After Twenty Years (Supplementary)

Unit 1 – Supplementary

After Twenty Years

by O. Henry

Warm Up

a. What do you expect your close friends to do for you?
Beautify the petals with your thoughts.

Friends
(Add your ideas around the flower petals.)

b.
i. Find out when the International Day of Friendship is celebrated.
ii. How is that day celebrated?

c. We have heard of the proverb ‘Familiarity breeds contempt’.
Do you think that the passage of time strengthens friendship?
Share your reasons with your class.

The Story

Here is a story entitled ‘After Twenty Years’ which is about two best friends who had to part ways. They return to keep an appointment they had made twenty years ago. Read to find out what happens when they meet again.

The policeman on the beat moved up the avenue impressively. The impressiveness was habitual and not for show, for spectators were few. The time was barely 10 o’clock at night, but chilly gusts of wind with a taste of rain in them had well nigh depeopled the streets.

Trying doors as he went, twirling his club with many intricate and artful movements, turning now and then to cast his watchful eye adown the pacific thoroughfare, the officer, with his stalwart form and slight swagger, made a fine picture of a guardian of the peace. The vicinity was one that kept early hours. Now and then you might see the lights of a cigar store or of an all-night lunch counter; but the majority of the doors belonged to business places that had long since been closed.

When about midway of a certain block the policeman suddenly slowed his walk. In the doorway of a darkened hardware store a man leaned, with an unlighted cigar in his mouth. As the policeman walked up to him the man spoke up quickly.

“It’s all right, officer,” he said, reassuringly. “I’m just waiting for a friend. It’s an appointment made twenty years ago. Sounds a little funny to you, doesn’t it? Well, I’ll explain if you’d like to make certain it’s all straight. About that long ago there used to be a restaurant where this store stands—Big Joe Brady’s restaurant.”

“Until five years ago,” said the policeman. “It was torn down then.”

The man in the doorway struck a match and lit his cigar. The light showed a pale, square-jawed face with keen eyes, and a little white scar near his right eyebrow. His scarf pin was a large diamond, oddly set.

“Three minutes to ten,” he announced. “It was exactly ten o’clock when we parted here at the restaurant door.”

“Did pretty well out West, didn’t you?” asked the policeman.

“You bet! I hope Jimmy has done half as well. He was a kind of plodder, though, good fellow as he was. I’ve had to compete with some of the sharpest wits going to get my pile. A man gets in a groove in New York. It takes the West to put a razor-edge on him.”

The policeman twirled his club and took a step or two.

“I’ll be on my way. Hope your friend comes around all right. Going to call time on him sharp?”

“I should say not!” said the other. “I’ll give him half an hour at least. If Jimmy is alive on earth he’ll be here by that time. So long, officer.”

“Good-night, sir,” said the policeman, passing on along his beat, trying doors as he went.

There was now a fine, cold drizzle falling, and the wind had risen from its uncertain puffs into a steady blow. The few foot passengers astir in that quarter hurried dismally and silently along with coat collars turned high and pocketed hands. And in the door of the hardware store the man who had come a thousand miles to fill an appointment, uncertain almost to absurdity, with the friend of his youth, smoked his cigar and waited.

About twenty minutes he waited, and then a tall man in a long overcoat, with collar turned up to his ears, hurried across from the opposite side of the street. He went directly to the waiting man.

“Is that you, Bob?” he asked, doubtfully.

“Is that you, Jimmy Wells?” cried the man in the door.

“Bless my heart!” exclaimed the new arrival, grasping both the other’s hands with his own. “It’s Bob, sure as fate. I was certain I’d find you here if you were still in existence. Well, well, well! Twenty years is a long time. The old restaurant’s gone, Bob; I wish it had lasted, so we could have had another dinner there. How has the West treated you, old man?”

“Bully; it has given me everything I asked it for. You’ve changed lots, Jimmy. I never thought you were so tall by two or three inches.”

“Oh, I grew a bit after I was twenty.”

“Doing well in New York, Jimmy?”

“Moderately. I have a position in one of the city departments. Come on, Bob; we’ll go around to a place I know of, and have a good long talk about old times.”

The two men started up the street, arm in arm. The man from the West, his egotism enlarged by success, was beginning to outline the history of his career. The other, submerged in his overcoat, listened with interest.

At the corner stood a drug store, brilliant with electric lights. When they came into this glare each of them turned simultaneously to gaze upon the other’s face. The man from the West stopped suddenly and released his arm.

“You’re not Jimmy Wells,” he snapped. “Twenty years is a long time, but not long enough to change a man’s nose from a Roman to a pug.”

“It sometimes changes a good man into a bad one,” said the tall man. “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 from the West unfolded the little piece of paper handed to him. His hand was steady when he began to read, but it trembled a little by the time he had finished. The note was rather short.

