“HE WOKE UP DEAD!” | 11 Dark or Paranormal #RetroRadio Stories! EP0276 #WeirdDarkness
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Suspense!

Welcome, Weirdos! I'm Darren Marlar and this is Weird Darkness' Retro Radio. Here I have the privilege of bringing you some of the best dark, creepy, and macabre old-time radio shows ever created. If you're new here, welcome to the show! While you're listening, be sure to check out WeirdDarkness.com for merchandise, sign up for my free newsletter, connect with me on social media, listen to free audiobooks I've narrated, visit other podcasts I produce – you

You can also visit the Hope in the Darkness page if you're struggling with depression, dark thoughts, or addiction. You can find all of that and more at WeirdDarkness.com. Now, bolt your doors, lock your windows, turn off your lights, and come with me into Weird Darkness' retro radio. The CBS Radio Mystery Theater presents...

Come in. Welcome. I'm E.G. Marshall, conductor of this occult omnibus, which stops at your station seven times each week.

It is said of some people that they live in the past. But of course, we know this isn't true. Nobody can actually, genuinely, physically live in the past. Yes, it's possible to spend one's life in reverie, in daydream, but live in the past? That's incredible. You can only live in the present.

And the present is a vehicle that can only travel in one direction. Forward. Into the future. At least, that's what we've been led to believe. You wouldn't want to be 19 again. No, I wouldn't want to be 19 again. It's better to be 55. In some ways it is. You wouldn't want to be 19? You wouldn't want to be back there? Back where? Listen. Listen.

Grow up, Bill. Please, grow up.

I have grown up, and I don't like it. Like it or not, you've got to live with it. That's where you're wrong. I don't have to live with it. You don't have to live with it either. Come back with me. Back where? We could be 19 again. You're crazy. There's a key. I found the key. Bill, please. Zelda, I've got the key. I know how to go back. Come.

Come back, Zelda. Come back with me. Our mystery drama, Come Back With Me, was written especially for the Mystery Theater by Sam Dan and stars Howard Da Silva. It is sponsored in part by Anheuser-Busch Incorporated, Brewers of Budweiser, and Sinoff, the sinus medicines.

I'll be back shortly with Act One. The city is a living organism. And because every living thing must one day die, the city must die too. Like the human beings who build it, the city has its periods of youth, maturity, and old age.

The city dies by degrees. A house here, a street there, block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood. The boarded up, shuttered buildings stand empty, decayed, deserted, dead. But that part of the city which still lives continues to go through the motions.

It sends water through the mains, electric current to illuminate the streetlights, and police cruisers on their slow patrols. Tonight, Officer Tom Bergen suddenly stiffens to a tension behind the wheel of his car and loosens the strap of his holster.

Just up ahead, a man is walking slowly along the sidewalk. And anyone out here this time of the night had better be questioned. Are you okay, sir? Something wrong, officer? No, sir. Then why did you stop me? I didn't stop you. I'm walking along the street minding my own affairs and you accost me as if I were a common criminal. I only asked you if something was wrong. Why should something be wrong?

Well, sir, there's... Is this some sort of search and seizure? Or stop and frisk, as you might call it? Now, look, sir, you see a person out alone at night in this neighborhood... But what's wrong with this neighborhood? What's wrong with this ne... Is there a better neighborhood in the entire city, in the whole world?

You are insulting my neighborhood. Now, look, sir, I... You assure me of nothing. You imply that this neighborhood is a hotbed of vice, of crime, eh? I didn't say that. That was a nasty insinuation in your voice. Well, I only wanted to make sure you... There's an insult, and it's a fighting insult.

Now, look, you're just getting excited over nothing. This is my neighborhood, and I'll fight for it. For how can man die better than by facing fearful odds for the ashes of his fathers and the temples of his gods? Well, how can he? I don't believe he can. Macaulay wrote that. Thomas Babington Macaulay. And when I was a kid, that's what we were taught in high school.

They don't teach Horatius the bridge anymore. You know that, don't you? Well, yeah, I guess they don't. You know why, don't you? Because... Because it's not...

Relevant. You hear that? It's not relevant. That's a great new word today. Relevant. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Look, how would you like to... Honor, duty, respect. These things, they... Well, they just aren't relevant anymore. Why don't you get in, mister, and I'll give you a lift home. And I... I'm not relevant anymore either. Now, look. It's very late and you look to be a little unsteady on your feet. Tell me, officer. Look me straight in the eye and tell me.

What is relevant today? Like I said, it's very late. Oh, no, it's early. It's very early. The crowd is first starting to get together at Morrissey's. Morrissey's? Jack Morrissey's. You mean you're the cop on this beat and you've never heard of Jack Morrissey's? Everybody from the neighborhood goes there. Sure, sure. There used to be a Jack Morrissey's Saloon, but you're going back 30, 35 years. It's here now. Right here.

Look, Mr. Henning, minute now. It's going to start to rain, so don't you think you better... It's okay, officer. I'll just go into Morrissey's. See you later. Sir, you can't go anywhere. That's an old, condemned, boarded-up building you... Oh, you're a pretty good guy for a cop. Come on in. Let me buy you a beer. Well, where are you going? Where do you think I'm going?

Inside, into Morrison. But there's no such place. Are you sure you're okay, officer? The joint's jumping. Can't you hear it? Can't you hear the music? No, sir. I don't hear a thing. Listen. Listen.

Don't you hear that? The jukebox. The jukebox? Don't you know what a jukebox is? Yes, sure. I got this stuffy old prof, Doc Carberry. One night, the gang of us invited him down here, you know, to see how the people live. It's starting to rain. And you can hear this jukebox in Morrissey's. Hear how loud it is? But I don't hear nothing. Can you believe it? Old Doc had never seen one before.

What's that, he asks. It's a jukebox, I answer. Oh, he says. Probably named after a member of the Jukes family. You don't get it, huh? Ha, ha, ha.

Well, in psychology, you study this very retired family name. Look, the rain's beginning to come down very hard. It's a classical clinical study. There's nothing there. Hey, hey, take your hand off me. I said I'm going into Mars. You can't go in there. The building is condemned. You see what the sign said? I said take your hand off me. Give it...

Now, look here, mister. I can see you're... I don't want to have to use force, but I warn you. Don't you swing at me again. Let me alone. Come on. I'm going inside there. You're not going anywhere. Let me alone, I say. I can't... I can't ever... I'm up. Yes, you're up. Zelda. Hey...

Hey, what time is it? It's almost noon. No, I didn't wake me. I have to be at the office. Bill, don't, don't get out of bed. What are you talking about? Dr. Davis said he wants to see you as soon as you're awake. What for? Bill, you don't know what for. What happened last night? Last night? A policeman brought you home.

What are you saying? There it was, midnight. I answered the doorbell and you were practically draped over the policeman's shoulder like a sack of wheat. You're kidding. Bill, the cop said he didn't want to book you. Book me? For assault.

You were obviously disturbed. He felt that treating you like a criminal wasn't the answer. He was a very decent cop. Zelda, what is all this about? I must say, in addition to everything else, the publicity could have been the last straw. That's all we would have needed. Zelda. Bill, shut up. What were you doing in that deserted, godforsaken neighborhood? Godforsaken? Don't say that. Why were you wandering around there? What? What?

I don't know why. Bill, I'm trying to hold on. What was I doing there? I was looking for something. What? If I tell you, you'll think I'm crazy. I think you're crazy now. I was looking for you. And for me. All right.

All right, I was a fool to ask. You really don't want to know. I want an intelligent, responsive answer. I guess you would. Intelligent, responsive answer. You used those words the very first night we met. Bill,

Bill, please, please. We met in Morris, Ceece. I fell in love with you at first sight in Morris. Western United Industries is making the offer today. How can you talk about... How can I talk about love? Our lives depend on it. Yes, our lives do depend on love. Bill, save us. Let them buy us. You mean sell out. You can call it whatever you like. It's our only chance to get out of debt, to save something from the wreck.

What wreck? Now, Norman's had some preliminary discussions with their attorney. It's a fair offer. I remember. I walked into Morrissey's that night, and I saw you sitting there. You remember the tune that was on the jukebox? Listen. Listen to what? Can't you hear it? That's Dorsey himself on the trombone. Bill? Bill?

He's gone. But how great he was. Bill, will you please try to concentrate? But, oh, can't you hear it? No, I can't hear it.

You didn't have to kill it. Now look, Bill. You try to relax. I'll have Dr. Davis come over here right away. There's no point to it. You want him to convince me to accept some basic facts of life? Well, I accept them. I'll go down there and sign my death warrant. Why do you have to call it your death warrant? Because that's what it is. It is nothing of the sort.

You'll still run the company. Hundreds of small businesses have been taken over by big corporations. I don't want to talk about it. They still want you to manage it. I said I'm willing to do it. Why do we have to talk about it? Now let me shave and get dressed and get down to the office. Wear the new dark suit. Oh, absolutely. Dark has always been the proper shade for executions. Taxi!

I'll go to South Broadway in Torrance. And we're off. Well, don't look too good, does it? Think there's going to be a war? Well, there has to be a war. What do you mean, has to be? I figured out. Nobody was willing to stop them when it was easy. Who's going to do it now that it's hard? They just keep grabbing and grabbing until nobody will have any choice. Well, just who are you talking about?

Who do you think I'm talking about? Who else is there to talk about Hitler? Hitler? Oh. Yeah, well...

I guess that sounded crazy to you. No, no, no. No, no. No, not really. Sometimes I kind of, well, I go back. Oh, well, that's perfectly all right. I go back all the time myself. Do you? Oh, I don't know if the old days were better or if it's just that we were younger. I tell you one thing, the music was better. Ah, what great bands they had in them days, huh? The Marines.

The dawn is breaking, Marie. You'll soon be waking, Daddy. Mr. Driver. Huh? Yeah? I changed my mind. Take me to 280 LaSalle. I even remember the number. It's the corner of Tremont. Oh, yeah. You just made yourself a deal. Hey, you sure you want to go there? I'm positive. But that neighborhood, there just ain't nothing.

Okay. You're the doctor. Tremont, just off LaSalle. Lieutenant, keep a change. Hey, you mean you want to get out here? That's why I came. Mister, listen, for blocks around it, it's deserted. It's all coming down. I mean, you can even hear the wrecking crews.

Some of these buildings, they got junkies, all kinds of weird characters. It ain't safe. You know, you're a character. I'm just going into Morrissey's. Check Morrissey's. Morrissey's? Yeah, but all the cab drivers seem to be characters. Is it part of the union rules? Can't you hear the music? Music? You were just singing it. Hear it? Well, I tried. But like they say, to each their own. Oh.

Hello, Jack. Well, can we say that Morrissey's lives? Let me give you some actual data. Jack Morrissey opened a neighborhood bar in 1933. In 1941, he closed it when he enlisted in the Army.

Jack Morrissey was killed in North Africa at the Kasserine Pass in 1942. The place was never reopened. But here we find ourselves as part of the busy, happy crowd of Jack Morrisseys. How do you account for it? Well, you know we account for everything, eventually.

And part of the accounting will occur when I return in just a few moments with Act Two. Act Two

I would give a thousand tomorrows, a poet said, for just one of my yesterdays. Well, today is yesterday for Bill Harlow. He has just walked through a door and almost 35 years have suddenly fallen away.

The far away and the long ago has just become the here and the now. Here he is in Morrissey's where the college crowd hung out. And here are the girls, just as he remembers them, with their hair parted in the middle, high in the front, and curled up at the shoulders. ♪

Here are the guys in sweaters and pleated pants and loafers. And the music. Oh, that music. Well, how are you doing, Billy? I may just enlist. Oh, now, that's a drastic step. Well, might as well get in there first. Never be first in anything, Billy. Let some other guy do the spade work. You see what I mean? Who's around tonight, Jack? Well, there's your old buddy Norman.

Nice dish sitting there with him. Yeah, very, very nice. I think she's giving you the eye. She belongs to no one. No woman belongs to nobody. What do you want me to do, steal her from my best friend? He'd steal her from you, wouldn't he?

Hi, folks. Uh-oh. What are you doing here? I just fell in love, Norman, with that girl you're sitting with. Now, what kind of an answer is that? Well, I think you could call it an intelligent, responsive answer. Oh, you could, huh? Absolutely intelligent because he shows good taste. Mm-hmm. And responsive because it answers the question. What's your name?

Bill Harlow. Billy, get lost. My name is Zelda Newsome. Come on, sit down. Thank you. Where were you all this time? Hey, Normie, we mustn't let the music die. Put a nickel in the jukebox. Wait a minute. I thought this was my day. Anything by Glenn Miller? They have everything by Glenn Miller. Normie, do the honors. Behave yourself with my date, will you? Well? Well?

You didn't answer my question. Where was I? Oh, I was out there looking for you. Well, now you found me. I would like to give you an engagement ring. Oh, are we engaged? Sure.

Except I don't have one. I could give you my fraternity pin. But? I don't belong to a fraternity. Oh. Well, I'm not sure I could be interested in a pauper. Oh, I'm not completely without wealth. Oh, are you a millionaire in disguise? You see this? And what is that supposed to be? It's not supposed to be anything. It is. Yes? Now, the average person would look at this and say it's just a little black pebble. But it isn't.

This is a small stone. See how highly polished it is? Uh-huh. From the tomb of King Tut. I am impressed. You should be. It's my most precious possession. I'll keep it always. Shall we dance? Yes.

Well, if it ain't my old buddy, Officer Tom Bergen. How come you ain't made chief, huh? Hey, what are you doing in this godforsaken neighborhood? I'm trying to get out of it. How'd you get into it? I had a fear. You mean somebody wanted to come down here? Would you believe it? I had a guy wanted to go to LaSalle Corner Tremont. Next week, that joint ain't gonna exist. The wreckage ball is gonna ladle. No, no, wait a minute. This was a genuine 18-carat nut. Take me to Morris, he says. Hey, hey, hey, wait a sec.

A tall guy, kind of distinguished looking, a little bit gray. Yeah, that's right. The guy looked legit. He points to this building that's falling apart. That's Morrissey's, he says. Just like it was a live swinging joint and then he walked. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, he would. Yeah, thanks, Jerry. Thanks for telling me. Hey!

I'd have a couple of beers, Jack, for me and my girl. Your girl, huh? She come in here with Norman, and I say Norman's gone home. Well, I would have done the same for him. What is this gift you've got for the girls, Billy? Well, what can I tell you? You have to be born with it. Boy, you do without. Ah, Billy, she's just another dame. You're telling me.

I think that Norman was gone on her. She made the choice. I hope he forgives him. But Norman and I, we're like brothers. Blood brothers. Yeah. Anyhow, he wasn't sore when he left. Oh, I seen that big smile of his.

But you never know how a guy's taking it inside. Oh, come on, Jack. A guy himself may not even know how he's taking it. Like, it may be boiling away deep down where he don't know it. And then maybe 10, 20, even 30 years from now, he could suddenly make you pay the price. I could stand here and be enriched by your wisdom forever, Jack. But the most beautiful girl in the world is sitting there at the table waiting for me. Oh.

Well, what was that earnest conversation you were having with my host, Jack Morrissey? Oh, just man-to-man conversation. Tell me about it. Do you mean I have to tell you absolutely everything? Absolutely. Well, so the... So the... What is it? What's happening to us? What's happening to us?

Hey, Mr. Harlow. Zelda? Zelda? She's... She's gone. Hey, Mr. Harlow. Morrissey's gone. It's all gone. Where did he go? Look, Mr. Harlow, you can't stay here. It was all here. Jack Morrissey's...

Don't you understand? You don't want to get yourself into trouble, Mr. Harlow. It was here. July 30th, 1939. The night I met Zelda. She was Norman's date. Yeah, sure, sure, sure, but... Don't you patronize me? I won't. I'll tell you straight out. You imagined it. I didn't. It was real. Okay, so it was real to you. So's a dream. But you wake up and the dream is gone, right? And now this is gone, too.

Yes, it's gone. Now, we'd better be getting out of here. This place is dangerous. Morrissey's dangerous? Yeah, the buildings are being knocked down on all sides and the vibrations could... Come on. Yes, yes, officer. I'll come along quietly. The policeman is your best friend. That's what my mother used to tell me. Do mothers tell that to their kids today? I wouldn't know, sir. I wouldn't know either. We never had kids, Zelda and I.

Maybe if we'd had them, it might have been different. Yeah, well, come on. I think we'd better go now. Yeah. Wait. What's the matter? Look. Where? On the floor. That little stone. The little black stone. It's okay. What about it? Here. Look at it.

It's the stone I just gave to Zelda. This is it. This is the exact same stone. Now look, Mr. Harlow. On July 30th, 1939, in this place, I gave a girl named Zelda Newsome a little black stone. And here it is. How do you account for it? I don't know. I can't account for anything. All I know is that this joint's been deserted for years. And the law says no trespassing. So do we go? No.

All right, let's go. Bill. Hello, Zelda, Norman, Bill. Is that all you can say, hello? What are you doing here at home? Well, it's obvious. I've been listening to one of my favorite records. Turn that thing off. It used to be your favorite record, too. Now, please, Bill, do you mind? We have some serious matters to discuss. Oh, we certainly do.

We certainly do, Zelda. That night we met, I gave you a stone, remember? Norman and I waited for you at the office. The man from United Western Industries was there. You don't remember that little black stone, Zelda? Bill, excuse me, I have to say this. You did not create a favorable impression. You said you'd always keep

the stone. Fortunately, I think we saved the situation. Don't be so modest, Norman. You saved the situation. Why didn't you keep the stone, Gilda? I don't know what stone you're talking about. Listen to us. And less than an hour ago, we spoke to each other with such love. We were so thrilled. We were so excited by each other's presence. Less than an hour ago? You are crazy. We did. We met for the first time. You don't want to remember. Bill, will you please...

Please concentrate. I am trying to tell you, Norman worked out the deal. Did you, Norman? Yes. You see, Zelda and I decided... Oh, Zelda and you. Yes. We have worked very closely on it for a long time, Norman and I. Norman and you, huh? Yes, Norman and I. It had to be Norman and me. Who else would have kept the business alive? You've been very close with Norman, haven't you, huh?

Just what does that mean? Well, maybe you think you made the wrong choice back there in Morrissey. Maybe she did. I'd better go now. No, stay. Would you have been happier with Norman? Sober, steady, reliable Norman? Disregard all of this, Norman. We have to discuss what happened today while you weren't there, Bill. Now, Bill, look. You'll still be president of the company. That's nice. But...

Ah, the butt. I become chief executive officer in charge of operations. I see. Well, you know what it proves. Jack Morrissey was right. Now, what are you saying? Poor Norman, you kept it bottled up all these years, but you never forgave me, and today you buried the knife. Bill, I didn't want the job. Oh, I bet you kicked and screamed. Won't you try to understand? It

It's the only deal United Western will accept. But I don't accept it. Do you want to know the truth, Bill? The awful, terrible truth? They don't have to give us any kind of deal at all. They can wait a year until you go bankrupt and then just move in and pick up the pieces. You...

You really don't remember the stone, Zelda? Can't we have a sensible conversation? You're getting off lucky, Bill. Am I? Why? The truth is, you don't know how to run a company in today's market. That's true. I believe in quality. Yes, you justify yourself with that word, quality. But quality is a thing of the past. It costs money. People refuse to pay for it. As long as I run this company... When did you ever run this company? I carried you. Shut up. Look, I'm

I'm sorry. I'm going back to the office, and you should go back, too. We have to meet with the United Western People. You sure spoke your piece, didn't you? Oh, Bill, Bill. You were a big, friendly boy with the gift of gab. But after a while, it all wore a bit thin. Goodbye.

You better go back to the office. Yes, let's go back. But not to the office. Let's go back to Jack Morrissey's. Jack Morrissey is dead and gone. And you and I can't do the Lindy anymore. We were happy. We were so happy. Because we were children.

You never wanted to grow up, except responsibility. Wouldn't you like to go back to when we were really in love? You're still a kid, and you still ask a child's questions. But I've gone back. Once again, I felt that thrill. The thrill I knew the night we met. You even sound like a song of 30 years ago. I saw how you looked.

You didn't have a line on your face, a doubt in your heart, a worry in your head. Please, Bill, go to the office. Salvage something. I have to go back. I can't live here anymore. What do you mean by here? The present. The present is all we have. The future never comes and the past is dead. This time I won't let anybody break into it. I'll know how to hold on to it. Come back with me, Zelda. Come back.

It was Albert Einstein who said, the past, the present, and the future are all mixed up.

You can go forward in time, and you can go backward in time. Exactly how is not crystal clear, but the theoretical possibilities are accepted by science. Backed by such assurances, we can certainly give Bill Harlow a little bit of credence, can't we? I'll be back shortly with Act Three. ♪♪

The promise of youth. Who has seen it fulfilled? Not most of us, that's for sure. And so maturity becomes a matter of more or less graceful reconciliation between the dreams of the boy and the realities of the man.

We say more or less gracefully to describe the reconciliation. Because while there are people who accept failure with very little grace, at least they do accept it. Then we have Bill Harlow, who refuses to accept it at all. Come back there with me, Zelda. Zelda, you and I, we're still there. We're still sitting in Jack Morrissey's. We never left. Bill...

How can we be sitting in Jack Morrissey's if we're sitting here? I don't know, but I was there an hour ago.

I think of how beautiful you looked. It breaks my heart. Bill, it won't work. We're what we are now, what the last 35 years have made us. No. You simply cannot accept life. That's not life. That's death. Death is also a part of life. Please, come back. To Jack Morrissey's? Yes. Where you can still get a...

A big glass of beer for a dime and you can dance all night and there's no gray in your hair and only love in your heart and all the world is friendship and music. Was that the only time in your life that you were really happy? Is it a crime to want to hold on to happiness? No. It isn't a crime. It's a delusion.

But it isn't a crime. We can go back. I don't want to hear any more about it. But I can prove it. I've got the proof. You go back to your office and you grow up. Zelda, I said I could prove it. You go to the office or I'll walk out on you right now. Zelda! I mean it. Zelda!

Oh, come on in, Norman. What's on your mind? Bill, I... Well, excuse me, the reorganization and... Well, it was decided that this would become my office. Oh, then I'd better get out of here right away, huh? Oh, there's really no hurry. I mean, no, take a few days. Sure.

I, uh... Bill, look, I'm sorry we had those words back at your apartment. We never really were friends, were we, Norman? I don't know what you're talking about. And now you're getting back at me for everything. Now, Bill, I know we can work together and justify the faith that the new management has in us. Oh, that's a terrific speech, Norman. Terrific. Precise, pungent, and pithy. Ah!

Well, which one of us answers it? This is now your office, but it's probably for me. Oh, come on.

Yes? Mr. Harlow? Yeah? You're expected to meet with the United Western people in the conference room in 20 minutes along with Mr. Hollis. And, oh, your wife is here. Thank you, Miss Bain. Send the dear girl in. So, you and I are going to meet with the new management and they'll ask questions. And they'll see how bright you are and how stupid I am. Bill, that is ridiculous. Is that how you set it up? Set what up? It's nothing. That's right, nothing.

It's just old Bill being paranoid again. I've got to get some figures together. I'll see you in the conference room. Bill, I know it's hard. It's hard for you to work with Norman as... Well, on an adult level, to accept him as an equal. Brilliant Bill plotting Norman. But you need each other. You mean you really don't remember the stone, Zelda? The stone...

King Tut's royal stone. Then why did you pretend? Maybe I wanted to forget. Why? Because so much has happened to us. Zilda. Don't try to rake it up, Bill. Let's have it out. All right? All right. Let's talk.

About Marie. I was never in love with Marie. That didn't make it any easier for me. I thought we agreed to forget about Marie. I never said I would forget Marie. I only agreed not to let her break up our marriage. Gisela, she was the only one in all these years. Oh, the only one. Well, I think that calls for some sort of medal. How long did it last? A couple of months? And what's a couple of months in a lifetime, hmm? You promised you'd never forget that stone. Oh, yes. The stone. The stone.

That was the day I learned I had an associate. So, uh... Another partner in my marriage. You know what I did with that... that funny little black stone, which you said came from King Tut's tomb? Well, it really didn't. Oh, I always knew that. I went for a walk on the Starrett Street Bridge, and I stopped at the rail over at the middle of the river and had a wild idea to throw myself off the bridge.

But I threw the stone instead. And by now, it's sunk deep into the riverbed, under a hundred feet of water. So you see, it's gone. Zelda, if we could get that stone back. Oh, sure. That stone. The stone I gave you the night we met. The night it began for us. That stone is gone. It's gone forever. It's gone beyond recall. No.

