August 18, 2025 • 44 mins
CBS Radio Mystery Theater was a noteworthy attempt to revive in American radio dramas like Inner Sanctum (1941-1952) and Suspense (1942-1962). Radio dramas were widely considered "dead" 12 years prior to this series. CBS Radio Mystery Theater, or simply Mystery Theater, was created by Inner Sanctum creator Himan Brown and ran on CBS from 1974-1982. The show, much like older radio dramas, was introduced by a host (E.G. Marshall in this program), who steers us through the creaking door to start the episode. Many voices from the golden age of radio were featured, including Richard Widmark, Bret Morrison, Agnes Moorehead and many more.
Hope you enjoy this episode of Mystery Theater! Find all our OTR radio stations and podcasts at theaterofthemind-otr.com - Audio Credit: The Old Time Radio Researchers Group. - All Podcasts @ Spreaker | Apple | YouTube | Spotify | iHeart | Amazon
Hope you enjoy this episode of Mystery Theater! Find all our OTR radio stations and podcasts at theaterofthemind-otr.com - Audio Credit: The Old Time Radio Researchers Group. - All Podcasts @ Spreaker | Apple | YouTube | Spotify | iHeart | Amazon
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Come in.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Welcome. I'm e. G.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Marshall. What if each one of us were absolutely isolated
from everyone else, doomed to travel the earth alone from
birth to death, destined never to see another face, touch
another hand, hear another voice, denied the least contact with
another of our own kind? Unthinkable, isn't it for each
(00:40):
one of us? There has to be a meeting in
some place at some time, else we should all go mad.
Strange isn't it the two of us showing up here,
both at the same time, in this weird place.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
How do you figure it happened?
Speaker 3 (01:01):
What was the storm?
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Of course? It's getting so bad, really terrible, impossible to
go on it absolutely.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
By the way, do you know where we are?
Speaker 3 (01:12):
I know?
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Don't you have the least idea Our mystery drama Meeting
by Chance, was written especially for the Mystery Theater by
Elsforth Eric and stars Mandel Kramer and Marion Seldie's. It
(01:36):
is sponsored in part by Buick Mortar Division and x Lex.
I'll be back shortly for that one. Some meetings are casual,
(01:57):
some meetings are unavoidable, Some are planned, and others are
artfully contrived. Some occur in the natural course of ordinary living,
and others come about purely and simply by accident. It
is one of these incidental meetings that concerns us. Here,
(02:19):
damn it, I can't see a thing. Wow, that sounded closer.
Double windshield wipers? There worse than nothing, just sloss the
rain from one side of the other. But she forgot
to get new blades, simple thing like that, and she forgets.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
I told her a.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Dozen times, get new blades. Where am I anyway? I
get off the road somewhere that fork always back, I
tak the left one instead of the right, I swear,
I don't know. I can't see a thing. Why that
was even closer.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
To be swelled?
Speaker 1 (03:00):
To get hit by lightning out here in the middle
of nowhere. Come on, I can't be nowhere.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
I must be somewhere, somewhere near home. I can't see.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Damn ring makes it impossible to see. Maybe I should
get out and take a look around here.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Oh cow, what a soaker?
Speaker 1 (03:26):
How too close? Too close for comfort? Like they say,
is this a driveway? Looks like a driveway sort of
under all this water? A mailbox? Yeah, no name, no
name that I can make out anyway? Driveway in a
(03:46):
mailbox adds up to a house that figures at the
other end of the driveway.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
There must be a house.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
People, You gotta get a roof over my head till
the downpour stops. It's dangerous out here. Heck the drive away.
Nobody's using much where the trees stands to reason, though,
(04:12):
there's a house that the.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Other end, some kind of a house, any kind.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Of a Sure there're at issue. And I knew if
the house or had to be right in the nick
of time.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
The doorbell, no doorbell?
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Hey, maybe mine? Leave somebody somebody mine opening the door?
Sweat out here, cake, anybody cares, come on, Come on,
come on.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Could be anybody. It's certainly not the owner. The owner
would have a to It could be a tramp of
some kind. You can't be too careful these days. Thank goodness.
I locked that door. There's no way anybody could get in.
Pull the windows to lock, and the back door too.
I don't care who it is. He's not going to
(05:11):
get in it. It must be a man, because the
way he turns on the door. It could be a thief,
or a lunatic, or a rapist. There's plenty of those around.
I think he's gone away.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
He gave up.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Timely went away. Well that's something a s somebody say,
how do you do? Do you you just stay? Would
you come in here?
Speaker 2 (05:39):
It's the matter with you?
Speaker 3 (05:40):
What do you mean breaking in like this? I'll call
the police to hear me. Knock on the door.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
I heard you when you open it?
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Why should I don't you open the door?
Speaker 1 (05:45):
No?
Speaker 3 (05:46):
Not just anybody look at it.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
I'm sorry. I broke your window.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
It's not my window. This isn't my house.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Well how'd you get in here? Then? Somebody let you in?
But the door was open and then you locked it.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
I was afraid not to look.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
I'll pay for the window.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
I can leave some money, yeah, yeah, if five on
to cover it.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
My car stopped all of a sudden. I went through
a big puddle and it just stopped.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Now the time I got with oh, well, I don't
know anything about all of you. As Who's that was
what I heard? Something didn't hear as it sounded like
a cat, probably cats.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Well, I guess that must be what am I supposed
to do? Stuck here with this stranger. I hope he
doesn't get any funny ideas. He looks all right, but
you can't go by appearances. You read about a murderer
or a rapist in the newspaper, and then they show
you a picture of him, and he looks just like
(06:45):
anybody else.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
I don't care how much for cats myself.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
They're very decorative.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
People say like dogs, all right?
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Dogs are okay?
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Yes, dogs are nice.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Not a bad looking game. Not what you'd call good
looking either. Not my type at all, though, miss the
dog in person dough from Dollsville dressed though too. I
bet you made that little number yourself. Loving hands at home.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
I wonder who lives here.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
No idea, whoever it is, isn't very tidy. Yeah, it's
kind of messy.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
I hate a messy place.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Yeah. Do you live near here?
Speaker 3 (07:32):
South Glendale?
Speaker 1 (07:33):
That's all? I live in Glendale Heights? Do you really? Uh?
Speaker 2 (07:37):
New development?
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Is it nice?
Speaker 1 (07:41):
It's all right.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
I don't think he's going to try anything funny. I
think he's safe. But I hope the storm that's episode.
And I'm running out of things to talk about. I
don't know anybody in Glenville hides, and I think that
new development and it's horrible, ugly sin.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Did you hear that it would the cat?
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Oh? Yeah, I wonder where it is, the kitchen probably.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Oh, it sounds hungry.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Oh, speaking of hungry, I haven't had any lunch either, Revie.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Now that you mention it, what do you.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Say we see if there's any food in the house.
Oh well, if you think it's all right, we can
leave a couple of dollars.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
All right.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Anyway, it's something to do. Neat a sandwich, Maybe there's
some beer past a little time. Boy, I want a
way to spend an afternoon. Hold up in some creepy
olda house. What some dub woman doesn't even know how
to conduct a conversation. And the heck it's not refault
or we got in common anyway.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Oh, let's see what's in this fridge. Oh there's some milk.
That's something.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Any beer in there?
Speaker 3 (08:58):
No, I don't see any Would you care for milk?
Speaker 2 (09:00):
I guess it'll have to do.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
Is a little jar shrimps?
Speaker 1 (09:03):
No? Thanks? Well then we just have milk, great as well.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Well, it's better than nothing.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Be grateful for small favors.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
I always say, huh, there we are.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Uh you want to go back in the living room?
Speaker 3 (09:24):
No place to sit down here?
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Lead the way.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
It's really infuriating. I've got so much to do at home,
all that transplanting it well, I just couldn't do that
in the rain anyway. But but I could be sorting
the linen instead of being stuck here with this glendo heights. Person.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
You find it cold in here, A little kind of damp,
don't you think?
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Yes, it is damp.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
I have this versidis in my left arm, and dampness
always makes it worse.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
There's a fireplace, you think I gotta make a fire
in mind o, the people who live here, I don't
see why they mind.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
I'm always afraid of catching cold. Once I catch a cold,
I can't get rid of it. Just hangs on, hangs
on for weeks. It seems like.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Now there's a fascinating piece of information for you. She
gets cools that last for weeks. What do you know, boy?
I wish I was home. The golf clubs need cleaning
and polishing. It must be an ideal day for it.
