Managing Global Markets: Yoshinoya

Managing Global Markets: Yoshinoya International Brand Recognition: Yoshinoya is one of Japans largest restaurant chain companies and a global brand with over 1400 locations throughout the world including 99 in USA. It is known for its quick service and the menu is based on fresh ingredients served in a variety of rice bowls including its original recipe Beef Bowl that started it all in 1899 opening its first store in Tokyo Japan. Scope of Expansion: In 2006, Yoshinoya made franchising opportunities available to U.S. entrepreneurs. Service: Known for its quick service. It is one of its key strengths and tries to maintain it in all of its outlets and franchises. Quality: Yoshinoyas commitment to quality has never wavered since opening in Tokyos Nihonbashi District in 1899, even stopping sales of its popular beef bowls in 2003 when a ban on American beef went into effect in Japan. Beef bowls were off the Yoshinoya menu for two and half years, until the import ban on American beef was lifted, and company officials say the Yoshinoya decision reflects the commitment to maintain the best quality in both service and product. Its beef bowl recipe calls for American beef, and thats all Yoshinoya has served for nearly eleven decades. Professional Advertising Campaigns: Yoshinoya is known for its advertising campaigns and helps to advertise for the franchisees also. Skilled Traning: Yoshinoya has developed a stringent training regimen for all Yoshinoya employees, hence franchisees can enjoy having a courteous, well-trained staff from the very first day, and maintain the same level of high quality and service across the chain. Competency: Yoshinoyas major expansion plans are for Chinaand to open as many as 500 restaurants there by 2010, as part of its joint venture with Hong Kongs Hop Hing Food Group. There are already 99 restaurants operating in the USA and many more to come. Diversification Strategy: The company began expanding its range of restaurant formats, starting with the 1996 acquisition of Commoco Food Company, later renamed as Peter Pan Comoco, operator of the Hitokuchi Chaya baked good chain. In 1999, the company acquired struggling Kyotara Corp. and its chains of takeout sushi and seafood restaurants. The company acquired the Chinese food chain Shanghai Express in 2002, then added the Hanamaru noodle restaurant group in 2004. The companys other restaurant formats include the Kyotaru takeout sushi chain; Shanghai Express, a Chinese-foods concept; Hitokuchi Chaya, which sells fresh-baked taiyaki cakes and takoyaki dumplings; and the curry shop Pot Pot. Listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchanges First Section, Yoshinoya DC is led by chairman Shuji Abe. Yet gyudon remained the companys core recipe. Into the middle of the first decade of the 2000s, Yoshinoya stepped up international expansion of its flagship chain. The company entered Singapore in 1997, followed by the Philippines in 2001. By 2002, the company had launched a second mainland China partnership, targeting specifically the Shanghai market. In that year Yoshinoya also opened its first restaurant outside of the U.S. West Coast, targeting the New York City market, and boosting its number of restaurants in that market past 100. This was followed by the creation of a new subsidiary, Yoshinoya America, to oversee growth of its U.S. operations. Similarly, the company launched a subsidiary in Australia, which opened its first restaurant in 2004, followed by the launch of operations in Malaysia later the same year. Meantime, the companys Beijing-based joint venture announced its own plans to expand its restaurant chain to as many as 500 restaurants by 2010. These efforts enabled Yoshinoya to continue to post strong revenue gains through 2005. Nonetheless, the companys profitability suffered as the U.S. beef ban entered its third year. At last, however, the Japanese government announced its decision to lift much of the ban. This allowed the company to launch its first limited sales of its beef bowl by September. While supply shortages continued to hamper the company, it nonetheless was able to resume wider gyudon sales by December 2006. The effect on the companys revenues were dramatic; by the beginning of 2007, the company posted revenue gains of more than 119 percent. Yoshinoya DC had become one of Japans largest and most diversified and restaurant groups, building its empire on a recipe that had been a Japanese favorite for more than 100 years. Agility: Yoshinoya was hit hard, however, by the developing crisis in the global beef industry. The appearance of the first case of so-called mad cow disease in the United States, which was becoming notorious for the suspect nature of its sanitary conditions, prompted the Japanese government to enact a ban on all U.S. beef imports in 2003. Remembering its last ill-fated attempt to alter the ingredients of its famous beef bowl, Yoshinoya adopted an extreme response, announcing that it would simply end sales of its flagship dish until imports resumed. In place of the beef bowl, Yoshinoya rushed to develop new recipes, including chicken- and pork-based bowls. Weaknesses: Global competition with other fast-food chain of restaurants: Other competitive fast food chains such as KFC , Mc Donalds, Subway, Burger King have many restaurants world-wide. Mc Donalds has the largest Market share in the fast food industry. International Marketing Strategy The international marketing of Yoshinoya* and its services needs to improve for its survival.. With the growing numbers competitors branches worldwide, Yoshinoya needs to further expand its international market operations. In terms of competition, one great and possible strategy to do is a possible merger, joint ventures or strategic alliances because by doing this kind of strategy, it will lessen the competition in the market. It should look at localizing its menu and offer discounts and sales. IT should advertise to bring in more franchises to expand further. Keeping pace with changing consumer preferences As a natural process of reaction in the product marketing, the dynamic and diverse consumer preferences and behaviour is the most predicted trend that will affect the marketing strategy. Due to different geographical location, cultural beliefs and practices, lifestyle, health status, and personal indifferences, various segments of the current marketing strategy are subject to possible changes. Yoshinoya, should look at expanding or altering its menu based on the locations and the consumers prefermnces. Also, it should concentrate on low calorie foods as more and more fast food restaurants causes concerns of obesity and health issues. Eating places were forced to stake out a strong identity for themselves and to pay closer attention to consumers, who were becoming increasingly demanding Dependence on American beef for its signature Beef Bowl In late 2001, a domestic mad cow incident critically damaged beef bowl sales. In late 2003, Japan