philip and daisy

by nick nelson

philip was looking out the window. his mom, gladys, was sitting on the sofa reading a three week old issue of good housekeeping magazine. what are you doing, philip? gladys asked. looking out the window, philip relied. why don’t you go for a walk? a walk to where? i do not like to go for walks unless i have an actual destination. why don’t you go over to daisy johnson’s house and ask her to marry you? she seems like a nice girl. all right, philip said. philip walked over to daisy johnson’s house. it was a nice day, not too hot or cold, and without a cloud in the sky. philip rang the bell at daisy’s and a minute later daisy came to the door. what do you want? she asked philip, in a no nonsense voice. will you marry me? philip asked. no, i don’t think so, she answered. and daisy closed the door in philip’s face. the weather on philip’s walk back to his own house was quite as pleasant as his walk to daisy’s had been. at least i got some exercise, philip thought. and i had a purpose in my walk, and did not just “go for a walk”, like some people. but the story did not end there. daisy reported philip’s visit to the authorities, and the next day philip was arrested for attempting to recruit daisy to a secret cell of conspirators plotting against the government. gladys was also arrested as an accomplice to philip’s crime. philip was sentenced to twenty years hard labor, and gladys, in consideration to her advanced age, to ten. gladys did not live to complete her sentence. when philip was in the seventeenth year of his sentence, he received a letter - the first he had received since the death of gladys nine years previously. he hoped it was from daisy johnson, saying that she was retracting the charges against him and was wiling to testify on his behalf at a retrial. but it was not. in fact the letter was not even intended for him, but for another prisoner with the same name as himself, and he had received it by mistake. considering that his identification number in no way resembled the other man’s, the mistake was inexcusable.