THE TRAMP

It was probably November 17th.

I was walking on the wet and snowy land. Even with my coat, I was shivering so much that my teeth started a new orchestra. Cold shivered my spine. As I was walking down the lane as fast as I can, I saw a group of tramps, sitting around a fire. Goodness knows how these tramps live! Some of them did not have even a coat! Maybe I should help them.

I walked towards the group.

‘Um... hello.’ 

Those tramps glared at me as if I have robbed a bank.

‘What y’want?’ A tramp, who seemed to be the head of the group, snapped.

Hearing him, I lost my sense of generosity and asked ‘Is your fire free to all?’

‘No.’ The tramp said rudely. ‘Light your own fire.’

A dog, who was sitting patiently beside the tramp, started barking furiously at me. A lot of people saw what was happening and started giggling.

Embarrassed as I was, I walked as fast as I can, towards my house.

When I reached my house, the first thing I did was to take out my wet coat and switched on the heater. Soon, the room was warm but my heart stood cold.

‘How dare he? How dare he embarrass me?’ These thoughts kept ringing in my mind until I fixed a yummy sandwich. He must better know whom he embarrassed. I dialled my friend’s number while eating.

‘Hey James! What’s up?’ 

‘Nothing.’ I grunted. Harvey’s cheerful voice wasn’t helping me.

‘You seem pretty down today. What happened?’ Harvey switched to his serious tone.

‘You are a policeman right?’ 

‘Uh... yeah?’

‘You can arrest people right?’

‘If the complaint is valid then yes.’

‘Then go to the gouden garage and arrest a tramp.’

‘A tramp? For what?’ 

‘I saw him begging.’

‘So what?’ Harvey laughed. ‘Come out of It James. You are seriously asking me to arrest a tramp just because he was begging?’

‘Begging is a crime. You must arrest him for that.’ I exploded. 

‘Begging is a crime. Agreed. But the punishment for that crime is to pay a fine of 20 dollars. Not a 3 months jail sentence!’ Harvey said, still laughing.

‘But-‘ I started but I was interrupted with a knock.

‘Wait a minute Harvey.’ I said and kept the phone down. Again, the knock came. 

‘Oh wait a minute!’ I growled and opened the door.

All too sudden, a group of bandits filled my hall.

‘Wait-‘ I opened my mouth but soon closed it when a bandit showed a razor-sharp knife. 

‘Give your money!’ He barked.

I knew I could not give my hard earned money to someone just because he has a knife, but also I knew that I was no Kung-fu master to fight them all. 

So, slowly I went to my safe. 

When I was just about to open it, my door burst open and the tramps, whom I wanted to jail, came to my rescue.

The bandits were strong but they were no match for the tramps. Under a minute, all the bandits were lying on the floor.

After they tied up the bandits with a piece of rope, the head tramp snapped ‘Your welcome.’ and vanished in the cold night with this group.

I was so astonished that I did not do anything for a while.

After some time, a buzz come from the table.

I went and picked up the phone.

‘Hey Harvey.’

‘Hey. Actually can you repeat the place where the tramps are there? Maybe I can-‘

‘Don’t bother. Leave them alone. Good night.’ I cut the phone.

Till date, I don’t know even the name of the tramp. But I still feel grateful to him.