The Cat on the Balcony (A1 Reading Story)

A1 · BEGINNER Reading practice · ~1,300 words · 9-min read

This is a short, easy story for beginners. The sentences are simple. 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 · A new city

Mara lives in a big city now. She is new here. Her flat is on the third floor of a tall grey building. It is a small flat, but it has one beautiful thing: a balcony. A balcony is a small place outside the window, high up on the building.

Mara works at home, on her computer. She starts at nine o’clock. She stops at five o’clock. She does not go to an office. She does not talk to people at work. She only sees faces on a screen.

In the evening, the city is loud and full of people. But Mara does not know anybody. She does not have friends here — no friends from school, no friends from work. Her family lives far away, in another town.

“I am lonely,” she thinks one evening. Lonely means sad because you are alone. “The city is big, and I am small.”

On Saturdays, Mara goes to the market and buys bread, fruit, and cheese. On Sundays, she calls her mother. “Do you have friends there?” her mother asks. “Not yet,” Mara says. “But it is a nice city.” She does not want her mother to worry.

But Mara has her plants. She has ten plants on the balcony — big plants, small plants, one little tree in a red pot. Every evening after work, she gives them water. She talks to them, too. “Good evening, plants,” she says. The plants do not answer. Plants never answer. But it is nice to say something out loud.

2 · The grey cat

One warm afternoon, Mara opens the balcony door. There, between her plants, sits a cat.

It is a small grey cat with green eyes. It sits in the sun next to the little tree. It looks at Mara. It is not afraid.

“Hello,” says Mara. “Who are you?”

The cat has a red collar. A collar is a small band around an animal’s neck. On the collar there is a little silver tag. Mara reads it slowly: Pasha.

“Pasha,” says Mara. “That is a nice name.”

She brings a little water in a bowl. Pasha drinks. Then he sleeps in the sun, and at six o’clock he jumps onto the wall and goes away.

The next day, at four o’clock, Pasha comes again. And the next day. And the next. Every afternoon at four o’clock, the grey cat sits between the plants and waits for Mara.

Now Mara stops work at four o’clock for ten minutes. It is her favourite time of the day. She drinks tea on the balcony. She shares her time with Pasha. To share means to give part of your thing to another person — or to a cat!

She tells Pasha about her day. “Today my computer is slow,” she says. “Today my boss is happy. Today I eat too much cake.” Pasha listens with his eyes closed. He is a very good listener. He never says, “That is boring, Mara.”

“You are my first friend in this city,” she tells him. “But where do you live, Pasha? Whose cat are you?”

Pasha does not answer. He only closes his green eyes in the sun.

3 · The rainy day

One Friday, the weather changes. The sky is dark. Cold rain falls on the city. Mara looks at the clock. Four o’clock. She looks at the balcony. No cat.

“Pasha does not come today,” she thinks. “Of course. Cats do not like rain.”

But at five o’clock, she hears a sound at the balcony door. “Miaow! Miaow!”

It is Pasha. He is very wet. His grey fur is dark with rain, and he is crying. He does not sit between the plants. He does not sleep in the sun. There is no sun. He stands at the door and cries.

“Oh no,” says Mara. “Come in, come in!”

She dries the little cat with a warm towel. Pasha shakes. The wall outside is wet, and the rain is strong. He cannot go home over the wall today.

“But where is your home?” Mara asks.

Then she sees it. On the back of the red collar, there are more words, very small. She reads them slowly: Pasha · Flat 2.

“Flat 2!” says Mara. “That is in this building! That is on the ground floor!” The ground floor is the lowest floor of a building, next to the street.

Mara puts on her shoes. She takes the wet cat in her arms and carries him out of the flat. To carry means to hold something and take it with you. Pasha is warm and heavy in her arms.

She walks down the stairs — the third floor, the second floor, the first floor. The stairs are old, and her steps are loud in the quiet building. Then she is on the ground floor, in front of a green door. Flat 2.

She knocks.

4 · Flat 2

The green door opens. An old woman stands there. She has white hair and warm brown eyes, and she walks with a stick.

“Pasha!” she says. “There you are! I am so worried!”

Mara gives her the cat. “He visits my balcony every afternoon,” she says. “Today he is wet, and he cannot go home over the wall. So I carry him down the stairs.”

The old woman smiles a big smile. “Thank you, my dear. My name is Rosa. And you already know Pasha.” She opens the door wide. “Please, come in. It is cold, and I have hot tea.”

Rosa’s flat is warm and full of books. Behind it, there is a small garden with flowers — because Flat 2 is on the ground floor, it has a garden, not a balcony.

They drink tea. They talk. Rosa is eighty years old. Her knee is bad, so she does not go out very much. Her children live in another country.

“Sometimes I am lonely,” Rosa says quietly. “But I have Pasha. Every day at four o’clock, he goes out. I always think: where does my cat go?” She laughs. “Now I know. He goes to you!”

Mara laughs too. “I am new in the city,” she says. “I do not know anybody here. Pasha is my first friend.”

“Then I am your second friend,” says Rosa.

Now every Sunday, Mara walks down the stairs to Flat 2. She brings a cake, and Rosa makes the tea. They share the cake in the little garden, and Pasha sits between them in the sun. Mara tells Rosa about her week. Rosa tells Mara about the city — the good market, the best bus, the beautiful old park.

Rosa shows Mara her garden, too. “My knee is bad,” she says, “so I cannot do the hard work now. The flowers are sad this year.” Mara looks at the little garden. “I can help,” she says. “I love plants. I have ten plants on my balcony!” So now they work in the garden together. Mara digs, and Rosa sits on a chair and says, “A little to the left, dear.”

Mara is not lonely now. She has a friend with green eyes and a friend with white hair. A small cat and an old woman — and one big, warm friendship. And at four o’clock every afternoon, a grey cat still sits on a balcony on the third floor, in the sun, between the plants.

Last Sunday, Rosa says something new. “Next Sunday, bring an empty flower pot,” she says. Her eyes shine. “I have a surprise for you in the garden.”

A surprise? In the garden? Mara looks at her empty pot all week and smiles. What is Rosa’s surprise?

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.

• balcony — I drink my coffee on the balcony in the morning.
• lonely — He is new at school, and he feels lonely.
• plant — This plant needs water and sun.
• collar — My dog has a blue collar with his name on it.
• stairs — The lift is broken, so we take the stairs.
• ground floor — The shop is on the ground floor of the building.
• carry — She carries the heavy bag up to her flat.
• share — We share one pizza between two people.

Talk about it · Write about it

Talk about it: Do you have an animal friend — a cat, a dog, a bird? How do people make new friends in a new city?

Write about it: Write 5 simple sentences about a good friend. Where do you meet? What do you share? Use the present simple, and use “does not” in one sentence.

🎉 Well done — you read a whole story in English! That is a big step. And did you notice? You now know the eight new words too.

But wait — what is Rosa’s surprise in the garden? Why does Mara need an empty flower pot? You will find out in the next story…

Next story: Read another easy A1 story →

About this story: This is an original A1 graded reader (~1,300 words). It uses simple, controlled vocabulary and the present simple tense, so beginners can understand about 98% of the words. Any harder word is explained before the story and used again inside it.

Khamis Maiouf

I’m Khamis Maiouf. English is not my first language – I learned it as an adult in the UK, passed Functional Skills Level 2 in English, qualified in Hairdressing at Level 3, and I’m now studying Business at university. For over five years I’ve taught ESOL classes in my community and tutored students through GCSE English. I write every lesson on this site myself, for the learner I used to be.