WORD LISTS

"Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush" by Virginia Hamilton, Chapters 9–13

May 12, 2024
By Vocabulary.com (NY)Visual Thesaurus Moderator
At first sight on an Ohio street corner, almost-fifteen-year-old Teresa "Tree" Pratt falls in love with Brother Rush, before she realizes he is a ghost who has appeared to show her the past.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–4, Chapters 5–8, Chapters 9–13, Chapters 14–17
shaft
A shaft of light illuminated Dab.
bodice
She had on a sky-blue dress with lace at the bodice and wrists.
prance
Barefoot, she discovered cold places on the seat when she pranced up and down on the tips of her toes.
overwrought
The social would be topped off with a moonlight picnic. Long tables of food. Children so overwrought by night and starlight, they threw up the delicious floating-island dessert.
agitation
He slumped behind the wheel in a state of nerves and agitation.
contemplate
By this faint light, he contemplated his dim reflection in the mirror.
convulsive
Brother was falling out; leaning, leaning out. The father reached for him in a convulsive clutching, but his hand closed on thin air.
upholstery
She threw herself through the upholstery, through the trunk of the car.
frenzy
"Who! Who, un-huh?" he said in a frenzy of wild talking.
practically
Once Tree had had to get down on the floor and practically comb it to help M'Vy find her watch stem.
bureau
"Believe what you can or cain't feel. Feel under the chair. Feel behind the bureau. Sure's I'm me, we'll find something under or in back of."
thoroughly
She sounded tired, but she searched the room thoroughly.
rouse
She would gently rouse him and take his temperature.
mottled
Now and then Vy would touch Dab's arms or his neck; his hands. Hands that were scarred and mottled.
rivet
At once, he lifted his head again, his eyes riveted on her and his face contorted with pain.
threshold
There stood a man filling the whole space at the threshold.
hue
There was a red hue to his dark skin.
wryly
She could imagine the three of them together for all time, the way they say it in fairy tales. She smiled wryly to herself at the thought, for she knew better than to dream.
reverie
And yet she could not help herself as her mind slid easily away until she no longer understood what they were saying. She didn't even try as she swung into a warm reverie. She made up her own words and pictures to please herself.
promptly
Tree spoke promptly. She knew what Vy wanted her to say.
sobering
"But it the truth." Sobering. "Something, in health and sickness, down the line."
confines
Within the confines of never having a father and no mother present for most of the time, she had carved out a narrow life for the two of them.
wan
He turned his head slightly, grimacing. He managed a wan smile.
tenant
It was a safe building, with locked double doors, and only the tenants had keys.
facility
Got a good medical facility. I get jobs. Other medical centers all around. I get work.
vocational
They passed a large vocational training center.
loom
Through the window, she saw something looming out of pink mist of sky up ahead of them. Higher and higher it went up, like an enormous, layered wedding cake Tree had seen in a magazine.
lapel
Pretty woman, she had on a name tag and a little pin on her lapel.
acute
My boy is acute intermittent porphyria, or porphyria cutanea tarda, or symptomatic, they hard to classify.
intermittent
My boy is acute intermittent porphyria, or porphyria cutanea tarda, or symptomatic, they hard to classify.
precipitate
"Porphyria may be precipitated by alcohol or by drugs, but Dabney not no druggie—"
anguish
There was despair in M'Vy's voice. Tree saw her face; it was anguished, scared.
wring
"They all of them dead," Vy said, wringing her hands.
counterproductive
Doctors couldn't save any of them. They were treated with barbiturate sedatives, you know. Barbiturates make them go crazy. And make the porphyria ten times worse. Barbiturates is counterproductive. Your doctors better know that it can kill.
spectacle
She begged him in her thoughts not to get so loud and make a spectacle and cause everybody to stare.
disheveled
All this time Tree was having difficulty being out in the open, in the midst of the hospital. She felt exposed, hot and disheveled.
luscious
"A luscious place to eat, Tree; now come on."
gingerly
By the time he fixed a large Coke with lots of ice for her, her tray was full. Gingerly, she carried it to a table.
corrupt
"It mean you can't harm somebody, innocence," Silversmith said. "You can't corrupt somebody. You free of sin. You ain't guilty of nothin. You free of guilt."
scalding
Vy drank her coffee, making slight whispering sounds as she sucked in the scalding heat.

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