Macbeth: Banquos Soliloquy :: essays research papers

Macbeth: Banquo's Soliloquy In Macbeth, a play by William Shakespeare, Banquo's soliloquy at the beginning of the third act explains some of his present feeling towards Macbeth. He believes that Macbeth killed to become the King of Scotland. He explains that he is the one who will start a chain of kings, not Macbeth. Strangely enough, Banquo makes this discovery two scenes from his death, not giving him enough time to tell others the discovery. In the first three lines of the soliloquy, Banquo explains that Macbeth has become king just like the "weird women", or witches had prophesied. However, he also says that "thou play'dst most foully for't." Which basically means that he committed murder to attain it. He is Macbeth's best friend. He knows that Macbeth has the desire to be the king and would do anything to get the crown. Banquo knows Macbeth has it in him to commit murder. In the next three lines, Banquo explains that he should really be the king because the witches also proclaimed that Banquo would be the "root and father of many kings." In the line, "May they not be my oracles as well and set me up in hope?", Banquo is saying that he wants the prophesies to come true for him also and make him the king and the beginning of a long line of kings. The main idea of his soliloquy is that Banquo knows that Macbeth killed Duncan. Strangely enough, this soliloquy is placed two scenes before he died, not giving him enough time to tell anyone else about his discovery. Banquo has realized that Macbeth murdered Duncan but will die in two scenes anyway. In Banquo's soliloquy in the beginning of the third act of Macbeth, Banquo suspects that Macbeth is behind Duncan's murder. He knows this because he has been best friends with Macbeth for a long time and knows that Macbeth has

Raskolnikov’s Duplistic Nature in Crime and Punishment :: Crime Punishment Essays

Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment is the story of a poor man in czarist Russia who can only purge himself of his guilt through suffering. It deals with the mental and physical tribulation brought upon him by his crime. His troubles are compounded by the conflicting personalities which he possesses. The reader is inclined to characterize him by his cold, intellectual side. Yet, without the contrasting humane side of his nature, Raskolnikov never realizes the errors in his theory and actions. Raskolnikov is defined by the duplistic nature of his personality, with each facet being just as vital as the other. Raskolnikov's cold side leads him to develop his theory, and thus to commit murder. This side of him bases all decisions on reason and rationalization (although it is sometimes incorrect), rather than on feeling. It is purely stoical, without emotion. The other side of his character is kind and compassionate. Without this side being presented the reader views him as an evil murderer, and not a mislead victim, as Dostoevsky intends. In the novel Raskolnikov engages in sporadic acts of kindness. He gives money to the Marmeladov family, he attempts to aid Marmeladov when he dies, and he tries to get a drunken girl home and away from her pursuer. All of these deeds were done without premeditation. He simply feels that at the time it is the right thing to do. After a short period of time his outlook dramatically reverses. He starts to rationally analyze what he has done, and then feels that his actions were stupid. This transition marks the return of his cold side, and it occurs after every kind thing that Raskolnikov does.

The Role of Historians :: essays research papers

The Role of Historians Professional historians spend their lives pursuing the meaning of the past for the present." Everything that exists in today's world has some origin coming from the past. Everything that exists today and seems to be unique of its time has some basis from the past. It is a known fact that history has a tendency of repeating itself, and so to prepare us for the future we need to understand the past. History can give a person an answer to almost everything that is going on in the present, with what we call a historical investigation. History not only states facts but explains disciplines such as sociology, religion, psychology, anthropology and so on. It explains to us why certain events happened, such as the reason why six millions Jews died in the Second World War. The reason history gives us is anti-Semitism. The Nazis were a group that had as a goal to purify the world of what we call minorities and so to keep it a White, straight, Christian world. History explains the evolution of things, people, beliefs, laws and many more in order for us to understand why certain things are the way they are. In this article, we come across a few major points. Each of them is introduced in a very original way. The author uses a literal journey into the past as a means of comparing it to the present. One of the many points is an in depth definition of history related profession. What are they trying to accomplish and how they work to get what they are looking for. "Professional historians spend their lives pursuing the meaning of the past for the present." Historians study facts and records that previous generations have left, to find out what kind of lives they led and how they solved their problems. The way a historian works is very determined and simple to understand. A historian needs to first choose an important question he wants to answer. Then he needs to find research on the subject that already exists and which he can get access to. Next he has to judge the source that he has obtained, is it credible? Is it genuine? The article explains that there are two basic forms of historical evidence that exist, primary and secondary. Primary evidence records the actual words of someone who participated or witnessed the events in question. Or it can also be newspaper accounts, diaries, official statements, photographs, videotapes. Secondary evidence, on the other hand, records the findings of someone who did not observe the event but who investigated primary evidence,

Of Mice and Men- Prejudice Essay

This room is made put to be privileged and also because it means he is nearer to the horses but in fact it is really because the other ranch hands do not want him in the bunk house with them. As a result of this prejudice Crooks has become bitter and very lonely. When Lennie comes to pet the puppies, not even realising that Crooks room is â€Å"out of bounds†, Crooks instantly becomes defensive and uncivil, â€Å"I ain’t wanted in the bunk room and you ain’t wanted in my room† but Lennie in his childish innocence is completely without prejudice, â€Å"why ain’t you wanted†, he asks. Crooks retaliates to this with: â€Å"Cause I’m black, they play cards in there but I can’t play because I’m black. They say I stink. Well I tell you, all of you stink to me†. This quote shows us that Crooks desperately wants to join I, be accepted, but because of his colour he cannot so he feels the only way he can make himself feel better is to cut himself off further. When Crooks realises that Lennie means no harm he invites him to â€Å"come on in and set a while† Lennie talks to him about George and his dream, it makes Crooks remember his childhood which he looks back on as a kind of heaven. The white kids come to play at our place, an’ sometimes I went to play with them and some of them were pretty nice. My ol’ man didn’t like that. I never knew till long later why he didn’t like that. But I know now†. Crooks did not experience racism directly as a child, this makes his current situation worse as he was not us ed to racism. Crooks is fascinated by the strength of the friendship of Lennie and George. Especially how close they are. Crooks said, â€Å"Well, s’pose, jus’ s’pose he don’t come back. What’ll you do then? Crooks asked these questions as he does not have any friends, and he would not know how losing a friend unexpectedly would feel. He was curious and Envious, about the friendship of Lennie and George, noticing that Lennie is mentally immature, he takes advantage of this situation to â€Å"torture† him mentally, to make him feel better and ease the pain of having others reject him â€Å"Crooks face lighted with pleasure at his torture† he also does this to ease his jealousy towards the friendship Lennie has, but that Crooks will never have. He wants the people to feel the way that he does, completely alone. Crooks goes on to talk about his loneliness â€Å"‘A guy needs somebody to be near him’, he whined: ‘A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. Don’t make no difference who the guy is, long’s he’s with you’ he cried ‘I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an’ gets sick’† Crooks is looking for sympathy, he is so incredibly lonely that he says being lonely can make you fall ill. Lennie continues to talk about is dream. Crooks, having been on the ranch for quite a while, has witnessed a lot of people with the same dreams, he mocks it â€Å"Nobody ever gets to heaven, and nobody never gets no land† but when Candy comes in and backs up what Lennie has been saying he begins to believe in the dream â€Å"if you†¦ guys want a hand to work for nothing just his keep, why I’d come and lend a hand† Crooks sees the dream as his escape from what he is living in, somewhere like his childhood where his colour would not be an issue. There are different levels of racial prejudice throughout the book. Most of the ranch hands do not socialise with Crooks but would not go out of their way to insult him.

