872. The Birthday Party (Learn English with a Short Story)

Hello, welcome back to Luke's English Podcast. In this episode, I'm going to tell you a story and then use it to help you learn English, okay?

And I'm gonna do this in three sections. First, I'll just tell the story to you.

And you can use that as a sort of little listening exercise or listening test, see if you understand everything in the story, and especially things like how the characters feel and exactly what happened. It's a fairly short story, this one. I mean, it's a very short story, really.

It's 300 words, about 300 words long. So it'll just take a couple of minutes for me to read the story to you. And then after that, I will just explain what happened in the story in my own words.

And then I'll go through the story again, line by line, and I'll explain vocabulary for you so you can learn various little phrases, words, and other descriptive language from this story, okay? So the story that we're looking at here is called The Birthday Party, and it was written by

okay? So the story that we're looking at here is called The Birthday Party, and it was written by Catherine Brush, who was an American newspaper columnist, a short story writer, a novelist. This

particular story was published in 1946. But like all good writing, it still remains fresh today.

It feels like it could have been written yesterday, really. So although it was written a few decades ago, it still feels really sort

really. So although it was written a few decades ago, it still feels really sort of fresh and new. So I'm gonna start in just a second, but first of all, just one question for you to consider before you listen to this, okay? My question is about people-watching.

Do you know what people-watching is? This is when you're in a public place, for example, in a restaurant, and you kind of watch the other people around you and sort of, I don't know, imagine what their lives are like, observing other people. I mean,

it's a bit nosy, right, to do this, to look at other people and sort of spy on them, but I think we all do this. So do you ever people-watch, okay, when you're in a public place like a restaurant or in a queue for something? So observing people, watching their behaviour, watching their interactions with each other, and then imagining what kinds of people they are,

what their lives are like, what their relationships are like.

It might also include eavesdropping, which means actually listening to other people's conversations, but not necessarily. So people-watching, just watching people, watching strangers that you might see in public places. Do you ever do this? If you're out in public, do you ever discreetly watch the other people around you and try to imagine what their lives

are like? For example, if you're in a restaurant, do you subtly, while you're eating your food,

are like? For example, if you're in a restaurant, do you subtly, while you're eating your food, do you subtly, without being noticed, have a look at the other people on the other tables, try to imagine who they are, what's going on in their lives? And have you ever observed something amusing or something that made you feel a little uncomfortable or embarrassed? Like

maybe you got an insight into someone's personal relationship or family life, and it actually made you feel even a little bit uncomfortable or embarrassed or awkward or even sad.

So do you ever people-watch, and have you ever noticed anything sort of interesting when doing that? That's just something to think about before we start the story. And in fact, let's now start the story. All you need to do here is just listen first.

Just listen and try and follow the main events. How do the characters feel? I'll explain in my own words in a moment,

feel? I'll explain in my own words in a moment, and then we'll go through all the vocabulary and stuff and see what we can learn. So here we go.

This is The Birthday Party by Catherine Brush. They were a couple in their late 30s, and they looked unmistakably married. They sat on the banquette opposite us in a little narrow restaurant having dinner.

The man had a round, self-satisfied face with glasses on it. The woman was fadingly pretty in a big hat. There was nothing conspicuous about them, nothing particularly noticeable.

Until the end of their meal, when it suddenly became obvious that this was an occasion. In fact,

it was the husband's birthday, and the wife had planned a little surprise for him. It arrived in the form of a small but glossy birthday cake with one pink candle burning in the centre.

The head waiter brought it in and placed it before the husband, and meanwhile, the violin and piano orchestra played happy birthday to you. And the wife beamed with shy pride over her little surprise, and such few people as there were in the restaurant tried to help out with a pattering

of applause. It became clear at once that help was needed because the husband was not pleased.

of applause. It became clear at once that help was needed because the husband was not pleased.

Instead, he was hotly embarrassed and indignant at his wife for embarrassing him. You looked

at him and you saw this, and you thought, oh, now, don't be like that. But he was like that.

And as soon as the little cake had been deposited on the table and the orchestra had finished the birthday piece and the general attention had shifted from the man and the woman, I saw him say something to her under his breath, some punishing thing,

quick and curt and unkind. I couldn't bear to look at the woman then, so I stared at my plate and waited for quite a long time. Not long enough, though.

