Scholarship Boy Essay Research Paper Scholarship Boy free essay sample

Scholarship Boy Essay, Research Paper Scholarship Boy You re a pretty lucky child to hold received this scholarship to that private school in Virginia. Mrs. Casas spoke to me in her really serious tone of voice, which caused my chocolate-brown eyes to concentrate profoundly on her intense expression. Esther Casas was a member of the I Have a Dream Foundation, and the adult female who made it possible for me to be admitted to VES by giving the school good word about my work ethic and possible that I carried within my little frame. Yeah, I m a pretty lucky. I responded with a flicker in my immature voice because I was excited and felt lucky. Excited I was, because it was my first clip go toing a boarding school, and everything seemed so cryptic to me that I could non wait another second of clip to be present in Virginia, a topographic point that I knew nil approximately but merely that it was located in the eastern portion of the US. We will write a custom essay sample on Scholarship Boy Essay Research Paper Scholarship Boy or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page When the clip came to eventually get down this great new experience, I was overcome with felicity that the enigma would be solved by a twosome of hours of winging above the endless cragged land. When I arrived on this campus, I found it rather surprisingly quiet and peaceable. My journey to this beautiful green campus had started four old ages antecedently in Mrs. Brown s 6th class home room category at Markham Junior High. Mrs. Brown was asked by the I Have a Dream disposal to pick 10 names of pupils in her category who she thought were good all around pupils and besides who seemed interested in go oning their instruction. Mrs. Brown felt that I had the demands to measure up for the lucky 10 who would shortly go Dreamers. Bing a Dreamer was one of the best things that could go on to me while I was seeking to turn up in a community of force and offense. While other childs were out hanging at the corners, the IHAD would pick up a group of us in a spotless, long white new wave with ma rkers on the side that read I Have A Dream Foundation, Los Angeles in large black letters. This new wave would weave is manner through the crowded smoggy streets to a topographic point where our instruction would be expanded. This topographic point was a big room located inside a Great Western bank. The room indoors contained computing machines, books, coachs, and other helpful beginnings that would dispute our heads and increase our cognition. The IHAD non merely tried to increase our instruction, but the foundation besides manage to take us on trips to topographic points that I had neer seen earlier such as the Big Bear mountains in California or to operas such as the Carmen. The feeling that I got from this plan was that they were seeking to open up the universe for me in many ways so that I would hold a wider position about things in life. Since the first twenty-four hours at VES everything happened the manner a new pupil would desire his first twelvemonth to be. During this twe lvemonth I maintained a steady norm of 83 % ; I had a batch of friends ; the instructors were all polite and helpful when needed, and I had a large function in athletic as a member of the varsity association football squad, j.v. hoops squad, and the path Te am where I broke a school record in the 800-meter relay. I felt good about my achievements my first twelvemonth and there were no complains from any of the instructors or disposal because I was populating up to the outlooks they had for a scholarship male child. About the half manner into my sophomore, the scholarship male child began to take different determinations and rapidly drew the attending of some module members who looked upon him as person with a bad, violent, and negative attitude. This all happened when I and a few other pupils got into a large bash with other pupils from E.C. Glass, and I decided to draw out a knife. I pulled out the knife to protect my friends and me from the oppositions, savages who were acquiring ready to contend our bantam group of four because we were from a prep school. The school did non see my actions as a signifier of protection for our group ; alternatively they saw it as a delinquent reaction in me. I had violated the school regulations and was suspended for a twenty-four hours of deadening categories. I had let their outlooks down ; I wasn t to the full fulfilling their hopes. You can make better than this. Mr. Mundy, my adviser, spoke to me in his deep powerful voice as he handed me my agenda for th e undermentioned trimester. Passing me the light piece of paper, Mr. Mundy walked away go forthing me entirely in a universe of enigmas that had to be discovered. I though to myself standing in the blocks of dirty clay below my cold pess, an 80 % norm is non the best class in the school but is non near to the worst. I felt that my classs were reasonably nice, but Mr. Mundy did non accept that fact and left me with no room to speak. He turned his dorsum on me. Since the embarrassment with Mr. Mundy, I began to believe that being at a private school on a scholarship wasn t the best thing, and decidedly non the lucky state of affairs that Mrs. Casas had told me and I had thought. It seemed as if all eyes were on me, the scholarship male child from Watts, watching every individual measure and action I made to do certain that I didn t cross the boundaries that they didn t expect me to traverse. Then the ideas of other pupils began to twirl around my busy head. If it had been another pupi l perpetrating a minor discourtesy or acquiring bad classs, he wouldn T hold had to worry every bit much because he came to this school with no outlooks from instructors, but merely from parents and friends. It felt as though I carried a heavy load on my dorsum to make good because it was expected of me. It was non merely that I wanted to make good or that my household expected this of me. I knew the whole clip that I was working hard for myself and cipher else, but I felt as though excessively much flawlessness was required of me because I was a different type of pupil. To this twenty-four hours I still find myself believing that instructors expect more out of me because I came here in particular fortunes and with really high vitamin E outlooks for my hereafter that I felt had to carry through. In world I do everything for my ain will and because of my love for my household and friends but cipher else.

