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Company ManSt. Martin's Press 2006; US$ 8.99
A recent widower and CEO of the major company in a small town is trapped by a conspiracy to sell the company out from under him and to corner him on murder charges for the death of a man who was stalking his family. more...
ParanoiaSt. Martin's Press 2007; US$ 10.99
Adam Cassidy is twenty-six and a low level employee at a high-tech corporation who hates his job. When he manipulates the system to do something nice for a friend, he finds himself charged with a crime. Corporate Security gives him a choice: prison - or become a spy in the headquarters of their chief competitor, Trion Systems. They train him. They... more...
Killer InstinctSt. Martin's Press 2007; US$ 23.99
Jason Steadman is a thirty-year-old sales executive living in Boston and working for a electronics giant, a competitor to Sony and Panasonic. He's a witty, charismatic guy who's well liked at the office, but he lacks the "killer instinct" necessary to move up the corporate ladder. To the chagrin of his ambitious wife, it looks as if his career has... more...
Power PlaySt. Martin's Press 2007; US$ 23.99
It was the perfect retreat for a troubled company. No cell phones. No BlackBerrys. No cars. Just a luxurious, remote lodge surrounded by thousands of miles of wilderness. All the top officers of the Hammond Aerospace Corporation are there. And one last-minute substitute ? a junior executive named Jake Landry. He's a steady, modest, and... more...
VanishedSt. Martin's Press 2009; US$ 10.99
Nick Heller is tough, smart, and stubborn. And in his line of work, it's essential. Trained in the Special Forces, Nick is a high-powered intelligence investigator--exposing secrets that powerful people would rather keep hidden. He's a guy you don't want to mess with. He's also the man you call when you need a problem fixed. Desperate, with nowhere... more...
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Meet Claire Heller Chapman. A criminal defense attorney who's made a name for herself by taking on?and winning?the toughest cases, Claire still manages to have a relatively calm life as a Harvard Law School professor, devoted wife, and proud mother to six-year-old Annie. Until one night, when the family is out having dinner, a team of government agents... more...
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FBI Special Agent and counterterrorism expert Sarah Cahill doesn't know the man she's tracking. But the so-called "Prince of Darkness" knows her?intimately. So when Sarah is summoned to Wall Street to investigate, little does she know that she's the one under surveillance? until the terrorist infiltrates himself into the deepest, most desperate... more...
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Joseph Finder introduced Nick Heller, a "private spy" who finds out things powerful people want to keep hidden, to widespread acclaim from the critics and wild enthusiasm from the readers, in the New York Times bestselling novel Vanished . Now, in Buried Secrets , Nick Heller returns, finding himself in the middle of a life-or-death situation... more...
Power PlayHeadline 2009; US$ 13.07
POWER PLAY is the explosive new novel from Joseph Finder, the CEO of the corporate thriller - reminiscent of the film DIE HARD, this novel is a breathless, near real-time action, high-stakes adventure that you won't want to stop reading. Jake Landry is a junior executive at the Hammond Aerospace corporation - a steady, modest and taciturn man with... more...
VanishedHeadline 2010; US$ 13.07
For Nick Heller, high-powered investigator with a private corporate intelligence firm, this time the investigation is personal. Nick's estranged brother has vanished and with his disappearance old wounds re-surface in Nick's life as he is pitted against one of the most powerful private military companies in the world. Those in control will stop at... more...


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School of Communication Faculty
Mary J. Eberhardinger
Lecturer (2013)
B.A. University of North Carolina, Charlotte
M.A. University of North Carolina, Greensboro
Mary Eberhardinger actively presents and publishes around the world in Communication Studies. Her research appears in the Southern Semiotic Review and IGI Global. She serves on the conference planning committee for the Semiotic Society of America. As a JET alumnus, she also recruits and mentors students for the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program.
Mary's research interests include semiotics, critical intercultural communication, critical pedagogy, rhetoric, cultural studies, and feminist methodology. She is also interested in experiential education and Japanese language.
Mary has been the recipient of various internal grants including roles in the School of Communication Davis Innovation Grant (2014) as well as The Presidential Fund for Curricular Innovation Grant (2015). Mary teaches several sections of the Fundamentals of Speech Communication course and serves on the Basic Course Committee in the Department of Communication Studies.
Office: Walker 805-01
Office Hours: Mon/Wed 10am-12pm
Phone: 3314
E-Mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
- 2012
Eberhardinger, M. (2012) Critical pedagogy overseas. NCDocks.
- 2013
Eberhardinger, M. (2013). A semiotic analysis of iconicity in Japanese manner posters. Southern Semiotic Review (2).

subset: commoncrawl


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Ages 2 and up, please come boogie with us on Thursday, December 10th at 10:15 am during our Preschool Dance Party: Holiday Edition!
We will be moving and grooving to some holiday favorites, and we'd love to have YOU dancing with us.
Please register on the RSVP button below. Thank you!
Denville residents ONLY may sign up beginning Tuesday, November 24th.
Residents of all neighboring communities may sign up beginning Tuesday, December 1st. Early registrations from non-Denville residents will be canceled. Thank you for respecting our policy!
Preschool Dance Party: Holiday Edition!


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Great looks, excellent battery life, and a low price tag make the HP Pavilion dv6-3122us a compelling desktop-replacement for shoppers on a budget, but a low price tag also equals pedestrian performance.
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|ISSN 1088-6850(online) ISSN 0002-9947(print)
Hölder estimates for degenerate elliptic equations with coercive Hamiltonians
Abstract | References | Similar Articles | Additional Information
Abstract: We prove a priori estimates and regularity results for some quasilinear degenerate elliptic equations arising in optimal stochastic control problems. Our main results show that strong coerciveness of gradient terms forces bounded viscosity subsolutions to be globally Hölder continuous, and solutions to be locally Lipschitz continuous. We also give an existence result for the associated Dirichlet problem.
Retrieve articles in Transactions of the American Mathematical Society with MSC (2010): 35J70, 35B65
Retrieve articles in all journals with MSC (2010): 35J70, 35B65
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LOL I just wrote out this reply & in posting I was logged out now my words are gone. I am soo over this digital world give me a time machine to park myself in pre computer days.
Hopefully next week we will have some nice weather so I can tone my prints.


