Category: Writing

MGT1OBE 1 Assessment 3: Final Assignment Assignment Task: This individual assignment accounts for 50% of your total subject grade. Its purpose is to get you to engage with the Organisational Behaviour literature to address real world problems. Assignment Instructions: Read the case study “Reaching Beyond”. The case study is printed below. The case study describes the current situation of a Melbourne-based company, Beyond. The CEO Jack Warner is concerned with the emergent organisational culture and believes the differing leadership styles and power tactics of the senior management team may be contributing to it. Answer the following questions: 1. Analyse the current organisational culture of Beyond and contrast it to the earlier organisational culture. 2. Analyse the leadership style(s) of the executive team and senior management team and compare the effectiveness of the different styles. 3. Identify influence tactics evident in the case study and compare the effectiveness of the identified tactics. Your answers to these three questions will help the CEO address the existing challenges. Your assignment should have the following sections: 1. Introduction. State the topic of the assignment, provide some background information or context, summarise key parts of the assignment, and how you have structured the case study. 2. Describe the emergent organisational culture and contrast it to the earlier organisational culture. Use relevant OB academic literature (i.e., OB theory &/or concepts published in peer-reviewed and scholarly journal articles, etc.) in addressing this section. Explain and clarify using examples from the case study. 3. Analyse the leadership style(s) of the executive team senior management team and compare the effectiveness of the different styles. Use relevant OB academic literature (i.e., OB theory &/or concepts published in peer-reviewed and scholarly journal articles, etc.) in addressing this section. Explain and clarify using examples from the case study. 4. Identify influence tactics evident in the case study and compare the effectiveness of the identified tactics. Use relevant OB academic literature (i.e., OB theory &/or concepts published in peer-reviewed and scholarly journal articles, etc.) in addressing this section. Explain and clarify using examples from the case study. 5. Conclusion. Summarise key points made in the assignment. MGT1OBE 2 6. Reference list. Use the APA7 referencing style. As a general guide, sections 2, 3 and 4 should be roughly equal in word count. The introduction and conclusion section should account for approximately 10% of the word count. You MUST consult and reference a minimum of eight (8) academic sources (of which one can be the recommend textbook, Wood et al, 2019). We recommend you consider the following publications to identify relevant articles: Journal of Organizational Behavior, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Journal of Applied Psychology, Academy of Management Journal, British Journal of Management, Human Relations, Journal of Management, Leadership Quarterly, Business Horizons, Harvard Business Review. Length: 2,000 words (+/- 10%) (Reference list and title page are excluded from the word count) Weighting: 50% of your total mark Due date: Sunday ending Week 12 by 11:59pm Submission: Submit via the LMS_ Assessment 3 Submission Link Format: Ensure clear and concise analysis. Ensure a logical structure and make use of relevant subheadings where appropriate. Ensure coherent writing and avoid grammatical and spelling mistakes. Use a 12-point font with double spacing. Marking guide: Available on the LMS under Assessment 3. MGT1OBE 3 Case Study: Reaching Beyond Adapted from an earlier case (details withheld) Executive Team CEO: Jack Warner CFO: Lara Roberts Senior Management Team Production Manager: Eric Kantor Marketing Manager: Kevin Barta Chief Web Designer: Julia Marks Head of Engineering (Hardware): Vincent Gambino HR Manager: Kylie Kwong Jack Warner was the CEO of Melbourne-based Beyond, a company he had launched six years earlier at the age of 23, after graduating with a bachelor in management and information sciences. He had inherited $500,000 from his grandmother and had convinced three family members to invest additional funds into his start-up. Beyond made specialised navigation devices primarily used by the Australian mining industry. The company quickly established a reputation for quality hardware, customised designs, and excellent after-sales service. Within six years, the company had established itself as a leader in its niche market, enjoying substantial market share and profits. Jack was driven by a desire to succeed. He had started working part-time at an electronics retailer at the age of 15 and in his spare time took apart computers to see how they worked. Jack was extroverted, ambitious, and enthusiastic, typically arriving at work by 6am and seldom leaving before 8 pm. He felt that work should be challenging as well as fun and was an earlier adopter of flexible working arrangements and casual dress codes. He had initially assembled a young senior management team that he thought shared his values. A casual and irreverent atmosphere developed, punctured by the discovery of chaotic disorganisation in the company’s accounts, which led to the dismissal of Beyond’s original accountant. briefly interrupted by the discovery of serious irregularities in the company’s accounts led to the sacking of the first accountant after two years. Jack believed that major management decisions ought to be made by consensus and that individual senior managers should then be empowered to implement these decisions within their department as they saw fit. In the early years he had met with each staff member in January to discuss with them their job satisfaction, their ambitions for the new year and their professional development expectations. These one-on-one meetings became more onerous as the company continued to grow. Eventually, senior managers were delegated the task of conducting reviews with their own staff. However, Jack was unsure whether every manager was actually performing these reviews and how well they were working. So he tried to keep in touch with staff by occasionally joining them for lunch in the cafeteria. Lara Roberts was Beyond’s Chief Financial Officer. She and Jack could not be more different. Lara was quiet, methodical, and patient. Her superb interpersonal skills complemented a MGT1OBE 4 highly analytical mind. At 55, she was considerably older than most