According to the timetable Ruth knows by heart, at what time is the last bus due?

By ten past eleven the shelter had stopped being a shelter. Rain slid sideways under its cracked roof and gathered in a grey puddle around Ruth's trainers. She checked the timetable again, though she knew it by heart: last bus 23:20, usually late, never early. Across the road, the chip shop shutters rattled down and a man in a yellow apron dragged out three bulging bags of rubbish. He did not look at her. Nobody did. Somewhere behind the retail park a fox screamed once, a sound so like a child's that Ruth's shoulders jerked tight. She told herself it was only an animal. Her phone, at four per cent, buzzed with her mother's third message: Are you OK? Where are you? She typed 'Nearly home' and then deleted it, because it was not true yet. At 23:26 two headlights swung round the corner, wobbling in the wet, and the bus sighed to a halt as though it, too, had been waiting all night.

Answer and explanation

Correct answer: A. 23:20

  1. Step 1: Find the timetable sentence: 'last bus 23:20, usually late, never early'.
  2. Step 2: The time stated is 23:20; 23:26 is when the bus actually arrives and ten past eleven is when the passage begins.
Answer
23:20.
Why not the others: 23:10: This is roughly the time the passage opens, 'ten past eleven', not the timetable time. 23:26: This is the time the bus actually arrives, not when it is due. 23:30: This time does not appear anywhere in the passage.

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