The Box Of Tricks

by Benjamin Kensey

I look back on the sweltering July day my father carried the Leica M3 into the house, with a spring in his
step, as the beginning of the rest of our lives, our lives without my mother.
(1)________________________________

"Hey John, look at this little box of tricks!" he urged, on returning from the junk store, a package under
his arm. I joined him in looking over what seemed to be a pretty beat up camera.

"You know, now I'll be able to do something I've always wanted."

This was generally my father's way of lightly admonishing his family for holding him back from all those
absorbing activities he would have otherwise enjoyed were it not for the heavy demands of being head
of household. He said it when my mother finally let him get the Winnebago, parked rusting to bits
outside while he surveyed his new toy with the bright eyes of a schoolboy.

Frances came into the kitchen to watch us, chin resting on forearms as she leaned precariously forward
in her chair, low over the table. (2)________________________________

As my fathers fingers nimbly traced faded contours on the camera body and explored tiny silver handles
and knobs along the top, he glanced up at me for the tiniest of instants.

"You know, when I was your age, John, I wanted to be a photo-journalist.

(3)________________________________ This camera here, well, it was the Cadillac of its day, you
know."

Frances perked up at the mention of a camera.

"Can we take pictures of Oscar?"

Oscar, our fat and gassy spaniel, yawned knowingly in the corner.

"I'm entering a photography competition, Fran," he said.

And that's how we discovered that evening that my father was entering the cut and thrust world of
competitive pointing and clicking. Yes, it kept him out of the harrying clutches of Amy and Anne, my
mother's two sisters who had taken it upon themselves to look after my father and the rest of us,
(4)________________________________, but if it was, he wasn't telling.

The aunts had soon made it a habit to show up at around ten o'clock and thus my father would be out of
the house by nine thirty, beloved Leica in tow. There then began a cold war of wills, with me in the
middle as informant, whereby my aunts' arrival and my father's daily photographic tours of duty would
get earlier and earlier. Within two weeks, Aunt Amy and Aunt Anne were at the house by eight sharp.
Eventually, a ceasefire was agreed all around and my father would spend ten minutes with my mom's
sisters and be out of the house by eight fifteen.

Indeed, my father was spending longer and longer outside the house. What he found to photograph
around our dull part of Cleveland is anyone's guess, for he never shared the spoils of his hunts with me
or Fran. He had a rudimentary darkroom fashioned under the tiny stairway from black curtains and we'd
often see his lumpy movements behind there through the summer evenings that year.

One afternoon, with the aunts chatting in the yard, I stole a peek in there but felt immediately a thief
and slunk away having only glimpsed a couple of shots of the imposing bank on Peacock Drive that were
still hanging up over the developing trays.

(5)________________________________

"Why can't we go into the dark?" she would ask.

"Darkroom, Fran. It's called a darkroom."

"I'm going to stop dad coming into my room," she would then argue with faultless logic and I would
await her next outburst.

In early September, over dinner, my father announced that he'd selected his entry for the prestigious
Cuyahoga County Photographic Fair, due to be held the following weekend.
(6)________________________________

"That's very exciting, Richard," she began, "after that, you can get back to looking after the family. It'll be
wonderful to have you around again."

He said nothing, but I could see the words had left their intended mark and we finished the meal in near
silence.

After the episode over dinner the week before, he hadn't spoken further of his choice of entry and had
resisted all my probing questions. On the Saturday morning of the competition, I found my father's
room, his study, the improvised darkroom, indeed the whole house, empty. Fran had gone to
Warrensville Park with our aunts for the day.

I passed the day walking barefoot across the sun dappled floorboards, often with Oscar meandering
lazily behind. I saw that my father had packed up his darkroom, leaving only the long, black drapes in
place. Fran had made her own "dark" under where her dolls house stood, which made me smile.

Just after four, my father's Chevy pulled up outside. He let the screen door bang shut, met me in the
hallway, smiled a boyish grin and said, "Let's get you kids some tea, what do you say? Franks and mac?
I'll do it like your mom did."