She was still crying when I finally glanced over there again, crying quietly and heartbrokenly and hopelessly all to herself under the gay

big brim of her best hat. So that's the story. I think that's very good writing.

I think that's a really, really well-written little story, a perfect little portrait of these two people and a little interaction, which seems to tell you so much about what's going on between them. And it's sad. It's definitely sad.

It's almost heartbreaking, really. Really good writing, though. But what happened? Okay, so the story begins.

though. But what happened? Okay, so the story begins.

It's in a restaurant, okay? The writer says that she saw this couple. They were probably in their late thirties and they were definitely married. She could tell just by looking at them.

And they were sitting just on the other side of the restaurant, just opposite them at a table, having dinner. She described the two of them. She said that the man had a round face,

having dinner. She described the two of them. She said that the man had a round face, glasses, and he had a sort of self-satisfied look on his face.

The woman was fadingly pretty. Like she kind of used to be pretty or she sort of, her beauty is fading or maybe getting less as she gets older, maybe. And they just looked like an ordinary couple, really.

maybe. And they just looked like an ordinary couple, really.

They weren't bringing too much attention to themselves, except for the fact that the woman was wearing a nice big hat with a wide brim. And the narrator of the story realises that this is not just an ordinary dinner, but in fact, it's a special occasion. In fact,

it's the husband's birthday and the wife has planned a special little surprise for him.

And she seems to be kind of a bit shy about it and quite proud of the fact that she's organised this little special thing for his birthday. And what is the special thing? It's a little birthday cake, a cute little birthday cake,

special thing? It's a little birthday cake, a cute little birthday cake, a red glossy cake with a single pink candle in the middle of it. And she's obviously asked the head waiter of the restaurant to bring the cake over and the orchestra, just like a couple of instruments playing in the corner of the restaurant, they start playing happy birthday.

The staff come over, they're probably singing happy birthday and the cake is brought down. The wife seems very sort of proud of

brought down. The wife seems very sort of proud of this moment. And the people in the restaurants all give a little clap.

this moment. And the people in the restaurants all give a little clap.

They all applaud. And it seems like a very sweet moment, but what the narrator notices is that when all the people have gone away and when no one's looking at them, she notices that the husband is not happy with this at all. Now,

why? Why would you not be happy with that situation? It's not really clear.

I don't know either really, because I'd be delighted if my wife had organised a sweet little thing like that in a nice little restaurant, but this man is not happy about it. In fact, he's very embarrassed, which seems to tell you something about him. Like he's probably got quite a high opinion of himself.

He probably takes himself very seriously. And the idea that like a little cake and people in the restaurant singing happy birthday to him and everyone looking at him is actually something that he's ashamed of and something that made him feel very embarrassed. And he's unhappy.

And in fact, he's angry about it. And they're trying not to show this to everyone in the restaurant, but he's really unhappy with her. And when no one's looking, except for the narrator of the story who notices this, the husband said something to his wife and it's really something very nasty.

He says it quietly so other people can't hear it, but he says a nasty comment to her, which is really sad. And she's obviously very, very upset and she's heartbroken. The writer of the story can't really bear to watch.

So she looks at her plate and stuff for quite a long time. But when she does have a little look again, she sees that the woman is still crying.

And under the brim of her lovely, happy, big hat, she's still crying.

So it's a really sad little story and a story about observing a relationship, observing a marriage, which perhaps is not that happy, not the happiest marriage, or at least, I don't know, it's a sensitive situation, or at least the woman, she's obviously

crying because her husband's unhappy, but also probably, I imagine in a situation like that, when you've planned something and it goes so wrong, it probably not only makes you feel unhappy in that moment, but I imagine she's feeling very sad and depressed and it makes you wonder about the state of their marriage and whether this woman is trapped in a sort of

a loveless marriage, despite the fact that she's trying her best, she's making efforts. And it's

also quite heartbreaking because it makes you realise that a broken heart or unhappiness, loneliness, sometimes these things can be hidden. They're not obvious.

They can be hidden behind appearances, which could otherwise be very glamorous or very sort of smart. In this case, a lovely hat and a nice special occasion in a nice restaurant,

of smart. In this case, a lovely hat and a nice special occasion in a nice restaurant, but behind this facade, there's a sort of a deep loneliness and the sense that people in marriages can actually be very lonely. It can be one of the loneliest things.