suspended imports of American beef due to a BSE incident in Washington, cutting off Yoshinoyas main source of short plate (fatty beef) that is the main component of its beef bowl. This forced Yoshinoya to terminate gyudon sales in Japan (the first time in its history) on February 11, 2004. News of the removal of this item from Yoshinoyas menu caused its fans and non-fans alike to queue in massive lines at Yoshinoya restaurants all around Japan to taste what might be their last beef bowl for a long time. Yoshinoya then switched to selling butadon (pork don) instead of beef. However, Yoshinoya restaurants in America continue to sell the beef bowl using American short plate, and restaurants in Japan sold a gyÃ…Â « yakiniku don (Yakiniku-style beef bowl). In December 2005, Japan agreed to remove the restriction on importing US beef. A letter to customers was then put up in restaurants promising that the beef bowl would return in a couple months or so. However, in January imports stopped again because inspectors found banned cattle parts in a veal shipment from the U.S. In June 2006, however, Japan lifted the ban on imports, and on July 31, 2006, Yoshinoya reposted the letter promising to bring back the beef bowl in about two months. External Factors for Yoshinoyas planned entry Ethnic food is seen as the basis for innovation in the food industry. Different cuisines and products are emerging on a continual basis, as consumers become more knowledgeable about eating habits in other parts of the world as well as becoming acquainted with foreign cuisines through foreign travel.Apart from formerly being consumed mostly in the evening, ethnic food is now being consumed throughout the day, for example as a lunchtime snack. The repertoire of ethnic food is forecast to widen even further, resulting in continuous increases in sales Chinese food is expected to remain the largest segment within the market for East Asian cuisine, since it has a significant customer base and is quite popular with large sections of population. However apart from Japanese cuisine, growth is expected to be strongest for the Thai and Indian segments, which are becoming increasingly popular. Japanese became a trend cuisine in the mid 1990s with several sushi outlets opening up in major cities. German retail quickly picked up on this trend and started offering Japanese sushi in its chilled cabinets at first in large cities only and then successfully in more rural areas. Today, in rural areas, sushi tends to be accepted very positively.Japanese food has only recently, within the last five to ten years become popular but the range available is still relatively restricted. Yoshinoya provides healthier food when compared to other fast food joints like Mc donalds and KFC.Wagamama is not Japanese cuisine. In fact, there are no Wagamamas in Japan or China so Yoshinoya providing authentic Japanese food is an advantage. Changes within the population have directly affected the development of the food sector. As the number of single households and working women has increased, coupled with an aging population, German societys values have shifted towards focusing more on the quality of life. Todays consumer is more widely travelled and open-minded towards new, exotic cuisines. Risk factors Ineffective risk management within partnership working may lead to poor working relationships and lack of engagement,not realising benefits,community outcomes not achieved against agreed priorities,reputational damage,poor value for money and missed opportunities to secure cashable efficiencies gains and contribute towards sustainability targets. PESTEL analysis: Political Factors The government in Europe is supposed to be politically stable. In recent years, the Government has pursued policies aimed at making Europe more attractive to investors, creating a welcoming environment for foreign investment. It has low labour and transport costs and the introduction of the single market has eliminated exchange rate fluctuations and reduced overall transaction costs. European government is planning to lower corporate tax which will be extremely beneficial. . Denmark badly needs skilled foreign workers, and will change laws to make them welcome. The rise of the newly formed centrist party New Alliance, offers the minority centre-right coalition government a stable partner.encourage entrepreneur and energy reforms, while rejigging the administrative structure of the municipalities. The addition of the conservatives to the coalition suggests a more active foreign policy, including stronger ties with America, but also a mediating role in the EUs strained relations with R ussia.Less belt-tightening will boost the economy, as will increasing integration into west European production and supply chains. The government controls the marketing and licensing of fast food restaurants which makes it important for every company to maintain good relations with the government and benefit from tax reductions. Ireland With the Green Party now in the coalition government, policy will shift slightly towards environmental issues, though the governments overall focus-keeping businesses competitive-wont change. Economic management will be more complicated than during the boom years; spending cuts, for example, may now be required,creating stresses within the government. Economic factors In last few years there has been a financial crisis in the market. Cost of everything has increased due to fall in major investment banks. There have been inflationary pressures due to high energy prices and lack of credit. All this would amount to increase in price of supply chain and goods. The cost of food items has increased as there has been a food crisis. France and Germany have interrelated economies,so selling in both the markets would not yield great results. Yoshinoya import most of its raw material such as beef and potatoes due to local market cannot supply in abundant to meet the demand of its product they need to be aware of global supply and currency exchange. Since the pricing is above normal food pricing Yoshinoya consumers may find it hard to make the buyer agree to the price on offer. Moreover if the economy is bad and income percapita is affected, the demand of Yoshinoya product will certainly going down. Good economy generally means disposable income is more and p eople can spend more on more expensive food . SOCIAL/Cultural Not many people can afford eating out all the time but with the fast food option providing affordable meals people have caught up with increased spending habits.But consumers always also look for value for money and demand quality in services and more conveniences that can differentiate one restaurant from another. There is not much difference between cultural and the purchase of products in a single country but for different countries cultural sensitivity should be upheld. For example in India people (Hindu) do not take beef, Muslim countries do not take pork, German like beers, Finnish like fish