Possibility of Evil PDF

TH E PO SS IB IL IT Y E vi l Shir ley Jack son Miss Adela Strangeworch stepped daintily along Main Street on her...

TH E PO SS IB IL IT Y E vi l Shir ley Jack son Miss Adela Strangeworch stepped daintily along Main Street on her way to the grocery. The sun was shining, the air was fresh and clear Examine the portrait after the night's heavy rain, and everything in Miss Strangeworch's little town What Impression do looked washed and bright. Miss Strangeworch took deep breaths, and thought you have of the woman shown? Which dtuih char there was nothing in che world like a fragrant summer day. helped you form th11 She knew everyone in cown, of course; she was fond of telling strange rs- impression? rourisrs who sometim es passed through the town and stopped to admire Miss Strangew orch's roses-ch ar she had never spent more than a day outside chis town in all her long life. She was sevenry-one, Miss Strangeworth cold the 10 rourists, with a precry lirtle dimple showing by her lip, and she sometimes 0 Targeted Passage found herself chinking that the town belonged to her. "My grandfat her built the first house on Pleasant Street," she would say, opening her blue eyes wide with rhe wonder of it. "This house, right here. My family has lived here for better than a hundred years. My gran mot er p ante t ese roses, an my mor er ten e t em, just as I do. I've watched my town grow; I can remembe r when Mr. Lewis, Senior, opened the grocery store, and the year the river flooded our che shanties on the low road, and the excitement when some 1 II MAKE INFERfNCfS young folks wanted co move the park over to the space in front of where the How does Miss 2 new post office is today. They wanted to put up a statue of Ethan AJlen" - Strangeworth f~el 1,00 10 Miss Scrangeworch would frown a little and sound stern-"b ut it should have about the contrio~eto her family has ma been a starue of my grandfather. There wouldn't have been a town here at all if the town ? it hadn't been for my grandfather and the lumber mill." D II., 1. shanties (sh!!n'tez): roushly built cabins; shacks. Warner/III11' ir,fl"'I 1:11i, Ethan Allen: a Revolutionary War hero who led a group of soldier,, ca lled the M JChCIC I 1c.li' 2. Green Mountain Boys, from what Is now Vermont. 204 U NIT 2: C HARA C T P. R D P. VE LOPM l! NT - - - - - - - -- -- - ----- - of her roses, although the tourists Miss Stra nge won h never gave away any Pleasant Street, and it bothered Miss ofte n asked her. The roses belonged on into to carry chem away, to take them Stra nge won h to think of people wanting Wh en the new minister came, and the strange towns and dow n strange streets. e the church, Miss Strangeworth senc ladies were garhering flowers to decorat picked the roses at all, she set them in over a great basket of gladioli; when she se her grandfather had built. bowls and vases aro und the inside of the hou morning, Miss Strangeworth had 30 Walking dow n Main Sue et on a sum mer mo rnin g to someone or to ask after to stop every min ute or so to say good the grocery, half a dozen people turn ed someone's health. Wh en she came into to wave at her or call out away from the shelves and the counters 0 CHARAC TER goo d morning. O MOTIVATION is," Miss Strangeworch said at lase. "And good mo rnin g to you, too, Mr. Lew Why does Miss almost as lon g as the Strangeworchs; The Lewis family had been in the town Strangeworth take lllrP. ol and went to work in the grocery, to greet so many peoplt bur the day you ng Lewis left high scho him Tom my and started calling him Miss Strangeworth had stopped calling her Addie and started calling her Miss Mr. Lewis, and he had stopped calling e co picnics 40 Sua nge wor ch. The y had been in high school together, and had gon basketball games; but now Mr. Lewis together, and co high school dances and e and Miss Strangeworth was living alon was beh ind the cou nte