Chapter 7 · Lily's Crossing

Copywork

She pictured herself as an undercover agent. If Albert, Nazi Spy Albert, turned, he’d reach into the bag, pull out his revolver with the silencer. He’d shoot her, of course.

Without thinking, she went toward him, spitting out sand, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. The noise of the plane was fading, and she could see Albert’s hands were trembling a little.

In both passages, Giff puts actions in a row with commas. Whose actions are they each time? Which ones really happen?

For the educator Two passages, five sentences, in story order. The first comes while Lily creeps toward Albert behind the rusty fence. It opens with a short, plain sentence, then a long one that starts with an “If” clause and sets Albert’s name off twice with commas, “Albert, Nazi Spy Albert,” before two actions follow in a row, “reach into the bag, pull out his revolver with the silencer.” It closes on a short sentence with “of course” set off by a comma, which makes the danger sound almost cheerful. The second passage comes just after the plane. It opens with “Without thinking,” set off by a comma, and then hangs two actions ending in -ing on the end, “spitting out sand, wiping her eyes on her sleeve.” The last sentence joins two clauses with “and”: what Lily hears fading and what she sees in Albert’s hands. Side by side, the passages hold the actions Lily imagines and the ones she really does.

Discussion

Narration Tell back Lily’s Monday afternoon in order. Start when she puts on her sunglasses and sailor hat, and stop when she starts for home.

Lily tells herself, “Don’t think about Poppy. Think about Gram instead.” Why is Gram easier to think about? Character
When Lily sees the paper is only a letter, she lets out her breath. What is she letting go of? Inference
Lily is caught, and she starts a lie: “I lost my, um . . .” Why does Giff cut the lie off right there? Author's choice
After the plane, Lily tells Albert “It’s all right” twice. Then she says, “It wasn’t a Nazi. I saw it.” Who needs to hear that most? Character

Make a Connection Think of a story, or a time in your own life, when someone kept busy so they would not have to think about a hard thing. What finally got through to them?

Vocabulary

insignia: The round insignia thing with the star. A badge or mark that shows which army or group something belongs to, like the round mark with a star that Lily sees on the plane.
undercover: She pictured herself as an undercover agent. Working in secret while hiding who you really are, the way Lily imagines herself as a spy.
foreign: One, he had come in the middle of the night; two, he had some kind of foreign spy accent, and three, she couldn’t keep track of him. From another country, which to Lily makes Albert seem more like a spy.
trembling: The noise of the plane was fading, and she could see Albert’s hands were trembling a little. Shaking a little without meaning to, often from fear, as Albert’s hands do.
redden: Feeling her face redden, knowing she wouldn’t go near him for the rest of the summer, she went up the boardwalk steps and started for home. To turn pink or red, as Lily’s face does when she is embarrassed at being caught.
spewing: It spread a huge, dark shadow, sand flattening under it and spewing up along the sides. Shooting out fast in a messy spray, like sand thrown up by the low plane.
pounding: She could still feel her heart pounding. Beating hard and heavily, the way Lily’s heart does after the scare.

Critical thinking

Lily pictures Albert shooting her, and she thinks, “Never mind.” What does that daydream give her?
Lily counts out three clues that Albert is a spy. By the end of the chapter, how many of them still hold up?
Albert’s pad blows away across the beach. Why does Lily go to Albert after the plane passes, when she has spent all afternoon hiding from him?