Read the passage. Johnny was miserable. It was Saturday afternoon, the sun was shining brightly, and he was stuck in bed with th
e flu. His throat felt like sandpaper every time he swallowed, his head felt as if someone had dropped an anvil on it, and he couldn’t stop coughing. His mother had checked his temperature earlier in the day and announced that he was too sick to get out of bed, let alone go outside to enjoy the first warm spring day along with his friends and siblings. From his room, Johnny could hear his sisters’ high-pitched squeals of delight and the ringing of their bicycle bells as they rode up and down the sidewalk. He could hear someone bouncing a basketball and the swoop of the ball as it swished through the net. He also heard his best friend, Noah, asking where Johnny was and his sisters’ reply that he couldn’t come out to play because he was sick. This was too much. Johnny pulled the soft, velvety covers over his aching head and turned to the wall in protest, realizing there was nothing he could do but wait for this virus to take its course. He swore to himself that he would be better by next Saturday and that he would be outside riding his bike and shooting baskets along with everyone else. Which phrase from this passage appeals to the sense of touch? “the sun was shining brightly” “the ringing of their bicycle bells” “the swoop of the ball as it swished through the net” “the soft, velvety covers over his aching head”