Not always, of course, often marriage is a beautiful and happy situation, but in some cases, it can be actually a very sad situation. And loneliness is something that is often most deeply felt when you're in the company of other people, especially when you feel trapped in that situation

and when you're having to hide your feelings because other people can see you. And this story like perfectly captures all of those things in an efficient way, only in about 300 words.

So it's really, really well-written. Now let's go through the story again.

And this time I'm going to look at specific words and phrases, right? This is where I'm gonna teach you some vocabulary by using the story.

right? This is where I'm gonna teach you some vocabulary by using the story.

So here we go again, the birthday party by Catherine Brush vocabulary. And I've highlighted some vocab here for us to look at, okay? If you're listening to the audio version of this episode, you can find the script for this. I'll put a link to it on the episode page.

So you can actually check the text and stuff like that. If you're looking at the video version, you'll be able to see

like that. If you're looking at the video version, you'll be able to see the text on the screen. Another thing actually to mention is pronunciation.

So just earlier there in this episode, I read through the story line by line. Now

what you could do, if you want to practise your pronunciation, you could actually try to repeat those lines after me. Okay, try to repeat the story after me with exactly the same delivery.

So just try and copy the way I do it and then maybe practise it again on your own.

Practise trying to deliver the story with the right pausing, the right emphasis and so on, okay? And another exercise you could do would be to try to retell the story in your own words,

okay? And another exercise you could do would be to try to retell the story in your own words, right? Try to tell the story again, but sort of spontaneously in your own words without

right? Try to tell the story again, but sort of spontaneously in your own words without actually reading it from the text. So all of those things can be good ways to practise.

But anyway, let's have a look now at some vocabulary. So the first line. They were a couple in their late thirties and they looked unmistakably married.

So the first thing is just this phrase, in their late thirties. So, you know, you can be in your thirties, which means you're either 30, you're between the ages of 30 and 39. So you can be in your teens, that's when you're a teenager.

You can be in your twenties, in your thirties, in your forties, in your fifties and so on. But also

you can say, you could be in your early thirties or your mid thirties or your late thirties, okay? In this case, the couple were in their late thirties, okay? And they looked

okay? In this case, the couple were in their late thirties, okay? And they looked unmistakably married. So it's fairly easy to understand they looked married.

unmistakably married. So it's fairly easy to understand they looked married.

It looked like they were married. So they looked married, but they looked unmistakably married, okay? They were obviously married. You couldn't mistake them for anything else, right? So if

okay? They were obviously married. You couldn't mistake them for anything else, right? So if

something is unmistakable, it just means it's really not easily confused for something else.

Like when you see it, you immediately identify it as that thing. There's no

mistaking the fact that these people were married. They were unmistakably married, right? So unmistakable is the adjective, unmistakably in this case is the adverb.

right? So unmistakable is the adjective, unmistakably in this case is the adverb.

So unmistakably married. You know, we use, you know, you can use that for other things as well.

If something's obvious, for example, you smell as you walk past the bakery, you can smell the unmistakable smell of fresh bread, right? That's using the word as an adjective, unmistakable.

Other things, instead of saying they looked unmistakably married, it could be other things, right? For example, they looked unmistakably English, right? I don't know, what would they look like if they looked unmistakably English? Just like typical English people. Or they looked unmistakably French, okay? Handwriting, handwriting, you know, stuff that's

people. Or they looked unmistakably French, okay? Handwriting, handwriting, you know, stuff that's written by hand, handwriting. You could say, for example, this is unmistakably his handwriting.

Okay, so unmistakably, in this case, unmistakably married. So a question about the writing or just the thought, why are they unmistakably married? What does the writer mean here? I think she's probably alluding to subtle behaviour, right? Which, it's interesting that she chose this

phrase because it does tell us something about this couple. So what did she mean when she said they were unmistakably married? She's probably referring to certain behaviour.

Now, when a couple are new, when they've just got together, right? When they're in the early stages of a relationship, often you can tell that they're

right? When they're in the early stages of a relationship, often you can tell that they're a brand new couple because they sort of, their body language tells you everything you need to know. Like they can't stop looking at each other. They can't stop touching each other.

know. Like they can't stop looking at each other. They can't stop touching each other.

They're still enjoying sort of exploring each other, exploring each other's personal space.

