"Come in."
Nick Adams opened the door and went into the room. Ole Anderson was lying on the bed with all his clothes on. He did not look at Nick.
"What is it?" he asked.
"I was in George's restaurant tonight." Nick said," And two fellows came in, tied up me and the cook, and, and said they were going to kill you."
Ole Anderson looked at the wall. "There isn't anything I can do about it." He said finally, "Thanks for coming to tell me, though."
Nick looked at the big man lying on the bed.
"Don't you want me to get the police?" he asked.
"That wouldn't do any good." Ole Anderson said.
"Well," Nick said, "Maybe you could get out of town."
"No," Ole Anderson said, "I'm through with all that running away." He looked at the wall.
"No, I made a mistake once." He said in a flat voice, "Now, there is nothing I can do about it. After a while I'll go out for a walk."
"So long." Nick said.
"Goodbye," said Ole Anderson, "Thanks for coming." He did not look at Nick.
Nick walked up the dark street to the corner and went back into George's restaurant.
"Did you see Ole?" George asked as soon as he saw Nick.
"Yes." Nick said.
"Well," George asked, "What is he going to do?"
"Nothing.” Nick said.
"But they'll kill him."
"I guess they will." Nick sighed.
George reached for a towel and began wiping one of the tables.
"I wonder what he did." He said.
"Probably cheated one of the gangsters in Chicago," Nick said.
He stood up, "I'm going to get out of this town. I can't stand thinking about him waiting in his room and knowing he is going to be killed. It's too awful!"
"Well," said George. "You'd better not think about it."
You have just heard the story "The Killers", written by Ernest Hemingway. It was adapted for Special English by Dona de Sanctis with permission from Alfred Writes Esquir Literary Agency, New York. This story copyrighted. All rights reserved. Your story teller was Larry West. For VOA Special English, this is Shirley Griffith.
[