fact is he is still in this industry and still running the company) It doesn’t matter if the man is still in the industry or not. The word needed is an adjective: the past 20 years. It was the sound of horses being ridden past.†¨It was the sound of horses being ridden passed. The latter makes sense [says the commentator]. The horses pass the person, so they passed the person, therefore it is the sound they make as they approach and then pass the person. It more correctly describes the sounds. Again, too much ratiocination is going into this writer’s choice between past and passed. The function of the word in the sentence determines which form is called for. Ridden is a verb form. The word that follows it is an adverb. Passed cannot be used as an adverb. Past can. Precise Edit made this observation in one of the comments: In my experience, second-language learners are less likely to make this mistake [between passed and past] than native English speakers, perhaps because language learners write and speak from a background of training and not natural language use. I’m speculating, of course, but I wonder if direct training in usage and grammar affects this. It’s not speculation. From what I can tell, not much â€Å"direct training in usage and grammar† is going on in U.S. English classes these days. The teaching of formal grammar and rules of spelling and punctuation is perhaps seen as too much akin to that dreaded concept â€Å"rote learning.† Rules of standard usage are often arbitrary and confusing to an individual’s way of looking at things. For that reason they must be taught in the English classroom. Taught, not merely mentioned. The complicated efforts to determine whether to use past or passed in a sentence is a symptom of the way U.S. children are taught to approach all learning. What do you think? How do you feel? Such appeals to the individual have their place, but not when it comes to basic information. Some things need to be memorized and drilled. The parts of speech and the parts of the sentence fall into this category. One more time: passed is the past tense form of the verb to pass: to pass: transitive verb meaning â€Å"to go beyond a point or place† The principal parts are pass, passed, (have) passed, passing Examples: I pass my evenings alone. Please pass the potatoes. I am passing my days in the garden. I am passing all my courses in college. The truck passed the house. His uncle passed away. I have passed my driving test. Charlie has passed out the papers. The cat had passed beyond the fence before we noticed she was out. The word past can be used as more than one part of speech, but never as a verb. past: noun meaning â€Å"that which has happened in past time.† Ex. That’s all in the past. It’s usually preceded by the word â€Å"the.† past: adjective meaning â€Å"gone by in time; elapsed.† Ex. I haven’t seen him for the past month. past: adverb meaning â€Å"beyond.† Usually the point of reference is supplied by the context. Ex. I cowered as the bullets whizzed past. past: preposition meaning â€Å"beyond.† It differs from an adverb because it is followed by an object. Ex. The bullet whizzed past my head. Two more handy tips: The only verb that belongs in front of passed is some form of have: The days have passed quickly. He had passed his exams before his father lost his job. The horse has passed the finish line. If the verb is is, don’t use passed: For, lo, the winter is past. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:12 Greek Words You Should KnowIn Search of a 4-Dot EllipsisPunctuation Is Powerful

Molières Death and the Color Green

Molià ¨re's Death and the Color Green Whether or not you are an actor, you probably know that it is considered bad luck to say Good luck to a performer. Instead, you should say, Break a leg! And if you have brushed up on your Shakespeare, then you already know that it could be disastrous to say Macbeth out loud while in a theater. To avoid being cursed, you should instead refer to it as the Scottish play. Unlucky to Wear the Color Green? However, many do not realize that it is unlucky for actors to wear the color green. Why? It is all because of the life and death of Frances greatest playwright, Molià ¨re. Molià ¨re His real name was Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, but he was most famous for his stage name, Molià ¨re. He attained success as an actor in his early twenties and soon found that he had a talent for writing stage plays. Although he preferred tragedies, he became renowned for his hilarious satires. Tartuffe was one of his more scandalous plays. This vicious farce mocked the church and caused an uproar among Frances religious community. Controversial Plays   Another controversial play, Don Juan or The Feast with a Statue, mocked society and religion so severely that it was not performed uncensored until 1884, over two hundred years after its creation. But in some ways, Molià ¨res demise is even more intense than his plays. He had been suffering from tuberculosis for several years. However, he did not want the illness to prevent his artistic pursuits. His final play was The Imaginary Invalid. Ironically, Molià ¨re played the central character - the hypochondriac. Royal Performance   During a royal performance before King Louis the 14th, Molià ¨re began to cough and gasp. The performance was stalled momentarily, but Molià ¨re insisted that he continue. He bravely made it through the rest of the play, despite collapsing once more and suffering a hemorrhage. Hours later, after returning home, Molià ¨res life slipped away. Perhaps due to his reputation, two clergymen refused to administer his last rites. So, when he died, a rumor spread that Molià ¨res soul did not make it into the Pearly Gates. Molià ¨res costume - the clothing that he died in - was green. And since that time, actors have maintained the superstition that it is highly unlucky to wear green while on-stage.