They get lost in a love bubble, you know, the rest of the world disappears. But when

a couple has been together for a long time, if they're married, they're in their late thirties, they've been married for 10, 15 years or something like that, their body language might show this.

And maybe they, we also know that they were sitting on the bench, right? So they're not sitting opposite each other. They're sitting next to each other. And well,

right? So they're not sitting opposite each other. They're sitting next to each other. And well,

what kind of body language do you imagine could be seen here? Maybe they just weren't really, there wasn't a lot of interaction going on.

Maybe little moments of interaction showed that they were very close and they obviously spent a lot of time together, but maybe it was obvious that there wasn't, maybe there wasn't a lot of love between them, right? And you know, that sense of mystery or attraction maybe wasn't there. Or maybe there was a sense of familiarity

and closeness. I don't know, but it's good writing because it does sort of, it does tell you so much.

and closeness. I don't know, but it's good writing because it does sort of, it does tell you so much.

Next line, they sat on the bonket opposite us in a little narrow restaurant having dinner. So a bonket is just a long, like a long seat, which could be fitted to the wall, for example, typical in restaurants. So a

long kind of bench that's probably attached to the wall in some way, that's the bonket.

They sat opposite us in a little narrow restaurant having dinner. So narrow is just the, it's the opposite of wide. So this tells us that the restaurant was quite long, but narrow.

So you imagine a long restaurant, but where the walls on either side are actually very close because the restaurant is narrow, a bit like a corridor or something. And this

is interesting because we get that sense of intimate space, right? The writer and this married couple are actually probably quite close to each other. Everyone's probably fairly close in this restaurant, which for me emphasises the kind of the humiliation which happens later.

The man's humiliation, but also the wife's sadness is emphasised by the intimacy of this restaurant, that they're sitting in this narrow place with probably tables quite close together, right? Okay. So next, the man had a round self-satisfied face with

right? Okay. So next, the man had a round self-satisfied face with glasses on it. The woman was fadingly pretty in a big hat.

So the man had a round face. I mean, just round, sort of circular. Self-satisfied is interesting.

Now, generally, if you describe someone as being self-satisfied, it's a negative phrase. So if someone is self-satisfied, it means they're rather satisfied with themselves. Someone who thinks that they're, someone who has a high opinion of themself, someone who's rather satisfied with themselves.

So you can imagine he's got a sort of a, rather a sort of a smug look on his face or an arrogant look on his face, you know, a self-important, self-satisfied look on his face. In any case, it's not very charming. She

doesn't, the writer doesn't paint a very charming, attractive picture of this man.

Right? He seems smug and not that attractive. Whereas the

woman was fadingly pretty in a big hat. So fading, fadingly pretty.

Fadingly is the adverb. Fading would be the adjective. And if something is fading, it means it's gradually becoming less clear, less bright, less colourful.

So her prettiness, her attractiveness was fading as she was getting older, which, you know, is often a kind of a sad thing for many people. It doesn't have to be, but it can be. And it also tells you something as well, doesn't it? That, you know, there's just a certain sadness here.

Okay? Fadingly pretty. So she's still pretty, but her prettiness is fading. Now that doesn't happen to everyone.

Some people are pretty when they're young and they stay pretty when they're old. They grow

old gracefully. But I don't know, again, I'm speculating about this relationship, but maybe there's something not quite right in the relationship and the sadness that she feels is starting to show, you know, on her face and it's actually affecting her beauty in a way.

So she was fadingly pretty. Her prettiness was fading. There was

nothing conspicuous about them, nothing particularly noticeable.

So those two lines, they basically mean the same thing because conspicuous, if something is conspicuous, it means it's noticeable, easy to notice, eye-catching. Okay? I mean,

the fact that she was wearing a big hat is fairly noticeable, but maybe in those days in what I assume is like New York, in a nice restaurant in New York in the 1940s, a woman dressed nicely and wearing a big hat was probably not uncommon, right? But other than that, it seems

that there wasn't anything particularly noticeable about this couple. There was nothing conspicuous.

So conspicuous, noticeable, easy to notice, eye-catching, right, those are all synonyms. Nothing particularly noticeable. So they

were just a fairly ordinary couple, I suppose, for this kind of restaurant.

And nothing obvious about them, nothing noticeable until the end of their meal, when it suddenly became obvious that this was an occasion. So an occasion could be a special occasion, like a particular event, a birthday, an anniversary, a reason to celebrate, so that's

an occasion. So it became obvious that this was an occasion, it was actually a special moment.

an occasion. So it became obvious that this was an occasion, it was actually a special moment.

