瑞安·金塞拉

The sun glaring through the window woke me up. I got out of bed and got dressed. I proceeded into the kitchen where I ate cold cereal for breakfast， just like every morning for the past 3 years.

It was time to go to work. I stepped outside and walked at a leisurely pace down Madison Ave. It was the best time of year for my line of work： the summer when all of the tourists came to New York.

I got to the city square， and as usual， the very same cliques2 were there， and in numbers today.? “It looks to be a very good day，” I thought as I smiled to myself. I saw a white man in his late 30’s. Guessed he looked kind of lost. “Perfect，” I thought to myself. “Time to work.” I calmly and confidently stepped up to the man.

“Hello， sir. Can I help you？”

“Yes. I am looking for the Madison Hotel.”

“Yes， yes... Oh， okay. Go three blocks down， and take a right. It will be on your left. You can’t miss it.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Have a good day sir.”

I walked away with not only a smile on my face， but with the man’s wallet in my pocket. I opened it up to see 48 dollars， a Discover 3， and a MasterCard. A couple of hours and 4 wallets later， I decided to get lunch. So far， I had acquired 6 credit cards， 726 dollars， and several patent leather， hand-made Italian billfolds4.

I decided to go to my favorite place a little bistro called daVinci’s. They have the best pizza. But then， I saw the man. He was about 6 feet tall， with a dark chocolate complexion. He was actually walking in circles—even an amateur could easily recognize that he was lost. Perfect.

I cautiously approached him， like a lion stalking his prey.

“Hello， sir. Can I help you？”

“Yes. Do you， by any chance， know where the movie theater is？”

“Ah， yes. No problem. Go down 52nd Ave. and take a left. It’ll be right there. You can’t miss it.”

“Thank you， so much.”

“No problem， sir. My pleasure.”

I was practically bouncing up the street as I opened up the man’s wallet. I found three hundred dollars and three credit cards. I glanced at the name on one of the cards.

“Mr. Johnson，” I thought. “Thank you very much， Mr. Johnson.” I arrived at the restaurant feeling very good indeed. After my 4-course meal Italian feast， I privately made a toast to Mr. Johnson. “May he increase his own happiness like he has mine.”

I decided I was done for the day， and started on my way home. Little did I know， something was about to happen that would change my life forever.

On my way back， I passed through a small alley. As I got to the end of the small alley I saw him， I saw my gracious benefactor. A little white girl had fallen down， and Mr. Johnson was kindly helping her up. The mother saw what was going on， and started to scream and yell for help. The mother started to hit Mr. Johnson with her bag and continued to scream. Mr. Johnson tried to explain to her that he was just trying to help， but she would not listen， and incessantly panicked.

A few men heard the noise， and came barreling out of a house carrying a couple of bats. The 3 men， who were all white and each about 5 or 6 feet， started yelling at Mr. Johnson. One of the white men hit Mr. Johnson across the face. They all started punching him and hitting him with the bats. They just would not stop. They kept swearing at him， and spitting on him.

I wanted to scream： “Stop！ Stop！ What are you doing？” But I could not. I just stood there， frozen， and was unable to say anything. He was only trying to help—only trying to help a little girl up off of the street.

Then， one of the white men pulled out a knife and proceeded to stab Mr. Johnson several times. Then， the three white men ran away， dropping the bats as they ran.

There， he was the man I had stolen from， laying dead in his own pool of blood—alone in a dark alley.

It was unfair I had stole from this man when he was looking for my help， and because of this， he is dead. Then it hit me： I killed him. He probably came looking for me when he was killed. I was responsible.

I heard the sirens and I ran. I just ran. I realized that I had not only stolen his wallet—I had stolen his life. Tears streamed down my face as I ran.

God had given me a second chance to realize what I had done. Yes， God had given me a second chance， and Mr. Johnson had paid for it.

陽(yáng)光透過(guò)窗子照進(jìn)來(lái)， 喚醒了我。我迅速起床，穿好衣服，走進(jìn)廚房，吃了點(diǎn)冰冷的麥片權(quán)當(dāng)是一頓早餐。過(guò)去三年來(lái)，每天早晨我都是這么過(guò)的。

現(xiàn)在該去上班了。我走出家門(mén)，在麥迪遜大街上悠閑地逛著。對(duì)于干我這一行的人來(lái)說(shuō)，現(xiàn)在正是一年當(dāng)中最佳的時(shí)機(jī)：旅游者大都在夏天前來(lái)紐約觀光。

我來(lái)到了城市廣場(chǎng)，和往常一樣，今天這里又是游人如織，成群結(jié)隊(duì)?！翱磥?lái)，今天日子不錯(cuò)?！毕氲竭@兒，我暗自笑了笑。這時(shí)候，我看見(jiàn)一個(gè)年近40歲的白人男子。看他的樣子像是迷路了?！鞍魳O了！”我心里暗想，“該出手了?！蔽益?zhèn)靜而又自信地朝那人走去。