Bill, you have to grow up. You have to accept it. Because the stone is like the past. Dead. Buried. You cannot bring it back. I have brought it back. Oh, Bill, please. Look. Look here. Look at what I have in my hand. Take it. What is it? You know what it is. That can't be the stone.

You remember. You took it to a jeweler. You had our initials engraved on it. B.Z. You found another stone just like it. Hold it. Look at it. Feel it.

It's the stone. Our stone. I threw it off the Starrett Street Bridge. Nobody could ever find it. But I went back and found it before you threw it away. I went back to the night of July 30th, 1939. You couldn't. We were 19 years old. I don't believe it. We're still 19 years old. Come with me. I'll prove it. We're in Jack Morrissey's at the corner of LaSalle and Tremont, and we're 19.

It's impossible. Listen. Don't you hear the jukebox? It's playing the slow tune. I... Let's go back. Let's be 19 again. But... It's another chance. It's another chance to live another life. And this time, this time I'll know better. This time I won't waste it.

This time, I'll grow up. Don't you want to be 19 again? I'm afraid. There's nothing to be afraid of. What were we afraid of when we were 19? We didn't know what the word meant. It's gone. The neighborhood, it's all gone. Hurry, we're not supposed to go into the building.

Why? Because... Oh, it doesn't matter. Here, this is it. This... This was Jack Morrissey. It still is inside. Now, let's duck in quickly before we're seen. No, I'm afraid to go in there. Why? Hurry before somebody comes along. It's a crazy looking building. It looks as if it'll fall apart any minute. Come on in. But can't you see there's nobody inside? There isn't? Listen. Listen.

Do you hear it? I... What are we waiting for? It's July 30th, 1939, and we're about to meet for the first time. You see that table near the wall? That's where you were sitting with Norman. Go there. I'll join you in a minute. Go.

Well, well, well. It's Billy the Bridegroom. And how's married life? I recommend it highly. Try it, Jack. I've done without it for 40 years. You look handsome in that uniform, Billy. Why don't you enlist, Jack? If we get into the war, I will. No, no, no, no. This throne's on me, soldier boy. Well, it's about time. The End

See? See, darling? It's just as it was the night we met. Something... Something's wrong. What are you talking about? If this is the night we met, where's Norman? Norman? It was Norman who brought me here.

I was his date, remember? Well... And you're in uniform. This can't be July 30th, 1939. You didn't enlist till August of 1940. Well, what's the difference? Look at the calendar over the bar. What does it say? Tell me.

December 6th, 1941. Tomorrow is Pearl Harbor. What's the difference if we pick up our lives on December 6th, 1941 or July 30th, 1939? We were here that night. I remember. So do I. I remember everybody who was in this place. What's to remember? You can see them. There's Jack Morrissey behind the bar.

Norman isn't here. He wasn't then either. Zelda. No, listen. There's Tommy Burke. And Fred Novak. And Bert Ullman. And Jacqueline Myers. And Kitty. And...

And Edith. Of course. And all of them are dead today. They can't be dead today. Here they are. I don't mean December 6th, 1941. I mean now. The boys, every one of them was killed in the war. The girls. Jackie died in childbirth.

Kitty was killed in an accident. Edith had an operation and she never... What does this have to do with... Don't you see? It won't be different. It'll be all the same. We'll do it the same way again. No, Zelda. No, we'll make it different. How? This time we'll know better. Why? How will we know better? We'll have forgotten. No.

I'm starting to forget already. Zelda, don't be afraid. I can't help it. Look at this place. It's the place of the dead. Don't say that. The dead. Everything is dead here. All these people are dead now. The music is dead. The building is dead. And if we stay here, we'll be dead too. No. This is where we can start a new life. Let's get out of here. How can you say dead? Can't you see everybody? Can't you hear the music? No. I can't.

I don't hear anything. I don't see anything. I'm in an old, battered, broken-down building. The ceiling is going to cave in any minute. The walls are ready to collapse. Why do I hear it? Why do I see it? Why is it so real to me? Because you need it.

All right. You need it, too. No. No, I'm not afraid to live, to grow. Where are you going? Home. Please, come with me. Home? I'm home now. They're tearing down the building. Do you want to stay and die? I'm going to stay and live. Goodbye, Bill. Selma. Selma. Selma.

Hey, you! Bring that door! Hold it! Put some of that door in that building! Wait! Wait, my husband's inside! He's in there! Wait till, lady! No! Somebody go in and get him! No, nobody can go in there now, lady! Look! Oh, my God! No! No! No!

They never found his body. But then again, they never found the bodies of anyone else inside the place either. All the people who were in Jack Morrissey's the night of December 6th, 1941. Maybe Morrissey's is a state of mind. After all, doesn't everyone have a private Jack Morrissey's of his very own?

I'll retreat to mine for just a few moments and then return to reality. We say, where has the time gone? The truth is, the time hasn't gone anywhere. Time is merely a track. It stands still and it is we, the runners, who move.

And because it may have been easier originally, or for reasons that we will never fully understand, we started to move in one direction. Who says the only way is forward? Indeed, in this volatile world, who can say anything with certainty? Our cast included Howard Da Silva, Terry Keene, Ian Martin, and William Redfield. The entire production was under the direction of Hyman Brown.

And now, a preview of our next tale. Pop, he was a uniformed cop, but he was off duties in civvies, see? He pulls his own gun and tells the Peevee Crumbun to drop his. The guy turns around, and before my Pop gets a chance to do anything more, Peevee kicks a stool into his gut and takes out of there on the lam. Pop follows, sees him heading for the corner, and yells he's policing to stop.

He fires one warning shot in the air and this heist artist turns and squeezes one off that takes my pop right in my... I... It's okay, Joe. I understand. Why don't you let it go, Joe? You gonna carry a monkey like that on your back all your life? Anyway, how you gonna find him after he's buried himself successfully all these years?

I just need a few things out of the file here first, and then I'm betting I can find him and get him identified. How? I have a hunch by now he's safe enough to have surfaced. And with a name like Leslie Peavy, he shouldn't be that hard to get a fix on. Radio Mystery Theater was sponsored in part by Sinoff, the sinus medicines, and Anheuser-Busch Incorporated, Brewers of Budweiser.

This is E.G. Marshall inviting you to return to our mystery theater for another adventure in the macabre. Until next time, pleasant dreams. ♪♪

Hey Weirdos! If you enjoy what you're hearing from me in the Weird Darkness Podcast throughout the year, may I ask for a Christmas gift from you? It's an easy one, and it's free to give. This month, just invite two or three people you know to give Weird Darkness a listen. That is truly the greatest gift you could ever give to me.

Letting your family, friends, co-workers, neighbors and others know about the podcast is incredibly valuable to me, my bride Robin and our cat, Ms. Mocha Monster. That's it. Tell someone about the show. Drop a link to Weird Darkness in your social media. Maybe send a text to a few folks to wish them a very scary Christmas with a link to the show in that text. It doesn't matter how you do it, but it does make a huge impact when you do.

From all of us here at Marlar Manor, thank you, and Merry Christmas!

♪♪♪

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group. Void where prohibited by law. 18 plus. Terms and conditions apply. All right, we're all set for the party. I've trimmed the tree, hung the mistletoe, and paired all those weird-shaped knives and forks with the appropriate cheeses. And I plugged in the partition. Partition? It's a home cocktail maker that makes over 60 premium cocktails, plus a whole lot of seasonal favorites, too. I just got it for

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Add some holiday flavor to every celebration with the sleek, sophisticated home cocktail maker, Bartesian. Get $50 off any cocktail maker at bartesian.com slash cocktail. That's B-A-R-T-E-S-I-A-N dot com slash cocktail. The Diary of Faith. Faith plays no favorites. It could happen to you. Book 54.

Page 806. Yes, here it is. The life record of Victor Wakeman, an American citizen employed by the United States military government in Berlin. Yes, Victor, your position as a civilian interpreter with an intelligence unit offered you many opportunities. Opportunities to choose for good or evil.

And now as the record of your life lies open before me, I, Fate, look ahead to an instant of decision. Stop! Stop! Stop right on the head! What, sir? What did you say? I said stop! What? Who are you? That really doesn't matter. The point is that you're Captain Masterson. Yes. In the life of Victor Wakeman, a desperate decision was made.

Then I, Fate, intervened. And because of a little thing, because of a loose stone, Victor Wakeman will die. But listen well, you who hear my words. Fate is not vindictive, not without regard for mortal rights. In a moment, I will read again from the Diary of Fate. Before the exciting story of Victor Wakeman, here is our announcer.

Yes, in the life of Victor Wakeman, an evil choice was made. But in the final analysis, it was the seemingly unimportant thing. The trifle that brought about the ultimate conclusion. For little things are the tools with which I, fate, shape your destiny. Remember, Victor Wakeman, how it all started?

You were talking with Colonel Bennett, chief of the intelligence unit to which you were assigned. And that's about it, Colonel. That's as far as I could get in one month's worth of practice. I see. You're still convinced the Heisler jewels are somewhere here in Berlin? Yes, sir. I am.

Mr. Wakeman, we've got to find those jewels before the Nazis do. A half million dollars in their hands can cause us untold harm. Everything indicates that they were hidden in the Heisler home the night before Berlin fell. And they've never been moved. But we've been over every inch of that old house time and again. Ah, well. You know, it's going to be embarrassing if we don't find them soon. Embarrassing and dangerous. Exactly.

Well, you'll just have to stay with it. Oh, by the way, Mrs. Bennett and I had your wife over for dinner while you were in Frankfurt. She, uh, seemed to have something on her mind. Well, Colonel, I'm afraid Marsh and I are both a little impatient. Impatient? What kind of work you're doing? Oh, no, sir. It's just...

Well, frankly, a civilian interpreter's pay is all right, but it's no fortune and it's discouraging to Marsha when we can't... I know, I know. Well, you're a young man. You have lots of time yet. Just be patient, my boy. Uh, incidentally, there... There's been some changes while you were away. Our unit's been expanded. Twelve more officers, another section of WAC types, more vehicles, and, uh...

There's an opening for a higher rating in our civilian staff. An opening? Do you have anyone in mind, Colonel? Well, that rating could very well go to a man who was instrumental in the recovery of the Heisler jewels, Mr. Wakeman. Yes, Victor. The advancement you were so hungry for would be yours. If only you could locate the hidden jewel.

You realized that the odds against you were enormous, but you were determined to find the jewels yourself. You neglected your regular duties, and without waiting for orders, drove to the Heisler home, to start him to sign for you. Then, a little thing happened.

Okay, Sergeant Campbell. Park here with the fishpond. Yeah, you'll have to join together. Why don't they give up, Mr. Wakeman? If we ever find those Jews now, it'll be just dumb luck. Sergeant, luck has very little to do with it. It's methodical and scientific. Gather facts, analyze those facts, and derive a logical conclusion.

Those jewels are here in this house. Okay, okay, I don't argue with you. I've been going through these walls so often, I know these termites by their first name. And we're going to do it again. We'll start in the basement and sound every wall. Okay, but I can already tell you there ain't none of that. Oh, anyway. What's the matter? Dropped my cigarette lighter down in the fishbowl. You go on inside, I'll be right with you. I'm going to get my lighter first. Okay, Mr. Wakefield. All a stupid thing.

It would fall between these rocks. There now. What's this? What? Holy smoke. It's... It's the jewels. The Heisler jewels. Yes, Victor. Because of a little thing. Because you dropped your cigarette lighter. You had found the Heisler jewels. You concealed the leather pouch in its priceless contents.

Then you told Sergeant Campbell you had changed your mind about the search. A few minutes later, anxious to personally announce your discovery, you tried to reach Colonel Bennett by telephone, but he was out. You wrote a message and said, fielded it, instructed Sergeant Campbell to deliver it directly to the Colonel's office. Then you went home.

Oh, Mary, anything wrong? Things have never been so right, believe me. Guess what, Dolly? I'm going to get a better job. Promotion? Oh, isn't that wonderful? Are you sure you aren't joking? I should say not. There's an opening, and Colonel Bennett told me this morning it would go to the man who finds the heist of Jewels.

Oh, Vic, the whole unit's been on that project for months. How do you know you'll be the one to... Wait, wait, wait. Want to see something pretty? Look here. See this leather pouch? Now watch. There they are. The Heisler Jewel. Believe it or not, they were hidden in the fishpond. Oh, Vic, isn't he beautiful?

Just think of it. Half a million dollars. Yeah, and I saw them all by myself. Nobody else can claim any credit on that. Half a million dollars. It should be worth the promotion, shouldn't it? Wait. Wait a minute. You were alone when you found these.

No one knows you have them. Right. It's my surprise for the Colonel. Don't be an idiot. Don't you realize what we have right here in our hands? What's a needy little advancement compared to a fortune? But, Marsha, we've got to turn the jewels in. Why? You said you were alone. Nobody knows about them. You'd be rich, Victor. You can't turn them in. Yeah, I never even thought about it that way. You're right. Nobody knows we have them.

Nobody. And we're going to keep them. All right. All right, Marsha. Marsha. Marsha, I forgot. What a fool. I wrote a message to that Colonel. You what? Yes, yes. I said I found the jewels. And Sergeant Campbell delivered it just a few minutes ago. Colonel Bennett was out when I called, so... Victor, maybe he's still out. Maybe you can get his back.

You've got to get it back. Do you hear? Okay, Marsha, okay. You wait here. If there's any chance at all, I'll get that message. Yes, Victor Wakeman. At that moment, you made a decision for evil. You went directly to headquarters and found that the colonel was still out. I noticed you entered his office. And there on the colonel's desk, you saw the envelope with your message inside it.

You had picked it up when you heard the door opening behind you. You stuffed the message into your pocket and turned to fake the intruder. Colonel Bennett. Well, hello, Lincoln. Do you want to see me? Oh, no, no, sir. I just stopped in to check the map. Anything new on the Heisler Jewel, sir? No, nothing. That's the stuff not to crack.

Well, it'll do us all good to forget it for the weekend. Suppose you and Marcia are going out to that picnic this afternoon? No, I think I'll stay in and check a couple of leaves, he said. But we'll be at your party tonight for sure, Trent. I admire your spirit, Mr. Wakeman, but don't overdo it. You must think of Marcia, you know. Yes, I am. I am thinking of Marcia. As you left the colonel's office, Victor, with the message safely in your pocket...

You were thinking of Marsha and the multitude of expensive things the fortune in jewels would buy. Marsha was waiting for you at home. Her face talked with anxiety as you walked in. Marsha! Marsha, I got it! I got the message! We're in trouble, Victor. I mean... No, no, it was simple. And luck was really with us.

The message was on the colonel's desk. I just got it into my pocket when he walked in. You're sure he's not suspicious? He doesn't suspect anything. Of course not. Why should he? And no one else does either. Hundreds of messages like this pass every day. It's routine. And the Heisler jewels are ours. No one will ever find them. Give me that message. I'll put it in the stove right now and burn it. Okay. Good. Good idea. Here. Well, this has gone up in smoke. No one will... There it is.

There's a time stamp on the back of this. Is that routine, too? What's that? A time stamp? Yes, it says, opened and resealed by duty officers. What? Let me see that. Good Lord. Opened and resealed by duty officer at 1131. Signed R.A. Mapps, Captain. What does that mean? When a message is received for the colonel, it's opened, read, resealed, and stamped by the duty officers.

Which means Captain Masters, whoever he is, knows that I found the Heisler jewel. Oh, it's no. There's no doubt about it, Marshal. Captain Masters knows. What are we going to do? I don't know. Everyone will find out now. They'll all know what we tried to do. Maybe they know already. No. Wait a minute. Calm down, Marshal. This Masters must be one of the new intelligence officers from the States.

He won't talk about it to anyone but the Colonel. That's even worse. But you've got to do something. You've got to let him find out. Shut up, Marsha. Be quiet. Wait a minute. I've got to think. We're in this too far to turn back now. Somehow I have to find a way out. Yes, Victor. Because of a little thing. Because you dropped your cigarette lighter, you were given an opportunity for success and happiness. But you made a decision for evil.

And now with your mind tormented by fear, you face another decision. Soon, Victor Wakeman, I will write again on your page in the Diary of Fate. Before we continue our story, a few words on behalf of our sponsors. Yes, Victor Wakeman, only moments ago, the theft of the Heisler jewels had seemed so simple.

But now as you faced your wife and the realization that a Captain Masters knew of your decision for evil, your voice was edged with panic. You realize what this means, Marsha? I'm through. Disgraced. I'll be sent to prison. There must be a way out, Vic. There must be something you can do. Yes, there is something that I can do. And it's the only thing that will work. What is it? What are you thinking?

The Captain, Masters, must be silent. For good. No, Victor, not murder. Yes, murder. And the sooner the better. I won't let you. I can't let you. Never mind that. I shouldn't have listened to you in the first place, but I did. So from here on out, you'll do exactly as I say. Now I'm going to call headquarters and locate Captain, Masters. You're going to call, Masters? Yes. I've never met the Captain. It's a good idea to know something about the man you intend to...

Hello? May I speak to Captain Masters, please? Oh, I see. Yes. Yes, of course. The picnic. No. No message. Well, Marsha, it looks like we'll have to get to our swimming pool. Why? Where are we going? To a picnic, my dear. A picnic with Captain Masters. Well, we'll be there soon, so now remember, Marsha, you're out for a good time and nothing more. Just relax. I'll do my best, Vic.

But surely you're not going to do anything now. I mean, here in broad daylight. Of course not. But I have to know what Captain Masters looks like, and, you know, he'll be here tonight. You see, Marshal, time is precious, too. There's no telling when Masters will say something to Colonel Bennett about the discovery of the Jew. Oh, here we are. Oh.

Look, Vic. Some of the people are leaving already. Yeah, so I see. Well, let's hope Masters is still around. Come on. Good afternoon, sir. The lady has some restrictions. Huh? What's that? Oh, yes, it'll happen. You're welcome. Here you are, sir. Thank you. Thank you. Um, tell me, waiter...

You happen to know her, Captain Masters? Captain Masters? Why, yes, sir. I was talking to the captain's wife just a minute, sir. Look, they're swimming near the edge of the lake. That's Captain Masters now. Now, Victor, you had located the one obstacle in your craft. But you were anxious to get a good look at the officer... ...who was swimming with an attractive blonde girl. And when the young couple left the water...

and laughingly started to climb the steep bank at the lake's end. He casually strode away from Marcia, who was in earshot. It was then that I, Faith, again intervened, and another little thing happened.

Come on now, Ruth. You've got to keep moving to get warm. Here, give me your hand. It's too steep for you. Oh, never mind. I can... Left stone. Watch out. Oh, my ankle. Oh, you're all right? Yes, I guess I'm all right. Oh, my ankle. I think I twisted it some. Well, can you walk? Oh, yes, I can walk all right, but I'm afraid I won't be with my eternal bandit dance tonight. Dance? Tonight? Now, wait a minute, my dear Kirsten.

Don't tell me you forgot about another one of our dates. Frankly, yeah, but I wouldn't have been able to make it anyhow. I got to pick up some papers at headquarters in Zellendorf. Oh, this army. When? What time? At eight. Eight o'clock sharp. Yes, because of a little thing. A loose stone. You, Victor Wakeman, now knew where you could find Captain Masterson.

And an hour later, as you discussed the details of your plan with Marsha, you were confident. But, Vic, are you sure you'll be able to get to Masters at Salendorf? I'm positive, Marsha. I've ridden with officer couriers on that same run a dozen times myself. You see, intelligence headquarters in Salendorf are in the old Carlberger Castle, high on a hilltop. The road back to the highway is winding and dangerous. You'll have to drive slowly. But where will you meet him? I don't know.

There's a hairpin turning about 100 yards from the base of the hip. You almost have to come to a full stop to be near her. Victor, I hope you know what you're doing. Don't worry about me, Marshal. Just remember your part. You go to the Colonel's party at 8.30, it's scheduled. And say that you'll be along in a matter of minutes. There was some work you had to finish. Exactly. Dear Colonel Bennett will approve of my entry, I'm sure. After all...

I'll be working overtime. Now, Victor, you were certain of yourself. You left Marsha shortly after dinner and hurriedly drove the fifteen miles to the Carl Booker Castle in Zalemdorf. It was half past seven when you parked in a clump of trees at the side of the road and unnoticed climbed the hundred yards to the hairpin turn in the winding castle road.

Then as a summer storm broke overhead, he waked. At two minutes past eight, you heard a jeep motor approaching from the castle. You had to be certain that Captain Masters was the driver, and he was alone. As the vehicle slowed to make the hairpin turn, you stepped into the road and waved your arms.

Stop! Stop! Hold on, I said stop! What's that? What'd you say? I said stop! What? Who are you? Me? That doesn't matter. The point is that you're Captain Master. For a moment, Victor, the explosion from the pistol in your hand, and the sight of the lifeless form before you, drove you to the spot on which you stood. But you soon gained control of yourself.

and confident that the sound of the shots had been lost in the storm, you drove back to Berlin. It was nine o'clock, and most of the guests had already arrived when you rang the bell at Colonel Bennett's quarters.

Well, good evening, Mr. Wakeman. You're late. I know. I'm sorry to speak to you in line. Now, now, don't bother. I know exactly what happened. You found the Heisler jewels and decided to keep them yourself. Oh, you... What? No, no, that's not the one. Oh, no, I don't think it is, my boy. Now, relax and join in the fun. Oh, yeah.

Of course, just a joke. Sorry, Colonel. I guess I've been working a bit too hard lately. Well, forget it, Wakeman. Uh-oh, here's your wife. Maybe she can help you think about something besides a Heisler jewel. Hello, darling. Glad you weren't too late. I got here as soon as I could. Say, you look lovely, Marsha. Thank you, Vic. Of course, I worked hard at it. It isn't every night we poor civilians are invited to one of the Colonel's parties, you know. And that's our loss, my dear. Thank you.

Since you do make such a pretty picture, I'd consider it an honor if you two would accept the last-minute invitation to dine at my table. Thank you, King. We'd love to. It would be a pleasure, sir. Good, good. You see, one of my guests was called away at the last moment, and I'm short another, Captain Masters. Captain Masters. But you don't think there's a chance that the captain will still show up? At this late hour? No, no, my boy. I don't think Captain Masters will be with us this evening. Oh!

The Colonel's words were more than just conjecture to you, Victor. You thought again of the picnic... and how lucky you were that the girl with the captain you killed... had turned her ankle on a loose stone. For because of that little thing... you had learned everything you had to know. But, Victor Wakeman... I, Fate, arranged that little thing for a purpose. Soon you will learn that fate is not a conspiratory needle...

Soon I will write the final entry under your name in the Diary of Fate. In just one moment, the exciting conclusion of the Victor Wakeman entry. But first, a word from our announcer. Yes, Victor Wakeman, with the Captain dead, you no longer feared that your theft of the Heisler jewels might be discovered.

And the next morning as you entered your office at Intelligence Headquarters, you were at ease. Come in. Good morning, Mr. Wakeman. I got the jeep gas ready to go. Where do we hunt today, hmm? Hunt? Oh, yes, the Heisler Jewel. Well, Sergeant. Just a minute. Mr. Wakeman. This is Colonel Bennett Wakeman.

Come into my office, please. Yes, I'll be right there. Wait for me, Captain. Well, I... I'll be with you in a couple of minutes. Okay. I'll go get them maps ready so we can start. Come in, Wakeman. Do you want to talk to me, Colonel? Yes, I do. I want to talk to you about the Heisler jewels. Sit down, Wakeman. The jewels? What about them, sir?

I want you to tell me what you've done with him. What I've done with him? But is this another joke, sir? Hardly. Where are the jewels, Wakeman? I don't know, sir. I have no idea. You're lying. And Captain Masters can prove it. Captain Masters? What has Captain Masters to do with it? Everything. This duty officer here yesterday, the captain read your note to me about your discovery of the jewels.

The note which you probably destroyed later when you decided to keep them yourself. No, no, you're lying. You're wrong. We'll see, Wakeman. We'll know in a minute. Will you come in here, please? Now,

Now, Captain, did you or did you not open and read a message addressed to me that said Wakeman here had found the Heisler jewels? Yes, sir. I did read that message. No, no, she's lying. This woman, us, sir, this Captain... Wait a minute. You, that blonde hair, you were the one at the picnic yesterday. The one who was swimming with Captain Masters. No, Mr. Wakeman, that's not right. I was swimming with a captain named Johnson...