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One Hundred Years of Freud in America
Sigmund Freud hated America. He couldn't stand being called "Sigmund" by his informal hosts. He believed that Americans had channeled their sexuality into an unhealthy obsession with money. And he seethed at his own need for the dollars that we had in such unseemly abundance. "Is it not sad," he wrote to a German friend after World War I, "that we are materially dependent on these savages, who are not a better class of human beings?"
But while Freud loathed all things American (except its currency), the feeling was anything but mutual. "No nation outside of Germany and Austria was more hospitable to psychoanalysis than America," notes Mark Edmundson in "The Death of Sigmund Freud" (2007). Freud may even have anticipated the eagerness with which Americans would embrace his theories. "We are bringing them the plague," he reportedly told colleagues when disembarking in New York. "And they don't even know it."
Freud made that fateful trip to the New World he so thoroughly despised 100 years ago this month, carrying with him the intellectual equivalent of an alien species that would run riot in the wildly favorable climate of opinion in its new home. He traveled from Europe by steamship with Carl Jung and Sándor Ferenczi, the three of them psychoanalyzing one another en route. When they arrived, they spent several days touring Chinatown, Coney Island and other New York sights.
Then Freud went on to Worcester, Mass., where on the morning of Sept. 7 he gave the first of his famous "Five Lectures on Psycho-Analysis" at Clark University. At first Freud had been unwilling to accept Clark's invitation—the impetus for the whole journey—because it would have meant losing patient fees in Vienna. "America should bring in money, not cost money," he wrote to an acquaintance. But Clark's president, the psychologist G. Stanley Hall, rescheduled Freud's appearance to suit the analyst's calendar, promised him an honorary degree—and raised his fee.
The impact of Freud's talks was enormous—and enduring. Listeners included the great psychologist William James, who told an associate of Freud's that "the future of psychology belongs to your work." The anarchist Emma Goldman was at Clark, too, and was smitten. "Only people of depraved minds," she said later, "could impugn the motives or find 'impure' so great and fine a personality as Freud."
Freud claimed to dislike the popularization of his ideas, but he aimed for it with his Clark lectures—composed for a "lay" audience rather than a specialized one—and scored a clean bull's-eye. The lectures sold well in book form, and psychoanalysis was soon a topic in general-interest magazines. During the 1924 murder trial of Leopold and Loeb, Chicago Tribune publisher Col. Robert McCormack cabled Freud with an offer of $25,000 or, as he put it in telegraphese, "anything he name," to come to Chicago and psychoanalyze the killers. Later that year the movie producer Samuel Goldwyn (who called Freud "the greatest love specialist in the world") offered him $100,000 to write for the screen or work as a consultant in Hollywood. Freud accepted neither offer, but playing hard to get probably amplified his renown. "By the mid-1920s," Peter Gay tells us in "Freud: A Life for Our Time" (1988), "Freud had become a household name."
In the decades to come, Freud's ideas would grow into a kind of orthodoxy in America, becoming a staple of medical training in psychiatry and permeating the larger culture. By the 1950s Freudian therapy was almost commonplace for those who could afford it, and its basic doctrines were familiar even to those who had never reclined on an analyst's couch. For literary critics, the encounter with Freud was practically "transference" at first sight; classics such as "Moby-Dick" were subjected to psychoanalytic review, and psychobiography became a trendy approach to writing lives. Popular culture was perhaps more ambivalent, offering layman's explanations in paperback but mocking Freud and his ilk in films such as Billy Wilder's "The Seven Year Itch" (1955) and in songs such as the Chad Mitchell Trio's "Ballad of Sigmund Freud."
Since that high-water mark, Freud's ideas have gradually receded from American culture. In the humanities, rival theories—including feminism, structuralism, postcolonialism—have seized the attention of scholars and critics. More important, Freud's methods and ideas, not to mention the mythology that surrounded him, have come under assault from such skeptics as Adolph Grünbaum, Frank Sulloway and Frederick Crews.
These attacks have been fueled by decades of clinical and scholarly research. There is scant evidence, for example, that repressed impulses produce tell-tale symptoms, as Freud insisted. There is considerable evidence, though, that Freud claimed success for treatments that failed. In the famous case of "Dora," he accused a young girl of lusting for her own molester—and, incidentally, of wanting a kiss from her therapist. In the case of the admiring Horace Frink, in whom Freud instantly and erroneously diagnosed latent homosexual tendencies, Freud aggressively intervened to blow up two marriages. Freud's clinical record is riddled with dangerous meddling, ludicrous interpretations tailored to fit his theories and skewed accounts fashioned to justify himself and his ideas. In the judgment of the psychiatrist Peter D. Kramer, writing in "Freud: Inventor of the Modern Mind" (2006), Freud "was more devious and less original than he made himself out to be, and where he pioneered, he was often wrong. Freud displayed bad character in the service of bad science."
It would be easy to blame Freud's American housecall for the culture of therapy and victimization so widely decried today. But in fact he landed in a nation that was already well on its way to throwing over the stoic legacy of Puritan restraint. The rise of Swedenborgianism, Christian Science and the "mind cure" movement all helped to cultivate the public's fascination with a "subconscious" mind long before Freud got here. "By the middle of the nineteenth century," Eli Zaretsky writes in "Secrets of the Soul: A Social and Cultural History of Psychoanalysis" (2004), "American receptivity to the idea of mental healing was unparalleled in the world."
It may be still. A Harris poll last year found that nearly one in three American adults had "received treatment or therapy from a psychologist or other mental health professional." Orthodox Freudians are relatively rare nowadays, and drugs are replacing psychotherapy as a treatment for many mental ills. (A study out this week from Columbia University says that one in 10 Americans is now on antidepressants.) Yet some version of Freud's talking cure—with or without the dogma—is an accepted feature of American middle-class life.
Before his visit, Freud predicted to his circle of followers that presumably strait-laced Americans would never embrace his ideas "once they discover the sexual core of our psychological theories." But of course in America sex sells; indeed, it is probably one of the biggest reasons that Freud's theories gained such currency here. As with so much else, he was wrong about that, too.
—Mr. Akst is a writer in New York's Hudson Valley.
- 5


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Executive Summary: Studies on Monitoring and Tracking Genetic Resources
The principles underlying fair and equitable sharing of benefits derived from the utilization of genetic resources are set out in Article 15 of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, which stipulate that access to genetic resources is subject to the prior informed consent of the country where such resources are located and to mutually agreed terms regarding the sharing of benefits that could be derived from such access. One issue of particular concern for pro-vider countries is how to monitor and track genetic resources once they have left the provider country and enter into use in a variety of forms. This report was commissioned to provide a detailed review of advances in DNA sequencing technologies, as those methods apply to identification of genetic resources, and the use of globally unique persistent identifiers for persistently linking to data and other forms of digital documentation that is linked to individ-ual genetic resources. While the report was written for an audience with a mixture of tech-nical, legal, and policy backgrounds it is relevant to the genomics community as it is an ex-ample of downstream application of genomics information.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Publication of Standards in Genomic Sciences has been transferred to a new publisher, BioMed Central on behalf of the Genomic Standards Consortium. All submissions to the journal should now be made directly through the BMC website for the journal at: http://www.standardsingenomics.com
We would like to gratefully acknowledge the support of many members of the Genomic Standards Consortium, the broader genomic science community, and those who have indicated their willingness to serve as editors, reviewers and contributors.
SIGS was founded with grants from the Office of the Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies at Michigan State University, the Michigan State University Foundation, and the US Department of Energy Biological and Environmental Research DE-FG02-08ER64707. The journal became self-supporting on October 1, 2011.
Standards in Genomic Sciences is indexed in:


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1990 Dodge Dakota
3.9 LE 135,000m I was jus curious about when replacing my cv axle on the left side should I also replace the right cause it seams perfectly fine but I can't b certain unless I tear it apart n I don't wanna do that if I don't have 2
August 8, 2007.
August 8, 2007.
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This building is approximately eighty years old but has been renovated. The space is a 200 sq ft open-plan area which has be subdivided using custom-made dividers. The area for lease is near open windows and currently has furniture for three workstations and some cupboard/storage space. The furniture is all custom made in timber and matches the dividers. Phone handsets, access to network printer, broadband are also available. The space is very flexible and can be configured for any use and could accommodate up to six workstations if required. There is a shared kitchen, bathroom and meeting space. The space is fully air conditioned and heated. It also comes with an undercover security car park.
Located on Parramatta Road, this business centre is 30 m from a bus stop and would be a short bus ride to the city and Broadway Shopping centre. Close to Sydney University and Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.


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Acute Rescue™ Cream by Apex Energetics is a topical homeopathic ointment that might play a role in alleviating mild discomfort. According to proponents of homeopathy' highly diluted amounts of natural substances may work to stimulate your body's ability to heal itself; that's why Acute Rescue™ Cream contains a blend of ingredients that may help address certain symptoms associated with minor pain.
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Apply Apex Energetics' Acute Rescue™ Cream to the affected area up to five times daily.
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In a Hydrophilic Base.
Apply to affected area not more than 5 times daily' or as directed.
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Overall Rating for Acute Rescue Cream - 2 oz
Displaying reviews 1-4 of 4
By Nancy
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Really Helps Those Aches and Pains
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Miracle Cream
Had a biopsy taken from the skin below my eye. The doctor told me Id get a black eye. I used Acute Rescue Cream 2 as soon as I got home and kept applying it for the remainder of the day. No bruising at ALL! I have had burns which have disappeared and large watery blisters from gardening that have also disappeared. If you treat it immediately and keep the area saturated it is simply amazing how quickly it will heal.
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I think Acute Rescue Cream is great I need another jar already gave mine to a suffering friend! :)
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Displaying reviews 1-4 of 4
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If you are pregnant, nursing, taking any medications or have any medical condition, consult your doctor before use. Your healthcare professional is the best source for guidance before beginning an exercise or nutritional supplement program.


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such a nice finish
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All Comments (17)
such a nice finish
any girls like her that want to suck my cock? she's fucking great
very good
maybe he is
I love the way he licks!
Bed is in kinda an awkward spot.
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Lovely, sexy & beautiful girl! So Hot!
by the way she speaks i would guess shes czech
I wanna cream pie her
esta exelente jajaj:)
the proper way to end a great sex scene, the babe getting the man off by stroking him, tonguing him and then sucking on his cum soaked cock. so many of these vids end with the guy finishing himself off.
esta cojonuda
He's not that big!