other employees and often showed a strong maternal side. Many of her team (as well as staff from other departments) frequently consulted her on work issues as well as personal problems. She enjoyed the relationships she had built up but found that the technical aspects of her role were becoming less rewarding. Kevin Barta, the company’s Marketing Manager, was considered to be a ruthless operator, aggressively undercutting the competition in terms of price, and, on more than one occasion, circulating false rumours about competitor’s products. He also deemed himself “a ladies’ man” and was known to flirt with many female staff members. A case of sexual harassment was only dropped after a 21-year-old marketing assistant had been paid a significant sum of money. Jack and the members of the senior management team had been furious but Kevin had denied any wrongdoing, claiming that she had “led him on.” Kevin had been at university with Jack and the two spent many hours after work at a nearby pub. Jack saw Kevin’s marketing expertise and cunning as indispensable for the company’s continuing growth. Kevin was in charge of a department of twelve, all of whom ambitious self-starters that he had personally selected. They were required to set and achieve their own targets, as long as they were “big hairy ambitious goals,” a phrase he had picked up at university. Eric Kantor, the company’s Production Manager, was a soft spoken man who had started as a production engineer and had quickly worked his way to the top. He set extremely demanding standards for production staff and was considered to be a perfectionist. He was highly regarded by his colleagues for his efficiency and reliability. There were very few occasions when a customer order could not be fulfilled on time and his goal was zero defects. Eric tended to be autocratic and some people complained that he did not listen to them, allocated work hours that did not suit people, and routinely required staff to work (paid) overtime on very short notice. When a production worker complained about the extra hours assigned to her, Eric retorted “You’ve got a job to do. So quit whining and get on with it!” Julia Marks was Beyond’s chief web designer and led a small team of five. She had blue hair, a nose ring, and dressed in edgy clothes she picked up from second-hand stores. Julia rarely arrived at work much before 11 am and often left before 4 pm. She said she did her best work at home, often at night, so why would she “punch the clock like the drones in production”? Jack and others had often received e-mails from her that had been sent at all hours of the night. She had established a reputation as a top web designer, and although her physical appearance did not always go down too well with some of the company’s clients (or staff), the quality and quantity of her work was exceptional. Every Tuesday at 9 am the senior management team met with the CEO and CFO to discuss weekly plans and any significant issues that had arisen. All employees were invited to the meeting, and on occasion some of them did attend. Jack trusted all staff to keep sensitive matters within the company. He believed that if the organization shared information with employees they would be more likely to support management decisions. The meetings were informal and usually started with small talk and some jokes, sometimes at the expense of members of staff. The jokes were strictly in jest but sometimes caused offense. Kevin and others also liked to assign nicknames to staff, some of them unflattering. Individuals protesting were labelled “snowflakes”. MGT1OBE 5 Although employment agreements specified a 40-hour week there was a strong expectation that staff would put in substantially more than that. Only production staff had to clock in and out. According to Eric, this was to keep track of overtime when staff were required to stay behind to meet production deadlines. The overtime pay was welcomed by some production staff but was resented by employees in other departments who believed they should be entitled to the same benefits. Recently a conflict had arisen between Eric and Kevin. The company had been developing a new high-end product which was scheduled to launch in three weeks’ time. Eric had been urging the senior management team to delay the launch until some glitches had been ironed out. The critical chip sourced from their semiconductor supplier was not performing entirely as expected. Eric wanted to postpone the launch until these problems had been rectified, a process which he believed would take another six weeks. Kevin found this to be unacceptable. A high-profile athlete, the former captain of the Australian cricket team, had been contracted to attend the launch and help market the new product during a month of visits with key clients and industry events. A delayed launch would see the company miss out on the services of a popular sports star and fail to make a splash at the industry’s biggest trade fair. During a heated staff meeting some of the senior management team backed Kevin, while others agreed with Eric. Kevin had urged all of his department to attend the meeting, to present a united front. Eric had continued to repeat his statement that going ahead with the original launch may compromise the company’s reputation for technical excellence and problem-free customer service Julia Marks had arrived halfway through the meeting and, with a mouthful of muffin, proclaimed that there was no rush to get out the “new toy”. The company had plenty of other issues to attend to. As she left, she casually mentioned that she would need three extra staff to boost the company’s web presence. Kevin was fuming at the interruption of the meeting and demanded that Jack should stick to the original launch date. Jack calmly replied that he understood Kevin’s frustration but that more consultation was necessary. He said that it would be discussed by the parties concerned during the week and a final decision would be made at the following Tuesday’s staff meeting. Kevin spent the rest of the day lobbying other members of senior management. He offered the Customer Accounts Manager the use of his beach cottage if she backed him. He also promised to support her proposal to adopt of a new accounting platform. She shrugged and said that she was convinced the senior management team would approve the new software. She also informed Kevin that a member of her staff had seen one of his sales representatives enter a strip club the previous week at a time when he was meant to be