Ethanol Discussion Essay Example

Ethanol Discussion Essay Example Ethanol Discussion Paper Ethanol Discussion Paper Essay Topic: Discussion The author refers to the success story of Brazil where Ethanol produced from sugarcane is being extensively used as a fuel supplement. It should be clarified that, ethanol being produces from molasses; it is a by-product in the sugar production. As such, unlike ethanol production from corn, ethanol production from sugarcane hardly affects the production of sugar, and does not threaten the food security. When the author highlights the CBS’s 60 min Dan Rather show, I tend to agree with the point that ethanol production from corn may affect the food security adversely. However, if we are to consider the effect of bio-fuels in general and not confine to the usage of ethanol alone as a fuel supplement, the scenario changes altogether. With the increasing awareness and acceptance of Jatropha oil as a fuel supplement, there should no longer be a threat to food security from the production of bio-fuel. Jatropha, not being a food crop, would not affect the food security. Moreover, Jatropha being a crop that is cultivable in degraded and less fertile soils, most of the existing cultivated areas will not be affected, thus securing food security for one and all, and yet lessen the mankind’s dependence on fossil fuels like petroleum. Feedback Response – Use of Gasoline may be reduced in an experimental basis. It may be replaced with ethanol to a certain percentage, say 15 % for a target period of 5 years. With observations made on the experimentations and its resulting outcome, the future course of action may be decided. It will decide if the percentage of ethanol be increased, be fully used or eliminated depending on the reading available worldwide regarding, pollution level, emissions, increase or decrease of greenhouse effect, its cost efficiency etc. The question of availability of food is an important one. If agricultural produce is to be used for replacing gasoline, it is imperative that the issue of availability of food to people around the globe be taken care of. It also has to be made available at a price that is purchasable. Once an edible crop is to be used for extracting or converting to ethanol, the price of the crop will tend to increase manifold, thus depriving the poor people of food. While using crops like sugarcane, where the availability of sugar remains unaffected, this problem does not seem to arise. So, as a crop, sugarcane is more viable. In fact, if ethanol fetches more money, sugar prices may tend to come down. Yes, it is possible feeding the world as well as using crops for fuel, if the crop selected is not corn. Use of sugarcane instead of corn may well be able to solve the problem. If 7 millions tons of sugarcane can turn into 300 million liters of ethanol for Brazilian cars and 500 tons of sugar for Saudi Arabia; I think the answer is quite clear. Even the sugarcane waste ‘biogases’, when burnt, can generate heat and power (as alternative fuel). Besides, sugarcane ensures a higher return than corn in the ratio for energy generation. If the fuel efficiency of ethanol is proved, it might well be considered for replacing gasoline. Expert estimate says that, burning sugarcane ethanol generates 55 to 90 percent less carbon-did-oxide than gasoline. If the food element is taken out of ethanol and plant by-products are used to yield ethanol, the question of food scarcity does not arise. NREL laboratory has led a pilot project converting 1 ton of bio-mass to 70 gallons of ethanol in a week. Cellulose ethanol may greatly increase vehicle efficiency too. By considering a non food crop like Jatropha, that can be grown in abundance in waste and degraded lands, there should not be any adverse impact on the food security of the world.

The Microsoft Case Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Microsoft Case - Assignment Example Market barriers influence the players in the market. Microsoft case developed an operating system that could not be used by other firms. Attempts by other firms to develop a system that would substitute products for Microsoft have been futile. This has limited the players in the market. Microsoft uses the market barrier to safeguard the profit of the corporation. The natural monopoly occurs when the startup cost for a particular business is quite high. The high start-up cost will lock firms or individuals from venturing into a specific line of business. The government may come in to regulate cases of natural monopoly because it aims at protecting its consumers. Natural monopoly may lead to deadweight loss to society. The case of Microsoft cooperation is not the natural monopoly because many firms are willing to get into the market but Microsoft has consistently produced operating systems that have made it difficult for the firms to penetrate the market. Â  A government monopoly is a case where cooperation owned by the government supplies the product in the market without competition. The demand curve slopes downward because of the relationship between quantity demanded and price of the products. Demand increases with a decrease in prices. Microsoft enjoys economies of scale due to the expansion it makes into the market. The price setting power lies in the hands of the firm that enjoys the monopoly. In this case, Microsoft enjoys monopoly pricing. When firms are in competition, market forces would act as the price marker. In conclusion, monopoly creates incomplete competition in the market.