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Hello together,
sorry for restarting this topic again, but the original discussion
OutOfMemoryError in Java ME SDK 3.0 and 3.2 emulator
has been archived while I was concerned with different things in the meantime. Now returning to Java ME programming again, I find that the problem still persists, at least for the most recently released emulator 3.4. Also the suggestion to increase the heap size via command line parameter is not working. Any further ideas are still appreciated!
Oliver Pfeiffer


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Newspaper article The Evening Standard (London, England)
Health Fears as Babies Are Fed Too Much; 'OFFICIAL GUIDELINES FOLLOWED BY PARENTS ARE WRONG, LEADING TO CHILD OBESITY'
Article excerpt
Byline: REBECCA SMITH
CHILDREN'S future health is being put in danger because mothers are following official feeding guidelines - which are wrong.
Growth charts showing how much babies should weigh at each age milestone have overestimated how heavy healthy children should be. It means mothers have been overfeeding children to ensure they hit the weight targets.
Research by the World Health Organisation has now found that targets for two- and three-year-olds are 15 to 20 per cent too high.
The figures suggested a healthy one-year-old weighs between 22.5 and 28.5lb, when the true healthy weight is 21 to 26lb. Babies who are too fat store up health problemsfor the future including a higher risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes.
A recent study found babies only need a tiny amount of extra food each day to become grossly overweight by the age of two.
Now, after a six-year study into how more than 8,000 children grew, the WHO will release new growth charts for breastfed babies.
The study co-ordinator, WHO nutrition expert Dr Mercedes de Onis, said: "By these charts, breastfed babies seem to be growing poorly from as early as two to three months. …


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Happy Friday! I've been MIA around these parts, mostly because I was out of town last weekend, visiting good friends in San Francisco and then hiking in Yosemite National Park.
– An early look at Tina Fey's new movie, This is Where I Leave You.
– Glass shatters at the Sky Ledge on the Willis Tower.
– Once a C-section, always a C-section.
– Pancake art.
– 21 paintings that will blow your mind.
– Check out these photos of the old Cincinnati Public Library. 'Twas a dream.
– Famous paintings Photoshopped to look like fashion models. FYI, this is minorly NSFW. I mean, they're all paintings. But I don't know how your company is about painted boobs on your work computer?


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Erma M. Biederman, 88, of Freeport passed away peacefully on Tuesday, February 5, 2013, surrounded by her family at F.H.N. Memorial Hospital.
Erma M. Biederman, 88, of Freeport passed away peacefully on Tuesday, February 5, 2013, surrounded by her family at F.H.N. Memorial Hospital.
Erma was born on January 31, 1925 in Broadhead, Wisconsin, the daughter of Fred and Ida (Rhyner) Schenk. Erma grew up in Monticello, Wisconsin and graduated from Monticello High School and later moved to Freeport.
Erma married Bernard E. Biederman on November 23, 1944. He died November 12, 1997. Erma worked many years at Northwest Telephone Company as a operator and was later employed by Freeport Memorial Hospital.
Erma was active in White Shrine, Eastern Star, Order of Amarath, Scottish Rite Women's Club and Ladies Auxiliary to Freeport Commandery, in which she held numerous offices.
Erma is survived by her children, Dennis (Dale) Biederman of Jackson, Wisconsin, Janice (Thomas) Barrette of Savanna, and Robert Biederman of Chicago, Illinois. She will be dearly missed by them as well as her grandchildren, John, Jason (Jill) and Jeffrey Biederman, Brent and Heath (Jean) Barrette; and her great-grandchildren, Kennedy Biederman and Braden and Drew Barrette. Erma is also survived by her sister, Alice (Ken) Holcomb of Highland, Indiana; and several special nieces and nephews.
In addition to her husband, Erma was preceded in death by her brothers, Herb, Ike and Ray Schenk; and her sister-in-law, Janie (Biederman) Scott.
A funeral service for Mrs. Biederman will be Saturday, 10:30 a.m., at Bethany United Church of Christ. Rev. Ted Michalsen, Pastor, will officiate.
Visitation will be Friday, 4 to 7 p.m., at Burke-Tubbs Funeral Home, Freeport and from 9:30 a.m. until the time of service Saturday at the Church. Burial will be at Chapel Hill Memorial Gardens, Freeport.
In lieu of flowers, a memorial fund has been established in her name.
Please sign the online guestbook at www.burketubbs.com.
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[November 05, 2012]
Akken Offers VMS Access to Provide Customers With Competitive Advantage
NASHUA, NH, Nov 05, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Akken, the staffing efficiency improvement specialists, announced today a partnership with The Code Works, a Vendor Management System (VMS) integration solution for the staffing industry, to offer Akken Staffing customers integration with VMS Access, which provides Akken customers with immediate access to job requests and positions.
"VMS adoption has accelerated and as a result the competition in the staffing industry to quickly act on VMS requisitions has exploded," said Sara Moss, President, The Code Works. "With the integration between the Akken Staffing Platform and VMS Access, we are providing a quick and cost effective way to automate the exchange of requisition data between your client's VMS and a leading staffing software solution." "Automating VMS Access within the Akken Staffing platform will provide recruiters and staffing professionals with a competitive advantage by enabling them to fulfill requests quicker and securing additional revenue by establishing more placements," said Giridhar Akkineni, founder of Akken. "As more companies are adopting Vendor Management Systems to find candidates, it is important to integrate these systems to make sure our customers have real-time updates." Features of the Akken Staffing platform -- VMS Access Integration include: -- Automated job delivery to Akken -- 25+ VMS currently supported, and growing -- Closes job orders in Akken when the requisition closes in the VMS -- Updates to key job order data Akken and The Code Works will co-host a webinar entitled, "VMS helps you secure more placements" on Tuesday, November 13 at 2:00 pm. To sign up for the webinar, please visit
About Akken Akken is the staffing efficiency improvement specialist that helps staffing and recruiting companies increase their revenue, decrease costs and manage their risk. Akken provides the only 100 percent cloud-based solution that is also multi-tenant with an integrated front and back office platform to improve performance and profitability by automating the "fill-to-bill" process. Hundreds of staffing and recruitment firms are successfully running their businesses on the Akken Staffing(TM) platform. For more information, please visit www.akken.com or call (866) 590-6695. Join us on LinkedIn and follow us on Twitter @Akken.
About The Code Works Inc Since our opening in 2003, The Code Works has been helping staffing companies optimize technology to streamline business processes and differentiate. The Code Works team understands the big picture dynamics of VMS and the smallest detail of VMS data.
We are vendor management system experts and we truly understand the impact of VMS on staffing companies. We are focused on developing VMS integration services that make the VMS pain go away and deliver competitive advantage to staffing firms. For more information, please visit www.vms-express.com and follow us on Twitter @TheCodeWorksInc.
Media Contact: Pattie Mercier Carlton PR & Marketing 978-807-2972 Email Contact SOURCE: Akken
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Blogger Beth Dooley from Seasonal Appetites shares a favorite recipe.
The meat may be cooked a day or two ahead and kept, wrapped in aluminum foil, and stored in the refrigerator. To reheat, wrap in foil; bake at 300°F for about 30 to 45 minutes or until hot.
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Art Description
Painting: Watercolor on Paper.
Size: 18.8 H x 14.2 W x 0.1 in
The medium is watercolor. I used Fabriano Artistico 140 lb. cold pressed 100% cotton paper, and the dimensions of the original painting are 14 1/4 inches x 18 3/4 inches.
Keywords: painting, sepia, street, urban, watercolor, brown, grey, impressionistic
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very original!!


text: Profile Topics Started Replies Created Favorites Forum Replies Created Viewing 1 post (of 1 total) Author Posts January 29, 2012 at 8:09 am in reply to: eliminating bread crumbs #57545 Travisty51Participant Although I am a novice at using WordPress my roommate is much more skilled than I am, not only could we not find this string of code, but he even tried to write his own to get rid of the breadcrumbs with no effect. I am using Abundance and I have been happy with it so far except for this. Author Posts Viewing 1 post (of 1 total)


