I figure it's time for a side note from all the carnival talk. As I mentioned before in the story about my car getting hit by the short bus, I have a bigger story about the events involved in me eventually being interrogated and threatened with a felony charge of accessory to armed robbery. Sounds pretty rough huh?
Let's start from the beginning. Back in December of 06 i started working at Microdyne in Orono, ME, it's an outsourcing center and I was employed by Dell customer care. I met many great friends, some of which I am still very close to today. Around March or April I met Micheal, he worked for Dell as well but on the sales floor. Micheal and I soon became extremely close friends. It was to the point where I was at his house more than my own so soon enough we decided since we were both in the market for an apartment why not be roomies. We started out in a nice but fairly expensive place in Hampden then after some complications with our 3rd roomie we decided to move into a house owned by one of Micheal's friends, Chris.
Now many people did not understand they relationship we had, we lived together but not dating. Sure there were the one night stand slip ups when we first met, but other than that we were truly the best of friends. Where ever I was Micheal was there, where ever Micheal was I was there. Any thing that was mine was his, and vise versa . The one small problem we had that seemed to cause endless fights was Micheal's drug problems. When I first met him he only had a small problem with pills,vics and percs and what not. Soon it was more frequent and spread to other pills like oxys and such. I have never, not once in my life, ever swallowed, ripped, snorted or anything, any pill that was not prescribed to me. I actually have quite a problem with any and all drugs and those who use them, with the exception of marijuana of course.
Once Micheal and I were sharing a common living space I realized how severe his problem really was. When it came to the simple pills that were prescribed to him I never was too bothered, just that he chose to take them in a different manner than directed. But once the oxys came into play, and then the day I caught him smoking crack in our kitchen, well that was the day everything started to fall apart. Soon he was asking me to bring cameras, rings, and laptops into the local pawn shop for him since he didn't have a ME id as he was from Pennsylvania originally. Every time I inquired about where he had gotten the items he usually had an explanation like someone owed him money and they didn't have it so they gave him this instead. I had witnessed Micheal lending large sums of money to friends so it seemed plausible to me.
Now even though mine and Micheal's relationship never went past friends, there was always a sort of strain on it as we had at one point been very intimate with each other. It was often a back and forth game of who could make the other more jealous on nights we went out or who could be the most responsible with dealings at the house.
In late June I quite my job at Microdyne and headed to the coast of Maine to enjoy a week long 4th of July celebration with my family and some old friends. When I returned I was refreshed and happy to have Micheal as my best friend and the realization, finally, that we were amazing as just friends. Well it didn't hurt that I also returned with a new boyfriend on my mind. I will never forget the way things changed after that vacation. I had started dating a guy I had a crush on since my freshmen year of high school and I had the very best friend in the world, life was perfect. Yea, like that ever happens. Micheal of course started acting different, it was almost like the thought of me being happy with someone instead pining after him was driving him nuts. The affection level on his part went through the roof.
Soo anyway, around the middle of July was about the time I should have caught on to something fishy going on. Micheal paid our rent up about 3 months in advance and handed me $400 to "have fun with". A week or so later he flew out to Pennsylvania to visit his parents. In the mean time I had gotten caught up in the carnival and had decided to travel down to Skowhegan for the 10 day spot. While in Skowhegan my phone got disconnected due to $500 in roaming charges from Micheal being in Pennsylvania, so my friend Jen was letting me use her phone to stay in touch with my mom. This is where the fun starts.
The day my mother called and told me the lead Detective from the Orono PD had come to her house looking for me was one I will never forget. I have the cleanest record you have ever seen, I have NEVER been in any trouble or even questioned by a police officer before, so needless to say I was slightly scared. I sort of had an idea it had something to do with Micheal, after all the past few weeks he was getting into some bad crowds and inexplicably had thousands of dollars that he told me he got from his ex's engagement ring he pawned. Once I got to the Orono PD I was interrogated for a little over three hours, they searched completely through my car, and told me I was looking at a felony charge of accessory to armed robbery. WHAT?! ME?! Wow, all I could do was break down. Once they showed me a sheet of six photos and to pick out Micheal's I lost it. Just seeing my best friend in a mug shot, and these officers telling me he was a con man and was using me and my car to carry out his crimes. I felt like such an idiot. This person that was my best friend, that I had put every ounce of trust into, that I loved with all of my heart, this person was conning me?
