Best Breakfast Ever Learn English through story level 2
in
the present
place
hastings the southeast coast of england
my aunt brenda owns a small hotel called
the sea view guest house in hastings
it’s got five bedrooms it’s a very good
guest house
people come from everywhere to stay
there
hastings is a good place to stay if you
want to see the beautiful southeast
coast of england
it’s an old town
aunt brenda’s house is over 100 years
old
she has managed it as a guest house for
the last 10 years
aunt brenda is a good looking woman
everybody says so
she’s almost 40 years of age with red
hair and a mind of her own
her husband is my uncle ralph he loves
her very much
her guests always like her too
my uncle ralph is a local butcher and he
has a shop
the shop is well known in the town
he provides all the meat for the guest
house
his sausages brenda always says
are the best in england
she always persuades her guests to have
them for breakfast
her full english breakfast she calls it
is famous in hastings brenda’s full
english breakfast includes bacon eggs
mushrooms tomatoes
toast and of course uncle ralph’s
sausages
they are the most important part of it
aunt brenda takes great pleasure in the
fact that all of her guests have tried
ralph sausages and loved them
all that is except mr dunn
don’t you worry linda told me
i’ll make sure he eats ralph’s sausages
before he leaves here
just you wait and see
aunt brenda’s full english breakfast is
mentioned in all the holiday webpages
it’s the reason why most people stay at
the guest house
if you don’t eat at all especially the
sausages she thinks you are just being
rude and there is no way she will accept
that
she always likes to hear her guests say
how much they enjoy the sausages
in fact she expects them to say it
now don’t think for one moment that
ralph’s sausages are anything less than
delicious
he makes sausages out of different kinds
of meat
they are made in all kinds of different
ways and flavors
please all kinds of tastes
except mr duns
you see
mr dunn was a vegetarian
a vegetarian doesn’t eat meat at all
no chicken no beef no pork and not even
any fish
in fact mr dunn didn’t even wear leather
shoes
even his sweaters brenda tells me
weren’t made of wool
now don’t tell me that’s normal brenda
told me
we’ve had vegetarians at the guesthouse
before
i always managed to persuade them to
have a sausage
and once they’ve had one
here brenda raised her eyes to the
ceiling
when she did this he meant you know what
happens next
and of course i do
nobody has ever tasted ralph sausages
before and not wanted another
i could see that she wasn’t going to let
mr dunn be the first to refuse
not if she could help it
i knew then
that mr dunn one way or another was
going to eat a sausage
me
i’m claire
aunt brenda’s niece i live in hastings
too with my mum
my aunt and i have always got on well i
see a lot of her
we both love hastings
like many towns by the sea it has lots
of visitors
some of them are rather strange
some pass through and some stay
seaside towns like hastings seem to
interest all kinds of people
i think that’s part of the reason we
both like hastings
but mr dunn was stranger than anybody
i’d ever seen before
to begin with
he looked as if he hadn’t had a good
meal for a long time
he was tall and thin
and his hair was as grey as iron
his nose was big and made him look like
a wild hungry eagle
his eyes were deep in his head
and his teeth were long and yellow
one thinks of vegetarians as being
gentle people
he didn’t look gentle at all
he looked like he could kill things with
his teeth alone
if he wanted to
then there were his hands they were long
and he had thin fingers with thick sharp
fingernails
his fingers looked very strong
i don’t know what he did for a living
i wouldn’t like to work with him i’m
sure of that
mr dunn was going to be staying at my
aunt’s house for three weeks
aunt brenda had to buy vegetarian stuff
just for him
like soya milk
he never had cow’s milk she didn’t like
that
he always eat his cereal with soy milk
for breakfast without speaking to anyone
she didn’t like that either
i have breakfast at aunt brenda’s place
every saturday morning
she likes to look after her little niece
even though i am already 17 years old
this saturday she wanted me to talk to
mr dunn
you see what you can find out about him
claire she told me
i want to see him eating a nice sausage
not that sawyer rubbish
and please hurry up
he’s already been here for over a week
i’ve only got 10 days left to do it
i don’t see anything wrong with being a
vegetarian i really don’t but you don’t
argue with aunt brenda
so at eight o’clock on saturday morning
i was sitting across the table from mr
dunn
i was given my full english breakfast
complete with ralph’s beautiful sausages
and mr dunn had his cereal and soya milk
good morning i said cheerfully lovely
day isn’t it
mr dunn looked up from his bowl
his eyes were big and gray
he replied with a voice that sounded
like a bear with a bad throat the sun
was shining it was early september it
was a lovely day
have you tried these sausages
i asked they really are delicious
i don’t eat meat he said
not anymore
uh you used to eat it then
i asked
mr dunn gave me a bad tempered look
and then he answered slowly
i was told i had to give it up
uh for health reasons i asked
mr dunn
almost smiled at me
as he raised a corner of his mouth
oh yes
my health
and others too
i heard him make a deep sound that may
have been laughter
it was hard to tell with mr dunn
[Music]
surely just one sausage wouldn’t hurt
you
i said holding up a piece on my fork as
if to make my point clear
they really are good
mr dunn said nothing
but the look he gave me was enough to
make me shut up
i finished my breakfast and left as soon
as i could
for health reasons
said brenda over a cup of tea later that
morning
ralph’s sausages would be really good
for anybody’s health
he needs a bit of meat if you ask me
it would doing good
