In this episode, we delve into the tumultuous events surrounding a family in Kansas City, where personal struggles and supernatural elements intertwine. The story unfolds with a backdrop of local news, including a significant fire at a school and ongoing teacher strikes, setting the stage for a family's internal conflicts. The narrative centers on Jenny, a young girl who believes she possesses a magical wishing stone, capable of altering reality. Her innocent wishes inadvertently lead to unforeseen consequences, including a school fire and her mother's miraculous recovery from a severe accident.
The episode explores themes of belief, coincidence, and the destructive nature of addiction, as Jenny's father grapples with his gambling habit, ultimately leading to tragedy. The family's dynamics are tested as they navigate the challenges posed by the father's addiction and the mysterious power of the wishing stone. This gripping tale raises questions about fate, responsibility, and the power of belief, leaving listeners pondering the fine line between coincidence and the supernatural.
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Unknown:
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WDAF, Kansas City.
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Dan Henry, WDAF local news at eleven. The outlook for Kansas City mild. The Missouri House and Senate are meeting in extra sessions tonight in order to attempt to find agreement on the state's $2,000,000,000 budget, and there's talk that budgetary committees could be working all night. If Kansas City's area construction is to be stopped tomorrow by a full scale strike, no one is saying so. Representatives of 10 major construction unions met behind closed doors today, but made no mention of an intended strike at the close of the meeting. Today, pickets were posted at several construction sites, stopping work on the Crosby Kemper Memorial Arena and the new Convention Center Complex in downtown Kansas City. School Teacher strike talks continue under the auspices of federal mediator, Beryl Karlu. Today, teacher union president, Norman Hudson, was escorted from the Jackson County Jail to a negotiating session, then returned to his cell. The strike will be thirty eight days old tomorrow with no immediate end in sight.
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Knees of the hour on the hour from American Information Radio. This is Merrill Mueller in Los Angeles. And at this hour, the Miami Herald Tuesday edition reports that president Nixon will risk impeachment and refuse to meet the house judiciary committee subpoena for 42 tapes and documents. The Meantime, the committee has sent a new message to the White House asking for other information. Chairman Peter Rodino told us in Washington there's even more to come.
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I can say that it's not unlikely that requests will be going out. I instructed our counsel to specify what those requests are and those requests would cover the areas that are within the general scope of our inquiry.
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But chairman Rodino also emphasized that future requests on the White House will have to be approved by the entire House Judiciary Committee. Democratic governors and congressmen talk of tax cuts. That story coming up. This is Joan Crawford speaking for USO,
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United Service Organization. Do we, as civilians, know what it's like to be far from home in a fine land? Listen to this real life documentary about one of our servicemen over there.
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Do you speak English? Uh-oh.
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Excuse me, ma'am. I wonder if you could help me. Excuse me, miss. Can you help me? Excuse me, miss. Can you help me? Excuse me, miss. Can you help me?
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Light? Excuse me, miss. Can you help me? English. Patricia? Yes, sir. Do you do you speak English? Nine nine.
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Excuse me. Can you help me?
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99.
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Excuse me. Can anybody help me? Hi. We sure can. This is USO, and we have all kinds of help. That's why I support USO, and you should too. USO makes a man feel closer to home while he's serving his country for you. Isn't money the least you can give? Please support USO.
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Fifteen democratic USO. Fifteen democratic governors meeting in Chicago have urged congress to write a tax relief plan for low and middle income families despite any objections by the administration.
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Correspondent Bob Clark has more on the talk of tax cuts in Washington. It may just be spring fever, but sentiment for cutting was bursting out all over on Capitol Hill today. During their Easter vacation, many members of congress found the folks at home on the brink of rebellion over the combination of high taxes and runaway inflation. With the growing fear of recession adding to the gloomy economic picture, there's a sudden groundswell of support in congress for tax relief to stimulate the economy. The senate's democratic leader, Mike Mansfield, says he's all for it. A proposal by democratic senators Mondale and Kennedy to raise the personal exemption and thus reduce everybody's income taxes is drawing sudden support from other members of congress, including some key Republicans.
Bob Clark, ABC News, Washington.
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Veterans administrator Donald Johnson has announced he will submit his resignation in the near future. Congressional leaders said after a White House meeting today, Johnson had already lost some authority in a department reorganization. American Telephone and Telegraph board chairman John Debutz has revealed in Atlanta that AT and T is seeking a 20¢ rate for paid telephones and a 10¢ charge for information in all states where it has not yet been approved. Indonesia's Minister Of Communications has announced some survivors have been found at the site of a Pan American Airlines crash on the island of Bali. No numbers are announced. The plane reportedly fell with 107 persons aboard on its landing approach to Bali on flight eight twelve from Hong Kong to Australia.
Postal service to Canada has been halted at the request of the Ottawa government because of the strike by Canadian postal workers. This is information radio news. Senator Henry Jackson in a New York speech has urged the Nixon administration to seek a new agreement with the Soviet Union sharply reducing nuclear missiles. Senator Jackson charged that US security is endangered by administration efforts to reach what he called a cosmetic arms agreement this June. The head of the Petroleum Exporters Association has announced at the United Nations that oil prices will remain fairly stable until October. And then if inflation is worse, oil prices will go up again.
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From the Kurt Mears sports desk, the Kansas City Royals lost to the Boston Red Sox four to one tonight. They'll try again tomorrow. The Saint Louis Cardinals were idle today. They'll host Houston tomorrow. The Milwaukee Bucks play Chicago, and the Bucks, leading the best of seven series three to one. And the Kansas City, Omaha Kings Forward, Ron Berhagen, has been named to the NBA all rookie team for 1974. The Kansas City outlook fair and cool tonight with a low around 45, then mostly fair and warmer tomorrow with a high in the middle to upper seventies. Dan Henry, WDAF News.
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The CBS Radio Mystery Theatre presents Come in. Welcome. I'm EG Marshall. Welcome to the world of terrifying imagination. The fear you can hear. Somebody said it, I believe, or if he didn't, he should have. The world is neither good nor bad. Tis wishing makes it so. Our story is about a fay, elfin young woman who made her own world and who had a disturbing and fateful capacity to make her dreams come true. Not always in exactly the fashion or the dimension she wished for. I'm warning you, you stop hanging on to me, Marge. I got to, Tom. You just can't do it to us anymore. Just lay off of me. Oh, you can't do this again. Then I got the luck tonight. I can feel it all going for me. The way you always feel? Please. Marge, let go. You would've put the worry on me? I said you let go.
No. George, I didn't mean to push. Oh, lord.
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No. Paul, you killed her, Paul. You killed her dead.
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Our mystery drama, The Wishing Stone, was written especially for the mystery theater by Ian Martin and stars Clarice Blackburn and William Prince. It is sponsored in part by the Kellogg company, makers of Kellogg's special k cereal and by new sugar free diet seven up. I'll be back shortly with act one.
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Hello. Miss Goldilocks here. And welcome to my professional taste testing laboratory. Oh, Papa Bear. Mhmm. Could you bring that case of sugar free diet seven up over here? Another case? Miss Goldilocks, you're drinking this sugar free diet seven up like there's no tomorrow. You can't still be taste testing it. Oh, no, papa bear. Sugar free diet seven up has has already earned my seal of approval. It's fresh, light, natural. Delicious. I drink it because I love its taste. Now hurry up. Okay. Okay. Here. Mhmm.
This sugar free diet seven up really tastes delicious. Ladies, if you're tired of switching from one diet drink to another, take some advice from miss Goldilocks. Try sugar free diet seven up and you'll say, yes.
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This one's just right. I'll bear witness to that, Goldie.
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Project Hope is reaching out, bringing hope to more countries around the world this year than ever before. Newest addition to Hope's international programs is Ethiopia, where Project Hope's doctors, nurses, and other medical specialists will be working side by side with Ethiopians, teaching while they treat. Since 1960, Hope has trained more than 7,000 physicians, dentists, nurses, and other health care personnel, has helped establish new schools of nursing, dentistry, and physical therapy in several countries, and assisted in the development of hospitals, teaching institutions, and public health services.
Hope's work has been heralded by heads of many nations. Its services requested by many, many more.
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Hope is training and sharing. Hope is treating and caring. Health is what hope's all about. Help project hope reach out.
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Help Hope reach out. Right. Project Hope, Room A, Washington DC.
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We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep. That quote is definitely mister Shakespeare's. But our little life is equally founded and sometimes confounded on dreams, like the bad one Jenny Coulter had a few moments ago and for which, fortunately, there is present comfort in the person of her mother and in turn, her brother, Judd.
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Jenny, you alright?
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It's you, ma. You. Oh,
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you alright? Well, I'm fine, honey. What? You have a bad dream? I suppose.
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Oh, now that I see you, oh, Ma, it was so real. I saw you lying there at the bottom of the stairs and and your head, oh, it was turned to the side like like Well, now now, don't let it upset you. Here I am right as rain, and it was only a dream. But it was just like I saw it happen. He pulled his arm away from you while you were hanging on, and you went tumbling down. He? Who's he? I I don't wanna talk about it. Oh, was it your father? Yes. Who else would it be? Judd, what what are you doing up? I heard Jenny Lou cry out. Oh, it's just a bad dream is all. You okay, sis? I'm just fine now. You go on back to bed now, son. What did you dream your old man did to my Jenny? Mom was trying to stop him from going out gambling again. And he sort of pushed her off him, like,
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and she tumbled all the way downstairs. Oh, that's enough. Bussing about nothing now to get back to bed, Judd. Okay.
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Good night, Jenny. Good night, Judd.
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If you want, I should close the door, ma? No. I'm coming back to bed myself right away. You're not scared no more, are you, honey? No.
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Long as I know you and Judd are close by. But I sure was scared. Oh,
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my baby. You're just so sensitive. Everything touches you close like a little old butterfly sitting on a leaf with your feelers reaching out all a tremble. I like being butterfly. That's a pretty sort of thing to think on. So you just keep thinking on it and hustle yourself back to sleep. Good night, Jenny. Good night, ma. I love you. And I love you. Sleep tight. Ma, sick's alive, judge. You like to startle me on my wits. Come away from Jenny's door. I thought I told you to go on back to bed. Was you and Pa having an argument again tonight?
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When? Right now that that she might have heard.
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Your father isn't even here. He went on out after you kids went to bed.
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Yeah. I bet he's over the stove. He's playing poker.
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Oh, Tom don't mean what he does. He's sick.
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Yeah. And so am I. I'm sick of him.
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I'm here in the kitchen, doctor Luther.
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How is Jenny? Jenny Lou is just fine, Marge. She's getting dressed, and I'm gonna drop her off at school on my way into town.
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It ain't the encephalitis again.
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You got to stop worrying about that, Marge.
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It's not so easy.
