Twenty Minutes With Mrs. Oakentubb (Summary)

Author: Frank Arthur is a well-known novelist and playwright of English Literature. Some of his plays have melodramatic touch. "Twenty Minutes with Mrs. Oakentubb" is an effective little piece of melodrama.

Summary: Mrs. Oakentubb wife of a businessman was going to Stainthrope, her native town. At a small railway junction, she was to change the train. It was a dark stormy night. As the train was to come after twenty minutes, so she had to take shelter in the railway station waiting room. A porter followed her, carrying her suitcase. After the arrival of lady, the person, who arrived into the waiting room, was a middle aged gentleman. As he entered the waiting room his glance fell on the Oakentubb's suitcase and read her name, written on it. Although he came to know that the lady in the waiting room was Oakentubb, but he did not disclose it, before her.

          After a little time, they started talking with each other. They were conversating on the subject of chances and casual meetings. The man narrated an event of a little girl in Korea, that had changed the course of his life and gave him courage to live a life when he had became fed up of it. He also told his In tension for going to Stainthrope to take revenge from the lady, named Judy Oakentubb. Because the lady had killed his daughter and wife in an accident. He asserted that it was a deliberate murder. He pointed out that Mrs. Oakentubb was driving her car at a fast speed. She was drunk and had also made a bet of five pounds at a cocktail party that she would reach the coast within fifteen minutes, which was almost impossible. So she was driving very fast in order to make it possible with bet. During driving she over took a bus and saw a lorry was coming on the opposite direction, and her car was going to have an accident with the lorry. So the turned her car to footpath, to save her own life and crushed to death, the man's wife and daughter who were walking in the footpath.
               At this Oakentubb frightened, but showed no sign of fear. She loudly pleaded that it was merely an accident. The court also considered it an accident and that was sentenced to eighteen month imprisonment. The man said that her eighteen months imprisonment was not enough punishment. now he was going to kill her to punish her properly and to do justice.
                 Mrs. Oakentubb was under the impression that the man had not recognised her. Soon the man told her that she herself was the Mrs. Oakentubb and he would kill her. At that moment she hit upon a cunning plan and pretended that her life was miserable and could never forget the dreadful scene of the accident. She always thought his wife and daughter and suffered and so said it was a continuous torture for her, so she requested him to kill her and get her rid of perpetual torture.
                Her plan worked well. He decided to allow her to live and went but of the room as if it would be his true revenge. As soon as he went out of the room, she jumped and put her fingers on her nose at him, which showed the sign of false remorse. Suddenly the man opened the door and saw her gestures, he took out the revolver and shot her, she fell down.