Dead Man's İsland - John Escott - 2

2

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The Island

We went to Scotland the next day, first by plane, then by train. Greta ross travelled with us.

I looked out of the train window and saw fields and villages and mountains. 'Mum is right,' I thought. 'Scotland is a very beautiful place.'

'You're going to be my husband's secretary,' Greta Ross told my mother.. 'He's a businessman, but he never leaves the island. He invests money in companies, all over the world.'

'Do many people live on the island?' I asked.

'Not many,' said Greta Ross. 'You'll meet them soon.'

'Greta Ross is young,' I thought. 'Is her husband young, too? How can a young man buy an island? Is he very rich?'

After the train, we went on Mr Ross's boat, which took us out to the island. The boatman was a young man. He had dark hair and was brown from the sun.

'This is Tony,' said Greta Ross. 'He works for Mr Ross.'

'Hi,' said Tony.

Soon we were near the island. I could see the beaches and the cliffs. The boat slowed down.

'There are dangerous rocks around the island,' explained Tony. 'A lot of them are under the water and you can't see them. I have to be careful. But the rocks keep other boats away, and that pleased Mr Ross.'

'Why?' I asked.

Tony looked at Greta Ross but she wasn't listening. 'Mr Ross doesn't like visitors to the island,' Tony said in a quiet voice.

Then Greta Ross looked at us and Tony said no more. 'Why doesn't Mr Ross like visitors?' I thought. 'Has he something to hide?

When  we arrived on the island, my mother and I followed Greta up to the house. It was very big and there were trees all aroun it.

A woman was waiting inside the house.

'This is Mrs Duncan, Tony's mother,' said Greta. 'She's the housekeeper and her husband is the gardener. Mrs Duncan will  take you up to your rooms. I'm going to tell Mr Ross you've arrrived.'

The housekeeper was a little woman with short hair. She went up the stairs, and my mother and I went after her.

My room was nest to my mother's. I looked out of the window and saw the gardens at the back of the house. A man was working in the garden, near some trees. 'Is that Mr Duncan?' I thought. I looked between the trees and saw the sea. 'It's a beautiful house and a beautiful island.'

That evening, we had dinner with Mr and Mrs Duncan and Tony. We ate in the big kitchen.

'What happened to Mr Ross's last secretary?' asked my mother.

'She is in hospital,' replied Mrs Duncan. 'She's going to be away all summer.'

'Isn't Mrs Ross lonely here?' I said.

'No,' said Mrs Duncan. 'She likes painting a lot. She has a room upstairs and goes there to paint. She's very good. Sometimes she goes to different places on the island to paint pictures.'

We finished eating our meal. Soon after, Greta Ross came into the kiitchen.

'Mr Ross wants to see you and your daughter now, Mrs Sanders,' she said. 'Follow me, please.'

We followed her through the house and into a big room. This was Mr Ross's office and he was sitting behind a desk.

I was suprised. He was a young man, about thirty. He had a moustache, short dark hair, and he wore glasses.

Mr Ross was speaking into the telephone. 'Who does he look like?' I thought. 'Is it Tony Duncan?'

'Mr Ross is talking to a business friend in New York,' said Greta. 'Please, sit down.'

While we waited, I looked around the office. There were three telephones, a computer, and lots of books and papers.

There was another door and I could see a smaller room, next to the office. There was a smaller desk and another computer in there.

Mr Ross finished speaking on the phone, then  looked carefully at my mother and me. For a few second he didn't speak, adn just watche dus. Then he said, 'I'm pleased to meet you, Mrs Sanders. I need some help with my work. My secretary is in hospital and there is a lot of work to do. Sometimes you'll have to work late at night, because of time differences in New York and Tokyo. Is that all right?'

'Yes, that's all right,' said my mother.

'Can you use a computer?'

'Yes.'

'Good.' he looked at me. 'Is this your daughter?'

'Yes, this is Carol,' said my mother.

'Hallo,' I said.

