Arthur did not enjoy the dance very much. All his friends seemed to be much more successful in life than he was. Jennifer, on the other hand, had a very good time there. She must have danced with almost all of Arthur's old friends. Arthur couldn't dance very well. besides, he was too shy to invite anyone to dance with with him so he sat and thought about his future. What could he do? He couldn't go to university because he didn't have enough qualifications. Besides, where could he get the money? He did not want to stay at the library. The money was not good enough for him and he couldn'T get promotion without more qualifications. He didn'T like Mr Steele and Mr Steele didn't like him. Anyway the work was not interesting enough. The work in the library was much too boring for him. Until recently he could bear the job because Mary was there. But he couldn't go out with her again as she was engaged to Bruce.
At work the following Monday he couldn't do anything right. First of all he was twenty minutes late for work because he could not start his car. His battery must have been flat again. Then he was rather rude to an old lady who came to borrow a book. His remarks were heard by Mr Steele, who told him off. Then Arthur said something nasty about Bruce and Mary got very annoyed with him. Finally, he dropped a pile of books on the floor as Mr Steele was walking out of his office.
As he was going home that evening he passed Middleford Technical College. He thought to himself: 'There must be something I could study at evening classes here and get enough qualifications to find another job.' So he parked his car in the college car park and went through the revolving doors into the entrance hall. He asked the girl at the enquiry about evening courses and she gave him a prospectus and arranged an appointment for him.
***
- Good evening. Could you please tell me the way to the General Department?
- Yes, certainly. Take the lift to the second floor, go right to the end of the corridor and it's the last door on your left. You can't miss it.
- Thank you very much.
***
- Ah, this must be it. Excuse me, is this the General Department Office?
- Yes, that's right. What can I do for you?
- Well, I've got an appointment with Mr Morgan, actually.
- Oh, you must be Mr Newton. I'll just see if Mr Morgan's free … Oh well, he must have popped out for a few minutes. Would you like to sit down? Ah, this must be him coming now. Oh, Mr Morgan, this is Mr Newton.
- Good evening, Mr Newton. Come in and sit down. Now what's the problem?
- Well, it's like this. I really want to take a course in management but I don't think I've got enough qualifications.
- You've got O-levels, including English and Maths, I suppose?
- Yes. I passed those and three others.
- I see. What about your A-levels?
- I'm afraid I failed all of them. I must have been very lazy in my last two years at school.
- Oh well. That's not so good but you could take your A-levels again here. There's enough time to take a couple of A-levels in the summer. We've still got some places left. After all, you have tried before. Why not take English and Economics?
- Yes, I did both of them at school.
- Good, that's settled then. You could start the management Course in September. See my secretary and she'll giv you the enrolment form.
- Well, thank you very much, Mr Morgan. Good night.
