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Join us on a mysterious journey aboard a train bound for Skeffington Junction, where a diverse group of passengers find themselves confronting their pasts and uncertain futures. As a snowstorm rages outside, the passengers, including a widowed businessman, a divorced woman, a young couple on the run, and an elderly lady being sent to a nursing home, grapple with their own personal struggles and secrets. The train becomes a microcosm of life, where each character must face their own demons and decide what they truly want from life.
In this gripping episode, the train's unexpected stop due to a snowdrift sets off a chain of events that lead to introspection and revelations. As the passengers navigate their fears and desires, they are forced to confront the reality of their situations. With themes of loss, redemption, and the search for meaning, this episode explores the human condition and the choices we make when faced with life's crossroads. Will the passengers find the courage to change their destinies, or will they remain trapped in their own personal limbos? Tune in to find out.
(00:15) Introduction to the Mystery
(02:34) The Train's Journey Begins
(06:10) A Mysterious Illness
(12:10) Conversations and Confessions
(16:03) The Storm and the Stop
(28:43) A Life-Changing Decision
(36:00) The Final Destination
Listen to our radio station Old Time Radio https://link.radioking.com/otradio
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Remember that times have changed, and some shows might not reflect the standards of today’s politically correct society. The shows do not necessarily reflect the views, standards, or beliefs of Entertainment Radio
[00:00:00]
Unknown:
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[00:00:15] Unknown:
CBS radio mystery theater presents Come in. Welcome. I'm EG Marshall. For those of us who grew up listening to the chug chug of steam and the lure of that mournful whistle in the night, the romance of the railroad will never die. Nowadays, of course, trains are different. Yet the clickety clack of the wheels remains the same, and the whistle still speaks of strange and faraway places. I hope the romance still lingers
[00:01:07] Unknown:
long enough for me to bring you this story. The whole point was, you see, that it didn't matter where they thought they were going because they were really all dead. That ain't true about us, missus Winsome. I can assure you, we're all very much alive.
[00:01:23] Unknown:
You know, mister Conductor,
[00:01:25] Unknown:
you're the very last one in the world I would trust to tell me the whole truth.
[00:01:37] Unknown:
Our mystery drama, Journey to Somewhere, was written especially for the mystery theater by Ian Martin and stars Norman Rose and Carol Teitel. It is sponsored in part by True Value Hardware stores and Buick Motor Division.
[00:01:53] Unknown:
I'll be back shortly with act one. Why are so many people buying Buick's new Century? Well, it depends on who you ask. Missus Marsha Resnick? It holds the road and it drives really smooth. It's nice. And missus Phil Jackson. I like the because it's moving. And mister Jackson, he can't even begin to tell you all the reasons why he likes their new Buick Century. I bet he would know where to start. But then that says a lot about Buick's new Century and why it's drawing a crowd at your Buick dealers.
[00:02:34] Unknown:
On a certain day, in a certain year, not so very long ago, a certain train pulled out of a terminal in one of our major cities and headed north. It was traveling what was little better than a spur track. There were few stops along this line to Skeffington Junction and just as well. For weeks, this part of the country had lain gasping in the clutch of one of the most bitter winters in weather department history. For the record, the locomotive was record, the locomotive was number 711. A cosmic joke considering all the bad luck this train carried with it and was heading into it. Sounds almost like a ghost train, doesn't it? I beg pardon. Maybe I should beg yours.
A silly sort of remark, I guess. What I meant was all this snow, it, muffles the sound, sort of a dream like quality. I was thinking the same thing.
[00:03:30] Unknown:
Looking out the window, a world smothered in white silence, swallowing up, absorbing the sound. It is a ghost train.
[00:03:40] Unknown:
A sad opening gambit for a conversation. Forgive me. My my name is Henry Thorpe.
[00:03:46] Unknown:
How are you, mister Thorpe? I'm Julie Conrad.
[00:03:51] Unknown:
I suppose I should say was. Oh, now don't tell me that you're a disembodied spirit. It isn't something I can joke about.
[00:03:58] Unknown:
Not after twenty three years of marriage. Oh, sorry. You're widowed. No. No. It hurts a lot worse than that. Divorce? That's the polite name for it. It can be a dirty business, mister Thorpe, just for your information, if you've never been through it.
[00:04:15] Unknown:
I haven't. My my wife died. Oh.
[00:04:19] Unknown:
I am sorry. Well, it's some time ago. Do we does one make adjustments?
[00:04:24] Unknown:
Well, I guess it's up to the individual. I have not been roaringly successful or I suppose I wouldn't be on this train. Nor I suppose would I? It might be interesting to pursue just what that means. I beg your pardon, sir.
[00:04:38] Unknown:
But could the lady please take care of my patient and could you help me, oh, get the conductor. Dear lady. What is it? My patient is in the seat just across the aisle, a few seats back. She's not ill, just just elderly. Her name is missus Winsome. Mister Thorpe, a helpless woman. I'll go and take care of missus Winston. Yes. Of course.
[00:05:02] Unknown:
Now what can I do for you, nurse?
[00:05:05] Unknown:
We'll need the conductor. Would you get me to a hospital? I'm having, I believe, an acute appendicitis
[00:05:13] Unknown:
attached. Alright. Alright. Now take it easy, missus.
[00:05:18] Unknown:
Missus Winston? Oh, yes.
[00:05:20] Unknown:
How did you know my name? Well, I'm I'm sitting a few seats in front of you. Your nurse told me your name. Adrienne. Oh, but what happened to her? Oh, I'm afraid she's not feeling too well. Do you know me? That's rather strange. Why? Because she's supposed to be in charge of me. Well, you aren't well? Of course I am.
[00:05:41] Unknown:
Just the way they feel. They? My daughter and that dreadful husband. They just wanted to get rid of me. So they stuck little miss Brown with cutting me off to be incarcerated. To be what? Locked up in a nice, safe nursing home. Missus Winsome,
[00:05:58] Unknown:
could we talk about you a little later? Of course. Everyone always wants to talk about me a little later.
[00:06:07] Unknown:
But somehow, the time never comes around. What did you want to talk about? Oh, just for the moment,
[00:06:15] Unknown:
your nurse. So what's the matter with her? Well, she thinks she may be having an appendix attack. Oh, dear. Then we must stop the train immediately. Well, I think they're discussing it. I mean, I I I see, mister Thorpe is talking with the conductor.
[00:06:30] Unknown:
Now what are we going to do? Well, it ain't but a few miles to Lambert up ahead. I'm going front to tell the engineer we'll be making
[00:06:40] Unknown:
Doc Prouty has a clinic I reckon I'll have to do. We'll, we'll phone on ahead and alert him. I'll, be right back.
[00:06:48] Unknown:
You said there is a doctor? Yes. That's right, nurse. I hope that solves me. Now what am I going to do about my patient? Surely, we can find accommodations for her too. No. You don't understand. She can't manage alone. And besides oh. Also, she should be gotten to the sanitarium as soon as possible. Where is the sanitarium? It's Skiffington Junction. It's about six or seven minutes from the station.
[00:07:13] Unknown:
Do you know the town? Well, I was born there, but I left a long time ago. Do you remember the little Falls Ridge? With the big Indian teepee on top of it? Oh, bless you. That blew down years ago.
[00:07:23] Unknown:
Oh, we've got the sanitarium there instead.
[00:07:28] Unknown:
If only Now you you just try to rest, and don't worry. I'll get your patient there for you. Okay? That is a load of me mind.
[00:07:36] Unknown:
Now if you go by my my purse, there's a big envelope beside it with all the papers. Now would you bring it, please? Well, I don't like to leave you alone. No. No. No. I'll be alright. I want to check and make sure you have everything. Oh,
[00:07:52] Unknown:
I think we must be coming into land that slow. Be a second. Oh, miss miss. Yes, sir? This, this lady isn't feeling well. Would you mind keeping an eye on her for just a minute? Well, I don't know if you Please. It's an emergency. Oh, okay, sir. I'll do my thing. I'll be right back.
[00:08:06] Unknown:
Ma'am, excuse me. But, this man asked me, could I help you? Is is there anything I can do?
[00:08:14] Unknown:
Oh, oh, oh, I'm sorry. You heard me. Can you tell me how I could help you? Ma'am? Lady, wake up, please. Oh, no. Don't mister Oh, no. Oh, mister oh, where did he go? Hey. Watch it. Watch it, lady. Don't no. Fall off the seat.
[00:08:35] Unknown:
Hey. Hey. You? Hey? Yeah. You. Come here. Will you please help me? Tell me What what what's the matter? Your mother passed out or something? No. No. She's not my mother. She's just a woman that's sick. Now here, help me get her back on the seat, will you? Well, why not?
[00:08:48] Unknown:
Give me give me the lift right here. Okay. Okay. I see.
[00:08:53] Unknown:
There. She's alright. Hey. What's a big idea of the train coming to a sudden stop like this? It's coming into a station, I guess. I don't see nothing out there but snow and snow banks.
[00:09:05] Unknown:
Hey. Where'd our conductor go? Search me.
[00:09:09] Unknown:
Hey. What's eating you, whoever you are? Nothing. I just don't like it.
[00:09:13] Unknown:
I'm I mean, why should we be stopping here? What's the matter? You act like you had pups on your tail. Hey. I never said that. Okay, miss, and you, son. Thanks for helping out. I'll take over now. Hey, you know why we're stopping here, mister? Yes. To get this lady to a hospital.