'Greta says you like gardening. There's a big garden here, so you can help Mr Duncan. And there's a farm. Dan and Stella Parks live in the farmhouse and work on the farm. You can help them, too. We have some animals. Semo sheep, a few cows and chickens. And there's a horse called Smoke. He's grey, like his name. Can you ride?'

'Yes,' I said. 'I can ride a horse.'

'You can ride Smoke around the island, if you like.'

'I'd like that,' I said. 'Thank you.'

'And we grow vegetables and fruit,' he said. 'I work on the farm sometimes. I enjoy it.'

I smiled at him but he didn't smile back.

'Carol will enjoy working on the farm,' said my mother. 'Won't you, Carol?'

'Yes,' I said.

'Mr Ross looks sad,' I thought. 'But how did he get all his money? And why does he hide away on an island?'


This is a thin yet very good book. I really liked... :)

Dead Man's İsland - John Escott - 1-2

I went to the Savoy Hotel wiith my mother. It was big and expensive, bigger than our hotel, and in the centre of London.

'Mum needs this job,' I thought. 'And a private island in Scotland is a nice place to live. Perhaps  I can forget what's happened if I go there.'

'Room twenty-two,' said the woman at the hotel desk. 'Go on up. Mrs Ross will see you now.'

Greta Ross was waiting for us. She was about thirty years old and very beautiful. She wore an expensive red dress and her hair was very long and dark.

'This is my daughter, Carol,' said my mother.

'Hallo Carol,' said Greta Ross.

'Hallo,' I said.

'Carol is eighteen years old,' said my mother. 'Can she come with me, if i get the job? Perhaps she can help in the house or gardens. She likes gardening. She's studying farming at college.'

'Perhaps,' said Greta Ross. 'There is a small farm on the island.'

'I'd like to work on the farm,' I said.

Greta Ross looked at my mother. 'How long did you live in Hong Kong. Mrs Sanders?'

'Seven years,' answered my mother. 'My husband died in a plane crash last year, so we've come back to live in England.'

'Where did you live before Hong Kond?'

'We lived in India for three years.'

Then Greta Ross took my mother into a room and asked her more questions. I waited outside.

'Greta Ross is nice,' I thought. 'I hope my mother gets the job.'

Soon after, the door opened and my mother came out. She was smiling.

Greta Ross said, 'Please wait here for a minute, Mrs Sanders. I want to make a phone call.' She went back into the room, and closed the door.

I was sitting on a chair near the door, and I could just hear Greta Ross's voice speaking on the phone.

I think I've found someone,' she was saying. 'She has a daughter, but the girl can work in the garden or on the farm... Don't worry, they've been away from England for ten years... It'll be all right, I tell you... Don't worry.'

After a few minutes, Greta Ross put down the phone and came out of the room.

'You've got the job,' she told my mother.

My mother was pleased. 'Thank you,' she replied.

I was pleased, too, but now I was worried about that phone call. I didn't understand it.

Dead Man's İsland - John Escott - 1-1

1

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Coming to England

My name is Carol Sanders. I live in England now, but when i was younger, I lived in Hong Kong. My father was a businessman there and my mother worked as a secretary. We lived in Hong Kong for seven years.

I was happy at school, with lots of friends, and we had a good time. I liked pop music - the Rolling Stones, David Bowie and Jake Rosso were my favourites.

Jake Rosso was my favourite singer. He died in a car accident the year I left school, but I listened to his pop records all the time. I had hundreds of pictures and photos of him on my bedroom wall.

Then one day in winter when i was seventeen, things began to go wrong for me.

My father went to Australia on business. I loved him very much and didn't like him going away.

'Come home quickly,' I always said to him.

He was in Australia for two weeks. Then, on the day of his jounary home, an aeroplane from Sydney crashed into the sea just south of Hong Kong. Everybody on the plane died.

I heard about the plane crash on television. At first I didn't think about my father. Then I remembered he was flying back from Sydney on that day.

'Oh, no!' I cried.

