Taught my class algebra (n.) the mathematics of generalized arithmetical operations

In a raid (n.) on an apartment downtown bust

They were filled with rage (n.) fury

Vindictively (adv.) dreamed revengefully

The joyous (adj.) laughter joyful

Mocking and insular (adj.) laughter Narrowly restricted in outlook

Intent was to denigrate (v.) belittle

Was disenchanted (adj.) Freed from enchantment

Lookes down into the courtyard (n.)  An area wholly or partly surrounded by walls or buildings 

The sap (n.) was rising in the boys fool

Always high and raggy (adj.) Ragged

Partly like a cunning (adj.) child cute

The grin made him repulsive (adj.) hideous

The bright sun deadened (v.) his damp (adj.) dark brown skin lose life, moist

Dirt in his kinked (adj.) hair Curl tightly

Smelled funky (adj.) foul

I'll walk you a little ways.

Loitering (v.) in the courtyard hang around

Then I felt guilty--- guilty, probably, for never having supposed that the poor bastard had a story of his own, much less a sad one, and I asked, quickly...

The jukebox (n.) was blasting (v.) away with something black and bouncy (adj.) A cabinet containing an automatic record player; records are played by inserting a coin, smash, springy

The battered (adj.) face of the semi-whore maltreated

Quicksilver (adj.) barmaid erratic 

This menace (n.) was their reality threat

Throwing his cigarette into the gutter (n.) sewer

The dread (n.) I've felt all afternoon fear

He could not had answered, or if he had, I could not have borne the answers.

All at once something inside gave and threatened to come pouring out of me... I felt that in another moment I'd start crying like a child.

Like an animal waiting to be coaxed (v.) into the light sweet-talk

Lay between us like a chasm (n.) A deep opening in the earth's surface

We had a lot to say to each other, far too much to know how to begin.

The jangling beat of a tambourine (n.) A shallow drum with a single drumhead and with metallic disks in the sides

And when light fills the room, the child is filled with darkness.

Shipped home on a special furlough (n.) for her funeral A temporary leave of absence from military duty

I'd never played the role of the oldest brother quite do seriously before, had scarcely ever, in fact, asked Sonny a damn thing. I sensed myself in the presence of something I didn't really how to handle, didn't understand.

Said Sonny sullenly (adv.) dark

“No, I don't know that,” said Sonny, surprising me. “I think people ought to do, what else are they alive for?”

Isabel's folks are inclined to be dicty (adj.)

I suddenly had the feeling that I didn't know him at all.

“I hear you. But you never hear anything I say.”

He'd improvise (v.) along with it on the piano perform without preparation

They penetrated (v.) his cloud, they had reached him. Pass into or through

The silence of the next few days must have been louder than the sound of all the music ever played since time began.

Died of polio (n.) An acute viral disease marked by inflammation of nerve cells of the brain stem and spinal cord

My trouble made his read.

Wearing a dirty white apron (n.) A garment of cloth, leather or plastic that is tied about the waist and worn to protect your clothing

Reddish and metallic (adj.) in the pale sun metal-looking

Sullen, belligerent (adj.), battered faces aggressive

Both relieved and apprehensive (adj.) worried

The small crowd dispersed (v.) spread

And my voice was very ugly, full of contempt and anger.

The lodestone (adj.) rock loadstone

Drumming with his fingers on the windowpane (n.) window

“All that hatred down there, all that hatred and misery and love. It's a wonder it doesn't blow the avenue apart.”

Began confiding (v.) to me trustful

Some people at the bar shushed (v.) others Silence (someone) by uttering 'shush!'

Mainly hear, or hear corroborated (adj.) support

Personal, private, vanishing evocations (n.) summoning

The void (adj.) and imposing (adj.) order null, noble

It was almost sardonic (adj.) sarcastic

Slightly detached (v.) uninvolved

Let out the reins (n.) One of a pair of long straps (usually connected to the bit or the headpiece) used to control a horse

Listen, Creole seemed to be saying, listen. Now these are Sonny's blues... Then they all gathered around Sonny and Sonny played.

Sonny's fingers filled the air with life, his life. But that life contained so many others.

It was no longer a lament (n.) Express grief verbally

He didn't seem to notice it, but just before they started playing again, he sipped from it and looked toward me, and nodded.