This is a short story for learners of English. We hope you enjoy it!
Fiona is going to a wedding. Her friend Carol is getting married. Carol’s boyfriend’s family is rich. They live in a big house with a beautiful garden. The wedding will be in the garden.
Fiona doesn’t have a job so she doesn’t have a lot of money. She loves fashion and wants to wear something beautiful to the wedding. Fiona’s mother gives her one of her old dresses. Fiona cuts it up and makes a new dress for herself. It is pink. It is very short and has thin straps over the shoulders. Fiona thinks she will look good in it.
Then she thinks, the wedding will be outside. It will be hot and sunny. I don’t want to get sun burnt. I need a hat. She goes to the $2 shop and buys a sun hat. Then she uses the material left over from her dress to make flowers.
She puts the flowers on the hat. Oh, it doesn’t look good. I need some flowers in different colours, she thinks. She finds some blue, and some white material in her mother’s sewing basket. She makes some more flowers. She adds them to the pink flowers on the hat. The hat looks wonderful!
Fiona is very excited on the day of the wedding. She knows she looks good.
It is a very beautiful day. It is hot and sunny, but it is also very windy.
After the ceremony, everyone is standing in the garden drinking champagne and eating snacks. Fiona has a glass of champagne in one hand and a sandwich in the other. She cannot hold on to her hat.
Suddenly the wind blows hard. It picks up Fiona’s hat and takes it high into the air.
“Oh no! My hat” shouts Fiona. Everyone laughs as they see her hat fly away.
Fiona is sad because she has lost her hat, but she cannot do anything about it.
The next weekend, Fiona and her mother go on a garden tour. They visit many gardens. Garden tours are popular and there are many people. Suddenly Fiona’s mother says, “Fiona! Is that your hat?”
There is a very smart woman looking at some rose bushes. She is wearing Fiona’s hat. Fiona runs up to her. “Excuse me, but that is my hat!”
The woman looks surprised. “Are you sure?” she says.
“Yes. I don’t know how you found it. I went to a wedding in Grampstead Road. The wind was strong and my hat flew away.”
“Oh,” says the woman. “I live in Grampstead Road. I found it in my garden. I will give it back to you.”
She takes the hat off and gives it to Fiona.
“Thank you,” says Fiona.
Then the woman says, “I really like it. Where did you buy it?”
“I made it,” says Fiona. She explains about the $2 shop sunhat, and making flowers to put on the hat.
“Really?” says the woman. “You are very clever.”
Fiona gives the hat back to the woman. “Please keep this one. I can easily make another one for myself.”
The woman smiles. “I have an idea. My name is Valerie Osten. I have some fashion shops. I sell clothes for weddings and other special occasions. Will you make some hats for me? I think they will sell very well. Here is my business card. Please call me.”
“Oh, yes!” says Fiona. “I will do that.”
As Fiona runs back to her mother she thinks, I was so lucky that I lost my hat. Now I have a job!
I Talk You Talk Press EXTRA 