THE VOCABULARY DETECTIVE
Where did the sample box go?
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dispatch
transit
retain
trace
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The pond-study team opened the science room’s delivery cabinet. No sample box. “The field group sent it this morning,” said Maya. “So where is it?”
The group had agreed to dispatch the box from the field station—to send it to school before lunch. Between leaving the station and reaching the school, it would be in transit. Perhaps the driver had not arrived yet.
Maya remembered the packing instructions: retain a copy of the handoff slip instead of throwing it away. Each slip recorded who had received the box and when. Together, the slips could help her trace its journey from one person to the next.
The box had its own label, POND-6. Maya asked for the transport sheet and the school’s receiving record. She would check that both showed POND-6 before following the times and names.