In this thrilling episode of Mystery Theater, we delve into the eerie tale of "The Unborn," penned by Ian Martin and featuring the voice talents of Mercedes McCambridge. Set against the backdrop of Halloween, the story explores the sinister pact made by Margo, a woman desperate to escape the ravages of time. As she navigates the treacherous waters of a deal with the devil, her journey takes us from the licentious streets of pre-war Hamburg to the sunlit shores of Capri. Alongside her is Mike, a young man ensnared by love and the mysteries surrounding Margo's eternal youth. As the narrative unfolds, listeners are drawn into a world where time is both a gift and a curse, and the true cost of immortality is revealed.
As the plot thickens, Mike's quest to uncover the truth about Margo and her enigmatic companion, Stavrianos, leads him into a web of espionage and supernatural intrigue. With the threat of a nuclear device looming, Mike must confront the reality of Margo's dark bargain and the implications it holds for their future. The episode masterfully weaves themes of love, sacrifice, and the eternal struggle between good and evil, leaving listeners pondering the ultimate question: what price would you pay to defy time itself? Join us as we unravel the mystery of "The Unborn" and explore the haunting possibilities of a life lived in reverse.
(00:14) The Time of Halloween
(01:40) The Unborn: A Mystery Drama
(02:11) The Setting: Hamburg in the Thirties
(06:20) A Devil's Bargain
(10:19) The Surfing Encounter
(16:04) A Pact with the Devil?
(20:54) The Search for Margo
(31:11) Escape to Capri
(35:29) A Love That Cannot Be
(40:57) The Haunting Memory of Margo
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[00:00:14]
Unknown:
Come in.
[00:00:18] Unknown:
Welcome.
[00:00:21] Unknown:
I need you, Marshall. If ever there was a time when which is might ride or confound the pure or work their hateful wickedness, this is it. The time of Halloween, the last gasp for the damned and the wicked to wreck their horrors before the midnight beyond which dawns all hallows day, all saints day, the celebration of all that is good. But until that lovely dawning, everything evil moves,
[00:00:54] Unknown:
building their rebels higher and higher
[00:00:57] Unknown:
till the powers of darkness are dispersed by the light of the world.
[00:01:03] Unknown:
The way you look, Margo, you've been growing young just as fast as me going the other way.
[00:01:08] Unknown:
You keep going that other way, Mike. Forget about me. I can't. Then you'll just have to wait. Our paths really haven't crossed yet. There's still a matter of age. I don't care how old you are. Makes no difference. But someday it would. Or you'd be surprised beyond belief how someday it would make a difference.
[00:01:41] Unknown:
Our mystery drama, The Unborn, was written especially for the mystery theater by Ian Martin and stars Mercedes McCambridge. It is sponsored in part by Anheuser Busch Incorporated, brewers of Budweiser, and CertainTeed Fiberglass Attic Insulation. I'll be back shortly with act one. There are cities in the world for all their good points liberty and unprincipled in the world. Many of those who vie for the title might be Macau, Casablanca, Sodom, and Gomorrah in ancient times, and in this century, Hamburg, Germany. In the early thirties, before Hitler's rise to power, it could well lay claim to being the most licentious city in Europe.
It is there that our story begins.
[00:02:47] Unknown:
You are sad tonight, Duchess. Do you miss the Duke so much? I miss the Duke not at all. The man was an unprincipled can. Tell me what makes you unhappy. I live only to light a smile on your lips. You live only to possess me, but you've not yet calculated the price. And now that you find me at liberty, you are busy calculating just what I might cost you. I would not haggle. I'm rich enough to give you the world. Too late. I've had the world. At least all of the civilized world. It is in yours to have again. You are a woman of incredible beauty, Marco.
But beauty is finite and eventually fame. You see me by moonlight, cunt, sorry? You couldn't possibly? No. Not yet. Time is inexorable, madam, to Taser. No human agency can arrest it except briefly. Oh, you are a devil. Why generalize it? I don't want to listen to you. You're beastly and you're cynical, and I don't need your criticism. I need help. Perhaps I can bring it to you. You? How can you? No one but God or the devil you say you are could bring me what I want? Eternal use? I'm not that greedy. Only not to grow old until I die. Which are you the most afraid of? Death or growing old? Well, that's easy. Death is nothing.
I'm afraid to grow old as I am at last beginning to do. Suppose I could offer you a way to avoid both, What would you offer me in return? What else can I offer you? But my immortal soul, isn't that the classic bargain? Let me assure you that I really am the devil,
[00:05:24] Unknown:
and you are on the brink of sealing a bargain you cannot break.
[00:05:29] Unknown:
Everything you ask for never to grow old. Never. Do you accept oh, yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. If your due promise is true. And the deed is done. So simply. I mean, don't we cut our veins or sign in blood? That would be necessary. There are other ways we can seal our bargain more intimately. Of course. But you can better deliver. My dear Marco, you can trust me absolutely. Never to grow old, never to die. That I promise you.
[00:06:21] Unknown:
The first time I ran across Margo was at Mahaka. It was just before the big run for the championships at Mahaliwa. We were taking on some pretty good surf, eight to 10 footers big enough to weed out the weekenders and tough enough for any surf buff to hang 10 and remember it. I'd just ridden on down a real pretty as I pulled out and took my lumps before planting onto the beach.
[00:06:47] Unknown:
Yeah. You rode that one very well, sailor.
[00:06:50] Unknown:
She broke just right for me. What you'd like?
[00:06:54] Unknown:
Slipping and sliding through that green tunnel? Oh, too much. Beyond any words I can describe. That's one's real I've never had. Yeah. I've never miss too many. Could you take me with you on a joyride like that?
[00:07:11] Unknown:
No way. It's,
[00:07:12] Unknown:
strictly one on one. I mean, could you teach me to do it for myself? Babe, that's asking for trouble. Maybe I'm looking for it.
[00:07:21] Unknown:
Yeah. I got a feeling I lost the ball here somewhere.
[00:07:26] Unknown:
I don't know just what we're talking about. Well, you're a very nice young animal. Don't try to push anything out of context. All I'm talking about is riding a surfboard, and I could pay you very well. The rates are $10 an hour when I'm working. When could I have my first lesson? On the surfboard, I mean. I was afraid that's what you meant. And will you be surprised how much safer you'll be if that's all we do together?
[00:07:51] Unknown:
Tomorrow morning. Now the, job will be too high for beginners. I'll make it afternoon. The two?
[00:07:57] Unknown:
Just the right time and number for beginners.
[00:08:06] Unknown:
Oh, I was
[00:08:07] Unknown:
gone. I'm sure I knew she was out of my orbit. She had to be somewhere in her forties and I was just out of high school. Well, give or take a couple of years. I blew the college route. Like, who needs it? Go where you want, how you want, who calls the turns. So it was one great trip for the couple of months it lasted.
[00:08:31] Unknown:
Hey. Hey. Okay. Hi. Hey. Okay. I think John. You didn't say that. You fired. Why? What's the difference? Hey. You didn't suck it. You tried to hang in. Like you always do.
[00:08:46] Unknown:
Yeah. You just do it. You cut it.
[00:08:48] Unknown:
That's all. Oh, you translate that.
