(1) T _ÉÇz jtÄ~ [ÉÅx

(Jason Bocarro)

grew up in the south of Spain in a little community called Estepona. I was 16

I when one morning my father told me I could drive him into a remote village called
Mijas, about 18 miles away, on the condition that I take the car in to be serviced at
a nearby garage. Having just learned to drive and hardly ever having the opportunity to
use the car, I readily accepted. I drove Dad into Mijas and promised to pick him up at 4
p.m., then drove to a nearby garage and dropped off the car. Because I had a few hours
to spare, I decided to catch a couple of movies at a theatre near the garage. However, I
became so immersed in the films that I completely lost track of time. When the last
movie had finished, I looked down at my watch. It was six o'clock. I was two hours late.
I knew Dad would be angry if he found out I'd been watching movies. He'd never
let me drive again. I decided to tell him that the car needed some repairs and that they
had taken longer that had been expected. I drove up to the place where we had planned
to meet and saw Dad waiting patiently on the corner. I apologized for being late and told
him that I'd come as quickly as I could, but the car had needed some major repairs. I'll
never forget the look he gave me.
"I'm disappointed that you feel you have to lie to me, Jackson."
"What do you mean? I'm telling the truth."
Dad looked at me again. "When you did not show up, I called the garage to ask if
there were any problems, and they told me that you had not yet picked up the car. So
you see, I know there were no problems with the car." A rush of guilt ran through me as
I feebly confessed to my trip to the movie theater and the real reason for my tardiness.
Dad listened intently as a sadness passed through him.
"I am angry, not with you but with myself. You see, I realize that I have failed as a
father if after all these years you feel that you have to lie to me. I have failed because I
have brought up a son who cannot even tell the truth to his own father, I'm going to
walk home now and contemplate where I have gone wrong all these years".
"But Dad, its 18 miles to home. It's dark. You can't walk home."
My protests, my apologies and the rest of my utterances were useless. I had let my
father down, and I was about to learn one of the most painful lessons of my life. Dad
began walking along the dusty roads. I quickly jumped in the car and followed behind,
hoping he would relent. I pleaded all the way, telling him how sorry I was, but he simply
ignored me, continuing on silently, thoughtfully and painfully. For 18 miles I drove
behind him, averaging about five miles per hour.
Seeing my father in so much physical and emotional pain was the most distressing
and painful experience that I have ever faced. However, it was also the most successful
lesson. I have never lied to him since. (556 words)




Parlin Pardede: Introduction to Fiction (2010) 1

A. Vocabulary Exercise
The words on the right column are taken from the story. Choose the most
suitable option among them to fill in the blanks in each sentence in the left.
Don’t look at a dictionary, Instead, refer to the story to help you determine the
correct word.

1. Being very interested in the new novel he saw in the book store, the a) showed up
young boy _____her mother to give him some money to buy it.

2. The teacher wasn’t angry with you. She just disliked your _______ b) feebly

3. Tom_____admitted he broke the antique vase while sweeping the floor. c) immersed
He apologized for his carelessness.

4. Lizz listened ______ to his younger sister explanation. d) tardiness

5. After waiting for more than an hour, she finally _______ e) pleaded

6. She is very fond of listening to classical music. No wonder that she was f) intently
very _____ in the symphony concert last night.

B. Comprehension
Answer each of the following questions briefly but concisely!

1. What does Jackson’s father ask him to do, after taking the car to the garage for
inspection?
2. Why is Jackson late? What reason does he give his father?
3. Why does his father choose to walk home after he discovers that Jason lied?
4. How does Jackson feel about his father’s decision to walk all the way home? Explain
your answer.
5. What does Jackson learn from this experience?

C. Listening and Speaking Activities

1. Read paragraph 2, 3 and 4 of the story using good pronunciation.

2. Work in pair. Make a dialog between Jackson with his father based on paragraph 1.
3. Do you agree with the father’s conduct in the story? Why?
4. What do you like or dislike in the story? Discuss!

D. Writing Activities

1. Write down a synopsis of the story in not more than 60 words.

2. Describe the character of Jackson in a paragraph of about 75 words.

Parlin Pardede: Introduction to Fiction (2010) 2

(2) ZÜtÇwytà{xÜËá VÉ|Çá
(Pedro Pablo Sacristan)

