When the Wasps Drowned, by Clare Wigfall

 

BIOGRAPHY

Clare Wigfall was born in London in 1976 and was educated in an all-girls’ school.
She graduated in English and American Literature at the University of Manchester.
She taught Creative Writing for twenty years.
In 2007, she published her only book for adults, a collection of short stories with the title The Loudest Song and Nothing.
With When the Wasps Drowned she won the 2008 BBC National Short Story Award.
She also wrote a book for children, Has Anyone Seen my Chihuahua?
She currently lives in Berlin with her three children.

SUMMARY
It’s summer and it’s extremely hot.
A girl and her younger sister and brother are left alone at home as their mother works.
One day, a swarm of wasps attacked the little girl, and the big sister rescued her by spraying water at the wasps with a garden hose.
Afterwards the two little ones spent their time smashing the drowned wasps.
Apart from this incident, however, every afternoon is very calm and relaxing: while the older sister sunbathes, the little ones dig a hole that reaches into their neighbour garden. They say they are digging his way to Australia. There they find a very expensive ring.
But who does the ring belong to?

QUESTIONS
-Why is no father in this story?
-What is the relation between the wasps attack and the finding of the ring?
-What do you know about the name Mordecai? Has it got any significance for the story? And Eveline, Therese and Tyler?
-Did you sometime find something and keep it? What was it: tell us your story (you can write it down and then read it aloud for us).

VOCABULARY
lino, toddled, polka-dot, welts, she left us to our own devices, scabs, scoured, loll, flopped, chipped, shunted, peter, sweet money, swathes, ruffle