“你好，先生。需要幫忙嗎？”

“對(duì)。我在找麥迪遜酒店。”

“哦，哦……好的。往前走過(guò)三個(gè)街區(qū)，然后再向右轉(zhuǎn)。麥迪遜酒店就在你的左邊。你肯定會(huì)找到的?！?/p>

“謝謝你！”

“不用謝。祝你過(guò)得愉快，先生。”

我?guī)е⑿ψ唛_(kāi)了，順手也帶走了那人的錢(qián)包。我打開(kāi)錢(qián)包，發(fā)現(xiàn)里面有48美金，1張發(fā)現(xiàn)卡，還有1張萬(wàn)事達(dá)卡。之后的幾個(gè)小時(shí)，又偷到了4個(gè)錢(qián)包，于是，我決定去吃午飯。到現(xiàn)在為止，我已經(jīng)得到6張信用卡，726美金，幾個(gè)意大利手工制作的名牌真皮錢(qián)夾。

我決定去一家叫達(dá)·芬奇的小餐廳，我平時(shí)就喜歡去那兒。那里有全城最好的比薩?？删驮谶@時(shí)，我看見(jiàn)了那個(gè)人。他身高大約六英尺，膚色如巧克力般黝黑。其實(shí)，他一直在那里繞圈子——顯然，這人也迷路了。這連一個(gè)門(mén)外漢也能看出。太棒了！

我小心翼翼地向他靠近，就像一頭獅子一樣悄悄地跟上了它的獵物。

“你好！先生，需要幫忙嗎？”

“是的。你知道電影院在哪兒?jiǎn)?？?/p>

“嗯，知道。我當(dāng)然知道。順著第52號(hào)大街一直往前走，再往左拐就到了。你肯定會(huì)找到的?！?/p>

“多謝了?！?/p>

“不用謝，先生。我很樂(lè)意為你效勞?！?/p>

說(shuō)著，我走上大街，一邊打開(kāi)那人的錢(qián)包。我發(fā)現(xiàn)里面有300美金和3張信用卡，我瞥了一下其中一張卡上的署名。

“多謝了，約翰遜先生?！蔽倚闹心畹?。我到了那家餐館，感覺(jué)相當(dāng)不錯(cuò)。吃完了四道菜的意大利大餐后，我舉杯暗自為約翰遜先生干杯?！白Ｔ杆臀乙粯右惶毂纫惶炜鞓?lè)。”

今天收獲不小，我決定收工。于是，我踏上了回家的路。可我沒(méi)有料到，一件意外的事情就要發(fā)生了，它永遠(yuǎn)改變了我的生活。

在回家的路上，我穿過(guò)一條小巷。走到小巷的盡頭，我看見(jiàn)那位仁慈的大恩人。突然，一位白人小女孩摔倒了，約翰遜先生正要好心地扶她起來(lái)，恰好被女孩的母親看見(jiàn)。她尖叫了起來(lái)，高聲呼救。與此同時(shí)，那位母親還用挎包擊打約翰遜先生。約翰遜先生竭力向她解釋?zhuān)皇窍霂椭?，可她?tīng)不進(jìn)去，反而更加恐慌。

很快，幾個(gè)男子從一座房子里循聲魚(yú)貫而出，每個(gè)人手里握著一根短棍。三個(gè)身高約有五六英尺的白人男子開(kāi)始朝約翰遜先生怒吼起來(lái)。其中，一個(gè)白人男子朝約翰遜先生的臉上猛擊了一拳。隨后，他們紛紛用短棍朝他猛砸。他們不停地辱罵他，朝他的身上吐著口水。

我想大喊：“住手！住手！你們要干什么？”可是，我不能。我只是站在那里，束手無(wú)策，也無(wú)話(huà)可說(shuō)。他只是想幫忙——只是想將一個(gè)女孩從地上扶起來(lái)。

這時(shí)候，一個(gè)白人男子拔出一把刀子，向約翰遜先生狠狠地捅了幾下。隨后，那三個(gè)白人扔下了手中的短棍跑了。

在那里，在那條幽暗的小巷，被我偷了錢(qián)包的約翰遜先生，躺在血泊之中，孤獨(dú)地死去了。

當(dāng)他向我尋求幫助時(shí)，我卻偷走了他的錢(qián)包，這不公平！正是因?yàn)檫@，他死了。是我殺死了他。他可能是因?yàn)榛貋?lái)找我而被人殺了。我有責(zé)任。

這時(shí)候，警笛聲響了，我跑開(kāi)了。我就這么跑了。我意識(shí)到，我不僅偷走了他的錢(qián)包，我還偷走了他的性命。跑著跑著，我的眼淚順著面頰流了下來(lái)。

上帝給了我第二次機(jī)會(huì)，讓我認(rèn)識(shí)到自己的所作所為。是的，上帝給了我第二次機(jī)會(huì)，而約翰遜先生卻為此付出了沉重的代價(jià)。