AUDIOBOOKSUMMARY, by Begoña Devis
A really hot day, Millie was looking
from her verandah at several men riding horses. She looked at them until they
were out of sight. She knew that them were trying to catch the young boy who
they believed had murdered Mr Williamson, a man liked by everyone, cheerful and
friendly. He had appeared in a pool of blood, shot in his head. At the same
time, young Harrison, who had arrived to learning farming, had disappeared.
That is why they were looking for him, certain that the murderer could not be other
than him. Among the group of men was Willy Cox, a young fellow, and Sid, her
husband.
Millie went back into the kitchen;
it was half past two and Sid wouldn’t be home until half past ten. She prepared
her food, cleaned up, and then was looking around, and thinking about nothing
and everything, when she heard a noise. She discovered that there was an
apparently dead man in the back yard. She went to get her gun, threatened the
man and, when she turned him towards her, she discovered a scared young man,
almost a child. Millie felt great pity for him and, when he was finally able to
stand up and walk, she asked him to follow her to give him something to eat.
But he was too scared even to eat. «When will they return?», the boy stammered.
Then Millie realized that he had to be Mr Williamson’s young killer. She didn’t
care and decided that the men wouldn’t be able to catch him if she helped him: he
was just a child, and nobody knew what he had done, or he hadn’t done. You
couldn’t trust the justice of men, she thought, for many times they are nothing
more than beasts. «Not before half past ten», she told him.
At night, Millie was lying with Sid
in bed. Below, there were Willy Cox with the other chap and his dog, Gumboil.
Suddenly, the dog began to bark and run in all directions. Sid jumped out the
bed and went down, while, in the yard, young Harrison climbed onto Sid’s horse
and fled. Sid asked Millie for the lantern, but she pretended not to hear him.
Suddenly, the men saw Harrison, and Millie realized that he no longer had a
choice. When Millie became aware of this, she felt as if a strange mad joy
smothered everything else: she rushed into the road with the lantern, while
dancing and singing «Catch him, hunt him, shoot him!»
PERSONAL OPINION
I’m not sure about that, but I think
that Millie was a kind of philosophical woman, who asked herself about the
things of life, and she was not sure of nothing, especially about the human
condition. When he saw the young Harrison, she felt pity for him and tried to
help him, although maybe he was a murderer, but when she realized that he no
longer had a choice, she joined the group of men who want to catch him,
because, after all, who knows?
QUESTIONS
What were Millie’s tastes about men?
How do you think Mr Williamson’s death affected her?
Why do you think the young man killed Mr Williamson?
What was the matter with Millie? Why didn’t she want
kids?
Why did she go on helping the boy when he knew he was
a murderer?
Explain what happened during the ellipsis.
Why did she change her mind at the end? Or did she?
What do you think it’s better for the mankind, justice
or pity?
VOCABULARY
quivered, dotty, simpered, packing case dressing table,
wunner, bulge, ducked, yer, shamming, corned beef, fox, want, ketch, ole, spouting,
lantin
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Analysis
