Passage 2

5 I had no concept of time passing until I became aware of Aun

Aunt Joan she saw the open drawer. An ominous silence developed that w
How dare you meddle in my affairs?’ It was so shocking I had
1 Aunt Joan was frequently confused. Because sheGradually
lived aloneherandold was,
faceI thought,
assumed often
a lonely, I
tired, almost pathetic qu
regularly went to her small apartment to chat with her. Sometimes
anyone. They’llshe was
take allperfectly
my pretty rational,
things while
away and then they’ll
sometimes it was as though she were seeing the world ears,through
her lipsa mist. But she
trembled and hadthe enriched my years descende
toll of ninety
life and I knew I would be greatly impoverished if hersobbing
companionship
wreck. ‘Ofwere suddenly
course withdrawn.
I won’t tell anyone,’ I said, unwis
awfulness of the dilemma hit me when I went home. What on e
2 One day I heard a disturbing story about Aunts a Joan, whichbutreached
promise, theft is ame through
crime – anda that well-
seemed to me to b
intentioned friend. That morning she was in a local market and noticed
Joan having my aunt examining
these valuables several
in her possession.
items at a stall, while glancing nervously over her shoulder from time to time. My friend then
realised that the stallholder was also watching Aunt Joan, although
6 Somewhat he pretended
anxiously, I went tohevisit
wasn’t.
AuntSo Joan again the nex
they both witnessed the moment when my aunt picked up a child’s bracelet and stealthily dropped
and, while she was in the kitchen, I took the opportunity to look
it into her pocket. Then, with a haughty expression, buthernowhead held
it was high, As
empty. sheshe attempted
made notoreference
walk to my discov
away. When the stallholder stopped her and asked magined
to see what thatwas
sheinhad
herforgotten
pocket, she aboutflungit. the
But now I knew that
bracelet across the stall with an arrogant gesture, hadcrying:
taken ‘What do I want
the precaution with your
of hiding the tawdry
jewellery elsewhere. Bu
trinkets?’ he first place or did I dream the whole thing up?’ I said to mysel

3 When I visited Aunt Joan that same evening, she was unusually
7 Later, the teaquiet; she
things just looked
cleared away,out of the
I was chatting with Aunt J
window as though she had not even heard me. I went into the kitchen to make us both tea, but
sewing. As she put her work away into her capacious sewing
when I opened the cupboard, I was dismayed to find an ill-assorted
shower collection
of gold bangles, of cheap
rings, objects, rolled across t
and necklaces
which were clearly unused: three egg cups, a great quantity
followed. of white
Neither ribbon,
of us knew four
what to children’s
say. What on earth would h
colouring books and a necklace of gaudy beads, all with labels still attached to them. It had clearly
5​
101
been going on for some time.
5202
4 A week later, when I called in to see Aunt Joan, she was sitting at the table, busy with notebooks
and pencil. ‘Fetch me my spare pair of glasses, Mary,’ she said as I entered. ‘They’re in the 5303
second drawer in my bedside cabinet.’ What made me pull open the third drawer? It was not
intentional but the sight almost paralysed me; for several seconds I thought I would choke. The 5404
open drawer revealed several gold bangles, six diamond rings and a few pearl necklaces – a
5
small fortune in jewellery. I was familiar enough with Aunt Joan’s past life to know there were no
riches like that in our family.
Read ​Passage 2​, ​Aunt Joan​, in the Insert and answer ​all ​the questions below.

From paragraph 1

3 (a) ​Why did the writer regularly visit Aunt Joan?

Because she live alone and writer thought lonely

.............................................................................................................................................. [2]
 (b) ​In what way does the writer indicate that Aunt Joan was ‘frequently confused’ (line 1)?

Because sometime it was thought she was seeing the world throught mist.
............................................................................................................................................ [2]

From paragraph 2

4 (a) ​What ​two ​

things did Aunt Joan do which showed that she knew she was doing something
wrong?

(i) ​glancing nervously over her shoulder from time to time

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

(ii) ​Stealing child bracelet and stealthy dropped into her pocket
..........................................................................................................................................

..................................................................................................................................... [6]

From paragraph 3

5 (a) ​Why does the writer think that the objects in the cupboard ‘were clearly unused’ (line 18)?

All the labels were attached to items

........................................................................................................................................ [2]

(b) ​‘It had clearly been going on for some time.’ (line 20) What does ‘it’ refer to?

Aunt joan stealing

............................................................................................................................................. [2]

From paragraph 4

6 (a) ​What mistake did the writer make when Aunt Joan asked her to fetch her spare pair of
glasses?
 She opened wrong drawer as she was to second drawer but she opened third drawer

.............................................................................................................................................
[2] From paragraph 5

(a) Why did Aunt Joan go into the bedroom?

Because the writer was in room for long time

..................................................................................................................................... [2]

From paragraph 6

8 ​The writer looked in Aunt Joan’s ‘bedside cabinet once more, but now it was empty’ (lines
39–40).

What was she looking for?

The jewelery
...........................................................................................................................................

..................................................................................................................................... [2]