The Appointment in Manaus - Pt. 6 (Sophie Miller) (1/2) The next morning I was called to Edgar Brown's office again. "Good morning, Miss Miller." "Good morning, Mr. Brown." "Would you like anything to drink?" "No, thank you, sir." "Alright. Let's start then. You've been working for us for three years so far. I just wanted to tell you that you're doing a great job and we appreciate your diligence, reliability, loyalty and confidentiality. But recently, you seem to be a bit tired and overworked. So I was thinking, that maybe you would like a pause. A few days off. Just... take your family and go somewhere nice. Maybe Spain? Or Greece? We could even give you a small amount of money if your budget was insufficient." "Mr. Brown... I... I don't know what to say. I'm really happy to be employed in your company." "Great. So, your vacation starts next monday and will last a week. Now go prepare yourself, please, my father is awaiting a businessman at half past nine and he will need you to do the notation." The businessman was really boring. He came to complain about the new version of software, which he had installed in his corporate building and which, according to him, isn't compatible with an application they need for their work. While Mr. Brown was explaining to him how to download this one particular application, he constantly held his own that it "just doesn't work", that it had cost them three work days and he wants financial compensation or he will uninstall the software and want his money back. He left after an hour when he accepted Mr. Brown's offer to send one of our programmers to help them. I was coming back from the toilet when I heared two voices murmuring behind the door. "...the oldest. The two orhers escaped. But they're guarding the airport and there are extra patrols in the streets of Manaus." Wait! That's Edgar Brown's voice! And he's talking about Manaus again. I shouldn't be doing this, but... I pressed my ear against the door to hear better. "And what about our shipment?" said another voice. The father's voice. I really shouldn't be doing this. Not after what they offered to me this morning. "Unfortunately, they're going to spill all the cocaine in the water." Cocaine! So they're drug dealers? But... That can't be! Edgar is such a nice man. How could he be a criminal?! "But the point is that they won't tell anybody and we can smuggle cocaine to wherever we want except for Brazil." Too long, divided in two parts.

The Appointment in Manaus - Pt. 5 (Nash Davis) (2/2) We put the crates in the cellar and then they invited me to have lunch with them. I think. I didn't speak portuguese very well. "O que você gostaria?" asked the man. "Umm... Manaus?" "Sim," he nodded. "Mas... Dinheiro?" he made a sign for money. "Eeeh..." I searched my pockets. There was a dirty handkerchief, a piece of wire, eight argentine pesos and... a cell phone?! How could I have forgoten about it? It was Nokia 3310, first released only two years ago. My cousin had given it to me when I had had a few days off so I had visited him. I showed the man the pesos. "Então trabalhe," he said with a smile. I went outside, took the cell phone from my pocket and searched through my contacts. Who could help me? There was Edgar Brown. I imagined the conversation: 'Hi boss, it's Nash Davis, I'm stuck somewhere in the middle of Brazil. I have no money and I lost the truck. Please send me a helicopter or a fake passport and an airplane ticket.' No. I was scrolling through the list when one of the names caught my eye. Jacob Foster. We used to be best friends since when we were kids, but when I was twenty eight, I disappeared and started smuggling drugs. He was a police officer. He will either help me or denunciate me. I dialled his number. "Police chief Foster, who's calling?" "Jacob? It's Nash. Nash Davis." "Nash Davis?! I haven't seen you for ages! What's happened to you?" "Can I rely on you?" "Of course." "I'm in trouble. I'm somewhere in Brazil and there's a warrant for my arrest. I need a fake passport and a ticket for a flight home." "Are you joking? A warrant? What have you done to them? A fake passport? Have you gone mad? I'm a policeman! Why should I do that?" "I have nothing to offer." "Why do they want to arrest you?" "I can't tell you. Not as long as I don't know if you're on my side or not." Silence. "If I help you, you will tell me what you have been doing for the last ten years? That's not a fair deal, is it?" I hesitated for a few seconds. "I can help you capture the most powerful cocaine dealer in nothern Europe." Another long pausing. "Accepted. What's your nearest airport?" "Manaus." "We'll meet in Manaus in a week." "Thank you very much, Jacob." "You're welcome. Bye." He hung up. Now I only had to work off my ride to Manaus. I'd be grateful for any corrections :)

