Read the following passage carefully and then answer the

questions which follow

Water Ghosts
A STORY
BY M A X I M LO S KU T O F F
I WA S O N LY F I V E when Dad told me I had died.
You drowned, he said. Im so sorry. His hands disappeared into the soapy
water and he lifted me from the tub.
Standing on the bath mat, dripping, I tried to feel every part of my body to see
if it hurt. I wiggled my toes. I blinked my eyes. Drops fell from my pruned fingers.
A bubbly island of soap floated across the tub. I began to cry.
Dad wrapped me in a towel. The flesh around his eyes was swollen and red. He
sat on the wet bath mat and held me on his lap. Light snow fell outside the
bathroom window. Flakes stuck to the steamy glass, melted, and became tiny
rivers. The sign for the old quarry glowed in the distant shadow of the mountain.
Its okay, he said. It didnt hurt. He brushed the tears from my cheek with
the rough pad of his thumb.
I nodded.
Youll never have to go to school. Never have to work. Youll stay here, with
me. Behind him, the silver guts of the sink curled into the wall. Gray-green mold
grew in the joints of the pipes.
I pressed my face into the ink-smelling flannel of his faded shirt and wiped my
nose.

A S H E P U T M E to bedhelping me brush my teeth, holding out my fleece

pajamas while I stepped into themhe explained that as long as I stayed in the
house nothing would change. He would fix my meals and read to me and give
me things to play with while he worked. But I must never go outside because I
would begin to fade away.
Promise me, he said, gripping my shoulders.
Out my window a single light shone over the neighbors garage. The
Snoqualmie River snaked along the base of Guye Peak beyond the quarry sign. I
squirmed, shrugging freeI had a fort in the yard, the forest, the park; it was too
much. I didnt want to cry again. I climbed into bed.
He leaned over me and planted his hands in the folds of the comforter.
Kelsyn, promise. The wet black hair on his forearms stuck to his skin.
I gathered my knees to my chest. I promised.
 He nodded and his figure shrank as he sat down on the edge of the bed. His
weight tilted the mattress. I tensed my muscles to keep from rolling into him.
Books were piled beside the frog clock on top of my dresser. He selected the
top one and, without asking what I wanted to hear, read a fable about a lion and
a mouse. His Adams apple bobbed when the lion spoke. He gestured with his fist
as the mouse chewed through the hunters net. Then he closed the book and set
it on his knee.
The end, he said.
Am I a water ghost? I asked, feeling the drops in my hair. He hadnt
unstopped the tub and I knew it was still full, the soap island slowly dissolving on
the gray surface.
He stared down at me. Lamplight cut a triangle across his cheek all the way up
to a knitted eyebrow. No, he said.
Mom had complained about his old shirts, but we both liked how soft they
were. I touched the hem, waiting for him to go on. To explain what kind I was,
what the rules were. But all he did was look down at me as if I were already
starting to disappear.
After a while, I closed my eyes and pretended to be asleep.
The bedsprings creaked when he stood. He paused in the doorway, his large
figure silhouetted in the light of the hall. Then he closed the door.
I counted down from ten five times. Faint voices murmured from the TV
downstairs. I took my special rocks and the small flashlight from the drawer in
the night table and crawled under my bed. I made a little wall out of the rocks. I
beamed the light on it so the polished colors glowed red, white, and gold. Would
other children be afraid of me? Would they run, crying? I took the wall down and
turned the rocks into soldiers. The crystals slaughtered the pyrite. There was
nothing the garnets could do.
The TV went silent and creaking rose from deep in the basement. The ticks and
shifting of the old house used to keep me awake, a blanket clutched to my chin.
If it got bad enough Mom would come to my room and curl up beside me until I
went to sleep. I gathered the rocks, preparing for another battle.
I didnt need to sleep anymore.

Questions

1) What evidence is available in the passage to say the child has drowned? (1
Mark)
2) Give reasons as to why it seems that the father is lying to his child? (2
Marks)
3) In your own words, explain what you think of the Fathers behaviour. (5
Marks)
4) How does the writer try to convey his thoughts and feelings in this
passage?
In your answer you should write about:
his behaviour
his impressions of his surroundings
Particular words, phrases and techniques.
You may include brief quotations from the passage to support your answer.
(12 Marks)