Summarizing Sentences
Ira, one of the boys in our all-Creek gang, swears that the uniform his older brother was issued when he was here five years ago had a bullet hole in it.
I line up proper. Back still, eyes straight. I don't twitch a muscle.
Cal lines up and doesn't move at all.
"I didn't drink any water before climbing into my cot, so I don't need to use the latrine down the hall."
Use context clues to figure out the meaning of latrine
A latrine is a toliet
What is the name of the school Cal attends?
Challagi
Some of those white-looking Indian kids grew up thinking of themselves as Indians, maybe even speaking some of the language.
Some of the students with white skinned identify as Indian and speak Indian languages.
My plan is to get out of Challagi as soon as Pop gives me the okay. The sooner the better.
Cal wants to leave school and meet up with Pop.
“Grasshopper is the narrow faced boy in Bear Meat’s gang who is always chewing on something then spitting it out. As we left class, he ejected from his mouth a piece of the eraser he’s just gnawed off his pencil.”
Use context clues to figure out the meaning of ejected and gnawed
ejected- spit out
gnawed- chewed
What kind of school is Challagi?
Challagi is an Indian boarding school.
Teaching for Mr. Mallett (the geography teacher) just means coming to class each day, taking the role, saying a word or two, and then spending the rest of his time sucking his mustache and reading cheap magazines.
Mr. Mallet, doesn't do any teaching. He just reads his magazines.
The teacher asked a question, but was met by silence. No one was raising a hand. Way different from my old white schools where those who knew an answer would just about be dislocating their arms waving to get the teacher's attention.
“The big ring the HD wears on his right hand glinted as it caught the light of the rising sun.”
Use context clues to figure out the meaning of glinted
glinted= gliterred or shone
Who are Cal's friends at school?
Bear meat, etc.
Possum and me and a dozen other boys are riding the back of the school wagon sent in to town to pick up harness shop supplies.
Cal and some other students are riding in the back of a wagon to town.
Mr. Pond is the math teacher here at Challagi. He's a big horse-faced man. In the classroom where he's supposed to be teaching, he hardly looks at any of us. Instead, at the start of each class, he writes a bunch of problems on the board. "Do these," he says in his deep sarcastic voice. "Though I doubt any of you dummies can." Then he sits down, closes his eyes, and goes to sleep until just before the bell rings.
Mr. Pond, the math teacher, doesn't teach any math. He just calls the student dummies and then falls asleep.
If I hadn’t promised Pop to stay I’d be headed for the nearest train station right now. I’d be on the first fast freight, a hundred miles gone before they knew I was missing.
Use context clues to figure out the meaning of freight.
freight=train
What is different or special about Cal?
He has visions.
My behavior since I've been here has been so good that I have hardly any demerits at all.
Cal has had good behavior and has hardly gotten in trouble at all.
“I had cloth bandages wrapped around both hands. But it didn’t prevent me from having to keep on working.”
Students have to keep working even if they are hurt.
“I’ve never owned a photo of Pop. I don’t need one. All I need to do is close my eyes to see his kind face in front of me. But so far I’ve not been able to “see” what he’s doing or about to do. That gift of mine of precognition- sort of viewing the future- only kicks in rarely.”
Use context clues to figure out the meaning of precognition.
precognition= seeing the future
What's one thing that surprise Cal about school?
- students who are white get made fun of