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Lily's Crossing
Trailblazers · 4th–6th
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?
The tension When Gram cries over the memory of Poppy in the hurricane, Lily stands up to put her arms around her, but at Gram’s “you’ll be playing the piano for him” she veers off to the sink, and a moment later no one could tell that Gram had been crying.
Notice each new thing Lily learns about Gram at the kitchen table, and how the swimming lesson ends.
It is Friday lunchtime, and Lily and Gram eat hot tuna fish in tomato sauce, because Gram hasn’t caught a fish all week. Neither of them likes it. After lunch Lily and Albert are to practice swimming again, for Albert’s plan to swim the last, smallest bit out to the ship. Lily sees whitecaps at the end of the canal and thinks they can’t swim today. Alleluia. Gram says she is sorry she forgot about the money Lily asked for; Lily says she doesn’t need it anymore, and feels a quick flash of guilt. Gram looks hot and tired in the boiling kitchen, and Lily wonders, “Suppose something happened to Gram someday?” Gram has letters for her from Poppy and Margaret. Lily is sorry she missed the mailman, sure that Gram will read over her shoulder, but Gram reads The Wave. Margaret’s letter thanks Lily’s grandmother for a letter, a picture of Eddie swimming, and funny stories about him when he was little. It says Gram misses Lily’s father, and it ends, “How’s the house?” “You didn’t tell me that,” Lily says. “I knew how she felt,” Gram answers. “Suppose it was Poppy?” Lily has never once thought about Gram missing Poppy. She pushes Margaret’s letter across to Gram, then remembers the house part; Gram doesn’t seem to notice. Poppy’s letter is funny, and it tells Lily to read The Story of Roland again, and The Promise. Lily plans a library trip with Albert after swimming. Gram is looking out the window with sad eyes, and Lily, feeling generous, gives her Poppy’s letter. Lily is thinking of eating tuna with Poppy last summer, under the fireflies, but Gram asks if she remembers the year of the hurricane. Gram remembers Poppy coming down the road with his shoes off and his pants full of mud, his newspaper, and Lily finishes it: soaking wet, covering his head. “And we laughed,” Gram says. Then Gram is crying, which Lily has never seen. “I guess I miss your father.” Lily stands up to go to her and put her arms around her. Gram says that by the time he comes home, Lily will be playing the piano for him. Lily veers off to the sink and rinses her dish. Gram puts a bottle of milk in the refrigerator, and no one would know she had been crying. Lily says she and Albert are going to swim and then go to the library, and she is out the door. Albert waits in the rowboat in a huge orange life jacket. Lily rows hard toward the marshes, thinking she won’t have to tell him after all: he’ll tell her to go without him. She anchors and goes over the side first. Albert follows, clumsy, grips the side, then shuts his eyes and lets go. “Even you can’t sink,” she tells him, treading water. She gets him to put his head in the water, and he is surprised and pleased that he can hardly stay down. “You are right, Lily.” He kicks, moves, swims around the boat, and floats. “I am swimming,” he says. “I know,” she answers, thinking she has done it. She has taught him to swim. And now she will have to tell him they can’t go to Europe.
Before reading, ask the student what a letter can tell you about a person that the person might never say out loud. Then read aloud to Margaret’s “How’s the house?” and ask what the letter tells Lily about Gram. Read on to the end, and have the student mark each new thing Lily learns about Gram.
Retell The student tells the chapter back in four parts: the lunch, from the hot tuna to the flash of guilt; the letters, from Margaret’s scrawl to Poppy’s book list; the memory, from the hurricane to Lily at the sink; and the bay, from the rowboat to Lily’s last thought. Look for the order, and for each new thing Lily learns about Gram.
Imitate the author After copying, the student writes a sentence of their own about someone starting toward something, built like Lily’s: an action, then two more parts after commas that each bring the person a little nearer, the first one beginning “about to.” Then the student adds one short sentence in which the person turns another way, as Lily veers off to the sink. For a stretch, add a line of speech broken in the middle by who said it, the way Gram’s is. Look for commas in the right places, and for a last sentence that is short and plain.
Debate Take sides on the last written question. First list from the chapter what makes the moment look like a chance lost: Lily “about to go to her,” the turn to the sink, Gram putting the milk away so that no one would know she had cried, and Lily out the door. Then list what makes it look like a change: the flash of guilt and “Suppose something happened to Gram someday?”, Gram’s letter to Margaret, Lily never having thought of Gram missing Poppy, and the hurricane memory they finish together. The student argues one side, and you argue the other; then switch. Keep to what the chapter shows: it gives Lily’s move to the sink, not her reason.
Purpose Close with the last lines. Albert says, “I am swimming,” and Lily thinks she has taught him. Then comes one more thought: “She’d have to tell him they couldn’t go to Europe.” Ask why Giff ends the chapter on that thought, and not on Albert’s happy words. Leave it open; the chapter does not say whether Lily tells him.
