The Photograph in the Coat (A2 Reading Story)

A2 · ELEMENTARY Reading practice · ~1,800 words · 12-min read

This is a short mystery story for elementary learners. The story uses simple past tense and short sentences. First, read the eight key words. Then read the story. At the end, there is a small quiz to check what you understand.

The story

1 · The coat from the charity shop

Last Saturday, Anna went into town. She wanted to buy a new coat. But new coats were very expensive. So Anna decided to go to the charity shop. A charity shop is a shop that sells old clothes and books, and the money helps people. Anna loved charity shops. You could find nice things for a small price.

Anna looked at the coats. There were red coats, black coats, and brown coats. Then she saw a grey coat. It was old, but it was very pretty. It had a soft collar and small silver buttons. Anna tried it on. It fit her well. She looked in the mirror and smiled.

“How much is this coat?” she asked the woman behind the counter.

“Ten pounds,” the woman said.

Anna paid ten pounds. Then she put the coat on and walked home. She was very happy with her new coat.

That evening, Anna sat down on her sofa. She wanted to look at her new coat again. She put her hand in the pocket. And there — she felt something. Something small and hard.

Anna pulled it out. It was a photograph — an old photograph. A photograph is a picture from a camera. The photo was black and white. In the photo, there was a young man. He wore a white shirt. He had dark hair and a kind smile. He looked about twenty years old.

Anna turned the photograph over. On the back, there was some writing. The handwriting was old and beautiful. Handwriting is the way a person writes with a pen. It said:

To Elsie, with all my love. Tom, June 1965.

Anna looked at the photo again. Nineteen sixty-five! The photo was almost sixty years old. Who was Tom? Who was Elsie? And why was this photograph in her new coat?

2 · A little mystery

Anna could not stop thinking about the photograph. She looked at it before she went to sleep. She thought about Tom. She thought about Elsie. Where were they now? Were they still alive? Were they happy? Did they meet again?

The next morning, Anna made a decision. She was going to find Elsie. She wanted to give the photograph back. It was clearly important to somebody. And it was in her coat now, so it was her small job to help.

But how? Anna did not know Elsie’s family name. She did not know where Elsie lived. She only had a first name and a very old photograph. It was a small mystery — but Anna liked mysteries. A mystery is something you do not understand and want to find out.

First, Anna went back to the charity shop. She showed the woman the coat and the photograph.

“Do you know who gave this coat to the shop?” Anna asked.

The woman thought for a moment. “I am sorry,” she said. “We get many coats every day. I cannot remember.”

“Please,” Anna said. “It is important. There is a photograph inside. I want to give it back to the owner.”

The woman looked at Anna. She saw that Anna really wanted to help. “Wait a minute,” she said. She went to the back of the shop. When she came back, she had a small book.

“We write down big donations,” she said. “This coat came with two big bags of clothes last week. A young man brought them. His name is here — Peter Wilson. He said his aunt gave him the bags. Her name is here too — Mrs Green, at twelve Old Bridge Road.”

Anna wrote the address in her small notebook. “Thank you so much,” she said. Now she had a first step.

3 · The old bridge road

Old Bridge Road was on the other side of the town. Anna walked there after lunch. It was a quiet street with small houses and old trees. The sky was grey, but it was not cold.

Number twelve was a small red-brick house. It had white windows and a green door. There were no flowers in the garden — only some brown leaves on the ground. Anna knocked on the door. Nobody answered. She knocked again. Still nothing.

Anna waited on the step. She did not know what to do. She looked at the photograph in her hand.

“Excuse me,” a voice said.

Anna turned round. An old man stood at the gate. He held a bag of shopping in one hand. His hair was white and his eyes were blue.

“I am sorry,” Anna said. “I am looking for Mrs Green.”

The old man’s face changed. He looked sad.

“Mrs Green was my neighbour for fifty years,” he said. A neighbour is a person who lives near you. “But she does not live here now. She was ill last spring. Her family took her to a care home. A care home is a place where old people live and get help.”

Anna’s heart fell a little. “Oh,” she said. “I see. Do you know where the care home is?”

“Yes,” the old man said. “It is called Green Fields. It is near the park, only ten minutes from here. But please — why do you want to see her?”

Anna showed him the photograph. She told him about the coat and the charity shop.

The old man looked at the photograph for a long time. His eyes became wet. “I do not know the name Tom,” he said quietly. “But I can see this photograph is important. Please — take it to her. She will be so happy.”

4 · Green Fields

Anna took the bus to Green Fields Care Home. It was a big yellow building with a garden full of flowers. Old people sat outside in the sun. Some read books. Some drank tea. Some talked with visitors. It was a friendly place.

Anna went to the door. A young nurse with a red name badge greeted her.

“Hello,” Anna said. “I am here to see Mrs Green. Elsie Green.”

“Are you family?” the nurse asked.

“No,” Anna said. “But I have something for her. Something important.”

The nurse looked at her carefully. Then she smiled. “One minute, please. I will ask her.”

Anna sat down. She waited. Her heart beat fast. What was Mrs Green going to say? Was she going to remember Tom? Was the photograph going to make her sad, or happy?

After a few minutes, the nurse came back.

“Mrs Green would like to see you,” she said. “Please come with me.”

Anna followed her. They walked down a long clean hall. There were paintings of birds on the walls. At the end, there was a small quiet room. A woman sat by the window in a soft chair.