It was the first time he'd mentioned my mother in six weeks. I never saw the Leica again and he uttered
not a single word about the competition. (7)________________________________
"Only eight years later, in the Cleveland Public Library, did I discover my father had finished seventh in
the 1991 Cuyahoga County Photographic Fair. I never saw my father's photo, or even asked him about it.
Only those that finished first, second and third were shown, but none of them could have compared to
the image I gained of him that summer: that of a man in the midst of his greatest triumph."

A.and that may well have been his chief incentive

B.Fran, moody and teary in those days, found the whole thing bemusing and voiced her frustration daily.

C.Aunt Anne stopped eating.

D.Aunt Amy and Aunt Anne came around less and less often as fall approached.

E.my father wouldn't let us know, as was his way

F.My little sister could watch the goings on in that house for hours on end and barely murmur a sound.

G.It was only three days after her funeral.

H.I guess I just never had the right guidance.

Aromatherapy for Paris Metro

Starting this week the French capital Paris will have the sweetest smelling underground trains system in
the world. Five years ago Metro officials ordered extensive research to develop an antidote to the foul
odours that have plagued the subway system. (1)________________________

Now they have produced Madeleine, named after one of the network's smelliest stations. The
manufacturers say Madeline is composed of lemon, orange and lavender, with an extra hint of floral
bouquet and underlying woody notes, accompanied by vanilla and musk.
(2)________________________

Either way it is said to be better than the foul odour caused by a combination of trains, five million daily
passengers, homeless people using stations as lavatories and an inadequate ventilation system.

Metro director Jacques Rapoport said: "We had to find a smell that was sweet rather than violent, that
lingered for two weeks and that suggested a feeling of cleanliness and well-being rather than of
filthiness being covered up."

Every month, 1.5 tonnes of Madeleine will be added to the system's cleaning products to overpower the
existing smells of decaying bacteria, human sweat, urine, vomit, burning rubber and other
unpleasantness. Invalides station will be the first to benefit from Madeleine.
(3)________________________

It is not the first time the authorities have tried to freshen up the underground. Madeleine's
predecessor, Francine, a scent of lavender, eucalyptus and mint, was tested in 1993 and 1994.
(4)________________________
This time no chances were taken. Four scents, from an initial 500, were shortlisted for trials involving
5,000 Metro users. Madeleine was declared the overall winner - by a nose.

A.It was abandoned after generating more complaints than praise.

B.But some, who have smelled the mixture, say it is more like disinfectant.

C.Tourists have reacted positively to the new aroma.

D.Eventually it will be introduced across the 98-year-old network's 380 stations.

E.Officials were concerned the smell was deterring passengers.

Choosing House Plants

In most ways, indoor gardening is preferable to outdoor. Rain, wind, storms and frost impede progress
outside, whereas an indoor routine can be established without worrying about what is going on outside
the window. Plants in pots are mobile, too. (1)________________________ More sun, less sun, higher
or lower levels, a group instead of an orderly row, a mixed bowl or a dish garden-all provide fresh
interest and the variety is endless. There should be no time to spend regretting the gardens of former
times.

The ways in which plants can be displayed in various settings, such as offices, hospitals, store windows,
conference rooms, commercial premises and hotels, are limitless, but in domestic surroundings the
plants are part of the home and should share their position with the owners and with the furniture,
whether period or contemporary, to make a harmonious whole. (2)________________________ If there
are brightly colored curtains or upholstery, however, one should not forget to consider them when
choosing a plant with colored flowers, leaves or berries.

The choice of plants is very wide, but for the beginner it is wiser to start with a few hardy plants, to
gradually become used to their requirements, the diseases which may attack them, the amount of water
they need at various times of the year and the feeding they may require. It is useless to choose plants
for appearance only, for choice must depend primarily on the growing conditions required.
(3)________________________ Hardy plants have a certain tolerance for fluctuating temperatures and
can overlook neglect in matters such as watering and feeding for short periods.

