Call at Midnight

Are you one of the frightened? Do you have� sleeping at night? Do you find yourself tossing restlessly in bed? I wonder why? Perhaps you saw something during the�waitingwakingmaking day that troubled you? What was it?�That� man on the bus or or the curious memory of the woman in the drugstore? Or maybe your story is like the�farrarebizarre incident in the life of John Legrew.

�John Legrew was a bachelor, but not by choice. For� long years since the war, he had supported his ailing�fathermotherbrother and denied his own happiness. You see, his anemic salary at the watch� had not permitted any thoughts of increasing the Legrew household. But John had had something out of life...

�In 1944, in France, during the war he had met�DeniseClariseLise Fran�oise, the wonderful little French girl who had been the only love of John's�sorrowfuldoubtfulshadowsad life. But a bombardment of her little village, and the� that followed had left John with only one conclusion - Denise was dead.

Well, the war ended, and he had returned to America, his mother and the watch factory; and the dull years had ticked away with the socksclocksrocksbox. But one day everything changed. John came home from a day at the factory and his mother said that a girl named Denise had called and wanted to talk to him. John couldn't believe his . There must be some mistake � Denise was . She had to be... But now, during dinner, the telephone in the hallway rang again. John �rushedrunwentlunged to answer it. It was impossible. It was unbelievable, but the� voice at the other end of the line was the same� English of Denise Fran�oise and a dozen questions spilled from his heart. Where was she? How had she been? Why had she waited all these years to get in touch with him? Did she still� him? But oddly, Denise couldn't say much, her voice seemed faint and quakyshakysnakyfake, but she gave out a telephone number: Butterfield 87777 , and insisted that John should call her at that number at midnight. All the rest of the evening, John was in a fever of impatientpatientimpatienceimpatients. The tiny clock on the bureau mocked him�as its�minute hand slowly crawled round to the appointed hour. Finally, it was midnight and John lifted the phone from its hook and dialed the number.�

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A male voice asked who was calling;� John wanted to know if he had the right number. "Yes, it was Butterfield 87777, whom did he want to speak to?" John asked for Denise Fran�oise, the voice�screamedseenseedseemed puzzled, "I'm sorry, I don't seem to recognize the ." John's voice trembled, "I'm sorry" he said, "but this number was given to me to call at midnight" and the man's voice interrupted him saying, "Oh, of course, I beg your pardon, Denise Fran�oise, yes certainly, I� now. The body was delivered for�calmingembalmingshoweringfreezing yesterday morning. Looks like a automobile� and yet, well, in the midst of life, we are out of breathall deadin deathin bed. John Legrew hung up and sat in his chair, staring at the wall for a long, long time. And to this day, he still sits staring at a wall and hears a voice, a , sweet trembling voice asking him to call and call and call�

Well, I leave you. This is Woodlawn. What? Oh, I thought you knew -�Woodlawn Cemetery is my . You see, I live here. Good bye for a while and do call me when you get a chance.

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Now answer the questions:

1. Was John married? Yes �/ No
2. Did he make a lot of money? Yes �/ No
3. Was John's mother ill? Yes �/ No
4. Did John go to France during the war? Yes �/ No
5. Did Denise die during the war? Yes �/ No��/ We don't know
6. Does Denise speak good English? Yes �/ No
7. Can John still see Denise on the wall? Yes �/ No

Using the above text; find and write the opposites of these words:

Married -

Healthy -

Sadness -

Alive ���� - �

Life�������- �

Clear�/ loud��� -

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Happy Halloween!!!

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