Me
the story
linda sat at the table hard at work on a painting. she looked out the window studying the view of the backyard. what she saw seemed simple enough—trees, grass, large boulders, and a very blue sky—but to her the view had a pattern, a pattern that spoke to her and that she wanted to put in her painting. this painting was the one she would enter into the contest at school. she wanted so much to win the award . . it meant everything to her . . it would be proof that she was an artist. the award was what she thought about most every day and what she talked about to her family and friends. today both of her parents were at work. linda and her little sister, nina, her grandmother, and her baby brother, carlos, were at home. her other brothers, luis and miguel, were playing basketball at the community center just down the road. since it was the weekend, linda had time to concentrate on the painting, which she needed to finish by the next day. nina was sitting at the table too, doing her own painting of stick figures in bright colors. linda encouraged nina to paint and nina loved doing it. linda showed nina how to put the brush into water and then into the paint. nina was only five, but she learned very quickly. the colors danced on the paper with each stroke of her brush. your picture is great! remember to be neat, nina,” linda warned her sister. nina sometimes showed a bit too much exuberance when she painted. linda was very precise when she painted, as though she had a clear and vivid vision in her head which she was copying. it was about three o’clock when her grandmother reminded linda that she had to complete her household chores for the day. at first linda felt annoyance because she was almost finished with the painting and did not want to stop, but she knew she had to do what was expected of her. being the oldest child was sometimes difficult, linda thought to herself. she had more responsibility than the others, but being the oldest carried some advantages. she could stay up late at night and have a little more independence when she had finished her chores, she went back to the table where nina was sitting, obviously very intent on doing something. as linda went over to her and looked down, her expression drooped. “nina,” she cried. “no, no, stop, stop. that’s my painting. what are you doing to my painting? ” she asked. nina looked up surprised by what linda said. i was you . . i wanted you to win the contest,” nina answered in a tiny voice, concerned now by the look on her sister’s face, but proud of the little stick people she had drawn in the landscape tears welled up in linda’s eyes as she realized that her painting was probably ruined. she looked again at her sister who seemed so troubled by linda’s reaction. linda took the painting and went into the kitchen. “grandma, look at what she has done . . she has ruined my painting,” she told her grandmother as she cried. “now i won’t be able to win the award—i won’t win the award at all.” her grandmother didn’t know what to say but held out her arms and linda clung to her, not knowing what she should do. “it will be all right,” she told her. “you can do another.” but linda knew there would not be time between now and the next morning to finish a painting. linda told her grandmother she needed to be alone and ran out of the house into the backyard without saying goodbye to nina. nina wanted to follow her but her grandmother said she shouldn’t. linda felt cheated. she knew that nina hadn’t understood and wanted to , but now she would not win the award. she cried again, but as time went by, her tears dried and she began to realize that even though she was disappointed, life would go on, and in time she would forget all about the contest. suddenly, from somewhere inside her, she began to get a feeling of hope. “maybe i wanted that award too much,” she said to herself as she realized that being an artist wasn’t about awards. suddenly she knew there would be many other paintings in her life and other awards. there would be plenty of time to become an artist, but there would only be one nina. she turned back toward the house, hurrying. she wanted to go in and hug nina.
1. which words best describe the mood of the first passage?
a. warm and tender
b. hopeful and excited
c. joyous and welcoming
d. light hearted and playful