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
1. When Lily is hiding in the house, what does she have?
a. A bag and a phone
b. A coat and a gun
c. A bag and a gun
d. A pastry and a coffee
2. How does she escape the house?
a. She surrenders
b. She uses the back door
c. She uses a tunnel
d. A waiter helps her
3. Lily is a spy. She likes:
a. fast cars
b. fancy clothes
c. German music
d. smoking cigarettes
4. At the restaurant, the waiter goes to the kitchen to:

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a. get the coffee
b. make a phone call
c. make the pastry
d. wash his hands
5. Lily hears something outside. It scares her. What does she hear?
a. A jeep engine
b. A soldier shouting
c. Guns shooting
d. Someone calling her name

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Answers to Chapter 1
1. c
2. c
3. d
4. b
5. a

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Chapter 2
“Why did you come here?” the small old man asked. He was not happy; he
did not like late night visitors. And, he did not like Nazis. “Are you being
followed?”
Lily held up her brown bag. “I need a place to hide.”
“Are the Nazis following you?” he asked again.
“No,” she lied.
He pointed to the bag. “What is in the bag?”
“Let me in and I will tell you.”
“No.” The small man closed the door. Lily knocked again, quietly. She did
not want neighbours to hear.
“Go away!” the man said. He was behind the door. “Go! Take your secrets
away!”
Lily looked behind her. The soldiers were out there. They were looking for
her. She needed to hide--fast! She had to get off the street.
“David! David, if you do not let me in, they will catch me,” she said. She
pushed her face against the door. “If they catch me, they will ask questions.
They will ask who helped me.”
“I am not helping you!”
“But, I will tell them you did.”
She did not like to scare people, but her mission was important. She could
not let the Nazis catch her. She could not let them get her bag…
The door opened. The small man was holding a gun. “I could kill you,” he
said. “Get inside. Now!”
*
“I need to use your restroom,” she said.
“Too bad.” David pointed the gun at her head. “Give me the bag.”
“I came here to hide. I did not come here to give away my secrets.”

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“If I shoot you, I will take the bag,” he said.
“You will not shoot. You will help me. I need to go to the American
Embassy.”
“Sit down.”
Lily sat down at the small wood table. He sat by her. He smelled very bad.
Perhaps he did not have water in his home.
He was still holding the gun. Outside, they heard a jeep. No, many jeeps!
“They are coming…” she said. “You have to trust me.”
“Why should I? You will tell them I helped you!”
She took out her cigarettes. She offered one to him. He reached for it.
Lily grabbed his gun. She was fast.
She grabbed his wrist with her other hand. He dropped the gun on the table.
“I’ll take this,” she said, picking up his gun. She looked at it. It was very old.
“Does this gun work?”
“No,” he said.
She opened her bag and dropped his gun inside. David did not move. He sat
and watched her. “I could run outside,” he said. “I could say you broke into my
home.”
“You could try,” Lily said. She took out her gun. “But, you would fail. My
gun works fine.”
“If you shoot, the soldiers would hear--”
“Enough!” she yelled. She hit the table with her hand. “You will help me.
Now! Where is your telephone?”
“I do not have a phone.”
Lily stood up. She did not believe him. She looked around the small one-
bedroom home. “You are lying.”
“Am I? Do you see a phone?”
She went into the bedroom. There was a phone by the bed. “Yes, I see one.
Get up! I will tell you the number to call.”

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*
A few minutes later, Lily hung up the phone.
“My friends are coming. Someone will be here soon. I will leave you alone.”
“Are you crazy?” David asked. His eyes were big. He was scared. “Why did
you give them my address? The soldiers will see the foreigners coming to my
house. You put my life in danger.”
“David, this is a war. We are all in danger.”
“But, I am not a fighter!” he said. “I am an old man!”
She brushed her red hair off her face. She was tired. “David, do you
remember when we met?”
He nodded. “You helped my niece. A soldier was bothering her.”
“I was almost arrested, but I helped her,” Lily said. She put her gun away. “I
brought her here. Remember? I brought her to your home. She was safe.”
“Yes. The police came here too. They followed you to my home.”
“What did they do?” She walked to the living room, and David followed her.
“They asked questions. They asked me about you.”
“What did you say?”
“I said I did not know you. That was the truth,” he said.
“And, what did they say?”
He paused. There were tears in his eyes. He was very scared and sad. “They
said you are a spy. They wanted me to call them…if you returned.”
Lily looked at him closely. He saw she had beautiful green eyes.
“Will you call them?” she asked. She looked sad too.
“Help an American spy…or help the Nazis,” he said. “I don’t want to help
any of you! Please leave me alone!”
Lily heard a motorcycle outside.
That must be my ride, she thought. Good. I am ready to leave.
She opened the door and looked out. The motorcycle driver waved to her.

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“My ride is here,” she said. Lily put her gun inside the bag. She kept his
broken gun too.
She took out some money and threw it on the floor. “I am like you, David. I
do not want to live in a world of spies and Nazis. If we beat the Nazis, perhaps
we will not need spies.”
Lily ran outside. She got on the motorcycle. They drove away quickly.
She looked over her shoulder. She knew she had not said the truth.
The world would always have spies…

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Annex to Chapter 2
Summary
Lily goes to an old man’s house. His name is David. She wants to hide, but
he does not want to help her. He is afraid. He thinks the Nazis will see her.
David points a gun at her, but she takes it away. Lily uses his telephone to call
for help. She tells him to remember that she helped his niece once in the past.
Her ride comes and she leaves.