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After last year, getting put back one grade, after missing all her classes. It won't take her long to jump back where she belongs. That's a right smart little girl.
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She used to be before.
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That's what I wanna talk to you about. If I've told you once, I've told you half a dozen times that Jenny was one of the lucky ones. She came through it without a scratch, physical or mental. But such a long time. It was a very mild case even if it was stubborn and protracted.
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It's just I worry so that she she was somehow
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held back. Now I want you to get that clean out of your mind once and for all. But sometimes she seems so
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so young.
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Oh, lord. What do you want her to be at 16? I don't know of anyone fresher and lovelier and more unspoiled than your little girl. She wants to cling to childhood a little longer. Leave her be.
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Just so you're sure last year didn't hurt her none.
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There's only one thing I worry about with Jenny.
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What?
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Your husband. Lord knows why, but she thinks the sun rises and sets in her father. Once she settles for being a woman, she'll have to open her eyes as to what he really is.
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Oh, Tom doesn't mean to hurt anyone, doctor. You told me yourself that he's sick.
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Yeah. I think it is a kind of sickness, but not one a doctor can treat.
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What am I going to do?
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I don't know, Marge. Oh, one thing I do know is I've got to go. People waiting at the office, but Tom is hurting all of you bad, worse maybe than any of you realize. And in the end, Jenny will lose the one he'll hurt most of all.
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Judd, that you? Oh, yeah, ma. Is Jenny with you? Well, no, ma.
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Where you been? Baseball practice.
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And why'd you think Jenny was with me? Because she didn't come home after school. Judd, it didn't like her to just take off. You don't suppose she? What she what, ma? That dream shook her up. And Tom and me had another bad set to this morning. She wouldn't run away. She heavy? From us? No way. Well, she was sort of strange when she left this morning with doctor Luther. Kinda, I don't know, excited as if she had some secret plan. You know how she gets. Secret? Yeah.
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But I know where she is. Where? Well, I I I can't tell you. I mean, it's her own secret place. Only only only reason I know about it is I was out rabbit hunting one day and I stumbled across it. She goes there to bird watch and well, just to be alone, I guess. She made me promise I'd never tell just where. I'll bring her home. Jenny? Jenny? Jenny, what what are you doing hiding out here?
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I wasn't hiding. I just came here to to say a little prayer.
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For who? Pa. Pa. Oh.
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And the sun was shining in like a big splinter of light, the way it does through the hole in the tree up there. Remember how I always used to think when we was little kids that it was God stretching down his hands to touch us?
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Yeah. It was a long time ago.
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Don't say that because he is there. He was here today. Leastways, one of his angels was. What? I was kneeling and looking up into the sun. And all of a sudden, the birds was all still. And the whole hidey hole here filled up with golden light that sparkled and spun. And right over there, he was standing. Who? Him. The angel of the Lord. And I could feel him all around me, in me, warm and kind, so kind. Then he touched my hand and smiled and just fade away. And then I looked in my hand, and I saw it. Oh, wait. I didn't lose it. No. Here.
This is what I found in my hand. Well, let's see. Well, what is it? It's a conjure stone. All gold and shiny. A stone I can wish on. The angel said that? He didn't have to. I heard the words inside me. You can wish on this, Jenny. You can have anything you want in the whole wide world.
[00:20:04] Unknown:
You just don't believe this is a wishing stone now, do you? Jenny, right to the moment, I just gotta say I'm so fussed and fumed about dinner being ready and you kids not, and your father ain't home, I can hardly think straight about oh, lordy. If my biscuits have risen, we're just gonna have to sit and eat without Tom.
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Jenny, don't bother Ma right now. I just wanna try my wishing stone. Wish something nice for her. Well, let's just hold up for a, a better time. I could wish Pa to hurry home, so we wouldn't have to wait. I don't wanna wait none at all.
[00:20:40] Unknown:
I got a math test tomorrow. I just gotta pass her. I don't make the ball team, and I need every minute to study. Except two of my kitten. If I stayed up all night, I wouldn't be ready for tomorrow. If you had a few more days, could you make it? Well, even just one, I'd stand a chance. Okay. Here goes. No. No. No. Hold up a minute. Too late.
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Shh. I just wished there'd be no school tomorrow.
[00:21:06] Unknown:
No school tomorrow? What nonsense is that? Jenny, go bring them biscuits. Judge, you sit down. Ain't we gonna wait for Pa? We ain't waiting for nothing. Not even wishes to come true. We're gonna eat our dinner before it spoils. Yes, Ma.
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I'll get the biscuits.
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You didn't have to be so rough on them, ma. Play her game.
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I know, Judd. It's just I have no sense of humor left or fun. The way it is with us, if we had a wish in stone, we could use it for a lot better things than no school tomorrow. Ain't that crazy? The two of you have had me half believing there is a power in that stone.
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Hi, March.
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Tom?
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Where are the kids?
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As if you care. Gone to bed. Where have you been? What was the a that supposed to mean? I've been a volunteer
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helper at a fire. Now it's finally out. I couldn't hardly wait to get home and tell the kids the good news.
[00:22:28] Unknown:
What good news?
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That the school burned down. Good news for the kids everywhere tonight. No school tomorrow. Is there any other catastrophe in the world that carries with it an equal amount of joy than a school burning down? But this time, is it chance or is some supernatural force sinister or benign at play? We're going to find out that this simple phenomenon or happenstance is a great deal more than sheer coincidence when we return in a few moments with act two.
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Some research experts say you can't taste the difference between beers. Well, if they're right, then Anheuser Busch wastes a barrel of time, beachwood aging Budweiser. Only they don't think so. Brewing beer right does make a difference. And they're betting a bundle that you can taste the difference in bud. When it comes to brewing Budweiser, the Anheuser Busch choice is to go all the way because they still care about quality. Look at it this way. If the Budd people have a choice between what some experts say and what beer drinkers say, well, you'd better believe they'll go with you beer drinkers every time. When you say Budweiser, you said it all.
Anheuser Busch, Saint Louis.
[00:24:12] Unknown:
Don't let anyone con you into thinking it's wrong to turn in a heroin pusher. You're not ratting. You're doing your part to wipe out one of the most insidious epidemics racking our country today. So don't let anyone kid you. If you really care about the quality of life, if you really care about improving society, you will do everything you can to get the heroin pusher off the street and into jail where he belongs. If you have information about a drug pusher, use the heroin hotline. The number is (800) 368-5363. That's toll free from anywhere in the country.
The number again is (800) 368-5363. A trained operator will answer your call, take your information, and pass it on to experienced federal agents who will investigate. You'll make your own special contribution toward helping us wipe out what President Nixon has called public enemy number one. Call (800) 368-5363.
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So Jenny Liu, a 16 year old who is determined to cling to childhood and all its happiest dreams, has made her first wish upon the conjure stone. The magic piece of shiny gold that came to her, she believes, at the hand of an angel.
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A wish that came true.
[00:25:45] Unknown:
Well, this one was a harmless enough request. Although the manner of its granting has been destructive enough, if indeed it was actually granted, if this is a wishing stone, it is potentially as dangerous
[00:26:00] Unknown:
as a nuclear bomb. Did you say the school burned down,
[00:26:02] Unknown:
school burned down, Pa? It sure is, Tucker. It did, John. Ain't that good news, Jenny? I reckon.
[00:26:08] Unknown:
I guess, I didn't mean to do it that way.
[00:26:12] Unknown:
You didn't mean to do what? To burn it down. I I just didn't want it to be. That's all I wished on. Yeah. What was she talking about, Mark? Oh, it's just Jenny found it. Don't you tell him, Mark? But you don't you tell me what? Oh, don't pay any mind to the young ones nonsense.
[00:26:26] Unknown:
Just tell us about the schoolhouse and what happened.
[00:26:30] Unknown:
Well, sir, I I I just about finished trimming up Marasaga's hedge, and I just started to get all my tools together to put back in a pickup when the fire horn went off. I heard that old horn go just a couple of minutes. By shop. That guy runs straight over to the firehouse, being being that close, and we took off. By the time we got there, she was past all saving. And it's funny. You know, you come to think of it, a brick building like that, you wouldn't figure it turned into a regular torch. Well, how'd the fire start, pot? Yeah. You wouldn't believe this, and neither does nobody else credit it. But according to old Sam Wallace, all of a sudden, a flaming arrow arrow comes straight out of the sky and cut right through the brick walls and everything and hit the oil tank
[00:27:17] Unknown:
and blew her wide open. Oh, that drunken old no good, some custodian. I'll bet he was drinking and dropped one of those foul old stogies he smokes and all that rubbish he's too lazy to clean out of the cellar. It could be. He is it's what most everyone thinks. Still Still what?
[00:27:37] Unknown:
It's hard to tell someone who wasn't there. But damn, if the way he told that story didn't make you stop at least once to sink on it. What do you mean? It was the first time I ever seen that old boozehound with his eyes put together like he really talked about. Anyways, we talked enough. Hey. Something to eat around here. I got it warming. I'll serve it right away.
[00:28:05] Unknown:
Pa? Yes, Sugar? That flaming lightning bolt you said, How long before the fire horn sounded did it come?
[00:28:13] Unknown:
Oh, according to Sam's story, he he lit out next door to the gas station and called the fire department. It wouldn't couldn't have been more than a couple of minutes. See, Judd? It did so work. Okay. If you wanna believe it. What are you kids talking about? Well, forget it, Pott. Just kid talk. Oh. Well, I'm too old to share. Oh, no. If you want to. Oh, sure I do. Well, Pott, It it's just for now, mine.
[00:28:39] Unknown:
Jenny and me's gotta be getting to bed. Oh, with no school to worry about tomorrow? If there's no school, there's plenty of chores they can catch up on in the morning. Scoot now, both of you. I'm serving your pa dinner. Good night, pa. Let's go, Jen. But I wanted to wanted to count
[00:28:54] Unknown:
upstairs. It's past your bedtime. Yes, ma. Good night, pa. Good night, kids.
[00:29:01] Unknown:
Did you have to chase him off the bed?
[00:29:03] Unknown:
Little enough chance I get to see him. It's little enough chance you make to see him. Oh, layoff, William Marge. I'm not even laying on. If you stuck a little closer to home than to the other woman, maybe you'd know what goes on around your own house. Now what other woman? Now dang it. I'm talking about Lady Luck or whatever name you wanna call her, my rival. Lady Luck. Whatever makes you gamble, Tom. One way or another, it's gonna be the end of us. You ever gonna see that before it's too late?
[00:29:42] Unknown:
Why wouldn't you let me tell Pa about the wishing stone?
[00:29:46] Unknown:
Because. Because what? Because first thing you know, he'll take it off of you. That's why. Why would he? Because it's real gold? Jenny, that stone ain't gold. Then what is it?
