A guesthouse, a half-hour power cut and an envelope that wasn’t to be opened until tomorrow.
The lights went out at twenty to ten, with the first clap of thunder. In the Blackbird guesthouse, the lamps, the kitchen radio and the street lights all went off at once. Nerea, who was eleven and had the ears of an owl, stood still at the top of the stairs, listening to the rain against the windows.
That afternoon a very special envelope had arrived. Inside was the name of the winner of the village festival’s short-story competition, and Amparo, the head of the jury, had left it on the hall table, closed with a red wax seal: “To be opened tomorrow at twelve, in the square, in front of everyone.” Three guests were sleeping in the house that night: Amparo herself; Tomás, the cook who had come to prepare the festival lunch; and Valeria, who had entered the competition with a story about a seagull.
When the lights went out, Tomás lit a candle in the hall, next to the envelope, so that nobody would trip on the stairs, and went back to the kitchen to keep an eye on the hot chocolate, which was warming on the gas stove. Nerea’s mother handed out new candles for the bedrooms. Valeria took hers up to her room.
The lights came back on at ten past ten. Nerea went down for a glass of water and saw it at once: the wax seal on the envelope was broken in two. Someone had opened it and put it back in its place. The white paper was still clean, without a single smudge. Beside it, the hall candle, still lit, had burnt halfway down, and Misi, the cat, was asleep in the armchair.
“It was the cat,” said Tomás, coming out of the kitchen with his hands smeared with chocolate. “She’s always jumping onto tables.”
“I haven’t left my room,” said Valeria from the stairs. “I’ve been reading by candlelight the whole half hour.”
A little later, Nerea went up to take her a towel. On Valeria’s bedside table stood the candle her mother had given her: whole, straight, with a white wick, as if it had just come out of the box. Nerea left the towel, said goodnight and went downstairs to find Amparo.
Activities
1 Detective Inference
Who opened the envelope during the power cut? Tick the correct hypothesis.
- a) Misi, the cat, who jumped onto the table.
- b) Tomás, the cook.
- ✓c) Valeria, the guest who had entered the competition.
- d) Amparo, the head of the jury.
Which clue proves it? Copy or summarise the clue from the text that proves it.
Correct hypothesis: c). Exactly. Her alibi doesn’t hold up.
Key clue: “She said she had spent the half hour reading by the light of her candle, but that candle had a white wick: it had never been lit.” That’s the proof: if her candle was never lit, she wasn’t reading by it. She lied about where she was.
2 The Loom Order of events
The story begins with the power cut and then goes back. Put the events in the order they happened. Write the order number (1, 2, 3…) in each box.
- 4 Valeria goes up to her room with a new candle.
- 2 The lights go out with the first clap of thunder.
- 3 Tomás lights a candle by the envelope and goes back to the kitchen.
- 5 The lights come back and Nerea finds the broken seal.
- 1 Amparo leaves the sealed envelope on the hall table.
- 6 Nerea sees Valeria’s candle, with its white wick.
Correct order:
- Amparo leaves the sealed envelope on the hall table.
- The lights go out with the first clap of thunder.
- Tomás lights a candle by the envelope and goes back to the kitchen.
- Valeria goes up to her room with a new candle.
- The lights come back and Nerea finds the broken seal.
- Nerea sees Valeria’s candle, with its white wick.
The first paragraph tells of the power cut, but the second goes back to “that afternoon”, when Amparo left the envelope. Then, in the dark, Tomás lights the candle and the candles are handed out; at ten past ten the lights come back, and only “a little later” does Nerea go up with the towel.
3 The Missing Page Coherence
Which continuation fits everything we know? Tick only one option.
- ✓a) Valeria confesses that she went down in the dark, feeling her way along the banister, and read the name by the light of the hall candle.
- b) Valeria confesses that she went down with her candle lit and took the envelope to her room to read it in peace.
- c) At twelve, in the square, Amparo opens the envelope from the afternoon, its red wax seal intact, in front of everyone.
- d) Tomás admits it was him, and Amparo finds his chocolate fingerprints on the envelope.
Answer: a). It all fits: her candle was never lit, so she had to go down without a light and use the only one there was, in the hall, which burnt halfway down.
- b) Her candle had a white wick: it was never lit. And the envelope never left the hall: it was still on the table.
- c) That envelope’s seal was broken in two. It wasn’t intact any more.
- d) The envelope was clean, without a single smudge, and Tomás’s hands were smeared with chocolate.
4 Spot the Contradiction Literal reading
Three statements don’t fit the story. Put an X next to the 3 statements that don’t fit the text.
- a) The lights went out at twenty to ten, with the first clap of thunder.That’s how the story begins.
- ✗b) Tomás lit the hall candle and stayed there, guarding the envelope.He lit the candle and went back to the kitchen to watch the hot chocolate.
- c) The envelope was closed with a red wax seal.That’s how Amparo left it.
- ✗d) When the lights came back, the envelope had disappeared from the table.It was still in its place, but with the seal broken.
- e) Valeria had entered the competition with a story about a seagull.The second paragraph says so.
- ✗f) The candle on Valeria’s bedside table had burnt halfway down.It was whole, with a white wick. The one that burnt halfway down was the hall candle.
5 The Gallery Visualisation
In the game you choose the illustration that answers this question: “Which illustration shows the hall when Nerea comes down, once the lights are back?”. Here, you draw it yourself, with every detail the text gives you.
What should appear: The lights are back, the hall candle is still lit beside the envelope, the cat is asleep in the armchair and outside it’s raining under lit street lamps.
Reward drawings that include the details from the text, not artistic skill.
Ending
To read aloud once the answers have been checked.
Amparo didn’t make a fuss. She went upstairs, knocked on Valeria’s door and, without a word, showed her the white wick of her candle. Valeria turned red and told her everything: she had gone down in the dark, feeling her way along the banister, and had read the name by the light of the hall candle.
“So who wins?” asked Nerea, who couldn’t help herself.
“We’ll find out tomorrow at twelve,” said Amparo. “As planned.”
The next day, in the square, Amparo opened a new envelope, written and sealed that very morning in front of witnesses. The prize went to “The Seagull Who Couldn’t Find Her Way Home”, by Valeria. The whole village clapped. Valeria smiled, but later she confessed to Nerea: “The worst thing about opening the envelope was that I couldn’t be surprised any more.”
Suggested marking
Each activity is worth 2 points (10 in total). In 1, one point for the hypothesis and one for the clue. In 2, give one point if only a couple of events are swapped. In 4, half a point for each correct cross and minus half a point for each true statement crossed out.