type of food menu, Chinese like to associate food with something good (for example prosperity), Asian like rice and Americans eat in big-sized menu. So far Yoshinoya has shown good efforts in localization of its menu to suit local taste but it should constantly survey and learn about local culture to better understand and design the best product for them Technological European online meal solutions prospects by country For a fast food restaurant, technology does not give a very high impact on the company and it is not a significant macro environment variables. Computer ordering (till system) and using technology for production,supply and research reasons is a requirement.Technology implementation can make the management more effective and cost saving in the long term. Environmental factors Yoshinoya should invest more on the environment related issues. They should reduce their dependency on beef dishes as production of beef involves methane gasses coming from the cows ranch causing green house effect. Large scale plantation affects the environment and loss of green forest opening for plantation activities. Vegetarian environmentalist criticizes the fast-food giant for cruelty to animals and slaughtering. Use of plastic is also an issue as millions of people are known to throw away packaging which is hard to recycle. Our world is getting concern on environment issue and business operating here should not just care for profit, but careful usage of world resources for sustainable development and care for environment safety and health for our future generation. Legal factors Legal requirements of a business owner should be to follow stipulated laws such as operating hours, business registration, tax requirement, labor and employment laws and quality environment certification (such as ISO) in which the outlet has been certified. The legal requirement is important because the offenders will be fined or have their business prohibited. b) Country Shortlisting This part addresses why the country Uk was chosen from amongst the 27 other countries belonging to the EU. A 2008 study was conducted worldwide counting the number of fast food restaurants per person.The UK has claimed this title with Australia second and the United States third. England alone accounted for 25% of all fast food. The majority of multinational corporations that are based outside of Europe but have a presence on the continent, establish their European operations in the UK. Decision making global integration vs global responsivenessmulti domestic strategy,the food industry has a weak need to integrate operations across countries because scale economies are highly offset by transportational costs. In Russia,eating out is also becoming increasingly common. A burgeoning middle class is creating a solid customer base and is increasing demand for international foods, with the result that numerous restaurants and cafà ©s are opening or expanding. In France With regard to business and investment, the climate cannot be considered to be very conducive due to lack of fiscal and investment freedom, and freedom from government intervention. Business taxes are also higher compared to other developed countries which acts as a deterrent for investment. In 2004, Germanys share of the ethnic food retail market (by value) within Europe was relatively small (9.2% compared to the UKs 68.8%). Nevertheless, it was the third largest market, following the UK and France (who had 9.7%) In 2006, the Ethnic Food retail market in Europe was worth EUR 4.12 billion. The UK has the largest and most developed market, with sales worth over EUR 2.34 billion. In fact, the UK, France and Germany together account for over 80% of total sales. It notes that countries like Spain and Ireland have much smaller markets, but that sales are on an upward spiral So first establish about 5 stores in uk and 5 in germany check the performance over a year hope to gain from spillover effects where Media helps it to get noticed in nearby countries and the following year expand in markets like Denmark and Netherlands which are in the same region. So the plan suggests that the country selection is also region specific.Northern European countries like england and Denmark andWestern European countrie like Germany and Netherlands Economic stability based on GDP Spain has per capita GDP of UK is $ 34,619 (International Monetary Fund,2009).It is the third largest economy in Europe after Germany and France and the second largest after germany in terms of Purchasing Power Parity. Japanese in Uk Colindale in north London has Oriental City a shopping centre which has the highest footfall of Asian consumers. North West England, Manchester is town with largest population and Aberystwyth largest student town are locations for opening a store. When eating outside the home, Japanese expatriates in the Netherlands most commonly patronise Chinese restaurants (29% of meals eaten out); Japanese restaurants run a close second at 25%, Italian restaurants at 19%, and French restaurants at 10% (Cwiertka 2000, p. 17) Start with 10 stores with centralization,check performance and then shift to decentralization. The strategy for the first three years in Europe should be of Centralization and concentration in big country markets . Part 2 a) Market Entry Strategies Why would Yoshinoya choose franchising? Yoshinoya wants to aggressively expand in the European market.The franchising model will help it expand its operations on a faster scale. Speed of entry Speed of entry can be classified as Aggressive-broad front and aggressive-focused. Yoshinoya must have systematic and dynamic game plan using all of its resources. How will the franchise work? Joint venture will be 50-50. Yoshinoya has had nation wide franchising in the United States offering single franchise and territory arrangements. Having identified a franchisee, NewLook must determine aspects such as franchisee fee and initial investment required to get the venture on road. NewLook can follow the standard industry practice of charging between $30,000 $40,000 per location per year a standard followed by 70% of the franchisors. Additionally, the terms of franchising also need to lay down the amount of royalty that franchisee needs to pay (International Franchise Association, 2010). This figure is a percentage of franchisees gross monthly income and could be set at 4%. Risks of franchising Without having a local presence in Europe, this method results in a great loss of control and supervision over the franchise as the franchisor has no legal entity in Europe. However Wholly owned facilities, at the start would serve as anchors while they build relationships in the host country to support further entry through non-equity modes such as franchising and management service contracts (Bartlett Ghoshal, 2000). So it might prove difficult to build familiarity and relationships in the market, non-equity contractual forms are readily adopted to support the increasing degree of presence. Due to