Stand out my room, dear with like she's all right?
Stop picking? I know you know, shining light yourself.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
It doesn't seem to be any kindling, does there?
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Well?
Speaker 1 (10:37):
If you roll the paper up tight.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Enough, those logs look kind of green.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
I'm pretty good at making files.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
It really is damp in here. And if you've got versidad.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Where till I get the fire gone, it'll dry out.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
I don't think it's gonna work. Give it a minute,
it's gone out.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Yeah, you want me to try.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
You think you can do better?
Speaker 3 (10:59):
I guess not. Manly pride. They're all alike. Oh, they
can all make fires and hang pictures and fix cars.
Only when it comes right down to doing it, they can't.
So we'll just sit here and freeze and catch our desks.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Wonder what time it is?
Speaker 3 (11:21):
I don't have a watch. I took mine to be repaired.
I keep forgetting to pick it up.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
You can't tell the time of day by looking outside.
The blackest pitch out there, it.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Most certainly is pitch black.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Yeah, the blackest pitch pitch black. Where do we go
for me? Yeah? It looks like a long, dreary afternoon.
All right, pantadic cards and that she probably doesn't play cards.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Have you lived in Glendale Heights?
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Long little over Ere? I see, I'm in real estate.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Oh really, m things are kind of slow right now.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
I can imagine maybe they'll pick up though.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
My husband's a lawyer. Yes, he's a lawyer. It goes
that cat again. I wonder where it is.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
As long as it stays out of here, I don't
much care.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
But it sounds hungry, and I.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Think I'm allergic to cats.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
I suppose it's waiting for its owners to come home
and feed it.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
They probably stuck somewhere, same as we are. Probably why
if they got a TV set around here someplace.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
I hope that cat isn't trapped somewhere.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Do you see a TV.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
I'm gonna go look for that cat.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Radio, a little music, my help.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
There's nothing, absolutely nothing. I wonder what these people do
for amusement?
Speaker 2 (12:45):
What's the matter?
Speaker 3 (12:48):
Come here quick?
Speaker 1 (12:49):
What is it?
Speaker 3 (12:51):
Come here? I found the.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Cat meeting is at touching. Sometimes the touch.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Is so light that it is scarcely felt.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Sometimes the touch ignites something, something as mild as distaste, perhaps, or.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Something as strong as hatred.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
At times, the touch can kindle interest, sometimes attraction, sometimes
even love. Our return shortly with that two two people,
(13:38):
a man and a woman, have sought refuge from a
violent storm in a strange house. Two people with very
little to say to each other. A strange house, rather unkempt,
seemingly inhabited by a solitary cat, heard but as yet
not seen by either of the intruders. As our last
act ended, however, we heard, what's the matter?
Speaker 3 (14:01):
Come here?
Speaker 1 (14:03):
What is it?
Speaker 3 (14:04):
Come here? I found the cat?
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Where where is it?
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Up there?
Speaker 3 (14:12):
That's stay? See looking down at Yeah?
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Are you sure?
Speaker 3 (14:19):
What else could it be?
Speaker 1 (14:21):
It looks like it looks like a little white cloud.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
I'm sure of it. See there, it's hut and great.
I'm gonna go and get it some milk. I think
we left some.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
You want me to come with you?
Speaker 3 (14:35):
You stay here unless you're afraid to.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
I'm not afraid. What's that to be afraid of?
Speaker 3 (14:42):
And if there isn't any milk left, I'm going to
open that jar of ships.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
Stuck here with a lady who's cat? Crazy women and
cats they go together. Cat, what's with you? You're the
biggest cat I ever saw? Big and white?
Speaker 2 (14:59):
White?
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Does it white of than anything pure white? Or white?
You even got white eyes? Yeah? White eyes? Is that possible?
A thing like that? White eyes?
Speaker 3 (15:17):
It wasn't any milk left, so I just brought this shrimp.
I'll put the dish here at the foot of the stairs,
and if it's really hungry, it'll come down and get it.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
It doesn't strike you as kind of peculiar a house
that's only got cat food in it.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
Well, now that you mention it.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
I mean, what if we hadn't showed up here, or
would that cat have gone to the refrigerator and fed
herself or what? Well?
Speaker 3 (15:37):
I hardly think. Why doesn't it come down get the shrimp.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
I'm scared of us. Maybe let's move back a little.
We could just leave it somehow.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
For some reason, I don't want to do that. I
know I'll put the dish halfway up the stairs. How
would that be?
Speaker 2 (15:57):
What do I know about feeding cats?
Speaker 3 (16:02):
Would you know about anything?
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Crass?
Speaker 3 (16:04):
Stupid, terrible man. The second the rain stops, I'm gonna
get out of this house. Oh I hope my course starts.
If it doesn't, not, I suppose I can ask him
to drive me home. Oh well, it can't be helped.
It's an emergency, and maybe that'll do it.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Cat's still standing there, just looking just wait.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
Cats love shrimp.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Maybe not this one. Did you notice this one has
white eyes?
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Cats don't have white eyes. No cat has white eyes.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
This one does.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
Pale blue maybe not white.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
He's still standing there when it why she doesn't just well, she.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
Must smell it.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Let's leave him.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
What makes you think she's a male cat?
Speaker 2 (16:53):
What makes you think he's a female cat?
Speaker 3 (16:58):
I think she wants to shrimp brought up stairs too.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Don't't you think you've done enough?
Speaker 3 (17:02):
No, I don't.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Wait till my wife. Here's how I spent the afternoons.
She won't believe it. I broke into a spooky old
house to get out of the rain. And here's this
simple minded woman, and she and I spent the whole
time trying to get a big white cat to eat
some shrimp. That's what I did all afternoon, Sweetie, sue me,
but that's what I did.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Would you mind coming up here for a minute?
Speaker 1 (17:29):
What for?
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Just come upstairs for a minute, will you. I don't
even get the point.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Is there something wrong?
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Please come up here.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
I've never done this much for a cat in my life. Actually,
I've never had anything.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
To do with a cat before.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Now, what is it? What's up?
Speaker 3 (17:48):
Come with me?
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Where's the cat.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
In the bedroom?
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Well you think it's okay to go in there?
Speaker 3 (17:53):
I know what you're thinking. It's not nice to make
free with other people's houses.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Well, it's kind of pushy, don't you think, Yes.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
I do think so. But there's the cat.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Ah she did want to eat the shrimp up here.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
When I came upstairs, she led me right into this room.
She waited for me to open the door, so I did,
and I went in and she started to purr. And
I put the dish down by the window, and she
started eating right away, purring all the time.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Well, look, I guess we've done our duty by the cat.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
So don't go. Wait a minute. I want you to.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Look at something.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
Look out the window.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Okay, any window, any window.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
What do you see?
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Wow, that's beautiful.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
Have you ever seen such a garden?
Speaker 1 (18:59):
No?
Speaker 3 (19:01):
I never have such flowering trees.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Those little winding paths. I wonder where they go to.
It isn't raining, that's right, there's no rain. The thunders stopped.
But just a few seconds ago downstairs, I heard it.
I know I heard it.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
Look out there, the grass isn't wet, the flowers are
all standing up straight, the paths are dry. Now.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Look, that's not possible. I mean, there couldn't have been
a terrific storm in one part of a house, and
sunlight and roses and all those beautiful things in another
part that's just not possible.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
I know it isn't possible.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
It's unbelievable, but it's true.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
I have this funny feeling. I think it has something
to do with the cat.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
You mean the cat is some kind of a federal,
a magician or something. You mean some kind of a
magician in disguise.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
Maybe well, maybe not a magician, but uh, a spirit,
something unearthly. Don't laugh, I won't k something intangible, immaterial,
captured in a cat's body, something saintly promised. Not to laugh.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
I don't feel a bit like laughing.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
And whatever it is, it's not real, but it is real.
The storm, the rain, the thunder, the lightning, it all
stopped as soon as we came upstairs. You can't deny that.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
Look at the cat, she asleep, don't think so. Didn't
I tell you she has white eyes?
Speaker 3 (21:00):
She doesn't have white eyes. She's blind, blind, beautiful and blind.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Is that why she wouldn't come downstairs?
Speaker 3 (21:13):
Maybe? And also she doesn't have any claws. If she
had claws, she'd be able to feel her way down.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
So I guess she stays up here all the time.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Why wouldn't she.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
I would.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
If I could be lucky enough to live in this room,
I'd never leave.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
What makes it so wonderful?
