O. Henry by O. Henry
Author:O. Henry
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Library of America
Published: 2021-05-06T17:31:36+00:00
After Twenty Years
* * *
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 oâclock 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-Ânight 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.
âItâs all right, officer,â he said, reassuringly. âIâm just waiting for a friend. Itâs an appointment made twenty years ago. Sounds a little funny to you, doesnât it? Well, Iâll explain if youâd like to make certain itâs all straight. About that long ago there used to be a restaurant where this store standsââBig Joeâ Bradyâs restaurant.â
âUntil five years ago,â said the policeman. âIt was torn down then.â
The man in the doorway struck a match and lit his cigar. The light showed a pale, square-Âjawed face with keen eyes, and a little white scar near his right eyebrow. His scarfpin was a large diamond, oddly set.
âTwenty years ago to-Ânight,â said the man. âI dined here at âBig Joeâ Bradyâs 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 couldnât 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.â
âIt sounds pretty interesting,â said the policeman. âRather a long time between meets, though, it seems to me. Havenât you heard from your friend since you left?â
âWell, yes, for a time we corresponded,â said the other. âBut after a year or two we lost track of each other. You see, the West is a pretty big proposition, and I kept hustling around over it pretty lively. But I know Jimmy will meet me here if heâs alive, for he always was the truest, stanchest old chap in the world.
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