The Appointment in Manaus - Pt. 5 (Nash Davis) (1/2) I woke up and the sun blinded me for a while. What had happened? I remembered the police control. Then Tobiah had ran away. I had started running in the opposite direction. There had been two policemen following me. In one moment I had truned my head to see if they had been catching up and then... nothing. Darkness. I looked around. Behind me was a precipice about ten feet high. I looked up. I must have hit that branch with my head and fallen down here. Therefore I got out of their sight and they gave up. I heard a sudden rattle-like noise quite close to me. I turned back. There was a rattlesnake in front of me. I crawled a few steps backwards. The snake followed me. If he bites me, I'm dead. I instinctively strated crawling further from the snake when I felt something in my hand. I looked at it. It was a cudgel. I remembred my baseball training. I looked at the snake. He seemed to be petrified for a while but then he moved a bit closer again. 'Now or never!' I thought. I hit hard the snakes's head and rushed back towards the highway. I was walking along the roadside, occasionally trying to stop a car to hitch a ride. I was extremely thirsty. The sun had been beating down on me for about three hours now. A car passed by. I had a terrible headache. Another car. The time seemed to halt. How many miles could I have walked? Ten? Fifteen? The highway was always the same - an asphalt road with forest around. Blue sky above. Sun shining. That goddamn sun. My legs crossed, I stumbled and kissed the asphalt. I got up too quickly, my head swirled and I fell again. It was quite comfortable to lie down. 'No! I have to get up,' I thought. I raised my head. My feet hurt. 'I'll just rest for a while...' "Aaaaah!" I was woken up by a splash of water. "Whoa... What?" I rubbed my eyes, looked around and found myself in the back part of a pickup truck sitting on a heap of potatoes, carrots and cabbages. In front of me was a man as old as the mountains smoking a pipe and holding an empty bucket. "Me ajude," said he and started filling a wooden crate with the potatoes. I staggered out of the truck and started putting the cabbages into another crate. We were on a farm. There was a lovely white house and on the porch were two rockers. In one of them was an old woman broidering. All around were fields. About fifty yards from here was a forest. There was only one cart track, probably leading to the highway. The whole place was so calm.

Mi futuro Yo vivo en Praga. Soy estudiante de un colegio. Voy a hacer el bachillerato el año próximo. Después del bachillerato voy a hacer las pruebas por universidades. Voy a ensayar la medicina, la psicología y la interpretación. Ahora no estoy cierta cual es mi preferencia.

The Appointment in Manaus - Pt. 4 (Tobiah Collins) (2/2) Suddenly something outside the truck caught my eye. "Haven't we seen that same car an hour ago?" It was a black all-terrain vehicle. No, wait. There was two of them. "There's another one," said Liam. Three. "I think they're trying to encompass us." One of the cars got in front of us and started to slow down. There were already about five of them around us. "Don't worry. This happens sometimes. They only came to check the flour." I was still quite distrustful to this tactics. "What if they find the cocaine?" "Then we're doomed." "And what then?" "Run away, go to Manaus and find a flight home." The cars stopped us. A young policeman got off the first one and made for the truck. "Good evening gentlemen. I'm captain Sequeira. May I see your driving licence and load?" Nash showed him his driving licence and then we went to open the truck. Captain Sequeira kept staring at the truckload for a few seconds and then proclaimed: "Open this carton." And he pointed at one of the cartons... in the third row. A frisson of fear ran through me. I turned pale and started to sweat. I panicked. We were nervously looking at each other with Nash and Liam as one of the policemen headed towards the indicated box. Something must happen now. A miracle. It can't end this way. I couldn't stand the stress. I gave Liam one last long gaze. Then I rushed out. The policemen were shouting. I didn't turn around. The twigs of the trees were lashing my face. I heard a gunshot and a loud moan. I think it was Liam. I didn't stop runing until I got on the top of a near hill. Then I looked back. An ambulance had arrived. They took someone on the board and then disappeared hooting. The policemen took some torches and started to fossick through the forest. I realized I had to run away. I turned and ran downhill along with the highway. I'd be grateful for any corrections :)

