Bassim
VIP Member
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2008
- Member Type
- Student or Learner
- Native Language
- Bosnian
- Home Country
- Bosnia Herzegovina
- Current Location
- Sweden
Would you please correct my mistakes in the third part of my short story?
In the meantime, the media caught a whiff of the story, and numerous journalists and TV crews arrived in the village. They wanted of course to talk to the main witness, Pablo, but the poor man was in no state to give any interviews. His incoherent mumbling made no sense, and therefore they turned to his wife. Conchita felt flattered with so much attention, and she repeated in detail what her husband had told her about his encounter with the bear.
Journalists also managed to track down the two woodcutters, who had meanwhile moved far away from the village and lived in a city. They retrained as forklift drivers and worked in a warehouse. As soon as the journalists mentioned the word “bear”, the two men winced with pain. The ill-fated encounter had marked them for life, and they didn’t want to be reminded of their traumas. No matter how much money they had been offered, they would not talk to media for anything in the world. This left Conchita the main source of information, especially as the authorities were reluctant to talk to the media. She became a star overnight. The first woman from the village who appeared on TV, she talked not only to the Spanish TV channels, but also to the main news channels in the world, such as BBC, CNN, Fox News, France 24, CGTN…
She was soon contacted by a PR agency, which offered to take care of her contacts with the media. As the money started to flow into her bank account, Conchita underwent a personal transformation. Where before she wore sloppy everyday clothes, now her wardrobe consisted of newly bought designer clothes. An assortment of expensive, hand-made bags like Gucci, Bottega and Balenciaga took up the whole shelf. Her once mud-caked, scuffed boots were the thing of the past. Her now manicured feet were ensconced in a pair of Christian Louboutin pumps. With her new hairstyle, make-up, and jewellery, she wouldn’t be recognized even by her parents.
Conchita ordered a chicken coop and a pigsty to be removed because she had no use of them anymore. In their place she built a pool, which she used a couple of times a week when she needed to relax after the series of demanding interviews. She didn’t allow Pablo to come near the water for fear of drowning. Meanwhile, he had regressed into a child-like state and was unable to take care of himself. She had contemplated of sending him to some institution, but the PR agency advised her to keep him at home. Pablo might have cause her some inconvenience, but his mental and physical state would certainly generate more income because viewers liked to watch madmen who were unaware of their strange behaviour and peculiarities.
Conchita enjoyed the limelight. Her followers on Instagram and Facebook grew into hundreds of thousands. It seemed that half of humankind wanted to be friends with her Letters and emails from all the continents arrived regularly and in such numbers that she had to employ a young savvy girl to deal with the correspondence. They were sent from all kinds of people: from curious children who wanted to know more about the bear to sleazy men who called themselves “Bear” and sent the pictures of their enlarged sexual organs. She replied to the first group with the kindest letters and ignored the second. She had personal telephone numbers of many news editors and media bosses who would call her when there was the shortage of news. A running story about the bear who could speak Spanish, moreover with a Madrid accent, was always a safe bet.
Conchita had understood that her poor English was a main obstacle in her new career, and therefore she hired a private tutor who came to her home three times a week to improve her English, especially pronunciation. After a few months. she talked into the camera with unshakable self-confidence, even flirting with male interviewers.
TO BE CONTINUED
In the meantime, the media caught a whiff of the story, and numerous journalists and TV crews arrived in the village. They wanted of course to talk to the main witness, Pablo, but the poor man was in no state to give any interviews. His incoherent mumbling made no sense, and therefore they turned to his wife. Conchita felt flattered with so much attention, and she repeated in detail what her husband had told her about his encounter with the bear.
Journalists also managed to track down the two woodcutters, who had meanwhile moved far away from the village and lived in a city. They retrained as forklift drivers and worked in a warehouse. As soon as the journalists mentioned the word “bear”, the two men winced with pain. The ill-fated encounter had marked them for life, and they didn’t want to be reminded of their traumas. No matter how much money they had been offered, they would not talk to media for anything in the world. This left Conchita the main source of information, especially as the authorities were reluctant to talk to the media. She became a star overnight. The first woman from the village who appeared on TV, she talked not only to the Spanish TV channels, but also to the main news channels in the world, such as BBC, CNN, Fox News, France 24, CGTN…
She was soon contacted by a PR agency, which offered to take care of her contacts with the media. As the money started to flow into her bank account, Conchita underwent a personal transformation. Where before she wore sloppy everyday clothes, now her wardrobe consisted of newly bought designer clothes. An assortment of expensive, hand-made bags like Gucci, Bottega and Balenciaga took up the whole shelf. Her once mud-caked, scuffed boots were the thing of the past. Her now manicured feet were ensconced in a pair of Christian Louboutin pumps. With her new hairstyle, make-up, and jewellery, she wouldn’t be recognized even by her parents.
Conchita ordered a chicken coop and a pigsty to be removed because she had no use of them anymore. In their place she built a pool, which she used a couple of times a week when she needed to relax after the series of demanding interviews. She didn’t allow Pablo to come near the water for fear of drowning. Meanwhile, he had regressed into a child-like state and was unable to take care of himself. She had contemplated of sending him to some institution, but the PR agency advised her to keep him at home. Pablo might have cause her some inconvenience, but his mental and physical state would certainly generate more income because viewers liked to watch madmen who were unaware of their strange behaviour and peculiarities.
Conchita enjoyed the limelight. Her followers on Instagram and Facebook grew into hundreds of thousands. It seemed that half of humankind wanted to be friends with her Letters and emails from all the continents arrived regularly and in such numbers that she had to employ a young savvy girl to deal with the correspondence. They were sent from all kinds of people: from curious children who wanted to know more about the bear to sleazy men who called themselves “Bear” and sent the pictures of their enlarged sexual organs. She replied to the first group with the kindest letters and ignored the second. She had personal telephone numbers of many news editors and media bosses who would call her when there was the shortage of news. A running story about the bear who could speak Spanish, moreover with a Madrid accent, was always a safe bet.
Conchita had understood that her poor English was a main obstacle in her new career, and therefore she hired a private tutor who came to her home three times a week to improve her English, especially pronunciation. After a few months. she talked into the camera with unshakable self-confidence, even flirting with male interviewers.
TO BE CONTINUED
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