You see, I'm Captain Masters. Captain Ruth Masters. Yes, Victor. In a single stunning instant, the whole truth smashed into your mind. And dazed by the realization that Captain Masters was an officer in the Women's Army Corps and not the captain you had murdered in Zeilendorf, you blurted out the whole truth and thus condemned yourself to death.

and your wife, Marsha, to life in prison. And now it is time to close the book. In the case of Victor Wakeman, as in the cases of all mortals, I faked them but the instrument of a plan. And the countless little things that happen are the tools with which I work. Because he dropped his cigarette lighter, Victor Wakeman found the Heisler jewels, which he and Marsha decided to keep.

But because of another little thing, a loose stone, he overheard a conversation which led him to a fatal error. Heed well the moral, you who listen and remember. There is a page for you in the Diary of Faith.

The cast of the Victor Wakeman entry included Herbert Lytton, Mary Lansing, Barney Phillips, Walter Craig, Ray Erlenborn, Gene Fomley, and Hal Sawyer. Diary of Fate is a Larry Finley production transcribed in Hollywood.

We all dream, but for some people, what should be a time for their bodies and minds to rest turns into a nightmare from which they cannot escape. Our next Weird Darkness live stream is Saturday night, December 28th on the Weird Darkness YouTube channel, and during the live broadcast I'll share some of these chilling nighttime stories.

Tales of shadow people, sleep paralysis, and demons who stalk their victims in that place between dreams and reality. I'll share true tales of prophetic dreams, some joyful, some not. Sleepwalking incidents that are both amusing and disturbing. I'll also share real stories of night terrors so horrifying that sleep

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Can you predict the future? Can you tell what will come in a hundred years? Or in ten? Or in the next minute? Tonight, Dimension X brings you a glimpse of what may well happen within your own lifetime. The Robert Heinlein story, The Roads Must Roll. The Roads Must Roll.

Here's a run, what's a run? Oh, our job is never done for our own way, so rolling along. Why?

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪

It was in the middle of the 1950s that the automotive age began to die. The traffic engineers had long expected it. For years they had watched our vast city sprawl and spread out, spill over into the countryside, become more and more dependent on motor transportation.

And then finally the inevitable breaking point had reached. The growing flood of cars and buses and trucks began to swamp the streets and arterial highways. The building of roads could no longer keep pace. The superhighways clogged, congested, became packed with cars stalled bumper to bumper. And the cities began to die of slow strangulation. For the traffic could no longer roll. ♪♪

And then the engineers took over. They banned the automobiles, tore up the superhighways, and in their place they built the rolling roads. Mechanized roads that moved like huge conveyor belts, twirling along on their giant rotors at speeds ranging from 5 to 100 miles an hour, carrying the freight, the food, and the people from city to city and coast to coast. An engineering miracle had changed the face of a nation.

The automobiles and railroads vanished. The rolling roads had taken over all transportation. And no one worried over the fact that if the roads should ever stop, our whole economic life would stop. But the machinery had never failed yet. The machinery that rolled the roads was perfect. But people forgot that machinery depends on men. The men who run it. That's right! The engineers! Supervisors, not the mechanics!

...with the engineers. We're the... ...keep those... ...right... ...we're the men who hold the power. It's time we started using it. We've... ...meaning of the Engineers Control Committee... ...because of... ...because... ...tired of taking on commission. He's like Jim James... ...who don't... ...jammer about our duty to the public...

a lot of i watch we've got the and where the main time we quit fiddling around and use the little direct action to get what we want the chair recognizes brother harvey of a transport mechanic

Thanks. Thanks. Thanks, boys. I don't rightly belong here since I'm no engineer. I'm just here to represent the workers' union. But I want to know what's all the shooting for. You engineers have got better working conditions than we have, and we ain't kicking. You say you engineers are powerful. You say you can tie up the roads. That's right.

Well, listen, so can any screwball with a job of knifing or glistening. Yeah, and he don't need no engineering degree neither. Are you speaking for your union now? Or are you here as a... Listen, I helped my union get the strike in 75 for a decent working condition. Where were you engineers then, huh? Bring those things! I'm not a brother of Harvey!

you're only a guest at this meeting. Go on, fan. Now listen, men. I'm one of the old engineers on the roads. You all are. Worked up the heart. We didn't go to the fancy technical institutes like those young punk cadets the commission is training to take over our jobs. Gym games don't fill us full of the old school spirit and that baloney about how the roads must roll. So I'll write this.

Why don't we get smart for a change? What would happen if the road stopped rolling? Maybe the country would begin to realize that they go without us. And maybe we'd begin to get the...

Yes? Your wife is calling, Mr. Gaines. All right, put her on. Jim, I want you to stop off on your way home. I'm sorry, darling, I can't make it. Oh, but you promised. Yes, I know, but Washington called in. They're sending Evans, the Australian Minister of Transport, through my sector today. I've got to show him through personally. Well, I'm chief supervisor. It wouldn't be courteous. The emergency begins at home. I've planned this dinner for weeks. Honey, the roads must roll. Jim, if you quote that note...

again, I'll divorce you. Well, I can't help it, darling. I tell you, I'll meet you at Stockton at nine. We'll take in a shot. Kiss Ellen goodnight, woman. All right, dear. Goodbye. Bye, darling. Mr. Evans is here. Send him in. Go right in, sir. That's good.

Well, good evening, Mr. Evans. I'm Gaines, chief engineer. How do you do, Mr. Gaines? Won't you sit down? Thank you. They told me at the embassy you'd be the man to see. Oh? I want to know how the roads work. I think we can handle that. I'm not a technical man, Mr. Gaines.

My field is sociology. Suppose you tell me about the roads as if I were entirely ignorant. Well, fine, fine. Well, it's nearly dinner time. Suppose we run up to Stockton's sector for dinner. All right. Take us about an hour on the roads and you can see them working. Excellent. If you'll excuse me for a minute. What can I do for you? Oh, Dave, you're on the evening watch, huh? Where's Van Cleek? Oh, going to some meeting. I'm going up to Stockton for dinner. Anything to report? No, sir. The roads are rolling. Okay, keep them rolling. All right, Mr. Evans, let's go.

This here is the low-speed strip. You ever ridden a conveyor before? No. It's quite simple. Remember to face the motion of the strip as you get on. That's it. All right. We'll go right across here.

Each adjoining strip is a few miles an hour faster than the one next to it. I see. Freight is carried on the 50-mile strip. Most passenger traffic is on the express trip. Oh, yeah. All right, now, watch your step. Here we are, maximum speed. 100 miles an hour. Amazing. This trip makes a round trip San Diego to Reno in 12 hours. Oh. Oh, here's the restaurant. Ready to eat? Yes.

Is this a restaurant? There's the sign. Jake's Steakhouse. Fastest meal on the road. Is it really a proper restaurant? Well, the best. Hooked right into the moving strip, of course. Shall we go in? Yeah.

Hello, hello there, Mr. Gaines. We don't see much of you out on the road. Well, busy in the office, Jake. Oh, me too. Right this way. Thank you. Here we are. Now, what'll it be? Well, you order, Jake. Well, how about a steak? Two inches thick from a steer that died happy. That's wise, that's wise.

Plug me in the intercom, will you, Jake? Sure, in the talk box right next to you. Blank two, Ryan. If you'll excuse me, Mr. Evans. This is the chief, Davidson. I'm at Jake's Steakhouse. You can reach me at 10L66.

There now. They can get a hold of me in an emergency now. Mr. Gaines, what kind of an emergency could there be? Well, two principally. Power failure on the rotors would bring the road to a standstill. If that happened during rush hour, we'd have to evacuate millions of people. Well, well, as many as that. Oh, yes, easily. There are 12 million people dependent on this section of road. Gaines here. We just got the hourly report, sir. Proceed. Cadet Engineer Gunther, while on watch, was found playing cards with...

Any damage? All right. Have the paymaster give Ross his time. Turn him over to civil authorities. Place Cadet Gunther under arrest. Bring him to Roadtown Central. Yes, sir. All right. Keep him rolling. As I was saying, Evans, there are two possibilities of danger. Can you visualize what would happen if the strip under us would break? I haven't thought of that.

You don't realize you're traveling at 100 miles an hour. Well, it can't break, not now. The strip has a safety factor of over 12 to 1. This is good soup, Jake. Thank you, Mr. Gaines. But you know, Evans, a break did happen once in the early days. That was on the Philadelphia-Jersey City Road. Tell me now. That's right. The strip wasn't much more than a conveyor belt then.

You know, it buckled for miles, crushing passengers against the roof. Yeah. Forward section in front of the break spilled them down under into the rotors and the rollers. Was it very bad? Over 3,000 people were killed in that break.

But, Evans, the roads had to go on. You know, the entire economic system hangs on the roads. If they stopped now, the country would starve. Isn't it possible that you've become too dependent on these roads, Mr. Gaines? For example, what if you had a strike? We had a strike back in 75, but...

Well, there's not much danger of that anymore. No? Why not? Every cadet that goes to work on the roads today is a graduate of the United States Transport Academy. Oh, I see. They're all picked men, screened for emotional stability. They're trained to give us the same kind of loyalty that Annapolis and West Point develop in their men. You're a graduate, I suppose, Mr. Gaines? No, no, I was too old for that. The academy wasn't set up till after the strike in 75'.

But it won't be long now, maybe five or ten years, Evans, before the oldest engineer on the road is a man who's been through that academy. Yeah, gangster. What is it? What's happening? Emergency stop. Hello. Hello, Davidson. The phones must be out. Come on. Jake!

Hey, what is your first matter? Have everybody stay in the restroom, Jack. Probably somebody steps onto the next trip. Got cut to ribbons. There'll be plenty of casualties. Jake, where's your getaway hatch? In the pantry. Well, how am I going to help those people? I've got the whole road to think of. Now, don't bother me. Give me a hand, Jake. This hatch is stuck here. All right, if you're coming with me, Mr. Evans, you've got to move fast. I haven't got any time to waste. Let out now. Freeway on top of the inner road ceiling now.

That's the outer shell over us, sir. Are we going outside? No, there'll be an excess down manhole over here. There, spaced every hundred feet. It's there by the green light. All right, this will get us down on the northbound road. Careful now, it's dark. All right. Stand away from that door, Heaven.

But this road is still rolling. Yeah, so it is. It was only the 100-mile strip that stopped. Here's what I want a phone booth. Look out, Evans. Excuse me, will you? Hey! I'm talking to my wife. Don't argue. I'll... Emergency priority. Division office.

Davidson. Gaines here. Report. Chief, where you been? I've been calling... Never mind that report. 709 report. Strip 20 past emergency level. Interlock's acted and cut the strip out. Cause of failure unknown. Direct communication to Sacramento Control Office out. Evacuation of Strip 20 commenced. No casualties. There are casualties. I saw them. Put police and hospital routine A into operation. Get me Van Cleek. I want him to take over for me till I report him. We can't reach him, Chief. Shall I cut out the rest of the

No, keep those other strips rolling or we'll have a traffic jam the devil himself couldn't untangle.

There are five million passengers on that road now. Notify the governor that I've assumed emergency authority. Arm all cadets available and await orders. Shall I recall technicians off watch? No, this isn't an engineering failure, man. That whole sector went out simultaneously. Somebody cut those rotors by hand. Now, I want all available senior class cadets to report to Stockton subsector office 10. The pistols and tear gas. Yes, sir. Oh, the governor wants to talk to you. He called in. Refer him to somebody else. I'm busy. I'll get back to you. I'm going down under.

Evans! Evans! Put on this helmet! What? Helmet! This helmet! No! You can't hear without an anti-noise filter. All right, come on. What are we looking for? A recon car. There should be one here. Are those the rotors? Yeah, the big ones are rotors. They drive the road. The little ones are rollers. They give continuous support. I see. Oh, there's a watch gang now jacking down a rotor. Can they hear us? No, the noise filter works on a four-foot radius. I'll flash them.

He sees the light. Is that posted reporting, sir? I want your recon car, emergency. Yes, sir. Right over here, sir. Come on, Evans. All right, now. Get in. Well, it's so small. Oh, you fit. All right. Now, hang on. She accelerates like a rocket. Oh, my stomach. This is Gaines. Get me Davidson, senior watch officer. Yes, sir.

I haven't got time. Get me Davidson. Leave this circuit hooked into Davidson's board until I tell you to cut it. Here's the thing you want, Joe. Gaines calling. Have you found out yet what's stopping the road? No, sir. All right, I'm on my way in a recon car. Hold everything till I get there. ♪♪

Cadet Edmonds reporting, sir. Three platoons of cadet engineers standing by with tumble bug motorcycles. Are they armed? Pistols and tear gases ordered. All right, good. Assistant Supervisor Van Cleek is calling you on circuit nine. Oh, it's about time. Cut me in. Yes, sir. Hello, Van. Where are you? Sacramento. That's good. Report. What? Van, what are you talking about? It's no games. I've been to this control committee. We're taking over. Have you gone off your rotor? Yes, sir. I'm ready to let you. Van! Van! Van Cleek! I'll call in the army! How do you get

The road's hard rolling, eh? Listen, Gaines. Gaines, I've got to call the White House. You behave yourself. You won't get hurt. I don't believe it, sir. He's got us, Edmonds. If we go in and blast him out, he may wreck the road. What's your rolling tonnage now? Fifty-three percent on our evening peak, sir. How about strip 20? Almost evacuated. Yeah. Listen in on this, Davidson. Standing by, Chief. I'm going down inside with these cadets.

We're going to work north, overcoming any resistance that we may meet. The watch technicians and maintenance crews are to follow behind us. Each rotor, as they come to it, is to be cut out from under Sacramento's control, then hooked into the Stockton control board. You understand? Got it. If it works right, we can move control of Sacramento's sector right out from under Van's feet. He can stay in his office there until he's hungry enough to be reasonable.

Edmund's getting me a pistol. Mr. Gaines, there's a man here and he's badly hurt. He wants to see you. Take care of him. I haven't got time to... He's from Sacramento Sector. What? Send him in here. Mr. Gaines. Mr. Gaines. Take it easy. Mr. Gaines. You're Harvey from the mechanics. I tried to warn you. I tried to get away. You shot me three times. Get a doctor, will you? All right, now. Easy, easy, Harvey. Easy.

Harvey, how long has this been building up? Isn't the men. It's the engineers. I told them they were crazy. Told them the roads got a road. And when I tried to get away... Easy now. Bleeding from the mouth. Harvey. Harvey? Can you hear me? He's dead, Mr. Gaines. Come on, Edmonds. We better move. Come on.

All right, you men. You saw Harvey brought in. How many of you want a chance to kill the louse that did it? All right, men. Anybody who hasn't got his mind on his job will be in the way. Now, here's the order. We move north, mounted on tumblebox. We're going to try to regain control, rotor by rotor, before Sacramento's sector knows that we're moving. Now, we've got to capture any watch personnel we run on before they can get word back. You understand? Men, surprises, fight. All right.

Use tear gas when possible. Shoot only when necessary. But get them before they can reach your phone, Jack. Any questions? No? Then move out. What's the score, Edwin? 33 prisoners so far. No one killed. For years, since I rode one of these tumble bugs, I've forgotten how to steer it. Edwin.

There's a man ahead. There at the rotor base. He's got a phone, Jack. Hurry. He gets word back. We're sunk. I don't think he's seen us. I'll dismount. All right. Come here, you. He's got a gun. I got him, sir. I got him. Grab his gun. Yeah, he had an intercom jacked in, all right. If he's got through to Sacramento office, it's going to be tough. I don't know, sir. Maybe he'll get the call through. Listen. The road. Take off your noise filter. There. There.

There's a road. The road is stopping. Hold your men. Hold. Hold up there. Hold up. Edmonds, there's a recon car coming up. Relay station, call for Mr. Gaines and the recon speaker. Give it to me. Here you are, sir. Gaines here. Davidson here, Chief. Who stopped the road? He did. Oh, he did, did he? All right, cut Van Cleek into me. Just thought I was forming it. What do you think now? All right, Van. The road has stopped. You've won this trick. Mark, give up.

You forgot something, Van. You can't lick the whole country. If I'm pushing, it'll blow 300 yards straight up. Take an axe, I leave. That's pretty drastic, Van. Yeah? Sacramento sector. It'll get an awful lot of people. There are plenty of shopkeepers still on shuttle, Garland. Now, look, Van, you don't want to blow the road, neither do I. Suppose, Van, I come up to your headquarters and we talk this over. Two reasonable men ought to be able to make a settlement. Is there some kind of a trick? I'll come along. An art. My men will stay here. All right, Gaines.

But when the walls are open, I... We've got to hurry, Dave. If I take too long, Van Cleek will get edgy and set off that charge. I can't understand it. The psych tests are rigid. We've never had a failure in the Humwadsworth-Burton method. Then suddenly a whole sector goes sour. How could Van Cleek get a whole crew of psych-cleared men to revolt? It's easy, Dave. As my deputy, he was ex-officio personnel officer for the whole road.

He must have been faking psych records for years, transferring maladjusted men into his sect. I've got that personnel record, Mr. Gaines. Oh, thank you. This is Van's record here. Masked, introvert, inferiority rating seven. Comment, in spite of potential instability shown on Wadsworth Curve, this officer is especially adept in handling men. He's adept, all right. I haven't got time for any more, Dave. Chief, are you actually going up there to Van Cleek's office? I've got to.

They'll be armed. They'll kill you. I'm going to take that chance. Why don't you call in the army? He won't dare blow the road, then. Yes, he would. Look at that psych record there. He's putting up a big brave front, but he's rotten inside. He wants to be taken seriously. He wants everybody to think he's the most dangerous man in this country. If I call the army in, he'll try to prove it by blowing the road. But how can you stop him, Mr. Gaines? He'll have a gun. What'll you have? What'll I have?

Only a prayer. And what I know about Mr. Van Cleek. All right, Gaines. Director Van Cleek will see you now. Gaines, I want you to sign this now. The Declaration of Your Recognition of the Engineers Control Committee. You've got one minute to sign it, Gaines, or I'll push this button and blow up the whole sector.

You better sign, game. You need this gorilla with the gun van? Why, you... Can't you handle one unarmed man alone? All right, Harry, out. What? Out, out. Yeah. Okay.

All right. Now sign. What's so funny? You are. You are, man. You start a revolution because you think the engineers should control the road. And when you've got control, the only thing you can think of to do is to blow it up. That's kind of silly, isn't it? Tell me what you're so scared of. I'm not scared. Yes, isn't there sweating all over that push button that you're holding?

If your buddies knew how afraid you were, they'd probably throw you into the road. I'm not afraid. You're afraid of me right now, Van.

You're afraid I'll have you on the carpet. You're afraid the cadets won't salute you. You're afraid that they're laughing at you behind your back. No, no, no, I'm not. You keep quiet. Now, I've got a gun here. Yeah, you're afraid of using the wrong fork at dinner. You're afraid people are looking at you, Van, laughing at you. I am not. I am not. You dirty, stuck-up snob. Just because you went to a high-hat school, you think you're better than everybody, huh? You and your crummy little gold-brained cadets. Van, you're a pathetic little shrimp. I understand you perfectly, Van. You're a third-rater.

All your life, you've been afraid that someone would send you to the foot of the class, so you ride out on your ear where you belong. I don't want to look at you anymore. You... I'll show you. I'll put a bullet in you. Put down that pop gun before you hurt yourself. Don't you come near me now. Don't you come near... I'll shoot. I'll shoot now. Give me that, Vern.

Now, let me go, will you? Give me that pistol. I thought if I wounded your little ego, you'd forget to push that button and pull a trigger instead. I'm afraid you'll never make a good executive, Van. They have to know when to punch buttons. Davidson. Gaines here. Chief, are you all right? Yeah, I'm all right. Attack now, Davidson. Mop up. I'll hold the control room. I've got Van Cleek.

I think his little revolution is just about over. Mr. Gaines! Mr. Gaines! Oh, Mr. Evans, I forgot about you. I've been waiting at the sector office. Is everything under control? Yes, all's rolling. Those are the watch engineers going under to check Sacramento's sector inch by inch now. Remarkable organization. Remarkable. Thank you. Oh, and he's in chief. San Diego Circle rolling. Vegas Field, Fresno, Stockton. Stockton.

Stockton, oh. Oh, no. What's the matter, Chief? A couple, Mr. Gaines? There sure is. I promised to meet my wife at Stockton for a show. She's been waiting there since 9 o'clock last night. Oh, dear me. Dave, see if you can get her for me. Try the sector office. All right, Chief. And, Dave, see if you can calm her down. Oh, sure, Chief, sure. I'll tell her the road must roll. No, no, don't tell her that. I don't think she'd appreciate that. She's heard it too often. Well, I'd better get going. Bye, Dave. Bye.

Keep them rolling. Keep them rolling. Keep them rolling along. You have just heard another adventure into the unknown world of the future. The world of Dimension X. Next week, the strange story of the test pilot who became the first man ever to invade outer space.

and of what he found when he got there. Listen next week to The Outer Limit.

Tonight's adventure is in Dimension X. The Roads Must Roll was written by Robert Heinlein and adapted for radio by Ernest Canoy. Featured in the cast were Wendell Holmes as Gaines, Ralph Bell as Van Cleek. Your host was Norman Rose. Music by Albert Berman, engineer Bill Chambers. Dimension X is produced by Van Woodward and directed by Edward King.

Hey Weirdos, our next Weirdo Watch Party is Saturday, January 18th, and sci-fi film host and all-around nice guy Jukesua is back with another terrible B-movie. This one from the infamously inept Roger Corman. From 1958, it's War of the Satellites. And yet you propose to follow this tenth failure with another attempt?

using more of your volunteers. An unknown force declares war against planet Earth when the United Nations disobeys warnings to cease and desist in its attempts at assembling the first satellite in the atmosphere. We are obviously in the grip of a force stronger than we can oppose. It's a movie eight weeks in the making, and it shows on every frame of film. See the last few seconds with a wire holding up a planet.

See the satellites spinning in different directions every time you see them. There it is, the barrier. All those men in that satellite will die. See shadows somehow being cast onto the backdrop that is supposed to be outer space. Sigma barrier dead ahead. Crash emergency. All hands secure for blast. You'll even see actors wearing the same clothes day after day after day because...

Who knows? War of the Satellites! Join us online as we all watch the film together on January 18th at 7pm Pacific, 8pm Mountain, 9pm Central, 10pm Eastern on the Monster Channel page at WeirdDarkness.com. The Weirdo Watch Party is always free to watch - just tune in at showtime and watch the movie with me and other Weirdo family members.

and even join in the chat during the film for more fun. We're always cracking jokes during the movie, usually at the actor's or director's expense, but hey, it's all worthy of criticism. It's Jukesua presenting Roger Corman's War of the Satellites from 1958.

You can see a trailer for the film now and watch horror hosts and B-movies for free anytime on the Monster Channel page at WeirdDarkness.com. That's WeirdDarkness.com slash TV and we'll see you Saturday, January 18th for our Weirdo Watch Party!

♪♪♪

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Here comes Monk Mayfair, the ape-like chemist. Blazers! Ham Brooks, the sword-wielding lawyer. Take that!

Rennie Renwick, the two-fisted engineer. Holy cow! Long Tom Roberts, the adventurous electrical genius. Pipe down, you guys. Johnny Littlejohn, the fighting archaeologist. I'll be super amalgamated! And their leader, the greatest adventure hero of the 1930s, the man of bronze, Doc Savage. ♪♪

The Variety Arts Radio Theater, by special arrangement with Condé Nast Publications, presents The Adventures of Got Savvy, a new series of radio adventures based on the novels by Lester Dent. Today, The Deadly Treasure, Chapter 6 of the amazing story, The Thousand-Headed Man.

Doc Savage has finally reached the lost city of the legendary thousand-headed man, along with Lucille Copeland, daughter of explorer Calvin Copeland, whose ill-fated expedition Doc hopes to rescue. Suddenly, Lucille disappears, victim of the weird hissing danger which earlier caused Doc's men to also vanish. Looking for her, Doc and Rennie stumble across the villainous oriental Sen Gat and his henchman Evel.

Sen Gat tries to bargain with Doc for two of the black sticks, which are the only protection against the thousand-headed man. When Sen Gat and Evel are dragged from sight by unseen captors, Doc and Rennie give chase through one of the city's weird buildings, where they are suddenly confronted by the towering figure of the thousand-headed man. Doc! Doc!

Bright and thunderous, in the light ahead. It's the thousand-headed man! Stand back, Reddy. I have a grenade. Hit the deck. Ah!

Blast of dust. Boy, you practically brought the ceiling down on top of the thousand-headed man. No, I threw the grenade short. I just wanted to stun him. Well, looks like you missed him completely. It's just a lot of fallen blocks and rock dust. Let's get after him.

That thousand-headed man sure was a monster. He's everything Lucille Copeland claims she saw. A giant brown native with countless wart-like heads covering his body. Did you see his wand cloth? It was covered with rubies and emeralds. Doubtless, taken from the treasure, Sen Gad is after. Up ahead. There he is, Doc. Come on. Come on.

