Which reading of Maya's feelings is best supported by "every sentence dissolved like salt in the heat" and "She did not look up"?
The bus coughed twice and stopped at the edge of Wirrawa, where the road gave up pretending to be a street. Maya stepped down into the dust. Nothing had changed. The same sagging fence leaned toward the same silent paddock, and the water tank still wore its rust like a medal. For fourteen years she had rehearsed this return, practising the words she would say to her father, but now every sentence dissolved like salt in the heat. A screen door banged somewhere. She did not look up. She picked up her bag, lighter than she remembered, and began to walk.
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: C. She is anxious about the reunion and avoids facing it, even after years of preparation
- Step 1: The simile says her rehearsed words vanished under pressure, so the preparation did not hold.
- Step 2: Not looking up at the banging door shows avoidance of the moment, not anger or ease.
- Step 3: Together these point to nervous reluctance.
Answer
anxious and avoiding.
Why not the others: Anger would be shown more directly; a relaxed person would not lose the words; she does not hurry or look up, so excitement is not supported.
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