Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
The journey into the realm of the strait and tell
a bi.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I hope you will enjoy the chap, that it will
till you a little and kill you a little. So
settle back, get a good grip on your nerve. Where
are we going? You'll find out when we get there.
(00:32):
The CBS Radio Mystery Theater Presents come in. Welcome. I'm
(00:56):
a g marshall. What you is death when the heart
stops beating, the second to brain ceases to function, the
end of the will to live? Or is it the
privilege of human nature and life without it not worth
our taking? Whatever your definition, religious, clinical, psychological, or poetic,
(01:24):
no one is a total answer, nor do we expect
to answer it. Here only to tell the story of
one individual death. I don't know how you put up
with a Lane all these years? Are Oh? I guess dan.
I never knew how to go about getting rid of her.
Too bad she didn't ask me. In the old days,
(01:45):
when I had connections, I could have had her taken
out for you just like that. Hey, what are you saying?
I didn't mean get rid of her like that? Why not?
She's put you through the mill for years? Take take take, Hey,
I had killed a while ago. Our mystery drama one
(02:15):
thousand and first Door was written especially for the Mystery
Theater by Ian Martin and stars Russell Forton. And it
was John Webster, a famous playwriter of Shakespeare's time, who
(02:37):
said death had one thousand several doors for men to
take their exits. Art Hollis, pharmacist, opened one, as unexpected
as it was strange. This is his story. Come on, boys,
let's move it on the couble here, I'll get the doors.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Well, what have you guys here? Doctor?
Speaker 2 (03:00):
I don't know guar iverybody sure needs the best nurse
in the hospital and intensive care. Now. When I picked
him up at his house, he was a goner. He
was more of him. But on the way back in
the ambulance, I got his heart coming again. Can you
get him on the support system?
Speaker 3 (03:11):
All right, now rolling in, We'll do what we can. Doctor.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Why he sure picked a lousy time to have a struggle.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Oh is that what it is?
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Let it gets he's in deep coma.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
All right, boys, now you can get him into bed.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
There we go.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Have you got a name for yes?
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Old dossier. Arthur Hollis, male Caucasian, forty eight, married, one child,
wife Laine hysterical. You know history of artariasclerosis. One coroner, Okay, boys,
just leave one back. I want to have a listen.
Hey quick, get me a hype over adrenaline and rush
that equipment. Nurse his hard stopped again. We're gonna have
(03:49):
to get into an oxygen. Now, you draw some blood
so we can get him tight. He may need some
whole blood.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Can do doctor, No, no, no, don't move. I'll take
it from the other arm.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
His respiration as shallow as hell, her houses puff, rapid, thready, indistinct.
I don't like it.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
As soon as I draw this blood there, we gonna
rush it to the lab. Now, let's keep our fingers crossed.
He's not a rare tight that.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
There must be massy brain damage. Heaven knows how long
he was more of it before I arrived. When I
walked in, I thought mister art Hollis was a goner.
You never saw anyone look deader art Hollis, that's me.
(04:33):
They're talking about it. Dead. I don't feel dead. I
can't move, I can't feel anything, but see my lips
were move dead? Am I dead? Is this the oh?
(05:04):
Out of the lane? A lane should be here? Where
did it all gone? How did it all go? What
I remember back? How lovely it was in the beginning,
in the beginning, in the beginning, Yes, ms, can I
(05:29):
help you?
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Oh? I well, I was looking for the druggist.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Mister Hollis, you're looking at him.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Oh, well, the one I mean is an older man.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Oh you mean my father? Huh, Well, this is day off.
I'm kind of minding the store.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Oh well, see, I was looking for something for what,
you know, a headache? You know.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Oh, you don't have a prescription, you mean just like
a plane aspect.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Well, not not exactly, see, it's oh.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
You mean just a moment something like this.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Yeah, yes, that's just what I want.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Should have been smarter right away. Anything else, Well.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Let's see. You don't have much else but medical kind
of things, do you.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
That's my father for you. He's kind of old fashioned
in some ways. He thinks a drug store should be
just that, just for drugs, a real pharmacy.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
Well that's pretty old fashioned, I mean in nineteen fifty four.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
You know how some old folks are.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
Oh don't I just why? They sure want to run
your lives, don't they?
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Sure? Do you live at home?
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Yeah? I can't wait till I move out home.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
You're getting married or something?
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Oh no, nothing like that. I mean another girl at
the office. Have been talking about getting a place for ourselves,
you know, you let home?
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Yeah? The old man, No, he's not getting so good
these days. I couldn't walk out on him. More of
the store here, I mean, it's just me and him.
Your mother died, yeah, before the war, Well how about you?
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Oh, my parents are still alive. Were you in the service?
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Yep?
Speaker 3 (07:14):
I had two brothers killed. What else that were you with?
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Oh? Medics? See, I was going into pre med. When
Korea started up kind of threw a crimp in my plans.
I was going to be a doctor.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Didn't you still want to be after you got out?
Speaker 2 (07:28):
More than anything in my life?
Speaker 3 (07:30):
But then, why didn't you?
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Pop was sick and there was the place here, So
I settled for being a pharmacist.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
That's still kind of a doctor.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
I sure. See. Yeah, Well you know my name. I
was wondering if.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
Oh, her mind's Elaine Elane Stack.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
I live right in the neighborhood, So do I in
the back of the store. Well, no, over it, actually, hey, listen,
being we're so close and all how about Oh darn,
I was gonna say, maybe we could adapt date sometime.
I was super don't have your address?
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Oh will you take care of your customer, I'll just
write it down.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Sure, here's one of my prescription pads. Here's a pin
your phone number two.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Of course.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
I was twenty five years old. But for the moment
I saw her, I could feel my heart beating her
right in my throat. She was the prettiest girl I'd
ever seen, and the nicest, you know, shy but not
too shy. And she looked right in the eye. Most
(08:50):
of all, did she like to have fun? We sure
enjoyed a good time around? Hey, Oh so was sure?
Way out the word.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
I'd just love to make it up, buddy boy hue.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
Oh Hardy, it's dreamy, It's just dreamy.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Oh look at the stars.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
I don't have to aligne. What do you mean, I've
had them in my eyes ever since I met you.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
You say the cutest thing, I'm so honest, the duliest thing.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Oh I love you, Aline, Oh Hardy.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
I thought you'd never say it.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Oh boy, girl, let's do that again.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
No, you're pretty.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
You just have to marry me, just try and stop
me kid, Well, I wasn't. That's why I took you
out on a warm fished to get you hooked hooked?
Which one of us wasn't that really got hooked? Oh?
(10:18):
I didn't have any doubts then. I couldn't wait till
the wedding day. But the stumbling block of all was
my own father. I mean, he really knocked me for
a loop with a roadblock he wanted to put in
our way.
Speaker 4 (10:34):
He said, it's not that I've got anything against this
girl in particular, it's just any girl.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Why Pop, Why I'm twenty five.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
This is your last chance? Aren't I want you to
be a doctor.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
It's too late. Just the point it isn't, Pop, it
means pre med medical school, internship. It'd be six or
seven years before I could think of getting married.
Speaker 4 (10:59):
If she loves you, she will wait. It's what you
wanted all your life. What do you think it did
to me when I got sick and you had to
give it up.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
I shouldn't have let you. What could you do? We
couldn't afford any more than we did. You had to
have someone at the store because it's more than you
can handle.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
I'm going to sell it art, and then I won't
have to handle it. You're going to take the money
and go be a doctor.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Oh great, fine, and what do you live on in
the meantime, I won't need to.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
Let's not kid around art. We both know I'm going
to die and soon.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
No.
Speaker 4 (11:39):
Oh, yes, so I am going to sell the store.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
No, you're not. We are all going to need the
store to make a living, because there'll be three miles
to feed when I marry Elaine. I never sell the
store because he died three days later, and three months
later I married Elaine. After the honeymoon, Elaine decided not
(12:08):
to go back to work. Oh, that was fine with me.