Some plants are able to thrive in shady conditions because the light that they get indoors approximates
their natural habitat, the forests of Malaysia or tropical South America, areas from which the vast
majority of house plants originate. It is not usually possible to give plants ideal growing conditions in a
room primarily adjusted to the needs of personal living. Even well-lit rooms are shady in comparison
with open conditions in gardens and, as light enters a room mainly through its windows, its intensity and
duration depends on their exposure. (4)________________________ Especially near windows,
minimum temperature is crucial. It should be consistently maintained at not less than 50°F, although a
number of plants can thrive in a temperature of 5° less. In apartments, in particular, a more difficult
problem may be overheating and loss of humidity.
A dry atmosphere causes moisture loss from leaves, roots and soil. This must be offset by creating more
humidity around the plants. One of the easiest ways to increase humidity is to put the plant pot into a
larger container and to fill the extra space between outside container and inner pot with something
absorbent, such as peat moss, which can be kept permanently moist. (5)________________________
Among them are Sansevieria, Pittosporum, Sedum, Grevillea and Aspidistra. Plants that appreciate a dry
atmosphere usually like as much light as possible. All house plants should be removed before a room is
painted, although most are unaffected by tobacco smoke.

A.Later, choice widens with experience; skillful amateurs can deal with almost any plant, no matter how
delicate.

B.This extra effort will be repaid many times over.

C.Some plants do, however, prefer a dry atmosphere.

D.Temperatures are mainly a winter problem.

E.They can be moved around to alter the background completely.

F.This is one reason that so many popular house plants are green, for this color blends so well with all
other colors.

A Name To Bear

Three thousand head of bawling Hereford cattle were being collected from little grassy patches and
wooded breaks up in Togwotee Pass country. The cool mountain air was relatively free from the swarms
of biting flies and gnats that would have kept them miserable at the lower elevations and the high
meadows had made the red and white cattle sleek and fat during the spring and summer.
(1)____________________________

Fall was coming to the northern Wyoming mountains at the southern edge of the Absaroka range. It was
time to push the animals back into the low country for the shelter of the valleys and the grass that had
grown there during the long summer days. Eighteen hands from the Hayrake Ranch out from Dubois had
moved into the high country with a chuck wagon and a forty-horse remuda for the three-day roundup.

A leather-faced Jamie Alden sat hipshod in his saddle at the edge of one of the high meadows; hand
rolled cigarette pinched between his thumb and forefinger. (2)____________________________ He had
been "brush bustin'" steadily since he had mounted the big rawboned dun at first light.

The large, muscular man patted the sweating horse on the neck, soothing the fidgeting animal, "Just rest
a minute. We'll catch up to 'em." He would work this horse until noon, then pull a sleek bay gelding out
of the remuda for the afternoon.

The herd dogs had just routed a large old cow and two calves from a gully at the edge of the meadow.
After a few futile lunges and bawls at the yipping dogs, the old cow remembered her lessons from years
gone by. She conceded the dodging contest to the persistence of the two black and white shepherds,
and led her bleating twins in a bounding retreat down the draw to join the other upset cows and calves
bawling on a grassy bench fifty yards down the slope.

As the lowing, yipping and bleating receded from the meadow, Jamie thought he heard a strange noise
in a draw over a couple of small ridges. (3)____________________________ It sounded like a calf
bleating, but he had seen two of the other cowboys working that area just as he had come into the
meadow.

"Well, I reckon we better check. Those boys musta missed somethin'." He pinched the fire off the spent
cigarette and pulled the paper from the remaining butt, scattering little shreds of black and brown
tobacco on the ground at the horse's hoofs. The dun responded to the neckreining and headed in the
direction indicated by the cowboy, scrambling up the steep little scree and greasewood brush slope of
the second ridge. At the top Jamie scanned from one side to the other, looking over the little brushy
valley for any signs of Hereford. (4)____________________________

"Well, we better get on back, ol' buddy. Guess it musta been my 'magination." He started to neckrein
the horse back toward the drive activity when something caught his eye in the lower part of the draw.
To a seasoned cowboy the bright red stain on the leaves was something that must be checked out. It
looked like blood.

Bringing his horse down the slope several yards closer confirmed his suspicions.
(5)____________________________ Keeping a tight hold on the reins, he walked slowly to the side of
the draw where the commotion had occurred.

There was blood on the ground and on one of the scrubby greasewood bushes nearby. It had obviously
been spilled within the last half hour or so. It was still bright red all the way across the little pools and
splashes. None of it had started to turn dark at the edges. A lot of scuffed area in the leaves and rocks
told of a struggle here this morning.