[00:09:28] Unknown:
What happened to her? Well, I I think she just sort of passed out, mister Thorpe. Henry Thorpe. Oh, yeah. Let me see. Thorpe. Well, she's, she's breathing alright. Oh. Maybe it's a blessing she won't feel the pain. Alright. Thanks again. The conductor and I will handle the rest. Yes. Yes, sir.
[00:09:43] Unknown:
Hey, where are you sitting? Right over here. Do you mind if I sit with you? I don't know. I wanna ask you something. What? How come you thought I might be, taking off from the cops? Maybe it takes one to know him. What does that mean? It means bug off. I'd rather be alone. Okay. Suit yourself, Sister, if that's the way you want it. That's the way I want it. Ladies and gentlemen,
[00:10:10] Unknown:
we've made an emergency stop. There'll be no one boarding the train and with the exception of the lady, we have to get to the hospital. No one will leave it. There's a bad storm out there and we'll be pulling out first chance we get because we're running late. How long do you think we're gonna have to hang on? This whistle stop. I don't know until they get the nurse to enter a hospital, I guess.
[00:10:31] Unknown:
What's gonna happen to the old lady she was taking care of? Well, mister thought said he'd look after. Who's Thorpe? Well, that guy who came over when you were helping to get the nurse back on the seat. The one who got off with the conductor and the guys with the stretcher? Yeah. Suitcase
[00:10:45] Unknown:
Sam. No. I think I think he said the name was Hen
[00:10:49] Unknown:
what do you mean Suitcase Sam? Oh, it's just a name I gave him in my mind like. Hi.
[00:10:55] Unknown:
Hey. Wait a minute. Who asked you to sit down? Me, myself?
[00:11:00] Unknown:
My name's Duke. What's yours? Linda's now what's it to you? Well, does it hurt to know your name? Linda what? Goes both ways. Duke what? Okay. So Linda Duke.
[00:11:15] Unknown:
How come you call mister Thorpe suitcase Sam? Oh, that.
[00:11:20] Unknown:
You ever notice the way he hangs on to his briefcase? It was that he got on the train. No matter what he does, he never lets go. Helps out the old lady, lugs the briefcase. Goes off the train, it still goes along like,
[00:11:31] Unknown:
like it was chained to him. How come? Boy, he has important papers in it. Money, I don't know. Why?
[00:11:38] Unknown:
This crummy old train, headed for practically nowhere. Five of us in this coach now that the nurse is gone. Ever stop to figure what brings us all here? No. I got my own problems. Sure.
[00:11:53] Unknown:
We got problems, all of us. Hey. Who are you? I told you, Duke, a student of life.
[00:12:00] Unknown:
Well, what are you trying to say? There are five of us right here, given we got one thing in common. We're all on the lam running like hell from something or other. Okay, everyone.
[00:12:12] Unknown:
We're, sorry for the delay. You'll be glad to know that the lady who is sick is in good hands. By now, in spite of the weather, she's at the clinic about to have her appendix removed and in a one condition. So we'll, be getting more in again.
[00:12:28] Unknown:
Did you, hear what the conductor said, missus Winsome? Oh, yes. In spite of my age, my hearing is quite unimpaired. Coming up, miss Brown alright. Well, I believe so.
[00:12:39] Unknown:
Excuse me, mister Thorpe. Just, collecting tickets, for the exciting 14. Slipped my mind. Oh, sure, conductor. Here's mine. The other lady oh, I got the two young people and her. Just missus Winsome's and the nurse left. Miss Brown put the right there on the back of his seat. That's right. Let's see. One way for you, I reckon. Return ticket for her.
[00:13:05] Unknown:
Shoulda gotten that to her. How do you know the return isn't for me? Well Or for mister Fulpup.
[00:13:12] Unknown:
Is it? Well, no. The, return trip was miss Brown's, the the nurse.
[00:13:17] Unknown:
Cozy, isn't it? Five of us left on the journey, all one way tickets. They are a bacon, doctor? Why, yes. What a night. I can't see anything out of this window.
[00:13:33] Unknown:
All we know, we could be plunging straight into a void. No. I doubt it. Long as the train stays on the tracks. They do lead somewhere. You know? Do I? Do you? How wonderful is? Skeffington Junction. That's where I'm headed. Are you sure? Mhmm. I don't quite understand.
[00:13:51] Unknown:
I saw a play once about some people running ocean liner traveling in a fog, and none of them really knew where they were going. Oh, yes. Outward bound. That's
[00:14:10] Unknown:
Well, that ain't true about us, missus Winsome. I can assure you, we're all very much alive. And there was a steward on the ship just like you.
[00:14:20] Unknown:
Do you know, mister Conductor, in this circumstance
[00:14:24] Unknown:
that you are the very last one I would trust to tell me the whole truth.
[00:14:32] Unknown:
We shouldn't pay too much attention to the vagaries of an old lady who is on the way to being institutionalized, or should we? The passengers are an odd assortment of lost, unhappy people. What urges them towards Skiffington Junction? What is there for them? If indeed they ever reach it, and if they don't, what will be their ultimate destination?
[00:14:57] Unknown:
I shall return shortly with act two. This year, give mom a gift she can appreciate long after mother's day is over, like a name brand kitchen appliance from True Value Hardware stores. Hi. Pat Summerall to suggest you give her a presto fry baby deep fryer. Deep fry is one to two servings of fish, shrimp, chicken, or other fried foods in just minutes, and just two cups of cooking oil. And the lid snaps on to store the oil for the next use. Or give mom the bun drip coffee maker from True Badger Hardware stores. It brews up to 48 ounces of coffee in under three minutes and heats water for soup, tea, or cocoa, and the BUNDrip Coffee Maker comes in white with an exclusive fruit cluster design available only on True Value Hardware stores collection of name brand kitchen appliances.
This Mother's Day, give mom a name brand kitchen appliance, like the Presto fry baby deep fryer or the bum drip coffee maker from participating True Value Hardware Stores. And remember that True Value is more than just a name, it's our way of doing business.
[00:16:03] Unknown:
The night is a blur of swirling snowflakes. The searchlights from the locomotive bombard the gloom. The rails gleam bright leading the train surely towards its destination. Inside the first coach, our passengers are as we left them. But from the cold, wild night outside, phantoms have penetrated the interior warmth. And an old lady's voice has stirred in all our travelers the dead ashes of loss and desertion. Only Gus, the conductor, is left unaffected. We must be running very late, conductor.
[00:16:43] Unknown:
Lost pretty near an hour.
[00:16:45] Unknown:
Can you estimate what time we might be getting at the Skeffington Junction?
[00:16:49] Unknown:
Pretty hard to say in the way the weather is shaping up. But you want me to go up forward and check? Yeah. I wish you would. Yeah. I'll do that little thing. Missus Winsome? Yes? I just thought I'd like to kinda point out if if we really had, well, like you say, a date with destiny, it it sure wouldn't be hit or miss like this, would it? I wouldn't have thought so before.
[00:17:15] Unknown:
But now that you mentioned it,
[00:17:17] Unknown:
perhaps this is just the way it should be.
[00:17:22] Unknown:
Well,
[00:17:23] Unknown:
I'll, get up on forward and talk to the engineer. That man is hiding something. Oh, I I don't think
[00:17:32] Unknown:
so. A hiding what? The truth.
[00:17:34] Unknown:
About what? I can't answer that. Oh, never mind.
[00:17:38] Unknown:
Am I to understand that you have taken over as my nurse? Oh, no. No. Not at all. I just told miss Brown since she was sick that, I would help you to get where you're going. To the funny part. I beg pardon? Oh, don't try to be polite. That's the common term for it. Well, I don't buy the term or the qualification. You are on your way to a sanitarium,
[00:17:58] Unknown:
highly qualified and recommended. Oh, why did you like it so much? Do you want to take my place? Me? Why why would I wanna Now don't try to pull the wool over my eyes. You think I don't know of the signs of a man who wants to run from night.
[00:18:11] Unknown:
You do, don't you? Perhaps. But that has nothing to do with you. Not to be too sure.
[00:18:16] Unknown:
So I may come on strong, but maybe I'm just as ready to run as you. The only thing is, never mind what you run from. Where is it you want to run to?
[00:18:30] Unknown:
Well, where do you? And it's not very interesting. Tribes. Alright. I had a wife who who was my whole life, and she died suddenly. The children were gone, long gone, involved in their own lives. And in my case, not interested in extending the line, you know, creating grandchildren, whatever you wanna call it. And suddenly, I, I don't know, I was up against a blank cliff. End of the road. I did a complete flip flop. No. You'll you'll have to explain that for me. Maybe also for myself. You see, I was born poor. We were so poor that when I was eight, I was let out for adoption. I never knew my parents who died very young.
It was only in the last years when I couldn't find roots with my children that I tried to go back and find them with my parents. Me too? No. Not really. Just enough to make this last journey because I see it as the only place I'm wanted.
[00:19:27] Unknown:
I think you're very lucky to find any place you wanted. Some of us are not so lucky.
[00:19:41] Unknown:
Mind if I sit down for a moment?
[00:19:44] Unknown:
Oh, no. Why not?
[00:19:46] Unknown:
But, what about your charge? Missus Winston is enjoying the kind of sleep that only the very young or the very old seem to be capable of. You sound a little bitter.