Even after I left the station I did not want to believe anything the officers told me was true. Driving back to Skowhegan I felt like I had just woken up and the past 4 hours had been a dream, or nightmare. Micheal just happened to call that night. I told him what had happened, I didn't go into detail about how much information I had actually given the police. The way they went on it sounded like I was the last they questioned and they pretty much already knew everything there was to know. Come to find out every time I ever let Micheal use my car he was committing a whole array of crimes, from assault to armed robbery. Because it was my car spotted at the scene was the reasoning for me almost being charged.
After all was said and done I headed out on the road with the carnival and didn't hear from Micheal all summer, until the end of October. He had called my mom's house and got my new cell number and called me while I was staying in Seabrook, NH. I was so happy to hear from him I broke down in tears. That was the last time I ever spoke to Micheal. He always promised no matter what he would stay in touch.
At the end of everything there were many changes in my life I could attribute to Micheal; two negative bank accounts, two over $1,000 cell phone accounts, my car getting repoed, oh and don't forget about my 42 inch plasma I was renting from Rent A Center that he sold for crack, as well as the X-Box 360. The really messed up part about the whole damn thing, I still missed my best friend and just wanted him to be ok and come back.
I guess now I have finally realized that Micheal is never coming back and he realyl was nothing more than a very talented con artist. Last spring I found a Pennsylvania number I must have saved when he was still around, when I called it and asked if they knew Micheal I was told he was in prison in York county PA. It was Micheal's brother that I had reached. We spoke for an hour or so, he said Micheal had told him alot about me and he thought when Micheal got out in a few months I should come out to visit. He said he would pass my message on to Micheal and have him call or write me. Almost a year after that call I still haven't heard anything. Sometimes I wonder if it is really for the best to let go of the whole thing, or did I really loose touch with one of my best friends ever. I guess I will never know for certain, but for now I see it best to move on to bigger and better things, as much as I want to wait to see how long it will be before I see Micheal again, I don't really believe it will ever happen.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Friday, February 6, 2009
Marshfield, MA - The Rules of the Road Parties
So after my first couple weeks at the carnival I definitely had a few interesting experiences. After the Skowhegn fair was over my friends Del and Jen and I headed back to Bangor as the show moved on to Marshfield, MA. In the midst of everything we had stayed in touch with our friend Aurora whom had headed to Marshfield right after Bangor. She said if we wanted to come to the next spot and travel for the rest of the season she could get us all jobs. Of course we all agreed that it sounded like a wicked fun idea so we packed up everything we figured we would need for the next 2-3 months and piled into my car and head south to Marshfield.
Funny thing was Aurora didn't actually get us any jobs. When we got there she just brought us to the guest relations office where we met with the ride supervisor, Hansie, and chose what we wanted to do; games, food, or rides. We basically went through the same process any old joe would go through if they wanted a job at the carnival. Jen chose games, Del chose food, and I, mistakenly, chose rides.
Now if I would have known what a ride jock's jobs consisted of to begin with, you can bet I never would have volunteered for this job. Between the 11-13 hour days, 7 days a week, the $250 bring home paycheck, and the disgusting tear downs and set ups, this job wasn't even close to being worth it. Now let me say right now, the guys that do this every day of the season, year after year, they have my full respect because it has got to be one of the hardest jobs, not just at the carnival but in general. I got off easy, I did every tear down and I worked my ass off doing it, but set up...well I may have slacked off a little bit, well actually I basically never did a single day of set up. The way I saw it was I had no clue what I was doing, and if i did go to set up I would probably be more of a hassle then a help.
Throughout the 5 spots that I worked for FS in the 07 season I had the joy of working on the crazy bus, the super slide, the bounce house, the orient express, the flying elephants, and the crazy bus again. Of course someone eventually noticed me not working at set up and that is what led to me being stuck on a bounce. You see, the bounce houses are the most undesirable "ride" to work on, mainly because you deal with all children from the age of 10 and under and because you literally do nothing all day. If you ever walk down the midway and see someone that you know is usually on a major ride sitting on a bounce, you know they seriously messed up.