Carrico Ending 42 Years On High Court Research Paper

Carrico Ending 42 Years On High Court - Research Paper Example Appointed judiciary members, unlike elected ones, are likely to be impartial. Effective judiciary systems are those that consist of appointed judges because they do not have to seek popularity among the masses, unlike the elected judges do. Mandatory retirement provisions ensure that the judiciary remains effective in delivering quality public service. They establish racial and gender equality among male and female, white and non-white judges. These provisions allow for continuity in the judiciary with the incorporation of fresh talent from young judges. Carrico Ending 42 Years on High Court Ethical advantages and disadvantages of an appointed vs. an elected judiciary There is a current tag of forces in various American states as they consider switching from appointing their members of judiciary to electing them. One of these States is Tennessee, where the judicial bench has always been appointed since the 1970s, but the system is being flawed by conservative legislators whose opinio n is that appointed judges are unaccountable to the electorate. Accountability is thus one of the greatest advantages of an elected judiciary as opposed to an appointed one. ... Besides, majority of the public is disinterested in judicial elections and would not give them the attention given to presidential elections, for example. This means that the current judges who would be most profound would be easily believed by the public leading to voting back incumbent judges regardless of their suitability for the positions. On the other hand, appointed judges are in a better position to do their work in a non-partisan manner, without their rulings being influenced by the opinions of their electorate. Electing members of the judiciary thus has a disadvantage of influencing elected judges to rule in favor of popular opinion (Packer, 2007). Putting judges in a position to seek votes from the public also means that they have to seek funds to drive their campaigns. Those who grant them funds would often have vested interests in the judges perhaps to influence the outcome of certain cases, which creates a opportunity for corruption in the electoral system of the judici ary. Appointing judges for lengthy periods of time or for a lifetime has also been a successful way of running the judicial system as in the case of retiring Chief Justice Carrico, who has served at the high court for 42 years without compromising his standards of service. When members of the judiciary are appointed for lengthy periods, they are not put in any compromising situation to woo the public and other supporters for anything. This ensures that they carry on their duties with diligence without compromising their duties and positions. This has been successful with Carrico and it can be with other judges as well, as long as periodic performance reviews are carried out to determine whether they remain on the bench or not. Ethical advantages of

Contemporary Theories of political Economy Essay - 1

Contemporary Theories of political Economy - Essay Example his writings was that the shift of power and the resultant emergence of liberal democracy stifles further growth and advancement in human political organization. He contended to the notion that liberal democracy leads to the onset of the end of history as proposed by the nineteenth-century German philosopher Georg Hegel. He studied Hegel extensively by way of Alexandre Kojà ¨ve and came to the conclusion that the revolution of 1989 to 1990 proclaimed the end of history in the shape of triumphant liberal democracy (Kimball). By suggesting that the end of the Cold War marked the end of history, Fukuyama did not mean that it was an end to the big events; rather, his perspective bolstered the argument that the end of history was â€Å"an end to humanitys long ideological evolution toward a stable form of political organization† (Crawford 415). According to Fukuyama, if there is a growth of liberal democracy, coupled by its successful implementation in different places and acceptance by a wide range of people, and if human societies move â€Å"towards or converge on a single form of socio-political organisation like liberal democracy†, with no practical substitutes for liberal democracy, then the â€Å"[ideological] dialogue† has come to an ultimate and perfect conclusion. Fukuyama agrees with Kojà ¨ve that the end of history implies an end of wars and blood revolutions since humanity will not have any large causes to fight for (Forrester 28). The outcome of the Cold War was that liber al democracy was to become the sole form of government for all countries. In my opinion, the end of the Cold War did not mark the end of the history. The events that have unfolded during the subsequent years do not establish the Western liberal democracies as the absolute rulers of the world. Samuel P. Huntington came out as a direct opponent of the End of History. He was of the view that although liberal conflicts will not occur after the Cold War, there is a possibility of the occurrence

Contemporary Theories of political Economy Essay - 1