[00:29:58] Unknown:
It's pyrite. What's pyrite?
[00:30:02] Unknown:
Oh, it's just what everybody calls well, it it's a sort of metal.
[00:30:08] Unknown:
Well, anyways, whatever it is, it's real precious to me. It's my lucky
[00:30:15] Unknown:
charm. Well, that's why you better not let Pa know what you think about it. Why? Well, you know what he's like. He he cares about gambling more than he cares about anything. And all gamblers are real superstitious. Now, if he knew you had a lucky piece, especially if he heard the crazy story about you and that school burning down,
[00:30:34] Unknown:
he'd have it off of you so fast that it set your head to spinning. It isn't crazy. You heard me wish on the stone for no school. And now, there is no school. That was just happenstance. You don't think it happened just because I wished it? Of course, it didn't. Then I'm gonna prove it to you. What do you want me to wish for? I don't want you to wish for nothing. I gotta show you. Look here now. I'm gonna wish Jenny. What, Judd? Oh, you sound so funny.
[00:31:04] Unknown:
Maybe it's because I feel like that.
[00:31:08] Unknown:
I what way?
[00:31:10] Unknown:
Sort of, you know, superstitious like. It sort of gives you goosebumps if you think on it. What does? Well, now look, Jenny, supposing now, now I'm not saying it did fall out this way, but supposing you did get what you wished for. You were the one yourself said you didn't mean to get it the way you did.
[00:31:30] Unknown:
No. That's for sure I didn't. I didn't want the schoolhouse to go on fire. Gosh, Jud. Oh, supposing just supposing someone had been in there and got caught in the fire.
[00:31:43] Unknown:
Or a whole lot of folks.
[00:31:46] Unknown:
That's kinda what I'm saying. And my wish could have burned them all up. But the angel gave it to me. For sure, he couldn't have meant nothing bad to happen. I don't have to throw it away. Do I, Jud? I can keep it.
[00:32:04] Unknown:
Well, that won't do no harm so long as you don't wish on it.
[00:32:09] Unknown:
I guess I'll just put it away for my keepsakes. And and I'll never use it unless
[00:32:16] Unknown:
Unless what?
[00:32:17] Unknown:
Unless the angel comes and tells me to.
[00:32:21] Unknown:
Well, that's a right good idea, Jenny. And remember, don't let Pa get wind of that there stone. There would nothing hold him back from using it even if he didn't believe in it.
[00:32:39] Unknown:
It's gonna seem funny going to school in the courthouse.
[00:32:42] Unknown:
You think with only a Friday left in the week that I'd wait until Monday to start up again. I'm glad they did. I don't wanna miss any more school ever. Then you better look out the things you go around wishing, missy. Oh, she's took
[00:32:55] Unknown:
I'm sorry, ma'am. She's taken a pledge. What does that mean? I'm not gonna wish on the stone anymore
[00:33:01] Unknown:
because the wish you get might turn out bad for other folks. I think that's a very good pledge. Yes. Only Only what?
[00:33:10] Unknown:
I'll have to whisper. Well, no. Don't mind me. I'm all finished. I gotta get my books from upstairs.
[00:33:18] Unknown:
What's this you have to whisper?
[00:33:20] Unknown:
I was just going to say that with Judd's with Judd's birthday tomorrow, I wanted to wish him a bicycle.
[00:33:28] Unknown:
He sure has his heart set on one. Well, you won't have to worry because he's already got one. Least ways, he will by later this morning. How?
[00:33:37] Unknown:
You see this flower tin? Yes.
[00:33:40] Unknown:
Watch this. Down under the flour, there in this old glass salt cellar is the money I've been saving up for most a year to get your brother the bike he wants. How come you kept it there? Your father, what he is, it had to be some real safe place to keep his hands off it. Who's that? Oh, it's your uncle Al. He's driving me to work this morning. Get the door, honey. Will you? My hands are all flower.
[00:34:07] Unknown:
Sure thing, ma. Hi, Uncle Al.
[00:34:13] Unknown:
Beautiful. Oh, my. You sure are as pretty as a picture. Getting look more like your mother every day. And they don't come any prettier than that.
[00:34:24] Unknown:
Oh, you and your honey talk. You should have been on a TV instead of behind a cage.
[00:34:29] Unknown:
Thank God bank don't keep its tellers there anymore. You make me sound like an ape. Me, Tarzan. You, Jane?
[00:34:38] Unknown:
No. Me, Jenny.
[00:34:40] Unknown:
If you've got a serious guy here alive, when I know you must be around, Uncle Al, hi. Hi. Hey. Give me some skin. Well, here's five. I'll match it. Now say that's some grip. You wanna Indian wrestle? Oh, I'm gonna be ready pretty soon to take you on. I think you're ready already. Oh, I got no time this morning. I gotta catch a school bus. Come on, Jenny. We gotta scoot. Goodbye, Ma.
[00:34:59] Unknown:
Oh, have a good day, son. Bye, Ma. And get a real swell you know what. I will be happy, Jenny. I am. Bye, uncle Al. Hey. It's great to see you. We'll make it longer next time. Bye, uncle Al. Bye, Jenny.
[00:35:14] Unknown:
Make next time soon. You can count on it real soon.
[00:35:20] Unknown:
Oh, yes. Well, kids, Mars. I envy you. Yeah. They're what I live for these days.
[00:35:28] Unknown:
Tom left already?
[00:35:30] Unknown:
No. He's upstairs, dead to the world. He rolled in this morning around three smelling like a brewery.
[00:35:38] Unknown:
That brother of mine, I'd like to knock his head off.
[00:35:42] Unknown:
The way he'll be feeling time he gets up this morning, you won't have to. It'll fall off all by itself.
[00:35:47] Unknown:
I got to talk some business to him. Like what? I I don't wanna get you involved in it, Mark. Well, if it's about money, I will be anyway. It is about money. And there's no use asking him.
[00:36:01] Unknown:
I I went through his pockets last night, and he doesn't have 1 red cent.
[00:36:08] Unknown:
But he's got to. What for, Al?
[00:36:12] Unknown:
Jim Kenny called me at home late last night. The insurance agent? Yeah.
[00:36:17] Unknown:
Last payment on Tom's life insurance hasn't been made, and tomorrow's the last day of the grace period.
[00:36:24] Unknown:
But I gave him the money for that a month ago.
[00:36:27] Unknown:
You gave him the money.
[00:36:30] Unknown:
Oh, I was a fool. I know. But things had been going well for a while like they sometimes do or, anyways, I thought they were. And he asked me to trust him and, oh, lord. What am I gonna do now, Al?
[00:36:44] Unknown:
I don't know, Marge. This time, I I just haven't got it.
[00:36:50] Unknown:
What do you mean this time?
[00:36:53] Unknown:
Marge, Tom is hopeless. I've been carrying him for years or thought I was. I gave him the $60 for that same payment. When I found out last night it hadn't been made, I was mad enough to kill him. One reason I waited till this morning is to cool off. I'd help you out, Marge, but I can't. I had to take out a new loan to raise the cash for Tom.
[00:37:18] Unknown:
I can't let the insurance
[00:37:20] Unknown:
go. You'd have a tough time getting a new policy written if this one lapses, but how?
[00:37:27] Unknown:
Nearly a year, I've been saving it for a bike for Judd's birthday tomorrow. Instead I'm going upstairs to beat the No. No. Take me downtown, Al. I just can't face Tom this morning. I'll have it out with him tonight.
[00:37:50] Unknown:
After what you made me have to do today, how could you steal money out of my purse and leave to go gambling again? All I wanna do is run it up till it's enough to pay you back. You're sick. I'm not gonna let you take the money I broke my back making today. I'll bring you back five times this, and and you're not stopping me. Oh, yes. I will. I'm warning you. You you you stop hanging on to me. I got to, Tom. You just can't do this to us anymore. Just just lay off of me. Me. Tom, you can't do this to us again. I don't get the luck tonight. I can feel it all going for me. The way you always feel, please. Let go of me. You wanna put the whammy on me? I said Tom. Let's go. Marge, I didn't mean to push.
Oh my god.
[00:38:37] Unknown:
Ma, what happened? Ma. Oh, Judd. It's just like my dream. He killed her. Pa killed her dead.
[00:38:55] Unknown:
The terror of addiction. Step by step, it grows to envelop Step by step, it grows to envelop the addict till it becomes his whole world, shutting out everything else. But the greater terror is the destruction of all who love him, dragged down with him and eventually engulfed in a tragedy not of their making. I'll return in a moment with act three. And now another story of the ball and chain as Kellogg's special k presents Veronica and Jeff. Oh, Jeffrey. Isn't this romantic?
[00:39:28] Unknown:
Out in a quiet lake at night with you rowing the boat. Yes, Veronica. It's really neat. Jeffrey, what was that? Frogs. Frogs that go bong? Yeah. They're pretty weird frogs. Oh, Jeffrey. You're such a car. You have a ball in chains. Not the ones they use in those Special K commercials. Yes, Veronica. It symbolizes my few pounds of extra weight. But I'm going to get rid of it. How? By exercising. You know, like rowing this boat and eating smart at every meal. Starting with a Special K breakfast. You mean a one ounce bowl of high protein Special K, four ounces of skim milk, orange juice and coffee? Precisely. It's less than 240 calories and it tastes delicious. It'll help me get rid of this ball and chain. I'll help too, Jeff. After all, we're all in the same boat.
[00:40:11] Unknown:
Do you have a ball and chain too?
[00:40:14] Unknown:
Your happy ending could begin with a special k breakfast from Kellogg's.
[00:40:21] Unknown:
People can reach. People can touch. People can help. People so much.
[00:40:31] Unknown:
This is Paul Newman speaking. Ever been close to a family struck by cancer? Naturally, your feelings go out to them and you ask if there's anything you can do. And they say no thanks, and you feel so helpless. Well, there is something you can do. You can tell someone in the family to get in touch with the American Cancer Society. Volunteers there are helping people every day with services, information, and counseling about local community resources. That can mean arranging transportation or homemaking help or informing them about existing rehabilitation programs.
When your cancer crusader calls, join the people who care about people. Give generously. We want to wipe out cancer in your lifetime.
[00:41:31] Unknown:
An endless moment in time. A few dreadful seconds ticked away with every heart crying out to take them back again, to make this just a bad dream and not reality. Three people frozen in horror. The fourth sprawled at the bottom of the stairs. Her neck bent at an impossible angle, frozen in what? Unconsciousness or death. Now at last, the man brings himself to move. Marge.
[00:42:04] Unknown:
Marge. Don't you touch your power. I'll kill you dead. Oh, son. I'm not your son. I'm your enemy. Can you call the police emergency? We gotta get Marge to the hospital fast.
[00:42:17] Unknown:
Ma?