Speaker 1 (21:36):
You think it's so different from the rooms downstairs, so clean,
so RESTful, but so exciting, don't you think so? Yes,
RESTful and exciting.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
That's about it. What it is is, Well, it's it's open,
it's free.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
I feel as though anything could happen here, as though
you could make anything happen. But everything is so nice
the way it is.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Why bother?
Speaker 3 (22:06):
Oh, what a perfect way to feel.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Everybody could feel this way. They wouldn't drink, or they
wouldn't take dope, but they wouldn't start.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
Waring, mean or spiteful to anybody.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
It just seems so easy here.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
I never want to leave, never.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
You know, you're very attractive. Me attractive, very.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
I'm just a middle aged subourban housewife.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
You're an attractive woman. Go look at yourself in that mirror?
Speaker 3 (22:38):
Are you serious?
Speaker 1 (22:39):
Go on?
Speaker 3 (22:41):
If you it seems so silly, but if you really are.
I look, it's not what I expect it at all.
I mean, it's it's me all right, but it's not
what I'm used to.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
There's a glow on your face. It looks really.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
You're not going to pretend. I don't see it too.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Don't pretend, because that's part of the magic here in
this room.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
I think you know you look different too. Come on,
look look at yourself. If you say so, oh, I
wish you would.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
I'm different.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
Somehow, younger, that's true. And you look vulnerable me, vulnerable
as though you could be hurt.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
I never thought of myself that way, not for a
long time, but now you do. I don't want to
be heard. I think it's terrible to be heard, only
it's worse to be somebody who can't be heard.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
I know just what you mean.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
You can get over being heard.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
I guess it might take a long time.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
But you could get over it.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
But to be what's the word invulnerable? Yes, well that's
to be dead really walking around talking?
Speaker 2 (23:59):
But really, you know what I'm talking something I have
to get used to.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
You know what I want to do? I don't know
why I want to do it.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Then what do you want to do?
Speaker 3 (24:14):
I want to take my shoes off. There's a weather.
I want to go on and lie down on that
big bed and go ahead and do it. I want
to lie down and and dream?
Speaker 1 (24:29):
What about oh.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
Things about love and kindness and what lies in back
of the stars, and how the sun warms everything, and
how it feels to stretch out and feel good.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Say, the bed hasn't been made up? Did you know that?
Speaker 3 (24:56):
Really? That's strange in it's neat, tidy room. Would they
straight in the bed?
Speaker 1 (25:01):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Linen sheet. A long time since I've seen linen sheet.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Look, I don't think you ought to disturb anything. I
don't know why I think that.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
I just I know what you mean. I won't touch
a thing up. I'll just lie down on the bed
the way it is.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
He doesn't want you to lie down on.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
The beds, but protecting it?
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Or how did you know what you were going to do?
She's blind, she couldn't have seen you.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
It must be true. She's she is a spirit, a specter.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
She ate the shrimp like a real lives cat.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
Then there's a spirit lodged in her. I don't know.
I don't ask me how why, But there's something here
we don't understand.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
There's plenty.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
I don't understand, plenty, like the way I feel about you.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
Be careful, be careful of what you say.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
No, I don't want to be careful anymore. That's what
this womb has done to me, the cat or whatever.
I love you.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
I was afraid you'd say that.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Why were you afraid? That's a terrible thing to say.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
But now I have to say something to you, Well,
please say it. I love you.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Was that so awful? But that's not what I felt
about you before.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
Downstairs, down there, I thought you were crude and insensitive.
I didn't like you at all.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Down there, I thought you were silly and dull, and
I hated the idea of spending an afternoon with you.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
Happened, What happened.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
What changed was that nice door. It was a door
that opened and shut.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
It's a door downstairs, front door.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
I'll bet is he I'm home?
Speaker 3 (26:52):
Is he? It's the owner, the owner of the house.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
He came home, busy girl.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
You are right? What do we do now?
Speaker 3 (27:00):
You know you'll be coming up here. I just know it.
You'll be coming up here.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
This is what a meeting can do, even a meeting
by chance, change attitudes, change feelings, facts, even lies. A
whole set of circumstances which had seemed so stable, so permanent,
so unalterable, can shift become something else, for no other
reason than two people have met and touched. We'll be
(27:43):
back soon with Act three. Quite fortuitously, two people have
met in a house strange to them, both driven there
to escape from a riotous rainstorm. Neither is, to the
(28:05):
other an ideal choice for such enforced companionship, until they
followed the plaintive mewings of a large, white blind cat
to the second story of the house, into a beautiful bedroom,
from whose windows they could see an exquisite garden bathed
in sunshine. Tranquility seemed to fill the room, and, to
(28:27):
their intense surprise, new feelings began to stir in their hearts.
I have to say it, I love you?
Speaker 3 (28:37):
Is that such an awful thing to say? Because I
love you?
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Downstairs? I thought you were silly, and though.
Speaker 3 (28:46):
I found your crude and sensitive, I didn't like you
at all.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
What happened? What change?
Speaker 3 (28:51):
Does A door just opened? Downstairs?
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Opened and shut front door? I bet it on home?
Speaker 3 (29:02):
Is he He's the owner of the house, the owner.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
Of the cat.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Busy girl, You are right?
Speaker 3 (29:08):
Who will we do now? He'll be coming up here?
Is coming up here?
Speaker 1 (29:16):
But we can't hide. There's no pop.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
I don't want him to find us here. He'll be angry,
he'll throw us out. You don't want to leave, not
when we've just found whatever it is we've just found.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
I forgot your food and my girl, I claim for god,
you must be hungry. I'll fetch you for you.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
He's going into the kitchen.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
What did you mean when you said what we found out?
Whatever it is?
Speaker 3 (29:42):
I don't know. It's just this feeling, this strange new feeling.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
You said you loved me?
Speaker 3 (29:49):
No I did, And you said you loved me?
Speaker 1 (29:50):
Did you mean it?
Speaker 3 (29:51):
Did you?
Speaker 1 (29:51):
I think I did? Didn't you?
Speaker 3 (29:53):
I think so?
Speaker 1 (29:55):
But maybe maybe what.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
Maybe I just felt what love was like? Does that
make any sense to you?
Speaker 1 (30:04):
No shrimp this time, But I've got side of ease
for you. I'm late, busy because.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
Of the storm.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
It was a terrible storm. What will he do to us?
Speaker 3 (30:11):
What we call the police?
Speaker 1 (30:15):
So my little sweet eyed come well, good afternoon, madam.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
Sir oh, I hope you'll forgive us.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
We can't explain how this happened. I imagine it was the storm. Yes,
it was the storm.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
My car went over a huge cuddle down the roadways
and it simply stopped. There was thunder lightning.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
It was certainly well. I stopped my car just outside
your house because I couldn't see a thing. The windshield
wipers might as well not have been working at all,
for all the good they didn't You weren't in the
same car, both of you. Well, no, actually we just
met here a little while ago.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
I was here first. Your front door was open. I'm
afraid I just walked in.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
How did you happen to get up here?
Speaker 3 (30:57):
It was the cat.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
Busy was that her name? That's what I call her.
Speaker 3 (31:01):
Well, she kept mewing and we didn't know where she was.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
She sounded hungry, but I was late getting here.
Speaker 3 (31:07):
I'm afraid. We drank most of the milk and the refrigerator.
So then we put that shrimp in a dish and
we left it at the foot.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Of the stairs, but you wouldn't come down.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
And then we put it halfway up the stairs, and
that didn't work either.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
Lizzie's blind, Yes.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
We found that out later. After I took the shrimp upstairs,
she sort of led me to the bedroom.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
And this is where she lives. Nobody could blame her
for that. I'd like to live here myself. Oh, I
mean downstairs, there was this terrible storm in a wind.
Speaker 3 (31:39):
And arble, thunder and lightning. Everything's different up here. If
you look out the window.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
I looked out the window.
Speaker 3 (31:47):
Well, then you know it's all sunlight and flowers, peaceful.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
This is sort of benign, if you know what I mean.
It's gentle like I do know.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
And the mirrors. If you look in the mirrors in
this room, you look.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Different somehow, younger, not so worried, not so harassed, you
know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (32:10):
Sure, But why should that be?
Speaker 1 (32:13):
Well, it's kind of a long story. Oh we'd love
to hear it, if you don't mind telling it. I'm
not sure you'll believe it. I'm not sure I believe it,
except that it's so.
Speaker 3 (32:23):
Please tell us.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
Willi's house used to belong to a couple. They bought
it when they got married almost one hundred years ago.