Community Needs Assessment Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Community Needs Assessment - Research Paper Example The work of Maninno et al. (2002) has recognized that asthma is a major cause of school and work days losses in America since the 1980s. Maninno et al. (2002) found that between 1980 and 1996, the prevalence of lifetime asthma has increased in the United States. Related with this, the study of Manino et al. (2002) reported that school days and work man-days losses due to asthma have also increased. This needs assessment focused on the problem of asthma in South Bronx because this analyst believe that asthma is most likely a serious problem in the community given the reputation of South Bronx with regard to the family income of its residents. In addition to the usual objectives of needs assessment, the needs assessment was designed to develop insights on how a health program focused on asthma can best be developed for South Bronx. Thus, the author was keen on drawing data helpful to producing insights in that direction. To produce the community needs assessment, the author reviewed do cuments, news reports, and gathered a documented testimony from at least one community leader. South Bronx is a community populated by low-income minority families in New York City. Figure 1 shows New York City on the left panel and South Bronx on the right panel. South Bronx is composed of localities labeled with numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 9 on the right panel and colored yellow. The entire Bronx (colored as peach and yellow) on the right panel is the peach colored area in left panel. According to the Lehman College that is located in the Bronx area, census data indicate that the Bronx had a population of 1.4 million people as of 2008. A significant part of this population resides in South Bronx. Unfortunately, according to the college, around 30% of the South Bronx population refuse to categorize themselves into a racial category. The Lehman College pointed out that although South Bronx is described as a low-income community, there is a section

Colonial reflection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Colonial reflection - Essay Example Branch argues that colonial expansion was key to the formation of territorial states by presenting theorization of the interaction between colonies and metro-poles and highlights the significance of ideas and practices of political authority and structure. Branch asserts that sovereign statehood and the practices of international relations had their origin or were influenced by Europe by building upon many theories. Some of the theories that support this argument include historical sociology regarding the origin of European statehood that argues that European state system is exclusively internal to the European continent. Branch is right in his argument because European expansion of colonial powers and the competition among different forms of European rule ended up in sovereign state since every rule wanted to control at least a territory they conquered. The objective of the colonialists was to exercise their power in the places they conquered and this favored well the system of sovereign state. I concur with Branch that system of sovereign state spread to different parts of the world because of direct colonial imposition and imitation thus implying that practices and ideas of the modern states originated from colonial world. Practices that were used during the colonial period have been reflected in the modern states even though they were adopted as a conscious response to the perceived novelty of extra-European expansion. However, this argument has been challenged in many ways such as the need to incorporate extra-European dynamics in arguing the case and the challenges that may be faced in applying the European experience to other parts of the world. It can be argued that European influence in state building cannot be ignored because Europe greatly dominated the world and therefore it was easy for them to impose either directly or indirectly their own ideas of state building. Process of colonial reflection

Issues Facing Blacks in Alice Walkers In Search of our Mothers Garden

Issues Facing Blacks in Alice Walker's In Search of our Mother's Gardens In Alice Walker's book, In Search Of Our Mother's Gardens, she addresses many issues facing blacks in today's society. The two essays examined here, "The Black Writer and the Southern Experience" and "The Unglamorous But Worthwhile Duties Of the Black Revolutionary Artist Or Of the Black Writer Who Simply Works and Writes," concern themselves with the truth and beauty of being a black Southern writer and the role of the revolutionary black artist, respectively. The first essay, "The Black Writer and the Southern Experience," is concerned with the truth of the South, primarily in the era beginning with the Jim Crow laws and coming up to the present. Walker speaks of some of the incidents that happened in the South and that even though these are shameful events, there is a beauty to be found in them. In one anecdote, she recalls a time in which her mother was to redeem a voucher for flour from the Red Cross. When the Red Cross woman looked at her in the clothes sent to her by an aunt from the North, all she could remark on was the gall of those "niggers" who come to beg, wearing nicer clothes than her. While this can be seen as an ugly, embarrassing scene, Walker sees the beauty in the fact that this scene did not keep her from feeding her family. Walker states, " I am nostalgic for the solidarity and sharing a modest existence can sometimes bring" (17). By this statement she speaks of the way in which the community of neighbors joined togeth er to take care of each other. This is one of the truths of the South. Walker