Question 1 of 16 · Reading
Plot, theme, and word choice · Curriculum connections: RL.6.1, RL.6.2, RL.6.3, RL.6.4
A Minute Behind — original fictional story
Original classroom material; people, sources and data are fictional.
The clock above the ferry office was a minute behind Eli’s phone. Eli had noticed this on his first day delivering newspapers along the harbor, and each morning he announced the difference to the ticket clerk. “A clock should be correct,” he insisted. Mrs. Vale nodded, but she never climbed the ladder stored beside her desk.
On Saturday, fog tucked the far dock out of sight. Eli arrived at the office with his bundle of papers and found a family staring at the clock. The mother searched a bag while two children counted coins. Eli checked his phone. “You have already missed it,” he said. The smaller child began to cry.
Mrs. Vale stepped outside and raised a hand. The deck attendant was still lifting the ramp. He waited while the family hurried across. Then Mrs. Vale returned for her newspaper. “Sometimes the last minute is a place to stand,” she said. Eli thought this was a strange thing to say about time.
The next morning, he delivered a paper to a sailor who took a long time to reach the door. Eli bounced his heel, watching seconds leap on his phone. Through the doorway, he saw the sailor fastening a brace around one leg. Eli stopped bouncing. He placed the paper on a dry chair where it would be easy to reach.
At the office, Eli looked at the late clock. He still believed clocks should be correct. “Could we put a sign here saying the ramp closes after the crew checks the dock?” he asked. Mrs. Vale fetched paper from a drawer. They wrote the sign together. Eli had not decided that minutes were unimportant. He had begun to ask who needed the time inside them.