FER_Va_Banque_II_demo.pdf

FELBERG ENGLISH READERS

VA BANQUE II

RIPOSTE

A crime comedy based on

an original FI lm script by JULIUSZ MACHULSKI

SIMPLIFIED EDITION

FELBERG ENGLISH READERS

VA BANQUE II

RIPOSTE

A crime comedy based on

an original script by

JULIUSZ MACHULSKI

INTERMEDIATE LEVEL

Adaptation and Exercises: Jerzy Siemasz

Series Editor: Adam Wolañski

Warsaw 2002

Reviewers:

Aldona Stepaniuk

Ewa Wolañska

Copy editor:

Natica Schmeder

Production editor:

Barbara Gluza

Cover designer:

Andrzej-Ludwik W³oszczyñski

DTP:

A.L.W. GRAFIK

by FELBERG SJA Publishing House, 2002

reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,

photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior

written permission of the publisher.

Printed in Poland

ISBN 83-88667-14-9

PROLOGUE

In Poland of the 1930s, a dishonest

partner , one Gustav Kramer, sets up

Kwinto, a man with the heart of gold,

though a safecracker . With Kwinto in jail,

Kramer establishes a bank and starts

swindling his clients out of their money,

disposing of some of them. Thus, Kwinto’s

musician friend is defenestrated , leaving his

widow and child penniless. Finally, Kwinto

goes out and starts settling scores with

Kramer. Now it is he who sets Kramer up,

and, consequently, the dishonest banker is

put away for six years for having robbed

his own bank.

set up [slang] wmanewrowa ç kogo w k Č opoty in Polish; safecracker

kasiarz in Polish; dispose of tu: to kill ; defenestrate to throw a person

out of a window ; settle scores [slang] za Č atwia ç porachunki in Polish

CHAPTER ONE

It was May 1936. Kramer was doing time in the maximum -

security prison in Sikawa. On a nice May day, the prisoners were

out for a walk inside the walls. They were enjoying exercise,

dressed in their prison stripes . In the corridor leading to the

visiting room, Kramer’s lawyer was talking to Stawiski, Kramer’s

former secretary at the bank.

“You know that I’ve done all I can,” insisted the lawyer.

“You’ll tell it to Kramer,” Stawiski said.

They walked into a room, which had iron bars separating the

prisoners from the visitors. Kramer, also in prison stripes, was

waiting for them, angry and impatient.

“Where have you been all this time? What about my appeal?”

“Unfortunately, as of yesterday your sentence is FI nal ,” the

lawyer said.

After a moment of silence, Kramer asked Stawiski in disbelief,

“Is he serious?”

“I’m sorry, sir.”

“Am I to do six years?”

“Don’t worry. You’ll be paroled in two or three years,” the

lawyer tried to comfort him. “Be patient.”

“You were supposed to spring me! I’m in jail while Kwinto is

outside!”

“The jails are full of innocent people,” the lawyer tried to argue.

“I don’t pay you for philosophizing!”

“Come to think of that, you already owe me 965 zloties not

counting expenses.”

do time [slang] odsiadywa ç wyrok in Polish; maximum-security prison

wi ÷ zienie o zaostrzonym rygorze in Polish; prison stripes wi ÷ zienne

pasiaki in Polish; sentence (be) FI nal tu: wyrok prawomocny in Polish;

parole zwolni ç warunkowo in Polish; spring [slang] zorganizowa ç

ucieczk ÷ z wi ÷ zienia in Polish; owe by ç winnym in Polish

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