r in the grocery, Street. in che Strangeworth house on Pleasant politely, "lovely day." "Good morning," Mr. Lewis said, and added said as though she had only just "It is a very nice day," Miss Strangeworth ld like a chop, please, Mr. Lewis, decided tha t ir would do after all. "I wou rries from An hur Parker's garden? a small, lean veal chop. Are those strawbe The y're early chis year.". Lewis said. "He bro ugh t chem in chis morning," Mr ch said. Mr. Lewis looked worried, she so "I shall have a box," Miss Strangewor (·... ~~MMOH CORE L5 but then she decided tha t he surely ~ tho ugh t, and for a min ute she hesitated, i,; ·n gua ge Coach s. He looked very tired indeed. He couJd nor be worried over the strawberrie Antonyms Sometim~ th thought, and almost com men ted, was usually so chipper, Miss Strangewor you can figure out. but it was far too personal a subject to be introduced to Mr. Lewis, the grocer, an unfamiliar word s and, I chink, a tomato." so she onl y said, "And a can of cat food meaning by analyzing on the cou nter and waited. Miss Its relat ionship to 0ther Silently, Mr. Lewis assembled her ord er then said, "It's Tuesday, Mr. Lewis. words. For example. Strangeworch looked at him curiously and a nearby word m Y 1 You forgot to remind me. " dearly be an antonyfl1, "Di d I? Sorry." or a word oppasite in buy my tea on Tuesday," Miss meaning. Reread Untl w "Imagine your forgerrjng chat I always nd of tea, please, Mr. Lew k" 52-53- What words,~or,· Stra.ngeworth said gently. "A quarter pou this pass age seem 1 "ls rhar alJ, Miss Srrangeworrh?" an antonym of chipper , isn' t it?" "Yes thank you, Mr. Lewis. Such a lovely day What do you th111 "Lovely," Mr. Lewis sa.id. chipper mea nsl e room for Mrs. Har per at the Miss Strangeworth moved slightly to mak said, and Miss Strangeworth said , cou nter. "Morning, Adela," Mrs. Harper "Go od mo rning, Ma nha. " UNI T 2 : C IIAR ACT E R 0 1'.VEL OPM ENT 206  nnn)1nrc· I I I ~Lovely day," Mrs. Harper said, and Miss Scrangewonh said, "Yes, lovely," and Mr. Lewis, under Mrs. Harper's glance, nodded. 7 "Ran our of sugar for my cake frosting," Mrs. Harper explained. Her hand shook slightly as she opened her pocketbook. Miss Suangeworth wondered, glancing at her quidcly, if she had been raking proper care of herself. Martha Harper was not as young as she used co be, Miss Srrangewonh thought. She probably could use a good, strong tonic. 3 "Martha," she said , "you don 't )c,ok well. " 'Tm perfeccly all right," Mrs. Harper said shortly. She handed her money B MAKE INFERENCES What can you infer to Mr. Lewi.s, cook her change and her sugar, and went out without speaking from the way Mrs. again. Looking after her, Miss Scrangeworrh shook her head slightly. Martha Harper reacts to Miss definitely did not look well. Cl Strangeworth'scomment? lln Carrying her liccle bag of groceries, Miss Scrangeworrh came our of che store into the bright sunlight and stopped to smile down on the Crane baby. Don and Helen C rane were really the rwo most infatuated young parents she had infatuated ever known, she choughr indulgently, looking ac the delicately embroidered (Tn-fach'oo-a't'fdl adj. intensely fond baby cap and the lace-edged carriage cover...Thar linle girl is goi ng rn grow up expecting luxury all her life," she said to Helen C rane. 3 tonle; a medkine fo< restoring and ,nergizing th, body. THE POSS IBILITY OF EVI L 207  Hden laughed. 'Thar's the way we wane her ro feel," she said. "Like a princess." "A princess can be a loc of trouble sometimes," Miss Strangeworrh said 90 dryly. "How old is her highness now?" "Six months next Tuesday," Helen Crane said, looking down with rapt rapt (rl!pt) adj. fully wonder at her child. "I've been worrying, though, about her. Don't you think absorbed; entranctd she ought co move around more? Try ro sit up, for instance?" "For plain and fancy4 worrying," Miss Strangeworch said, amused, "give me a new mother every rime." "She just seems-slow," Helen Crane said. "Nonsense. All babies are different. Some of chem develop much more quickly than ochers." 