"Cougar kill a calf here?" He spoke the question to himself, not unusual for someone used to working so
much alone. He also talked to his horse often.

"I reckon I didn' hear this calf. It happened before I got up this high. Mmmm. They usually just choke
'em, don't bleed 'em right away." The unmistakable partial prints where the claws of the bear had
scuffed the leaves and trash away to hard ground in the attack were obvious.

"Bear would be more likely to choke 'im, too. (6)____________________________ Either way, wouldn't
be no blood like this. Unless this blood come from a real young calf. That's it. Musta been tender enough
that its throat tore when th' bear grabbed him. Hmmm, mebbeso that ol' momma cow ... naw, this track
was made by one o' them big bulls.

"I reckon this ol' bull made it hot for th' bear, an th' calf's throat come loose from th' wrench o' th'
fightin. Anyway th' bear got th' calf. Yeah, there's some more blood leadin off up th' draw. An' judgin' by
th' size o' that track there, it must be a big un."
He studied the marks on the disturbed ground a few minutes. "We don't get many blacks that big an' I
ain't seen a griz in these parts for a while. I think we got one now, though. 'Em boys at th' chuck's gonna
be mighty innerested in these doins."

The cowboy looked past the head of the draw. There were numerous rock lined, scree-filled gullies
coming off the upper part of the mountain. "Reckon he's prob'ly up there somewheres fillin' his gut
about now."

Flipping the off rein around the neck of the still bothered horse, Jamie pinched the two leather straps
against the saddle horn. He stuck a beat up boot-toe into the back of the front-guarded, wooden stirrup
and swung easily into the groaning leather on the dun.

"Le's just see how far up we can track this feller. Mebbe we c'n get a shot at 'im."

He drew a .30-.30 carbine from the saddle boot and looked at it critically. "This is mighty light to go after
griz with, but there's not much choice now." It didn't occur to him to just drop the matter. A predator on
the cattle range was something to be eliminated before it could do more damage. He lay the rifle across
the saddle and neckreined the dun up the side of a small ridge.

A. Or break his neck.

B. The dun looked at him nervously as he started to gallop.

C. It may have been his saddle creaking, but with the noise in the background, he wasn't sure.

D. No cattle appeared to be in the area.

E. But now their summer "vacation" was ending.

F. He dismounted from the nervous dun.

G. His mid-morning smoke break was needed.

The Golden Gate Bridge

The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California is one of the world's most beautiful bridges.
(1)________________________ Vehicles cross the bridge an average of forty-one million times each
year. More than one billion eight hundred million vehicles have used the bridge since it opened more
than seventy years ago.

The bridge has always been painted "International Orange" because that color went well with the
natural surroundings. The color also is easier to see in the heavy fog that often covers the area. But the
Golden Gate Bridge was not named for its orange color. (2)________________________ The Golden
Gate Strait is the entrance to the San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean. The Golden Gate Bridge links
the city of San Francisco with Marin County, California.
Planning for the bridge began in the 1920s when the area around San Francisco was growing.
(3)________________________ Joseph Strauss was the chief engineer for the project. Work began in
1933. Mister Strauss demanded the strongest safety protections in the history of bridge building. These
included the first use of "hard hats" to protect the workers' heads and special glasses to protect their
eyes.

A special safety net was suspended under the bridge. This net saved the lives of nineteen men during
the construction. However, eleven other workers were killed when they fell from the bridge through the
net. (4)________________________

The Golden Gate Bridge opened in 1937. It extends one thousand two hundred eighty meters across the
water. The total length is two thousand seven hundred thirty-seven meters. It was the largest
suspension bridge in the world until 1964. (5)________________________ Today, the Golden Gate
Bridge is the ninth longest suspension bridge in the world.

The chief engineer, Joseph Strauss, wrote a poem called "The Mighty Task is Done" after the Golden
Gate Bridge was completed. It is written on the bridge.

A.That is when the Verrazano Narrows Bridge opened in New York City.

B.It is also one of the most visited places in the world.

C.People living in the area needed another way to get to the city besides the small ferry boats.

D.It was named for the body of water that it crosses, the Golden Gate Strait.

E.Only by doing this was the bridge able to be finished on time.

F.Still, this was a new safety record for the time.