[00:08:51] Unknown:
Mario, it's all instant reflex and
[00:08:55] Unknown:
And you mean that I'm too old? I didn't say that. No. That's what you meant. What you don't know is that I'll grow into it. I I still want to learn to surfboard. What's the big hang up? There are other things in this world. Well, let's make it that this is the main thing I have right now. So I'll try.
[00:09:15] Unknown:
Let's face it. I,
[00:09:18] Unknown:
I got a two way interest. Me? Like, for instance?
[00:09:22] Unknown:
You. Like, where I'm right up the wall.
[00:09:26] Unknown:
Well, that's too bad. I'm a little too old for you. Didn't you say, Mike? That was for surfing. But that's all there is with us. Are you sure? No. But we're not going to do anything, buddy. Oh, why not? If I tried to answer that, heaven knows what trouble we'd be in. Let's just say it all could have gone our way in another world and another time. But this way, the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle just don't lock. They're out of sync, so, quits. Got
[00:09:59] Unknown:
it. You know, wait a minute. You you can't just walk out of my life like that. There's no way to stop me,
[00:10:06] Unknown:
but only because it isn't quite the time for us yet. We need a chance to grow into each other. And maybe I'll see you then.
[00:10:19] Unknown:
Crazy. Two long months and all all it was was Mike and Margo.
[00:10:26] Unknown:
I didn't even know her square name or if she was
[00:10:30] Unknown:
hanging as loose as she seemed. There could have been a husband around, but who wanted to dig too deep? Never level on this around the beach. There was no make out. That was 1968. Then things happened in bunches. Tapped. I spiked for air force. Oh, I learned to fly alright. I also learned to hate my own guts real good. Those two week leaves in Japan were way out, especially the one where I found Margo again. JD Bernstein had something to do with our state department. I never asked what. All I knew is that every time I hit Tokyo, he lit all the fires for me to burn.
Alright, mad Mike. What's it gonna be this trip? I don't know. Not geisha tea and flower arrangements. I'm ready to bust out wilder than that. When won't you? Alright. What shall we bomb ourselves with? Mike? Well, if you're not interested in drink then what oh, well, that's different. Her name is Margo. How do you know that? I'm a famous seer.
[00:11:56] Unknown:
Prowler is a better word. Actually,
[00:12:00] Unknown:
I I know her or or knew her. What's her name? You already remembered it. Yeah. I know that. I mean, the her other name. He is missus Demetrius Constantine Stavrianos. What's she doing here in Tokyo? Sailing around the world. Just a point of call. How the other half lives? Tokyo isn't a port. The yacht, I imagine, is tied up in Yokohama where else is the yacht club? She looks marvelous. I mean, younger. Oh, there are ways, my friend. Little man with scalpels and silicone. I don't mean that. No. This is a a sort of inner thing. When I knew her, she was almost old enough to be my mother.
She could adopt me right now. Knock it off. That was all of six years ago, and now
[00:13:02] Unknown:
it's something I don't understand myself. What was it? It well, that I did feel for her.
[00:13:14] Unknown:
I'm sure she was something. You you follow the big waves I did, and there are a thousand babes with all the same standard equipment. So what's the big deal? The big deal is that this one I hadn't forgotten in six years. This one sent me all the way out of orbit. Like the old fashioned way to say it would be sell my soul for, except there was a warning voice that kept saying,
[00:13:48] Unknown:
this one is bad news, Mike. She's real bad news. Hello, Mike.
[00:13:56] Unknown:
You look terrific. Mhmm.
[00:14:00] Unknown:
I can ride a board now. Yeah. I'm getting better and better all the time. I'll,
[00:14:06] Unknown:
buy the last part. Can we go somewhere? No. Why not? I've grown old real fast the last few years.
[00:14:16] Unknown:
Old enough for me, do you think?
[00:14:19] Unknown:
For the way you look,
[00:14:21] Unknown:
you've been growing as young just as fast as me going the other way. Well, you keep going that other way, Mike. Forget about me. Oh, I can't. Well, then you'll just have to wait. Our paths really haven't crossed yet. They're still
[00:14:34] Unknown:
a matter of age. I don't care how old you are. It makes no difference. Oh, someday it would.
[00:14:40] Unknown:
You'd be surprised beyond belief how someday it would. Oh, excuse me. This is mister Stavrianos. And this is Mike. He's a nice young boy who tried to teach me to surfboard. Mike, I'm afraid I don't know your last name. Burns. I am going outside. This isn't a place for a woman, a non geisha woman, shall I say. Are you coming, Demetrius? In a second, my love. Alright. I gotta meet you in the car. Yes. I'll be this woman, no? Why, oh, have no embarrassment. Everyone is in love with her and wants to possess her. Like the Queen or Diamond or Helen of Troy.
I would forget her if I were you, if you can.
[00:15:34] Unknown:
Is that a threat, sir?
[00:15:36] Unknown:
Oh, dear. We know I don't have to make threats. She's something quite beyond any human being's comprehension. You should know. But for your own health, you should avoid her like the play. Just a warning, take it or leave it.
[00:16:05] Unknown:
Well, what is going on here? Did a woman named Margo make a pact with the devil? And if so, just exactly what were the terms. And if she did, what fate lies in store for a determined young man who has decided to love not wisely and certainly too well? I shall return shortly with act two. Let's see now. This is a story preoccupied with time or time Still the past. Although the present and most of all the future may have a far more important bearing, but slowly, we have yet to leave Japan and the seventy second year of this twentieth century. And it is going to take the best diplomatic effort by JD Bernstein to get Mike out of Japan and the local jail.
[00:17:22] Unknown:
Hey, Otto. I'll have him out of here as soon as I can. Oh, hi, GB. Am I sprung? You are sprung. But it took some plain and fancy oiling. Yeah. Can you stand up? My head doesn't fall off. You're lucky you didn't get it handed to you in a basket nearly severed by a samurai sword. What did I do? I'll just try to take Tokyo apart single handed. What made you flip your lid? I couldn't get to see Margo. Margo? Missus Salvrianos or whatever her name is. Oh, that one. Well, naturally. What do you mean naturally? Because she sailed that same night we saw her together in the geisha house. How do you know?
Look. This is no place to talk. Come on. Let's get back to the embassy. You mean you mean I'm free to go? Well, it'll cost you a couple hundred and fines for breaking up a few straw doors. Is that right? No criminal charges? Lucky. It's been written off to combat fatigue. Come on.
[00:18:34] Unknown:
This is the embassy?
[00:18:36] Unknown:
This Mad Mike is a park where birds do sing and bugs don't listen. Much more happily suited for a little heart to heart talk. Oh, come on with all this super spy cred. I'm just looking for the woman I love who happens to be married to a guy who enjoys the interest of almost every major government in the world. Enjoys not a bigger speech. Engages is perhaps a better word. Although I must say he seems to get a bang out of his notoriety. What is he? Financier, international broker, ship owner, puller of strings that make the universe dance to his tune. He's about as close to being the biblical conception of the devil incarnate as we have around these days.
And, Margo? I don't know. What I'm asking you, is she part of it all or just an innocent bystander? Oh, you really have it bad. Well, how long has she been married to him? If you mean legally, I don't know. How long they been together? Yeah. Okay, Sonny. Boy, brace yourself for a shock. To the best of our research, about forty years. Forty years? Would that make her at least there was a woman with her name, a Contessa Margo Barrania. But the records of the family were all wiped out during World War two. So this could be her daughter. Mhmm. Could be.
Even a daughter is stretching the imagination a little if it's the same woman.
