The Painter
Uploaded by Charlie999 on May 24, 2001
Suddenly, he woke up. He sensed that the train had stopped. “Am I in Beijing?” John Gwen thought. He looked around and saw Tianjing signs on the pillars in the train station. “Looks like this is it. Well I better hop off and glance around. After he hopped off, he saw two security guards hurrying toward him.
Uh-oh.
Two strong security guards rushed to him and grabbed him. The other one took his painting. They sent him to the office to confront their chief. The chief was sitting down behind a large desk and looked like a kind looking man that was toughened by the world. He had eyes that can look right through you.
“Chief, we caught this thief trying to sneak off the cargo train that just arrived. This is what he stole.” Said one of the guards as he handed the painting over to the chief.
“I suggest putting him in jail for fifteen days and see if he tries to steal again.” Said the other guard.
“Oh no,” John thought, “if they put me in jail for fifteen days. I’ll miss the art convention. I must prove my innocence.” “No, no, I swear, I didn’t steal it! That’s my—“
“Shut up!” the first guard ordered.
The chief had been silent since the suspect had been brought in. The man looks like a high school student. He is shivering and looks very nervous. “Is he shivering because he is afraid of getting caught? Or is he freezing?” he thought. “Okay, what’s your name?
“J…J…John Gwen.” He muttered, “c…can I have hot water?”
“Sure.” And he poured some hot water for him pretending not to hear the grunt from one of the guards. Then he waited as John slowly drank the water.
“Well,” John thought, “if I can’t prove that the painting is mine, I could get to the convention on time but I will also have to pay for sneaking on the train. However, I could pretend to go to the bathroom and escape but I won’t be able to take my painting with me. Also, how will I get to Beijing then?”
“Okay, what are you doing here?” the chief asked.
“I was going to go to Beijing but at Shenyang, I fell asleep when I was waiting for the train and somebody stole my tickets and all my money so I snuck on a cargo train and I thought it was going to Beijing but when I...