Easier Read aloud together from Gram’s “Do you remember . . .” to Lily at the sink. Retell what Gram remembers and what Lily does when Gram cries. Talk through the fourth and fifth discussion questions, then answer the last written question aloud.
On level Talk through all five discussion questions in order, then have the student write answers to the two written questions in complete sentences, each with a reason and a line from the chapter. For the last one, have the student set the turn to the sink beside what Lily has learned about Gram since lunch began.
Harder Have the student find each place in the chapter where someone hides a feeling or holds something back, from Lily’s quick flash of guilt at lunch to her last thought in the bay, and say who is hiding what. Then have them write a paragraph comparing how Gram puts her tears away with how Lily turns to the sink, and say whether that comparison changes their answer to the last written question. Claim nothing about why Lily turns away.
1. Gram is the one who says sorry about the money. What does Lily feel guilty about?Inference
What it asks It asks about the first talk at the lunch table. Lily is staring out at the whitecaps when Gram, who “had been talking for minutes,” says, “You asked me for money.” Lily says she doesn’t need it anymore. Gram says she is sorry: she asked how much, Lily was getting dressed, and she never thought about it again “until just this minute.” Lily tries to remember what Gram asked: “How much had she lost? How much did she need?” Then: “Lily felt a quick flash of guilt.” Right after, she sees that Gram looks hot and tired, and thinks, “Suppose something happened to Gram someday?” The student decides what the guilt is about. It opens the hinge: this is the first time in the chapter that Lily really looks at Gram. If a student says only that it is about the money, ask what Lily notices about Gram in the very next lines. The card claims nothing about what the money was for.
The money. Gram is sorry about money Lily said she had lost and needed, and now Lily says she doesn’t need it anymore. Gram’s kind apology lands on Lily, and Lily feels she is the one who should be sorry.
I don’t need it anymore.
How much had she lost? How much did she need?
Gram herself. Gram has been talking for minutes, and Lily was not even listening. Now Lily sees how hot and tired she looks in the boiling kitchen, and thinks for the first time that something could happen to her. She has not been thinking about Gram at all.
Gram was saying something, had been talking for minutes.
Suppose something happened to Gram someday?
A strong answer A strong response might say the guilt is about the money: Gram is sorry for forgetting, Lily says “I don’t need it anymore,” and she remembers Gram asking how much she had lost, so the sorry lands on the wrong person. Another might say the guilt is about Gram herself: Gram “had been talking for minutes” while Lily stared at the whitecaps, and now Lily sees her hot and tired and wonders, “Suppose something happened to Gram someday?” A thoughtful student may say it is both, and that the money is what makes Lily look up at Gram at all. Look for a reason tied to the lines just before or just after the flash of guilt.
2. 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
What it asks It asks about Margaret’s letter. Lily is sure Gram “would be reading over her shoulder,” but Gram is turning the pages of The Wave. The letter thanks Lily’s grandmother for “the picture of Eddie swimming and those funny stories about when he was little.” Then Margaret writes, “She made me laugh. I felt so bad.” She adds, “We still don’t know anything about Eddie.” When Lily asks, Gram says, “I knew how she felt. Suppose it was Poppy?” The student decides what this kind of gift, a picture and funny stories, could give a mother who has no news of her son. It feeds the hinge: Gram knows how to comfort someone who misses a son, and she misses one herself, which Lily had “never thought about.” Later at lunch, Gram and Lily share a funny memory of Poppy, and it ends in tears. If a student says the stories just cheer Margaret up, ask why Gram says, “Suppose it was Poppy?” If a student says they only make her sad, ask what Margaret says first. The card claims nothing about where Eddie is, and nothing about Gram knowing what Lily has done; the page says only that Gram “didn’t seem to notice anything strange.”
A laugh, and a happy Eddie to hold on to. Gram sends him swimming, little and funny. For a moment Margaret can think of him that way, and not only of the waiting.
She made me laugh.
Thank her for the picture of Eddie swimming and those funny stories about when he was little.
Company in missing him. The stories show that someone else remembers Eddie too. Gram knows the feeling, because she misses her own son. Margaret is not the only one waiting for someone.
I knew how she felt. Suppose it was Poppy?
She misses your father.
A strong answer A strong response might say the gift gives Margaret a laugh and a happy Eddie to hold on to: he is swimming, little and funny, and she writes, “She made me laugh.” Another might say it gives her company in missing him: someone else remembers Eddie too, and Gram “knew how she felt” because she thinks, “Suppose it was Poppy?” A thoughtful student may notice “I felt so bad” right after the laugh, and say the stories may help and hurt at once. Look for a reason tied to Margaret’s words or Gram’s, and no claim about where Eddie is.