Mrs Green was old — maybe eighty years old. She had short white hair. She wore a blue jumper. Her hands were thin, but they looked strong. When Anna came in, she looked up. Her eyes were clear and very kind.

“Hello, dear,” Mrs Green said. “The nurse tells me you have something for me?”

“Yes,” Anna said. She sat down beside her. She took the photograph from her bag. “I bought a coat at the charity shop last week. And I found this in the pocket.”

Anna gave her the photograph. Mrs Green took it slowly. When she saw the picture, her hand went to her mouth. For a long moment, she did not speak. Then, very slowly, one tear ran down her face. A tear is a small drop of water. It falls from your eye when you are sad or very happy.

“Oh,” she whispered. “Oh, Tom.”

Anna did not know what to say. She waited quietly.

5 · The story of Tom

After a minute, Mrs Green turned the photograph over. She read the handwriting on the back. She smiled a small, soft smile.

“I lost this photograph twenty years ago,” she said. “I looked for it everywhere in the house. I moved every book, I opened every drawer, but I could not find it. So in the end, I stopped looking. I thought it was gone forever. But now — here it is. In my old grey coat.”

“So it was your coat!” Anna said.

Mrs Green nodded. “My nephew took my old clothes to the charity shop last month. A nephew is the son of your sister or your brother. My nephew Peter is a good boy. I told him — take everything, dear. I do not need coats here. But this coat…” She looked at the photograph again. “I did not know Tom’s picture was in the pocket.”

Anna waited. She wanted to ask about Tom, but she did not want to be rude.

Mrs Green looked up at her. She smiled a warm, small smile.

“Would you like to hear about him, dear?” she asked.

“Yes, please,” Anna said. “Very much.”

“Tom was my first love,” Mrs Green said. “We met when I was seventeen. He was a kind boy from the next town. He gave me this photograph in the summer of nineteen sixty-five. But then his family moved far away, to another country. It was different in those years — there were no phones and no messages. We wrote letters for a little time. But then, slowly, we stopped. I never saw him again.”

“That is so sad,” Anna said.

“It was sad then,” Mrs Green said. “But life is long, dear. After Tom, I met my husband, John. We had two beautiful children. I had a good life. But sometimes, on quiet days, I remembered Tom. And I remembered this photograph. When I lost it, I felt very sad. It was a small piece of my young years.”

She held the photograph tight. “And now, because of a kind stranger, I have it again. Thank you, dear. You do not know how much this means to me.”

6 · A new friend

Mrs Green called the nurse. She asked for two cups of tea and some biscuits. Then she asked Anna to stay a little longer.

They sat by the window. They drank tea. They talked. Anna told Mrs Green about her job at the small library in the town. Mrs Green told Anna more stories from her long life. She talked about her children, her old garden, and her cat, Marmalade.

Before Anna went home, Mrs Green took her hand. “Will you come and see me again, dear?” she asked. “It is very quiet here. Not many people visit me.”

Anna smiled. “Of course,” she said. “I will come next Saturday. And I will bring cake.”

“Good,” Mrs Green said. “I like cake very much. Bring lemon cake, if you can.”

Anna walked out into the garden. The sun was low in the sky now. She looked back at the yellow building. She thought about the coat and the photograph. She thought about Tom and Mrs Green’s kind blue eyes. A small ten-pound coat had changed two lives in one week.

Anna was going to visit Mrs Green every week now. She was going to hear more of her stories. And maybe — one quiet day — she was going to find another surprise in another charity-shop coat.

But there was one small thing Anna did not know yet. Tom’s family — they moved to a country not so far away. And Tom, in fact, was still alive.

Check your understanding

Read each question. Think about your answer. Then click “Show answer” to check.

Words to remember

Here are the key words again, in new sentences. Say each one out loud.

• charity shop — I bought this book at a charity shop for two pounds.
• photograph — There is an old photograph of my grandmother on the wall.
• handwriting — I cannot read this letter. The handwriting is very small.
• mystery — My keys are gone again. It is a small mystery.
• neighbour — My new neighbour is a very friendly woman.
• care home — My grandfather lives in a care home. I visit him every Sunday.
• nephew — My nephew is only four years old. He is my sister’s son.
• tear — A big tear ran down her face when she heard the news.

Talk about it · Write about it

Talk about it: Did you ever find something in a pocket or a bag that was not yours? What was it? What did you do with it?

Write about it: Write 6 sentences about one thing you lost and then found again. Where did you lose it? Where did you find it? How did you feel? Use the past simple.

🎉 Well done — you read a whole mystery story in English! That is a big step for an elementary reader. Did you notice the eight new words? They are all in your head now.

But wait — Tom is still alive, in a country not so far away. Does Anna know? Will Mrs Green ever see Tom again? You will find out in the next story…

Next story: Read another A2 story →

About this story: This is an original A2 graded reader (~1,800 words). It uses controlled vocabulary and the past simple tense, so elementary learners can understand about 98% of the words. Any harder word is explained before the story and used again inside it.

Khamis Maiouf

My name is Khamis Maiouf. I am the creator of the English Teacher Site, dedicated to providing valuable resources and insights for students around the world. With a passion for education and a commitment to helping students enhance their skills, I aim to make English teaching more effective and enjoyable for both educators and students.