The Leg of Lamb*
Mary Maloney | loved her husband, Patrick, | very much. She was going to have a baby |
and every day | she looked forward to Patrick coming home | from his job as a detective.
Everything was perfect, | until one evening | he suddenly told her | that he wanted to leave
her. Mary was shocked | and, | as if in a dream, | went to the freezer | and took out | a
frozen leg of lamb | for their supper.
A few minutes later, | it was over. All right, | she told herself, | so I’ve killed him. She
began to think very fast. She carried the meat to the kitchen, | put it in a pan, | turned the
oven on, | and put the pan inside. Then she washed her hands | and ran upstairs | to her
bedroom. She sat down | in front of the mirror, | tidied her hair | and tried to smile.
“I want some potatoes, | please, Sam. Yes, | and perhaps some beans.”
She practised several times. Then | she ran downstairs, | went out of the back door | and
into the street. She went straight to the shop.
When she returned, | she phoned the police.
“Quick! Come quickly! Patrick’s dead!”
“Who’s speaking?”
“Mrs Maloney. Mrs Patrick Maloney.”
The car | came very quickly, | and when she opened the front door, | two policemen walked
in.
“Is he dead?” | she cried.
“I’m afraid he is. What happened?”
They asked her questions. In a few words | she told them what time Patrick had come
home, | what she was doing at the time, | why she had gone to the grocer’s, | which grocer’s
she had gone to, | what she had bought | and how long she had spent there. She told the
how she had put the meat into the oven | – “It’s there now” – | before she left for the
grocer’s, | and how she had come back | to find him lying on the floor.
They left her there | while they searched the house. They were looking for the murder
weapon. “It’s the old story,” said Detective Noonan. “Get the weapon, | and you’ve
got the murderer…”
After searching the house, | the policemen returned. “Do you know that your oven is still
on, | and the meat is still inside?”
“Oh,” she said. “So it is.” And she knew exactly what she was going to do…
*Adapted from the story by Roald Dahl
Reference
Abbs, B. & I. Freebairn (1991) Blueprint Two. Student’s Book. Harlow. London.
