Section 1

Questions

1. What has the narrator recently received at the beginning of the story?
2. Why can't the narrator attend the wedding?
3. Which of the narrator's relations is visiting him?
4. When did the narrator meet the bride?
5. What was the narrator's profession in 1944?
6. Where is the narrator temporarily stationed in 1944?
7. Why is the narrator temporarily stationed in Devon?
8. What does the narrator do during his alone time?
9. What does the narrator notice occurring at the local church on the last day of the course?
10. What does the girl who is excellent at singing keep hiding throughout practice?
11. Why doesn't the narrator stop at the Red Cross recreation room?
12. Where does the narrator stop instead of the Red Cross recreation room?
13. What does the narrator read at the tearoom?
14. Who shows up at the tearoom while the narrator is reading the letters from his wife and mother-in-law?
15. What does the narrator notice that the girl is wearing when she comes to his table and chats with him?
16. What does the girl say she wants to do when she grows up?
17. Where does the girl say she wants to move to when she grows up?
18. What does the girl profess to be something of an expert on?
19. How many Americans has the girl met?
20. What does the girl correctly guess about the narrator?
21. What does the girl say about the behavior of the American soldiers?
22. What did one American soldier throw through the girl's aunt's window?
23. What does the girl apologize for?
24. What does the girl ask the narrator about his wife?
25. Where does the narrator wonder that the girl might wear the enormous wristwatch that doesn't seem to belong on her at all?
26. Why does the girl say she came over to chat with the narrator?
27. Why does the girl say she's trying to be more compassionate?
28. Who does the girl live with?
29. What has happened to the girl's mother?
30. What is the girl's first name?
31. Why won't the girl tell the narrator her full name?
32. What does the boy ask the narrator when he sits down at the table?
33. Why does the narrator say that people in films kiss sideways?
34. What is the little boy's name?
35. How does Charles act un-brilliantly, after his sister says he's considered brilliant?
36. What does the girl say happened to their father?
37. Which parent does Charles take after?
38. Which parent does the girl take after?
39. What personality did the kids' father have?
40. What personality did the kids' mother have?
41. Where does the girl say that Charles picked up the habit of the loud, rude Bronx cheer?
42. When does the narrator comment that Charles should save the Bronx cheer for?
43. Why did the kids' father say his daughter was unequipped for life?
44. What riddle does Charles ask the kids?
45. What profession does the narrator say he has during non-wartime?
46. Who owned the watch before it was given to the girl?
47. How does Charles respond when the narrator answers the riddle that he asked his sister?
48. What does the girl offer to do to keep in contact with the narrator when hearing that he's leaving the following day?
49. How does the narrator feel upon the departure of the siblings?
50. What does the girl force her brother to do when they return?
51. What does the narrator ask Charles when he's about to rush away after the kiss?
52. How does Charles respond when hearing the riddle, after the kiss?
53. What does the girl remind the narrator to do for her?
54. How does the girl want the story to be?
55. How does the narrator respond to the girl's request for her story to be "extremely squalid and moving"?
56. What does the girl wish the narrator?

Answers

1. A wedding invitation
2. It's in England and he's in America.
3. His mother-in-law
4. Six years ago
5. A soldier in World War II
6. Devon, England
7. For a special intelligence course run by the British Army
8. Wanders about town and the countryside
9. A children's choir practice
10. The fact that she is yawning
11. It's too crowded for his taste.
12. A tearoom for civilians
13. Letters from his wife and mother-in-law
14. The talented choir member, accompanied by a child who's apparently her younger brother and their governess
15. A man's watch, which looks absurdly big on her tiny wrist
16. Be a professional jazz singer and make loads of money
17. A ranch in Ohio
18. Americans
19. Eleven
20. That he's in town to attend the supposedly secret military intelligence school
21. Most of the American soldiers she's seen don't always act properly.
22. A whiskey bottle
23. Not looking her best, as her hair is wet from the rain and isn't as wavy as it usually is
24. If he's "very deeply in love" with her
25. Around her waist
26. Because he looked so very lonely and has a "sensitive" face
27. Others have told her she's very cold.
28. Her aunt
29. She's dead.
30. Esmé
31. She's an aristocrat and thinks Americans are often intimidated by noble titles.
32. Why people in films kiss sideways
33. Because the actors' noses are too big for them to kiss straight on
34. Charles
35. He denies that his eyes are green, saying they're orange, and twists himself into contortions under the table.
36. He was killed in the war in North Africa.
37. Their mother
38. Their father
39. Intellectual and introverted
40. Outgoing and passionate
41. From an American he saw once
42. When he's grown up enough to use his aristocratic title, if he also has one
43. Because she didn't have a sense of humor
44. "What did one wall say to the other?"
45. A short story writer
46. The kids' father
47. He is violently angered, turns his back, and returns to his own table.
48. Write to him
49. Surprisingly emotional
50. Kiss the narrator good-bye
51. "What did one wall say to the other wall?"
52. He lights up, screams the answer, and dashes out of the shop, apparently overwhelmed by hilarity.
53. Write a story
54. Extremely squalid and moving
55. He says he's becoming increasingly familiar with squalor and that he'll do his best to meet her requirements.
56. Good luck in the war