Task 4 Narrative Tommy and the Skateboard

Read the passage below and answer the questions that follow

Tommy had been staring at it for weeks, every day on his way home from school, admiring it through the window of the skate shop on Market Street. It was a longboard—a serious skateboard, not meant for tricks or speed, but for long rides down hills, on busy roads, or all the way across town. This was a skateboard that could change Tommy's life forever. No longer would his parents have to pick him up after school, or at the movies or the mall. The longboard would be able to take him home. It was ocean blue, with chrome wheels and an elaborate drawing of a rocket ship on the underside. Each time he pressed his face against the glass of the skate shop, he felt himself fall into that picture, and his dreams of riding the longboard became mixed up with dreams of interstellar travel. He wasn't just going to the mall. He was going to Mars, to Alpha Centauri, to anywhere in the galaxy he felt like. He was going to conquer the stars. Or he would have, anyway, if his dad weren't such a cheapskate. There's something about fathers that makes it impossible for them to understand skateboards. Dad, Tommy said. It's the world's finest skateboard. It could change my life forever. That's great, said Dad. I'm all for kids having hobbies. But that's an expensive little toy, and _ It's not a toy! Tommy felt himself about to lose his temper. If he shouted, he knew he would never come close to owning his board. He collected himself. It's a whole new way of life. When you were my age, what was the thing you wanted more than anything else The thing you dreamed about The thing you promised yourself you would get, no matter what A Black Shadow. A what A Vincent Black Shadow—the world's finest motorcycle. A more beautiful piece of machinery has never been designed. So yeah, this board is like the Vincent Black Shadow for the 21st Century. So you see why I have to have it. You know what my dad told me when I asked for a Black Shadow What Nothing. I didn't ask him, because I knew he'd think it was nothing more than an expensive toy. I went out, got a job, and started saving. Man, said Tommy. I was afraid you'd say something like that. Dads are the worst, aren't they Tommy did not want to get a job but the skateboard demanded he try

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