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Inconsistent income can make budgeting extremely stressful for the self-employed worker. Because of this, many people who run their own businesses think it's impossible to create an effective personal budget. In reality, budgeting may be even more important for the self-employed than for the salaried employee, because with good budgeting skills, self-employed workers may find themselves unable to survive. In this article, we provide tips on how to survive - and thrive - on an irregular income.
Budgeting for Fixed Expenses
When it comes to making a budget, the first place to start is with fixed expenses. Every month, there are going to be mandatory expenses, regardless of whether you earn $5,000 that month, or nothing at all. First and foremost, the rent or mortgage has to be taken care of; it will be considerably harder to run a successful business if you're homeless. Health insurance premiums, internet service bills and any medications are other examples of essential expenses, and likely have consistent amounts due from month to month. The core budget should include all of these figures as fixed expenses. (Find out more on budgeting for companies in How Budgeting Works For Companies.)
Budgeting for Variable Fixed Expenses
The next category of expenses is made up of costs that occur every month, but may vary in amount. These expenses are usually thought of as being uncontrollable, but you may have more influence over them than you think. An air conditioning bill, for example, is not a mandatory expense except in conditions of extreme heat. Many of us use the air conditioner much more liberally than we really need to, and could cut down on our air conditioning bills by using fans more often, taking cold showers every once in a while or working at the library instead of at home.
Another example of a variable fixed expense is the grocery bill. A single person can easily spend $300 a month on food (if not more), but that expense can be trimmed down drastically if necessary. Substituting foods and avoiding brand names can make a larger positive impact than expected.
Preparation is the key when dealing with variable fixed expenses. Anticipate the highest amount you're likely to spend, so that you can live in the manner you prefer, but be ready to cut back if needed. For example, budget $150 for your electric bill and $300 for your groceries. Understand that, in the worst-case scenario, you have the option to knock the electric bill down to $50 and the grocery bill down to $75. Hope for the best but prepare for the worst. (For related reading, see 22 Ways To Fight Rising Food Prices.)
Budgeting for Nonrequired Expenses
There are also the expenses that are completely within your control. You don't have to go out to eat, buy new clothes or buy books to read for fun. These are all things that you may like to spend money on and should treat yourself to when you can afford to, but if you don't have the money, your expenses in all of these categories can be zero. Because these are not required expenses, you may not want to plan for them at all in your basic budget. Instead, add them only in the months when you can afford them. This way, it won't look like you're in the red just because you can't afford sushi. (Read more about staying active on a budget in Budget Without Ditching Your Friends.)
Your Revenue Stream
Now your budget shows what you need to make every month in order to meet your most basic expenses comfortably. Without two steady paychecks a month though, it can be difficult to plan to pay those expenses on time. Without steady income, vacations, items for the home or luxuries are pipe dreams.
Many people who are self-employed know that their clients often pay sporadically. Invoices may not be addressed for weeks - even months. If this describes your situation, this can be a blessing in disguise. When you don't get paid promptly, planning your budget is essential. By mid-August, you should have a good idea of what your September income will look like.
However, it is possible that your line of work may not lend itself to this sort of payment structure. To plan for this situation, estimate your income for the month - and estimate low. Rather than basing your estimate on an average of your monthly income, which is bound to include some particularly prosperous months, base optimistic - yet realistic - estimates on the lowest amount you are likely to bring in for the months to come.
When the Expenses Don't Fit the Income
When your clients don't pay on time or you don't earn enough to meet your monthly minimum, the best way to handle these shortfalls is to rely on your savings to tide you over. Having a well-cushioned savings account is perhaps even more important for the self-employed worker. When your income comes up short, make a temporary loan to yourself from savings to cover the gap in income. (For more on savings, see Build Yourself An Emergency Fund.)
To avoid depleting your savings, make sure to repay yourself as soon as your income improves. Further, when you have a particularly good month, stash away as much of the excess as you can and avoid the temptation to spend too much of it on luxury items. There's nothing wrong with rewarding yourself, but you don't want to reward yourself out of business.
Try to come up with some things you can do to make short-term money if you need to. Having a stockpile of items to auction on eBay or finding an ongoing contract that allows you to make some quick money with a short turnaround time may be options to consider. These activities can provide supplemental income during the difficult months, if needed, and help balance out the highs and lows in your income.
The Bottom Line
Budgeting when you're self-employed and your income is irregular isn't impossible, and it's key to keeping yourself in business. Know your bottom line and plan accordingly.
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September 23, 2008
Jon Kirby
Kansas has already picked up two quality commitments from Arlington Bowie in Christian Matthews and Dexter Linton. Now a third name has appeared from the same school in Jordan Selexman. ...More... To continue reading this article you must be a member. Sign Up Now!
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Derek Jeter during his high school playing days in Kalamazoo.
- Filed Under
New York Yankees star Derek Jeter, who grew up in Kalamazoo, was born on June 26, 1974.
The Pequannock, N.J., native played in the Kalamazoo area's Eastwood, Oakwood and Westwood Little Leagues, which he joined at age 5.
He played shortstop for Kalamazoo Central, where he also was president of the Latin Club and a member of the National Honor Society, maintained a 3.82 grade-point average and played varsity basketball for three years. The University of Michigan recruited him. ...


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Website: http://www.magicbrook.com/
SAN FRANCISCO CA: Having had a critically acclaimed album on the New Age/ Ambient / World Radio charts for over one year with the song "Stony Creek" San Francisco native guitarist Magic Brook is currently in the studio recording his next album with producer Winter (Stellamara, Shay Black, Kymberly Jackson. The album will be tracked at B-Room Studios and mixed at EMB Studios in Oakland CA.
"Brook & I met to go over the new material, which I think is great." Winter states. "To me it further shows off Brook's innovative technique (which he is taking to the next level) while still remaining accessible, retaining his great melodic sense, & relying on his deep compositional skills."
"I'm extremely happy to be working with Winter again" states guitarist Magic Brook. His expertise in the studio and his familiarity with my music and playing style will once again be most appreciated."
Magic Brook is well known for his alternative/
The album to be titled later on is being planned for a summer 2012 release.
For more information please go to www.magicbrook.com


text: AdChoices Cookie Consent Terms of Use Privacy Policy Hide GALLERIES Idina Menzel Idina Menzel Picture 11 11/39 Idina Menzel AskMen Editors April 3, 2007 Share Tweet 0 Shares A famous Broadway actress, Idina Menzel's been in such popular productions as Rent, The Wild Party and Aida. As a solo artist, she has two records to her name: Still I Can't Be Still and Here. Continue reading Idina Menzel's profile. Next Slide gallery Comments Show Comments More Like This Around the Web Special Features Special Feature The 25 Sexiest Moments Hollywood Dared To Put On TV Read More Special Feature Proof You Can Eat What You Want And Still Get Ripped Read More


text: Valentine's Day for Those with 2 True Loves By KC February 14, 2013 6:39 PM Share on Facebook Share on Twitter For those of us with two true loves, today we want to wish you and that amazing person that tolerates your love for the outdoors, a Happy Valentine's Day. Category: Blogs | KC | Videos Share on Facebook Share on Twitter More Leave a comment Send to a friend! Print this page Pin it! Reddit This! Share on Tumblr! Best of 96.3 The Blaze Recommended For You Best of the Web