also speaks of another truth. This truth is one of no universals, as far as people go. Some of the same people that preach... ....should be hated...However, there are some men who should be loved" (137). I am in agreement with Walker in this essay also. The way in which Walker relates her ideas is one of directness. Her view of the world as a whole does not seem to concentrate on the victim mentality or of the evil of white as seems the prevailing opinion of some black writers of the day. There exists a positivism in her writing that is to be applauded. Walker states, "It is the duty of the artist to present the man as he is" (137) and it is this commitment to honesty that makes her a great writer. Based on the reading of the essays, I would characterize her as a conservative womanist. Her views and the ways in which she wishes to instigate change are not too radical as to be mistaken as anti-society or as anti-white. Walker realizes, as everyone should, change takes time. Issues Facing Blacks in Alice Walker's In Search of our Mother's Garden Issues Facing Blacks in Alice Walker's In Search of our Mother's Gardens In Alice Walker's book, In Search Of Our Mother's Gardens, she addresses many issues facing blacks in today's society. The two essays examined here, "The Black Writer and the Southern Experience" and "The Unglamorous But Worthwhile Duties Of the Black Revolutionary Artist Or Of the Black Writer Who Simply Works and Writes," concern themselves with the truth and beauty of being a black Southern writer and the role of the revolutionary black artist, respectively. The first essay, "The Black Writer and the Southern Experience," is concerned with the truth of the South, primarily in the era beginning with the Jim Crow laws and coming up to the present. Walker speaks of some of the incidents that happened in the South and that even though these are shameful events, there is a beauty to be found in them. In one anecdote, she recalls a time in which her mother was to redeem a voucher for flour from the Red Cross. When the Red Cross woman looked at her in the clothes sent to her by an aunt from the North, all she could remark on was the gall of those "niggers" who come to beg, wearing nicer clothes than her. While this can be seen as an ugly, embarrassing scene, Walker sees the beauty in the fact that this scene did not keep her from feeding her family. Walker states, " I am nostalgic for the solidarity and sharing a modest existence can sometimes bring" (17). By this statement she speaks of the way in which the community of neighbors joined togeth er to take care of each other. This is one of the truths of the South. Walker also speaks of another truth. This truth is one of no universals, as far as people go. Some of the same people that preach... ....should be hated...However, there are some men who should be loved" (137). I am in agreement with Walker in this essay also. The way in which Walker relates her ideas is one of directness. Her view of the world as a whole does not seem to concentrate on the victim mentality or of the evil of white as seems the prevailing opinion of some black writers of the day. There exists a positivism in her writing that is to be applauded. Walker states, "It is the duty of the artist to present the man as he is" (137) and it is this commitment to honesty that makes her a great writer. Based on the reading of the essays, I would characterize her as a conservative womanist. Her views and the ways in which she wishes to instigate change are not too radical as to be mistaken as anti-society or as anti-white. Walker realizes, as everyone should, change takes time.

The Da Vinci Code Chapter 7-9

CHAPTER 7 The modest dwelling within the Church of Saint-Sulpice was located on the second floor of the church itself, to the left of the choir balcony. A two-room suite with a stone floor and minimal furnishings, it had been home to Sister Sandrine Bieil for over a decade. The nearby convent washer formal residence, if anyone asked, but she preferred the quiet of the church and had made herself quite comfortable upstairs with a bed, phone, and hot plate. As the church's conservatrice d'affaires, Sister Sandrine was responsible for overseeing all nonreligious aspects of church operations – general maintenance, hiring support staff and guides, securing the building after hours, and ordering supplies like communion wine and wafers. Tonight, asleep in her small bed, she awoke to the shrill of her telephone. Tiredly, she lifted the receiver. â€Å"Soeur Sandrine. Eglise Saint-Sulpice.† â€Å"Hello, Sister,† the man said in French. Sister Sandrine sat up. What time is it? Although she recognized her boss's voice, in fifteen years she had never been awoken by him. The abbe was a deeply pious man who went home to bed immediately after mass. â€Å"I apologize if I have awoken you, Sister,† the abbe said, his own voice sounding groggy and on edge. â€Å"I have a favor to ask of you. I just received a call from an influential American bishop. Perhaps you know him? Manuel Aringarosa?† â€Å"The head of Opus Dei?† Of course I know of him.Who in the Church doesn't? Aringarosa's conservative prelature had grown powerful in recent years. Their ascension to grace was jump-started in 1982 when Pope John Paul II unexpectedly elevated them to a† personal prelature of the Pope,† officially sanctioning all of their practices. Suspiciously, Opus Dei's elevation occurred the same year the wealthy sect allegedly had transferred almost one billion dollars into the Vatican's Institute for Religious Works – commonly known as the Vatican Bank – bailing it out of an embarrassing bankruptcy. In a second maneuver that raised eyebrows, the Pope placed the founder of Opus Dei on the† fast track† for sainthood, accelerating an often century-long waiting period for canonization to a mere twenty years. Sister Sandrine could not help but feel that Opus Dei's good standing in Rome was suspect, but one did not argue with the Holy See. â€Å"Bishop Aringarosa called to ask me a favor,† the abbe told her, his voice nervous. â€Å"One of his numeraries is in Paris tonight†¦Ã¢â‚¬  As Sister Sandrine listened to the odd request, she felt a deepening confusion. â€Å"I'm sorry, you say this visiting Opus Dei numerary cannot wait until morning?