The time is one o'clock in the morning.
The place is the Ritesville town art gallery.
A window opens and a man comes in. His name is Harry
Black, and he is a thief.
It is dark in the art gallery, but Harry has a light. He
looks across the room at a painting.
"There it is!" he says.
Harry moves quickly across the room. He stands and
looks at the painting.
"A million dollars for this?" he thinks. "I don't
understand it."
But he takes a knife from his coat.
Then he takes the painting very, very slowly from
its frame.
Harry goes back across the room to the window, but he
walks into a table. There is a beautiful blue glass vase
on the table. It falls on the floor and breaks into a
hundred pieces.
Harry smiles. "Is that a million-dollar vase?" he thinks.
"It isn't now!"
He runs across the pieces of glass to the window.
Harry has a room in Mrs. Allen's rooming house. He
goes quietly up to his room and closes the door.
Mrs. Allen and her daughter, Janey, are sleeping. They
don't hear him.
In his room, Harry takes the painting from his bag. He
puts it in a newspaper, then he puts the newspaper
under his bed.
In the morning, Janey Allen is in the kitchen. She is
putting old bottles into a box.
"Recycling is important," Janey thinks.
On the TV, a reporter is at the Ritesville art gallery. He is
talking about the painting.
"It's a million-dollar painting," he is saying. "Here's a
photo of it."
5
Now the reporter is talking about the blue glass vase.
"It's in a hundred pieces now," he says.
Janey looks at the photo of the vase, then she asks her
mother, "Do you have any old bottles?"
"No," Mrs. Allen says. "That's all, Janey. But the
newspaper recycling truck is coming today."
"Of course!" Janey says. "It's Friday!"
Harry isn't in his room. He is talking on his telephone to
a man in Seattle. The man wants the painting, but Harry
isn't happy.
"Five thousand dollars?" Harry says. "No! It's a milliondollar
painting! . . . What? . . . No, I want fifty thousand,
not five! . . . What? . . . The painting? Yes, I have it, and
it's OK."
Janey is looking for old newspapers. Early on Friday
mornings, she takes them from every room in the house.
Then later, the newspaper recycling truck arrives.
Janey opens Harry's door and looks into his room. She
always takes his old newspapers or bottles for recycling.
"Ah!" she thinks. "There's a newspaper under
Harry's bed."
Janey puts the old newspapers into a black recycling
box. She runs from the house and sees the truck.
"Wait!" she says. And she quickly gives the box to one
of the men.
Harry is coming back to the house. He sees the recycling
truck, and he sees Janey.
"It's Friday!" he says. "The newspaper—! Oh, no!”
Harry chases after the truck.
"Wait! Wait!" he says.
Janey watches him. "What is he doing?" she thinks.
Harry jumps into the back of the truck.
"I want my newspaper!" he says. "Where's my
newspaper?"
But there are thousands of newspapers in the truck.
Janey walks quickly from the house to the truck.
"Why is your newspaper important, Harry?" she asks.
"It's two days old."
But Harry doesn't hear her. He is thinking, "My milliondollar
painting! Where is it?"
The men from the recycling truck are watching Harry,
too. But now Janey is looking at Harry's shoe.
"There's some blue glass in Harry's shoe," Janey thinks.
"Where—? Oh!"
Suddenly, she remembers the photo of the blue glass
vase on the TV. She looks again at the piece of glass in
Harry's shoe.
"Is it from the vase in the art gallery?" she thinks. "Is
Harry Black the thief?"
The men from the recycling truck are angry.
"We're going now," they are saying. "We're late."
"But I want my newspaper!" Harry says.
In the house, Janey is talking to the police on the
telephone. "Maybe I'm wrong," she is saying. "But
there's blue glass in his shoe . . . What? . . . Yes, he's
looking for the newspaper now."
Two policemen arrive quickly.
"Let's look at your shoe," they say to Harry.
Harry doesn't understand. "What's wrong?" he asks.
One of the policemen takes the glass from Harry's shoe.
"This is a very expensive piece of glass," he says. "From
a very expensive vase. Remember?"
Suddenly, Harry understands. "Oh, no!" he says.
Police cars and policemen arrive. The men look in the
truck for the million-dollar painting. Later, they find the
right newspaper—and they find the painting.
"Good work, Janey," one of the policemen says. "And
there's a reward."
"Maybe I can buy a painting with the reward!" Janey
says. "I like pictures!"
The End
Vocabulary for Newspaper Chase, Maisie and the Dolphin, and The Monkey's Paw
Thief (plural) Thieves – ladrón
Vase – jarrón
Piece – pedazo, pieza, trozo, parte
Truck , Lorry (England) – camión
Painting – cuadro, pintura
Frame – marco
Knife (plural) Knives – cuchillo
Glass – vidrio, cristal
Reward – recompensa
Quickly – rápidamente
Quietly – silenciosamente
Slowly – lentamente, despacio
Expensive – caro
Inexpensive, Cheap – barato
Angry – enfadado
Happy – feliz
Sad - triste
Floor – suelo, piso
Postman, Mailman - cartero
Always – siempre
Never – jamás, nunca
Reporter – reporter, periodista
Next to, Beside – al lado de
Under – debajo
Together – juntos
True – verdad
Carefully – cuidadosamente
Chess - ajedrez
Strange – raro, extraño
Far – lejos
Near - cerca
Suddenly – de repente
Pocket – bolsillo
Wonderful – maravilloso
Wish - deseo
Before – antes
After – después
Candle - vela
Stranger – desconocido, forastero
Verbs:
To Take – coger
To Put – poner
To Laugh – reírse
To Think – pensar
To Come – venir
To Talk – hablar
To Speak - hablar
To Stop - parar
To Bring - traer
To Die - morir
To Shout – gritar
To Cry – llorar,gritar
To Answer – contester, responder
To Tell – contar, decir
To Say – decir
To Begin – empezar
To Crash – estrellarse, chocar
To Like - gustar
To Want - querer
To Get – coger, (y mucho más)
To Get Better – mejorar
To Come In – entrar
To Find – encontrar
To Find Out – enterarse
To Look – mirar
To Look For – buscar
To Watch – mirar
To See – ver
To Listen – escuchar
To Hear – oír
To Smile – sonreír
To Understand – entender, comprender
To Arrive – llegar
To Give – dar
To Finish – acabar, terminar
To Forget – olvidar
To Remember – recorder acordarse
To Leave – salir, dejar
To Ask – preguntar
To Think - pensar
To Wait - esperar
To Sit – sentar
To Stand – estar de pie (y mucho más)
To Put – poner
To Know – saber
To Meet – conocer, reunir, quedar
To Work – trabajar
To Help – ayudar
To Touch - tocar