I telephoned the airport but they didn't know the names all the passengers then.

'Perhaps my father didn't get that plane,' I thought. 'Oh, please! Please!'

My mother was at work and I called her on the telephone. She came home quickly and we went to the airport and waited for news.

Later, we learned my father was on the plane.

'It's not true!' I shouted.

But it was true, and I began to cry.

I cried for weeks and weeks. I spent many days alone in my room. I was loney and sad and I wanted to die, too.

I stopped going out with my friends. I didn't want to see other people. I stopped listening to Jake Rosso's records, and took his pictures off my bedroom wall. I didn't listen to music or watch television. Nothing mattered anymore.

Then I stopped crying. I stopped feeling sad and began to feel angry.

'Why did it happen to him?' I asked my mother. 'Why do the best people die? Jake Rosso. My father.'

'I... I don't know, Carol,' my mother said. She was unhappy, too.

At the time of the plane crash, I was a student at college. I enjoyed the work and college life very much, but after my father's death I stopped doing my work at college. I began to go out with some new friends. They were different from my other friends, and my mother didn't like them.

'They're bad people, Carol,' she told me. 'They do dangerous things.'

'They're exciting,' I said. 'And I liked them.'

I knew she was angry but I didn't care. But then I learned my new friends took drugs, and I began to take grugs, too. It was wrongand stupid, I know that now, but I was unhappy and angry.

The police came to the college to arrest some of the students. They didn't arrest me, but I had to leave the college. It was a bad time.

My mother was very unhappy with me. 'What am I going to do with you, Carol?' she said.

'I'm sorry,' I told her.

'We'll go back to England,' she said. 'You can find a college there. Perhaps you can be happier in England.'

'All right,' I said. 'I want to forget what's happened. I want to forget what I've done and begin a new life, be a new person.'

A month later, we came back to England. We lived in London, in a hotel. It was strange, at first, with all the red buses and everybody speaking English. It was the beginning of the summer, three months before college began in the autumn. London was full of tourists.

We looked at all the famous buildings - Buckingham Palace, The Tower of London. And we went to restaurants and theatres in the evenings. It was interesting and exciting and I began to forget the bad times in Hong Kong.

'I'm pleased we came to London,' I told my mother.

But after a few weeks, she said, 'You need to find a college, Carol. You must go on studying. And I need a job.'

That evening we looked in the newspaper.

'What about this?' I said. I showed my mother a job in the newspaper.

SECRETARY

for the summer months

on a small private island in Scotland.

Live with the family in a big house.

Interesting work and good py

for the right person.

Phone Greta Ross. Telephone number 071...

'Well, that sounds interesting,' said my mother. 'I'd like to work as a secretary on island in Scotland. It's a beautiful country, Carol, and you can go to a college there in the autumn.'

'And it's a place to live for the summer,' I said. 'Hotels are expensive.'

My mother telephoned Greta Ross.

'Come and see me tomorrow,' Greta Ross told her. 'Come to the Savoy Hotel at eleven o'clock.'

My imagination, what are you doing me?

I'm afraid of darkness, i can't stand staying in darkness. I scared of spiders too. When i'm in a dark room or place, i know that's nonsense but i think spiders'll come and they'll bite me, poison me. I'm good at dreaming. So I'm afraid of darkness but I'm also interested in painting. I'm fond of painting portraits. I mean my imagination sometimes scares me but sometimes it makes me relax.

-chicken imagination-

Turning Point: Winning a Prize

I was student at 5th grade. There was a tournamet, about chess. I know playing chess so i joined that tournamet. It was the biggest day and i was ready. The tournamet was going to start 15 minutes later. I was sitting on a bench infront of my school. I was alone. Two of my friends came beside me. I hatet them. And they said, 'Why are you trying? You can never win! You're a loser. Accept that!' I was shocked. I never said anything. Then the tournamet start and 2 hours later it finished.

The results were interesting; I was 2nd, my that friend 3rd and the other couldn't get any degrees.

