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Things Not Seen: Chapters 15–21

What would you do if you woke up one morning and discovered you were invisible? That's the question fifteen-year-old Bobby Phillips has to answer in this thought-provoking novel.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–7, Chapters 8–14, Chapters 15–21, Chapters 22–28

Here are links to our lists for other works by Andrew Clements: The Landry News, Frindle
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Full list of words from this list:

  1. truancy
    failure to attend, especially school
    My name is Officer Martha Pagett, and I'm from the school and truancy division of the State Department of Children and Family Services.
  2. verify
    confirm the truth of
    Since the school has not received a note from a physician, we've been asked to make a visit and simply verify that Bobby's on the mend and that everything's fine at home.
  3. accomplish
    put in effect
    But I can assure you that I do have every right under the child protection laws of the state of Illinois to have a brief visit with your son, and if I need to have a search warrant to accomplish that, then I can certainly get one.
  4. suspicious
    arousing distrust
    Kids do get hurt by their parents and others, and someone's got to be allowed to look around if things are suspicious. And right now, our situation looks very suspicious.
  5. fugitive
    someone who is sought by law officers
    So she takes about three minutes and tells the condensed version of how Bobby became a fugitive from the law.
  6. premises
    land and the buildings on it
    You have permission to make a superficial survey of the premises in order to see if my son is here, which, as I had already told you, he is not.
  7. circumstance
    the set of facts that surround a situation or event
    Bobby will be classified as a missing juvenile under suspicious circumstances.
  8. evidence
    means by which an alleged matter is established or disproved
    The case officer's building up evidence that Bobby is missing, and she plans to send someone to Florida to bang on Aunt Ethel's door, and they'll no doubt have a search warrant.
  9. paralyze
    cause to be immobile
    The way I am, it's like being paralyzed or—or blind.
  10. paranoid
    suffering from delusions of persecution or grandeur
    "What... like, you think they're going to tap our phones? That's pretty paranoid, Mom."
  11. prosecution
    legal proceedings against a defendant for criminal behavior
    But she said there could be criminal prosecution, and that means you get arrested, and when you get arrested, they take you to jail.
  12. transparent
    able to be seen through with clarity
    And he gets this idea that if he could make every part of his body reflect light the same way that air does—which is not at all—then his whole body would be as invisible as air, and he could be completely transparent and have all this power.
  13. ignorant
    uneducated in general; lacking knowledge or sophistication
    At first he's happy, but what he finds out is that being invisible is terrible and that all these ignorant people are scared to death of him, and that makes him even crazier, and he turns into this schizoid homicidal maniac
  14. database
    an organized body of related information
    They looked through this huge database of other patients, scanning for people with the same kind of problems and conditions as mine.
  15. routine
    a short theatrical performance that is part of a longer one
    Don't do the 'poor little Bobby' routine.
  16. snivel
    cry or whine with snuffling
    You've got to find someone else who wants to sit around and listen to you snivel about everything.
  17. suicide
    the act of killing yourself
    Or maybe I'll write a juicy suicide note and set things up so my mom and dad are in the clear, and then I can go to my own funeral like Huck Finn did.
  18. spectral
    relating to an array of the components of an emission
    He's only in the door three seconds before he starts spouting some theory about spectral analysis and the refractive indices of protein substances, and he's carrying a big box full of books and papers.
  19. jargon
    technical terminology characteristic of a particular subject
    Dad nods as the professor talks, and then he flips out some chunks of jargon, and all the while they're both peering at the well-dressed young man who's got no hands or head poking out of his flannel shirt—which is me.
  20. spontaneous
    happening or arising without apparent external cause
    This site is called Human Spontaneous Involuntary Invisibility ... it's an essay by a lady, and she's serious. . . .
  21. apparently
    seemingly; as far as one can tell
    She says she's talked with a lot of people who apparently just stopped being visible to others around them, sometimes for a few minutes, sometimes longer ... and other people can't see them or hear them.
  22. mystical
    beyond ordinary understanding
    But this stuff is all, like... mystical. What we were talking about on the phone today? I was talking about reality, real people, not a bunch of hocus-pocus.
  23. reliable
    conforming to fact and therefore worthy of belief
    "And what makes you so sure that science is so reliable? Or that the university crowd has any better answers than the hocus-pocus gang?"
  24. logical
    capable of correct and valid reasoning
    And out of the corner of my ear I hear myself. I'm being very logical. Like Dad. Pretty scary.
  25. imperceptible
    impossible or difficult to sense
    Listen to this from some ancient writer in India: 'concentration and meditation can make the body imperceptible to other men, and "a direct contact with the light of the eyes no longer existing, the body disappears."
  26. schematic
    diagram of an electrical or mechanical system
    "The schematic diagram shows the electrical details—it's like a map of how the electricity flows, and it shows impedance and resistance, the voltage at different points, any motors or capacitors, transformers or resistors, things like that."
  27. generate
    produce, as energy
    We want to see if this controller unit is working right. Because if it's not, it could be generating an unusual field.
  28. disturbance
    electrical or acoustic activity that can alter communication
    Electric blankets always create an electron field of some sort, because you can't run power through ten or twelve yards of wire without causing an electromagnetic disturbance.
  29. parameter
    any factor defining a system and determining its performance
    "This resistor is way outside its parameters. It's letting about six times too much power through!"
  30. flustered
    thrown into a state of agitated confusion
    I don't know what to say, but I don't want to sound flustered, so I say, "Another question: What do you see when you think of me?
  31. prejudice
    a partiality preventing objective consideration of an issue
    "But you're judging them at the same time you accuse them of judging you. It's like you've got a prejudice against the popular kids, and you assume they have a bad attitude toward you."
  32. formulate
    elaborate, as of theories and hypotheses
    I don't need to formulate a workable theory. All I need is the model number and the manufacturer.
  33. comparable
    able to be described as similar
    We are encouraging any customer who has this item to send it to our customer service center and receive a comparable product of equal or greater value in exchange.
  34. campaign
    related operations aimed at achieving a particular goal
    I'm the Greek warrior again, more like a general now, planning my campaign, getting my troops ready for battle.
  35. corporate
    of or belonging to a business firm
    My parents and your parents are the only other candidates. Since I don't think they'd get behind the idea of stealing corporate secrets, that leaves you.
  36. commit
    perform an act, usually with a negative connotation
    I'm off to commit my first real crime.
  37. sift
    distinguish and separate out
    As we sway and bounce and change lanes and brake and accelerate and feel our way along the highway, her nostrils flare like a wild pony sniffing the wind, and I know Alicia's also processing the smells—the exhaust and kerosene, the accumulated scent of a thousand cab passengers, that half-eaten tin of salad on the seat by the driver—an ocean of airborne information to sift and sort.
  38. considerable
    large in number, amount, extent, or degree
    Access through the security doors? A snap: I wait for a slow moving person of considerable size and slide through the doorway right behind his behind.
  39. isolated
    marked by separation of or from usually contiguous elements
    And with a couple simple sort functions, I've got their names and addresses and phone numbers isolated in a list.
  40. effective
    producing or capable of producing an intended result
    What I end up with is a wad of paper about an inch wide and two inches long, the perfect size to stick up into my left armpit—gross and uncomfortable, but effective.
Created on Thu May 19 15:11:32 EDT 2016 (updated Wed Aug 15 16:10:50 EDT 2018)

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