01. Time Enough At Last

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:11):
There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known
to man. It is a dimension as vast as space
and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground
between light and shadow, and it lies between the pit
of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This
is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which

(00:32):
we call the twilight zone.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
Good morning, mister Bemis.

Speaker 3 (00:53):
Oh hello, Cheryl. How are you today? Fine? Just fine?
You're on time? I see I was getting worried.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
Were you I thought you'd be here already.

Speaker 3 (01:03):
Well, normally I would be before, mister cars don't notice
it had a bit of a delay though. What happened? Well,
I decided to stop by the library on the way
a few books, you know, to return. But they've changed
the hours they have, Yes, do you believe it? Opening later,
closing early. It's getting harder and harder to check out

(01:25):
a book scarcely any time at all.

Speaker 2 (01:28):
Well, don't they have a slough or something for returns?

Speaker 3 (01:30):
Oh? They do, they do. But what if you're interested,
let's say, in scanning the morning paper without having to
purchase a copy, or a student trying to finish the
last minute assignment, and those who work during business hours,
who won't be able to use the library now the
right to read is slipping away, and no one seems
to care. Jake comes, get ready as ready as I'll

(01:53):
ever be.

Speaker 4 (01:53):
Morning, mister Carsville, Morning, Miss Anderson, be miss good morning, sir.
You decided to join.

Speaker 3 (02:01):
Us, better late than ever.

Speaker 5 (02:03):
I always say, seven minutes to go.

Speaker 4 (02:05):
Let's open the bank on time today, shall we?

Speaker 3 (02:08):
Yes, Sir Scrooge, What the boss in a Christmas carol? Doesn't,
mister Carsville, remind you of the least bit of Ebenezer Screwge.
I don't think i've read it really well? You should.
You should all of Dickens Christmas stories. As a matter
of fact, they serve as a fine introduction to his

(02:29):
novels Nicholas Nickleby Oliver.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
Time to open the front door, mister Bemis. They're lining
up out front.

Speaker 3 (02:35):
Yes, yes, of course, Thank you, mister Williams. Thanks Cheryl,
you've been very helpful. Have a nice day, marvelous. Yes indeed,
well hello, missus Chesters. Nice to see you.

Speaker 6 (03:01):
Is this window open or not?

Speaker 7 (03:03):
What?

Speaker 3 (03:04):
Oh? Of course it is. Sorry, I'd like to make
a withdrawal, certainly for how much.

Speaker 6 (03:10):
There's the slip right in front of you. Can't you see?

Speaker 3 (03:13):
Yes? I see it now, missus Chesters. Have you ever
read David Copperfield? How's that wonderful book? Here's this poor
little fellow whose father has passed on and his mother
has remarried a miserable man named Murdstone. Can you believe
that name? And Murdstone has this sister Jane.

Speaker 6 (03:34):
And mister beamis you shortchanged me again?

Speaker 3 (03:37):
I did?

Speaker 8 (03:38):
Oh my, you owe me one more dollar.

Speaker 6 (03:40):
There's only twenty four here, I should have twenty five.

Speaker 3 (03:45):
Quite right, quite right, I'm truly sorry, missus Chesters. I
thought there were five ones here you are now. Then
there's another character in the book named Micawber. Mister Micawber,
he's always being taken off to debtors prison.

Speaker 8 (04:00):
You read too much.

Speaker 3 (04:01):
There's a wonderful woman in it too, named Peggotty. She's
David's nurse. And this is a bank.

Speaker 6 (04:07):
If I wanted to know about books, i'd go to
a library.

Speaker 3 (04:11):
Well, you see, the library's hardly open anymore, so I'm
afraid you'd find that.

Speaker 5 (04:15):
You were mister Beamish.

Speaker 3 (04:17):
Yes, mister Carsville.

Speaker 5 (04:19):
I wonder if I might see you in my office now.