† â€Å"I'm afraid not. His plane leaves very early. He has always dreamed of seeing Saint-Sulpice.† â€Å"But the church is far more interesting by day. The sun's rays through the oculus, the graduated shadows on the gnomon, this is what makes Saint-Sulpice unique.† â€Å"Sister, I agree, and yet I would consider it a personal favor if you could let him in tonight. He can be there at†¦ say one o'clock? That's in twenty minutes.† Sister Sandrine frowned. â€Å"Of course. It would be my pleasure.† The abbe thanked her and hung up. Puzzled, Sister Sandrine remained a moment in the warmth of her bed, trying to shake off the cobwebs of sleep. Her sixty-year-old body did not awake as fast as it used to, although tonight's phone call had certainly roused her senses. Opus Dei had always made her uneasy. Beyond the prelature's adherence to the arcane ritual of corporal mortification, their views on women were medieval at best. She had been shocked to learn that female numeraries were forced to clean the men's residence halls for no pay while the men were at mass; women slept on hardwood floors, while the men had straw mats; and women were forced to endure additional requirements of corporal mortification†¦ all as added penance for original sin. It seemed Eve's bite from the apple of knowledge was a debt women were doomed to pay for eternity. Sadly, while most of the Catholic Church was gradually moving in the right direction with respect to women's rights, Opus Dei threatened to reverse the progress. Even so, Sister Sandrine had her orders. Swinging her legs off the bed, she stood slowly, chilled by the cold stone on the soles of her bare feet. As the chill rose through her flesh, she felt an unexpected apprehension. Women's intuition? A follower of God, Sister Sandrine had learned to find peace in the calming voices of her own soul. Tonight, however, those voices were as silent as the empty church around her. CHAPTER 8 Langdon couldn't tear his eyes from the glowing purple text scrawled across the parquet floor. Jacques Sauniere's final communication seemed as unlikely a departing message as any Langdon could imagine. The message read: 13-3-2-21-1-1-8-5 O, Draconian devil! Oh, lame saint! Although Langdon had not the slightest idea what it meant, he did understand Fache's instinct that the pentacle had something to do with devil worship. O, Draconian devil! Sauniere had left a literal reference to the devil. Equally as bizarre was the series of numbers. â€Å"Part of it looks like a numeric cipher.† â€Å"Yes,† Fache said. â€Å"Our cryptographers are already working on it. We believe these numbers maybe the key to who killed him. Maybe a telephone exchange or some kind of social identification. Do the numbers have any symbolic meaning to you?† Langdon looked again at the digits, sensing it would take him hours to extract any symbolic meaning. If Sauniere had even intended any.To Langdon, the numbers looked totally random. He was accustomed to symbolic progressions that made some semblance of sense, but everything here – the pentacle, the text, the numbers – seemed disparate at the most fundamental level. â€Å"You alleged earlier,† Fache said,† that Sauniere's actions here were all in an effort to send some sort of message†¦ goddess worship or something in that vein? How does this message fit in?† Langdon knew the question was rhetorical. This bizarre communique obviously did not fit Langdon's scenario of goddess worship at all. O, Draconian devil? Oh, lame saint? Fache said, â€Å"This text appears to be an accusation of some sort. Wouldn't you agree?† Langdon tried to imagine the curator's final minutes trapped alone in the Grand Gallery, knowing he was about to die. It seemed logical. â€Å"An accusation against his murderer makes sense, I suppose.† â€Å"My job, of course, is to put a name to that person. Let me ask you this, Mr. Langdon. To your eye, beyond the numbers, what about this message is most strange?† Most strange? A dying man had barricaded himself in the gallery, drawn a pentacle on himself, and scrawled a mysterious accusation on the floor. What about the scenario wasn't strange? â€Å"The word ‘Draconian'?† he ventured, offering the first thing that came to mind. Langdon was fairly certain that a reference to Draco – the ruthless seventh-century B. C. politician – was an unlikely dying thought. † ‘Draconian devil' seems an odd choice of vocabulary.† â€Å"Draconian?† Fache's tone came with a tinge of impatience now. â€Å"Sauniere's choice of vocabulary hardly seems the primary issue here.† Langdon wasn't sure what issue Fache had in mind, but he was starting to suspect that Draco and Fache would have gotten along well. â€Å"Sauniere was a Frenchman,† Fache said flatly. â€Å"He lived in Paris. And yet he chose to write this message†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"In English,† Langdon said, now realizing the captain's meaning. Fache nodded. â€Å"Precisement.Any idea why?† Langdon knew Sauniere spoke impeccable English, and yet the reason he had chosen English as the language in which to write his final words escaped Langdon. He shrugged. Fache motioned back to the pentacle on Sauniere's abdomen. â€Å"Nothing to do with devil worship? Are you still certain?† Langdon was certain of nothing anymore. â€Å"The symbology and text don't seem to coincide. I'm sorry I can't be of more help.