I'm leaving for the U.S. this afternoon! It will be great to see my mother and her cats again! My brother, the one who teachers drama at a high school, will also be home for a short while.

LnR 040 It's a long story! (Replay)

It's a long story" can have three possible meanings: 1) the literal meaning is that it might take too long to tell the story; 2) I don't want to talk about it; and 3) It's none of your business! In this dialogue it just means that it takes time to tell the story.

Two friends are talking:

A: Hey, Jason, what happened to your car?

B: My car? Well, us, it's a long story.

A: Really? I've got time. You can tell me.

B. Well, OK, if you really want to know.

A: Yeah, I do.

B: Well, last night I was driving home from my friend's house. He lives about two hours away. I was a little sleepy, so I stopped at a gas station on the little highway to get a cup of coffee. I put the coffee in the cup holder and left. A few minutes later I picked up the cup to have a sip, but it was too hot and I dropped it. The hot coffee spilled on my legs and I was screaming in pain.

A: Is that when you crashed your car?

B: No. I kept control of my car even while I was screaming. When the shock wore off, I started to look for a good place to stop and clean up the mess, but there's only trees in that area. I was distracted for a few seconds, and that's when a deer jumped in front of my car!

A: Oh, no! Did you hit the deer?

B: No, I turned the steering wheel quickly and missed the deer, but I had turned too much and I ran off the road and hit a tree!

A: So, your car has a big dent in it and your legs were burned by the coffee, but at least the deer was OK. Wow, that really was a long story!