3. Lily hands Gram Poppy’s letter, “feeling generous.” Does generous fit what she is doing?Author's choice
What it asks It asks about one word. Lily saves Poppy’s letter, “the best for last.” It is a funny letter, about the screen that floated away when they painted the window, and it ends with books to read. When she looks up, Gram has finished Margaret’s note and is looking out the window: “Her gray eyes were sad.” Lily hands over the letter, “feeling generous,” and says, “Read my letter from Poppy. It will make you laugh.” Only a few lines before, Lily had “never thought about Gram missing Poppy.” Giff could have written kind, or sorry. The student decides whether generous is the right word for what Lily does. It feeds the hinge: the word shows how far Lily’s view of Gram has moved, and how far it has not. If a student says yes because sharing is nice, ask whose letter Lily calls it. The card claims nothing about the books Poppy names.
It fits. The letter is Lily’s best thing, saved for last. Gram is sad, and Lily gives it up so Gram can laugh. Giving away something you love is what generous means.
the best for last
Her gray eyes were sad.
It does not quite fit. Generous is how you feel sharing something that is yours. Lily calls it “my letter from Poppy,” and it holds a joke only the two of them share. She has just learned that Gram misses him too, and she still treats him as hers to share.
Read my letter from Poppy.
They both knew it had been his fault.
A strong answer A strong response might say generous fits: Lily saved the letter as “the best for last,” and she gives it to Gram because Gram’s “gray eyes were sad.” Another might say it does not quite fit: she calls it “my letter from Poppy,” though she has only just learned that Gram misses him too, so she shares him as if he belonged to her. A thoughtful student may notice that both can be true at once, and that the word tells how Lily feels, not how Gram feels. Look for a reason tied to the letter and to what Lily has just found out.
4. “And we laughed,” Gram says about the hurricane, and then she cries. What part of that memory brings the tears?Inference
What it asks It asks about the memory at the end of lunch. Lily is thinking about eating tuna with Poppy last summer, with fireflies over the porch, but Gram means “the year of the hurricane.” Lily pictures the bay crashing against the pilings, boats sinking, their own rowboat upside down, “looking like a walnut shell.” Gram remembers Lily’s father coming down the road, shoes off, pants rolled up and full of mud, “his newspaper—” and Lily finishes it: “—soaking wet, covering his head.” “And we laughed,” Gram says. Lily remembers watching from the kitchen door, “so happy he was home.” Then Gram is crying, and says only, “I guess I miss your father.” The student decides which part of a funny memory turns it to tears. It is the edge of the hinge: this is the first time Lily has seen Gram cry. If a student says Gram is just sad, ask how the memory ends. The card claims nothing about where Poppy is or what will happen to him; it is enough that he is away.
The homecoming. In the storm Poppy came down the road and got home safe, and they were so happy. Now he is far away, and Gram cannot watch for him from the door.
She and Gram had watched from the kitchen door, so happy he was home.
I have a memory of your father, coming down the road
The laughing, and sharing it. Lily finishes Gram’s sentence, so they both see the same funny picture. For a moment Gram has someone who remembers it with her, and that is what makes it too much.
—soaking wet, covering his head
And we laughed,
A strong answer A strong response might say the homecoming brings the tears: Poppy got home through the storm, and Lily and Gram watched from the door “so happy he was home,” but now he is away. Another might say it is the laughing, and sharing it: Lily finishes “—soaking wet, covering his head,” and Gram says, “And we laughed,” so for a moment the two of them have him back together. A thoughtful student may notice that Lily was thinking of a different summer, and that Gram brings up the hurricane on her own. Look for a part of the memory named, with a reason, and no claim about what will happen to Poppy.
5. 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
What it asks It asks about Gram’s next words. Gram has said, “I guess I miss your father.” Lily stands up, “about to go to her, to put her arms around her.” Then: “By the time he comes home,” Gram says, “you’ll be playing the piano for him.” Lily goes to the sink. Gram gets up to put a bottle of milk in the refrigerator, and “No one would ever know tears had been in her eyes a moment ago.” The student decides whom the piano line is really for. It feeds the hinge: these are the words that come just before Lily turns away. If a student says the line is only about practicing, ask what the first part, “By the time he comes home,” hopes for. The card claims nothing about why Lily turns to the sink; the student is judging Gram’s words, not Lily’s reason.
Lily. Lily has never seen Gram cry, and now she is on her feet, coming toward her. Gram gives her something hopeful to hold on to: Poppy is coming home, and Lily will have something to show him. It turns a sad moment into a plan.
She had never seen Gram cry.
By the time he comes home
Gram herself. She has just said she misses him. Saying “By the time he comes home” and talking about the piano helps her stop crying and get back to everyday things, like putting the milk away.
I guess I miss your father.