They were very happy. They loved the house and they
loved each other. That's a good beginning for happiness, wouldn't
you say. But then they became even happier when a
daughter was born to them, Elizabeth. They named a beautiful girl,
(32:46):
sweet girl. But she was blind blind, born blind blind from.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
Birth, terribly sad, Oh, it's not as.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
Sad as you might think. There was so much love,
the love for parents, for each other, and their love
for her. No, no, it wasn't sad. Unfortunate maybe, but
not really sad. Love can drive out sadness, provided there's
enough of it.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
I'm starting to think that that's true.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
What happened to all of them? Well, Elizabeth died, Oh no,
and her parents' hearts were broken.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
Of course.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
How old was she when she died?
Speaker 1 (33:27):
Getting on for thirty? Her father and mother went in
the morning. Not just for the year that's customary, but
for year after year after year. I knew them well,
and I saw them every day, and I worried about them.
They were getting older, they were getting feebler, they were
getting sad, or they were losing themselves and their grief,
and I couldn't stand to see it. For one day,
(33:50):
I brought them a cab. I rescued her from a
laboratory where they'd put out her eyes.
Speaker 3 (33:56):
Oh why why did they do that?
Speaker 1 (33:58):
Who knows? Some experiment they were conduct you to prove
something or other. Oh, and after they blinded her, they
were going to kill her, but I said, don't do that.
Give her to me, and they did, and you brought
her here to this house, to the old people. It
took to her right away, partly because she was blind,
I guess, like their.
Speaker 3 (34:17):
Daughter, and so at least they had something to love, they.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
Had something to share their love with. How long ago
was this? How long ago did they take the cat
to live with them? Twenty four years ago?
Speaker 3 (34:30):
She's that old.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
The cat is that old, probably older.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
I didn't know cats ever lived that long.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
Well, it's my idea. She'll live to be thirty.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
You mean as long as Elizabeth flew?
Speaker 1 (34:41):
That's what I mean. You don't mean. I mean, you
can't mean that the girl's spirit has come back in
a cat's body. Why not? What the god?
Speaker 2 (34:55):
Because wife, all such things are impossible?
Speaker 1 (34:57):
Why not? Why they're not?
Speaker 2 (35:00):
They're not real?
Speaker 1 (35:00):
The old people believed they were real. I believe they're real.
So they're real. Maybe not for other people. But other
people don't know everything that went on in this house,
and I do.
Speaker 3 (35:14):
But how does this happen that you know so much
about it?
Speaker 1 (35:17):
Well? I was in love with Elizabeth. I was going
to marry her, so I know, of course.
Speaker 3 (35:26):
Would you tell us one more thing?
Speaker 1 (35:28):
Whatever you want to know?
Speaker 3 (35:29):
Why does the cat live upstairs?
Speaker 1 (35:32):
Because the old people moved upstairs after I brought them
the cats, they lived in this room. I ran the errands,
I brought them their food, whatever they needed. And after
they died, the cat went on living here. I went
on dropping in twice a day to feet and make
sure she's all right. It's the least I can do.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
Don't you think there's one more thing I'd like to know,
if you don't mind out being so curious. I don't
mind the bed. It's not made up, And the rest
of the room is so beautiful and so neat and tidy.
Why isn't the bed made up?
Speaker 1 (36:05):
The old people died in that bed. They died there
with their arms around each other, and both of them
were smiling, and the cat was watching them from the
foot of the bed.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
When I wanted to lie down, just to take a
little rest, the cat wouldn't let me.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
She wants to keep it the way it was at
the time when the old people come back. Can't blame her,
can you.
Speaker 3 (36:30):
You mean she's really Elizabeth Elizabeth llamcarnate.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
I'm not saying she is. I'm saying she could be.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
Is that why you call her Lizzie.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
Her name is really Elizabeth. Her name isn't Elizabeth.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (36:44):
The old people called her Elysium.
Speaker 3 (36:48):
That's a strange name.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
Why they call her that? Elysium is the dwelling place
of happy souls after death. That's what they tried to
make out of this room, a happy place for their
dead child to live. And while they did that, they
made a happy place for themselves. It couldn't help. But
be that way, I don't suppose it's possible for anybody
(37:09):
to buy this plank's Oh no, no, no, no, it
belongs to the cat. You mean, if it's in the
will well, after the cat die, it comes to me.
But she isn't going to die for a long time.
Speaker 3 (37:23):
Tell me one more thing, will you, if it isn't
too painful? How did Elizabeth die?
Speaker 1 (37:31):
Why didn't I tell you? She broke her neck? Oh?
She fell downstairs and broke her neck.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
Oh that's why the cat has no claws, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
Yes, well, I think the worst of the store must
be over by Now. Let's go downstairs, shall we. I'll
drive you home. I don't think your car's dried out yet.
All right, take a couple hours of sunshine before it'll start.
Speaker 3 (38:11):
Remember all that sunshine back in that upstairs room.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
You can't take it with you, No you can't. You
haven't told me where you live.
Speaker 3 (38:21):
Oh, it's straight along this road. It's not far, I'll
tell you.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
When we've never introduced ourselves. Do you realize that?
Speaker 3 (38:31):
I don't think we should.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
You may be right.
Speaker 3 (38:35):
We said some pretty impetuous things to each other up
there in that room.
Speaker 1 (38:39):
I know we did things about love and all that
seems so natural up there to say those things, but
it isn't here.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
I wonder why we're the same people?
Speaker 3 (38:55):
Are we?
Speaker 1 (38:56):
Of course we are?
Speaker 3 (38:58):
And why don't we feel the same?
Speaker 1 (39:03):
I wouldn't know, I think.
Speaker 3 (39:05):
But in that upstairs room we were different because we
were using a different part of ourselves, the upper part,
you might say, the better part, Yes, the part that
reaches out and touches and doesn't hold back and protect
itself all the time.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
What happens to that part?
Speaker 3 (39:29):
It gets smothered somehow, strangled, it gets killed. Why don't
you let me up at the corner I can take
you to, you know, I really rather you wouldn't.
Speaker 2 (39:43):
Better to leave things the way they are?
Speaker 3 (39:46):
I think so? Oh, thank you, thank you for everything,
for what I don't know.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
I should thank you for what I don't know.
Speaker 3 (40:08):
Anyway, I'll never forget you. I I don't think I will.
Speaker 1 (40:19):
I'll never forget you, at least I hope I won't.
Is there a room some place where the heart expands
and accepts and is generous, where we cease to be
(40:42):
petty and irritable and sullen, where we stop being against
and start being for, where we can relax and enjoy
and stop resenting and envying. Every heart longs for such
a room, and for fleet moments each heart finds it.
(41:03):
Does it really exist? I don't know, do you? I'll
be back shortly. Suppose such a room does exist, how
do we find and keep it? Does it have an address?
(41:27):
Does anyone live there all the time? Even a cat,
a cat who is really a ghost waiting for other ghosts?
Speaker 2 (41:36):
Or is the room within the human heart?
Speaker 1 (41:40):
Is it a room that has been closed off, locked, shuttered?
Is it possible we can open the room, unlock its door,
and fling wide its shutters. If it is possible, then
only love can do it. Now, For that much, I'm
sure our cast included Marion Soldi's Mandel Kramer and Bobby Reddick.
(42:05):
The entire production was under the direction of Hyman Brown.
And now a preview of our next tale, Marie, I'm
afraid sleep. That's when it creeps over me like a
black fog, and in it I see, I see those terrible.
Speaker 3 (42:26):
Things and they're in Buenos Aires.
Speaker 2 (42:30):
What do you know about Buenos Aires?
Speaker 3 (42:32):
I know that your deep anxiety comes from there, from
something that happened there that drove you to the United States.
Speaker 1 (42:37):
You you know.
Speaker 3 (42:40):
Something God knows, God knows Henry. You have no choice
but to pray to God.
Speaker 1 (42:49):
Whatever you did. No, No, I cannot pray. Prayer sticks
in my throat.
Speaker 3 (42:56):
Then you know what can happen?
Speaker 1 (42:59):
Something with and I'll become mad. I want to die.
Radio Mystery Theater was sponsored in part by General Electric,
Citizen Band Radios, and True Value Hardware stores. Missus E. G.
Marshall inviting you to return to our Mystery Theater for
(43:19):
another adventure in the macabre. Until next time, pleasant dream.
Speaker 3 (43:52):
Hey, that's a neat rifle.