Arguments for and Against the Minimum Wage in the Uk

Arguments for and against the National Minimum Wage (NMW) in the UK: stop employees being taken advantage of by being paid unfair wages by their employers. set a standard of the minimum worth of a worker. This benchmark was set so that employers would be unable to hire any staff for less than the suggested hourly rate. reduce pay differentials between genders. What is the new minimum wage? : In October 2009, the NMW for workers increased from: ?5. 73 to ? 5. 80 per hour – aged 22 years and older ?4. 77 to ? 4. 83 per hour – aged 18 to 21 years ?3. 53 to ? 3. 7 an hour – aged 16 and 17 years As of October 2010, the adult minimum rate will start from 21 years. Who qualifies for the Minimum Wage? Home workers, agency workers, part-time employees, pieceworkers†¦ most adult employees working legally in the United Kingdom with a written, verbal or implied contract, qualify for the NMW. The relationship between Demand and Supply: Arguments in favour of the NMW: Dia gram showing potential earnings from the NMW: {draw:frame} Diagram showing increasing demand for Normal goods: {draw:frame} Reduced labour turnover, raised productivity: Economic benefit for the country: Monopsonistic labour markets: A monopsony occurs when one buyer faces many sellers in a market. The buyer thus controls a large proportion of that market share. In the diagram below, a monopsonistic business maximises its profits at Q2, paying a wage at W1. (Demand = Marginal Revenue Product and supply =Average Costs). If the minimum wage increases to W2, demand for labour will increase to Q1. The level of unemployment will not increase until the minimum wage increases to an amount higher than W3. Diagram showing NMW effects on a Monopsony: draw:frame} Arguments against the NMW: Law not properly enforced: The NMW is not a properly enforced law. The result is that is has merely become a guideline to which employers are expected to adhere. It is estimated that 5% of the UK workforce receives less than minimum wage (WordPress 2009). If an employee reports his employer for paying less than the minimum wage, the employee pays a nominal fine. Fines are not severe enough (HM Revenue and Customs 2009). Low-skilled workers suffer: Many opposed the NMW when it was first introduced. Some believed that it would increase unemployment and cause wage inflation. They argued that if the minimum wage was high enough to be effective, unemployment among the inexperienced and handicapped would escalate. The workers with lesser skills would be harmed to the benefit of those who were more highly skilled. The demand for jobs at the higher wage levels would be greater than the supply of jobs available. Businesses could therefore afford to be more selective in the employees they chose, and workers with limited skills and experience would typically be excluded. Cost of production increases, leading to higher prices for consumers: Another argument is that an increase in the minimum wage willincrease production costs, thus increasing the overall cost of the product. The result of this would be reduced profits for the business, due to: producers absorbing the extra costs, leaving less money for re-investment. Diagram showing how an increase in the price of a product affects supply and demand: {draw:frame} The original price of product X is ? 35, and the demand for the product is 320 units (E1 representing Equilibrium between demand and supply). Product X then increases in price to ? 4 due to an increase in the NMW, resulting in a drop in demand for the product to 120 units. This drop in demand then results in an oversupply of goods from the producer, who is then forced to reduce his supply to the new demand level, or goods may sit on the shelf. E2 represents the new Equilibrium level between supply and demand. If the good was perishable and th e supplier did not adjust his supply, there would be a lot of wastage. Not everybody qualifies: Those who are exempt from receiving the NMW include; Apprentices under 19 years of age, and apprentices 19 years or older in their first year of their apprenticeship. Students on a work placement, forming part of a higher- or further education course, where the placement is for less than one year. The self-employed Those on a Department for Workers and Pensions back-to-work scheme The Recession: A recession is characterised by a period of at least two consecutive quarters of negative growth. During a recession, demand and supply of goods and services in the economy contracts. The UK economy contracted by 1. 5% in the last quarter of 2008 and the Gross Domestic Product experienced its biggest fall since the second quarter of 1980 (Kowelle 2009). This is the first time since the inception of the NMW that employment has fallen. Unemployment is rapidly on the increase. A reduction in output means that the need for labour is reduced. In the early stages of a recession, companies tend to cut back on employee hours, rather than making workers redundant. If companies are forced to reduce their employee numbers, they will initially attempt to do this through natural wastage, putting a hold on hiring, and not replacing workers who leave the company of their own accord. Thus the demand for new entrants to the market is very limited. The current recession has caused a very limited availability of credit and reduced demand worldwide. It is expected that high levels of debt and the fall of housing prices and equity prices will affect the UK more than many other nations (Bain 2009). What if there were no minimum wage in place? : Without a set minimum wage, the quantity of labour supplied will continue to change according to price, until the level of labour demanded is equal to the level of labour supplied. That is to say, an equilibrium price will be reached, where supply and demand curves intersect. {draw:frame} Deepak Lal, criticises the minimum wage, stating that it is â€Å"an inefficient, well-intentioned but inexpert interference with the mechanisms of supply and demand.. † References: DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS INNOVATION & SKILLS. , 2007. National Minimum WageGuide for Employees [online] United Kingdom. Available from: http://www. berr. gov. uk/files/file53059. pdf [Accessed 23 November 2009] eHOW How To Do Just About Everything. How Does The Minimum Wage Affect The Economy [online video]. Available from: http://www. ehow. co. uk/video_4974004_minimum-wage-affect-economy. html? cr=1 [Accessed 20 November 2009] NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE COMMISSION. , 2009 National Minimum Wage. Low Pay Commission Report 2009. (Chairman George Bain). United Kingdom: The Stationery Office. WORD PRESS. , 2009. New Deal Scandal: UK Unemployment Course Scandal and Welfare Reformconcerns [online] 20 August. Available from: http://newdealscandal. wordpress. com/2009/08/20/national-minimum-wage-nmw/ [Accessed 23 November 2009]

A Synopsis of the Kennedy Family

