J ane Maclean is an ambitious young woman who doesn't have time for men or does she? Maybe she does and maybe she doesn't. It is up to you to decide. I will give you a title and a rough plot outline and you can take it from there. I have also provided you with twenty vocabulary words and terms. I would like you to use at least six of them in your story.
In addition there is a crossword puzzle that you can do in order to expand your lexicon. Little White Lies Puzzle Lexical rules are concerned with language structure. For example the verbs look and watch differ in the ways that they are used.
Look at me. Watch (Ø) me.
Vocabulary
habitually monotone
blew her stack wheedle
threshold ensconced
ebbing lacksadaisically
gizmos brash
miffed turbines
presumptious sauterne
paraphernalia paraphernalia
knickers in a knot Ciao (Italian)
formidable (French) The World of Suzie Wong
Before we get into the plot please feel free to make changes that suit your own environment. For example the story as you will soon see begins in Vancouver, Canada and ends in Hong Kong. Change the venues if you wish, the names of the characters, the type wine they drink at dinner etc.
The Plot
Jane Maclean is in Cathay Pacific's Business Class Lounge at YVR, (Vancouver International Airport). She is fretting while waiting for her flight to board. Her boyfriend, hasn't called and she is having all kinds of second thougths. Eventually he does call her on her cell phone and she has a decidedly dismal conversation with him.
By the time, the flight is ready for boarding, she is in a foul mood. When she does board, she immediately takes out her notes and begins going over them. In Hong Kong, on the day after tomorrow, she will give a presentation to a mult-lingual group of advertising agents.
She is pleasantly surprised when her seat companion turns out to be a remarkably good-looking thirtyish tall gentleman. During the course of dinner, which is served about an hour after take off, they learn that they have quite a bit in common. Although he is a high ranking police officer and she is an advertising executive, they both speak several languages.
Having grown up in Hong Kong, Jane speaks Cantonese in addition to French, Arabic, Farsi and Italian. During dinner Jane and George Forthright converse in French, Arabic, Farsi and Italian. For some reason or other, which proves essential to the plot, Jane neglects to reveal that she also is well grounded in Cantonese.
When their flight arrives at Hong Kong's Lan Tau airport, George offers to give Jane a ride to her hotel but she declines. When he asks which hotel she is staying at she tells a little white lie. The next morning, still miffed because her boy friend hasn't called her, she has major regrets that she lied to George.
How does Jane fare? There are innumerable possibilities.
1. George had told Jane that he was staying at the Hilton and she phones him. They live happily ever after.
2. Jane's boyfriend finally calls her back and has flowers sent to her room.
3. Your own take on the situation.
Here is the scoop. The three best Little White Lies that I receive will be posted on Suitequiz.
Please email your Little White Lies to essay@shaw.ca or
Thanks for participating.
Larry Low