The Irony of the young woman
The young woman who walks into the police desk wants to bail out her abusive boyfriend. The boyfriend is in jail for slapping and injuring her eyes that are blackening in color. However, the reader finds it ironic that the same woman is bailing out someone capable of killing her. Johnny is surprised that the woman has the intention of paying for the freedom of her abusive boyfriend. Jonny is advising the young woman to go and look for a nice young man who will treat her with the respect she deserves. Jonny tells the young woman, "You are better than that missy! There’s a nice young man out there who will treat you with the respect you deserve. Do yourself a favor and leave this piece of shit in jail where it belongs.”
The Irony of Jonny’s stories
John is an experienced police veteran who has served for more than two decades. The narrator finds him resourceful because he knows what is to be done for one to succeed in this career. However, the stories told by Jonny about the experiences of police are scary. The narrator is told how the police involve killings, saving the injured people, and protecting properties. Instead of getting scared of the profession, it is ironic that the narrator gets more motivated to pursue his dream of becoming a cop. The narrator says, "In my head, I’d always known I wanted to be a cop, but listening to Jonny Rogerson made my dream desire from the heart.”
The irony of being a cop
The narrator's dream has always been becoming a cop. When he joins the police department at the age of nineteen, the senior cops are surprised that a young and brave man can decide to waste his fruitful years serving as a policeman instead of looking for lucrative careers that can make him earn a lot of money. Jonny and other senior cops try to advise the narrator on rethinking his choice but he insists that his dream is to become a cop. The cops start to laugh at him and ironically the narrator joins then in laughter. The narrator says, “They all would laugh, and I would laugh, too, because anyone who wanted to be a cop knew it wasn’t a practical choice and maybe not even a choice at all but a calling." The reader expects the narrator to feel angry with the cops for discouraging him from pursuing his dream but he accepts their jokes wholeheartedly.
The irony of Jonny Rogerson wanting to leave the police force.
The narrator is looking up to Jonny for his success and determination. Jonny is a veteran who joined the police force after leaving the army. He has worked in the police department for more than twenty years. The narrator admires him and likes listening to his stories. However, Jonny has two hundred and sixty-one days to retire and he is looking forward to leaving. The narrator finds it ironic that why a man like Jonny should leave while he is yearning to be an achiever like him. The idea that Jonny is leaving, angers the narrator and he says, "I don't know where it came from, but I felt anger flooding through my gut. All I wanted was to get on the force; all he wanted was to leave it.”
The irony of Jonny's health condition
The narrator sees Jonny as a robust man who has extensive experience and should be working and patrolling the streets. Jonny and the narrator are very close friends and the can be assumed to be partners. Ironically, despite this level of friendliness and closeness, the narrator never knew that Jonny is suffering from a heart attack and that is why he is tasked with the responsibility of the desk officer. He is also almost leaving the department because of his health condition. The narrator learns all these from Simms who reveals that Jonny is leaving because of his ailing condition. The reader finds it ironic that the narrator learns about Jonny's condition from someone else instead of getting the information directly from him. After learning about Jonny's heart attack condition, the narrator says, “I was dumbfounded – I had never thought of Jonny as anything but robust. The rigors of the street would be nothing to him, I’d believed. I wondered why he has not hadn’t told me; I couldn’t imagine any two cops working closer together than we had those last two months.”
