Maniac MageePart III

Vocabulary

Satchel - suitcase or travel bag

Maniac packed his new glove into Grayson’s old satchel, that had hauled his belongings around the Minor Leagues.

Desolation - ruined, lonely, deserted place

The vast, frozen desolation of the land,

left the homeless animal

without comfort.

Gaunt - thin, bony, hollow-eyed

The gaunt phantoms screeched and scratched at my sleeping mind.

Retaliate - repay, or get revenge

Russell retaliated at his brother, and Maniac had to break up the

fight.

Urchins - poor, ragged children

Maniac found himself clung to, and clutched by the two little urchins.

Lambasting - attacking verbally

Piper and Russell did some more clinging when John finished lambasting them for running away.

Mongrel - a mix of an unknown species

(inbreed)

The first thing Maniac saw was a long-haired, yellow mongrel looking up at him, from a mess on the floor.

Prone - bent forward

Scene: The boys’ bedroom. Russell and Piper lie prone at the hole in the ceiling.

Pelting - hurl, throw, strike successively

Kids were always crowding them, pelting them with questions. What’s he like? What’s he say? What’s he do?

Portal - door entrance

Maniac climbed the cement steps to the white door, the portal of death.

perilous - hazardous or dangerous

They gave him the most perilous challenge of all. They dared him to go into the East End.

Tuition the price of payment

for instruction

A tuition has to be paid for most private schools and colleges.

Marooned - left in isolation, or without

hope

The worms were numerous. They lay forlorn, marooned, on the asphalt, no place to burrow, April’s orphans.

Smirky - (smirk) to smile in an insincere

manner

Maniac smiled at Mars, gave a sniff and his smile went a little smirky.

Exuberance - enthusiasm

The recollection was an exuberant one: standing up and shouting, “AMEN!” in

the Bethany Church.

Reprisal a retaliatory act

Maniac headed back to the Beales’ house, where he would not fear reprisals from Mars Bar.

Ludicrous - absurd, ridiculous

In spite of their twisted, ludicrous impressions of the

East Enders, the concern and the tears in their eyes

had been genuine.

PillboxA small low fort

for machine guns and weapons

Extort -to get from a person by the use of

force or threats

Maniac could always extort a day or two in class from them

with the free weekly pizza.

Shenanigans- high spirited or

mischievous activities

Maniac took the boys to the library, then scrapped that

idea after their shenanigans left the librarian blubbering

and blue-faced.

Protruding - to stick out

The plastic toy guns were protruding from the gunnery

slots in the pillbox.

Gauntlet- two rows of men whom strike the victim as he passes.

Diverge

• Maniac and Mars Bar ran side-by-side before the sun came up.

But, at daybreak, the boys diverged.

To move in different directions, draw apart

Trestle A structure of

timbers or steel for carrying a road or

railroad over a valley

Russell was standing out on the middle of the trestle standing frozen in terror.

Amplified to make greater, stronger or longer.

Maniac nodded, and out of the darkness came the strangest sound – a kind of amplified gulp.

Emu