Mr Boxell lived at 5 Central Road in a little town in the North of England. He was a tall fair-haired man with dark eyes on his round pleasant face.
Mr Boxell was a salesman. He had a lot of things to sell in his small quiet shop: clothes, shoes, books. He also sold vegetables and fruit. Meat and sugar, flour and bread in his shop. So, he was a baker, a grocer, a greengrocer and butcher too.
People in that town knew Mr Boxell’s shop very well. They could buy practically everything there and Tom Boxell was always kind and polite.
Tom was married. His wife, Margaret, was a nice little woman, dark-haired, slim and very pretty. Sometimes she helped Tom in his shop. She could count well and was always very friendly. She worked fast and thought that her job was very important.
One Thursday, when Tom and Margaret were both in their shop a short man walked in and asked for an expensive pair of shoes. There was something dangerous in the man’s unfriendly eyes. At first Tom could not understand what it was but then he recognized the man’s face. It was Brooks, the burglar. Tom knew that the police wanted him very much.
Brooks tried on a few pairs of shoes and then bought the pair which Tom strongly recommended. Brooks thought they were a bit tight but Tom said: “Don’t worry, they’ll stretch, sir.”
The next morning Brooks came into the shop to change his shoes. He was very unhappy and had a weak smile on his ugly face. But when he asked for a different pair of shoes the police arrested him as the policemen were in the shop. They knew that Brooks had a pair of shoes a size too small for him and they were sure he would come to change them the next day. What a clever salesman Tom Boxell was!
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