[00:20:25] Unknown:
What are you getting at?
[00:20:28] Unknown:
I don't know, Mike. There's something rotten about the whole setup. The guy we know is a louse who got filthy rich on wars and the weapons he brokers to keep them alive. The woman, the girl. You don't know anything about her. No. We don't. Where are they now? Rome, I think. I could check it out, but what are you planning to do? Fly there from Vietnam in a combat plane? My tour of duty's up. I'm getting out of this war. Keep track of Margo for me. By the time I was discharged, Margo had dropped out of sight. Although I chased around after rumors which had them in Mozambique, The Middle East, Crete, anywhere trouble was brewing or could be stirred up.
And along the way, I picked up a new kick, racing cars. The same reflexes that made me a surfer and a hotshot pilot worked for me behind the wheel. Within a couple of years, I was beginning to get tabbed for the top races. My first big win was most part park and the only kind of car that could make me forget Margo, a Lola t three thirty. And it was, like, crazy that in a way, she led me back to Margo in the car. And my old buddy, JV, he came by my trailer after the race.
[00:22:05] Unknown:
Hey, JV. What are you doing in this neck of the woods?
[00:22:09] Unknown:
Just watching an old pal trying out a new way to achieve his death wish. You like to live dangerously. Oh, why not? It's my neck. And there's nobody I owe any responsibility to. Good. I know. I'll tell you the real reason I'm here. I wanna offer you a job. No. Thanks. I don't need a job. This is an offer you won't be able to refuse. Oh, yeah. What is it? Undercover agent.
[00:22:37] Unknown:
For me? You gotta be kidding.
[00:22:42] Unknown:
How would you like to cross paths with Margo again? You you found out where she is? Yes. Well, where? We've lost touch with Staviano as he disappeared. And for reasons I can't tell you, at least not yet, we've got to find him. And you think I might get to him through Margo? Yes. The last place Margo has been located, and as far as we know still is, although she disappears every now and then, is back in Rome. You've got the hand to tell JV. He might look like a cube in his Brooks Brothers' button down shirts, but dig deep enough, and he could come up with what I always knew was there.
An all right guy. Right on. So now I was a spy or a counter spy or whatever I was supposed to be.
[00:23:48] Unknown:
Oh, I didn't know you were there. I am always there or here. Don't you remember? You gave me a little chance to forget. Are you dissatisfied with our bargain? Would you rather be dead, which by this time you assuredly would have been? I might have been better off. I didn't quite understand the terms. Yeah. No one ever really does. But everyone always accepts them whatever they are. But you misled me. I told you I didn't mind dying. I may I remind you that you were also quite paranoid about growing old. I blame myself bitterly that I allowed myself to fall into your trap. Oh, you are lovely when you are angry. Thanks to you, I'm sorry, or whatever you wanna call yourself. I am lovelier by each minute that passes. I am grateful for your time. A figurative speech.
A bitter one. I wish I could find a way to defeat you.
[00:25:06] Unknown:
It really was for laughs. I'd be ashamed to take the money. Most of the time, I sat sipping Campari at Doni's. Doni's on the Via Veneto. Just sit there long enough and the whole world goes passing by. Like, ten days after I got the wrong. Margo.
[00:25:35] Unknown:
Stay. Segura? No. Segura. Hey. Why? It's you. What are you doing in Rome?
[00:25:45] Unknown:
You look fabulous.
[00:25:48] Unknown:
Oh, thank you. So do you. So like you used to way back when we first met.
[00:25:54] Unknown:
It's, being unemployed. I haven't felt so good since I was a surf bum.
[00:26:02] Unknown:
A big deal. How can you you know, you're fabulous. I mean, you look 20 years young, and I feel every year of it.
[00:26:16] Unknown:
That's a funny thing to say.
[00:26:18] Unknown:
I wish I could think there was anything funny about it.
[00:26:21] Unknown:
I think most women would give anything to know your secret. If they did, they'd be sorry for anything they gave. Hold on. This, conversation is getting out of hand.
[00:26:33] Unknown:
What are we what are you talking about?
[00:26:35] Unknown:
I don't dig it. No. You couldn't, but it doesn't matter. Hey, babe. You're
[00:26:41] Unknown:
pretty down. Anything I can do? Maybe.
[00:26:46] Unknown:
Maybe it's about time for us tonight. You mean it? You're still interested?
[00:26:54] Unknown:
I never changed. But
[00:26:57] Unknown:
Well, what about your husband? I never said he was my husband.
[00:27:01] Unknown:
Oh, like that. No. Not like that.
[00:27:06] Unknown:
But you're I mean, you're still
[00:27:10] Unknown:
together. Do you see him anywhere? Well, no. But, you always know where he can be found? Oh, yes. I always know where he can be found.
[00:27:20] Unknown:
But he doesn't own me yet. I'm lost again.
[00:27:26] Unknown:
Not yet, Michael. Darlene. Not yet. But you soon will be if you still want me.
[00:27:35] Unknown:
I've wanted you since the first moment you walked into my life six years ago. Twelve. No. Only six.
[00:27:45] Unknown:
Time goes twice as fast for us, Mike. Not come away. Let's forget everything. Except each other. I looked at this golden woman.
[00:28:05] Unknown:
No. Girl. This golden girl glowing as if she were molded out of burnished bronze, except Margo could never have come from any mold.
[00:28:18] Unknown:
She was too original. I could feel the warmth of her.
[00:28:23] Unknown:
Her breath caressing my cheek as she leaned close to whisper. Then why that strange cold feeling in the pit of my stomach?
[00:28:35] Unknown:
What was I scared of? What was I getting into? And if I did want to hit the panic button, was there any way out?
[00:28:50] Unknown:
You should have looked more carefully, Mike. What happened to the few wrinkles by the eyes that used to mar her beauty ever so slightly. The slight sag of flesh beneath the chin and along the jawline. And how could this mysterious woman, once old enough to be your mother, now growing older, have the skin and muscle tone of a woman your own age and younger. I shall return shortly with act three. Packing in his hotel room in Rome, Mike Burns was in that super high state of euphoria that a man reaches only when at last a long soft for conquest is within his grasp.
[00:29:44] Unknown:
Well, let's be fair to Mike. He was a man in love
[00:29:47] Unknown:
and young enough to be in love with love, young enough to forget everything else in life. Until a phone call brought him out of the rose colored clouds and back to reality. Yeah. Mike? Sure. Who's this? A friend.
[00:30:12] Unknown:
Long time no hear. Now look, just listen and the answer is short and sweet. You're hooked up with him again.
[00:30:21] Unknown:
You're asking or telling? We know you have been and that you're going away.
[00:30:26] Unknown:
What business is that of yours? It's a silly question. It's your business too. If a third party turns up, where is Tabriana's?
[00:30:36] Unknown:
Look, buddy. I I guess it's something I'd like to know myself anyway. I'll I'll try to find out. Where do I reach you? Forget it. I know where to reach you. Not good enough.
[00:30:47] Unknown:
The stops are all out for reasons you're not aware of, and the world could be hitting on a powder keg. Where? Alright. Anna Capri. How about the nearest thing to heaven? Let's keep our fingers crossed that you locate Stavriana's before there's hell to pay.
