Why are there no more magical creatures like elves in the world anymore?

Read this excerpt from holes. a patrol car pulled alongside him. a policeman asked him why he was running. then he took the shoes and made a call on his radio. shortly thereafter, stanley was arrested. it turned out the sneakers had been stolen from a display at the homeless shelter. that evening rich people were going to come to the shelter and pay a hundred dollars to eat the food that the poor people ate every day for free. clyde livingston, who had once lived at the shelter when he was younger, was going to speak and sign autographs. his shoes would be auctioned, and it was expected that they would sell for over five thousand dollars. all the money would go to the homeless. why does sachar include this description of the shoes in the flashback? a.to show where the shoes came from b.to show how valuable the shoes were c.to reveal why stanley was arrested d.to give background on the homeless shelter

What is one way that the author makes a distinction between the first transcontinental railroad and the first transcontinental passenger flights in 1936

Which two passages in this excerpt from the death of ivan illych does leo tolstoy use to suggest that ivan ilych feels like his life is slipping away from him? "what's the use? it makes no difference," he said to himself, staring with wide-open eyes into the darkness. "death. yes, death. and none of them knows or wishes to know it, and they have no pity for me. now they are playing." (he heard through the door the distant sound of a song and its accompaniment.) "it's all the same to them, but they will die too! fools! i first, and they later, but it will be the same for them. and now they are merry . . the beasts! " anger choked him and he was agonizingly, unbearably miserable. "it is impossible that all men have been doomed to suffer this awful horror! " he raised himself. "something must be wrong. i must calm myself—must think it all over from the beginning." and he again began thinking. "yes, the beginning of my illness: i knocked my side, but i was still quite well that day and the next. it hurt a little, then rather more. i saw the doctors, then followed despondency and anguish, more doctors, and i drew nearer to the abyss. my strength grew less and i kept coming nearer and nearer, and now i have wasted away and there is no light in my eyes.