Yoshinoyas present financial condition franchising would be the best option but finding the right franchising partner would be the most important. Exit Strategies Franchisors that they needed to understand that their business would fail, and in fact all businesses are bound for failure. Daniel Hudson Burnham said Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir mens blood. So plan. Plan to profit. Plan to nurture and build. And plan to exit.If Yoshinoya does not get its estimated profit or is in loss, it can exit the market. It is not easy to exit the market as closing franchised stores due to non performing would affect brand image and create stutor among other franchising partners.If a joint venture is established exiting market becomes an easy option as the share can be sold to the partner. Relocation of non profitable stores can be an option. Additionally, once the initial period of uncertainty is over and the payoff (for NewLook) from the venture is more or less stabilized, NewLook may find it advantageous to dissolve the partnership by either acquiring the franchisees interest in the venture or selling its own stake. The price for the t ransfer of ownership interests between two parties should be set in the original contract. To determine the share price, both parties could accept the appraisal of an independent evaluator (Chi, Tailan; McGuire, Donald J, 1996). b)Functional strategies, including product, marketing, and operations decisions. The marketing strategy inviloves 4ps product,price,place and promotion.As yoshinoya is not yet established in the European market they could use Penetrative pricing policy to expand the menu by adding chicken based side orders,sushi,soups and salads.To cut costs,decreasing price should not be an option instead they should reduce the quantity of products.Table service is a good idea.On the other hand having a limited menu, rapid table turnover and employing temporary staff on minimum wage so that pension and health benefits dont have dolled out is a way of cutting costs too. A marketing strategy involves using brand names and other marketing elements.Yoshinoya must look at protecting brand name and patent.In a Franchise system the franchisor does the RD and Marketing while Franchisee does the Production and sales and service. c) Yoshinoyas Organizational Structure Organizational structure shows how management decisions would be taken and the flow. VP (HR) will be reporting to CEO and will be accountable to all HR related operations. Senior VP (marketing and sales) will be reporting to CEO and will be accountable for marketing and sales. CFO will be reporting to the CEO and will be accountable for all financial operations. VP (Operation development) will be reporting to COO and will be in charge for operations and development. Then VP (Investor relation) will be reporting to COO and will be responsible for relations with the investors. VP (public relations) will be responsible for public relations. Special task force would be formed to work in teams to take care for any new stores to be opened or major structural changes to be made in functioning of any stores. Although the organisational structure outlines who reports to whom within the MNE, it does not indicate where decsisions are made within the framework.companies must determine where decisions will be made.The higher the level within the organisation at which decisions are made, the more they are considered to be centralised;the lower the level,the more they are decentralized.whether decision making should be centralized or decentralized can be addressed from the stand point of either the company as a whole or some part of it,such as particular subsidary operation. d)Strategic control system Conclusion It is observed from various analysis made above like PESTLE and SWOT, that Yoshinoya is a brand which needs to expand internationally in order to increase its revenue and to compete with other big brands. References: http://www.swot-pest-porter.co.uk Hollensen, S (2003) Global Marketing: A Decision-Oriented Approach. 3rd ed. Pearson Education Wall, S Rees, B (2004) International Business. FT Prentice Hall. LEE, K CARTER, S (2005) Global Marketing Management. Oxford: OUP Mellenius, H 2007 Market Orientation as a Branding Strategy. Working Paper, department of Business Studies, Uppsala University. 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Lacanian Psychoanalytic Criticism in Harry Potter Essay -- Lacan Child

Lacanian Psychoanalytic Criticism in Harry Potter The inhabitants of a faraway country known for its ivory towers and for its export of literary monographs were forever quarreling over who might best represent them. One day two tiny factions decided to join forces: the adherents of the Princess Childlit and the followers of Prince Psychian, the great-great-grandson of Empress Psyche. Both groups had for a long time felt themselves unduly spurned†¦ by the powerful Board of Canonizers who had ruled Arkedemia for over a century. Might not a wedding between the two claimants strengthen their status?... just as the engagement was about to be announced, the whole affair was abruptly called off. What had happened?†¦Their cohorts had begun to quarrel most bitterly with each other†¦ The wedding did not take place†¦Soon the board of Canonizers issued an edict pronouncing both groups to be out of the system. Hereafter, their passports would be stamped with the word â€Å"marginal† in red gothic print. (Knoepfl macher, 131-132) [1] U.C. Knoepflmacher’s wonderful parody of the current situation of children’s literary criticism and the psychoanalytic approach to literature perfectly sums up what will be the major obstacle of this critical paper. It would seem that modern literary criticism has an unfortunate tendency to overlook children’s literature extensively; to relegate it to a position of only secondary importance in the critic’s glossary of â€Å"good literature.† On top of that, psychoanalytic criticism, as it is applied to children’s literature, seems to have taken on a startlingly simplistic, static approach to the analysis of the text, that does very little justice to the diversity and complexity that the field possesses. (132-133) ... ...nnual of the Modern Language Association Division on Children’s Literature and the Children’s Literature Association.18 (1990): 131-134. Lesnik-Oberstein, Karin. Children’s Literature: Criticism and the Fictional Child. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994. McGillis, Roderick. â€Å"Another Kick at La/can: ‘I Am a Picture.’† Children’s Literature Association Quarterly.20.1 (1995): 42-46. Murfin, Ross, Ed. â€Å"What is Psychoanalytic Criticism?† The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin’s, 1999. Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. New York: Scholastic, Inc., 1998. Trites, Roberta Seelinger. â€Å"Psychoanalytic Approaches to Children’s Literature: Landmarks, Signposts, Maps.† Children’s Literature Association Quarterly. 25.2 (2000): 66-67.

