Chapter 12 · Lily's Crossing

Copywork

The stairs were rickety, she had to admit. And the screws holding them to the wall looked rusty as anything.

They started to run, crossing the street diagonally, just missing an old Chevy with its headlights blackened, its horn blaring at them.

Read both passages aloud. Which words make you slow down, and which make you hurry?

For the educator Two passages, three sentences, in story order. The first is Lily on the fire escape. Its first sentence is a short statement with Lily’s own voice tucked in after the comma: “she had to admit” tells us she notices the danger but says nothing about it to Albert. The second sentence opens with “And”, which a writer may do on purpose to add one more worry, and it ends on a plain spoken comparison, “rusty as anything.” Watch that “holding them to the wall” has no commas, because it tells which screws. The second passage is the run home. It is one long sentence with one main verb, “started to run,” and then three phrases set off by commas: “crossing the street diagonally,” “just missing an old Chevy with its headlights blackened,” and “its horn blaring at them”, which has no main verb of its own and pins the car’s noise onto the end. The sentence never stops for breath, the way Lily and Albert do not stop. Side by side, the slow look at the rusty screws and the headlong run set the start of the evening beside its end.

Discussion

Narration Tell back the chapter in order. Start with why Lily and Albert can’t watch for ships that night, and stop when Lily goes into her bedroom with the iced tea.

Albert keeps stopping on the stairs to close his eyes. “Race you to the top,” Lily says. What is she trying to do? Character
Lily laughs at Albert’s Bugs Bunny voice. “Hungarian,” he says, before she can find the word. Why is he the one to say it? Character
While the ship sinks on the screen, Lily thinks of Poppy and the postcard he sent. How do his words sound to her right then? Tone
All evening, Lily goes first and Albert follows. On the back road, he grabs her hand and pulls her along. Who has changed, Albert or Lily? Character

Make a Connection Think of a story, or a time in your own life, when two people got closer without saying much at all. How could you tell?

Vocabulary

deafening: The noise of it was deafening. So loud it seems to fill your ears completely, like the exploding ship on the screen.
pounce: the matron with her flashlight would be right there to pounce on her. Jump on someone suddenly to catch them, the way Lily expects the theater lady to grab her.
lukewarm: Lily went into her bedroom with a glass of lukewarm iced tea and a sprig of mint from Mrs. Colgan’s Victory garden. Only a little warm, neither hot nor cold, like iced tea that has sat too long.
daring: “Three stories,” she said, daring him. Challenging someone to do something scary to prove they are not afraid, as Lily does to Albert at the stairs.
rickety: The stairs were rickety, she had to admit. Shaky and likely to fall apart, like the old fire escape on the side of the theater.
breathless: She sank down on the top step next to the door to watch, with Albert sliding in next to her, breathless. Panting and short of air, the way Albert is after his frightening climb.
blaring: They started to run, crossing the street diagonally, just missing an old Chevy with its headlights blackened, its horn blaring at them. Making a harsh, very loud noise, like the car horn that nearly hits them.

Critical thinking

At home, Lily keeps thinking about asking Albert all the things she wants to know. Should she ask him tomorrow, or wait until he tells her?
Lily “had never thought” about how Albert crossed the ocean. Why not?