Contemporary Theories of political Economy - Essay Example his writings was that the shift of power and the resultant emergence of liberal democracy stifles further growth and advancement in human political organization. He contended to the notion that liberal democracy leads to the onset of the end of history as proposed by the nineteenth-century German philosopher Georg Hegel. He studied Hegel extensively by way of Alexandre Kojà ¨ve and came to the conclusion that the revolution of 1989 to 1990 proclaimed the end of history in the shape of triumphant liberal democracy (Kimball). By suggesting that the end of the Cold War marked the end of history, Fukuyama did not mean that it was an end to the big events; rather, his perspective bolstered the argument that the end of history was â€Å"an end to humanitys long ideological evolution toward a stable form of political organization† (Crawford 415). According to Fukuyama, if there is a growth of liberal democracy, coupled by its successful implementation in different places and acceptance by a wide range of people, and if human societies move â€Å"towards or converge on a single form of socio-political organisation like liberal democracy†, with no practical substitutes for liberal democracy, then the â€Å"[ideological] dialogue† has come to an ultimate and perfect conclusion. Fukuyama agrees with Kojà ¨ve that the end of history implies an end of wars and blood revolutions since humanity will not have any large causes to fight for (Forrester 28). The outcome of the Cold War was that liber al democracy was to become the sole form of government for all countries. In my opinion, the end of the Cold War did not mark the end of the history. The events that have unfolded during the subsequent years do not establish the Western liberal democracies as the absolute rulers of the world. Samuel P. Huntington came out as a direct opponent of the End of History. He was of the view that although liberal conflicts will not occur after the Cold War, there is a possibility of the occurrence

Techniques of Team Building for Organizational Development

Techniques of Team Building for Organizational Development Abstract In organizational development the team building process can benefit the corporation by grouping people together with common skills and providing them with a clear and concise mission and common goal. Team building is also a function that does not end when the team comes together, but is an ongoing process that runs throughout the project. Teams are a necessary part of organizations and will be important far into the future. The knowledge of team cultures and dynamics can be an invaluable tool for organizations. Techniques of Team Building for Organizational Development A Review of Forming and Managing Teams within an Organization A team is a small number of people with complementary skills, who are committed to a common purpose, set of performance goals and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable (Gordon p. 489). Teams are also described as groups of two or more people who interact and influence each other, are mutually accountable for achieving common goals associated with organizational objectives, and perceive themselves as a social entity within an organization (McShane 2010, p. 234). Since the beginning of time there have been teams such as hunting teams, where each member of the team has a specific task, but the overall goal for the team was to kill an animal for food. When man began building large structures there were work teams that would be in charge of producing the stones for the structure, work teams that would be in charge of moving the stones from the quarry to the structures construction site, and work teams that constructed the structure. The purpose of building teams is to allow employees to participate in the planning problem-solving and decision-making to better produce products and provide services. When companies grow they become more complex, therefore having groups or teams within the company allows the company to perform tasks more efficiently and effectively. An example of this can be seen in the automotive industry. Small car companies can have as few as seven employees performing specific skills to produce one vehicle at a time. Over time if this company is successful and begins to grow it will need to hire more employees. These employees will need to be placed into teams with each team performing a certain task or group of tasks in a certain area such as a body shop, and engine shop, a chassis shop, or an interior shop. Each shop has a group of employees that specialize in a particular area in the company that is necessary to produce the product. When the company was small one person could build an engine in a day for one car, but as the company grew more people are required to build more engines for more cars each day. There are various different types of teams: work teams, project and development teams, parallel teams, management teams, transitional teams, virtual teams, and self-managed teams. Work teams perform operations like manufacturing, assembling, selling, or providing services (Gordon p. 490). Work teams are the most common type of teams because theyre the most basic. Project and development teams work on projects that take a long time and they have specific tasks such as research and development. The teams new members usually contribute expert knowledge and judgment to the project, so they must be trained in that particular area for the work that is being performed. These teams work on one project and then disband when it is completed. Parallel teams are made up of individuals who are picked from various different teams in the organization and brought together to work outside the organization temporarily. Parallel teams are different in that they are formed to produce a product or service that is not normally done within the organization. Management teams provide direction to and work within, to other teams under their leadership. Management