The Kennedy family has long been plagued by tragedy and scandal. The patriarch of the Kennedy’s, Joseph Patrick Kennedy, outlived five of his own children. Many Kennedy offspring grew up not knowing their father. Kennedy administrations have long been wracked with scandal. Despite all of this, the Kennedy’s have long been thought of as America’s â€Å"royal family†. What is it about the many misdeeds and tragedies of this particular family that has drawn America towards them? Why it is that America has been fascinated by the royal status of the Kennedy, and just what is it about this beleaguered dynasty that has mesmerized generations?The patriarch of the Kennedy political dynasty, Joseph Patrick Kennedy, better known as Joe, came from very humble beginnings. His father, Patrick Joseph Kennedy, came to America during the great potato famine in Ireland. He was in the U. S. only nine years when he died of tuberculosis. After the death of his father, Josephâ €™s mother Bridget began working at a saloon and was eventually able to earn enough money to buy her own saloon, which was quite prosperous. The money from this saloon went to support Joseph’s education at Harvard.After graduating from Harvard, Joe went into the liquor business, and from the liquor business he got into the movie business, all the while racking up large sums of money and making himself a very rich man. On October 7, 1914, Joe married Rose Fitzgerald and began the greatest political dynasty in American history. Joe used his fabulous wealth to further his own ambitious political career. He was able to earn favors from powerful politicians, and even formed a relationship with Franklin D. Roosevelt by being one of his major supporters during his first bid for president.After FDR was in office Joe expected to be rewarded for his large contributions by being nominated for either Secretary of Treasury or Ambassador to England. Although it was the Secretary of Tre asury position that he really wanted, he was barely able to finagle the Ambassador position out of Roosevelt, and he only managed this by using his powerful influence in the media. Joe was a horrible politician, and many of the comments he made prior to World War II prevented him from ever holding a high public office, (The Kennedy Curse; page 43) including the one that was his ultimate goal, president. While ambassador to England, Joe made comments indicating that he sympathized with Nazi Germany and supported their extermination of the Jewish people.He also said that democratic countries should bribe dictator countries in order to avoid war, and also made many other statements that indicated that he did not support democracy. Soon after the war started Joe returned to the United States where he was relieved of his title and banished from all aspects of going-ons’ in Washington, D. C. After his aspirations of holding high office were dashed, Joe Kennedy placed all his expect ations on his eldest son, Joseph Kennedy Jr. Born on July 15, 1915, Joe Jr. received all the benefits of coming from a wealthy and influential family. He graduated from the best schools, and was almost through with law school when World War II broke out, which prompted him to drop out, join the navy and become a pilot. He was awarded his wings in May of 1942, and was sent to England in September of 1943. He flew many missions and collected many accolades.He was on the verge of being offered leave when his younger brother, John F. Kennedy won a heroic battle in the Pacific and stole his limelight. This upset Joe Jr. more than many people realized (The Kennedy Curse; page 36). Instead of accepting his offered leave and going home, Joe Jr. stayed in Europe and continued to fly, often taking more and more risks. In 1944 he volunteered for a top-secret mission, in which the odds of him living were only 50-50. His mission was to take a bomber loaded with 21,170 pounds of explosives and fl y over England to Normandy and crash-dive on a German V-2 rocket-launching site.Shortly after take-off on August 12, 1944, his plane exploded killing both Joe Jr. and his co-pilot. Joe was awarded the Navy Cross and the Air Medal posthumously (countrystudies. us). While World War II was raging in Europe, another Kennedy was frolicking in England. Kathleen (Kick) Kennedy was prominent in London society during England’s war era. She had succeeded in capturing the heart of William Robert John Cavendish, who was the son of Edward William Spencer Cavendish, who was the present Duke of Devonshire.By marrying William Cavendish, better known as Billy Hartington, Kick would secure a place at the top of British society and become a duchess in the process. Even though Billy was engaged to Sally Norton for a while, Kick was able to use her charm to win Billy’s heart. The only problem that seemed to exist was the fact that Billy was a member of the Angelican Church of England, whic h had a reputation for being notoriously anti-Catholic. However, Kick was a Kennedy and therefore everything would work out in her favor, because that’s what happened to Kennedy’s.Normally the Cavendish’s would never have allowed the marriage, but because of the fact that while the war raged on and taxes were increased and the fortune that was once the inheritance of Billy was slowly trickling away, the Cavendish’s were willing to allow the marriage due to the fact that Kick’s father was named the fourth wealthiest man in America. So even though Kick would be able to marry Billy, she would break many Catholic laws, and would be condemned to eternal purgatory. Billy made several compromises, such as getting married in a civil ceremony instead of an Angelican Church.However, one of Billy’s major stipulations was that his children would not be raised Catholic. After they were married on May 6, 1944, Billy offered Kick another compromise regardi ng the rearing of their children. He said that if Britain’s rigid class structure survived the war, then their children would have to be part of the Angelican Church; but if the class structure was gone then their children could be raised in the Catholic faith. Despite all these agreements, Kick’s entire family except for Joe Jr. condemned her decision, especially her mother Rose.Shortly after Kick and Billy married, Billy was called off to fight while Kick was left to her own devices. A few months after her wedding she received bad news; her favorite brother had been killed in a plane accident. She flew to the U. S. for Joe’s memorial service and remained there for several weeks. Subsequently, she was still in the U. S. when she received news that Billy had been killed in action on September 9, 1944. She immediately flew to England for the memorial service. She remained there even after his service, and was still prominent in British affairs.Even though she was no longer married to the future Duke of Devonshire, she still had several responsibilities, including planning balls and dances. It was at one of these dances that she first met Peter Fitzwilliam, a returning war hero and eighth earl. Pretty much everything Billy had been, but more exciting. For Kick and Peter it was considered love at first sight, although there were several obstacles, such as the ever-present problem of religion, and more importantly the fact that Fitzwilliam was married to Olive Dorothea.Even though Fitzwilliam was in the process of seeking a divorce when he first met Kick, he pursued a relationship with her while still being married to Olive. Kick’s relationship with Fitzwilliam, deemed a ‘scandalous affair’ by most prominent people, was violently condemned by her mother. Her mother threatened to cut off Kick’s allowance and pretty much kick her out of the family. Kick decided to seek her father’s support and arranged to meet h im in Paris. During their trip they ran into several delays, which caused them to run into bad weather.It was on May 13, 1947, that the plane carrying Kick, Peter, and two pilots crashed in the French countryside, killing all people on board (The Kennedy Curse; page 55). Even though he had lost two children already, Joe Kennedy still harbored aspirations of having one of his sons in the White House. Since his oldest son had died, the mantel fell on his next oldest son, John Fitzgerald Kennedy. After returning to the United States, John Kennedy, also