One day when the sun was shining and Jillian’s office at the BBC was getting warm, she had one of her ideas. « l’ll go up onto the roof after lunch, » she thought, « and sunbathe. I’ve been working hard all the morning and I will only stay there for half an hour. But nobody must see me or I shall get into trouble. »
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So she went onto the h
igh roof, but when she tried to go back to work after half an hour she couldn’t open the door again. « Damn, » she said, « but what can I do? My boss mustn’t know ». Then suddenly she knew what to do. She took a pencil and paper from her handbag and wrote a little letter to Martin: « I’m on the BBC roof. Please help me. » Then on the other side she wrote: « Will you please take this letter to Mr Martin Fry? » and she wrote the address of Martin’s office.
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Jillian threw her letter down into the street and saw a man pick it up. He read it, looked up at Jillian and shouted, « Don’t worry. I will. I’ll take it. » So, seeing him walk away with the letter, Jillian lay down again to sunbathe.
But what she didn’t see was the policeman on the corner of the street, who stopped the man with Jillian’s letter.
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« Excuse me, sir, » he said, « but I’ve been watching you. Will you show me that piece of paper? »
« Of course I will, » the man answered. « But perhaps you will look alter it. I’m in a hurry. »
The policeman read the paper.
« Certainly I will, » he said. « Thank you. I’ll look after this. » And he went quickly across the road to a telephone box and called the police station.
« Listen, » he said, « there’s a young woman on the roof of the BBC. I think perhaps she’s going to jump off. Will you phone the fire station and tell them to bring their longest ladder? And send an ambulance too. »
« Certainly, » the police station said. « We will do all that. You stay there. And will you stop cars using that road? »
« Yes, I will, » the policeman answered, and left the telephone box.
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Five minutes later there were three fire engines and two ambulances outside the BBC. Six policemen were stopping people and cars and saying, « Will you please go round? Will you use the next street, please? » A police helicopter was flying low over the roofs and on another roof across the road a clergyman was trying to shout to Jillian.
« Are you there, young lady? Will you listen to me? You won’t jump, will you? Don’t do anything. We shall be with you in a few minutes. »
But London is a noisy place and Jillian could not hear him. While all this was happening she was lying in the sun. « Somebody’s making a lot of noise down there, » she thought. « But I won’t look. I don’t want anybody to see me. I’ll just lie here and wait for Martin. »
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And while the policemen and firemen and ambulance men were running about outside the BBC, the first policeman was taking Jillian’s letter to Martin. « Hello, » thought Martin, when he saw the policeman. Now what have I been doing? « 
« Will you come with me please, sir? » the policeman said.
« Oh, I haven’t been breaking the law, have I? » Martin asked.
« No, sir, but will you look at this piece of paper? You will come, won’t you, sir? » the policeman asked.
« Of course I will, » said Martin, jumping up from his desk. « Come on, be quick. »
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When they got back to the BBC, everybody was watching the roof » We’ve been trying to get a ladder to her, » a fireman told Martin, « but our ladders are all too short. » Martin turned to the policeman.
« Listen, » he said, « I’m going up to her. But you stay here. I’ll go up in the lift. »
« What will you say? What will you do? » the policeman asked. But Martin was not listening. He was in the lift, saying to himself, « I must get her down safely. I will get her down safely. »
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A minute later he pushed open the roof door, and there was Jillian sunbathing.
» Hello, Martin, » she said. « Look, I’ve been getting brown. Thank you for coming, but I couldn’t open that silly door. I say, there’s a lot of noise down there, isn’t there? But I haven’t been listening. Now I must go back to my desk. And – er – Martin, you won’t tell anybody about this, will you? Or I shall lose my job. Good-bye for now. «
Martin stood with his mouth open outside her office door. Then slowly he began to walk down the stairs. In the street outside a car full of newspapermen was stopping and another fire engine with a longer ladder was arriving.
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Voix: Amercian voice
Source: inconnue
PS: Nous serions ravis de renseigner l’auteur de ce texte et l’illustrateur. Merci de nous contacter.
