Switch: Part Three

by A.S. King
Following a space-time fold that has stopped time on Earth for nearly a year, sixteen-year-old javelin prodigy Trudy Becker decides to figure out what will happen when she flips a mysterious power switch in her house.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Prologue I–Part One, Part Two, Part Three
25 words 12 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. prosthetic
    relating to or serving as an artificial body part
    N3WCLOCK is a prosthetic limb/we’re pretending it isn’t.
  2. virtuous
    morally excellent
    “Immense harm is caused by the belief that work is virtuous.”

    —Bertrand Russell
  3. concede
    admit or acknowledge, often reluctantly
    Whoever started this thing will have to shut it down/call it a fail/concede to the fact that we are all too dull to invent anything new—too dull to do something good for ourselves.
  4. idleness
    the trait of being inactive or lazy
    The way people are now, the only way they’d consider practicing idleness, timelessness, and creativity is if we tooled the name/B3RTRAND RUSS3LL/invented an app.
  5. debase
    corrupt morally or by intemperance or sensuality
    Instead, I’m a joke/water-cooler conversation/debated/debatable/debased/a teenage girl who did something great/let’s interview her dad.
  6. shrapnel
    shell containing lead pellets that explodes in flight
    We’re just a family/pocked with shrapnel/our bathrooms are in the backyard now.
  7. streamline
    contour economically or efficiently
    We cut it up/streamline it.
  8. falsetto
    a male singing voice with artificially high tones
    That tall kid who sings in the choir/his range is impossible from falsetto to baritone/an anomalous pharynx.
  9. curt
    speaking in a terse, rude, or abrupt way
    “I care, but I don’t care about Nigel. He gets what he earned, you know? Just like the rest of us.” I did/didn’t mean for that to come out so curtly/Look at me.
  10. remnant
    a small part remaining after the main part no longer exists
    I walk into the woods and it’s not like I imagined/a lot of trash on the ground/remnants of small parties.
  11. frenzy
    state of violent mental agitation
    Daddy knew he was losing a battle/
    was unprepared for the ambush.
    The boxes are frenzy.
    The boxes are safety.
    The boxes are structure.
  12. pharynx
    the passage to the stomach and lungs
    Carrie and I wait in line and the tall kid from school—the choirboy with the anomalous pharynx—works there and smiles at me/reminds me that every person in the place might recognize me.
  13. deliberation
    (usually plural) discussion of all sides of a question
    Mama explains that she and Daddy had a long talk/deliberations after the bird-stabbing.
  14. coax
    influence or persuade by gentle and persistent urging
    Daddy and Carmichael stay on the floor/as it lifts to become the wall again, Carmichael scooches himself toward the corner, coaxing Daddy along with him.
  15. brace
    prepare for something unpleasant or difficult
    Brace yourself. Could be more news vans.
  16. podiatrist
    a specialist in care for the feet
    Mama and I move the last plywood pieces out to the yard/she finds the vacuum cleaner/I look forward to sitting on my carpet again/maybe going to the podiatrist one day about the splinter.
  17. wary
    marked by keen caution and watchful prudence
    Richard still looks wary.
    “What’s wrong?” I ask.
  18. curdle
    go bad or sour
    Drink the curdled milk and get sick
    watch your friends clean up
    hold your hair back/hat on
    hand you a tissue.
  19. caulk
    seal with a waterproof filler
    We are in the kitchen/in the arrow in the kitchen/Daddy and I didn’t count the hours it took, but I’d guess it was six hours by the time we got the countertops reinstalled/caulked in/under cabinet lights working.
  20. sprawl
    sit or lie with one's limbs spread out
    Mama is in her chair/Daddy on the couch, lying with his feet up/Richard is in his beanbag/I sprawl on the love seat.
  21. involuntarily
    against your will
    As he talks, I see Daddy’s eyes closing involuntarily/we destroyed and rebuilt an entire house/family/in a day/he is tired.
  22. eerie
    suggestive of the supernatural; mysterious
    I flip the switch.
    Nothing explodes/erupts/nothing eerie happens.
  23. ingenuity
    the property of showing inventiveness and skill
    Mama reckoned he was desperate/to understand anything is to understand energy/his sadness needed time to reorient/he bought time/with Somewhere Else ingenuity/not a billion dollars.
  24. inquisitive
    showing curiosity
    Curious, inquisitive, excited! Interested and engaged—willing to wait because you know what’s coming is good.
  25. moot
    of no legal significance, as having been previously decided
    I take a picture of it for my notes, even though my notes are moot/Solution Time is over...
Created on Thu Mar 17 12:41:25 EDT 2022 (updated Fri Apr 01 16:19:35 EDT 2022)

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