teams are a group of managers responsible for different subunits were together form a team and establish should take a direction and manage the companys overall performance. Transnational teams have members in multiple countries and are different from other work teams because they are multicultural and geographically dispersed. Also transnational teams also tend to be virtual teams. A virtual team has members that are not located in the same location. They communicate through e-mail, telephone, or with a teleconference system. Virtual teams created difficult challenges because of the way they operate and communicate. Virtual teams are usually made up of self-managing professionals. Some of them are made up of individuals that are trained to do all or most the jobs for specific task and have no supervision. Usually, as with virtual teams, self managed teams make the decisions that are usually made by their supervisors. There are advantages and disadvantages of forming teams. Early studies have shown that under the right conditions teams make better decisions, develop better products and services, and create a more engaged workforce than do employees working alone (McShane p. 237). Most teams create an environment that promotes communication, motivation, and better work ethics. Most employees prefer to work in teams because it gives them a sense of belonging. The motivation to work can be strong when the team is part of the employees social identity and by being accountable to their team members who watches their performance and quality of work more than their supervisor would. The drawbacks of developing teams is that the teams take a lot of energy and resources to develop and that some of the members of the team may not be trained to the level of skills that are required to be at to perform the certain task asked of them. Another disadvantage of developing teams is that adding new members to an ex isting team may drawdown the process and quality of work performed by the team. Source: Retrieved from PM: Program Manager (Online) July August 2002 Issue p. 79 There are five stages of team development; they are forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjoining. Forming is when the members get acquainted with each other and figure out the benefits of staying in the team. During this stage the members learn about the evolving culture within the team and the social boundaries in its environment. The storming stage is when the members become more comfortable in the team that they begin to test the boundaries and become more competitive with each other. During this stage norms of appropriate behavior are established. Norms are the shared rules and expectations that are established to regulate the behaviors that are important to the members of the team. The norming stage is when the team members come together and gain trust within the team. As objectives are established the team members begin to form a consensus on the goals. During the performing stage the team member are resolving conflicts by themselves. The members adjust to changes in the environment easier than at any other time. The adjourning stage comes at the completion of the project, the members disband and move on to other projects and teams or as an old team they take on a new project and start the process all over again. Teambuilding is an ongoing process, even though the team is formed, the process of maintaining the team goes on throughout the project. The most important property of a team is cohesiveness. Cohesiveness is the degree to which a group is attractive to its members, members are motivated to remain in the group, and the members influence one another (Gordon 2010 p. 501). The two reasons why cohesiveness is important in the team is first, it contributes to the member satisfaction and second, cohesiveness has a major impact on the teams performance. An organizational planner may be called on by company to assist them in developing or managing their teams. To be successful in this you need to know about personal behaviors, team dynamics, and about the individual roles within a team. When constructing teams it is best to select team members who are trained to perform the required roles necessary for that job so they may become effective contributors to the team. There are two roles that must be performed within the team, first the team specialist is a role that is filled by an individual who has a particular job-related ski ll and ability, secondly the team maintenance specialists develop and maintain harmony within the team by boosting morale, giving support, providing humor, soothing hurt feelings, and generally exhibiting a concern with team members well-being. The most important facet for team effectiveness that an organization must know is that to enable the teams productivity and cohesiveness the members must have a clear and concise knowledge of what tasks and duties they are responsible for. As a team performs a job, the individuals within the team perform specific tasks the culmination of these tasks make up the jobs at the team is responsible for. Allowing team members to be involved with the leadership and decision-making process will also motivate them toward superior performance as well as assisting them in the understanding of what they are required to perform through clear communication. Being able to identify performance norms allows for adjustments in the team to achieve optimal output and member satisfaction. In an article about building a better team Kevin Mehok stated: Picking the right players is critical to building