Linda and Margo were out shopping again, looking for some shoes to wear to a ceremony. A friend of theirs was getting married.

"Those new yellow shoes of yours would be a joke tonight," said Linda, the older sister.

"But he was such a nice young man at the shoe store. He praised me," said Margo, "I couldn't resist."

"Well, you are brave to wear them. Meanwhile, mine are no prize either. If we don't find something, we'll have to excuse ourselves for looking stupid. My coal-black shoes need repair as well."

"Well, maybe I'm to blame…that it's not you up there swearing to love Morris for the rest of your life.  He didn't like me much. He seldom said 2 words to me."

They were getting off the train now, to go to the large shopping center. The passengers emptied the train, stepping quickly on to the border of the train station walkway.

"I just couldn't compete," Linda said. "I owe so much money, I had to borrow your dresses to go out with him. So it was her wealth that buried my chances."

"So she's going to ruin him," Margo said.

"He'll always have her money to cheer him up," Linda said.

Wouldn't it be great…" Margo said, "To find something …interesting ..to do to Morris tonight?"

In one of the small side entrances to the shopping center was a small store they had never seen before. Margo stopped, and waved Linda in the door, which said "Strange and Exotic Gift Store."

A dark lady came from the back of the store. "May I help you girls?"

"Not unless you have something for the man who isn't marrying my sister tonight."

"Margo!"

"It is interesting that you mention that," said the dark woman. "We do carry things….to help punish people with evil hearts."

"That's the man, for sure," said Margo.

"Margo!" Then Linda turned and smiled at the dark saleswoman. "You'll never have a decrease in business."

"It's very simple really,' the woman said, with a little mystery in her voice. "These little figures represent the harmful ones in your lives."

"Is Margo up there on the wall?" laughed Linda.

"Listen to the woman, Linda."

"Do you have a hair from his head? That's our custom." the woman asked.

"How about some skin?" said Linda.

"Oh, so much better, "said the woman. "Did you bite him?"

"No, I just tried to dig into his eyes with my finger nails." She pulled a little piece of skin from her purse. "But I missed. I didn't know how this piece of skin would be useful."

"Oh, yes," said the mysterious woman, "This will do nicely. Now you just put the skin into the pocket of the figure. And leave it at his house."

"Which one does which?" said Margo, jumping up and down.

"Margo! Don't broadcast this to everyone!"

"Well, this one will make his stomach eat itself with hunger, until he grows very fat."

"That would be nice," said Linda, "But it would take too long."

"How about death?" asked Margo.

"We can sell death also…But it's not cheap."

"Margo…stop!"

Margo asked the woman: "My sister would like to see something a little more moderate than death."

"We can make only the hot water pipes work when he is in the bath."

"He doesn't take baths," said Margo.

"Quiet, Margo." Said Linda. And then to the woman: "What else?"

The woman held up her pencil. "We can make a storm so trees crash into his house."

"Well…" said Linda.

"Or we can make his tongue seize up so he can't breathe, except to ask for mercy."

"That could be good," said Linda.

"And we can send the bill to his wife," said Margo. "She's the rich one. He's just marrying her for the money."

"She has all the money?" the woman said, stepping back.

"All of it. More money than God." answered Margo.

"Well, I'm very sorry. In that case, I cannot help you." said the mystery woman.

"Why not?" asked Linda.

"Because if his wife has all the money, his life will be terrible. He will already have more trouble, more pain, and more sadness than anything I can sell you."

Margo looked at Linda. Linda looked at Margo, and said: "Yes, I can live with that. Yes…You know…I think I'm going to like this ceremony tonight. A lot. Now, let's go get some shoes."

Ready-to-Use

a.      blame: blame for something  "They blame me for losing the game."

b.     tongue: mother tongue  "English is not my mother tongue."

c.      joke: make a joke   "When she is nervous, she will always make a joke."

d.     harm: do harm  "Smoking can do harm to your health."

e.      resist: can’t resist+V+ing   "I can't resist kissing her."

f.      cheer: cheers   "We say 'cheers" when we start a glass of beer, or finish an e-mail."

g.     seize: seize an opportunity  "He seized the opportunity to begin a business."

h.     bath: have a bath   "Before I go out, I must have a bath."