'That's what my mother says." Helen Crane laughed, looking a little bit 100 ashamed. "I suppose you've got young Don all upset about the fact that his daughter is already six months old and hasn't yet begun to learn to dance?" "I haven't mentioned it to him. I suppose she's just so precious chat I worry about her all the time." "Well, apologize ro her right now," Miss Strangeworth said. "She is probably worrying about why you keep jumping around all the time." Smiling to herself and shalcing her old head, she went on down the sunny street, stopping once co ask little Billy Moore why he wasn't out riding in his daddy's shiny new O Targeted Passage car, and talking for a few minutes outside the library with Miss Chandler, 110 the librarian, about the new novels to be ordered, and paid for by the annual library appropriation. Miss Chandler seemed absentminded and very much as though she were thinking about something else. Miss Strangeworch noticed that Miss Chandler had not taken much trouble with her hair that morning, and si ed. Miss Stran eworth hated slo iness. ID GJ EVALUATE '---~M ~an"'"- y _ pe _p o l -:-- e _ se m e_ _e-': ' d~d: is ":'_ u t_ rb -: _ d:-r-ec -e-: _ en~ y'- tl!--' , M ~ s ~i- - ~t-ran s-S g _ -ew r o_ h_ h-t..,.. t-=- u o_ gh __,, t...-. O _. _n l..., y_,_J ,... Reread lines 9ern4- Doti ' fift Id L'mda had run crying d own her own Miss Strangeworth sttm yesterday th e Stewarts I een-year-o like a reasonable person, front walk and all the way ro school, not caring who saw her. People around Explain your answer. town thought she might have had a fight with che Harris boy, but they showed up together ac the soda _shop after school as usual, both of them looking grim 120 and bleak. Trouble at home, people concluded, and sighed over the problems of trying to raise kids right these days. From halfway down the block Miss Strangeworth could catch the heavy scent of her roses, and she moved a little more quickly. The perfume of roses meant home, and home meant the Strangeworth House on Pleasant Street. Miss Strangeworth stopped at her own front gate, as she always did, and looked with deep pleasure at her house, with the red and pink and white roses massed along the narrow lawn, and the rambler5 going up along the porch; and the neat, the unbelievably trim lines of the house itself, with its slimness and its washed white look. Every window sparkled, every curtain hung stiff 4. plain and fancy: t:very kind of. S. rambler:.i rose pl.int that grows upward like a vine, by dinging to a support. 208 UNIT 2: C HARA CTE R DEVELOPMEN T DIFFERE NTIATED INSTRU CTION 1'01 ITIUGGLING IIADIII POI INGLIIH LANGUAGI LIAIINlis ~...____ ,._ _ _..... _ - :ires to p ~ su21ghr , and even che scones of the front walk were swepc and dear. O 0 GRA MMA5l AN D STYLE " k around cown wondered how old Miss Strangeworth managed to keep Reread lines 125-130. PtOhoUS('. looking che way ic did, and there was a legend about a tourist once Notice how the author ch~ng ir for the Joca.l mu.scum and going all ch.rough che place without uses modifiers such as ,~. pinlc, and whffe and ~ding our about his mistake. Bue the town was proud of Miss Scrangcworch un~lievably trim to and her roses and her house. They had all grown together. vividly describe the house Miss Suangeworch went up her from seeps, unlocked her front door and its surroundings. with her key, and went into the kitchen to put away her groceries. She debated having a cup of tea and then decided chat it was coo dose to midday d.innerrime; she would not have the appetite for her little chop if she had tea 140 now. Instead she went into the light, lovely sitting room, which still glowed from rhe hands of her mother and her grandmother , who had covered the chairs