These are the two stories I chose for the story task I gave you at podcast 197.

Story 1

Mrs Jones was 82. Her husband had died many years ago, so she lived alone with her cat. She had a large vegetable garden, and she kept fit by working there every day.

But she was often unhappy, because she remembered she had lost her wedding ring many, many years ago. It was like a treasure for her.

One day, she was in the garden pulling carrots out of the ground. Suddenly she saw the ring. A carrot had grown inside it.

'Well, well, well. After all these years!' she said.

(Yolanda, La Coruña, Spain)

 

Story 2

Yvette was a very responsible girl, although she was only 12 years old. One evening, her parents decided to go out for a meal and leave Yvette at home to look after her brother, who was 10.

Yvette sat in front of the fire and read her book. It was a big old house and some people said it had a ghost.

Suddenly, Yvette's mobile phone rang. 

'I am the ghost of this house, and I'm coming to get you!' said a voice.

'See you in a bit, then,' she said, and hung up.

Then her little brother came in.

'Why weren't you frightened,' he said.

'Stop playing silly games and go to bed,' said Yvette.

(Aleksy, near Warsaw, Poland)

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Mike Bilbrough (Secondary school English teacher and Doctor in English philology)