He's just standing there, waiting for us. We'll tackle him. I'll hit him high you grab his legs. Go!

Holy cow! This isn't a thousand-headed man. It's a statue that just looks like him. Yes, the swirling dust fooled us. Monk's pig is acting peculiar again, Doc. Get up, Franny. It's that sinister hissing again. We must let it rob us of... Uh...

Oh.

Where it hit me. We reacted too late, Benny. Hissing overcame us. We're in some kind of pit now, and I'm afraid we're prisoners. Any way out of here? Above our heads. See? Those stone bars in the ceiling? They look kind of strong. But they're only a few feet above my head. Roll over on your hand with me. I get you. You stand on my back, and maybe you can reach those bars. Right.

Hmm. These bars are tightly set, but I can... I can loosen. Did it. That's one. Let me try another. I've got more leverage. Now! All right. Enough room for me to squeeze between these bars.

This

Take my hand. I'll put you up. This is easier than I expected. Someone sure underestimated your strength. Here are some stairs. Hey, sunlight. We're outside. Yes. The sun's sure hurting my eyes. See where we are? We're in a plaza of some sort. Yeah.

I can see now. This must be the center of the city. Holy cow. Doc, look at that. I see it. It's another pagoda. Except the others were covered with carvings of hands and feet and teeth. But this one's covered with heads. The entire pagoda is in the shape of a huge squatting head. And those smaller heads are gold or at least gold-plated. But

Let's get closer. Look at the size of the thing, huh? Doesn't it look like a thousand-headed man's ugly kisser? There is a resemblance, but I'm more interested in those golden heads adorning the face. Doc.

This head's got ruby eyes. And there's a sapphire in its forehead, a big one. They all have jeweled eyes. And if you look closely, you'll see they have diamond teeth. I don't believe it. There must be hundreds of these heads. This is the secret that lured Calvin Copeland to make his second ill-fated expedition. And the treasure that Sengat was willing to kill for. But we still haven't found Calvin Copeland or his daughter and Rex Maples. Not to mention the rest of our group. Yeah. Say, here.

I just noticed. Habeas isn't with us. No, we lost him when that hissing power came over us. That's another mystery we've got to solve. Obviously, it's something the thousand-headed man controls. I suspect wherever we encountered it, he was lurking nearby. He'd have to be pretty quick to be in all those places at once. Shh. Listen, something's coming this way. Around this corner, quickly. Come on.

Doc, what is it? Quiet. They'll pass us in a minute. Doc, it's the thousand-headed man. He's walking right by us. Look. Holy cow. Another one. Another thousand-headed man. There are several of them. Walking in a line and chanting that Indo-Chinese dirge. Look at them. They've all got thousands of heads all over them.

And they're each balancing baskets on their heads. Yes, covered rattan baskets. Zack, here comes a white man. They've got a rope tied to his neck like a dog. I see him. Well, I'd say we've located Calvin Copeland. We've got to rescue him. Wait until he comes abreast of us.

I got him, Doc. What? What is happening? It's okay, Copeland. No, it isn't, Granny. Here comes the native. Doc! Watch it. Watch it.

That takes care of one of you. Come on, Renny. The others are coming. Don't strike them. Whoever you are. Here comes another one, Doc. I've got him. He's not as strong. Doc, you ripped off his skin. He just grabbed his neck and his skin tore away. Run. Run, you ruffians. There's hell inside. Run for your lives. Renny, do as he says. There's danger here. Run.

Professor Copeland, I'm Doc Savage. We've come to rescue you. Have you seen your daughter? Didn't see you. Is she here? Yes. Where can we find shelter? We can't. Those giant devils range the jungle for miles around. There are hundreds of them. Four members of the Thousand-Headed Man cult. Cults? They're cults of fanatics. They worship their hideous god, whom they call the Thousand-Headed Man.

They dress in imitation of ancient statues of him. And there ain't any such creature. No, I proved that when I tore the hide off that man back there. Yes, they wear skin-colored garments. Their little carved heads are sewn onto the cloth. And we couldn't tell until we got close to him. Stop! There's one of them now. And he's opening his basket. He's pouring something out. Looks like a big brown rope. It's not a rope. It's a cobra. Back! Back! Back!

Copeland, those aren't ordinary cobras. No. No, see how they rear back and snap their head forward? They spray their venom as a poisonous gas. It makes you unconscious. Get back! Down the street!

Except for the cult members, this city is deserted. It's been like this for centuries, since the thousand-headed man cults took over here. Their snakes frightened off the original inhabitants. They breed and train them to keep outsiders away. It's part of their evil religion. That explains why the city stayed up there.

Why did they capture you? They used me and the other prisoners of fate to help train the Cobras. The fates don't affect the cult members? They have an antidote. A drink made from bark and jungle berries. Let's stop here. In this doorway.

You said something about other prisoners. My wife and the rest of my expedition. They're kept in pits near here. Listen. There was a signal drum. The cult is calling its members from the jungle. It's crawling with those beastly cowards. You can see them, slithering through the underbrush to sneak up on their enemies. That's how they stole up on our camp and captured us. Save the explanations and lead us to the prisoners. Yes, sir.

The pits are here. Those barred lids are like the ones over our cell. Here, Rennie, give me a hand. It's my wife! And that's my pilot, Malone, and my mechanic. Help them out, Rennie, while I get the other lids. Right.

Doc Savage! Wouldn't you know, Sengat. And I see Evelyn, your melee cutthroats are still with you. A thousand pines, Doc Savage. We only tried to get the black pick from you because of many hazards. We'll discuss your treachery later, Sengat. Time out while I get the next pit open. Doc Savage!

Doc! Monk. I knew you'd come. Who's with you? Most everybody. Ham, Johnny, Long Tom, Rex Maples, and Lucille Copeland. And Havius, too. They just threw him down. Everyone out. We haven't much time. The whole thousand-headed cult is after us. A cult? What's this about a cult? Later, Ham. Hurry, Johnny.

Give me your hand, Miss Copeland. Thank you, Mr. Savage. Oh, man, were we in there a long time. They gassed us back near the river when we chased Miss Copeland's voice into the jungle. There's that evil character. Am I going to clean his plow? Here, here, now. None of that. Ah! Ah, you fool! You stumbled against me! My beautiful thing in the air! Ah! Ah!

Send Dad busted his precious nails. That's enough. The drums have stopped. That means the thousand-headed men will be converging on us soon. And we have no defense against their snakes. Snakes, Doc? Yes, Johnny. You've heard the old controversy over whether cobras can throw their venom...

Well, there apparently is such a species of cobra used by this cult to capture prisoners. They are the mysterious hissing that we've been fighting. Wow, these super amalgamated. Mr. Savage, you asked about finding shelter. The Pagoda of the Heads is our only chance. All right, Mr. Copeland, let's go. Sengat, bring your men.

Doc, what's this pagoda of the heads? It's the source of all this trouble. Around this next corner. There it is, up ahead. Blasious, Doc. It must be worth millions. I wish I'd never seen it. We'd better get up them stairs quick. We're wide open running across the plot.

Look at the inside of this joint. It's full of treasure. My, my, I'm... Doc, the closet is infested with thousand-headed personages. They're firing arrows at us. Not just ordinary arrows. They're firing flaming arrows. Why are you so excited about it? Stone pagodas don't burn. Yeah, a plane did. Remember that fire that came out of the sky and destroyed it? They probably opened the gas tank and then sent down a flaming arrow. We saw the falling fire, but not the arrows.

From a distance, it looked unreal. Shot! Then Gat, he and his melee crew have disappeared. I had...

Stay where you are near the entrance. We have guns now. Thanks to the snake men. They saw us at Portland. Expeditions equipped in here. What do you want, Sam Gutt? Your cooperation. You will stay. My men and my girls will leave. I have an exit. Farewell. Farewell.

That heathen. He's going to leave us to these snake chucks. We're better off without him, Monk. And the sound of the gunfire frightened the cultists. See, they've retreated. I guess we've waited out then. Mr. Devitt, what are those sounds? From the sound of it, I'd say Sen Gat and his villains are looting the pagoda. Oh, they're cold. Those jewels ending up in Sen Gat's hands. You want to try and stop them, Maple? Be our guest.

Copeland. Yes? I'm still puzzled over those three black sticks. You told your daughter they were keys to safe passage in and out of here. Yes. They were an antidote to the cobra venom. You see, the venom affects its victims through the pores of skin.

Celt members drink the antidote, and their thousand-headed guards protect them as well. I still don't understand. During my original expedition, I caught one of the brown devils who was carrying a bag filled with spark and fairies that make up the antidote. I returned to London with it, and I experimented until I compounded a black, rubber-like substance. Out of which you molded the three black sticks. Exactly. Yet when you returned to Indochina, you never explained this to Rex Maples or your daughter. No. Excuse me.

And it led to my capture, I know. But I was ill with fever, and it made me irrational for the time. Your daughter explained that. Yes. Well, I was afraid that someone might try to feed me to the Pagoda of the Heads and its treasure. So I... I kept everything a secret. That wasn't the clearest of thinking.

I know that now. Did I hear someone mention the black sticks? Yes, Monty. I assumed they were taken from you when you were captured. Wrong. What? I fooled around with the things back in the jungle. Figured out there was some kind of compound and discovered that heat would liquefy it. So I figured out a way to keep them on me so no one could take them away. Well, how's that? I melted them down. Where are they now? Let me unbutton my shirt.

There. See my undershirt? Your undershirt is black. Yeah, but it used to be white. I soaked up the melted sticks with it. All we got to do is melt the black stuff out of my shirt. Will that work, Copeland? Oh, yes. The liquid is all we need. The solid bomb was just for convenience. Well, let's start a fire.

Hey, Doc, I think Sam Gant and his crew are taking off now. They must have all the treasure they can carry. Good, Renny. You watch their escape while I build a fire. I have some matches in my watch pocket. There goes Sam Gant across the flood. Boss, look at those thousand-headed guys scattered. They're sure afraid of guns. Sam Gant's heading for the river. Looks like he's got to make it. Are you coming, Doc? I have a fire going. We can use this golden urn to catch the liquid from your undershirt.

It's working, Doc. The black stuff has turned into water. The antidote liquefies very quickly, as you can see. Yes. There, that should be enough. Everyone line up for a drink. You first, Monk.

Yuck! Tastes like pie. That's enough. Give the others, Tom. The antidote will take effect almost immediately. Good. Has everyone had a sip? Yes. All right, then.

We'll make a dash for the river just as Sengat did. We're not armed, but we have the advantage of being immune to the cobra venom. There may be some fighting, but we can handle it. I know I can. Let's go. Shh.

Don't bunch up. They may shoot flaming arrows at us. I don't see any of them logs. Maybe they all took after Sengat's pirates. Don't count on it, you missing link. We'll still have to cross this platform. Say, Doc, you suppose Sengat escaped? He had a good chance, Renny. As good as our own. Mr. Seven, a thousand-headed man. He sees us. And he has one of those baskets. He's dumping it onto the ground. Look, there's the cobra. Mr. Seven.

Here's where I find out if this antidote works. Monk's running toward the snakes. Monk, you fool! Hey, it works! All I feel is a little dizzy. Good work, Monk. Follow us. In a second! I think he wants to tangle with that thousand-headed man first.

Did you see that? Monk floored him with one punch. He's coming along now. Where's his back? That big guy was soft. He folded like nothing. The Coltis aren't fighters. They rely on the Coltis for protection. When do we get to the gate? We should be coming to it soon. As I recall, this canal leads to the outside.

There's the gate. Looks like we're going to make it. I don't see any of those snake guys. Wait. There's something ahead. It's Sengat and his men. They're sprawled just beyond the gate. They ain't moving either. Gracious. They're dead. Every man, Chuck. Keep Miss Copeland back. Yes. They are dead.

Clubbed to death from the look of their bodies. I guess the snakes got them and those thousand-headed geeks finished them off. If anybody ever had a come and date, but it sure kind of gets you inside. Let's move. Hey, what about all the golden jewels? We can't just leave it scattered in the dirt. And don't tell me it belongs to them snake guys. They got it off the original inhabitants of the city. Well, all right.

Everyone take an armful of treasure, but don't waste time. We're in serious danger here. All set, Doc. Let's go. There's the river ahead. Head for those boats. If we can launch them upstream, we'll have a good chance to make it to Stengat's plain safely. Yeah, they sure don't have any use for them now. I wonder about the whereabouts of the Hydro-like aborigines. Johnny's right. There's no sign of any thousand-headed natives, and it's starting to get dark. Yes, I...

They were hiding in the undergrowth. Hump, Ham, Rennie, with me. Form a wedge. The snake can't harm us. We'll fight our way out. Let me out of here. Try to club me up. Come on.

He's moving right. He's supposed to have scared me. Don't underestimate him. They did a job on him. Snake knocked him out, you mean. Oh, he's moved down. They're going to finish him off. Not yet, they ain't.

Monk had a gun! Look, they're scattered! Oh, except the one I shot. He ain't going nowhere. Monk, where did you get that gun? Gun? Oh, I guess it belonged to Sandak. I must have picked it up when I grabbed those jewels. But you held on to it when we dropped them to fight. And you used it to kill. You know Doc has a rule against killing, Monk. Yeah, I guess I got carried away.

Sorry. This has happened before. I don't think Monk is sorry at all. Is that so? Well, I scared them brown devils off, didn't I? Let's save this. Everyone grab some treasure and let's get to the river. The End

It's a good thing Sengat brought a big plane. While we were sailing down that river, I was wondering if this crate would carry us all. Well, it obviously is. Hey, Johnny, what happened to your big vocabulary? I'll bet this has been just scared out of us. It wouldn't be the first time. I certainly look forward to seeing the United States again. At least there, things don't smack of the supernatural. Yeah, not as long as we're hooked up with Doc. This kind of stuff just seems to find him wherever he goes.

Mr. Savage, I... I'm very sorry for all the trouble I've caused. I want you to know that I want no part of the treasure from the Pagoda of the Hedge. Nonsense, Mr. Copeland. When we reach civilization, we'll divide the treasure. Half will be for you and the other expedition survivors, and the other half will be used to build schools and hospitals in Indochina. But, Mr. Savage, what do you get out of it? Believe it or not, Miss Copeland, we get some fun out of this sort of thing.

And so, the secret of the thousand-headed man is solved thanks to the man of bronze and his five companions.

But even as they wing their way back to America, Doc, Monk, Ham, Rennie, Johnny, and Long Tom know that new calls to danger will surely come. And Doc Savage and his men will be ready.

The Thousand-Headed Man was written by Lester Dent and adapted for radio by Will Murray. Featured in the cast were Daniel Chodos, Bill Ratner, Art Dutch, Scott McKenna, Bob Farley, Robert Towers, Kimmett Mustin,

and Ross Michael McConaughey and William Irwin also heard were Glenn Shattuck's Douglas Kohler and Bob lines sound effects were created by David Serti assisted by Jerry Williams production assistance by Samantha Kimmel and Doris Christie engineering by Denny King

♪♪

The Adventures of Doc Savage is produced and directed by Roger Rittner and is a presentation of the Variety Arts Radio Theater.

♪♪♪

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Come in, won't you? Why, what's the matter? You seem a bit nervous, sir. Pale and distraught. Perhaps a story would help calm your nerves. Yes, sir. A delightful little story about a dead man who acts just as if he were alive. I know you'll like it. I call it, He Woke Up Dead. Oh!

My story, He Woke Up Dead, begins with two men pacing back and forth at the top of a high cliff overlooking the Pacific. They are John Raymond and his brother Gregory, a gaunt man in whose eyes gleams a fanatical fire. Gregory, the answer is no. You're asking for $100,000 from the Raymond Foundation to spend on fake yogis and swamis.

Trying to get in touch with the dead. Well, you're not getting it. But, John, all my life I've been studying death and what is in the life beyond. And now, with just a little money, I know I can penetrate its mysteries. The Raymond Foundation would be the laughingstock of the world if it went in for such a crackpot idea. So, you think I'm a crackpot?

Well, when you die, John, according to Father's will, I'll be head of the Raymond Foundation. Then you'll see, I'll turn the whole foundation into a great research laboratory to study death. That will never be. I intend to have the courts change the will. So you'll never be head of the foundation, Gregory. No. No, you can't. You're blocking a tremendously important piece of work. But I won't let you. So? Just what can you do about it? This, John. I can do this. No, no, Franco. No!

Uncle Gregory, you say Father had a dizzy spell and fell from the cliff before you could catch him? Yes, Jack. It happened so fast, I could do nothing. But Father never got dizzy. His health was perfect. A groundkeeper says he saw you push Father off the cliff. That's nonsense. I was trying to catch him, pull him back. Jack, you know Uncle Gregory wouldn't do a thing. I'm not so sure, Susan. Now listen to me, both of you. The coroner said your father died accidentally, and that closes the matter. Not with me, it doesn't. No? No.

Well, I'm now head of the Raymond Foundation, and I'm going to pour all the resources of the foundation into an effort to contact the dead. Why, that's insane. The foundation scientists are on the verge of a cure for cancer, for tuberculosis. You can't stop their work now. I can, and I will. Oh, no, you won't. They'll stop you somehow. Because you did murder Dad. You killed him to get control of the foundation for your crazy schemes. Get out. Get out, both of you. Get out before I... I killed him! Jack, he tripped on the rug. His

His head hit against the fireplace. Wait. See how badly he's hurt. Jack, what is it? Is he... Is he dead? Yes, Susan. All his life, Uncle Gregory's been trying to find out what happened when you die. Now... Now he's going to find out. Uh, Dr. Weird, before you give us the second half of tonight's tale, can you tell me why you're called Doctor? Easy.

When people listen to this program, I show them how to avoid such unhealthy things as being murdered and... Well, somehow, Doctor, I doubt whether that would cure anybody of anything, especially a case of nerves. But I'd like to tell the men in our audience how to cure something that can be cured. It's old hat-itis, being addicted to the same old weather-beaten hat.

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You'll find it more than worth your while to discard your old headpiece for a brand new Adam hat. Or two, or three. Now, back to Dr. Weird. And now I'll continue my story. He woke up dead when Gregory Raymond returned to consciousness. He was alone in a great dim room. The thick cloying scent of flowers was heavy in the air.

Startled, he saw at the other end of the room three coffins resting on trestles. One of the coffins was banked with flowers and tall candles burned at either end of it. Dazed and bewildered, Gregory Raymond strode toward the three coffins. This room, where am I? Stained glass windows, it's like a church. Who's in this coffin with all the flowers on it? Why, a body in this coffin is mine. No, no, it's impossible.

I'm not dead. I can't be. You mustn't be upset, mister. Most of us feel that way at first. Yes, we did. But it will pass soon. Who are you? Turning, Gregory Raymond was astounded to see dim figures coming toward him from the shadows. A man and a woman, both very old. They smiled at him sympathetically.

I... I am Joshua Benson. This is my wife, Nellie. These are our bodies in these other two coffins. I... I don't understand. Oh, you will. Look, here in this coffin. See? It's my body, isn't it? It...

Looks just like you. It is me. The earthly me, I mean. And now, this one is Nellie. You mustn't be so upset. You'll soon be used to the idea. We're really dead? All three of us? Why, of course. You died yesterday morning. You slipped and fell and hit your head. Yes, sir.

Yes, I remember. It's taken you until now to... well, to become aware of things again. Death is a great shock, you know. But where am I? What is this place? This is the mortuary chapel at the cemetery. They'll be coming for your body soon to bury it. Joshua and I were killed two nights ago in an auto accident...

But they aren't going to bury us until tomorrow. I never dreamed death would be like this one.

Why, I can still see and hear. I can breathe. My heart still beats. Oh, not really. You're used to those things, so they let you think there hasn't been much change until you've had a chance to get over your shock. They? Who do you mean? The ones in charge. You'll know more about them soon. Mr. Benedict will be coming for us, and I expect he'll take you along, too. Mr. Benedict? Who's he? The guide.

He stopped by last night. Just tell us not to worry and to wait for him here. He'll take us on to... well, to the place where we go next. I... I see. Someone's coming. Come back here out of the way. Four men. And Jack and Susan. Oh, they've come to take your body away to bury it. All right, men. Take it easy now. That's it.

All live together. No, no, they can't bury me. I'm not dead. I can't be. Jack, Susan, listen to me. It's Gregory, your Uncle Gregory. They're gone.

They didn't hear me. Because you're dead. The dead can't communicate with the living. It just isn't possible. But it must be. All my life I've worked to establish such communication. Now, now I have so much to tell the world. The people I've worked with. I must find some way to communicate with them. I must, I must.

Are you ready? Feeling better, Mr. Raymond? This is Mr. Benedict. He's come for us. Yes. It is time. We must go. But I can't go. I've got to tell people. The people I work with. I've worked so hard to find the truth and now... It may not be. There can be no communication.

Now, Mr. Benson, Mrs. Benson. Yes, sir. It is time. Oh, yes, Mr. Benedict, we're ready, but Mr. Raymond here is coming with us, isn't he? It is impossible. He is doomed to stay here on Earth. What do you mean? What are you saying? That it's your punishment to remain forever a spirit that moves unseen and unheard among men.

It is the punishment of all who murder and die unrepentant and unconfessed. Oh, no. He's a murderer? I can't believe it. That is not for me to say. Come. We must be going. No, wait. You've got to take me with you. I can't stand it being here, seeing, hearing as if I were alive and not able to make anybody see or hear me.

I have to go with you. I have to find out what comes next. It may not be. But you've got to take me. If I confess, if I repent, will that make a difference? It may. I cannot promise. Then I do confess. I killed my brother John. I pushed him off the cliff. I'm sorry now, but it seemed so important then that I just had to do it. You are confessing to your brother's murder? Yes, yes, I killed him. I admit it. Now take me with you. You can't leave me here. You can't.

Gregory Raymond, listen to me. You're under arrest for murder. You understand? Under arrest for murder. What? What are you saying? I'm dead. We're all dead. You're not dead. You're very much alive. And you're under arrest. These two people are witnesses to your confession. Now come along with me. No. No, you can't arrest me. Don't you understand? You can't arrest a dead man. And I'm dead. Dead!

Was Gregory Raymond dead? Or was he alive? Well, the doctor said he was alive. For you see, when his nephew found that the fall had only knocked Gregory unconscious, a strange scheme came to him. And with the aid of three coffins and three clever wax dummies that looked exactly like corpses, plus several excellent actors, he really made his uncle Gregory believe he was dead. In fact, Gregory became so convinced of it

that when they told him he was really alive, he wouldn't believe them. To this day, nothing can convince him he isn't really dead. It's probably the strangest punishment a murderer ever had. Though I did know another man who would... Oh, you have to go? Perhaps you'll drop in again soon. Just look for the house on the other side of the cemetery. The house of Dr. Weird.

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You're coming this afternoon, aren't they? Why, of course they are, Jeremy. But they said so. They told you they were. Goodness, what a lot of questions. It'd be a whole lot better for you, young Jeremy, to lie still in that bed and get your old throat better. It is better. A boy doesn't get better all at once from having his tonsils removed. Honest, I'm better. Can I go home this afternoon? When they come, can I go home with them? Not quite yet, Jeremy. Hey, now, no need to look so sad. Only a few more days.

I miss them, you see. Mother, employer, and Jason. Especially Jason. Well, don't you worry. They'll be here on the dot of three as soon as visiting hour starts. My, Jeremy, that was a short visit they paid you. It's only just gone half past three. They didn't come. They didn't?

That's too bad. Did I send any message? I don't think so. Well, wouldn't you not come? Maybe something delayed them. I'll call them. That is, if they're not here in five minutes. Well, I wouldn't want to put you into any trouble, Matron. You're not. After all, I can't have one of my patients upset, can I? I'll go and see if they're on their way. All three of them? Yes. Had on collision. They never had a chance.

That poor little boy. Boy? Jeremy. Tonsils. Ward 4. Oh, yeah. What's going to happen to him? I've no idea, doctor. He has no near relatives living, I understand. He'll be at a county orphanage for him then. I'd better go tell him about the accident. Doctor, he's a gentle little boy. Don't be too brisk, will you?

Are they here yet, my folks? No, Jeremy, I'm afraid they're not. Look, we'd better have a little talk, you and I, man to man, you know? Talk? What about? I'm afraid they won't be coming to see you. Why not? There's been an accident. Was Jason sick in the car? He gets that way sometimes. A bad accident. There can have been.

