Layout: first the words of the story, then everyday speech and phrases, then the world of 1894, then stamps and letters, then words used in the questions, and last literary terms for your answers. Each meaning is the one the word has in that sentence of the story. Page numbers are from the 2026-27 reprint of Vistas.
★= important in your answers · ! = a common mistake
Part 1 — Words from the story
| Word / phrase | Meaning in this story | Page |
|---|---|---|
| ★psychiatrist | a doctor who treats problems of the mind | 1 |
| ★waking-dream wish fulfillment | getting in a daydream what one wishes for in real life; the psychiatrist friend’s name for the third level | 1 |
| ★insecurity | a feeling of not being safe or sure about life | 1 |
| wander | to walk about with no clear aim or direction | 1 |
| ★refuge | a place of safety or escape | 1 |
| suburban trains | trains that run between a city and the towns around it | 2 |
| arched doorway | a door whose top is curved like an arch | 2 |
| ★corridor | a long, narrow passage in a building | 2, 3 |
| slanting | sloping; going down at an angle, as in “angling left and slanting downward” | 3 |
| flickering | shining unsteadily, going bright and dim again and again | 3 |
| ! drew | took money out of a bank, not made a picture | 5 |
| hay, feed and grain business | a business that sells dry grass, food for farm animals and grain | 6 |
| front porch | a covered platform at the front of a house | 6 |
Part 2 — Everyday speech and phrases
| Word / phrase | Meaning in this story | Page |
|---|---|---|
| swear on a stack of timetables | to promise very firmly that something is true; the railroad presidents are sure there are only two levels | 1 |
| kind of / sort of | a little, somewhat (spoken English): “kind of mad” is a little angry, “sort of flickering” is somewhat flickering | 1, 3, 5 |
| ! all the rest of it | and everything else of that kind; the story’s list ends with “all the rest of it”, while Reading with Insight Q3 ends it with “stress” | 1, 6 |
| bumping into | meeting something by chance | 2 |
| feeling its way | moving slowly and carefully, like a person who cannot see; Charley imagines a tunnel doing this under the city | 2 |
| eighteen-ninety-something | some year in the 1890s, not named exactly | 3 |
| That ain’t money, mister | ain’t is a spoken form of isn’t; the clerk means this is not proper money | 4 |
| ! trying to skin me | trying to cheat me of my money; nothing to do with real skin | 4 |
| ! half again as big | one and a half times as big, not half the size | 4 |
| ★nearly all we had | almost all the money Charley and Louisa had | 5 |
| ★got to wishing | came to wish; in the same way, got to believing is came to believe | 6 |
| set him up | to give someone what he needs to start something, here a business | 6 |
Part 3 — The world of 1894
| Word / phrase | Meaning in this story | Page |
|---|---|---|
| ★open-flame gaslights | lamps that burn gas with an open flame | 3 |
| brass spittoons | metal pots made of brass, into which people spit | 3 |
| green eyeshade and long black sleeve protectors | a shade worn on the head to protect the eyes from light, and covers pulled over the sleeves to keep them clean; the dress of the man in the information booth | 3 |
| derby hat | a stiff, round hat with a narrow brim | 3 |
| handlebar mustache | a long mustache with both ends curving upward | 3 |
| leg-of-mutton sleeves | sleeves that are wide at the top and narrow near the wrist | 4 |
| lead story | the main news story of a newspaper, placed first | 4 |
| fire-flies | small flying insects that glow in the dark | 4 |
| ★old-style bills / currency | paper money of an earlier time, different from today’s; Charley also calls it “old money” | 4, 5 |
| premium | an extra amount paid over the usual price | 5 |
Part 4 — Stamps and letters
| Word / phrase | Meaning in this story | Page |
|---|---|---|
| blocks of four | four stamps joined together as one piece | 1 |
| ! issue / issued | a stamp or set of stamps that the post office puts on sale, not a problem; issued means put on sale | 2, 5 |
| ★first-day cover | an envelope with a new stamp that a collector mails to himself on the very first day of sale; the postmark proves the date | 5 |
| ★postmark | the post office’s mark on a letter that shows the date | 5 |
| ★Philately | the collecting and study of postage stamps | 7 |
Part 5 — Words used in the questions
| Word / phrase | Meaning in this story | Page |
|---|---|---|
| medium | a way or means by which something is done (Q1: “a medium of escape”) | 6 |
| infer | to work out something from the clues given, though it is not stated directly (Q2) | 6 |
| overcome | to deal with a difficulty and get past it (Q3) | 6 |
| ★intersection | a point where two things meet and cross (Q4) | 6 |
| ★Apparent illogicality | something that seems to make no sense; apparent means seeming (Q5) | 6 |
| ★futuristic projection | a picture of what may happen in the future (Q5) | 6 |
| Discuss | to talk or write about an idea from different sides, giving reasons (Q5) | 6, 7 |
| tendency | a habit or leaning towards doing something (Q6) | 7 |
| interweaving | weaving or mixing together, like threads (Q7: of fantasy and reality) | 7 |
Part 6 — Literary terms for your answers
| Word / phrase | Meaning in this story | Page |
|---|---|---|
| ★fantasy | a story or idea about things that cannot happen in real life; here, the third level where it is still 1894 | 7 |
| ★narrator | the person who tells the story; here Charley, who tells it using I | — |
| ★first-person narrative | a story told by one character using I, about what happened to him | — |
| ★theme | the main idea of a story; for example, escape from the modern world | — |
| ★irony | when what happens is the opposite of what we expect; here Sam, who turns out to be Charley’s psychiatrist, himself goes to 1894 | — |
| ★twist ending | an unexpected turn at the very end; here the last line, “Why, Sam was my psychiatrist.” (p. 6) | — |
| setting | the time and place of a story; here Grand Central Station, and its third level in 1894 | — |
| simile | a comparison that uses the word like or as; here Grand Central “growing like a tree” (p. 2) | — |
Easily confused wordsWatch out
| Words | The difference |
|---|---|
| first-day cover / postmark | A first-day cover is the whole envelope; the postmark is the post office’s mark stamped on it, and it proves the date. (p. 5) |
| escape / refuge | Escape means getting away from trouble; a refuge is the place where a person is safe once he reaches it. Q1 asks about a “medium of escape”, and on p. 1 stamp collecting is called a “temporary refuge from reality”. (pp. 1, 6) |
| corridor / tunnel | A corridor is a long, narrow passage inside a building; a tunnel is a passage under the ground or through something. The story uses both names for Charley’s way. (p. 3) |
| author / narrator | The author is Jack Finney (p. 1); the narrator is the one who tells the story, that is, Charley. (pp. 1, 2) |
| intersection / interweaving | Intersection is two things meeting and crossing at one place (Q4, for time and space); interweaving is two things being woven together (Q7, for fantasy and reality). (pp. 6, 7) |