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The policeman on the beat moved up the avenue impressively. The time was barely 8 o’clock at night, but chilly gusts of wind with a taste of rain in them had well cleared the streets.
Trying doors as he went, turning now and then to cast his watchful eye down the street, the officer, with his stalwart form and slight swagger, made a fine picture of a guardian of the peace.
When about midway of a certain block the policeman suddenly slowed his walk. In the doorway of a darkened hardware store a man leaned against the wall. 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 had a pale, square-jawed face with keen eyes, and a little white scar near his right eyebrow. His tie pin was made of a large diamond, oddly set.
“Twenty years ago tonight,” said the man, “I dined here at ‘Big Joe’ Brady’s with Jimmy Wells, my best chum, and the finest chap in the world. He and I were raised here in New York, just like two brothers, together. I was eighteen and Jimmy was twenty. The next morning I was to start for the West to make my fortune. You couldn’t have dragged Jimmy out of New York; he thought it was the only place on earth. Well, we agreed that night that we would meet here again exactly twenty years from that date and time, no matter what our conditions might be or from what distance we might have to come. We figured that in twenty years each of us ought to have our destiny worked out and our fortunes made, whatever they were going to be.”
“It sounds pretty interesting,” said the policeman. “Rather a long time between meets, though, it seems to me. Haven’t you heard from your friend since you left?”
“Well, yes, for a time we corresponded,” said the other. “But after a year or two we lost track of each other. You see, the West is a pretty big proposition, and I kept moving around it. But I know Jimmy will meet me here if he’s alive, for he always was the truest, stanchest old chap in the world. He’ll never forget. I came a thousand miles to stand in this door tonight, and it’s worth it if my old partner turns up.”
The waiting man pulled out a handsome watch, the lids of it set with small diamonds. “Three minutes to ten,” he announced. “It was exactly ten o’clock when we parted here at the restaurant door.”
___
Adapted from After Twenty Years, by O. Henry, Public domain.
Questions
How would this story be different if it were told from the policeman’s point of view?
The story would include the policeman’s thoughts, so readers would know whether he believes the waiting man’s story.
The story would be told from a neutral perspective with an unbiased description of events, so it would be less interesting.
The mood of the story would be less suspenseful because the reader would immediately know if the waiting man’s story is true.
Jimmy Wells would be characterized as honest and trustworthy rather than sketchy and mysterious.
Show Hint
Trying doors as he went, turning now and then to cast his watchful eye down the street, the officer, with his stalwart form and slight swagger, made a fine picture of a guardian of the peace.
When about midway of a certain block the policeman suddenly slowed his walk. In the doorway of a darkened hardware store a man leaned against the wall. 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 had a pale, square-jawed face with keen eyes, and a little white scar near his right eyebrow. His tie pin was made of a large diamond, oddly set.
“Twenty years ago tonight,” said the man, “I dined here at ‘Big Joe’ Brady’s with Jimmy Wells, my best chum, and the finest chap in the world. He and I were raised here in New York, just like two brothers, together. I was eighteen and Jimmy was twenty. The next morning I was to start for the West to make my fortune. You couldn’t have dragged Jimmy out of New York; he thought it was the only place on earth. Well, we agreed that night that we would meet here again exactly twenty years from that date and time, no matter what our conditions might be or from what distance we might have to come. We figured that in twenty years each of us ought to have our destiny worked out and our fortunes made, whatever they were going to be.”
“It sounds pretty interesting,” said the policeman. “Rather a long time between meets, though, it seems to me. Haven’t you heard from your friend since you left?”
“Well, yes, for a time we corresponded,” said the other. “But after a year or two we lost track of each other. You see, the West is a pretty big proposition, and I kept moving around it. But I know Jimmy will meet me here if he’s alive, for he always was the truest, stanchest old chap in the world. He’ll never forget. I came a thousand miles to stand in this door tonight, and it’s worth it if my old partner turns up.”
The waiting man pulled out a handsome watch, the lids of it set with small diamonds. “Three minutes to ten,” he announced. “It was exactly ten o’clock when we parted here at the restaurant door.”
___
Adapted from After Twenty Years, by O. Henry, Public domain.
Questions
How would this story be different if it were told from the policeman’s point of view?
The story would include the policeman’s thoughts, so readers would know whether he believes the waiting man’s story.
The story would be told from a neutral perspective with an unbiased description of events, so it would be less interesting.
The mood of the story would be less suspenseful because the reader would immediately know if the waiting man’s story is true.
Jimmy Wells would be characterized as honest and trustworthy rather than sketchy and mysterious.
Show Hint
Answers
Answered by
GPT-5 mini
The first option. Told from the policeman’s point of view the narrator would show his thoughts and reactions, so readers would know whether he believes the waiting man’s story.
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