Multiple Genres: Analyzing How Setting Shapes Characters and Plot (TEKS.ELA.7.7.D) Practice Test

The stock tank behind Luz's family's South Texas pasture had shrunk to a shallow, cracked bowl. Cows bawled at the fence, and every step raised dust that hung in the heat. The county was under a burn ban, and the well pump coughed like it was tired of trying. When the float valve's red light blinked, Luz imagined her father hours away hauling hay and felt panic press closer. Their neighbor, Mr. Salinas, had offered his windmill-fed pasture if they could move the herd before sunset. But the east gate that opened toward his place crossed a dry arroyo they usually kept closed to avoid strays. Luz checked the sky, a white sheet of glare, and then the time. She pictured the calves bawling through the afternoon if she waited. She wrapped a lead rope around the gentlest cow's horns, unlatched the east gate, and began to whistle, walking steady so the others would follow. The gate groaned, and a ribbon of cows poured into the dusty lane. Luz told herself she'd call Mr. Salinas from the fence post once the herd was moving, and deal with the rule-breaking later.

Ana stood in the hallway of city hall, where the scent of dust and coffee mixed with a hum of voices. A hand-lettered note on the clerk's window read, Closing at 4 due to permit backlog. Oil field trucks had been rolling through town for months, and the line for drilling and housing permits zigzagged past the water fountain and almost out the door. Ana needed to file papers to protect her late grandfather's workshop from being torn down for a temporary yard. It was 3:12. She counted the people ahead and felt the math flatten her hope. A filing cabinet clanged behind the side door, the one where Mr. Ortiz took deliveries. Through the crack, she saw him sorting number slips into a plastic box. The hallway clock ticked. Ana could wait and lose her chance—or act. She stepped to the side door, knocked, and explained in a rush. Mr. Ortiz looked at the line, then at the clock, then handed her a numbered ticket and told her to rejoin the end of the line; as long as she had the slip before four, they'd call her.