[00:19:56] Unknown:
I am. And I should be the last to criticize. So am I. Oh,
[00:20:01] Unknown:
what are you bitter about? Life
[00:20:03] Unknown:
and whatever prolongs it, this endless trip. Why do we have to just put put along? It's pretty wild storm out there. The train doesn't have to see where it's going. The tracks are laid out. It just has to go. That's why I picked it. To go where?
[00:20:22] Unknown:
Skeffington Junction.
[00:20:23] Unknown:
Mainly to anywhere I wasn't.
[00:20:25] Unknown:
I don't know how to answer that. Who asked you to? Just well, just the normal process of give and take between two human beings. Haven't we gotten to the time of life where that shouldn't be necessary?
[00:20:37] Unknown:
If you want to argue cases, why don't you consult them? Consult who? Those two. Those two so called kids over there. Ask them about the state of the universe. They know it all. They have it all tabbed, leaving the two of us just two outmoded nothings to cop out.
[00:20:57] Unknown:
The faster the better. Oh, wait. Wait. Just a minute. You, forget it. Ask a foolish question, you get a foolish answer. What's so foolish about my answers? Anytime any of us skip up on living, would you say that it's foolish? No.
[00:21:12] Unknown:
Anyway, I'd have laid odds you'd be the first to understand. Me? Why? The things you said when you first intruded on my privacy, this whole crazy setup. It's a well dressed, obviously successful businessman like yourself doing on a flea bitten train like this to nowhere. I'm going to Skeffington Junction. Aren't all of us? I don't know. There aren't any other stops between here and there. Well, then that must be where we're going. Don't tell me you have business there. Well, if it happens, I have. Don't you? Not really.
[00:21:45] Unknown:
This is a pleasure trip? That it is not. Definitely not. Well, then why?
[00:21:51] Unknown:
Oh, call it a call it a stepping off place. To where? That's a good question. Why don't you ask the others? Except poor little missus Winsome. She knows where she's going. It really is the end of the line for her. Well, it might not be so bad for her. You're an optimist. And you? Since the roof of my world fell in, I expect only the worst. Now, look, missus Conrad.
[00:22:16] Unknown:
You're a young woman. You lost a husband recently alright.
[00:22:21] Unknown:
You'll weather the storm. You'll find a new life. I don't want a new world. I want the one I had. I just wish I was dead since I might as well be.
[00:22:31] Unknown:
Well, that is a bit rugged, missus Conrad. Well, that is the way I feel.
[00:22:36] Unknown:
Takes all kinds of women I imagine to make a world. My kind or maybe it's just me. My kind is symbiotic. Symbiotic.
[00:22:46] Unknown:
Forgive me.
[00:22:48] Unknown:
I once was a biology major. Symbiosis is the living together of two different but mutually interdependent organisms. Take away one of them, and the other dies. Well, there couldn't be anything much different than man and woman, could there? But your husband Oh, he's a survivor. He'll adapt, not me. Without him, I'm dead. So
[00:23:14] Unknown:
you're running away? Or towards Toward what?
[00:23:18] Unknown:
Scaffington Junction. It's a miserable scrubby little town, you know, except for the hotels. But it's a a jumping off point. For one of the most glorious sites in the world. Those wild cascading plunging waters with the spindrift hanging in the air to condense in your hair like diamonds or pearls. He said I was wearing a Juliet's cap. I was in Fairyland or Camelot or you pick your own heaven on earth, and it never changed till till it changed. I spent my honeymoon in Scaffington Junction. Again, my whole life there. So did I. I was born there. Is that why you're going back? More or less. To try to find a new life? No. That isn't possible for me,
[00:24:15] Unknown:
but it could be for you. Oh, no way.
[00:24:19] Unknown:
I'm just going there to say goodbye.
[00:24:21] Unknown:
Missus Conrad, forgive me, but Oh, mister Thorpe,
[00:24:25] Unknown:
if you have an urge to save a life, forget the two you've squandered yourself on so far. The two? Missus Winsome and me, why don't you concentrate on the really lost?
[00:24:37] Unknown:
I I I don't know quite what you mean. Another of my failures was my children.
[00:24:43] Unknown:
Not so much unlike those two. Why do you suppose they're going to Scathington Junction? Well, I wouldn't have the least notion. Oh, you are a very persuasive man. If you have this missionary urge, go save a couple of souls young enough to maybe make a difference in the eternal balance. Oh, you misunderstand
[00:25:04] Unknown:
me, missus Conrad. I'm the last person to have any missionary urges In my own way, I'm just as dead as you profess to be. What the fuck? Sorry. Everything's fine, baby. Don't move. I fell asleep. Who didn't?
[00:25:29] Unknown:
I guess it was, like, all over you. I guess. We made out. And you went away somewhere.
[00:25:36] Unknown:
Yeah. You know, like, when you got to,
[00:25:40] Unknown:
Was that all?
[00:25:42] Unknown:
Well, on the way back, I made a stopover.
[00:25:45] Unknown:
What? El Cubo with a briefcase. He was zogged out and the briefcase was sitting right beside him. Oh?
[00:25:54] Unknown:
So I checked it. It wasn't locked. I took a peek.
[00:25:59] Unknown:
What am I supposed to say? Well, don't you wanna know what was in it?
[00:26:04] Unknown:
Right. What? Money. Dough.
[00:26:09] Unknown:
Shracked, like, from a bank. Must be a $102,100,000
[00:26:13] Unknown:
maybe. I don't know. So? So it's a lot of bread. That isn't ours. Or anyone's except, like, who has it. Are you talking about stealing it? Oh, come on. What steal? Nobody owns nothing. It's only for grabs.
[00:26:29] Unknown:
I don't get you. I say you do. I think you're just as funky as I am only you don't wanna face up. I don't get you. Punk, baby. Punk all the way. I don't know what you're talking about. What's punk? I'll lay it out for you. I'm me and I don't give a damn for nothing, nobody, no way. I am
[00:26:49] Unknown:
punk. I don't know. I am. Are you alright? Oh, yeah. I just hit my arm with a whiskey allergy. You better go, missus Winston.
[00:26:56] Unknown:
Are you alright, missus Winston? I apologize for this. Nothing I apologize for the stop, but we've just encountered high snowdrifts blocking the track. It's it's doubtful we can continue on towards camping conjunction. We are sending more additional equipment to take us back as far as we have to go to find accommodations to wait out the storm. So please please be patient. We may be here for a considerable time while we try to figure out the best way out for all of us.
[00:27:33] Unknown:
The best way out for all of us. An old lady who is being railroaded into an old folks home against her will, a woman who feels her life is already over, a man who has turned from the living to the dead, a self confessed punk who cares about nothing but himself, and a young girl whose secret is still locked behind two dark and frightened eyes. What is the best way out for all of these? I shall return shortly with act three. Maybe you've got a neighbor who just bought a new Electra, and he's gotten so smug and self satisfied lately you can't stand it. Well, look at it this way. If you had just gotten a car with all the luxury and prestige of Electra and a trim European like design that makes it easier than you might imagine to park and maneuver in city traffic, Wouldn't you be a little insufferable for a while? With Hot Plug. The new Electra at your Buick dealer now. For two hours, the train crew has been busy attempting to dig out the huge engine from the snowdrift into which it had burrowed to an accidental halt.
Front coach is growing cold. The two young people are huddled together sharing his goose down parka. Henry Thorpe stands beating his hands across his chest while missus Conrad snugs into his overcoat. Further back in the car, little missus Winsome is two bright button eyes gleaming out from a mound of stray clothing wound about her. Hey. This is kinda kick,
[00:29:20] Unknown:
Glad you think so. Crazy to death.
[00:29:24] Unknown:
Cozy enough under a blanket? Now don't get me my pen.
[00:29:27] Unknown:
Come on, Linda. What's the big cold shoulder? You're wasting your time. I I wouldn't press you any farther than I can throw you. You're not my type.
[00:29:35] Unknown:
Who said it takes one to know one? Well, that was different.
[00:29:38] Unknown:
How different? I just meant you were running out on something.
[00:29:41] Unknown:
Okay. Okay. Suppose I am. I see your conscience is fooling you. Wait. Don't give me that square talk. How come you of all people figure I have to be wrong? Me of all people.
[00:29:54] Unknown:
Well, look, Duke or whatever your name is. Is. First, I don't care what put you on the road. And second, I Look. It was nothing all that terrible. Just everything backed up.
[00:30:05] Unknown:
I was flocking out in another college, which was stale news. But it meant the usual go around with my parents, and I'd had it. So I cut out. Got enough bread to see me through to Canada, and then I can move in with the family. Home? Yeah. Yeah. It's, what do you call it? A commune. You? In a commune? Come on. I don't believe it. Look. It's where you can let everything loose, blow free. Some of your know is at the establishment. Oh, come on. Isn't the family just another kind of commitment? Well, alright. So whatever it is, it's one that I picked, not one I was struck with.
Hey. It's a good line if you wanna dig it too. Couldn't it be, Debbie?
[00:30:46] Unknown:
I don't know. It's something I never even thought about.
