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a conversation with my father grace paley

my father is eighty-six years old and in bed. his heart, that bloody motor, is equally old and will not certain jobs any more. it still floods his head with brainy light. but won’t let his legs carry the weight of his body around the house. despite my metaphors, this muscle failure is not due to his old heart, he says, but to a potassium shortage. sitting on one pillow, leaning on three, he offers last minute advice and makes a request.

“i would like to write a simple story just once more,” he says,” the kind de maupassant wrote, or chekhov, the kind you used to write. just recognizable people and then write down what happened to them next

i say, “yes, why not? that’s possible.” i want to please him, though i don’t remember writing that way. i would like to try to tell such story, if he means the kind that begins: “there was a woman…” followed by plot, absolute line between two points which i’ve always despised. not for literary reasons, but because it takes all hope away. everyone, real or invented, deserves the open destiny of life.

finally i thought of a story that had been happening for a couple of years right across the street. i wrote it down, then read it aloud. “pa,” i said, “how about this? do you mean something like this? ”

once in my time there was a woman and she had a son. they lived nicely, in a small apartment in manhattan. this boy at about fifteen became a junkie, which is not unusual in our neighborhood.

in order to maintain her close friendship with him, she became a junkie too. she said it was part of the youth culture, with which she felt very much at home. after a while, for a number of reasons, the boy gave it all up and left the city and his mother in disgust. hopeless and alone, she grieved. we all visited her.

reading comprehension test

put “+” next to the true sentences and “-” next to the false ones.

1. my father is an energetic 68-year-old man.

he wants his daughter to write a complex epic novel.

he likes simple stories with recognizable people.

i will write him a simple story.

the woman’s boy was 10 years old.

her son left her wealthy and well cared for.

circle the correct letter

my father spends his time in …

a) bed; b) church; c) the cafes; d) pain and sufferings

his heart is weak but has not reduced the follow of blood …

a) to his legs; b) to his strong arms and shoulders; c) to his head; d) to his liver

he thinks i write simple stories like …

a) shultz and dilbert; b) bulgakov and shevchenko; c) chekhov or de maupassant; d) chekhov and marquis de sade

i was … to write a simple story for my father.

a) unwilling; b) eager; c) saddened; d) unable

the woman and her son lived in …

a) sumy; b) poland; c) manhattan; d) washington d. c.

the boy became a junkie, which was … where we lived.

a) common; b) uncommon; c) looked down upon; d) held in high esteem

iii. fill in the blanks

make up 5 questions of different types.

once in my time there was a woman and she had a son. they lived in a small apartment in manhattan. this boy at about fifteen became a which is not in our neighborhood.

in order to her close friendship with him, she became a junkie too. she said it was part of the , with which she felt very much at home. after a while, for a number of reasons, the boy gave it all up and left the city and his mother in hopeless and alone, she grieved. we all visited her.

1.nicely 2.unusual 3. youth

disgust 5. junkie 6. maintain