Father's a good driver. He's never had any accidents. It wasn't his fault. This big truck came around the bend, you see, on the wrong side of the road. And crashed into them? Yes. I'm afraid you won't see them again. They're dead? Yes. Why, it can't be. No, no, no, they can't be. Father's a careful driver. I know I've heard Mother say so. He wouldn't have had an accident. He's coming to... You've got to face it, son.

Your family's dead. No!

I'm the boy's aunt, Doctor. And as such, as his father's sister, I'm the legal guardian. But, Miss Tessa... Yes, well, go on. What are you going to say? You're not married yourself, are you? You've no children. How would you know about... About bringing up a small boy, is that for you to discuss, Doctor? It's my duty to care for my dead brother's son. I don't know what the orphanage people will say. I don't care a row of pins what they say.

They probably already said that I'm an eccentric old maid who lives her life in the seclusion of that crazy big old house on the hill and that I shouldn't have charge of a canary bird, let alone a boy. Well, come on, isn't that so? I don't see how you're going to convince them otherwise, Miss Tesser. Are they here now, in the hospital? Mrs. Appleby is here, talking with Matron. Very well, take me to her.

Yes, Tessa, it's quite out of the question. For what reason, Mrs. Appleby? The child will need a healthy home environment. Companions of his own age, proper schooling, proper discipline. He needs family, Mrs. Appleby. I am all he has left. He doesn't know you. Does he know you? There are no legal objections to my obtaining custody of my nephew. No, but... But what? Well, you know what they say. That I'm a crazy old spinster.

He's a very disturbed little boy. All the more reason he should live somewhere quiet. You're a formidable woman, Miss Tessa. I represent security to him, Mrs. Appleby. Oh, I don't know. I shall have to discuss it with the attorneys. My brother's attorneys. And the governors of the orphanage. You see, we'd already made provisions for the boy... Then unmake them. Jeremy comes home with me. Well, Jeremy, what do you think of my house?

It's big. Yes, you're right. My father left it to me in his room, you see. I was brought up here. It's the only home I've ever known. Almost like a castle. Not quite so large. But it's nice. I'm glad you think so. And your bedroom, you like that? It's different from my room. My room at home. It's next to mine. So that if I have a bad dream at night, I can call out and you'll hear. If you... Yes. Yes.

Do you have bad dreams sometimes? Oh, yes, Jeremy. I have them every night. Well, maybe the dessert type extra tonight will keep them away. Do you like strawberry shortcake? Strawberry shortcake? If you come and help me whip the cream for it, we can have supper as soon as I fry the chicken. Mom, are there visitors here? No, child. Only you and me. I don't care over much for visitors. You ask questions, don't you?

But you folks, now, now, I can't have tears in the whipped cream. Make it all salty. Now you dry your eyes and come along into the kitchen. Of course he's all right, Mrs. Appleby. Why shouldn't he be? I'd like to see him, Miss Tessa. That won't be possible, I'm afraid. I have a right to. Oh? A letter from the orphanage authorities, I suppose. Being a district visitor, it is my duty to watch over poor children like Jeremy.

It's busy right now. Doing what? In the attic. Not that it's any of your business. The attic? How unhealthy. Aunt Tessa? Yes, child? I found the soldiers. Bring them down here, then. They're beautiful. I don't think there's anything else for you to do here, Mrs. Appleby. I'm sure your good works keep you busy around the town. I wouldn't want to detain you. Good morning, Mrs. Appleby. I'll be back, Miss Tessa. Oh, take your time.

They're beautiful, Aunt Tessa. You know what they represent, of course. The blue and the gray. Sure, of course I do. Was there someone here? What makes you ask? I heard the door close. Would someone come to get me? No one's going to get you, child. Not while I have breath in my body.

I guess you want to play with the soldiers right away, don't you? Yes, please, Mom. And you'd like to play in the solarium with me, wouldn't you? May I? I guess so. It's the most beautiful room I ever saw in my life, Aunt Tess. Old-fashioned. That's what folks say. Dark and musty, they say. What do I want with all those ferns and lilies in the fountain and a floor checkered with marble squares? They don't know, do they?

Shall I close the door? Yes, child. We don't want the front doorbell disturbing us, now do we? Now mind where you tread, Jeremy. Why, Ma? There's a loose tile on this floor. I wouldn't want you hurting yourself. A loose one? There, right under the statue. This tile? Don't tread on it, child. It's loose, like I said. It's taken to shifting, ma'am. It's scary. It's nonsense. There's a shadow on it.

Blacker than anything I've ever seen. Only the statue casting its shadow. But it looks like there's no tile there at all. Only a great blackness going down, deep down. Only a piece of marble, Jeremy. The statue looks at it, and the shadow goes so deep, so deep down, you can't see where it ends. Your poor parents were hit by a truck boy. That's the truth. Because I wouldn't like to think they were...

Down there in the shadow. They're not. Now, you set the soldiers out and I'll fetch a piece of my new baked apple pie. I don't think I want one, ma'am. With raisins, cinnamon... ...a year...

Is it as long as that? One year exactly, Matron. And he's still there? With her? Happy, too, Wild Accounts. Whose account? Miss Tessa's? He's settling down just fine. He can't be permitted to remain with her, though. Of course he can't. What's your objection, Mrs. Appley? It's not healthy. I think she cares about the boy. She's a crazy old spinster, Doctor. The town eccentric.

Why, you don't need to look at her house. All those balconies and spires. So dark. Forbidding inside. Of course. I've never visited her. But I've heard stories. Old books and carpets. Dark old rooms. Winding passages. It doesn't sound very nice for the boy. I think he finds it very nice. But he can't stay there. Definitely not. Why not?

It's the state's duty to care for him. Miss Tess is his family. Eccentric old maid. They said I was to come here, Judge. Have you been listening? Why, yes, Jeremy, come along in. We were just talking about you. Yes, I know. I heard what she said. What's eccentric mean? Whatever it is, you boy. Nothing, Mom. A head-on crooked or something? No. Then what's wrong? All through supper, you kept staring at me. Now, what is it?

Something happen when you went into town yesterday? Tessa, what's eccentric mean? Who did you hear say it? Outside the doctor's room. I didn't mean to listen, but the door was open and I couldn't help hearing. Hearing who? Mrs. Oppenby and Matron were in there with the doctor and they were talking. About me? Me as well. Now hand me the big dictionary, will you? This one? That's right. You bring it over here.

Thank you. Eccentric. Yes, here it is. Irregular. Odd. Whimsical. Odd. Well, there was something else. Old mate. Look for it. Go on. Now, don't pretend to me you can't read a dictionary. Is that what they called me? Yes. Now, isn't that just like them?

I can't find it. Old maid? No, it's not here. It means a spinster, an unmarried lady. An odd unmarried lady. That's what they've always thought of me. Didn't she ever have a husband, Aunt Tessa? Nearly had one once, but he told me one day, right here in the solarium...

He told me he'd found somebody else. Did he marry her instead of you? Matter of fact, no, he didn't. He stepped on the... He just dropped out of sight. Now, that's enough, child. I don't want to talk about it no more. So you've lost someone as well as me? I guess I have, child. Kind of helps, if you know what I mean. I don't. Well, it makes me feel I'm not the only one. It makes me feel we're sort of together.

Is that so? Well, maybe you're right. Now, you let me get on with this knitting, child. I thought you were setting up the soldiers. Yes, I am. Right there, so near the statue. Aunt Tissa, where did you get him? My daddy brought that. All the way from Greece. Piraeus. A long while ago. Now, you bring the atlas later on, and I'll show you where that is. Greece?

The whole thing used to scare me when I was little. The way the eyes kind of follow a person around the room. I know. He watches me, too. I tried to move it out once. By yourself? Yep. Was that when your hand got hurt? You've got sharp eyes, haven't you? Oh, I saw your hand when I was first here. It was one of the ones all curled up like a bird's claw. Was that because you tried to move the statue? Of course not. Anyways, seemed better to leave it where it is.

My daddy said it was some pagan god or other. I can't rightly remember which one. And he said the place he got it from set great store by it. He said every home needs a household protector.

And he's mine. He's mine, too. When I was first here, he used to scare me. He doesn't now. He's like a friend. That's why I set the soldiers up near him, so he can watch the battle. I thought I'd better warn you, Miss Tessa. They're on the war park again. Why can't they mind their own business? They reckon it is their business. Don't they have anything better to do?

Doctor, you've seen the boy. What do you think? I think he's happy and well cared for, Miss Tessa.

A different child from a year ago. He got along well enough. When he first came, I said to myself that what I couldn't win with face and form, me not being young nor pretty, I'd get with hardened hand. Strawberry shortcake? Apple pie? Rye chicken? Children enjoy good food. He's put on weight. He smiles. He talks. He'll do, doctor.

It's only been a year, after all, since his folks were killed. Every day he's a mite stronger. He hasn't had a crying spell in weeks now. Soon enough he'll be playing in the streets with all those rough town urchins and forgetting all about his poor old aunt. Oh, I don't think he'll do that. It's what I aim to see, Doctor. It's the way it should go. I wouldn't want to keep him tied to me, would I? How long were you living on your own? Fifteen years. Fifteen years alone...

And then to find this little ray of sunshine. And you say they're going to have another try at taking him away from me? Looks like it. Mrs. Appleby. Crab Apple, more like. She's worried about his schooling. Jealous, I'd say. That's possible. Jealous of me.

Isn't that something to smile over, Doctor? She who's been married these 20 years with four children of her own. And she's jealous that an eccentric old maid like me should have a short while of happiness in life. Well, whatever amortizes Miss Chester, she'll be paying for a visit soon. Better be prepared. I'm prepared, Doctor. Never fear. She won't take Jeremy from me unless he's a mind to go.

I don't think he has. Not yet a while.

I shall have to go there and talk to her. Make her see reason. It's not right, Matron. I said it over a year ago when the poor child was orphaned. It's the state's duty, I said, to care for him. You're quite right, Mrs. Atkins. And the state never shirks its duty. I shall go up the hill to that awful, dark old house. And I shall tell her that unless she's sensible, unless she cooperates, I'll get a court order and have the child removed from her care. Care...

Mind you, Mrs. Appleby, Jeremy didn't look unhappy last time I saw him in town. If you saw him in town, he was probably happy to be away from her. And there's no denying he's healthy. What can she feed him on? What kind of strange food do you think she makes? Old witch, if you ask me. You're quite right, of course. It's not a good environment for a young boy. It is not. Very well, we're agreed. I'll go and talk to her. And if that doesn't work, I'll get Jeremy removed from her officially.

You, um, ever thought about leaving here and going away to school, Jeremy? Away? Well, sooner or later you'll have to. Not yet, Aunt Tessa. Not yet, no, but when you're older. I could come back for vacations, couldn't I? You wouldn't send me away forever. Oh, I'd need my head examined to do that. Well, maybe when I'm older. Sure.

If I could go someplace not too far away and come back here when there's no school. That's a promise. Aunt Tessa, may I bring my soldiers in here? I think so. Thank you. A ray of sunshine in my life. And they want to take him away from me. I'll fight them, though. Yes. I'll not have my life destroyed again. Thank you.

You don't mind playing armies in the solarium, do you? If I minded, you'd not be in here. It's a good place, you see, for battles. All these ferns and things, for ambushes. And the statue watching us. Of course, I have to be very careful I don't let any soldier step on the dark tile. What would happen if they did? They'd disappear, wouldn't they?

They'd go deep down, where no one would ever see them again. Child, you're imagining it. It's only a piece of black marble with a shadow cast down by the statue. That's what you say, Aunt Tessa. But I know different. So do you, really. This time I think I'm going to have the Gray Army win. Stuff and nonsense, child. You've read my daddy's book. That isn't how the war went. It was the North won the Blues. I know. That's why I'm going to do it.

You see, I think sometimes that the weak side should have a chance to win, too. I think that's a fine idea, Jeremy. You do it just that way. But maybe you'll pass my knitting before the first shot's fired. Sure, Aunt Chelsea. It's nice, isn't it? Just the two of us here together. It's nice, child. Yes.

Oh, drat. Maybe he'll go away. Oh, you answer it, will you? I'm going to start the supper cooking. If they won't go away, you bring them in here. Good afternoon, ma'am. May I come in, Jeremy? Well, you might. Thank you. And where is your aunt? She's busy, Mrs. Appleby. Not too busy to see me, I hope.

Well, you better come into the solarium. Solarium? Mrs. Crabapple. Appleby. Miss Tether, there is something that you and I have to discuss. Alone. I know what you've come for. I've been expecting you. Send the boy away so we can talk, will you? It's him you've come to talk about. He's a right to hear, so speak your piece or get out of my house. Jeremy, you stay right there. Yes, I'm just... I'll come straight to the point.

It's high time this poor child was removed from this house and sent to a proper environment. Oh? You've been a stubborn old woman long enough, Miss Tessa. Do you see anything wrong with the child? No, but... Undenourished? Pale? Unhappy? No, but... Sick, maybe? Miserable? Unhealthy? If you won't cooperate, I'm going to get a court order.

Oh, be reasonable. Surely you realize this is no fit atmosphere for a young child. You want me to give him up? Of course. And Tessa? She wants to take me away? Yes, child, she does. But don't you fret. I won't allow it. You're being very obstinate. I fought you once and I'll fight you again. You keep away from me.

Aunt Tessa, tell her to watch out. Tell her to watch where she's stepping. I wouldn't let a meddling fool like you touch one hair on the boy's head. Very well. If that's the way you insist on having it, I'll be here with the court order first thing in the morning. You get the boy ready to leave with me and the sheriff.

The tile! And Tessa! She's not going anywhere, Mrs. Appleby. With Tessa? Keep away from me! Keep away! She's gone!

And since she's gone... Of course she has. She's down there. She's down in the deep darkness. The shadows followed her up. I saw it. I saw it go. Nonsense, child. I saw her out of the door. But she didn't. One second she was there, and then she's gone into the darkness. Sharon. All those fancies. It's only a black marble tile. Feel it. Touch it. Oh, come on. It won't hurt you.

It won't hurt you. But I saw... Supper. Broiled steak, don't you think? With my homemade ice cream for dessert. Come along and give me a hand, Jeremy. She went out of the door? Of course. I didn't see her go. You had your hand so tight over your eyes you couldn't see anything. So she didn't step on the black tile? There wasn't anything to do with the statue? Did you think it was?

You said every home needs a protector. Well, this home's got three, hasn't it? You, me, and him. And Tessa? Can I become eccentric, too? I'd very much like to. I can stay? As long as you care to, Charlie. Tessa!

Thank you.

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So how about a Closmopolitan or a mistletoe margarita? I'm thirsty. Watch. I just pop in a capsule, choose my strength, and... Wow. It's beginning to feel more seasonal in here already. If your holiday party doesn't have a bartender, then you become the bartender. Unless you've got a Bartesian. Because Bartesian crafts every cocktail perfectly in as little as 30 seconds. And I just got it for $50 off. Tis the season to be jollier.

Add some holiday flavor to every celebration with the sleek, sophisticated home cocktail maker, Bartesian. Get $50 off any cocktail maker at bartesian.com slash cocktail. That's B-A-R-T-E-S-I-A-N dot com slash cocktail.

Heads up, folks. Interest rates are falling. But as of September 23rd, 2024, you can still lock in a 6% or higher yield with a bond account at public.com. That's a pretty big deal because when rates drop, so can the interest you earn on your cash. A bond account allows you to lock in a 6% or higher yield with a diversified portfolio of high-yield and investment-grade corporate bonds.

So while other people are watching their returns shrink, you can sit back with regular interest payments. But you might want to act fast because your yield is not locked in until you invest. The good news, it only takes a couple of minutes to sign up at public.com. Lock in a 6% or higher yield with a bond account only at public.com.

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Add some holiday flavor to every celebration with the sleek, sophisticated home cocktail maker, Bartesian. Get $50 off any cocktail maker at bartesian.com slash cocktail. That's B-A-R-T-E-S-I-A-N dot com slash cocktail. You are trapped in the dark cellar of your home. Beside you is the murdered body of your wife. And above at the front door are your friends looking for you, tracking you down.

Cutting off your escape. Escape. Produced and directed by William N. Robeson and carefully contrived to free you from the four walls of today for a half hour of high adventure. Tonight we escape to a university town in England and a household where hate holds sway.

as we listen to John Collier's famous story, Back for Christmas. Yes, my dear.

What on earth are you doing down here in the cellar? Why, just a little digging. And why, may I ask, have you chosen this day of all days to dig up the cellar floor? Why, I thought as the weather has been so damp, this would be an excellent time to plant my devil's garden. Devil's garden? Whatever nonsense is that? Oh, that's my little joke about it.

You see, I've managed to secure some of the spores of several unclassified wild orchids. In their natural state, they bloom under damp masses of leaf mold. The Orocanian Indians call them devil flowers because they appear to bloom under the ground. Well, I'm sure the Orocanian Indians will be very interested if you succeed in growing these ridiculous flowers under the cellar floor. Whom else it'll interest, I can't imagine.

What's that terrible smell? Why, that's the leaf mold, my dear. Chemically identical with the earth blanket they grow under in the wild state. I really should line the pit with concrete so as to prevent seepage from this foreign soil. But I don't suppose there'll be time for it now. There certainly will not be time for it. Do you know what I mean?

Do you realize that we're sailing for America a week from today, and you've made no arrangements whatever? Unless you call digging a hole in the cellar making arrangements. I certainly don't. Devil's garden, indeed. Sometimes I think you're going soft in the head, Herbert. I suppose it's inconsiderate of me, but

You see, I've been wanting to try this experiment for a long time. But what with my lectures and seminars at the university, there never seemed to be time. Well, there certainly isn't any time for it now. I suppose you've forgotten I made an appointment for you at the barber's this afternoon. Oh, must I shave off my beard, Hermione? No, we've been all through that.

Of course you must. They don't wear beards in America. Go and get your jacket on and do as I tell you. Yes, Hermione. And don't forget to take your umbrella. It looks like rain. Yes, Hermione. Oh, don't look so put-upon, Herbert. Someone has to plan things in this house, or you'll never even get to the university in time for your lectures, much less make arrangements for a trip to America. I know, but what of my specimens? There'll be plenty of time to plant your precious devil's garden when you get home from America.

Not going to be gone forever, you know. We'll be back here for Christmas. Yes, of course. Back for Christmas. I'd forgotten. Well, try to remember it. And if you can't do that, just do as I tell you. I've been making the plans in this house for 20 years. And if there's any digging to be done, I'll manage that as well. You understand, Herbert?

Yes, Hermione. Good. You have just 20 minutes to clean this mess up down here and keep your appointment at the barber's. And when you finish there, I want you to come straight home. Why, I wanted to stop at Miss Markham's and pick up some books I ordered. All right. But don't loiter there the whole afternoon, browsing over those old books the way you usually do. Now hurry and clear up this rubbish. Get rid of that smelly stuff. And no more digging, mind you. Yes, Hermione.

Yes, Hermione. How many years have I been saying that? Ten years? Fifteen? Twenty? Clear up the rubbish. Yes, Hermione. Don't forget your umbrella. Yes, Hermione. Do this, do that. Yes, Hermione. Yes, yes, yes. How much longer can I stand this? Good evening, sir. Good evening, Miss Markham. Why, it's Professor Carpenter, isn't it? You didn't recognize me. Why?

You look ever so much younger without the beard. Twenty years at least. Twenty years. You'll be glad to know those books you ordered have finally arrived. Books? Phytotomy of Phthaloid Gematophytes and Coniferous Shrubs of North America. Those are the ones you ordered, aren't they? Oh, yes, yes. Thank you. You're very kind, Miss Markham.

Why kind, Professor Carpenter? Well, not many young ladies in bookshops would go out of their way to look up rare books for an old professor of botany. Oh, why, you're not old, Professor Carpenter. Really, you look... Oh, and besides, I adore botany. It's my particular hobby. Oh, really? You never told me that before, Miss Malcolm. Oh, I was afraid to. You were so... so imposing with the beard and all. Well, I...

You might be interested in some specimens of alpine polyanthes that were sent to me by a friend in Switzerland. Switzerland? I used to go there for my holidays before the war. You like Switzerland? Oh, I love every part of it. The lakes, the mountains, the beautiful spring flowers. Especially the flowers. Oh, yes. It seems we have quite a lot in common, Miss Markham. I'm sorry we haven't talked before. I am too. Oh.

It is all a fault of the beard, I suppose. Miss Markham, forgive me if this sounds foolish, but I feel that shaving off my beard is the most important thing I've done for 20 years. Oh, it is. I'm sure it is. I'm ashamed that I've been so distant with you all the time. Oh, there were times when I almost spoke up. Times when you came in here, tired after a day with your students at the university. You seemed so alone. The way I'm alone in the world.

I'd like to have asked you to stay a while and talk with me. But some way or other, I wound up giving you your change and letting you go on your way. You... you say you're all alone in the world? Since my father died. Well, did you never think of marrying? My father was a very remarkable man. I never found anyone who seemed to measure up to what he led me to expect of men. And then the war came and... Miss Markham, I...

It's been so long since anyone called me by my first name. I'd like you to, if you don't mind. It's Marion. Marion. And yours? Herbert. How long have you been alone, Herbert? Alone? Oh, I knew you were a widower, of course, the first time I saw you. A widower? Oh, I can always tell. There's a certain sadness in a man's eyes. A sweet sadness, I think, when he's been married and then... A widower? Yes.

I never thought of it in quite that way. Oh, perhaps I shouldn't be talking like this. But I've often wondered what she must have been like. Your wife, I mean. Hermione? Not an easy woman to forget. Very strong. Always managing things. The house, my wardrobe, my friends. When we dined at a restaurant, she even ordered my food. She was always managing things. You might say she managed herself to death. Oh, poor woman. She must have loved you very much.

But she needn't have put herself out so. It's plain to see you don't need things managed for you. You need companionship, I think. Someone sympathetic with your work. But the last thing on earth you need is a manager. How well you put it. The last thing on earth. That's the first time I thought of it, of course. But suddenly a whole new world opened up before my eyes. Marion and America and...

No more of Hermione's planning my life for me. By the time I got home, my mind was working overtime. Well, at last. You certainly took long enough about it. What are you looking so pleased about? I don't really know. Getting rid of the beard, perhaps. I feel 20 years younger. You look even smaller. Your face looks triangular or something. I'd forgotten your chin was so weak.

Oh, but never mind that. You can grow it back soon enough, after Christmas. Where are you going? Down to the cellar. I just bought this electric lantern and I thought I'd put it away down there. Now, what ever possessed you to buy a thing like that? I don't know. I'd rather like this lantern. Might come in handy.

Who knows? Now, Herbert, don't start digging down there again. I've a hundred things to do putting the house in order before we leave. I want you to carry these boxes upstairs for me. Yes, Hermione. And if you're going down to the cellar, take this along and stuff it into the furnace. But this is my old bathrobe. I may need it. Oh, nonsense. I've bought you a new one. Get rid of it. And don't start puttering down there with that devil's garden or whatever you call it. I'm through digging, my dear. I think the pit is quite deep enough now.

For my devil's garden. It would all have to be carefully planned, of course. Just as carefully planned as Hermione was planning the trip to America. We both went about our respective engagements as the days passed. I spent all the time I could with Marion. Finally she consented. And then it was the last day, the big day. The day we were to sail for America. Operator! Operator, are you there? I'm still waiting on that call to Salisbury. Oh. Well, put them on quickly.

Hello? Is this Paul Holton Sons? Mrs. Herbert Carpenter here. Did you receive my letter? Oh, good. Now remember, we'll be back for Christmas, and I want the job done without fail. What's that? Oh, no, I'm sure he doesn't suspect anything. Send the bill to me in New York as I instructed you. Oh, thank you. Thank you so much.

Oh, there you are, Herbert. Where have you been? Backstairs. I dismissed the servants. Dismissed the servants? But I've asked some friends in to a farewell tea. Go and tell them it's a mistake. I'm afraid it's too late now.

They've packed and gone. Oh, you have messed up things properly. How many times have I told you to leave things to me? I make the plans around here. Yes, Hermione. You'll have to do better than this when I plan the trip home, or we'll never in the world be back for Christmas. Back for Christmas, back for Christmas. Must you keep saying that? Not. We are coming back for Christmas, aren't we?

Supposing I were offered a professorship in one of those wealthy American universities. Nonsense. Americans care nothing for botany. Luther Burbank was an American. That's different. What have you ever done except muck around in the dirt with a lot of roots and tubers? They've asked me to lecture. That means something. Of course they asked you to lecture. Americans are paid to hear any foreigner deliver a lecture. Once. Now there's no use getting yourself in a state about this, Herbert.

