Fresh Baked Bread

By Franc Morales

Fresh Baked Bread is a story about Laura, a young university student who has returned home for the weekend. Her visit is full of family activities, twists and turns. You will get to know Laura and her family through their lively conversations. Each of the eight chapters captures a different part of Laura’s days at home: you will join Laura as she jokes around with her sister, bakes with her mother, chats with an old friend, talks with her grandfather, and has an adventure with her father. The story is light-hearted, warm, and inviting. You are likely to feel like a part of Laura’s family by the end of the book.

Fresh Baked Bread has been written specifically for students of English. The story is told through conversations between the characters. This makes it easy for you, the reader, to feel close to the action. At the same time, the dialogue is imaginative and original even though the setting is ordinary. The charming interactions between the characters will grab your attention quickly. Fresh Baked Bread will help you learn English without effort.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Franc Morales
• Release date: Nov 16, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465717450

Book preview

Fresh Baked Bread

Leah Gilner and Franc Morales

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2011 Leah Gilner and Franc Morales

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of these authors.

Chapter I - Friday night

Laura: Are you awake?

Diana: Hmmm?... No.

Laura: Are you awake?

Diana: No.

Laura: Are you awake?

Diana: You are my sister and I love you... but if you don’t put the book down, turn off the light, and go to sleep, I am going to throw you out on the street.

Laura: But it’s past 3 o’clock in the morning!

Diana: Don’t I know it!

Laura: You wouldn’t throw your little sister out on the street.

Diana: No, I wouldn’t.

Laura: So, are you awake now?

Diana: (chuckle) Yeah, I guess... wait a minute while I go to the bathroom.

--- Ten minutes later

Laura: I thought you had gotten lost.

Diana: Eh? No. I went to the kitchen to get some chocolate cookies and milk. Here, have some.

Laura: Thanks... do you know who Jacqueline Cochran is?

Diana: Is this why you woke me up? Hmmm... I don’t know... a singer?

Laura: No.

Diana: An actress? A famous writer? An Olympic ice-skater? A head of state?

Laura: No, no, no, aaaand... no.

Diana: A woman without bothersome sisters? I wonder if she could sleep at night without being constantly pestered.

Laura: (laughter) Actually, she was the youngest of five children.

Diana: OK, I guess she didn’t get much sleep either... anyway, who is this woman and why did you wake me up?

Laura: I woke you up because I am reading the biography of Jacqueline Cochran and this woman is just amazing.

Diana: How so?

Laura: She set more speed, distance, and altitude records than any other pilot in aviation history.

Diana: A pilot? When did this happen?

Laura: Well, that’s what’s so interesting. Jacqueline Cochran was born in 1906... imagine! And she learned to fly an airplane in only three weeks. This woman was incredible.

Diana: Wow! Only three weeks.

Laura: Yeah, I know. Anyway, she took part in her first major race in 1934 and, in 1937, she was the only woman to participate in the Bendix Race. She had problems with the plane and couldn’t finish it. She was forced to abandon, you see? But, in 1938, she raced again and she won! She won the race!

Diana: What is the Bendix Race?

Laura: It was one of the major trophies in United States at the time. Pilots flew from one point of the country to the other... a very, very long and very, very dangerous race.

Diana: Yeah, it must have been dangerous.

Laura: But Jackie... that’s what her friends called her... Jackie didn’t care. She was the best female pilot in the United States.

Diana: Better than Amelia Earhart?

Laura: You know about Earhart?

Diana: Sure, I know my history.

Laura: Right. Well, Earhart was very, very good but Jackie was better. She was simply the best. She was the first woman to break the sound barrier...

Diana: Wow.

Laura: ... and the first woman to fly a jet plane across the Atlantic Ocean...

Diana: Double wow.

Laura: You’ve got that right! But there is more. She won the Harmon Trophy five times. Five times! Do you know what the Harmon Trophy is?

Diana: Nope. I’ve never heard of it in my life.

Laura: Ignoramus. It was a trophy given to the best pilot in the world... and she won it five times. It’s incredible. By the time Jackie died in 1980, she had more speed, distance, and altitude records than ANY pilot, man or woman, in aviation history.

Diana: (whispers) Shhhh.... Keep your voice down. You are going to wake up Mother.

--- A noise can be heard outside the room

Laura: Oops, I think I just did.

Diana: (whispering) Quick, turn the light off.

Laura: Do you want to hear more?

Diana: (whispering) Not now. I am dead tired... but, would you lend me the book when you are finished?

Laura: Sure, sis.

Comprehension questions

1. How do Laura and Diana know each other?

a. They are old high school friends.

b. They have grown up together. They are sisters.

c. They go to the same college.

d. They just met at Laura's house.

2. Where does the conversation take place?

a. In a room that the two girls are