[00:42:26] Unknown:
Ma? Ma? Okay, kid. Just take it easy. She's not gonna die. You're not gonna let her die, doctor. Just hang in tough, kid. We'll do our best. I should have gone with the ambulance. Oh, you're sticking right with me, brother. We see how your wife makes out. No. No. No. Look, officer. You you don't think she's Well, for the sake of your own skin, you better hope she isn't. But but it was an accident. Well, the way that boy of yours reacted looked like he wasn't so sure. Now we gotta get moving. Now what happened to your daughter? Oh oh oh, Jenny.
She went back to get something. Where are you taking us? Oh, the hospital. First, anyways. Oh, here she comes. Come on, shake a leg, kiddo. I I had to get something very important. Okay. Okay. Hop in the front with my buddy, Officer Franks. Okay, Harry. Straight text. Right? You, you got a family doctor, kid? Yep. Doctor Luther. Oh, you you know his number? No. But I can look it up. Okay. Tell your doctor to get here as fast as he can.
[00:43:44] Unknown:
It it's that bad?
[00:43:47] Unknown:
I wouldn't wanna fake you out, son. It's not good.
[00:43:54] Unknown:
And I phoned doctor Luther. He's on his way here. Is Ma gonna die, Judd?
[00:43:59] Unknown:
I I don't know. I'm I'm
[00:44:03] Unknown:
scared. Real scared. So am I. Judd? What? I'm gonna break my pledge. You forgive me? What what pledge? I brought the wishing stone. I'm gonna wish on it. I'm gonna wish that Ma's gonna be alright just like it never happened. If you want to, Jenny, go ahead. I can't do no harm. What can't do no harm? For me to use my wishing stone? Your what? Shh. Quiet. I'm wishing right now.
[00:44:44] Unknown:
Are you the intern? Brother Colby, Sam. He is over, sir. How is she? I'm waiting for X rays right now. I'd say she has one chance in a thousand. For certain, sure, her neck is broken. And the way it's broken and other signs indicate to me her spinal cord is badly damaged. It isn't severed altogether. I just can't understand it, doctor Luther. When I brought missus Calder in, I'd have sworn she was in deep coma. I was sure her neck was broken, spinal cord severed. There's no indication of that from my examination number. Not the slightest in these X rays. I know, but not in this second set.
Was there a first? Yes. And that's a funny thing. When we developed them, everyone was fogged, and we don't know why. Well, these are perfectly clear. So is my patient's condition. I see no reason why she shouldn't go home. Cheer up, son. All interns make mistakes. I made a few beauts in my time. And I'll say this for you. If you have to make one, make it on the gloomy side. They're the ones don't hurt anyone or anything, except maybe your pride. But I can't understand it. That cop said it flat out that Mards was a goner. Well, maybe he was just trying to put the fear of God into you. Well, if he was, he sure succeeded. If it'll do any good.
Well, you think I made a stone, Judd? You You think I don't blame myself for what might have happened?
[00:46:26] Unknown:
You think I wasn't ready to kill myself if anything happened to Marge? I I I I don't know, Pa. Pa wasn't trying to hurt Ma, Judd. It was an accident.
[00:46:35] Unknown:
An accident that wouldn't have happened if
[00:46:38] Unknown:
Pa wasn't sick with gambling fever. Well, I've learned my lesson this time. I'll never gamble again. Oh, Pa.
[00:46:46] Unknown:
Oh, that makes me so happy. I'm glad, honey. And it means I won't have to use the stone again. Mhmm. I can save up what's maybe the last wish for something special for all of us, instead of having it to use it to stop you from gambling. Woah. Woah. What stone? A wishing stone. The one I used at the hospital to wish more well again.
[00:47:07] Unknown:
Oh. Oh, that's right. I forgot. Listen, duchess.
[00:47:12] Unknown:
Let me see that stone. Don't show it to him. Why not? I don't know. It's just a sort of hunch that wait a minute. Here comes the doctor.
[00:47:21] Unknown:
How's how's my attack to lose her? She's fine. More is the wonder. Oh, a few scrapes and a bruise or two and a lump on the head. Nothing a good night's rest won't take care of. Thank god. You should. It's a miracle she didn't break her neck in a fall like that. That intern at the hospital was sure she did. But she didn't. No, Judd. I told you. She'll be as right as rain. Well, can can I go up and see her now? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. She was asking for you and the kids. She, wants to see you alone a moment first. I'll I'll go right up. Yeah. Just to put your mind at rest or maybe more hers, she doesn't wanna prefer any charges against you.
So you can tell her my report to the police. We'll call it just an accident. She slipped and fell. I'll I'll tell her, doc. You got off my lucky this time, Tom. You better not tempt fate again. Well, I won't. Oh, I mean it, Marge. Just just give me another chance.
[00:48:28] Unknown:
I didn't see how I could, Tom.
[00:48:30] Unknown:
I never meant to throw you down those stairs.
[00:48:34] Unknown:
Oh, not because of that. The last straw for me was taking a chance away from Judd to have something he wanted more than anything in the world, his bicycle.
[00:48:45] Unknown:
You
[00:48:46] Unknown:
should just let the insurance go. How could I, Tom? With two kids to bring up, if anything happened to you, I not that I want anything to happen to you.
[00:48:57] Unknown:
You're gonna take me back, Marge?
[00:49:02] Unknown:
I don't know, Tom. It's hard for me to feel for you what what I once felt. But if you're gonna promise me you'll quit the gambling for the children's sake, we'll try to make a go of it. You won't be sorry, Marge. I hope not. I just wish I knew how to make it up to Judd tomorrow. If there was something I could pawn. You haven't left anything in this house that you could, except the one thing you could never get your hands on. Well, what's that? My wedding ring. Do you do you think I could get enough on that? Well, not enough to pay for at all,
[00:49:48] Unknown:
but for a down payment. Then, see, I'll take that night job cleaning sewers you made me turn down to pay it off. I don't want you working in any sewers. Anyway, you can't work day and night. Well, I I can't till till I get Judd his bike. Well, we'll see. I'll take the ring down in the morning. No, sir. No, sir. Doctor Lewis doesn't want you out of bed. I'll I'll take it down. You? Can't you trust me, Marge? Well, if you can't trust me now, then what hope do I have or any of us I I can ever be trusted? Well, you got to.
I swear to God, I'd just as soon be dead.
[00:50:29] Unknown:
Alright, Tom. I'll trust you.
[00:50:39] Unknown:
Did what? You ran out of the money. Look, Benny. You gotta do an old customer a favor. You gotta cover me for the fifth headlonger. Now, Benny, Benny, you gotta. It. That 15 I laid out on the first was money I got for pawning my wife's wedding ring. I got to get it back, and I got a hot tip. The headlonger's a sure Benny, for for god's sake, Just just this once. Please. Benny? Benny? What am I gonna do? I wish to God wish that wishing stone. Yeah.
[00:51:37] Unknown:
Where's Jenny Judd? Oh, I left her down by the pond. We were skipping stones. I just came up to see how you were feeling. Fine. I'm gonna get up.
[00:51:46] Unknown:
Your pa didn't get back yet, did he? No, ma'am. I ain't seen him since early morning when he pulled out in the pickup.
[00:51:52] Unknown:
Well, you go on back down and keep Jenny company. I'm gonna bake me a cake so we can have a real birthday celebration. Oh, it's alright, ma. I don't need a cake. You're gonna get a lot more than you bargained for. Now go on. I don't like Jenny down by that pond alone. You know she can't swim.
[00:52:15] Unknown:
What? Hi, Pa. What are you doing up on top of the rock here? Oh, just sunning myself and listening to the birds. Jenny,
[00:52:24] Unknown:
you you know that wishing stone you talked about? Yes. Is it gold? You wanna see? Yeah. Yeah. Here.
[00:52:31] Unknown:
Oh, damn. It's nothing but pyrite.
[00:52:34] Unknown:
Isn't that a kind of gold?
[00:52:36] Unknown:
Fool's gold and even worth as much as a piece of charcoal.
[00:52:40] Unknown:
Reopa? No. Don't throw it away. It's still good for one wish. You think this makes any wishes come true? It made the school burn down and Ma got her neck unbroken. You're a ma.
[00:52:52] Unknown:
Why is your grow up as Xavier daydreaming? Don't you know nobody ever got nothing by wishing? I've been doing a kind of wishing all my life. Look at where I end up now. Well, I'm gonna wake up your little miss bright eyes to show just how tough a world this is. Pa, please please don't take that. If this was a wishing stone. Well, nobody ever needed it more than me right this moment. So look at this. I'm gonna make a wish. I need money. I need it bad. So I'm gonna wish that old Nick himself comes climbing up out of the middle of this pond with a sack of gold on his back for me. And I ain't gonna be greedy, and I ain't gonna ask for much.
Just just say, like, 10. No no no man make it $20,000. Okay. Now I rub the stone, and I wish. Yes. He he ain't no wishing stone. He'll make dreams come true. It's a nothing.
[00:53:59] Unknown:
Did he help me? No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No swim. John, help his boss.
[00:54:24] Unknown:
I don't know how I'm gonna tell the kids, Al.
[00:54:29] Unknown:
They're not really children anymore, Marge. They know.
[00:54:34] Unknown:
I guess I do baby them. I won't anymore. In a lot of ways, they're better off. Tom Well, Tom had a cancer that he just couldn't cut out. Even my wedding ring, he oh, I didn't want him dead, though.
[00:54:57] Unknown:
Well, he is, and it was of his own making. Kinda queer, ain't it?
[00:55:05] Unknown:
What?
[00:55:07] Unknown:
Him trying to show Jenny Lou her wishing stone wasn't worth a darn and he ended up having his wish come true?
[00:55:15] Unknown:
Not quite. The policy's only for 10,000.
[00:55:21] Unknown:
There's double indemnity for accidental death, Marge. Tom got everything he wished for, the full 20,000. 3 wishes, and they all came true. Whether by some supernatural force or sheer coincidence, it doesn't really matter. For in the end, everyone was better off except the one who didn't deserve to be. This was the gambler's last plunge. One he should never have taken with the odds so stacked against him. Like Jenny, Tom Coltrane had never learned to swim either. I'll be back shortly. Hey. We're the action course. See, we contribute more.
Tease for the teamwork of our crew. Hi. Our ideas are high. Oh, Autumn, you apply. Means it's now that we need you.
[00:56:26] Unknown:
A C T.
[00:56:28] Unknown:
Four. We could go on all day. Oh. Here's what volunteers are needed right away. Action is Vista, the Peace Corps, RSVP, SCORE, and other volunteer programs that are helping people to help themselves. If you're trained in a skill or just have a little love to share, action needs you. Yeah, baby. Action really needs Don't crawl under a rock. Get into action. Oh, yeah.
