Message

Jack had a great business idea which, as he believed, would changed his life. It was a brilliant plan, or so he thought, and all that was needed was money. He need a lot of it and he needed it quickly, but no one was willing to put their money into Jack’s project. Not the banks, not his friends, not his family. No one. And so he went down a dark path, he borrowed the money from people who always want their money back.

His business project didn’t deliver the expected results, and now he found himself in a financial mess. His failure was weighing on him heavily. Day and night, he was trying to figure out what to do next. He knew that sooner or later, the people he had borrowed the money from would come. And he knew they were not exactly the forgiving types.

Jack stepped out of his office building and headed toward his car. Just as he was about to unlock his car, he heard a voice behind his back. “Hello, Jack,” it said, making him freeze. There was no need to guess who the voice belonged to.

He turned slowly, his heart pounding in his chest. A man emerged from the shadows of the nearby tree. He was playing with a silver coin as he approached Jack and slowly leaned with his back against Jack’s car.

“Long time no see, Jackie,” said the man whose face was only partially lit by the flickering light of a street lamp. “But that’s going to change now.”

Jack felt a shiver run down his spine. He didn’t know what to say, and so he said nothing.

“No need to be scared, Jack. Not as yet, anyway,” said the man and a little smile played on his lips. “Today I come in peace, you know. I have a message for you from my boss. That’s all.”

“What message?” asked Jack, just for the sake of saying something. He knew very well what the message was.

The man stopped playing with his silver coin and pulled up a sleeve of his leather jacket on his left arm. “Well, the message is the time’s up. It’s the payback time.”

“I don’t have all the money ready yet. I’m working on it, I really am.”

“That’s a great thing, Jack. But you’d better work a little harder and especially much faster. My boss is of the opinion that he was very generous with the time he gave you.” The man gave Jack a chilling look. “Just in case you don’t know, my boss doesn’t like it when his generosity is abused. He can get real mad about it, you know.”

He made a pause and stopped leaning against the car. “The way he looks at it is that you were given generous conditions based on all you promised, Jack, but you haven’t delivered yet. Now, my boss wants his money back and he wants it soon.”

The man adjusted his jacket and dropped his silver coin into the pocket of his jeans. “I was sent to make sure that you understand the consequences of not paying up.”

Jack’s mind raced. He had no idea how he could come up with the money in time. He’d tried everything to make his business work, but it had all fallen apart.

“Please,” Jack looked into the man’s stern face, “I need a little more time. I promise I’ll find a way to pay it back.”

“You have already made your promises, Jackie, and they came to nothing. You see, I am not the boss here. I am just his messenger.” The man’s expression was now cold and dead serious. “You’re now begging for more time, but time is something you’ve run out of, Jack. My boss is not a very patient man, and he doesn’t like to be disappointed.”

Jack felt a lump forming in his throat. He was trapped, and there seemed to be no way out. The weight of his past decisions had finally caught up with him, and now he was about to face the consequences.

The talking time was over now and the man, disappearing in the shadows of the trees, repeated the message one last time, “The boss says that the clock is ticking, Jack. He’ll be in touch very soon. You’d better have the money ready.”

With those words hanging in the air, Jack stood and watched the stranger walk away into the darkness from which he had come.

English Reading / © Sparrow’s English Reader