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MINISTERUL EDUCATIEI SI CERCETARII

OLIMPIADA DE LIMBA ENGLEZA

FAZA PE JUDET / MUNICIPIUL BUCURESTI, 18 MARTIE 2006

CLASA a XI-a

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The Universal Story by Ali Smith

There was a man dwelt by a churchyard.Well, no, okay, it wasn't always a man; in this particular case it was a woman. There was a

woman dwelt by a churchyard. Though, to be honest, nobody really uses that word nowadays.Everybody says cemetery. And nobody says dwelt any more. n other words!

There was once a woman who lived by a cemetery. Every morning when she woke up she lookedout o" her back window and saw #

Actually, no. There was once a woman who lived by # no, in # a second#hand bookshop. She livedin the $at on the %rst $oor and ran the shop which took up the whole o" downstairs. There she sat, daya"ter day, among the skulls and the bones o" second#hand books, the stacks and shelves o" themspanning the lengths and breadths o" the long and narrow rooms, the piles o" them swaying up,precarious like rootless towers, towards the cracked plaster o" the ceiling. &ow each was here, with too

many possible reasons to guess at when it came to the uestion o" how it had ended up sunk in thebook dust which specked the air in which the woman, on this winter's day, sat by hersel", sensing allround her the weight o" it, the covers shut on so many millions o" pages that might never be opened tolight again.

The shop was down a side street o( the centre o" a small rural village which "ew tourists visitedin the summer and in which business had slowed considerably since )*+, the year the -ueen other,looking "rail and holding her hat on her head with one hand because o" the wind, had cut the ribbon onthe bypass which made getting to the city much uicker and stopping in the village uite di/cult. Thenthe bank had closed and eventually the post o/ce. There was a grocer's but most people drove to thesupermarket si0 miles away. The supermarket also stocked books, though hardly any.

The woman sat in the empty shop. t was late a"ternoon. t would be dark soon. She watched a$y in the window. t was early in the year "or $ies. t $ew in veering triangles then settled on The 1reat1atsby by 2. Scott 2it3gerald to bask in what late winter sun there was.

4r#no. Wait!

There was once a $y resting brie$y on an old paperback book in a second#hand bookshopwindow. thad paused there in a moment o" warmth be"ore launching back into the air, which it woulddo any second now. t was a common house $y, a musca domesticus linnaeus, o" the diptera"amily,which means it had two wings. t stood on the cover o" the book and breathed air through its spiracles.

thad been laid as an egg less than a millimetre long in a wad o" manure in a "armyard a mile anda hal" awayand had become a legless maggot "eeding o( the manureit had been laid in. Then, becausewinter was coming, it had wriggled by sheer muscle contraction nearly a hundred and twenty "eet. thad lain dormant "or almost "our months in the grit round the base o" a wall under several "eet o"stacked hay in the barn. n a spell o" mild weather over the last weekend it had broken the top o( thepupa and pulled itsel" out, a $y now, si0 millimetres long. 5nder an eave o" the barn it had spread anddried its wings and waited "or its body to harden in the une0pectedly spring like air coming up "rom the6alearics. t had entered the rest o" the world through a $y#si3ed crack in the roo" o" the barn thatmorning then 3ig3agged "or over a mile looking "or light, warmth and "ood. When the woman whoowned the shop had opened her kitchen window to let the condensation out as she cooked her lunch, it

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had $own in. &ow it was e0creting and regurgitating, which is what $ies do when they rest on thesur"aces o" things.

To be e0act, it wasn't an it, it was a "emale $y, with a longer body and red slitted eyes set widerapart than i" she had been a male $y. 7er wings were each a thin, per"ect, delicately veined membrane.89: 7er long mouth had a sponging end "or sucking up liuid and "or liue"ying solids like sugar or $ouror pollen. She was sponging with her proboscis the picture o" the actors obert ed"ord and ia2arrow on the cover o" the edition o" The 1reat 1atsby. 6ut there was little there really o"interest, as you might imagine, to a house $y which needs urgently to "eed and to breed, which iscapable o" carrying over one million bacteria and transmitting everything "rom common diarrhoea todysentery, salmonella, typhoid "ever, cholera, poliomyelitis, anthra0, leprosy and tuberculosis; andwhich senses that at any moment a predator will catch her in its web or crush her to death with a $y#swat or, i" she survives these, that it will still any moment now simply be cold enough to snu( out hersel"

and all ten o" the generations she is capable o" setting in motion this year, all nine hundred o" the eggsshe will be capable o" laying given the chance, the average twenty days o" li"e o" an average commonhouse $y.

&o. 7ang on. 6ecause!There was once a )*=> alone; this popularity was partly due to the%lm o" the novel which came out that year, directed by @ack layton. ts cover, once bright yellow, hadalready lost most o" its colour be"ore it arrived at the shop. Since the book had been in the window it hadwhitened even more. n the %lm#still on it, ornate in a twenties#style "rame, obert ed"ord and ia2arrow, the stars o" the %lm, were also uite "aded.