Speaker 1 (43:53):
Let me see it, can't All the farms are locked up,
locked up, Yeah, and all the ammunitions locked away, and
Dad's no one touches those firearms unless he's here.
Speaker 3 (44:02):
Oh that dumb It is not the only thing dumb
about firearms safety is people who don't play it safe. Yeah,
who said my dad in the National Rightful Association.
Speaker 1 (44:12):
Well,
Come in.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Welcome. I'm e. G.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Marshall. What if each one of us were absolutely isolated
from everyone else, doomed to travel the earth alone from
birth to death, destined never to see another face, touch
another hand, hear another voice, denied the least contact with
another of our own kind? Unthinkable, isn't it for each
(00:40):
one of us? There has to be a meeting in
some place at some time, else we should all go mad.
Strange isn't it the two of us showing up here,
both at the same time, in this weird place.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
How do you figure it happened?
Speaker 3 (01:01):
What was the storm?
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Of course? It's getting so bad, really terrible, impossible to
go on it absolutely.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
By the way, do you know where we are?
Speaker 3 (01:12):
I know?
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Don't you have the least idea Our mystery drama Meeting
by Chance, was written especially for the Mystery Theater by
Elsforth Eric and stars Mandel Kramer and Marion Seldie's. It
(01:36):
is sponsored in part by Buick Mortar Division and x Lex.
I'll be back shortly for that one. Some meetings are casual,
(01:57):
some meetings are unavoidable, Some are planned, and others are
artfully contrived. Some occur in the natural course of ordinary living,
and others come about purely and simply by accident. It
is one of these incidental meetings that concerns us. Here,
(02:19):
damn it, I can't see a thing. Wow, that sounded closer.
Double windshield wipers? There worse than nothing, just sloss the
rain from one side of the other. But she forgot
to get new blades, simple thing like that, and she forgets.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
I told her a.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Dozen times, get new blades. Where am I anyway? I
get off the road somewhere that fork always back, I
tak the left one instead of the right, I swear,
I don't know. I can't see a thing. Why that
was even closer.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
To be swelled?
Speaker 1 (03:00):
To get hit by lightning out here in the middle
of nowhere. Come on, I can't be nowhere.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
I must be somewhere, somewhere near home. I can't see.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Damn ring makes it impossible to see. Maybe I should
get out and take a look around here.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Oh cow, what a soaker?
Speaker 1 (03:26):
How too close? Too close for comfort? Like they say,
is this a driveway? Looks like a driveway sort of
under all this water? A mailbox? Yeah, no name, no
name that I can make out anyway? Driveway in a
(03:46):
mailbox adds up to a house that figures at the
other end of the driveway.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
There must be a house.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
People, You gotta get a roof over my head till
the downpour stops. It's dangerous out here. Heck the drive away.
Nobody's using much where the trees stands to reason, though,
(04:12):
there's a house that the.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Other end, some kind of a house, any kind.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Of a Sure there're at issue. And I knew if
the house or had to be right in the nick
of time.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
The doorbell, no doorbell?
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Hey, maybe mine? Leave somebody somebody mine opening the door?
Sweat out here, cake, anybody cares, come on, Come on,
come on.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Could be anybody. It's certainly not the owner. The owner
would have a to It could be a tramp of
some kind. You can't be too careful these days. Thank goodness.
I locked that door. There's no way anybody could get in.
Pull the windows to lock, and the back door too.
I don't care who it is. He's not going to
(05:11):
get in it. It must be a man, because the
way he turns on the door. It could be a thief,
or a lunatic, or a rapist. There's plenty of those around.
I think he's gone away.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
He gave up.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Timely went away. Well that's something a s somebody say,
how do you do? Do you you just stay? Would
you come in here?
Speaker 2 (05:39):
It's the matter with you?
Speaker 3 (05:40):
What do you mean breaking in like this? I'll call
the police to hear me. Knock on the door.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
I heard you when you open it?
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Why should I don't you open the door?
Speaker 1 (05:45):
No?
Speaker 3 (05:46):
Not just anybody look at it.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
I'm sorry. I broke your window.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
It's not my window. This isn't my house.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Well how'd you get in here? Then? Somebody let you in?
But the door was open and then you locked it.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
I was afraid not to look.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
I'll pay for the window.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
I can leave some money, yeah, yeah, if five on
to cover it.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
My car stopped all of a sudden. I went through
a big puddle and it just stopped.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Now the time I got with oh, well, I don't
know anything about all of you. As Who's that was
what I heard? Something didn't hear as it sounded like
a cat, probably cats.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Well, I guess that must be what am I supposed
to do? Stuck here with this stranger. I hope he
doesn't get any funny ideas. He looks all right, but
you can't go by appearances. You read about a murderer
or a rapist in the newspaper, and then they show
you a picture of him, and he looks just like
(06:45):
anybody else.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
I don't care how much for cats myself.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
They're very decorative.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
People say like dogs, all right?
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Dogs are okay?
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Yes, dogs are nice.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Not a bad looking game. Not what you'd call good
looking either. Not my type at all, though, miss the
dog in person dough from Dollsville dressed though too. I
bet you made that little number yourself. Loving hands at home.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
I wonder who lives here.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
No idea, whoever it is, isn't very tidy. Yeah, it's
kind of messy.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
I hate a messy place.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Yeah. Do you live near here?
Speaker 3 (07:32):
South Glendale?
Speaker 1 (07:33):
That's all? I live in Glendale Heights? Do you really? Uh?
Speaker 2 (07:37):
New development?
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Is it nice?
Speaker 1 (07:41):
It's all right.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
I don't think he's going to try anything funny. I
think he's safe. But I hope the storm that's episode.
And I'm running out of things to talk about. I
don't know anybody in Glenville hides, and I think that
new development and it's horrible, ugly sin.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Did you hear that it would the cat?
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Oh? Yeah, I wonder where it is, the kitchen probably.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Oh, it sounds hungry.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Oh, speaking of hungry, I haven't had any lunch either, Revie.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Now that you mention it, what do you.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Say we see if there's any food in the house.
Oh well, if you think it's all right, we can
leave a couple of dollars.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
All right.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Anyway, it's something to do. Neat a sandwich, Maybe there's
some beer past a little time. Boy, I want a
way to spend an afternoon. Hold up in some creepy
olda house. What some dub woman doesn't even know how
to conduct a conversation. And the heck it's not refault
or we got in common anyway.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Oh, let's see what's in this fridge. Oh there's some milk.
That's something.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Any beer in there?
Speaker 3 (08:58):
No, I don't see any Would you care for milk?
Speaker 2 (09:00):
I guess it'll have to do.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
Is a little jar shrimps?
Speaker 1 (09:03):
No? Thanks? Well then we just have milk, great as well.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Well, it's better than nothing.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Be grateful for small favors.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
I always say, huh, there we are.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Uh you want to go back in the living room?
Speaker 3 (09:24):
No place to sit down here?
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Lead the way.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
It's really infuriating. I've got so much to do at home,
all that transplanting it well, I just couldn't do that
in the rain anyway. But but I could be sorting
the linen instead of being stuck here with this glendo heights. Person.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
You find it cold in here, A little kind of damp,
don't you think?
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Yes, it is damp.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
I have this versidis in my left arm, and dampness
always makes it worse.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
There's a fireplace, you think I gotta make a fire
in mind o, the people who live here, I don't
see why they mind.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
I'm always afraid of catching cold. Once I catch a cold,
I can't get rid of it. Just hangs on, hangs
on for weeks. It seems like.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Now there's a fascinating piece of information for you. She
gets cools that last for weeks. What do you know, boy?
I wish I was home. The golf clubs need cleaning
and polishing. It must be an ideal day for it.
Stand out my room, dear with like she's all right?
Stop picking? I know you know, shining light yourself.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
It doesn't seem to be any kindling, does there?
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Well?
Speaker 1 (10:37):
If you roll the paper up tight.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Enough, those logs look kind of green.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
I'm pretty good at making files.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
It really is damp in here. And if you've got versidad.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Where till I get the fire gone, it'll dry out.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
I don't think it's gonna work. Give it a minute,
it's gone out.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Yeah, you want me to try.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
You think you can do better?
Speaker 3 (10:59):
I guess not. Manly pride. They're all alike. Oh, they
can all make fires and hang pictures and fix cars.
Only when it comes right down to doing it, they can't.
So we'll just sit here and freeze and catch our desks.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Wonder what time it is?
Speaker 3 (11:21):
I don't have a watch. I took mine to be repaired.
