Shoofly Pie PDF

NAOMI SHIHAB NYE On our way somewhere we sat at this table-- wood clear-varnished, a design to hold the days: two people talking toward the center; candlelight on eac...

NAOMI SHIHAB NYE On our way somewhere we sat at this table-- wood clear-varnished, a design to hold the days: two people talking toward the center; candlelight on each face... -William Stafford 1 Mattie cou dn't elieve she dropped the giant honey jar on the floor the a\yze ~~~\suals moment the boss entered the kitchen after his overseas trip. Have you ever Examine the photograp~- watched a gallon of honey ooze into a slow-motion golden dance around a What details help you mound of broken glass? form a mental Image ' 1 It might have looked glorious if she hadn't been the one who dropped it. of the story's setting. The boss stared at her with his deep eyes, his mouth wide open. "And you... must be... ?" he asked. 0 Targeted Passage A secret voice in her head replied, The idiot. The donkey. But her real voice said, "The person they hired while you were out of town." Then she said, ''I'm 10 so sorry-I'm also very sorry about your father," and knelt down. ou cou n t exact y use a desire co stick both her hands into it. Or, she might faint. Having never fainted before, she always imagined it as a way to escape a difficult scene. That, or going to the bathroom. "Excuse me," she'd said, many other times in her life. "I'll be right back." At her own mother's funeral recently, she'd spent a lot of time in the bathroom with her 1. WIiiiam Stafford (1914-1993): an American poet who wrote about the dally concerns of people. 184 UNIT 2 : C HARACTER D EV E LOPM E NT  forehead pressed against the cool tiles. She felt safe, removed from the grief of what was waiting for her back in the world. D D CONNECT In this case, a huge mess to clean up, and twelve sprouty salads to make, Reread lines ,-,a · 8ased 20 pronto. 2 A bouquet of orders hung dipped to the silver line strung over on your e>cperiences, do ~e window between nhe kitchen and the dining room. She could peek out mto you find Mattie's reactJ to her accident beJi.... bon the happier part of the restaurant , the eating domain, where regular people Why or why not? -.a le1 · with purses and backpacks and boyfriends were waiting for their lunches. How had she gotten into this? Long ago, before her mother was diagnosed with cancer, when she still thought she just had migraine headaches , Mattie offered to make dinner by herself. She was twelve. During the whirl of washing lettuce, hulling fresh peas, stirring spagheni sauce, and lighting the oven to heat the bread, she'd managed to pull down from the wall the giant shelf over the stove that held 30 matchboo ks, tea, boxes, spice jars, recipes, birthday candles, half-empt y sacks of Arabic coffee, yellowed grocery lists, vitamins, and her mother's favorite cabbage teapot with a china rabbit for a lid. One ear broke off the rabbit and chips of china fell into the spagheni pot. Her mother came into the kitchen with a wet rag over her head to see what was happening. Mattie should have known she was destined for disaster. Today the boss squatted beside her. She felt comfortable to be in the presence of another American-of-Arab-descent, but it didn't seem the right moment to mention it. She'd seen his name on the mail that came in his absence. Despite her clumsiness , he was smiling and mild. "Thank you," he 40 said. "My father was a good man. As for the honey, I think I'll get one of those big scoops we use in the cooler and take care of it myself. Why don't you go back to what you were doing? Don't worry about it!" O 0 CHARACTER TRAITS She stared after him. What a nice voice! Relieved, she turned back to the What words would you counter to sprinkle sunflower seeds and shaved cheese over the bowls of lettuce use to describe Mattie's... and there was the empty honey bear sirring with its hat off, waiting for her boss? to refill it for the waitress who had shoved it ar her-Matt ie would suggest the waitresses take care of such details themselves from now on. Two weeks ago she'd never even thought about being a cook in a restaurant and now she was ready ro help run the place. so The boss could have fued her. Some bosses were mean. She'd heard about them from her parents over the years. Bur suddenly she wanted chis job very much. She needed ir. She needed the money, bur even more, she needed distraction. It was too B CONNECT hard to be home by herself for the summer since her mother had died the first Recall a time when yOJJ week of June. Her fa;her was at work all d~y long until suppercime. Three days did something to distract · ful I after the funeral , she d gonen on a bus co nde downtown ro the library and in Yourself from pa in· ht a l her distraction , had gotten off too early. She saw the Good for You &staura~ t thoughts. Why mig. staring her in the face. a restaurant 1·ob be a gooa. I distraction for Mattu~ · That'swh ar sh~ n~eded. Something rhar was good for her. &o So she stepped ms1de for a late lunch. After ordering an avocado sandwich 2. pronto (pr1Sn't 6): promptly. 