Chapter 20 · Lily's Crossing

Copywork

Gram shook her head, her mouth trembling, trying to smile.

Lily stood up, about to go to her, to put her arms around her. “By the time he comes home,” Gram said, “you’ll be playing the piano for him.” Lily veered off to the sink.

Read the sentence where Lily stands up, and pause at each comma. What is happening to her as the sentence goes on?

For the educator Two passages, four sentences, from the kitchen just after Gram begins to cry. Between them in the chapter Gram says, “I guess I miss your father.” The first passage is one sentence that hangs two pictures on Gram after commas: “her mouth trembling,” then “trying to smile.” Her mouth is doing two things at once. The second passage opens with Lily’s sentence, which reaches forward three times: “stood up,” then “about to go to her,” then “to put her arms around her.” Each part brings her a little nearer, and “about to” says she is not there yet. That is the talk. One student may say she is getting closer with each comma; another may say the commas slow her down, as if she is not sure. Either is good if it points to the commas or to “about to.” Gram’s sentence breaks around “Gram said,” and its second part starts with a small letter because it is still one sentence. The vocabulary words trembling and veered both stand in these passages. Claim nothing about why Lily turns to the sink.

Discussion

Narration Tell back the chapter in order, from the hot tuna at lunch to Lily’s last thought in the bay.

Gram is the one who says sorry about the money. What does Lily feel guilty about? Inference
Gram sent Margaret a picture of Eddie swimming and funny stories about him as a little boy. What could those give Margaret while she waits for news? Character
Lily hands Gram Poppy’s letter, “feeling generous.” Does generous fit what she is doing? Author's choice
“And we laughed,” Gram says about the hurricane, and then she cries. What part of that memory brings the tears? Inference
With tears still in her eyes, Gram says Lily will be playing the piano for Poppy when he comes home. Who are those words really for? Character

Make a Connection Think of a story, or a time in your own life, when someone learned something new about a person they see every day. What did they do with what they learned?

Vocabulary

whitecaps: Even though the sun was shining, the water had a dark look to it, and she could see whitecaps at the end of the canal. Waves with foamy white tops, a sign of rough water.
scrawl: She opened Margaret’s first, a long letter in pencil, hard to read in Margaret’s scrawl. Messy, careless handwriting that is hard to read.
trembling: Gram shook her head, her mouth trembling, trying to smile. Shaking a little because of strong feeling.
veered: Lily veered off to the sink. Turned suddenly away from the way she was going.
marshes: She hopped into the boat and began to row past the houses, angling toward the marshes, leaning forward to keep the sun out of her eyes. Low, soggy land at the edge of the water, full of reeds.
treading: “Good,” she said, treading water. Kicking and paddling to stay up in one spot in deep water.

Critical thinking

Lily rows out thinking Albert will give up, and then she teaches him to swim. What does she want to happen out there?
When Gram cries, Lily gets up to hug her and then goes to the sink instead. Is that a chance lost, or has something between them still changed?