attending a client meeting. Other problems had arisen in recent months. Vincent Gambino, the Head of Engineering (Hardware), had complained to Jack that he could no longer work with Eric. While he considered him a pleasant individual and a very capable production manager, he could no longer tolerate his controlling style. “You can’t do creative work on command!” was his lament. Vincent, a gifted engineer, loved his job and spent his workdays (and weekends) developing and refining product designs. MGT1OBE 6 Jack saw some of these immediate problems as symptoms of an underlying issue, Beyond’s organisational structure. The existing functional structure no longer seemed a good fit. The company had grown to more than 190 staff. “Silo” mentality and departmental interests had set in and occasional turf wars took place. Keeping pace with technological developments and managing a growing product line-up also seemed to complicate management tasks. Jack missed the old days when he knew every member of staff. The informal decision-making that was characteristic of the business was beginning to give way to more formal processes. Yet Jack was keen to preserve the agility and creativity that underpinned the company’s success. Despite the open invitation to attend management meetings, few staff member did. Yet they frequently complained that they were being left out of the loop. Jack expected all senior managers to keep their departmental staff informed of developments. Some had done so admirably, while others had been lax. Kylie Kwong, the company’s new Human Resources Manager, had been reviewing the company’s (loosely worded) job descriptions and its recruitment and selection processes. She had concluded that Beyond needed more sophisticated, “more professional” systems. She had also suggested the introduction of a performance management system, including feedback from peers, direct reports and outsiders, such as suppliers and customers. “Over my dead body!” was the retort from Kevin. “How can you allow subordinates to tell you how to do your job?” queried Eric. “Can’t see what the fuss is all about,” said Julia. “Everybody keeps telling me what to do anyway, even though they don’t understand the first thing about my job! But I don’t let it worry me.” [End of Case]
Attachments:
10436492_1_s1-2023-assessment-3-instructions.pdf

Case Study Assessment
Criteria
Unit code, name and release number
CHCPOL003 – Research and apply evidence to practice (2)
Qualification/Course code, name and release number
CHC Community Services Package
Student details
Student number
447224798
Student name
Joyce Tebogo Tlhalerwa
Assessment Declaration
This assessment is my original work and no part of it has been copied from any other source except where due acknowledgement is made.
No part of this assessment has been written for me by any other person except where such collaboration has been authorised by the assessor concerned.
I understand that plagiarism is the presentation of the work, idea or creation of another person as though it is your own. Plagiarism occurs when the origin of the material used is not appropriately cited. No part of this assessment is plagiarised.
This declaration only needs to be completed if you are not submitting your assessment online.
Student signature and Date
Version: 20201030
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This file can be found in the Learning Bank
The contents in this document is copyright © TAFE NSW 2020, and should not be reproduced without the permission of the TAFE NSW. Information contained in this document is correct at time of printing: 3 January 2024. For current information please refer to our website or your teacher as appropriate.
Assessment instructions
Table 1 Assessment instructions
Assessment details
Instructions
Assessment overview
The objective of this assessment is to assess your knowledge and performance as would be required to establish the information need, gather information and critically analyse the information for relevance to own work.
Assessment Event number
2 of 3
Instructions for this assessment
This is a case study assessment and it will be assessing you on your knowledge and performance of skills required by the unit.
Your assessor will provide assessment results and feedback online, or via the feedback form in part 3 of this document.
Note: if you are submitting through an online platform, the assessor will give you feedback via the platform.
This assessment is in two parts:
Case study scenario
Short answer questions
And is supported by:
Assessment feedback
Submission instructions
Where possible, complete and submit this assessment online via TAFE NSW online learning platform.
Upload all the required assessment files in the assessment area on the online learning platform.
Alternatively, hand all required assessment files to your assessor for marking. Make sure you have added your name to the bottom of each page of the assessment.
It is important that you keep a copy of all electronic and hard copy assessments submitted to TAFE NSW and complete the assessment declaration when you have submit the assessment
What do I need to do to achieve a satisfactory result?
To achieve a satisfactory result for this assessment all questions must be answered correctly.
What do I need to provide?
Computer and/or pens and paper, internet access if submitting assessments online, ability to print or email completed assessments
What the assessor will provide?
Hard copy of assessment if required
Due date and time allowed
Indicative time: You will need up to four hours to complete this assessment. This assessment will be completed in your own time.
Assessment feedback, review or appeals
Appeals are addressed in accordance with Every Students Guide to Assessment.
Specific task instructions
The instructions and the criteria in the case studies below will be used by the assessor to determine whether the student has satisfactorily completed each Case Study Scenario. Use these instructions and criteria to ensure you demonstrate the required knowledge.
There are two (2) parts within this assessment:
Part 1 of this assessment includes:
A case study scenario.
Choose
either
Nursing Case Study
or
Community Services Case Study according to your area of study.
Part 2 of this assessment includes:
17 Short answer questions that the student will be required to answer in alignment with the prescribed word limits.
Part 1 and Part 2 will not be observed by the assessor
The assessment will occur in the student’s own time, outside of prescribed class time.
