The following is a story I wrote to use as an interactive story with an advance class some time ago. I deliberately left the ending open to encourage the students to finish it themselves (for homework).
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A photographer (What is his name?) lives in
a small town (Where is it?) where he has successfully made a good living for
many years. In the window of his shop he proudly displays some of the wedding
photographs he has taken of happy couples over the years.
He is very fond of one photograph in
particular (What does it show?) It’s of a couple posing next to a ruined tower
with a brilliant red sunset in the background of the picture. (Why is he proud
of it?) It’s a particularly good photograph and ever since displaying this
photo in his shop window, he has noticed an increase in the number of customers
his studio has received, especially for weddings. And people enquiring about
wedding photographic services always comment upon it. (What do they say?) He’s
convinced that the photo is a one-off, and he has often tried to recreate the
photo again with different couples – in fact they often ask for it – but it
never turns out the same way (Why not? What’s wrong with them?)
(What is his explanation?) There must have
been something special about that day, something magical. He was just starting
out as a wedding photographer, the couple in question were so in love, plus an
extra, unknown factor.
One October morning (what is he doing?) he
is surprised by a special visitor (Who is it?) It is the woman featured in his
special wedding photo. Quite a bit older, but still recognisable. She waits
until he isn’t busy and introduces herself. (What does she want?)
She explains that she has recently moved
back to the town after living elsewhere. (Where was she living? With who?) She
is living with her mother now. ‘I’m sorry’ says the photographer (What does he
think has happened?) He believes the woman has divorced her husband.
The woman does not explain, but she does
ask the photographer a big favour. (What is it?) She asks him to remove the
photograph from his window as she now passes the photographer’s studio every
day on her way to work and the photograph disturbs her (Why?)
The photographer is surprised by the
woman’s request and agrees to it, telling her that he will remove it at the end
of the day. The woman thanks him and leaves the shop. The man works hard for
the rest of the day, and starts to wonder if he has made the right decision
agreeing to remove his lucky photograph from his window. (What does he do?)
He does, however, remove the photograph
from the window, and places it carefully in storage at the back of the shop.
But the next day, he regrets his decision because of three incidents.
Talk to your
partner and say why the photographer wishes he hadn’t taken the photograph from
the window, explaining the three things that happen to justify his
superstition.
