WORD LISTS"Two Roads" by Joseph Bruchac, Chapters 12–17Sat May 04 11:55:46 EDT 2024
By Vocabulary.com (NY)
 While his father is on a campaign to pressure Congress and President Hoover to deliver bonus payments owed to veterans of the Great War, twelve-year-old Calvin Blackbird must fight his own battles at a federal agricultural Native American boarding school in Oklahoma.
Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–4, Chapters 5–11, Chapters 12–17, Chapters 18–22, Chapters 23–30   
cadence
HUP, TWO, THREE, FOUR.
That cadence is being counted by the officer walking beside them, watching with an eagle eye to make sure no one is out of step.
attire
At first they look the same. All in military attire, hair cut short, caps low on their foreheads.
complexion
Only their brown faces suggest they’re Indian. Though I see some among them whose skins are as pale as a white man. Plus a few whose complexions are as dark as a Negro’s.
dignitary
Some of the men in suits look as dignified as foreign dignitaries.
maneuver
Some of the squads of marching boys and young men are performing intricate maneuvers. The youngest ones, who had made some pretty obvious missteps as they passed, have now halted.
catcall
There’s also a fair amount of shouting from the girl students. Not exactly shouting, though. They’re making an echoing sort of call. It’s nothing like the catcalls or sarcastic hooting I’ve heard from the stands during the few baseball games I’ve seen.
wholesome
“I wish to welcome you all here today to see this fine display of discipline and wholesome competition, principles that Challagi attempts to ingrain in our boys and girls as we mold them to meet a world so different from that in which their savage forebears lived.”
forebear
“I wish to welcome you all here today to see this fine display of discipline and wholesome competition, principles that Challagi attempts to ingrain in our boys and girls as we mold them to meet a world so different from that in which their savage forebears lived.”
fraternize
They may try to keep the boys and girls apart. All sorts of rules and penalties if you’re caught fraternizing. But we’d still find ways to get together.
impassive
The girls retreat to their seats, but not without quite a few of them glancing over their shoulders at particular boys—all of whom are attempting to look impassive.
vigorously
Superintendent Morrell holds out his arms, grasping Pop’s elbow with his left hand as he vigorously shakes with his right.
assume
“Young man,” he says, “am I correct in assuming your father has brought you here to join us? Although it is...” his voice takes on a teasing tone “...far from the start of the regular school year?”
conjecture
Mints, I think.
My conjecture is proven right away. He reaches into his coat pocket, extracts a red-striped lump, shucks off the cellophane, and pops the candy into his mouth.
acquit
“Answering the call of duty to one’s country cannot be called running away. Rather running to. From what I heard, you acquitted yourself quite well as a soldier, William.”
subsidize
As your son, an enrolled member of the Creek Nation, there’s no question that the government will subsidize him.
shorn
“Ready to get shaved like a sheep?”
He studies my face as he says that. Looking to see if I show any signs of anxiety about being shorn like Samson in the Bible story.
moniker
“Okay. But that’s not what any but the teachers call me. Possum. That’s my moniker. Possum.”
condemn
I follow behind like a condemned man being led to the gallows.
gallows
I follow behind like a condemned man being led to the gallows.
clipped
Her voice is as sharp as her features. Clipped, precise. Almost mechanical.
infirmary
Every object in here, medical things for which I do not know the names, seems hard and cold. Being an infirmary, this is where people get fixed up when they’re hurt.
inoculation
If this nurse gave me a smallpox inoculation she’d probably scrape a hole to the bone.
typhoid
“Typhoid,” she says, picking up a syringe with a needle on it big enough to kill a bull.
pry
“Open your mouth.”
I do, but not fast enough or wide enough to avoid her grabbing my chin and prying it down as she shoves in a stained, flat wooden stick to depress my tongue.
tuberculosis
“Good. Lungs clear. No tuberculosis to share with the other boys and girls.”
registrar
She puts down the card, taps it again with her pencil. “This is not my job,” she says. “But the school registrar is away this weekend. So I am filling in.”
hack
Getting my hair hacked off and needles stabbed in me was no picnic.
taciturn
And the answer is that I’ve never been overly talkative. Most times, I’d rather listen. However, over the last couple of days I have been much more—what was that word I read in my dictionary? Taciturn. That’s it. I’ve been taciturn ever since Pop sprung it on me that he was Creek Indian.
trudge
The fifty cents the cowboy gave me plus a few I’ve picked up off the ground as we traveled. I’ve always kept my eye out for the glint of metal as Pop and I have trudged along.
abide
“That medal,” he says, “you need to keep safe. Not from the other boys, mind you. We don’t abide no sneak thieves. Especially in our gang which is all made up of straight shooters. It’s more from some of those who run this place. Leave something like this around, it’ll vanish like snow on a sunny day.”
passel
The cavity isn’t quite large enough for a person to fit in, but it’s plenty big to hold a passel of interesting-looking objects. Different shapes and sizes, all are wrapped in leather or cloth.
drawl
“Jay Bird,” he drawls, “you’re the first I’ve showed this to.”
marooned
But I’m not going to be isolated here at this Indian school. Marooned on a desert island like Robinson Crusoe.
tendril
Some of its branches are as big around as tree limbs. It’s fastened itself firm, tendrils digging in like fingers into the stone and wood.
benighted
“You already appear much more civilized, young man. A lad of this century and not the benighted long-haired past. Next we shall rid you of those rags. Get you into proper clothes.”
facility
I assume you are impressed with our facilities. Especially the addition of the washrooms down the hall.
traipse
No longer must our lads traipse outdoors to use the outhouse as they did during your father’s tenure with us.
tenure
No longer must our lads traipse outdoors to use the outhouse as they did during your father’s tenure with us.
adieu
“Adieu, then.”
He strides away, leaving us standing there.
imposing
The two of us stand side by side, looking out over the broad lawn that stretches in front of the big imposing buildings of the school.
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