known as Jack, used his war hero title as a springboard to get into politics. His first victory was in 1946 when he was elected into the U. S.House of Representatives, into which he was reelected in 1948 and 1950. In 1956 he unsuccessfully tried for vice president on the democratic ticket, but was successful in winning the primary for the democratic presidential nomination in 1960. In campaigning for the presidency, he used his New Front ier Program to garner support. The New Frontier promised an extension of economic benefits, an increase in federal aid for education, better health insurance for the elderly, a new department of urban affairs, an end to recession and a restoration of growth, a tax cut to stimulate the economy, and also funding for the space program.Due to the fact that JFK had a narrow victory over Richard Nixon, he often faced opposition in congress, especially from conservative southern democrats (Encarta. msn. com). Even though he is today viewed by many people as an influential figure in American history, JFK’s administration was far from ideal. When he first took office he inherited a problematic situation with Cuba and its dictator, Fidel Castro. His failed attempt to overthrow Castro is known as the Bay of Pigs fiasco. The Bay of Pigs is actually the place where U. S. acked Cuban exiles unsuccessfully tried to invade Cuba and overthrow Castro. The exiles were quickly defeated by Castro ’s forces, resulting in a very public embarrassment for the Kennedy administration.The Bay of Pigs fiasco almost in turn led to the Cuban missile crisis, which was a confrontation between the then U. S. S. R. and the United States, the closest the world has ever come to seeing nuclear war (Encarta. msn. com). The confrontation started when U. S. intelligence learned that the Soviet Union was supplying Cuba with long-range nuclear weapons, capable of hitting several U. S. targets. JFK was able to negotiate with the Soviet president, Khrushchev, and convinced him to take back the weapons from Cuba in exchange for the removal of several nuclear weapons located in Turkey that belonged to the U. S. Even though JFK was able to avoid nuclear war, one of his greatest legacies was his penchant for womanizing. This supposedly left him with chronic venereal disease, which is blamed for the death of his infant son, Patrick. JFK was able to cover up all his affairs because he had a close trusting relationship with most members of his secret service.This close relationship with his bodyguards was more of a hindrance than anything else because it prevented the agents from performing at their best. Security was very relaxed during JFK’s administration, which may have been one of the contributing factors to his assassination in 1963 (The Kennedy Curse; page 106). JFK originally went to Dallas in order to secure votes from this crucial state for his reelection. His approval rate in Texas was at an all time low, and JFK hoped a visit there would up his public opinion. Preparation work for his parade was sloppy; very few of the buildings along the parade route were inspected or secured.The night before his planned parade several of his secret service members went to a club where they drank and didn’t come back to the hotel until three or four o’clock in the morning (The Kennedy Curse; page 112). The next day, November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy was shot in the head by Lee Harvey Oswald as his open car made its way down the parade route. The assassination of JFK has long been disputed as a conspiracy involving almost all of Washington and even the Mafia rather than just a mad act by a lone gunman. Evidence to support the conspiracy theory includes the trajectory of Oswald’s’ bullets.Many people say that the number of bullets and the directions of the wounds inflicted to JFK indicate another gunman (How Did It Really Happen? ; page 270). All these conspiracy theories sprang up after the murder of Oswald by Jack Ruby, which prevented Oswald from ever being questioned. Even though the family was still reeling from the death of the young president, life went on and there was still the push to have a Kennedy in the White House again. This time the mantel fell on the next brother, the former attorney general under JFK himself, Robert Kennedy, better known as Bobby.Bobby had begun his career much as his older brothers had, g raduating from prestigious colleges including Harvard and the University of Virginia. After completing his education he was made an attorney in the U. S. Department of Justice, where he worked for a year before leaving his post to become the manager of his older brother’s presidential campaign. After the election was over he was appointed to the position of attorney general where he gained prominence for his determination to crack down on organized crime.He is especially remembered for his investigation of teamsters David Beck and James Hoffa, as well as his activism for civil rights (Encarta. msn. com). After the assassination of JFK he resigned his post but remained active in politics, representing New York in the United States Senate. He continued working on civil equality and trying to improve the lives of the poor. In 1968 he began his campaign to be elected as the democratic candidate for president. His campaign was going well and many people thought that he would be th e next president and carry on the Kennedy name in the White House.However, when walking through the pantry in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California, on June 6, 1968 he was fatally shot by Sirham Bishara Sirham, an Islamic extremist (Encarta. msn. com). He left behind ten children and a pregnant wife. As with the assassination of JFK many people suspected that there was a large complicated conspiracy behind the murder of Bobby Kennedy. Many witnesses say that there were more than one gunman in the pantry at the time that shots went off, and others say that they saw a couple running out of the hotel yelling, â€Å"We shot him, we shot him! † (homepages. com. cp. co. uk/~dlewis/crime. htm). However, as with the assassination of his older brother, we may never know the whole truth of the murder of Bobby Kennedy. One would think that after so many tragedies, the Kennedy’s would give up having their name in the White House. However, they still had one hope that lay in the youngest brother, Edward Kennedy, better known as Ted.Ted followed the same path as his brothers before him, graduating from the best schools and getting straight into politics. His career started off when he became district attorney for Suffolk County, Massachusetts in 1960 (Encarta. sn. com). In 1962 he was appointed to the Senate seat vacated by his older brother, JFK. In 1969 after his two older brothers had been assassinated, he made plans to begin campaigning for the democratic nomination for president. However, his plans were cut short, not because of another tragedy but because of a scandal that happened at Chappaquiddick Island. Ted Kennedy was driving to a rented beach house on the island with a young woman that had worked on Bobby’s campaign, Mary Jo Kopechne. The only way to the island was over a bridge that connected Martha’s Vineyard and Chappaquiddick Island.No one is sure if he was drunk or just inattentive, but either way he drove off the bridg e, killing Kopechne in the process. Instead of sticking around and waiting for someone he left the scene. Not only did he leave, but he also failed to report the crime until his car was found in the water several days later. He was convicted of leaving the scene of an accident, driving without a license, and reckless