What is not said · about 5 minutes · not timed
The paper boat
Rain ticked on the roof. Sam and Evie sat on the step with one sheet of homework. The sums were already done.
Evie folded the paper in half, then in half again. “This end is the front,” she said. She stuck a red star on it. “You did the hard one. So it is your boat.”
They carried it to the gutter. Water hurried along the concrete. Evie let the boat go. It turned once and raced away.
Sam walked beside it. His school shoe was in the stream. The boat ran into his toe and stopped, shaking.
Evie watched his hands. One hand hung over the boat. The fingers were open.
“You can keep it,” she said. “Or you can let it finish.”
Sam looked at the star. His mouth went small. He did not say yes, and he did not say no. Then he moved his shoe. The boat slid past and went around the bend.
They stayed on the wet concrete. Neither of them called it back.
1. Why did Evie put the red star on the boat?
2. Why did the boat stop?
3. What do Sam’s open fingers show?
4. Why did they stay still at the end?