The Last Last-Day-of-Summer: Chapters 10–17

by Lamar Giles
Cousins Otto and Sheed, also known as the Legendary Alston Boys, are used to dealing with unusual happenings in the town of Fry, Virginia. When a mysterious stranger freezes time on the last day of summer vacation, the young sleuths embark on their strangest and most dangerous adventure yet.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–9, Chapters 10–17, Chapters 18–25, Chapters 26–35, Chapters 36–41

Here is a link to our lists for Spin by Lamar Giles.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. supernatural
    not able to be explained by physical laws
    They appear to be creatures of supernatural origin.
  2. strenuous
    taxing to the utmost; testing powers of endurance
    Riding the bikes up the incline was strenuous work, even for boys who ran everywhere and sometimes jumped for no reason at all.
  3. deduce
    conclude by reasoning
    Otto was surprised by Sheed’s guess (mostly because he didn’t think of it first).
    Sheed read Otto’s face. “What? You thought you were the only one who could deduce stuff? Man, please.”
  4. mull
    reflect deeply on a subject
    A.M. and P.M. mulled it over.
  5. cavernous
    being or suggesting a large dark enclosed space
    The boys glanced around the cavernous space.
  6. regal
    belonging to or befitting a supreme ruler
    At the center of the disturbance was a wise-and-wizardly-looking man. He wore a regal blue robe decorated with roman numerals.
  7. ruckus
    the act of making a noisy disturbance
    Standing on a table in the center of the ruckus, the man held a wide leather volume open, while raising one hand high and calling for calm.
  8. sidle
    move unobtrusively or furtively
    Sheed felt motion behind them. A.M. and P.M. had sidled up very close.
  9. exasperated
    greatly annoyed; out of patience
    Exasperated, he signaled someone. Immediately, a woman bounded onto the table next to him.
  10. bound
    move forward by leaping
    Exasperated, he signaled someone. Immediately, a woman bounded onto the table next to him.
  11. retort
    answer back
    Someone in the back of the room retorted, “But Sylvester the Wise says it is so.”
  12. tedious
    so lacking in interest as to cause mental weariness
    “They work with the Minute Men,” A.M. added, pointing to the opposite side of the library where another group of fifty or sixty men in loose fitting jogging suits gathered. “Together, they handle some of the more tedious time-management tasks Clock Watchers are responsible for.”
  13. sheepish
    showing a sense of shame
    “Yes?” the old man said, sheepish.
  14. skulk
    move stealthily
    Mr. Flux grinned, his mouth packed with too many teeth, like the Big Bad Wolf. He skulked the beast closer to Father Time.
  15. spur
    goad with sharp prods fixed to a rider's heel
    Mr. Flux dug his heels into the Time Suck’s sides, spurring it forward.
  16. chortle
    laugh quietly or with restraint
    “Well, aren’t you the brave ones?” Mr. Flux chortled.
  17. gangly
    tall and thin
    Sheed, using the natural athleticism his gangly legs allowed, circled Mr. Flux twice, looping the rope around his calves.
  18. malignant
    dangerous to health
    Neither boy was faster than Mr. Flux, who moved like snakes, and living taffy, and malignant rubber bands, slender and stretched.
  19. traverse
    journey across or pass over
    While he descended the three floors, piece by piece, in clumsy, grasping hand grips, Sheed traversed the debris, nimble as always.
  20. nimble
    moving quickly and lightly
    While he descended the three floors, piece by piece, in clumsy, grasping hand grips, Sheed traversed the debris, nimble as always.
  21. rile
    disturb, especially by minor irritations
    He gripped handfuls of its fur and dug in his heels, riling the docile creature into a rage.
  22. docile
    easily handled or managed
    He gripped handfuls of its fur and dug in his heels, riling the docile creature into a rage.
  23. ecstatic
    feeling great rapture or delight
    “Ohhhhhh!” Otto shouted, excited, and relieved, and proud, and ecstatic and a bunch of other words!
  24. unkempt
    not neatly combed
    The Wallace who came out of the creek, drenched in too-short jeans, a too-tight shirt, with shaggy unkempt hair and fingernails that were about two feet long, was twenty-three years old.
  25. chagrin
    strong feelings of embarrassment
    He wasn’t so fun anymore—whenever Otto and Sheed saw him, all he talked about was traffic and weather—but he was the best math student at D. Franklin Middle School (to Leen Ellison’s chagrin), so Mayor Ahmed let him work in the City Hall tax department and “make a pretty good living.”
  26. clod
    a compact mass
    Chunky clods dislodged from the creek’s bank and toppled into the water, swept into the loop.
  27. instinctive
    unthinking
    Flux and his beast crested the hill, right on top of Otto, who instinctively put his bike in motion, shooting down the path.
  28. leverage
    the mechanical advantage gained by a machine on a fulcrum
    Testing his own agility, he gripped his handlebars for leverage, then leapt, planting both feet on the bike seat.
  29. compel
    necessitate or exact
    Science fanatic Leen Ellison would’ve been happy to explain what happened next in the longest way possible, but it could be summarized by quoting Newton’s First Law of Motion: every object will remain at rest or in uniform motion in a straight line unless compelled to change its state by the action of an external force.
  30. facsimile
    an exact copy or reproduction
    “I mean it’s supposed to look like a six-hundred-series instant camera, from Polaroid’s most popular line. From a distance, yeah, it would pass, but up close it’s obviously a bad facsimile.”
  31. hone
    refine or make more perfect or effective
    She was a deductive mastermind, he supposed, but her gift wasn’t honed from training her mind for acute observation.
  32. acute
    demonstrating ability to recognize or draw fine distinctions
    She was a deductive mastermind, he supposed, but her gift wasn’t honed from training her mind for acute observation.
  33. idyllic
    charmingly simple and serene
    There was a word for it. Idyllic? No. Not idiotic (he’d love to toss that one at Wiki, though.)
  34. bashful
    self-consciously timid
    Bashful, Sheed said, “That’s not the way I remember it.”
  35. falter
    move hesitatingly, as if about to give way
    His smile faltered. “Uh, no. That’s my public identity. My real name is a secret. Because I’m a hero when I’m from.”
  36. virtual
    existing in essence or effect though not in actual fact
    “Sure. And Holo-streams, and virtual reality games. Tons of stuff. Traveling to see you live is a very popular vacation excursion.”
  37. excursion
    a journey taken for pleasure
    “Sure. And Holo-streams, and virtual reality games. Tons of stuff. Traveling to see you live is a very popular vacation excursion.”
  38. writhing
    moving in a twisting or snake-like or wormlike fashion
    Otto pointed at the writhing sack by the time traveler’s feet.
  39. slink
    move or walk stealthily
    The human-size sack kept trying to slink away.
  40. apprehend
    take into police custody
    “No,” said TimeStar, “I apprehended her before she could do more damage. When I found her, she was in Sunshine Cemetery working on some sort of spell around all the graves. I don’t know exactly what she planned, but she’d set up a big banner that said WELCOME BACK! I figured it was best not to let her see that through.”
Created on Fri Apr 12 16:31:15 EDT 2019 (updated Thu Apr 25 09:46:18 EDT 2019)

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