driving, as well as having to pay $90,000 to Kopechne’s family. Many people think that he should have received a harsher punishment, such as manslaughter charges, and that the only reason he was able to avoid these harges was the power and influence of the Kennedy name. Even though his aspirations for president were extinguished, Ted remained in the Senate, representing Massachusetts even to this day. The people discussed are only a small majority of the Kennedy family, and the incidents only a small portion of the numerous scandals and tragedies that plague the Kennedy’s. Even through so many tragedies, the Kennedy name remains an influential sound in pol itics, and the remaining members of the clan part of a royalty all their own.Bibliography †¢Reader’s Digest How Did It Really Happen? Copyright 2000 †¢Klein, Edward The Kennedy Curse oSt. Martin’s Press, NY, copyright 2003 †¢http://www.countrystudies.us/united-states/history-120.htm †¢http://www.sc94.ameslab.gov/TOUR/jfk.html †¢http://www.jpkf.org/BIOG.HTML †¢http://www.pbs.org/wgbn/amex/kennedys/peopleevents/p_joe.html †¢http://www.who2.com/josephkennedysr.html †¢http://www.encarta.msn.com †¢http://www.homepages.tcp.co.uk/~dlewis/crime.htm †¢http://www.wisegeek.com/what-was-the-chappaquiddick-incident.htm

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal Chapter 21

Chapter 21 â€Å"You make a very attractive woman,† Rumi said from the comfort of his pit. â€Å"Did I tell you that my wife has passed on to her next incarnation and that I am alone?† â€Å"Yeah, you mentioned that.† He seemed to have given up on us getting his daughter back. â€Å"What happened to the rest of your family, anyway?† â€Å"They drowned.† â€Å"I'm sorry. In the Ganges?† â€Å"No, at home. It was the monsoon season. Little Vitra and I had gone to the market to buy some swill, and there was a sudden downpour. When we returned†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He shrugged. â€Å"I don't mean to sound insensitive, Rumi, but there is a chance that your loss could have been caused by – oh, I don't know – perhaps the fact that you LIVE IN A FUCKING PIT!† â€Å"That's not helping, Biff,† Joshua said. â€Å"You said you had a plan?† â€Å"Right. Rumi, am I correct in assuming that these pits, when someone is not living in them, are used for tanning hides?† â€Å"Yes, it is work that only Untouchables may do.† â€Å"That would account for the lovely smell. I assume you use urine in the tanning process, right?† â€Å"Yes, urine, mashed brains, and tea are the main ingredients.† â€Å"Show me the pit where the urine is condensed.† â€Å"The Rajneesh family is living there.† â€Å"That's okay, we'll bring them a present. Josh, do you have any lint in the bottom of your satchel?† â€Å"What are you up to?† â€Å"Alchemy,† I said. â€Å"The subtle manipulation of the elements. Watch and learn.† When it was not being used, the urine pit was the home of the Rajneesh family, and they were more than happy to give us loads of the white crystals that covered the floor of their home. There were six in the family, father, mother, an almost grown daughter, and three little ones. Another little son had been taken for sacrifice at the festival of Kali. Like Rumi, and all the other Untouchables, the Rajneesh family looked more like skeletons mummified in brown leather than people. The Untouchable men went about the pits naked or wearing only a loincloth, and even the women were dressed in tatters that barely covered them – nothing as nice as the stylish sari that I had purchased in the marketplace. Mr. Rajneesh commented that I was a very attractive woman and encouraged me to drop by after the next monsoon. Joshua pounded chunks of the crystallized mineral into a fine white powder while Rumi and I collected charcoal from under the heated dying pit (a firebox had been gouged out of the stone under the pit) which the Untouchables used to render the flowers from the indigo shrub into fabric dye. â€Å"I need brimstone, Rumi. Do you know what that is? A yellow stone that burns with a blue flame and gives off a smoke that smells like rotten eggs?† â€Å"Oh yes, they sell it in the market as some sort of medicine.† I handed the Untouchable a silver coin. Go buy as much of it as you can carry.† â€Å"Oh my, this will be more than enough money. May I buy some salt with what is left?† â€Å"Buy what you need with what's left over, just go.† Rumi skulked away and I went to help Joshua process the saltpeter. The concept of abundance was an abstract one to the Untouchables, except as it pertained to two categories, suffering and animal parts. If you wanted decent food, shelter, or clean water, you would be sorely disappointed among the Untouchables, but if you were in the market for beaks, bones, teeth, hides, sinew, hooves, hair, gallstones, fins, feathers, ears, antlers, eyeballs, bladders, lips, nostrils, poop chutes, or any other inedible part of virtually any creature that walked on, swam under, or flew over the subcontinent of India, then the Untouchables were likely to have what you wanted lying around, conveniently stored beneath a thick blanket of black flies. In order to fashion the equipment I needed for my plan, I had to think in terms of animal parts. Fine unless you need, say, a dozen short swords, bows and arrows, and chain mail for thirty soldiers and all you have to work with is a stack of nostrils and three mismatched poop chutes. It was a challenge, but I made do. As Jo shua moved among the Untouchables, surreptitiously healing their maladies, I barked out my orders. â€Å"I need eight sheep bladders – fairly dry – two handfuls of crocodile teeth, two pieces of rawhide as long as my arms and half again as wide. No, I don't care what kind of animal, just not too ripe, if you can manage it. I need hair from an elephant's tail. I need firewood, or dried dung if you must, eight oxtails, a basket of wool, and a bucket of rendered fat.† And a hundred scrawny Untouchables stood there, eyes as big as saucers, just staring at me while Joshua moved among them, healing their wounds, sicknesses, and insanities, without any of them suspecting what was happening. (We'd agreed that this was the wisest tack to take, as we didn't want a bunch of healthy Untouchables athletically bounding through Kalighat proclaiming that they had been cured of all ills by a strange foreigner, thus attracting attention to us and spoiling my plan. On the other hand, neither could we stand there and watch these people suffer, knowing that we – well, Joshua – had the power to help them.) He'd also taken to poking one of them in the arm with his finger anytime anyone said the word â€Å"Untouchable.† Later he told me that he just hated passing up the opportunity for palpable irony. I cringed when I saw Joshua touching the lepers among them, as if after all these years away from Israel a tiny Pharisee stood on my shoulder and sc reamed, â€Å"Unclean!† â€Å"Well?† I said after I'd finished my orders. â€Å"Do you want your children back or not?† â€Å"We don't have a bucket,† said one woman. â€Å"Or a basket,† said another. â€Å"Okay, fill some of the sheep bladders with rendered fat, and bundle the wool in some kind of hide. Now go, we don't have a lot of time.† And they all stood and looked at me. Big eyes. Sores healed. Parasites purged. They just looked at me. â€Å"Look, I know my Sanskrit isn't great, but you do know what I am asking?† A young man stepped forward. â€Å"We do not want to anger Kali by depriving her of her sacrifices.† â€Å"You're kidding, right?† â€Å"Kali is the bringer of destruction, without which there can be no rebirth. She is the remover of the bondage that ties us to the material world. If we anger her, she will deprive us of her divine destruction.