I had another job in mine. For that's when I
first began to discover that a lane at another side,
the side I never dreamed existent breath. What's the matter, Honie? Well,
(12:31):
you're not eating a thing, aren't you hungry? Sure?
Speaker 3 (12:33):
I'm hungry, but this crummy restaurant.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
I should have stayed home.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
I couldn't have faced cooking another dinner. I'm tired of
the kitchen and all the smells makes me want to wretch.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Hey, how are you feeling in the morning?
Speaker 3 (12:48):
How do you expect me to feel when you dragged
me out of bed at the crack of dawn to
make breakthon.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
I'm sorry, See, I should have realized that. Huh, I'll
get my own from now on. It's finally happened.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
What are you going on about us?
Speaker 2 (13:04):
You know? I mean you're feeling queasy about food and Nolan. Hey,
you've been to the doctor yet, Oh what do I
need a doctor?
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Art you back at that again. I've told you and am
told you. I don't want any chance. I'm only twenty two.
I want to keep my figure.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
The funny thing is she didn't know it, but she
was already carrying Tom when she found out. Well she
was fit to be tied. Well. He came on time,
healthy as a horse and pretty near as big. She
blamed me for that and all the rest of it.
(13:50):
He's the only kid we ever had, Maybe just as well.
Helene wasn't much of a mother. And that is the
kindest way to put it. I'll fu low, that's just
what he's doing. E there, love he boy.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
I wanted to have to go and pick him up
for heart.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
I didn't want a leather lungs here to wake you up. Beside,
it was time for his bottle.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
I get the message.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Oh give it to him. I've got it right here.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
As long as you're going to feed him, why don't
you take him back to his room so somebody can
get some sleep around here?
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Okay, darling. I was too blindly in love, of course,
to see a lane. It would be a long long
time before my eyes were opened before I'd understand what
a terrible mistake I've made. Except there was dumb. That
(14:49):
was the good part of it. My son. It was
strange that he was the one who held us together
through the years, and that in the end it should
be because of him that I was ready to murder
my wife. The systems which science has developed today to
(15:16):
support life are myriad and marvelous. Any organ, even a brain,
might be kept alive and functioning by artificial means, But
the mystery of death is still elusive. Who is to
say that, after the brain scan has pronounced that gray
mass no longer alive, that some portion of the memory
(15:39):
may still not function, bringing us the rest of its story.
When I returned shortly with that too, The man lies
(16:03):
flat on the hospital bed, the machines to which he
has hooked, breathing for him. He is in an oxygen tent.
He is being fed intravenously by the slow drip of
glucose in one arm, his blood nourished by plasma in
the other. There are other tubes too, two various to mention,
and most important, the insulated wire that leads from him
(16:25):
to the plug in the wall that is his lifeline.
If life can be said to exist. I can feel nothing,
hear nothing, see nothing. Yet I can remember who I am,
that my name is Art Hollis, and I remember how
(16:47):
I came to be here. Elaine, Elaine? Whatever became of
the girl I love? Tresh, young, slim chine. How can
I recognize her after six years of marriage? I come
home for lunch and the breakfast dishes are still dirty
(17:09):
in the sink. She sits reading a fan magazine? Is luxury? Oh?
Speaker 3 (17:17):
Is it that late? Oh honey, I forgot. I get
to reading and time slips. So I fix yourself a sandwich.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Huh what have you been doing all morning? You're not dressed,
you haven't washed the dishes. That Elene, where's Tom? Didn't
you fetch him from school? Oh?
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Take it easy, I didn't have to.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Well, you're not letting our first grader walk home alone.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
No, he's with Jose over at the Ramirez Is for lunch.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
That's the third time this week.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
Well, Dolores has so many kids she doesn't even notice
another way.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
I asked you not to let him go over there anymore.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
What's the matter. They're not good enough for you.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
It's nothing to do with that, and you know it.
He and Jose are any goes fine, Let Jose come
over here and have lunch. But the mirrors are on welfare, Elane.
They can't afford extra mouth to feed. Just because you're
too lazy that I'm sorry, you better be you want
to know the truth.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
I wasn't feeling so hot this morning.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Well, if you'd stop loading yourself up on chocolates and
cake and sweets and all, a junkie E should feel better.
You know you're starting to put on way, Elane, know
what a.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
Woman looks better for a few curves. Anyway, it's mostly
because I never get out. You never take me anywheres anymore.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Well, Dad gone, is only me and Dan a part
time helped to run the store, and I didn't have
to be there to handle.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
Prescription hire another pharmacist.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
And the way business is. I can't afford it.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Oh, come on, don't give me that you got a
savings account.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
I saw the book that money can't be touched.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
Why not? You can't take it with you.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
I am saving that money for Tom's college and his
med school.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
Aren't you a little previous? A kid is only six
years old.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
No, two generations of Hollis has blew it, but not
the third. By the time Tom is ready, the money's
got to be there.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Oh boy, I'm going crazy looked up in this apartment.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Maybe if you wanted to go back to work again.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
You don't expect to work anymore. I'm a married.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Woman whoa if you help out in the store, and
I could say it on the part.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
Time for blow it all on babysitters. There you going
under the store? What about your lunch?
Speaker 2 (19:34):
I'll pick up a coffee and at the Kaleisos diner.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
Give my regards to Dan and ask him why I
never steps by anymore.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Dan, Dan Fenton, my one steady employee, about my only friend.
I think he made book on the side of the numbers,
and I couldn't figure you're out any other reason for
him to stick around. I couldn't pay that much. When
(20:06):
Tom was about eight, he came into the store one
evening dressed to kill Hey at a moment. Uh slow, Dan, slow,
I thought you might have closed up about three quarters
of an hour still to go rotch some java. Oh hey, thanks,
he look, I'm I'm blowing down for a while. Oh yeah,
(20:29):
in trouble, no other way. I'm get my own territory now.
I do a good job. I keep my nose clean.
I'll be back here in the big time and really
in the chips. Look, Dan, I like you. I consider
myself a friend, and maybe I kind of blinked at
what you were up to. But hey, don't don't get
(20:51):
mixed up with the hard guys any deeper. Not you
let me fly my kita a look, you'll need a
new boy. I could send you, good guy. No, no,
I don't want any more of that in my store.
I'll find my own man whide wake up. Now, either
who you get runs it or they cross the street
(21:12):
and give Jackman a business. Now he jumping, Oh let him.
I don't go for that kind of stuff. I never
should have let you get away with it. But we
were buddies, right, yeah, yeah, right, Well I'll miss you
me too. Hey, you got time to drop up and
say so long to a line. She talks about you
(21:34):
all the time. Yeah, all right, all right, I want
to say something. We'll go ahead anything, do yourself a favor.
Get rid of her. She's an anchor around your neck.
She's gonna end up destroying you. I'm sorry you said that. Dan,
Let's drop it right there. Okay, because that's my wife
(21:58):
you're talking about. I stick with her because because she
was the boy's mother. People grow used to one another anyway.
So all those years went rolling by, and Dan was right.
(22:20):
The book and the numbers moved across the street, and
Jackman's flourished, and only the prescription business kept me alive.
Then Elane got hypertension. She was in and out of
the hospital, and the bills ate into the nest egg
till finally Tom was getting to the last year of
(22:40):
college and there was no money for medical school, and
everything blew up when I had the heart attack. My dad,
Oh hello, Tom, did I wake you? No? I's just
lying here with my eyes closed, thinking, oh, what are
(23:05):
you doing down here from college? Come on, Pop? I
wanted to see you, but not like this anyway. You
shouldn't be away from your studies.