[00:30:49] Unknown:
Can't just anybody join us? If you wanna make the commitment,
[00:30:55] Unknown:
Hey. Are you putting me on? Oh, I won't give me that. I had the notion right off on the first that maybe you were headed for the family too. No. This is the first I ever heard of that. Well, then where are you headed? You wouldn't wanna hear it. Try me. Well, I I I don't want to put it into work. Talk to me, Linda. You know you wanna talk to somebody. Oh, yeah. Somebody. Anybody
[00:31:21] Unknown:
Well, my father Well, he died a long time ago And four years ago, my mother married again I was 14 The guy I The man she married in Wanton. I just came along with a deal. Oh, you too. It's my mom, alright. But the guy is a
[00:31:42] Unknown:
He's a dog.
[00:31:44] Unknown:
He's let me around plenty when my mother didn't know. Later, she didn't care after she started drinking. Well, I wasn't sure where I could take it, but suddenly I was 18 and
[00:31:56] Unknown:
the only way was out. But out where? You got militants in Skeptanville Junction?
[00:32:02] Unknown:
Digging away. But, have you ever heard of a pen pal?
[00:32:08] Unknown:
Oh, you mean, like, you get a name and address and write and he writes back and all that? Mhmm. Well, like that.
[00:32:15] Unknown:
Sometimes when the walls close in and you gotta find a new door out or a window to escape Well, anyway, I wrote this guy nearly two years ago He's a farmer and he lived two hours out of Skeffington Junction He told me to be my father but he never had a wife So, okay, I never had a father He was the only way out Well, that's when I had it That is crazy! Throwing yourself away Are you any better? What do you think you'll do?
[00:32:49] Unknown:
I, sure hope you folks are making out. I ain't got much to report. We're still waiting for the relief engine that's on its way. We're gonna try to keep you as warm as we can till then. But you are gonna have to help.
[00:33:02] Unknown:
How your kids doing? Oh, well, we'll make an eye. Sure.
[00:33:06] Unknown:
Oh, mister Thorpe, you look pretty cold.
[00:33:08] Unknown:
I'm alright. He isn't, really. He gave me his coat to keep me from freezing. Well, I got an extra coat here. You you better climb in, do it, sir? Or maybe missus Winsome could use it. I think you need it more.
[00:33:20] Unknown:
Take it, Henry. I I could use it for just a moment or two if I could be sure that Why don't you let me sit with the old lady for a spill?
[00:33:28] Unknown:
Just come out from the Engine Room and What what is it? Well,
[00:33:32] Unknown:
I it's alright, folks. I just take it easy. No cars for alarm. It's just the new locomotive
[00:33:38] Unknown:
hooked up with us at last.
[00:35:02] Unknown:
Little jaunt, missus Winston.
[00:35:05] Unknown:
You know it as well as me. It's only, what do you call it when a fellow that's condemned to die gets word from the governor or the king? I'm a lynching away that is re preach. But it ain't gonna last long. I don't quite understand you. No. You and me, we're in the same boat. Nobody wants us anymore. I'm 65. The boom falls. I gotta retire. There goes my whole life. I never had nothing but the railroad. Take that away. I'm only waiting out these.
[00:35:44] Unknown:
Well, That is my case entirely.
[00:35:47] Unknown:
We are both in this home boat. We're at oh,
[00:35:50] Unknown:
mister Thorpe. Anything I can do? No. No, Gus. Stay where you are. I, just had a sudden urge for a cigar. I'm going out to the platform to indulge us. Well, how is missus Conroy? Well, she's fast asleep. I didn't wanna disturb her. I don't think anyone else should. Gus, when do you think we'll be stopping? Well, not this side of the Guzman Bridge.
[00:36:11] Unknown:
How long is that? Well, we should be crossing in another two, three minutes. Fine. Oh, no. If you'll excuse me.
[00:36:18] Unknown:
Such a pity. That nice man without a wife, lonely. And there's a woman just made to order for him. Beg your pardon? The lady who is sound asleep, divorced, lonely as him.
[00:36:33] Unknown:
You'd like to see them together? It would be nice. But not reasonable, missus Winsome. Any more reasonable than these two kids who are coming this way. Oh, what do you suppose they want? Hey, conductor, it's getting kinda steamy in here. Okay? If we go out on the platform for a breath of air? I hope you don't mind. Oh, no. No. Of course not. You can have a little visit with mister Thorpe. He's out there having a cigar. Oh, cheer up. Neither of us smoke. We'll leave you some air to breathe.
[00:37:04] Unknown:
That was sweet. What?
[00:37:06] Unknown:
Thinking of the non smokers.
[00:37:09] Unknown:
Maybe there's some hope for you after all. Like how? Maybe you're not all punk. You wanna get the door? Oh, yeah. Sure.
[00:37:19] Unknown:
Oh, hi, mister mister Thorpe. You mind if we join a year on the platform? No. Not at all. If you don't mind the cigar,
[00:37:26] Unknown:
Linda? No. We've been so cooped up.
[00:37:29] Unknown:
Can we get some real fresh air? Well, we could crack the outside door open just a piece. Okay? Oh, solid. Here. Let me help. Oh, no problem.
[00:37:38] Unknown:
There we are. Except
[00:37:40] Unknown:
where are we really? The conductor said we should be crossing the river and
[00:37:45] Unknown:
oh, yeah. I guess we're on the bridge now. It's been a
[00:37:49] Unknown:
strange trip, hasn't it? Yeah. One I don't care ever to take again.
[00:37:54] Unknown:
Or me. I don't know if I can agree.
[00:37:57] Unknown:
Oh. Hang on. We're alive. The bridge gave way. What? We're hanging on the edge by a press. I have the door open. Yeah. Top. Top is your only tank.
[00:38:17] Unknown:
Luke, I might get never get back.
[00:38:20] Unknown:
Hey. I'm sorry. I I'm I'm kinda sick to my stomach.
[00:38:25] Unknown:
Did did did you hurt yourself and you jumped? No. I'm not. It's not bad. What?
[00:38:31] Unknown:
The train.
[00:38:33] Unknown:
It's it's gone.
[00:38:36] Unknown:
Go ahead. Yeah. The the weight of the snow must have weakened the bridge and when we went back over it, it just gave way and the holtering went whacking into the river. Oh. Spoke the ice thing like it like it had just never been. Well, our car, we were the last one, didn't it? Enough. The three of us jumped just in time to make the snowbank and
[00:38:56] Unknown:
our car car got pulled down with the rest. And the old lady that came back or misses whatever her name was. Yeah, gone. Oh.
[00:39:03] Unknown:
Wiped out. Oh, took
[00:39:06] Unknown:
I'll tell you Linda,
[00:39:07] Unknown:
it makes you sit up and take a new look. I just hang out. Hey. How's mister Thorpe? I don't know. Well,
[00:39:17] Unknown:
can you please arrive?
[00:39:20] Unknown:
Sir? Sir, you alright? What? Some something hap happened to my to my back when we jumped. Is is there anything we can do to help? No. No. No. Don't don't try to move me. This way, this moment, it doesn't hurt too much. We've got to get you out of here. Why? You want me as another statistic?
[00:39:43] Unknown:
Forget it. How do you know that's not what we want? I know, Lynn.
[00:39:47] Unknown:
But I'm long past caring what you want from me. It's what I want from you. It's important. I want you both as another statistic. What? Six of us that we know of. Six of us on that train. Four of us ready and comp composed to die. Not not you, sir. We we won't mention the disease, but it was progressing so fast. I would have been destroyed in weeks. All the others had no real future like me, except except you two. And that is the miracle that you are here. I, I I had a a briefcase somewhere. Yes. Yes. It's here. Lucky always carries it with you though. The one with the money. I'm I'm glad that you that you know what it contains. You know what? We don't want the money. Just tell us what you Don't say you don't want it. My own children are long ago taken care of.
This, this money is from a safe deposit box. No one knows of it but me. What did you mean it for? Well, once I thought I would build a mausoleum for my parents who were buried in a pauper's grave. You see, that's where I was taking it to die myself and lie with them. Now I know that that that was stupid and I want No. I You what? I want this money to be for the young
[00:41:22] Unknown:
and for the future. I leave it to you
[00:41:26] Unknown:
to use as you see.
[00:41:34] Unknown:
Who is he?
[00:41:36] Unknown:
I guess. Who?
[00:41:40] Unknown:
What about the body?
[00:41:42] Unknown:
You heard what he said. You
[00:41:45] Unknown:
we take
[00:41:46] Unknown:
it? We take it and use
[00:41:49] Unknown:
it for things that he might have wanted it used for.
[00:41:53] Unknown:
Oh, I doubt if he'd have okayed the punk psychology. Oh, come on. I I don't mean it like that. Well then how do we use it? There'll be a way
[00:42:03] Unknown:
as as long as it helps some young people. I I don't guess he'd fault us too much.
[00:42:11] Unknown:
Us. Hey. I got a date with a man who wants to marry me. You've got a date with a man who wants to use you.
[00:42:16] Unknown:
We've got a better date. We? Okay. Us.
[00:42:22] Unknown:
With a $100,000 in the memory of this trip, of how wrong we could have gone.
[00:42:29] Unknown:
How can we lose?
[00:42:31] Unknown:
Are you propositioning me again?
[00:42:33] Unknown:
I'm trying to make you an offer you can't refuse.
[00:42:43] Unknown:
In everyone's life, there is a Skittington Junction. That particular private place where when life becomes too much to bear, you can run and jump off or perhaps just bury your head in the sand. Of course, there is no such place in reality for life itself ordains the pattern we must follow and the end that waits for us. Only the living have that second chance to make changes, so make them while you can. I'll be back shortly. I have nothing more to say about our story except that I hope as you the young people made good use of the gift of both money and time and a quote from an old poem. Tis here they say the journey ends and little doubt it must be so.
