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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What information was affixed to some of the security walls of people's houses in the suburbs?
(a) The company who installed them.
(b) The local police number.
(c) Who to call in case of emergency.
(d) The local homeless shelter.

2. What is the gardener doing as he walks back to the house at the end of the story?
(a) Yelling.
(b) Weeping.
(c) Laughing.
(d) Crawling.

3. What does the boy pretend the serrated metal coils are at the end of the story?
(a) A thicket of thorns.
(b) A xylophone.
(c) A ladder.
(d) A secret fortress.

4. Why did the man and the woman not hire any of the people from the city who came seeking jobs?
(a) They had been warned by his mother not to take anyone in off the street.
(b) They could not afford to pay anyone else.
(c) They had no resumes.
(d) They did not need any extra help.

5. Why did owners of suburban homes particularly mourn when the intruders drank their single malt scotch?
(a) They felt the intruders were unable to appreciate what they were drinking.
(b) They did not make that kind anymore.
(c) It was too expensive to replace.
(d) They usually saved it for a special occasion.

6. Why did the wife suggest they build a higher wall around their house?
(a) She worried her son would climb over their current wall.
(b) Her husband suggested that someone might still be able to climb in.
(c) She wanted their wall higher than their neighbors.
(d) She wanted it to block out the sun.

7. Why did people in the city begin spending time in the suburbs even if they were not housemaids or gardeners?
(a) They had friends in the suburbs.
(b) They were looking for work.
(c) Their kids were bussed there for school.
(d) They were waiting for families to leave so they could rob them.

8. What did the husband tell his wife she was doing by giving things to the city people who came to the suburbs?
(a) Wasting their money.
(b) Embarrassing him.
(c) Helping them.
(d) Encouraging them.

9. What happens "after the first fixing of [the metal fencing's] razor teeth at the end of the story?
(a) The boy's body is entangled.
(b) The dog's body is entangled.
(c) The cat's body is entangled.
(d) The alarm goes off.

10. In addition to taken items from homes, what did the suburban intruders do in the homes?
(a) Napped.
(b) Had parties.
(c) Read.
(d) Ate and drank.

11. How are the coils the man and woman have installed around their wall described when the workmen are putting them in?
(a) Serrated and stinging.
(b) Razor-bladed.
(c) Sharp as a knife.
(d) Fierce and cutting.

12. Where did the cat sleep after the serrated metal coils were installed?
(a) The kitchen.
(b) The man and woman's bed.
(c) The garden.
(d) The boy's bed.

13. What is described as the "low-cost option" neighbors used to secure their homes?
(a) Getting guard dogs.
(b) Broken glass embedded in cement on the tops of walls.
(c) Setting booby traps.
(d) Getting stickers with security company's names on them.

14. What did the man and woman see outside while they were discussing the latest armed robbery one night?
(a) A neighbor's car get stolen.
(b) Their son sneaking off with a stranger.
(c) The cat effortlessly climb over the wall.
(d) Someone sneaking around their garden.

15. What is it said would happen if someone tried to get through the tunnel of the security fence the man and woman installed?
(a) The alarm would go off.
(b) They would get electrocuted.
(c) They would get suffocated.
(d) They would get entangled in its fangs.

Short Answer Questions

1. What gifts did the man's mother give the little boy for Christmas the year they built a higher wall?

2. How is the housemaid described at the end of the story as she walks back to the house?

3. Who is the first to find the boy at the end of the story?

4. What did the housemaid say to the woman who hung about the suburbs looking for work?

5. At the end of the story, what is the coil tunnel said to be "just wide enough for" (30)?

(see the answer keys)

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