Short stories for English stories
Something about Martha
Ida Rodich
Корректор Liliya Kardenas
Иллюстратор Nadiya Doycheva-But
© Ida Rodich, 2017
© Nadiya Doycheva-But, иллюстрации, 2017
Clever names
In summer Martha lives with her grandparents in the country-side. Their cats live there too. It is a very nice cats family. The head of the family is the mother cat. She is ten years old, pretty and has a lovely character. Her daughters, two graceful kittens, are cute and friendly. The cats are Marthas best friends, and she loves them a lot.
The cats have funny names. The mother cats name is Desde-mona. Her daughters are Wilhelmina and Manuela. Martha doesnt like such long names and calls her pets short: Mona, Mina and Mania.
Sometimes Martas grandmother calls the cats gently by their pet names: Mosja, Misja and Masja. But she doesnt always do that. The cats have to behave well to deserve that. And this isnt often the case.
Sometimes Marthas grandmother gets angry and says: «Desdemona, Wilhelmina and Manuela, behave yourselves!»
The strange names sound so stern that Martha understands: the cats can get into trouble with their owner. It is better to save them somewhere until her grandmother is in a good mood again.
What clever names the cats have. They help them to stay safe from Marthas grandmother.
Meeting old friends
Marta and her grandparents have arrived at their summer house. Marthas grandfather has driven his car into the backyard and is getting out of it now. Cats are running to meet him and cuddle on his legs.
«Look, Martha. The cats like your grandfather so much. In this way they tell him about their love», says grandmother to the girl. Martha is sorry: «So they dont love us, Grandma. Its a pity.» «Sure, its a pity,» agrees her grandmother. «But only your grandfather came and fed the cats in the winter. Thats why they know him better than us».
«But I love the cats too,» mutters Martha.
«Calm down, Martha. Dont get angry with them,» says her grandmother gingerly.
Nevertheless Martha feels the cats are just being nasty to her. Last summer they had so much fun playing together. She looks disappointed with her four-footed friends: «The cats have a very bad memory. They have forgotten me, and thats it!»
Grandfather walks into the house, and the cats are cuddling up on each other now.
«Look, Grandma. The cats are kissing each other!» Martha is excited. «They are just having fun,» her grandmother explains.
Martha is smiling. Her cats are so cute. Martha was missing them badly in winter and has brought their favourite food with her. The girl wants to give it to the cats and pet them. But the cats escape in different directions.
Martha is sad and feels lonely. Can they become friends again?
The love at first sight
Next morning Martha wakes up early. She gets dressed and hurries out of the house. First of all shell meet her neighbors: two dogs, a Persian cat and chickens. She peeps into their backyard through a crack in the fence and sees the old dog Nika lying next to her house.
Martha waves at Nika: «Hello, Nika!» The dog turns its head to face the girl but doesnt bark.
Martha calls another dog, Typhoon. Typhoon recognises Martha at once and reacts happily to her coming. He starts jumping, whimpering and wagging his tail. Typhoon wants to say to the girl: «Its nice, Martha, that you are back. We can play together again.»
The Persian cat Benjamin is nowhere to be seen. He is a sleepyhead and is lying in a soft bed somewhere in the house.
Suddenly Martha sees a wonder. At the fence where the chickens lived she discovers a golden cloud of fluffy living balls.
Baby chicks! Martha is excited. She looks at the chickens running around and asks her grandfather: «Grandpa, where is their mother, the big chicken?»
But grandfather doesnt know that.
The girl gets worried about the chickens: How do the chicks live without their mum? She wouldnt live without her mother even a day.
«If the chickens havent got their mother I must take care of them then.»
Martha asks her grandfather: «Grandpa, are these my chickens?»
«No, Martha. They are the chickens of our neighbor.»
But Martha loves the chickens so much. She wants to have them all to herself and asks her grandfather the same question again.
«You cant have the chickens. They belong to our neighbor. But you can see them every day,» explains the girls grandfather.
«Grandpa, I want to look after them,» says Martha again in a serious voice.
«The chickens dont need your care, Im afraid. Theyve got a good shelter and they always have food and drink,» grandfather comforts the girl.
But Martha doesnt want to calm down:
«Poor chickens, Im sure they want me to pet them.»
After a while her grandfather gives up:
«Well, Martha. Ill speak to our neighbor, and hopefully hell let you take care of them. Agreed?»
«Sure, Grandpa».
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?
Martha is standing in front of the mirror, brushing her hair and admiring a small pretty girl, she can see behind the shiny mirror surface. She likes her mirror image. The girl has a lovely face, wavy blonde hair, big blue eyes, rosy cheeks and a little red mouth. She has a new dress on. The girl is smiling and showing her pretty white teeth. This girl is so sweet! But Martha doubts her look a little.
«Grandma, is this girl in the mirror nice?»
«Sure, honey, she is You are a very sweet girl, Martha», confirms her grandmother.
But Martha wants to be even prettier. First of all she puts her hair up and pins it up with a fine hairpin. Now her hair is beau-tifully embellished.
Martha looks back into the mirror again. What else can she do to look even prettier?
Oh well, recently Marthas mother has given her a new jewellery set. Sure, it will go well with the dress. From her bag Martha takes out a colourful necklace, a bracelet and a couple of ear clips. She puts the bracelet on her wrist, fastens the necklace around her neck and the clips to her small ears.
«This jewellery is absolutely charming. Grandma, how do I look now?»
Martha glimpses coquettishly at her grandmother.
«You look very pretty, darling. This jewellery is really charming and suits you perfectly. But why have you dressed up? Are we having a party today?» wonders Marthas old grandmother.
«In our house we dont have any parties, but outside we do. Grandma, its such a lovely day today. Our flower garden is splendid. Some happy music is playing out there, as if there is a party.»
«In summer our neighbors have music parties every day,» points out the little girls grandmother.
«But this music is so beautiful. And if everything around is so beautiful I must be beautiful too, right?»
Looking for friends
Martha is walking in the garden. She is bored and looking for someone to play with. Finally she sees a kitten called Wilhelmina lying under a bush. Martha likes Mina. She is the prettiest among her pets. Mina has a grey body, a white neck and black paws. Whats more, Mina loves playing. Martha thinks shed like to run a race with her. But Mina is sleeping. So, Martha has to wake her up.
The girl goes up to Mina and starts gingerly talking to her. «Mina, Ive got a beautiful dress on today. Look at me please.» Martha is jumping around, flaunting her new dress in front of the cat. But Mina isnt interested in Marthas dress. She isnt even looking at it.
Well, Martha knows how to wake Mina up. Shes got a necklace, a bracelet and ear clips. She can show them to Mina. Sure they will suit the cat.
Martha throws the necklace around Minas neck, puts the bracelet on her paw and fastens the clips to her ears. Mina looks really charming with the jewellery on.
Martha is excited: «Mina, this jewellery suits you so much! You can wear it if you like. Now can we play together?»
But Mina doesnt care about her look. She still hasnt opened her eyes. However, the cat has raised a paw warning Martha:
«Martha, you are troubling me.»
But Martha doesnt notice the warning. She only thinks about how to wake the cat up. Suddenly an idea comes to her mind: «A tidbit! If I give her a tidbit, she will be up. So I have to find something tasty right now.»