exaggeratedly proper

Lizzie sits down beside me, tugging her shift over her knees, her hands folded __________ in her lap.

a pie made of fruit with rich biscuit dough on top

Folks say, “There wouldn’t be any good food without sugar.” Like rhubarb _____________. Blueberry pie. Yellow cake.

someone who travels about selling wares

Who’s out there? Overseer Tom? A chicken thief? A ____________?

greatly annoyed; out of patience

“I know outside,” she says, ___________.

any of the larger branches of a tree

New Year’s Day, I hide beneath an evergreen. __________ hang down like curtains.

a very large pot that is used for boiling

Syrup, in the __________, bubbled and burst.

angered at something unjust or wrong

____________, I roll my eyes. Grown-ups think I’m trouble.

marked by or showing hopelessness

“Let her go, Eugenie.” His voice sounds so ___________. “Let her be a child. You wanted the same for our children.”

the quality of avoiding extremes

“_________________,” I say gaily. “Like Mister Beale thinks I shouldn’t work all the time.”

an aromatic or spicy dish

“No sweets, just ___________,” I used to tell Ma.

a large knife used as a weapon or for cutting vegetation

Nobody cares my hand swings the _____________, bundles, drags stalks onto the cart.

old and twisted and covered in lines

Almost everyone young enough, without __________, crinkly brown hands, has gone north.

sing or play alternating with the half note above or below

My whistle _________ high.

coarsely ground corn that is boiled

We pick wild chicory leaves; dig river holes, filling them with twigs; fish with balls of cornmeal (we don’t catch nothin’); and try to trap a skunk. __________ for bait doesn’t work.

a small inlet

River water stretches into land, making shallow___________, streams, and swamp marshes.

a small natural hill

I run past cane fields, then up the grassy ___________ where the big house sits to keep dry when the river overflows.

a square scarf folded into a triangle and worn over the head

I undo my ____________ and bite into the biscuit.

bend the knees in a gesture of respectful greeting

I twirl, pinch my shift, and __________.

a flat-bottom boat for carrying heavy loads

I wave at the sailor atop a __________.