The novel had %rst been bought "or BCp DF#G in )*=> in a Hevon bookshop by osemary hildwho was twenty#two and who had "elt the urge to read the book be"ore she saw the %lm. She marriedher %ancI oger two years later. They mi0ed their books and gave their doubles to a ornwall hospital.

This one had been picked o( the hospital library trolley in Ward )> one long hot @uly a"ternoon in )*==by Sharon price', the woman said.The man looked at her. 7e smiled a beauti"ul smile. The woman's "ace lit up.'6ut, well, since it's very "aded', she said, 'you can have it "or %"ty.''Hone', he said.

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'Would you like a bag "or itN' she asked.'&o, it's okay', he said. '7ave you any moreN''Any more 2it3geraldN' the woman said. 'Oes, under 2. 'll Just #''&o, the man said. mean, any more copies o" The 1reat 1atsby.''Oou want another copy o" The 1reat 1atsbyN' The woman said.' want all your copies o" it', the man said, smiling.The woman went to the shelves and "ound him "our more copies o" The 1reat 1atsby. Then she

went through to the storeroom at the back o" the shop and checked "or more.'&ever mind', the man said. '2ive'll do. Two pounds "or the lot, what do you sayN'7is car was an old ini etro. The back seat o" it is under a sea o" di(erent editions o" The

1reat 1atsby. 7e cleared some stray copies "rom beneath the driverPs seat so they wouldn't slide underhis "eet or the pedals while he was driving and threw the books he'd Just bought over his shoulder on to

the heap without even looking. 7e started the engine. The ne0t second#hand bookshop was si0 milesaway, in the city. 7is sister had called him "rom her bath two 2ridays ago. '@ames, Pm in the bath', she'dsaid. ' need Scott 2it3gerald's The 1reat 1atsby.'

'WhatN' he'd said.She told him again.' need as many as possible', she said.'4kay', he'd said.7e worked "or her because she paid well; she had a grant.'7ave you ever read itN' she asked.'&o, he'd said. Ho have toN''So we beat on', she'd said. '6oats against the current. 6orne back ceaselessly into the past. 1et

itN''What about petrol money, i" 'm supposed to drive all over the place looking "or booksN' he'd

said.'Oou've got %ve hundred uid to buy %ve hundred books. Oou get them "or less, you can keep the

change. And 'll pay you two hundred on top "or your trouble. 6oats against the current. t's per"ect,isn't it'

'And petrol moneyN' he'd said.''ll pay it', she'd sighed!6ecause!There was once a woman in the bath who had Just phoned her brother and asked him to %nd

her as many copies o" The 1reat 1atsby as possible.She was collecting the books because she made "ull#si3ed boats out o" things boats aren't

usually made out o". Three years ago she had made a three#"oot long boat out o" da(odils which sheand her brother had stolen at night "rom people's "ront gardens all over town. She had launched it,climbing into it, in the local canal. Water had come up round her "eet almost immediately, then upround her knees, her thighs, till she was midri(#deep in icy water and da(odils $oating all round her,unravelled.

6ut a small crowd had gathered to watch it sink and the story had attracted a lot o" local andeven some national media attention. Sponsored by nter$ora, which paid enough "or her to come o(

unemployment bene%t, she made another boat, %ve "eet long and out o" mi0ed $owers, everything "romlilies to snowdrops. t also sank, but this time was %lmed "or an arts proJect, with her in it, sinking. Thishad won her a huge arts commission to make more une0pected boats. 4ver the last two years she hadmade ten# and twelve#"ooters out o" sweets, leaves, clocks and photographs and had launched each onewith great ceremony at a di(erent 5Q port. &one o" them had lasted more than eighty "eet out to sea.

The 1reat 1atsby, she thought in the bath. t was a book she remembered "rom heradolescence and as she'd been lying in the water "retting about what to do ne0t

so her grant wouldn'tbe taken away "rom her it hadsuddenly come into her head. t was per"ect, she thought, nodding tohersel". So we beat on. The last line o" the book.

And so, since we've come to the end already! The seven#"oot boat made o" copies o" The 1reat1atsby stucktogether with waterproo" sealant was launched in the spring in the port o" 2eli0stowe.

The artist's brother collected over three hundred copies o" The 1reat 1atsby and drovebetween Wales and Scotland doing so. t is still uite hard to buy a copy o" The 1reat 1atsby second#hand in some o" the places he visited. t cost him a hundred and eighty three pounds %"ty e0actly. 7ekept the change. 7e was also a man apt to wash his hands be"ore he ate, so was unharmed by anyresidue le"t by the $y earlier in the story on the cover o" the copy he bought in the uiet second#handbookshop.

This particular copy o" The 1reat 1atsby, with the names o" some o" the people who had ownedit inked under each other in their di(erent handwritings on its inside %rst page # osemary hild,Sharon

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books, shake them all open. t would take her well into the spring. 2iction, then non#%ction, then all thesub#categories. 7er heart was light. That evening she began, at the letter A.

The woman who lived by a cemetery, remember, back at the very beginningN She looked out o"her window and she saw ? ah, but that's another story.

And lastly, what about the %rst, the man we began with, the man dwelt by a churchyardN7e lived a long and happy and sad and very event"ul li"e, "or years and years and years, be"ore

he died. DabridgedG