In fact, it was the husband's birthday and the wife had planned a little surprise for him. So I just wanted to highlight the use of past perfect here, the wife had planned a little surprise for him. So past perfect, had planned, that's used because it shows that the wife planned this before the other events of the story,

right? Okay, it just shows us that the planning part happened before all the rest of the events.

right? Okay, it just shows us that the planning part happened before all the rest of the events.

So past perfect is used there just to show us that the planning happened before. Now,

if the writer hadn't used past perfect, if she'd said it was the husband's birthday and the wife planned a little surprise for him, now that could mean that she planned the surprise right there at the table, right? It was the husband's birthday and the wife planned a surprise, that

could mean that she planned it there, you see? But we want to show that the planning happened before those events in the restaurant, so that's why past perfect is used. And so the surprise, it arrived in the form of a small but glossy birthday cake with one pink candle burning in the centre.

So it arrived, in this case the surprise arrived, in the form of a cake. So in the form of here, this means that this is how the surprise was actually, this is how the surprise happened, this is how the surprise manifested. I mean, what was the surprise? How did

the surprise take shape? It arrived in the form of this birthday cake.

So the birthday cake was the surprise, right? Quite a nice phrase, like you could use that in different situations. The gift came in the form of a beautifully wrapped package, for example, their support, the support from my friends came in the form of encouraging

words. The solution to the problem arrived in the form of innovative new technology.

words. The solution to the problem arrived in the form of innovative new technology.

Help arrived in the form of my wife who came to rescue me from an awkward conversation. Okay,

in this case, the surprise arrived in the form of a birthday cake, a small but glossy birthday cake. So the birthday cake is small, but glossy.

So glossy, this adjective just means shiny and smooth, so that, for example, the light reflects off the top of it. So this means it's one of those quite smart, quite fancy cakes that you see in sort of good quality cake shops.

So it's got a kind of cover of, I don't know what the cover would be, like a glazed cover on the top of the cake, which means it's shiny, right? A glossy cake.

So it's a fairly fancy cake, even though it's small, and it's got one pink candle. I mean,

the pink candle is a detail, an interesting detail. Is this part of the reason why the husband seems to be embarrassed? Is it because of the way the cake looks? It's a little bit ridiculous or a little bit funny or even a little bit sad? Just one single birthday, one single candle in the middle of this small cake.

I mean, the little pink candle might make him feel a bit ridiculous, especially if he is full of himself and self-satisfied and smug and arrogant. I mean, he thinks he's a very important person, you know, and then, I'm an important person in society, and then this cake arrives,

this little cake with one pink candle. I mean, it's a lovely, sweet gesture, and we just want him to be touched by this, but in fact, no, that's not the way this guy works.

Instead, he's embarrassed by this. What we want is for him to, I mean, he could feel embarrassed, that's okay, but you'd want him to feel embarrassed and then to kind of blush, you know, to go red in the face, and then maybe to kiss his wife and say thank you to her and tell her how much he loves her, you know,

because she made the effort to get this cake for him, but he doesn't do that. He doesn't.

Instead, he's just angry and embarrassed by it, which is just really sad. The head waiter brought it in and placed it before the husband, and meanwhile, the violin and piano orchestra played happy birthday to you. So the head waiter, this is like the most important waiter in the restaurant, the person who's in charge of all the other waiters, so this means that the wife probably

asked the restaurant to make a special effort here, which again shows us how much care she put into this, that she actually spoke to the head waiter and everything, and it was the head waiter who brought the cake, so they're taking it, you know, fairly seriously.

He placed it before the husband. He placed it. So this is the sort of thing a good waiter would do.

Waiters don't just put the plate on the table, they place it, meaning they put it down very carefully, exactly in the right spot. So the waiter, the head waiter came in and he placed the cake down in front of him, and meanwhile, the orchestra played happy birthday, right? So meanwhile just means at the same time. Okay,

you could replace the word meanwhile with the phrase at the same time.

So the head waiter brought the cake, and at the same time, the orchestra played happy birthday. Da da da da da da, da da da da da da, da da da da da da da, happy birthday to you,

birthday. Da da da da da da, da da da da da da, da da da da da da da, happy birthday to you, oh God. And the wife beamed with shy pride over her little surprise.

oh God. And the wife beamed with shy pride over her little surprise.

