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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What instrument does the narrator cite when describing how "the misbeats of [her] heart tailed off" (24)?
(a) Trumpet.
(b) Xylophone.
(c) Saxophone.
(d) Flute.

2. After the incident with a neighbor's housemaid, what did the man and woman's housemaid beg them to do?
(a) Move to the country.
(b) Install burglar bars and an alarm system.
(c) Get a gun.
(d) Give her a raise.

3. What does the narrator describe as "finely tuned" in the night?
(a) One's senses.
(b) The universe.
(c) Her piano.
(d) Machinery.

4. What did thieves do to "somebody's trusted housemaid" (26) after the city riots were suppressed?
(a) Stabbed her.
(b) Made her tell them where all the family jewelry was.
(c) Kidnapped her.
(d) Tied her up and shut her in a cupboard.

5. What does the husband do to assuage his wife's fears that people from the city might intrude on their home in the suburbs?
(a) He buys her a gun.
(b) He has electronically-controlled gates installed.
(c) He buys them a house in the country.
(d) He adds padlocks to their doors.

6. What did the old widower who was murdered have to protect him?
(a) Security guards.
(b) Guns.
(c) Fierce dogs.
(d) An electronic alarm system.

7. How was the plaque meant to indicate that the property owner was not racist?
(a) It said "All Are Welcome."
(b) It depicted a Black hand holding a white hand.
(c) It contained a peace sign.
(d) The man was masked so you could not tell if he was Black or white.

8. What is the narrator's house built atop?
(a) Burial grounds.
(b) Undermined ground.
(c) A garbage dump.
(d) Stilts.

9. Who is the author of "Once Upon a Time"?
(a) Nadine Gordimer.
(b) Grace Newsom.
(c) Nadia Golen.
(d) Nancy Greer.

10. Where did the man and woman get the plaque that said "YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED" (25) when they first began their life together?
(a) The Neighborhood Watch.
(b) The woman's father.
(c) The man's mother.
(d) A local gift-shop.

11. What does the narrator stare at in her bed as she listens to the sounds in her house?
(a) Her reflection in the mirror.
(b) Her gun.
(c) The door.
(d) The floor.

12. What does someone tell the narrator she should write for an upcoming anthology?
(a) A thriller.
(b) A children's story.
(c) A screenplay.
(d) A poem.

13. Where does the story the narrator tells herself take place?
(a) An apartment in the city.
(b) A condo by the ocean.
(c) A house in the suburbs.
(d) A house in the country.

14. What begins to happen once the riots in the city are suppressed?
(a) People in the suburbs become less fearful.
(b) Burglaries in the suburbs increase.
(c) People in the suburbs move to the city.
(d) People in the city move to the suburbs.

15. What reason does the narrator give for the casual laborer murdering an old widower?
(a) The widower would not give the laborer a raise.
(b) The laborer was dismissed without pay.
(c) The laborer wanted the old man's antique clocks.
(d) The old man was a callous employer.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why was the swimming pool in the tale fenced in?

2. Why did the neighborhood alarms often go unanswered after many had them installed?

3. How are the people in the narrator's story said to be living at the start of her tale?

4. According to the narrator's tale, under what conditions were people who lived in the city allowed in the suburbs?

5. Who lives in the home the narrator describes at the start of her story?

(see the answer keys)

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