[00:57:04] Unknown:
This is a public service of this station and the advertising council.
[00:57:19] Unknown:
As for the wishing stone itself, since it lies buried deep somewhere in the mud at the bottom of the pond, no one will ever know if it had the power to grant wishes. For Jenny, like all of us, had no escape from a common fate that soon befell her. She grew up and inherited a mantle that only Peter Pan seems to have escaped. She stopped believing in magic. Our cast included William Prince, Clarice Blackburn, Anne Costello, Jack Grimes, and Robert Dryden. The entire production was under the direction of Hyman Brown. And now a preview of our next tale.
[00:58:03] Unknown:
Your husband, you dreamed? It was no dream. Oh, it was my husband.
[00:58:09] Unknown:
His ghost. Oh, for the love. Rory, Rory. Stood at the foot of my bed,
[00:58:14] Unknown:
and he begged my forgiveness, believing me a pauper and breaking my heart. And he said,
[00:58:20] Unknown:
Jessica, I promise you'll live in Gormley House again.
[00:58:27] Unknown:
And then he he vanished. The very next night,
[00:58:32] Unknown:
the Putnam's crashed through the bridge over Gormley Gorge. Well, accidents do happen. It was no accident.
[00:58:40] Unknown:
No. The real estate man didn't tell you the whole story. Missus Putnam lived long enough to tell just what had happened. The Putnam's didn't go off the bridge by accident. They were driven off it, forced to swear off it by an oncoming car, a car driven by a skeleton.
[00:58:58] Unknown:
Radio Mystery Theater was sponsored in part by Anheuser Busch Incorporated, brewers of Budweiser. This is EG Marshall inviting you to return to our mystery theater for another adventure in the macabre. Until next time. Pleasant dreams.
[00:59:41] Unknown:
WDAF,
[00:59:43] Unknown:
Kansas City. Whatever business you're in, growth isn't just about getting bigger. At ADP, we believe it's about getting stronger by turning data into insights so you can build teams that work as teams. By using our AI technology to help catch payroll errors before they're errors. And by keeping ahead of thousands of changing regulations so you can keep ahead of everything else. ADP helps businesses like yours grow stronger every day. ADP, HR talent, time, and payroll.
[01:00:14] Unknown:
It is Ryan Seacrest here. There was a recent social media trend which consisted of flying on a plane with no music, no movies, no entertainment. But a better trend would be going to chumbacasino.com. It's like having a mini social casino in your pocket. Chumba Casino has over a hundred online casino style games, all absolutely free. It's the most fun you can have online and on a plane. So grab your free welcome bonus now at chumbacasino.com.
[01:00:38] Unknown:
Sponsored by Chumba Casino. No purchase necessary. PGW Group VoIP. We're prohibited by law. 21 plus terms and conditions apply.
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[00:00:30] Unknown:
WDAF, Kansas City.
[00:00:34] Unknown:
Dan Henry, WDAF local news at eleven. The outlook for Kansas City mild. The Missouri House and Senate are meeting in extra sessions tonight in order to attempt to find agreement on the state's $2,000,000,000 budget, and there's talk that budgetary committees could be working all night. If Kansas City's area construction is to be stopped tomorrow by a full scale strike, no one is saying so. Representatives of 10 major construction unions met behind closed doors today, but made no mention of an intended strike at the close of the meeting. Today, pickets were posted at several construction sites, stopping work on the Crosby Kemper Memorial Arena and the new Convention Center Complex in downtown Kansas City. School Teacher strike talks continue under the auspices of federal mediator, Beryl Karlu. Today, teacher union president, Norman Hudson, was escorted from the Jackson County Jail to a negotiating session, then returned to his cell. The strike will be thirty eight days old tomorrow with no immediate end in sight.
[00:01:42] Unknown:
Knees of the hour on the hour from American Information Radio. This is Merrill Mueller in Los Angeles. And at this hour, the Miami Herald Tuesday edition reports that president Nixon will risk impeachment and refuse to meet the house judiciary committee subpoena for 42 tapes and documents. The Meantime, the committee has sent a new message to the White House asking for other information. Chairman Peter Rodino told us in Washington there's even more to come.
[00:02:20] Unknown:
I can say that it's not unlikely that requests will be going out. I instructed our counsel to specify what those requests are and those requests would cover the areas that are within the general scope of our inquiry.
[00:02:38] Unknown:
But chairman Rodino also emphasized that future requests on the White House will have to be approved by the entire House Judiciary Committee. Democratic governors and congressmen talk of tax cuts. That story coming up. This is Joan Crawford speaking for USO,
[00:02:54] Unknown:
United Service Organization. Do we, as civilians, know what it's like to be far from home in a fine land? Listen to this real life documentary about one of our servicemen over there.
[00:03:05] Unknown:
Do you speak English? Uh-oh.
[00:03:11] Unknown:
Excuse me, ma'am. I wonder if you could help me. Excuse me, miss. Can you help me? Excuse me, miss. Can you help me? Excuse me, miss. Can you help me?
[00:03:15] Unknown:
Light? Excuse me, miss. Can you help me? English. Patricia? Yes, sir. Do you do you speak English? Nine nine.
[00:03:26] Unknown:
Excuse me. Can you help me?
[00:03:30] Unknown:
99.
[00:03:32] Unknown:
Excuse me. Can anybody help me? Hi. We sure can. This is USO, and we have all kinds of help. That's why I support USO, and you should too. USO makes a man feel closer to home while he's serving his country for you. Isn't money the least you can give? Please support USO.
[00:03:54] Unknown:
Fifteen democratic USO. Fifteen democratic governors meeting in Chicago have urged congress to write a tax relief plan for low and middle income families despite any objections by the administration.
[00:04:04] Unknown:
Correspondent Bob Clark has more on the talk of tax cuts in Washington. It may just be spring fever, but sentiment for cutting was bursting out all over on Capitol Hill today. During their Easter vacation, many members of congress found the folks at home on the brink of rebellion over the combination of high taxes and runaway inflation. With the growing fear of recession adding to the gloomy economic picture, there's a sudden groundswell of support in congress for tax relief to stimulate the economy. The senate's democratic leader, Mike Mansfield, says he's all for it. A proposal by democratic senators Mondale and Kennedy to raise the personal exemption and thus reduce everybody's income taxes is drawing sudden support from other members of congress, including some key Republicans.
Bob Clark, ABC News, Washington.
[00:04:51] Unknown:
Veterans administrator Donald Johnson has announced he will submit his resignation in the near future. Congressional leaders said after a White House meeting today, Johnson had already lost some authority in a department reorganization. American Telephone and Telegraph board chairman John Debutz has revealed in Atlanta that AT and T is seeking a 20¢ rate for paid telephones and a 10¢ charge for information in all states where it has not yet been approved. Indonesia's Minister Of Communications has announced some survivors have been found at the site of a Pan American Airlines crash on the island of Bali. No numbers are announced. The plane reportedly fell with 107 persons aboard on its landing approach to Bali on flight eight twelve from Hong Kong to Australia.
Postal service to Canada has been halted at the request of the Ottawa government because of the strike by Canadian postal workers. This is information radio news. Senator Henry Jackson in a New York speech has urged the Nixon administration to seek a new agreement with the Soviet Union sharply reducing nuclear missiles. Senator Jackson charged that US security is endangered by administration efforts to reach what he called a cosmetic arms agreement this June. The head of the Petroleum Exporters Association has announced at the United Nations that oil prices will remain fairly stable until October. And then if inflation is worse, oil prices will go up again.
[00:06:19] Unknown:
From the Kurt Mears sports desk, the Kansas City Royals lost to the Boston Red Sox four to one tonight. They'll try again tomorrow. The Saint Louis Cardinals were idle today. They'll host Houston tomorrow. The Milwaukee Bucks play Chicago, and the Bucks, leading the best of seven series three to one. And the Kansas City, Omaha Kings Forward, Ron Berhagen, has been named to the NBA all rookie team for 1974. The Kansas City outlook fair and cool tonight with a low around 45, then mostly fair and warmer tomorrow with a high in the middle to upper seventies. Dan Henry, WDAF News.
[00:06:51] Unknown:
The CBS Radio Mystery Theatre presents Come in. Welcome. I'm EG Marshall. Welcome to the world of terrifying imagination. The fear you can hear. Somebody said it, I believe, or if he didn't, he should have. The world is neither good nor bad. Tis wishing makes it so. Our story is about a fay, elfin young woman who made her own world and who had a disturbing and fateful capacity to make her dreams come true. Not always in exactly the fashion or the dimension she wished for. I'm warning you, you stop hanging on to me, Marge. I got to, Tom. You just can't do it to us anymore. Just lay off of me. Oh, you can't do this again. Then I got the luck tonight. I can feel it all going for me. The way you always feel? Please. Marge, let go. You would've put the worry on me? I said you let go.
No. George, I didn't mean to push. Oh, lord.
[00:08:26] Unknown:
No. Paul, you killed her, Paul. You killed her dead.
[00:08:44] Unknown:
Our mystery drama, The Wishing Stone, was written especially for the mystery theater by Ian Martin and stars Clarice Blackburn and William Prince. It is sponsored in part by the Kellogg company, makers of Kellogg's special k cereal and by new sugar free diet seven up. I'll be back shortly with act one.
[00:09:07] Unknown:
Hello. Miss Goldilocks here. And welcome to my professional taste testing laboratory. Oh, Papa Bear. Mhmm. Could you bring that case of sugar free diet seven up over here? Another case? Miss Goldilocks, you're drinking this sugar free diet seven up like there's no tomorrow. You can't still be taste testing it. Oh, no, papa bear. Sugar free diet seven up has has already earned my seal of approval. It's fresh, light, natural. Delicious. I drink it because I love its taste. Now hurry up. Okay. Okay. Here. Mhmm.
This sugar free diet seven up really tastes delicious. Ladies, if you're tired of switching from one diet drink to another, take some advice from miss Goldilocks. Try sugar free diet seven up and you'll say, yes.
[00:10:02] Unknown:
This one's just right. I'll bear witness to that, Goldie.
[00:10:11] Unknown:
Project Hope is reaching out, bringing hope to more countries around the world this year than ever before. Newest addition to Hope's international programs is Ethiopia, where Project Hope's doctors, nurses, and other medical specialists will be working side by side with Ethiopians, teaching while they treat. Since 1960, Hope has trained more than 7,000 physicians, dentists, nurses, and other health care personnel, has helped establish new schools of nursing, dentistry, and physical therapy in several countries, and assisted in the development of hospitals, teaching institutions, and public health services.
Hope's work has been heralded by heads of many nations. Its services requested by many, many more.
[00:10:53] Unknown:
Hope is training and sharing. Hope is treating and caring. Health is what hope's all about. Help project hope reach out.