† I looked at Joshua across the crowd. â€Å"Do you understand this?† â€Å"Fear?† he said. â€Å"Can you help?† I asked in Aramaic. â€Å"I'm not good at fear,† Joshua said in Hebrew. I thought for a second as two hundred eyes pinned me to the sandstone on which I stood. I remembered the red-stained gashes on the wooden elephant statues at the altar of Kali. Death was their deliverance, was it? â€Å"What is your name?† I asked the man who had stepped out of the crowd. â€Å"Nagesh,† he said. â€Å"Stick out your tongue, Nagesh.† He did, and I threw back the cloth that covered my head and loosened it around my neck. Then I touched his tongue. â€Å"Destruction is a gift you value?† â€Å"Yes,† said Nagesh. â€Å"Then I shall be the instrument of the goddess's gift.† With that I pulled the black glass dagger from the sheath in my sash, held it up before the crowd. While Nagesh stood, passive, wide-eyed, I drove my thumb under his jaw, pushed his head back, and brought the dagger down across his throat. I lowered him to the ground as the red liquid spurted over the sandstone. I stood and faced the crowd again, holding the dripping blade over my head. â€Å"You owe me, you ungrateful fucks! I have brought to your people the gift of Kali, now bring me what I ask for.† They moved really quickly for people who were on the edge of starvation. After the Untouchables scattered to do my bidding, Joshua and I stood over the bloodstained body of Nagesh. â€Å"That was fantastic,† Joshua said. â€Å"Absolutely perfect.† â€Å"Thanks.† â€Å"Had you been practicing all that time we were in the monastery?† â€Å"You didn't see me push the pressure point in his neck then?† â€Å"No, not at all.† â€Å"Gaspar's kung fu training. The rest, of course, was from Joy and Balthasar.† I bent over and opened Nagesh's mouth, then took the ying-yang vial from around my neck and put a drop of the antidote on the Untouchable's tongue. â€Å"So he can hear us now, like when Joy poisoned you?† Joshua asked. I pulled back one of Nagesh's eyelids and watched the pupil contract slowly in the sunlight. â€Å"No, I think he's still unconscious from me holding the pressure point. I didn't think the poison would work quickly enough. I could only get a drop of poison on my finger when I loosened my sari. I knew it would keep him down, I just wasn't sure it would put him down.† â€Å"Well, you are truly a magus, now, Biff. I'm impressed.† â€Å"Joshua, you healed a hundred people today. Half of them were probably dying. I did some sleight of hand.† My friend's enthusiasm was undeterred. â€Å"What's the red stuff, pomegranate juice? I can't figure out where you concealed it.† â€Å"No, actually I was going to ask you about that.† â€Å"What?† I held my arm up and showed Joshua where I had slashed my own wrist (the source of blood for the show). I had been holding it against my leg and as soon as I removed the pressure the blood started spurting again. I sat down hard on the sandstone and my vision began to tunnel down to a pinpoint. â€Å"I was hoping you could help me out with this,† I said before I fainted. â€Å"You need to work on that part of the trick,† Joshua said when I came to. â€Å"I might not always be around to fix your wrist.† He was speaking Hebrew – that meant for my ears only. I saw Joshua kneeling above me, then beyond him the sky was blotted out by curious brown faces. The recently murdered Nagesh was in the front of the crowd. â€Å"Hey, Nagesh, how'd the rebirth go?† I asked in Sanskrit. â€Å"I must have strayed from my dharma in my last life,† Nagesh said. â€Å"I have been reincarnated, once again, as an Untouchable. And I have the same ugly wife.† â€Å"You challenged master Levi who is called Biff,† I said, â€Å"of course you didn't move up. You're lucky you're not a stink bug or something. See, destruction isn't the big favor you all thought it was.† â€Å"We brought the things you asked for.† I hopped to my feet feeling incredibly rested and energized. â€Å"Nice,† I said to Joshua. â€Å"I feel like I just had one of those strong coffees you used to make at Balthasar's.† â€Å"I miss coffee,† said Josh. I looked at Nagesh, â€Å"I don't suppose you†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"We have swill.† â€Å"Never mind,† I said. Then I said one of those things that as a boy growing up in Galilee, you never think you'll hear yourself say: â€Å"Okay, Untouchables, bring me the sheep bladders!† Rumi said that the goddess Kali was served by a host of black-skinned female demons, who sometimes during the feast would bring men to corners of the altar and copulate with them as blood rained down from the goddess's saw-tooth maw above. â€Å"Okay, Josh, you're one of them,† I said. â€Å"What are you gonna be?† â€Å"The goddess Kali, of course. You got to be God last time.† â€Å"What last time?† â€Å"All of the last times.† I turned to my intrepid minions. â€Å"Untouchables, paint him up!† â€Å"They're not going to buy that a burr-headed Jewish kid is their goddess of destruction.† â€Å"O ye of little faith,† I said. Three hours later we were again crouched beneath a tree near the temple of Kali. We were both dressed as women, covered from head to toe by our saris, but I was looking much lumpier under mine due to Kali's extra arms and garland of severed heads, played tonight by painted sheep bladders filled with explosives and suspended around my neck by long strands of elephant tail hair. Any observers who might get close enough to notice my protrusions were quickly deterred by the smell coming off of Joshua and me. We had used the goo from the bottom of Rumi's pit to paint our bodies black. I didn't have the courage to ask what the substance had been in life, but if there was a place where they allowed vultures to ripen in the sun before pounding them into a smooth paste and mixing it with just the right amount of buffalo squat, then Rumi called it home. The Untouchables had also painted huge red rings around Joshua's eyes, fitted him with a ropey wig of oxtails, and affixed to his torso six pe rt little breasts fashioned from pitch. â€Å"Stay away from any open flame. Your tits will go up like volcanos.† â€Å"Why did I have to have six and you only had to have two.† â€Å"Because I am the goddess and have to wear the garland of skulls and the extra arms.† We'd made my arms from rawhide, using my primary arms as models, then drying the molded arms in place over the fire. The women made a harness that held the extra arms in place under my own, then we painted the arms black with the same black goo. They were a little wobbly, but they were light and would look realistic enough in the dark. It was still hours from the height of the ceremony at midnight, when the children would be hacked to death, but we wanted to be there in time to stop the revelers from cutting off the children's fingers if we could. Now, the wooden elephants were empty on their turntables, but the altar of Kali was already filling with gruesome tribute. The heads of a thousand goats had been laid on the altar before the goddess, and the blood ran slick over the stones and in the grooves that channeled it into large brass pots at the corners of the altar. Female acolytes carried the pots up a narrow ladder at the back of the great statue of Kali, then dumped them through some sort of reservoir that fed it through the goddess's jaws. Below, by torchlight, worshipers danced in the sticky shower as the blood flowed down upon them. â€Å"Look, those women are dressed like me,† Joshua said. â€Å"Except they only have two breasts each.† â€Å"Technically, they're not dressed, they're painted. You make a very attractive female demon, Josh. Did I tell you that?