Chapter 13

Lily's Crossing

Trailblazers · 4th–6th

Copywork

Lily squinted a little, looking out at a curl of smoke from a freighter far out. She waited for him to say something more about them, but when he didn’t she began again.

Albert stood up, balancing himself on the rock, watching the ship, a little closer now. He pointed to the end of the jetty, across the water.

Lily looks at a ship far out while she waits. Albert watches it come closer while he talks about Ruth. Why does Giff keep that ship in sight?

For the educator Two passages, four sentences, in story order. The first comes just after Albert says he knows her mother is dead; the second comes as he tells Lily that Ruth is in France. In the first passage, the opening sentence is a main clause, “Lily squinted a little,” then a comma and a phrase built on the -ing word “looking” that carries her eyes far out to sea. The picture is “a curl of smoke”: the freighter is so far away that its smoke is what she sees. The second sentence joins two parts with a comma and “but.” Its second part opens with a “when” clause, and Giff leaves out the comma after “didn’t,” so the sentence runs straight on, the way Lily does. The second passage is Albert. Its opening sentence is a short main clause, “Albert stood up,” followed by two phrases set off by commas, “balancing himself on the rock” and “watching the ship,” and then “a little closer now,” which has no verb and tells about the ship. Its last sentence adds a phrase after the comma, “across the water,” to say where he points. Side by side, the passages show Lily sitting and looking far out while she waits, and Albert on his feet pointing across the water, with the same ship between them, closer the second time. For the talk, a student may say the ship gives each of them somewhere to look besides the other’s face, or that it calls up the ship Albert and Ruth were trying to reach in France, “the ship that would take us to America.” Either is a reading of Giff’s choice; look for one tied to who is talking each time.

Discussion

Narration Tell back what Lily and Albert say and do, from the beach slippers to the bag with the apples.

1. When Lily asks Albert if he ever went barefoot in Hungary, he says, “Do you think we were poor, that we had no shoes?” What is he sticking up for?Character

2. Lily’s mother put the stars up long ago. So why does Lily say, “I make them presents to me from my mother”?Character

3. Albert heard his mother say “Szeretlek,” but Lily doesn’t know what her mother’s voice was like. Which of them has more to hold on to?Theme

4. While Albert tells his story, Lily watches the fish and feeds them more Spam. Who is that really for?Inference

5. Lily asks how the Nazis in France would know about a newspaper in Hungary. Why doesn’t Albert stop to answer her?Character

Make a Connection Think of a story, or a time in your own life, when someone did something dangerous because they thought it was right. How might the people who love them feel about that?

Vocabulary

Crossword

1

2		3

	4		5

Across

Across 1. Making a quick pained face, the way Albert does as his bare feet meet the rocks.
Across 2. A big ship that carries goods instead of passengers, seen far out at sea from the jetty.
Across 4. Holding the body steady so as not to fall, as Albert does when he stands up on the rock.

Down

Down 3. Looked for only a moment, as Lily does when she can’t help checking Albert’s face.
Down 5. A home where nuns live and work together, which is where Albert says Ruth is now.

The words in the chapter

wincing He followed her slowly, one foot at a time, wincing.
freighter Lily squinted a little, looking out at a curl of smoke from a freighter far out.
glanced She didn’t want to look in his eyes, but she couldn’t help it, she glanced at him quickly, but he didn’t look as if he would cry.

balancing Albert stood up, balancing himself on the rock, watching the ship, a little closer now.
convent The war may last forever, and Ruth is in a convent, with the lady in the gray dress, and the Nazis are right there, and suppose they find out about our newspaper in Hungary?

Critical thinking

1. In the middle of Albert’s story, Lily thinks, “Poppy should have stayed home.” Where does that thought come from?

2. Albert says that if his mother and father loved him and Ruth, they “would not have bothered with newspapers.” Is he right?