The village meeting

The villagers could not believe it. A shop in Woodend! Everybody talked about it. There was once a shop in Woodend, but it had closed twenty years ago. Some people wanted the shop, but others did not. The villagers met in the evening in the village hall. Everybody was there. Everybody was interested in the new shop. 'The Corner Shop is a good idea,' someone said. 'We need a village shop. We won't need to go to Lidney.' Then Mrs Harrison spoke. She liked the stranger, Dave Slatin. 'I agree,' she said. 'A village shop is a good idea. It's too quiet here. Woodend needs a shop.' 'Nonsense,' said Miss Brown. She was the village school.. teacher. 'Lidney is not far away. There are lots of shops there.' Soon everybody was shouting. Then Mr Hart spoke. He was a very big man, with a loud voice. 'Listen, everybody!' he shouted. 'We've never had trouble in this village before. We've always been quiet and happy. Now this shop is causing trouble.' 'Let Mr Slatin speak,' someone said. 'It's his shop. Let him speak.' 'Ladies and gentlemen,' said Dave Slatin. 'I don't want to cause any trouble. I'm still a stranger in your village. But I want to be one of you. I want to be your friend. I like the people of Woodend!' He smiled and a few people clapped. They liked him. 'The Corner Shop will sell lots of things,' he went on. 'It will sell food and things for the house. Everything will be cheap, I promise.'

Everybody was listening carefully. 'And I have another idea,' he continued. 'I'll sell village products.' 'What do you mean by "Village products"?' asked Miss Brown. 'I'll tell you, Miss Brown,' he said. 'I know that you make beautiful bread and cakes.' Miss Brown smiled. Yes, she did make bread and cakes. Everyone knew that. 'And you, Mr Hart, I've seen your flowers. You grow beautiful flowers.' Now Mr Hart smiled. Yes, his flowers were beautiful. Everyone knew about them. 'And Mr Everett makes pots,' someone said. 'And Mrs Davies makes dolls,' said another voice. 'And I do paintings of the village,' said old Miss Lucy Gray. 'Yes,' said Dave. 'You can all do something. You villagers are clever. You make lots of things. We can sell them to the tourists. In the summer, Woodend can make a lot of money!' 'But what about the money?' said Mr Hart. 'How will you pay us?' 'That's a good question,' said Dave. 'And here's the answer. You'll bring your things to me and I'll sell them for you. I'll keep some of the profit. You'll have the rest.' 'What a good idea!' said Miss Brown. 'Yes, I agree!' said Mr Hart. All the villagers agreed. Everyone in the village was happy with Dave Slatin's plan. The Corner Shop opened on Monday, 4th January, 1965. Soon the shop was busy and Dave needed an assistant. The new assistant in The Corner Shop was Anna. She started work in late January.

The football match

The next day was the day of the big football match. Mr Hart had invited about ten people. Anna did not watch the game. She was helping Mrs Hart in the kitchen. They were making tea. It was a good game and everyone was enjoying it. At Peter went into the kitchen. 'Why don't you come and watch the match, Anna?' he said. 'It's really good. Come on!' Anna laughed. 'No, thanks,' she said. 'I'm helping Mrs Hart. Look, here's the tea. Can you take it in to the others?' 'OK,' said Peter. 'It's a terrific match. Mike Bailey scored a great goal.' Peter took the tea into the sitting room and the second half of the match started. The second half was very exciting. Mike Bailey scored another goal after twenty minutes. The score was 2-0.Then the other side scored two quick goals. It was 2-2. There were only five minutes of the match left. 'Come on!' shouted Peter. 'Come on, Mike! Let's have another goal!' In the last seconds of the match, Mike Bailey scored the winner. It was his third goal of the match. But something was wrong! The other team's goalkeeper was injured. Bailey had been very near the goalkeeper and he had kicked the ball very hard. The ball had hit the goal., keeper's neck.

Mrs Hart and Anna came in from the kitchen. 'What's happened?' said Anna. 'What's wrong?' 'It's Brian Thomas, the goalkeeper,' said Peter. 'He's injured.' It was serious. The goalkeeper had broken his neck. Later, they all watched the news on TV. They saw pictures of Mike Bailey's third goal. It was a great goal. They saw the ball hit the goalkeeper. It was an accident. The TV announcer said, 'And now over to our sports studio for an interview with Mike Bailey.' They all watched the interview. The TV showed a picture of Mike Bailey and the interviewer. 'Mike,' said the interviewer, 'three goals in one match! How do you feel about that?' But Mike Bailey said nothing. He could not speak. He tried to speak, but he could not. It was terrible. The interviewer tried another question. 'Let me ask you about the third goal, Mike. It was a great goal. But how do you feel about the injury to Brian Thomas?' It was a silly question. The injured goalkeeper would never play football again. Mike Bailey said nothing. He looked very ill.When the interview ended, Mr Hart turned off the TV. No one noticed that Anna had left the room. Mike Bailey had looked frightened. Anna was frightened too. Mike Bailey and Anna had met before. The day before, at The Corner Shop.

A Quarrel

Anna enjoyed the weekend. They arrived in London late on Friday evening and stayed at a big hotel. On Saturday they went shopping and in the evening they went to a cinema. On Sunday they went to a park. They came back to Woodend on Sunday evening. It was the last Sunday in September. On Monday, Anna went to the shop. It was not so busy now. Summer was over. Most of the customers were villagers. It was a cold autumn. On Monday evening, Peter came to see Anna. 'Hello!' said Anna. 'Did you win on Saturday?' .'No,' said Peter. 'We didn't win. And I didn't play.' Anna was surprised. 'You didn't play? Why not? What was wrong?' 'I didn't feel very well on Saturday morning. I stayed in Woodend. I was in the village all weekend.' Anna's face was red. Her voice was quiet. 'Are you feeling better now?' she asked. 'No,' said Peter. 'And you know why.' Anna tried to look surprised. 'Me?' she said. 'Oh, Anna,' said Peter. 'You know what's wrong. It's you and Dave Slatin.' 'What do you mean - me and Dave Slatin?' said Anna quickly. 'You went away with him on Friday evening. Someone saw you in Dave's car.' Anna tried to explain. 'Oh, it's nothing!' she said. 'Dave and I went ...' 'Shut up!' said Peter. 'I don't want to know, Anna. Don't talk about it.'