Text Leveling System

The Gawgon and the Boy

RDQ:	2828	Max Word/Sent	43	Total Words	2532		Diff Words	1033
Lex	1040	Ave Word/.Sent	11	Hi Freq occurs	1637	64.7%	Hi freq	354	34.3%
AR	6.5	Long Sentences	18.3	Low Freq occurs	359	14.2%	Low freq	287	27.8%

When I first met The Gawgon, I never suspected who she was: climber of icy mountains, rescuer of King Tut's treasure, challenger of master criminals, and a dozen other things. But that came later, after I died	nearly died, anyhow.
"They really thought you were a goner," my sister said cheerfully. She had come to stand at my bedroom door. "What a nuisance you are."
In April of that year one of those sour tempered Philadelphia Aprils I had the good luck to fall sick. I was delighted. Not that I enjoyed the worst part of it, but the best part was: It kept me out of school. Aside from a beehive buzzing in my head and a herd of weasels romping through my insides, I was beginning to feel pretty chipper.
No one told me straight out what ailed me. I was eleven
and had not reached complete visibility. My relatives, talking among themselves, tended to look through me the Amazing Invisible Boy or change the subject. I did overhear my mother and my aunt Rosie whispering in the hall about something Aunt Rosie called the New Monia. "Thank heaven it wasn't the Spanish Influenzo," she said to my mother. "Spaniards! What else will they send us?" Aunt Rosie lived in a state of eternal indignation and distrusted anything foreign.
"That's right, you nearly croaked," my sister happily went on. "Uncle Eustace was ready to sell us a tombstone."
Uncle Eustace, my father's brother, indeed sold tombstones for a living. As a result of sinus operations, deep scars crisscrossed his face. It made him look grim and somber, an advantage in his line of work.
"If I croaked"I made frog noises"it wouldn't bother me. I'd come back as a duppy and haunt you."
Duppy was the West Indian word for "ghost." I learned it from my father, born in Kingston, Jamaica. The prospect of meeting a duppy scared the wits out of him. Otherwise, he was completely fearless.
"There aren't any duppies in Philadelphia," my sister said. "So shut up about them. Just be glad you weren't quarantined." I was not glad. I was disappointed. I would have liked one of those red or yellow stickers plastered on the front door, a badge of distinction. We still lived in the house on Lorimer Street then, and I had seen a few go up in the neighborhood, usually for measles, chicken pox, diphtheria (the Dip Theory,
Aunt Rosie called it). Every so often a boy suddenly vanished as if the goblins had got him.The black lettered warning would appear, then a few days later, the boy himself, grinning behind the windowpane, his face magnificently blotched almost as good as being tattooed. What was done with girls, I had no idea. They were a tribe apart.
I knew my sister was frantic over the possibility of a quarantine. No one could have gone in or out except the adults and our family physician, Dr. McKelvie. She would have been confined to quarters along with me. She was seventeen, and it would have devastated her Tulip Garden.
The Tulip Garden was the name I gave her circle of girlfriends, all looking much alike with their bobbed hairdos of chestnut, auburn, blond on slender necks. Their meetings were forbidden to me. I could only lurk in the hall while, behind her bedroom door, the Tulip Garden whispered and giggled. Separated, they would have withered; or their hair might have fallen out in despair. When no quarantine was needed, my sister grew more kindly disposed toward me.
"You're going to be all right, blighter," she said. She held her nose and stepped away from the door. "Pee you. What do you do in here?"
She hurried to her room as if legions of my germs might attack her.
As for what I did: Apart from reading everything I could lay hands on, my favorite occupation was making up stories and drawing pictures to go with them. Before coming down sick, I
had taken a fancy to piracy, gorging myself on Treasure Island, Captain Blood, and The SeaHawk. Now sitting up again, I went back to the high seas.