The student will have completed coursework in class time and have access to teaching and learning resources that can be utilised to answer the questions contained in this document.
It will take
4 hours to satisfactorily answer all the required questions to complete these parts of the assessment.
Part 1: Case Study Scenario
Read one of the following case studies. The case study will be the basis for questions in Part 2. Read either the Nursing Case Study
or
the Community Services Case Study depending on your course of study.
Case Study Scenario: Nursing Case Study
Mohammed is a team leader in the Emergency Department of a large metropolitan hospital. A call is received advising that a child had been knocked over in a hit and run incident on her way home from school. Mohammed decided to arrange for a recently recruited graduate nurse, Chloe, to attend the resuscitation so that she could observe the process, without actually being involved. After the child is admitted, Mohammed and his team set about the resuscitation which proved complex. After sustained efforts, the team are unable to resuscitate the child who subsequently died, cause of death expected to have been due to internal bleeding.
Mohammed advised the Director of Nursing about the outcome and arranged for a formal debrief for all of the team. The parents were informed of the outcome and linked to counselling services.
To Mohammed’s surprise, Chloe did not attend the debriefing session, but instead made excuses to Mohammed about not feeling well and asked that she could go home. Mohammed was mindful of respecting Chloe’s space, but felt it appropriate to send a short text message later in the day to check in with her and offer her support. Within the hour, Chloe phoned Mohammed to respond to the text and see if he was able to speak to her for a few minutes. Chloe revealed that as a child, she was raised in an abusive family and was taken into care. She revealed that in her life there were a number of near miss situations both with her birth family and with her foster carers where she ended up in an emergency ward. Chloe told Mohammed that after the child died, all that she could think about was that the child who died could have been her, making a joke that she was maybe more suited to obstetrics than emergency. Chloe ended the call indicating that she felt she wasn’t cut out for emergency and couldn’t even look at her uniform because it gave her flashbacks about the death of the child.
Chloe did not return to work for a long period of time and submitted a Work-cover Medical Certificate and worker’s compensation claim for a psychological injury on the advice of her nominated treating doctor.
The Director of Nursing, after receiving a number of worker claims related to occupational stress and vicarious trauma, requested that you undertake a review of the staff support practices so that staff who work in an environment that can be traumatic could be supported in a model that reflects best current practice.
Case Study Scenario: Community Services Case Study
Nguyen is team leader in Firstcare Out of Home Care Services. A call came through that a child in Firstcare’s care had been taken to hospital by ambulance after being found unconscious after a hit and run incident on the way home from school. A recently employed case manager, Sam, was in Nguyen’s office when Nguyen took the call. Nguyen decided to allow Sam to stay in the room while he dealt with the call so that Sam can learn how critical incidents are responded to. Nguyen advised his line manager who contacted the Chief Executive Officer to manage the communications from the organisation in liaison with the police and Health Service, who were providing support for the foster carers. The CEO arranged for contact to be made with the birth mother who was in prison.
Nguyen received a call from his line manager advising that efforts to resuscitate the child were unsuccessful and the child died, most probably from internal bleeding. Nguyen contacted the workers who had been involved in the child’s care to arrange a formal debrief.
To Nguyen’s surprise, Sam did not attend the debriefing session, but instead made excuses to Nguyen about not feeling well and asked that he could go home. Nguyen was mindful of respecting Sam’s space, but felt it appropriate to send a short text message later in the day to check in with him and offer support. Within the hour, Sam phoned Nguyen to respond to the text and see if he was able to speak to him for a few minutes. Sam revealed that as a child, he was raised in an abusive family and was taken into care. He revealed that in his life there were a number of near miss situations both with his birth family and with his foster carers where he ended up in an emergency ward. Sam told Nguyen that after the child died, all that he could think about was that the child that died could have been him, making a joke that he was maybe more suited to being a teacher’s aide than a case worker in out of home care. Sam ended the call indicating that he felt he wasn’t cut out for the job and couldn’t even look at his ID badge because it gave him flashbacks about the day at work and the death of the child.
Sam did not return to work for a long period of time and submitted a Work-cover Medical Certificate and worker’s compensation claim for a psychological injury on the advice of his nominated treating doctor. The Regional Director of Firstcare, after receiving a number of worker claims related to occupational stress and vicarious trauma, requested that you undertake a review of the staff support practices, so that staff who work in an environment that can be traumatic, could be supported in a model that reflects best current practice.
Part 2: Short answer
Read the question carefully. Unless otherwise specified the student’s answer should be a minimum of 20 words but no longer than 100 words per whole question.
In the above case study, a number of events have occurred that have affected the psychological health of a new worker. Identify four (4) situations in the induction and ongoing support of staff where research could support and improve work practices in a critical incident and reduce the likelihood of a staff member becoming traumatised at work.
Describe how you would go about systematically gathering information for a research topic such as the one outlined in the case study.
Explain what steps you would take to establish and design research objectives to assist you in a research task such as the one given in the case study.
a) Describe how you would identify and access sources of data and evidence for your project.
b) Explain how you would ensure that the data sources you had accessed had credibility. a)
b)
Describe how you would evaluate and select methods for gathering information on best practice for staff support for the research task in the case study.