I can definitely say that Marshfield was the first spot that I got a taste of how hard carnies really can party. Now that I was actually working I realized how hard it was to party every night until 2, 3, 4 in the morning and then be up in time to get showered and ready for a 9 or 10 o'clock work call. I didn't realize until later spots that I had actually met people in marshfield, quite a few actually, that I could not even remember for the life of me.
Of all the memories and friends made in that spot I will never forget the one night the guys went over the deep end. Who knows what night it was, most likely a Wednesday. Wednesday was always payday for the ride jocks. And of course all ride jocks were on salary so we ALWAYS got paid, that was the one good aspect of being a ride jock. So needless to say Wednesday was usually the biggest party night. This one night every single person on that lot was drinking and having a good old time. I of course had horrible time perception but lets say it was around 2 or 3 am ride supervisors and bosses started trying to tone the party down. Others staying in trailers that were not drinking had started complaining about not being able to fall asleep due to the noise. Of course none of the intoxicated persons cared, they were having fun and that was all that mattered. Fair grounds security tried to come down and help to break up the party, unsuccessful of course. So soon enough they felt the need to call the police as no one on the lot could defuse the situation.
Now, if you and I are at a party and the cops show up, what do you do? You either act right or you run and hide, right? No, not right, not if you're South African or partying with SAs. When the cops show up to a party full of SAs they shoot the cops with pellet guns. Yes, pellet guns. They run and dodge in and out of the trailers, they jump on top of trailers, and they crawl under trailers, all the while taking aim and firing on the officers as they try to keep up with them. I could never forget looking out the window of my trailer and see one of the SAs shooting a cop in the back as he falls to the ground chasing another SA. Or the sound of someone climbing around on the roof of my trailer and asking what the hell that sound was. "Oh, that's just one of the guys" On our roof? Oh, ok, nothing out of the ordinary.
Needless to say the craziest parties I have ever been to and the craziest people I have ever met are at the carnival. Even thought almost every minute is crazy or overly entertaining, I have got to say it is one of the coolest places to work and live, and there is no way I would ever trade it for anything.
Funny thing was Aurora didn't actually get us any jobs. When we got there she just brought us to the guest relations office where we met with the ride supervisor, Hansie, and chose what we wanted to do; games, food, or rides. We basically went through the same process any old joe would go through if they wanted a job at the carnival. Jen chose games, Del chose food, and I, mistakenly, chose rides.
Now if I would have known what a ride jock's jobs consisted of to begin with, you can bet I never would have volunteered for this job. Between the 11-13 hour days, 7 days a week, the $250 bring home paycheck, and the disgusting tear downs and set ups, this job wasn't even close to being worth it. Now let me say right now, the guys that do this every day of the season, year after year, they have my full respect because it has got to be one of the hardest jobs, not just at the carnival but in general. I got off easy, I did every tear down and I worked my ass off doing it, but set up...well I may have slacked off a little bit, well actually I basically never did a single day of set up. The way I saw it was I had no clue what I was doing, and if i did go to set up I would probably be more of a hassle then a help.
Throughout the 5 spots that I worked for FS in the 07 season I had the joy of working on the crazy bus, the super slide, the bounce house, the orient express, the flying elephants, and the crazy bus again. Of course someone eventually noticed me not working at set up and that is what led to me being stuck on a bounce. You see, the bounce houses are the most undesirable "ride" to work on, mainly because you deal with all children from the age of 10 and under and because you literally do nothing all day. If you ever walk down the midway and see someone that you know is usually on a major ride sitting on a bounce, you know they seriously messed up.
I can definitely say that Marshfield was the first spot that I got a taste of how hard carnies really can party. Now that I was actually working I realized how hard it was to party every night until 2, 3, 4 in the morning and then be up in time to get showered and ready for a 9 or 10 o'clock work call. I didn't realize until later spots that I had actually met people in marshfield, quite a few actually, that I could not even remember for the life of me.
Of all the memories and friends made in that spot I will never forget the one night the guys went over the deep end. Who knows what night it was, most likely a Wednesday. Wednesday was always payday for the ride jocks. And of course all ride jocks were on salary so we ALWAYS got paid, that was the one good aspect of being a ride jock. So needless to say Wednesday was usually the biggest party night. This one night every single person on that lot was drinking and having a good old time. I of course had horrible time perception but lets say it was around 2 or 3 am ride supervisors and bosses started trying to tone the party down. Others staying in trailers that were not drinking had started complaining about not being able to fall asleep due to the noise. Of course none of the intoxicated persons cared, they were having fun and that was all that mattered. Fair grounds security tried to come down and help to break up the party, unsuccessful of course. So soon enough they felt the need to call the police as no one on the lot could defuse the situation.
