Full Name : ………………………………… Form : ….

IN COLD BLOOD , Adapted from Roald Dahl’s “Lamb to the Slaughter”, in Tales of the Unexpected, 1948.

1 After hitting her husband on the back of his head with a frozen leg of lamb – because he was going to leave her for another woman – Mrs Maloney puts the meat in the oven(1), and then goes out to the grocer’s to buy some vegetables and dessert. Then she comes back home and tries to “do everything right and natural”. 5 A few minutes later she got up and went to the phone. She knew the number of the police station, and when the man at the other end answered, she cried to him, : “Quick ! Come quick ! Patrick’s dead !”
- “Who’s speaking ?”
- “Mrs Maloney. Mrs Patrick Maloney.”
- “You mean Patrick Maloney’s dead ?”
10 - “I think so,” she sobbed (2). “He’s lying on the floor and I think he’s dead.”
- “Be right over,” the man said.
The car came very quickly, and when she opened the front door, two policemen walked in. She knew them both – she knew nearly all the men at the precinct (3) – and she fell right into Jack Noonan’s arms, weeping(4) hysterically. He put her gently into a chair, then went over to join the other ones, who was
15 called O’Malley, kneeling (5) by the body.
- “Is he dead ?” she cried.
- “I’m afraid he is. What happened ?”
Briefly she told her story about going out to the grocer and coming back to find him on the floor. While she was talking, crying and talking, Noonan discovered a small patch of congealed blood on the dead man’s
20 head. He showed it to O’Malley who got up and hurried to the phone.
Soon, other men began to come into the house. First a doctor, then two detectives, one of whom she knew by name. […]
She told her story again, this time right from the beginning, when Patrick had come in, and she was sewing
(6), and he was tired, so tired he hadn’t wanted