Read the following professional essay. Then answer the questions.

The Yellow Ribbon by: Pete Hamill

1 They were going to Fort Lauderdale, the girl remembered later. There were six of them,three boys and three
girls, and they picked up the bus at the old terminal on 34th Street,carrying sandwiches and wine in paper bags,
dreaming of golden beaches and the tides of thesea as the gray cold spring of New York vanished behind them.
Vingo was on board from thebeginning.
2 As the bus passed through Jersey and into Philly, they began to notice that Vingo nevermoved. He sat in front of
the young people, his dusty face masking his age, dressed in a plainbrown ill-fitting suit. His fingers were stained
from cigarettes and he chewed the inside of hislip a lot, frozen into some personal cocoon of silence.

3 Somewhere outside of Washington, deep into the night, the bus pulled into a Howard Johnson's, and everybody
got off except Vingo. He sat rooted in his seat, and the young people began to wonder about him, trying to
imagine his life: Perhaps he was a sea captain,maybe he had run away from his wife, he could be an old soldier
going home. When theywent back to the bus, the girl sat beside him and introduced herself.

4 “We're going to Florida,” the girl said brightly. “You going that far?”
5 “I don't know,” Vingo said.
6 “I've never been there,” she said. “I hear it's beautiful.”
7 “It is,” he said quietly, as if remembering something he had tried to forget.
8 “You live there?”
9 “I did some time there in the Navy. Jacksonville.”
10 “Want some wine?” she said. He smiled and took the bottle of Chianti and took a swig. He thanked her and
retreated again into silence. After a while, she went back to theothers, as Vingo nodded into sleep.

11 In the morning they awoke outside another Howard Johnson's, and this time Vingo went in. The girl insisted
that he join them. He seemed very shy and ordered black coffee andsmoked nervously, as the young people
chattered about sleeping on the beaches. When theywent back on the bus, the girl sat with Vingo again, and
after a while, slowly and painfullyand with great hesitation, he began to tell his story. He had been in jail in New
York for thelast four years, and now he was going home.

12“Four years!” the girl said. “What did you do?”

13 “It doesn't matter,” he said with quiet bluntness. “I did it and I went to jail. If you can't do the time, don't do the
crime. That's what they say and they're right.”
14 “Are you married?”
15 “I don't know.”
16 “You don't know?” she said.
17 “Well, when I was in the can I wrote to my wife,” he said. “I told her, I said, Martha,
I understand if you can't stay married to me. I told her that. I said I was gonna be away a longtime, and that if she
couldn't stand it, if the kids kept askin’ questions, if it hurt her too much,well, she could just forget me. Get a
new guy—she's a wonderful woman, really something—and forget about me. I told her she didn't have to write
me or nothing. And she didn't. Not forthree and a half years.”
18 “And you're going home now, not knowing?”

19 “Yeah,” he said shyly. “Well, last week, when I was sure the parole was coming through I wrote her. I told her
that if she had a new guy, I understood. But if she didn't, if she would take me back she should let me know. We
used to live in this town, Brunswick, justbefore Jacksonville, and there's a great big oak tree just as you come
into town, a very famoustree, huge. I told her if she would take me back, she should put a yellow handkerchief
on thetree, and I would get off and come home. If she didn't want me, forget it, no handkerchief, andI'd keep
going on through.”

20 “Wow,” the girl said. “Wow.”

21 She told the others, and soon all of them were in it, caught up in the approach of Brunswick, looking at the
pictures Vingo showed them of his wife and three children, the woman handsome in a plain way, the children
still unformed in a cracked, much-handled snapshot. Now they were twenty miles from Brunswick and the
young people took over window seats on the right side, waiting for the approach of the great oak tree. Vingo
stopped looking, tightening his face into the ex-con's mask, as if fortifying himself against still another
disappointment. Then it was ten miles, and then five and the bus acquired a dark hushed mood,full of silence,
of absence, of lost years, of the woman's plain face, of the sudden letter on thebreakfast table, of the wonder
of children, of the iron bars of solitude.

22 Then suddenly all of the young people were up out of their seats, screaming and shouting and crying, doing
small dances, shaking clenched fists in triumph and exaltation. Allexcept Vingo.

23 Vingo sat there stunned, looking at the oak tree. It was covered with yellow handkerchiefs, twenty of them,
thirty of them, maybe hundreds, a tree that stood like a bannerof welcome blowing and billowing in the wind,
turned into a gorgeous yellow blur by thepassing bus. As the young people shouted, the old con slowly rose
from his seat, holdinghimself tightly, and made his way to the front of the bus to go home.

About Unity
1. The thesis of Hamill's essay is implied rather than stated directly. See if you can state
the thesis in your own words.

_____________________________________________________________Sometimes you
could be expecting the worst but things can turn out to be more opposite and pleasant._________

2. Which statement best expresses the implied point of paragraph 2?

a. Vingo sat very still in his seat.
b. Something about Vingo made the young people curious.
c. Vingo appeared to be a nervous person.
d. Vingo was the most unusual person the young people had ever seen.

3. Which statement would best serve as a topic sentence for paragraph 11?
a. The girl's friendliness finally caused Vingo to confide in her.
b. The group woke up outside of a Howard Johnson's.
c. Vingo had been in jail for four years.
d. The girl persisted in being friendly to Vingo.
About Support
4. His fingers were stained from cigarettes and he chewed the inside of his lip a lot,
frozen in some personal cocoon of silence. This line from paragraph 2 supports the idea
that
a. Vingo had been drinking.
b. Vingo was nervous.
c. Vingo was a hostile person.
d. Vingo knew the young people were watching him.

5. Hamill writes in paragraph 11 that Vingo seemed very shy. Find at least two pieces of
evidence in the essay to support the idea that Vingo was shy.
___ He seemed very shy and ordered black coffee andsmoked nervously _______________19 “Yeah,” he said
shyly
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6. Hamill implies that despite his crime, Vingo was an honorable man. Find evidence that
supports that point.
________“It doesn't matter,” he said with quiet bluntness. “I did it and I went to jail. If you can't do the time,
don't do the crime. That's what they say and they're right.”
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________

About Coherence
7. The story in this essay takes place on a trip, so it's especially appropriate that Hamill
uses geographical and place names to signal the passing of time and miles. List at least
four of the specific places named.
____________ Fort Lauderdale ________________ Philly ___________________ Washington _____
Brunswick
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__________________________

8. What sentence in paragraph 19 begins with a transition word that indicates contrast?
(Write the opening words.)

___ But if she didn't, if she would take

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About the Introduction and Conclusion

9. The introductory paragraph indicates that Hamill
a. was one of the young people on the bus.
b. heard the story from Vingo years later.
c. was a friend of Vingo's wife.
d. interviewed one of the young girls who'd been on the bus.
10. Hamill has concluded his narrative with
a. a summary.
b. a thought-provoking question.
c. a recommendation.
d. the last event of his narrative.

Revise & edit the following paragraph

For years, astronomers did not know much about the planet Mercury. It is a part of our solar system.
And the planet closest to the sun. Even the most powerful telescopes could not get a view of Mercury as
there was too much glare from the sun to see mercury clearly. In the mid 1970’s, NASA launched
Mariner 10. Mariner 10 sent photographs of Mercury back to the astronomers on earth. The photos
surprisingly revealed a mountainous planet.

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