Bag of Bones CHAPTER NINETEEN

The telephone was ringing. I climbed toward it from a drowning dream where I couldn't catch my breath, rising into early sunlight, wincing at the pain in the back of my head as I swung my feet out of bed. The phone would quit before I got to it, they almost always do in such situations, and then I'd lie back down and spend a fruitless ten minutes wondering who it had been before getting up for good. Ringgg . . . ringgg . . . ringgg . . . Was that ten? A dozen? I'd lost count. Someone was really dedicated. I hoped it wasn't trouble, but in my experience people don't try that hard when the news is good. I touched my fingers gingerly to the back of my head. It hurt plenty, but that deep, sick ache seemed to be gone. And there was no blood on my fingers when I looked at them. I padded down the hall and picked up the phone. ‘Hello?' ‘Well, you won't have to worry about testifyin at the kid's custody hearin anymore, at least.' ‘Bill?' ‘Ayuh.' ‘How did you know . . . ‘ I leaned around the corner and peered at the waggy, annoying cat-clock. Twenty minutes past seven and already sweltering. Hotter'n a bugger, as us TR Martians like to say. ‘How do you know he decided ‘ ‘I don't know nothing about his business one way or t'other.' Bill sounded touchy. ‘He never called to ask my advice, and I never called to give him any.' ‘What's happened? What's going on?' ‘You haven't had the TV on yet?' ‘I don't even have the coffee on yet.' No apology from Bill; he was a fellow who believed that people who didn't get up until after six A.M. deserved whatever they got. I was awake now, though. And had a pretty good idea of what was coming. ‘Devore killed himself last night, Mike. Got into a tub of warm water and pulled a plastic bag over his head. Mustn't have taken long, with his lungs the way they were.' No, I thought, probably not long. In spite of the humid summer heat that already lay on the house, I shivered. ‘Who found him? The woman?' ‘Ayuh, sure.' ‘What time?' †'Shortly before midnight,†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ they said on the Channel 6 news.' Right around the time I had awakened on the couch and taken myself stiffly off to bed, in other words. ‘Is she implicated?' ‘Did she play Kevorkian, you mean? The news report I saw didn't say nothin about that. The gossip-mill down to the Lakeview General will be turnin brisk by now, but I ain't been down yet for my share of the grain. If she helped him, I don't think she'll ever see trouble for it, do you? He was eighty-five and not well.' ‘Do you know if he'll be buried on the TR?' ‘California. She said there'd be services in Palm Springs on Tuesday.' A sense of surpassing oddness swept over me as I realized the source of Mattie's problems might be lying in a chapel filled with flowers at the same time The Friends of Kyra Devore were digesting their lunches and getting ready to start throwing the Frisbee around. It's going to be a celebration, I thought wonderingly. I don't know how they're going to handle it in The Little Chapel of the Microchips in Palm Springs, but on Wasp Hill Road they're going to be dancing and throwing their arms in the sky and hollering Yes, lawd. I'd never been glad to hear of anyone's death before in my life, but I was glad to hear of Devore's. I was sorry to feel that way, but I did. The old bastard had dumped me in the lake . . . but before the night was over, he was the one who had drowned. Inside a plastic bag he had drowned, sitting in a tub of tepid water. ‘Any idea how the TV guys got onto it so fast?' It wasn't superfast, not with seven hours between the discovery of the body and the seven o'clock news, but TV news people have a tendency to be lazy. ‘Whitmore called em. Had a press conference right there in Warrington's parlor at two o'clock this morning. Took questions settin on that big maroon plush sofa, the one Jo always used to say should be in a saloon oil paintin with a naked woman lyin on it. Remember?' ‘Yeah.' ‘I saw a coupla County deputies walkin around in the background, plus a fella I reckonized from Jaquard's Funeral Home in Motton.' ‘That's bizarre,' I said. ‘Ayuh, body still upstairs, most likely, while Whitmore was runnin her gums . . . but she claimed she was just followin the boss's orders. Said he left a tape sayin he'd done it on Friday night so as not to affect the cump'ny stock price and wanted Rogette to call in the press right off and assure folks that the cump'ny was solid, that between his son and the Board of Directors, everythin was going to be just acey-deucey. Then she told about the services in Palm Springs.' ‘He commits suicide, then holds a two A.M. press conference by proxy to soothe the stockholders.' ‘Ayuh. And it sounds just like him.' A silence fell between us on the line. I tried to think and couldn't. All I knew was that I wanted to go upstairs and work, aching head or no aching head. I wanted to rejoin Andy Drake, John Shackleford, and Shackleford's childhood friend, the awful Ray Garraty. There was madness in my story, but it was a madness I understood. ‘Bill,' I said at last, ‘are we still friends?' ‘Christ, yes,' he said promptly. ‘But if there's people around who seem a little stand-offy to you, you'll know why, won't you?' Sure I'd know. Many would blame the old man's death on me. It was crazy, given his physical condition, and it would by no means be a majority opinion, but the idea would gain a certain amount of credence, at least in the short run I knew that as well as I knew the truth about John Shackleford's childhood friend. Kiddies, once upon a time there was a goose that flew back to the little unincorporated township where it had lived as a downy gosling. It began laying lovely golden eggs, and the townsfolk all gathered around to marvel and receive their share. Now, however, that goose was cooked and someone had to take the heat. I'd get some, but Mattie's kitchen might get a few degrees toastier than mine; she'd had the temerity to fight for her child instead of silently handing Ki over. ‘Keep your head down the next few weeks,' Bill said. ‘That'd be my idea. In fact, if you had business that took you right out of the TR until all this settles down, that might be for the best.' ‘I appreciate the sense of what you're saying, but I can't. I'm writing a book. If I pick up my shit and move, it's apt to die on me. It's happened before, and I don't want it to happen this time.' ‘Pretty good yarn, is it?' ‘Not bad, but that's not the important thing. It's . . . well, let's just say this one's important to me for other reasons.' ‘Wouldn't it travel as far as Derry?' ‘Are you trying to get rid of me, William?' ‘I'm tryin to keep an eye out, that's all caretakin's my job, y'know. And don't say you weren't warned: the hive's gonna buzz. There's two stories going around about you, Mike. One is that you're shacking