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Chapter 2 At home |
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' Hi, Dad. Your supper is in the kitchen.' |
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John is sixteenyearold daughter, Christine, was sitting at the table doing her homework. |
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His son Andrew, who was thirteen, was watching television. |
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' Thanks, Christine,' John said.' I am sorry I am late. Is everything OK?' |
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' Fine, thanks.' Christine gave him a quick smile, then continued with her work. |
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John got his food from the kitchen. |
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Fried fish and chips. |
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The food was dry and didn' t taste very good. |
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But he didn' t say anything about that. |
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John was not a good cook himself and his children were no better. |
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His wife had been a good cook, he remembered. |
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John tried to eat the terrible supper and looked around the small, miserable flat. |
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The furniture was twenty years old, the wallpaper and carpets were cheap and dirty. |
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The rooms were all small, and he could see no trees or gardens from the windows just the lights from hundreds of other flats. |
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And there were books, clothes, and newspapers on the floor. |
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Once, when his wife had been alive, he had had a fine house. |
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A beautiful big house in the country, with a large garden. |
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They had had lots of new furniture, two cars, expensive holidays everything they needed. |
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He had had a good job they hadn' t needed to think about money. |
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And then he had started the boatbuilding company, and his luck had ended. |
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When Rachel had died, John had been terribly unhappy much too unhappy to think about business. |
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A few months later his company had closed, and he had lost all his money. |
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John had had to sell his beautiful house in the country, and move to this miserable flat. |
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And for the last two years, he hadn' t had a job at all. |
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He was a poor man, and an unlucky one, too. |
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He had tried for lots of jobs, and got none of them. |
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There were too many bright young biologists. |
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But now that was all going to change. |
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He looked at his daughter and smiled. |
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' Did you have a good day at school, Christine?' he asked her. |
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' Oh, all right, I suppose,' she said. |
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She didn' t look very happy. |
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' I' ve got a letter for you.' |
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She pushed the letter across the table, and he opened it. |
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It was from her school. |
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One of the teachers was taking the children on a skiing holiday to the mountains in Switzerland. |
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It cost 400 for ten days. |
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Parents who wanted their children to go had to send the money to the school before February 25th. |
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John is smile grew bigger. |
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' Do you want to go on this holiday, Christine?' he asked. |
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She looked at him strangely. |
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' Of course I do, Dad,' she said. ' But I can' t, can I? We haven' t got 400.' |
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' No, I suppose not. ' He looked at her carefully through his thick glasses. |
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She was a clever, strong girl good at her schoolwork, good at sports. |
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But she had never been skiing John hadn' t had enough money. |
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' Are your friends going?' he asked her. |
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' Some of them, yes. Miranda, Jane, Nigel, the rich ones, you know. |
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But they often go skiing it' s easy for them. |
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I know I can' t go, Dad. Throw the letter away.' |
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John looked at her, and felt his heart beating quickly. |
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' No, don' t do that, Christine,' he said. ' Perhaps you can go, if you want to. Why not?' |
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Christine laughed. |
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' What is happened, Dad? Have you robbed a bank or something?' |
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John stood up. |
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He went into the kitchen and got himself a drink. |
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' No,' he said, when he came back. |
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' But something interesting happened today. |
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Put your homework away, Christine and turn that TV off, Andrew. |
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I have got something to tell you.' |
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' Oh, not now, Dad!' said Andrew. |
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' This is an exciting story.' |
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John smiled. ' I have got an exciting story, too, Andrew. Come and listen.' |
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John Duncan' s children lived in an old, untidy flat, they had no money, and they often ate awful food. |
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But they could still talk to their father. |
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So Andrew turned off the TV, and sat down in a big armchair beside his father and Christine. |
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The story didn' t sound very exciting at first. |
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' I went to a factory today,' John said. |
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' That paint factory by the river. No, wait, Andrew. |
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Paint factories can be very exciting. |
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They gave me a job there. |
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I am going to have my own office, a big car, lots of money in fact, we are going to be rich!' |