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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why can't Mother use the phone?
(a) They need change.
(b) Someone has cut the line.
(c) They forgot to pay the phone bill.
(d) It is downstairs.

2. What item of his mother's clothes does Thurber put on before he speaks to the police?
(a) Her dressing gown.
(b) Her blouse.
(c) Her sweater.
(d) Her bra.

3. What kind of car do the family own?
(a) A cadillac.
(b) A station wagon.
(c) A mini.
(d) An REO.

4. Why does Aunt Melissa think she is destined to die on South High Street?
(a) She was born there.
(b) She saw a dead body there.
(c) She had a car accident there.
(d) She had a stroke there.

5. Why did Thurber's father decide to sleep in the attic?
(a) So he could think.
(b) So he could read.
(c) So he could get away from his wife.
(d) So he could watch the stars.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Father think will one day happen to the REO?

2. What is the name of the street the Thurbers are living on in this section?

3. What is the name of the town Thurber struggles to recall?

4. What does Thurber say lasts for two hours?

5. What does Roy pretend to be suffering from when he shouts in his father's ear?

Short Essay Questions

1. How do the family have to start the old REO?

2. Describe how the family erupts into chaos in the first chapter.

3. What does Aunt write that she observed from the flood?

4. How does Father react to Thurber coming into his room at 3 am?

5. How does Thurber reassure Briggs?

6. How did people react to the claim the dam had burst?

7. Why does Mother oppose Father sleeping in the attic?

8. What does Thurber say about earthquakes in this chapter?

9. How did the town react to their mistake about the burst dam?

10. How does Roy scare his father?

(see the answer keys)

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