† â€Å"Perhaps this will clarify.† Fache backed away from the body and raised the black light again, letting the beam spread out in a wider angle. â€Å"And now?† To Langdon's amazement, a rudimentary circle glowed around the curator's body. Sauniere had apparently lay down and swung the pen around himself in several long arcs, essentially inscribing himself inside a circle. In a flash, the meaning became clear. â€Å"The Vitruvian Man,†Langdon gasped. Sauniere had created a life-sized replica of Leonardo Da Vinci's most famous sketch. Considered the most anatomically correct drawing of its day, Da Vinci's The Vitruvian Man had become a modern-day icon of culture, appearing on posters, mouse pads, and T-shirts around the world. The celebrated sketch consisted of a perfect circle in which was inscribed a nude male†¦ his arms and legs outstretched in a naked spread eagle. Da Vinci.Langdon felt a shiver of amazement. The clarity of Sauniere's intentions could not be denied. In his final moments of life, the curator had stripped off his clothing and arranged his body in a clear image of Leonardo Da Vinci's VitruvianMan. The circle had been the missing critical element. A feminine symbol of protection, the circle around the naked man's body completed Da Vinci's intended message – male and female harmony. The question now, though, was why Sauniere would imitate a famous drawing. â€Å"Mr. Langdon,† Fache said,† certainly a man like yourself is aware that Leonardo Da Vinci had a tendency toward the darker arts.† Langdon was surprised by Fache's knowledge of Da Vinci, and it certainly went a long way toward explaining the captain's suspicions about devil worship. Da Vinci had always been an awkward subject for historians, especially in the Christian tradition. Despite the visionary's genius, he was a flamboyant homosexual and worshipper of Nature's divine order, both of which placed him in a perpetual state of sin against God. Moreover, the artist's eerie eccentricities projected an admittedly demonic aura: Da Vinci exhumed corpses to study human anatomy; he kept mysterious journals in illegible reverse handwriting; he believed he possessed the alchemic power to turn lead into gold and even cheat God by creating an elixir to postpone death; and his inventions included horrific, never-before-imagined weapons of war and torture. Misunderstanding breeds distrust, Langdon thought. Even Da Vinci's enormous output of breathtaking Christian art only furthered the artist's reputation for spiritual hypocrisy. Accepting hundreds of lucrative Vatican commissions, Da Vinci painted Christian themes not as an expression of his own beliefs but rather as a commercial venture – a means of funding a lavish lifestyle. Unfortunately, Da Vinci was a prankster who often amused himself by quietly gnawing at the hand that fed him. He incorporated in many of his Christian paintings hidden symbolism that was anything but Christian – tributes to his own beliefs and a subtle thumbing of his nose at the Church. Langdon had even given a lecture once at the National Gallery in London entitled:† The Secret Life of Leonardo: Pagan Symbolism in Christian Art.† â€Å"I understand your concerns,† Langdon now said, â€Å"but Da Vinci never really practiced any dark arts. He was an exceptionally spiritual man, albeit one in constant conflict with the Church.† As Langdon said this, an odd thought popped into his mind. He glanced down at the message on the floor again. O, Draconian devil! Oh, lame saint! â€Å"Yes?† Fache said. Langdon weighed his words carefully. â€Å"I was just thinking that Sauniere shared a lot of spiritual ideologies with Da Vinci, including a concern over the Church's elimination of the sacred feminine from modern religion. Maybe, by imitating a famous Da Vinci drawing, Sauniere was simply echoing some of their shared frustrations with the modern Church's demonization of the goddess.† Fache's eyes hardened. â€Å"You think Sauniere is calling the Church a lame saint and a Draconian devil?† Langdon had to admit it seemed far-fetched, and yet the pentacle seemed to endorse the idea on some level. â€Å"All I am saying is that Mr. Sauniere dedicated his life to studying the history of the goddess, and nothing has done more to erase that history than the Catholic Church. It seems reasonable that Sauniere might have chosen to express his disappointment in his final good-bye.† â€Å"Disappointment?† Fache demanded, sounding hostile now. â€Å"This message sounds more enragedthan disappointed, wouldn't you say?† Langdon was reaching the end of his patience. â€Å"Captain, you asked for my instincts as to what Sauniere is trying to say here, and that's what I'm giving you.† â€Å"That this is an indictment of the Church?† Fache's jaw tightened as he spoke through clenched teeth. â€Å"Mr. Langdon, I have seen a lot of death in my work, and let me tell you something. When a man is murdered by another man, I do not believe his final thoughts are to write an obscure spiritual statement that no one will understand. I believe he is thinking of one thing only.† Fache's whispery voice sliced the air. â€Å"La vengeance.I believe Sauniere wrote this note to tell us who killed him.† Langdon stared. â€Å"But that makes no sense whatsoever.† â€Å"No?† â€Å"No,† he fired back, tired and frustrated. â€Å"You told me Sauniere was attacked in his office by someone he had apparently invited in.† â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"So it seems reasonable to conclude that the curator knew his attacker.† Fache nodded. â€Å"Go on.† â€Å"So if Sauniere knew the person who killed him, what kind of indictment is this?† He pointed at the floor. â€Å"Numeric codes? Lame saints? Draconian devils? Pentacles on his stomach? It's all too cryptic.† Fache frowned as if the idea had never occurred to him. â€Å"You have a point.