Speaker 4 (23:14):
Somebody's got to mind the store. I hired a pharmacist
till you're back on your feet.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Well, then you don't have to be here. I want
your back where you belong. No way, I'm forgetting college.
Pup forgetting college.
Speaker 4 (23:29):
Don't blow a fuse.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
There's no point in my going back.
Speaker 4 (23:33):
I can't go on to medical school anyway, the way
things are.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
What do you mean the way things are?
Speaker 4 (23:38):
Please don't get excited. It's no big deal.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
There's no dough so what not?
Speaker 4 (23:45):
All that sure that i'd have made such a hot
sawbones anyway.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
You can't do this to me. You can't do this
to yourself. Hop I'm only doing what has to be done.
It'll work out, No Tom, Look, all my life I
dreamed this for you, doctor Thomas Hall. I know, Papa,
I know we'll work it out. I'll borrow money somewhere.
Speaker 4 (24:09):
Where mother told me. You're in hock up to your
neck already. I'll sell the store like your father wanted.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
To do for you. You know that makes no sense. I've
been lying here thinking I could go to Luther's shamp
and my grandfather, mother's father, my dead body.
Speaker 4 (24:26):
That old fat fraud and his frumpy wife have had
a nerve to look down on you ever since my
mother married beneath her. The way they see it, I
wouldn't touch a penny of it. It wouldn't lend it
to you anyway. He wouldn't even give you the time
of day.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
He gave us something better. One month later, he gave
his life along with his wife in a plane crash.
He was insured to the hilt in the lane was
his soul hair. By that time, I'd gotten out of
the hospital and was starting back to work. I persuaded
Tom to go back to college to finish the term.
(25:10):
Elaine that hysterics. By the time she had pulled herself together,
it was near the end of the term and I
had to have a talk with her. All I'm asking
is that you do something to guarantee alone.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
But what you're asking me to do is guarantee alone. Yes,
have you any idea what it would cost to make
that boy a doctor?
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Yes? About twenty thousand.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
Dollars, and you want that from me.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
I just want you to guarantee I could.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
I guarantee alone.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
You couldn't take dermit, Elaine, he's your son too.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
Tom's young, and he's strong enough to take care of himself.
I'm a sick woman. I gotta think of myself. You
had your nest egg all these years, Well, now I'm
gonna have mine.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
I might remind you my nest egg, which was for
our son, mostly went out the window to pay for
your doctors. That's right, throw it up to me.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Can I help it?
Speaker 2 (26:06):
If I'm not a well woman, Well, if you lay
off the rich food and the booze and the pills,
you don't need doctors had to prescribe the trank wine.
I'm not talking about those. I mean the ones that
you hook out of the dispensary when my back is turned.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
Now I'm a sief. Oh, I don't know why I
didn't get rid of you when I had my chance.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
I can't tell you how many times I've asked myself
the same question. A few days later, Dan turned up
out of the blue. Well, five bucks is the best
I can do, Dan, And that's on me for old
times sake. That's better than the kick in the pass.
(26:46):
Thanks hard. You're not on the lamb. No, No, I
just blew it that. Well, then other things along the
line say, look, my helper is leaving. You want to
come back here? Can't pay much, but old buddy pays something,
and it looks like a mint the way things have
(27:08):
been for me. I'll tell you what. At least till
you get set and Tom's still up at college, you
could have his room. I'm going to take you up
on that art. You better be sure. Sure. Hey, listen,
just having a friend around again is gonna save my life.
(27:28):
Dan moved in and it was something to have a
friend around again. I guess it got to me. And
one night, when a Lane was out to the flicks
with some girlfriend over a glance of beer, all the
precious suddenly blew out, and I guess I can cried
on Dan's shoulder. I've seen it for myself. I don't
(27:53):
know how you put up with her all these years.
I guess I just never knew how to go about
getting rid of her. Too bad you didn't ask me.
In the old days, when I had the connections, I
could have had her taken out for you. Easy is that? Hey? Hey,
what are you saying?
Speaker 3 (28:10):
No?
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Nothing, pound nothing, just just what you ought to be thinking.
She's put you through the mill for years. Take take, take, Oh,
I'd had her killed a long time ago. I don't
think it hasn't crossed my mind at times. And why
didn't you do it? What he must be kidding? O, No, not.
(28:35):
He had every drug you need to do it and
to know how to use it. With her gone, you
get the money and everything. It's great now. If it
was me, I wouldn't hold back for one minute. Hart
(28:55):
Hollis gazes at his friend Dan Fenton in horror and
man talking as casually of murder as if it were
an ordinary business deal in Dan's world. Maybe, but that
isn't why Art is so horrified. What has shaken him
is to realize that he is actually considering the proposal
(29:16):
and wondering if he could get away with it. I
shall return shortly with Act three. The taking of one
(29:39):
human beings life by another, under any code or philosophy,
is not to be condoned, but either extenuating circumstances, as
in war, for example, or in self defense or in
the heat of passion, perhaps each individual must judge for himself,
(30:00):
but cold bloodedly with premeditation the method of the poisoner.
Surely there's no excuse for that. I don't pretend to
take any side. You heard Art Hollis's story up to now.
Are there any extenuating circumstances as he plans to murder
his wife? Elaine? Stop putting me on, will you? Ben?
(30:22):
I am not putting you on now. I'd not go
off for you if I knew how to get away
with all things A lot tell but drop, it's that
lazy penny pension game. I know what she's put you
through all these years, selling out her own son. I mean,
when she's rolling us. What'd you say that insurance was
written for to figure three hundred thousand apiece? Oh? Holy mackerel.
(30:47):
And Elaine was a soul here, that's sir. What you
know how I do it? If I was, you do what?
Get rid of her? But she's got these big black
brown capsules what you call them another tranquilizes, right, and
she swallows one or two of them every night before
(31:08):
going to bed. Huh. And she also told me she
takes a sleeping pill. It's another big jellap capsule, right,
that's right. I'd take a bunch of capsules just like them,
and I'd load them with whatever would do the job.
Then I put the same amount of each of them
in two bottles, just like she has, and switch them
one night before bedtime, after she swallowed the pills you
(31:31):
fixed and I knocked her out. Then I'd switch back
to the original bottles, flushed the rest of the poison
pills down, and put the bottles back in the dispensary.
I'd go out the evening with a pal. You don't
like me the I went on and late that night
after was sure it was all over, we'd come back
and we'd find her together. I put too bad, And
(31:58):
what would you put in these capsules? That's what you
figure out, old buddy, Plus the fact you got access
to the drugs because you get away with it. I mean,
what about the autopsy. If you waited long enough, it'd
be pretty well dispersed through the tissues. With a history
of hypertension like hers, or say coronary disease like me,
(32:20):
death wouldn't be too surprising, like you say arts. In
your case, it might look suspicious because you don't pop pills,
but in her case it's par for the course. Now,
in my case, with my heartening of the arteries, most
any doubt would write me off as a stroke or
maybe congestive heart failure. Of course, there wouldn't be any
motor for killing you. I mean, what would anyone after
(32:43):
the game, that's the truth. But the way you laid
it down, I don't see much risk for me killing her.
You know what, I bet you could get away with.
It's one thing to talk about a thing like that.
(33:08):
Most people wouldn't even get that far. But come with
all the provocation, all the lousy years that turned the
way she treated Tom, the hysterics, still I wouldn't have
done anything about it if it hadn't been for the
way I around the lane. And when I came home
(33:29):
last night I learned I'm old.
Speaker 3 (33:35):
Did you have to wake me up to tell me?
Speaker 2 (33:37):
Oh? Sorry, the light was on. I must have fell
asleep and I won't be long. I am so tired. Hey,
Uh what are all those? What the bag's there? Oh?
Speaker 3 (33:52):
That's my now luggage?