[00:31:11] Unknown:
I picked up Margo at the Spanish Steps, and together we drove south to Naples. We dumped the rad car there and went by boat to Capri. From the dock, we snaked back and forth around impossible turns by bus to an eagle's nest high above the Adriatic. Wherever you look from there,
[00:31:31] Unknown:
everything was blue and flooded by sunlight.
[00:31:35] Unknown:
I guess if I have a picture of heaven, it looks like Capri. And we were madly in love. And Margo was astonishingly a girl again, younger and more alive than me, shining with youth.
[00:31:55] Unknown:
What are you doing up this early? I couldn't sleep.
[00:31:58] Unknown:
And was I snoring again? Oh, do you ever?
[00:32:03] Unknown:
My darling, I love you whether you're awake or asleep. There's no problem there. Where is the problem? Did I say there was one? What should we do today? Eat sun ourselves and go back to bed again. Maybe we shouldn't even get up.
[00:32:22] Unknown:
You suppose I'm dead? I know very well that you are not. If I was, this is the only way I'd like it to be. Oh, who the devil is that? Anyone but who you mentioned, I hope. Who was it? It was, for me. I have to go down to the village and make a long distance call. Is this so important? Yeah. I I guess it, it has to do with us. Us? How? Darling, forget that for a moment. I I wanna ask. I mean, I'm I'm sorry, but I have to. What's the deal with you and Salvianos?
[00:33:07] Unknown:
Oh, buddy. We can deal. Are you married? No. Where is he?
[00:33:16] Unknown:
Do you know? Oh, yes.
[00:33:18] Unknown:
Where?
[00:33:20] Unknown:
Okay. You you don't have to tell me. Just well, after this, will you and he still be together?
[00:33:29] Unknown:
We never have been. Not the way you mean. He's out of your life? I didn't say that. I wish I could. I wish you could too. Oh, I'm Mike Mike, I love you, but I don't answer questions. You got to take me on faith or not at all?
[00:33:50] Unknown:
I'll take you on faith. But I also have to go make the phone call. All the way down the hill, I was busy making my decision. If it was JV on the phone, he could go climb a tree. Right at this moment, I couldn't care about international spy games. I was with the woman I loved, and nothing was going to interfere with that.
[00:34:21] Unknown:
I
[00:34:25] Unknown:
thought. I quit. You can't. Now, Mike, listen to me. All our information tells us that Stavriani already has in his possession a small nuclear device. Well, how do you know he has it? Well, let's define terms. We don't know that he actually has it. He is one might say the broker between the country that developed it and the potential buyer. But who's the buyer? We don't even know that much. Just think of it this way. Can you imagine such a weapon in the hands of any terrorist organization? The threat they could pose if their demands are not satisfied? The whole, of course, they could bring down on the whole world. Okay. Okay.
[00:35:05] Unknown:
But what can I do about it?
[00:35:09] Unknown:
Find Stavrianos. We can. I don't know if Margo will tell me where he is. Well, if she doesn't, heaven help us all.
[00:35:19] Unknown:
And if she does, heaven help me.
[00:35:30] Unknown:
What's wrong, darling?
[00:35:32] Unknown:
I don't know what anything is. You have just a hunch everything could be. The telephone call?
[00:35:39] Unknown:
Yes. That news? Yes. Is there any way I can help? Yes. Then ask me.
[00:35:50] Unknown:
Where is Davrianos?
[00:35:54] Unknown:
Darling, I told you. He doesn't mean anything between us. I got news for you. He does. Why? Alright. I I I won't hack around.
[00:36:08] Unknown:
The only way I could find my way back to you was as a government snoop. My job is to find Stavrianos through you. Why? Is that your only interest in me? Oh, you know it isn't.
[00:36:25] Unknown:
How well I know
[00:36:27] Unknown:
and how sorry I am that I ever allowed you to meet me. Why? Because we have no future, my especially now. I won't accept that. You have to accept it. We've had this short time together, and it was right, and it was wonderful. But it couldn't last. No. No. Don't. Don't do it interrupt me. Listen to me. Remember back when you first met me, I was old enough to enter your mother. I was 41 to your 18. But already, I was coming back to you. Coming back to me? Listen to me. When I first met Stavrianos, I was headed for my sixties, and I had an absolute terror of growing old. And he turned the clock upside down for me.
I don't understand. How could anyone understand who hasn't made a pact with the devil? The devil? Haven't you learned enough about Stavrianias to know that's what he is? But what kind of pack? One that really ended our love affair before it could have begun. No. Oh, yes, my love. Believe me these past few weeks have been my only taste of heaven. But now I have to go, and I hope I can take him back to hell with me. Margo, don't go to him. I'd give my own life to save yours. You know that. I know that. And I also know how foolish that would be. Why? Because you don't understand. You don't understand the pact I made. I have no fear of death since I will never die.
He promised you that. He tricked me, but his promise was a true one. That I should never grow old and that I should never die because he reversed the life process for me. And from the moment I sold my soul to him, I have been growing younger day by day, week by week, and year by year. And so, Mike, as we grow apart, you won't die at twice the pace, and you grow older and I grow younger, don't you see? There is no hope for us. No. There is no hope. There is no hope for us. No hope for me. So this is goodbye, my
[00:39:00] Unknown:
love. Look, I I know you must think I'm crazy, JV, but that's how it was. We we argued all through the day and back and forth till exhaustion. And finally, I I fell I fell asleep. And when I woke, she was gone. You've got to help me find her. I can't, old buddy. No. No. No. You got me into this. No. If it hadn't been for you, you've got to. How is she? I can only tell you one thing. By our standards, Stavriana and she are dead. What do you mean by our standards? You haven't been reading the news lately, not even the headlines. So what?
A small island in the Aegean Sea just up and disappeared yesterday. I don't read you. You will. Oh, it's written off to a sudden earthquake or other natural causes, but it seems to have been the private property of one Demetrius Stamrianos. How do you know that? Because a woman named Margo left Capri suddenly and flew directly there. You mean,
[00:40:24] Unknown:
Marco is is dead?
[00:40:26] Unknown:
I'll tell you something, buddy boy, from my heart. I hope Stavriana's, whoever he was, and your girlfriend, Margo, whoever she might have been, are dead forever and buried six feet deep. The rest of the world is better off if they are as even you, oh, buddy, will find out in time. It took a little time, but I guess the human spirit is elastic. I came back. I still get the shakes, and I wonder about things. She haunts me. Margo and her husband or whatever he was, Navrianos, were burned to a crisp in a terrible explosion that wiped out a whole island as well. And yet more and more as I grow older,
[00:41:32] Unknown:
I'm afraid to look at children.
[00:41:34] Unknown:
I I watched them playing in a park, on a beach, at amusement parks. And so often I see a girl who might be Margo. It used to be teenagers, but now as the years pass,
[00:41:50] Unknown:
it's the little tots, younger, younger. Is it faintly possible that Faust is more than a legend? That one can make a pact with the devil
[00:42:06] Unknown:
and that he could switch the whole deal instead of holding off age,
[00:42:13] Unknown:
could reverse the whole process of growing old so that in the end, a person would be nothing. Unborn, A thing that never was.
[00:42:34] Unknown:
Interesting question. What do you think? And whether you agree with it as a possibility or not, aren't you terrorized by the very concept? To live life in reverse, to travel backwards to an innocent infant, even to the conception itself. Certainly, if the devil wanted to steal the purest some miracle of fortune, upward air currents after the explosion carried the deadly byproducts over the Sahara Desert, where they were dispersed and absorbed. Margo and Stavrionos have never been seen again. Is it too much to speculate that she had her revenge and that the devil is locked up in hell for good where he belongs?