No doubt this extra money will come in very handy when we arrive back for Christmas. Precisely. And it's no good you're making a joke of it. Heaven knows where you'd be today if I hadn't got a sense of time. Yes, my dear Hermione. And since you've been so foolish as to dismiss the servants, you may empty the ashtrays and straighten up this room while we're waiting for the guests to arrive. I'm going upstairs to change. Call me when they get here. Yes, Hermione. Yes, Hermione.

Yes, Hermione. Yes, Hermione. For 20 years, Hermione, always so right, thought of everything. Well, not quite everything. She's dressing now. Safe to call Marion. Oh, if Marion were to change her mind now, if she had any idea I was not a widower. Hello? Hello? Marion? Herbert? No. No, my darling. Nothing's wrong. My plans are the same, unless you've changed. Good.

We'll meet in New York as we planned. Yes, yes, I do love you, my darling. I'm sorry, I can't talk any longer. Yes, I'll meet you in New York a week from tomorrow without fail. Goodbye till then. Herbert, were you talking on the phone just now? Yes, Hermione. Whoever was it? Freddie. Freddie Sinclair, of course. Didn't I hear you say something about meeting somebody in New York? Why, yes.

Old Freddy said he might possibly get out to America before we leave, and I said, of course, we'd meet him there if he decides to go. That seems very peculiar. But then all of your friends are peculiar.

Yes, Hermione. And just look at your jacket. Have you been digging in that cellar again? Yes, Hermione. Well, there's no need for it. You can't possibly get that devil's garden thing finished. Go and change your clothes before the guests arrive. Yes, Hermione. Oh, never mind. I see somebody coming up the walk now. Go and let them in. Yes, Hermione. Harvard. Yes, my dear? Look out the window. There's Professor and Mrs. Hewitt. But who's that with them? Why, I... Precisely.

Freddie Sinclair. Peculiar. You should have been talking to him on the phone not three minutes ago. And now here he is. Yes, yes, isn't it? But then, as you say, Hermione, all of my friends are peculiar. Not half so peculiar as you. Digging in the cellar an hour before we leave for America. Just look at yourself. Did I think of it? Yes, Hermione. Oh, never mind. Go and let them in. You were going to ask me something, Hermione.

But the hole I'm digging in the cellar... Oh, good heavens! Stop rolling your eyes about that way. One would think you were digging a grave down there instead of a storage bin. Yes, Hermione. What's that? I said, yes, Hermione. Oh, open the door and stop saying, yes, Hermione! I think, my dear, I've said it for the last time. Back for Christmas. Hermione was so positive we would be back for Christmas.

That last afternoon, pouring tea for a few friends who had come in to say last-minute farewells, she kept reiterating... Oh, I promise you, Mrs. Hewitt, remember, we absolutely must have you with us for Christmas. Oh, we'll be back. It's not absolutely certain, of course. Herbert, what do you mean, it's not certain? Of course it's certain. After all, Herbert, old boy, you've contracted to lecture for only three months. Quite right, but then, of course, anything may happen. Oh.

Herbert adores being unpredictable. Now, what Arthur man would dig a great hole in the cellar on the very day he was leaving for America? A hole in the cellar? Yes. He's going to put some unclassified wild orchids down there. A devil's garden, if you please. Sounds mysterious. That's Herbert, though he's really quite simple once you find out what he's up to. Now, take that telephone call he put through to you a few moments before you arrived, Freddy. Yes.

To me? Yes. Herbert wanted to surprise me about your plan to meet us in New York next month. That's why he called, of course, to ask you not to mention it. But, my dear Hermione, Herbert couldn't possibly have telephoned me within the past hour. I've been walking in the park since three. He didn't telephone you. Well, how could he? And as for my going to America... Oh, now, come, come, Freddy.

You may as well own up. Hermione has found me out again. But Herbert, old chap, I really don't understand. There. You see what a poor liar Herbert makes. He's red as a beetroot. Aren't you ashamed of yourself, Professor? Stringing poor Hermione along like that. And as for you, Freddy, I'm furious you said nothing to us about going to America. But look here, old girl. I've been trying to tell everyone that I have no... Oh, stuff and nonsense. The game's gone on long enough.

Perhaps Herbert's merely planning a surprise for me. Yes, let's leave it at that, my dear. Well, we must start getting ready. It was marvellous of you to come in to say goodbye. And don't worry about Herbert's little jokes. I will bring him back for Christmas. You may rely on it. They all believed her. For years she'd been promising me for dinner parties, garden parties, committees. And the promises had always been kept. This time they wouldn't be. I'd seen to that.

The servants were gone for good, the farewells all said. I had timed to the minute how long it would take to fill in the hole in the cellar, in my devil's garden. Upstairs in the bedroom I undressed, folded my clothes over a chair and put on my old bathrobe.

Then I open the door into Hermione's room. Are you ready, Herbert? Hermione, have you a moment to spare? Of course, my dear. I've just finished. Then do come in here for a moment. There's something rather extraordinary here. Good heavens, Herbert. What are you lounging about in that filthy old bathroom for? I told you to put it into the furnace. I shall do it today, yes. I really will. I promise. Well, high time. Now, what is it you want to show me? In the bathroom here. Just look.

Who in the world do you suppose dropped a gold chain down the bathtub drain? Nobody has, of course. Nobody wears such a thing in this house. Then what's it doing there? I don't see anything. Here, I'll hold this flashlight for you. If you lean right over, you can see it shining deep down. Oh, such a lot of nonsense. Just whiz it. I don't see it, Herbert. Go on looking, Hermione. In just a moment. Herbert, I absolutely refuse to waste...

Albert, what are you doing? Take your hands off my neck. I will, Hermione, just as soon as I've finished the arrangements for my trip to America. What are you talking about? You thought you were the only one who could plan things, didn't you, Hermione? Well, I've been making some plans of my own this past week. In exactly two minutes, you'll be dead, Hermione. You see? Two minutes. I've planned it very accurately. You'll never get away with it. Let me go. I thought you'd say that, but I will get away with it.

You won't mind the smell of the leaf mold down in the cellar when I take you there today. Yes. That's where you're going, Hermione. Into my devil's garden that annoyed you so much. The soil is full of clay. It won't settle too much. In a month or so, it won't even look as if it had been dug up. My friends, they all expect me back for Christmas. They don't hear from me, they'll wonder. If I don't come back, they'll start asking questions. Oh, no, they won't.

Because you'll write them letters, Hermione. And the typewriter, as you always do. They'll be signed H in that neat cryptic way you always sign your notes to your friends. Let me out! No! It won't work, Herbert. You never were any good at planning things. Oh, but I've changed, my dear. I've learned from watching you all these years. The lecture people in America, they'll expect you to be travelling with your wife. I will be travelling with my wife.

But her name will not be Hermione. What? Fortunately, they'd never met you. I'll write a few letters home for you. Then fewer and fewer. Write letters signed with my own name. Always expecting to get back, but never quite able to. Keep the house one year, and then another and another. They'll get used to it. Might even come back alone in a year or two and clear it up properly.

Say you died in America. Nobody will ever suspect you're lying under the floor of the cellar in this very house. Herbert, it won't work, can I tell you? That pit you dug in the cellar, I'm... I can assure you, my dear Hermione, it will serve its purpose well. Herbert! Sorry, my dear. I've got to get this done on schedule. You have just five seconds to say your prayers. Herbert, you must listen. The cellar. Don't do it. Herbert! Hey!

The water cut off at the main as I knew she would order it. She was so thorough, but so was I. Strangulation. Nothing to wash up. The electric current shut off exactly at one o'clock, just as she ordered it. She thought of everything. So did I. My nice new electric lantern. Plenty of light to work by in the cellar.

The old bathrobe she wanted me to throw away came in handy, now if there should be any chance bloodstain. Then into the fire with it afterwards, the last evidence of my devil's garden. It was going well. Still an hour till I had to leave for the boat. The hole was almost filled. Oh no, not now. Go away, please, whoever you are, go away. Did I lock the front door? If it's the Wallingfords, oh no, no. Go away, go away. I say, Herbert, old thing. Woo-hoo!

Half past six. There's still time.

After that it was easy. Put the finishing touches on the Devil's Garden, dress fast, get out of the house before 6:30, take the boat rate to Southampton and board the ship for America. All according to plan. Hermione's plan.

Oh, I say, Stuart. Right, sir? My wife is indisposed. She'll be taking her meals in our stateroom. Oh, for the old voyage? Yes, for the whole voyage. Well, I trust your wife is feeling better this morning, Professor Carpenter? Yes, a little. Not yet well enough to leave her cabin. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, by the way, here's a copy of the radiogram you sent for your wife last evening. Oh? Oh, thank you. I'll just check it over. I say, look here.

What is it? Did the typist make a mistake? Er... no. No. Nothing important. She can correct it later. For a moment I had the feeling that Hermione had been leaning over my shoulder again, correcting what I'd written, as she always did. I had written a radiogram to Professor Hewitt and his wife. "Haven't been out of my cabin the whole beastly trip. Herbert Well. We now doubt we will be back for Christmas. The copy read: 'We no doubt will be back for Christmas.'

Exactly what Hermione would have written. The rest of the voyage was uneventful, and Marion and I met in New York and were married just as we'd planned. Just as we'd planned. Professor and Mrs. Carpenter, we have reservations, I believe. Oh, yes, we've been expecting you, sir. Boy, take Professor and Mrs. Carpenter's luggage up to their suite.

You know, Mrs. Carpenter, you're quite a surprise. Your letter reserving the rooms was so thorough, I was expecting an older, more forbidding sort of person, frankly, ma'am. Oh, no. As a matter of fact, we're just married. But...

My letter reserving the room. I wrote the letter, my dear, and signed it Mrs. Herbert Carpenter. Purely a joke. Oh, what a cunning old fox you are, Herbert. Now that I think of it, I am, rather. Oh, I almost forgot. There's a letter for you, Mrs. Carpenter. A letter for me? I wonder who knows. Well, we shall find out in good time. Come along, my dear. We're keeping the boy waiting. THE END

Nothing like a cold, brisk shower to put a man to rights. Herbert, this letter... Oh, yes, the letter. Dry my hair, will you, dear? It seems to be a bill of some sort from a building contract in Salisbury. Oh, bother, dry your own hair. Oh, thank you, my sweet. Let's see this bill or whatever it is. It's very puzzling.

Herbert? Hmm? You were a widower, weren't you? I mean, Hermione isn't still alive. I can assure you she is not. Let's have that letter. Dear Madam, this is to acknowledge your order, together with the key... Together with the keys to your house in Launceston Place. Our men had no difficulty in finding the place where your husband had begun the excavation in the cellar, but apparently changed his mind at the last moment and...

Filled it in again. Oh, no. What is it, Herbert? Our men will begin digging tomorrow, and you may rest assured that it will be a professional job and will be completed in ample time for your surprise Christmas present to your husband. We are happy to be conspirators with you in this thoughtful gesture and hope that Professor Carpenter will be pleased at the results of our work on what he so quaintly calls his devil's garden.

Very truly yours, Paul Holton's son's contractors. What does it mean, Herbert? It means that Hermione was right. I will be back for Christmas.

Escape is produced and directed by William N. Robeson and tonight brought to you Back for Christmas by John Collier. Adapted for radio by Robert Tallman with Paul Freese as Herbert, Eleanor Audley as Hermione and Marta Metrovich as Marion. Music is conceived and conducted by Cy Fuhrer. Next week... You are lost in the London fog, exhausted and frantic, unsure if the figures looming around you are real or creatures of your fear.

And behind you, pursuing you, intent on killing you, lurks a murderer from whom you must escape. Next week, we escape with Elgin and Blackwood's ghostly story, Confession. Good night, then, until the same time next week, when again we offer you Escape. This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.

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So how about a Closmopolitan or a mistletoe margarita? I'm thirsty. Watch. I just pop in a capsule, choose my strength, and... Wow. It's beginning to feel more seasonal in here already. If your holiday party doesn't have a bartender, then you become the bartender. Unless you've got a Bartesian, because Bartesian crafts every cocktail perfectly in as little as 30 seconds. And I just got it for $50 off. Tis the season to be jollier. ♪

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So if you want to lock in a 6% or higher yield with a diversified portfolio of high yield and investment grade bonds, you might want to act fast. The good news, it only takes a couple of minutes to sign up at public.com. And once you lock in your yield, you can earn regular interest payments even as rates decline.

Lock in a 6% or higher yield with a bond account at public.com. But hurry, your yield is not locked in until you invest. Brought to you by Public Investing, member FINRA and SIPC. Yield to worst is not guaranteed. Not an investment recommendation. All investing involves risk. Visit public.com slash disclosures for more info.

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So how about a Closmopolitan or a mistletoe margarita? I'm thirsty. Watch. I just pop in a capsule, choose my strength, and... Wow. It's beginning to feel more seasonal in here already. If your holiday party doesn't have a bartender, then you become the bartender. Unless you've got a Bartesian. Because Bartesian crafts every cocktail perfectly in as little as 30 seconds. And I just got it for $50 off. Tis the season to be jollier.

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The Mutual Broadcasting System presents Murder by Experts with your host and narrator, Mr. John Dixon Carr, world-famous mystery novelist and author of the recently published bestseller, The Life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This is John Dixon Carr.

Each week at this time, Murder by Experts brings you a story of crime and mystery which has been chosen for your approval by one of the world's leading detective writers. Those experts who are themselves masters of the art of murder and can hold tensity at its highest. This time, our guest expert is the noted mystery novelist, Kelly Roos. From the innumerable thrillers he has read and enjoyed, Mr. Roos has chosen a story by Robert Foster.

To quote Mr. Roos, the story is a fascinating study of an ambitious and corrupt man venturing into the unknown and being caught in a whirlpool of violence and death. And now we present Carl Weber in Two Coffins to Fill. The scene Nick's Place, a popular roadhouse on the West Coast...

It's early evening, and the dimly lit cocktail lounge is empty, save for the bartender and a couple in a corner booth. Roger, we can't go on like this. Why not, darling? I'm tired of meeting you at discreet places, of seeing you only when you can get away from your wife. You just have to be patient, Eve. Patient? It's already a year. How long do you think I'll go on waiting for you? What would you have me do? Leave her.

Forget about the money. We can get along. On what? Oh, no, Eve. What do you think you'll get from her? I have plans. It'll take time, but I'm very patient. Well, I'm not. I can't go on waiting, Roger. I won't. I'm sorry, Eve. Another drink? Nothing affects you, does it, Roger? War, famine, or love. You're a man with only one weakness, money. Why is it that women can never break off without creating a scene? Why, you arrogant... Oh, what a fool I've been. Oh.

All right, Roger. I'll break off without creating a scene. Goodbye, Roger. I'll have another, Steve, and put a dash of bitters in it. Hello, Thornton. Your friend left in a hurry. You're quite observant, Al. I'm a student of human nature. Nick's having a game in the back tonight. Interested? A game? Poker. Yes, since my date's walked out on me, I'll play a few hands. Tell Nick I'll be there.

It's amazing how one small weakness can disrupt an otherwise orderly and well thought out plan. My wife, Frieda's first husband, left her with a manufacturing plant at holdings amounting to something like four million. That's a comfortable sum of money. And I'm a man who likes comfort, or I wouldn't have married Frieda. She was 40 and tired and no bargain special in the marriage market. But I had plans. Plans that didn't include murder. Not then.

I was a patient man. Patient until a weakness occurred and I spent the night playing cards in the back room at Nick's place. That night cost me $30,000, all on my signature. Perhaps that's why Nick's gun-happy friend Al was so insistent a couple of weeks later. I was sitting at the bar in Nick's. Yes? You busy? That depends. Nick wants to see you in his office. Wants to see me about what?

I didn't ask him. I'll tell him I'll drop back after I finish this drink. Make it now. What? I said now, Thornton. All right. All right, let's have it your way. Hello, Roger. Good evening, Nick. Sit down. Before I sit down, let's have an understanding. I don't like the idea of your man here pushing me around with a gun. A gun? I kept it covered, Nick. We don't want any trouble, Al. Nobody's seen me. Don't mind Al, Roger.

He takes his work seriously. Perhaps someone will take him seriously someday. Al's a good boy. For a price. Right, Al? That's right. I'm not interested in the merits of your bodyguard. Sit down, Roger. You're getting red in the face. Al, mix us a drink, will you? Sure, Nick. Coming up. Roger, what about that 30 grand you owe me? I'll pay you when I get it. That's a poor bet, Roger.

I've been checking on you. What do you mean, checking on me? You're a punk. That wife of yours has got all the dough. You haven't got a dime. My personal affairs don't concern you, Nick. I'm a right guy. I've never given a right guy a bum break yet. How about that, Al? That's right. I'm a gambler, Roger. When I lose, I pay off. When I win, I aim to collect. Now, before you start laying down the law, Nick, that happens to be an uncollectible debt. Yeah, yeah. I got a lawyer, too.

When you say uncollectible, Roger, you want to figure all the angles. What angles? Al, what do you figure this guy's worth? About 30 grand. Which way? Either way. What are you talking about? What do you mean, either way? Tell him, Al. Sitting up or lying down?

Now, see here, Nick. I can see, Roger. And I want you to see me tomorrow with 30 grand. I said I'd pay you. Tomorrow. I don't know if I can get it that soon. I don't like punks like you, Roger. You're crummy. With all that dough you're tied up to, you're still crummy. Well, I'll do the best I can. When I said tomorrow, Roger, I wasn't kidding. Was I, Al? You sure wasn't, Nick.

I didn't like Nick calling me Crummy. Whatever I was, I wasn't Nick's kind of tramp. I was furious with myself for becoming so stupidly involved with him in that card game. And Frida, Frida had me tied down as if I were a child making me account for every nickel. If I'd had her, then I could have killed her. I'd have to have a talk with Frida. When I got home, she was in the library.

You're late, Roger. I stopped for a drink. Don't you have your cocktails here at home? You said you were going to the doctor's. I did go. Well, I thought you'd be late. Not this late. Is this going to be another session, Frieda? No, no, it's not going to be another session. Roger, we're growing apart, aren't we? Oh, for heaven's sakes. Now, please, Roger. You'd stop treating me like a child. Do you know what someone called me today? Do you, Frieda? No. Crummy. He called me Crummy because I'm...

Well, because I'm tied to your apron strings. Oh, now, Roger. How do you think I felt? Vice president. I sign my name to half a dozen letters and that makes me a vice president. Oh, I'm sick of it. I'm sorry. You're sorry? Did you marry me so you could push a button and have me come running? Now, don't be absurd, Roger. Why, am I? Put yourself in my place. I have put myself in your place. Tonight, while I was waiting for you. What do you mean, Frida? Well...

I thought it'd be nice if we could spend the weekend at the lodge. The mountain? Yes, Roger. Why? Oh, we could... We could talk things over. Oh, why can't we talk it over now? A weekend vacation together would be nice. Oh, then you didn't have anything to talk over. It's only a ruse to get me up to the lodge. No, no, no, it wasn't a ruse. You've been wanting to handle the advertising for the plant. I wanted to surprise you.

You mean you're turning the advertising over to me? Yes. I'll control the whole department? Everything? Everything. Why, that's wonderful, darling. Of course it's a surprise, a charming surprise. Does it make you happy, Roger? Of course it does. Now I have something to do, something I can sink my teeth into. Then will you go up to the lodge for the weekend? Well...

Why don't you run up by yourself this time, Frida? You need the rest, you know, and I have something important to tend to. I wanted you to go. Of course you did, dear. But next time, Frida. Next time. I promise you. Frida's act was more considerate than she realized. Having access to some funds, I could pay Nick, write it off to advertising. For a moment, I felt almost kindly toward Frida. But then, as I stared at her, long and hard...

wondering if I could care for her even remotely. My thoughts were revolted. I hated her for condescending to place me in charge of the advertising department. I knew I could no longer tolerate her standing in the way of everything I was waiting for. Not until the next day did I conceive the plan. I was ready when Nick's bodyguard, Al, came into my office. Nick sent me over. I didn't think it was a social call. I don't like jokes.

You're very businesslike, aren't you, Al? I work for a living. When you work, you work hard. And when you play, you play hard. Is that right, Al? That's right. Could you use, say, 5,000 to play with? I don't like chiselers. Chiselers? You heard me. Oh, you think I'm trying to buy you off because of the money I owe Nick? What am I supposed to think? I see. Well, here's a check for Nick. What do you think now? 30 grand.

How do I know this is good? You're smarter than that, Al. Okay. Okay, what's on? What's 5,000 worth to you, Al? Could be worth anything. Maybe. Maybe. Nick doesn't come in on this? No, no, no. This is just between us. How hard is it? Well, it may be a bit difficult. But 10 grand I might see. 10,000. Is it yes or is it no? Well, I don't know yet, Al. I'll give you a ring tomorrow at Nick's. I...

to make some arrangements. Freda? Yes, Roger? You still planning to go to the mountains for the weekend? No, not without you. Well, I've been thinking you do need a rest, you know. Oh, I can rest just as well right here. Yes, yes, I realize that, but I thought I might come up to the lodge with you. Oh, Roger, do you really mean it? Of course, dear. Oh, I...

I'm so glad you decided to go with me. Oh, there's just one thing, Frida. Yes? I won't be able to come up until later Saturday evening. Oh, I don't mind driving up late. You don't understand, Frida. I expect you to drive up early. Why, Roger? Well, you can check over the repair work that needs to be done on the lodge. Repair work? Yes. I ran into an old friend of mine today, Frida. A carpenter, Al Grades. He's a bit down on his luck, and the lodge could stand some work. Well, that's perfectly all right with me, Roger, but...

Must I go up early? Well, we don't want him hanging around, do we? No. No, of course not. Good, good. Then I'll ride up with Al. Now, when we get there, we can discuss the repairs. He'll look things over, and then he'll drive on back in his own car. And you want me to go up early so I can make a list of the things to be done? Yes, yes, that's it. Do you mind about the carpenter, I mean? Of course I don't mind, Roger. I'm just so happy that you want to go. Thanks for the drink, Doctor.

You haven't answered my question, now. I'm thinking. Thinking what? Murder's quite a rap. I had your proposition. If you want to forget it. I didn't say that. Then you'll do it. When's the payoff? A thousand now. Nine thousand Saturday night. You want it done about nine o'clock? Just so it happens before I get there. I get a ride back with you. Yes, yes. Maybe you try to pull something like the cops. I couldn't risk bringing the police in. You're smart enough to know that.

Smarter than you think, Thornton. All right, now it has to look like a struggle and robbery. Leave that to me. Is everything okay with the wife for me to ride her up there? It will be, Saturday morning. The Thornton residence? Oh, Charles, this is Mr. Thornton. Oh, good morning, sir. May I speak to Mrs. Thornton? Very well, sir. She's right here, sir.

Roger? Oh, I was afraid you might have left for the lodge already. No, no, not for an hour yet. Frida, I wonder if you'd mind doing something. What is it? Al Graves, the carpenter who was going to drive me up... Yes? His car is broken down. It's in the garage. Would you mind terribly taking Al up with you? Oh, Roger, really, I... He could look over the repairs himself that way. Well, when will you come up?

As soon as I'm finished working at the office, I'm working on the new advertising program. Well, I suppose I could have Richard take Al and myself up in the sedan. Oh, you don't have to bother Richard. Why not take your convertible? We have that carpenter come up some other time, Roger. All right, all right. Let's just forget the whole thing, Peter. If you wish, you can go on up alone. Now, Roger, you know that... Things must always go your way. Well...

Will you drive up in your car? Yes. Al can use it to return to town. Well, all right. Where will I pick him up? On the corner of Hawthorne and Orange. Hawthorne and Orange. Yes, I'll tell him to watch for the convertible. All right, Roger. I'll see you at the lodge tonight, darling. Things for the past few days have moved so amazingly fast and remarkably well that I... I had little time to reflect upon my emotions.

Frida's surprising agreement to my wishes I knew was merely a new tack in her attempt to draw me closer to her. Yet, as I drove through the lane to the lodge in the evening, I had an unaccountable fear. The wind whined through the trees, and the eerie sound disturbed me. I parked the car and sat for a few moments, watching the lights in the lodge. It was ten o'clock. Al should have been finished long ago. I got out of the car, walked to the veranda, and opened the door.

You finally got here. Yes. Well, how does it look? You satisfied? I said to make it look like a struggle. Don't it? I guess it's all right. Have you got the dough? Where is she? In the bedroom. Go in, take a look. Turn on the light. No, no. I can see. Satisfied, Thornton? She's partly under the bed. Yeah, she got scared. She tried to hide. I had to follow her. Shut the door. I said to shut the door. Shut the door.