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Chapter Twenty
"Of course this has to be on the top shelf," Zoe muttered as she stood in the walk-in pantry and looked up at the high shelf. In her hands she held the flour that Despina had given her to go and store.
Zoe put the flour on the nearest shelf she could reach and stuck her head out the pantry. Henry was about to walk past when she pulled his jacket.
"Stop doing that!"
"How else am I going to get your attention?"
Henry glared at Zoe. "How about using my name?"
"Goliath, can--"
"My real name. My name is not Goliath."
"It should be," Zoe replied and looked up at the scowling soldier. "Oh, come on, you like it."
"I do not," Henry responded and followed Zoe into the pantry. "This was not built for midgets," he said as he gazed up at the high shelving. Zoe gave him the flour, which he effortlessly placed on the top shelf. "My name is Henry."
"No, it's not."
"I know what my name is."
"It's Heinrich."
"It is not."
"What kind of name is Henry? That doesn't even sound German."
"Why do you always have to be so disagreeable?"
Zoe grinned. "It's fun and I like you."
Henry looked down at Zoe and smiled. Just as he was about to respond, they heard Nurse Edith's voice. Henry sighed heavily and put his finger to his lips to indicate to Zoe not to speak. Ever so quietly as to not betray their location, Henry turned off the light. The door was slightly ajar and he didn't attempt to close it.
"Wh--" Zoe's question was cut short by Henry's large hand, which he placed gently over her mouth.
"Don't talk," Henry mouthed as Edith and someone else stopped just barely feet away from the pantry.
"Do you have to leave, Uta?"
"I must, unfortunately. Dieter wants me to come back and I can assuage his concerns about Eva."
"I didn't have any doubts."
"You are such a gentle soul, Edith. Sometimes those treatments don't always work and further work needs to be done, but you are a soft heart."
Edith laughed, and Uta joined her. Inside the pantry, Zoe froze. That laugh. The same laugh she had heard the day her mama was killed. The laugh she thought belonged to Eva. Zoe scowled.
"So you have no doubts?"
"Have you told Hans?"
"I did. I'm satisfied she is cured."
"Are you worried about that maid?"
Zoe's eyebrows rose and quickly glanced at Henry, who was bopping his head up and down.
"No. She's young and they hate each other."
Edith laughed again, causing Zoe to cringe.
"They don't hate each other. They detest each other and that's why Hans thought she was perfect for the job."
"Because she hated her?"
"Yes. It's common knowledge in the village. Hans thought Eva wouldn't be tempted."
"Eva is not going to be tempted; she's cured."
"Tempted to do what?" Zoe mouthed silently to Henry, who brought his finger up to his lips for her not to speak out loud.
"I know that but Hans doubted it. Did you try and get her interested?"
"I did. I got slapped."
Uta's laugh filtered through into the pantry. Zoe's eyebrows rose in an unasked question.
"Did she really?"
"Oh, yes, and it was pretty hard. I expected nothing less. I think it's genuine."
"Well, thank God for that. I fear what this would do to Hans if it didn't work."
"Sometimes it doesn't work and the only solution is to put them out of their misery."
"Well, I'm glad it did work."
"You have to get her out of the house and walking. She's refused to leave her room while I've been here."
"She walks to the church now but I've been encouraging her to go further."
"She has to. I don't want her going to the church."
Zoe shook her head and smiled. You two are so dumb, she thought.
"What about the maid? We know she's in the Resistance."
"Everyone is in the Resistance, Edith. I don't think Eva is involved here. Not like she was in France."
Zoe quickly glanced up at Henry, who was scowling. She noticed the vein in his neck pulsate and wondered if he knew about Eva's Resistance activities.
"I don't think you were right about that. Eva was in mourning for Erik, and the last thing she would be doing was to collaborate with the French."
"Hans seemed to think she was, but here it's different, although he doesn't want her going to the church."
"The priest is in the Resistance as well?"
"Every Greek is in the Resistance."
"Young Zoe is in the Resistance and she doesn't make it a secret. The girl is not shy about telling anyone who cares to listen."
"That's why she's not a threat."
Henry looked up at the ceiling of the pantry and quietly chuckled for a moment before he glanced down at Zoe, who was wagging her finger at him.
"I hope so. I wish you could stay longer."
"As much as I would love to, I have to get back to my hellhole."
"Before you catch your train, why don't I show you Athena's Bluff and then the gorge? It's very beautiful."
"Hm, that would be nice."
Zoe's face creased into a smile as Edith and Uta walked away down the corridor. After a long moment, she glanced at Henry.
"What was that?"
"That was two escaped Harpies from hell."
"Colorful," Zoe quipped only to find that Henry's scowl had intensified. "Henry, was Nurse Edith present when you all decided to kill people?"
"I did not kill anyone."
"Was she there?"
"Yes," Henry replied quietly. "She was standing behind me."
Zoe shook her head slowly. "It was her."
Henry stood quietly and allowed Zoe to process the revelation on her own. After a long moment he put his hand on her shoulder. "It was never Eva."
"You know about that?"
"I have ears."
"You don't understand Greek."
"Yes, I do," Henry replied in Greek, catching Zoe by surprise. "A little. Eva has been teaching me."
"Just my luck," Zoe good naturedly grumbled as she opened the door and they left the pantry. She watched Henry walk away and heard his chortle.
Zoe stood in the corridor looking down at the wooden floorboards, deep in thought. She did an about face and almost skipped down the corridor to the kitchen.
Chapter Twenty One
Eva slowly made her way down the street, her guards alert as they watched the people who passed them. She was very much aware of the openly hostile looks she was getting. The last thing she wanted was for someone to get shot because of her. Major Muller had ordered her to hold her head high but it was more than a little difficult to do when hate was all that was directed at her. Muller didn't want his daughter to be intimidated by the villagers; not by them, but it was perfectly acceptable for her to be afraid of him.
"Stay here," Eva instructed Henry, who in turn gave her an outraged look. "Is there a problem? Henry, we've had this chat before," she said, and lowered the hood of her cloak.
"I have to be seen to be objecting." Henry leaned forward and whispered in Eva's ear whilst the other guard, Barkow, was busy watching the village girls. He looked surprised when Eva smiled.
"Follow me inside the house of God and I promise you that you will see the front lines faster than you can blink," Eva told him loud enough for the other guard to notice. "Do you understand me?"
The sergeant looked at Barkow, who chose to stand to attention and stay silent. "Yes, Fraulein, but I will have to report this to Captain Reinhardt."
Eva just smiled and entered the church, leaving the guards outside. She pulled out a scarf and placed it on her head before she passed the altar. She spied Father Haralambos talking to one of the elderly nuns. She patiently stood by until he had finished and then went over to speak to him. There were a few people milling around after the service, giving her the most hostile looks.
"Ah, Fraulein Muller, how nice to see you."
"Father, I hope you are well."
"Very well, my child," Father Haralambos replied with a twinkle in his eye. "How--"
Father Haralambos didn't have a chance to finish before Eva staggered forward. She was hit across her back by a short, elderly woman with a cane. The cleric grabbed Eva to prevent her fall and steadied her.
"Mrs. Elimbos! Please, we can't have violence in the house of God!" Father Haralambos said as he helped Eva to a seat nearby. "Are you okay?"
Eva merely nodded. Her back had already been on fire that morning and the blow just added to her misery. The attack brought the guards rushing into the church. They stopped when they caught Eva's eye. She motioned for them not to come in further and to stay outside. The last thing she needed was for the whole incident to be overblown and lives lost.
"Get this animal out of the house of God first!" Mrs. Elimbos replied and spat in Eva's face. Eva deliberately did not move, but let the old woman continue her tirade until she had exhausted herself. Finally, Mrs. Elimbos waved her cane at Father Haralambos and walked off quite satisfied with herself.
Father Haralambos hurriedly gave Eva a handkerchief so she could wipe away the spittle. "I'm so sorry, Fraulein."
"It's alright. I'm getting used to being hit," Eva mumbled as she took the handkerchief and wiped her face.
"Well, I'll have a word with Mrs. Elimbos next time I see her. Please, come into my office."
They entered the office, Father Haralambos helping remove Eva's cloak before ushering her into a seat. "I am sorry." He put his arm around Eva to console her. She leaned into his embrace and closed her eyes. How many times had she wished that her father would take her in his arms and hold her, tell her she was loved, and tell her everything was going to be all right? It was divine intervention she had come to Larissa; it had to be.
"You aren't at fault. Mrs. Elimbos has probably wanted to do that for a long time." Eva sighed wearily.
"I'm going to have a word with her--"
