After Twenty Years by O.

Henry
After Twenty Years by O. Henry
This story has only three characters. The first we meet is a policeman making his rounds, rattling
door knobs to make sure everything is secure on his beat.
He approaches a man standing in a dark doorway. Our next character is Bob. He tells his story to
the policeman. Bob and his best friend, Jimmy, had agreed to meet at 10 o'clock this night twenty
years after parting company as young men.
As Bob relates his tale, we learn that Bob and Jimmy had chosen two different paths. Jimmy
considered New York City the only place to live. Bob chose to go west to seek his fortune.
After hearing Bob's story, our police officer goes his way.
Soon, Bob is approached by another man. Jimmy arrives and greets his old friend. They walk
down the street to find a place to eat. As the light shines on Jimmy's face, Bob realizes that this
isn't Jimmy. Indeed, this is another policeman who places Bob under arrest for crimes commited
in Chicago.
The arresting officer hands Bob a note from Jimmy. The note explains that the two men did meet
on time. Jimmy had recognized Bob as being a man wanted by the authorities.
Positive lessons for young readers:
-Jimmy does his duty. Realizing that his old friend is a criminal at large, he arranges for him to
be taken into custody. Although Jimmy is confronted with a moral dilema, he makes the choice
to fulfill his duty as an officer of the law. He honors the oath he took when entered the police
force. Make no mistake, this was a difficult choice for Jimmy.
-Jimmy finds a way to have Bob arrested without having to do the deed himself. He was
unwilling to confront his old friend directly, so he found some help from a plain-clothes police
officer. I view this as an act of courtesy to Bob. If Bob had resisted arrest, they would have had a
nasty confrontation.
This story is part of a book titled For the Four Million by O. Henry available at The Gutenberg
Project at promo.net on the internet.

After Twenty Years is a short story written by the author whose pen name is O. Henry. In this
particular short story there are three characters. The story begins with a policeman who is on his
beat. He is making his rounds, rattling door knobs to ensure everything is secure. He goes
towards a man that is standing in a dark doorway. Bob is standing there and tells the officer that
he had agreed to
meet his friend Jimmy Wells at this spot at 10 o'clock. He tells the story of how twenty years ago,
they parted as young men but agreed that twenty years later they would meet at that particular
spot again. They parted because of different life and career paths. Jimmy considered New York
City as the place to live and Bob decided to travel out west to seek great wealth. The officer
leaves. Later, Bob is approached by another man who he believes is Jimmy. He gives the man
details about his successes out west. They walk to find a place to eat, but after a light shines on
the man's face, Bob realizes it is another officer; the officer arrests Bob for crimes committed in
Chicago. The officer who arrests Bob gives him a note from Jimmy. The note says that the two
men did meet on time; Jimmy recognized Bob as someone wanted by the authorities. The story
has a theme of conflict between one's friendship to another and one's moral duty and duty to
society. Jimmy was confronted with a dilemma and had to make the choice to do his civic duty
over loyalty to his friend; he had to cause his friend to get arrested because his friend had broken
the law. In addition, Jimmy had to hire a cop to arrest Bob because he did not have the heart to
arrest Bob himself.