The Cat I Never Named: Chapters 21–25

by Amra Sabic-El-Rayess, Laura L. Sullivan
This memoir recounts how teenage Amra, with the help of a stray cat, survived the Serbian invasion of Bosnia that killed about a hundred thousand people, especially Muslims, from 1992–1995.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Chapters 1–5, Chapters 6–14, Chapters 15–20, Chapters 21–25, Chapter 26–Epilogue
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. quaint
    attractively old-fashioned
    As we walk home, I wonder, how could anyone think of Davor’s sweet, quaint grandmother and start planning genocide?
  2. motley
    consisting of a haphazard assortment of different kinds
    We look like fools and harlequins—with hand-me-downs, patched jackets, and mismatched clothes from donations, we are a motley bunch.
  3. jargon
    technical terminology characteristic of a particular subject
    She then reads a paragraph, and I’m astonished to realize the word I thought was so special—some kind of Hollywood jargon—is one of the most common words in English.
  4. masticate
    bite and grind with the teeth
    “I sat at my table to masticate,” she says, and I just about sink under my seat!
  5. protocol
    forms of ceremony and etiquette observed by officials
    The UN building next door is surrounded by rolled barbed wire, making it clear that though international protocol makes it necessary that they tolerate our presence, we are by no means welcome.
  6. entourage
    the group following and attending to some important person
    When we go into the classroom the next morning—the last expected day of school for a few months, until spring thaw—the UN general Dani hit is there, glowering at us, along with the head of the school and a full UN entourage and security detail.
  7. perpetrator
    someone who commits wrongdoing
    If you tell, or if the perpetrator confesses, only he or she will be punished.
  8. infraction
    a violation of a law or rule
    After that, as you know, one more infraction means you’ll be expelled from school for good. There will be no second chances.
  9. errant
    moving in an uncontrolled, irregular, or unpredictable way
    Here we are braving bullets and bombs to get an education, carrying our books while our starving bodies can barely move, freezing until we have chilblains on our fingers...and you want to take away our only chance for a good future over an errant snowball?
  10. relegate
    assign to a lower position
    Tata, Mama, and I are sitting in the kitchen at the back of the house—a strange kitchen that now has a sofa instead of a refrigerator or stove. The electricity doesn’t work, so the appliances have been relegated to another room.
  11. laceration
    a torn ragged wound
    My head is throbbing, but worse than that are the lacerations in my back. I struggle to stand, and see pieces of glass sliding off my clothes. Blood drips down my torn and tattered shirt.
  12. elements
    violent or severe weather
    Half of our house is open to the elements, and it is only November. We have a long, cold winter ahead of us.
  13. blight
    a state or condition being devastated or run-down
    I’ll tell him stories of happiness and wonder and blot out the ugly blight of the war.
  14. dwindle
    become smaller or lose substance
    All of us have lost our spark now. The natural vitality that filled us before the war has dwindled.
  15. banal
    repeated too often; overfamiliar through overuse
    There is nothing mediocre in a war, nothing banal. It is all extremes. Either we are starving or every small bite of food is as delicious as a king’s banquet.
  16. nihilism
    the delusion that things do not exist
    Instead, he has a sort of cheerful nihilism. It seems like he’s accepted that the world is a terrible place, that he will never find personal happiness, but having accepted that, he’s moved on. He can survive just fine without happiness.
  17. adamant
    impervious to pleas, persuasion, requests, or reason
    Then I hear an adamant meow from Davor’s back.
  18. threshold
    the entrance for passing through a room or building
    Maci is the store’s bodyguard or bouncer, sitting in the threshold during most of the day, greeting customers and following them inside if they seem friendly.
  19. exemplary
    worthy of imitation
    It’s official: I’ve finished high school. It’s not quite what I once looked forward to, but I get a certificate of graduation, and a list of my grades. All fives. Even my conduct grade has been raised back to exemplary.
  20. appease
    cause to be more favorably inclined; gain the good will of
    I think maybe the school head was putting on a show to appease the UN soldiers. Later, when it was all forgotten about, he took away our demerit.
  21. bastion
    a group that defends a principle
    Even though we only met perhaps six weeks out of the last year, when school is officially over I miss it intensely. It was a little bastion of normalcy, where I could both be with my friends and indulge my intensely nerdy side.
  22. imperative
    requiring attention or action
    With no chance of college, and my parents to help, it is imperative that I find work.
  23. niche
    a position well suited to the person who occupies it
    I discover my most profitable niche teaching the children of a seedy bar owner.
  24. seedy
    morally degraded
    I discover my most profitable niche teaching the children of a seedy bar owner.
  25. humanities
    studies intended to provide general knowledge and skills
    A friend of mine, Sara—who went to my high school but focused on the humanities while I took the math and science track—had been tutoring the three children, but one day she comes to me and throws up her hands.
  26. lewd
    suggestive of or tending to moral looseness
    Maybe the patrons get too rowdy and say lewd things to her as she’s leaving.
  27. rebuff
    an instance of driving away or warding off
    I was all braced to give the men a stern look and a cold rebuff, so I’m thrown, and even more off balance when the bar owner greets me politely as an uncle and asks if he can help me with anything.
  28. rambunctious
    noisy and lacking in restraint or discipline
    When I meet the children they are a little bratty and rambunctious, but nothing worth quitting over. I can tell they’re used to being left on their own all the time.
  29. indulgent
    tolerant or lenient
    The mother is soft and indulgent, calling the children pet names—my three little plums, my sweet sugar cubes—before leaving to spend the day gossiping with friends.
  30. xylem
    plant tissue that conducts water and dissolved nutrients
    Usually we work upstairs, but one day we go out into the courtyard to study the parts of plants. While I’m telling them about pistils and stamens, xylem and phloem, I see a man saunter out from the back buildings, adjusting his belt.
  31. guileless
    innocent and free of deceit
    She looks perfectly cheerful, her moon-round face guileless and innocent.
  32. oppressive
    weighing heavily on the senses or spirit
    The oppressive heat of summer has passed, and we enjoy these days of briskness, deliberately not yet thinking about the harsh winter to come.
  33. bleak
    offering little or no hope
    She says it with confidence, but I know her well enough to see the bleak despair in her eyes.
  34. misshapen
    so badly formed or distorted as to be ugly
    His feet look like ants have been eating them. His legs have become misshapen.
  35. beseech
    ask for or request earnestly
    “You can’t go back, Tata!” I insist, beseeching him to stay.
  36. alight
    settle or come to rest
    Despairing, I close my eyes.
    When I open them, they alight on the box holding my volleyball shoes.
  37. stout
    having rugged physical strength
    Without telling Mama, I sneak into her sewing kit and get the stoutest needle I can find. She doesn’t have any heavy-duty thread—I think I really need something like high-test fishing line—but regular thread will have to do.
  38. bile
    a digestive juice secreted by the liver
    But there’s nothing in my stomach to throw up, and I only taste bitter bile.
  39. pallor
    an unnatural lack of color in the skin
    But his skin has a deathly pallor, and his eyes are yellowed.
  40. jaded
    bored or apathetic after experiencing too much of something
    The happy child I knew for years is gone, replaced by a cynical, jaded, suffering man.
Created on Mon Sep 09 17:16:01 EDT 2024 (updated Wed Sep 11 10:46:41 EDT 2024)

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