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The Sea in Winter: Chapters 29–40

After a knee injury dashes her dreams of becoming a ballerina, twelve-year-old Maisie struggles with recovery during a midwinter family road trip.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–6, Chapters 7–13, Chapters 14–20, Chapters 21–28, Chapters 29–40
35 words 10 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

  1. perilous
    fraught with danger
    I cry out as the pain crumples me. I sense my family in a flurry behind me, Mom’s and Jack’s voices pitched in panic as I lift my foot and try to hop to the nearest tree trunk to support myself. But the roots jutting out of the ground form a perilous web, and I trip again, catching myself on my hands.
  2. searing
    intense or sharp
    The pain is searing. It empties the air from my lungs. Tears well in my eyes. I gasp and croak. The muscles in my knee throb and tighten to excruciating uselessness.
  3. excruciating
    extremely painful
    The pain is searing. It empties the air from my lungs. Tears well in my eyes. I gasp and croak. The muscles in my knee throb and tighten to excruciating uselessness.
  4. sternum
    the breastbone
    I swallow a breath and try to hold it behind my sternum as I gingerly tilt and try to put weight on the leg, but I can’t.
  5. milestone
    a significant event in your life or in a project
    The surgery that was supposed to fix everything. I’ve had the surgery, and I’ve been in physical therapy for months, I’ve been hitting every milestone. And for what?
  6. gape
    be wide open
    And I know he’s being as careful as he can, but the moment his arm sweeps behind my legs to hoist me up, the pain turns black and twists through me. Leaves me gaping like a fish out of water. Suffocating on oxygen.
  7. flail
    thrash about
    Connor is still calling out, still flailing in the back seat, and I hear the tears in his voice as Mom circles the car and hastily tries to readjust his buckles.
  8. sever
    cut off from a whole
    The ER nurses and doctors who see me say that I’m lucky. They say that the tendon didn’t detach again, that it didn’t sever or snap like a rubber band pulled too far.
  9. ligament
    a band of fibrous tissue connecting bones or cartilages
    But it is strained. And it will continue to be painful. And I did damage some of the other tendons and ligaments around my knee, so I will need to wear a brace and use crutches again, at least for a little while.
  10. prone
    lying face downward
    I’ve heard what the adults said as they spoke across my prone body, talking about diagnostic tests and next steps and recovery plans.
  11. diagnostic
    concerned with identifying the nature or cause of something
    I’ve heard what the adults said as they spoke across my prone body, talking about diagnostic tests and next steps and recovery plans.
  12. generic
    not protected by trademark
    The commercials with smiling families in their bright, gleaming kitchens, wiping spilled juice with paper towels. The side-by-side comparisons of these paper towels, versus some other, more generic towels.
  13. lush
    produced or growing in extreme abundance
    Then the show comes back on. And it takes me a moment to realize: this is the show Eva has been begging me to watch. Catriona’s Crown. It opens with a blonde girl in a burgundy dress, running across a lush green field filled with wildflowers.
  14. rustic
    characteristic of rural life
    There is a grand stone castle in the distance behind her, and she is dashing toward the rustic stables.
  15. despair
    a state in which all hope is lost or absent
    “Can you not?” I snap through my despair. “Why do you need to be on your ph-phone right now? Why are you always on your stupid phone?”
  16. refugee
    an exile who flees for safety
    “That’s right,” she says. “An entire new generation of refugees. An entire new generation of orphaned children. Too much trauma. Far too many tragedies. And for what?”
  17. irrational
    not consistent with or using reason
    I kept thinking: if only we’d done more to stop the war. If only we’d done more than march and petition, if only we’d found some other way to stop it all from happening. And when I realized this was irrational, I started to wish for other things: if only he had been stationed in some other place.
  18. scenario
    a postulated sequence of possible events
    I kept imagining these impossible scenarios where something was different, where some small detail could have changed the outcome of our story.
  19. resilience
    the ability to recover readily from adversity or change
    “Well,” she says. “I turned to the teachings of my ancestors, for one thing. I looked back at our histories of resilience and survival...."
  20. expectant
    marked by eager anticipation
    There is a short, stunned silence. Or at least, the silence feels stunned to me. Maybe not to Mom and Jack, who are both observing me with expectant looks on their faces.
  21. confide
    reveal in private
    “Sweetheart, Jack and I have already discussed this. We think you need to confide in a professional. We think you need some guidance. Someone who can help you sort through these feelings, this—this loss you’re going through...” She trails off. Looks at me with pleading eyes.
  22. execute
    carry out or perform an action
    I remember growing older, growing taller, growing stronger, all while attending ballet. How I met my friends in the studio. How I started attending auditions and working hard through rehearsals. That soaring sensation in my heart, after every perfectly executed combination, after every onstage performance.
  23. cauldron
    a very large pot that is used for boiling
    A cloaked figure is hunched over a worktable filled with bubbling cauldrons, vials of neon-colored liquid, and candles dripping wax.
  24. elixir
    a substance believed to cure all ills
    “Aha,” the mysterious potion brewer says, lifting a vial of blue fluid in one hand. “At last. The perfect poison elixir, just as His Royal Highness requested.”
  25. blemish
    a mark or flaw that spoils the appearance of something
    In this fluorescent lighting, the blemishes and wrinkles in his brown skin look more obvious than usual.
  26. gurney
    a metal stretcher with wheels
    Jack walks briskly at my side. We pass by EMTs pushing gurneys, doctors striding out of elevators, nurses hurrying along in their sky-blue scrubs.
  27. hectic
    marked by intense activity or agitation
    And we were late, of course. We were late, and everything was hectic, and I didn’t want to be there.
  28. nonfiction
    prose writing that is not formed by the imagination
    She adjusts her glasses and asks, “All finished reshelving in the nonfiction section?”
  29. meme
    an amusing image that spreads rapidly through social media
    We talk on the phone at least once a week, and she texts me funny memes from the internet, or sentimental quotes about the importance of family.
  30. activist
    a reformer who works to achieve social or political change
    In the left corner of the bulletin board, there is a new flyer with the headline The World Is Your Oyster! In a slightly smaller font beneath these words, it says: Join our new group for young activists, get involved with local politics, and create the change you wish to see!
  31. coalition
    an organization of people involved in a pact or treaty
    Mom follows my gaze and says, “I’ve heard of this new coalition. They’re doing some great work.”
  32. succulent
    plant adapted to arid conditions with water-storing tissues
    I politely look away, admiring the potted plants lined up along the edge of her desk. She has a collection of spiky cactuses, mint-green succulents, and orchids.
  33. sheepish
    showing a sense of shame
    I give them all a sheepish smile. “It’s not certain,” I say. “But I think Ms. Porter secretly told me that I’m going to be in her creative writing class next year. Just like I wanted. She wrote it in my yearbook.”
  34. blustery
    blowing in violent and abrupt bursts
    Mom and Connor lead us out onto the blustery, sun-filled deck. My hair whips across my face, and the fabric of my T-shirt tugs and flaps against my torso.
  35. tote
    a capacious bag or basket
    Mom clears her throat and reaches into the depths of the tote on her shoulder. She pulls something out and hands it to me.
Created on Mon Mar 07 20:35:44 EST 2022 (updated Fri Apr 01 14:21:47 EDT 2022)

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