Question

Questions 1. What made Ray think the visitor was not really a shopper? 2. Why do you think he had come to the shop? 3. How did Ray communicate with him? 4. What do you think the man said to his friend who waited at the door? 5. Ray was not a pawnbroker. Why then did he lend money to people in exchange for their old watches and clocks? 6. "The watch was nothing special and yet had great powers." In what sense did it have great powers'? 7. Do you think the man would ever come back to pick up the watch? 8. When did "the unfriendly face" of the visitor turn truly friendly?​

Answer 1

★ Answers ★

1. Ray was an experienced shopkeeper and was able to detect the peculiarity in the behavior of the visitors. Both of them seemed uneasy and as one of them stood guard on the shop’s door, Ray’s suspicion got justified that they were not shoppers.
2. The visitors were not shoppers but had come to the shop in order to loot the owner of the cash and other valuables.
3. Ray was deaf and also unable to speak. He used a notepad and a pencil to communicate with the visitor. He wrote the message on the notepad and read the response from the same.
4. Once Ray told the visitor that he was deaf, the visitor turned to his young companion on the door and said something. He probably informed him about Ray being deaf and thus their job becoming easier than expected.
5. Ray was not a pawnbroker but seems like a decent human being. He chose not to say no to a person in need and gave them loans in exchange of their old clocks and watches. These were returned back to the owners once the money was paid back. He did not charge any interest on the money either.
6. The watch in particular did not have any specific characteristic and was just a regular watch. But it can be said to have great powers as it helped in avoiding unnecessary violence. It also provided a legal and ethical way out for the visitor to get out of a seemingly difficult monetary situation.
7. The man would probably come back to pick up the watch and pay back the money. He showed some conscience when he chose not to take the path of violence when given a proper path and this conscience will play a major role in his return.
8. When Ray offered fifty dollars in exchange of the ordinary watch, the unfriendly face of the visitor transformed to friendly. This was because he knew that it is not the real worth of the watch and Ray was lending him the money out of compassion.