Why not hope? Someday, we must all believe that the world will wake up and banish him as we come to our senses. We must believe, or us go mad. Our cast included Mercedes McCambridge, Robert Dryden, and Bob Caliban. The entire production was under the direction of Hyman Brown. Radio mystery theater was sponsored in part by Buick Motor Division. This is EG Marshall inviting you to return to our mystery theater for another adventure in the Macabre. Until next time,
[00:44:15] Unknown:
pleasant dream.
Come in.
[00:00:18] Unknown:
Welcome.
[00:00:21] Unknown:
I need you, Marshall. If ever there was a time when which is might ride or confound the pure or work their hateful wickedness, this is it. The time of Halloween, the last gasp for the damned and the wicked to wreck their horrors before the midnight beyond which dawns all hallows day, all saints day, the celebration of all that is good. But until that lovely dawning, everything evil moves,
[00:00:54] Unknown:
building their rebels higher and higher
[00:00:57] Unknown:
till the powers of darkness are dispersed by the light of the world.
[00:01:03] Unknown:
The way you look, Margo, you've been growing young just as fast as me going the other way.
[00:01:08] Unknown:
You keep going that other way, Mike. Forget about me. I can't. Then you'll just have to wait. Our paths really haven't crossed yet. There's still a matter of age. I don't care how old you are. Makes no difference. But someday it would. Or you'd be surprised beyond belief how someday it would make a difference.
[00:01:41] Unknown:
Our mystery drama, The Unborn, was written especially for the mystery theater by Ian Martin and stars Mercedes McCambridge. It is sponsored in part by Anheuser Busch Incorporated, brewers of Budweiser, and CertainTeed Fiberglass Attic Insulation. I'll be back shortly with act one. There are cities in the world for all their good points liberty and unprincipled in the world. Many of those who vie for the title might be Macau, Casablanca, Sodom, and Gomorrah in ancient times, and in this century, Hamburg, Germany. In the early thirties, before Hitler's rise to power, it could well lay claim to being the most licentious city in Europe.
It is there that our story begins.
[00:02:47] Unknown:
You are sad tonight, Duchess. Do you miss the Duke so much? I miss the Duke not at all. The man was an unprincipled can. Tell me what makes you unhappy. I live only to light a smile on your lips. You live only to possess me, but you've not yet calculated the price. And now that you find me at liberty, you are busy calculating just what I might cost you. I would not haggle. I'm rich enough to give you the world. Too late. I've had the world. At least all of the civilized world. It is in yours to have again. You are a woman of incredible beauty, Marco.
But beauty is finite and eventually fame. You see me by moonlight, cunt, sorry? You couldn't possibly? No. Not yet. Time is inexorable, madam, to Taser. No human agency can arrest it except briefly. Oh, you are a devil. Why generalize it? I don't want to listen to you. You're beastly and you're cynical, and I don't need your criticism. I need help. Perhaps I can bring it to you. You? How can you? No one but God or the devil you say you are could bring me what I want? Eternal use? I'm not that greedy. Only not to grow old until I die. Which are you the most afraid of? Death or growing old? Well, that's easy. Death is nothing.
I'm afraid to grow old as I am at last beginning to do. Suppose I could offer you a way to avoid both, What would you offer me in return? What else can I offer you? But my immortal soul, isn't that the classic bargain? Let me assure you that I really am the devil,
[00:05:24] Unknown:
and you are on the brink of sealing a bargain you cannot break.
[00:05:29] Unknown:
Everything you ask for never to grow old. Never. Do you accept oh, yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. If your due promise is true. And the deed is done. So simply. I mean, don't we cut our veins or sign in blood? That would be necessary. There are other ways we can seal our bargain more intimately. Of course. But you can better deliver. My dear Marco, you can trust me absolutely. Never to grow old, never to die. That I promise you.
[00:06:21] Unknown:
The first time I ran across Margo was at Mahaka. It was just before the big run for the championships at Mahaliwa. We were taking on some pretty good surf, eight to 10 footers big enough to weed out the weekenders and tough enough for any surf buff to hang 10 and remember it. I'd just ridden on down a real pretty as I pulled out and took my lumps before planting onto the beach.
[00:06:47] Unknown:
Yeah. You rode that one very well, sailor.
[00:06:50] Unknown:
She broke just right for me. What you'd like?
[00:06:54] Unknown:
Slipping and sliding through that green tunnel? Oh, too much. Beyond any words I can describe. That's one's real I've never had. Yeah. I've never miss too many. Could you take me with you on a joyride like that?
[00:07:11] Unknown:
No way. It's,
[00:07:12] Unknown:
strictly one on one. I mean, could you teach me to do it for myself? Babe, that's asking for trouble. Maybe I'm looking for it.
[00:07:21] Unknown:
Yeah. I got a feeling I lost the ball here somewhere.
[00:07:26] Unknown:
I don't know just what we're talking about. Well, you're a very nice young animal. Don't try to push anything out of context. All I'm talking about is riding a surfboard, and I could pay you very well. The rates are $10 an hour when I'm working. When could I have my first lesson? On the surfboard, I mean. I was afraid that's what you meant. And will you be surprised how much safer you'll be if that's all we do together?
[00:07:51] Unknown:
Tomorrow morning. Now the, job will be too high for beginners. I'll make it afternoon. The two?
[00:07:57] Unknown:
Just the right time and number for beginners.
[00:08:06] Unknown:
Oh, I was
[00:08:07] Unknown:
gone. I'm sure I knew she was out of my orbit. She had to be somewhere in her forties and I was just out of high school. Well, give or take a couple of years. I blew the college route. Like, who needs it? Go where you want, how you want, who calls the turns. So it was one great trip for the couple of months it lasted.
[00:08:31] Unknown:
Hey. Hey. Okay. Hi. Hey. Okay. I think John. You didn't say that. You fired. Why? What's the difference? Hey. You didn't suck it. You tried to hang in. Like you always do.
[00:08:46] Unknown:
Yeah. You just do it. You cut it.
[00:08:48] Unknown:
That's all. Oh, you translate that.
[00:08:51] Unknown:
Mario, it's all instant reflex and
[00:08:55] Unknown:
And you mean that I'm too old? I didn't say that. No. That's what you meant. What you don't know is that I'll grow into it. I I still want to learn to surfboard. What's the big hang up? There are other things in this world. Well, let's make it that this is the main thing I have right now. So I'll try.
[00:09:15] Unknown:
Let's face it. I,
[00:09:18] Unknown:
I got a two way interest. Me? Like, for instance?
[00:09:22] Unknown:
You. Like, where I'm right up the wall.
[00:09:26] Unknown:
Well, that's too bad. I'm a little too old for you. Didn't you say, Mike? That was for surfing. But that's all there is with us. Are you sure? No. But we're not going to do anything, buddy. Oh, why not? If I tried to answer that, heaven knows what trouble we'd be in. Let's just say it all could have gone our way in another world and another time. But this way, the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle just don't lock. They're out of sync, so, quits. Got
[00:09:59] Unknown:
it. You know, wait a minute. You you can't just walk out of my life like that. There's no way to stop me,
[00:10:06] Unknown:
but only because it isn't quite the time for us yet. We need a chance to grow into each other. And maybe I'll see you then.