E
very month, Julia and her cousins would go for the big family meal at their grandparents'
house. They would always wait excitedly for the moment their grandfather would give
them a few coins, "so you can buy yourself something." Then all the children would run
off to buy chewing gum, lollies, or wine gums. The grandparents, aunts, uncles, and parents
commented that, behaving like this, the children would never learn to manage their money. So
they proposed a special test, in which the children would have to show, over the course of a
year, just what they could manage to get with those few coins.
Some of the children thought that they would save their money, but Ruben and Nico, the
two smallest kids, paid no attention, and they continued spending it all on sweets. Every time,
they would show off their sweets in front of the other children, laughing and making fun of their
cousins. They made Clara and Joe so angry that these two could no longer stand to keep saving
their money. They joined Ruben and Nico in spending whatever they had, as soon as possible, on
sweets.
Monty was a clever boy, and he decided to start managing his money by exchanging it:
buying and selling things, or betting it with other children, in card games. Soon he had surprised
the whole family. He had accumulated a lot of money for little effort. The way he was going, he
would end up almost a rich man. However, Monty was not being very careful, and he got
involved in more and more risky deals. A few months later he hadn't a single penny left, after
placing a losing bet on a horse race.
Alex, on the other hand, had a will of iron. He saved and saved all the money he was given,
wanting to win the competition, and at the end of the year he had collected more money than
anyone. Even better, with so much money, he managed to buy sweets at a reduced price, so that
on the day of the competition he was presented with enough sweets for much more than a year.
And even then, he still had enough left over for a toy. He was the clear winner, and the rest of his
cousins learnt from him the advantages of knowing how to save and how to wait.
There was also Julia. Poor Julia didn't enjoy the day of the competition, because even
though she had had a wonderful secret plan, she had spent her money without giving her plan
enough time to work. However, she was so sure that her plan was a good one, that she decided
to carry on with it, and maybe change the expressions on her relatives' faces, who had seemed
to be saying "What a disaster that girl is. She couldn't manage to save anything."
When she was about to complete the second year of her plan, Julia surprised everyone by
turning up at the grandparents' house with a violin and a lot of money. What was even more
impressive was hearing her play. She did it really well.
Everyone knew that Julia adored the violin, even though the family couldn't afford to pay
for her to have lessons. So Julia had got to know a poor violinist who played in the park, and she
offered him all the coins her grandfather had given her, if he would teach her how to play.
Although it wasn't much money, on seeing Julia's excitement, the violinist agreed, and he taught
her happily for months. Julia showed so much desire and interest that a little after a year the
violinist loaned her a violin so they could play together in the park, as a duo. They were so
successful that gradually she managed to buy her own violin, with quite a bit of money to spare.
From then on, the whole family helped her, and she became a very famous violinist. And
she would always tell people how it was possible, with just a few coins well spent, to make your
wildest dreams a reality. (687 words)




Parlin Pardede: Introduction to Fiction (2010) 3

A. Vocabulary Exercise
The words on the right column are taken from the story. Choose the most
suitable option among them to fill in the blanks in each sentence in the left.
Don’t look at a dictionary, Instead, refer to the story to help you determine the
correct word.

1. They were _____by the news of their team’s victory. a) impressive

2. Tom _______ to start the project next January. b) excitement

3. His piano concert must be the most ______ show I have ever watched. c) proposed

4. The news caused a great _______ among us. d) loaned

5. Tom _____ a lot of money to Jim to finish building his house. e) excited

B. Comprehension
Answer each of the following question briefly but concisely!

1. Why do Julia and her cousins go to their grandparents' house every month?
2. What test do the elder people give to the children?
3. Why do Clara and Joe finally join Ruben and Nico to by sweets?
4. Although Monty manages to accumulate a lot of money, he finally has nothing left. Why?
5. Why does the violinist agree to teach Julia?

C. Listening and Speaking Activities

1. Read paragraph 1 and 2 of the story using good pronunciation.
2. Work in pair. Make a dialog between the violinist and Julia based on paragraph 7.
3. Among the children, who is the cleverest in managing money? Why?
4. What moral message do you learn from this story?

D. Writing Activities
1. Write down a synopsis of the story in not more than 60 words.
2. Describe the character Julia in a paragraph of about 75 words.

Parlin Pardede: Introduction to Fiction (2010) 4

(3) U|ÄÄ
(Zona Gale)

B
ill was thirty when his wife died, and little Minna was four. Bill’s carpenter shop was in
the yard of his house, so he thought that he could keep his home for Minna and himself.
All day while he worked at his bench, she played in the yard, and when he was obliged
to be absent for a few hours, the woman next door looked after her. Bill could cook a little, coffee
and bacon and fried potatoes and flapjacks, and he found bananas and sardines and crackers
useful. When the woman next door said it was not the diet for four-year-olds, he asked her to
teach him to cook oatmeal and vegetables, and though he was always burned the dishes in
which he cooked these things, he cooked them everyday. He swept, all but corners, and he
dusted, dabbing at every object; and he complained that after he had cleaned the windows he
could not see as well as he could before. He washed and patched Minna’s little garments and
mended her doll. He found a kitten for her so that she wouldn’t be lonely. At night he heard her
say her prayer, kneeling in the middle of the floor with her hands folded, and speaking like
lightning. If she forgot the prayer, he either woke her up, or else he made her say it the first
thing in the morning. He himself used to pray: “Lord, make me do right by her if you see me
doing wrong.” On Sundays, he took her to church and listening with his head on one side, trying
to understand, and giving Minna peppermints when she rustled. He stopped work for a day and
took her to the Sunday-school picnic. “Her mother would of,” he explained. When Minna was old
enough to go to kindergarten, Bill used to take her morning or afternoon, and he would call for
her. Once he dressed himself in his best clothes and went to visit the school. “I think her mother
would of,” he told the teacher, diffidently. But he could make little of the colored paper and the
designs and the games, and he did not go again. “There’s something I can’t be any help to her
with,” he thought.
Minna was six when Bill fell ill. On a May afternoon, he went to a doctor. When he came
home, he sat in his shop for a long time and did nothing. The sun was beaming through the
window in bright squares. He was not going to get well. It might be that he had six months. … He
could hear Minna singing to her doll.
When she came to kiss him that night, he made an excuse, for he must never kiss her now.
He held her arm’s length, looked in her eyes, said: Minna’s a big girl now. She doesn’t want Papa
to kiss her.” But her lip curled and she turned away sorrowful, so the next day Bill went to
another doctor to make sure. The other doctor made him sure.
He tried to think what to do. He had a sister in Nebraska, but she was a tired woman. His
wife had a brother in the city, but he was a man of many words. And little Minna … there were
things known to her which he himself did not know—matters of fairies and the words of songs.
He wished that he could hear of somebody who would understand her. And he had only six
month. …
Then the woman next door told him bluntly that he ought not to have the child there, and
him coughing as he was; and he knew that his decision was already upon him.
One whole night he thought. Then he advertised in a city paper:

