The Ravine PDF - Short Story by Graham Salisbury

B The Ravine Short Story by Graham Salisbury...

B The Ravine Short Story by Graham Salisbury NOTICE & NOTE A boy drowned in the ravine a couple of weeks As you read, use the side margins to make notes ago. His body’s never been found. So why are about the text. Vinny and his friends headed there? 1 W hen Vinny and three others dropped down into the Close Read Screencast © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company Image Credits: ©MNStudio/Shutterstock ravine,1 they entered a jungle thick with tangled trees Listen to a modeled close and rumors of what might have happened to the dead boy’s read of this text. body. 2 The muddy trail was slick and, in places where it had MAKE INFERENCES fallen away, flat-out dangerous. The cool breeze that swept the Annotate: Mark details in Hawaiian hillside pastures above died early in the descent. paragraphs 1–3 that hint that this 3 There were four of them—Vinny; his best friend, Joe-Boy; setting is frightening. Mo, who was afraid of nothing; and Joe-Boy’s haole2 girlfriend, Analyze: Why might four teens Starlene—all fifteen. It was a Tuesday in July, two weeks and hike into a setting like this? a day after the boy had drowned. If, in fact, that’s what had happened to him. 1 ravine (r∂-v∏n´): a deep, narrow valley made by running water. 2 haole (hou´l∏): in Hawaii, a White person or non-native Hawaiian. The Ravine 237  ANALYZE CHARACTER 4 Vinny slipped, and dropped his towel in the mud. He picked Annotate: In paragraphs 5–12, it up and tried to brush it off, but instead smeared the mud spot mark each of Vinny’s reactions to around until the towel resembled something someone’s dog had what Joe-Boy says. slept on. “Tst,” he said. Infer: What do Vinny’s reactions 5 Joe-Boy, hiking down just behind him, laughed. “Hey, tell you about him? What is he Vinny, just think, that kid walked where you walking.” afraid to admit to Joe-Boy? How do you know? 6 “Shuddup,” Vinny said. 7 “You prob’ly stepping right where his foot was.” 8 Vinny moved to the edge of the trail, where the ravine fell through a twisted jungle of gnarly trees and underbrush to the stream far below. He could see Starlene and Mo farther ahead, their heads bobbing as they walked, both almost down to the pond where the boy had died. 9 “Hey,” Joe-Boy went on, “maybe you going be the one to find his body.” 10 “You don’t cut it out, Joe-Boy, I going... I going... ” 11 “What, cry?” 12 Vinny scowled. Sometimes Joe-Boy was a big fat babooze. 13 They slid down the trail. Mud oozed between Vinny’s toes. He grabbed at roots and branches to keep from falling. Mo and Starlene were out of sight now, the trail ahead having cut back. 14 Joe-Boy said, “You going jump in the water and go down and your hand going touch his face, stuck under the rocks. Ha ha ha... a ha ha ha!” NOTICE & NOTE 15 Vinny winced. He didn’t want to be here. It was too soon, AGAIN AND AGAIN way too soon. Two weeks and one day. When you notice certain 16 He saw a footprint in the mud and stepped around it. events, images, or words being 17 The dead boy had jumped and had never come back up. repeated in a portion of a story, you’ve found an Again and Four search and rescue divers hunted for two days straight and Again signpost. never found him. Not a trace. Gave Vinny the creeps. It didn’t Notice & Note: Mark the words make sense. The pond wasn’t that big. and phrases that are repeated in 18 He wondered why it didn’t seem to bother anyone else. paragraphs 15–21. Maybe it did and they just didn’t want to say. Analyze: Why might the author 19 Butchie was the kid’s name. Only fourteen. be repeating these terms again 20 Fourteen. and again? Two weeks and one day ago he was walking down this © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company 21 trail. Now nobody could find him. 22 The jungle crushed in, reaching over the trail, and Vinny brushed leafy branches aside. The roar of the waterfall got louder, louder. 