A Short Story in the Past Progressive:
The Gold Earrings

This story is part of the Progressive Tenses Series. 
All the past progressive verbs are underlined.

Ann was sitting in her favorite armchair, reading a book, when her phone rang. It was her mother, Silvia.

“Ann,” said her mother, “I was doing my hair at the salon this morning when I met the most wonderful guy! We agreed for you two to have a date tonight.”

“What?” said Ann. She was starting to get worried. She hated blind dates.

“He was charming. We were sitting and chatting together for over an hour! You must meet. And you must wear my lucky gold earrings. He will pick you up at 8. You do not have to thank me!”

Ann recalled her mother’s earrings. They were terrible! The only time Ann wore them (at her cousin’s wedding the weekend before) everyone was staring at her the entire night.

Ann was trying to tell her mother no when Silvia hung up the phone. “Mom, are you listening to me?”

At 8 o’clock Ann was still reading her book, hoping to forget about her blind date, when her door bell rang. As she quickly put on some nice shoes, a jacket, and those silly earrings, Ann was thinking about how much she wanted to stay at home! She was not feeling very romantic.

John, her date, was already talking about his business success when they arrived at the restaurant. When the salad came, he was telling her about his world travels. When the waiter brought the meals, John was talking about his perfect fashion sense. “Unlike those earrings,” he said. “They are awful!”

Well, Ann thought at least they agreed on something!

When she got home, Ann called her mother. While she was telling her about all the silly, self-centered things John said, Silvia reassured her. “He was just trying to impress you,” she said.

“Well, on top of everything, he did not like your gold earrings…”

“My gold earrings!” shouted Silvia. “Now listen to me, I was trying to tell you this whole time that this guy is obviously not for you!”