She beamed with pride. So to beam, in this case, this means that her face glowed. Her

face sort of glowed with pride, right? Now to beam means that light comes out.

For example, a torch. If you've got a torch, which you use to see in the dark, you turn the torch on, a flashlight, they call it in American English, a torch. When the light comes out the end of the torch, it beams out.

a torch. When the light comes out the end of the torch, it beams out.

Similarly, the headlights of your car, the light beams out of your headlights. A lighthouse,

the light beams out. So in this case, her face beamed with pride, right? With shy pride, okay? Pride to feel proud.

right? With shy pride, okay? Pride to feel proud.

She's happy, she's satisfied with what she's done.

She's put a lot of effort into this. She's hoping this is gonna go well.

She's really trying hard. And when the cake comes in, her face beamed with shy pride. I mentioned a torch and a flashlight.

Torch in British English and flashlight in American English. There is only a couple of moments in this story where it's obviously American English. For example,

the spelling of the word centre, the birthday cake with one pink candle burning in the centre, C-E-N-T-E-R in American English, C-E-N-T-R-E in British English.

But it's otherwise, it's just an example of how, for the most part, this story just shows how American English and British English are just like identical because there aren't really many other differences that I can notice. So the wife beamed with shy pride over her little surprise and such few people as there were in the restaurant,

meaning even the small number of people in the restaurant tried to help out with a pattering of applause. So applause is when people clap, right? At the end of a theatre play or at the end of a music concert, people applaud and there is applause,

right? A pattering of applause means like a little bit of applause, like just a few people

right? A pattering of applause means like a little bit of applause, like just a few people kind of clapping a little bit in the background, okay? Right, the sound of a few people clapping.

It became clear at once that help was needed because the husband was not pleased. So it became clear, meaning it became obvious. It became clear at once, at once meaning immediately.

So it became obvious immediately. It became clear at once that help was needed. It's interesting that the writer has used was needed,

was needed. It's interesting that the writer has used was needed, which is passive voice because needed by who, right? She doesn't actually say it directly, but we know that we're talking about the wife, that the wife needed help.

And the writer is, the narrator obviously sees that the woman is helpless in this situation. She's in trouble, but nobody can help her without making it worse. It became clear that help was needed.

By not mentioning, by not saying it directly, it somehow makes it a bit more powerful. It became clear at once that the wife needed help. It's a bit too direct,

more powerful. It became clear at once that the wife needed help. It's a bit too direct, but saying it became clear at once that help was needed somehow is a bit more discreet by not putting the wife right into the middle of the sentence.

It makes it a little bit more impersonal. Anyway, it became clear at once that help was needed by the wife because the husband was not pleased. Instead, he was hotly embarrassed.

So we know embarrassed, but hotly embarrassed. Now

that's not a very common collocation. We don't often say hotly embarrassed, but it's good use of language because it does tell us about how the husband felt.

And he wasn't just embarrassed, but he was angry and embarrassed, right? And embarrassed

and angry. And you can imagine that his face was bright red. And we associate heat in emotion.

We associate heat and being hot with anger and strong emotions. So he was hotly embarrassed suggests that he was like really embarrassed and also angry. And he was indignant.

So indignant means angry, annoyed, frustrated, which is a pity that that was his reaction. You

looked at him and you saw this and you thought, oh, now don't be like that. Don't be like that.

Don't be that way. Okay, don't be angry. Don't be like that.

But he was like that. And as soon as the little cake had been deposited on the table and the orchestra had finished the birthday piece and the general attention had shifted from the man and the woman. So as soon as the birthday cake had been deposited, so deposited, it's fairly, it just means put on the table.

It's slightly formal, slightly impersonal language, right? Just deposited on the table. It sounds, I don't know. It just sounds slightly transactional language.

table. It sounds, I don't know. It just sounds slightly transactional language.

Like, you know, normally we'd say money is deposited into a bank account, right? So it's

kind of slightly cold transactional language. As soon as the cake had been deposited on the table, we start to get a sort of sense of an emotional detachment or something. Maybe

I'm reading too much into it, but it was interesting the use of the word deposited.

Just means put on the table, delivered. And the orchestra had finished the birthday piece and the general attention had shifted from the man and the woman. So attention shifted.

