Epicrisis

Epicrisis (e-pi-cri’-sis): When a speaker quotes a certain passage and makes comment upon it.

“It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.” I was writing a localized version of “A Tale of Two Cities.” My two cities were Morristown and Sparta, New Jersey. It was about a guy named Judo who had a bicycle repair shop in Sparta. He dealt in bikes stolen from Morristown. He would paint them and sell them to customers who were buying bikes for their kids, often for birthdays or Christmas. Judo gave people a really good deal, so nobody complained, even though they suspected the bikes were stolen. But, it was New Jersey, so everybody kept their mouths shut, and bought the bikes.

Meanwhile, in Morristown, a small city known for gang violence and small-tme criminal activities, Ms. Schizner was teaching her 7th grade class about Colonial America. She had gotten to one of her favorite subjects: the Sparta Iron Mines. They were incredibly productive and helped supply the Colonies with iron. Ms. Schubert was preparing for her annual field trip to the Sparta iron mines.

The day came and off the class went. As they pulled into Sparta, Billy Olbert yelled “That’s my fu*king bike!” and pulled the emergency stop chord. The bus stopped immediately with a screech.

All the boys ran off the bus, chasing the bicyclist, waving their knives. They caught the kid, pushed him to the ground and threatened him. Billy hopped on the bike and rode it back to the bus, and loaded it on the bus.

What happened? Judo had forgotten to repaint Billy’s stolen bike.

The Sparta kid’s parents had figured things out—they knew the bike was stolen. They demanded a refund. Judo gave them a refund and an almost new bike from Morristown that had been stolen and repainted three days before.

It was New Jersey. The parents thanked Judo and took the repainted bike home to their son.

“It was the best of times. It was the worst it times.”

Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).

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