"And tell her what? That I'm your daughter?" Eva smiled. "Or that you love Germans?"
Father Haralambos scratched his beard. "You have a point." He nodded. "I do love one particular German." He smiled. "How is little Zoe doing?"
Eva grimaced. "You were right. She's very difficult when she wants to be. Henry and Zoe seem to have become friends, if you can believe that."
"Really? Now that is interesting."
"I never thought that would happen. He keeps threatening to shoot her when she annoys him but I know Henry and he does like her. It's a very strange friendship that seems to be forming."
Father Haralambos chuckled. "Henry seems to be a nice young man. At least he can be the buffer between you and Zoe if it comes to that but I don't think it will. What else has been going on?"
Eva sighed and looked down at her hands and twisted the gold ring on her finger. "My uncle sent Cerberus to visit me."
"Let's not talk about her. Henry told me that she was very nice to Zoe so I don't know what game she is playing."
"How did Zoe respond?"
"Henry said she looked very confused but was nice. That's a little hard for me to picture."
Father Haralambos chuckled. "If Zoe trusts you, she will defend you even with her life. The problem is you have to earn Zoe's trust," he said.
"I don't think Zoe will ever trust me. I don't think it's even possible for that woman to trust anyone. She is so full of hate. How do I get her to trust me?"
"Be yourself." Father Haralambos smiled. "Zoe needs a friend. You need a friend and an ally in that lion's den. Zoe can be that friend, if you let her."
"That's a little difficult to do, Father, when Zoe sees me as the enemy."
Father Haralambos nodded. "You hide who you really are, and it's difficult for people to see the real you. If you let Zoe see who you are, you will find a kindred spirit."
Eva thought about Father Haralambos' words but she doubted the young woman he knew and the young woman who goaded her in her office were one and the same. "She wants to kill me."
"Zoe doesn't want to kill you. Trust me, if Zoe wanted to kill you, she would have done it."
"You mean like when she went to shoot me in the cellar?"
"Yes, well." Father Haralambos stroked his beard. "There was a reason Zoe was so angry that day."
"Isn't she like that most days?"
"No. Zoe had a very upsetting day and she was very angry. I had her cleaning the cellar to take her frustrations on the mess that was down there."
"Lucky that gun doesn't work very well."
"It works," Father Haralambos mumbled. "You have nothing to fear from Zoe. I've known Zoe all her life and her soul is good. Can you try for me?"
Eva looked doubtful but nodded. "I will try."
"Thank you," Father Haralambos replied and kissed Eva on the cheek. "Now, why are you here? Not that I don't want you here, but I thought you were going to send Zoe? You did hire Zoe, didn't you?"
Eva pulled out the papers she had under her cloak and gave them to Father Haralambos. "Oh, yes, Zoe is perfect for the job, but Captain Reinhardt was nearby and I didn't want to arouse his suspicions." She pointed to the papers and said, "The Petrolakis family, I'm sure, will be happier."
Father Haralambos adjusted his glasses and looked at the identity papers, smiling proudly. Eva watched him. He had told her that pre-war Larissa had a large Jewish population and some had managed to flee before the Germans invaded, but others had been caught. Their neighbors sheltered the few that hadn't been captured immediately after the occupation. The penalty for hiding Jews was death and Father Haralambos tried to get them out of the country as soon as he could. Eva had managed to get her father's signature on new identity papers and the arrangement had been working quite well.
"Do you think your father suspects?"
Eva shrugged. "My stepfather suspects everything and everyone. Jurgen alerts me to my father's mood."
"He loves you."
"He does." Eva held out her hand and showed Father Haralambos the engagement ring. "He proposed two nights ago."
"I'm happy for you." The priest leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.
"My father's dream come true. Muller wants him to keep an eye on me."
"Ah." Father Haralambos stroked his beard. "You don't love him?"
Eva glanced at him and shook her head. "I like him."
"Can I ask you a question?"
Eva smiled. "You can ask me anything you want."
"You have the chance to escape and be free of these tyrants..."
Eva sighed and smiled sadly. "I have thought about it, and you don't know how I wish to be free of him. But who will help you?"
"Are you staying just for me?" Father Haralambos asked incredulously.
"I'm staying because of you, and because it's the right thing to do," Eva replied. "Didn't you say that for everything, there is a season?"
Father Haralambos smiled. "Yes, and in our case it's a time of war."
"Our time of peace will come soon and that's what I'm holding out for," Eva replied. "I don't know what the future holds, but for now I'm going to try and help you."
Father Haralambos cupped Eva's face and kissed her on the forehead. "Your mama would have been so proud of you," he said. "Now, I think you'd better get going before your soldiers come looking for you."
Eva stood and put her cloak back on. She stood there for a moment and kissed Father Haralambos before leaving the office and the church. She mentally groaned when she saw Reinhardt with her guards. She was certain they had witnessed Mrs. Elimbos' attack on her --it would have been difficult to miss with the doors of the church wide open.
"Ah, Eva, are you all right?" Reinhardt asked as he threaded his arm around hers and led her down the steps.
"I'm fine, Jurgen."
"Why didn't you let your guards come to your rescue?"
Eva sighed. "There was nothing to rescue me from, sweetheart. An elderly woman just let her feelings be known about me being in the church."
"You were assaulted," Reinhardt persisted. "You know your guards have orders to shoot anyone--"
"I know," Eva replied. "I didn't think killing an old woman was going to achieve anything."
Reinhardt stopped and brought Eva close to him. "You are going to get killed one day."
Eva looked into his steely blue eyes and merely nodded. If the Greeks didn't get her, she was certain Muller would eventually find out the truth about her Resistance activities; it was just a matter of time.
They walked arm in arm towards the house with the guards behind them. At the entrance to the house, Reinhardt turned to Eva and kissed her chastely on the lips. "Thank you for the walk, Fraulein," he said and saluted the guards before leaving.
"I wish I could say the same," Eva whispered.
Chapter Twenty Two
Zoe sighed and turned to see the soldiers approaching. She had been stopped twice today already and it was beginning to get on her nerves. She put the sack she was carrying down on the ground and pulled out her identity card. Without waiting for the soldier to ask her, she handed the card over.
"You are a smart one, aren't you?" The soldier sneered as he read the papers and then glanced back at Zoe.
"No." Zoe attempted to be humble but she didn't think she could get away with it. She knew for certain she hadn't been successful when the soldier backhanded her, knocking her to the ground and spattering her clothes with mud.
The other soldiers, along with the one who had struck her, snickered. "That was for having a smart mouth. Get up!" The soldier ordered. "Where are you going with that?" He asked, pointing to the sack as Zoe struggled to her feet.
Zoe glared at him, wiping the blood from her split lip with the back of her hand.
"What seems to be the problem here, Corporal?"
Zoe glanced behind her, relieved to see Captain Reinhardt had come over to see what the commotion was about.
"Well? I'm waiting, Corporal," Reinhardt said.
"I was checking her papers, sir."
"And giving her a slap in the process." Reinhardt glanced at Zoe, and then back to the corporal. "I'll take it from here." With that he dismissed them and watched as they walked off. "You seem to attract trouble, Fraulein Lambros," he said with a smirk.
"I don't mean to," Zoe mumbled.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm going to the cemetery and then taking some vegetables back to Kiria Despina," Zoe said quietly as she felt around her lip with tentative fingers.
Reinhardt looked at Zoe and lifted her chin with his finger, inspecting her bloody lip. She met his steely eyes and then she dropped her gaze as she remembered Father Haralambos' instructions to appear meek and humble.
Reinhardt laughed. "You are a spirited little one." He chuckled. "I don't think that look is quite humble enough, though. You need to work on it."
"I will," Zoe muttered as she looked down at her muddied clothes.
Reinhardt turned away from Zoe and looked at the fields where workers were stacking the wheat harvest. "I have a favor to ask you."
Zoe stayed calm even though her heart was racing. She didn't say anything.
"I want you to make sure that nothing happens to Fraulein Muller."
"I can't promise that. What if she trips and hits her head or---"
"Or gets hit with a rock to the back of her head?"
"Something like that."
Reinhardt smiled at Zoe and she found it most disconcerting. "Come now, Fraulein, you didn't think I didn't know?" He taunted as he continued to smirk. "You are in the Resistance."
"Is there a Greek who isn't in the Resistance?" Zoe countered.
Reinhardt smiled. "Quite true, quite true." After a moment he said, "Tell whoever you talk to in the Resistance not to harm her. I like you. Don't make me shoot you."
