That one time Tim forgot his keys… [A2 Reading]

Once upon a time, there was a boy named Tim who lived with his family in a small house in the countryside. Every day, Tim would wake up early in the morning, get dressed, and walk to school.

One day, as Tim was getting ready to leave for school, he realized that he forgot to grab his keys before leaving the house. Tim panicked because he knew that his parents would not be home until later in the afternoon, and he didn’t have a spare key to let himself back in.

Tim tried to think of a solution to his problem. He was trying to remind himself if their parents left the spare keys somewhere, but… they did not! He also thought about trying to climb through a window, but all the windows were too high for him to reach.

Finally, Tim had an idea. He remembered that his best friend, Jane, lived just down the street. He ran to her house and knocked on the door. Jane answered, and Tim explained his predicament to her.

Jane was happy to help Tim, and she offered to let him wait at her house until his parents came home. Tim was relieved and grateful to his friend. He spent the day playing with Jane and her little sister, and he even helped Jane with her homework.

When Tim’s parents finally came home, they were surprised to see him waiting by the threshold with Jane. But Tim was able to explain what had happened, and his parents were proud of him for finding a solution to his problem. From then on, Tim always made sure to double-check that he had his keys before leaving the house.

Predicament → kłopoty, tarapaty
Countryside → wieś
Solution → rozwiązanie
To explain → wyjaśnić
Threshold → granica, próg
To double-check → podwójnie sprawdzić, sprawdzić jeszcze raz

After you’ve read the text: answer the questions!
1. What problem did Tim have?
2. How did he want to enter the house?
3. What did they do with Jane?
4. What did his parents think of what he did?

Looking for a B1/B2 reading? Take a look here.