My mind began drifting. The Spanish Influenza got mixed up with the Spanish Main, with quarantines, duppies, Uncle Eustace, and my grandmother's green parrot, Nora. The best pi
rates had beautiful ladies to worship from afar. I did not. I had only begun to suspect that girls were interesting beings. But I remembered my Jamaican Cousin Allegra we had, the year before, taken a trip to Kingston. Golden skinned, with a peach and turpentine fragrance of mangoes, she would, I thought, be just fine.
THE SEAFOX
The SeaFox stood at the railing of the quarterdeck, his trusty parrot, Nora, on his shoulder, a spyglass to his eye. Who would have guessed this slim, steel sinewed youth, captain of the most dreaded pirate ship to sail the Spanish Main, was the son of Lord Aldine, England's grandest nobleman?
A curious fate had set him on this course. Stricken by a terrible case of the New Monia, he had been sent on a sea voyage to regain his health.
"No member of this family has had a sick day since the Norman Conquest," declared his father. "Off you go, you puny blighter. Never set foot in this manor again till you're fit to wrestle a bear."
Months later, sailing homeward strong and vigorous, he was sorry to end the happy life he had found on the open sea. But then, nearly in sight of England's bleak and rainy shore, pirates attacked "Avast! Belay!"boarded his vessel, and swarmed over the deck.
Now lithe and muscular as a tiger, and handsomely suntanned, the lad fought so ferociously, to the wonder and admiration of friend and foe alike, that he was unanimously acclaimed"Hip hip hooray!"	captain of the buccaneers. All hands turned pirate, eager to serve under his command. From that day, he and his loyal crew became the terror of the sealanes; his good ship Allegra could overtake any sluggish merchantman"Surrender, you lubbers! Join us or walk the plank."
Lord Aldine assumed the boy had either died at sea proving a flaw in his son's character; or the ship had sunk proving incompetence on the part of the shipmaster. Had the noble lord the slightest inkling of his son's profession, he would have exploded with purple rage.
The SeaFox narrowed his gaze on Kingston harbor: the green hills under a cloudless blue sky; the coconut palms and mango trees swaying in the warm breeze; taverns and storehouses clustering at the waterfront; the governor's gleaming white mansion rising above the town.
He smiled with satisfaction and called for the bosun, a grizzled old sea dog, brow and cheekbones crisscrossed by cutlass scars and a bad sinus condition.
"Mr. Eustace," ordered the SeaFox, "strike the jolly Roger."
"Haul down the skull and bones? Aarr, Cap'n, what's afoot?"
"Then run up the yellow flag. Quarantine. Pestilence aboard."
"But, Cap'n" the puzzled bosun frowned  there's not even a case of measles Except for Dr. McKelvie, the ship's surgeon, seasick as usual, we're hale and hearty, all the rest." "Exactly."
When the SeaFox explained his plan, Mr. Eustace grinned and tugged a forelock: "Aye, a sweet little scheme. Aarr, Cap'n, they don't call ye SeaFox for nowt. And so we take the town, is it?"
"Kingston?" The SeaFox laughed. "Mr. Eustace, we shall take the whole island."
The bosun's face lit up. "Aarr, then we loot, sack, rifle, pillage"
"Whatever amuses you. Seize the jewels, gold, ginger ale, and all the mangoes. Spare only the governor's mansion."
The SeaFox again turned his spyglass landward to focus on the upper floor of the building where Allegra, the governor's golden skinned niece, had stepped onto the balcony.
"As for plunder, Mr. Eustace, divide it equally among the crew. But," the SeaFox murmured, "one priceless gem is mine.
Next morning, I felt a lot less chipper. My eyelids seemed to be glued shut; I spent some time and effort getting them open. I had thrashed around during the night, the bedclothes were in a tangled mess on the floor; even without them I sweltered. My mother, meantime, must have called Dr. McKelvie; for here he was, big, cheerful, and smelling like Listerine.