List the steps you would take to design and implement a staff survey for use in the research task you have been given in the case study.
Explain what criteria you would use to establish the appropriateness of information for use in research.
If you had completed an analysis of research information concerned with the area of support for staff as requested in the case study, describe how you would organise the information so that it could be presented in a way that assists your reader understand the analysis.
Using the internet as your search method research choose either ‘debriefing nursing’,
or
‘debriefing social work (or community services)’ as your search terms and locate three articles or sources of information that discuss current issues or trends in this area.
List the three articles you have located including their URL.
Prioritise the information in order in relation to their relevance to the topic and credibility (1 to 3, 1 being most relevant, 3 being least relevant) and explain why you have prioritised the articles in the order that you have.
From your research list two actions that could assist a workplace in supporting its staff.
a)
b)
c)
Using the three sources of information above, compare and contrast the information in the three article sources.
Using the three sources of information that you accessed in Question 9, in the context of your own profession, or intended profession, reflect on, or comment on the
Strength of the information you have sourced
Relevance of the information you have sourced
Reliability of the information you have sourced
Currency of the information you have sourced
a)
b)
c)
d)
Using information contained in the reference source(s) that you accessed in Question 9
Assess the feasibility of utilising recommendations or practices outlined in the information source(s) in the context of your own work or intended work.
Assess the risks and benefits of utilising the recommendation or practices outlined in the source(s) in the context of your own work or intended work.
a)
b)
Using information contained in the reference source(s) that you accessed in Question 9, write:
A summary of the information that you have reviewed
Conclusions that you have reached from the information in the context of the implications for your area of professional interest (nursing or community services sector)
a)
b)
Using information contained in the reference source(s) that you accessed in Question 9, describe three applications in which aspects of the information could be used in the sector, either in practice and or in research settings.
Using information contained in the reference source(s) that you accessed in Question 9, identify two potential areas for change in current practice. The areas for change may include your current workplace, intended workplace or industry.
From the research that you have reviewed to date, identify two issues that require further research or evaluation and justify your answer.
Using the issues identified in Question 16, list four actions to address the outcomes that you would like to see addressed. Please make sure that these are specific, measurable, achievable and realistic.
Part 3: Assessment Feedback
NOTE: This section
must
have the assessor signature and student signature to complete the feedback.
Assessment outcome
? Satisfactory
? Unsatisfactory
Assessor Feedback
? Was the assessment event successfully completed?
? If no, was the resubmission/re-assessment successfully completed?
? Was reasonable adjustment in place for this assessment event?
If yes, ensure it is detailed on the assessment document.
Comments:
Assessor name, signature and date:
Student acknowledgement of assessment outcome
Would you like to make any comments about this assessment?
Student name, signature and date
NOTE: Make sure you have written your name at the bottom of each page of your submission before attaching the cover sheet and submitting to your assessor for marking.
Attachments:
10435111_1_chcpol003-ae-cs-2of3.docx
10435111_2_chcpol003-ae-pro-3of3.docx

Write an ARGUMENTATIVE essay in response to the question “Compare the “good” and “bad” characters in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl to demonstrate the kinds of values and characteristics the book endorses and those which it depicts negatively”. You must also draw on scholarly criticism about children’s literature by engaging with at least five peer-reviewed secondary sources and include a complete reference list. Using the APA 7TH referencing with the page number in text-citation.Word length: 2250 words
Criteria:
1. Formulation of a compelling argument in response to the essay question.
2. Effective close reading (analysis) of the novel/s or picture book using appropriate textual examples (e.g. paraphrase, quotation, or interpretation of illustrations).
3. Ability to draw on relevant research from the field of children’s literature/literary studies and incorporate it within an argument.
4. Demonstrated awareness of the literary and cultural history of children’s literature and/or the political significance of literature produced specifically for children.
5. Clarity and coherency of argument and written expression.

‘I still call Australia home
,’ Aileen Moreton-Robinson examines the conflict between Indigenous sovereignty and “The Possessive Logic of White Sovereignty”. Analyse the racial aspects of this conflict, investigate its underlying causes related to land relations, and assess the ongoing impact of colonial violence on Indigenous lives and sovereignty. Include a personal reflection on the responsibilities of settlers to understand colonial injustices as a project of national truth telling.