[00:11:06] Unknown:
Help Hope reach out. Right. Project Hope, Room A, Washington DC.
[00:11:24] Unknown:
We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep. That quote is definitely mister Shakespeare's. But our little life is equally founded and sometimes confounded on dreams, like the bad one Jenny Coulter had a few moments ago and for which, fortunately, there is present comfort in the person of her mother and in turn, her brother, Judd.
[00:11:54] Unknown:
Jenny, you alright?
[00:11:56] Unknown:
It's you, ma. You. Oh,
[00:12:00] Unknown:
you alright? Well, I'm fine, honey. What? You have a bad dream? I suppose.
[00:12:05] Unknown:
Oh, now that I see you, oh, Ma, it was so real. I saw you lying there at the bottom of the stairs and and your head, oh, it was turned to the side like like Well, now now, don't let it upset you. Here I am right as rain, and it was only a dream. But it was just like I saw it happen. He pulled his arm away from you while you were hanging on, and you went tumbling down. He? Who's he? I I don't wanna talk about it. Oh, was it your father? Yes. Who else would it be? Judd, what what are you doing up? I heard Jenny Lou cry out. Oh, it's just a bad dream is all. You okay, sis? I'm just fine now. You go on back to bed now, son. What did you dream your old man did to my Jenny? Mom was trying to stop him from going out gambling again. And he sort of pushed her off him, like,
[00:13:02] Unknown:
and she tumbled all the way downstairs. Oh, that's enough. Bussing about nothing now to get back to bed, Judd. Okay.
[00:13:09] Unknown:
Good night, Jenny. Good night, Judd.
[00:13:12] Unknown:
If you want, I should close the door, ma? No. I'm coming back to bed myself right away. You're not scared no more, are you, honey? No.
[00:13:22] Unknown:
Long as I know you and Judd are close by. But I sure was scared. Oh,
[00:13:27] Unknown:
my baby. You're just so sensitive. Everything touches you close like a little old butterfly sitting on a leaf with your feelers reaching out all a tremble. I like being butterfly. That's a pretty sort of thing to think on. So you just keep thinking on it and hustle yourself back to sleep. Good night, Jenny. Good night, ma. I love you. And I love you. Sleep tight. Ma, sick's alive, judge. You like to startle me on my wits. Come away from Jenny's door. I thought I told you to go on back to bed. Was you and Pa having an argument again tonight?
[00:14:06] Unknown:
When? Right now that that she might have heard.
[00:14:09] Unknown:
Your father isn't even here. He went on out after you kids went to bed.
[00:14:13] Unknown:
Yeah. I bet he's over the stove. He's playing poker.
[00:14:17] Unknown:
Oh, Tom don't mean what he does. He's sick.
[00:14:21] Unknown:
Yeah. And so am I. I'm sick of him.
[00:14:29] Unknown:
I'm here in the kitchen, doctor Luther.
[00:14:32] Unknown:
How is Jenny? Jenny Lou is just fine, Marge. She's getting dressed, and I'm gonna drop her off at school on my way into town.
[00:14:41] Unknown:
It ain't the encephalitis again.
[00:14:43] Unknown:
You got to stop worrying about that, Marge.
[00:14:46] Unknown:
It's not so easy.
[00:14:48] Unknown:
After last year, getting put back one grade, after missing all her classes. It won't take her long to jump back where she belongs. That's a right smart little girl.
[00:14:58] Unknown:
She used to be before.
[00:15:01] Unknown:
That's what I wanna talk to you about. If I've told you once, I've told you half a dozen times that Jenny was one of the lucky ones. She came through it without a scratch, physical or mental. But such a long time. It was a very mild case even if it was stubborn and protracted.
[00:15:20] Unknown:
It's just I worry so that she she was somehow
[00:15:26] Unknown:
held back. Now I want you to get that clean out of your mind once and for all. But sometimes she seems so
[00:15:33] Unknown:
so young.
[00:15:36] Unknown:
Oh, lord. What do you want her to be at 16? I don't know of anyone fresher and lovelier and more unspoiled than your little girl. She wants to cling to childhood a little longer. Leave her be.
[00:15:50] Unknown:
Just so you're sure last year didn't hurt her none.
[00:15:54] Unknown:
There's only one thing I worry about with Jenny.
[00:15:57] Unknown:
What?
[00:15:59] Unknown:
Your husband. Lord knows why, but she thinks the sun rises and sets in her father. Once she settles for being a woman, she'll have to open her eyes as to what he really is.
[00:16:11] Unknown:
Oh, Tom doesn't mean to hurt anyone, doctor. You told me yourself that he's sick.
[00:16:16] Unknown:
Yeah. I think it is a kind of sickness, but not one a doctor can treat.
[00:16:23] Unknown:
What am I going to do?
[00:16:25] Unknown:
I don't know, Marge. Oh, one thing I do know is I've got to go. People waiting at the office, but Tom is hurting all of you bad, worse maybe than any of you realize. And in the end, Jenny will lose the one he'll hurt most of all.
[00:16:55] Unknown:
Judd, that you? Oh, yeah, ma. Is Jenny with you? Well, no, ma.
[00:17:03] Unknown:
Where you been? Baseball practice.
[00:17:06] Unknown:
And why'd you think Jenny was with me? Because she didn't come home after school. Judd, it didn't like her to just take off. You don't suppose she? What she what, ma? That dream shook her up. And Tom and me had another bad set to this morning. She wouldn't run away. She heavy? From us? No way. Well, she was sort of strange when she left this morning with doctor Luther. Kinda, I don't know, excited as if she had some secret plan. You know how she gets. Secret? Yeah.
[00:17:38] Unknown:
But I know where she is. Where? Well, I I I can't tell you. I mean, it's her own secret place. Only only only reason I know about it is I was out rabbit hunting one day and I stumbled across it. She goes there to bird watch and well, just to be alone, I guess. She made me promise I'd never tell just where. I'll bring her home. Jenny? Jenny? Jenny, what what are you doing hiding out here?
[00:18:13] Unknown:
I wasn't hiding. I just came here to to say a little prayer.
[00:18:18] Unknown:
For who? Pa. Pa. Oh.
[00:18:22] Unknown:
And the sun was shining in like a big splinter of light, the way it does through the hole in the tree up there. Remember how I always used to think when we was little kids that it was God stretching down his hands to touch us?
[00:18:36] Unknown:
Yeah. It was a long time ago.
[00:18:39] Unknown:
Don't say that because he is there. He was here today. Leastways, one of his angels was. What? I was kneeling and looking up into the sun. And all of a sudden, the birds was all still. And the whole hidey hole here filled up with golden light that sparkled and spun. And right over there, he was standing. Who? Him. The angel of the Lord. And I could feel him all around me, in me, warm and kind, so kind. Then he touched my hand and smiled and just fade away. And then I looked in my hand, and I saw it. Oh, wait. I didn't lose it. No. Here.
This is what I found in my hand. Well, let's see. Well, what is it? It's a conjure stone. All gold and shiny. A stone I can wish on. The angel said that? He didn't have to. I heard the words inside me. You can wish on this, Jenny. You can have anything you want in the whole wide world.
[00:20:04] Unknown:
You just don't believe this is a wishing stone now, do you? Jenny, right to the moment, I just gotta say I'm so fussed and fumed about dinner being ready and you kids not, and your father ain't home, I can hardly think straight about oh, lordy. If my biscuits have risen, we're just gonna have to sit and eat without Tom.
[00:20:24] Unknown:
Jenny, don't bother Ma right now. I just wanna try my wishing stone. Wish something nice for her. Well, let's just hold up for a, a better time. I could wish Pa to hurry home, so we wouldn't have to wait. I don't wanna wait none at all.
[00:20:40] Unknown:
I got a math test tomorrow. I just gotta pass her. I don't make the ball team, and I need every minute to study. Except two of my kitten. If I stayed up all night, I wouldn't be ready for tomorrow. If you had a few more days, could you make it? Well, even just one, I'd stand a chance. Okay. Here goes. No. No. No. Hold up a minute. Too late.
[00:21:01] Unknown:
Shh. I just wished there'd be no school tomorrow.
[00:21:06] Unknown:
No school tomorrow? What nonsense is that? Jenny, go bring them biscuits. Judge, you sit down. Ain't we gonna wait for Pa? We ain't waiting for nothing. Not even wishes to come true. We're gonna eat our dinner before it spoils. Yes, Ma.
[00:21:21] Unknown:
I'll get the biscuits.
[00:21:23] Unknown:
You didn't have to be so rough on them, ma. Play her game.
[00:21:27] Unknown:
I know, Judd. It's just I have no sense of humor left or fun. The way it is with us, if we had a wish in stone, we could use it for a lot better things than no school tomorrow. Ain't that crazy? The two of you have had me half believing there is a power in that stone.
[00:21:55] Unknown:
Hi, March.
[00:21:56] Unknown:
Tom?
[00:21:58] Unknown:
Where are the kids?
[00:21:59] Unknown:
As if you care. Gone to bed. Where have you been? What was the a that supposed to mean? I've been a volunteer
[00:22:19] Unknown:
helper at a fire. Now it's finally out. I couldn't hardly wait to get home and tell the kids the good news.
[00:22:28] Unknown:
What good news?
[00:22:29] Unknown:
That the school burned down. Good news for the kids everywhere tonight. No school tomorrow. Is there any other catastrophe in the world that carries with it an equal amount of joy than a school burning down? But this time, is it chance or is some supernatural force sinister or benign at play? We're going to find out that this simple phenomenon or happenstance is a great deal more than sheer coincidence when we return in a few moments with act two.
[00:23:13] Unknown:
Some research experts say you can't taste the difference between beers. Well, if they're right, then Anheuser Busch wastes a barrel of time, beachwood aging Budweiser. Only they don't think so. Brewing beer right does make a difference. And they're betting a bundle that you can taste the difference in bud. When it comes to brewing Budweiser, the Anheuser Busch choice is to go all the way because they still care about quality. Look at it this way. If the Budd people have a choice between what some experts say and what beer drinkers say, well, you'd better believe they'll go with you beer drinkers every time. When you say Budweiser, you said it all.
Anheuser Busch, Saint Louis.
[00:24:12] Unknown:
Don't let anyone con you into thinking it's wrong to turn in a heroin pusher. You're not ratting. You're doing your part to wipe out one of the most insidious epidemics racking our country today. So don't let anyone kid you. If you really care about the quality of life, if you really care about improving society, you will do everything you can to get the heroin pusher off the street and into jail where he belongs. If you have information about a drug pusher, use the heroin hotline. The number is (800) 368-5363. That's toll free from anywhere in the country.
The number again is (800) 368-5363. A trained operator will answer your call, take your information, and pass it on to experienced federal agents who will investigate. You'll make your own special contribution toward helping us wipe out what President Nixon has called public enemy number one. Call (800) 368-5363.
