Today you will read a passage from “Lost and Found in the Black Hole.” As you read, pay close attention to the point of view of the characters as you answer the questions to prepare to write a narrative story.
What is a theme in the passage?
from “Lost and Found in the Black Hole”
by J. Louis Messina
1 Darin sped across the schoolyard, holding onto his possessions with a whirlwind of hands, from head to back to chest to legs to feet and back up again.
2 Screeching to a halt, he checked his belongings. He’d lost three things already. He glanced suspiciously around him.
3 Was a black hole following him?
4 “All matter that comes within a certain distance of a black hole will be trapped forever,” his teacher had said. “Even light, the fastest phenomenon known to exist.”
5 At recess, he retraced his steps on foot, then on hands and knees, going over the same ground so often that he’d worn down his pants legs. But he’d come up empty.
6 Only one thing left to do, he thought: visit the Lost & Found . . . again.
7 Through the long, dreary room he plodded, the sound of his footsteps echoing down the gloomy hall. Mr. Grabber, the crusty guardian of the Lost & Found Department, sat behind the desk, watching Darin’s arrival with dour eyes.
8 “You don’t really expect to find your stuff here?” Mr. Grabber grunted.
9 Darin peered over the counter into the vast array of lost and forgotten items.
10 “There’s always a first time.”
11 “Once an item goes into the last box, it’s destroyed.”
12 “But I’ve lost them today. They might be in the first one.”
13 Mr. Grabber waved him over. Darin knelt and rummaged through the box.
14 “Trouble is,” Mr. Grabber said, “no one puts any importance into a sweater, or lunchbox, or even a pair of glasses. These things are lost forever because nobody cares.”
15 “They’re not here. At this rate, I’ll be paying $30 a week, easy. I need help.”
16 “No kidding,” Mr. Grabber said.
17 “I need you guys to keep me from losing things,” Darin told his best friends, Carlton and Elvin. “Can you follow me around?”
18 “No way!” said Carlton.
19 “Get lost,” Elvin said sarcastically.
20 “I’ll pay $5 a week, each.”
21 “We’re in!” said Carlton and Elvin.
22 “Good,” Darin said. “Cause I just lost my socks, and I need them back before I get home. They have my name on them.”
23 Elvin and Carlton scrambled across the yard, searching in every trash bin, behind every building, until Elvin found one sock behind the batting cage, and Carlton found one 15 yards away under the drinking fountain.
24 “Here,” Carlton said, wiping sweat from his brow.
25 “I want a raise,” Elvin wheezed, holding out the stinky sock.
26 On Tuesday, Carlton and Elvin rescued six items. Wednesday they found seven; Thursday, nine. Although the lost items were rising like a flood, by Friday, it looked as if Darin was home free. But he hadn’t counted on losing one very important thing.
27 It happened while walking home.
28 The sky darkened as Darin, daydreaming about his recent success, floundered down the sidewalk, while Carlton and Elvin scanned the ground, like eager bloodhounds on a scent.
29 Darin, way ahead of his friends, turned blithely onto an unfamiliar street. He wandered down the block; gradually, he looked up, and realized he’d gone the wrong way. He turned. Carlton and Elvin were nowhere in sight.
30 “Guys?” he said, then shouted, “Hey, guys!”
31 For a moment he only stood, looking far down the road. He began to walk, then run, and slowed and stopped at the end of the block. He didn’t recognize this place, either. Houses on either side, like insurmountable mountains, obscured his view.
32 His heart pounded; he spun around, trying to find his bearings, and took off in one direction, stopped, and tried another, circled a block and arrived at the same spot where he’d started.
33 “Lost,” he croaked.
34 The dark, bleak clouds obliterated the sun. He felt as if he were falling through the black hole, toward the center, past event horizon. If he didn’t find his way out soon, he’d be torn apart!
35 Don’t panic, he thought. Stop and think. He’d been too careless, and now he’d lost himself.
36 Suddenly, he knew what he had to do: stay put, and remember where he’d been. Scrutinizing the area, he summoned his memory. Was he really lost, or simply misplaced? As he stood looking about, he realized he was in front of Elvin’s house, only several blocks away from home. He’d simply missed his turn.
37 “There you are!” Carlton shouted. “We found you!”
38 Darin marched onward as Carlton and Elvin, keeping an eye on the ground, followed him back to his house.
39 “We’re very proud of you, Darin,” Dad said.
40 “You haven’t lost anything for weeks!” Mom marveled.
41 Darin hadn’t mislaid so much as a paper clip now that he cared about his things. And he had volunteered at the Lost & Found to help Mr. Grabber sort the lost items, even finding their owners.
Which paragraph from the passage illustrates the theme selected in Part A?