1 “Lamb to the Slaughter” by ROALD DAHL The room was warm and clean, the curtains drawn, the two table lamps alight-hers and the one by the empty chair opposite. On the sideboard behind her, two tall glasses, soda water, whiskey. Fresh ice cubes in the Thermos bucket. Mary Maloney was waiting for her husband to come in from work. Now and again she would glance up at the clock, but without anxiety, merely to please herself with the thought that each minute gone by made it nearer the time when he would come. There was a slow smiling air about her, and about everything she did. The drop of a head as she bent over her sewing was curiously tranquil. Her skin -for this was her sixth month with child-had acquired a wonderful translucent quality, the mouth was soft, and the eyes, with their new placid look, seemed larger darker than before. When the clock said ten minutes to five, she began to listen, and a few moments later, punctually as always, she heard the tires on the gravel outside, and the car door slamming, the footsteps passing the window, the key turning in the lock. She laid aside her sewing, stood up, and went forward to kiss him as he came in. “Hullo darling,” she said. “Hullo darling,” he answered. She took his coat and hung it in the closet. Then she walked over and made the drinks, a strong one for him, a weak one for herself; and soon she was back again in her chair with the sewing, and he in the other, opposite, holding the tall glass with both hands, rocking it so the ice cubes tinkled against the side. For her, this was always a blissful time of day. She knew he didn’t want to speak much until the first drink was finished, and she, on her side, was content to sit quietly, enjoying his company after the long hours alone in the house. She loved to luxuriate in the presence of this man, and to feelalmost as a sunbather feels the sun-that warm male glow that came out of him to her when they were alone together. She loved him for the way he sat loosely in a chair, for the way he came in a door, or moved slowly across the room with long strides. She loved the intent, far look in his eyes when 2 they rested in her, the funny shape of the mouth, and especially the way he remained silent about his tiredness, sitting still with himself until the whiskey had taken some of it away. “Tired darling?” “Yes,” he said. “I’m tired,” And as he spoke, he did an unusual thing. He lifted his glass and drained it in one swallow although there was still half of it, at least half of it left. She wasn’t really watching him, but she knew what he had done because she heard the ice cubes falling back against the bottom of the empty glass when he lowered his arm. He paused a moment, leaning forward in the chair, then he got up and went slowly over to fetch himself another. “I’ll get it!” she cried, jumping up. “Sit down,” he said. When he came back, she noticed that the new drink was dark amber with the quantity of whiskey in it. “Darling, shall I get your slippers?” “No.” She watched him as he began to sip the dark yellow drink, and she could see little oily swirls in the liquid because it was so strong. “I think it’s a shame,” she said, “that when a policeman gets to be as senior as you, they keep him walking about on his feet all day long.” He didn’t answer, so she bent her head again and went on with her sewing; but each time he lifted the drink to his lips, she heard the ice cubes clinking against the side of the glass. “Darling,” she said. “Would you like me to get you some cheese? I haven’t made any supper because it’s Thursday.” “No,” he said. “If you’re too tired to eat out,” she went on, “it’s still not too late. There’s plenty of meat and stuff in the freezer, and you can have it right here and not even move out of the chair.” 3 Her eyes waited on him for an answer, a smile, a little nod, but he made no sign. “Anyway,” she went on, “I’ll get you some cheese and crackers first.” “I don’t want it,” he said. She moved uneasily in her chair, the large eyes still watching his face. “But you must eat! I’ll fix it anyway, and then you can have it or not, as you like.” She stood up and placed her sewing on the table by the lamp. “Sit down,” he said. “Just for a minute, sit down.” It wasn’t till then that she began to get frightened. “Go on,” he said. “Sit down.” She lowered herself back slowly into the chair, watching him all the time with those large, bewildered eyes. He had finished the second drink and was staring down into the glass, frowning. “Listen,” he said. “I’ve got something to tell you.” “What is it, darling? What’s the matter?” He had now become absolutely motionless, and he kept his head down so that the light from the lamp beside him fell across the upper part of his face, leaving the chin and mouth in shadow. She noticed there was a little muscle moving near the corner of his left eye. “This is going to be a bit of a shock to you, I’m afraid,” he said. “But I’ve thought about it a good deal and I’ve decided the only thing to do is tell you right away. I hope you won’t blame me too much.” And he told her. It didn’t take long, four or five minutes at most, and she sat very still through it all, watching him with a kind of dazed horror as he went further and further away from her with each word. “So there it is,” he added. “And I know it’s kind of a bad time to be telling you, but there simply wasn’t any other way. Of course I’ll give you money and see you’re looked after. But there needn’t really be any fuss. I hope not anyway. It wouldn’t be very good for my job.” 4 Her first instinct was not to believe any of it, to reject it all. It occurred to her that perhaps he hadn’t even spoken, that she herself had imagined the whole thing. Maybe, if she went about her business and acted as though she hadn’t been listening, then later, when she sort of woke up again, she might find none of it had ever happened. “I’ll get the supper,” she managed to whisper, and this time he didn’t stop her. When she walked across the room she couldn’t feel her feet touching the floor. She couldn’t feel anything at all- except a slight nausea and a desire to vomit. Everything was automatic now-down the steps to the cellar, the light switch, the deep freeze, the hand inside