But as I tell my bestest friends, I hate to go. Our cast included Norman Rose, Carol Teitel, E. V. Juster, and Russell Horton. The entire production was under the direction of Hyman Brown. This is E. G. Marshall inviting you to return to our mystery theater for another adventure in the macabre. Until next time, pleasant,
[00:44:13] Unknown:
dream.
Bettering your business takes working with the best. With the James Hardie Alliance, you gain access to leads, training, networking, and support from the number one brand of siding in North America. Achieve new levels of success by joining the James Hardie Alliance today.
[00:00:15] Unknown:
CBS radio mystery theater presents Come in. Welcome. I'm EG Marshall. For those of us who grew up listening to the chug chug of steam and the lure of that mournful whistle in the night, the romance of the railroad will never die. Nowadays, of course, trains are different. Yet the clickety clack of the wheels remains the same, and the whistle still speaks of strange and faraway places. I hope the romance still lingers
[00:01:07] Unknown:
long enough for me to bring you this story. The whole point was, you see, that it didn't matter where they thought they were going because they were really all dead. That ain't true about us, missus Winsome. I can assure you, we're all very much alive.
[00:01:23] Unknown:
You know, mister Conductor,
[00:01:25] Unknown:
you're the very last one in the world I would trust to tell me the whole truth.
[00:01:37] Unknown:
Our mystery drama, Journey to Somewhere, was written especially for the mystery theater by Ian Martin and stars Norman Rose and Carol Teitel. It is sponsored in part by True Value Hardware stores and Buick Motor Division.
[00:01:53] Unknown:
I'll be back shortly with act one. Why are so many people buying Buick's new Century? Well, it depends on who you ask. Missus Marsha Resnick? It holds the road and it drives really smooth. It's nice. And missus Phil Jackson. I like the because it's moving. And mister Jackson, he can't even begin to tell you all the reasons why he likes their new Buick Century. I bet he would know where to start. But then that says a lot about Buick's new Century and why it's drawing a crowd at your Buick dealers.
[00:02:34] Unknown:
On a certain day, in a certain year, not so very long ago, a certain train pulled out of a terminal in one of our major cities and headed north. It was traveling what was little better than a spur track. There were few stops along this line to Skeffington Junction and just as well. For weeks, this part of the country had lain gasping in the clutch of one of the most bitter winters in weather department history. For the record, the locomotive was record, the locomotive was number 711. A cosmic joke considering all the bad luck this train carried with it and was heading into it. Sounds almost like a ghost train, doesn't it? I beg pardon. Maybe I should beg yours.
A silly sort of remark, I guess. What I meant was all this snow, it, muffles the sound, sort of a dream like quality. I was thinking the same thing.
[00:03:30] Unknown:
Looking out the window, a world smothered in white silence, swallowing up, absorbing the sound. It is a ghost train.
[00:03:40] Unknown:
A sad opening gambit for a conversation. Forgive me. My my name is Henry Thorpe.
[00:03:46] Unknown:
How are you, mister Thorpe? I'm Julie Conrad.
[00:03:51] Unknown:
I suppose I should say was. Oh, now don't tell me that you're a disembodied spirit. It isn't something I can joke about.
[00:03:58] Unknown:
Not after twenty three years of marriage. Oh, sorry. You're widowed. No. No. It hurts a lot worse than that. Divorce? That's the polite name for it. It can be a dirty business, mister Thorpe, just for your information, if you've never been through it.
[00:04:15] Unknown:
I haven't. My my wife died. Oh.
[00:04:19] Unknown:
I am sorry. Well, it's some time ago. Do we does one make adjustments?
[00:04:24] Unknown:
Well, I guess it's up to the individual. I have not been roaringly successful or I suppose I wouldn't be on this train. Nor I suppose would I? It might be interesting to pursue just what that means. I beg your pardon, sir.
[00:04:38] Unknown:
But could the lady please take care of my patient and could you help me, oh, get the conductor. Dear lady. What is it? My patient is in the seat just across the aisle, a few seats back. She's not ill, just just elderly. Her name is missus Winsome. Mister Thorpe, a helpless woman. I'll go and take care of missus Winston. Yes. Of course.
[00:05:02] Unknown:
Now what can I do for you, nurse?
[00:05:05] Unknown:
We'll need the conductor. Would you get me to a hospital? I'm having, I believe, an acute appendicitis
[00:05:13] Unknown:
attached. Alright. Alright. Now take it easy, missus.
[00:05:18] Unknown:
Missus Winston? Oh, yes.
[00:05:20] Unknown:
How did you know my name? Well, I'm I'm sitting a few seats in front of you. Your nurse told me your name. Adrienne. Oh, but what happened to her? Oh, I'm afraid she's not feeling too well. Do you know me? That's rather strange. Why? Because she's supposed to be in charge of me. Well, you aren't well? Of course I am.
[00:05:41] Unknown:
Just the way they feel. They? My daughter and that dreadful husband. They just wanted to get rid of me. So they stuck little miss Brown with cutting me off to be incarcerated. To be what? Locked up in a nice, safe nursing home. Missus Winsome,
[00:05:58] Unknown:
could we talk about you a little later? Of course. Everyone always wants to talk about me a little later.
[00:06:07] Unknown:
But somehow, the time never comes around. What did you want to talk about? Oh, just for the moment,
[00:06:15] Unknown:
your nurse. So what's the matter with her? Well, she thinks she may be having an appendix attack. Oh, dear. Then we must stop the train immediately. Well, I think they're discussing it. I mean, I I I see, mister Thorpe is talking with the conductor.
[00:06:30] Unknown:
Now what are we going to do? Well, it ain't but a few miles to Lambert up ahead. I'm going front to tell the engineer we'll be making
[00:06:40] Unknown:
Doc Prouty has a clinic I reckon I'll have to do. We'll, we'll phone on ahead and alert him. I'll, be right back.
[00:06:48] Unknown:
You said there is a doctor? Yes. That's right, nurse. I hope that solves me. Now what am I going to do about my patient? Surely, we can find accommodations for her too. No. You don't understand. She can't manage alone. And besides oh. Also, she should be gotten to the sanitarium as soon as possible. Where is the sanitarium? It's Skiffington Junction. It's about six or seven minutes from the station.
[00:07:13] Unknown:
Do you know the town? Well, I was born there, but I left a long time ago. Do you remember the little Falls Ridge? With the big Indian teepee on top of it? Oh, bless you. That blew down years ago.
[00:07:23] Unknown:
Oh, we've got the sanitarium there instead.
[00:07:28] Unknown:
If only Now you you just try to rest, and don't worry. I'll get your patient there for you. Okay? That is a load of me mind.
[00:07:36] Unknown:
Now if you go by my my purse, there's a big envelope beside it with all the papers. Now would you bring it, please? Well, I don't like to leave you alone. No. No. No. I'll be alright. I want to check and make sure you have everything. Oh,
[00:07:52] Unknown:
I think we must be coming into land that slow. Be a second. Oh, miss miss. Yes, sir? This, this lady isn't feeling well. Would you mind keeping an eye on her for just a minute? Well, I don't know if you Please. It's an emergency. Oh, okay, sir. I'll do my thing. I'll be right back.
[00:08:06] Unknown:
Ma'am, excuse me. But, this man asked me, could I help you? Is is there anything I can do?
[00:08:14] Unknown:
Oh, oh, oh, I'm sorry. You heard me. Can you tell me how I could help you? Ma'am? Lady, wake up, please. Oh, no. Don't mister Oh, no. Oh, mister oh, where did he go? Hey. Watch it. Watch it, lady. Don't no. Fall off the seat.
[00:08:35] Unknown:
Hey. Hey. You? Hey? Yeah. You. Come here. Will you please help me? Tell me What what what's the matter? Your mother passed out or something? No. No. She's not my mother. She's just a woman that's sick. Now here, help me get her back on the seat, will you? Well, why not?
[00:08:48] Unknown:
Give me give me the lift right here. Okay. Okay. I see.
[00:08:53] Unknown:
There. She's alright. Hey. What's a big idea of the train coming to a sudden stop like this? It's coming into a station, I guess. I don't see nothing out there but snow and snow banks.
[00:09:05] Unknown:
Hey. Where'd our conductor go? Search me.
[00:09:09] Unknown:
Hey. What's eating you, whoever you are? Nothing. I just don't like it.
[00:09:13] Unknown:
I'm I mean, why should we be stopping here? What's the matter? You act like you had pups on your tail. Hey. I never said that. Okay, miss, and you, son. Thanks for helping out. I'll take over now. Hey, you know why we're stopping here, mister? Yes. To get this lady to a hospital.
[00:09:28] Unknown:
What happened to her? Well, I I think she just sort of passed out, mister Thorpe. Henry Thorpe. Oh, yeah. Let me see. Thorpe. Well, she's, she's breathing alright. Oh. Maybe it's a blessing she won't feel the pain. Alright. Thanks again. The conductor and I will handle the rest. Yes. Yes, sir.
