The Sauce on the White Shirt
A free A2-level English story for language learners, readable online in 4 languages, with an option to listen via the free Storyteller app.
Just before a job interview, Belen hides a tomato stain under her jacket and finds a surprise in the manager's room.
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Belen sits at a small table in a café. Her job interview is at two o'clock. She is nervous, so she eats her pasta very fast. Then a red drop of tomato sauce jumps onto her white shirt.
"Oh no!" she says. She rubs the spot with a napkin. It only gets bigger.
She looks at the clock. It is half past one. The office is ten minutes away, but her home is far. There is no time to change.
Belen thinks for a moment. She puts on her grey jacket and buttons it to the top. The red spot is gone. It is warm in the café, but she says nothing.
At the office, she shakes the manager's hand. He is a tall man with a kind face. They sit down at a big table. Then Belen sees something on his blue tie. It is a brown stain, the size of a coin.
"Is that coffee?" she asks before she can stop herself.
The manager looks down and laughs. "Yes. My cup fell this morning. Please, take off your jacket. It is hot in here."
"No, thank you," Belen says. "I have my own problem under here."
She opens the jacket a little and shows him the red spot. They both laugh for a long time.
After that, the talk is easy. She tells him about her old job and her best ideas. He asks good questions and writes some notes. At the end, he stands up. "Can you start on Monday?" he asks.