“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 plainclothes man to do the job.”
— Jimmy

About the Author

O. Henry (1862–1910) is a popular American short-story writer whose original name is William Sydney Porter. His works romanticized the life of ordinary people in New York City. His stories are well-known throughout the world. They expressed the effect of coincidence on character and often had unexpected twists in the end. His stories are also noted for their witticism and clever wordplay. O. Henry’s prolific writing period began in 1902 in New York City, where he wrote 381 short stories. He wrote one story a week for The New York World Sunday Magazine for over a year.

O. Henry’s short story ‘After Twenty Years’ was first published in the Sunday edition of the New York World in 1905. The story was included in the 1906 anthology The Four Million, and it has since been republished in many short story collections.

A few of his other popular short stories are:
- The Gift of the Magi
- The Cop and the Anthem
- The Ransom of Red Chief
- A Retrieved Reformation
- The Third Ingredient

Glossary

• avenue – a wide street
• habitual – regular
• nigh – almost
• twirling – twisting and spinning around
• intricate – complicated
• stalwart – physically strong
• swagger – a confident walk
• vicinity – the surrounding area (neighbourhood)
• reassuringly – making someone feel less doubtful
• proposition – theory or system
• plodder – one who toils slowly but steadily
• wits – intelligent people
• groove – a dull routine that does not change
• razor-edge – a critical situation
• dismally – without happiness and cheer
• absurdity – quality of being silly and foolish
• egotism – a feeling of self-importance
• outline – describe
• wires – sends a telegraphic message

Comprehension Questions

1. Answer the following questions in a sentence or two each, based on your understanding of the story.

a) Describe the appearance of the policeman on the beat.
b) What did he keep doing while on his rounds?
c) Why were the streets devoid of people?
d) What story did the man standing near the hardware store tell the passing cop?
e) What used to be there in the place of that shop twenty years ago?
f) Describe the man awaiting the arrival of his friend.
g) Why did the friends part ways?
h) When and how did Bob realise that the tall man was not his friend?
i) Who was the tall man?
k) What did he give Bob?

2. State whether the following statements are true or false.

a) The cop suddenly slowed his walk when he heard the barking of dogs.
b) The friends grew up together in the city of New York.
c) Both Jimmy and Bob were of the same age.
d) The friends parted one night after watching a movie together.
e) The friends could not keep in touch because they lost each other’s phone numbers.
f) Bob wanted to stay for half an hour more than the appointed time.
g) Jimmy grew a little taller after he was twenty.
h) Bob realised that the tall man was not Jimmy Wells from the shape of his nose.

3. What does each of the following mean in the story? Choose the right option.

a) on the beat:
i. moving around hitting everyone with a stick
ii. on duty walking around the assigned area
iii. marching with his heart beating fast

b) a guardian of peace:
i. a watchman
ii. a holy man
iii. a policeman

c) arm in arm:
i. with arms linked together
ii. with weapons in hands
iii. with handcuffs on wrists

d) plainclothes man:
i. a man who wears simple clothes for grand occasions
ii. a policeman in civilian clothes while on duty
iii. a cine artist in ordinary costumes

4. Answer the following questions in three or four sentences each.

a) What did Bob share with the cop about their friendship?
b) What are the strengths and weaknesses of Jimmy Wells from Bob’s point of view?
c) Was Bob hopeful of his friend’s arrival? How do you know?
d) How did the cop come to understand that Bob had been successful in the West?
e) Bob’s life in the West was not a bed of roses. Give reasons.
f) Why didn’t Jimmy Wells, being a cop himself, arrest Bob?
g) Who do you think has been more successful of the two? Give reasons.

5. Answer the following questions in a paragraph of about 150 words each.

a) Compare and contrast the character of Jimmy Wells and Bob with suitable references from the story to support your view.
b) ‘Means should justify the end.’ Explain this adage with reference to O. Henry’s story.
c) ‘Tell me who your friends are and I shall tell you who you are’. How will you explain this statement in the light of Jimmy’s and Bob’s friendship?
d) To your shock, you find out that your close friend is indulging in some wrong activity. Will you avoid him/her or try to correct him/her? Give reasons for your answer.
e) What would you do in this situation, if you were Jimmy Wells? Substantiate your reason.

ICT Corner – Snakes & Ladders

This activity will enable the students to strengthen their knowledge in tenses through Snakes and Ladders game.

STEPS

1. Type the URL link given below in the browser or scan the QR code.
2. Read the Instructions and Click START to begin.
3. A question will be displayed. Answer that question correctly to have the chance to roll the dice.
4. Roll the dice and continue playing the game by answering all the questions till you reach the hundredth box.
5. You can play snakes and ladders with other tenses also.
6. Try playing with alternate links which are given below.

WEBSITE LINK

Click the following link or scan the QR code to access the website.
http://www.englishmedialab.com/GrammarGames/present%20tenses/present%20tenses%20snakes%20and%20ladders.html

ALTERNATE LINKS

• http://eslgamesworld.com/members/games/grammar/New_Snakes_%20Ladders/Past_simple_tense.html