† â€Å"Considering the circumstances,† Langdon said,† I would assume that if Sauniere wanted to tell you who killed him, he would have written down somebody's name.† As Langdon spoke those words, a smug smile crossed Fache's lips for the first time all night. â€Å"Precisement,†Fache said. â€Å"Precisement.† I am witnessing the work of a master, mused Lieutenant Collet as he tweaked his audio gear and listened to Fache's voice coming through the headphones. The agent superieur knew it was moments like these that had lifted the captain to the pinnacle of French law enforcement. Fache will do what no one else dares. The delicate art of cajoler was a lost skill in modern law enforcement, one that required exceptional poise under pressure. Few men possessed the necessary sangfroid for this kind of operation, but Fache seemed born for it. His restraint and patience bordered on the robotic. Fache's sole emotion this evening seemed to be one of intense resolve, as if this arrest were somehow personal to him. Fache's briefing of his agents an hour ago had been unusually succinct and assured. I know who murdered Jacques Sauniere, Fache had said. You know what to do.No mistakes tonight. And so far, no mistakes had been made. Collet was not yet privy to the evidence that had cemented Fache's certainty of their suspect's guilt, but he knew better than to question the instincts of the Bull. Fache's intuition seemed almost supernatural at times. God whispers in his ear, one agent had insisted after a particularly impressive display of Fache's sixth sense. Collet had to admit, if there was a God, Bezu Fache would be on His A-list. The captain attended mass and confession with zealous regularity – far more than the requisite holiday attendance fulfilled by other officials in the name of good public relations. When the Pope visited Paris a few years back, Fache had used all his muscle to obtain the honor of an audience. A photo of Fache with the Pope now hung in his office. The Papal Bull, the agents secretly called it. Collet found it ironic that one of Fache's rare popular public stances in recent years had been his outspoken reaction to the Catholic pedophilia scandal. These priests should be hanged twice! Fache had declared. Once for their crimes against children.And once for shaming the good name of theCatholic Church.Collet had the odd sense it was the latter that angered Fache more. Turning now to his laptop computer, Collet attended to the other half of his responsibilities here tonight – the GPS tracking system. The image onscreen revealed a detailed floor plan of the Denon Wing, a structural schematic uploaded from the Louvre Security Office. Letting his eyes trace the maze of galleries and hallways, Collet found what he was looking for. Deep in the heart of the Grand Gallery blinked a tiny red dot. La marque. Fache was keeping his prey on a very tight leash tonight. Wisely so. Robert Langdon had proven himself one cool customer. CHAPTER 9 To ensure his conversation with Mr. Langdon would not be interrupted, Bezu Fache had turned off his cellular phone. Unfortunately, it was an expensive model equipped with a two-way radio feature, which, contrary to his orders, was now being used by one of his agents to page him. â€Å"Capitaine?† The phone crackled like a walkie-talkie. Fache felt his teeth clench in rage. He could imagine nothing important enough that Collet would interrupt this surveillance cachee – especially at this critical juncture. He gave Langdon a calm look of apology. â€Å"One moment please.† He pulled the phone from his belt and pressed the radio transmission button. â€Å"Oui?† â€Å"Capitaine, un agent du Departement de Cryptographie est arrive.† Fache's anger stalled momentarily. A cryptographer? Despite the lousy timing, this was probably good news. Fache, after finding Sauniere's cryptic text on the floor, had uploaded photographs of the entire crime scene to the Cryptography Department in hopes someone there could tell him what the hell Sauniere was trying to say. If a code breaker had now arrived, it most likely meant someone had decrypted Sauniere's message. â€Å"I'm busy at the moment,† Fache radioed back, leaving no doubt in his tone that a line had been crossed. â€Å"Ask the cryptographer to wait at the command post. I'll speak to him when I'm done.† â€Å"Her,†the voice corrected. â€Å"It's Agent Neveu.† Fache was becoming less amused with this call every passing moment. Sophie Neveu was one of DCPJ's biggest mistakes. A young Parisian dechiffreuse who had studied cryptography in England at the Royal Holloway, Sophie Neveu had been foisted on Fache two years ago as part of the ministry's attempt to incorporate more women into the police force. The ministry's ongoing foray into political correctness, Fache argued, was weakening the department. Women not only lacked the physicality necessary for police work, but their mere presence posed a dangerous distraction to the men in the field. As Fache had feared, Sophie Neveu was proving far more distracting than most. At thirty-two years old, she had a dogged determination that bordered on obstinate. Her eager espousal of Britain's new cryptologic methodology continually exasperated the veteran French cryptographers above her. And by far the most troubling to Fache was the inescapable universal truth that in an office of middle-aged men, an attractive young woman always drew eyes away from the work at hand. The man on the radio said,† Agent Neveu insisted on speaking to you immediately, Captain. I tried to stop her, but she's on her way into the gallery.† Fache recoiled in disbelief. â€Å"Unacceptable! I made it very clear – â€Å" For a moment, Robert Langdon thought Bezu Fache was suffering a stroke. The captain was mid- sentence when his jaw stopped moving and his eyes bulged. His blistering gaze seemed fixated on something over Langdon's shoulder. Before Langdon could turn to see what it was, he heard a woman's voice chime out behind him. â€Å"Excusez-moi, messieurs.