Footprints Without Feet Supplementary Reader Chapter 8 The Hack Driver

The lawyer was a young man who started working as junior assisstant clerk soon after he had graduated. Being inexperienced in the profession, he was unsuspecting about people. He was a wide-eyed person. He met Bill at the station and trusted him instantly. Being convinced by his friendly approach, he followed him unquestionably.
If he were judicious, he could have saved himself from being befooled by Lutkins. 

The lawyer was working as a junior assisstant clerk. He expected that he would be asked to prepare legal briefs. But against his hopes, he had to serve summons like a private cheap detective. He had to go to the dirty and shadowy places and meet criminals. He was even beaten up by some of them. So, he hated his work.

The lawyer was sent to New Mullion, to serve summons on a man called Oliver Lutkins. The lawyer was happy to meet a delivery man at the station who appeared to be very helpful. His name was Bill and he helped him a lot in his search for Oliver Lutkins.

When the lawyer heard that he would go forty miles away from the city to serve a summon, he became happy. He was frustrated with the life of the city and liked that he would get to catch a glimpse of simple country life. In contrast, he found New Mullion disappointing. He disliked its muddy streets and wooden shops. 

When the lawyer met Bill at the station and asked him about Lutkins, he thought of befooling the lawyer and immediately came up with a plan. At the same moment, he offered him help to search Lutkins.He decided to make him the laughing stock of the whole village. 

When the lawyer reached New mullion, he only liked meeting Bill Magnuson being disappointed in rest of the things about it. He appeared to be a friendly, helpful and a welcoming person to the lawyer. As soon as, the lawyer told him about Lutkins, he offered to help him immediately. Moreover, he did all the talking himself and saved the lawyer from Lutkin's aggressive mother. So, he made a very good opinion about Bill.

The lawyer was deeply involved in thinking about greatness of Bill Magnuson. He was thinking about the way he had helped him and the efforts he made for finding Lutkins. Besides, he was considering settling in New Mullion and practise law there. He bothered very little over his failure to find Lutkins.

Bill wanted to know the lawyer’s purpose of searching Lutkins. He wanted to earn money by making him wander in the village. Besides, he found him unsuspecting. So, he took the lawyer for a ride. Besides, he earned some money from him as well.

Lutkins was a jolly-natured and fun-loving person. When he got to know that the lawyer came to the village searching for him, he came up with a plan to befool him. Apart from that, he found the lawyer young, gullible, inexperienced. So he befooled him by posing as Bill and made fun of him in front of all the villagers.

Lutkins was friendly, helpful and a fun-loving person. He was liked by all the villagers. Wherever they went, he asked the lawyer to stay behind and let him do all the talking himself. He must have definitely made some suggestive gestures to involve them in this game. Besides, the villagers were also interested to have a funny episode.

The lawyer spent the whole day in New Mullion. Following Bill's plan, he went with Bill from place to place searching for Lutkins. He also went to Lutkin’s mother’s farm. He had a peaceful lunch at Wade’s Hill. He learnt a lot about the village and its people.

As Lutkins himself accompanied the lawyer disguised as Bill, he could not find Lutkins. Lutkin was befooling him with the support of the villagers. 

The lawyer found out the truth about Lutkins the next day. When he reached the station next day with his colleague, he saw Bill and Lutkin's mother having a casual conversation. He was informed by his colleague that whom he thought to be Bill was Lutkins himself. Then, the lawyer came across the truth and felt embarassed. As they saw the lawyer coming, Lutkins and his mother laughed at him as if he were a small boy of seven. It hurt him because it proved that he was stupid and inexperienced.

The lawyer was a young and an inexperienced person. He was friendly and open. Moreover, he was wide-eyed and foolish at the same time. Within a few minutes after he met Bill, he followed him unquestionably. His over-trusting nature made him fall a prey to Lutkin's plan.

The lawyer could have avoided being befooled by Lutkins if he were a little careful and thoughtful. He should have taken the lead in the search and verified information provided by Bill. He should have been narrow-eyed when Bill offered his help in this concern and asked him to stay behind in his pursuit. 

Lutkins did not want to accept the summons. He wanted to make fun of the lawyer. He wanted to earn money. So he pretended to be Bill Magnuson. He appeared to be simple, clever, jolly-natured and fun-loving person.

Looks Can be Deceitful

It is rightly said, what seems to be real is not real always. Whatever we see with our naked eye, might not be the actual reality. We must keep a check on our tendency to judge people and things superficially. It is rightly said that one should not judge a book by its cover. What seems pretty on the outside might have a different face inside. Similarly, just because a person is well dressed and appears to be friendly, it is not necessary that he is a good human being also. Thus, we must not only go by what appears on the outside as looks can be deceitful.

Experience is a great Teacher

There is a reason why people with a lot of experience are called wise. Experience is a great teacher. But this stands conditional to the clause that we learn from our bad experiences. Life is full of experiences. What is imperative is that we learn from our bad experiences and relish the good ones. Our experiences make us wiser with time. When we forbid a child from touching a hot object, it does not understand its implications and goes and touches it. On the other hand, once that child experiences the burning sensation he understands why hot objects must not be touched. Similarly, our life is full of such incidents. All we have to do is, learn from them.

As the lawyer could not find Lutkins, he did not serve the summons that day.

The hack driver, Bill is Lutkins. Lutkins disguises himself as Bill to befool the lawyer and make fun of him. 

Lutkin's disguised appearance as Bill caught the lawyer's attention. He told him that he wanted to find Lutkins. As soon as Lutkins knew that the lawyer had come to find him, he came up with his plan for fooling him.

For self attempt.