A man with a few months more to live would like nice people to
adopt his little girl, six, blue eyes, curls. References required.

They came in limousine, as he had hoped that they would come. Their clothes were as he
had hoped. They had with them a little girl who cried: “Is this my little sister?” On which the
woman in the smart frock said sharply: “Now then, you do as Mama tells you and keep out of
this or we’ll leave you here and take this darling little girl with us.”

Parlin Pardede: Introduction to Fiction (2010) 5

 So Bill looked at this woman and said steadily that he had now other plans for his little
girl. He watched the great blue car roll away. “For the land sake!” said the woman next door
when she heard. “You done her out of fortune. You hadn’t the right—a man in your health.” And
then the other cars came, and he let them go, this woman told her husband that Bill ought to be
reported to the authorities.
The man and woman who walked into Bill’s shop one morning were still mourning their
own little girl. The woman was not sad—only sorrowful, and the man. Who was tender of her,
was a carpenter. In blooming of his hope and his dread, Bill said to them: “You’re the ones.”
When they asked: “How long before we can have her?” Bill said: “One day more.”
That day he spent in the shop. It was summer and Minna was playing in the yard. He could
hear the words of her songs. He cooked their supper and while she ate, he watched. When he
had tucked her in her bed, he stood in the dark hearing her breathing. “I’m a little girl tonight—
kiss me,” she had said, but he shook his head. “A big girl, a big girl,” he told her.
When they came for the next morning, he had her ready, washed and mended, and he had
mended her doll. “Minna’s never been for a visit!” he told her buoyantly. And when she ran
toward him, “A big girl, a big girl,” he reminded her.
He stood and watched the man and woman walking down the street with Minna between
them. They had brought her a little blue parasol in case the parting should be hard. This parasol
Minna held bobbing above her head, and she was so absorbed in looking up at the blue silk that
she did not remember to turn and wave her hand. (1,052 words).






A. Vocabulary Exercise

1. The words in column A are taken from the story. Write the letter of the
definition/synonym in column B that most closely matches each word/phrase in column
A.

A B
a. lonely 1. move up and down
b. get well 2. provide an apology
c. make an excuse 3. feel or show grief
d. a tired person 4. without friends or companions
e. mourn 5. recover, healed
f. bobbing 6. a tiresome person

2. Choose the word/phrase from column A in the previous activity that best fits each of
the following sentences. You may need to add -s to a plural word or to a third person
singular of a verb in the present tense, -ed to the past tense of regular verbs, -ing for
present participle, etc.
a) She (not) __________ for being late for the meeting yesterday.
b) The doctor said that his great optimism helped him ______ soon.
c) After his wife’s death he always feels _______.
d) Almost nobody likes Ms Brown because she is a _______.

Parlin Pardede: Introduction to Fiction (2010) 6

B. Comprehension
Answer each of the following questions briefly but concisely!
1. Why do Julia and her cousins go to their grandparents' house every month?
2. What test do the elder people give to the children?
3. Why do Clara and Joe finally join Ruben and Nico to by sweets?
4. Although Monty manages to accumulate a lot of money, he finally has nothing left.
Why?
5. Why does the violinist agree to teach Julia?

C. Listening and Speaking Activities

1. In group of 3 or 4 read paragraph 1 of the story aloud as a chain activity.
2. Work in pair. One of you acts as the doctor who diagnoses Bill. Another one acts as
Bill. Make sure you are convincing.
3. Work in pair. One of you acts as the editor of the newspaper in which Bill publishes
his advertisement. Another one acts as Bill.

D. Writing Activities
1. Write down a synopsis of the story in not more than 60 words.
2. Describe the character Bill in a paragraph of about 75 words.

Parlin Pardede: Introduction to Fiction (2010) 7