[00:10:19] Unknown:
Crazy. Two long months and all all it was was Mike and Margo.
[00:10:26] Unknown:
I didn't even know her square name or if she was
[00:10:30] Unknown:
hanging as loose as she seemed. There could have been a husband around, but who wanted to dig too deep? Never level on this around the beach. There was no make out. That was 1968. Then things happened in bunches. Tapped. I spiked for air force. Oh, I learned to fly alright. I also learned to hate my own guts real good. Those two week leaves in Japan were way out, especially the one where I found Margo again. JD Bernstein had something to do with our state department. I never asked what. All I knew is that every time I hit Tokyo, he lit all the fires for me to burn.
Alright, mad Mike. What's it gonna be this trip? I don't know. Not geisha tea and flower arrangements. I'm ready to bust out wilder than that. When won't you? Alright. What shall we bomb ourselves with? Mike? Well, if you're not interested in drink then what oh, well, that's different. Her name is Margo. How do you know that? I'm a famous seer.
[00:11:56] Unknown:
Prowler is a better word. Actually,
[00:12:00] Unknown:
I I know her or or knew her. What's her name? You already remembered it. Yeah. I know that. I mean, the her other name. He is missus Demetrius Constantine Stavrianos. What's she doing here in Tokyo? Sailing around the world. Just a point of call. How the other half lives? Tokyo isn't a port. The yacht, I imagine, is tied up in Yokohama where else is the yacht club? She looks marvelous. I mean, younger. Oh, there are ways, my friend. Little man with scalpels and silicone. I don't mean that. No. This is a a sort of inner thing. When I knew her, she was almost old enough to be my mother.
She could adopt me right now. Knock it off. That was all of six years ago, and now
[00:13:02] Unknown:
it's something I don't understand myself. What was it? It well, that I did feel for her.
[00:13:14] Unknown:
I'm sure she was something. You you follow the big waves I did, and there are a thousand babes with all the same standard equipment. So what's the big deal? The big deal is that this one I hadn't forgotten in six years. This one sent me all the way out of orbit. Like the old fashioned way to say it would be sell my soul for, except there was a warning voice that kept saying,
[00:13:48] Unknown:
this one is bad news, Mike. She's real bad news. Hello, Mike.
[00:13:56] Unknown:
You look terrific. Mhmm.
[00:14:00] Unknown:
I can ride a board now. Yeah. I'm getting better and better all the time. I'll,
[00:14:06] Unknown:
buy the last part. Can we go somewhere? No. Why not? I've grown old real fast the last few years.
[00:14:16] Unknown:
Old enough for me, do you think?
[00:14:19] Unknown:
For the way you look,
[00:14:21] Unknown:
you've been growing as young just as fast as me going the other way. Well, you keep going that other way, Mike. Forget about me. Oh, I can't. Well, then you'll just have to wait. Our paths really haven't crossed yet. They're still
[00:14:34] Unknown:
a matter of age. I don't care how old you are. It makes no difference. Oh, someday it would.
[00:14:40] Unknown:
You'd be surprised beyond belief how someday it would. Oh, excuse me. This is mister Stavrianos. And this is Mike. He's a nice young boy who tried to teach me to surfboard. Mike, I'm afraid I don't know your last name. Burns. I am going outside. This isn't a place for a woman, a non geisha woman, shall I say. Are you coming, Demetrius? In a second, my love. Alright. I gotta meet you in the car. Yes. I'll be this woman, no? Why, oh, have no embarrassment. Everyone is in love with her and wants to possess her. Like the Queen or Diamond or Helen of Troy.
I would forget her if I were you, if you can.
[00:15:34] Unknown:
Is that a threat, sir?
[00:15:36] Unknown:
Oh, dear. We know I don't have to make threats. She's something quite beyond any human being's comprehension. You should know. But for your own health, you should avoid her like the play. Just a warning, take it or leave it.
[00:16:05] Unknown:
Well, what is going on here? Did a woman named Margo make a pact with the devil? And if so, just exactly what were the terms. And if she did, what fate lies in store for a determined young man who has decided to love not wisely and certainly too well? I shall return shortly with act two. Let's see now. This is a story preoccupied with time or time Still the past. Although the present and most of all the future may have a far more important bearing, but slowly, we have yet to leave Japan and the seventy second year of this twentieth century. And it is going to take the best diplomatic effort by JD Bernstein to get Mike out of Japan and the local jail.
[00:17:22] Unknown:
Hey, Otto. I'll have him out of here as soon as I can. Oh, hi, GB. Am I sprung? You are sprung. But it took some plain and fancy oiling. Yeah. Can you stand up? My head doesn't fall off. You're lucky you didn't get it handed to you in a basket nearly severed by a samurai sword. What did I do? I'll just try to take Tokyo apart single handed. What made you flip your lid? I couldn't get to see Margo. Margo? Missus Salvrianos or whatever her name is. Oh, that one. Well, naturally. What do you mean naturally? Because she sailed that same night we saw her together in the geisha house. How do you know?
Look. This is no place to talk. Come on. Let's get back to the embassy. You mean you mean I'm free to go? Well, it'll cost you a couple hundred and fines for breaking up a few straw doors. Is that right? No criminal charges? Lucky. It's been written off to combat fatigue. Come on.
[00:18:34] Unknown:
This is the embassy?
[00:18:36] Unknown:
This Mad Mike is a park where birds do sing and bugs don't listen. Much more happily suited for a little heart to heart talk. Oh, come on with all this super spy cred. I'm just looking for the woman I love who happens to be married to a guy who enjoys the interest of almost every major government in the world. Enjoys not a bigger speech. Engages is perhaps a better word. Although I must say he seems to get a bang out of his notoriety. What is he? Financier, international broker, ship owner, puller of strings that make the universe dance to his tune. He's about as close to being the biblical conception of the devil incarnate as we have around these days.
And, Margo? I don't know. What I'm asking you, is she part of it all or just an innocent bystander? Oh, you really have it bad. Well, how long has she been married to him? If you mean legally, I don't know. How long they been together? Yeah. Okay, Sonny. Boy, brace yourself for a shock. To the best of our research, about forty years. Forty years? Would that make her at least there was a woman with her name, a Contessa Margo Barrania. But the records of the family were all wiped out during World War two. So this could be her daughter. Mhmm. Could be.
Even a daughter is stretching the imagination a little if it's the same woman.
[00:20:25] Unknown:
What are you getting at?
[00:20:28] Unknown:
I don't know, Mike. There's something rotten about the whole setup. The guy we know is a louse who got filthy rich on wars and the weapons he brokers to keep them alive. The woman, the girl. You don't know anything about her. No. We don't. Where are they now? Rome, I think. I could check it out, but what are you planning to do? Fly there from Vietnam in a combat plane? My tour of duty's up. I'm getting out of this war. Keep track of Margo for me. By the time I was discharged, Margo had dropped out of sight. Although I chased around after rumors which had them in Mozambique, The Middle East, Crete, anywhere trouble was brewing or could be stirred up.
And along the way, I picked up a new kick, racing cars. The same reflexes that made me a surfer and a hotshot pilot worked for me behind the wheel. Within a couple of years, I was beginning to get tabbed for the top races. My first big win was most part park and the only kind of car that could make me forget Margo, a Lola t three thirty. And it was, like, crazy that in a way, she led me back to Margo in the car. And my old buddy, JV, he came by my trailer after the race.