You're a funny guy. Why? You figure all this out and can't stomach your own stuff. Let's sit down and have a drink, huh? Sure. You got the dough? Yes, sure. There should be some glasses here. On that shelf. I'll fix the drinks. When I get that drink, we're gonna blow. Where's your car? Garage. Wanna see it? No. Here you are. You need it worse than I do, Thunton.

Where do you go from here, Al? A trip, maybe. Well, you have nothing to worry about for me. That I know, Thornton. How was it done? Done? Did you leave it? I'll get rid of it. Well, here's to you, Al. Yeah. All right, Thornton. Now, let's have the dough. Certainly, sir. I've got it right here. You know, I've been thinking about you, Thornton. I think Nick's right. You're crummy. Oh, now, you shouldn't feel that way, Al. If I had to do it over...

You won't. Say. I'm sick. What did you put in that drink? Nothing, Al. You double-crossing, I'll kill you, Al. Will you, Al? I poured some of the liquor on Al and dipped the bottle over. Then I carried him out of the lodge, across the carpet of pine needles, to the bluff a hundred yards away. I placed one of Frieda's expensive bracelets in his pocket, along with some money and articles of lesser value.

I dropped him over the bluff and heard his body strike the rocky stream bed 300 feet below. I went quickly to my car and drove away. I drove rapidly for an hour until I passed an all-night diner. I wheeled the car around in the highway, pointing it back in the direction I'd come. Then I ran the car into a ditch, hard. The front fender crumpled against the wheel and the tire blew out. I couldn't have wished anything better. This was it, my alibi. I walked a mile up the road to the diner. As I opened the door, a car pulled up.

When I entered the cafe, a girl got out of the car and followed me in. Where'll it be, folks? Coffee, please. And you, mister? Coffee. Say, is there a tow truck around? Tow truck? I blew out a tire and went into the ditch about a mile down the road. Jim Parson has a tow truck. Him and the missus went into L.A. Won't be back till Monday. Here you are, miss. Monday. Thanks.

Wreck your car bad? Smash the wheel. I don't have a spare. Oh, that's too bad. Going far? My lodge, about 50 miles up. The Thornton place. Roger Thornton. Maybe you know it. Thornton? No, can't say I do. My wife's there. But I'm sure she's all right. You don't stand much of a chance of getting a ride going that way this time of night. I suppose not. You can use the phone there, reverse the charges. Oh, no, the phone's disconnected up at the lodge. You might be able to hitch to L.A.,

Once in a while, there's a car going that way. That's an idea. Anything else for you, miss? No, thanks. How much? Ten cents. Thank you. Good night. I reckon the young lady didn't want a passenger. So it seems. Say, I think I will use your phone. Help yourself.

Have you got that straight, Charles? Yes, sir. I'm to call the auto club and have them pick up your car. It's quite a way to the lodge, so I'm going to try to get a ride back to town. Will you hurt, sir? I'm perfectly all right. It may be rather late before I get in, so leave a light in the library. Very well, sir. Good night, Charles. Is that all, sir? Why, yes. Yes, that's all. Very well, sir. Thank you for the use of the phone. Oh, that's okay, mister.

Could you use the drink? I ain't never been known to turn one down. I got a bottle in my car. Well, that's quite a walk. It's nice out and I could use the drink myself. Suit yourself. You don't mind if I sit around after I get back? Maybe I can pick up a ride. Glad to have you. I'm open all night. Good, good. I'll be right back. Mister? Yes? Did you say you wanted a ride to L.A.? Why, yes, yes, if you're going that way. Hop in. Well, thank you very much. Thank you.

I would have asked you in there, but I didn't want to give the counterman the wrong idea, Mr. Thornton. How did you know my name? You told the counterman. Oh, of course. I was just going to get a bottle out of my car. I already got it. You got it? Sure. Nice car, thirsty girl. I had a hunch. How long were you with the car? Long enough to find the bottle and see your name on the steering post. I thought you heard me tell the counterman. I did. So then I knew you as a gentleman.

Have you... Have you drunk much of that bottle? Hey, you shouldn't be driving if you've been drinking too much. You scared? No, no, no. It's for your own good. I'm celebrating. You might have waited till you got in Los Angeles. Mr. Thornton. Yes? Why'd you turn your car around and run it into that ditch? What? I know all about you, Mr. Thornton. Who are you? What's your name? Della. Della what? Just Della. Look out!

You nearly turned us over. Either stop this car and let me drive or... Or what, Mr. Thornton? Stop this car. When we get to Nick's. Did you say Nick's? I'm Al's girlfriend. No. Didn't you think Al could have a girlfriend? Why did you pick me up? Because I'm not half as tight as you think I am. Then what do you want? Al was a punk, a nice punk, but punks come cheap, Mr. Thornton.

I want that $9,000. Do you think I'd carry that kind of money around? And did you think Al was stupid enough not to have somebody cover him at the lodge? You were there? You saw? Yes, I was there, and I saw. You're a very brave girl, Della, threatening me. I don't scare easy. I know your kind. I know you. This is a gun, Mr. Thornton. I'm not afraid to use it. You're a very stupid child. If you try anything, I'll wreck this car. Watch that curve! Oh!

I don't think that goes. Now, stop the car or I'll kill you. No, you won't. I'll hold that wheel. Let go. Let go of me. Let go. We're stopping right here. All right. All right. Now, get out of the car. Get out. I'll talk to you. Get out. My arm. On this ravine. I was only kidding you. I wanted to scare you. I didn't mean it. Must I force you? I won't tell you. You're my only witness. My only witness. Please let me.

Let me talk to you. This will do. Wait. You've got to let me explain. When the girl told me she'd seen me kill Al, I went out of my head. I didn't know what I was doing. I shouldn't have killed her. I was stupid. But I couldn't help it. I couldn't stop. I drove the girl's car into town and left it on a side street. I dropped the gun down a sewer and caught a bus home. It was almost daylight. I was tired and sick. It was all over. It was all over.

I unlocked the front door, quietly entered the house. My house. I was too keyed up for sleep. What I needed was a bracer. I went into the library. Good morning, Roger. Rita! Who did you expect? Rita, what are you doing here? I've been waiting since you telephoned Charles. I... I killed him. What? I killed them both. You...

You killed him. Al and the girl, and you're here. You're right here. Stop it. Stop it, Roger. Roger, stop it. Oh, I'm so sorry for you. I had it all figured out. I did. I had... That man, Al, the carpenter, he told me everything, Roger. I had to pay him. You paid him? You? And it was the girl I saw. She was in the bedroom, pretending to be you, pretending to be dead.

Al framed the whole thing as a shakedown. He never intended to kill you. Oh, I'm so sorry for you. You said that! You said that! Who are you to feel sorry for me? I love you. I'm going to miss you, Roger. Love? Then why did you do something? Why didn't you tell me? I didn't know.

I stayed home hoping you'd come here and we could talk things over before you did anything rash. Rash? You call it rash? Do you know what I've done? That's why I'm so sorry for you. You say that once more. Once more, Frieda. It was greed, wasn't it, Roger? Greed for my money. I hate you, Frieda. I know. And I love you. Isn't it strange, Roger? It's pathetic. What I wanted to tell you at the lodge, Roger. Or if I'd only told you sooner. What do you mean? Frieda, what do you mean? I'll tell you.

But it's too late now, Roger. You've killed two people. And you'll hang if I let you. What are you doing with that gun? I haven't any money, Roger. I've been wiped out. That's what I wanted to tell you. You needn't have killed them. No, Freda. No. But I still love you. No. No. And I won't let you hang. Goodbye, Roger. No.

And so the curtain falls on Two Coffins to Fill, which was chosen by guest expert Kelly Rose, whose latest mystery is murder in any language. Next week at this time, Murder by Experts brings you a story of intrigue and surprise of a beautiful Hollywood actress and of a man who died twice. Selected for your approval by the famous mystery novelist Miss Helen McCloy.

Until then, this is your host, John Dixon Carr, hoping you'll be with us next week at this time. In the cast of Two Coffins to Fill, which was written by Robert Foster, were Carl Weber, Eleanor Phelps, Jimmy Stevens, Miriam Wolfe, and Maurice Tarplin. Music was under the direction of Emerson Buckley and was composed by Richard DuPage.

Murder by Experts is produced and directed by Robert A. Arthur and David Kogan. All characters in our story were fictitious, and any resemblance to the names of actual persons was purely coincidental. This is Phil Tonkin speaking. This is the Mutual Broadcasting System.

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And now, here is your guide to these adventures of the mind, John Campbell, Jr. The philosophers down the ages have hassled a long time and with many words about the good, the true, and the beautiful. The true, well, that can be defined pretty objectively.

But there's a peculiar thing about beautiful. What is beauty? And in whose terms makes it difficult? With the story of The Adventure of the Beauty Queen, which stars Miss Charlotte Sheffield, Miss United States of 1958. Beauty is a much more complicated problem than the question of truth, actually.

A truth is an eternal thing. If it's true, it's true. That's that. But beauty, beauty is appropriate. It changes as the situations change. It changes with time. I wonder how our own concepts of beauty, that is our human race's concepts of beauty, will change as time goes by. Let's suppose that a famous young woman of our time, Miss United States, if you like,

is awakened in her sleep by an alien presence, a strange force she feels but cannot see. Yet something she knows is there. Who are you? You know I am here. Yes. Can you see me? No. Nor can I see you, but I am conscious I am with you. True, yes, of course. No, it's real. Who are you? A man who in your terms belongs to the distant future. I am unborn in the way you think of it.

And to me, you have been dead over a thousand years. Were I back in my own orbit? Someone's playing a joke. No, this is no joke. But please, don't be afraid. I mean no harm. Dead a thousand years. Whoever you are, what are you talking about? Listen to me. Try to understand. I belong to a race of scientists. In simple words, you can understand. We have a device which enables us to project ourselves into the past. You belong to the past. Do you understand? Yes.

The device has made me conscious of you for a long time. I have used it to explore the past, and in these explorations, I have searched for the highest form of human beauty. How do you know whether or not I'm beautiful if you can't see me? The device tells me you're beautiful. Beauty, real beauty, is a force that transmits itself, that can be picked up by a form of radar. Please understand, I am only using terms I think you can follow in my own orbit.

I would not even talk to a child in such simple terms. Go away. Please go away. I can't. I'm in love with you. In love with you. In love? Yes. Very much. Is it funny? Yes. I don't think it is. But it is. Do women of your time always laugh at a man's love?

Oh, don't be silly. I wasn't laughing at you. Well, then at what? I just thought it was very funny. The idea of your being in love with a blip on a radar screen. After all, that's about what I am to you, isn't it? Oh, no. It must be. No, no. The radar screen, as you call it, simply picked you up. Pointed you out to us. Us? My associates and I. Oh. I felt very strongly drawn to you.

I convinced my associates to conduct further experiments. Actual contact with someone out of the past. You. I had to know you. I had to come into orbit with you. Look, don't you think this joke has gone far enough? I told you this is not a joke. Of course it is. Oh, you know better. Oh, don't you suppose I know what's going on? Oh, I should have thought of it a long time ago.

What is going on? Why, it's very simple. Someone installed a radio pickup in this room, and you're talking to me through a microphone. Talking to you? You are, aren't you? Oh, no. What do you mean, no? I'm not talking to you in the way you think I am. I'm projecting to you. Oh, please, stop this. But it's not your voice I hear. I'm receiving impulses from you, not actual words.

The device I mentioned interprets the nature of your impulses, translates them into my language. It does the same for you. It's true. I don't hear your voice. Not as a sound, I mean. You begin to realize. Please stop. No, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. You must be insane to say that. I'm scared out of my life. I want to scream. I'm afraid to. I'm not even sure I'm awake. I'm not even sure I'm alive. You're alive. In your centuries.

Now, understand what I'm telling you. In a moment, you'll be drawn out of your orbit, projected into the future, into my orbit. I want to see. I want to see if you're as beautiful as your impulses say you are. If you are, I'm afraid I'll keep you where I am in the future. No, I don't believe any of it. You're mad. Whoever you are, you're quite insane. No.

Are you receiving me? Yes. Don't be afraid. You're in limbo on your way into my orbit. Exploring Tomorrow Exploring Tomorrow continues in just a moment.

All of us, as American citizens, believe in our inherent liberties and freedoms, such as the freedom of the individual to choose and elect his own national representatives. It has been said that there is only one ruling class in America, the people themselves, who, through their vote, have established the law of our land. The real importance of this freedom depends on our accepting the responsibility not only to know what we are voting for or against...

but also to choose our leaders for the best interests of the nation. So, accept your responsibility and ensure your freedom. Of all things men have discussed and considered today, time is the one of which we know least. We know how to travel in space.

And recent physical work has indicated that actually things can travel backwards as well as forwards in time. But we know nothing about it. And one of the things that would be strange on this, how long does it take to travel through time? When you are traveling through time itself, how long does it take to go from now to then? How long was Miss United States in that limbo before she was there? Music

I'm talking to you. I'm projecting to you. Are you receiving me? Are you afraid? A little. Not as much as you thought you'd be? No. Have you any idea of where you are? I'm in a room. That's all I know. I'm in the next one. We're on the 500th floor of the Institute of Technical Research in the city of Columbia. In your century, I believe you called it Washington.

Washington? You understand, this is America. I'm glad to hear that, at least. Yes, I can see it relieves you. You can see me? Very clearly. And am I? Are you what? Well, what you expected me to be. To some extent. Do you find me unattractive? Alien. Alien? Different. Yes, I know the meaning of the word. At first I was conscious of a sense of shock.

When I first saw you... At least you're frank. Well, I'm a scientist. Do you find me ugly? I said alien. Of course I knew you would be. I didn't expect you to measure up physically to our standards...

The human form has improved a great deal since your century. But why? Was there a reason? Man made reasons. Can you tell me? Well, it began with interplanetary wars conducted by the nations of the world. The struggle to build empires in outer space on other planets. When was this? Not in your century. You saw only the first feeble attempts to explore space. Yes, I suppose our attempts are feeble. Well, the interplanetary wars did a great deal of destruction, particularly on this planet.

Precious documents, books, records were lost. But there was another result. The atmosphere of the Earth became charged with radioactive matter. For a while, it looked as though the human race had become extinct. But it didn't.

The human body acclimated itself to new atmospheric conditions and flourished again. By that time, our physical form had changed. Changed for the better. And today... Go on. Well, today the human form is the most beautiful creation has ever seen. And by your standard, I am something of a shock to you. Your physical form was at first, yes. Am I very different from the women here? Very different. Very different.

To you, they're beautiful. They are beautiful. Would I find them attractive? I don't think so. I might. Oh, no. Why not? If they're so beautiful, I mean. Well, your conception of beauty is not ours. I understand that, but... But what? Oh, I don't know. I was going to say that beauty is beauty. But that wouldn't make any sense. No, the concept of beauty is what matters. But you said beauty is a force.

It radiates. The inner beauty radiates. I understand that, too. Well, how do you think of the universe? Oh, I think I associate it with God. I identify it with the divine mind. I'm surprised. The universe is a reflection of God. Now I begin to understand why, in spite of your physical form, your beauty reached me. And it has nothing to do with your looks. I wouldn't be very gracious if I didn't say that.

I'm going to keep you here, you know, if I can. I don't think you quite mean that. I mean it in every sense. I want you now to remember what I've said about the change for the better in human form. I'm going to open the door to your room and come in. Now, please keep in mind that I do not look as the men of your century looked, but also remember that here I'm supposed to be a reasonably good-looking fellow. I would like to see you. Well, you will, if

in the next few seconds. That which is beautiful and befitting, appropriate, depends on the environment it's in.

The future people had had to undergo some rather complete changes to meet the environment that, shall we say, we, their ancestors, had imposed on them. A little too much radioactivity. And that which was beautiful is no longer befitting. The thing that is now befitting we might not think of as particularly beautiful. Is it so bad? I'm sorry. I should not have exposed myself to the shock you feel today.

To the revulsion you feel at the sight of me. Oh, I'm sorry. I should have known. Forgive me. I just can't look at you for a moment. I have to adjust. There's a window behind you. You can look out. Oh, thank you.

Please, don't resent me. No, I... I was just wondering if you have any idea how incredible to me your revulsion is. Yes, I think I have an idea. You must overlook what sounds like vanity, but I have to repeat what I told you before. I'm supposed to be more than passably good-looking. Yes, I understand. But you can't stand the sight of me. Give me a moment. Are you looking at me? Yes. Does it still hurt you?

No. No, I'm too conscious of your inner beauty. I'm very grateful. I'm curious about something. Yes? Are you conscious of any of my impulses? I think so. Do you find them hostile? No. Alien? No. Do they cause you any fear? I don't think so. Well, forgetting how I appear to your eyes, do you like me? Yes. Yes.

Yes, I think he must be a very nice person. The curious thing is... Yes? I was going to say, the curious thing is, I'm still in love with you. You mustn't be. Perhaps love is a dimension. I don't know, I...

Oh, I'm too confused to think about it. Or perhaps it's an orbit we enter or leave. I don't know either. It was just a thought. You can't examine love through a microscope, can you? Well, it's been exposed to every kind of study for centuries. Even the people of your time knew its reactions to be purely chemical. Of course, your poets didn't agree, but then neither do ours.

Do you have poets? Oh, yes, we have them. They resist us. They call themselves the last human barrier against science. They refuse to understand what basic science is. What is it? Well, isn't it man's eternal craving to find out more about the universe, the divine mind? Let me go back. Go back? Please. How can you even want to go back?

Look, what do you see through that window? Nothing but beauty. Miles of emerald green fields with cities that sparkle like diamonds rising out of them. Nothing but prosperity. Prosperity and peace. And you want to go back to your miserable century? To my people. To my own people. I belong with them. I don't belong here. I'll tell you something. We're being observed, listened to by my associates. Observed?

Well, the final decision must come from them. I'm as much a part of this experiment as you are, even though it was my idea. My idea. My idea. My idea. Now that we've succeeded in drawing you out of your orbit into ours, I don't think our science will release you. We can learn a great deal from you about the things of your century. Besides, I love you. I want to keep you here. Please. Please don't touch me. Please don't touch me.

Oh, dream. That's all it was. That's all it was. It couldn't have been anything else. It couldn't have been. There are parts of beauty that are eternal, that are not like the physical that changes, but the beauty of a...

true and honest personality. This sort of beauty, that will endure. There are things that you can rely on as time goes by. Woman needs man, man must have his mate. On this you can rely. The only thing is the definition of man and woman will tend to change with the passing of ages. But the fundamental things apply. An honest man and an honest woman. These we need forever.

Join us for a fascinating adventure in Exploring Tomorrow. Heard in our cast tonight were Brett Morrison and the real Miss United States of 1958, Charlotte Sheffield. Script was by John Fleming. Produced and directed by Sanford Marshall here in New York. Guy Wallace speaking. ♪♪

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And those of you who study the science of numerology will know that the number seven is something of a sacred number and held to be one that will grant success. Success, of course, most often has to be earned. There is a price to pay, and artists are often prepared to pay any price to attain greatness. My story today took place in the French countryside some years ago and was told to me by a certain Marcel,

He and his friend Antoine dreamed of being artists and to this end made their way to a place outside of Paris. It was a journey that was to open their eyes to human degradation and terrible price that can be paid for success. The title of story number seven, the number which can grant that success is "By the River Fontainebleau".

A river? It's a shallow place to cross. Or would you rather walk along the bank for a while? There might be a bridge. No, I'll cross here. With or without the usual list of complaints? I won't say a word. Not whenever he steps taking me nearer to home. Have I really been such a fool? You, Marcel, with five opinions for every one idea? No, I don't blame you. Come on, I'll race you. What? I'll race you across the river. Hey, you cheek, you started before me. Careful, Marcel, it's even in your speech. LAUGHTER

Oh, I'm so... Now who's complaining? I'm not complaining. I'm just so... Did the sketchbooks stay dry? Oh, my God, the sketchbooks. I'd better check. Help me off with the pack. Turn round. What is that? I saw farm buildings just down the track. They're probably slaughtering something, that's all. Farm? If they look like sympathetic people, we might at least be in business for breakfast. This won't take me a minute. I want to be sure there's no damp in the pages. I'll meet you over in the yard. It's a barb-baric.

Monsieur. This pig. How long are you going to let it suffer like that? Its knuckles have been cut to the bone. We want something, you see. Only to ask the way. To where? My friend and I are artists. Well, we're studying to be painters. We're heading for Barbizon and then the train back to Paris. We see a few painters around here. No, I can imagine. A few city people either. Is that so? A few city people at all.

Well, if you can tell me where this track leads to. Nowhere. What? Nowhere at all? The track leads nowhere. The only way out is across the river. Aren't there even any other farms further along? No. Oh, well, thank you for your help. I don't suppose... Suppose what, monsieur? Nothing. Nothing at all. Thank you again. Go carefully, monsieur.

You're a long way from home. Yes, thank you, I will. I'll have to collect my friend and then we'll... we'll be on our way. Antoine? Antoine! What?

Any luck? Apparently, we're on the dead-end track on the wrong side of the river. The farmer looks like an ape, and if those are his sons hanging around in the background, they're barely one step above those wretched animals they're supposedly tending. The pig distresses you? Its feet have been almost severed, and it's bleeding to death. Ah, but there's a strange beauty in its suffering, don't you think? Strange is the word for it. If this is what you call opening your eyes, Antoine, I think I'd rather keep mine closed. Don't look at the pig, then. Just take a look over there, behind the pig. What are they doing, hanging a sheep? Just look. I dread to think what they're... Oh, right.

Is that so bad? She wasn't there before. Who is she, do you think? I can't imagine. Please, Antoine, let's be going. Look again and tell me what you see. Antoine. I'm serious. Just do it for me, Marcel. I see a young girl brushing her hair in a mirror. Mirror's broken, and she's hanging it from one of the butchery hooks stuck in the chestnut tree. Is that all? That's all. What about the girl?

What do you see in her? Just a farm girl. Too heavy for grace and probably too dull for conversation. You wouldn't want to paint her then? Certainly not. Even with the morning light behind her and the damp cotton clinging to her skin the way it does? No. Are you going to carry this or am I? That hardly matters now, I think. What do you mean?

I'm staying, Marcel. Staying? I feel as if there's something that's been waiting for me here. You're serious? There's no question about it. Absolutely none. I know what I'm doing and I know I have to stay. Then you stay alone.

Look, I've had enough of walking and sketching and being face to face with nature. I've yawned through sunrises and I've shivered through the rain. And if I died without ever seeing another tree or village or field of wheat, I'd be dying happy. What I'm trying to say to you is that I'm not an artist, Antoine. I'm going back to Paris, tonight if I can. If you want to stay on in some broken down slaughterhouse full of halfwits, you're welcome to it. Marcel...

Has it really been hell for you? I'm going to be a dull citizen, Antoine. I was born to be a dull citizen. And it's taken a trip like this to make me realize how much I've been looking forward to it. Can't come with you. Yes, I understand that. Look, let's not blame each other for anything. Agreed? Of course not. Goodbye, Antoine. That's hell.

You go and talk to the farmer, then. I'm telling you, you're welcome to. Where is he? Over on the other side of the barn, shoveling straw into a pit. I'll sort out the packs and meet you down by the river. Drive a hard bargain. I've warned you. What did you arrange? I can stay in their barn for two weeks, and they'll give me whatever meals a family can spare. In return for what? Every franc I'm carrying. That's hardly a fortune. Plus my watch and my father's gold signet ring. But that's extortion, Antoine. I know it is, but that doesn't matter. Look, please. Promise me something, Marcel.

When you get back to Paris, go to my father and collect my monthly allowance. Bring the money out to me before the two weeks is up. I really don't want to see this place again. Please, Marcel. What shall I tell him? Whatever you like. Whatever you think he needs to hear. But do it for me. Does the price include a fee for the model? I know what you're thinking. That's not how it is, Marcel. Enlighten me, then. Her name's Anneliese. She's not French, then? No, I don't think so. I don't pretend to understand what you're trying to achieve by this, Antoine. I do know that I was telling you the truth.

Whatever talent for art I may have, it won't survive outside the drawing room. So, your test has come and gone. I rather think that mine lies ahead. I can only wish you luck. Safe journey.

What kind of game does he think he's playing? He knows there's a job waiting for him at the bank. A job that any young man with half of Antoine's wits would leap at. Actually, he's... I think he's quite good. Or at least I think he's capable of it. Good? As a picture-maker, you mean? Yes, sir. Yes, but what's it worth, Marceau? Can you tell me that? Worth, sir? In hard financial terms. In the terms of a career, this...

Art business is all right as a hobby, but as far as real life's concerned, it's about as respectable as the music hall. And who does he expect to support him while he's off indulging himself? Me? Well, sir, he did ask me to... To send him money, I expect. Well, he can think again.