She could see Gram standing to put a bottle of milk into the refrigerator.
A strong answer A strong response might say the words are for Lily: Lily has stood up, “about to go to her,” and Gram hands her a hope, “By the time he comes home,” and something to work at until then. Another might say they are for Gram herself: she has just said, “I guess I miss your father,” and talking about the piano helps her get to her feet and put the milk away, so that “No one would ever know.” Some may say they are for Poppy, a way of saying out loud that he will come home. A thoughtful student may notice that a moment later both of them are busy at something else, and neither says another word about Poppy. Look for a reason tied to Gram’s words and what follows, and no claim about why Lily turns away.
1. Lily rows out thinking Albert will give up, and then she teaches him to swim. What does she want to happen out there?
What it asks It asks about the afternoon in the bay. At lunch Lily saw whitecaps and thought, “They couldn’t swim this afternoon. Alleluia.” Now, rowing hard, she thinks, “She wouldn’t have to tell him after all. He’d tell her to go without him, and then she’d say . . .” But in the water she is careful. She grins, “Even you can’t sink,” and tells him, “Take your time.” He puts his head in the water, kicks, and swims around the boat. “I am swimming,” he says, and Lily thinks “she had done it.” Then: “She’d have to tell him they couldn’t go to Europe.” The student decides what Lily wants to happen out there: for the lesson to fail, for it to work, or something under both, such as not having to tell him. It carries the other half of the chapter’s turn: the swim makes the truth impossible to put off. If a student says she wanted him to swim, ask what she was thinking as she rowed. If a student says she wanted him to fail, ask how she teaches him once they are in the water. The card claims nothing about Lily telling him; the chapter ends on the thought that she will have to. Nor can Albert reach a ship: he swims around a rowboat in a life jacket.
For him to give up. She was glad when the water looked too rough to swim. Rowing out, she pictures Albert quitting, so she won’t have to tell him anything. The lesson working is the very thing that traps her.
They couldn’t swim this afternoon. Alleluia.
She wouldn’t have to tell him after all.
For him to swim. Once they are in the water, she is a careful, cheerful teacher. When he swims, she is proud of herself. The hard thought about Europe comes only after the pride.
Take your time.
thinking she had done it. She had taught him to swim.
A strong answer A strong response takes a position and answers the other side. A student might argue she wants him to give up: she thought “Alleluia” when the water looked too rough, and as she rows she thinks, “She wouldn’t have to tell him after all.” Another might argue she wants him to swim: in the water she is patient and cheerful, “Take your time,” and when he swims she thinks “she had done it.” A thoughtful student may say what she wants most is not to have to tell him, and that the last line shows why the swim cannot give her that: the moment he swims, she has to tell him they couldn’t go to Europe. Look for the boat and the water both weighed, and no claim that Lily tells him.
2. 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?
What it asks It asks the whole question of the chapter. Lily has never seen Gram cry. Gram says, “I guess I miss your father,” and Lily stands up, “about to go to her, to put her arms around her.” Then: “By the time he comes home,” Gram says, “you’ll be playing the piano for him.” And “Lily veered off to the sink.” Gram puts the milk away, and “No one would ever know tears had been in her eyes a moment ago.” The student judges whether the hug that never happens is a chance lost, or whether something between Lily and Gram has changed anyway, gives reasons, and answers the other side. The rest of the lunch adds weight: the flash of guilt, Gram’s letter to Margaret, and the memory they finish together. If a student says nothing changed because there was no hug, ask what Lily knows now that she did not know when lunch began. If a student says everything changed, ask what anyone could see in the kitchen a moment later. The card claims nothing about why Lily turns away; the chapter shows her move, not her reason.
A chance lost. Lily was on her feet and nearly there, and she turned away. A moment later Gram has hidden her tears, and Lily is out the door. Neither of them says another word about Poppy.
Lily veered off to the sink.
No one would ever know tears had been in her eyes a moment ago.
Something has changed. Lily has seen a side of Gram she never noticed: the letter to Margaret, the missing, the tears. She got up to comfort Gram, which shows how far she has come since the start of lunch, even if she did not get there.
She’d never thought about Gram missing Poppy, not once in all these weeks.
Lily stood up, about to go to her, to put her arms around her.
A strong answer A strong response takes a position and answers the other side. A student might argue it is a chance lost: Lily was “about to go to her,” then “veered off to the sink,” and a moment later no one could tell Gram had cried, so the closeness was gone before it happened. Another might argue something has still changed: Lily has learned that Gram wrote to Margaret, that she misses Poppy, which Lily had “never thought about,” and that she cries; and Lily got up to hold her, which she might not have done when lunch began. A thoughtful student may notice that Gram hides her tears as fast as Lily turns away, so both of them pull back at once. Look for the sink and the lunch both weighed, and no claim about why Lily turns.