「故事·听力」I Had To Miss Grandma's Funeral For An Exam
I Had To Miss Grandma's Funeral For An Exam
This is Mia. Do you remember the story about the boy who cried wolf? Well, once, something like this happened to her.
Once in school Mia was really tired and wanted to go home, but she of course couldn’t just leave early simply because she wanted to. So she decided to come up with an excuse. She acted like her stomach hurt, and after a visit to the nurse, where her acting skills turned out to be really effective, she was set free to go home!
Mia was surprised at just how easy it had been to trick the teachers. Soon enough, she started using tricks like this regularly to get what she wanted. Sometimes she would come up with an elaborate story explaining why she hadn’t been able to do her homework or a test – because she had hurt her hand, for example. And like a true master of deception, she would have her hand completely bandaged up. Other times she would leave school saying that she had forgotten her keys, or that she needed to go to the doctor. And yes she would go as far as forging documents to give to her teachers as proof that she actually had visited her doctor.
Usually, Mia would either go home or go to her grandma’s house, because she would feed her the kind of food that only grandmas are able to cook. She loved her grandma. She always laughed when she told her how she had escaped from school yet another time, although she did warn her that she probably shouldn’t do something like that too often.
Once she really wanted to see a new movie, and during the evenings the movie theaters were usually too busy, so she lied and actually said that her grandma had died, and that she needed to go to her funeral.
You see, she had recently needed to do a presentation, and she hadn’t been ready for it. So Mia decided to do what she did best. She put on a scarf and pretended that she had lost her voice. And she kept up the act for several days before the presentation, so that everyone would believe her.
She was caught completely by accident – one of her classmates had a squeaky chair during one lesson, so he changed it for a better one. But then he accidentally dropped it on her toe while dragging it back to his spot. And she screamed.
Everyone, including the teacher, looked at her, shocked. The only thing she could say was “my voice miraculously came back!” Needless to say, the teachers didn’t really believe her after that, so she had to stop.
A very important test was coming up at that time, and she was busy studying hard for it – her intention was to REALLY study this time, and get a good grade. And then...her grandma passed away. Just like that. She would never hear her laughing at her stories again, or eat her amazing food, or even see her.
But the thing was that her test was at the same time as the funeral. So she talked with her teacher about it, explaining the situation, and she answered “oh, your grandma died again? Or is it a different grandma? Stop it, Mia, you're not going to be able to get out of doing this test.”
Mia was shocked, but she also knew it was her fault. She called her parents and explained everything to them, but they were angry at her for using her grandma’s death as an excuse before, so they said that she had to deal with it herself, especially because they were very busy with organizing the funeral…
So her last desperate plan was to go take the test, finish it, and get to the funeral as fast as she could. So when the day came she was sitting there, and of course she really couldn’t concentrate. The tears were falling down onto her paper, because she couldn't stop thinking that she was missing the funeral because she was such a liar. And her tears didn’t really help her, because she had pulled that trick before, and of course the teacher thought she was just pretending.
She had to make a decision – to fail that very important test that would have a huge effect on her overall grade, or try to finish it but miss the funeral.
She decided that her grandma’s funeral was more important than the test, so she stood up and left the room, despite her teacher’s protests. She ran as fast as possible just to be on time for the funeral.
She couldn’t believe that her grandma wasn’t with them anymore. And what’s worse, she could have lost the last chance to say goodbye to her, even symbolically.
Later, after a few days, her parents had a very long talk with her teacher, explaining the situation, but at the same time finding out for themselves the extent of her lies.
Mia retook the test and passed it. And now her parents monitor her activity, occasionally checking to make sure that she’s in school or not.
Mia still loves her granny – she was the best partner in crime a girl could ever have.