Simon Sort of Says: Chapters 17–22

by Erin Bow
Twelve-year-old Simon O'Keeffe tries to forget that he survived a tragedy when his family moves to the National Quiet Zone in Nebraska, where radio signals are banned to prevent interference with astronomers' search of outer space.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–4, Chapters 5–10, Chapters 11–16, Chapters 17–22, Chapters 23–29
35 words 14 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. wrangle
    achieve something by means of argument or trickery
    Apparently, she’s so determined that she has wrangled extra periods from the other teachers, and we get to go transcontinental all Thursday afternoon.
  2. counterintuitive
    contrary to what common sense would suggest
    “Did you know that the risk of dehydration actually increases when it’s humid?”
    “Agate, I am your health teacher.”
    “That doesn’t mean you know things,” says Agate, bobbling away. “And this thing is interesting because it’s counterintuitive.”
  3. metronome
    clicking pendulum indicating the tempo of a piece of music
    Joyce from the leadership team laps us, her ponytail swinging like a metronome and her eyes kind of crazy, like she’s got the California foothills in sight.
  4. martyr
    kill as one who suffers for the sake of principle
    She’s got the usual story, except with the twist where, after she’s martyred, the people who killed her got struck by lightning.
  5. posthumous
    occurring or coming into existence after a person's death
    So Barbara gets to be a saint, and she gets posthumous revenge, which you’ve got to admit is pretty sweet.
  6. artillery
    large but transportable armament
    She is the patron saint of firefighters, bomb makers, artillery men, and—because the Catholic Church is exactly this twisted—anyone and anything in danger of being struck by lightning.
  7. gurney
    a metal stretcher with wheels
    But the firefighters step closer and we can see it isn’t a body on the gurney.
  8. smolder
    burn slowly and without a flame
    On the gurney is a mass of sticks and twigs and insulation, all smoldering.
  9. pyre
    wood heaped for burning a dead body as a funeral rite
    In the middle of them, as if on a funeral pyre, there is a squirrel.
  10. impending
    close in time; about to occur
    “Was it a pet?” asks Andy, trying to make sense of what’s very clearly an impending breakdown.
  11. kibble
    pellets of coarsely ground grain used as animal feed
    I just keep thinking that, through scooping poop and fending off the peacock. I have to go to school. Through rattling kibble into Herc’s dish. I have to go to school.
  12. theodolite
    a surveying instrument for measuring angles
    “Jade sent me a printout of the charts, and she said I could borrow her theodolite and I need to double-check the right ascension but it’s perfect, Simon. Next week on Wednesday Vega will rise directly in line with—”
  13. declension
    a downward slope or bend
    I think of Agate, looking up the declension of Vega. I think of how her strong voice went small.
  14. clipped
    (of speech) having quick short sounds
    “Curtis,” she says, her voice clipped, “lost a body.”
  15. apostle
    an ardent early supporter of a cause or reform
    He has been raised from the dead, and the apostles want to know when he’s going to found the Kingdom of God on Earth.
  16. rustle
    a light noise, like the noise of leaves blowing in the wind
    You sit for the homily, so people start sitting down, the rustle of it half-covering Dad’s words as he goes on.
  17. pulpit
    a platform raised to give prominence to the person on it
    She gives Dad a Nebraska wave—lifting one hand and curling over the fingers.
    From the pulpit, he gives one back.
  18. disciple
    one who believes and helps spread the doctrine of another
    For instance, what did the disciples mean when they asked Jesus to restore the kingdom?
  19. muzzle
    forward projecting part of the head of certain animals
    Herc turns and tries to work his head inside my sweatshirt, his muzzle into my armpit.
  20. manual
    a small handbook
    We load the microwave, plus its manual, plus all of Kev’s science fair notes and the display posters rolled up in a shipping tube, into the trailer of my bike.
  21. backfire
    return with an undesired effect
    In the grocery store, we can tell that Dad’s giant back off has backfired.
  22. amble
    walk leisurely
    At that point, Todd the dog stands up, shakes to shed the rope that Onyx draped on him, and ambles over to us.
  23. contraption
    a small mechanical device or tool
    He’s got a contraption like one of those metal detectors old guys take to the beach, and he’s trying to wrangle it, plus a can of spray paint, plus a pair of dowsing rods, plus a clipboard.
  24. bellow
    shout loudly and without restraint
    “Hello, Mr. Bagshott!” she bellows politely.
  25. survey
    look over carefully or inspect
    “Her theodolite,” says Agate. “It’s a surveying instrument with a rotating telescope for measuring horizontal and vertical angles. We can use it to line up the microwave with Vega and with the Large Radio Telescope.”
  26. crestfallen
    brought low in spirit
    “Oh,” says Agate, crestfallen—her red curls literally seem to droop.
  27. pore
    direct one's attention on something
    For the next hour or so, while Agate and Kevin pore over manuals, I saw and bang and screw together two-by-fours to make triangle braces to attach to the railing, and find a bit of plywood to set on top of them.
  28. repressed
    characterized by the suppression of impulses or emotions
    Clearly I’m not the brains of the outfit. I’m the snacks and repressed trauma of the outfit.
  29. jubilant
    full of high-spirited delight
    I’ve just about got the triangle braces ready and the top built when Kevin and Agate appear jubilant: It turns out that to make the microwave run while it’s open you just trick it into thinking it’s closed by jamming the little latch thing in the door with a paper clip and some duct tape.
  30. acquire
    come into the possession of something concrete or abstract
    Step two, steal an extension cord.
    I mean, acquire.
  31. divine
    emanating from God
    From what I can get from his side of the convo, he’s trying to explain his view on the divine plan—or the absence thereof—and how that relates to squirrel infestations.
  32. plush
    characterized by extravagance and softness
    I hold the door open for them, and they practically tiptoe into the plush entryway.
  33. queasy
    feeling nausea
    “Does your mom’s work make her queasy?” she asks, pointing to a row of a dozen white plastic bottles. The stuff that’s in them is the exact same pink as Pepto-Bismol.
  34. promptly
    at once (usually modifies an undesirable occurrence)
    Kevin leaps into the storage room behind me and promptly gets tangled up in a coiled mess of fall leaf garlands.
  35. extraction
    taking out something
    “Mission accomplished!”
    “Great,” says Kev. “Send a quinjet and a class-five extraction team.”
Created on Thu Oct 19 09:25:01 EDT 2023 (updated Thu Oct 19 17:53:46 EDT 2023)

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