23 Starlene said it was the goddess that took him, the one that lives in the stone down by the road. She did that every now and then, Starlene said, took somebody when she got lonely. Took him and kept him. Vinny had heard that legend before, but he’d never believed in it. 238 UNIT 3 COLLABORATE & COMPARE  24 Now he didn’t know what he believed. Don’t forget to Notice & Note as you 25 The body had to be stuck down there. But still, four divers read the selection. and they couldn’t find it? 26 Vinny decided he’d better believe in the legend. If he didn’t, the goddess might get mad and send him bad luck. Or maybe take him, too. ANALYZE CHARACTER 27 Stopstopstop! Don’t think like that. Annotate: Mark each of Vinny’s 28 “Come on,” Joe-Boy said, nudging Vinny from behind. thoughts in paragraphs 24–28. “Hurry it up.” Describe: What do his thoughts 29 Just then Starlene whooped, her voice bouncing around the indicate about what he’s like? walls of the ravine. How would you describe him? 30 “Let’s go,” Joe-Boy said. “They there already.” 31 Moments later, Vinny jumped up onto a large boulder at the edge of the pond. Starlene was swimming out in the brown water. It wasn’t murky brown, but clean and clear to a depth of maybe three or four feet. Because of the waterfall you had to yell if you wanted to say something. The whole place smelled of murky mud and ginger and iron. (mur´k∏) adj. Something murky is 32 Starlene swam across to the waterfall on the far side of the dark, obscure, and gloomy. pond and ducked under it, then climbed out and edged along the rock wall behind it, moving slowly, like a spider. Above, sun-sparkling stream water spilled over the lip of a one- hundred-foot drop. © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company Image Credits: ©Wellknownwoody/Shutterstock The Ravine 239  33 Mo and Joe-Boy threw their towels onto the rocks and dove into the pond. Vinny watched, his muddy towel hooked around his neck. Reluctantly, he let it fall, then dove in after them. 34 The cold mountain water tasted tangy. Was it because the boy’s body was down there decomposing?3 He spit it out. 35 He followed Joe-Boy and Mo to the waterfall and ducked under it. They climbed up onto the rock ledge, just as Starlene had done, then spidered their way over to where you could climb to a small ledge about fifteen feet up. They took their time because the hand and footholds were slimy with moss. 36 Starlene jumped first. Her shriek echoed off the rocky cliff, then died in the dense green jungle. 37 Mo jumped, then Joe-Boy, then Vinny. 38 The fifteen-foot ledge was not the problem. MAKE INFERENCES 39 It was the one above it, the one you had to work up to, Annotate: Reread paragraphs the big one, where you had to take a deadly zigzag trail that 39–44, marking each of Vinny’s climbed up and away from the waterfall, then cut back and forth responses to Joe-Boy and to a foot-wide ledge something more like fifty feet up. Starlene. 40 That was the problem. Infer: Why might Vinny respond 41 That was where the boy had jumped from. as he does? 42 Joe-Boy and Starlene swam out to the middle of the pond. Mo swam back under the waterfall and climbed once again to the fifteen-foot ledge. 43 Vinny started to swim out toward Joe-Boy but stopped when he saw Starlene put her arms around him. She kissed him. They sank under for a long time, then came back up, still kissing. 44 Vinny turned away and swam back over to the other side of the pond, where he’d first gotten in. His mother would kill him if she ever heard about where he’d come. After the boy drowned, or was taken by the goddess, or whatever happened to him, she said never to come to this pond again. Ever. It was off-limits. Permanently. 45 But not his dad. He said, “You fall off a horse, you get back on, right? Or else you going be scared of it all your life.” ANALYZE CHARACTER 46 His mother scoffed and waved him off. “Don’t listen to him, Vinny, listen to me. Don’t go there. That pond is haunted.” © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company Annotate: Reread paragraphs 46–50 and mark each line of Which had made his dad laugh. dialogue, noting the speaker. 47 But Vinny promised he’d stay away. Analyze: Who has the greatest 48 But then Starlene and Joe-Boy said, “Come with us anyway. influence on Vinny? What You let your mommy run your life, or what?” And Vinny said, conflicts does he face? “But what if I get caught?” And Joe-Boy said, “So?” 49 Vinny mashed his lips. He was so weak. Couldn’t even say no. But if he’d said, “I can’t go, my mother won’t like it,” they 3 decomposing (d∏´k∂m-p∫z´∆ng): starting to decay and fall apart. 240 UNIT 3 COLLABORATE & COMPARE  would have laughed him right off the island. No, he had to go. Don’t forget to Notice & Note as you No choice. read the selection. 