186 UN IT 2: CHAllACTE R D EVELOPMEN T FOR STRUGGLING READERS Start a Timeline Because not all of the sto ry FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS  with cheese , she'd asked the waitress, '' Do you like wo rking h ere?'' It was.t cozy enviro nmen r. La rge, abstra ct painti ngs, mism atc h ed ch airs, rea l fl owe rs ( ~&MMO., H tORE L4c in ~eraini c vases o n each table. Ceilin g fans, soft jazz playin g. Lang uage Coach T he waitre ss sighed a nd shrugged. llbott and AffiHS A Matt ie asked, " D o you get to ear for free?" root is a word part that "Sure. But who n eeds food ? I' m not hungry. Yo u get sick o f food may contain the core w hen vou hauJ it a ro w1d all day." Sh e whisp ered , "Anyw ay, I'm too meaning of a word. in love tu think ~bout food." The Latin root tract means "to pull or draw." "W ith w ho?" (Matt ie wo ndered wh y, w hen someo n e else whisp ered , you Reread llnes 62-63. -l whispe red back.) What do you t hink "T he guy who washe s dish es. Augie. lf you go to t he restroo m absttatt means? (Hint: , you ca n see him throug h the d oo rway. He has long blond h air and an earrin ob- mea ns "away.") Use g." Who didn' t h ave a n ea rring, these days? Even m en who looked like M attie's a dictionary to verify father had an earrin g. your an$w er. So she walke d back to the restroo m just to see the love interes t of a person sh e didn 't even know , to distrac t hersel f fro m he r own t ho ughts. T he dishwash er looked bubbl y and clean in his white apro n. As if h e wash ed himsel f betwee n dish es. Slicked up and soapy. H e grinned at M attie whe n h e caught her glance. so " H e's cute ," M attie whisp ered to the waitress, upon her return. Sh e o rde red a bowl of fresh peach cobble r. S he 'd barely eaten in days. e p ro em wit 1 w o r mg 1ere rig t now , c e w aitress sait , is- we re so shorthanded. J o hnny' s rhe main cook, but his grand pa died in AJaba ma, a nd he went over to help his grand ma o ut two weeks ago. Plus, o ur boss Ri yad was called to Beirut sudde nly fo r his father 's fun eral- everyo ne is d ying! Riyad 's great, he hel ps o ut ln the kitch en when h e's h ere. But witho ut chem both , it's a nighrm are! Riyad thoug ht we neede d an ex tra cook even before everybo d y left. Do yo u kno w an yb o d y who'd like to be a cook?" Fueled by h er cobble r, Mattie was a dange r co society. Plus, if everyo ne was 90 bereaved in this place, sh e'd fit right in. " I wo uld." " Do you h a ve expe rien ce?" 0 Targeted Passage "Of co urse! " Who didn'r? She'd been in ve nting sa ndwic hes and slicing elcgam strips o f celery fo r years. Sh e m ad e quick stir-f rys for h er parents and super- Fren ch - toas t o n the weeke nds. She'd o ft e n m ad e her m o th er's sack lunches as well as h er own- h er m o rher had taught al a M o ntesso ri schoo l where sh e h ad to h eal up twenty little ora nge co nt.ain ers in t he micro wave al lunchr ime every d ay. N o ne of her studen ts ate pea nut butter anym o re, she i.aid- they at e c urries, casser oles, and co nilla sou p. ani e eve n rea cuo , oo rhe d ay she resigned. She had too much work to do at school now to keep o n working here. Plus, she was feeling steadie r. The restaurant had been Good for H er in all the ways it needed to be, and she could m ove o n. She co uld cook better dinne rs fo r her father at ho m e, with all her new experie nce. She co uld h ave dinne r parties for his friends. 47,i Ir s oc e er ow Jo nny responded ro the news o her d epartu re. He shook his head and said, " No, no , nu, baby, " as if she were a li ttle dog at his feet. O C:, STATIC AND "Wh at d o you m ea11, no no no? Yes yes yes! I have ho m ewo rk piling u p DYNAMIC CHARACTERS o n m e. I have a m ajor paper to do that I have n' t eve n started! M y dad a nd I Dynamic characters haven 't eve n cleaned o ur ho m e since my mom died. I'll miss this place terrihly, undergo some sort of unfuld, b uc hey, I'll still co m e in a nd eat! And maybe you 'll go to another movie change as as t ory In what ways has Johon som ed ay and ler m e tag alo ng, wha1 do you say?" Jo hnny stared at her. H e'd been m aking Sh ouAy Pie o n his own lately- changed over the cou~;, f the story? c,tespe,: good thin g, beca use everyo ne still ordned it. Ri yad a nd his wi fe p rese nted o. t stio wo rds or details " M aui e wirh a mixed bunch o f happy looking Howers a nd a ca rd: "This is your th is chc1nge. ho m e now, wo!!! W e lo ve and app reciate you- free lunch a ny time!" J o hnny Targeted passao"e 4Ho kissed her, first time ever, o n the to p or he r righr ear. H e r mothe r used to kiss he r there. 0.., 198 IIN I I 2: I II A R At. l l: R ll l:.Vh l 01'"1 1::N I