Travel is fatal

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and  things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's life. " 

Mark Twain

Life

Life is like riding a bycle,

In order to keep your balance,

You have to keep moving.

A. Einstein

Freedom

It's sunny.

I'm sure that everybody took their picnic stuff and they went to forest or grove. I'm on way such as other people. A young couple went to a grove. I think they hesitated to go to a forest alone. Yep they're right. Forests are big places and you can get lost easily. I followed them. The grove that they entered, was so big and spacious. I had come here for the first time but i really liked the grove. I sat a bench behind a picnic table. Like my guess the grove was nearly full. Some kids were playing with a ball, someones was playing hide-n-seek, hopscotch etc kid's games. I heard smell of barbecue. I looked the smell's source. There were five men far from me. They were having barbecue. I don't like meat. So i didn't dear drew. There were women 4-5 meters far from them. They were sitting on a picnic rug and talking, laughing. Even to see their cheerfulness was so relaxing. Then I noticed i was smiling. The grove had a relaxing atmosphere. I reposed my back and i looked to the sky: Blue. Clean. Free... I would have birds' freedom. or kids'. They never need to think or worry for something. Some brids was flying above me. As like they were giving me their freedom. I don't need any prensentation, i already know what's the freedom... Even to sit here, in a grove is freedom...

A Long Travel 6

I was feeling worse after i talked with my mumy. I missed her too much. Here was too foreign me. I was alone here. I didn't have any friend here. I was watching out from window when Ghost started to bark. I fondled its head. I watched it for a short time. Then my phone rang. It was my cousin, Aslı. I missed her too, like i missed everybody. She is a pertty girl, one of my best friend. After i talked with her, I forgot my longing. She told me every gossip that i didn't hear. I laughed more than i talked. She is carzy! I told her Ghost. She wanted its photos. After our talk, i took Ghost and my photos and we walked to photographer. I suppressed our photos with my photos on my camera. I looked around for a park and i saw we were near to Dean's Yard that we were near as i could read its sign. We entered and i started to look my photos. I wasn't a photographer but my photos were nice.
My phone rang again. It was an unknown number. When i press yes button, i don't know why,  my heart was beating so fast. It was a young girl. I felt i'll take bad news and i was right. I talked to Aslı before half an hour and now she was in hospital. She told me my number was the least number in her daily talking. That's why the nurse called me. I couldn't stand to sit and i stood up. I looked Ghost. It was seeming sad like me. 'Come here Ghost. We're going.' I took it Lenobia. She was a Vet and she knows what i could do with Ghost. I told her everything when i go herside and she said 'Ok, Ghost may stay with me. I always love dogs. Go and look your cousin. When you come back, you take Ghost.' I felt myself so bad and i went out. While i was going i said myself 'I'll come here for you Ghost.' and i called my aunt.

When i told her Aslı, she couldn't say anything for a short time. When she talked her voice was so weak. I was sad for her. I went to hotel and i picked up  all my stuff. I went to airport with my suitcase. I took a ticket for half an hour later. I thought my first day here while i was waiting. I feeling so bad that day. Now i was worse. That i was behaving capriciously. Now i was worrying for my cousin. I asked myself, 'What happened? How could she fall in hospital? Is that an car crash?..' I took a deep breath when i stoop up for my plane. Passage couldn't finish for me. I hate that four hours. While i was going to Istanbul,  i was praying for my cousin. Finally i arrived and went to hospital with my suitcase. I couldn't think to go to home and give up it. I went to my family's side. They were bad but the worst my aunt. I hugged her. I asked my aunt:
 "What happened?"
"A car crush Sueda. It was a really bad car crush." She took a deep breath. I felt myself worse and worse. A nurse went out Aslı's room. She told us her operation passed fine. We were so pleased this. And she added we may see her an hour later. Short time before we were crying with sadness now we were crying happiness. My God, you're the biggest! That hour passed harder than four hours that i was in plane. Then, the hour passed and we came into the room.

