[
 {
  "chunk": 523,
  "story": 39,
  "summary": "With the boss's son away for a few days, Torchy is effectively running the office on his own, handling confidential matters and callers, and feels puffed up and important.",
  "predicament": "Someone newly promoted, left in charge while the boss is away, begins to feel like the indispensable person at the top."
 },
 {
  "chunk": 524,
  "story": 39,
  "summary": "The old head of the firm walks in unannounced, having quit his health cure early and angry at being sidelined; he learns the family are away expecting him, and retreats into his room, long out of touch with the business.",
  "predicament": "The ailing old head, long out of the picture, walks back in unannounced, determined not to be put out to pasture."
 },
 {
  "chunk": 525,
  "story": 39,
  "summary": "Not knowing Torchy has been promoted, the old man orders him about as office boy, and Torchy goes along with it; finding him at a desk in the inner office, the old man demands an explanation.",
  "predicament": "Someone newly promoted is ordered about as the lowest junior by an old head who never heard of the change."
 },
 {
  "chunk": 526,
  "story": 39,
  "summary": "Torchy explains his dummy-company post; the old man reserves judgement, then demands to know about a vital lease a partner firm has refused to renew, and the senior clerk blames the absent son.",
  "predicament": "A returning old head springs a crisis on a newly promoted junior, while a senior colleague shifts the blame elsewhere."
 },
 {
  "chunk": 527,
  "story": 39,
  "summary": "The file shows only a polite request and a refusal; the lease expires tomorrow, and the old man realises a powerful, reclusive financier he has fought before is behind it, and rouses himself for battle.",
  "predicament": "An old head who feared he was finished finds a crisis only he knows how to fight, and comes back to life."
 },
 {
  "chunk": 528,
  "story": 39,
  "summary": "He has the whole office in a frenzy for hours preparing, then tells Torchy to come along to see the financier.",
  "predicament": "The returning old head sets the whole place scrambling, and takes the newly promoted junior with him into battle."
 },
 {
  "chunk": 529,
  "story": 39,
  "summary": "The financier is famous for being unreachable; at his building a house detective says no one knows where he is, and the old man refuses to believe it.",
  "predicament": "Two people set out to confront a powerful man who is famous for never letting anyone reach him."
 },
 {
  "chunk": 530,
  "story": 39,
  "summary": "Upstairs, the silent, secretive offices yield only a clerk who denies knowing the man; the old man storms out, and Torchy recalls the financier is said to use a private lift.",
  "predicament": "Stonewalled by a smiling gatekeeper, an outraged elder is ready to give up, and his junior spots a possible back way in."
 },
 {
  "chunk": 531,
  "story": 39,
  "summary": "Circling the block, Torchy hails a telegraph messenger boy, trades on his own past as one, and has the boss tip the boy a dollar.",
  "predicament": "Someone risen from the bottom uses the knowledge and slang of his old rank to win over a lowly runner."
 },
 {
  "chunk": 532,
  "story": 39,
  "summary": "For five dollars more the boy reveals the financier's messenger always enters by a side door in a nearby bank, guarded by a watchman; Torchy asks what excuse they could use.",
  "predicament": "Someone junior bribes a lowly runner into revealing the hidden route to a powerful man's door."
 },
 {
  "chunk": 533,
  "story": 39,
  "summary": "Learning the financier loves fancy poultry, Torchy buys two prize birds; at the secret door he tells the guard his boss is a famous breeder delivering birds that were ordered.",
  "predicament": "Someone junior uses a powerful man's pet hobby as a cover story to talk his boss past a suspicious guard."
 },
 {
  "chunk": 534,
  "story": 39,
  "summary": "The ruse works; the financier comes out expecting the birds, recognises his old rival, and is annoyed to learn how they got in.",
  "predicament": "A reclusive man of power comes out for his hobby and finds an old rival smuggled in by a cheeky junior."
 },
 {
  "chunk": 535,
  "story": 39,
  "summary": "The financier squirms and refuses until the old man threatens foreclosure on a defaulted bond issue he holds; the financier gives way and admires the birds, which the old man says are Torchy's gift.",
  "predicament": "An old fighter confronts a slippery rival and wins by quietly naming the lever he holds over him."
 },
 {
  "chunk": 536,
  "story": 39,
  "summary": "The lease arrives signed before closing; the old man approves of Torchy's promotion and doubles his salary.",
  "predicament": "The formidable old head, won over by his junior's resourcefulness, approves the promotion he never knew about and raises his pay."
 }
]