[00:09:43] Unknown:
Hey, where are you sitting? Right over here. Do you mind if I sit with you? I don't know. I wanna ask you something. What? How come you thought I might be, taking off from the cops? Maybe it takes one to know him. What does that mean? It means bug off. I'd rather be alone. Okay. Suit yourself, Sister, if that's the way you want it. That's the way I want it. Ladies and gentlemen,
[00:10:10] Unknown:
we've made an emergency stop. There'll be no one boarding the train and with the exception of the lady, we have to get to the hospital. No one will leave it. There's a bad storm out there and we'll be pulling out first chance we get because we're running late. How long do you think we're gonna have to hang on? This whistle stop. I don't know until they get the nurse to enter a hospital, I guess.
[00:10:31] Unknown:
What's gonna happen to the old lady she was taking care of? Well, mister thought said he'd look after. Who's Thorpe? Well, that guy who came over when you were helping to get the nurse back on the seat. The one who got off with the conductor and the guys with the stretcher? Yeah. Suitcase
[00:10:45] Unknown:
Sam. No. I think I think he said the name was Hen
[00:10:49] Unknown:
what do you mean Suitcase Sam? Oh, it's just a name I gave him in my mind like. Hi.
[00:10:55] Unknown:
Hey. Wait a minute. Who asked you to sit down? Me, myself?
[00:11:00] Unknown:
My name's Duke. What's yours? Linda's now what's it to you? Well, does it hurt to know your name? Linda what? Goes both ways. Duke what? Okay. So Linda Duke.
[00:11:15] Unknown:
How come you call mister Thorpe suitcase Sam? Oh, that.
[00:11:20] Unknown:
You ever notice the way he hangs on to his briefcase? It was that he got on the train. No matter what he does, he never lets go. Helps out the old lady, lugs the briefcase. Goes off the train, it still goes along like,
[00:11:31] Unknown:
like it was chained to him. How come? Boy, he has important papers in it. Money, I don't know. Why?
[00:11:38] Unknown:
This crummy old train, headed for practically nowhere. Five of us in this coach now that the nurse is gone. Ever stop to figure what brings us all here? No. I got my own problems. Sure.
[00:11:53] Unknown:
We got problems, all of us. Hey. Who are you? I told you, Duke, a student of life.
[00:12:00] Unknown:
Well, what are you trying to say? There are five of us right here, given we got one thing in common. We're all on the lam running like hell from something or other. Okay, everyone.
[00:12:12] Unknown:
We're, sorry for the delay. You'll be glad to know that the lady who is sick is in good hands. By now, in spite of the weather, she's at the clinic about to have her appendix removed and in a one condition. So we'll, be getting more in again.
[00:12:28] Unknown:
Did you, hear what the conductor said, missus Winsome? Oh, yes. In spite of my age, my hearing is quite unimpaired. Coming up, miss Brown alright. Well, I believe so.
[00:12:39] Unknown:
Excuse me, mister Thorpe. Just, collecting tickets, for the exciting 14. Slipped my mind. Oh, sure, conductor. Here's mine. The other lady oh, I got the two young people and her. Just missus Winsome's and the nurse left. Miss Brown put the right there on the back of his seat. That's right. Let's see. One way for you, I reckon. Return ticket for her.
[00:13:05] Unknown:
Shoulda gotten that to her. How do you know the return isn't for me? Well Or for mister Fulpup.
[00:13:12] Unknown:
Is it? Well, no. The, return trip was miss Brown's, the the nurse.
[00:13:17] Unknown:
Cozy, isn't it? Five of us left on the journey, all one way tickets. They are a bacon, doctor? Why, yes. What a night. I can't see anything out of this window.
[00:13:33] Unknown:
All we know, we could be plunging straight into a void. No. I doubt it. Long as the train stays on the tracks. They do lead somewhere. You know? Do I? Do you? How wonderful is? Skeffington Junction. That's where I'm headed. Are you sure? Mhmm. I don't quite understand.
[00:13:51] Unknown:
I saw a play once about some people running ocean liner traveling in a fog, and none of them really knew where they were going. Oh, yes. Outward bound. That's
[00:14:10] Unknown:
Well, that ain't true about us, missus Winsome. I can assure you, we're all very much alive. And there was a steward on the ship just like you.
[00:14:20] Unknown:
Do you know, mister Conductor, in this circumstance
[00:14:24] Unknown:
that you are the very last one I would trust to tell me the whole truth.
[00:14:32] Unknown:
We shouldn't pay too much attention to the vagaries of an old lady who is on the way to being institutionalized, or should we? The passengers are an odd assortment of lost, unhappy people. What urges them towards Skiffington Junction? What is there for them? If indeed they ever reach it, and if they don't, what will be their ultimate destination?
[00:14:57] Unknown:
I shall return shortly with act two. This year, give mom a gift she can appreciate long after mother's day is over, like a name brand kitchen appliance from True Value Hardware stores. Hi. Pat Summerall to suggest you give her a presto fry baby deep fryer. Deep fry is one to two servings of fish, shrimp, chicken, or other fried foods in just minutes, and just two cups of cooking oil. And the lid snaps on to store the oil for the next use. Or give mom the bun drip coffee maker from True Badger Hardware stores. It brews up to 48 ounces of coffee in under three minutes and heats water for soup, tea, or cocoa, and the BUNDrip Coffee Maker comes in white with an exclusive fruit cluster design available only on True Value Hardware stores collection of name brand kitchen appliances.
This Mother's Day, give mom a name brand kitchen appliance, like the Presto fry baby deep fryer or the bum drip coffee maker from participating True Value Hardware Stores. And remember that True Value is more than just a name, it's our way of doing business.
[00:16:03] Unknown:
The night is a blur of swirling snowflakes. The searchlights from the locomotive bombard the gloom. The rails gleam bright leading the train surely towards its destination. Inside the first coach, our passengers are as we left them. But from the cold, wild night outside, phantoms have penetrated the interior warmth. And an old lady's voice has stirred in all our travelers the dead ashes of loss and desertion. Only Gus, the conductor, is left unaffected. We must be running very late, conductor.
[00:16:43] Unknown:
Lost pretty near an hour.
[00:16:45] Unknown:
Can you estimate what time we might be getting at the Skeffington Junction?
[00:16:49] Unknown:
Pretty hard to say in the way the weather is shaping up. But you want me to go up forward and check? Yeah. I wish you would. Yeah. I'll do that little thing. Missus Winsome? Yes? I just thought I'd like to kinda point out if if we really had, well, like you say, a date with destiny, it it sure wouldn't be hit or miss like this, would it? I wouldn't have thought so before.
[00:17:15] Unknown:
But now that you mentioned it,
[00:17:17] Unknown:
perhaps this is just the way it should be.
[00:17:22] Unknown:
Well,
[00:17:23] Unknown:
I'll, get up on forward and talk to the engineer. That man is hiding something. Oh, I I don't think
[00:17:32] Unknown:
so. A hiding what? The truth.
[00:17:34] Unknown:
About what? I can't answer that. Oh, never mind.
[00:17:38] Unknown:
Am I to understand that you have taken over as my nurse? Oh, no. No. Not at all. I just told miss Brown since she was sick that, I would help you to get where you're going. To the funny part. I beg pardon? Oh, don't try to be polite. That's the common term for it. Well, I don't buy the term or the qualification. You are on your way to a sanitarium,
[00:17:58] Unknown:
highly qualified and recommended. Oh, why did you like it so much? Do you want to take my place? Me? Why why would I wanna Now don't try to pull the wool over my eyes. You think I don't know of the signs of a man who wants to run from night.
[00:18:11] Unknown:
You do, don't you? Perhaps. But that has nothing to do with you. Not to be too sure.
[00:18:16] Unknown:
So I may come on strong, but maybe I'm just as ready to run as you. The only thing is, never mind what you run from. Where is it you want to run to?
[00:18:30] Unknown:
Well, where do you? And it's not very interesting. Tribes. Alright. I had a wife who who was my whole life, and she died suddenly. The children were gone, long gone, involved in their own lives. And in my case, not interested in extending the line, you know, creating grandchildren, whatever you wanna call it. And suddenly, I, I don't know, I was up against a blank cliff. End of the road. I did a complete flip flop. No. You'll you'll have to explain that for me. Maybe also for myself. You see, I was born poor. We were so poor that when I was eight, I was let out for adoption. I never knew my parents who died very young.
It was only in the last years when I couldn't find roots with my children that I tried to go back and find them with my parents. Me too? No. Not really. Just enough to make this last journey because I see it as the only place I'm wanted.
[00:19:27] Unknown:
I think you're very lucky to find any place you wanted. Some of us are not so lucky.
[00:19:41] Unknown:
Mind if I sit down for a moment?
[00:19:44] Unknown:
Oh, no. Why not?
[00:19:46] Unknown:
But, what about your charge? Missus Winston is enjoying the kind of sleep that only the very young or the very old seem to be capable of. You sound a little bitter.
[00:19:56] Unknown:
I am. And I should be the last to criticize. So am I. Oh,
[00:20:01] Unknown:
what are you bitter about? Life
[00:20:03] Unknown:
and whatever prolongs it, this endless trip. Why do we have to just put put along? It's pretty wild storm out there. The train doesn't have to see where it's going. The tracks are laid out. It just has to go. That's why I picked it. To go where?
[00:20:22] Unknown:
Skeffington Junction.
[00:20:23] Unknown:
Mainly to anywhere I wasn't.