Now, if you and I are at a party and the cops show up, what do you do? You either act right or you run and hide, right? No, not right, not if you're South African or partying with SAs. When the cops show up to a party full of SAs they shoot the cops with pellet guns. Yes, pellet guns. They run and dodge in and out of the trailers, they jump on top of trailers, and they crawl under trailers, all the while taking aim and firing on the officers as they try to keep up with them. I could never forget looking out the window of my trailer and see one of the SAs shooting a cop in the back as he falls to the ground chasing another SA. Or the sound of someone climbing around on the roof of my trailer and asking what the hell that sound was. "Oh, that's just one of the guys" On our roof? Oh, ok, nothing out of the ordinary.
Needless to say the craziest parties I have ever been to and the craziest people I have ever met are at the carnival. Even thought almost every minute is crazy or overly entertaining, I have got to say it is one of the coolest places to work and live, and there is no way I would ever trade it for anything.
Monday, February 2, 2009
The Duck Pond and The Short Bus
My last blog was basically a quick rundown of some of the finer points of the carnival life. From here on out I will mostly be writing a lot about the details of each aspect of the carnival and the folks that live and work there. I guess the best way to do this so it doesn't end up in a complete mess is to break it down into sections. Let's start with how I got a job at the carnival, and how i learned better.
I stumbled upon the carnival completely by accident, or now, looking back on it, maybe it was fate. After all, I have never found a job or life style that I had so much fun in. You see one night in Bangor, ME two friends and I decided to go hang out at the skate park and met a couple friends we used to go to school with. Now the skate park is directly in front of the fair grounds. We met this girl, Aurora, that happened to work at the carnival and invited us to go meet some of her friends up on the grounds. Once we were deep into the city of house trailers and bunk houses we were introduced to a small group of the SAs. Of course once the bars emptied out and everyone returned back to the lot we met many many more.
Long story short, just to spare you the high schoolish antics and un-needed details, my friends and I started dating a few of the guys and decided to go to the next spot, Skowhegan, to visit. I was the first to realize, hey, if we are going to be here anyway, I might as well make some money, so then I was introduced to the duck pond game where I worked my first carnie job.
By the end of Skowhegan I had only worked four days, one was cut short by an impromptu trip back to Orono, an old roommate of mine got me involved in an armed robbery case and I had to be questioned by the lead detective on the case, but that's another story for another time. I actually quite working for the owner of the duck pond just a couple days before the spot was over, it's quite a funny story that leads up to this event actually.
You see the way the camping grounds were set up was as follows. There was a line of about 20 trailers that belonged to Smokey's Greater Show's mexican workers, we always used to joke about jumping the fence to get back and forth to our trailer, which actually wasn't "our trailer". It was actually a large bunkhouse that belonged to FS way in the back corner, this was the bunk that housed all of our friends we met in Bangor. Slightly off to the left of the bunk was a short school bus, that for whatever reason, had the keys in it. We later learned this bus belonged to Smokey's as they used it to transport their workers. My car was often parked in front of this bus, we assumed it wouldn't be moved until the end of the spot.
Well the people I worked for were way over on the other side of the camping grounds in a fenced in area. This should have been my first clue, if these people had to be fenced into their own area they MUST have been trouble. Any way one night I decided, even though they didn't mesh well with my other friends, since I worked for this group I shall grace them with my presence for a few drinks and laughs. At one point in the night they had all been talking about how they really wanted to steal the short bus. They figured where it was parked right next to the SAs bunk the SAs would get blamed for it.
Now here is a quick side note. The SAs are usually very good looking, well mannered, and full of charm and great game. Needless to say these guys get a lot of girls, and apparently many of the American carnies had a problem with them for these reasons. There fore much of the American guy's free time was spent figuring out ways to sabotage the SAs, childish I know, but boys will be boys.