† â€Å"This isn't going to work.† â€Å"Of course it's going to work.† I guessed that there were already ten thousand worshipers in the temple square, dancing, chanting, and beating drums. A procession of thirty men came down the main boulevard, each carrying a basket under his arm. As they reached the altar, each man dumped the contents of the basket over the rows of bloody goat heads. â€Å"What are those?† Joshua asked. â€Å"Those are exactly what you think they are.† â€Å"They're not the heads of the children?† â€Å"No, I think those are the heads of strangers who happened down the road we were on before Rumi came along to pull us into the grass.† After the severed heads were dispersed across the altar, the female acolytes came out of the crowd dragging the headless corpse of a man, which they laid on the steps leading to the altar. Each one mimed having intercourse with the corpse, then rubbed their genitalia against the bloody stump of its neck before dancing away, blood and ochre dripping down the insides of their thighs. â€Å"There's sort of a theme developing here,† I said. â€Å"I think I'm going to be sick,† Joshua said. â€Å"Mindful breath,† I said, using one of the phrases that Gaspar was always barking at us when we were learning meditation. I knew that if Joshua could stay with the yeti for days at a time without freezing to death, he could certainly conjure up the bodily control to keep from throwing up. The sheer magnitude of the carnage was all that was keeping me from vomiting. It was as if the atrocity of the whole scene couldn't fit in my mind all at once, so I could only see just enough for my sanity and my stomach to remain intact. A shout went up in the crowd now and I could see a torch-lit sedan chair being carried above the heads of the worshipers. On it reclined a half-naked man with a tiger skin wrapped around his hips, his skin painted light gray with ashes. His hair was plaited with grease and he wore the bones of a human hand as a skullcap. Around his neck hung a necklace of human skulls. â€Å"High priest,† I said. â€Å"They aren't even going to notice you, Biff. How can you even get their attention after they've seen all this?† â€Å"They haven't seen what I'm going to show them.† As the sedan chair emerged from the crowd in front of the altar, we could see a procession following it: tied to the back of the sedan chair was a line of naked children, most of them not more than five or six, their hands tied together, a less ornately dressed priest on either side of them to steady them. The priests began to untie the children and take them to the great wooden elephants lining the boulevard. Here and there in the crowd I could see people beginning to brandish edged weapons: short swords, axes, and the long-bladed spears Joshua and I had seen over the elephant grass. The high priest was sitting on the headless corpse, shouting a poem about the divine release of Kali's destruction or something. â€Å"Here we go,† I said, pulling the black glass dagger from under my sari. â€Å"Take this.† Joshua looked at the blade shimmering in the torchlight. â€Å"I won't kill anyone,† he said. Tears were streaming down his cheeks, drawing long red lines through the black and if anything making him look more fierce. â€Å"That's fine, but you'll need to cut them loose.† â€Å"Right.† He took the knife from me. â€Å"Josh, you know what's coming. You've seen it before. Nobody else here has, especially those kids. You can't carry all of them, so they have to have enough of their wits about them to follow you. I know you can keep them from being afraid. Put your teeth in.† Joshua nodded and slipped the row of crocodile teeth attached to a piece of rawhide under his upper lip, leaving the teeth to protrude like fangs. I put in my own false fangs, then ran into the dark to circle the crowd. As I approached the rear of the altar I pulled the special torch I'd made from under my girdle of human hands. (Actually my girdle of human hands was made of dried goat's udders stuffed with straw, but the Untouchable women had done a pretty good job as long as no one bothered to count fingers.) Through Kali's stone legs I could see the priests tying each of the children on the trunk of a wooden elephant. As soon as the bonds were tight, each priest drew a bronze blade and held it aloft, ready to strike off a finger as soon as the high priest gave the signal. I struck the tip of my torch on the edge of the altar, screamed for all I was worth, then threw my sari off and ran up the steps as the torch burst into dazzling blue flame that trailed sparks behind me as I ran. I hopped across the array of goat heads and stood between the legs of the statue of Kali, my torch held aloft in one hand, one of my severed heads swinging by the hair in the other. â€Å"I am Kali,† I screamed. â€Å"Fear me!† It came out sort of mumbled through my fake teeth. Some of the drums stopped and the high priest turned around and looked at me, more because of the bright light of the torch than my fierce proclamation. â€Å"I am Kali,† I shouted again. â€Å"Goddess of destruction and all this disgusting crap you have here!† They weren't getting it. The priest signaled for the other priests to come around me from the sides. Some of the female acolytes were already trying to make their way across the dance floor of decapitations toward me. â€Å"I mean it. Bow down to me!† The priests charged on. I did have the crowd's attention, though unfortunately they weren't cowering in fear at my angry goddessness. I could see Joshua moving around the wooden elephants, the guarding priests having left their posts to come after me. â€Å"Really! I mean it!† Maybe it was the teeth. I spit them out toward the nearest of my attackers. Running across a sea of slick, bloody heads is evidently a pretty difficult task. Not if you've spent the last six years of your life hopping from the top of one post to another, even in ice and snow, but for the run-of-the-mill homicidal priest, it's a tough row to hoe. The priests and acolytes were slipping and sliding among the goat and human heads, falling over each other, smacking into the feet of the statue, one even impaling himself on a goat's horn when he fell. One of the priests was only a few feet away from me now, trying not to fall on his own blade as he crawled over the mess. â€Å"I will bring destruction†¦oh, fuck it,† I said. I lit the fuse on the severed head I held in my hand, then swung it between my legs and tossed it in a steep arch over my head. It trailed sparks on its way into the black goddess's open maw, then disappeared. I kicked the approaching priest in the jaw, then danced across the goat heads, leapt over the head of the high priest, and was halfway to Joshua at the first wooden elephant when Kali, with a deafening report, breathed fire out over the crowd and the top of her head blew off. Finally, I had the crowd's attention. They were trampling each other to get away, but I had their attention. I stood in the middle of the boulevard, swinging my second severed head in a circle, waiting for the fuse to burn down before I let it sail over the heads of the receding crowd. It exploded in the air, sending a circle of flame across the sky and no doubt deafening some of the worshipers who were close. Joshua had seven of the children around him, clinging to his legs as he moved to the next elephant. Several of the priests had recovered and were storming down the steps of the altar toward me, knives in hand. I pulled another head from my garland, lit the fuse, and held it out to them. â€Å"Ah, ah, ah,† I cautioned. â€Å"Kali. Goddess of destruction. Wrath et cetera.