50 So he’d come along, and so far it was fine. He’d even gone in the water. Everyone was happy. All he had to do now was wait it out and go home and hope his mother never heard about it. 51 When he looked up, Starlene was gone. 52 He glanced around the pond until he spotted her starting up the zigzag trail to the fifty-foot ledge. She was moving slowly, hanging on to roots and branches on the upside of the cliff. He couldn’t believe she was going there. He wanted to yell, Hey, Starlene, that’s where he died! 53 But she already knew that. 54 Mo jumped from the lower ledge, yelling, “Banzaiiii!” An explosion of coffee-colored water erupted when he hit. 55 Joe-Boy swam over to where Starlene had gotten out. He waved to Vinny, grinning like a fool, then followed Starlene up the zigzag trail. 56 Now Starlene was twenty-five, thirty feet up. Vinny watched MAKE INFERENCES her for a while, then lost sight of her when she slipped behind Annotate: In paragraphs 56–57, a wall of jungle that blocked his view. A few minutes later she mark Vinny’s descriptions of what popped back out, now almost at the top, where the trail ended, Starlene is like. Then, mark the thoughts that show his worry. where there was nothing but mud and a few plants to grab on to if you slipped, plants that would rip right out of the ground, Infer: How does Vinny feel about Starlene? plants that wouldn’t stop you if you fell, nothing but your screams between you and the rocks below. 57 Vinny’s stomach tingled just watching her. He couldn’t imagine what it must feel like to be up there, especially if you were afraid of heights, like he was. She has no fear, Vinny thought, no fear at all. Pleasepleaseplease, Starlene. I don’t want © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company Image Credits: (b) ©MNStudio/Shutterstock to see you die. 58 Starlene crept forward, making her way to the end of the trail, where the small ledge was. 59 Joe-Boy popped out of the jungle behind her. He stopped, waiting for her to jump before going on. 60 Vinny held his breath. The Ravine 241  ANALYZE CHARACTER 61 Starlene, in her cutoff jeans and soaked T-shirt, stood Annotate: In paragraphs perfectly still, her arms at her sides. Vinny suddenly felt like 61–69, mark each description hugging her. Why, he couldn’t tell. Starlene, please. of Starlene’s actions. 62 She reached behind her and took a wide leaf from a plant, Analyze: Based on her actions, then eased down and scooped up a finger of mud. She made a how would you describe Starlene? brown cross on her forehead, then wiped her muddy fingers on How accurate is Vinny’s view of her? her jeans. 63 She waited. 64 Was she thinking about the dead boy? © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company Image Credits: ©MNStudio/Shutterstock 65 She stuck the stem end of the leaf in her mouth, leaving the rest of it to hang out. When she jumped, the leaf would flap up and cover her nose and keep water from rushing into it. An old island trick. 66 She jumped. 67 Down, down. 68 Almost in slow motion, it seemed at first, then faster and faster. She fell feetfirst, arms flapping to keep balance so she wouldn’t land on her back, or stomach, which would probably almost kill her. 69 Just before she hit, she crossed her arms over her chest and vanished within a small explosion of rusty water. 70 Vinny stood, not breathing at all, praying. 71 Ten seconds. Twenty, thirty... 72 She came back up, laughing. 73 She shouldn’t make fun that way, Vinny thought. It was dangerous, disrespectful. It was asking for it. 242 UNIT 3 COLLABORATE & COMPARE  74 Vinny looked up when he heard Joe-Boy shout, “Hey, Don’t forget to Notice & Note as you Vinny, watch how a man does it! Look!” read the selection. 75 Joe-Boy scooped up some mud and drew a stroke of lightning across his chest. When he jumped, he threw himself out, face and body parallel to the pond, his arms and legs spread out. He’s crazy, Vinny thought, absolutely insane. At the last second Joe-Boy folded into a ball and hit. Ca-roomp! He came up whooping and yelling, “Wooo! So good! Come on, Vinny, it’s hot!” 76 Vinny faked a laugh. He waved, shouting, “Naah, the water’s too cold!” 77 Now Mo was heading up the zigzag trail—Mo, who hardly MAKE INFERENCES ever said a word and would do anything anyone ever challenged Annotate: Mark the description him to do. Come on, Mo, not you, too. of Mo in paragraphs 77–79. 