Speaker 1 (04:23):
Bemis the time is the day after tomorrow. The place
is anywhere, so long as it can accommodate a bank,
a main street, and a library, along with a myopic
little man with coke bottled glasses named Henry Beamas. The

(04:44):
gentleman in question has only one passion in life, and
that is to read. Mister Henry Beamas conspired against by
browbeaters and henpeckers, and by clocks whose hands waggled disapprovingly
and always disallowed the moments he'd prefer to spend on
his favorite pastime. Today, however, mister Beamis will finally have

(05:04):
his chance to read anything and everything in a world
much different from the one he knows now, a world
without bank presidents, a world, for that matter, without anyone
at all, located in a place called the Twilight Zone.

Speaker 9 (05:28):
And now the Twilight Zone, and our story time enough
at last, starring Tim Kazarinsky, with Stacy Keach as your narrator.

Speaker 5 (05:44):
Did you hear what I said, Bemis?

Speaker 3 (05:46):
Why? Certainly, mister Carsville, I don't suppose you've ever read
David Copperfield.

Speaker 4 (05:52):
Have you, no, mister Beamis, I have not. Now if
you'll be good enough to accompany me now Bemis, Yes, sir,
I shall come to the point of this interview.

Speaker 5 (06:07):
I shall arrive in the following manner.

Speaker 4 (06:10):
What constitutes an efficient member of this organization?

Speaker 3 (06:14):
Viz.

Speaker 5 (06:15):
A bank teller who knows his job and performs it.

Speaker 10 (06:19):
I e.

Speaker 4 (06:19):
An organization man who functions within an organization.

Speaker 3 (06:24):
An outstanding book What the Organization Man? By William H. White.
I read it on a number of years ago.

Speaker 4 (06:32):
Mister Beamis, I'm attempting to point out that you do
not function well within the organization. You are neither an
efficient bank teller nor a proficient employee.

Speaker 5 (06:44):
Instead, Bemis, you are a reader.

Speaker 4 (06:49):
So I am a reader of books, of magazines, periodicals, newspapers, pamphlets, brochures, catalogs, advertisements,
tracks and.

Speaker 3 (06:59):
Chat books and roadsides and instruction manuals. Oh, all sorts
of things. Huh, whatever I can lay my hands.

Speaker 5 (07:06):
On, ad infinitum. That's precisely my point.

Speaker 4 (07:10):
When you're waiting on customers, you have an open book
in your lap, don't deny it.

Speaker 5 (07:16):
When you're balancing the.

Speaker 4 (07:17):
Daily talally sheets, one eye is on a printed page.
I see you going into the vault downstairs during your
lunch hour.

Speaker 3 (07:25):
Book in hair Well, Sir, with all due respect, it
was my understanding that when I'm off the clock, my
time is my own. In a manner of speaking.

Speaker 1 (07:34):
Indeed, it is a very important point.

Speaker 5 (07:37):
Do you know how I became the man.

Speaker 4 (07:40):
I am be?

Speaker 3 (07:40):
Miss let me see, No, no, I don't.

Speaker 5 (07:45):
I was a teller once myself hard to believe.

Speaker 4 (07:48):
I know a good teller, I'm proud to say, became
what I am today because.

Speaker 5 (07:53):
I spent my lunch hour in the following manner.

Speaker 4 (07:56):
Five minutes for a sandwich, two minutes milk, then fifty
two minutes spent studying.

Speaker 5 (08:04):
And do you know what I studied, Bemis? I can't
say that I do finance and banking?

Speaker 3 (08:10):
Is that so on your lunch hour?

Speaker 4 (08:13):
My mind, I practiced adding up figures, subtracting, dividing, compounding interest.
And after twenty one years passing through the ranks.

Speaker 1 (08:24):
Do you know how I wound up?

Speaker 4 (08:25):
Well, I wound up as president of the bank.

Speaker 3 (08:30):
So you did.

