6.22 Textual Evidence & Inference Worksheet

A character writes a letter to his future self: “Remember to be brave.” He then describes how he avoided raising his hand in class, even though he knew the answer, because he feared sounding “stupid.” At the end, he seals the letter and labels it: OPEN AFTER I TRY. He places it in his desk, not his drawer, “where his hands could reach it without thinking.”

In the chapter, the main character says the abandoned house on the hill is “empty.” But she also mentions that the porch swing “keeps its rhythm” even when there’s no wind, and that a lamp in the upstairs window “refuses to stay dark.” She tells herself the light is “just a reflection,” yet she never looks directly at it. When her friend suggests going closer, she replies, “No reason,” and walks faster.

A narrator describes a friend who always arrives late and says, “Time doesn’t hold her.” When the friend finally arrives on time for the narrator’s recital, she sits in the front row with flowers. Afterward, she says, “I didn’t want to miss you,” but then laughs and adds, “Don’t get used to it.” The narrator writes, “Her joke was a bow on something real.”