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“BB”
Reading Comprehension – Short Stories
Directions: Read the story. Then answer the questions below.
When I was about 12-years-old, my older brother, James, smuggled
a BB gun into the house.
I’m not quite sure where he got it. This was in 1938, during the Great Depression.
He must have bartered for it with one of his friends.
Having any form of weaponry in our home was strictly taboo.
James brought me to his room and took the BB gun out of a shoebox in his
closet. I was immediately enamored. He let me touch it and walk with it around
the room. I fingered the trigger.
“Can I shoot it, Jamesie?” I asked, hopefully.
“No way,” James said, taking it from me and putting it back into its covert spot.
I forgot about it for a while, but one day, when no one was home, I went into
James' closet and took it out.
For some unknown reason, I went to the front window of the second floor in our
row house. I cracked the window open. I pointed the gun outside and shot. I
quickly shut the window and peaked outside.
In a matter of seconds, old Mr. Schlosberg came out of his grocery store. He
looked back at his store window. He looked up the street. He looked down the
street. Then he looked straight across to our house. He could tell from the
trajectory just where that shot had come from. He knew someone in our house
was the culprit.
I ran back to James' room to return the gun and then sat downstairs, waiting
nervously for someone to get home. Thankfully, Jamesie made it home before
Mother or Father.
As he stepped through the door, I could hear old Mr. Schlosberg call his name.
“James, James,” he called. “Come here, son.”
I crept to look out the door and saw Mr. Schlosberg pointing feverishly at our
house (up to the second floor window!) and then at his shop window. James ran
back across the street and into the living room. I had retreated into the kitchen.
“Alma!” he screamed. “Get out here! You cracked Mr. Schlosberg’s window with
my BB gun!”
“Oh, please, Jamesie,” I begged. “Don’t let him tell Mother. She will whip my
bottom real good!”
Jamesie sighed. He wiped my tears and went back across the street to Mr.
Schlosberg’s.
I don’t know what James said to that man, but there was never a mention of the
incident again. I didn't know how I got out of it, but I got out of it, and that was all
that mattered to me then. I was too self-absorbed to realize what a great brother I
had.
Years later, I found out Jamesie had used the money he got from his newspaper
route to pay for Mr. Schlosberg’s cracked window. He only got one cent for every
paper he delivered. He managed to pay the debt off just before he went off to
fight in World War II.
Since that day, I have never touched a gun. A BB gun, a water gun, a real gun,
or any other type.
Questions:
1) Which is the best reason the author 2) Which is the best antonym
may have included the detail of this for enamored?
story taking place during the Great
Depression? A. bored
B. generous
A. to let the reader know how old C. repulsed
the narrator is now D. scared
B. to let the reader know why guns
were taboo in the house
C. to let the reader know that World
War II had not occurred yet
D. to let the reader know how
economically strained things
were
3) What does being “strictly 4) What does it mean to put something
taboo” suggest? in a covert place?
A. It is illegal. A. to put in the dark
B. It is forbidden. B. to put out of sight
C. It is incomprehensible. C. to put it in a secret place
D. Superstition surrounds it. D. to put in a hard-to-find spot
Questions (continued):
5) How did the incident seem to affect 6) A culprit is always...
Alma?
A. guilty.
▼Check all that are correct.
B. nervous.
□ It made her wary of guns.
C. obedient.
A. D. dangerous.
B. □ It made her appreciative of
her brother.
C. □ It made her sure her brother
would be a good soldier.
D. □ It made her trust her brother
more than her parents.
7) Which is the best definition 8) What did Alma seem most worried
for trajectory? about?
A. a bullet hole A. getting caught by her brother
B. a deep crack B. getting spanked by her mother
C. a path a projectile takes C. having to pay for the broken
D. a sound a gun makes when glass
firing D. hiding the gun before her
parents got home
9) What kind of brother does James 10) What kind of 12-year-old girl did
appear to be? Alma appear to be?
A. wealthy A. curious and selfish
B. irrational B. feisty and indignant
C. protective C. humble and loving
D. foolhardy D. reverent and respectful
Have you ever done something you regretted? Explain.
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