I keep forgetting to pick it up.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
You can't tell the time of day by looking outside.
The blackest pitch out there, it.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Most certainly is pitch black.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Yeah, the blackest pitch pitch black. Where do we go
for me? Yeah? It looks like a long, dreary afternoon.
All right, pantadic cards and that she probably doesn't play cards.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Have you lived in Glendale Heights?
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Long little over Ere? I see, I'm in real estate.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Oh really, m things are kind of slow right now.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
I can imagine maybe they'll pick up though.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
My husband's a lawyer. Yes, he's a lawyer. It goes
that cat again. I wonder where it is.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
As long as it stays out of here, I don't
much care.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
But it sounds hungry, and I.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Think I'm allergic to cats.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
I suppose it's waiting for its owners to come home
and feed it.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
They probably stuck somewhere, same as we are. Probably why
if they got a TV set around here someplace.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
I hope that cat isn't trapped somewhere.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Do you see a TV.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
I'm gonna go look for that cat.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Radio, a little music, my help.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
There's nothing, absolutely nothing. I wonder what these people do
for amusement?
Speaker 2 (12:45):
What's the matter?
Speaker 3 (12:48):
Come here quick?
Speaker 1 (12:49):
What is it?
Speaker 3 (12:51):
Come here? I found the.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Cat meeting is at touching. Sometimes the touch.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Is so light that it is scarcely felt.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Sometimes the touch ignites something, something as mild as distaste, perhaps, or.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Something as strong as hatred.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
At times, the touch can kindle interest, sometimes attraction, sometimes
even love. Our return shortly with that two two people,
(13:38):
a man and a woman, have sought refuge from a
violent storm in a strange house. Two people with very
little to say to each other. A strange house, rather unkempt,
seemingly inhabited by a solitary cat, heard but as yet
not seen by either of the intruders. As our last
act ended, however, we heard, what's the matter?
Speaker 3 (14:01):
Come here?
Speaker 1 (14:03):
What is it?
Speaker 3 (14:04):
Come here? I found the cat?
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Where where is it?
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Up there?
Speaker 3 (14:12):
That's stay? See looking down at Yeah?
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Are you sure?
Speaker 3 (14:19):
What else could it be?
Speaker 1 (14:21):
It looks like it looks like a little white cloud.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
I'm sure of it. See there, it's hut and great.
I'm gonna go and get it some milk. I think
we left some.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
You want me to come with you?
Speaker 3 (14:35):
You stay here unless you're afraid to.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
I'm not afraid. What's that to be afraid of?
Speaker 3 (14:42):
And if there isn't any milk left, I'm going to
open that jar of ships.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
Stuck here with a lady who's cat? Crazy women and
cats they go together. Cat, what's with you? You're the
biggest cat I ever saw? Big and white?
Speaker 2 (14:59):
White?
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Does it white of than anything pure white? Or white?
You even got white eyes? Yeah? White eyes? Is that possible?
A thing like that? White eyes?
Speaker 3 (15:17):
It wasn't any milk left, so I just brought this shrimp.
I'll put the dish here at the foot of the stairs,
and if it's really hungry, it'll come down and get it.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
It doesn't strike you as kind of peculiar a house
that's only got cat food in it.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
Well, now that you mention it.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
I mean, what if we hadn't showed up here, or
would that cat have gone to the refrigerator and fed
herself or what? Well?
Speaker 3 (15:37):
I hardly think. Why doesn't it come down get the shrimp.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
I'm scared of us. Maybe let's move back a little.
We could just leave it somehow.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
For some reason, I don't want to do that. I
know I'll put the dish halfway up the stairs. How
would that be?
Speaker 2 (15:57):
What do I know about feeding cats?
Speaker 3 (16:02):
Would you know about anything?
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Crass?
Speaker 3 (16:04):
Stupid, terrible man. The second the rain stops, I'm gonna
get out of this house. Oh I hope my course starts.
If it doesn't, not, I suppose I can ask him
to drive me home. Oh well, it can't be helped.
It's an emergency, and maybe that'll do it.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Cat's still standing there, just looking just wait.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
Cats love shrimp.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Maybe not this one. Did you notice this one has
white eyes?
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Cats don't have white eyes. No cat has white eyes.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
This one does.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
Pale blue maybe not white.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
He's still standing there when it why she doesn't just well, she.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
Must smell it.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Let's leave him.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
What makes you think she's a male cat?
Speaker 2 (16:53):
What makes you think he's a female cat?
Speaker 3 (16:58):
I think she wants to shrimp brought up stairs too.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Don't't you think you've done enough?
Speaker 3 (17:02):
No, I don't.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Wait till my wife. Here's how I spent the afternoons.
She won't believe it. I broke into a spooky old
house to get out of the rain. And here's this
simple minded woman, and she and I spent the whole
time trying to get a big white cat to eat
some shrimp. That's what I did all afternoon, Sweetie, sue me,
but that's what I did.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Would you mind coming up here for a minute?
Speaker 1 (17:29):
What for?
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Just come upstairs for a minute, will you. I don't
even get the point.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Is there something wrong?
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Please come up here.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
I've never done this much for a cat in my life. Actually,
I've never had anything.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
To do with a cat before.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Now, what is it? What's up?
Speaker 3 (17:48):
Come with me?
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Where's the cat.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
In the bedroom?
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Well you think it's okay to go in there?
Speaker 3 (17:53):
I know what you're thinking. It's not nice to make
free with other people's houses.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Well, it's kind of pushy, don't you think, Yes.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
I do think so. But there's the cat.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Ah she did want to eat the shrimp up here.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
When I came upstairs, she led me right into this room.
She waited for me to open the door, so I did,
and I went in and she started to purr. And
I put the dish down by the window, and she
started eating right away, purring all the time.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Well, look, I guess we've done our duty by the cat.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
So don't go. Wait a minute. I want you to.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Look at something.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
Look out the window.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Okay, any window, any window.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
What do you see?
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Wow, that's beautiful.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
Have you ever seen such a garden?
Speaker 1 (18:59):
No?
Speaker 3 (19:01):
I never have such flowering trees.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Those little winding paths. I wonder where they go to.
It isn't raining, that's right, there's no rain. The thunders stopped.
But just a few seconds ago downstairs, I heard it.
I know I heard it.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
Look out there, the grass isn't wet, the flowers are
all standing up straight, the paths are dry. Now.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Look, that's not possible. I mean, there couldn't have been
a terrific storm in one part of a house, and
sunlight and roses and all those beautiful things in another
part that's just not possible.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
I know it isn't possible.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
It's unbelievable, but it's true.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
I have this funny feeling. I think it has something
to do with the cat.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
You mean the cat is some kind of a federal,
a magician or something. You mean some kind of a
magician in disguise.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
Maybe well, maybe not a magician, but uh, a spirit,
something unearthly. Don't laugh, I won't k something intangible, immaterial,
captured in a cat's body, something saintly promised. Not to laugh.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
I don't feel a bit like laughing.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
And whatever it is, it's not real, but it is real.
The storm, the rain, the thunder, the lightning, it all
stopped as soon as we came upstairs. You can't deny that.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
Look at the cat, she asleep, don't think so. Didn't
I tell you she has white eyes?
Speaker 3 (21:00):
She doesn't have white eyes. She's blind, blind, beautiful and blind.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Is that why she wouldn't come downstairs?
Speaker 3 (21:13):
Maybe? And also she doesn't have any claws. If she
had claws, she'd be able to feel her way down.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
So I guess she stays up here all the time.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Why wouldn't she.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
I would.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
If I could be lucky enough to live in this room,
I'd never leave.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
What makes it so wonderful?
Speaker 1 (21:36):
You think it's so different from the rooms downstairs, so clean,
so RESTful, but so exciting, don't you think so? Yes,
RESTful and exciting.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
That's about it. What it is is, Well, it's it's open,
it's free.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
I feel as though anything could happen here, as though
you could make anything happen. But everything is so nice
the way it is.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Why bother?
Speaker 3 (22:06):
Oh, what a perfect way to feel.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Everybody could feel this way. They wouldn't drink, or they
wouldn't take dope, but they wouldn't start.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
Waring, mean or spiteful to anybody.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
It just seems so easy here.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
I never want to leave, never.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
You know, you're very attractive. Me attractive, very.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
I'm just a middle aged subourban housewife.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
You're an attractive woman. Go look at yourself in that mirror?
Speaker 3 (22:38):
Are you serious?
Speaker 1 (22:39):
Go on?