[00:20:25] Unknown:
I don't know how to answer that. Who asked you to? Just well, just the normal process of give and take between two human beings. Haven't we gotten to the time of life where that shouldn't be necessary?
[00:20:37] Unknown:
If you want to argue cases, why don't you consult them? Consult who? Those two. Those two so called kids over there. Ask them about the state of the universe. They know it all. They have it all tabbed, leaving the two of us just two outmoded nothings to cop out.
[00:20:57] Unknown:
The faster the better. Oh, wait. Wait. Just a minute. You, forget it. Ask a foolish question, you get a foolish answer. What's so foolish about my answers? Anytime any of us skip up on living, would you say that it's foolish? No.
[00:21:12] Unknown:
Anyway, I'd have laid odds you'd be the first to understand. Me? Why? The things you said when you first intruded on my privacy, this whole crazy setup. It's a well dressed, obviously successful businessman like yourself doing on a flea bitten train like this to nowhere. I'm going to Skeffington Junction. Aren't all of us? I don't know. There aren't any other stops between here and there. Well, then that must be where we're going. Don't tell me you have business there. Well, if it happens, I have. Don't you? Not really.
[00:21:45] Unknown:
This is a pleasure trip? That it is not. Definitely not. Well, then why?
[00:21:51] Unknown:
Oh, call it a call it a stepping off place. To where? That's a good question. Why don't you ask the others? Except poor little missus Winsome. She knows where she's going. It really is the end of the line for her. Well, it might not be so bad for her. You're an optimist. And you? Since the roof of my world fell in, I expect only the worst. Now, look, missus Conrad.
[00:22:16] Unknown:
You're a young woman. You lost a husband recently alright.
[00:22:21] Unknown:
You'll weather the storm. You'll find a new life. I don't want a new world. I want the one I had. I just wish I was dead since I might as well be.
[00:22:31] Unknown:
Well, that is a bit rugged, missus Conrad. Well, that is the way I feel.
[00:22:36] Unknown:
Takes all kinds of women I imagine to make a world. My kind or maybe it's just me. My kind is symbiotic. Symbiotic.
[00:22:46] Unknown:
Forgive me.
[00:22:48] Unknown:
I once was a biology major. Symbiosis is the living together of two different but mutually interdependent organisms. Take away one of them, and the other dies. Well, there couldn't be anything much different than man and woman, could there? But your husband Oh, he's a survivor. He'll adapt, not me. Without him, I'm dead. So
[00:23:14] Unknown:
you're running away? Or towards Toward what?
[00:23:18] Unknown:
Scaffington Junction. It's a miserable scrubby little town, you know, except for the hotels. But it's a a jumping off point. For one of the most glorious sites in the world. Those wild cascading plunging waters with the spindrift hanging in the air to condense in your hair like diamonds or pearls. He said I was wearing a Juliet's cap. I was in Fairyland or Camelot or you pick your own heaven on earth, and it never changed till till it changed. I spent my honeymoon in Scaffington Junction. Again, my whole life there. So did I. I was born there. Is that why you're going back? More or less. To try to find a new life? No. That isn't possible for me,
[00:24:15] Unknown:
but it could be for you. Oh, no way.
[00:24:19] Unknown:
I'm just going there to say goodbye.
[00:24:21] Unknown:
Missus Conrad, forgive me, but Oh, mister Thorpe,
[00:24:25] Unknown:
if you have an urge to save a life, forget the two you've squandered yourself on so far. The two? Missus Winsome and me, why don't you concentrate on the really lost?
[00:24:37] Unknown:
I I I don't know quite what you mean. Another of my failures was my children.
[00:24:43] Unknown:
Not so much unlike those two. Why do you suppose they're going to Scathington Junction? Well, I wouldn't have the least notion. Oh, you are a very persuasive man. If you have this missionary urge, go save a couple of souls young enough to maybe make a difference in the eternal balance. Oh, you misunderstand
[00:25:04] Unknown:
me, missus Conrad. I'm the last person to have any missionary urges In my own way, I'm just as dead as you profess to be. What the fuck? Sorry. Everything's fine, baby. Don't move. I fell asleep. Who didn't?
[00:25:29] Unknown:
I guess it was, like, all over you. I guess. We made out. And you went away somewhere.
[00:25:36] Unknown:
Yeah. You know, like, when you got to,
[00:25:40] Unknown:
Was that all?
[00:25:42] Unknown:
Well, on the way back, I made a stopover.
[00:25:45] Unknown:
What? El Cubo with a briefcase. He was zogged out and the briefcase was sitting right beside him. Oh?
[00:25:54] Unknown:
So I checked it. It wasn't locked. I took a peek.
[00:25:59] Unknown:
What am I supposed to say? Well, don't you wanna know what was in it?
[00:26:04] Unknown:
Right. What? Money. Dough.
[00:26:09] Unknown:
Shracked, like, from a bank. Must be a $102,100,000
[00:26:13] Unknown:
maybe. I don't know. So? So it's a lot of bread. That isn't ours. Or anyone's except, like, who has it. Are you talking about stealing it? Oh, come on. What steal? Nobody owns nothing. It's only for grabs.
[00:26:29] Unknown:
I don't get you. I say you do. I think you're just as funky as I am only you don't wanna face up. I don't get you. Punk, baby. Punk all the way. I don't know what you're talking about. What's punk? I'll lay it out for you. I'm me and I don't give a damn for nothing, nobody, no way. I am
[00:26:49] Unknown:
punk. I don't know. I am. Are you alright? Oh, yeah. I just hit my arm with a whiskey allergy. You better go, missus Winston.
[00:26:56] Unknown:
Are you alright, missus Winston? I apologize for this. Nothing I apologize for the stop, but we've just encountered high snowdrifts blocking the track. It's it's doubtful we can continue on towards camping conjunction. We are sending more additional equipment to take us back as far as we have to go to find accommodations to wait out the storm. So please please be patient. We may be here for a considerable time while we try to figure out the best way out for all of us.
[00:27:33] Unknown:
The best way out for all of us. An old lady who is being railroaded into an old folks home against her will, a woman who feels her life is already over, a man who has turned from the living to the dead, a self confessed punk who cares about nothing but himself, and a young girl whose secret is still locked behind two dark and frightened eyes. What is the best way out for all of these? I shall return shortly with act three. Maybe you've got a neighbor who just bought a new Electra, and he's gotten so smug and self satisfied lately you can't stand it. Well, look at it this way. If you had just gotten a car with all the luxury and prestige of Electra and a trim European like design that makes it easier than you might imagine to park and maneuver in city traffic, Wouldn't you be a little insufferable for a while? With Hot Plug. The new Electra at your Buick dealer now. For two hours, the train crew has been busy attempting to dig out the huge engine from the snowdrift into which it had burrowed to an accidental halt.
Front coach is growing cold. The two young people are huddled together sharing his goose down parka. Henry Thorpe stands beating his hands across his chest while missus Conrad snugs into his overcoat. Further back in the car, little missus Winsome is two bright button eyes gleaming out from a mound of stray clothing wound about her. Hey. This is kinda kick,
[00:29:20] Unknown:
Glad you think so. Crazy to death.
[00:29:24] Unknown:
Cozy enough under a blanket? Now don't get me my pen.
[00:29:27] Unknown:
Come on, Linda. What's the big cold shoulder? You're wasting your time. I I wouldn't press you any farther than I can throw you. You're not my type.
[00:29:35] Unknown:
Who said it takes one to know one? Well, that was different.
[00:29:38] Unknown:
How different? I just meant you were running out on something.
[00:29:41] Unknown:
Okay. Okay. Suppose I am. I see your conscience is fooling you. Wait. Don't give me that square talk. How come you of all people figure I have to be wrong? Me of all people.
[00:29:54] Unknown:
Well, look, Duke or whatever your name is. Is. First, I don't care what put you on the road. And second, I Look. It was nothing all that terrible. Just everything backed up.
[00:30:05] Unknown:
I was flocking out in another college, which was stale news. But it meant the usual go around with my parents, and I'd had it. So I cut out. Got enough bread to see me through to Canada, and then I can move in with the family. Home? Yeah. Yeah. It's, what do you call it? A commune. You? In a commune? Come on. I don't believe it. Look. It's where you can let everything loose, blow free. Some of your know is at the establishment. Oh, come on. Isn't the family just another kind of commitment? Well, alright. So whatever it is, it's one that I picked, not one I was struck with.
Hey. It's a good line if you wanna dig it too. Couldn't it be, Debbie?
[00:30:46] Unknown:
I don't know. It's something I never even thought about.
[00:30:49] Unknown:
Can't just anybody join us? If you wanna make the commitment,
[00:30:55] Unknown:
Hey. Are you putting me on? Oh, I won't give me that. I had the notion right off on the first that maybe you were headed for the family too. No. This is the first I ever heard of that. Well, then where are you headed? You wouldn't wanna hear it. Try me. Well, I I I don't want to put it into work. Talk to me, Linda. You know you wanna talk to somebody. Oh, yeah. Somebody. Anybody
[00:31:21] Unknown:
Well, my father Well, he died a long time ago And four years ago, my mother married again I was 14 The guy I The man she married in Wanton. I just came along with a deal. Oh, you too. It's my mom, alright. But the guy is a
[00:31:42] Unknown:
He's a dog.
