esl short stories

It was time for a haircut. Lenny didn't even have to look in the mirror. Even though he was going bald, he knew that he needed to cut his hair every two weeks. He had a "tongue" of hair on the top of his head. His hair was thinning at the crown. He still had plenty of hair on the sides and back. It was what they call "salt and pepper," a mixture of gray hair and dark brown hair. It was only a few years, he figured, until the salt and pepper became just salt. He never let his hair grow for more than two weeks. The longer it got, the worse it looked, he thought. He spread a newspaper over the bathroom sink so that no hair went down the drain. He plugged in the clippers and started cutting his hair. He started at the back of his head, went to the sides, and finished on the top. Every minute or so, he had to clean the hair out of the blades with an old toothbrush. Finished, he picked up a hand mirror to check out the back of his head. Everything looked okay. He carried the newspaper back out to the kitchen and shook the hair clippings into the trash can. Then he took a shower.

The yardman comes every two weeks. He drives a gray pickup truck. The truck is a Ford. It is about 15 years old, but it runs well. It doesn't burn oil, and it gets decent gas mileage. The yardman's name is Byron. In the back of his truck are a lawn mower, a leaf blower, a rake, and a shovel. Byron uses the leaf blower to blow leaves and dirt from the back of the building out to the front of the building. Then he rakes up the leaves into a bag. He blows the dirt out into the street. He cuts the lawn with his lawn mower. He trims the hedge. He uses the leaf blower to blow the dirt off each Welcome mat that lies in front of each apartment door. Then he puts all the leaves, the grass trimmings, and the hedge clippings into a wheelbarrow. He pushes the wheelbarrow to the back of the building, where he uses his big shovel to empty the wheelbarrow contents into the big dumpster. It takes Byron about two hours to do this work. When he is done, he goes half a block up the street to the house on the corner. There he does the same work again.

It looked like rain. The sky was gray. It was almost noon, but the sun was hidden by a gray blanket. It was cool. There were no birds flying anywhere. A couple of birds sat on the telephone wire. Bob was standing outside talking to Bill. They both had their hands in their pockets. They knew that it was probably going to rain shortly. A sudden breeze blew some leaves off a tree onto the sidewalk. A young woman wearing a dark blue coat and jeans walked by. She was walking a small dog. It was pure white, and pretty. It sniffed at a tree trunk. The woman waited patiently. Finally, the dog lifted its leg. Bob said that he liked the rain. It was a nice change from the usual hot Los Angeles weather. And the plants could always use the extra water. Bill said the only thing he didn't like about rain was that all the motor oil on the streets would get washed into the ocean, and so would all the trash. "But that never stops the surfers," Bob said. "They don't seem to care what's in the water, as long as there are waves to surf on."

Jim went to the thrift shop. He wasn't looking for anything in particular. He liked to go there just to browse. A big sign on the front door said OPEN. The shop was closed on Sunday and Monday. The rest of the week, it opened at 10 a.m. and closed at 2 p.m. Two women worked inside. They rang up sales and put the items into plastic bags for the customers to carry out. At the back of the shop was a big room where another lady worked. She sorted the new donations and put price tags on them. At the end of each day, she would bring the new donations out to the main part of the shop. Everyone who worked at the thrift shop was a volunteer. The only "payment" they received was that they had the opportunity to see, and buy, any items in the shop before the customers did. When Jim entered, the lady at the register told him hello. He smiled and said hello. She knew Jim because he was a regular customer. Jim said, "What's new?" She laughed and said that nothing was ever new at a thrift shop. "It's always old and it's always used," she smiled. Jim looked at the watches in the glass case. He saw one that he liked. "Could I look at that one?" he asked.

Laura went to the stable. Four horses stood there. She put a saddle on Star. He was seven years old, big and dark brown. Her sister came out to the stable. They were both going to exercise the horses. It was a warm, sunny day. Janice saddled up Moonbeam, a white mare. They got on the horses and started walking them. A few minutes later, Laura was telling Janice about the new doctor in her hospital. She raised her hand for a second to make a point. Just then, Star bucked. Laura went flying into the air. She landed on her head and shoulder on the grass. "Oh, my gosh!" Jan cried. "Laura, are you all right?" Laura moaned. Jan gently rolled her over. She didn't see any blood. That's good, she thought. "Can you move? You're not paralyzed anywhere, are you?" Jan pulled Laura up into a sitting position. Laura slightly moved her legs and arms. She wasn't paralyzed. When she moved her right hand to touch her head, she groaned. "What's the matter?" "That hurt. When I moved my arm, it hurt." They still didn't see any blood. Jan unbuttoned the top buttons on Laura's blouse and looked at Laura's right collarbone. "Oh, no," she said.

Mike looked at the label on the big plastic container. It said Garlic Powder. There was a U with a circle around it after the word Powder. What does this U mean, Mike wondered. Under the word Powder was another word, Seasoning. Under that word was a drawing of a garlic bulb. Mike knew that food labels can be tricky. Powder is powder, but Seasoning could mean salt. He looked all around the plastic container for an ingredients label. There wasn't one. In small print under the drawing of the garlic bulb was a phone number: 1‐800‐632‐6900. Call that number if you have comments or questions, the label said. Mike called the number. A woman answered. He asked her what the U inside a circle meant. She said it meant kosher. Kosher food is food that is prepared according to Jewish law. Mike asked where the ingredients label was. She said if there is only one ingredient, there is no ingredients label. "So, there is no salt in this product?" Mike asked. "No, sir," she said. "It's 100‐percent garlic powder." "Why does it say, Product of USA and China?" She said that sometimes they get the garlic from China, sometimes they get it from the U.S.

Ben leaned over the edge of the tub. He turned on the hot and cold water faucets. The water came out of the spout near the top of the tub. He pushed down on the lever beneath the spout so that the water would drain. He was going to take a shower, not a bath. He tested the temperature. It wasn't hot enough. He adjusted the hot water faucet. There was another handle between the hot and cold faucets. This one controlled whether water came out of the spout or out of the shower head. Ben turned it all the way to the right. Now hot water was coming out of the shower head. The temperature was just right. Ben took off his robe and stepped over the top of the tub. He pulled the shower door closed. He grabbed the bar of soap out of the soap dish and started scrubbing his face. While his eyes were closed to keep out the soap, he put the soap back into the dish. Then he reached for the big plastic container of shampoo on his window ledge. The bottle slipped out of his hands and landed on his left foot. "Shoot!" Ben said angrily. That hurt.