Speaker 4 (08:32):
Ultimatum, mister Bemis, you will henceforth to vote your time
to your job, and that means forget about reading, or
you'll find yourself outdoors on a park bench reading from
morning to night for want.

Speaker 3 (08:46):
Of a job.

Speaker 8 (08:47):
Do I make myself perfectly clear.

Speaker 3 (08:50):
Oh, yes, quite good, it's just that, just that, what bemus?

Speaker 5 (08:55):
Make it quick and then get back to your teller's cage.

Speaker 3 (08:58):
It's well, my, what about your wife? I think she's
taken up yoga and now see here she must have
or some similar form of self denial. And now she
expects me to live by the same philosophy.

Speaker 1 (09:14):
What philosophy?

Speaker 3 (09:16):
No bookcases, no magazines on the table, nothing at all.
You see, she doesn't allow me to read it home.
Oh though, nope, not on the premises. When I come
home at night and pick up the evening paper, she
yanks it out of my hand before I have a
chance to open it. And then after dinner, when I
try to look at a magazine to relax, you understand,

(09:37):
she's already hidden them away somewhere. It's gotten so bad
that I find myself reading the labels on condiment bottles
at the dinner table. Now she won't even let me
use cats up, Una asked. Let me give you my
reaction to all this. Oh, please please.

Speaker 4 (09:56):
Your wife sounds like an amazingly bright woman, Helen.

Speaker 3 (10:01):
Well, she is intelligent, but.

Speaker 5 (10:03):
To see the problem and zero in.

Speaker 3 (10:05):
On it like that problem.

Speaker 4 (10:08):
You say, your compulsive reading, your addiction to printed words
in any form.

Speaker 3 (10:14):
Mmm, do you really think it's an addiction?

Speaker 5 (10:17):
What else would you call it?

Speaker 4 (10:19):
You've obviously been suffering from it for years, or you
wouldn't need such powerful glasses.

Speaker 3 (10:23):
Well, now that you mention it, I did read a
lot as a boy, you know. I used to keep
a flashlight under the covers so I could stay up
late and finish your book. I remember, and.

Speaker 4 (10:33):
I remember last November you spent the better part of
your days reading campaign buttons on the lapels of customers.
You'll recall, mister Venus, one particular young woman who took
considerable offense.

Speaker 5 (10:47):
She tried to hit you with an umbrella for staring
at her chest.

Speaker 3 (10:51):
I remember that too, mister Carsbill. She never gave me
a chance to explain. I only wanted to see who
she was voting for. Indeed, good day, mister Bemis, Good day,
mister Carsville. What are you doing now?

Speaker 10 (11:09):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (11:09):
I was just reading the plaque on your wall. I
see you graduated from let's see now stocks down, more
weapons testing, new bomb under development, an even bigger one.
Now that's something to think about.

Speaker 11 (11:30):
Henri, Yes, dear.

Speaker 3 (11:33):
I'm in the living room. Do you want more coffee
or don't you?

Speaker 11 (11:37):
No?

Speaker 3 (11:38):
Thank you, dear, Well.

Speaker 12 (11:38):
Then tell me that, but don't sneak off so that
you can bury yourself in newsprint.

Speaker 3 (11:43):
Sorry, I was only checking the headlines.

Speaker 12 (11:46):
I think we've gone over this quite enough, Henry. I
won't countenance a husband of mine sacrificing the art of
conversation to.

Speaker 8 (11:54):
All right, what's so funny?

Speaker 3 (11:57):
Nothing, dear, go on out with it. Oh, it's just
the way you worded that, a husband of yours. How
many husbands have you had? I thought I was the only.

Speaker 12 (12:07):
One I would appreciate. You're not rubbing it in, Oh, Helen,
then was a joke. Go into the other room and
change your shirt.

Speaker 3 (12:14):
Now, there's nothing wrong with this shirt. It's the same
one I put on this morning. You ironed it yourself.