† Langdon turned to see a young woman approaching. She was moving down the corridor toward them with long, fluid strides†¦ a haunting certainty to her gait. Dressed casually in a knee-length, cream-colored Irish sweater over black leggings, she was attractive and looked to be about thirty. Her thick burgundy hair fell unstyled to her shoulders, framing the warmth of her face. Unlike the waifish, cookie-cutter blondes that adorned Harvard dorm room walls, this woman was healthy with an unembellished beauty and genuineness that radiated a striking personal confidence. To Langdon's surprise, the woman walked directly up to him and extended a polite hand.† Monsieur Langdon, I am Agent Neveu from DCPJ's Cryptology Department.† Her words curved richly around her muted Anglo-Franco accent. â€Å"It is a pleasure to meet you.† Langdon took her soft palm in his and felt himself momentarily fixed in her strong gaze. Her eyes were olive-green – incisive and clear. Fache drew a seething inhalation, clearly preparing to launch into a reprimand. â€Å"Captain,† she said, turning quickly and beating him to the punch, â€Å"please excuse the interruption, but – â€Å" â€Å"Ce n'est pas le moment!† Fache sputtered. â€Å"I tried to phone you.† Sophie continued in English, as if out of courtesy to Langdon. â€Å"But your cell phone was turned off.† â€Å"I turned it off for a reason,† Fache hissed. â€Å"I am speaking to Mr. Langdon.† â€Å"I've deciphered the numeric code,† she said flatly. Langdon felt a pulse of excitement. She broke the code? Fache looked uncertain how to respond. â€Å"Before I explain,† Sophie said,† I have an urgent message for Mr. Langdon.† Fache's expression turned to one of deepening concern. â€Å"For Mr. Langdon?† She nodded, turning back to Langdon. â€Å"You need to contact the U. S. Embassy, Mr. Langdon. They have a message for you from the States.† Langdon reacted with surprise, his excitement over the code giving way to a sudden ripple of concern. A message from the States? He tried to imagine who could be trying to reach him. Only a few of his colleagues knew he was in Paris. Fache's broad jaw had tightened with the news. â€Å"The U. S. Embassy?† he demanded, sounding suspicious. â€Å"How would they know to find Mr. Langdon here?† Sophie shrugged. â€Å"Apparently they called Mr. Langdon's hotel, and the concierge told them Mr. Langdon had been collected by a DCPJ agent.† Fache looked troubled. â€Å"And the embassy contacted DCPJ Cryptography?† â€Å"No, sir,† Sophie said, her voice firm. â€Å"When I called the DCPJ switchboard in an attempt to contact you, they had a message waiting for Mr. Langdon and asked me to pass it along if I got through to you.† Fache's brow furrowed in apparent confusion. He opened his mouth to speak, but Sophie had already turned back to Langdon. â€Å"Mr. Langdon,† she declared, pulling a small slip of paper from her pocket,† this is the number for your embassy's messaging service. They asked that you phone in as soon as possible.† She handed him the paper with an intent gaze. â€Å"While I explain the code to Captain Fache, you need to make this call.† Langdon studied the slip. It had a Paris phone number and extension on it. â€Å"Thank you,† he said, feeling worried now. â€Å"Where do I find a phone?† Sophie began to pull a cell phone from her sweater pocket, but Fache waved her off. He now looked like Mount Vesuvius about to erupt. Without taking his eyes off Sophie, he produced his own cell phone and held it out. â€Å"This line is secure, Mr. Langdon. You may use it.† Langdon felt mystified by Fache's anger with the young woman. Feeling uneasy, he accepted the captain's phone. Fache immediately marched Sophie several steps away and began chastising her in hushed tones. Disliking the captain more and more, Langdon turned away from the odd confrontation and switched on the cell phone. Checking the slip of paper Sophie had given him, Langdon dialed the number. The line began to ring. One ring†¦ two rings†¦ three rings†¦ Finally the call connected. Langdon expected to hear an embassy operator, but he found himself instead listening to an answering machine. Oddly, the voice on the tape was familiar. It was that of Sophie Neveu. â€Å"Bonjour, vous etes bien chez Sophie Neveu,† the woman's voice said. â€Å"Je suis absenle pour le moment, mais†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Confused, Langdon turned back toward Sophie. â€Å"I'm sorry, Ms. Neveu? I think you may have given me – â€Å" â€Å"No, that's the right number,† Sophie interjected quickly, as if anticipating Langdon's confusion.† The embassy has an automated message system. You have to dial an access code to pick up your messages.† Langdon stared. â€Å"But – â€Å" â€Å"It's the three-digit code on the paper I gave you.† Langdon opened his mouth to explain the bizarre error, but Sophie flashed him a silencing glare that lasted only an instant. Her green eyes sent a crystal-clear message. Don't ask questions. Just do it. Bewildered, Langdon punched in the extension on the slip of paper: 454. Sophie's outgoing message immediately cut off, and Langdon heard an electronic voice announce in French: â€Å"You have one new message.† Apparently, 454 was Sophie's remote access code for picking up her messages while away from home. I'm picking up this woman's messages? Langdon could hear the tape rewinding now. Finally, it stopped, and the machine engaged. Langdon listened as the message began to play. Again, the voice on the line was Sophie's. â€Å"Mr. Langdon,† the message began in a fearful whisper. â€Å"Do not react to this message. Just listen calmly. You are in danger right now. Follow my directions very closely.†