a solid team. There are so many aspects of this process. You need to have the right people for the right job (2010 p. 2). The following chart displays the high and low cohesiveness versus the high and low performance norms. (High cohesiveness and low performance norms shows that there is high goal attainment based on the groups perspective but there is a low task performance based on managements perspective. Source: retrieved from, /imagecache/book/28776/fwk-bauer-fig09_004.jpg>. Low cohesiveness and low performance shows that there is poor goal attainment and poor task performance. With high cohesiveness and high performance norms there is a high goal attainment and a high task performance whereas with the low cohesiveness and high performance norms there is moderate goal attainment and task performance. Non-cohesive groups with high performance norms can be effective from the companys standpoint; however they wont be as productive as they would be if they were more cohesive (Gordon 2010 p. 502). Being able to understand the teams cultural environment makes it easier to make adjustments if necessary to enhance the teams cohesiveness. Some of the cultural environments are the clan, adhocracy, market, and hierarchy. A summary of the Hawthorn White Paper (2009) described the four different cultures as in a clan when the members identify with the group like they would a family where the emphasis is on team and teamwork and the members are loyal and friendly. Adhocracy is when the members have a large amount of independence with an emphasis on developing cutting-edge products and services. Hierarchy is where tradition and formality are dominant values and the emphasis is on stability, rules, and efficient processes. Market is where the members are competitive, hard-working, and demanding with the emphasis on productivity and beating the competition. Teams that are operating effectively and efficiently can identify problems faster. This allows the members to feel more confident in the decision making process. Having confident team members also reduces constructive conflict. When building an effective team there are a few activities that can be performed to boost morale, communication, and trust, along with having a lot of fun. Activities can range anywhere from a simple 10 minute exercise to a week long adventure. Measuring how effective such one-time activities are in changing a culture is difficult, so team building now employs more subtle methods to break down mistrust, inadequate leadership, and weak communication among employees (Laff 2006 p. 1). The greatest effect of these activities is the members are awakened by the obstacles of working with others, this comes out at the end of the exercise when they discuss there experience with each other. Usually a company will hire someone to facilitate these team building activities. One of the activities is that Alan Chapman (2010) posted on his web site that a developer can facilitate. It is an experiment to explore the brains capability to estimate scale. Using sticky notes have the team members mark a distance of ten feet on the floor, a height of three feet on a wall, and a distance of one yard on a table. They must do this without a measuring device. Review the activities as appropriate for your purposes, points for example: What surprises did we find? What clues are there to peoples different abilities? What differences are there in guessing different types of scale? What creative methods were used in measuring? How does the brain guess something? In work/life how do we decide when to guess and when to measure, and are these the best criteria? How can we make our guessing more reliable? (If exercises are performed in teams) are team guesses more reliable than individual guesses? What merit is there in the Wisdom of Crowds in guessing and making intuitive judgments? At the end of the exercise the facilitator will provide an assessment of the effectiveness that the activities provided the organization along with possible follow up events to maintain team cohesiveness. Have a facilitator draw out the dynamics using the Socratic Method of learning to tie together what happens in the office setting with what the members just experienced. Also remember to remind participants that they are not at the office, many of the activities still contain some form of gaming (Laff 2006, p. 1). Training team members to operate in the environment around them and not to hide from it, ignore it, and to not fight it will further enhance their efficiency in the team. May organizations are looking to streamline their operations, one of the tools they can turn to is hiring team building facilitators to perform exercises and give feedback. Of all of the functions an organizational developer performs to analyze, troubleshoot, and coach an organization toward their optimal output, team building is one of the most effective.

Night World : Secret Vampire Chapter 11