Speaker 8 (12:20):
We are playing cards tonight. I want you to look
fresh cards. That's right, cards. We're going over to the Phillipses.
Oh we are well, Henry. Any objections, No, dear, I
must have forgotten.

Speaker 3 (12:35):
What time are we do there?

Speaker 12 (12:36):
In about fifteen minutes. That's why I want you to
change your shirt. Try to look at least remotely respectable.
I'll be ready, dear, fifteen minutes, Henry.

Speaker 3 (12:47):
Ah, just enough time for a short read. Now where
did I hide it? Ah? In this draw? That's right?
Perhaps I can bring it along one more thing, Yes,
dear Henry, I was just getting ready.

Speaker 8 (13:04):
What have you got there? Got under your coat?

Speaker 11 (13:08):
Why?

Speaker 3 (13:08):
Nothing?

Speaker 13 (13:09):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (13:09):
Then what's this? Ooh? That's odd? Well, now that got
in there?

Speaker 8 (13:14):
I could only hazard a guess A handbook of modern poetry, yours, Henry?

Speaker 3 (13:19):
Well?

Speaker 8 (13:20):
Actually, would you like to read me some you mean aloud?

Speaker 3 (13:25):
From the book?

Speaker 8 (13:26):
Don't you want to?

Speaker 3 (13:28):
Like, Helen? I'd be delighted. This particular volume has some
lovely things in it, really quite lovely. One or two
from Edna Son, Vincent Malay and Robert Frost. Let me
see Carl Sandberg, William Carlos, Williams, Archibald McLeish, Kenneth patche
And go ahead. I can't, Helen. Look, someone's made marks

(13:55):
on every page with one of those thick black pens.
Who could do such a thing?

Speaker 8 (14:01):
Who do you think did it? Henry? You don't mean
you should thank me a grown man who reads silly,
ridiculous doggerel.

Speaker 3 (14:10):
It isn't doggerel. There was some beautiful poems in here.

Speaker 8 (14:13):
I say it's doggerel. I also say it's a waste
of time.

Speaker 3 (14:18):
Helen, Please, no, please, don't tear the pages out.

Speaker 8 (14:23):
Oh careful, Henry. You dropped your glasses. Just think Without them,
you wouldn't be able to read any of this.

Speaker 3 (14:35):
Watch how you step on them?

Speaker 8 (14:37):
I might accidentally, and then where would you be? You
couldn't see a thing. Of course, then you wouldn't be
able to play cards or go to work either. And
we can't have that, can we, Henry?

Speaker 3 (14:56):
Why Helen? Why do you do such things for twenty years?

Speaker 8 (15:00):
Because I'm married a fool.

Speaker 3 (15:03):
There'll come a time, Helen. They'll come a.

Speaker 8 (15:05):
Moment when, when what Henry?

Speaker 3 (15:08):
When you'll be paid back for such indignities and cruelties
and miseries.

Speaker 12 (15:13):
You'll see where are you going, Henry to change your shirt?

Speaker 3 (15:18):
I'm going to bed, Helen. There's one thing you didn't
count on. I've learned these poems by heart, and you
know what I'm going to do. I'm gonna say them
to myself aloud and listen to the music of those
beautiful words. Because you can't vandalize what's in my mind.
You can't climb in there and scratch out and tear
up and destroy such magnificent language. No one can.

Speaker 6 (15:41):
Henry, Henry, I'm speaking to you.

Speaker 3 (15:54):
Ninety ninety five one hundred. Thank you, mister Miller, Thank you,
mister Beamus. Always a pleasure.

Speaker 10 (16:02):
Good.

Speaker 7 (16:02):
I'd like to put this in my checking account, of.

Speaker 3 (16:05):
Course, if you'll kindly fill out a deposit slip.

Speaker 7 (16:08):
Okay, I'll step aside.

Speaker 3 (16:09):
Oh, take your time. There's no one else in line
at the moment.