I only wish the boy could see clearly enough to follow your example, Marcel. Mine, sir? We heard from your dear mother that you've now joined your father's firm. Yes, ma'am, I started this morning. In what capacity? As a clerk in the shipping office. So, but eventually you'll understand how you have to get to grips with the business from the ground up. It's the only way. And how are you liking it, Marcel? It's an experience. Exactly. So...

Go back to Antoine and tell him I said that it's too late in the day to be off playing in the woods like some overindulged schoolboy. There are responsibilities waiting for him here, and until he does return, I'm stopping his allowances. Will you do that, Marcel? I will, sir. Anybody here? Antoine? Are you there? Marcel! Antoine! Antoine! Antoine!

- Is that you? - Of course it is. Why? - I'm sorry, I didn't mean to... - Oh, Marcelo, Marcelo. - Have you been ill? - I haven't been sleeping so well, that's all. I know I look a wreck, but it's nothing but look at you! - In my best suit. I'm a bourgeois now. - And a new and very expensive-looking overcoat. My father insisted. I had the devil's own job keeping it dry when I was waving through the river. - What about you? - I've been working so hard that I've barely been able to keep track of the days. But I think I'm making progress.

I can show you sketches. I'm using God's open air for my studio. Come and join us for something to eat. We're in the field beyond. We meaning? Lisa is sitting for me full time. Didn't I explain how that was part of the deal? Well, come on. I've been telling her all about you. She's been looking forward to this. There's the farmer and one of his litter. Do we have to pass the time of

Just nod. It's best to say as little as possible. Whatever you do, don't stare at the boy. Good day to you, sir. Through here. That was one of his sons. The youngest and worst of them. Any decent, God-fearing family would have sold him to a circus. People, Marcel. You wouldn't believe how terrible. Around here, I think I'd believe anything. That hole where they were digging. A pit. A pit.

They cook their meat in there, a whole carcass at a time when they can get it. They bury it in the ground with straw and hot charcoal and shovel dirt over it. It takes most of the day and, God, they stink. Even the earth must be sour in this godforsaken place. Come away with me, Antoine. There's nothing to keep you here. Impossible. I'm far too involved. Look, I have to tell you... Not now. Not in front of Anneliese. See her there, by the stream. Anneliese? Come and meet my friend Marcel. You saw him once before, two weeks ago.

Oh. We arrived together, you remember? I think perhaps I do. It's just shyness. She doesn't see many new people. Just give her a little while to get used to you. Sit down. Here, there's food in the basket. I'm pleased to meet you, Anna-Lise. Just Lisa. That's what I've been calling her. And I to meet you, monsieur. Marcel travelled all the way from Paris today. You have heard of Paris, Lisa? No.

I've never been across the river, monsieur. Lisa is the perfect model. She never complains and she says she never gets bored. Is that so? Antoine, I have to leave you for a while to go somewhere. I'll be back before dark. Of course, I think I've done everything I can for today. Thank you. A pleasure to meet you, monsieur Marcel. And for me, Lisa. Antoine. She does this every now and again. Where does she go? How would I know?

Do I get to see the sketches? Here, here. I've used all of my book. This is the one you left for me. You've been busy. Surrounding studies. Don't mistake them for the real thing. No, no. They're very... They're very good. Such enthusiasm. I can see you're impressed. No, really. I mean it. Here, give me the book. It's all right, you know. I don't expect you to understand. But who is she? What's she doing here? I don't know. She's an orphan, I think. The family just ignores her most of the time. Does she work on the farm? Work? No, I... I don't think so. I can't be sure. She just disappears for a house on end. I...

It's not important, anyway. Did you speak to my father about my allowance? Yes, I did. And? What do you think? I can imagine. My father wouldn't recognise a creative thought if it barked and bit him in the arse. What am I going to do now, Marcel? I can't leave here.

They won't let me stay without money. They've bled me white already. You don't understand these people. Not half as well as they seem to understand you. This girl's something rather more to you now, isn't she? She's not just a model. I don't know. It couldn't work, Antoine. You know that. It wouldn't last and your life would be in ruins. She's never even been across the river. She's a country peasant. And you? You're a banker's son from one of the best families in Paris.

Now listen, come back, enter the bank. When you have a little money, you send for her and set her up in a small apartment somewhere. Nobody need know anything about it.

you let your obsession run its course and when it has you pay her off and that's the end of it. it wouldn't work. why on earth not? she can't leave this place and it pains her to walk any distance. why? some old injury I don't know for certain. you saw she's in awful pain just hobbling. then send a carriage. no you don't understand there's so much more to it than that. then I don't see any other way out. I do. it's the only one. you'd better come with me. my what a place.

How much bad food and sleeping rough do you think you can take? As much as I have to. It'll kill you. Dammit, Marcel, can't you understand that I'm past caring? I've found something that's more important to me than... than life itself. I'm not impressed, Antoine. I've seen you in this kind of mood before. I know how quickly it wears off. Well, perhaps this will convince you. What is it? Painting. Open-air technique, full oils. This is what all the sketches have been for. What do you think? You recognise the subject, of course.

I've tried to capture the first haunting moment I saw Anneliese. I couldn't get it out of my mind. Marcel. Marcel, what's the matter? I think something inside me just died. What do you mean? It's all there. The way the sunlight fell across her arm as she brushed her hair. Those soft blue shadows behind her. It's a sad picture, Antoine. It's like a song about the brevity of it all. I was there.

Why didn't I hear the song too? But I still don't understand. I'm thinking about my own pictures. My fontainebleau landscapes. How nondescript they are compared to this. At least I know now I made the right decision. We both did. My technique's at least as good as yours. We always agreed on that. But technique's only half the story, isn't it?

You'll have to take it to Paris for me. Sell it for whatever you can get. Sell it? I'm starting another one. This one doesn't quite catch what I'm trying to say. I'd have destroyed it, but if it'll provide money to help keep me going, that's fair enough. I don't like to ask you this, but... What? You couldn't just lend me something on account? Just to keep me going till you get back? I'll repay you out of the picture sale. You can have every sou I'm counting on. Oh, do you mean that? If I'm going to be a bourgeois, I might as well go the whole hog and become a patron of the others. Yes, I mean it.

I was going to stay at an inn tonight, but I'll even sleep in this mite-infested hay so I can give you the money I'll save. You believe in what I'm doing, then? I'm envious, you know. Why not? Why not, Antoine? It's getting late. I know I hadn't planned to stay... We'll put you up in the loft, if that's all right with you. The hay is drier and there aren't so many drafts. As long as that ladder's safe. It creaks, but it's safe. I appreciate what you're doing. We both do. Then give me a straight answer. Why shouldn't I be envious? Because... because the things we want most...

Aren't always the things that make us happy. Do you think you'll ever be able to leave this place? I don't know. That's the honest truth. And unless you can sell that painting for me, I may have to find out in the worst possible way. Juan. Yes? I was afraid again. I know. I was... And then don't torment yourself. It isn't important. I remember leaving you and your friend. I was tired this morning, but...

You went where you always go. You went to the big stack of straw behind the house. You made yourself a space and you burrowed down inside. But the next thing I knew it was almost dark and I was standing by the big chestnut again. I was exhausted as if I'd been running. You were sleeping, that's all, like you always do. You know this was sad when you see me. Yes, watched you. Sometimes I feel as if you're the only one who really sees me.

As I am, I mean. As if when you close your eyes, I no longer exist. Because I didn't in a way until you came along. Oh, that's just being foolish. I am. Try to sleep now. I do. No, never. I must go now. No, Lisa, no, don't. Please, don't go. I have to. Lisa. What's happening? I call. Where's Lisa going? It's the middle of the night. Nowhere. Nothing's happened. Go back to sleep.

You know more than you've been telling me, Antoine. Don't interfere, Marcel. Leave me alone. I heard you talking. I couldn't help it. You may have followed her, but she does more than just crawl into the straw, doesn't she? They whistle and immediately she goes to them like a dog. And why? What do they do with her? What do you think? My God! And you just let them? I'm going to find out for myself. Don't try and stop me. Why should I even want to try? You'll achieve nothing anyway.

This has to be the last place on Earth. Even the stars don't shine. What do you think you're doing, monsieur? What? Who's there? It's late to go wandering. I was following the girl. I wanted to know where she was going. She has duties. She has to earn her keep like everyone else around here. I can imagine what kind of duties. Imagine what you like. You can't treat her like some sow in a pen.

Whose turn is it tonight? His. As long as she has a use, she has a place here. You make it sound like property. That's exactly what she is. Now go back, monsieur. Or what? Face a beating from your stick. Why, monsieur? You're a guest. And Lisa has her duties. Oh. Good morning, monsieur. Good morning. Any possibility of breakfast? Go to the kitchen, Lisa. See what they've left for us. Whatever you wish. She just obeys everything you say. I wish that were true.

You mean she's only doing as they've instructed her? Until the money runs out? That's all she knows. She can't see any other way of living. She can't see it changing any more than the rocks or the mountains. What if she just said no? To what? To everything. She isn't even part of the family. What could they do? I don't know. I'm not sure I want to know. Well, haven't you tried to persuade her? Of course. Every hour of every day. Then they call her and she goes and then whatever they do to her just fades from her memory like an unwelcome stain. Do you know? I've wrapped the picture. Taken one last look? It means nothing to me now. I'm on to other things.

I've arranged for you to have a ride out as far as the main crossroads. In what? A dung cart? I can't see this place running to anything much better. There's a wagon. I've seen them using it. They're bound to show an interest when I tell them that you're doing it for me. Because there's money in it. Exactly.

Crossroads just ahead, monsieur. And this is as far as you'll take me? For what's being paid. Yes, of course. You're looking for charity. You're in the wrong place. Our lives are harder than yours. We've told your friend we can't eat his pictures. When his money's gone, so is he. Ooh, there. The girl. Who? The girl, Lisa. What about her? Get his cases down. Antoine's family is very rich. He could set her up in a parlance of her own and give her an income. She could send you money. None of that matters. She can't leave, that's all. Why?

Why not? No reason, monsieur. She can't. Don't forget your luggage, monsieur. Does it have a title? The Looking-Glass Girl. No need to ask why. Will it be varnished? I expect so, when it's properly dry. Painted out of doors, of course. Yes. I'll be honest with you. I don't know what I'm going to do with this, monsieur.

You're saying it's no good? Oh, not at all, not at all. But good isn't what sells. Fashionable is what sells. That means classical characters in idealised landscapes, nature rearranged and tamed in the studio. Now, you tell me, how do I sell this farm girl in a market like that? So what you're really saying is that the picture's at fault because there's too much truth in it? If you like. For what it's worth, I admire your friend's courage and talent, but I can't use courage. I just sell pictures.

Hello, Marcel. You're on the wrong side of the river. My God, what's happened to you? Money dried up. Threw me out. Nearly two days. Tried to go back in there. Set the dogs on me. And Annalisa? Had to stay. I'll go and go over to speak to them. See if I can get her out. Marcel, don't. Let them set the dogs on me if they dare. I won't achieve anything. It's too late now. You think so? We'll see. Come on. Sold my new overcoat. Damn. The place looks deserted.

Where will I find them at this time of the day? Some kind of family gathering going on. People have been arriving all morning. I've watched them crossing the river. So where are they now? In the house, dining. And what about the dogs? On chains, till they let them loose to devour the leftovers. Right, come on. I don't want to go any closer. Please listen to me, Marcel. You'll be sorry. Come on, Antoine. This is all for you. Not coming from Hawks, and hot coals in the pit.

God knows what this sound resembles more, a zoo or an asylum. Marcel, turn back, please. They've done more than beat you, Antoine. I fear they've broken you. Come on, open up. What about Anneliese? Will we find her in here? Antoine, answer me! What do you want, monsieur? You are no longer welcome here. I want to speak to the head of this household. We were just thinking, monsieur. I don't want to know why...

What are you doing? A small family gathering. Simple affair. Some fresh cooked meat, a little red wine. I'm the wit of anything else that I can see. Something you want from us, monsieur? I want to know what gives you the right to abuse my friend in the way that you have.

Did we not honor our agreement? Honor? I see precious little evidence of honor anywhere. Then look more closely, monsieur. We are simple people. We stick to the letter of what we say and what did we say. We told your friend we couldn't eat his pictures. What more is there to be said? Now, monsieur, this is a private affair. Come away, Marcel, please. Just to prove we can be generous...

A little something for your journey home. Yeah. And Annalisa, is she still here? Oh, yes, monsieur. She is here. Watch out, man. You're dripping grease. Antoine, look what he's given me. Antoine, look what he's given me. Take it away. Somebody, take it away. Oh, God. Take it away. Please, take it away.

You could still see the shape of her arm and hand. I don't know how you can be so calm. You even saw them do it. There is a terrible beauty in suffering, Marcel. I can't believe you're saying this. You're mad. You've still learned nothing, have you, Marcel? Or you can stand before a canvas and see saints and martyrs and thieves on the cross and you'll nod your head and pass on to the next.

But could you walk by so calmly if you saw a young girl, her limbs broken, strung up by her heels and bleeding to death? Oh, my God. And you didn't even try to stop it. An artist can only observe. So your education is now complete. If education is what you want to call it, I've glimpsed the poetry in human degradation. You see, I knew all along how it would end. I was fascinated, obsessed by the prospect. Do you know, she never uttered a sound.

She just hung there, slowly bleeding to death. And now, God help me, I must lead others to the same trough of blood. I must relive the same degradation and suffering again and again. Antoine returned to the family home. After less than a week, he stormed out and never saw or spoke to his father again. Three years later, he died, stabbed in an argument outside a Parisian café. Marcel never again set eyes on the looking-glass girl.

The painting does still exist. Right now it's in a small private gallery just off the rue Lafayette, but hurry if you want to see it. Nobody's ever owned it for long. You see, for some reason, unlike the number seven, it seems to be considered unlucky. Marcel was played by Stephen Rashbrook and Antoine by Kim Wall. Michael Tudor Barnes and Diana Olsen played Antoine's parents.

The farmer was Anthony Jackson and Victoria Carling played Lisa. The farmer's eldest son was Mark Straker and his other sons were Stephen Tomkinson and Richard Pierce. The story was written by Stephen Gallagher and directed by Martin Jenkins. My name is Edward D'Souza, the man in black. And next week I'll take you into the haunted world of dreams. Until then, sleep well.

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Sweep the bows across the strings, blow softly on the reeds, mute the brasses, make music a man can whistle, for this is the theme.

This is music composed by Frank Smith. This is music conducted by Cesar Petrello. This is Five After the Hour. This is the mystery, the magic, the excitation of flowing water. This is the Song of the River, starring Curly Bradley.

This is the song of the river. This is the music of water that finds its way to the sea. This is the poetry of high banks and levees and a swift channel. This is the miracle of nature.

feeds and nourishes and builds and gives light and life and then destroys. This is the song of the river. Dad, where does the river go? The river, son? That's a big question and it'll take some time to answer. Where does the river go?

The river starts in heaven, way up there on high.

The river starts in heaven's sun, just like you and I. A raindrop falls on a mountaintop, it's got to find the sea. It's got a lot of things to do, just like you.

Quiet, raindrops! Quiet, raindrops! You're awful noisy for such little things. Hmm, looks kind of parched down there on Earth. Maybe I ought to throw some rain down there. Mightn't be a bad idea. Raindrops! Raindrops! Things look kind of brown.

dribbled, dried out down there on Earth. Thanks for agreeing with me. You know what's required of you. You're packed and ready to go? They're ready. Good. A pleasant journey, raindrops. And I hope you find the sea.

Dad, do raindrops really talk like that? Do those little things really make a river? How many are there? A hundred skillion, maybe? No, there's more than that, son. A scraw trillion, at least. Gee. Right away, they start looking for the seeds.

Down that mountainside they run and skip and tumble, bumping into stones, a-zigging and a-zagging. All those drops? Racing to the bottom. All the time they're growing bigger. All the time they're growing stronger. Pretty soon they make a stream, and that stream says to those stones, Father, I'm on my way. It's on its way, Roland.

Downward to the sea with grass a-growing on its banks and huge and leafy trees. It drains the soil in springtime and overflows its banks, leaving rich and fertile lands the farmer gives his hands.

Thank you, sir. You're welcome, John. Then skiffs begin to ride. Boats begin to churn. They churn their way across the tide. Stopped from stem to stern. With corn and sweet potatoes. Cotton, too, and old.

With sugar cane and black molasses piled high on the gold. All in the same river we're fishing in? The same river, son. Yeah, take this stone and toss it over the bank.

Gosh, look at all those ripples spread. That's right. Look at them go. Those ripples travel all the way down the river. They see thousands of things that you and I can't see. A couple hours from now when it's night, they'll still be traveling. Maybe rock a little canoe with lovers sitting in it, their faces shining in the moonlight.

Harry, did you ever see a more beautiful moon? It was made for the night, Mary. And you and me. Look how the water shimmering makes the moonbeams dance. Looks like about a million fireflies telegraphing the beauty of the night. Makes you feel like drifting along on the river forever. Yeah, the moon's been a-shining on this river as far back as father time can remember.

This river's got glamour, son. You know what glamour is? You mean pinup girls? No, son, I mean something more like, well, like the glamour of the showboat. Oh, there were girls all right, singing and dancing. Like in the movies? Long before there was such a thing as the movies. Showboat on.

the river stops at all the town showboat bringing joy and fun and gals in lovely gowns dancers strutting proudly to music of the band to music of the menstrual men the gayest in the land

The showboat is here. Dancers, singers, and music men. And the great three street puree. Introducing the world's

Greatest entertainers who have played before the crowned heads of Europe and of all heads of America. Entertainers, damn, 40. And that super extravaganza, that histrionic heart-wrencher, that dying tear-drencher, that majestic

Laura, the lovely landlord's daughter. Or the price she paid for secret shame. Hooray! Hooray! Oh, Mr. Bones. Go on, Tambo. Your big old ugly mouth. Well, that I will, boy, that I will. What I want to know is, how old is that wife of yours?

That wife of mine, she two years younger than she was on her last birthday. Well, cook me, fry me, and set me out, boy. You sure ain't good at computing ages. Oh, no? No. How old is a person born in 1854? A woman.

Oh, you sure is dumb. Yes, Miss Bones, you sure is dumb. I don't know how you ever got a wife. Got a wife? Oh, I just sobered up and there she was. Now, tell me, boy, and tell me honestly, is it true that married men live longer than single ones? Uh-uh.

It only seems longer. How long you been married, man? How long I been married? Two. Two years? Uh-uh. Too long.

Miserable? You poor miserable hunk of nothing, you. I'm gonna have to show you the lies. Say, is that so, Tambo? I've been doing pretty well in the dark up to now. Oh, you think you're doing good. Why, you is so dumb come hard times. How you

How you gonna make both ends meet? Why, that's easy, Tambo. I get myself a job in my brother's sausage factory. What for, fool? When you work in a sausage factory, both ends gotta be meet. See now, that remind me of a memory. The meat I had for dinner last night had two ends. Had two ends? How you mean that? Well, it was the end of the chicken.

Doggone near the end of me. Well, don't feel so bad, mutton mind. I didn't do so good either. I had ham for supper last night. Ham, huh? Was it cured? Well, if it was cured, it done had a relapse.

But the river wasn't only made for fun and dancing and lovers, son. There's another part to it you ought to know about. The serious part. The part of the river that grows and harvests the crops, carries them to far off places, to all the people of the world. The river does all that too, son. How does the river do all those things, Dad? Well, listen, boy. Listen to the sound of that water, will you?

Hear that wheel a-turning, water in the field. The land has got to have that water, so the crops will yield. Hear that, boy? The power of the river crushes all the grains.

That grow inside this fertile valley and from far away. You see, son, the river turns the wheels that run the country. It turns the little water wheels and turbines, dynamos that gives us power to run the machine. And it's responsible for the miracle of life. Yes, the miracle of life, son.

The light in your room will let you read all those wonderful books, because you're going to have to read them before you become president, you know. I know. And the lights in the homes of millions of other boys and girls in cities and towns and on farms, where maybe their fathers and mothers didn't have light. And the lights in the schools and the shops and the factories, too. And in the clean, white hospitals where the sick are being cured.

And where great and wise men are finding out how to make your life and mine fuller, safer, longer. And in the war plants where men, women, and children are making things to help us win the war. Yep, there too light is helping us to beat an enemy who wants to take the world back into darkness, out of which we came. Golly. All that light comes from the river, son. You can thank the Lord for sending down those little dogs.

Thank you, Lord. It don't hardly seem possible that all that comes from this one little river. Little, huh? Here, pick up another stone. Yeah, that's it. Now, throw it in the water.

Now watch those ripples, boy. Watch them first, for as your eye can see. I'll watch them, Dad. Yeah, take the one going that-a-way, going south. I can't see it anymore. That's because it's on its way to St. Louis and Cairo. That's where Grandma went. Yeah, but it ain't going to stop there. It's going to float right past Crothersville, Missouri, and then Blytheville, Tennessee, right on down through Memphis town, past Mississippi, you see.

and then past the Vicksburg levee. You know what happened at Vicksburg, son. It read your history. Then where does it go? Why, into Louisiana, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans. Into the Gulf of Mexico and right on to the Caribbean. Now, take another dig stone. No, no, no, no. Not one of those teensy-weensy things, but a great big rock that'll make us splash. Okay. Now, Eve Hall. Zoe!

Oh, look at her go. Yeah, watch her to the north this time, son, and see how far she goes. Hannibal and Quincy, Dubuque and old St. Paul, through Davenport and Clinton too, and sunny that ain't all.

From Minnesota to the Gulf, it runs through every state. This little river at our feet, it's greater than the grave. And it knows it too. That's not thunder. That's not thunder, little boy. It's me talking about the river, the mighty conceited river it is.

Mighty temperamental, hard to control. It's roaring drunk with power. Flies into a rave and off it goes, spoiling all the good it's done. Sometimes I get so mad I... Gosh, the sky looks mad. Just a little thunder in the east. We'd best be going in.

Yes, run for cover, good little people. Run from the river, lest it swell again and break its bonds and ruin what you've built. Why can't you be all good, proud river? The people are good. They build themselves great cities. They build themselves a civilization and a brand new world.

They build themselves a thousand miles of levee to curdle you and then you break it down. The dam is troubling. Run for your lives! I've got to get back! Help me get back! Run, woman! Your house is torn loose! My baby's in the house! I've got to get back! River, a hundred thousand men tried to hold you back and failed.

Almost a million people homeless, without food, without shelter. Yes, run for cover, little people, every time it rains. My family's gone. My stock, my crops. My land will never grow a blade of grass. Hundreds of millions of tons of precious soil, blessed good earth, washed into the sea. Aren't you sorry for what you've done?

The thunder's not as loud as it was, Dad. Oh, the sky's lighter now. Maybe we won't have to run for cover after all. Look how peaceful the river is. Maybe it's sorry for what it's done. It does more good than harm, don't it, Dad? It sure does, son. It sure does. All power's got to be horned, son. Those it can do the most good for the most people. And the river's no different from you or me.

We don't ever want to let ourselves get out of hand. Just remember that, son. Remember that old river. And if you ever weaken, look up to the sky. For the strength that he gave the river, pray to him on high.

Ask him for the power to keep all mankind free, free as flows this mighty river through eternity.

Yes, this is the song of the river. This is the music of water that finds its way to the sea. This is the poetry of high banks and levees and the swift channel.

This is the miracle of nature that feeds and nourishes and builds and gives light and life. This is the song of the river. ♪♪

Song of the River was written and directed by Les Weinroth, with lyrical acknowledgments to Sherman Marks and Carol Lederer, and musical kudos to Frank Smith and Cesar Petrillo. Curly Bradley was heard in the leading role. ♪♪

Next week, at this same time, Five After the Hour will bring you another 25 minutes of music and drama from WBBM, the Wrigley Building, Chicago. This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.

Thanks for listening! If you like what you heard, be sure to subscribe so you don't miss future episodes. If you like the show, please, share it with someone you know who loves old-time radio or the paranormal or strange stories, true crime, monsters, or unsolved mysteries like you do. You can email me and follow me on social media through the Weird Darkness website.

WeirdDarkness.com is also where you can listen to free audiobooks I've narrated, get the email newsletter, visit the store for creepy and cool Weird Darkness merchandise. You can find other podcasts that I host. Plus, it's where you can find the Hope in the Darkness page if you or someone you know is struggling with depression, addiction, or thoughts of harming yourself or others. You can find all of that and more at WeirdDarkness.com.

I'm Darren Marlar. Thanks for joining me for this episode of Weird Darkness' Retro Radio.

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