Jo Ann Beard' "The Fourth state of Matter" is one of the most emotionaly gripping essays I have ever read. While leading me through her day to day monotomy of caring for a dying collie(the constant remainder of her recently vanished husband) and the chilling account of friends and coworkers lost in at shooting spree at her office, she is writting about a close friend. A friend she never knew she had. "The face …showed first 75 words of 794 total…

…showed last 75 words of 794 total…go home early that day, saving her life while losing his. At the end of the essay her collie stands above her on the couch and is described as "My peer, my colleague." Then she sees her dog as the friend that she has loves and will not let die because with that dog she carries the memory of Christopher Goertz: the only person who could explain "plazma, the fourth state of matter", to her.