维州精英中学考试阅读推断题

The MISC Box

The MISC Box

Nell's boxes had been stacked in the hallway for three days, and Theo had walked past them so many times that he could have drawn them with his eyes shut. The biggest one said BOOKS in thick black marker. The smallest one, which had once held a toaster, said MISC, and Theo suspected it held most of the things she actually cared about.

'You could help, you know,' Nell said from her bedroom doorway on the last evening.

'I am helping. I'm staying out of the way.'

She threw a rolled-up sock at him, which he caught without looking, and she laughed, and for a moment it was an ordinary evening.

He did help, in the end. He carried the BOOKS box to the car and complained loudly about its weight, and he wrapped her desk lamp in three tea towels when one would have done. When their father asked who was going to use Nell's room now, Theo said he hadn't thought about it, although he had already measured whether his drum kit would fit under the window.

In the morning there was a lot of hugging in the driveway. Theo had decided in advance that he would not be the sort of person who stood waving until a car turned the corner, so he went inside before the engine had even started. He sat on the stairs. Through the frosted glass of the front door he watched the blurred shape of the car reverse, pause and pull away.

Later, when he finally went into her room with his tape measure, he found the MISC box on the bed. Taped to the lid was a note in her handwriting: For Theo. You'll know what to do with these. He didn't open it straight away. He sat beside it for a while, the tape measure still in his hand, listening to how quiet the house had become.