Speaker 2 (33:54):
You're going on a trip or something?
Speaker 3 (33:56):
Yeah, to Mexico when day after the month.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
Uh you never told me.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
I just made up my mind.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
Look, Alayne, if you can afford a trip and luggage
and all, won't you reconsider about Tom.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
No, don't come falling around with your hand out. I
told you he's of age. Let him stand on his
own tooth.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
You're talking about your son.
Speaker 3 (34:23):
I never asked for him. I never wanted no kids.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
You take him.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
He's your son. You don't like me anyway, and.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
What chance did you ever give him.
Speaker 3 (34:32):
I'm not gonna argue. I just want to get to sleep.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
What are you going to Mexico for to get rid
of you? Huh?
Speaker 3 (34:40):
I'm gonna get you off my back the way I
should have done years ago. I'm gonna get me a divorce.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
What's for?
Speaker 3 (34:48):
I got me a fellow, a real live one.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
You've gotta be kidding, Huh.
Speaker 3 (34:54):
You'll find out this Saturday when I'm gone. Now you
go to sleep from the couch till I get out
of your life of good.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
Something snapped me right there, and I thought, all right,
if that's how you want it, only you won't have
to wait till Saturday. I'll arrange it for you before that.
The following night, I had my chance. Elaine went off
late in the afternoon for a permanent a Wednesday, all
(35:30):
the shops in our neighborhood took patoon off On Wednesday.
I closed early to about five o'clock, and there and
me went up to get things ready. Oh, just the
way we planned it. Only what happened? What went wrong?
(35:52):
I remember I was with Dan in the apartment and
we were having a drink. You switch bottles of okay? Uh? Yes,
got the o uh in my pocket, So yeah, I'll
drink up or what is it? It's uzzo. It's great, strong,
(36:14):
just what you need. Drink it up. Oh that is strong,
funny taste. Wage the rest of it down. You get
used to it and drink would you're over the river? Wow,
(36:35):
that makes me a little woozy. Look, i'll take carry you. Now.
We're supposed to be out on the town for the
night anyway, So sit down and I'll take carry that. Then. Hey, hey,
don't back out now, you know that that stuff is
pretty good. Clumps me down. Hey wait a minute, I'll
(36:58):
a bottle. Damn, Yeah, I don't. I don't think I
can go through with it. Sure you can. I I'm
not sure you got it, but you think of Tom. Huh. Anyway,
it's as good as done though. Here drink you know.
(37:19):
Just just knowing that Tom is going to make it,
We're finally going to have a doctor in the family,
makes makes it all worthwhile. I wouldn't mind dying this.
(37:41):
The last thing I remember is sitting in that chair
and feeling sleepy, so sleepy, And now where am I?
I can't move, but somewhere I thought I heard people
saying he's dead dead? How could I be dead? It
(38:07):
isn't supposed to be. It's supposed to be.
Speaker 3 (38:11):
Ele I won't die.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
I won't die in July. Why may your voices voices listen?
Speaker 3 (38:29):
Rye to listen. I'm afraid you won't get any reaction
from your father, mister Hollis.
Speaker 2 (38:36):
I'm prepared.
Speaker 4 (38:38):
Could we uh be alone together just a minute?
Speaker 3 (38:42):
Don't touch anything. I won't very well. Oh you know
your mother and another gentlemen.
Speaker 2 (38:47):
Are on the way up. I'll let the man when
I leave. I like a moment alone.
Speaker 3 (38:53):
I understand, I'll leave it alone.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
Know what happened, Pomp.
Speaker 4 (39:02):
I hope nothing I said I've sent you.
Speaker 2 (39:05):
I mean I was.
Speaker 4 (39:08):
I'm I'm gonna come back to you to tell you
that I got a government loan and come hell or
high water, I'm going through med school and I'll come
out a doctor, and I'll be a good one for you,
for Grandpapa. I just wish i'd said all this some time.
I talked to the doctors. I know there's too much
(39:32):
brain damage damage, but.
Speaker 2 (39:37):
I wish I had the guts to pull out the
plugs so you could die, right.
Speaker 4 (39:41):
That be no way for a guy who planned to
be a doctor to start out. I love your pop,
Go bye. I want to go in mother. No way
you can hurt him out time. I'm sorry, mister fend
(40:01):
and I don't feel like talking.
Speaker 3 (40:06):
What we have to come in here for Dan? It
gives me the creeps O.
Speaker 2 (40:10):
We have got to keep up appearances only.
Speaker 3 (40:12):
Yeah, I guess he looks dead enough, don'ty.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
He isn't until he's legally dead. You're still married to him,
and that means that you and I can't get married.
Speaker 3 (40:24):
What's your hurry?
Speaker 2 (40:25):
What's what you wanted, isn't it?
Speaker 3 (40:27):
I don't know. I'm a big girl now. Maybe I
don't have to get married her.
Speaker 2 (40:33):
You want me to work out on you?
Speaker 3 (40:34):
That's all you want, isn't it. That's all you ever wanted?
The money. It wasn't me, like you said, keep your voice,
dom Dan, you're hurting me, sud.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
I like to hurt someone starting to leave a fight
like this.
Speaker 3 (40:49):
I don't understand what happened? He thought he told you
the stuff couldn't fail.
Speaker 2 (40:53):
Sure he did. He swore half the nose he made
for you would kill him, and I gave him twice
as much. I switched forward of you up as for
the ones that he made up. I even gave him
a mickey and the Uzo to make sure.
Speaker 3 (41:05):
How long is it going to take them to die?
Speaker 2 (41:07):
He could be dead in a minute just by linking
a plug. Art go ahead, time, But you go ahead.
We don't dare risk. The tops have an eye on you,
already on me. I got a big, fat notional artist
lying in there, laughing his head off at us that
he knows he's got us stuck. But good, it's gonna
(41:30):
be a long wait for the both of us. I
should have knowne. I know he's went for Dan and Dan.
He'd do anything for money, You cute guy, conning me
into making my own murdering motion, only for some reason
(41:51):
it didn't work. It's warm here and peaceful, and I
can rest them long, long rest to make up for
twenty bad years while Lay and Dan claw themselves to pieces,
longing for what they each want so bad and can't have. Yes,
(42:15):
I think I'll just lie back in the legs and
hope that God will take me in his own time.
And another doorway to death, one more to add to
(42:40):
mister John Webster's one thousand several ways. A doorway leading
to a long dark road, with no signpost to mark
the end. A man lies moribund and still kept alive
by the miracles of modern science, not ready yet for
the final embrace of death. As God moves in mysterious
(43:02):
ways his wonders to perform, I shall return shortly. You
may remember the case. It was featured in many newspapers
because it was over two years before Art Hollis's heart
(43:23):
stumbled and at last failed. As for Elaine and Dan,
they were arrested and finally convicted. Our cast included Russell Horton,
Carol Titel, Earl Hammond, and Jackson Beck. The entire production
was under the direction of Hymon Brown. And now a
(43:45):
preview of our next tale. Not just a moment that
beach stretches for a mile in either direction without so
much as a piece of drift wood to hide behind.
Yet you say it was less than a minute between
the time he disappeared over the dune and you reached
the spot where he'd been standing.
Speaker 3 (44:06):
It may have been a little more.
Speaker 2 (44:07):
Than a spot from which you could survey the entire
length of the beach. Now where else could he have
gotten to in that period of time? For thirty seven
the time of his disappearance, the ocean was at high tide,
mere forty yards from the dew. The surf was up,
making visibility to no. No, Edgar would not have killed himself.
(44:32):
Forgive me, missus Pennington, But how can you be so sure?
Speaker 3 (44:37):
Because he loved me?
Speaker 2 (44:40):
This is E. G. Marshall inviting you to return to
our mystery theater for another adventure in the macabre. Until
next time, pleasant dreams. S.