"Well, now, laddie buck, let's have a look at you." Dr. McKelvie dressed always in a black suit; a broad expanse of vest supported a gold watch and chain. His beard wreathed the bottom half of his face; it made me think of a bird's nest and I would not have been too surprised to see a cuckoo, like the one in my grandmother's clock, pop out of it.
While my mother hovered, Dr. McKelvie went about his
THE SEA-FOX CLAIMS HIS PRIZE
Mr. Eustace, as ordered, had run up the yellow flag to signal pestilence aboard. The Allegra drifted closer to the harbor. Consternation reigned along the waterfront. The townsfolk crowded the wharves, shaking their fists and warning the plague-ridden vessel to stand away. A boat was launched and rowed within a safe distance from the ship. The harbormaster, standing in the bow, commanded the Allegra to turn about and sail as far as possible out to sea.
"Aarr, it can't be done," Mr. Eustace called through a speaking trumpet.
"It demmed well better be," flung back the harbormaster, "else we open fire on you."
The Allegra's crew, meantime, had hidden themselves well out of sight. Mr. Eustace repeated, "Can't be done, no matter." Silently watchful on the quarterdeck, the Sea-Fox-who never told a lie-had assigned the bosun-who never told the truth-this deceptive but necessary task:
"No hands to work the ship," declared Mr. Eustace. "They're dead, all but me and the cap'n. Died of the Spanish Influenzo; bloated bellies, running sores, that kind of thing."
"Dead! Awk, awk!" Nora bounced up and down on the shoulder of the Sea-Fox. "Every man jack, dead as doorknobs." "No business of mine." The harbormaster held a handkerchief to his nose. "Don't come near. Can't work the ship? Then drift out to sea on the night tide. Drift to the devil, for all I care."
"Aye, aye," replied the bosun, "so we'll do."
At midnight, following his plan, the Sea-Fox ordered the jolly boats lowered over the side. The Allegra carried a number of these small, light craft for just such occasions. With muffled oars the Sea-Fox leading, the jolly boats skimmed swiftly to the sleeping harbor.
The crew, also according to plan, had draped themselves in lengths of sailcloth. Reaching the docks, they clambered ashore and gave voice to bloodcurdling shrieks. The drowsy watchman, rousing, gaped in terror.
"Duppies!" he bawled. "Hundreds! Duppies everywhere!" Seeing the white-shrouded figures, convinced the town had been invaded by the ghosts of diseased sailors, the entire population raced for the hills. Adding to the panic, the crew smashed many huge barrels of ginger ale, and the amber liquid gushed in rivers down the streets. Warehouses were broken into, thousands of mangoes rolled in all directions.
The Sea-Fox, discarding his ghostly disguise, strode to the governor's mansion. Unchallenged, he climbed the marble staircase and halted at a bedchamber door. With one mighty kick from his booted foot, he shattered it from its hinges.
Allegra turned toward him. Months before, the Sea-Fox had boarded a vessel carrying her, the governor, and his lady to Jamaica. Ordinarily, the Sea-Fox would have set the passengers adrift. However, the sparkle in Allegra's eyes betokened more than passing interest and held a promise for the future.
"We shall meet again," he whispered in her shell-like ear.
Now here she was, her face aglow with the same illumination he had seen at their first encounter.
"You idiot," she said, "why did you kick down my door? It was unlatched; I was waiting for you. At least," she added, "you could have knocked."
The Sea-Fox nodded acceptance of this gentle reproof. He pointed at the town below, where his loyal crew were guzzling ginger ale and stuffing themselves with mangoes.
"Kingston is mine. And yours," he said. "I mean to declare Jamaican independence.The grateful population will acclaim us president and first lady. Or king and queen, if you prefer. We shall occupy this splendid residence-"
"Have you lost your mind?" Allegra burst out. "Gone stark raving bonkers? Why do you suppose I waited for you? To stay on some boring island? Besides, I hate mangoes. I say we haul out of here, back to the high seas, plundering merchantmen, sinking frigates."
"Then so we shall!" happily exclaimed the Sea-Fox, who had not really looked forward to life ashore. "Yes, the two of us will terrify the Spanish Main together."
"My Sea-Fox!" cried Allegra. "My pirate bride!" he answered. "Your Sea-Vixen," said Allegra.
Later, my sister came to announce confidentially: "You're going to be cupped."
I had no idea what she meant. Put into a cup? It would have to be a large one.
"Grandmother phoned. She told Mother it would be a good idea. They did it to me once," she added. "It was disgusting and weird. Just the kind of thing you like. They're calling Mrs. Jossbegger."
This puzzled me. I knew Mrs. Jossbegger, a woman of some bulk who wheezed a lot. She had, so far as I could tell, nothing to do with cups. She made her living from feet: cutting ladies' toenails and paring their corns.
Mrs. Jossbegger made regular visits to Larchmont Street, where my grandmother kept a boardinghouse. On those occasions, my mother and my various aunts gathered in the parlor. We all lived within a few blocks of each other, so it was an easy walk.
I was always glad to be taken along. At the boardinghouse, something was always going on: lodgers coming in and out, meals being cooked, a cluttered cellar I was allowed to explore. And, above all, Nora the parrot.
Nora had been left behind when one of the lodgers furtively departed still owing a good amount of back rent. Now she lived in the parlor, free to perch on her T-shaped pole or do acrobatics on top of her cage.
I never missed a chance to talk with her, though what she said was mainly gibberish, with a lot of squawking and whistling. Sometimes she did come out with understandable sentences:
"We're all drunk but Nora," she warbled, adding noises like breaking glass. Then she whooped and giggled. "Naughty boy, get your hand off my leg. Hoorah, hoorah!"
I could only guess at the life she had led before settling into the boardinghouse.
The corn-cutting sessions were social events as much as they were podiatric treatments. Awaiting Mrs. Jossbegger, the ladies gathered in a circle, a grown-up Tulip Garden, drinking tea and gossiping.
Also attending was one of the two permanent residents: Aunt Annie (an honorary title, she was my grandmother's distant cousin), thin as a stick, always in floor-length black skirts, her white hair twisted into a bun.