Aslı was awake. She saw us and smiled. My pretty friend, was seeming tired. My aunt asked her daughter how happened the accident and Aslı started to tell us. "I was on my home way. It was evening. I bored and i thought London was in afternoon. So i could call Sueda and i could talk to her. We talked and i felt myself better. I saw a kitten that was sleeping next to a tree. I want to show that to Sueda as thanks. It was opposite the road and there wasn't traffic lights. I thought i may go there but i couldn't. A big and red car in fact jeep striked me. And i'm here." I hugged my cousin but it was hard because her chest was crushed. A nurse came into the room and said 'Miss Çağlayan will stay with us for a short time and she needs to have rest.' I linked my mother's arm and went out with big smiles on our faces. When i through in door, i looked Aslı and smiled. My sweet friend was fine. And she wasn't going to make me leave my next London journey undone.

Thanks For Reading!..

A Long Travel 5

I woke up with a wet touching on my face. When I opened  my eyes, i saw Ghost's happy face. It was vigorous and healty. I hugged my sweet and clumsy dog. I thought it should be starve. I stood up and went to bathroom. I washed my hands and face. I opened the sallon's window. When i put on ground its food it barked. This was its love words. I had my breakfast. While i was drinking my tea, Ghost just finished its breakfast. My room was in the uppest floor. I went to terrace. The scene was incredible! The sun was rising yet. The sky was reddish still. I took Ghost out. We went on a morning walk. There wasn't anybody on the way. We walked and walked. When our walking finished, we sat a bank in the St James Park. In fact the park away from the hotel just ten minutes but we walked around.

 I was strave. I thought, i lost all my breakfast's calories. "Let's go a cafe for lunch Ghost!" We went a cafe named 'Cafe Mediterranee'.  I had my lunch but Ghost wasn't hungry so it didn't eat anything. The cafe was in the Buckingham Gate Road. We went out and turned right. We walked ahead and the Westminster Bridge was in front of us. After we passed the bridge, The Florence Nightingale Museum appeared.

 I paid £7.00 to enter into the museum. There was a lot of stuff inside.

 The museum wasn't crowded so much.

I read the guide because i didn't know anything the museum. It was telling me these:
"The Victorians
Florence Nightingale is one of the most famous Victorians. Queen Victoria reigned from 1837 to 1901, the longest reigning British monarch to date. She was the figurehead of a vast empire and oversaw dramatic changes in British society. During this time Britain saw a great expansion of wealth, power, and culture.
The British Empire covered a fifth of the globe and as Britain prospered and large industrial towns and cities grew, the lives of ordinary men and women changed dramatically. It was the age of steam and technological advancement, and also radical advances in education, social welfare, politics, medicine and health care."

The museum about the 1st World War. It was a real museum. There were everything, paintings, candle sculptures, clothes about that century.

 But i loved nursing uniform and candle scluptrues and nurses's photos and its decoration. In fact i adored everything in the museum.

Museum was brillant but i couldn't stand to stay in a close place. We went out a short time later. We got on a train.

There was a screen in the train. The screen was showing the stop's names. Normally i got off the train in St James Park Stop. But i didn't want to go to the hotel. Because of this, i was looked for something to not go to the hotel.  We passed my stop. I looked Ghost. And i remembered it didn't eat lunch. I hit my forehead. I press to the button for to get off. It was Hyde Park Corner Stop. I entered a supermarket and bought a small size of dog food and a plastic case. I sat a bank in front of the supermarket and put its lunch in the case on the ground. While it was eating, I was watching environment. There was a giant park near here. It was seeming brillant. I really wanted to go there.

After it had lunch, I directed Ghost to the park. I was curious where it is. We went there and i learnt it is usually close to the public. But The Palace is open during August and September. I was really lucky. Date was 11th August 2014. I entered inside and i saw i was right. Here was like a part of paradise in the world.

 Here was full of plants flowers and fresh air.

It was cold but i could stay here untill i die. There wasn't any enoughly word to tell the scene's excellent. It was unique i was sure that.