"That would be bad for me," Zoe commented dryly, as she looked up and ran her hand through her unruly hair. "I don't think anyone wants to kill her --she's not worth two hundred innocent lives."
"So we have an understanding."
"If you say so," Zoe replied and picked up her sack and hoisted it over her shoulder.
"We understand each other, don't we?" Reinhardt chuckled.
Zoe nodded her response.
"Good. Now go on your way before your mistress starts yelling. God knows I don't want to hear that," Reinhardt said as he watched Zoe walk away down the dirt road.
The rain clouds parted to allow slivers of sun to peek through and form patterns in the clouds. In another lifetime, Zoe would have stopped and taken the time to make patterns out of the formations. She paused outside the cemetery and made a decision. She walked towards the gate and entered. As she passed an elderly woman, she nodded and walked further in. Sitting beside her parents' grave site was the local gravedigger waiting for her. A shovel lay at his feet.
"Andreas," Zoe greeted the man and chastely gave him a kiss on the cheek. "How are you?"
"I'm better now that I've seen your beautiful face."
"You are such a flirt." Zoe gently slapped Andreas on the shoulder. She reached into her coat and pulled out an envelope. "I couldn't get these to Father Haralambos, so pass by and give them to him. I also have a favor to ask you. I've written it down."
"Alright, consider it done," Andreas replied. "I do enjoy our dates."
Zoe put her arm around Andreas and gave him a kiss. "You are my favorite boyfriend."
"I'll let the wife know she is sharing me," Andreas chuckled as he picked up his shovel and walked away.
Zoe watched Andreas walk away for a long moment before she sat on the grass.
"Morning, Mama," Zoe greeted her mother as she pulled the weeds from her grave. A simple cross adorned the grave of Helena Lambros. "I know I haven't come to see you in a few weeks, but things have moved so quickly." She paused and watched an elderly man shuffle away from a nearby grave.
"I don't know how long this war is going to last for, but we have lost so many. We kill them, they kill us. They are all dying, Mama. All my friends are dying. Be sure to kiss them for me in Heaven."
The tears started to flow freely as Zoe sat on the ground, her arms around her knees. "You won't believe what I'm doing now; even Papa would be laughing. I'm a personal maid to the beast's daughter. Can you believe it? Me, the one you kept yelling at to clean up after herself." Zoe chuckled through her tears at the memory.
"Remember Father Haralambos? Well, he gave me quite a shock. Did you know he used to have a girlfriend before he became a priest? I never thought of him as anything but a priest...funny that. Turns out that the beast's daughter isn't his daughter. She's Father Haralambos' daughter. It's worse than an ancient Greek drama. You would have loved that."
Zoe plucked some more weeds from the grave as she continued her one-sided conversation with her mother. "I was going to kill her, but now it's good I didn't. I would have killed an innocent woman. She wasn't the one that laughed while you were dying. It was that evil nurse of hers." She stopped and plucked another weed from the grave. She sat there for a few minutes looking down at the weed in her hand. "Not to worry --tomorrow justice will be done."
Zoe stopped talking and gazed around the cemetery at some of the graves that had overgrown weeds around them.
"Her name is Eva." Zoe continued. "She has the bluest eyes I've ever seen, even bluer than Apostolos'. They remind me of the time we spent on Lymnos and the Aegean was so blue."
She sighed. "And she's tall, nearly gave me a neck pain from looking up at her. She has such a beautiful smile. I've only seen it once because she tends to scowl a lot. Aunty Despina said her family is cursed and I believe it."
Zoe stood up, picking up the sack of vegetables, and looked down at the grave. "I have to take the supplies to the housekeeper, but I'll visit you again soon. Kiss Papa and the boys for me. I hope God knows what a special person you are." She closed her eyes for a moment. "I miss you, Mama," she said before walking away from the cemetery.
Despina was bustling in the kitchen, heating pots of water for Eva's bath and trying to cook dinner, a task made all the more difficult with Zoe absent. Eva poked her head in, startling her.
"Sweet Jesus, Son of God and the Holy Ghost!" Despina exclaimed and crossed herself as Eva entered the kitchen.
Eva's eyebrows rose into her hairline at the expletive from the normally quiet housekeeper.
"I'm sorry, Despina, I was looking for Zoe. Is she back yet?"
"No, Fraulein, she hasn't returned yet. She is late and I'm---"
The door burst open and Zoe bustled in, muddied and wet. "I'm sorry I'm late," she said.
"Dear child, I thought something had happened to you," Despina said as she took the sack. She then noticed the mud and the split lip.
"What happened?" Eva queried, holding Zoe's face toward the light.
"A corporal took offense--"
"What did you do?" Eva asked as she took a piece of linen and began washing Zoe's face as soon as she sat down.
"I had been stopped by two patrols previously and so I just handed him my card. He wasn't impressed," Zoe said quietly. "It was my fault."
"You probably annoyed him with your smart mouth," Eva said as she looked down into Zoe's eyes. She was about to continue cleaning Zoe's face, but she abruptly dropped her hand as if the cloth was on fire and averted her gaze. "Despina, can you please get my bath ready? I'll see you soon," Eva said quickly and walked out of the kitchen.
Zoe glanced at Despina, who shrugged. "Come on, child, I'm late getting dinner ready and you know Major Muller hates eating late. Now empty the hot water in the buckets and take them upstairs."
Zoe nodded, but looked again at the door through which Eva had departed and frowned.
"What was that about?"
Despina turned around and glanced at Zoe. "Eva was worried about you and the curfew is due to start."
"She insulted me and you think she's worried about me? I think she just wants her bath. She is the strangest woman I've ever met. One minute she's nice and the next she races up the stairs like the devil himself was after her." Zoe helped empty the water into the bucket.
"She did not race up the stairs."
"She dropped the cloth like it was on fire. What the hell is wrong with that woman?" Zoe muttered as she picked up the bucket and slowly made her way up the stairs.
Chapter Twenty Three
Eva entered her room and shut the door. She rested her forehead on the door panel and slowly banged her head against it. "Oh, that was stupid!" She muttered. When Father Haralambos said to get close to Zoe, she was sure he didn't mean to get attracted to her.
"Stupid, stupid, stupid." Eva continued to rebuke herself and hit her head with her hand. She would gleefully kill you if you made any move, she thought. Muller wouldn't hesitate to praise Zoe either for killing his "perverted daughter".
"Not again." Eva closed her eyes tightly, trying to keep the memory of Muller's rage being directed at her. The remembered vision of her father standing over her, his arm raised and ready to strike sent chills down her spine. That dark night her mother was murdered.
Eva walked into the house, dropping her knapsack on the floor. She felt empty inside. Her whole world had crumbled and the only person who understood her was gone. She slumped to the floor as tears flowed freely.
She heard her father and someone else leave the house, their voices subdued. She wasn't sure how long she had been sitting on the floor. The door opened and her father walked in. He was still wearing his uniform, stained with blood...her beloved mutti's blood.
"I am going to ask you a question and I want you to answer me truthfully," Muller said as he sat on a chair across from her. Eva could see the fury in his eyes and knew that she had done something terrible, but for the life of her she could not fathom what.
"Yes, Papa," Eva replied, her voice hoarse from crying.
"Where were you tonight?"
Eva brushed away tears as she looked up at her father, who she knew was barely controlling his temper. "I went with Greta and my friends and we...we burnt a synagogue," she replied quietly.
"Didn't I tell you to be here tonight? Didn't I tell you not to go out, to stay with your mother?"
"Yes, Papa, I told her I was going to be at Greta's house and then I was going to come back--"
"You lied to her and to me. You disobeyed me!"
Eva cowered away from her enraged father, who stood over her. "Do you know what your disobedience has produced?"
Muller started to raise his voice, his face turned a bright shade of red, the veins in his neck pulsed rapidly and the control he had held so tenuously on his temper evaporated. "You." He pointed at Eva, who was cowering in a corner. "You killed your mother!"
"Oh, Papa..." she cried.
Muller picked Eva up by the collar of her blouse and slammed her against the wall. Grabbing her by the hair, he screamed, "I will not tolerate your disobedience!" Then he slapped her so hard that it split her lip and she slumped in a heap. She dared not utter a sound and cowered against the wall.
Eva's silence only served to urge Muller on as he beat her across the back and legs for several minutes, screaming incoherently. Finally his anger was satiated for a while and he sat down heavily, his head in his hands. "You have disgraced me."
"I...I'm sorry, Papa." Eva hiccupped, tears staining her battered and bloodied face.