Speaker 4 (16:14):
A constant remembrance that at a bank like a political
office and a public trust. Blah blah blah, something about a.

Speaker 3 (16:22):
Sense of loyalty and devotion to duty.

Speaker 4 (16:25):
These uh, these are the things that make a bank great.
They are of the essence or some such. With them,
an institution like ours will remain.

Speaker 3 (16:36):
Strong, everything all right in their share, I think. So
what's he up to, mister Carrsvill. He's dictating a speech for.

Speaker 2 (16:45):
The banker's meeting next Thursday. Then he wanted me to
bring him the quarterly report.

Speaker 3 (16:49):
Isn't that something?

Speaker 2 (16:50):
Well, he needs to know the figures, deposits and holdings.

Speaker 3 (16:53):
Dictating, you say.

Speaker 2 (16:55):
His secretary will type it up and correct it, fix
the grammar.

Speaker 3 (16:58):
Why well, she does that for him, it's her job.
But why can't he write it out himself? The speech
I mean is the English language, that mysterious written English.
It's really very simple. You gather your thoughts and put
them down on paper. They are only words, after all,
words that begin his feelings and become thoughts and then

(17:18):
are turned into sentences. I never thought of it that way.
Do you see my point? It's the most basic process
of the human mind, assuming one has at least an
elementary vocabulary.

Speaker 2 (17:29):
Maybe it's a matter of time. He must have a
lot to do running the bank, and all time.

Speaker 3 (17:34):
Yes, time that I can understand completely. It's a matter
of fitting it into your schedule. But if you want
to badly enough, you'll find a way. Take reading, for example,
I wouldn't trade it for anything. A doorway, as it were,
a privileged entry into another mind, a chance to see
the world through someone else's eyes. Here's my deposits. Look

(17:55):
you're oh, yes, thank you, sir, And here's your receipt.

Speaker 7 (18:00):
I see you next week, mister Bemis.

Speaker 3 (18:01):
Oh, I'm sure you will. I'll be here where else
could I be? It's almost time for lunch, is it? Already.

Speaker 2 (18:11):
I was just wondering, Yes, would you like to join us?

Speaker 3 (18:14):
Pardon?

Speaker 2 (18:15):
Well, some of us are going down the street to
that new restaurant. They say it's really nice.

Speaker 3 (18:19):
Is that what they say?

Speaker 2 (18:20):
Why don't you come along unless you have something else
to do?

Speaker 3 (18:24):
Well, that's very kind of you, Cheryl, very very kind.
But as a matter of fact, there is something I
have to finish. I understand. Good. That's good because you
see I love Joyce.

Speaker 2 (18:33):
Oh does she work near here?

Speaker 3 (18:36):
Oh? Heavens no. That's funny, Cheryl, really very funny. I
didn't know you had such a sense of humor. I mean,
James Joyce, I see, do you? James Joyce the writer?
Have you read Dubliners? It's the most marvelous book. One
piece in particular, The Dead is perhaps the finest story
I've ever read. I'm rereading it now for the first

(18:58):
time in years. Few pages to go. With any luck,
I can finish it on my lunch break. The ending
is quite moving, as I recall. Transcendent is the word
I'm looking for. Yes, I'll be happy to loan it
to you. If you lie here. We are peace and

(19:22):
quiet at last. It just isn't any place quieter than
the vault of a bank. All I have to do
is pull the door closed and voila my own private
lunch room and reading room. Now, let me see what's
for lunch today? Sandwich? Apple, something to drink? What more

(19:43):
does a man need? A jug of wine, a book
of Verse, well, thermos of coffee at least morning paper
and my book? Where was I? A scene at the
Christmas party a house in Dublin. It's snowing, and oh
I better check the time, twelve seventeen by my watch,

(20:06):
exactly forty three minutes to finish the dead. After a
quick scan of the front page of the picture, new
bomb would mean total destruction, says scientists. Oh my, here's
hoping they never have to use it. What in the
world that sound?

