The Red Bandanna

This section presents terms and phrases that are central to understanding the text and may present a challenge to the reader. Use this list to create a vocabulary quiz or worksheet, to prepare flashcards for a standardized test, or to inspire classroom word games and other group activities.

1. bandanna (noun):

a large handkerchief, usually red or blue with designs printed on it, sometimes worn over the face as protection against noxious fumes

“They didn’t know where he came from. But they knew their lives had been saved by the man in the red bandanna.” (Prologue, Page 3)

2. radioactivity (noun):

release of particles from the nuclei of unstable atoms

“Alison stopped working at Rockefeller in 1976, to avoid any further exposure to the radioactivity in her lab.” (Chapter 1, Page 11)

3. hook and ladder (noun phrase):

a truck that holds long ladders and a water-pump engine and hoses for fire suppression; also used in names for individual fire departments

“He now belonged to Empire Hook and Ladder Company No. 1 of Upper Nyack.” (Chapter 1, Page 16)

4. lacrosse (noun):

a game invented by Native Americans in which a ball is thrown back and forth between team members who catch it in nets on the ends of sticks as they try to maneuver the ball into the opponent’s goal

“Welles came to Boston College to compete in Division I college lacrosse, the sport he loved most and played best.” (Chapter 1, Page 49)

5. intern (noun):

a student or apprentice who works, often unpaid, in a skilled occupation to gain experience

“They were matched up as interns, and assigned to work together at Midland Gestion, an investment bank in the city.” (Chapter 1, Page 54)

6. investment banking (noun):

a division of a bank or finance company that buys and sells large amounts of investment securities on behalf of governments, companies, and large-net-worth individuals

“The foot into Sandler O’Neill, a small but powerful investment banking firm specializing in the financial sector, came from a hometown connection, Stacey Sennas McGowan, a managing director at Sandler.” (Chapter 1, Pages 61-62)

7. engine (noun):

a fire truck with a pump that generates water pressure in hoses used for fire suppression; also used in names for fire departments

For all the calls he answered at all the different stations, with the “Bronx Bombers of Ladder 49,” or the decade spent with Engine 92, his appetite for fighting fires never faded.” (Chapter 1, Page 74)

8. Marine 1 (noun):

in New York City, a firefighting team that crews two fire suppression boats for FDNY

“Marine 1 consisted of two boats, actually, with the larger vessel considered the standard-bearer of the department’s fleet.” (Chapter 1, Page 75)

9. volunteer firefighter (noun):

a person trained in fire suppression who serves unpaid, usually in a volunteer fire department

“Wanamaker had cleared the group, a handful of volunteer firefighters, for a short tour. The guests were from Empire Hook and Ladder Company No. 1 and other members of the Nyack Fire Department. Welles and his father were among the first to climb aboard.” (Chapter 1, Page 76)

10. trading desk (noun, synecdoche):

a location, usually a room in a building, that includes work desks where buying and selling of financial securities takes place

“He’d made the leap from research to the trading desk, a precinct that carried with it the real possibility of making a fortune.” (Chapter 1, Page 81)

11. World Trade Center (WTC) (noun):

a set of buildings where trade and trade promotion take place; New York City’s World Trade Center is in southern Manhattan borough

“There were 14,154 people in the World Trade Center that morning. It was a city unto itself.” (Chapter 2, Page 100)

12. port authority (noun):

a government division that manages transportation facilities at a port city

“WTC served as the headquarters for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, a joint venture between the states overseeing all the transportation infrastructure of the region—from its seaports and airports to many of its tunnels and bridges.” (Chapter 2, Pages 107-08)

13. North Tower (noun):

one of the twin high-rise buildings of New York City’s World Trade Center; on September 11, 2001, it was the first struck by an airliner in the attack on the complex

“American Airlines Flight 11 out of Boston, a Boeing 767 jet with eighty-one passengers and eleven crew aboard, was carrying 10,000 gallons of fuel and traveling at 465 miles per hour when it crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.” (Chapter 2, Page 109)

14. bedrock (noun):

solid rock beneath broken rock and soil; at New York City’s World Trade Center, bedrock is 70 to 110 feet below the surface.

“The entire tower rocked with the force of the crash, shaking from its top floor down to its foundation and below, pulsing into the bedrock.” (Chapter 2, Page 117)

15. South Tower (noun):

one of the twin high-rise buildings of New York City’s World Trade Center; on September 11, 2001, it was the second struck by an airliner in the attack on the complex

“Pulling up to the Trade Center, they saw the second plane fly into the face of the South Tower.” (Chapter 2, Page 127)

16. fireboat (noun):

a large boat equipped with pumps and water hoses for fire suppression

“He tried to explain the collapse of the buildings, the unthinkable scope of the ruins, the way the fireboat rushed to the scene upon receiving the first call.” (Chapter 2, Page 136)

17. last alarm (noun):

a term often used at funerals of firefighters who died in the line of duty; it refers to the final heroic acts of the deceased

“The last alarm has sounded for our brother. To Welles has come that last call.” (Chapter 2, Page 142)