The next few hours were the worst of Phil's life. First and foremost was his mother. As soon as shewalked in, Phil's priorities changed from wanting herto comfort him to wanting to comfort her. And ofcourse there wasn't any comfort. All he could do was hold on to her. It's too cruel, he thought dimly. There ought to be a way to tell her. But she would never believe it, andif she did, she'd be in danger,too†¦. Eventually the paramedics did come, but only afterDr. Franklin had arrived. â€Å"I called him,† James said to Phil during one ofthe interludes when Phil's mom was crying on Cliff. â€Å"Why?† â€Å"To keep things simple. In this state, doctors can issue a death certificate if they've seen you withinthe last twenty days and they know the cause ofdeath. We don't want any hospitals or coroners.† Phil shook his head. â€Å"Why? What's your problemwith hospitals?† â€Å"My problem,† James said in a clipped, distinctvoice. â€Å"is that in hospitals they do autopsies.† Phil froze. He opened his mouth but no sound came out. â€Å"And in funeral homes they do embalming. Whichis why I need to be around when they come to pick up the body. I need to influence their minds not toembalm her, or sew her lips shut, or-â€Å" Phil bolted for the bathroom and was sick. Hehated James again. But nobody took Poppy to the hospital; and Dr.Franklin didn't mention an autopsy. He just heldPhil's mother's hand and spoke quietly about how these things could happen suddenly, and how at leastPoppy had been spared any pain. â€Å"But she was so much better today,† Phil's motherwhispered through tears. â€Å"Oh, my baby, my baby.She'd been getting worse, but today she was better. â€Å" â€Å"It happens like that sometimes,† Dr. Franklinsaid. â€Å"It's almost as if they rally for a last burst of life.† â€Å"But I wasn'ttherefor her,† Phil's mom said, andnow there weren't any tears, just the terrible gratingsound of guilt. â€Å"She was alone when she died.† Phil said, â€Å"She was asleep. She just went to sleepand never woke up. If you look at her, you can seehow peaceful it was.† He kept saying things like that, and so did Cliff andso did the doctor, and eventually the paramedicswent away. And sometime after that, while hismother was sitting on Poppy's bed and stroking herhair, the people from the mortuary came. â€Å"Just give me a few minutes,† Phil's mother said, dry-eyed and pale. â€Å"I need a few minutes alonewith her.† The mortuary men sat awkwardly in the family room, and James stared at them. Phil knew what wasgoing on. James was fixing in their minds the factthat there was to be no embalming. â€Å"Religious reasons, is that it?† one of the men saidto Cliff, breaking a long silence. Cliff stared at him, eyebrows coming together.†What are you talking about?† The man nodded. â€Å"I understand. It's no problem.† Phil understood, too. Whatever the man was hearing, it wasn't what Cliff was saying. â€Å"The only thing is, you'll want to have the viewingright away,† the other man said to Cliff. â€Å"Or else a closed casket.† â€Å"Yes, it was unexpected,† Cliff said, his facestraightening out. â€Å"It's been a very short illness.† So nowhewasn't hearing what the men were saying. Phil looked at James and saw sweat trickling down his face. Clearly it was a struggle to controlthree minds at once. At last Cliff went in and got Phil's mother. He ledher to the master bedroom to keep her from seeing what happened next. What happened was that the two men went into- Poppy's room with a body bag and a gurney. Whenthey came out, there was a small, delicate hump in the bag. Phil felt himself losing rationality again. He wantedto knock things down. He wanted to run a marathonto get away. Instead, his knees started to buckle and his visiongrayed out. Hard arms held him up, led him to a chair. â€Å"Hangon,† James said. â€Å"Just a few more minutes. It's al most over.† Right then Phil could almost forgive him for being a bloodsucking monster. It was very late that night when everyone finallywent to bed. To bed, not to sleep. Phil was one solid ache of misery from his throat down to his feet, andhe lay awake with the light on until the sun came up. The funeral home was like a Victorian mansion,and the room Poppy was in was filled with flowersand people. Poppy herself was in a white casket with gold fittings, and from far away she looked as if shewere sleeping. Phil didn't like to look at her. He looked insteadat the visitors who kept coming in and filling theviewing room and the dozens of wooden pews. He'd never realized how many people loved Poppy. â€Å"She was so full of life,† her English teacher said. â€Å"I can't believe she's gone,† a guy from Phil's football team said. â€Å"I'll never forget her,† one of her friends said,crying. Phil wore a dark suit and stood with his motherand Cliff. It was like a receiving line for a wedding.His mother kept saying, â€Å"Thank you for coming,†and hugging people. The people went over and touched the casket gently and cried. And in the process of greeting so many mourners,something strange happened. Phil got drawn in. Thereality of Poppy's death was so real that all the vampire stuff began to seem like a dream. Bit by bit, hestarted to believe the story he was acting out. After all, everybody else was so sure. Poppy hadgotten cancer, and now she was dead. Vampires were just superstition. James didn't come to the viewing.- Poppy was dreaming. She was walking by the ocean with James. It waswarm and she could smell salt and her feet were wetand sandy. She was wearing a new bathing suit, thekind that changes color when it gets wet. She hoped James would notice the suit, but he didn't say anything about it. Then she realized he was wearing a mask. That was strange, because he was going to get avery weirdtan with most of his face covered up. â€Å"Shouldn't you take that off?† she said, thinkinghe might need help. â€Å"I wear it for my health,† James said-only itwasn't James's voice. Poppy was shocked. She reached out and pulledthe mask away. It wasn't James. It was a boy with ash blond hair,even lighter than Phil's. Why hadn't she noticed hishair earlier? His eyes were green-and then they were blue. â€Å"Who are you?† Poppy demanded. She was afraid. â€Å"That would be telling.