[00:31:44] Unknown:
He's let me around plenty when my mother didn't know. Later, she didn't care after she started drinking. Well, I wasn't sure where I could take it, but suddenly I was 18 and
[00:31:56] Unknown:
the only way was out. But out where? You got militants in Skeptanville Junction?
[00:32:02] Unknown:
Digging away. But, have you ever heard of a pen pal?
[00:32:08] Unknown:
Oh, you mean, like, you get a name and address and write and he writes back and all that? Mhmm. Well, like that.
[00:32:15] Unknown:
Sometimes when the walls close in and you gotta find a new door out or a window to escape Well, anyway, I wrote this guy nearly two years ago He's a farmer and he lived two hours out of Skeffington Junction He told me to be my father but he never had a wife So, okay, I never had a father He was the only way out Well, that's when I had it That is crazy! Throwing yourself away Are you any better? What do you think you'll do?
[00:32:49] Unknown:
I, sure hope you folks are making out. I ain't got much to report. We're still waiting for the relief engine that's on its way. We're gonna try to keep you as warm as we can till then. But you are gonna have to help.
[00:33:02] Unknown:
How your kids doing? Oh, well, we'll make an eye. Sure.
[00:33:06] Unknown:
Oh, mister Thorpe, you look pretty cold.
[00:33:08] Unknown:
I'm alright. He isn't, really. He gave me his coat to keep me from freezing. Well, I got an extra coat here. You you better climb in, do it, sir? Or maybe missus Winsome could use it. I think you need it more.
[00:33:20] Unknown:
Take it, Henry. I I could use it for just a moment or two if I could be sure that Why don't you let me sit with the old lady for a spill?
[00:33:28] Unknown:
Just come out from the Engine Room and What what is it? Well,
[00:33:32] Unknown:
I it's alright, folks. I just take it easy. No cars for alarm. It's just the new locomotive
[00:33:38] Unknown:
hooked up with us at last.
[00:35:02] Unknown:
Little jaunt, missus Winston.
[00:35:05] Unknown:
You know it as well as me. It's only, what do you call it when a fellow that's condemned to die gets word from the governor or the king? I'm a lynching away that is re preach. But it ain't gonna last long. I don't quite understand you. No. You and me, we're in the same boat. Nobody wants us anymore. I'm 65. The boom falls. I gotta retire. There goes my whole life. I never had nothing but the railroad. Take that away. I'm only waiting out these.
[00:35:44] Unknown:
Well, That is my case entirely.
[00:35:47] Unknown:
We are both in this home boat. We're at oh,
[00:35:50] Unknown:
mister Thorpe. Anything I can do? No. No, Gus. Stay where you are. I, just had a sudden urge for a cigar. I'm going out to the platform to indulge us. Well, how is missus Conroy? Well, she's fast asleep. I didn't wanna disturb her. I don't think anyone else should. Gus, when do you think we'll be stopping? Well, not this side of the Guzman Bridge.
[00:36:11] Unknown:
How long is that? Well, we should be crossing in another two, three minutes. Fine. Oh, no. If you'll excuse me.
[00:36:18] Unknown:
Such a pity. That nice man without a wife, lonely. And there's a woman just made to order for him. Beg your pardon? The lady who is sound asleep, divorced, lonely as him.
[00:36:33] Unknown:
You'd like to see them together? It would be nice. But not reasonable, missus Winsome. Any more reasonable than these two kids who are coming this way. Oh, what do you suppose they want? Hey, conductor, it's getting kinda steamy in here. Okay? If we go out on the platform for a breath of air? I hope you don't mind. Oh, no. No. Of course not. You can have a little visit with mister Thorpe. He's out there having a cigar. Oh, cheer up. Neither of us smoke. We'll leave you some air to breathe.
[00:37:04] Unknown:
That was sweet. What?
[00:37:06] Unknown:
Thinking of the non smokers.
[00:37:09] Unknown:
Maybe there's some hope for you after all. Like how? Maybe you're not all punk. You wanna get the door? Oh, yeah. Sure.
[00:37:19] Unknown:
Oh, hi, mister mister Thorpe. You mind if we join a year on the platform? No. Not at all. If you don't mind the cigar,
[00:37:26] Unknown:
Linda? No. We've been so cooped up.
[00:37:29] Unknown:
Can we get some real fresh air? Well, we could crack the outside door open just a piece. Okay? Oh, solid. Here. Let me help. Oh, no problem.
[00:37:38] Unknown:
There we are. Except
[00:37:40] Unknown:
where are we really? The conductor said we should be crossing the river and
[00:37:45] Unknown:
oh, yeah. I guess we're on the bridge now. It's been a
[00:37:49] Unknown:
strange trip, hasn't it? Yeah. One I don't care ever to take again.
[00:37:54] Unknown:
Or me. I don't know if I can agree.
[00:37:57] Unknown:
Oh. Hang on. We're alive. The bridge gave way. What? We're hanging on the edge by a press. I have the door open. Yeah. Top. Top is your only tank.
[00:38:17] Unknown:
Luke, I might get never get back.
[00:38:20] Unknown:
Hey. I'm sorry. I I'm I'm kinda sick to my stomach.
[00:38:25] Unknown:
Did did did you hurt yourself and you jumped? No. I'm not. It's not bad. What?
[00:38:31] Unknown:
The train.
[00:38:33] Unknown:
It's it's gone.
[00:38:36] Unknown:
Go ahead. Yeah. The the weight of the snow must have weakened the bridge and when we went back over it, it just gave way and the holtering went whacking into the river. Oh. Spoke the ice thing like it like it had just never been. Well, our car, we were the last one, didn't it? Enough. The three of us jumped just in time to make the snowbank and
[00:38:56] Unknown:
our car car got pulled down with the rest. And the old lady that came back or misses whatever her name was. Yeah, gone. Oh.
[00:39:03] Unknown:
Wiped out. Oh, took
[00:39:06] Unknown:
I'll tell you Linda,
[00:39:07] Unknown:
it makes you sit up and take a new look. I just hang out. Hey. How's mister Thorpe? I don't know. Well,
[00:39:17] Unknown:
can you please arrive?
[00:39:20] Unknown:
Sir? Sir, you alright? What? Some something hap happened to my to my back when we jumped. Is is there anything we can do to help? No. No. No. Don't don't try to move me. This way, this moment, it doesn't hurt too much. We've got to get you out of here. Why? You want me as another statistic?
[00:39:43] Unknown:
Forget it. How do you know that's not what we want? I know, Lynn.
[00:39:47] Unknown:
But I'm long past caring what you want from me. It's what I want from you. It's important. I want you both as another statistic. What? Six of us that we know of. Six of us on that train. Four of us ready and comp composed to die. Not not you, sir. We we won't mention the disease, but it was progressing so fast. I would have been destroyed in weeks. All the others had no real future like me, except except you two. And that is the miracle that you are here. I, I I had a a briefcase somewhere. Yes. Yes. It's here. Lucky always carries it with you though. The one with the money. I'm I'm glad that you that you know what it contains. You know what? We don't want the money. Just tell us what you Don't say you don't want it. My own children are long ago taken care of.
This, this money is from a safe deposit box. No one knows of it but me. What did you mean it for? Well, once I thought I would build a mausoleum for my parents who were buried in a pauper's grave. You see, that's where I was taking it to die myself and lie with them. Now I know that that that was stupid and I want No. I You what? I want this money to be for the young
[00:41:22] Unknown:
and for the future. I leave it to you
[00:41:26] Unknown:
to use as you see.
[00:41:34] Unknown:
Who is he?
[00:41:36] Unknown:
I guess. Who?
[00:41:40] Unknown:
What about the body?
[00:41:42] Unknown:
You heard what he said. You
[00:41:45] Unknown:
we take
[00:41:46] Unknown:
it? We take it and use
[00:41:49] Unknown:
it for things that he might have wanted it used for.
[00:41:53] Unknown:
Oh, I doubt if he'd have okayed the punk psychology. Oh, come on. I I don't mean it like that. Well then how do we use it? There'll be a way
[00:42:03] Unknown:
as as long as it helps some young people. I I don't guess he'd fault us too much.
[00:42:11] Unknown:
Us. Hey. I got a date with a man who wants to marry me. You've got a date with a man who wants to use you.
[00:42:16] Unknown:
We've got a better date. We? Okay. Us.
[00:42:22] Unknown:
With a $100,000 in the memory of this trip, of how wrong we could have gone.
[00:42:29] Unknown:
How can we lose?
[00:42:31] Unknown:
Are you propositioning me again?
[00:42:33] Unknown:
I'm trying to make you an offer you can't refuse.
[00:42:43] Unknown:
In everyone's life, there is a Skittington Junction. That particular private place where when life becomes too much to bear, you can run and jump off or perhaps just bury your head in the sand. Of course, there is no such place in reality for life itself ordains the pattern we must follow and the end that waits for us. Only the living have that second chance to make changes, so make them while you can. I'll be back shortly. I have nothing more to say about our story except that I hope as you the young people made good use of the gift of both money and time and a quote from an old poem. Tis here they say the journey ends and little doubt it must be so.
But as I tell my bestest friends, I hate to go. Our cast included Norman Rose, Carol Teitel, E. V. Juster, and Russell Horton. The entire production was under the direction of Hyman Brown. This is E. G. Marshall inviting you to return to our mystery theater for another adventure in the macabre. Until next time, pleasant,
[00:44:13] Unknown:
dream.
