Rob and his small family left their house for Christmas holidays. They went to visit his parents-in-law and because they lived far away, they decided to spend the whole Christmas holidays and also the New Year’s Eve with them. And so they went: Rob, his wife and their 7-year-old daughter Wendy.
They had a really good time at their parents’ house and Wendy loved it there too. She quickly made new friends and she spent a lot of time with their neighbours’ kids. She got a lot of presents and she felt very happy. Everybody felt happy. Her parents were smiling all the time. Her father didn’t have to go to work and was with her every day.
After the New Year’s celebrations they packed their things and set off for the long journey home. The weather was nice and there were no problems on the roads, so they arrived home as they had planned. There were no delays.
After they had parked in front of their house, father opened the trunk of the car. He was getting the bags and their travel cases out and taking them to the front door of their house. Suddenly, he noticed that the door was not closed. He stopped bringing the bags out of the car.
‘What’s wrong?’ Rob’s wife asked, when she came together with Wendy and her favourite doll to the door.
‘The door is open,’ replied Rob.
‘But we locked it!’ said Rob’s wife. ‘I remember very clearly that we locked it, as we were leaving the house!’
‘I remember it as well,’ said Rob and then he pushed the door open. They came inside their house and were shocked. The house was empty. Everything was gone. They went from one room to another and all of them were empty. Some burglars had broken into their house and stolen everything.
Almost everything.
When they came to Wendy’s room and opened it, they were surprised. Nothing was missing. The burglars didn’t steal anything from Wendy’s room. No, they didn’t take anything from this room. On the contrary, they left something there for Wendy. A little present.
On the windowsill there was a little statue. It was a little statue of a white angel sitting and praying.
set off – (vydať sa na cestu) – to begin a journey
delay /dɪˈleɪ/ – (zdržanie) – a period of time when somebody/something has to wait because of a problem that makes something slow or late
burglar /ˈbɜːɡlə(r)/ – (podomový zlodej) – a person who enters a building illegally in order to steal
break into – (vlámať sa) – to enter a building by force; to open a car, etc. by force
On the contrary – (naopak) – used to introduce a statement that says the opposite of the last one
Sparrow's English Reader 