The Appointment in Manaus - Pt. 4 (Tobiah Collins) (1/2) We'd been driving for a whole day. Smuggling is a very unpleasant job. Partially stressing, but most of the time really, really boring. I wouldn't have been doing it. The problem was, I had to. My father left my mother when I was six. My mother had to do everything herself and we were often short of money. I wanted to change that, so when I was fifteen, I found a job in a bar. Everything went right until the day my mother fell ill. The doctors said she will be alright if she gets the right treatment. The money I earned as a waiter started to be unpleasantly insufficient, even though I worked overtime and I stopped smoking. I started borrowing money from various people and soon I was drowning in debts. That's when Edgar Brown comes to the scene. I owed him about a hundred dollars. A month ago, he invited me to his office and offered me a deal. He had lack of reliable employees for one part of his business. If I accepted the job, he would me twice as much as had been my previous salary. I realized it was the only way to pay my mother's treatment and the debts, so I accepted his offer. We were advancing very slowly. Nash was driving and Liam wasn't very talkative, so there was literally nothing to do. Mr. Brown said that I'll break in with them and after I get a driving licence for lorries, I'll get a sidekick and smuggle cocaine with him. In fact, I didn't really mind that Liam didn't talk to me. He always treated me as a kid. That was understandable as he was about thirty years older, but it was still quite annoying. This one was again too long, so it's divided in two parts. I'd be grateful for any corrections :)

Le passé simple

Bonjour, est-ce qu'il y a quelqu'un qui peut m'expliquer le passé simple s'il vous plaît? Comment il fonctionne et quand on l'utilise?

The Appointment in Manaus - Pt.3 (Sophie Miller) (2/2) The last trading partner had left ten minutes ago. When I came to Edgar Brown's office, he was sitting in his armchair drinking his coffee while his father was sermonizing him. "This is inadmissible! Dishonorable! How dare you let all our partners wait?! Do you think someone will ever tolerate your unpunctuality? They'll give up on you! Oh, Sophie, my son would like to apologize for colliding with you." "That's alright, Mr. Brown, it was my fault." "No, I apologize, miss Miller, I'll be more cautious next time," said the young man and smiled at me. "Good. Now, would you make a coffee for me please?" continued Mr. Brown senior before I drowned in his son's eyes. "Of course, sir." I went to the kitchen and left the door a bit opened. "The appointment in Manaus has been set to tomorrow evening. Do you have any messages from our couriers?" It was Gabriel Brown talking. "Actually, I do. Nash Davis texted me yesterday at night. They're in Brazil already." Wait. Who's Nash Davis? They don't have any business in Brazil, at least what I know of. And I know everything about Edgar Brown's schedule. "Good," said the old man. Sophie! What are you doing?! Are you spying on your boss? That's not a good thing to do! "Father..." the stream of my thoughts was interrupted by a voice. "What?" "I went to Manaus last weekend." What? I thought he had gone to London. "I had an appointment myself. With police officer Rodrigo Sequeira." Something's wrong here. I got so upset that I stopped paying attention on what I was doing and I dropped a cup with coffee. The office was taken by a deafening silence for a few seconds. "Do you think she's heard us?" whispered a voice. Silence again. I realized it was to me to say something. "I- I'm sorry, Mr. Brown. I'll clean it up," I blundered out. I started looking out for a rag. A lound noise resounded as someone slammed the door behind me. I'd be glad for any corrections :)

The Appointment in Manaus - Pt. 3 (Sophie Miller) (1/2) It was shortly after 10 a.m. All the investors and trading partners were sitting by the long table. CEO of the company, Mr. Gabriel Brown, was nervously walking about, occasionally looking at the clock and murmuring "Where is he?!" All the men were waiting. Five minutes. Ten minutes. Eleven. "Sophie? Would you go find him please?" "Yes, Mr. Brown." I headed to the door when it suddenly opened and I bumped into a young man with beautiful dark-brown eyes. I blushed. He fixed his blazer and looked at me disdainfully. Then he set foot in the room with an eloquent smile: "Good morning gentlemen, I apologize for being late." The star of the day had finally arrived, late and charming as always. I fixed my skirt and stood by the door. "Gentlemen, let me introduce the marketing director of our company, my son, Ing. Edgar Brown!" Then they started talking about computer hardware, inovations, alternative solutions to current problems... Edgar Brown was a man in his early thirties with short dark-brown hair and a smart, sharp eye. Despite being responsible for the succes of the company, he was always late, emphasizing that he is Mr. Big wheel. Everybody had to wait, because they were where they were on account of him. He seemed to behave quite recklessly, but in fact he was very apt and talented. This one was too long, so it's divided in two parts.