a nightmare in yellow

Nightmare in Yellow


He awoke when the alarm clock rang, but lay in bed for a while going over the plans he'd made. Every little detail had been worked out, but this was the final check. Tonight at forty-six minutes after eight he'd be free, in every way. He'd picked that moment because this was his fortieth birthday and that was the exact time of the evening when he had been born. It had struck his sense of humour to have his new life begin at forty, to the minute.
As a lawyer who specialised in handling wills*, a lot of money passed through his hands - and some of it had passed into them. He had carefully sold a lot of property, and by this afternoon he'd have well over a hundred thousand dollars, enough to last him the rest of his life. And they’d never catch him. He'd planned every detail of his trip, his destination, his new identity, and it was foolproof. He's planned it for months. His decision to kill his wife had been an afterthought. The motive was simple: he hated her.
He'd hardly been able to keep from laughing at the birthday present she'd given him; it had been a new suitcase. She'd also talked him into celebrating his birthday by having dinner at seven. Little did she guess how the celebration would go after that. He planned to get her home by eight forty-six and make himself a widower at that exact moment. There was a practical advantage, too, in leaving her dead. If he left her alive but asleep, she'd guess what had happened and call the police when she found him gone in the morning. If he left her dead, her body would not be found for two or three days, and he'd have a much better start.
Things went smoothly at the office; by the time he went to meet his wife everything was ready. But she dawdled** over drinks and dinner and he began to worry whether he could get her home by eight forty-six. It was ridiculous, he knew, but it had become important that his moment of freedom should come then and not a minute earlier or a minute later. He watched his watch.
He would have missed it by half a minute if he'd waited till they were inside the house. The dark of the porch of their house was perfectly safe, as safe as inside. He swung the cosh viciously once, as she stood at the front door, waiting for him to open it. He caught her before she fell and managed to hold her upright with one arm while he got the door open and then got it closed from the inside.
Then he flicked the switch and yellow light filled the room. Before they could see that his wife was dead and that he was holding her up, all the assembled birthday party guests shouted “SURPRISE!”


*Will = a document in which you declare what you want to happen to your money and property when you die.
** Dawdled = did something very slowly taking more time than is necessary.

A. These sentences summarise some of the events in the story. Put them into the order in which they happened. Be careful, this may be different to the order in which they appear in the story. (4 points. 0'5 each)

a) He sold other people's property and kept some of the money.
b) He went out for a birthday celebration dinner with his wife.
c) He planned to kill his wife.
d) He planned to run away with the money he made on selling property.
e) He awoke on the morning of his birthday and went over the plans in his mind.
f) He switched on the light, holding up his wife.
g) He and his wife returned home at approximately quarter to nine.
h) He hit his wife on the head with a cosh.

1._____ 2._____ 3._____ 4._____ 5._____ 6._____ 7._____ 8._____



B. Define the following words. (3 points/1 each)


guess: ___________________________________________________________

widower: _________________________________________________________

asleep: ___________________________________________________________



C. Find the words or phrases in the story that mean the same as the following. Think first what part of speech (noun, verb, adjective or adverb) you are looking for. (3 points / 0'5 each)

___________ : chosen.

___________ : dealing with, managing.

___________ : so simple and easy to understand that it is unable to go wrong.

___________ : something you do but without careful planning.

___________ : easily.

___________ : gathered together in a group.