2. When Lucien is in the gallery imagining that he is with Charlie, what does he promise her?
(a) He will try to think more kindly about Rose and Isaac.
(b) He will find another woman to love and be happy again.
(c) He will put more energy into the gallery.
(d) He will find another apartment for Nathaniel.

3. How are Nathaniel and Lucien related?
(a) Nathaniel is Lucien's nephew by marriage.
(b) Nathaniel is Lucien's brother's son.
(c) Nathaniel is Lucian's cousin's son.
(d) Nathaniel is Lucian's son-in-law.

4. What ridiculous detail does Nathaniel give in his description of the last months of 1999?
(a) Celebrity clairvoyants making wild predictions in the tabloids.
(b) Cults announcing that aliens would come to Earth at midnight on New Year's Eve.
(c) Preppers sealing their families into shelters underground.
(d) Businesses desperately trying to teach their staffs how to do math without computerized cash registers.

5. What does Nathaniel do with his spare time that his parents find worrisome?
(a) Skateboards.
(b) Draws comics.
(c) Goes rock climbing.
(d) Sings in a band.

6. What does Lucien end up saying to his assistant on page 8 when he wants to give her a piece of advice?
(a) "Don't feel sad."
(b) "Don't worry."
(c) "Don't believe everything you hear."
(d) "Don't bother about the phones."

7. What do Rose and Isaac ask Lucien to do when he calls Nathaniel after Nathaniel arrives in New York?
(a) Not tell Nathaniel that they asked Lucien to call.
(b) Find Nathaniel a place to live.
(c) Get Nathaniel a job.
(d) Tell Nathaniel to go back home.

8. Which of the possible consequences of a global computer failure that Nathaniel mentions could be considered foreshadowing?
(a) The idea that hospitals might not be able to monitor patients.
(b) The idea that airplanes might lose their guidance systems and crash.
(c) The idea that people might be trapped in high-rise elevators.
(d) The idea that widespread food shortages might occur.

9. After Charlie became ill, what did Lucien feel was happening to the world?
(a) It was melting away into nothing.
(b) It was burning down around him.
(c) It was all turning into paper.
(d) It was shattering like broken glass.

10. What does Nathaniel suggest that people might be desperate enough to burn in the wake of a global computer failure?
(a) Their designer clothing and shoes.
(b) Their children's elementary school artwork.
(c) Their old issues of the New York Review.
(d) Stacks of money.

11. Besides their minimal rent, what task are Nathaniel and his roommates performing in exchange for a place to live?
(a) They take care of Matsumoto's cats.
(b) They sort through and forward Matsumoto's mail.
(c) They collect the rent from Matsumoto's other tenants.
(d) They are repainting the loft.

12. Of all of the things that Nathaniel can see from Matsumoto's loft, which is most important to him?
(a) The Empire State Building.
(b) The Statue of Liberty.
(c) The World Trade Center.
(d) The Chrysler Building.

13. From the story's context, when must Charlie have died?
(a) In the year 2003.
(b) Before the year 2000.
(c) In the year 2000.
(d) Shortly after the September 11th attack.

14. What does Nathaniel say that ceremonial occasions remind us about?
(a) That we should love one another.
(b) That life is unpredictable.
(c) That time only moves in one direction.
(d) That ideas are bigger than any one person.

15. Where did Nathaniel meet Madison, Amity, and Lyle?
(a) At his first job in New York.
(b) In college.
(c) In high school.
(d) At a bar near Matsumoto's loft.