After Twenty Years

O.Henry was widely acknowledged as the master of  short story . His stories provide a romantic and humorous treatment of every day life . They  are noted for their use of coincidence and trick ending .`AFTER TWENTY YEARS ` tells a story of a strange appointment that takes an unexpected turn in the form of an ironic twist.

It was ten O` clock at night. The policemen on the beat was in the top form. He walked up to a man standing in the doorway of darkened hardware store . The man was fully alert . He spoke up quickly . He was waiting for his friend . It was an appointment made twenty years earlier . He lit up a cigar and his features shown up. There used to be a restaurant where the store now stood. Jimmy wells and were a good friends . They were twenty years old then. They dined together at the restaurant at 10 pm on that faithful night parted ways , pledging to meet there exactly the same tome twenty years later , no matter in what position  they would be.Jimmy tried his luck in New York itself and his friend was left for the west. The policemen looked thoughtful and went on his way hoping that the other man would wait for his friend.

About twenty minutes later , a tall man came and introduced himself as jimmy wells and said that he was glad to meet his old friend Bob. They talked about the history of their careers. Bob made a good fortune in the west. Jimmy had a position in one of the city departments. They started arm in arm , near a drug store , in the glare of electric lights , Bob found that the other man was not his old friend Jimmy. “Time sometime changes a good man into a bad man”, said the other man .He placed a silky Bob under arrest. He placed Bob a note from the patrolman Wells. It read who Jimmy had met Bob at the appointed time and place , how he couldn`t arrest him and how he sent another man to do the job. His sense of duty prevailed over his friendship.

The two great friends carved out diametrically opposite careers for themselves . One was a master criminal and they other was a dutiful police officer .They kept their promise , ironically leaving a bitter taste behind.

The surprise ending is quite characteristic of O.Henry stories