English Short Stories For Intermediate Learners: 8 Unconventional Short Stories to Grow Your Vocabulary and Learn English the Fun Way!

Multiple-choice questions
Select one answer for each question
6. Why is Wagner able to say what he wants to Dracula?
a. Because he is stronger than Dracula
b. Because he is friends with Dracula
c. Because he is older than Dracula
d. Because he is smarter than Dracula
7. Which country was the Mummy ruler of?
a. Virginia
b. Transylvania
c. Egypt
d. Germany
8. Why doesn’t Griffin want Dracula to turn him into a vampire?
a. He doesn’t want to drink blood
b. He is afraid of dying
c. He doesn’t like vampires
d. He thinks he will become stupid
9. Which one of them does not like the Mummy?

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a. Swamp Creature
b. Wagner
c. Griffin
d. Dracula
10. Why does Griffin challenge Dracula?
a. He thinks he is smarter than Dracula
b. He thinks he is stronger than Dracula
c. He wants Dracula to kill him
d. He wants Wagner to kill Dracula

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Answers to Chapter 2
6. b
7. c
8. a
9. d
10. a

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Chapter 3
Griffin explained the rules of his challenge at the Monster Meet-Up. He
wanted to be the next leader of the monsters. This was his big chance!
“Who is the most powerful of the monsters? We know it is Count Dracula,
our leader!” he said. The others sat in the living room, listening. Frankenstein’s
creature had finally arrived, and a few zombies were sitting on the floor like
children. There was also a witch from the East, Mister Hyde (who had flown in
from England), and the ancient Mummy. The Mummy was too stiff to sit down,
so he stood in the corner. He stood away from the fireplace.
“And, who is the smartest of the monsters?” The Invisible Man waited for
anyone to answer.
“Dracula is,” Dracula said. “Stop wasting our time. What is your point
Doctor Griffin?”
“Yes, you are the smartest,” Griffin agreed. “Dracula is the smartest
monster. And, what has he done for us?”
The others looked around. Dracula crossed his arms, but said nothing.
“Anybody?” Griffin asked. “Let me ask again--if he is the best we have,
what do we have to show for it? Nothing! After all these years, we continue to
hide in the shadows. We act like we are afraid of the humans. We should be in
charge of them!”
“We have our own television channel,” the Swamp Creature said. The others
nodded.
“It is terrible!” Griffin said. “All it plays are old reruns of shows. That is not
important!”
“What is your point?” Wagner said. He was curious to hear about the
challenge.
“You all have allowed me to be part of the monster team. Even though I am
a human, you let me act like a monster. Thank you for that. But now, let me help
you! You are my brothers and sisters. I can do better for you than Dracula has
done. He was a human, years and years ago, but he has forgot about human
greed and human ambition. He is lazy!”

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Dracula’s eyes glowed. He chewed on his lip. He really wanted to kill
Griffin, but he waited. He also wanted to hear about the challenge.
Griffin could tell the others were getting restless, so he made his
announcement to them. “I challenge Dracula for leadership of the monsters.
Here is what I need from you all. You will build two traps. Build both traps
exactly the same. Make them identical. There can be only one way to escape the
traps. I will not know it, and he will not know it. Do not tell us how to escape.”
“That’s it?” Wagner asked. “That sounds simple enough.” The Werewolf
looked around the room. “What do you all say? Do you agree with this plan?”
The monsters loved traps. Some of them were very good at making traps.
They laughed and grunted and clapped. They agreed to the Invisible Man’s plan.
Wagner nodded his hairy head and turned to his boss. “What do you say, Count
Dracula?”
“I am smarter than that idiot,” he said, pointing at the Invisible Man. “Any
trap they build, I will escape from in seconds. But, you must not use any garlic
or crosses,” he said. “That would not be fair. The humans do not mind those
things, but I hate garlic, and I really hate crosses!”
“Then we are all agreed,” Griffin stated. “How long will it take to build the
traps?”
*
Zara, the witch from the East, called her friends. They flew to Virginia on
their broomsticks. Witches were great trap builders. “Remember, no magic! And
no garlic or crosses either,” said Zara. They built two giant black boxes. Each
black box was made of heavy metal. There were no doors or windows. There
was only a small hole left open. The hole was big enough for a person to climb
inside. Once the person was in, the witches would close the hole up. They would
use metal torches, which were hot enough to melt the heavy metal. It would be
as if there had never been any opening. The boxes would have no way out.
“Tell Count Dracula the traps are ready!”
*
Dracula was impressed. The witches were fast workers. They had built their
traps in less than one week. They placed the traps near the edge of Foggy
Bottom Swamp.

