James wrote a play for television about a family who came to England from India, and the play was very interesting. It was bought by an American TV company.

     James was then invited to go to New York to help them. He lived in Washington, which is an hour away from New York by air. The plane was going to take off at 8:30 in the morning. So he had to be at the airport at about 7:30. He ordered a taxi for 6:30 and went to sleep. He forgot to wind (上发条) the clock, and it stopped after midnight. Also the driver of the taxi had to work very late that night and he got up very late the next morning.

     James woke with the feeling that something was wrong. He looked at his clock. It stood there silently with the hands pointing to ten past twelve. He turned on the radio and knew it was ten. He was" late for the plane. He was just preparing his coffee when the radio sent out another news, "Reports are coming in of a plane crash (飞机坠落) near Washington Airport. A Boeing 707 flying to New York crashed shortly after taking off this morning. Plane number 2234," James suddenly turned pale.

      "My plane," he said aloud. "If I haven't been late, I'd have been on the plane!"