A Weekend Away

American accent

David was a thirty-eight-year-old accountant. He lived and worked in a big city. From Monday to Friday, every day was almost the same. He got up early, went to work, came home late, made dinner, watched a little TV, and went to bed.

One Friday, he left work early. He wanted two quiet days near the sea. He had a small bag with clean clothes, a book, and some snacks for the train.

The train was full, but David found a seat by the window. After two hours, he arrived in a small town. He could hear the sea before he could see it.

He walked to his hotel. At the desk, a woman smiled.

“Good afternoon.”

“Hello. My name is David Green. I booked a room for the night.”

The woman typed his name on her computer and looked at the screen.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “Your room is for next Saturday.”

David looked at the paper in his hand.

“Oh dear,” he said. “You are right. Do you have a room I can stay in tonight?”

“I’m sorry,” the woman replied. ‘’The hotel is full. We do not have any rooms.”

“Ok. Thank you. Goodbye.”

David went outside. The mistake was his. He went to another hotel.

“No room.”

He went to a second hotel.

“No room.”

He went outside and sat near the sea. A woman came and sat on the same bench. She had a small bag.

After a minute she said, “This is not my day.”

David smiled.

“It’s not my day, either.”

The woman laughed.

“I came here for two days,” she said. “But my hotel is in the next town.”

David smiled again.

“I came on the right day,” he said, “but my room is for next week.”

They looked at the sea for a minute. Then David saw a bus stop across the road.

“There is a bus,” he said.

“It goes to the next town.”

The woman looked at the bus stop.

“Shall we go?”

“Why not?”

They got on the bus.

The road was near the sea. Occasionally they could see the water. Occasionally they saw only trees. They talked a little and looked out of the window.

The next town was small and quiet.

The woman went into her hotel.

Soon she came out again.

“They have one more room,” she said.

David went inside. The man at the desk smiled.

“Yes, we have one room.”

“I’ll take it,” David said.

After he put his bag in the room, he went for a walk.

In the evening, he saw the woman again.

“Did you have a good walk?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“I’m going to have dinner. Would you like to come?”

“Yes, thank you.”

They ate together in a small place near the sea.

They talked about work, books, music, and holidays. They laughed a lot. The time went very fast.

On Sunday morning, they walked to the station together.

“It was a good weekend,” the woman said.

“Yes,” David said. “Very different.”

The train came.

“Goodbye,” the woman said.

“Goodbye.”

Then she stopped. She took a small piece of paper from her bag. She wrote her name and her phone number.

“If you come here again,” she said, “call me.”

David smiled. He wrote his name and phone number on another piece of paper and gave it to her.

“Maybe I will,” he said.

He boarded the train and found a seat by the window.

As the train left the station, he looked outside. The woman smiled and waved. David smiled and waved too.

His weekend was very different from his plan.

He made one small mistake.

But because of that mistake, he found a new place, met a new person, and had a weekend he would always remember.

📒 Key vocabulary

• accountant – a person whose job is to manage money and financial records
• snacks – small amounts of food eaten between meals
• booked (book, booked, booked) – reserve something, such as a seat, room, or ticket
• typed (type, typed, typed) – write something using a keyboard
• screen – the flat surface on a phone, computer, or television that shows pictures or information
• ‘Oh dear‘ – an expression used to show worry, surprise, or concern
• replied (reply, replied, replied) – answer someone by speaking or writing
• bench – a long seat for two or more people
• boarded (board, boarded, boarded) – get onto a bus, train, plane, or ship
• waved (wave, waved, waved) – move your hand from side to side to greet someone or say goodbye

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