The journey into the realm of the strait and tell
a bi.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I hope you will enjoy the chap, that it will
till you a little and kill you a little. So
settle back, get a good grip on your nerve. Where
are we going? You'll find out when we get there.
(00:32):
The CBS Radio Mystery Theater Presents come in. Welcome. I'm
(00:56):
a g marshall. What you is death when the heart
stops beating, the second to brain ceases to function, the
end of the will to live? Or is it the
privilege of human nature and life without it not worth
our taking? Whatever your definition, religious, clinical, psychological, or poetic,
(01:24):
no one is a total answer, nor do we expect
to answer it. Here only to tell the story of
one individual death. I don't know how you put up
with a Lane all these years? Are Oh? I guess dan.
I never knew how to go about getting rid of her.
Too bad she didn't ask me. In the old days,
(01:45):
when I had connections, I could have had her taken
out for you just like that. Hey, what are you saying?
I didn't mean get rid of her like that? Why not?
She's put you through the mill for years? Take take take, Hey,
I had killed a while ago. Our mystery drama one
(02:15):
thousand and first Door was written especially for the Mystery
Theater by Ian Martin and stars Russell Forton. And it
was John Webster, a famous playwriter of Shakespeare's time, who
(02:37):
said death had one thousand several doors for men to
take their exits. Art Hollis, pharmacist, opened one, as unexpected
as it was strange. This is his story. Come on, boys,
let's move it on the couble here, I'll get the doors.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Well, what have you guys here? Doctor?
Speaker 2 (03:00):
I don't know guar iverybody sure needs the best nurse
in the hospital and intensive care. Now. When I picked
him up at his house, he was a goner. He
was more of him. But on the way back in
the ambulance, I got his heart coming again. Can you
get him on the support system?
Speaker 3 (03:11):
All right, now rolling in, We'll do what we can. Doctor.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Why he sure picked a lousy time to have a struggle.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Oh is that what it is?
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Let it gets he's in deep coma.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
All right, boys, now you can get him into bed.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
There we go.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Have you got a name for yes?
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Old dossier. Arthur Hollis, male Caucasian, forty eight, married, one child,
wife Laine hysterical. You know history of artariasclerosis. One coroner, Okay, boys,
just leave one back. I want to have a listen.
Hey quick, get me a hype over adrenaline and rush
that equipment. Nurse his hard stopped again. We're gonna have
(03:49):
to get into an oxygen. Now, you draw some blood
so we can get him tight. He may need some
whole blood.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Can do doctor, No, no, no, don't move. I'll take
it from the other arm.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
His respiration as shallow as hell, her houses puff, rapid, thready, indistinct.
I don't like it.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
As soon as I draw this blood there, we gonna
rush it to the lab. Now, let's keep our fingers crossed.
He's not a rare tight that.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
There must be massy brain damage. Heaven knows how long
he was more of it before I arrived. When I
walked in, I thought mister art Hollis was a goner.
You never saw anyone look deader art Hollis, that's me.
(04:33):
They're talking about it. Dead. I don't feel dead. I
can't move, I can't feel anything, but see my lips
were move dead? Am I dead? Is this the oh?
(05:04):
Out of the lane? A lane should be here? Where
did it all gone? How did it all go? What
I remember back? How lovely it was in the beginning,
in the beginning, in the beginning, Yes, ms, can I
(05:29):
help you?
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Oh? I well, I was looking for the druggist.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Mister Hollis, you're looking at him.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Oh, well, the one I mean is an older man.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Oh you mean my father? Huh, Well, this is day off.
I'm kind of minding the store.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Oh well, see, I was looking for something for what,
you know, a headache? You know.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Oh, you don't have a prescription, you mean just like
a plane aspect.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Well, not not exactly, see, it's oh.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
You mean just a moment something like this.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Yeah, yes, that's just what I want.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Should have been smarter right away. Anything else, Well.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Let's see. You don't have much else but medical kind
of things, do you.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
That's my father for you. He's kind of old fashioned
in some ways. He thinks a drug store should be
just that, just for drugs, a real pharmacy.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
Well that's pretty old fashioned, I mean in nineteen fifty four.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
You know how some old folks are.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
Oh don't I just why? They sure want to run
your lives, don't they?
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Sure? Do you live at home?
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Yeah? I can't wait till I move out home.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
You're getting married or something?
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Oh no, nothing like that. I mean another girl at
the office. Have been talking about getting a place for ourselves,
you know, you let home?
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Yeah? The old man, No, he's not getting so good
these days. I couldn't walk out on him. More of
the store here, I mean, it's just me and him.
Your mother died, yeah, before the war, Well how about you?
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Oh, my parents are still alive. Were you in the service?
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Yep?
Speaker 3 (07:14):
I had two brothers killed. What else that were you with?
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Oh? Medics? See, I was going into pre med. When
Korea started up kind of threw a crimp in my plans.
I was going to be a doctor.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Didn't you still want to be after you got out?
Speaker 2 (07:28):
More than anything in my life?
Speaker 3 (07:30):
But then, why didn't you?
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Pop was sick and there was the place here, So
I settled for being a pharmacist.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
That's still kind of a doctor.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
I sure. See. Yeah, Well you know my name. I
was wondering if.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
Oh, her mind's Elaine Elane Stack.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
I live right in the neighborhood, So do I in
the back of the store. Well, no, over it, actually, hey, listen,
being we're so close and all how about Oh darn,
I was gonna say, maybe we could adapt date sometime.
I was super don't have your address?
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Oh will you take care of your customer, I'll just
write it down.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Sure, here's one of my prescription pads. Here's a pin
your phone number two.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Of course.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
I was twenty five years old. But for the moment
I saw her, I could feel my heart beating her
right in my throat. She was the prettiest girl I'd
ever seen, and the nicest, you know, shy but not
too shy. And she looked right in the eye. Most
(08:50):
of all, did she like to have fun? We sure
enjoyed a good time around? Hey, Oh so was sure?
Way out the word.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
I'd just love to make it up, buddy boy hue.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
Oh Hardy, it's dreamy, It's just dreamy.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Oh look at the stars.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
I don't have to aligne. What do you mean, I've
had them in my eyes ever since I met you.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
You say the cutest thing, I'm so honest, the duliest thing.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Oh I love you, Aline, Oh Hardy.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
I thought you'd never say it.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Oh boy, girl, let's do that again.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
No, you're pretty.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
You just have to marry me, just try and stop
me kid, Well, I wasn't. That's why I took you
out on a warm fished to get you hooked hooked?
Which one of us wasn't that really got hooked? Oh?
(10:18):
I didn't have any doubts then. I couldn't wait till
the wedding day. But the stumbling block of all was
my own father. I mean, he really knocked me for
a loop with a roadblock he wanted to put in
our way.
Speaker 4 (10:34):
He said, it's not that I've got anything against this
girl in particular, it's just any girl.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Why Pop, Why I'm twenty five.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
This is your last chance? Aren't I want you to
be a doctor.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
It's too late. Just the point it isn't, Pop, it
means pre med medical school, internship. It'd be six or
seven years before I could think of getting married.
Speaker 4 (10:59):
If she loves you, she will wait. It's what you
wanted all your life. What do you think it did
to me when I got sick and you had to
give it up.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
I shouldn't have let you. What could you do? We
couldn't afford any more than we did. You had to
have someone at the store because it's more than you
can handle.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
I'm going to sell it art, and then I won't
have to handle it. You're going to take the money
and go be a doctor.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Oh great, fine, and what do you live on in
the meantime, I won't need to.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
Let's not kid around art. We both know I'm going
to die and soon.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
No.
Speaker 4 (11:39):
Oh, yes, so I am going to sell the store.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
No, you're not. We are all going to need the
store to make a living, because there'll be three miles
to feed when I marry Elaine. I never sell the
store because he died three days later, and three months
later I married Elaine. After the honeymoon, Elaine decided not
(12:08):
to go back to work. Oh, that was fine with me.