i could see by the look in her eyes
brenda was thinking of something
when brenda starts thinking of something
it usually means trouble for somebody
usually me
you say he used to eat meat
brenda looked towards me he yet it once
he’ll eat it again
i just have to think of a plan
oh no
i thought to myself
brenda had of course tried to interest
mr dunn in her sausages from the first
day he arrived
every morning she asked him again
until he told her not to
that was only on the third day
so brenda said nothing more and gave him
his vegetarian breakfasts
she asked him about himself just to make
conversation
the truth is
brenda is the kind of person who likes
to know other people’s business
she didn’t get much out of mr dunn but
she didn’t give up
eventually
on the monday of the second week
she got some information out of him
so that’s what he told me claire
she said he’s resting after an illness
he didn’t say what it was but he has to
be careful with his diet
i told you he looked ill didn’t i
anyway anybody can see that all he needs
is some good meat inside him
it would do him a lot of good
you can see in his eyes he wants meat
i’ve seen him looking at the other
guests when they’re eating their
sausages
you can’t tell me he’s happy with cereal
and soya milk
a few days later i stopped at aunt
brenda’s guest house to see what was
happening with mr dunn
he’s agreed to try a sausage my aunt
told me excitedly
really
i said i was amazed
well he said he might try a vegetarian
sausage
she said
so is uncle ralph going to make some i
asked her
well that’s what i told mr dunn my aunt
replied
i said they would be ready on saturday
and then she added
oh and i also said that you would try
them first let him know what they are
like
but of course brenda was lying about the
sausages
ralph had never made vegetarian sausages
in his life and he wasn’t going to start
now
is this a good idea i said to my aunt
slowly
they’re not going to be vegetarian
sausages at all
they’ll be meat sausages just like all
the others
you’re telling lies to mr dunn aunt
brenda
ah but he won’t know
said brenda looking me in the eye
not if nobody tells him
but why do you care so much i asked
it’s only a sausage
i already knew the answer
to brenda her full english breakfast was
what she was known for
it just wasn’t a full english breakfast
without ralph’s sausages
and nobody had ever turned down the
famous sausages
to turn down brenda’s sausages was to
turn her down and she didn’t like that
at all
i knew then that mr dunn didn’t have a
chance
the next saturday i arrived early at my
aunt’s guest house
i knew what to do
i sat opposite mr dunn during breakfast
so that he could see the beach through
the window
brenda’s guest house was also famous for
its views of the sea
she thought the sea air helped her
guests to enjoy their food more
there was a street between the guest
house and the beach
and the windows were very big so that
people passing by could see everybody
enjoying their food
it was good for business
mr dunn looked even more bad tempered
than usual
he seemed to have a cold because he
sneezed a lot
anyway
soon my aunt came out with my breakfast
it had bacon egg
mushrooms tomatoes
and uncle ralph’s vegetarian sausages
all cooked perfectly
of course
sausages were meat sausages as usual
but i didn’t tell him that
i started eating my breakfast hungrily
they really are so delicious
i said chewing one of my sausages with a
smile
mr dunn looked up
was he showing some interest at last
amazing i said
so tasty
and are they completely vegetarian
he asked
brenda says they are all sawyer and
herbs but they taste just like the best
sausages ever
no meat at all she says
nobody could ever tell the difference
would you like to try one
that’s when he finally agreed to try one
brenda brought in just one meat sausage
a plate
it was beautifully cooked
all golden brown
and it smelled wonderful to me
i’m not sure mr dunn could smell it
properly with his cold
but he certainly looked at it with
hungry eyes
we watched as mr dunn cut a small piece
and put it on his fork
he put it to his nose and tried to smell
it
he closed his eyes and put it into his
mouth
he chewed it for a few seconds
and smiled
brenda smiled at me
it had worked
mister done light them
suddenly
mr dunn made a horrible sound
like an animal
he stood up held his throat tightly
we watched as he seemed to grow in front
of us
one moment he was mr done
the next moment he was bigger grayer
his ears grew
and his face got longer
he cried out just like a wolf and jumped
up from his chair
then he jumped across the table and
straight through the window
there was a huge crash as broken glass
was sent flying all over the street
he landed outside and looked around like
a frightened animal
he went down onto his hands
if they were still hands
and ran straight into the road in the
busy morning traffic
we couldn’t see him
we heard a crash and i heard some people
scream
a bus stopped suddenly
when we went outside we expected to see
mr dunn lying in front of the bus
we saw the driver standing in the road
where did that thing come from
he asked
i mean just look at the size of it
he’s a man staying at my aunt’s guest
house
i told the driver without looking
he came out of there
his name is
man
what are you talking about
said the driver
just take a look at it
aunt brenda and i looked
there
lying dead on the ground
was the body of a huge grey dog
its mouth was open
and it had long yellow teeth
its feet brother paws were huge
thick sharp claws
it was bigger than any dog i’d ever seen
in my life
that’s a wolf
somebody shouted
they were right it was a wolf
but what was a wolf doing on a busy road
in hastings
we never saw mr dunn again
nobody knew anything about him
we never found out who he really was
or indeed what he really was
aunt brenda still manages her guest
house and cooks her full english
breakfast
but she doesn’t mind if her guests want
cereal instead of sausages now
in fact
i think she prefers it
you