[00:03.034]Chapter 2 At home
[00:05.771]'Hi, Dad. Your supper is in the kitchen.'
[00:09.098]John is sixteen-year-old daughter, Christine, was sitting at the table doing her homework.
[00:17.164]His son Andrew, who was thirteen, was watching television.
[00:23.323]'Thanks, Christine,'John said.'I am sorry I am late. Is everything OK?'
[00:32.556]'Fine, thanks.'Christine gave him a quick smile, then continued with her work.
[00:41.378]John got his food from the kitchen.
[00:46.042]Fried fish and chips.
[00:49.002]The food was dry and didn't taste very good.
[00:53.316]But he didn't say anything about that.
[00:57.152]John was not a good cook himself and his children were no better.
[01:03.641]His wife had been a good cook, he remembered.
[01:09.104]John tried to eat the terrible supper and looked around the small, miserable flat.
[01:18.243]The furniture was twenty years old, the wallpaper and carpets were cheap and dirty.
[01:28.313]The rooms were all small, and he could see no trees or gardens from the windows just the lights from hundreds of other flats.
[01:40.361]And there were books, clothes, and newspapers on the floor.
[01:47.154]Once, when his wife had been alive, he had had a fine house.
[01:54.060]A beautiful big house in the country, with a large garden.
[02:00.354]They had had lots of new furniture, two cars, expensive holidays everything they needed.
[02:10.799]He had had a good job;they hadn't needed to think about money.
[02:17.248]And then he had started the boat-building company, and his luck had ended.
[02:24.464]When Rachel had died, John had been terribly unhappy much too unhappy to think about business.
[02:34.411]A few months later his company had closed, and he had lost all his money.
[02:42.097]John had had to sell his beautiful house in the country, and move to this miserable flat.
[02:50.395]And for the last two years, he hadn't had a job at all.
[02:56.050]He was a poor man, and an unlucky one, too.
[03:01.764]He had tried for lots of jobs, and got none of them.
[03:07.085]There were too many bright young biologists.
[03:11.795]But now that was all going to change.
[03:16.882]He looked at his daughter and smiled.
[03:20.482]'Did you have a good day at school, Christine?'he asked her.
[03:27.427]'Oh, all right, I suppose,'she said.
[03:30.626]She didn't look very happy.
[03:32.938]'I've got a letter for you.'
[03:35.578]She pushed the letter across the table, and he opened it.
[03:41.154]It was from her school.
[03:44.738]One of the teachers was taking the children on a skiing holiday to the mountains in Switzerland.
[03:53.105]It cost ￡400 for ten days.
[03:56.892]Parents who wanted their children to go had to send the money to the school before February 25th.
[04:05.930]John is smile grew bigger.
[04:09.343]'Do you want to go on this holiday, Christine?'he asked.
[04:15.145]She looked at him strangely.
[04:19.316]'Of course I do,  Dad,'she said. 'But I can't, can I? We haven't got ￡400.'
[04:28.399]'No, I suppose not. 'He looked at her carefully through his thick glasses.
[04:37.848]She was a clever, strong girl good at her schoolwork, good at sports.
[04:48.333]But she had never been skiing；John hadn't had enough money.
[04:52.490]'Are your friends going?'he asked her.
[04:55.978]'Some of them, yes. Miranda, Jane, Nigel, the rich ones, you know.
[05:03.629]But they often go skiing； it's easy for them.
[05:08.828]I know I can't go, Dad. Throw the letter away.'
[05:14.042]John looked at her, and felt his heart beating quickly.
[05:19.328]'No, don't do that, Christine,'he said. 'Perhaps you can go, if you want to. Why not?'
[05:29.639]Christine laughed.
[05:34.834]'What is happened, Dad? Have you robbed a bank or something?'
[05:39.818]John stood up.
[05:42.907]He went into the kitchen and got himself a drink.
[05:47.558]'No,' he said, when he came back.
[05:50.754]'But something interesting happened today.
[05:55.017]Put your homework away, Christine and turn that TV off, Andrew.
[06:02.848]I have got something to tell you.'
[06:05.193]'Oh, not now, Dad!'said Andrew.
[06:10.082]'This is an exciting story.'
[06:12.426]John smiled. 'I have got an exciting story, too, Andrew. Come and listen.'
[06:21.062]John Duncan's children lived in an old, untidy flat, they had no money, and they often ate awful food.
[06:33.105]But they could still talk to their father.
[06:36.707]So Andrew turned off the TV, and sat down in a big armchair beside his father and Christine.
[06:46.125]The story didn't sound very exciting at first.
[06:51.914]'I went to a factory today,'John said.
[06:58.451]'That paint factory by the river. No, wait, Andrew.
[07:02.874]Paint factories can be very exciting.
[07:06.256]They gave me a job there.
[07:10.595]I am going to have my own office, a big car, lots of money in fact, we are going to be rich!'