Speaker 3 (22:41):
If you it seems so silly, but if you really are.
I look, it's not what I expect it at all.
I mean, it's it's me all right, but it's not
what I'm used to.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
There's a glow on your face. It looks really.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
You're not going to pretend. I don't see it too.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Don't pretend, because that's part of the magic here in
this room.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
I think you know you look different too. Come on,
look look at yourself. If you say so, oh, I
wish you would.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
I'm different.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
Somehow, younger, that's true. And you look vulnerable me, vulnerable
as though you could be hurt.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
I never thought of myself that way, not for a
long time, but now you do. I don't want to
be heard. I think it's terrible to be heard, only
it's worse to be somebody who can't be heard.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
I know just what you mean.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
You can get over being heard.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
I guess it might take a long time.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
But you could get over it.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
But to be what's the word invulnerable? Yes, well that's
to be dead really walking around talking?
Speaker 2 (23:59):
But really, you know what I'm talking something I have
to get used to.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
You know what I want to do? I don't know
why I want to do it.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Then what do you want to do?
Speaker 3 (24:14):
I want to take my shoes off. There's a weather.
I want to go on and lie down on that
big bed and go ahead and do it. I want
to lie down and and dream?
Speaker 1 (24:29):
What about oh.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
Things about love and kindness and what lies in back
of the stars, and how the sun warms everything, and
how it feels to stretch out and feel good.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Say, the bed hasn't been made up? Did you know that?
Speaker 3 (24:56):
Really? That's strange in it's neat, tidy room. Would they
straight in the bed?
Speaker 1 (25:01):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Linen sheet. A long time since I've seen linen sheet.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Look, I don't think you ought to disturb anything. I
don't know why I think that.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
I just I know what you mean. I won't touch
a thing up. I'll just lie down on the bed
the way it is.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
He doesn't want you to lie down on.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
The beds, but protecting it?
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Or how did you know what you were going to do?
She's blind, she couldn't have seen you.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
It must be true. She's she is a spirit, a specter.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
She ate the shrimp like a real lives cat.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
Then there's a spirit lodged in her. I don't know.
I don't ask me how why, But there's something here
we don't understand.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
There's plenty.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
I don't understand, plenty, like the way I feel about you.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
Be careful, be careful of what you say.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
No, I don't want to be careful anymore. That's what
this womb has done to me, the cat or whatever.
I love you.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
I was afraid you'd say that.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Why were you afraid? That's a terrible thing to say.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
But now I have to say something to you, Well,
please say it. I love you.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Was that so awful? But that's not what I felt
about you before.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
Downstairs, down there, I thought you were crude and insensitive.
I didn't like you at all.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Down there, I thought you were silly and dull, and
I hated the idea of spending an afternoon with you.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
Happened, What happened.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
What changed was that nice door. It was a door
that opened and shut.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
It's a door downstairs, front door.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
I'll bet is he I'm home?
Speaker 3 (26:52):
Is he? It's the owner, the owner of the house.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
He came home, busy girl.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
You are right? What do we do now?
Speaker 3 (27:00):
You know you'll be coming up here. I just know it.
You'll be coming up here.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
This is what a meeting can do, even a meeting
by chance, change attitudes, change feelings, facts, even lies. A
whole set of circumstances which had seemed so stable, so permanent,
so unalterable, can shift become something else, for no other
reason than two people have met and touched. We'll be
(27:43):
back soon with Act three. Quite fortuitously, two people have
met in a house strange to them, both driven there
to escape from a riotous rainstorm. Neither is, to the
(28:05):
other an ideal choice for such enforced companionship, until they
followed the plaintive mewings of a large, white blind cat
to the second story of the house, into a beautiful bedroom,
from whose windows they could see an exquisite garden bathed
in sunshine. Tranquility seemed to fill the room, and, to
(28:27):
their intense surprise, new feelings began to stir in their hearts.
I have to say it, I love you?
Speaker 3 (28:37):
Is that such an awful thing to say? Because I
love you?
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Downstairs? I thought you were silly, and though.
Speaker 3 (28:46):
I found your crude and sensitive, I didn't like you
at all.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
What happened? What change?
Speaker 3 (28:51):
Does A door just opened? Downstairs?
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Opened and shut front door? I bet it on home?
Speaker 3 (29:02):
Is he He's the owner of the house, the owner.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
Of the cat.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Busy girl, You are right?
Speaker 3 (29:08):
Who will we do now? He'll be coming up here?
Is coming up here?
Speaker 1 (29:16):
But we can't hide. There's no pop.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
I don't want him to find us here. He'll be angry,
he'll throw us out. You don't want to leave, not
when we've just found whatever it is we've just found.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
I forgot your food and my girl, I claim for god,
you must be hungry. I'll fetch you for you.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
He's going into the kitchen.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
What did you mean when you said what we found out?
Whatever it is?
Speaker 3 (29:42):
I don't know. It's just this feeling, this strange new feeling.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
You said you loved me?
Speaker 3 (29:49):
No I did, And you said you loved me?
Speaker 1 (29:50):
Did you mean it?
Speaker 3 (29:51):
Did you?
Speaker 1 (29:51):
I think I did? Didn't you?
Speaker 3 (29:53):
I think so?
Speaker 1 (29:55):
But maybe maybe what.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
Maybe I just felt what love was like? Does that
make any sense to you?
Speaker 1 (30:04):
No shrimp this time, But I've got side of ease
for you. I'm late, busy because.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
Of the storm.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
It was a terrible storm. What will he do to us?
Speaker 3 (30:11):
What we call the police?
Speaker 1 (30:15):
So my little sweet eyed come well, good afternoon, madam.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
Sir oh, I hope you'll forgive us.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
We can't explain how this happened. I imagine it was the storm. Yes,
it was the storm.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
My car went over a huge cuddle down the roadways
and it simply stopped. There was thunder lightning.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
It was certainly well. I stopped my car just outside
your house because I couldn't see a thing. The windshield
wipers might as well not have been working at all,
for all the good they didn't You weren't in the
same car, both of you. Well, no, actually we just
met here a little while ago.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
I was here first. Your front door was open. I'm
afraid I just walked in.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
How did you happen to get up here?
Speaker 3 (30:57):
It was the cat.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
Busy was that her name? That's what I call her.
Speaker 3 (31:01):
Well, she kept mewing and we didn't know where she was.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
She sounded hungry, but I was late getting here.
Speaker 3 (31:07):
I'm afraid. We drank most of the milk and the refrigerator.
So then we put that shrimp in a dish and
we left it at the foot.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Of the stairs, but you wouldn't come down.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
And then we put it halfway up the stairs, and
that didn't work either.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
Lizzie's blind, Yes.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
We found that out later. After I took the shrimp upstairs,
she sort of led me to the bedroom.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
And this is where she lives. Nobody could blame her
for that. I'd like to live here myself. Oh, I
mean downstairs, there was this terrible storm in a wind.
Speaker 3 (31:39):
And arble, thunder and lightning. Everything's different up here. If
you look out the window.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
I looked out the window.
Speaker 3 (31:47):
Well, then you know it's all sunlight and flowers, peaceful.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
This is sort of benign, if you know what I mean.
It's gentle like I do know.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
And the mirrors. If you look in the mirrors in
this room, you look.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Different somehow, younger, not so worried, not so harassed, you
know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (32:10):
Sure, But why should that be?
Speaker 1 (32:13):
Well, it's kind of a long story. Oh we'd love
to hear it, if you don't mind telling it. I'm
not sure you'll believe it. I'm not sure I believe it,
except that it's so.
Speaker 3 (32:23):
Please tell us.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
Willi's house used to belong to a couple. They bought
it when they got married almost one hundred years ago.
They were very happy. They loved the house and they
loved each other. That's a good beginning for happiness, wouldn't
you say. But then they became even happier when a
daughter was born to them, Elizabeth. They named a beautiful girl,
(32:46):
sweet girl. But she was blind blind, born blind blind from.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
Birth, terribly sad, Oh, it's not as.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
Sad as you might think. There was so much love,
the love for parents, for each other, and their love
for her. No, no, it wasn't sad. Unfortunate maybe, but
not really sad. Love can drive out sadness, provided there's
enough of it.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
I'm starting to think that that's true.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
What happened to all of them? Well, Elizabeth died, Oh no,
and her parents' hearts were broken.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
Of course.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
How old was she when she died?
Speaker 1 (33:27):
Getting on for thirty? Her father and mother went in
the morning. Not just for the year that's customary, but
for year after year after year. I knew them well,
and I saw them every day, and I worried about them.
