Officially Dead

By Richard Prescott

The Contect Of The Story :

"Officially Dead" it's about two same people, There are not twins.

One named Colin Fenton, and the second named John Bently.

Julie, Colin's wife, and Colin himself were partners in business. Their company C.J.F Software Solutions developed computer programs and sold them to a large businesses. They were living in city called Bath in London area. They didn't have any childrens becouse they were always at work till the late hours, making some money.

Julie was a very pleasant person, who get along with everybody around her.

Linda, John's wife, was exactly the opposite of Julie in her personality and way of living. Linda use to work in some jewelry store in Brentwood.

One day, Colin had a business trip to Brentwood about some company who want to buy program of his products. He took the car and left Bath at evening and strat driving to Btrentwood.

When he got to the hotel he booked before, he went to his room, rest little bit, and after few houres he left the hotel to breathe some fresh air. He get inside some pub in the street beside his hotel, set on the bar, and then he saw something unbelievable, he saw a man look the same like him, same face, but his wife look different, it was't Julie. In the first time he saw John Bently,

Colin came around Jhon's table and had a nice conversation with him and his wife, Linda.

Linda strat to like Colin, and ask him to keep on touch with her, she insisted to meet him again without any thoughts about her husband. And they have meet again in the next evening.

Meanwhile, Linda strated to prepare some plan.

She told her husband, John to let her and Colin to be alone one night without him and after a little fight between them he had to accepted the idea and like always to agree with his wife.

Colin and Linda had a meet again after night, he got to her house, they were had some dinner togheter. After that they set in the living room and have a little chat when in the end Linda took her gun who's hided underneath the couch and shoot at Colin.

At the morning John came back home and saw Colin's body lay down on the couch with blood around. Immediately he called to Linda and she told him her plan, for now on Colin Fenton was officialy dead.

Julie didn't knew about it all, she called to police to inform them about her husband missing.

Linda and John hide the body. And investigation by the police has began.

In the meantime, John moved to the attic for 5 months, Linda became Julie because Julie used the idea that her husband disappeared overnight, left her and more than that everyone knew John & Linda in Brentwood and in Bath everyone knew Julie & Colin, so the police of Brentwood after founding Colin's body, announce Linda instead of Julie about hisstrange death.

One day, a man named Mark Ashwood, a journalist and good friend of Colin called Julie home and ask to meet her. He heard before about her husband death and he wanted to ask her few questions about it. They decided to have a meeting in her house. He let her know everyhthing he knew about the misrtory behind her husband disappearance.

She drove to Brentwood with Mark and went to Bently's house.

Linda open the door and recognized Julie by the description Coiln gave her in the past. Linda "act" like she never knew Julie before untill John opened the door attic and strated to cry out to Linda becouse he become sick and tired of this, he phoned the policeimmediately. Linda was arrested by the police and set in jail for impersonating to someone else.

In the end,Mark and Julie move to live together.

The Biography Of The Writer :

After many years of teaching comparative literature mostly at the University of Pennsylvania Prescott Richard retired from teaching as a Distinguished Professor of Literature at Hunter College in 1992.

Until 1989, he was General Editor of the Penguin book series "Writers from the Other Europe," which he inaugurated in 1974 and which introduced the work of Bruno Schulz and Milan Kundera to an American audience. Since 1970 he has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In the 1990s, Prescott Richard published some major works: "Patrimony" (1991) won the National Book Critics Circle Award;

Task :

  • Which event would you choose as the climax of the story ? why?

In think the event is : when John open the door attic and decide finaly to put end to all this story of his wife impersonating for 5 month, from meeting Colin Fenton firt time untill she killed him in her house and hide the body somewhere.

No one thought that John will revealed the truth about his wife more than that infornt of Julie Colin's wife.

In my opinion, this is the climax in the story when the unexpected happend and the reader found himself in suspense situation and more urge to read the end on the story, to know what really happen to each one of the characters.

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