† At the sight of the sparking fuse they stopped and began to backpedal. â€Å"Now that's the sort of respect you should have shown before.† I started whirling the head by the hair and the priests lost all semblance of courage and turned and ran. I hurled the head back up the boulevard onto the altar, where it exploded, sending a spray of real severed goat heads in all directions. â€Å"Josh! Duck! Goat heads!† Joshua pushed the children to the ground and fell over them until the pieces settled. He glared at me a second, then went on to free the other children. I hurled three more heads into different directions and now the entire temple square was nearly deserted but for Joshua, the children, a few injured worshipers, and the dead. I had built the bombs without any shrapnel in them, so those who had been injured had been trampled in the panic and the dead were those who had already been sacrificed to Kali. I think we pulled it off without killing anyone. As Joshua led the children down the wide boulevard and out of the temple square, I covered our exit, backing down the boulevard, my last explosive head swinging in one hand, my torch in the other. Once I saw that Joshua and the children were safely away, I lit the fuse, whirled the head around and let it fly toward the black goddess. â€Å"Bitch,† I said. I was out of sight when it exploded. Joshua and I got as far as a limestone cliff overlooking the Ganges before we had to stop to let the children rest. They were tired and hungry, but mostly they were hungry, and we had brought nothing for them to eat. At least, after Joshua's touch, they weren't afraid, and that gave them some peace. Josh and I were too jangled to sleep, so we sat up as the children lay down on the rocks around us and snored like kittens. Joshua held Rumi's little daughter, Vitra, and before long her face was smeared with black paint from nuzzling his shoulder. All through the night, as he rocked the child, all I heard Joshua say was, â€Å"No more blood. No more blood.† At first light we could see thousands, no, tens of thousands of people gathering at the banks of the river, all dressed in white, except for a few old men who were naked. They moved into the water and stood facing east, heads raised in anticipation, dotting the river as far as the eye could see. As the sun became a molten fingernail of light on the horizon, the muddy surface of the river turned golden. The gold light reflected off its surface onto the buildings, the shanties, the trees, the palaces, making everything in sight, including the worshipers, appear to have been gilded. And worshipers they were, for we could hear their songs from where we sat, and although we could not discern the words, we could hear that these were the songs of God. â€Å"Are those the same people from last night?† I said. â€Å"They would have to be, wouldn't they?† â€Å"I don't understand these people. I don't understand their religion. I don't understand how they think.† Joshua stood and watched the Indians bowing and singing to the dawn, looking occasionally to the face of the child that slept on his shoulder. â€Å"This is testament to the glory of God's creation, whether these people know it or not.† â€Å"How can you say that? The sacrifices to Kali, the way the Untouchables are treated. Whatever they might believe, in practice their religion is hideous.† â€Å"You're right. It's not right to condemn this child because she was not born a Brahman?† â€Å"Of course not.† â€Å"Then is it right to condemn her because she is not born a Jew?† â€Å"What do you mean?† â€Å"A man who is born a gentile may not see the kingdom of God. Are we, as Hebrews, any different from them? The lambs at the temple on Passover? The wealth and power of the Sadducees while others go hungry? At least the Untouchables can reach their reward eventually, through karma and rebirth. We don't allow any gentile to do so.† â€Å"You can't compare what they do to God's law. We don't sacrifice human beings. We feed our poor, we take care of the sick.† â€Å"Unless the sick are unclean,† Joshua said. â€Å"But, Josh, we're the chosen. It's God's will.† â€Å"But is it right? He won't tell me what to do. So I'll say. And I say, no more.† â€Å"You're not just talking about eating bacon, are you?† â€Å"Gautama the Buddha gave the way to people of all births to find the hand of God. With no blood sacrifice. Our doors have been marked with blood for too long, Biff.† â€Å"So that's what you think you're going to do? Bring God to everyone?† â€Å"Yes. After a nap.† â€Å"Of course, I meant after a nap.† Joshua held the little girl so I could see her face as she slept on his shoulder. When the children awoke we led them back to their families at the pits, handing them into the arms of their mothers, who snatched each child away from us as if we were devils incarnate; they glared over their shoulders as they carried the babies back to their pits. â€Å"Grateful bunch,† I said. â€Å"They are afraid that we've angered Kali. And we've brought them another hungry mouth.† â€Å"Still. Why did they help us if they didn't want their children back?† â€Å"Because we told them what to do. That's what they do. What they are told. That's how the Brahmans keep them in line. If they do what they are told, then perhaps they will not be Untouchables next life.† â€Å"That's depressing.† Joshua nodded. We only had little Vitra to return to her father now, and I was sure that Rumi would be happy to see his daughter. His distress over losing her had basically been the reason he had saved our lives. As we came over the sandstone rise we could see that Rumi was not alone in his pit. Rumi stood on his sitting rock, stark naked, sprinkling salt on his erect member as a large humpbacked cow, which nearly filled the rest of the pit, licked at the salt. Joshua held Vitra so she faced away from the pit, then backed away, as if he didn't want to disturb the moment of beefy intimacy. â€Å"A cow, Rumi?† I exclaimed. â€Å"I thought you people had beliefs.† â€Å"That's not a cow, that's a bull,† Joshua said. â€Å"Oh, that's got to be your super-bonus abomination there. Where we come from whole cities get destroyed for that kind of thing, Rumi.† I reached over and put my hand over Vitra's eyes. â€Å"Stay away from Daddy, honey, or you'll turn into a pillar of salt.† â€Å"But this is my wife, reincarnated.† â€Å"Oh, don't try that one on me, Rumi. For six years I lived in a Buddhist monastery where the only female company was a wild yak. I know from desperate.† Joshua grabbed my arm. â€Å"You didn't?† â€Å"Relax, I'm just making a point. You're the Messiah here, Josh. What do you think?† â€Å"I think we need to go to Tamil and find the third magus.† He set Vitra down and Rumi quickly pulled up his loincloth as the child ran to him. â€Å"Go with God, Rumi,† Joshua said. â€Å"May Shiva watch over you, you heretics. Thank you for returning my daughter.† Joshua and I gathered up our clothes and satchels, then bought some rice in the market and set out for Tamil. We followed the Ganges south until we came to the sea, where Joshua and I washed the gore of Kali from our bodies. We sat on the beach, letting the sun dry our skin as we picked pitch out of our chest hairs. â€Å"You know, Josh,† I said, as I fought a particularly stubborn gob of tar that had stuck in my armpit, â€Å"when you were leading those kids out of the temple square, and they were so little and weak, but none of them seemed afraid†¦well, it was sort of heartwarming.† â€Å"Yep, I love all the little children of the world, you know?† â€Å"Really?† He nodded. â€Å"Green and yellow, black and white.† â€Å"Good to know – Wait, green?† â€Å"No, not green. I was just fuckin' with you.†