It had shifted. As soon as, right? As soon as, and then past perfect. Meaning as soon as, when all these things had been completed, the man said something.

So once all those, he waited for all those things to be done, right? So once they were done and finished, that's when he chose to say what he said. So the general attention had shifted from the man and the woman. Shifted just means moved, right? Moved away.

So everyone was looking at the couple when the cake arrived, but then people's attention shifted away from them. It moved away from them. And when all of those things had happened, I saw him say something to her under his breath, some punishing thing, quick and curt and unkind.

So I saw him say something to her under his breath. So to say something under your breath means to say something in a very quiet voice, in a whisper so that other people can't hear. Like,

you say something under your breath if you're trying to whisper so other people can't hear you, right? So to whisper, to say something under your breath.

right? So to whisper, to say something under your breath.

Some punishing thing, punishing. So a comment that was designed to punish her, to make her feel bad. Because in his mind, the thing that she'd done was not good.

And so he says something nasty to her as a sort of punishment, a punishing comment, a comment that's going to make her feel bad. We don't know what it is, right? We don't know what he said to her. We can only imagine what he said to her,

right? We don't know what he said to her. We can only imagine what he said to her, right? But I mean, it's probably something like, how dare you embarrass me like this

right? But I mean, it's probably something like, how dare you embarrass me like this in public? You know, some stupid cake or something that's, you know, gonna really hurt.

in public? You know, some stupid cake or something that's, you know, gonna really hurt.

Some punishing thing, quick and curt and unkind. So quick meaning just a few words, curt. Curt, this adjective means brief, right? With a few,

curt. Curt, this adjective means brief, right? With a few, only like a short thing to say, but rudely brief, right? Rude because it's so short.

And unkind, unkind meaning cruel. So it would be something like, how dare you or how stupid of you? Something like that. And then the writer continues, I couldn't bear to look at the woman then.

So I stared at my plate and waited for quite a long time. I couldn't bear to look, right? Can't

bear, couldn't bear. Now, if you can't bear to do something, it just means you can't stand doing it.

You just can't, it's too painful, too uncomfortable to do it. For example,

looking at the couple because this poor woman is so upset and the man is so angry and so unreasonable and mean. And it's just, she couldn't bear to look.

So we say, can't bear to do something. We say,

can't stand doing something. And we also can say, can't bring myself to do something.

I just couldn't, I couldn't bear to look. I couldn't bring myself to look. I can't stand seeing things like that.

to look. I can't stand seeing things like that.

And the story continues, not long enough though. So she, cause she looked at her plate and waited for quite a long time, but not long enough though. Notice the use of the word though at the end.

I've mentioned this before, but though at the end like that is like saying, but, right? But we normally put but in between two contrasting things. So

but, right? But we normally put but in between two contrasting things. So

I looked at my plate for a long time, but not long enough. But we can use though at the end, right? I looked at my plate for a long time, not long enough though.

right? I looked at my plate for a long time, not long enough though.

So it does the same job as saying but in the middle, but we just put it at the end. It's very common in spoken English. So not long enough though, because she was still crying when I finally glanced over there again.

So when I glanced, to glance is just to look quickly. So she was looking at her plate and she had a quick look. So just glanced, looked quickly.

She was still crying when she glanced over at them. Crying quietly and heartbrokenly and hopelessly all to herself under the gay big brim of her best hat. So this is really heartbreaking, like the really heartbreaking part, right? It does tell you the way in

which she's crying that she's just feel so sad and lonely at this point.

And it's from a language point of view, there's adverbs here, right? How was she crying? She was crying quietly. She was crying heartbrokenly. She was crying hopelessly.

crying? She was crying quietly. She was crying heartbrokenly. She was crying hopelessly.

She was crying all to herself and she was crying under the gay big brim of her best hat. So crying

quietly, I think we understand that. Crying heartbrokenly because she felt heartbroken, because of the behaviour, the actions, the reaction of this husband, this horrible husband.

Crying hopelessly where, yeah, I suppose even when she's tried really hard to do something cute and special on his birthday, the way he reacted was just like so far away from what she hoped that that kind of couldn't break someone's hope, right? So she's crying with a deep sense of hopelessness

all to herself. So she was doing it all by herself, meaning on her own, but also crying to herself, not crying to anyone else. So you've got crying all by herself, which means she was crying on her own, but crying all to herself means that she was the only audience of her crying.

