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3 The Photograph |
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I worked in the garden for the first two days. Theweather was hot and sunny. Ilikedworking with Mr Duncan, and he waspleased with my work. |
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' You' re a good gardener, ' hesaid."" |
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' I' ve always liked gardening, ' l said. ' But I' m studying at college tobe a farmer. ' Sometimes I saw Greta Ross." |
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' She likes to be alone, ' Ithought. Once or twice I saw Greta go outwith herpainting things. She went up onthe hills or down to the beach." |
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Mr Duncan took me to the farm and I met Dan and StellaParks. They were veryfriendly. |
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You can work on the farmfor the next three days, ' said Day Parks. ' MrDuncansays you' re a good gardener. Areyou a good farmer, too? '" |
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Ismiled at him. ' lam, ' I said. He smiled back. |
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So I worked on the farm with Mr and Mrs Parks . Theywere nice people. I helpedwith the cowsand the chickens, and went up on thehills with Mr Parks and his dog tolook after the sheep. |
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One afternoon I went out riding. Smokewas a big, lazy, friendlyhorse. Ienjoyed riding and Smoke knewhis way around the island very well. llearned newplaces to go to. |
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I rode along the cliff top and then in between some trees . Whenwe came out ofthe trees, I saw thehouse from the other side. I tried to find the window of my room. Which one was it? |
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Suddenly, I saw a face at one of the windows. The face was looking at me. It was there for just a second or two, then it moved away quickly. |
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' Who was thst? ' I thought. ' Was it Mr Ross? And which room was it? '" |
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I didn' t see my mother very much that first week. She worked all day and in the evenings . She wrote letters to South America , Japan , Canadaand Australia. Sometimes, she worked after I was in bed. |
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' Mr Ross works hard, ' she told me. ' He invests money in many companies and countries. But it' s not his money. '" |
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' It' s not? ' l was surprised by this." |
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' No, it' s his wife' s money. And she bought the island. It' s her island, herhouse , her farm. Everything belongs to her. '" |
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' How strange ! Butwhy does Mr Ross always look sad? And why does he never leave the island? ' l asked." |
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' I don' t know, ' said my mother. ' He says he likes it here and likes working on his farm. lt' s strange, I know. '" |
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Sometimes, when I finished work, I walked along the beaches or the cliffs. Or I went swimming in the sea. I liked swimming. GretaRoss often came to the beach to swim, but Mr Ross never came. |
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' Stay away from the rocks, Carol, ' GretaRoss told me. ' They' re very dangerous.' I will, ' I said." |
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Sometimes I took my camera to the beach and took photographs of some of the boats that went by. l took photographs of the birds on the cliffs . |
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There were other small islands near our island, and boats with tourists stopped at them. But no boats stopped at our island. They kept away from the dangerous rocks. Tony was right. The island did not have visitors. |
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One day, I was walking back to the house, and had my camera with me. I stopped and looked at the big house. MrDuncan was working in the garden in front of it. At first, he didn' t see me. |
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' I' m going to take a photograph of the house, ' I thought. ' The sun is in just the right place, and it will make a good picture." |
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I looked at the building through my camera, and took the photograph. Mr Rosswas coming out of a door. He was in my picture, too, andhe looked angry. |
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' That' s all right, ' l thought. ' It' s still a good photograph. '" |
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But Mr Duncan was running across the grass. He came quickly up to me and said,' Give me your camera. ' He looked very worried. |
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' What' s wrong? ' l asked in surprise. I gave him the camera." |
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' Never take photographs of Mr Ross, he said. And then he opened the back of my camera and took out the film." |
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Hey! What are you doing? ' I said. ' You' ll spoil my film! '" |
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But he didn' t stop. ' Sorry, hesaid, and he put the film into his pocket. But no pictures of Mr Ross. He doesn' t like people to take pictures of him. |
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Mr Ross was watching us. He saw the camera and he saw Mr Duncan take out the film, but he said nothing. Then he turned and went back into the house. |
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Later, I told my mother about Mr Duncan and the camera. ' He spoiled my film, ' I said. |
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' I don' t understand, ' shesaid. ' Why did he do that?" |
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' I don' t know, ' l said, ' but there' s something strange about Mr Ross. '" |
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About a week later, I finished work early one day and came back to the house. My mother was working in her small room, next to Mr Ross' s office. MrsDuncan was in the kitchen. Greta Ross was painting in her room upstairs. |
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I went to my room and began reading a book. l was sitting beside the window. After half an hour, l got tired of reading . I looked out at the rain, and the grey sea and rocks between the trees. |
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' My book isn' t very interesting, ' I thought." |
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I got up and went out of my room. l walked along the passage and turned a corner. Then l saw the door at the end of the passage. There was a large plant in a plant pot outside the door. |
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' Where dogs that door go? ' l thought. ' I haven' t seen it before. ' I remembered the face at the window in my first week on the island. ' Perhapsit' s the door to that room, ' I thought." |
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I walked along to the door and turned the handle. The door didn' t move. It was locked. |
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' What are you doing? ' saida voice behind me." |
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I turned round quickly and saw Greta Ross. She looked angry.' That room is private, ' she said.' I' m sorry, ' I said. ' I didn' t' |
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' Stay away from there, ' she told me. I told my mother about the locked door.' What' s behind it? ' l said. ' Is it a secret? '" |
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' I don' t know, ' said my mother. ' It doesn' t matter. MrRoss can have locked rooms if he wants them. '" |
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' I think he does have secrets, ' I said. ' There' s something strange about him There' s something strange about this island . Somebody isn' t telling us something. Something important. '" |