His voice rose as he neared the wide-eyed girl. "I will not tolerate a bastard child ruining my reputation!"
Eva looked at him, the confusion evident on her face. Muller stood and removed his belt. "I had someone tell me of your perversion. Did this person tell me the truth about you and Greta?"
When Eva said nothing to deny her father's accusations, he exploded. "You disgust me!" he spat. "Do you know what this will do to my reputation? They will send me to the front for this. And you, do you know what they do to perverts in concentration camps?"
Muller folded the belt strap, popping it for effect and leaning over her, so close she could feel his breath. He hissed, "Is it true?"
But Eva could not speak, her words frozen in fear. "Answer me, damn it!" he demanded.
Eva remained motionless, which only served to explode the rage once again boiling inside her father.
What followed was the worst, cruelest beating she had ever received. The leather belt, so mercilessly used against her back, tore her skin open. But that pain was nothing compared to the mental anguish she now suffered. She had been beaten into the bottomless pit of guilt and shame and as she lay sobbing, blood covering her back and legs, Muller's words "bastard child" tortured her until she wished she were dead.
That moment signaled the end of her freedom and the start of her longest waking nightmare. A nightmare she still endured after many months of incarceration and regular beatings.
"Fraulein Muller!" Despina's worried voice penetrated Eva's consciousness from beyond the closed bedroom door. Eva shook her head to clear the memories and wiped away her tears.
"I'll be right there," Eva called out as she stood trying to compose herself. She wiped away her tears with a face cloth and undressed for her bath. She put on a robe and tied it with a sash before she left the room.
Eva followed Despina, who carried buckets of hot water from the kitchen into the bathing room. Zoe had been urged to clean up and soon began helping Despina carry the buckets of water and fill the tub. Eva walked into the room and nodded to Despina, who deposited some soap nearby.
"Thank you, Despina." Eva stood at the window watching the sun set over the quiet village. "Where is Dr. Uta?" She asked, hoping the doctor wasn't going to be there.
"Don't worry, sweetheart." Despina put her arm around Eva's waist. "She is having dinner with your father and Nurse Edith."
Eva gave Despina a relieved look and nodded. "Zoe will help you with your bath," Despina said and left before Eva had a chance to say anything.
"Are you alright?" Zoe asked quietly, watching Eva still standing by the window.
Eva remained quiet, willing herself to get better control of her emotions before facing Zoe. Turning toward Zoe, she observed her worried countenance. "I'm sorry I left so abruptly."
"You know, I've had a split lip before. I'll live," said Zoe, trying to lighten the mood. "Are you going to take a bath now, or should we get Despina to reheat it?"
Eva wondered if it had been a really bad idea to get a maid even if it was to help in the Resistance. The last thing she wanted was to disrobe in front of Zoe. With a sigh she pulled the sash open and removed her robe, hoping she wouldn't have to explain the scar that ran across her stomach or those on her back.
Those hopes were dashed when Zoe gasped at the sight of the scars that went from Eva's shoulders to below her waist. "What happened?" Zoe whispered.
Eva didn't speak for a few moments and Zoe thought she wasn't going to get an answer. "I don't really want to discuss it," Eva told her quietly.
"They look old," Zoe continued, ignoring Eva's request. She traced one particular deep scar, causing Eva to flinch. "I'm sorry; does it hurt?"
Eva shook her head. "No."
Zoe picked up the sponge and gently began to lather Eva's back. "Who did this to you?"
Eva sighed. "Didn't Nurse Edith tell you that I was caught up in a bomb explosion in France?" She closed her eyes.
There was silence for a moment and Eva wondered if Zoe would stay quiet.
"I've seen scars like this before. I had a friend once who was beaten by her father with his belt and it left scars like this. The top one here looks different..." Zoe murmured as she gently sponged Eva's scarred flesh.
"That's from the bombing."
"Why were---"
"Zoe, please, shut up." Eva almost pleaded. Zoe's hands massaging her neck, which were both gentle and firm, almost made her leap out of the bath to try and escape from the pleasurable sensations it was causing.
"Lean forward," Zoe asked, catching Eva by surprise. Clutching the edges of the bathtub, Eva leaned forward, which allowed Zoe to lather her hair. Eva almost purred from the pleasurable sensation of Zoe massaging her temples and then working up to her head.
"Does that feel good?"
"My mama used to do this when I had terrible headaches," Zoe explained as she continued the gentle massage.
"I don't have a headache."
"You look like you do," Zoe responded and didn't say anything further as she picked up the small basin and washed off the soap from Eva's long black hair. She took the face cloth and gently wiped away the soap from Eva's eyes. "I think you may want to wash the rest of you yourself."
Eva sighed with relief as Zoe picked up the basin and turned away, leaving Eva to wash herself. She watched Zoe as she stood at the window. Zoe did not turn around until Eva signaled she was ready to get out.
Eva was surprised at the gentle way Zoe helped her out of the bath and dried her off. It was some relief when Zoe brought her robe and gave it to her.
"You have soft hands. Thank you, I did enjoy the massage," Eva said and then walked to the door to go back to her room.
Zoe smiled. "I enjoyed that myself," she mumbled before she went to the chore of emptying the bath.
Eva was combing her hair when Zoe entered her room. Without a word, Zoe picked up the hairbrush and began to comb Eva's long, dark, silky tresses.
"Why are you so nice to me?"
"You pay me to be nice," Zoe replied with a smirk. She glanced at Eva's solemn face in the mirror. "You're not who I thought you were," she observed as she brushed Eva's long hair. "No one deserves to be beaten like a dog."
"Not even someone who is a Nazi?" Eva looked back at Zoe in the mirror. "I thought that would have given you pleasure."
Zoe stopped the brushing and looked at Eva's reflection in the mirror. "It doesn't give me pleasure to see such brutality. I've never met any Nazi like you. You're not a Nazi."
"How can you be so sure?"
"You would have shot me when I threw that rock," Zoe said. They remained silent while Zoe started to braid Eva's hair.
"My father did it," Eva said quietly and looked at Zoe's reflection.
Zoe stopped braiding. "Another reason he's going to burn in Hell," she muttered. "Even if I don't believe in Hell, I think he's going to rot."
It wasn't the response Eva was expecting. "You're not going to ask me why?"
"You will tell me when you want to tell me," Zoe reasoned and continued with her task. "You're like my older brother --a clam."
"A clam?"
"Yes. Michael would speak when he wanted to speak and the rest of the time he would be quiet. You remind me of him."
"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Eva asked. Despite her first impressions of Zoe, it seemed it was going to be impossible not to like her. There was something about Zoe that made Eva feel comfortable, which was odd since Zoe wanted her dead.
"Because it is. You are a brooder, too. It's not a good thing to brood."
"Oh." Eva smiled and looked in the mirror to find Zoe smiling back at her.
"So why did the idiot do that?"
"I wasn't what he wanted me to be."
"I don't understand," Zoe stated, and started on another braid.
Eva was certain Zoe was going to flee screaming out of the room and she braced herself for it. "I had a disease."
"What kind of father beats his daughter if she is ill? Not even animals would do that to their young."
Eva looked down at her hands. "It's a disease of the mind."
"What kind of disease?"
Eva mentally rolled her eyes and wondered why she had started this conversation. Zoe never let up. "Do you always ask so many questions?"
"He found out that I had a lover," Eva whispered, her voice breaking. "He was terrified of what it would do...what it would do to his reputation."
Zoe stopped braiding Eva's hair. "He got angry because you were having sex without being married?" she asked, sounding a little surprised. "It's not good to have sex without being married, but there isn't any need to lose your mind. That's a little too Greek for a German."
"My lover was a woman."
Zoe blinked. She gazed into the mirror at Eva, who was staring back at her. "You're so beautiful. Why would you want a woman?"
Eva almost laughed at Zoe's naivety. "It doesn't matter now. I'm cured."
Zoe didn't say anything, which worried Eva, as Zoe was not short of an opinion. Zoe continued to braid her hair in silence.
"Is that what Dr. Uta was doing with you? Seeing if you were cured?" Zoe finally asked. She glanced at the mirror and saw Eva's pale face. "You are scared of her."
"The mention of her name made you look like you wanted to throw up."
"Dr. Uta is a good doctor," Eva almost whispered and wished Zoe would be quiet again.
Zoe leaned down and whispered in Eva's ear. "She's not a good doctor because good doctors don't make people fear them."
Eva didn't respond to Zoe's comment and they both fell silent. Zoe finished what she was doing and left the room.
Part 6
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