Speaker 8 (20:24):
What is it?

Speaker 4 (20:25):
Is?

Speaker 3 (20:25):
Something outside the market?

Speaker 1 (20:30):
Watch?

Speaker 3 (20:31):
The crystal's broken?

Speaker 11 (20:33):
Now the lights have gone off? Hello, hello upstairs?

Speaker 3 (20:45):
Is everything all right?

Speaker 11 (20:53):
It's all smash ruin the money everywhere?

Speaker 3 (20:58):
Wait you look at the ladies, mister Carsville.

Speaker 4 (21:07):
A consens remembrance that at a bank like a political
office in public trust.

Speaker 3 (21:14):
Are you in here?

Speaker 10 (21:15):
Sir?

Speaker 3 (21:15):
What matters is a sense of loyalty and devotion to
duty mister Carsville.

Speaker 4 (21:22):
So in conclusion, et cetera, et cetera, that's my speech
for the Thursday night bank with Miss Jackson with revisions.

Speaker 5 (21:29):
Would you type that up in triplicate, Type that up
in triplicate. Type that up in triplicate.

Speaker 11 (21:34):
Type that up in triplicate.

Speaker 3 (21:35):
For that's only the dictation recorder. Mister Carr's Moll's phone.
I suppose it's still wors no dial tone, nothing, Helen, Helen.
The inside of the phone is burned to a crisp,
as if it melted. What's happened here? Well, there's no

(21:59):
longer any window, a wall, just a huge hole. Cheryl, Cheryl,
my friend. You were my friend, weren't you my only friend?
Now you're gone too. It's all gone. His block, the

(22:23):
entire city. It's nothing but rubble as far as the
eye can see. I like the nightmare, That's all it is.
I fell asleep downstairs, and I'm dreaming. I'll wake up
any minute and have a good laugh any minute now.
As if this were the last car, the last one
on the street that hasn't burned, It's impossible.

Speaker 10 (22:47):
It isn't, really, it can't be. It feels real enough.
It certainly does.

Speaker 3 (22:53):
I wonder if it still runs? Can I get home?
See if Helen's alive. Someone's left the key in the ignition.
Now I know I'm dreaming. Come on, come on, now,
what's the use nowhere to drive? The street's impossible, nothing

(23:14):
but one enormous crater it looks like beyond the park. Hello, Hello,
is anybody there, anybody at all? I can't be the
only one left.

Speaker 10 (23:27):
Can I? They're all dead, they must be. Everybody's dead
except me. I'm all right? Why am I all right?

Speaker 3 (23:41):
I was right in the middle of the vault. I
was in the vault. The walls are eighteen inches thick
down there.

Speaker 10 (23:50):
That's why I'm alive, because I was down inside the
volt The thing of it is, though the thing of
it isn't. I'm not no sure.

Speaker 3 (23:58):
I want to be alive, to be totally alone.

Speaker 10 (24:02):
They didn't.

Speaker 3 (24:03):
They actually didn't. Some damn fool.

Speaker 10 (24:06):
Use at the bomb after all, And now look look
at what they've done.

Speaker 3 (24:14):
Somebody, anybody, please help me. I am born. Whether I

(24:41):
shall turn out to be the hero of my own life,
or whether that station will be held by anybody else,
these pages must show to begin my life with the
beginning of my life after the Great Conflagration. My name

(25:10):
is Henry Bemis, and this is my journal. I'm not
a writer, but someone must do this to leave a
record for the future, if there is a future. So

(25:31):
it falls on me to set down what I have
seen Day two. As far as I can tell, the
city is without life. After sleeping through the night in

(25:53):
an abandoned furniture store, I awoke and went in search
of food. The markets in the area are fully stuffed.
The canned goods appear to be undamaged. Beaches always did

(26:19):
like beaches. Good meal, very good soup, beef, stew, vegetables
and dessert, A well rounded menu. If I do say so,
something from each of the food groups, well almost. That
leaves approximately nine hundred cans in this market alone. At
least I won't starve to death. It'll last for a

