50643 mixed tenses

Mrs. Ramsey’s night
A year ago Mrs. Ramsey __________________ (wake up) at 1.30.am. At first she didn’t know
why she __________________ (wake up), but then she _________________ (hear) a noise. It
was a scratching sound. Mrs. Ramsey ___________________ (listen) carefully, she
_________________ (never, hear) that sound before. While she __________________ (sit) in
her bed the noise __________________ (get) louder. The old wondered where the sound was
coming from. Although she ______________ (be afraid), she decided to get out of bed. ‘I
__________________ (think) this is a cat, that _________________ (play) with my dustbins. I
______________ (chase) it away so I can sleep again.’, she thought. But then the noise
suddenly _________________ (change). ‘This sounds like someone
______________________ (talk)’, she whispered to herself.
Meanwhile her dog Tim _______________ (wake up) as well. Tim __________________
(walk) up to her bad and ___________________ (whimper) quietly. ‘Shush’, she said, ‘be
quiet, you ______________ (be) such a baby!’. But really, she was scared herself, but she
____________________ (want) to be brave. Before she went to the back window to see what
was going on she _________________ (go) into the kitchen to get a rolling pin. Slowly she
_________________ (tiptoe) to the window. ‘You said that old bat ____________________
(be not) home!’ ‘I ________________ (know) what I said, thanks for reminding me!’ ‘So what
________________________ (we do) now?’ Mrs Ramsey’s heart _____________________
(beat) fast. Tim, her dog ___________________ (hide) under the sofa and looked scared. ‘We
_____________________ (rob) her house, of course! That’s what we __________________
(decide) to do three weeks ago and this is what we ___________________ (do)’ Mrs. Ramsey
froze – what could she do?
‘Rob the house when she’s inside? ____________ (be) you crazy?!’ the other voice said. Mrs
Ramsey _____________________ (take) a deep breath and said to herself ‘Okay, I need to do
something. ‘I _____________________ (tiptoe) back into my bedroom and close my eyes..
That is the safest thing to do’. While she _______________________ (walk) back to her room
there was a loud noise, rtshhhh. The old lady _______________ (stop) for a second and
___________________ (look) around, then she ran into her bedroom and closed the door. As
she _________________ (lie) in bed she thought: ‘Nobody _______________________ (ever
break) into my house, and I _________________ (never be) so scared in my entire life.’

The noise Mrs. Ramsey __________________ (hear), had come from the door. Now she
could hear footsteps and whispering. ‘Where ____________________ (you want) to start?’ a
voice said. The other voice answered: ‘Of course we _______________________ (start) in the
bedroom, we always do that, that’s where the old ladies keep all their gold!’ Mrs. Ramsey
thought: ‘That _______________ (be) true, I also _________________ (keep) my gold in the
bedroom. ‘Alright then, but you go first’. Slowly the footsteps ________________ (get) closer.
‘Hands up into the air, and don’t you move an inch’ ,a loud voice said, ‘You are under arrest!’
Mrs Ramsey _______________ (open) her eyes and turned around in bed. A young police
officer ___________________ (walk) up to her bed. ‘Are you okay?’ he asked. ‘Yes, thank you,
I _______________ (hear) noises and ___________ (wake up). When I heard the two men
speaking about breaking in I ________________ (decide) to go back to bed and
_________________ (pretend) to be asleep, it was too late to call you. How did you know…I
mean…why are you here now’, the lady asked. ‘One of your neighbours ______________
(wake up) from the noise as well, he saw two men at your door and ________________ (think)
something was wrong, so he ________________ (call) us’ the officer said with a smile. ‘So you
should thank your neighbour.’ Mrs Ramsey smiled and answered ‘Yes, thank you I
____________________ (thank) him tomorrow, but now I really need some sleep.’
The next morning Mrs Ramsey ________________ (go) to her neighbour and
_______________ (thank) him for calling the police. She was very happy that they
_____________________ (realise) what was going on. She was so thankful that she wanted
to repay them in some way. She offered to do some of their washing and ironing, because she
__________________ (know) her neighbours had very busy jobs. At first they
______________ (say) no, but then Mrs Ramsey really wanted to do something for them, so
they said okay. Since that day Mrs. Ramsey and her neighbour _____________________ (be)
very good friends. They ______________ (meet) for tea and cake at least once a week and
_______________ (help) each other. ‘I really like having more contact with the neighbours.
Now we also share work. Right now for instance I __________________(iron) their clothes
and they _____________________ (cut) my trees.’