The Garden was incredible like it wasn't surround by concrete forests.

After we tasted the fresh air and watched those beautiful scenes, we went out. I was eating ice cream on way that i bought in garden. The weather was cold and ice cream too. That wasn't very logical but that was very funny and sweet.

We arrived the hotel. When i came in the room, i felt mmyself so tired. In Istanbul i never go out. I always prefer to stay at home but I came here to learn English and this is possible by going out, talking with people. I lied on my bed. I fell asleep. Today i learnt fresh air is  tiring.

A Long Travel 4

(There is a smart dog here! Whose it?)

I left the hospital about nine. I was feeling better on way. When i arrived my hotel,  I thought i'm luky. If i'm not, I could die. I put down my bag and my phone rang. It was my mother. After she calmed down she told me my sister and brother, they were fine. At the same time i prepared my breakfast.We talked about half an hour.  I had my breakfast and i decided not to stay at hotel today.

 I went out and walked around a park independently my map. The park was incrediable, fresh and lifefull.

I looked its sign. I'd like to come here and see again. There was a writing on the sign: St James Park. It was a big park, had a lake. I sat a bank in front of the lake.

I watched the birds that were trying to make a home and cats that were waiting food someones  and the last i looked a dog that was seeiming like crying.  It was sitting next to a tree and seeming so poor. I went to its beside and heard some voice from it like crying. It was a big dog but it was seeming like very undefence. I looked it more careful to understand why it was crying. Then i noticed it was wounded. I was feeling very sorry for it. I took it to a vet by a taxi. The vet was a pretty woman. Her name was Lenobia Alen. She made me calm by told me the dog was fine. The dog had a pet apperance but there wasn't any owner.  Miss Alen told me that it used to belong an old man but when he die, the dog stayed ownerless. It was explaining the dog's well groomed apperance. I decided to take it to my hotel.

While i was going to my room, i was thinking what its name should be. When i opened the door, i found; Ghost. I looked to Ghost with a big smile on my face. Ghost was seeming lazy and sleeper. I envied it. I put on ground a soft and tiny pillow. It would be Ghost's bed.

  My clumsy dog lied down to the bed. I went to the kitchen for find some dog food. There wasn't. I went out the hotel and entered into a supermarket. I bought a collar, a kennel and a medium size pocket of dog food. It should be enough, at least for a week.  I turned back my room and looked my new dog. It stood up like it understood it will eat. When I looked it i felt my headache lessent. I already got used to Ghost.

After i fed it, i saw my map was on the coffee table. It was so inviting. I prepared and went out with Ghost. While we were going downstairs, i decided where we'll go. I directed Ghost to the Big Ben.

While we were walking, i thought i did well with going out. It made me feel better. I took a breath. The weather was fresh. When we arrived the Big Ben, Ghost started to bark and jump. Ghost was seeming it was in its favourite place. There were a tourist group. I joined them. Their guide was telling them a lot of stuff about the clock. The guide was very boring. He was telling just information, not stories about the clock.

"... Its formal name is Saint Stephen's Tower. 'Big Ben' name uses for one of five bells on the clock. The bell has 16 ton weight. The clock's face is about 7.5 meters. Its numbers are about 60 centimeters. Big Ben knowns with its correctness time..."

After our Big Ben journey we went to the Museum of Garden History. There were a lot of stuff about gardening.

 Someones were beautiful, someones were ugly but i could see all of them were useful.

When i saw them i loved gardening. Who knows maybe when i turned home, i learn? But my favourite part in the museum is gardens.

 The plants had so sweet apperance.  Someones were next to an ornamental pool.

 Pink, red, yellow... the colours were  brillant! We walked around it about two hours. Of course i took a lot of photos.

When we left the museum, i noticed Ghost was tired. We went back to hotel. These adventures enough for a day. I put dog food in a case on the ground. Ghost slept after its dinner. I looked its wound and i felt remorseful for i made it tired. It should have rest. I looked out the window. It was too late to stay awake.