with Mattie Devore. The other is that you came back to write a hatchet-job on the TR. Pull out all the old skeletons you can find.' ‘Finish what Jo started, in other words. Who's been spreading that story, Bill?' Silence from Bill. We were back on earthquake ground again, and this time that ground felt shakier than ever. ‘The book I'm working on is a novel,' I said. ‘Set in Florida.' ‘Oh, ayuh?' You wouldn't think three little syllables could have so much relief in them. ‘Think you could kind of pass that around?' ‘I think I could,' he said. ‘If you tell Brenda Meserve, it'd get around even faster and go even farther.' ‘Okay, I will. As far as Mattie goes ‘ ‘Mike, you don't have to' ‘I'm not shacking with her. That was never the deal. The deal was like walking down the street, turning the corner, and seeing a big guy beating up a little guy.' I paused. ‘She and her lawyer are planning a barbecue at her place Tuesday noon. I'm planning to join them. Are people from town going to think we're dancing on Devore's grave?' ‘Some will. Royce Merrill will. Dickie Brooks will. Old ladies in pants, Yvette calls em.' ‘Well fuck them,' I said. ‘Every last one.' ‘I understand how you feel, but tell her not to shove it in folks' faces,' he almost pleaded. ‘Do that much, Mike. It wouldn't kill her to drag her grill around back of her trailer, would it? At least with it there, folks lookin out from the store or the garage wouldn't see nothing but the smoke.' ‘I'll pass on the message. And if I make the party, I'll put the barbecue around back myself.' ‘You'd do well to stay away from that girl and her child,' Bill said. ‘You can tell me it's none of my business, but I'm talkin to you like a Dutch uncle, tellin you for your own good.' I had a flash of my dream then. The slick, exquisite tightness as I slipped inside her. The little breasts with their hard nipples. Her voice in the darkness, telling me to do what I wanted. My body responded almost instantly. ‘I know you are,' I said. ‘All right.' He sounded relieved that I wasn't going to scold him take him to school, he would have said. ‘I'll let you go n have your breakfast.' ‘I appreciate you calling.' ‘Almost didn't. Yvette talked me into it. She said, â€Å"You always liked Mike and Jo Noonan best of all the ones you did for. Don't you get in bad with him now that he's back home.† ‘Tell her I appreciate it,' I said. I hung up the phone and looked at it thoughtfully. We seemed to be on good terms again . . . but I didn't think we were exactly friends. Certainly not the way we had been. That had changed when I realized Bill was lying to me about some things and holding back about others; it had also changed when I realized what he had almost called Sara and the Red-Tops. You can't condemn a manor what may only be a figment of your own imagination. True, and I'd try not to do it . . . but I knew what I knew. I went into the living room, snapped on the TV, then snapped it off again. My satellite dish got fifty or sixty different channels, and not a one of them local. There was a portable TV in the kitchen, however, and if I dipped its rabbit-ears toward the lake I'd be able to get WMTW, the ABC affiliate in western Maine. I snatched up Rogette's note, went into the kitchen, and turned on the little Sony tucked under the cabinets with the coffee-maker. Good Morning America was on, but they would be breaking for the local news soon. In the meantime I scanned the note, this time concentrating on the mode of expression rather than the message, which had taken all of my attention the night before. Hopes to return to California by private jet very soon, she had written. Has business which can be put off no longer, she had written. If you promise to let him rest in peace, she had written. It was a goddam suicide note. ‘You knew,' I said, rubbing my thumb over the raised letters of her name. ‘You knew when you wrote this, and probably when you were chucking rocks at me. But why?' Custody has its responsibilities, she had written. Don't forget he said so. But the custody business was over, right? Not even a judge that was bought and paid for could award custody to a dead man. GMA finally gave way to the local report, where Max Devore's suicide was the leader. The TV picture was snowy, but I could see the maroon sofa Bill had mentioned, and Rogette Whitmore sitting on it with her hands folded composedly in her lap. I thought one of the deputies in the background was George Footman, although the snow was too heavy for me to be completely sure. Mr. Devore had spoken frequently over the last eight months of ending his life, Whitmore said. He had been very unwell. He had asked her to come out with him the previous evening, and she realized now that he had wanted to look at one final sunset. It had been a glorious one, too, she added. I could have corroborated that; I remembered the sunset very well, having almost drowned by its light. Rogette was reading Devore's statement when my phone rang again. It was Mattie, and she was crying in hard gusts. ‘The news,' she said, ‘Mike, did you see . . . do you know . . . ‘ At first that was all she could manage that was coherent. I told her I did know, Bill Dean had called me and then I'd caught some of it on the local news. She tried to reply and couldn't speak. Guilt, relief, horror, even hilarity I heard all those things in her crying. I asked where Ki was. I could sympathize with how Mattie felt until turning on the news this morning she'd believed old Max Devore was her bitterest enemy but I didn't like the idea of a three-year-old girl watching her mom fall apart. ‘Out back,' she managed. ‘She's had her breakfast. Now she's having a d-doll p-p-p . . . doll pi-p-pic ‘ ‘Doll picnic. Yes. Good. Let it go, then. All of it. Let it out.' She cried for two minutes at least, maybe longer. I stood with the telephone pressed to my ear, sweating in the July heat, trying to be patient. I'm going to give you one chance to save your soul, Devore had told me, but this morning he was dead and his soul was wherever it was. He was dead, Mattie was free, I was writing. Life should have felt wonderful, but it didn't. At last she began to get her control back. ‘I'm sorry. I haven't cried like that really, really cried since Lance died.' ‘It's understandable and you're allowed.' ‘Come to lunch,' she said. ‘Come to lunch please, Mike. Ki's going to spend the afternoon with a friend she met at Vacation Bible School, and we can talk. I need to talk to someone . . . God, my head is spinning. Please say you'll come.' ‘I'd love to, but it's a bad idea. Especially with Ki gone.' I gave her an edited version of my conversation with Bill Dean. She listened carefully. I thought there might be an angry outburst when I finished, but I'd forgotten one simple fact: Mattie Stanchfield Devore had lived around here all her life. She knew how things worked. ‘I