Questions:
1. Who is Sammy? 2. What is he doing? 3. Where does Sammy live? 4. What does Sammy make the narrator think about? 5. Who is the beach guru? 6. Who are the followers? 7. How does the narrator feel about him now? 8. Where in the world are they? 9. What is everyone looking forward to? 10. What is their major problem? 11. Why are the police angry? 12. How does the guru solve the problem? 13. Who is their dealer? 14. How does the narrator feel about the situation? 15. What is the narrator asked to do? 16. What happens? 17. Explain why everybody is happy. 18. Where is the narrator now? 19. Why is the narrator thinking of Sammy? 20. Why does he write him? 21. What response does he get?
Answers:
1. Sammy is the son of the narrator’s old neighbors. 2. Well, when the narrator looks outside the window, Sammy’s - very carefully - about to cross the road. 3. The short-story only tells us one thing; Sammy lives in England with his parents. Could be anywhere in England though. They’re not very specific about this. 4. Sammy makes the narrator think about common sense, and how we lose this by the time we grow up. More specific it makes him think about himself losing his common sense, by using drugs and getting caught; probably ending up in prison by the age of seven-teen. 5. The beach guru is at first described as a calm person who’s been followed by a bunch of young people who’re looking up to him. But because of this ‘wisdom’ he has, people are doing what he’s asking to. Though, on the longer term – as we see in the short-story – he’s just using this status to not be caught buying drugs. 6. I’d think the followers are the young person who’s planning this full-moon party. At least that’s the only thing I can think of… 7. Well, after the beach guru’s failed the narrator, he doesn’t like him of course. But before that I’d think