The Prisoner

A B1 intermediate English short story 

A modern retelling of the classic short story Hearts and Hands, by O. Henry

After the train left Derby and moved on through the countryside towards London, the carriagetrain passenger carriage was quite full. In a seat by the window sat Clara, a young marketing manager wearing a smart jacket and listening to music on her phone. Clara liked taking the train up to London, it gave her a couple of hours to relax in.

At the next stop, the couple who had been sitting opposite her got out, and the seats were taken by two men. One was dressed in a neat suit, had a warm smile, and looked very confident. The other man was older and larger, wore a scruffyuntidy, not smart jacket, and looked nervouslyanxiously, timidly at the floor. Clara glanced at them casuallyinformally, in a friendly way, but then she put her hand to her mouth.

"Julian?" she said, taking off her headphones. "Is that really you?"

The well-dressed young man looked up, surprised. For a moment he appeared worried, but he quickly smiled and leaned forward.

"Clara! What a surprise," he said warmly, "Long time no see!" He tried to reach out with his right hand, but stopped himself and offered his left hand instead.

Clara looked down at his hands. Connecting his right wristjoint between hand and arm to the other man’s left wrist was a metal security handcuff.

The color drained from Clara’s face. She pulled her hand back slightly. "Julian... what's up?"

Before Julian could answer, the scruffy man spoke up in a deep voice. "It's all right, miss. Your friend's just doing his job. He's taking me to the court in London. I'm afraid I've been done for cyber-crime."

Clara let out a deep breath, and her smile returned as she looked back at Julian. "Oh! So you work for the police now? That's surprising! What made you change your plans?"

Julian adjusted his collar with his free hand and smiled modestly. "Well, after uniuniversity (informal), I couldn't find the kind of job I wanted in the City, so I had to look for something else. I saw this opening with the transport police, and.... well, it isn't quite as well paid as international banking, but I'm happy with it."

"The officer here is a really good guy," the older man added, nodding at Julian. "He's been very polite and kind to me since we started out."

"I'm sure he has," Clara answered with a smile. "You were always good with people, Julian, weren't you? I'm sure the job suits you."

"I missfeel the absence of the social life of uni, and seeing old friends, of course," Julian said, looking out at the passing green fields. "My work can be boring at times, but it seems to suitbe right for, fit me."

For the next fifteen minutes, they chatted happily about old friends and their lives since university. Julian listened carefully, asking about her family, and cheered her on as Clara talked about her new marketing project at work.

"Not married then?" asked Julian.

Clara blushed. "No; well not yet, anyway... but soon, maybe."
"Who's the lucky man? Martin, I dare say!"
"Martin Pierce? No, I haven't seen him since graduation day!"

Eventually, the man handcuffed to Julian cleared his throat. "Excuse me, Officer," he said quietly. "My legs are getting stiffrigid, hard to move, and my throat's a bit dry. Can we take a short walk down to the buffet car and get some refreshmentsfood and drinks?"

Julian stood up abruptly, bringing the other man up with him. "Duty calls, I am afraid," he said with a polite smile. "It was wonderful to catch up with you, Clara."

"It was great to see you too, Julian," Clara replied, feeling happy that Julian seemed to have found a good job. She'd always been a bit worried about him, when they were students. "Take care!"

She watched them walk down the aislepassageway between seats towards the end of the carriage, admiring how calm and professional Julian looked.

Across the aisle, two passengers who had watched everything spoke softly to each other.

"What a kind officer," the lady said. "He was so polite to his prisoner."

"He certainly was," replied the man, looking at his smartwatch. "Obviously a kind man. But did you notice the black wristband he was wearing?"

"Err, yes... what about it?"

"Well, I'm a police inspector myself, and I know an electronic monitoring bracelet when I see one. Those two were having us on ! ....The nice young man wasn't the policeman!  He was the prisoner ...."

"I can't believe it!", Clara sighed.

WORDS: carriage: train passenger coach -  scruffy: untidy, shabby -  nervously: anxiously, fearfully -  casually: without special attention - wrist: joint between hand and arm - uni: university (informal) - miss: feel the absence of - suit: be right for, fit - stiff: rigid, hard to move -  refreshments: food and drinks - aisle: passageway between seats

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Interactive student Worksheet

Exercise 2: missing syllables.

Put the missing syllables back into this extract from the text:

Notes for teachers

This short story from Linguapress is an original adaptation, transposed into a modern context, of Hearts and Hands, a classic story originally published by American writer O. Henry in Everybody's Magazine, in December 1902. O. Henry was the pen name of William Sydney Porter (1862–1910).

Answer to MCQ comprehension questions 1B - 2 C - 3 A - 4 B - 5 B - 6 B - 7 C - 8 A - 9 B - 10 C.

The missing syllables exercise is specifically designed to make students reflect on spelling and vocabulaty. For example, the first missing word, people, has an "o" in it, for the second missing syllable, students need to reflect on the spelling... sitt? sit? or seat? Then for the next word, is there one "p" or two?
   If you take this exercise collectively, on a whiteboard for example, and students cannot remember the right word, start by  giving them the last of the missing letters, i.e. "p" for the missing "surp" at the start of surprised.

Language points. This text is full of authentic contemporary dialogue, including a number of colloquial expressions. Note Is that really you?  Long time no see (a very popular expression meaning I haven't seen you for a long time) / Who's the lucky man?  Duty calls /  to catch up with you  (meaning to get up to date with your news) / Take care ! A popular alternative to Goodbye

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