the cabinet taking hold of the first object it met. She lifted it out, and looked at it. It was wrapped in paper, so she took off the paper and looked at it again. A leg of lamb. All right then, they would have lamb for supper. She carried it upstairs, holding the thin bone-end of it with both her hands, and as she went through the living-room, she saw him standing over by the window with his back to her, and she stopped. “For God’s sake,” he said, hearing her, but not turning round. “Don’t make supper for me. I’m going out.” At that point, Mary Maloney simply walked up behind him and without any pause she swung the big frozen leg of lamb high in the air and brought it down as hard as she could on the back of his head. She might just as well have hit him with a steel club. She stepped back a pace, waiting, and the funny thing was that he remained standing there for at least four or five seconds, gently swaying. Then he crashed to the carpet. The violence of the crash, the noise, the small table overturning, helped bring her out of the shock. She came out slowly, feeling cold and surprised, and she stood for a while blinking at the body, still holding the ridiculous piece of meat tight with both hands. All right, she told herself. So I’ve killed him. 5 It was extraordinary, now, how clear her mind became all of a sudden. She began thinking very fast. As the wife of a detective, she knew quite well what the penalty would be. That was fine. It made no difference to her. In fact, it would be a relief. On the other hand, what about the child? What were the laws about murderers with unborn children? Did they kill then both-mother and child? Or did they wait until the tenth month? What did they do? Mary Maloney didn’t know. And she certainly wasn’t prepared to take a chance. She carried the meat into the kitchen, placed it in a pan, turned the oven on high, and shoved it inside. Then she washed her hands and ran upstairs to the bedroom. She sat down before the mirror, tidied her hair, touched up her lips and face. She tried a smile. It came out rather peculiar. She tried again. “Hullo Sam,” she said brightly, aloud. The voice sounded peculiar too. “I want some potatoes please, Sam. Yes, and I think a can of peas.” That was better. Both the smile and the voice were coming out better now. She rehearsed it several times more. Then she ran downstairs, took her coat, went out the back door, down the garden, and into the street. It wasn’t six o’clock yet and the lights were still on in the grocery shop. “Hullo Sam,” she said brightly, smiling at the man behind the counter. “Why, good evening, Mrs. Maloney. How’re you?” “I want some potatoes please, Sam. Yes, and I think a can of peas.” The man turned and reached up behind him on the shelf for the peas. “Patrick’s decided he’s tired and doesn’t want to eat out tonight,” she told him. “We usually go out Thursdays, you know, and now he’s caught me without any vegetables in the house.” “Then how about meat, Mrs. Maloney?” “No, I’ve got meat, thanks. I got a nice leg of lamb from the freezer.” 6 “Oh.” “I don’t know much about cooking it frozen, Sam, but I’m taking a chance on it this time. You think it’ll be all right?” “Personally,” the grocer said, “I don’t believe it makes any difference. You want these Idaho potatoes?” “Oh yes, that’ll be fine. Two of those.” “Anything else?” The grocer cocked his head on one side, looking at her pleasantly. “How about afterwards? What you going to give him for afterwards?” “Well-what would you suggest, Sam?” The man glanced around his shop. “How about a nice big slice of cheesecake? I know he likes that.” “Perfect,” she said. “He loves it.” And when it was all wrapped and she had paid, she put on her brightest smile and said, “Thank you, Sam. Goodnight.” “Goodnight, Mrs. Maloney. And thank you.” And now, she told herself as she hurried back, all she was doing now, she was returning home to her husband and he was waiting for his supper; and she must cook it good, and make it as tasty as possible because the poor man was tired; and if, when she entered the house, she happened to find anything unusual, or tragic, or terrible, then naturally it would be a shock and she’d become frantic with grief and horror. Mind you, she wasn’t expecting to find anything. She was just going home with the vegetables. Mrs. Patrick Maloney going home with the vegetables on Thursday evening to cook supper for her husband. That’s the way, she told herself. Do everything right and natural. Keep things absolutely natural and there’ll be no need for any acting at all. Therefore, when she entered the kitchen by the back door, she was humming a little tune to herself and smiling. “Patrick!” she called. “How are you, darling?” 7 She put the parcel down on the table and went through into the living room; and when she saw him lying there on the floor with his legs doubled up and one arm twisted back underneath his body, it really was rather a shock. All the old love and longing for him welled up inside her, and she ran over to him, knelt down beside him, and began to cry her heart out. It was easy. No acting was necessary. A few minutes later she got up and went to the phone. She knew the number of the police station, and when the man at the other end answered, she cried to him, “Quick! Come quick! Patrick’s dead!” “Who’s speaking?” “Mrs. Maloney. Mrs. Patrick Maloney.” “You mean Patrick Maloney’s dead?” “I think so,” she sobbed. “He’s lying on the floor and I think he’s dead.” “Be right over,” the man said. The car came very quickly, and when she opened the front door, two policemen walked in. She knew them both-she knew nearly all the men at that precinct-and she fell right into a chair, then went over to join the other one, who was called O’Malley, kneeling by the body. “Is he dead?” she cried. “I’m afraid he is. What happened?” Briefly, she told her story about going out to the grocer and coming back to find him on the floor. While she was talking, crying and talking, Noonan discovered a small patch of congealed blood on the dead man’s head. He showed it to O’Malley who got up at once and hurried to the phone. Soon, other men began to come into the house. First a doctor, then two detectives, one of