[00:25:25] Unknown:
So Jenny Liu, a 16 year old who is determined to cling to childhood and all its happiest dreams, has made her first wish upon the conjure stone. The magic piece of shiny gold that came to her, she believes, at the hand of an angel.
[00:25:43] Unknown:
A wish that came true.
[00:25:45] Unknown:
Well, this one was a harmless enough request. Although the manner of its granting has been destructive enough, if indeed it was actually granted, if this is a wishing stone, it is potentially as dangerous
[00:26:00] Unknown:
as a nuclear bomb. Did you say the school burned down,
[00:26:02] Unknown:
school burned down, Pa? It sure is, Tucker. It did, John. Ain't that good news, Jenny? I reckon.
[00:26:08] Unknown:
I guess, I didn't mean to do it that way.
[00:26:12] Unknown:
You didn't mean to do what? To burn it down. I I just didn't want it to be. That's all I wished on. Yeah. What was she talking about, Mark? Oh, it's just Jenny found it. Don't you tell him, Mark? But you don't you tell me what? Oh, don't pay any mind to the young ones nonsense.
[00:26:26] Unknown:
Just tell us about the schoolhouse and what happened.
[00:26:30] Unknown:
Well, sir, I I I just about finished trimming up Marasaga's hedge, and I just started to get all my tools together to put back in a pickup when the fire horn went off. I heard that old horn go just a couple of minutes. By shop. That guy runs straight over to the firehouse, being being that close, and we took off. By the time we got there, she was past all saving. And it's funny. You know, you come to think of it, a brick building like that, you wouldn't figure it turned into a regular torch. Well, how'd the fire start, pot? Yeah. You wouldn't believe this, and neither does nobody else credit it. But according to old Sam Wallace, all of a sudden, a flaming arrow arrow comes straight out of the sky and cut right through the brick walls and everything and hit the oil tank
[00:27:17] Unknown:
and blew her wide open. Oh, that drunken old no good, some custodian. I'll bet he was drinking and dropped one of those foul old stogies he smokes and all that rubbish he's too lazy to clean out of the cellar. It could be. He is it's what most everyone thinks. Still Still what?
[00:27:37] Unknown:
It's hard to tell someone who wasn't there. But damn, if the way he told that story didn't make you stop at least once to sink on it. What do you mean? It was the first time I ever seen that old boozehound with his eyes put together like he really talked about. Anyways, we talked enough. Hey. Something to eat around here. I got it warming. I'll serve it right away.
[00:28:05] Unknown:
Pa? Yes, Sugar? That flaming lightning bolt you said, How long before the fire horn sounded did it come?
[00:28:13] Unknown:
Oh, according to Sam's story, he he lit out next door to the gas station and called the fire department. It wouldn't couldn't have been more than a couple of minutes. See, Judd? It did so work. Okay. If you wanna believe it. What are you kids talking about? Well, forget it, Pott. Just kid talk. Oh. Well, I'm too old to share. Oh, no. If you want to. Oh, sure I do. Well, Pott, It it's just for now, mine.
[00:28:39] Unknown:
Jenny and me's gotta be getting to bed. Oh, with no school to worry about tomorrow? If there's no school, there's plenty of chores they can catch up on in the morning. Scoot now, both of you. I'm serving your pa dinner. Good night, pa. Let's go, Jen. But I wanted to wanted to count
[00:28:54] Unknown:
upstairs. It's past your bedtime. Yes, ma. Good night, pa. Good night, kids.
[00:29:01] Unknown:
Did you have to chase him off the bed?
[00:29:03] Unknown:
Little enough chance I get to see him. It's little enough chance you make to see him. Oh, layoff, William Marge. I'm not even laying on. If you stuck a little closer to home than to the other woman, maybe you'd know what goes on around your own house. Now what other woman? Now dang it. I'm talking about Lady Luck or whatever name you wanna call her, my rival. Lady Luck. Whatever makes you gamble, Tom. One way or another, it's gonna be the end of us. You ever gonna see that before it's too late?
[00:29:42] Unknown:
Why wouldn't you let me tell Pa about the wishing stone?
[00:29:46] Unknown:
Because. Because what? Because first thing you know, he'll take it off of you. That's why. Why would he? Because it's real gold? Jenny, that stone ain't gold. Then what is it?
[00:29:58] Unknown:
It's pyrite. What's pyrite?
[00:30:02] Unknown:
Oh, it's just what everybody calls well, it it's a sort of metal.
[00:30:08] Unknown:
Well, anyways, whatever it is, it's real precious to me. It's my lucky
[00:30:15] Unknown:
charm. Well, that's why you better not let Pa know what you think about it. Why? Well, you know what he's like. He he cares about gambling more than he cares about anything. And all gamblers are real superstitious. Now, if he knew you had a lucky piece, especially if he heard the crazy story about you and that school burning down,
[00:30:34] Unknown:
he'd have it off of you so fast that it set your head to spinning. It isn't crazy. You heard me wish on the stone for no school. And now, there is no school. That was just happenstance. You don't think it happened just because I wished it? Of course, it didn't. Then I'm gonna prove it to you. What do you want me to wish for? I don't want you to wish for nothing. I gotta show you. Look here now. I'm gonna wish Jenny. What, Judd? Oh, you sound so funny.
[00:31:04] Unknown:
Maybe it's because I feel like that.
[00:31:08] Unknown:
I what way?
[00:31:10] Unknown:
Sort of, you know, superstitious like. It sort of gives you goosebumps if you think on it. What does? Well, now look, Jenny, supposing now, now I'm not saying it did fall out this way, but supposing you did get what you wished for. You were the one yourself said you didn't mean to get it the way you did.
[00:31:30] Unknown:
No. That's for sure I didn't. I didn't want the schoolhouse to go on fire. Gosh, Jud. Oh, supposing just supposing someone had been in there and got caught in the fire.
[00:31:43] Unknown:
Or a whole lot of folks.
[00:31:46] Unknown:
That's kinda what I'm saying. And my wish could have burned them all up. But the angel gave it to me. For sure, he couldn't have meant nothing bad to happen. I don't have to throw it away. Do I, Jud? I can keep it.
[00:32:04] Unknown:
Well, that won't do no harm so long as you don't wish on it.
[00:32:09] Unknown:
I guess I'll just put it away for my keepsakes. And and I'll never use it unless
[00:32:16] Unknown:
Unless what?
[00:32:17] Unknown:
Unless the angel comes and tells me to.
[00:32:21] Unknown:
Well, that's a right good idea, Jenny. And remember, don't let Pa get wind of that there stone. There would nothing hold him back from using it even if he didn't believe in it.
[00:32:39] Unknown:
It's gonna seem funny going to school in the courthouse.
[00:32:42] Unknown:
You think with only a Friday left in the week that I'd wait until Monday to start up again. I'm glad they did. I don't wanna miss any more school ever. Then you better look out the things you go around wishing, missy. Oh, she's took
[00:32:55] Unknown:
I'm sorry, ma'am. She's taken a pledge. What does that mean? I'm not gonna wish on the stone anymore
[00:33:01] Unknown:
because the wish you get might turn out bad for other folks. I think that's a very good pledge. Yes. Only Only what?
[00:33:10] Unknown:
I'll have to whisper. Well, no. Don't mind me. I'm all finished. I gotta get my books from upstairs.
[00:33:18] Unknown:
What's this you have to whisper?
[00:33:20] Unknown:
I was just going to say that with Judd's with Judd's birthday tomorrow, I wanted to wish him a bicycle.
[00:33:28] Unknown:
He sure has his heart set on one. Well, you won't have to worry because he's already got one. Least ways, he will by later this morning. How?
[00:33:37] Unknown:
You see this flower tin? Yes.
[00:33:40] Unknown:
Watch this. Down under the flour, there in this old glass salt cellar is the money I've been saving up for most a year to get your brother the bike he wants. How come you kept it there? Your father, what he is, it had to be some real safe place to keep his hands off it. Who's that? Oh, it's your uncle Al. He's driving me to work this morning. Get the door, honey. Will you? My hands are all flower.
[00:34:07] Unknown:
Sure thing, ma. Hi, Uncle Al.
[00:34:13] Unknown:
Beautiful. Oh, my. You sure are as pretty as a picture. Getting look more like your mother every day. And they don't come any prettier than that.
[00:34:24] Unknown:
Oh, you and your honey talk. You should have been on a TV instead of behind a cage.
[00:34:29] Unknown:
Thank God bank don't keep its tellers there anymore. You make me sound like an ape. Me, Tarzan. You, Jane?
[00:34:38] Unknown:
No. Me, Jenny.
[00:34:40] Unknown:
If you've got a serious guy here alive, when I know you must be around, Uncle Al, hi. Hi. Hey. Give me some skin. Well, here's five. I'll match it. Now say that's some grip. You wanna Indian wrestle? Oh, I'm gonna be ready pretty soon to take you on. I think you're ready already. Oh, I got no time this morning. I gotta catch a school bus. Come on, Jenny. We gotta scoot. Goodbye, Ma.
[00:34:59] Unknown:
Oh, have a good day, son. Bye, Ma. And get a real swell you know what. I will be happy, Jenny. I am. Bye, uncle Al. Hey. It's great to see you. We'll make it longer next time. Bye, uncle Al. Bye, Jenny.
[00:35:14] Unknown:
Make next time soon. You can count on it real soon.
[00:35:20] Unknown:
Oh, yes. Well, kids, Mars. I envy you. Yeah. They're what I live for these days.
[00:35:28] Unknown:
Tom left already?
[00:35:30] Unknown:
No. He's upstairs, dead to the world. He rolled in this morning around three smelling like a brewery.
[00:35:38] Unknown:
That brother of mine, I'd like to knock his head off.
[00:35:42] Unknown:
The way he'll be feeling time he gets up this morning, you won't have to. It'll fall off all by itself.
[00:35:47] Unknown:
I got to talk some business to him. Like what? I I don't wanna get you involved in it, Mark. Well, if it's about money, I will be anyway. It is about money. And there's no use asking him.
[00:36:01] Unknown:
I I went through his pockets last night, and he doesn't have 1 red cent.
[00:36:08] Unknown:
But he's got to. What for, Al?
[00:36:12] Unknown:
Jim Kenny called me at home late last night. The insurance agent? Yeah.
[00:36:17] Unknown:
Last payment on Tom's life insurance hasn't been made, and tomorrow's the last day of the grace period.
[00:36:24] Unknown:
But I gave him the money for that a month ago.
[00:36:27] Unknown:
You gave him the money.
[00:36:30] Unknown:
Oh, I was a fool. I know. But things had been going well for a while like they sometimes do or, anyways, I thought they were. And he asked me to trust him and, oh, lord. What am I gonna do now, Al?