(26:41):
few years all the food one man can eat. And
then some have to remember to carry a can opener.
And now what go down the street to the Beijuer theater.
See what's planned? Well, of course they're dark today, no electricity.
How about how about an hour after dinner's cigar? What

(27:02):
a splendid idea is that a tobacco shop across the street.
I was happy to find a newsstand on the corner.
By some miracle, not all of it had burned or

(27:22):
blown away. There was one copy of The New York Times,
all the news that's fit to print. I realized then
that there would never be another edition, only the same headlines,

(27:43):
the same editorials, even the same comics. But after I
read it and re read it, I still have a
few magazines. I decided to remember this place for the time.
I thought I'd explore the neighborhood because it was my

(28:06):
neighborhood now, all of it. From this day forward, I'd
have it to myself. There was a candy shop, a
stationery store, a dry cleaner, sporting goods. For some reason,
that one caught my eye. Besides, I had to sit

(28:29):
down somewhere and rest. The worst thing. The worst thing
was being alone, utterly, completely alone. And this was the
way it would always be from now on, just walking

(28:50):
and sitting, eating and smoking and reading the same newspaper
over and over. A game, but for now I needed
a flashlight and some candles or a lantern for tonight.
There were tennis rackets, rods, and reels. I could always

(29:14):
go fishing if there were any more fish. The gun
department never used a gun in my life, wouldn't know
how to. I suppose I could learn for self protection,
but against whom or target practice that might fill some time.

(29:39):
I had my pick Remington, Winchester Marlin, or a pistol, yes,
why not a revolver like a cowboy in a Zane
Gray novel. It felt strangely heavy, but balanced, as if

(30:05):
it belonged in my hand. Without thinking, I began to
load it, and then something came over me, settling on
my shoulders like a great weight. The sadness of it,

(30:27):
all the pity, the loneliness, and the sheer utter waiste.
I thought, what does it matter now? What does it matter?
Who will know, who will care? It doesn't matter one bit.

(30:55):
So I raised the gun and looked at it. How
well made it was, finally machined, polished to upright silver shine,
and so carefully balanced. The way it rested in my hand.

(31:20):
It doesn't make any difference. It doesn't make a bit
of difference. This is this is perfectly all right. I mean,
this is solitude. I should be grateful I've never had
much of that. I've got I've got things to occupy
my time. I've got enough food.

Speaker 10 (31:37):
I'm really, I'm really extremely fortunate. If it weren't for
the loneliness, the sameness, if there were just something else, someone,
I'm sure I could be forgiven.

Speaker 3 (31:51):
For this, the way things are now, I put it
to my head and caught the hammer.

Speaker 10 (32:04):
If there isn't God, surely I'll be forgiven.

Speaker 3 (32:09):
And then I saw it. Wait, what's that? I could
see the entire next block through the hole in the wall,
and there there it was. I adjusted my glasses and

(32:33):
read the sign from here public Library. Yes, oh yes,
I forgot all about it. But you're still here, aren't you,
my greatest friend, you who have never failed me. Not burned,

(32:58):
not burned at all. The whole interior is untouched. There
are thousands of books here, tens of thousands, oh, waiting
to be read. Collected works of Shakespeare, complete works of Dickens,
collected plays of George Bernard Shaw, poems of Brownie Shelley Keats,

(33:21):
great dramas of the world, books.

Speaker 13 (33:23):
All the books I need, all the books I want
or have ever wanted, poetry, fiction, history, It's all here.

Speaker 3 (33:40):
And now my journal ends because I have things to do.
It doesn't matter whether I write it down or not.
All I have thought and felt has already been said
by the great writers, the poets, and philosophers, the historians
of times past. I know that nothing is new, nothing

(34:04):
is ever lost. So long as there are books in
the midst of this catastrophe, I have been reborn. Now.
This pilot is January, and that one over there February
March April May this year, next year, the year after

(34:25):
the year after that without and ha ha ha. I
think I'll begin with biographies, then short story collections, and
move into the great novels. I'll vary them by subject
matter science fiction in the spring Wells and Asimov, Bradbury
and Clark, Sturgeon and Lewyn and Philip K.