So back to the story. I figured these drunken idiots were just having a good time fantasizing about throwing the SAs under the bus, no pun intended. I soon headed off to bed back on my own turf. Now mind you, earlier in the night I had given a few of the SAs a lift to the store to buy themselves some drinks, I was pulled over for transporting alcohol under the legal age, I was let off with a warning but this is a crucial part of the following events. So roughly around 2 am I stumbled into bed, and about 2 hours later I was woken by banging on the door and people shouting..."They hit your car".....
They hit MY car...
With what?
....the bus....yes, the bus. Those IDIOTS that I thought were just blowing off steam actually came over to our side of the grounds, got in the bus, started it, and drove it....into my car!
Once I made it out side to the scene unfolding I spotted the bus, now instead of parked snugly in front of my car, relocated about 100 feet behind my car. At first damage seemed minimal, until I made my way to the passenger side of my car. There, along the entire length of my WHITE Hyundai accent, a huge yellow gash. And at the end was my tail light, completely dis-located and hanging by the wires. I Was Furious, on top of still being drunk. Well once I soaked in the scene and the responding office arrived you could imagine I sobered up in a hurry. Now here is what I was getting at earlier, the icing on the cake, the responding officer was the same officer that had earlier pulled me over for transporting. The same officer I had earlier convinced I would not be consuming any of the alcohol in my trunk, and here I was, three sheets to the wind in front of my recently redecorated car. Luckily, since I was the apparent victim in this case, she didn't catch on to my buzz, and was actually very nice and understanding of my situation.
Once the reports were taken and we realized there was no way anyone was admitting to who done it, everyone eventually got back to bed. The next day, knowing damn well who the culprit was, I asked for my pay for my time worked and promptly quit working for the people that were to blame for my car's current state. No one ever did admit to driving the bus, but several people did have the decency to ell me they had seen three people in the bus that night, the three I had already known it was, my boss known as Jr., and his two cronies, Chris and some bug eyed freak. Supposedly Chris was the one actually driving, but even though "he didn't do it" he conveniently was no where to be found the next day.
Since no one confessed no charges were brought and it since the bus was owned by Smokey's it was now their insurance's responsibility to pay for the damages. Of course that was a feat in its own and by the time I actually got a call back from them saying they were sending someone to look at the damages, it was about 2 hours after the car was repossessed, and this was about 3 months after the accident. needless to say during those 3 months I drove the car with the yellow stripe down the side and the tail light zip tied to the back. Might I add that zip ties are to a carnie like duck tape is to a Mainer.
There after we traveled to the next spot, Marshfield, MA where I decided to stay away from jointies all together and started work as a ride jock. Many adventures followed, but of course those are for next time.
Here are a few more Carnie terms
Green Help - anyone that is new or is a local working just for that spot
Townies - locals, usually hanging out after hours
Lot Lizard - usually a girl, usually does not work but hangs out on the lot trying to hook up with the carnies
The Lot - the fairs ground, the mid-way, where we sleep, basically any area we occupy while playing a spot
Donica - port-o-potties, out houses
Kiddie Land - the mid-way consisting of children's rides and entertainment
I stumbled upon the carnival completely by accident, or now, looking back on it, maybe it was fate. After all, I have never found a job or life style that I had so much fun in. You see one night in Bangor, ME two friends and I decided to go hang out at the skate park and met a couple friends we used to go to school with. Now the skate park is directly in front of the fair grounds. We met this girl, Aurora, that happened to work at the carnival and invited us to go meet some of her friends up on the grounds. Once we were deep into the city of house trailers and bunk houses we were introduced to a small group of the SAs. Of course once the bars emptied out and everyone returned back to the lot we met many many more.
Long story short, just to spare you the high schoolish antics and un-needed details, my friends and I started dating a few of the guys and decided to go to the next spot, Skowhegan, to visit. I was the first to realize, hey, if we are going to be here anyway, I might as well make some money, so then I was introduced to the duck pond game where I worked my first carnie job.
By the end of Skowhegan I had only worked four days, one was cut short by an impromptu trip back to Orono, an old roommate of mine got me involved in an armed robbery case and I had to be questioned by the lead detective on the case, but that's another story for another time. I actually quite working for the owner of the duck pond just a couple days before the spot was over, it's quite a funny story that leads up to this event actually.
