About twenty minutes he waited, and then a tall man in a long overcoat, with collar turned up to his ears, hurried across from the opposite side of the street. He went directly to the waiting man.

“Is that you, Bob?” he asked, doubtfully.

“Is that you, Jimmy Wells?” cried the man in the door.

“Bless my heart!” exclaimed the new arrival, grasping both the other’s hands with his own. “It’s Bob! I was certain I’d find you here if you were still alive. Well, well, well! —twenty years is a long time. How has the West treated you, old man?”

“It has given me everything I asked it for. You’ve changed lots, Jimmy. I never thought you were so tall by two or three inches (英寸).”

“Oh, I grew a bit after I was twenty.”

“Doing well in New York, Jimmy?”

“Moderately. I have a position in one of the city departments. Come on, Bob; we’ll go around to a place I know of, and have a good long talk about old times.”

The two men started up the street, arm in arm. The man from the West, his egotism (自我) enlarged by success, was beginning to outline the history of his career. The other, submerged (埋) in his overcoat, listened with interest.

At the corner stood a drug store, brilliant with electric lights. When they came into this glare each of them turned simultaneously (同时地) to gaze upon the other’s face.

The man from the West stopped suddenly and released his arm

“You’re not Jimmy Wells,” he snapped. “Twenty years is a long time, but not long enough to change a man’s nose from a Roman (鹰钩鼻) to a pug (狮子鼻).”

“It sometimes changes a good man into a bad one,” said the tall man. “You’ve been under arrest (被捕) for ten minutes, ‘Silky’ Bob. Chicago thinks you may have dropped over our way and wants to have a chat with you. Going quietly, are you? That’s sensible. Now, before we go on to the police station here’s a note I was asked to hand you. You may read it here at the the window. It’s from Patrolman (巡警) Wells.”

The man from the West unfolded the little piece of paper handed him. His hand was steady when he began to read, but it trembled a little by the time he had finished. The note was rather short.

“Bob: I was at the appointed place on time. When you struck the match to light your cigar I saw it was the face of the man wanted (被通缉的) in Chicago. Somehow I couldn’t do it myself, so I went around and got a plain clothes man to do the job. ——JIMMY.”

How time flew! Bob was released from jail. Stepping out of jail into the cold wind,

He turned around and surprised to find a familiar-looking man.

I received an urgent call from my aunt. “Turn on the TV. Granny’s on the Channel 10 news.” It turned out that Granny had made a sandwich run for her office and was stopped at a red light downtown. She had the window rolled down to enjoy the breeze when a man rushed up to the driver’s side window, intending to carjack (劫车) her.

Now, what the would-be carjacker couldn't have known was that this woman simply wasn’t “a granny”. This was Nancy Johnson — the same woman who owned and lived on a Texas cattle farm, drove her own tractors, and dug her own post holes to lay fence. The week before, she had shot a rattlesnake and chopped off its head with a shovel. She was the proud owner of the new minivan (小型货车) she was driving. In other words, she was not your normal kind of granny.

The carjacker leaned into the open window, one hand stuffed in his pocket, and said, “Get out of this car. I have a gun, and I will shoot you.” A statement like that would have terrified anyone else. Instead, Granny saw it as a challenge. “If you really had a gun in your pocket, you would've pulled it out and led with that first,” she shouted at him, apparently unworried.

She was right. The criminal didn't have a gun. He instead reached into the window, grabbed her, and tried to pull her out of the van. He pulled open the door, wildly catching Granny’s arms. Granny leaned her shoulder inside to press the horn (喇叭) and started yelling to make people around notice what was happening. With the door now open, she held tight the steering wheel with one arm and started kicking the man anywhere her foot could make contact. This tall woman had quite a reach.

After a well-placed kick, the man was done, and attempted to release her and run.

Later, we asked “Granny ,don’t you realize you could have got yourself killed?”

Max works as a security guard at a famous museum． As a security guard， Max watches visitors to the museum as they come and go． He often wonders things about them． Where do they come from？ Are they happily married？ What do they do for a living？

One day， Max notices a very pretty woman visiting the exhibit he is guarding． He has seen her before． In fact， she often comes to see the rare jewelry exhibit - sometimes several times a week．

During one of these visits， she starts a conversation with Max． She asks if it is difficult to be a security guard and if he ever gets bored． She introduces herself as Maria， a fashion designer．

When Maria comes to visit， she often talks with Max． "Maybe she likes me，" he thinks．

Max thinks she is very interesting and wants to spend more time with her． During one of their talks at the museum， he finds out that she is studying Italian．

He lies and tells her he has always wanted to learn Italian． He is simply using Italian as a trick． And it works! Max and Maria meet every Saturday afternoon in the museum garden to study Italian．

During the lessons， they also talk about themselves． Maria shares her dreams of one day showing her fashions in a museum． Max tells her many details about his security job， including the security code and the locations of alarms． He jokes that it would be very easy to rob the museum．

Over the passing weeks， they learn more about each other． What Max doesn't learn， however， is that Maria is not as innocent as she looks． Maria is actually an international jewel thief! Police from eight different countries have been searching for her in the past two years!

Her latest goal is to steal the rare Black Diamond! This diamond is the most valuable diamond in the world and it is part of the exhibit that Max is guarding． All her attention on him was a trick to learn more about the museum's security system．