with bright chincz6 and hung the curtains. All the furniture was spare and shining, and the round hooked rugs on the floor had been the work of Miss Strangeworch 's grandmothe r and her mother. Miss Strangewort h had put a bowl of her red roses on the low cable before the window, and the room was full of their scent. Miss Scrangeworth went to the narrow desk in the corner, and unlocked ir with her key. She never knew when she might feel like writing letters, so ~alyze she kepc her notepaper inside, and the desk locked. Miss Strangewort h's "ll uaJa W hich details in this 1,0 usual stationery was heavy and cream-colore d, with "'Strangeworc h House" painting frt Jack.son's description of the 6. chintz: a colOf'ful printed cotton fabric. story's setting? 7'ht lfou1r ,,_,,,J n 'J n OJf'J ( l"J_ ~G)., , , H nri "" 1.c · ~idancr. Oil on unva.. l'riva1t Collcction. Phow © Visual Ans Libr ary/An Rcwuru N cw y or k.. THI'. 'OSS IBILITY OF l!VI L 209  engraved across th e top, b ut, wh en sh e felt like writ ing her oth er letters, Miss Stran eworth used a pad of various-colo f th local g red pap er, bou ght rom c _ _ h I al newspaper s op. t was most a tow. n J. oke that colored paper, layered m pmk ,. d and green and b Iue and ye11ow; everyon · town bou ght It an used it. c ror em... odd , informal notes and shopping lists. It was usual to rem ~k, upo n receivmg a not.e written on a blue page , that so-a nd-so would be nee dmg a new pa~ soo n-h ere she was down to the blue alre ady. Everyone used the mat chin g envelopes for tucki~g away recipes, or keep ing ~d little ~in gs in, or even to hold cookies in the school lunch boxes. Mr. Lewis som eum es gave chem to 160 the children for carrying home pen ny candy.. Alth ough Miss Strangeworth's desk held. a trim med qwl l pen , whi ch had belonged to her grandfather, and a gold-frost foun tain pen , whi ch ha~ belonged to her father, Miss Strangewor th always used a dull stub of pencil when she wrote her letters, and she prin ted chem in a childish block prin t. After thin king for a minute, although she had been phrasing the lette r in the back of her min d all the way home, she wrote on a pink sheet: DID N'T YO U EVER SEE AN IDI OT CH ILD BEFORE? SO ME PEO PLE JUS T SH OU LD N'T HAVE CH ILD REN , SHO She was pleased with the letter. She was UL D THEY? 0 Targeted Pas~; fond of doin g things exactly right. 170 Wh en she made a mist ake, as she sometimes did, or whe n the spaced nicely on the page, she had to take letters wer e not the discarded page to the kitc hen stove and bur n it at once. Miss Strangewor th never delayed whe n things had to be done. After thinking for a minute, she decided that she would like to writ e ano ther letter, perhaps to go to Mrs. Har per, to follow up the one s she had already mailed. She selected a green shee t this time and wro te quickly: HAVE YO U FO UN D OU T YET WH AT THE Y WE RE ALL IAU GH ING AB OU T AFTER YOU LEFT TH E BRI DG E CLUB ON THU RSD AY ? OR I~ TH E WIF E REALLY ALWAYS TH E LAST ON E TO KNOW? 1so Miss Strangeworth never concerned hers g MAKE INFERENCES elf with facts; her letters all What is Miss dealt with the more nqotiphlc stuff of suspicion. Mr. Lewis wou ld never Strangeworth have imagined for_a mi_oute that his gran dson might be lifting pett y cash7 suggesting in this le:tc , ' '' e> L"urmo,. Carl Schmalz., W. H.S. Watt'n:010 1 Courtesy of l'a111r la D yk..tra. T ll ll POSS llllLI T Y OP E VIi. 211  She broiled her little chop nicely. and had a sliced tomato and good cup of n o tea ready when she sat down to her midday dinner ac the table in her dining room, which could be opened to sear rwency-two, with a second table, if necessary, in the hall. Sitting in the warm sunlight that came through the tall windows of the dining room. seeing her roses massed outside, handling the heavy. old silverware and the fine, translucent china, Miss Strangeworth was tran,IU