I had another job in mine. For that's when I
first began to discover that a lane at another side,
the side I never dreamed existent breath. What's the matter, Honie? Well,
(12:31):
you're not eating a thing, aren't you hungry? Sure?
Speaker 3 (12:33):
I'm hungry, but this crummy restaurant.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
I should have stayed home.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
I couldn't have faced cooking another dinner. I'm tired of
the kitchen and all the smells makes me want to wretch.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Hey, how are you feeling in the morning?
Speaker 3 (12:48):
How do you expect me to feel when you dragged
me out of bed at the crack of dawn to
make breakthon.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
I'm sorry, See, I should have realized that. Huh, I'll
get my own from now on. It's finally happened.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
What are you going on about us?
Speaker 2 (13:04):
You know? I mean you're feeling queasy about food and Nolan. Hey,
you've been to the doctor yet, Oh what do I
need a doctor?
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Art you back at that again. I've told you and am
told you. I don't want any chance. I'm only twenty two.
I want to keep my figure.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
The funny thing is she didn't know it, but she
was already carrying Tom when she found out. Well she
was fit to be tied. Well. He came on time,
healthy as a horse and pretty near as big. She
blamed me for that and all the rest of it.
(13:50):
He's the only kid we ever had, Maybe just as well.
Helene wasn't much of a mother. And that is the
kindest way to put it. I'll fu low, that's just
what he's doing. E there, love he boy.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
I wanted to have to go and pick him up
for heart.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
I didn't want a leather lungs here to wake you up. Beside,
it was time for his bottle.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
I get the message.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Oh give it to him. I've got it right here.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
As long as you're going to feed him, why don't
you take him back to his room so somebody can
get some sleep around here?
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Okay, darling. I was too blindly in love, of course,
to see a lane. It would be a long long
time before my eyes were opened before I'd understand what
a terrible mistake I've made. Except there was dumb. That
(14:49):
was the good part of it. My son. It was
strange that he was the one who held us together
through the years, and that in the end it should
be because of him that I was ready to murder
my wife. The systems which science has developed today to
(15:16):
support life are myriad and marvelous. Any organ, even a brain,
might be kept alive and functioning by artificial means, But
the mystery of death is still elusive. Who is to
say that, after the brain scan has pronounced that gray
mass no longer alive, that some portion of the memory
(15:39):
may still not function, bringing us the rest of its story.
When I returned shortly with that too, The man lies
(16:03):
flat on the hospital bed, the machines to which he
has hooked, breathing for him. He is in an oxygen tent.
He is being fed intravenously by the slow drip of
glucose in one arm, his blood nourished by plasma in
the other. There are other tubes too, two various to mention,
and most important, the insulated wire that leads from him
(16:25):
to the plug in the wall that is his lifeline.
If life can be said to exist. I can feel nothing,
hear nothing, see nothing. Yet I can remember who I am,
that my name is Art Hollis, and I remember how
(16:47):
I came to be here. Elaine, Elaine? Whatever became of
the girl I love? Tresh, young, slim chine. How can
I recognize her after six years of marriage? I come
home for lunch and the breakfast dishes are still dirty
(17:09):
in the sink. She sits reading a fan magazine? Is luxury? Oh?
Speaker 3 (17:17):
Is it that late? Oh honey, I forgot. I get
to reading and time slips. So I fix yourself a sandwich.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Huh what have you been doing all morning? You're not dressed,
you haven't washed the dishes. That Elene, where's Tom? Didn't
you fetch him from school? Oh?
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Take it easy, I didn't have to.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Well, you're not letting our first grader walk home alone.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
No, he's with Jose over at the Ramirez Is for lunch.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
That's the third time this week.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
Well, Dolores has so many kids she doesn't even notice
another way.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
I asked you not to let him go over there anymore.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
What's the matter. They're not good enough for you.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
It's nothing to do with that, and you know it.
He and Jose are any goes fine, Let Jose come
over here and have lunch. But the mirrors are on welfare, Elane.
They can't afford extra mouth to feed. Just because you're
too lazy that I'm sorry, you better be you want
to know the truth.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
I wasn't feeling so hot this morning.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Well, if you'd stop loading yourself up on chocolates and
cake and sweets and all, a junkie E should feel better.
You know you're starting to put on way, Elane, know
what a.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
Woman looks better for a few curves. Anyway, it's mostly
because I never get out. You never take me anywheres anymore.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Well, Dad gone, is only me and Dan a part
time helped to run the store, and I didn't have
to be there to handle.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
Prescription hire another pharmacist.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
And the way business is. I can't afford it.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Oh, come on, don't give me that you got a
savings account.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
I saw the book that money can't be touched.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
Why not? You can't take it with you.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
I am saving that money for Tom's college and his
med school.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
Aren't you a little previous? A kid is only six
years old.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
No, two generations of Hollis has blew it, but not
the third. By the time Tom is ready, the money's
got to be there.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Oh boy, I'm going crazy looked up in this apartment.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Maybe if you wanted to go back to work again.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
You don't expect to work anymore. I'm a married.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Woman whoa if you help out in the store, and
I could say it on the part.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
Time for blow it all on babysitters. There you going
under the store? What about your lunch?
Speaker 2 (19:34):
I'll pick up a coffee and at the Kaleisos diner.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
Give my regards to Dan and ask him why I
never steps by anymore.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Dan, Dan Fenton, my one steady employee, about my only friend.
I think he made book on the side of the numbers,
and I couldn't figure you're out any other reason for
him to stick around. I couldn't pay that much. When
(20:06):
Tom was about eight, he came into the store one
evening dressed to kill Hey at a moment. Uh slow, Dan, slow,
I thought you might have closed up about three quarters
of an hour still to go rotch some java. Oh hey, thanks,
he look, I'm I'm blowing down for a while. Oh yeah,
(20:29):
in trouble, no other way. I'm get my own territory now.
I do a good job. I keep my nose clean.
I'll be back here in the big time and really
in the chips. Look, Dan, I like you. I consider
myself a friend, and maybe I kind of blinked at
what you were up to. But hey, don't don't get
(20:51):
mixed up with the hard guys any deeper. Not you
let me fly my kita a look, you'll need a
new boy. I could send you, good guy. No, no,
I don't want any more of that in my store.
I'll find my own man whide wake up. Now, either
who you get runs it or they cross the street
(21:12):
and give Jackman a business. Now he jumping, Oh let him.
I don't go for that kind of stuff. I never
should have let you get away with it. But we
were buddies, right, yeah, yeah, right, Well I'll miss you
me too. Hey, you got time to drop up and
say so long to a line. She talks about you
(21:34):
all the time. Yeah, all right, all right, I want
to say something. We'll go ahead anything, do yourself a favor.
Get rid of her. She's an anchor around your neck.
She's gonna end up destroying you. I'm sorry you said that. Dan,
Let's drop it right there. Okay, because that's my wife
(21:58):
you're talking about. I stick with her because because she
was the boy's mother. People grow used to one another anyway.
So all those years went rolling by, and Dan was right.
(22:20):
The book and the numbers moved across the street, and
Jackman's flourished, and only the prescription business kept me alive.
Then Elane got hypertension. She was in and out of
the hospital, and the bills ate into the nest egg
till finally Tom was getting to the last year of
(22:40):
college and there was no money for medical school, and
everything blew up when I had the heart attack. My dad,
Oh hello, Tom, did I wake you? No? I's just
lying here with my eyes closed, thinking, oh, what are
(23:05):
you doing down here from college? Come on, Pop? I
wanted to see you, but not like this anyway. You
shouldn't be away from your studies.