understand that things will heal quicker if I keep my eyes down, my mouth shut, and my knees together,' she said, ‘and I'll do my best to go along, but diplomacy only stretches so far. That old man was trying to take my daughter away, don't they realize that down at the goddam general store?' ‘I realize it.' ‘I know. That's why I wanted to talk to you.' ‘What if we had an early supper on the Castle Rock common? Same place as Friday? Say five-ish?' ‘I'd have to bring Ki ‘ ‘Fine,' I said. ‘Bring her. Tell her I know â€Å"Hansel and Gretel† by heart and am willing to share. Will you call John in Philly? Give him the details?' ‘Yes. I'll wait another hour or so. God, I'm so happy. I know that's wrong, but I'm so happy I could burst!' ‘That makes two of us.' There was a pause on the other end. I heard a long, watery intake of breath. ‘Mattie? All right?' ‘Yes, but how do you tell a three-year-old her grandfather died?' Tell her the old fuck slipped and fell headfirst into a Glad Bag, I thought, then pressed the back of my hand against my mouth to stifle a spate of lunatic cackles. ‘I don't know, but you'll have to do it as soon as she comes in.' ‘I will? Why?' ‘Because she's going to see you. She's going to see your face.' I lasted exactly two hours in the upstairs study, and then the heat drove me out the thermometer on the stoop read ninety-five degrees at ten o'clock. I guessed it might be five degrees warmer on the second floor. Hoping I wasn't making a mistake, I unplugged the IBM and carried it downstairs. I was working without a shirt, and as I crossed the living room, the back of the typewriter slipped in the sweat coating my midriff and I almost dropped the outdated sonofabitch on my toes. That made me think of my ankle, the one I'd hurt when I fell into the lake, and I set the typewriter aside to look at it. It was colorful, black and purple and reddish at the edges, but not terribly inflated. I guessed my immersion in the cool water had helped keep the swelling down. I put the typewriter on the deck table, rummaged out an extension cord, plugged in beneath Bunter's watchful eye, and sat down facing the hazy blue-gray surface of the lake. I waited for one of my old anxiety attacks to hit the clenched stomach, the throbbing eyes, and, worst of all, that sensation of invisible steel bands clamped around my chest, making it impossible to breathe. Nothing like that happened. The words flowed as easily down here as they had upstairs, and my naked upper body was loving the little breeze that puffed in off the lake every now and again. I forgot about Max Devore, Mattie Devore, Kyra Devore. I forgot about Jo Noonan and Sara Tidwell. I forgot about myself. For two hours I was back in Florida. John Shackleford's execution was nearing. Andy Drake was racing the clock. It was the telephone that brought me back, and for once I didn't resent interruption. If undisturbed, I might have gone on writing until I simply melted into a sweaty pile of goo on the deck. It was my brother. We talked about Mom in Siddy's opinion she was now short an entire roof instead of just a few shingles and her sister, Francine, who had broken her hip in June. Sid wanted to know how I was doing, and I told him I was doing all right, I'd had some problems getting going on a new book but now seemed to be back on track (in my family, the only permissible time to discuss trouble is when it's over). And how was the Sidster? Kickin, he said, which I assumed meant just fine Siddy has a twelve-year-old, and consequently his slang is always up-to-date. The new accounting business was starting to take hold, although he'd been scared for awhile (first I knew of it, of course). He could never thank me enough for the bridge loan I'd made him last November. I replied that it was the least I could do, which was the absolute truth, especially when I considered how much more time both in person and on the phone he spent with our mother than I did. ‘Well, I'll let you go,' Siddy told me after a few more pleasantries he never says goodbye or so long when he's on the phone, it's always well, I'll let you go, as if he's been holding you hostage. ‘You want to keep cool up there, Mike Weather Channel says it's going to be hotter than hell in New England all weekend.' ‘There's always the lake if things get too bad. Hey Sid?' ‘Hey what?' Like I'll let you go, Hey what went back to childhood. It was sort of comforting; it was also sort of spooky. ‘Our folks all came from Prout's Neck, right? I mean on Daddy's side.' Mom came from another world entirely one where the men wear Lacoste polo shirts, the women always wear full slips under their dresses, and everyone knows the second verse of ‘Dixie' by heart. She had met my dad in Portland while competing in a college cheerleading event. Materfamilias came from Memphis quality, darling, and didn't let you forget it. ‘I guess so,' he said. ‘Yeah. But don't go asking me a lot of family-tree questions, Mike I'm still not sure what the difference is between a nephew and a cousin, and I told Jo the same thing.' ‘Did you?' Everything inside me had gone very still . . . but I can't say I was surprised. Not by then. ‘Uh-huh, you bet.' ‘What did she want to know?' ‘Everything I knew. Which isn't much. I could have told her all about Ma's great-great-grandfather, the one who got killed by the Indians, but Jo didn't seem to care about any of Ma's folks.' ‘When would this have been?' ‘Does it matter?' ‘It might.' ‘Okay, let's see. I think it was around the time Patrick had his appendectomy. Yeah, I'm sure it was. February of '94. It might have been March, but I'm pretty sure it was February.' Six months from the Rite Aid parking lot. Jo moving into the shadow of her own death like a woman stepping beneath the shade of an awning. Not pregnant, though, not yet. Jo making day-trips to the TR. Jo asking questions, some of the sort that made people feel bad, according to Bill Dean . . . but she'd gone on asking just the same. Yeah. Because once she got onto something, Jo was like a terrier with a rag in its jaws. Had she been asking questions of the man in the brown sportcoat? Who was the man in the brown sportcoat? ‘Pat was in the hospital, sure. Dr. Alpert said he was doing fine, but when the phone rang I jumped for it I half-expected it to be him, Alpert, saying Pat had had a relapse or something.' ‘Where in God's name did you get this sense of impending doom, Sid?' ‘I dunno, buddy, but it's there. Anyway, it's not Alpert, it's Johanna. She wants to know if we had any ancestors three, maybe even four generations back who lived there where you are, or in one of the surrounding towns. I told her I didn't know, but you might. Know, I mean. She said she didn't want to ask you because it was a surprise. Was it a surprise?' ‘A big one,' I said. ‘Daddy was a lobsterman ‘ ‘Bite your tongue, he was an artist ‘a seacoast