Like the husband didn't even really care or wasn't even giving her attention to the fact, giving attention to the fact that she was crying. So she was just all on her own crying to herself. She was the only witness, the only audience to her crying.

Right, the husband apparently doesn't care. And doing this under the gay big brim of her best hat. So this is a particularly sad image because of the contrast between this lovely,

best hat. So this is a particularly sad image because of the contrast between this lovely, otherwise exuberant hat and the actual feeling of the woman underneath it.

It should have been a happy carefree occasion, but she's just heartbroken. So that emphasises the sadness, the contrast between the two things. But the gay big brim of her hat.

So the brim, the brim is the part, the bit that goes around the edge of the hat, the widest part. That's the edge of the hat, the brim of the hat, okay? If it's a baseball cap, the baseball cap has a brim at the front and you can

okay? If it's a baseball cap, the baseball cap has a brim at the front and you can slide it around the back if you want. You can bend the brim of the hat.

If it's another type of hat, the brim goes all the way around. In this case, it was a big brim. And the gay big brim of her hat.

So, I mean, this shows, I guess, the age of the story because we don't normally use the word gay like that these days, because it used to just mean happy, carefree, happy. These days, obviously, it means something else, but in those days,

carefree, happy. These days, obviously, it means something else, but in those days, it just meant carefree and happy. So that's why the word gay is being used here.

Her happy, carefree, exuberant hat that she was wearing. She was crying all by herself, all to herself underneath the brim of this hat. And that's the end of the story, okay? Hmm.

What do you think of that? I'd like to know your comments. Feel free to leave your comments in the comment section. What do you think of the situation? So, what do you think the husband said? Any idea what he might've said? How do you think the woman felt in that moment,

said? Any idea what he might've said? How do you think the woman felt in that moment, the wife? Have you ever witnessed something when people watching? What did you think of

the wife? Have you ever witnessed something when people watching? What did you think of the story? Other things, remember you could practise repeating that story after me.

the story? Other things, remember you could practise repeating that story after me.

Just go back to the beginning of the episode to the moment where I told the story line by line.

You could just practise reading through it again and again. And as I said before, you should try perhaps retelling the story in your own words too.

And another exercise you could do, another little speaking challenge that you could do would be to remember a time when you saw someone or some people doing something.

When people watched and you saw something happen, could you describe that? Do you

think you could make that into a story? It would be a good exercise for your English. Practise,

practise practise practise practise practise.

The five Ps. Okay, that's the end of this episode. If you like my story episodes, obviously I've done a few of these now, which you can find in my episode archive, learn English with a short story, but I've got others as well.

I've done about 10 story episodes in my premium podcast. And so you can subscribe to the premium podcast. You can add all the premium episodes to a podcast app on your phone.

And when you do that, you can listen to the episodes. You can also access links in the show notes for each episode,

episodes. You can also access links in the show notes for each episode, links for PDFs and video versions. And I've done, yeah, about 10 story episodes.

Most of those stories in the premium section are true stories about my own life that I've written myself, including stories of my childhood, like sort of funny stuff that happened to me. And I

do a similar thing to what I do in these learn English with a short story episodes. Tell you

the story and then break it down for vocabulary and then give you various grammar, vocabulary, practise exercises, memory exercises to help you remember the vocabulary and then dedicated pronunciation episodes to help you practise repeating after me.

That's what you can find in those story time episodes in my premium subscription. Yeah,

okay. The way it works is you sign up and when you've signed up, you can just really easily add your premium subscription to a podcast app on your phone.

And then it gives you the full list of all of my episodes, all of my free episodes with no advertising and also all my premium episodes in there too. And then you can just listen to the normal episodes, listen to the premium episodes and then find the notes in the show notes. That's where you find links for video versions and PDFs.

Okay, so if you wanna do that, you can just be my guest of course, teacherluke.co.uk slash premium info or just click the link in the description

teacherluke.co.uk slash premium info or just click the link in the description to find out about Luke's English podcast premium. Okay, great. Have a lovely day, afternoon, morning, evening, night, wherever you are in the world, whatever you're doing.

I hope that you are having a nice time out there in podcast land. Thank you

for listening to this episode. I will speak to you again soon in the next one, but for now it's just time to say goodbye.

Bye bye bye bye bye.