Words from the Past, Part 1

Words from the Past, Part 1

Words from the Past, Part 1
Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 6 to 7
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	4.61

Vocabulary

challenging words:

silica, faintly, tends, drizzle, uncomfortable, itself, fell, action, report, uniform, access, especially, rectangular, fight, dull, being

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Words from the Past, Part 1
By Mary Lynn Bushong

¹     Henry looked out of his bedroom window. The steady drizzle of rain and the occasional flash of lightning precluded his being able to go outside. He hated fall days like this, especially when they fell on Saturday. It was cold enough to make getting wet really uncomfortable, yet not cold enough to snow. Playing outside while it snowed was vastly different from playing in the rain.

²     Henry was restless. He needed to do something. Perhaps he could call Javier and see what he had planned.

³     On his way to phone his friend, Henry poked his head inside the kitchen where his mother was working.

⁴     "Mom," he asked, "would you mind if I called Javier? I'm bored, and he might have some ideas for things we can do."

⁵     "Before you do that, Henry," said Mom, "didn't you say something about a report that was due next week, for Veteran's Day?"

⁶     "Aw, Mom," complained Henry, "I didn't want to work on that today. I need to have some time to relax and take it easy."

⁷     "I would prefer that you relaxed after the report was done. Besides," she added, "I thought of something you could use that might set it apart from everyone else's. Come on, let me show you."

⁸     Henry's mother led him downstairs into the basement. It was dark on bright days and even darker this day. Mom flipped on the lights at the top of the steps, but the few fixtures could not fight back the darkness effectively. It was not a place Henry went willingly alone. The place gave him the creeps.

⁹     Mom led the way to a back corner where an old trunk had resided undisturbed since it had been deposited there years before. It was a heavy, wooden trunk with wide leather straps to hold it shut. Dull brass locks hung open, making access to the trunk itself easy.

Paragraphs 10 to 17:
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