Speaker 1 (34:45):
Dick.

Speaker 3 (34:45):
Then for the heat of summer Tolstoy and his Russian Winter,
and Dostoyevski and Tchekhov, Gorky and Pasternak. And then in
the fall mysteries mister Hammont and mister Chandler, John D.
McDonald and Russ McDonald and all those hard boiled fellows.
And when winter sets in some who dunn it's for
the long nights. I got the Christie and Patricia Heismith

(35:08):
and Sue Grafton. And the best part, the very best part,
is that there's time now. There's all the time I need,
all the time I want. There's time enough at last.
Where to start? What a foolish concern. I believe it
was childs Fort who said, when measuring a circle begin anywhere?

(35:31):
I feel like a kid in a candy store. So
many wonders laid out before me, all of them indescribably delicious.

Speaker 10 (35:40):
My glasses where they're broken, completely shattered. I'll never be
able to put them together again. Oh, oh, it isn't fair.
It isn't fair at all. There was time now, there

(36:00):
was finally time, plenty of time, all the time.

Speaker 3 (36:05):
In the world. It isn't fair. It isn't fair. No,
it isn't fair.

Speaker 1 (36:25):
The best laid plans of mice and men, and mister Bemis,
the small man in the thick glasses, who asked very
little of life, who wanted nothing but time to read,
only a moment out of an eon of moments, a
mere instant out of eternity for himself. Henry Beamos, now

(36:45):
just part of the landscape, smashed beyond all recognition, just
another piece of rubble, a fragment of what man has
deeded to himself in the Twilight Zone.

Speaker 9 (37:02):
More from the Twilight Zone.

Speaker 1 (37:03):
After this, you are about to enter another dimension, a
dimension not only of sight and sound, but of mind,
a journey into a wondrous land of imagination. Next stop
the Twilight Zone. Hi, this is Stacy Keach. I'd like
to take a moment to tell you about our Twilight
Zone website at twilight Zone Radio dot com. At twilight

(37:24):
Zone Radio dot com you'll find the latest information on
these Twilight Zone radio dramas, including behind the scenes photographs,
plus the newest product releases, trivia contests, ways to contact us,
other Twilight Zone related info and merchandise, plus links to
other fascinating websites. So make your next stop twilight Zone
Radio dot com.

Speaker 7 (37:45):
Visit twilight Zone Radio dot com to purchase these Twilight
Zone radio dramas on cassette and CD, or call toll
free one eight six six nine eight nine Zone. That's
one eight six six nine eight nine nine six six three.

Speaker 1 (38:10):
Time Enough at Last.

Speaker 9 (38:11):
Starring Tim Kazarinsky with Stacy Keach as your narrator, was
adapted for radio by Dennis Etchison and based on a
script by Rod Serling from a story by Lynn Vennable.
Heard in the cast were Meg Falcon, Christian Stolty, Deb Doetzer,
Karla Mauri, Vince Amari, and Vince Jerasoli. To learn more
about the Twilight Zone Radio dramas and to obtain audio

(38:34):
cassettes and CDs of these programs, visit our website at
twilight Zone Radio dot com. The producers of the Twilight
Zone wish to thank CBS Enterprises, Carol Serling, Dennis Etchison,
Dick Bresha Associates, Claire Simon Casting, Terry Jennings, Exim Satellite Radio,
Sirius Satellite Radio, our sponsors, and our radio affiliates for

(38:56):
helping make this series possible. This copyrighted Radio Sea series
is produced and directed by Carl Lamari and Roger Wolsky
for Falcon Picture Group, Doug James Peaking,