You see the way the camping grounds were set up was as follows. There was a line of about 20 trailers that belonged to Smokey's Greater Show's mexican workers, we always used to joke about jumping the fence to get back and forth to our trailer, which actually wasn't "our trailer". It was actually a large bunkhouse that belonged to FS way in the back corner, this was the bunk that housed all of our friends we met in Bangor. Slightly off to the left of the bunk was a short school bus, that for whatever reason, had the keys in it. We later learned this bus belonged to Smokey's as they used it to transport their workers. My car was often parked in front of this bus, we assumed it wouldn't be moved until the end of the spot.
Well the people I worked for were way over on the other side of the camping grounds in a fenced in area. This should have been my first clue, if these people had to be fenced into their own area they MUST have been trouble. Any way one night I decided, even though they didn't mesh well with my other friends, since I worked for this group I shall grace them with my presence for a few drinks and laughs. At one point in the night they had all been talking about how they really wanted to steal the short bus. They figured where it was parked right next to the SAs bunk the SAs would get blamed for it.
Now here is a quick side note. The SAs are usually very good looking, well mannered, and full of charm and great game. Needless to say these guys get a lot of girls, and apparently many of the American carnies had a problem with them for these reasons. There fore much of the American guy's free time was spent figuring out ways to sabotage the SAs, childish I know, but boys will be boys.
So back to the story. I figured these drunken idiots were just having a good time fantasizing about throwing the SAs under the bus, no pun intended. I soon headed off to bed back on my own turf. Now mind you, earlier in the night I had given a few of the SAs a lift to the store to buy themselves some drinks, I was pulled over for transporting alcohol under the legal age, I was let off with a warning but this is a crucial part of the following events. So roughly around 2 am I stumbled into bed, and about 2 hours later I was woken by banging on the door and people shouting..."They hit your car".....
They hit MY car...
With what?
....the bus....yes, the bus. Those IDIOTS that I thought were just blowing off steam actually came over to our side of the grounds, got in the bus, started it, and drove it....into my car!
Once I made it out side to the scene unfolding I spotted the bus, now instead of parked snugly in front of my car, relocated about 100 feet behind my car. At first damage seemed minimal, until I made my way to the passenger side of my car. There, along the entire length of my WHITE Hyundai accent, a huge yellow gash. And at the end was my tail light, completely dis-located and hanging by the wires. I Was Furious, on top of still being drunk. Well once I soaked in the scene and the responding office arrived you could imagine I sobered up in a hurry. Now here is what I was getting at earlier, the icing on the cake, the responding officer was the same officer that had earlier pulled me over for transporting. The same officer I had earlier convinced I would not be consuming any of the alcohol in my trunk, and here I was, three sheets to the wind in front of my recently redecorated car. Luckily, since I was the apparent victim in this case, she didn't catch on to my buzz, and was actually very nice and understanding of my situation.
Once the reports were taken and we realized there was no way anyone was admitting to who done it, everyone eventually got back to bed. The next day, knowing damn well who the culprit was, I asked for my pay for my time worked and promptly quit working for the people that were to blame for my car's current state. No one ever did admit to driving the bus, but several people did have the decency to ell me they had seen three people in the bus that night, the three I had already known it was, my boss known as Jr., and his two cronies, Chris and some bug eyed freak. Supposedly Chris was the one actually driving, but even though "he didn't do it" he conveniently was no where to be found the next day.
Since no one confessed no charges were brought and it since the bus was owned by Smokey's it was now their insurance's responsibility to pay for the damages. Of course that was a feat in its own and by the time I actually got a call back from them saying they were sending someone to look at the damages, it was about 2 hours after the car was repossessed, and this was about 3 months after the accident. needless to say during those 3 months I drove the car with the yellow stripe down the side and the tail light zip tied to the back. Might I add that zip ties are to a carnie like duck tape is to a Mainer.
There after we traveled to the next spot, Marshfield, MA where I decided to stay away from jointies all together and started work as a ride jock. Many adventures followed, but of course those are for next time.
Here are a few more Carnie terms
Green Help - anyone that is new or is a local working just for that spot
Townies - locals, usually hanging out after hours
Lot Lizard - usually a girl, usually does not work but hangs out on the lot trying to hook up with the carnies
The Lot - the fairs ground, the mid-way, where we sleep, basically any area we occupy while playing a spot
Donica - port-o-potties, out houses
Kiddie Land - the mid-way consisting of children's rides and entertainment
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