The engine made a terrible rattling noise and smoke was starting to come out from under the bonnet.
 |
| Photo credit Mike Baird |
The engine made a terrible rattling noise and smoke was starting to come out from under the bonnet.
Alice stopped the car to see if she could work out what the problem was. As she was lifting up the car bonnet, a deep voice from behind her said,
‘If I were you, I’d change the spark plugs.’
Alice looked around her, but couldn't see anyone in sight. There was a large brown horse with a white star on its forehead. It was looking over the fence at her.
‘I'm imagining it,’ she thought to herself and took another look at the engine. But once again, as soon as she turned her back on the horse, the deep voice said,
‘It’s the spark plugs, I'm telling you.’
Again, she turned to find no one in sight apart from the brown horse. By this stage, Alice was feeling quite unnerved, so she got into the car again. She drove the car slowly to the next village where eventually she found a mechanic. Feeling slightly foolish, she explained about the problem with the car and told the mechanic what the horse had said about the spark plugs.
‘And you say there was nobody around except a horse, when you heard this?’ asked the mechanic.
‘Not a soul!’ replied Alice, ‘Just a big horse.’
‘Was it a brown horse with a white star in the middle of its forehead?’
‘Yes, that’s right. It was.’
‘Oh, I wouldn't take any notice of him, if I were you. That’s old Brownie. He doesn't know anything about engines. He always says it's the spark plugs.’
#second conditional
