Question

No Laughing Matter
A. Gautam

OPAL, a ten-year-old girl
OZ, Opal’s big brother, thirteen

[Curtains rise to the family kitchen. Opal’s head is down on the dining table. Oz is pacing back and forth.]

OPAL: [lifting her head to face her brother] Aren’t my feelings real? Why do you laugh when I am serious?

OZ: [after a pause as if he is searching for the right words] I am not taking your feelings lightly. I just think you are adorable even when you are mad.

OPAL: I don’t like it one bit. Do you laugh when you complain about your ex-best friend?

OZ: No.

OPAL: Then, why do you laugh when I said I accidentally split my pants, and I think two boys saw it happen.

OZ: Isn’t splitting of pants funny?

OPAL: Not when it happens to your own little sister.

OZ: It’s funny when it happens to anyone.

OPAL: Maybe in movies. [voice cracks] Not when it happens to a real person when the real person is around other people. [starts to cry]

OZ: Oh man. I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to. [stands near his sister and pats her head awkwardly]

OPAL: [sniffling] Yes. You did. It’s embarrassing.

OZ: [sits next to Opal and hands her a tissue] Did you have your hoodie tied around your waist like you always do?

OPAL: [between sobs] Yes. [takes the tissue and wipes hear tears]

OZ: Then nobody saw it.

OPAL: [stops crying and suddenly stands] Wait. What if they heard it?

OZ: [turns around to hide his smile. Faces Opal and tries hard to seem serious] Isn’t it so loud during lunch? How can they hear pants ripping?

OPAL: [only a little upset] You mean split. I didn’t rip my pants.

OZ: [extending his arms for a hug] Sorry. I am really sorry. Fixie time?

OPAL: [spreads her arms only a bit] Okay, I guess Fixie.

OZ: Would you laugh if the same thing happened to me?

OPAL: Only after a year. And I would laugh alone first. And when you’ve told the story like a hundred times to our little cousins, I’d laugh with you.

OZ: I guess that’s a lesson for me to learn from you.

OPAL: [standing up, lifting her chin up, and looking very serious] Why, yes, common man. You shall learn from me.

[The siblings laugh. Curtains close.]
Question
Read paragraph 16 of the play.

OPAL: [stops crying and suddenly stands] Wait. What if they heard it?

Opal’s stage directions and line reveal that she —
Responses
A is even more worried than she has ever been in life is even more worried than she has ever been in life
B has a new idea that changes how she had been feeling has a new idea that changes how she had been feeling
C is madder than ever at her big brother for laughing is madder than ever at her big brother for laughing
D wishes her brother were in a similar situation as her wishes her brother were in a similar situation as her

Answer 1

B — Her sudden question shows a new thought (they might have heard it) that shifts her feelings, so a new idea changes how she’d been feeling.