† He smiled. His eyes wereviolet. Then he lifted his hand, and she saw that hewas holding a poppy. At least, it was shaped like apoppy, but it was black. He caressed hercheek withthe flower. â€Å"Just remember,† hesaid, still smiling whimsically.†Bad magic happens.† â€Å"What?† â€Å"Bad magic happens,† he said and turned andwalked away. She found herself holding the poppy.He didn't ‘leave any footprints in the sand. Poppy was alone and the ocean was roaring. Clouds were gathering overhead. She wanted towake up now, but she couldn't, and she was aloneand scared. She dropped the flower as anguish surged through her. â€Å"James!† Phil sat up in bed, heart pounding. God, what had that been? Something like ashout in Poppy's voice. I'm hallucinating. Which wasn't surprising. It was Monday, the dayof Poppy's funeral. In-Phil glanced at the clockabout four hours he had to be at the church. Nowonder he was dreaming about her. But she had sounded so scared†¦. Phil put the thought out of his mind. It wasn'teven hard. He'd convinced himself that Poppy wasdead, and dead people didn't shout. At the funeral, though, Phil got a shock. His fatherwas there. He was even wearing something resembling a suit, although the jacket didn't match thetrousers and his tie was askew. â€Å"I came as soon as I heard†¦.† â€Å"Well, wherewere you?† Phil's mother said, thefine lines of strain showing around her eyes, the way they always did when she had to deal with Phil's father. â€Å"Backpacking in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Nexttime, I swear, I'll leave an address. I'll check my messages†¦.He began to cry. Phil's mom didn't sayanything else. She just reached for him, and Phil'sheart twisted at the way they clung to each other. He knew his dad was irresponsible and hopelesslybehind in child support and flaky and a failure. But nobody had ever loved Poppy more. Right then, Philcouldn't disapprove of him, not even with Cliff standing there for comparison. The shock came when his dad turned to Phil beforethe service. â€Å"You know, she came to me last night,† he said in a low voice. â€Å"Her spirit, I mean. She visited me.† Phil looked at him. This was the kind of weird statement that had brought on the divorce. His fatherhad always talked about peculiar dreams and seeingthings that weren't there. Not to mention collecting articles about astrology, numerology, and UFOs. â€Å"I didn't see her, but I heard her calling. I just wishshe hadn't sounded so frightened. Don't tell yourmother, but I got the feeling she's not at rest.† Heput his hands over his face. Phil felt every hair on the back of his neck standup. But the spooky feeling was drowned almost immediately in the sheer grief of the funeral. In hearingthings like â€Å"Poppy will live on forever in our heartsand memories.† A silver hearse led the way to ForestPark cemetery, and everyone stood in the June sunshine as the minister said some last words overPoppy's casket. By the time Phil had to put a rose on the casket, he was shaking. It was a terrible time. Two of Poppy's girlfriendscollapsed in near-hysterical sobs. Phillip's motherdoubled over and had to be led away from the casket.There was no time to think-then or at the potluckat Phil's house afterward. But it was at the house that Phil's two worlds collided. In the middle of all the milling confusion, hesaw James. He didn't know what to do. James didn't fit intowhat was going on here. Phil had half a mind togo over and tell him to get out, that the sick jokewas over. Before he could do anything, James walked up and said under his breath, â€Å"Be ready at eleven o'clock tonight.† Phil was jolted. â€Å"For what?† â€Å"Just be ready, okay? And have some of Poppy'sclothes with you. Whatever won't be missed.† Phil didn't say anything, and James gave him an exasperated sideways look. â€Å"We have to get her out,stupid. Or did you wantto leave her there?† Crash. That was the sound of worlds colliding. For a moment Phil was spinning in space with his feeton neither one. Then with the normal world in shards around him, he leaned against a wall and whispered, â€Å"I can't. Ican't do it. You're crazy.† â€Å"You're the one who's crazy. You're acting like itnever happened. And you have to help, because I can't do it alone. She's going to be disoriented at first, like a sleepwalker. She'llneed you.† That galvanized Phil. He jerked to stand up straightand whispered, â€Å"Did you hear her last night?† James looked away. â€Å"She wasn't awake. She was just dreaming.† â€Å"How could we hear her from so far away? Evenmy dadheard it. Listen.† He grabbed James by thelapel of his jacket. â€Å"Are you sure she's okay?† â€Å"A minute ago you were convinced she was dead and gone. Now you want guarantees that she's fine. Well, I can't give you any.† He stared Phil down with eyes as cold as gray ice. â€Å"I've never done this before, all right? I'm just going by the book. And there are always things that can go wrong.But,†he said terselywhen Phil opened his mouth, â€Å"the one thing I doknow is that if we leave her where she is, she's goingto have a very unpleasant awakening. Get it?† Phil's hand unclenched slowly and he let go of thejacket. â€Å"Yeah. I'm sorry. I just can't believe any ofthis.† He looked up to see that James's expressionhad softened slightly. â€Å"But if she was yelling last night, then she was alive then, right?† â€Å"And strong,† James said. â€Å"I've never known a stronger telepath. She's really going to be something.