The Season of Styx Malone: Chapters 1–6

by Kekla Magoon
During one action-packed summer, brothers Caleb and Bobby Gene team up with smooth schemer Styx Malone in an attempt to escape their small town.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–6, Chapters 7–14, Chapters 15–23, Chapters 24–37, Chapters 38–54

Here are links to our lists for other works by Kekla Magoon: X: A Novel, The Rock and the River
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. cardinal
    serving as an essential component
    It all started the moment I broke the cardinal rule of the Franklin household: Leave well enough alone.
  2. chortle
    laugh quietly or with restraint
    “You’ll have to do better than that,” Cory chortled from on high.
  3. loom
    appear very large or occupy a commanding position
    And yet the boy on the table and the bag in his hands loomed larger than life up there.
  4. whim
    a sudden desire
    I would do whatever it took to become Cory Cormier’s right-hand man, doling out fireworks at my whim.
  5. servitude
    the state of being required to labor for someone else
    We stood at the edge of the rippling scrum, shouting offers. Anything we could think of. Loans and favors and involuntary servitude.
  6. beefy
    muscular and heavily built
    He held her aloft with his beefy arms and sniffed.
  7. jostle
    the act of forcing your way by pushing
    His words nearly got lost in the jostle of the crowd, which had turned to trying to barter with me now that I had the prize.
  8. waft
    be driven or carried along, as by the air
    The hideous stench wafting up from Susie’s backside would surely be a deal-breaker.
  9. enormity
    the quality of being outrageous
    The enormity of our recent stupidity washed over me.
  10. slink
    move or walk stealthily
    We slunk inside.
  11. threadbare
    thin and tattered with age
    The couch was a threadbare blue stripey thing, with cushions flattened from long use.
  12. sprawl
    sit or lie with one's limbs spread out
    Bobby Gene went sprawling.
  13. convulse
    contract involuntarily, as in a spasm
    Bobby Gene’s throat convulsed in silent outrage.
  14. splay
    widen or spread apart
    He looked like a starfish, with his legs splayed and his elbows flailing.
  15. flail
    thrash about
    He looked like a starfish, with his legs splayed and his elbows flailing.
  16. dire
    causing fear or dread or terror
    If the situation hadn’t been so dire, I’d have been laughing at the freaked-out look on his face.
  17. lanky
    tall and thin and having long slender limbs
    His lanky arms fell to his sides, harmless.
  18. bottom line
    the crucial or decisive point
    Bottom line: Cory was exactly the kind of boy you’d expect to be caught auctioning off a massive bag of probably stolen fireworks.
  19. shrewd
    marked by practical hardheaded intelligence
    “Listen, that was a shrewd deal.” Styx looked impressed. “You gave up nothing and got something major in return.”
  20. enunciate
    express or state clearly
    “No, a me-di-a-tor,” Styx repeated, enunciating the syllables.
  21. subtlety
    the quality of being difficult to detect or analyze
    Bobby Gene was not known for his subtlety.
  22. eloquent
    expressing yourself readily, clearly, effectively
    Styx’s expression turned eloquent. We soon learned that meant he was about to speechify us.
  23. mediate
    act between parties with a view to reconciling differences
    “Look, here’s the deal. You stash the sack. In an hour, I’ll come mediate your dispute with Cormier. Consider it handled. Then you’ll owe me, right? So we’ll sell or trade off the fireworks and share the proceeds. The stuff we get in return.”
  24. proceeds
    the income or profit arising from a transaction
    “Look, here’s the deal. You stash the sack. In an hour, I’ll come mediate your dispute with Cormier. Consider it handled. Then you’ll owe me, right? So we’ll sell or trade off the fireworks and share the proceeds. The stuff we get in return.”
  25. interject
    speak abruptly, especially as an interruption
    “Wait, what’s the split?” Bobby Gene interjected, proving he wasn’t born yesterday.
  26. transgression
    the violation of a law or a duty or moral principle
    This was unlikely to be one of those times when our parents issued a punishment and then forgot to follow through on it. That was for minor transgressions.
  27. deploy
    use or distribute systematically or strategically
    Mom deployed her drill sergeant voice.
  28. hardy
    able to survive under unfavorable weather conditions
    The things we grew best were pretty hardy: tomatoes, squash and carrots.
  29. whorl
    a strand or cluster of hair
    From up here I could see detail down to the whorl of brown hair on top of Cory’s head.
  30. scrabble
    grope, scratch, or feel searchingly
    I skittered and scrabbled, trying to stay upright.
Created on Thu Jan 10 16:27:08 EST 2019 (updated Mon May 20 14:07:11 EDT 2019)

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