James wrote a play for television about a family who came to England from India, and the play was very
interesting. It was bought by an American company.
James was then invited to go to New York to help them. He lived in Washington, which is an hour away from New York by air. The plane was going to take
off at 8:30 in the morning. He
had to be at the airport at about 7:30. He ordered a taxi for 6:30 and went to
sleep. He forgot to set the clock, and it stopped after midnight. Also the
driver of the taxi had to work very late that night and he got up very late the
next morning.
James woke with the feeling that something was wrong. He looked at
his clock. It stood there silently with the hands pointing to ten past twelve.
He turned on the radio and knew it was ten. He was late for the plane.
He was just preparing his coffee when the radio sent out another piece
of news. “Reports are coming in of a plane crash near Washington airport. A Bowing 707 to New York crashed shortly
after taking off this morning. Plane number 2234…” James suddenly turned pale.
“My plane,” He said aloud. “If I hadn’t been late, I’d have been on
the plane!”
24. interesting 25. hour 26. 8:30 27. driver 28. wrong 29. silently 30. piece
Part Two