Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Reading Check

1. What is buried far beneath the narrator’s house?

2. What is the message inscribed on the Neighborhood Watch signs?

3. What types of things are the homeowners trying to protect themselves against?

4. What pets does the family have?

5. What does the family install at the top of their wall?

6. What happens to the little boy at the end of the story?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How can you tell that the little boy is less scared than his parents?

2. What types of security does the housemaid suggest the family get?

3. What is the little boy doing when he meets his fate?

Recommended Next Reads

“The Moment Before the Gun Went Off” by Nadine Gordimer

• Another story by the same author about apartheid’s effects on families
• Set after the end of apartheid in South Africa
• Connects to theme of Township Uprisings of 1984-1985 and the End of Apartheid

“Africa Kills Her Sun” by Ken Saro-Wiwa

• A