† Phil tried not to picture what. Of course, Jameswas a vampire, and he looked perfectly normalmost of the time. But Phil's mind kept throwing outpictures of Poppy as a Hollywood monster. Red eyes,chalky skin, and dripping teeth. If she came out like that, he'd try to love her. Butpart of him might want to get a stake. Forest Park cemetery was completely.different at night. The darkness seemed very thick. There was a sign on the iron gate that said, â€Å"No visitors after sunset,† but the gate itself was open. I don't want to be here, Phil thought. James drove down the single lane road that curvedaround the cemetery and parked underneath a hugeand ancient gingko tree. â€Å"What if somebody sees us? Don't they have aguard or something?† â€Å"They have a night watchman. He's asleep. I tookcare of it before I picked you up.† James got out andbegan unloading an amazing amount of equipmentfrom the backseat of the Integra. Two heavy duty flashlights. A crowbar. Some old boards. A couple of tarps. And two brand-new shovels. â€Å"Help me carry this stuff.† â€Å"What's it allfor?†But Phil helped. Gravelcrunched under his feet as he followed James on oneof the little winding paths. They went up some weathered wooden stairs and down the other sideand then they were in Toyland. That was what somebody at the funeral had calledit. Phil had overheard two business friends of Cliff'stalking about it. It was a section of the cemetery where mostly kids were buried. You could tell without even looking at the headstones because therewere teddy bears and things on the graves. Poppy's grave was right on the edge of Toyland. Itdidn't have a headstone yet, of course. There was only a green plastic marker. James dumped his armload on the grass and thenknelt to examine the ground with a flashlight. Phil stood silently, looking around the cemetery.He was still scared, partly with the normal fear that they'd get caught before they got finished, and partlywith the supernatural fear that they wouldn't.Theonly sounds were crickets and distant traffic. Treebranches and bushes moved gently in the wind. â€Å"Okay,† James said. â€Å"First we've got to peel this sod off.† â€Å"Huh?† Phil hadn't even thought about why therewas already grass on the new grave. But of course itwas sod. James had found the edge of one strip and was rolling it up like a carpet. Phil found another edge. The strips were about sixfeet long by one and a half feet wide. They wereheavy, but it wasn't too hard to roll them up and off the foot of the grave. â€Å"Leave 'em there. We've got to put them on againafterward,† James grunted. â€Å"We don't want it to lookas if this place has been disturbed.† A light went on for Phil.†That'swhy the tarpsand stuff.† â€Å"Yeah. A little mess won't be suspicious. But if weleave dirt scattered everywhere, somebody's going towonder.† James laid the boards around the perimeterof the grave, then spread the tarps on either side.Phil helped him straighten them. What was left where the sod had been was fresh,loamy soil. Phil positioned aflashlight and picked upa shovel. I don't believe I'm doing this, he thought. But he was doing it. And as long as all he thoughtabout was the physical work, the job of digging a hole in the ground, he was okay. He concentrated on that and stepped on the shovel. It went straight into the dirt, with no resistance. It was easy to spade up one shovelful of dirt and drop it onto the tarp. But by about the thirtieth shovelful,he was getting tired. â€Å"This is insane. We need a backhoe,† he said, wiping his forehead. â€Å"You can rest if you want,† James said coolly. Phil understood. James was the backhoe. He wasstronger than anyone Phil had ever seen. He pitchedup shovelful after shovelful of dirt without even straining. He made it look like fun. â€Å"Whydon't we have you on any. of the teams atschool?† Phil said, leaning heavily on his shovel. â€Å"I prefer individual sports. Like wrestling,† Jamessaid and grinned, just for a moment, up at Phil. It was the kind of locker-room remark that couldn't be misunderstood from one guy to another. He meantwrestling with, for instance, Jacklyn and Michaela. And, just at that particular moment, Phil couldn't help grinning back. He couldn't summon up anyrighteous disapproval. Even with James, it took a long time to dig thehole. It was wider than Phil would have thought necessary. When his shovel finallychunkedon somethingsolid, he found out why. â€Å"It's the vault,† James said. â€Å"Whatvault?† â€Å"The burial vault. They put the coffin inside it so it doesn't get crushed if the ground collapses. Get outand hand me the crowbar.† Phil climbed out of the hole and gave him thecrowbar. He could see the vault now. It was made ofunfinished concrete and he guessed that it was just a rectangular box with a lid. James was prying thelid off with the crowbar. â€Å"There,† James said, with an explosive grunt as he lifted the lid and slid it, by degrees, behind the concrete box. That was why the hole was so wide, toaccommodate the lid on one side and James on theother. And now, looking straight down into the hole, Philcould see the casket. A huge spray of slightly crushedyellow roses was on top. James was breathing hard, but Phil didn't think itwas with exertion. His own lungs felt as if they werebeing squeezed flat, and his heart was thudding hardenough to shake his body. â€Å"Oh, God,† he said quietly and with no particular emphasis. James looked up. â€Å"Yeah. This is it.† He pushed theroses down toward the foot of the casket. Then, inwhat seemed like slow motion to Phillip, he began unfastening latches on the casket's side. When they were unfastened, he paused for just aninstant, both hands flat on the smooth surface of thecasket. Then he lifted the upper panel, and Phillip could see what was inside.