whom she knew by name. Later, a police photographer arrived and took pictures, and a man who knew about fingerprints. There was a great deal of whispering and muttering beside the corpse, and the detectives kept asking her a lot of questions. But they always treated her kindly. She told her story again, this time right from the beginning, when Patrick had come in, and she was sewing, and he was tired, so tired he hadn’t wanted to go out for supper. She told how she’d put the meat in the 8 oven-”it’s there now, cooking”- and how she’d stepped out to the grocer for vegetables, and came back to find him lying on the floor. Which grocer?” one of the detectives asked. She told him, and he turned and whispered something to the other detective who immediately went outside into the street. In fifteen minutes he was back with a page of notes, and there was more whispering, and through her sobbing she heard a few of the whispered phrases-”…acted quite normal…very cheerful…wanted to give him a good supper… peas…cheesecake…impossible that she…” After a while, the photographer and the doctor departed and two other men came in and took the corpse away on a stretcher. Then the fingerprint man went away. The two detectives remained, and so did the two policemen. They were exceptionally nice to her, and Jack Noonan asked if she wouldn’t rather go somewhere else, to her sister’s house perhaps, or to his own wife who would take care of her and put her up for the night. No, she said. She didn’t feel she could move even a yard at the moment. Would they mind awfully if she stayed just where she was until she felt better. She didn’t feel too good at the moment, she really didn’t. Then hadn’t she better lie down on the bed? Jack Noonan asked. No, she said. She’d like to stay right where she was, in this chair. A little later, perhaps, when she felt better, she would move. So they left her there while they went about their business, searching the house. Occasionally one of the detectives asked her another question. Sometimes Jack Noonan spoke at her gently as he passed by. Her husband, he told her, had been killed by a blow on the back of the head administered with a heavy blunt instrument, almost certainly a large piece of metal. They were looking for the weapon. The murderer may have taken it with him, but on the other hand he may have thrown it away or hidden it somewhere on the premises. “It’s the old story,” he said. “Get the weapon, and you’ve got the man.” Later, one of the detectives came up and sat beside her. Did she know, he asked, of anything in the house that could’ve been used as the weapon? Would she mind having a look around to see if anything was missing-a very big spanner, for example, or a heavy metal vase. 9 They didn’t have any heavy metal vases, she said. “Or a big spanner?” She didn’t think they had a big spanner. But there might be some things like that in the garage. The search went on. She knew that there were other policemen in the garden all around the house. She could hear their footsteps on the gravel outside, and sometimes she saw a flash of a torch through a chink in the curtains. It began to get late, nearly nine she noticed by the clock on the mantle. The four men searching the rooms seemed to be growing weary, a trifle exasperated. “Jack,” she said, the next time Sergeant Noonan went by. “Would you mind giving me a drink?” “Sure I’ll give you a drink. You mean this whiskey?” “Yes please. But just a small one. It might make me feel better.” He handed her the glass. “Why don’t you have one yourself,” she said. “You must be awfully tired. Please do. You’ve been very good to me.” “Well,” he answered. “It’s not strictly allowed, but I might take just a drop to keep me going.” One by one the others came in and were persuaded to take a little nip of whiskey. They stood around rather awkwardly with the drinks in their hands, uncomfortable in her presence, trying to say consoling things to her. Sergeant Noonan wandered into the kitchen, came out quickly and said, “Look, Mrs. Maloney. You know that oven of yours is still on, and the meat is still inside.” “Oh dear me!” she cried. “So it is!” “I better turn it off for you, hadn’t I?” “Will you do that, Jack. Thank you so much.” When the sergeant returned the second time, she looked at him with her 10 large, dark tearful eyes. “Jack Noonan,” she said. “Yes?” “Would you do me a small favor–you and these others?” “We can try, Mrs. Maloney.” “Well,” she said. “Here you all are, and good friends of dear Patrick’s too, and helping to catch the man who killed him. You must be terrible hungry by now because it’s long past your suppertime, and I know Patrick would never forgive me, God bless his soul, if I allowed you to remain in his house without offering you decent hospitality. Why don’t you eat up that lamb that’s in the oven. It’ll be cooked just right by now.” “Wouldn’t dream of it,” Sergeant Noonan said. “Please,” she begged. “Please eat it. Personally I couldn’t touch a thing, certainly not what’s been in the house when he was here. But it’s all right for you. It’d be a favor to me if you’d eat it up. Then you can go on with your work again afterwards.” There was a good deal of hesitating among the four policemen, but they were clearly hungry, and in the end they were persuaded to go into the kitchen and help themselves. The woman stayed where she was, listening to them speaking among themselves, their voices thick and sloppy because their mouths were full of meat. “Have some more, Charlie?” “No. Better not finish it.” “She wants us to finish it. She said so. Be doing her a favor.” “Okay then. Give me some more.” “That’s a hell of a big club that the guy must’ve used to hit poor Patrick,” one of them was saying. “The doc says his skull was smashed all to pieces just like from a sledgehammer.” “That’s why it ought to be easy to find.” “Exactly what I say.” 11 “Whoever done it, they’re not going to be carrying a thing like that around with them longer than they need.” One of them belched. “Personally, I think it’s right here on the premises.” “Probably right under our very noses. What do you think, Jack?” And in the other room, Mary Maloney giggled.
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