Speaker 4 (23:14):
Somebody's got to mind the store. I hired a pharmacist
till you're back on your feet.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Well, then you don't have to be here. I want
your back where you belong. No way, I'm forgetting college.
Pup forgetting college.
Speaker 4 (23:29):
Don't blow a fuse.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
There's no point in my going back.
Speaker 4 (23:33):
I can't go on to medical school anyway, the way
things are.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
What do you mean the way things are?
Speaker 4 (23:38):
Please don't get excited. It's no big deal.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
There's no dough so what not?
Speaker 4 (23:45):
All that sure that i'd have made such a hot
sawbones anyway.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
You can't do this to me. You can't do this
to yourself. Hop I'm only doing what has to be done.
It'll work out, No Tom, Look, all my life I
dreamed this for you, doctor Thomas Hall. I know, Papa,
I know we'll work it out. I'll borrow money somewhere.
Speaker 4 (24:09):
Where mother told me. You're in hock up to your
neck already. I'll sell the store like your father wanted.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
To do for you. You know that makes no sense. I've
been lying here thinking I could go to Luther's shamp
and my grandfather, mother's father, my dead body.
Speaker 4 (24:26):
That old fat fraud and his frumpy wife have had
a nerve to look down on you ever since my
mother married beneath her. The way they see it, I
wouldn't touch a penny of it. It wouldn't lend it
to you anyway. He wouldn't even give you the time
of day.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
He gave us something better. One month later, he gave
his life along with his wife in a plane crash.
He was insured to the hilt in the lane was
his soul hair. By that time, I'd gotten out of
the hospital and was starting back to work. I persuaded
Tom to go back to college to finish the term.
(25:10):
Elaine that hysterics. By the time she had pulled herself together,
it was near the end of the term and I
had to have a talk with her. All I'm asking
is that you do something to guarantee alone.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
But what you're asking me to do is guarantee alone. Yes,
have you any idea what it would cost to make
that boy a doctor?
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Yes? About twenty thousand.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
Dollars, and you want that from me.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
I just want you to guarantee I could.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
I guarantee alone.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
You couldn't take dermit, Elaine, he's your son too.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
Tom's young, and he's strong enough to take care of himself.
I'm a sick woman. I gotta think of myself. You
had your nest egg all these years, Well, now I'm
gonna have mine.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
I might remind you my nest egg, which was for
our son, mostly went out the window to pay for
your doctors. That's right, throw it up to me.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Can I help it?
Speaker 2 (26:06):
If I'm not a well woman, Well, if you lay
off the rich food and the booze and the pills,
you don't need doctors had to prescribe the trank wine.
I'm not talking about those. I mean the ones that
you hook out of the dispensary when my back is turned.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
Now I'm a sief. Oh, I don't know why I
didn't get rid of you when I had my chance.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
I can't tell you how many times I've asked myself
the same question. A few days later, Dan turned up
out of the blue. Well, five bucks is the best
I can do, Dan, And that's on me for old
times sake. That's better than the kick in the pass.
(26:46):
Thanks hard. You're not on the lamb. No, No, I
just blew it that. Well, then other things along the
line say, look, my helper is leaving. You want to
come back here? Can't pay much, but old buddy pays something,
and it looks like a mint the way things have
(27:08):
been for me. I'll tell you what. At least till
you get set and Tom's still up at college, you
could have his room. I'm going to take you up
on that art. You better be sure. Sure. Hey, listen,
just having a friend around again is gonna save my life.
(27:28):
Dan moved in and it was something to have a
friend around again. I guess it got to me. And
one night, when a Lane was out to the flicks
with some girlfriend over a glance of beer, all the
precious suddenly blew out, and I guess I can cried
on Dan's shoulder. I've seen it for myself. I don't
(27:53):
know how you put up with her all these years.
I guess I just never knew how to go about
getting rid of her. Too bad you didn't ask me.
In the old days, when I had the connections, I
could have had her taken out for you. Easy is that? Hey? Hey,
what are you saying?
Speaker 3 (28:10):
No?
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Nothing, pound nothing, just just what you ought to be thinking.
She's put you through the mill for years. Take take, take, Oh,
I'd had her killed a long time ago. I don't
think it hasn't crossed my mind at times. And why
didn't you do it? What he must be kidding? O, No, not.
(28:35):
He had every drug you need to do it and
to know how to use it. With her gone, you
get the money and everything. It's great now. If it
was me, I wouldn't hold back for one minute. Hart
(28:55):
Hollis gazes at his friend Dan Fenton in horror and
man talking as casually of murder as if it were
an ordinary business deal in Dan's world. Maybe, but that
isn't why Art is so horrified. What has shaken him
is to realize that he is actually considering the proposal
(29:16):
and wondering if he could get away with it. I
shall return shortly with Act three. The taking of one
(29:39):
human beings life by another, under any code or philosophy,
is not to be condoned, but either extenuating circumstances, as
in war, for example, or in self defense or in
the heat of passion, perhaps each individual must judge for himself,
(30:00):
but cold bloodedly with premeditation the method of the poisoner.
Surely there's no excuse for that. I don't pretend to
take any side. You heard Art Hollis's story up to now.
Are there any extenuating circumstances as he plans to murder
his wife? Elaine? Stop putting me on, will you? Ben?
(30:22):
I am not putting you on now. I'd not go
off for you if I knew how to get away
with all things A lot tell but drop, it's that
lazy penny pension game. I know what she's put you
through all these years, selling out her own son. I mean,
when she's rolling us. What'd you say that insurance was
written for to figure three hundred thousand apiece? Oh? Holy mackerel.
(30:47):
And Elaine was a soul here, that's sir. What you
know how I do it? If I was, you do what?
Get rid of her? But she's got these big black
brown capsules what you call them another tranquilizes, right, and
she swallows one or two of them every night before
(31:08):
going to bed. Huh. And she also told me she
takes a sleeping pill. It's another big jellap capsule, right,
that's right. I'd take a bunch of capsules just like them,
and I'd load them with whatever would do the job.
Then I put the same amount of each of them
in two bottles, just like she has, and switch them
one night before bedtime, after she swallowed the pills you
(31:31):
fixed and I knocked her out. Then I'd switch back
to the original bottles, flushed the rest of the poison
pills down, and put the bottles back in the dispensary.
I'd go out the evening with a pal. You don't
like me the I went on and late that night
after was sure it was all over, we'd come back
and we'd find her together. I put too bad, And
(31:58):
what would you put in these capsules? That's what you
figure out, old buddy, Plus the fact you got access
to the drugs because you get away with it. I mean,
what about the autopsy. If you waited long enough, it'd
be pretty well dispersed through the tissues. With a history
of hypertension like hers, or say coronary disease like me,
(32:20):
death wouldn't be too surprising, like you say arts. In
your case, it might look suspicious because you don't pop pills,
but in her case it's par for the course. Now,
in my case, with my heartening of the arteries, most
any doubt would write me off as a stroke or
maybe congestive heart failure. Of course, there wouldn't be any
motor for killing you. I mean, what would anyone after
(32:43):
the game, that's the truth. But the way you laid
it down, I don't see much risk for me killing her.
You know what, I bet you could get away with.
It's one thing to talk about a thing like that.
(33:08):
Most people wouldn't even get that far. But come with
all the provocation, all the lousy years that turned the
way she treated Tom, the hysterics, still I wouldn't have
done anything about it if it hadn't been for the
way I around the lane. And when I came home
(33:29):
last night I learned I'm old.
Speaker 3 (33:35):
Did you have to wake me up to tell me?
Speaker 2 (33:37):
Oh? Sorry, the light was on. I must have fell
asleep and I won't be long. I am so tired. Hey,
Uh what are all those? What the bag's there? Oh?
Speaker 3 (33:52):
That's my now luggage?
Speaker 2 (33:54):
You're going on a trip or something?