78 Vinny knew then that he would have to jump. Infer: Why might Vinny feel that 79 Jump, or never live it down. he’ll have to jump if Mo jumps? 80 Mo jumped in the same way Joe-Boy had, man-style, What would make him feel that he would “never live it down” if splayed out in a suicide fall. He came up grinning. he doesn’t jump? 81 Starlene and Joe-Boy turned toward Vinny. 82 Vinny got up and hiked around the edge of the pond, walking in the muddy shallows, looking at a school of small brown-backed fish near a ginger patch. 83 Maybe they’d forget about him. 84 Starlene torpedoed over, swimming underwater. Her body glittered in the small amount of sunlight that penetrated the trees around the rim of the ravine. When she came up, she broke the surface smoothly, gracefully, like a swan. Her blond hair sleeked back like river grass. 85 She smiled a sweet smile. “Joe-Boy says you’re afraid to ANALYZE CHARACTER jump. I didn’t believe him. He’s wrong, right?” Annotate: In paragraphs 85–96, 86 Vinny said quickly, “Of course he’s wrong. I just don’t want mark what Starlene says to Vinny. to, that’s all. The water’s cold.” Analyze: What do Starlene’s 87 “Naah, it’s nice.” words say about her? What 88 Vinny looked away. On the other side of the pond Joe-Boy do Vinny’s responses tell you about him? and Mo were on the cliff behind the waterfall. © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company 89 “Joe-Boy says your mom told you not to come here. Is that true?” 90 Vinny nodded. “Yeah. Stupid, but she thinks it’s haunted.” 91 “She’s right.” 92 “What?” 93 “That boy didn’t die, Vinny. The stone goddess took him. He’s in a good place right now. He’s her prince.” 94 Vinny scowled. He couldn’t tell if Starlene was teasing him or if she really believed that. He said, “Yeah, prob’ly.” 95 “Are you going to jump, or is Joe-Boy right?” 96 “Joe-Boy’s an idiot. Sure I’m going to jump.” The Ravine 243  97 Starlene grinned, staring at Vinny a little too long. “He is an idiot, isn’t he? But I love him.” 98 “Yeah, well... ” 99 “Go to it, big boy. I’ll be watching.” 100 Starlene sank down and swam out into the pond. 101 Ca-ripes. 102 Vinny ripped a hank4 of white ginger from the ginger patch and smelled it, and prayed he’d still be alive after the sun went down. 103 He took his time climbing the zigzag trail. When he got to the part where the jungle hid him from view, he stopped and smelled the ginger again. So sweet and alive it made Vinny wish for all he was worth that he was climbing out of the ravine right now, heading home. 104 But of course, there was no way he could do that. 105 Not before jumping. 106 He tossed the ginger onto the muddy trail and continued on. He slipped once or twice, maybe three times. He didn’t keep track. He was too numb now, too caught up in the insane thing he was about to do. He’d never been this far up the trail before. Once he’d tried to go all the way, but couldn’t. It made him dizzy. ANALYZE CHARACTER 107 When he stepped out and the jungle opened into a huge Annotate: In paragraphs bowl where he could look down, way, way down, he could see 107–110, mark descriptions of their three heads in the water, heads with arms moving slowly the story’s setting. to keep them afloat, and a few bright rays of sunlight pouring Infer: What do Vinny’s responses down onto them, and when he saw this, his stomach fluttered to the setting tell you about him? and rose. Something sour came up and he spit it out. 108 It made him wobble to look down. He closed his eyes. His © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company Image Credits: ©MNStudio/Shutterstock whole body trembled. The trail was no wider than the length of his foot. And it was wet and muddy from little rivulets of water that bled from the side of the cliff. 109 The next few steps were the hardest he’d ever taken in rivulet his life. He tried not to look down, but he couldn’t help it. (r∆v´y∂-l∆t) n. A rivulet is a small His gaze was drawn there. He struggled to push back an brook or stream. urge to fly, just jump off and fly. He could almost see himself spiraling down like a glider, or a bird, or a leaf. 4 hank (h√ngk): a coiled or looped bundle of something, such as rope or yarn. 244 UNIT 3 COLLABORATE & COMPARE  110 His hands shook as if he were freezing. He wondered, Had Don’t forget to Notice & Note as you the dead boy felt this way? Or had he felt brave, like Starlene or read the selection. Joe-Boy, or Mo, who seemed to feel nothing. 