Bea and the New Deal Horse: Chapters 9–13

by L.M. Elliott
Abandoned by her father during the Great Depression, thirteen-year-old Beatrice Davis works out a deal with the owner of a Virginia farm that would allow her and her younger sister a chance at a new home.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–3, Chapters 4–8, Chapters 9–13, Chapters 14–21, Chapters 22–30
40 words 7 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. robust
    sturdy and strong in form, constitution, or construction
    A robust man appeared, wiping his enormous hands before taking hers and kissing her on the cheek.
  2. haggle
    wrangle, as over a price or terms of an agreement
    They haggled over flour, sugar, salt, matches, kerosene, coffee.
  3. flummox
    be a mystery or bewildering to
    “Oh, child. I know it’s been a while since you’ve enjoyed a little meat. Let’s see...oh dear...maybe I could sacrifice the sugar...” Mrs. Scott paused, as if she were flummoxed.
  4. gaunt
    very thin, especially from disease or hunger or cold
    Three pickup trucks, driving slow, crammed full of men. A couple dozen more walking alongside the vehicles. Some in full uniforms from the Great War, most wearing beat-up doughboy army caps. All of them gaunt.
  5. vagrant
    a wanderer with no established residence or means of support
    Already a couple thousand of them camping out in abandoned buildings by the Capitol. A bunch of vagrants.
  6. saunter
    walk leisurely and with no apparent aim
    Another man had sauntered up as this Mr. Carlson was talking.
  7. loll
    be lazy or idle
    Next thing you know, they’ll be on my fields, too, or lolling around in town, beggaring for change.
  8. naive
    marked by or showing unaffected simplicity
    Just because you ladies got the vote now doesn’t mean you understand how things are. Don’t be naive—protests like this are meant to stir things up, they’re agitating tactics—like what the Bolshevik commies used to topple Russia.
  9. wallop
    hit hard
    And if Congress does the right thing, I’m owed $600. A dollar and a quarter for every day I served. With that, I could pay off all my bills, even buy some chickens, maybe a milk cow for my girls, and get the electricity turned back on. The chance to get back on my feet from the walloping this Great Depression done me.
  10. backfire
    a loud noise made by the explosion of fuel in an engine
    The trucks started up their engines with backfires and billows of inky smoke.
  11. persnickety
    (used colloquially) overly conceited or arrogant
    He says she has such a good seat that she won a massive, persnickety horse on a bet that she couldn’t carry an open umbrella while riding him. The horse had thrown a whole bunch of men who hunt fox all the time.
  12. fractious
    stubbornly resistant to authority or control
    And she made a lot of money when she sold that fractious horse back to the man who lost the bet—all schooled and agreeable after she worked with him for a while!
  13. kismet
    fate or fortune
    “Mr. Ralph says that horse has bad-awful kismet. Like he was cursed. That everything—for Mrs. Scott and the country—went wrong the day that chestnut stepped his hooves on this place.”
  14. harangue
    address forcefully
    Mrs. Scott traded some for grain at the hay and seed store and then harangued a few grocers in Leesburg and Purcellville into giving her two pennies a peach.
  15. substantial
    fairly large
    She’d also kept three bushels of peaches to jar for the winter. That took substantial time in the kitchen.
  16. blowhard
    a very boastful and talkative person
    Still, the threat of Mrs. Scott calling the sheriff about us haunted me—especially after hearing that blowhard in the village say he was going to set the law on those peaceable war veterans.
  17. hackles
    a feeling of anger and animosity
    What would I do if she refused and hurt Vivian’s feelings? I felt my big-sister hackles rise.
  18. austere
    severely simple
    She led me to her study. I anticipated something scary, austere—like a courtroom.
  19. hodgepodge
    a motley assortment of things
    Instead, it was a surprisingly cozy and disorganized room ringed with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, crammed all hodgepodge with books and photographs of Mrs. Scott holding silver trophy plates in one hand and beautiful horses, ribbons hanging from their bridles, with the other.
  20. chintz
    a brightly printed and glazed cotton fabric
    She gestured to a wingback chair covered in faded chintz.
  21. reverence
    a feeling of profound respect for someone or something
    “Oh, yes, ma’am,” I said with reverence.
  22. divulge
    make known to the public information previously kept secret
    But did your father divulge where he was going to look for work? That way I or the sheriff could alert him that you are well and safe. I don’t feel right your being here without his knowing.
  23. fitful
    intermittently stopping and starting
    Mrs. Scott sat back and quickly assessed his wounds. A long gash and a growing purplish bruise on his forehead. His left arm lying awkwardly. His breathing raspy and fitful, his right hand clutching his side.
  24. ornery
    having a difficult and contrary disposition
    Even the most generous horse can get ornery after months of neglect.
  25. cinch
    pull, fasten, or tie something tightly
    Girth, under her belly and buckled to the saddle’s billets. Cinched up like a belt to hold the saddle in place—not too sudden, not too tight to make her think I was unkind or thoughtless.
  26. rein
    one of a pair of long straps used to control a horse
    Giving Charity a loose rein, figuring she had a much better idea where that chestnut might run, I threaded my fingers into a fistful of her mane to make sure I stayed on if she made a sudden turn.
  27. shaft
    a column of light
    Hearing her, the chestnut rose from the water, dripping, glistening, lit by a shaft of light coming through the trees.
  28. bluster
    a swaggering show of courage
    Charity tossed her head. He neighed back, loud and long, all boy-horse bluster, and began trotting toward us.
  29. akimbo
    bent outward with the joint away from the body
    I opened the rein to turn her, but she did exactly what I had feared—she whipped to the side suddenly, throwing me akimbo.
  30. spry
    moving quickly and lightly
    Up from the other side of the wall popped a young fox. A teenage cub, lean and spry, innocent and vulnerable.
  31. venture
    proceed somewhere despite the risk of possible dangers
    They were venturing out from their den to play together in the sunshine—unsuspecting of the danger barreling toward them.
  32. unyielding
    resistant to physical force or pressure
    We were going to crash right into them as well as all that unyielding stone.
  33. revel
    take delight in
    I was alive.
    I only reveled in that wonderment for a moment, though.
  34. cavort
    play boisterously
    Hitting the ground, he shook his head triumphantly, cavorted in celebration of himself, turned, cantered a few strides, and sailed back over.
  35. raucous
    disturbing the public peace; loud and rough
    I patted her and waited, bracing myself for trouble. What would that raucous horse do next?
  36. bravado
    a swaggering show of courage
    Again, the chestnut glided over the stones, landed, and stopped, swishing and flitting his tail, eyeing Charity with a look-what-I-can-do bravado.
  37. melee
    a noisy riotous fight
    Was it possible that this whole melee was just his trying to play with her?
    Seriously? I could have gotten killed for that?
  38. amends
    something done or paid to make up for a wrong
    After Mrs. Scott left, I dared to turn around from Charity and insert myself into the conversation to try to make amends for my little sister. “Is there anything I can do to help, Doctor...Doctor...”
  39. fathom
    come to understand
    “How could...why?”
    “I know. It’s hard to fathom that kind of coldheartedness.”
  40. withers
    the highest part of the back at the base of an animal's neck
    I stroked his neck, moving closer to his side so I could get a hand in his mane. I scratched down along it to his withers, like pasture mates nibble on one another, getting those itches on a friend’s neck that a horse can’t reach himself.
Created on Wed Jul 31 14:52:22 EDT 2024 (updated Thu Aug 01 14:56:25 EDT 2024)

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