October Sky: Chapters 15–21

by Homer Hickam
Originally published under the title Rocket Boys, this memoir recounts the story of six rocket-obsessed friends growing up in a small West Virginia mining town in the 1950s.

Here are links to our lists for the memoir: Chapters 1–4, Chapters 5–9, Chapters 10–14, Chapters 15–21, Chapter 22–Epilogue
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. intercede
    act between parties with a view to reconciling differences
    Quentin interceded. “Sir, we’ve been studying trigonometry already on our own.”
  2. ebullience
    eager enjoyment or approval
    Miss Riley taught our class without her usual ebullience, the corners of her mouth turned down.
  3. sardonic
    disdainfully or ironically humorous
    “You see, only an inch away!”
    “An inch is ten miles on this map,” Miss Riley said sardonically.
  4. rote
    memorization by repetition
    In my nightly prayers, I always included by rote Mom and Dad, Jim, my uncles and aunts and grandparents (whether they were already in heaven or not), all the soldiers, sailors, and marines, Daisy Mae, Lucifer, Dandy, Poteet, and Chipper too.
  5. vehemence
    intensity or forcefulness of expression
    “Well, maybe when I have time—”
    “You always have time for Jim,” I blurted out, surprising myself as much as him with my vehemence.
  6. guile
    shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception
    If Dad didn’t let me have the materials I needed, I’d still get them, one way or another, no matter what it took—guile, tricks, or outright theft.
  7. stanch
    stop the flow of a liquid
    I let every juicy morsel of anger and bitterness well up inside me, making no attempt to stanch any of it.
  8. intersperse
    place between or among
    Ed chose his music carefully, his dances having an opening act of excitement and greeting, a middle of pulsating, very danceable songs interspersed with romantic interludes, and then the inevitable ending.
  9. swath
    a path or strip (also figurative)
    He had cut a wide swath through the girls of Big Creek High, leaving behind him a crowd of broken hearts.
  10. ebb
    a gradual decline in size or strength or power
    Sensitive to the ebb and flow of teenage romance, Ed often chose slow songs to get a couple back together.
  11. straggle
    go, come, or spread in a rambling or irregular way
    Townspeople straggled by carrying umbrellas, their coats pulled tight around their throats.
  12. colloquial
    characteristic of informal spoken language or conversation
    “Can’t, might set the black damp off,” the old miner said, using the colloquial term for methane.
  13. accolade
    a tangible symbol signifying approval or distinction
    Then all the rescue squad crowded around Dad, patting him on the back. He duly accepted their accolades and then walked clumsily away, as if his boots were made of lead.
  14. apathy
    an absence of emotion or enthusiasm
    I loathed them all as they passed me by, loathed that what passed for courage and endurance was in reality apathy even in the face of death.
  15. stolid
    having or revealing little emotion or sensibility
    Was I finally a good West Virginian, all stoic and stolid, filled everlastingly to my chin with guilt but not capable of showing it?
  16. pall
    burial garment in which a corpse is wrapped
    Without the coal cars, Coalwood was no longer covered by a daily pall of dust, but I still saw a gray, ugly crust on everything and everybody that would never come off.
  17. vise
    a holding device attached to a workbench
    My heart felt like somebody had put it in a vise.
  18. respective
    considered individually
    Mom fixed supper every day, but left it on the stove, retreating to her bedroom. Jim and I spooned out what we wanted and we took it to our respective rooms.
  19. vernacular
    a characteristic language of a particular group
    “Hidy, Miss Eggers,” he said, tipping an imaginary hat and sliding into the southern West Virginia vernacular.
  20. placidly
    in a quiet and tranquil manner
    Miss Riley was sitting at her desk, placidly noting our arrivals, when Jake strolled in with them.
  21. dulcet
    pleasing to the ear
    “So I believe you are an engineer, Mr. Mosby?” Miss Riley asked in a dulcet voice I had never heard her use before.
  22. trestle
    a supporting tower used to support a bridge
    We set up camp in a small clearing and then went looking for our first pipe. We found it a hundred yards past a timber trestle bridge.
  23. undaunted
    unshaken in purpose
    Undaunted, we got stronger every day and refined our technique.
  24. inane
    devoid of intelligence
    Suddenly, I felt dizzy and sat down and stared dumbly at the scarlet geyser until I started to giggle again, and then we all giggled inanely at each other.
  25. tourniquet
    a bandage that stops the flow of blood by applying pressure
    He took off his T-shirt and pressed it against the cut, then tore a strip from it and made a tourniquet. He wrapped it six inches above the cut, using a stick to wrench it tight.
  26. wane
    become smaller
    He sat me on the table, unwrapped the tourniquet and the soggy dressing, observed with interest the waning spurt of the little blood left inside me, and hauled out his suture kit.
  27. righteousness
    the quality of adhering to moral principles
    When he woke, he had opened his Bible and his eyes had fallen on the testament of Peter. “Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness,” he quoted.
  28. solvent
    a liquid substance capable of dissolving other substances
    The mine had a lot of the solvent derived from coal tar, but it was too volatile.
  29. volatile
    evaporating readily at normal temperatures and pressures
    Diesel? Not volatile enough. Semisolids such as paraffin? Too messy.
  30. covert
    secret or hidden
    We waited covertly in the shadows until there was a gap in the traffic and then clumped up the old wooden steps, worn smooth by years of traffic.
  31. billow
    rise and move, as in waves
    If that wasn’t bad enough, when I went inside the kitchen, smoke had billowed through there too.
  32. spigot
    a regulator for controlling the flow of a liquid
    “I’ve been wanting to get rid of this old coal-fired thing for years. I’m going to make Homer get me an electric one now. Why, I’ll just open up the spigot anytime I like and there’ll be all the hot water in the world. Just like the Rockefellers!”
  33. abortive
    failing to accomplish an intended result
    Although I’m certain Mr. Fuller filled his ear about it, Dad made no comment on our abortive test.
  34. maraud
    raid and rove in search of plunder
    The hornets, not pleased, chased us up the mountain on the other side of the slack. We crouched there and watched as they marauded up and down the slack like a tornado.
  35. dissipate
    move away from each other
    It was nearly dusk before they finally dissipated.
  36. derrick
    a framework erected over an oil well for drilling
    Using some channel iron found behind the machine shop, we built what looked like a miniature oil derrick and placed it over the scale as a brace for a tube that held the rocket.
  37. semblance
    the outward or apparent appearance or form of something
    I tried to put the scale back together as best I could, managing to at least fit all the parts back inside and pound the frame back into a rough semblance of its previous shape.
  38. wayward
    resistant to guidance or discipline
    We roared up the road, plastering our faces to the car windows, looking for any sign of our wayward Auk.
  39. gaunt
    very thin, especially from disease or hunger or cold
    He turned at my knock, and when I saw him I was shocked at his appearance—not so much his watery ruined eye, but his gaunt face.
  40. requisition
    an official form on which a request is made
    If you want tubing, machine work, aluminum sheeting, just tell Leon Ferro and I’ll sign his requisition.
Created on Sun Sep 30 17:15:40 EDT 2018 (updated Wed Oct 03 12:48:51 EDT 2018)

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