Speaker 3 (33:56):
Yeah, to Mexico when day after the month.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
Uh you never told me.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
I just made up my mind.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
Look, Alayne, if you can afford a trip and luggage
and all, won't you reconsider about Tom.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
No, don't come falling around with your hand out. I
told you he's of age. Let him stand on his
own tooth.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
You're talking about your son.
Speaker 3 (34:23):
I never asked for him. I never wanted no kids.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
You take him.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
He's your son. You don't like me anyway, and.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
What chance did you ever give him.
Speaker 3 (34:32):
I'm not gonna argue. I just want to get to sleep.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
What are you going to Mexico for to get rid
of you? Huh?
Speaker 3 (34:40):
I'm gonna get you off my back the way I
should have done years ago. I'm gonna get me a divorce.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
What's for?
Speaker 3 (34:48):
I got me a fellow, a real live one.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
You've gotta be kidding, Huh.
Speaker 3 (34:54):
You'll find out this Saturday when I'm gone. Now you
go to sleep from the couch till I get out
of your life of good.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
Something snapped me right there, and I thought, all right,
if that's how you want it, only you won't have
to wait till Saturday. I'll arrange it for you before that.
The following night, I had my chance. Elaine went off
late in the afternoon for a permanent a Wednesday, all
(35:30):
the shops in our neighborhood took patoon off On Wednesday.
I closed early to about five o'clock, and there and
me went up to get things ready. Oh, just the
way we planned it. Only what happened? What went wrong?
(35:52):
I remember I was with Dan in the apartment and
we were having a drink. You switch bottles of okay? Uh? Yes,
got the o uh in my pocket, So yeah, I'll
drink up or what is it? It's uzzo. It's great, strong,
(36:14):
just what you need. Drink it up. Oh that is strong,
funny taste. Wage the rest of it down. You get
used to it and drink would you're over the river? Wow,
(36:35):
that makes me a little woozy. Look, i'll take carry you. Now.
We're supposed to be out on the town for the
night anyway, So sit down and I'll take carry that. Then. Hey, hey,
don't back out now, you know that that stuff is
pretty good. Clumps me down. Hey wait a minute, I'll
(36:58):
a bottle. Damn, Yeah, I don't. I don't think I
can go through with it. Sure you can. I I'm
not sure you got it, but you think of Tom. Huh. Anyway,
it's as good as done though. Here drink you know.
(37:19):
Just just knowing that Tom is going to make it,
We're finally going to have a doctor in the family,
makes makes it all worthwhile. I wouldn't mind dying this.
(37:41):
The last thing I remember is sitting in that chair
and feeling sleepy, so sleepy, And now where am I?
I can't move, but somewhere I thought I heard people
saying he's dead dead? How could I be dead? It
(38:07):
isn't supposed to be. It's supposed to be.
Speaker 3 (38:11):
Ele I won't die.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
I won't die in July. Why may your voices voices listen?
Speaker 3 (38:29):
Rye to listen. I'm afraid you won't get any reaction
from your father, mister Hollis.
Speaker 2 (38:36):
I'm prepared.
Speaker 4 (38:38):
Could we uh be alone together just a minute?
Speaker 3 (38:42):
Don't touch anything. I won't very well. Oh you know
your mother and another gentlemen.
Speaker 2 (38:47):
Are on the way up. I'll let the man when
I leave. I like a moment alone.
Speaker 3 (38:53):
I understand, I'll leave it alone.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
Know what happened, Pomp.
Speaker 4 (39:02):
I hope nothing I said I've sent you.
Speaker 2 (39:05):
I mean I was.
Speaker 4 (39:08):
I'm I'm gonna come back to you to tell you
that I got a government loan and come hell or
high water, I'm going through med school and I'll come
out a doctor, and I'll be a good one for you,
for Grandpapa. I just wish i'd said all this some time.
I talked to the doctors. I know there's too much
(39:32):
brain damage damage, but.
Speaker 2 (39:37):
I wish I had the guts to pull out the
plugs so you could die, right.
Speaker 4 (39:41):
That be no way for a guy who planned to
be a doctor to start out. I love your pop,
Go bye. I want to go in mother. No way
you can hurt him out time. I'm sorry, mister fend
(40:01):
and I don't feel like talking.
Speaker 3 (40:06):
What we have to come in here for Dan? It
gives me the creeps O.
Speaker 2 (40:10):
We have got to keep up appearances only.
Speaker 3 (40:12):
Yeah, I guess he looks dead enough, don'ty.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
He isn't until he's legally dead. You're still married to him,
and that means that you and I can't get married.
Speaker 3 (40:24):
What's your hurry?
Speaker 2 (40:25):
What's what you wanted, isn't it?
Speaker 3 (40:27):
I don't know. I'm a big girl now. Maybe I
don't have to get married her.
Speaker 2 (40:33):
You want me to work out on you?
Speaker 3 (40:34):
That's all you want, isn't it. That's all you ever wanted?
The money. It wasn't me, like you said, keep your voice,
dom Dan, you're hurting me, sud.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
I like to hurt someone starting to leave a fight
like this.
Speaker 3 (40:49):
I don't understand what happened? He thought he told you
the stuff couldn't fail.
Speaker 2 (40:53):
Sure he did. He swore half the nose he made
for you would kill him, and I gave him twice
as much. I switched forward of you up as for
the ones that he made up. I even gave him
a mickey and the Uzo to make sure.
Speaker 3 (41:05):
How long is it going to take them to die?
Speaker 2 (41:07):
He could be dead in a minute just by linking
a plug. Art go ahead, time, But you go ahead.
We don't dare risk. The tops have an eye on you,
already on me. I got a big, fat notional artist
lying in there, laughing his head off at us that
he knows he's got us stuck. But good, it's gonna
(41:30):
be a long wait for the both of us. I
should have knowne. I know he's went for Dan and Dan.
He'd do anything for money, You cute guy, conning me
into making my own murdering motion, only for some reason
(41:51):
it didn't work. It's warm here and peaceful, and I
can rest them long, long rest to make up for
twenty bad years while Lay and Dan claw themselves to pieces,
longing for what they each want so bad and can't have. Yes,
(42:15):
I think I'll just lie back in the legs and
hope that God will take me in his own time.
And another doorway to death, one more to add to
(42:40):
mister John Webster's one thousand several ways. A doorway leading
to a long dark road, with no signpost to mark
the end. A man lies moribund and still kept alive
by the miracles of modern science, not ready yet for
the final embrace of death. As God moves in mysterious
(43:02):
ways his wonders to perform, I shall return shortly. You
may remember the case. It was featured in many newspapers
because it was over two years before Art Hollis's heart
(43:23):
stumbled and at last failed. As for Elaine and Dan,
they were arrested and finally convicted. Our cast included Russell Horton,
Carol Titel, Earl Hammond, and Jackson Beck. The entire production
was under the direction of Hymon Brown. And now a
(43:45):
preview of our next tale. Not just a moment that
beach stretches for a mile in either direction without so
much as a piece of drift wood to hide behind.
Yet you say it was less than a minute between
the time he disappeared over the dune and you reached
the spot where he'd been standing.
Speaker 3 (44:06):
It may have been a little more.
Speaker 2 (44:07):
Than a spot from which you could survey the entire
length of the beach. Now where else could he have
gotten to in that period of time? For thirty seven
the time of his disappearance, the ocean was at high tide,
mere forty yards from the dew. The surf was up,
making visibility to no. No, Edgar would not have killed himself.
(44:32):
Forgive me, missus Pennington, But how can you be so sure?
Speaker 3 (44:37):
Because he loved me?
Speaker 2 (44:40):
This is E. G. Marshall inviting you to return to
our mystery theater for another adventure in the macabre. Until
next time, pleasant dreams. S.
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