Flying Through Water: Chapters 7-12

by Mamle Wolo
In this novel, Sena, a 15-year-old boy from Ghana, tries to help his family get through a difficult time, but when he falls into the clutches of human traffickers, he must do everything he can to escape and return home.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Part 1: Chapters 1-6, Part 1: Chapters 7-12, Part 2, Part 3
15 words 18 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. filament
    a threadlike structure
    Togbe’s fingers worked rapidly, weaving horizontal filaments between the vertical.
  2. bemused
    perplexed by many conflicting situations or statements
    She looked at me for a second, bemused, then leaned a shoulder toward me to hand him over.
  3. haunch
    the upper thigh and back of the hip in human beings
    Togbe sat on his haunches by the fire, and I fetched the coal pot fan from the basket.
  4. transfixed
    having your attention fixated as though witchcraft
    The years just seemed to roll right off them, and I watched transfixed as they laughed like rascals and raced each other, then swam leisurely back to the bank.
  5. revel
    take delight in
    After that I just splashed around in the shallows, watching them revel in the water while I relished the cool of it sliding over the sunshine on my back and shoulders.
  6. grit
    fortitude and determination
    All the years Grandpa Dodzi had lived, the changes he’d seen, the struggles he’d overcome, his grit, his irrepressible humor—all lost to us and the world because his time had come.
  7. bout
    a period of indeterminate length marked by some condition
    In the new year his bouts of illness became more frequent, and the day came when he could not go to the farm anymore.
  8. prow
    the front part of a vessel
    The old man folded his arms on the prow of the boat and rested his chin on top of them, looking down into the water.
  9. palpable
    capable of being perceived
    But the day I finally went, I understood what he had said to me because his presence was almost palpable as I walked down to the water to nestle fish traps in the shallows.
  10. spasm
    a painful and involuntary muscular contraction
    An involuntary spasm came over Ma and her eyelids parted briefly, showing only the whites of her eyes.
  11. abate
    become less in amount or intensity
    Finally, the steam began to abate, and I signaled enough.
  12. quack
    medically unqualified
    This was not quack medicine.
  13. resigned
    accepting that something unpleasant cannot be changed
    She gave in with a resigned eye roll, perhaps buying what I’d said about my joy at Ma’s recovery, which was, after all, a shared one.
  14. flippant
    showing an inappropriate lack of seriousness
    “It’s okay!” she said with a flippant wave of her hand, smiling that perfectly parallel smile.
  15. grave
    requiring serious thought
    “Keli, wait!” I said, still clueless as to where my courage was coming from. “I just… want to wish you luck for your exam!” I really meant that, and she saw it, and again—I could feel—sensed what I couldn’t tell her—if not the detail of it, then that there was something… something grave and critical afoot in my world.
Created on Thu Sep 18 08:17:58 EDT 2025 (updated Mon Nov 10 10:22:16 EST 2025)

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