[00:22:05] Unknown:
Hey, JV. What are you doing in this neck of the woods?
[00:22:09] Unknown:
Just watching an old pal trying out a new way to achieve his death wish. You like to live dangerously. Oh, why not? It's my neck. And there's nobody I owe any responsibility to. Good. I know. I'll tell you the real reason I'm here. I wanna offer you a job. No. Thanks. I don't need a job. This is an offer you won't be able to refuse. Oh, yeah. What is it? Undercover agent.
[00:22:37] Unknown:
For me? You gotta be kidding.
[00:22:42] Unknown:
How would you like to cross paths with Margo again? You you found out where she is? Yes. Well, where? We've lost touch with Staviano as he disappeared. And for reasons I can't tell you, at least not yet, we've got to find him. And you think I might get to him through Margo? Yes. The last place Margo has been located, and as far as we know still is, although she disappears every now and then, is back in Rome. You've got the hand to tell JV. He might look like a cube in his Brooks Brothers' button down shirts, but dig deep enough, and he could come up with what I always knew was there.
An all right guy. Right on. So now I was a spy or a counter spy or whatever I was supposed to be.
[00:23:48] Unknown:
Oh, I didn't know you were there. I am always there or here. Don't you remember? You gave me a little chance to forget. Are you dissatisfied with our bargain? Would you rather be dead, which by this time you assuredly would have been? I might have been better off. I didn't quite understand the terms. Yeah. No one ever really does. But everyone always accepts them whatever they are. But you misled me. I told you I didn't mind dying. I may I remind you that you were also quite paranoid about growing old. I blame myself bitterly that I allowed myself to fall into your trap. Oh, you are lovely when you are angry. Thanks to you, I'm sorry, or whatever you wanna call yourself. I am lovelier by each minute that passes. I am grateful for your time. A figurative speech.
A bitter one. I wish I could find a way to defeat you.
[00:25:06] Unknown:
It really was for laughs. I'd be ashamed to take the money. Most of the time, I sat sipping Campari at Doni's. Doni's on the Via Veneto. Just sit there long enough and the whole world goes passing by. Like, ten days after I got the wrong. Margo.
[00:25:35] Unknown:
Stay. Segura? No. Segura. Hey. Why? It's you. What are you doing in Rome?
[00:25:45] Unknown:
You look fabulous.
[00:25:48] Unknown:
Oh, thank you. So do you. So like you used to way back when we first met.
[00:25:54] Unknown:
It's, being unemployed. I haven't felt so good since I was a surf bum.
[00:26:02] Unknown:
A big deal. How can you you know, you're fabulous. I mean, you look 20 years young, and I feel every year of it.
[00:26:16] Unknown:
That's a funny thing to say.
[00:26:18] Unknown:
I wish I could think there was anything funny about it.
[00:26:21] Unknown:
I think most women would give anything to know your secret. If they did, they'd be sorry for anything they gave. Hold on. This, conversation is getting out of hand.
[00:26:33] Unknown:
What are we what are you talking about?
[00:26:35] Unknown:
I don't dig it. No. You couldn't, but it doesn't matter. Hey, babe. You're
[00:26:41] Unknown:
pretty down. Anything I can do? Maybe.
[00:26:46] Unknown:
Maybe it's about time for us tonight. You mean it? You're still interested?
[00:26:54] Unknown:
I never changed. But
[00:26:57] Unknown:
Well, what about your husband? I never said he was my husband.
[00:27:01] Unknown:
Oh, like that. No. Not like that.
[00:27:06] Unknown:
But you're I mean, you're still
[00:27:10] Unknown:
together. Do you see him anywhere? Well, no. But, you always know where he can be found? Oh, yes. I always know where he can be found.
[00:27:20] Unknown:
But he doesn't own me yet. I'm lost again.
[00:27:26] Unknown:
Not yet, Michael. Darlene. Not yet. But you soon will be if you still want me.
[00:27:35] Unknown:
I've wanted you since the first moment you walked into my life six years ago. Twelve. No. Only six.
[00:27:45] Unknown:
Time goes twice as fast for us, Mike. Not come away. Let's forget everything. Except each other. I looked at this golden woman.
[00:28:05] Unknown:
No. Girl. This golden girl glowing as if she were molded out of burnished bronze, except Margo could never have come from any mold.
[00:28:18] Unknown:
She was too original. I could feel the warmth of her.
[00:28:23] Unknown:
Her breath caressing my cheek as she leaned close to whisper. Then why that strange cold feeling in the pit of my stomach?
[00:28:35] Unknown:
What was I scared of? What was I getting into? And if I did want to hit the panic button, was there any way out?
[00:28:50] Unknown:
You should have looked more carefully, Mike. What happened to the few wrinkles by the eyes that used to mar her beauty ever so slightly. The slight sag of flesh beneath the chin and along the jawline. And how could this mysterious woman, once old enough to be your mother, now growing older, have the skin and muscle tone of a woman your own age and younger. I shall return shortly with act three. Packing in his hotel room in Rome, Mike Burns was in that super high state of euphoria that a man reaches only when at last a long soft for conquest is within his grasp.
[00:29:44] Unknown:
Well, let's be fair to Mike. He was a man in love
[00:29:47] Unknown:
and young enough to be in love with love, young enough to forget everything else in life. Until a phone call brought him out of the rose colored clouds and back to reality. Yeah. Mike? Sure. Who's this? A friend.
[00:30:12] Unknown:
Long time no hear. Now look, just listen and the answer is short and sweet. You're hooked up with him again.
[00:30:21] Unknown:
You're asking or telling? We know you have been and that you're going away.
[00:30:26] Unknown:
What business is that of yours? It's a silly question. It's your business too. If a third party turns up, where is Tabriana's?
[00:30:36] Unknown:
Look, buddy. I I guess it's something I'd like to know myself anyway. I'll I'll try to find out. Where do I reach you? Forget it. I know where to reach you. Not good enough.
[00:30:47] Unknown:
The stops are all out for reasons you're not aware of, and the world could be hitting on a powder keg. Where? Alright. Anna Capri. How about the nearest thing to heaven? Let's keep our fingers crossed that you locate Stavriana's before there's hell to pay.
[00:31:11] Unknown:
I picked up Margo at the Spanish Steps, and together we drove south to Naples. We dumped the rad car there and went by boat to Capri. From the dock, we snaked back and forth around impossible turns by bus to an eagle's nest high above the Adriatic. Wherever you look from there,
[00:31:31] Unknown:
everything was blue and flooded by sunlight.
[00:31:35] Unknown:
I guess if I have a picture of heaven, it looks like Capri. And we were madly in love. And Margo was astonishingly a girl again, younger and more alive than me, shining with youth.
[00:31:55] Unknown:
What are you doing up this early? I couldn't sleep.
[00:31:58] Unknown:
And was I snoring again? Oh, do you ever?
[00:32:03] Unknown:
My darling, I love you whether you're awake or asleep. There's no problem there. Where is the problem? Did I say there was one? What should we do today? Eat sun ourselves and go back to bed again. Maybe we shouldn't even get up.