They were getting older, they were getting feebler, they were
getting sad, or they were losing themselves and their grief,
and I couldn't stand to see it. For one day,
(33:50):
I brought them a cab. I rescued her from a
laboratory where they'd put out her eyes.
Speaker 3 (33:56):
Oh why why did they do that?
Speaker 1 (33:58):
Who knows? Some experiment they were conduct you to prove
something or other. Oh, and after they blinded her, they
were going to kill her, but I said, don't do that.
Give her to me, and they did, and you brought
her here to this house, to the old people. It
took to her right away, partly because she was blind,
I guess, like their.
Speaker 3 (34:17):
Daughter, and so at least they had something to love, they.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
Had something to share their love with. How long ago
was this? How long ago did they take the cat
to live with them? Twenty four years ago?
Speaker 3 (34:30):
She's that old.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
The cat is that old, probably older.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
I didn't know cats ever lived that long.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
Well, it's my idea. She'll live to be thirty.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
You mean as long as Elizabeth flew?
Speaker 1 (34:41):
That's what I mean. You don't mean. I mean, you
can't mean that the girl's spirit has come back in
a cat's body. Why not? What the god?
Speaker 2 (34:55):
Because wife, all such things are impossible?
Speaker 1 (34:57):
Why not? Why they're not?
Speaker 2 (35:00):
They're not real?
Speaker 1 (35:00):
The old people believed they were real. I believe they're real.
So they're real. Maybe not for other people. But other
people don't know everything that went on in this house,
and I do.
Speaker 3 (35:14):
But how does this happen that you know so much
about it?
Speaker 1 (35:17):
Well? I was in love with Elizabeth. I was going
to marry her, so I know, of course.
Speaker 3 (35:26):
Would you tell us one more thing?
Speaker 1 (35:28):
Whatever you want to know?
Speaker 3 (35:29):
Why does the cat live upstairs?
Speaker 1 (35:32):
Because the old people moved upstairs after I brought them
the cats, they lived in this room. I ran the errands,
I brought them their food, whatever they needed. And after
they died, the cat went on living here. I went
on dropping in twice a day to feet and make
sure she's all right. It's the least I can do.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
Don't you think there's one more thing I'd like to know,
if you don't mind out being so curious. I don't
mind the bed. It's not made up, And the rest
of the room is so beautiful and so neat and tidy.
Why isn't the bed made up?
Speaker 1 (36:05):
The old people died in that bed. They died there
with their arms around each other, and both of them
were smiling, and the cat was watching them from the
foot of the bed.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
When I wanted to lie down, just to take a
little rest, the cat wouldn't let me.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
She wants to keep it the way it was at
the time when the old people come back. Can't blame her,
can you.
Speaker 3 (36:30):
You mean she's really Elizabeth Elizabeth llamcarnate.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
I'm not saying she is. I'm saying she could be.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
Is that why you call her Lizzie.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
Her name is really Elizabeth. Her name isn't Elizabeth.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (36:44):
The old people called her Elysium.
Speaker 3 (36:48):
That's a strange name.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
Why they call her that? Elysium is the dwelling place
of happy souls after death. That's what they tried to
make out of this room, a happy place for their
dead child to live. And while they did that, they
made a happy place for themselves. It couldn't help. But
be that way, I don't suppose it's possible for anybody
(37:09):
to buy this plank's Oh no, no, no, no, it
belongs to the cat. You mean, if it's in the
will well, after the cat die, it comes to me.
But she isn't going to die for a long time.
Speaker 3 (37:23):
Tell me one more thing, will you, if it isn't
too painful? How did Elizabeth die?
Speaker 1 (37:31):
Why didn't I tell you? She broke her neck? Oh?
She fell downstairs and broke her neck.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
Oh that's why the cat has no claws, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
Yes, well, I think the worst of the store must
be over by Now. Let's go downstairs, shall we. I'll
drive you home. I don't think your car's dried out yet.
All right, take a couple hours of sunshine before it'll start.
Speaker 3 (38:11):
Remember all that sunshine back in that upstairs room.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
You can't take it with you, No you can't. You
haven't told me where you live.
Speaker 3 (38:21):
Oh, it's straight along this road. It's not far, I'll
tell you.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
When we've never introduced ourselves. Do you realize that?
Speaker 3 (38:31):
I don't think we should.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
You may be right.
Speaker 3 (38:35):
We said some pretty impetuous things to each other up
there in that room.
Speaker 1 (38:39):
I know we did things about love and all that
seems so natural up there to say those things, but
it isn't here.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
I wonder why we're the same people?
Speaker 3 (38:55):
Are we?
Speaker 1 (38:56):
Of course we are?
Speaker 3 (38:58):
And why don't we feel the same?
Speaker 1 (39:03):
I wouldn't know, I think.
Speaker 3 (39:05):
But in that upstairs room we were different because we
were using a different part of ourselves, the upper part,
you might say, the better part, Yes, the part that
reaches out and touches and doesn't hold back and protect
itself all the time.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
What happens to that part?
Speaker 3 (39:29):
It gets smothered somehow, strangled, it gets killed. Why don't
you let me up at the corner I can take
you to, you know, I really rather you wouldn't.
Speaker 2 (39:43):
Better to leave things the way they are?
Speaker 3 (39:46):
I think so? Oh, thank you, thank you for everything,
for what I don't know.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
I should thank you for what I don't know.
Speaker 3 (40:08):
Anyway, I'll never forget you. I I don't think I will.
Speaker 1 (40:19):
I'll never forget you, at least I hope I won't.
Is there a room some place where the heart expands
and accepts and is generous, where we cease to be
(40:42):
petty and irritable and sullen, where we stop being against
and start being for, where we can relax and enjoy
and stop resenting and envying. Every heart longs for such
a room, and for fleet moments each heart finds it.
(41:03):
Does it really exist? I don't know, do you? I'll
be back shortly. Suppose such a room does exist, how
do we find and keep it? Does it have an address?
(41:27):
Does anyone live there all the time? Even a cat,
a cat who is really a ghost waiting for other ghosts?
Speaker 2 (41:36):
Or is the room within the human heart?
Speaker 1 (41:40):
Is it a room that has been closed off, locked, shuttered?
Is it possible we can open the room, unlock its door,
and fling wide its shutters. If it is possible, then
only love can do it. Now, For that much, I'm
sure our cast included Marion Soldi's Mandel Kramer and Bobby Reddick.
(42:05):
The entire production was under the direction of Hyman Brown.
And now a preview of our next tale, Marie, I'm
afraid sleep. That's when it creeps over me like a
black fog, and in it I see, I see those terrible.
Speaker 3 (42:26):
Things and they're in Buenos Aires.
Speaker 2 (42:30):
What do you know about Buenos Aires?
Speaker 3 (42:32):
I know that your deep anxiety comes from there, from
something that happened there that drove you to the United States.
Speaker 1 (42:37):
You you know.
Speaker 3 (42:40):
Something God knows, God knows Henry. You have no choice
but to pray to God.
Speaker 1 (42:49):
Whatever you did. No, No, I cannot pray. Prayer sticks
in my throat.
Speaker 3 (42:56):
Then you know what can happen?
Speaker 1 (42:59):
Something with and I'll become mad. I want to die.
Radio Mystery Theater was sponsored in part by General Electric,
Citizen Band Radios, and True Value Hardware stores. Missus E. G.
Marshall inviting you to return to our Mystery Theater for
(43:19):
another adventure in the macabre. Until next time, pleasant dream.
Speaker 3 (43:52):
Hey, that's a neat rifle.
Speaker 1 (43:53):
Let me see it, can't All the farms are locked up,
locked up, Yeah, and all the ammunitions locked away, and
Dad's no one touches those firearms unless he's here.
Speaker 3 (44:02):
Oh that dumb It is not the only thing dumb
about firearms safety is people who don't play it safe. Yeah,
who said my dad in the National Rightful Association.
Speaker 1 (44:12):
Well,
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Law & Order: Criminal Justice System - Season 1 & Season 2
Season Two Out Now! Law & Order: Criminal Justice System tells the real stories behind the landmark cases that have shaped how the most dangerous and influential criminals in America are prosecuted. In its second season, the series tackles the threat of terrorism in the United States. From the rise of extremist political groups in the 60s to domestic lone wolves in the modern day, we explore how organizations like the FBI and Joint Terrorism Take Force have evolved to fight back against a multitude of terrorist threats.