primitive.' Ma still calls him that.' Siddy wasn't quite laughing. ‘Shit, he sold lobster-pot coffee-tables and lawn-puffins to the tourists when he got too rheumatic to go out on the bay and haul traps.' ‘I know that, but Ma's got her marriage edited like a movie for television.' How true. Our own version of Blanche Du Bois. ‘Dad was a lobster-man in Prout's Neck. He ‘ Siddy interrupted, singing the first verse of ‘Papa Was a Rollin' Stone' in a horrible off key tenor. ‘Come on, this is serious. He had his first boat from his father, right?' ‘That's the story,' Sid agreed. ‘Jack Noonan's Lazy Betty, original owner Paul Noonan. Also of Prout's. Boat took a hell of a pasting in Hurricane Donna, back in 1960. I think it was Donna.' Two years after I was born. ‘And Daddy put it up for sale in '63.' ‘Yep. I don't know whatever became of it, but it was Grampy Paul's to begin with, all right. Do you remember all the lobster stew we ate when we were kids, Mikey?' ‘Seacoast meatloaf,' I said, hardly thinking about it. Like most kids raised on the coast of Maine, I can't imagine ordering lobster in a restaurant that's for flatlanders. I was thinking about Grampy Paul, who had been born in the 1890s. Paul Noonan begat Jack Noonan, Jack Noonan begat Mike and Sid Noonan, and that was really all I knew, except the Noonans had all grown up a long way from where I now stood sweating my brains out. They shit in the same pit. Devore had gotten it wrong, that was all when we Noonans weren't wearing polo shirts and being Memphis quality, we were Prout's Neckers. It was unlikely that Devore's great-grandfather and my own would have had anything to do with each other in any case; the old rip had been twice my age, and that meant the generations didn't match up. But if he had been totally wrong, what had Jo been on about? ‘Mike?' Sid asked. ‘Are you there?' ‘Yeah.' ‘Are you okay? You don't sound so great, I have to tell you.' ‘It's the heat,' I said. ‘Not to mention your sense of impending doom. Thanks for calling, Siddy.' ‘Thanks for being there, brother.' ‘Kickin,' I said. I went out to the kitchen to get a glass of cold water. As I was filling it, I heard the magnets on the fridge begin sliding around. I whirled, spilling some of the water on my bare feet and hardly noticing. I was as excited as a kid who thinks he may glimpse Santa Claus before he shoots back up the chimney. I was barely in time to see nine plastic letters drawn into the circle from all points of the compass. CARLADEAN, they spelled . . . but only for a second. Some presence, tremendous but unseen, shot past me. Not a hair on my head stirred, but there was still a strong sense of being buffeted, the way you're buffeted by the air of a passing express train if you're standing near the platform yellow-line when the train bolts through. I cried out in surprise and groped my glass of water back onto the counter, spilling it. I no longer felt in need of cold water, because the temperature in the kitchen of Sara Laughs had dropped off the table. I blew out my breath and saw vapor, as you do on a cold day in January. One puff, maybe two, and it was gone but it had been there, all right, and for perhaps five seconds the film of sweat on my body turned to what felt like a slime of ice. CARLADEAN exploded outward in all directions it was like watching an atom being smashed in a cartoon. Magnetized letters, fruits, and vegetables flew off the front of the refrigerator and scattered across the kitchen. For a moment the fury which fuelled that scattering was something I could almost taste, like gunpowder. And something gave way before it, going with a sighing, rueful whisper I had heard before: ‘Oh Mike. Oh Mike.' It was the voice I'd caught on the Memo-Scriber tape, and although I hadn't been sure then, I was now it was Jo's voice. But who was the other one? Why had it scattered the letters? Carla Dean. Not Bill's wife; that was Yvette. His mother? His grandmother? I walked slowly through the kitchen, collecting fridge-magnets like prizes in a scavenger hunt and sticking them back on the Kenmore by the handful. Nothing snatched them out of my hands; nothing froze the sweat on the back of my neck; Bunter's bell didn't ring. Still, I wasn't alone, and I knew it. CARLADEAN: Jo had wanted me to know. Something else hadn't. Something else had shot past me like the Wabash Cannonball, trying to scatter the letters before I could read them. Jo was here; a boy who wept in the night was here, too. And what else? What else was sharing my house with me?

Should Marijuana Be Legalized - 1053 Words

There are no good reasons to legalize marijuana. It will have no benefits in today’s society. Legalizing marijuana will simply add on to the list of harmful intoxicants that are already being fought against such as cigarettes, alcohol, and methamphetamine. Although proponents of the legalization of marijuana claim it is for medicinal uses, there is no scientific evidence of marijuana being bad, and it is no worse than alcohol, marijuana is unacceptable because it causes destructive behaviors, lowers IQ, and causes birth defects. Why should laws be changed to legalize marijuana? Marijuana should never be legalized. Society would knowingly be adding another harmful toxin to the list. Although so many people already break the laws†¦show more content†¦Using marijuana wreaks havoc on the user’s social life. It robs them of the facets of life. They are never able to overcome challenges or enjoy the simple pleasures in life because marijuana distorts the individualâ €™s perceptions and causes an artificial sense of pleasure that becomes addictive. Once an addict attempts to quit marijuana the person becomes irritable, tired, and constantly craves the drug. Marijuana is addictive because it produces the toxin THC. THC, tetrahydrocannabinol, causes the chemical response in the users body. It bonds to receptors in the brain that releases dopamine that causes euphoria or a person to feel high. Most proponents of the legalization of marijuana will refute that Marijuana is becoming a basis in the medical field. They claim that marijuana is the only drug that eases the pain and suffering of patients. Marijuana is the only drug that treats their symptoms without devastating side effects. It alleviates the symptoms of cancer, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, AIDS, and glaucoma. Over seventy percent of today’s voters, which include majorities of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents, support marijuana use with a doctor’s recommendation. In 1972, the United States Congress placed marijuana under Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act because they considered it to have â€Å"no accepted medical use.† Marijuana is bad for people’s health, mental and physical. The American Medical Association states that â€Å"heavy cannabis use