[00:32:22] Unknown:
You suppose I'm dead? I know very well that you are not. If I was, this is the only way I'd like it to be. Oh, who the devil is that? Anyone but who you mentioned, I hope. Who was it? It was, for me. I have to go down to the village and make a long distance call. Is this so important? Yeah. I I guess it, it has to do with us. Us? How? Darling, forget that for a moment. I I wanna ask. I mean, I'm I'm sorry, but I have to. What's the deal with you and Salvianos?
[00:33:07] Unknown:
Oh, buddy. We can deal. Are you married? No. Where is he?
[00:33:16] Unknown:
Do you know? Oh, yes.
[00:33:18] Unknown:
Where?
[00:33:20] Unknown:
Okay. You you don't have to tell me. Just well, after this, will you and he still be together?
[00:33:29] Unknown:
We never have been. Not the way you mean. He's out of your life? I didn't say that. I wish I could. I wish you could too. Oh, I'm Mike Mike, I love you, but I don't answer questions. You got to take me on faith or not at all?
[00:33:50] Unknown:
I'll take you on faith. But I also have to go make the phone call. All the way down the hill, I was busy making my decision. If it was JV on the phone, he could go climb a tree. Right at this moment, I couldn't care about international spy games. I was with the woman I loved, and nothing was going to interfere with that.
[00:34:21] Unknown:
I
[00:34:25] Unknown:
thought. I quit. You can't. Now, Mike, listen to me. All our information tells us that Stavriani already has in his possession a small nuclear device. Well, how do you know he has it? Well, let's define terms. We don't know that he actually has it. He is one might say the broker between the country that developed it and the potential buyer. But who's the buyer? We don't even know that much. Just think of it this way. Can you imagine such a weapon in the hands of any terrorist organization? The threat they could pose if their demands are not satisfied? The whole, of course, they could bring down on the whole world. Okay. Okay.
[00:35:05] Unknown:
But what can I do about it?
[00:35:09] Unknown:
Find Stavrianos. We can. I don't know if Margo will tell me where he is. Well, if she doesn't, heaven help us all.
[00:35:19] Unknown:
And if she does, heaven help me.
[00:35:30] Unknown:
What's wrong, darling?
[00:35:32] Unknown:
I don't know what anything is. You have just a hunch everything could be. The telephone call?
[00:35:39] Unknown:
Yes. That news? Yes. Is there any way I can help? Yes. Then ask me.
[00:35:50] Unknown:
Where is Davrianos?
[00:35:54] Unknown:
Darling, I told you. He doesn't mean anything between us. I got news for you. He does. Why? Alright. I I I won't hack around.
[00:36:08] Unknown:
The only way I could find my way back to you was as a government snoop. My job is to find Stavrianos through you. Why? Is that your only interest in me? Oh, you know it isn't.
[00:36:25] Unknown:
How well I know
[00:36:27] Unknown:
and how sorry I am that I ever allowed you to meet me. Why? Because we have no future, my especially now. I won't accept that. You have to accept it. We've had this short time together, and it was right, and it was wonderful. But it couldn't last. No. No. Don't. Don't do it interrupt me. Listen to me. Remember back when you first met me, I was old enough to enter your mother. I was 41 to your 18. But already, I was coming back to you. Coming back to me? Listen to me. When I first met Stavrianos, I was headed for my sixties, and I had an absolute terror of growing old. And he turned the clock upside down for me.
I don't understand. How could anyone understand who hasn't made a pact with the devil? The devil? Haven't you learned enough about Stavrianias to know that's what he is? But what kind of pack? One that really ended our love affair before it could have begun. No. Oh, yes, my love. Believe me these past few weeks have been my only taste of heaven. But now I have to go, and I hope I can take him back to hell with me. Margo, don't go to him. I'd give my own life to save yours. You know that. I know that. And I also know how foolish that would be. Why? Because you don't understand. You don't understand the pact I made. I have no fear of death since I will never die.
He promised you that. He tricked me, but his promise was a true one. That I should never grow old and that I should never die because he reversed the life process for me. And from the moment I sold my soul to him, I have been growing younger day by day, week by week, and year by year. And so, Mike, as we grow apart, you won't die at twice the pace, and you grow older and I grow younger, don't you see? There is no hope for us. No. There is no hope. There is no hope for us. No hope for me. So this is goodbye, my
[00:39:00] Unknown:
love. Look, I I know you must think I'm crazy, JV, but that's how it was. We we argued all through the day and back and forth till exhaustion. And finally, I I fell I fell asleep. And when I woke, she was gone. You've got to help me find her. I can't, old buddy. No. No. No. You got me into this. No. If it hadn't been for you, you've got to. How is she? I can only tell you one thing. By our standards, Stavriana and she are dead. What do you mean by our standards? You haven't been reading the news lately, not even the headlines. So what?
A small island in the Aegean Sea just up and disappeared yesterday. I don't read you. You will. Oh, it's written off to a sudden earthquake or other natural causes, but it seems to have been the private property of one Demetrius Stamrianos. How do you know that? Because a woman named Margo left Capri suddenly and flew directly there. You mean,
[00:40:24] Unknown:
Marco is is dead?
[00:40:26] Unknown:
I'll tell you something, buddy boy, from my heart. I hope Stavriana's, whoever he was, and your girlfriend, Margo, whoever she might have been, are dead forever and buried six feet deep. The rest of the world is better off if they are as even you, oh, buddy, will find out in time. It took a little time, but I guess the human spirit is elastic. I came back. I still get the shakes, and I wonder about things. She haunts me. Margo and her husband or whatever he was, Navrianos, were burned to a crisp in a terrible explosion that wiped out a whole island as well. And yet more and more as I grow older,
[00:41:32] Unknown:
I'm afraid to look at children.
[00:41:34] Unknown:
I I watched them playing in a park, on a beach, at amusement parks. And so often I see a girl who might be Margo. It used to be teenagers, but now as the years pass,
[00:41:50] Unknown:
it's the little tots, younger, younger. Is it faintly possible that Faust is more than a legend? That one can make a pact with the devil
[00:42:06] Unknown:
and that he could switch the whole deal instead of holding off age,
[00:42:13] Unknown:
could reverse the whole process of growing old so that in the end, a person would be nothing. Unborn, A thing that never was.
[00:42:34] Unknown:
Interesting question. What do you think? And whether you agree with it as a possibility or not, aren't you terrorized by the very concept? To live life in reverse, to travel backwards to an innocent infant, even to the conception itself. Certainly, if the devil wanted to steal the purest some miracle of fortune, upward air currents after the explosion carried the deadly byproducts over the Sahara Desert, where they were dispersed and absorbed. Margo and Stavrionos have never been seen again. Is it too much to speculate that she had her revenge and that the devil is locked up in hell for good where he belongs?
Why not hope? Someday, we must all believe that the world will wake up and banish him as we come to our senses. We must believe, or us go mad. Our cast included Mercedes McCambridge, Robert Dryden, and Bob Caliban. The entire production was under the direction of Hyman Brown. Radio mystery theater was sponsored in part by Buick Motor Division. This is EG Marshall inviting you to return to our mystery theater for another adventure in the Macabre. Until next time,
[00:44:15] Unknown:
pleasant dream.
The Time of Halloween
The Unborn: A Mystery Drama
The Setting: Hamburg in the Thirties
A Devil's Bargain
The Surfing Encounter
A Pact with the Devil?
The Search for Margo
Escape to Capri
A Love That Cannot Be
The Haunting Memory of Margo
