English MA1.3
Kuvakäsikirjoitus Teksti
- Hmm...that restaurant was pulled down five years back.
- Good Evening Officer, it's all right!! I'm just waiting for a friend who made an appointment to meet here twenty years ago. Before, there was a restaurant where this store stands- Big Joe Brady's restaurant.
- Hmm...sounds interesting!!
- Twenty years ago, I dinned here at this restaurant with Jimmy Wells, my best chum and the finest chap in the world!! We both were raised in New York, and I had to start for the West to make up my fortune. Jimmy couldn't be dragged out of New York, he thought it's the only place on Earth!! Well, that night we agreed that we would meet here at the same place exact twenty years from that date and time, whatever conditions we would be in. In this way, we could also figure out each other's fortunes.
- I'll be on my way. Hope your friend comes around all right. Going to call time on him sharp?
- Did pretty well out West, didn't you?
- Probably not!! I would wait for him at least half an hour. If Jimmy is alive, he would definitely arrive on time!!
- You bet!! But, Jimmy was a kind of a plodder, though a good fellow. I've had to compete with some of the sharpest wits to make my pile in the West!!
- On a busy street in New York, a policeman was patrolling it around 10 pm. He was on duty and moved up the avenue impressively, with his intricate and artful movements. When about a midway of a certain block, he observed a man with an unlighted cigar leaning out of a darkened hardware store. The anxious man noticed him and spoke up.
- Hi Bob!! I was certain I would find you here if you were still alive. Twenty Years is a long time!! How has the West treated you old man??
- Moderately, having a position in one of the city departments. Discuss about all this later, and come with me to have a good long talk about old times!!
- Hello Jimmy!!! Yes, definitely it has given me everything I asked for. You've changed lot's Jimmy...i wonder you gained two-three inches!! By the way, doing well in New York?
- Yes, but it sometimes changes a good man into a bad one. You've been under arrest for ten minutes, 'Silky' Bob!! Chicago thinks you may have dropped over our way and wires us she wants to have a chat with you. Going quietly, are you? That's sensible. Now, before we go on to the station here's a note I was asked to hand you. You may read it here at the window. It's from Patrolman Wells.
- The man struck a match and lit his cigar. His description was noticed as a pale, square-jawed face, with keen eyes, and a little white scar near his right eyebrow. He also wore a large, oddly-set diamond pin in his scarf, which denoted that he was certainly rich. Then he continued his story.
- You're not Jimmy Wells!! Twenty years is a long time, but not long enough to change a man's nose from a Roman's to a Pug's!!
- The policeman observed his handsome diamond watch and clothes, so he assumed that he was probably rich. He asked about his fortunes in the West, and went away roaming about the street.
- Bob: I was at the appointed place on time. When you struck the match to light your cigar, I saw it was the face of the man wanted in Chicago. Somehow, I couldn't do it myself, so I went around and got a plain-clothed man to do the job. From: Jimmy....
- After twenty minutes of waiting, they finally came across each other, and greeted informally!! They asked about each other's fortunes, which depicted that they both were eager to know about each other in the last twenty years. Then, they walked further near a drug store, with bright electric lights, coming in the glare of each other.
- When they took a glance at each other, Bob realized that the friend to whom he was talking to from so long wasn't Jimmy Wells!! The man revealed that he was another man, and that he had come to arrest Bob as he was a criminal wanted in Chicago. He also reveals at last that the patrolman was the actual Jimmy Wells!! Bob must have been startled by now.
- Bob was speechless, and took the note from him. He read it in his mind. At first his hand was steady, but it trembled a little by the time he had finished. He must have understood by now that this all was a situational irony for him and might have felt disappointed that he couldn't talk to his best friend in a proper manner, besides his own friend arrested him.
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