Subjective Criteria

Illustrations: No support

Dialog: Multiple speakers

Dialog: Broken dialogue

Dialog: Unlabeled Speaker

Vocabulary: Many difficult words

Language: Many descriptive words

Sentences: Some Long/Complex

Text structure: Story/Poem

Inferences: Several Implications

Complexity: Several unrelated ideas

Concepts: Concrete/Simple Social

Chapters

Sequence of Events: Several shifts in time

Features

Character traits

Character development

Excessive # of characters

Integral Setting - Historical

Simple Plot

Alternating voice

Unusual use of vocabulary

Topic

Teacher/Teaching

Learning

Creativity

Imagination

*Feelings, Behaviors

*Schools & Education

Low Frequency Words

aboard	acceptance	acclaim	acclaimed	according
acrobatics	admiration	adrift	advantage	afar
afoot	aglow	ailed	amuses	announce
assigned	assumed	auburn	avast	awaiting
balcony	bawled	bedchamber	bedclothes	belay
blighter	bloodcurdling	boarded	boardinghouse	booted
bosun	bosun's	buccaneers	cap'n	cellar
challenger	cheekbones	chestnut	chipper	clambered
cloudless	confined	conquest	consternation	convinced
crisscrossed	cuckoo	curious	cutlass	deceptive
demmed	departed	despair	devastated	disappointed
discarding	diseased	disguise	disposed	distinction
distrusted	dreaded	duppies	duppy	encounter
eternal	eustace	expanse	ferociously	figures
flaw	flung	foe	foreign	forelock
fragrance	frantic	frigates	furtively	future
gaped	gem	ghostly	gibberish	girlfriends
glued	goblins	goner	gorging	gossiping
governor	governor's	grandest	grateful	grizzled
gushed	guzzling	hairdos	hale	halted
handkerchief	handsomely	harbor	hearty	herd
hinges	homeward	honorary	hoorah	hovered
idiot	illumination	incompetence	independence	indignation
influenzo	inkling	invaded	invisible	jamaica
jamaican	jewels	jossbegger	kindly	kingston
ladies	landward	legions	lengths	lettered
liquid	listerine	lithe	lodgers	lowered
loyal	lubbers	lurk	magnificently	mango
mangoes	manor	mansion	meantime	measles
merchantman	merchantmen	muffled	murmured	muscular
naughty	neighborhood	niece	noble	nobleman
nowt	nuisance	occasions	occupy	operations
ordinarily	otherwise	overhear	overtake	owing
palms	panic	paring	parlor	passengers
perch	permanent	pestilence	philadelphia	physician
pi	pillage	piracy	plague	plank
plastered	plunder	plundering	podiatric	population
possibility	president	profession	prospect	proving
puny	quarantine	quarantined	quarantines	quarterdeck
railing	raving	regain	reigned	relatives
reproof	rescuer	residence	residents	result
ridden	romping	rousing	rowed	sailcloth
sailors	satisfaction	scheme	seafox	seahawk
sealanes	seasick	seize	separated	sessions
settling	shipmaster	shrouded	sinewed	sinus
skimmed	skinned	slender	sluggish	social
somber	spaniards	splendid	squawking	staircase
stark	storehouses	stricken	strode	suntanned
surgeon	surrender	suspected	swarmed	sweltered
swiftly	tangled	taverns	tempered	terrify
terror	theory	thrashed	tombstone	tombstones
townsfolk	treatments	tulip	turpentine	unanimously
unchallenged	understandable	unlatched	various	vessel
vigorous	visibility	vixen	voyage	warbled
warehouses	watchful	watchman	waterfront	weasels
weird	wharves	wheezed	whistling	whooped
windowpane	withered	worship	wreathed	wrestle
youth