The short story “After Twenty Years” takes place around 10 p.m. along a dark, windy New York City business avenue, mostly within the darkened doorway of a closed hardware store. This particular location had been a restaurant until five years ago. The plot begins with a policeman “on the beat” who discovers a man standing in the dark doorway. The man then proceeds to explain why he is there. He and his best friend, Jimmy Wells had parted exactly twenty years ago to make their fortunes and had promised to meet at that spot “After Twenty Years”. He had gone west and gotten rich and was sure his friend, Jimmy would meet him if he were alive. They talked a while and the policeman carried on. The man from the west wonders if his friend will come.
The drama increases in anticipation of the rendezvous. Twenty minutes later, another man, whom we assume is his long lost friend, greets him warmly and they walk arm in arm discussing careers until they come to a well-lit comer near a drug store. The man from the west gets a good look at his companion and discovers that he is not his friend, Jimmy. We are treated to several surprises for the man from the west is under arrest and secondly he is actually ‘Silky Bob’ , a gangster from Chicago and finally the stranger is a plainclothes policeman. However, it seems that these three surprises are not enough. We get the “real” surprise when Jimmy Wells, the original policeman didn’t have the heart to arrest Bob, because he was his friend.
