A Message that was misunderstood

Ali and Minah are a very loving couple. This is an observation commented by practically

everyone who knows them. They have been married six years and they still behave as though

they were newly-weds.

They are the perfect couple, much to the envy of all their friends. Ali is an engineer and

about two years after the marriage, he had been sent by the government to serve in the rural and

backward areas. Since then the couple had been living in a very small village in the “middle of

nowhere” but their four years there had already got them used to living in such an area. They

were well-known for their friendliness, their kindness and also their helpfulness. All these have

made them popular in their village.

Things in Ali’s household had been running very smoothly until recently when Minah

started complaining about not feeling well. It so happenend that there were no hospitals nor

clinics in that village. There was only a medicine shop to attend to the ills and ailments of the

people. The nearest hospital was about fourty miles away and the difficulty was that part of the

journey involved crossing a very wide expanse of water. Therefore, owing to the inconvenience

and trouble involved. Minah had refused to go for a medical chech-up, even with the persistent

persuasion from her husband. Ali knowing the stubborn streak in his wife’s nature, had to give

not up his futile attempts.

One evening, Ali had returned home from work later than usual. The reason was that he

had been tied up in his work. To his surprise, for the first time in all their six years of marriage,

his wife was not there to receive him at the door, no warm or welcoming smile, no one to bring

his slippers, no one to tend to his needs, no one to fuss over him and finally no dinner awaited

him. With his heart in his mouth he searched the whole house for his wife. His heart missed a

beat when he found a slip of paper on the dressing table. There was a message which read :

‘SAYANG, LEFT FOR THE HOSPITAL EMERGENCY; NO TIME TO INFORM YOU.

LOVE, MINAH!’ Ali stared at the message in disbelief. He read the message over and over

again hoping that he had read wrongly.

The first thought that went to his mind was that his wife must have been taken seriously

ill, so ill that she could not even wait for him to send her to the hospital. He blamed himself for

not having make his wife go for the medical check up earlier on. He kept on telling himself that

he would never forgive himself if anything was to happen to her. He had not known the real

meaning of word ‘agony’ untill the moment.

To make matters worse, he could not make it to the hospital that night as the boat service

would only be resumed in the morning. Poor Ali never felt so worried before in his entire life. He

could not do anything at all – he could neither eat nor sleep. He spent a very restless night,

tossing and turning in his bed, imagining his wife to be suffering at the hospital.

Early next morning, after gulping down a cup of coffee, he began his journey to the

hospital. To him, the minutes seemed like hours but at long last, he finally arrived at his

destination.

You can well imagine the relief on Ali’s face when he saw his wife sitting in the waiting

room, looking healthy and fine. He hugged his surprised wife, demanding an explanation for the

message that his wife had left him. His wife, puzzled by his reaction on seeing her, told Ali how

she had accompanied their neighbor to the hospital as he baby’s arrival was due and her husband

was away. She could not return home the same night because of the boat service. Minah laughed

at her husband for having jumped to a wrong conclusion and both walked happily to see their

neighbour and her newborn baby.

Exercise 1

a) Based the extracts from the short story ‘A Message that was Misunderstood’ and answer the

questions that follow.

One evening, Ali had returned home from work later than usual. The reason was that he

had been tied up in his work. To his surprise, for the first time in all their six years of marriage,

his wife was not there to receive him at the door, no warm or welcoming smile, no one to bring

his slippers, no one to tend to his needs, no one to fuss over him and finally no dinner awaited

him. With his heart in his mouth he searched the whole house for his wife. His heart missed a

beat when he found a slip of paper on the dressing table. There was a message which read :

‘SAYANG, LEFT FOR THE HOSPITAL EMERGENCY; NO TIME TO INFORM YOU.

LOVE, MINAH!’ Ali stared at the message in disbelief. He read the message over and over

again hoping that he had read wrongly.

i. Why did Ali’s heart missed a beat when he found a slip a paper from his wife?

………………………………………………………………………………….

………………………………………………………………………………….

ii. Based on the description in the extract, give two characteristics of Ali.

………………………………………………………………………………….

iii. If you were Ali, would you have been as distressed as he was? Give a reason.

…………………………………………………………………………………..

………………………………………………………………………….……….

b) Answer the question below.

1. What does the phrase “ middle of nature” mean?

……………………………………………………………………………………….

……………………………………………………………………………………….

2. Give another word to replace word ‘rural’.

……………………………………………………………………………………….

3. What is the meaning words agony in the story?

……………………………………………………………………………………….

4. What is the main themes in the story?

……………………………………………………………………………………….

5. Why Ali’s wife cannot return home after accompanying their neighbour to the hospital?

……………………………………………………………………………………………..

……………………………………………………………………………………………..

6. Based on your knowledge, give three moral value of the story.

……………………………………………………………………………………………..

……………………………………………………………………………………………..

Exercise 2

Based on the short story, write a summary not less than 100 words.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Exercise 3

Identify the words from the list below :

i. Decide whether they are nouns, verbs or adjectives by marking ( √ ) in the spaces

provided.

ii. Find the base form of the words (if available).

Words Base form Noun Verb Adjective

1. Gulping

2. Rural

3. Worried

4. Observation

5. Kindness

6. Small

7. Wide

8. Nearest

9. Involved

10. Hospital

11. Imagining

12. Arrived

13. Moment

14. Loving

15. Miles

16. Agony

17. Accompanied

18. Disbelief

19. Expanse

20. Hugged

Exercise 4

Match each word with its meaning.

Word

1. Observation

2. Kindness

3. Well-known

4. Agony

5. Stubborn

6. Message

7. Newly-weds

8. Ailments

9. Rural

10. Futile

11. Conclusion

12. Newborn

13. Arrival

14. Service

15. Imagine

Meaning

- The quality of being kind.

- Extreme physical or mental pain.

- Determined not to change opinion or attitude.

- A written or spoken pieces of information.

- A person who has recently got married.

- An illness that is not very serious.

- Know about by a lot of people or generally known and accepted.

- The act of watching carefully for a period of time especially to learn.

- Recently born.

- Connected with or like the countryside.

- Having no purpose because there is no chance of success.

- Something that you decide when you have thought about all the information connected with the situation.

- A person or a thing that comes to a place.

- A system that provides that the public needs, organized by the government or a private company.

- To form a picture in your mind of what might be like.

Execise 5

Find words in the passage that begin with the given letters.

1. Determined not to change opinion or attitude.

S

2. The quality of being kind.

K

3. Recently born.

N

4. Generally known and accepted.

E - N

5. A very small town situated in a country area.

G

6. Not long ago.

R

7. One more time; on another occasion.

A

8. That happens or is done most of the time or in most cases.

U

9. Connected with illness and injury and their treatment.

L

10. To form a fact in your mind of what might be like.

I

EXERCISE 6

The sentences below are the events of the story, “A Message that was Misunderstood”. However, they

are not in the correct order. Reorder them by numbering the sentences in the boxes on the right.

.