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“Very nice work, ladies,” Dracula said. He looked around the swamp. It was
very dark. The other monsters had all gathered together to watch the contest. The
moon was full and bright, and it was very late at night. The contest would begin
at midnight.
“Where is Griffin?” Mister Hyde asked. “Did he get scared?”
Wagner smelled the air. “No, he is here. I can smell his stinky clothes.”
Griffin, the Invisible Man, stepped out from his hiding place. He was
wearing clothes and his face was wrapped in white bandages. He also wore dark
glasses. Everyone could easily see him. “Sorry I am late,” he said quietly. He
walked forward, toward the black boxes. “There is no reason to delay. Let us
begin!”
Griffin climbed into the first box. The others watched Dracula. Dracula
shrugged his shoulders and got into the second box.
“Seal them up,” Wagner said. The witches used their torches and sealed up
the holes. When the holes were sealed, the Werewolf nodded. “Now, Swamp
Creature! Push the boxes into the swamp!”
“I did not know that was part of the plan!” Mister Hyde said.
Wagner stared at him. “It is now. Do it, Swamp Creature!”
Swamp Creature was incredibly strong. He easily pushed both the heavy
boxes into the water. They sank to the bottom of the water. No bubbles of air
came up. There were no holes in the boxes.
“Now what?” Mister Hyde asked.
“Now we wait,” Wagner said. They sat and waited... and waited. They
waited all night, but neither Dracula nor Griffin ever escaped their boxes.
“What do we do now?” Zara asked.
“I think we should celebrate,” said a voice from the woods. “We have a
winner!” Griffin jumped down from a tree. He was wearing a white bed sheet.
“Boo!” he said.
The other monsters jumped and yelled. Wagner, the Werewolf, grinned.
“So…how did you escape?”
“I did not escape. I never went inside the box,” Griffin explained.

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“What? Then who went inside?”
“That idiot, the Mummy! I tricked him. I dressed him up like me, and I put a
speaker in his pocket,” Griffin said, holding up a tiny microphone. “You heard
my voice, but it sounded like it came from him.”
Wagner laughed and clapped Griffin on the back. “Dracula will be very
angry when he escapes.”
The witches looked at each other. “What do you mean, when he escapes?
The boxes are sealed. There is no way to escape them.”
Wagner’s eyes got wide. He slapped his forehead. “You were supposed to
make a way to escape the traps! Oh, you stupid monsters!”
“See, I told you they are all too dumb,” Griffin said.
“Then you are correct,” Wagner said. “We do have a winner! I was wrong
about you, Griffin. You are a monster. The worst kind of monster!”
“The human kind,” Griffin said, laughing. “And now, let’s talk about talking
over the world…”

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Annex to Chapter 3
Summary
Griffin tells about his challenge. He wants the monsters to build two traps.
He will go in one, Dracula will go in the other. They build two boxes. When
Griffin and Dracula go inside, Swamp Creature pushes the boxes into the
swamp, then Griffin comes out of a tree he was hiding in. He explains that he
tricked the Mummy into going inside the box. Then, Wagner realizes the witches
did not make the traps escapable. Griffin wins the contest!