The simile of the giant spider
The narrator reflects on his early life as a cop and in his memories, he recalls Johnny Rogerson. Johnny was a veteran cop who had served for over twenty-five years. Unlike many other cops of his status, Johnny preferred to be behind the desk to answer the calls and assign other police officers on demand. Similarly, he loved sitting behind the desk to attend to visitors. The narrator compares Jonny to a giant spider sitting at the center of its web. The narrator says, "To me, he was like a giant spider in the center of its web, alert to everything and everybody who wandered into his reach, as quick to criticize as he was to console.” Consequently, Johnny loved his work and he did it with determination.
The simile of battle-weary warriors
The narrator is confused about whether he envies Rogerson or he admires him for his success. He is dreaming of becoming veteran police and be like Rogerson so that they can together share their war stories like a pair of battle-weary warriors. The narrator says, "I was sitting in the study lounge of my college campus one day, so lost in the fantasy that I, too, was a veteran cop and that Jonny Rogerson and I were trading war stories like a pair of battle-weary warriors, that I missed the bell for class.”
The simile of the rain
After the narrator realizes that Jonny is sick, the following morning he takes a close look at him and realizes that he looks tired with a puffy skin under his eyes. However, Jonny does not reveal his ailing condition because he greets the narrator with a smile. He is also looking at the sky and hints to the narrator that the following day it is going to rain when he says, "Gonna rain like a sonovabitch tomorrow, kid.”
The Simile of the Storm
The previous day Jonny had predicted that there was going to be rain but the narrator dismissed the prediction claiming that it could be a fine day. However, when the narrator woke up the following day, it was raining cats and dogs. The howling winds and driving rain battered his bedroom window. Everything looked like a hurricane and the weatherman was about to predict so. The narrator thought that the world was coming to an end when he said, "It looks, I thought, like the end of the world.”
The simile of the clothes shop
The narrator is guiding the patrol team to respond to a reported robbery in one of the clothing stores in town. The scene of the crime is dramatic and as the narrator leads the team to combat the robbery, he sees himself as a member of the audience in a theatre. When he got a good view of the clothing store, the narrator says, "It was like a framed theatrical scene: The shop was the stage, and I was an audience member in a darkened auditorium.”