111 Somebody from below shouted, but Vinny couldn’t make it out over the waterfall, roaring down just feet beyond the ledge where he would soon be standing, cascading past so close its cascade mist dampened the air he breathed. (k√s-k∑d´) v. Something that can cascade will fall, pour, or rush 112 The dead boy had just come to the ravine to have fun, Vinny in stages, like a waterfall over thought. Just a regular kid like himself, come to swim and be steep rocks. with his friends, then go home and eat macaroni and cheese and watch TV, maybe play with his dog or wander around after dark. 113 But he’d done none of that. Text in Focus Video 114 Where was he? Learn more about visualizing the characters, setting, and 115 Inch by inch Vinny made it to the ledge. He stood, swaying events. slightly, the tips of his toes one small movement from the precipice. precipice 116 Far below, Joe-Boy waved his arm back and forth. (pr≈s´∂-p∆s) n. A precipice is an overhanging or extremely steep It was dreamy to see—back and forth, back and forth. He looked area of rock. so small down there. 117 For a moment Vinny’s mind went blank, as if he were in some trance, some dream where he could so easily lean out and fall, and think or feel nothing. 118 A breeze picked up and moved the trees on the ridge-line, but not a breath of it reached the fifty-foot ledge. 119 Vinny thought he heard a voice, small and distant. Yes. ANALYZE CHARACTER Something inside him, a tiny voice pleading, Don’t do it. Walk Annotate: In paragraphs away. Just turn and go and walk back down. 119–130, underline each thought 120 “... I can’t,” Vinny whispered. that encourages Vinny not to jump. Then, mark evidence of 121 You can, you can, you can. Walk back down. the feelings created by those 122 Vinny waited. thoughts. 123 And waited. Analyze: What fear is Vinny 124 Joe-Boy yelled, then Starlene, both of them waving. overcoming? What does this 125 Then something very strange happened. tell you about him? 126 Vinny felt at peace. Completely and totally calm and at peace. He had not made up his mind about jumping. But © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company something else inside him had. 127 Thoughts and feelings swarmed, stinging him: Jump! Jump! Jump! Jump! 128 But deep inside, where the peace was, where his mind wasn’t, he would not jump. He would walk back down. 129 No! No, no, no! 130 Vinny eased down and fingered up some mud and made a cross on his chest, big and bold. He grabbed a leaf, stuck it in his mouth. Be calm, be calm. Don’t look down. 131 After a long pause he spit the leaf out and rubbed the cross to a blur. The Ravine 245  MAKE INFERENCES 132 They walked out of the ravine in silence, Starlene, Joe-Boy, Annotate: In paragraphs and Mo far ahead of him. They hadn’t said a word since he’d 132–133, mark words that indicate come down off the trail. He knew what they were thinking. how the group leaves the ravine. He knew, he knew, he knew. Infer: What does this suggest 133 At the same time the peace was still there. He had no idea about the group and how they what it was. But he prayed it wouldn’t leave him now, prayed feel about Vinny? it wouldn’t go away, would never go away, because in there, in that place where the peace was, it didn’t matter what they thought. 134 Vinny emerged from the ravine into a brilliance that surprised him. Joe-Boy, Starlene, and Mo were now almost down to the road. 135 Vinny breathed deeply, and looked up and out over the island. He saw, from there, a land that rolled away like honey, easing down a descent of rich Kikuyu grass pasture-land, flowing from there over vast highlands of brown and green, then, finally, falling massively to the coast and flat blue sea. He’d never seen anything like it. 136 Had it always been here? This view of the island? 137 He stared and stared, then sat, taking it in. 138 He’d never seen anything so beautiful in all his life. ESSENTIAL QUESTION: TURN AND TALK How do you find Rank each of the story’s four main characters according to courage in the face how much you like or dislike each one. Then, turn to a partner of fear? and discuss your rankings. Whom do you most like and why? Whom do you dislike and why? © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company Image Credits: ©Marisa Estivill/Shutterstock Review your notes and add your thoughts to your Response Log. 246 UNIT 3 COLLABORATE & COMPARE