[00:36:44] Unknown:
I don't know, Marge. This time, I I just haven't got it.
[00:36:50] Unknown:
What do you mean this time?
[00:36:53] Unknown:
Marge, Tom is hopeless. I've been carrying him for years or thought I was. I gave him the $60 for that same payment. When I found out last night it hadn't been made, I was mad enough to kill him. One reason I waited till this morning is to cool off. I'd help you out, Marge, but I can't. I had to take out a new loan to raise the cash for Tom.
[00:37:18] Unknown:
I can't let the insurance
[00:37:20] Unknown:
go. You'd have a tough time getting a new policy written if this one lapses, but how?
[00:37:27] Unknown:
Nearly a year, I've been saving it for a bike for Judd's birthday tomorrow. Instead I'm going upstairs to beat the No. No. Take me downtown, Al. I just can't face Tom this morning. I'll have it out with him tonight.
[00:37:50] Unknown:
After what you made me have to do today, how could you steal money out of my purse and leave to go gambling again? All I wanna do is run it up till it's enough to pay you back. You're sick. I'm not gonna let you take the money I broke my back making today. I'll bring you back five times this, and and you're not stopping me. Oh, yes. I will. I'm warning you. You you you stop hanging on to me. I got to, Tom. You just can't do this to us anymore. Just just lay off of me. Me. Tom, you can't do this to us again. I don't get the luck tonight. I can feel it all going for me. The way you always feel, please. Let go of me. You wanna put the whammy on me? I said Tom. Let's go. Marge, I didn't mean to push.
Oh my god.
[00:38:37] Unknown:
Ma, what happened? Ma. Oh, Judd. It's just like my dream. He killed her. Pa killed her dead.
[00:38:55] Unknown:
The terror of addiction. Step by step, it grows to envelop Step by step, it grows to envelop the addict till it becomes his whole world, shutting out everything else. But the greater terror is the destruction of all who love him, dragged down with him and eventually engulfed in a tragedy not of their making. I'll return in a moment with act three. And now another story of the ball and chain as Kellogg's special k presents Veronica and Jeff. Oh, Jeffrey. Isn't this romantic?
[00:39:28] Unknown:
Out in a quiet lake at night with you rowing the boat. Yes, Veronica. It's really neat. Jeffrey, what was that? Frogs. Frogs that go bong? Yeah. They're pretty weird frogs. Oh, Jeffrey. You're such a car. You have a ball in chains. Not the ones they use in those Special K commercials. Yes, Veronica. It symbolizes my few pounds of extra weight. But I'm going to get rid of it. How? By exercising. You know, like rowing this boat and eating smart at every meal. Starting with a Special K breakfast. You mean a one ounce bowl of high protein Special K, four ounces of skim milk, orange juice and coffee? Precisely. It's less than 240 calories and it tastes delicious. It'll help me get rid of this ball and chain. I'll help too, Jeff. After all, we're all in the same boat.
[00:40:11] Unknown:
Do you have a ball and chain too?
[00:40:14] Unknown:
Your happy ending could begin with a special k breakfast from Kellogg's.
[00:40:21] Unknown:
People can reach. People can touch. People can help. People so much.
[00:40:31] Unknown:
This is Paul Newman speaking. Ever been close to a family struck by cancer? Naturally, your feelings go out to them and you ask if there's anything you can do. And they say no thanks, and you feel so helpless. Well, there is something you can do. You can tell someone in the family to get in touch with the American Cancer Society. Volunteers there are helping people every day with services, information, and counseling about local community resources. That can mean arranging transportation or homemaking help or informing them about existing rehabilitation programs.
When your cancer crusader calls, join the people who care about people. Give generously. We want to wipe out cancer in your lifetime.
[00:41:31] Unknown:
An endless moment in time. A few dreadful seconds ticked away with every heart crying out to take them back again, to make this just a bad dream and not reality. Three people frozen in horror. The fourth sprawled at the bottom of the stairs. Her neck bent at an impossible angle, frozen in what? Unconsciousness or death. Now at last, the man brings himself to move. Marge.
[00:42:04] Unknown:
Marge. Don't you touch your power. I'll kill you dead. Oh, son. I'm not your son. I'm your enemy. Can you call the police emergency? We gotta get Marge to the hospital fast.
[00:42:17] Unknown:
Ma?
[00:42:26] Unknown:
Ma? Ma? Okay, kid. Just take it easy. She's not gonna die. You're not gonna let her die, doctor. Just hang in tough, kid. We'll do our best. I should have gone with the ambulance. Oh, you're sticking right with me, brother. We see how your wife makes out. No. No. No. Look, officer. You you don't think she's Well, for the sake of your own skin, you better hope she isn't. But but it was an accident. Well, the way that boy of yours reacted looked like he wasn't so sure. Now we gotta get moving. Now what happened to your daughter? Oh oh oh, Jenny.
She went back to get something. Where are you taking us? Oh, the hospital. First, anyways. Oh, here she comes. Come on, shake a leg, kiddo. I I had to get something very important. Okay. Okay. Hop in the front with my buddy, Officer Franks. Okay, Harry. Straight text. Right? You, you got a family doctor, kid? Yep. Doctor Luther. Oh, you you know his number? No. But I can look it up. Okay. Tell your doctor to get here as fast as he can.
[00:43:44] Unknown:
It it's that bad?
[00:43:47] Unknown:
I wouldn't wanna fake you out, son. It's not good.
[00:43:54] Unknown:
And I phoned doctor Luther. He's on his way here. Is Ma gonna die, Judd?
[00:43:59] Unknown:
I I don't know. I'm I'm
[00:44:03] Unknown:
scared. Real scared. So am I. Judd? What? I'm gonna break my pledge. You forgive me? What what pledge? I brought the wishing stone. I'm gonna wish on it. I'm gonna wish that Ma's gonna be alright just like it never happened. If you want to, Jenny, go ahead. I can't do no harm. What can't do no harm? For me to use my wishing stone? Your what? Shh. Quiet. I'm wishing right now.
[00:44:44] Unknown:
Are you the intern? Brother Colby, Sam. He is over, sir. How is she? I'm waiting for X rays right now. I'd say she has one chance in a thousand. For certain, sure, her neck is broken. And the way it's broken and other signs indicate to me her spinal cord is badly damaged. It isn't severed altogether. I just can't understand it, doctor Luther. When I brought missus Calder in, I'd have sworn she was in deep coma. I was sure her neck was broken, spinal cord severed. There's no indication of that from my examination number. Not the slightest in these X rays. I know, but not in this second set.
Was there a first? Yes. And that's a funny thing. When we developed them, everyone was fogged, and we don't know why. Well, these are perfectly clear. So is my patient's condition. I see no reason why she shouldn't go home. Cheer up, son. All interns make mistakes. I made a few beauts in my time. And I'll say this for you. If you have to make one, make it on the gloomy side. They're the ones don't hurt anyone or anything, except maybe your pride. But I can't understand it. That cop said it flat out that Mards was a goner. Well, maybe he was just trying to put the fear of God into you. Well, if he was, he sure succeeded. If it'll do any good.
Well, you think I made a stone, Judd? You You think I don't blame myself for what might have happened?
[00:46:26] Unknown:
You think I wasn't ready to kill myself if anything happened to Marge? I I I I don't know, Pa. Pa wasn't trying to hurt Ma, Judd. It was an accident.
[00:46:35] Unknown:
An accident that wouldn't have happened if
[00:46:38] Unknown:
Pa wasn't sick with gambling fever. Well, I've learned my lesson this time. I'll never gamble again. Oh, Pa.
[00:46:46] Unknown:
Oh, that makes me so happy. I'm glad, honey. And it means I won't have to use the stone again. Mhmm. I can save up what's maybe the last wish for something special for all of us, instead of having it to use it to stop you from gambling. Woah. Woah. What stone? A wishing stone. The one I used at the hospital to wish more well again.
[00:47:07] Unknown:
Oh. Oh, that's right. I forgot. Listen, duchess.
[00:47:12] Unknown:
Let me see that stone. Don't show it to him. Why not? I don't know. It's just a sort of hunch that wait a minute. Here comes the doctor.
[00:47:21] Unknown:
How's how's my attack to lose her? She's fine. More is the wonder. Oh, a few scrapes and a bruise or two and a lump on the head. Nothing a good night's rest won't take care of. Thank god. You should. It's a miracle she didn't break her neck in a fall like that. That intern at the hospital was sure she did. But she didn't. No, Judd. I told you. She'll be as right as rain. Well, can can I go up and see her now? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. She was asking for you and the kids. She, wants to see you alone a moment first. I'll I'll go right up. Yeah. Just to put your mind at rest or maybe more hers, she doesn't wanna prefer any charges against you.
So you can tell her my report to the police. We'll call it just an accident. She slipped and fell. I'll I'll tell her, doc. You got off my lucky this time, Tom. You better not tempt fate again. Well, I won't. Oh, I mean it, Marge. Just just give me another chance.
[00:48:28] Unknown:
I didn't see how I could, Tom.
[00:48:30] Unknown:
I never meant to throw you down those stairs.
[00:48:34] Unknown:
Oh, not because of that. The last straw for me was taking a chance away from Judd to have something he wanted more than anything in the world, his bicycle.
[00:48:45] Unknown:
You
[00:48:46] Unknown:
should just let the insurance go. How could I, Tom? With two kids to bring up, if anything happened to you, I not that I want anything to happen to you.
[00:48:57] Unknown:
You're gonna take me back, Marge?
[00:49:02] Unknown:
I don't know, Tom. It's hard for me to feel for you what what I once felt. But if you're gonna promise me you'll quit the gambling for the children's sake, we'll try to make a go of it. You won't be sorry, Marge. I hope not. I just wish I knew how to make it up to Judd tomorrow. If there was something I could pawn. You haven't left anything in this house that you could, except the one thing you could never get your hands on. Well, what's that? My wedding ring. Do you do you think I could get enough on that? Well, not enough to pay for at all,
[00:49:48] Unknown:
but for a down payment. Then, see, I'll take that night job cleaning sewers you made me turn down to pay it off. I don't want you working in any sewers. Anyway, you can't work day and night. Well, I I can't till till I get Judd his bike. Well, we'll see. I'll take the ring down in the morning. No, sir. No, sir. Doctor Lewis doesn't want you out of bed. I'll I'll take it down. You? Can't you trust me, Marge? Well, if you can't trust me now, then what hope do I have or any of us I I can ever be trusted? Well, you got to.
I swear to God, I'd just as soon be dead.
[00:50:29] Unknown:
Alright, Tom. I'll trust you.
[00:50:39] Unknown:
Did what? You ran out of the money. Look, Benny. You gotta do an old customer a favor. You gotta cover me for the fifth headlonger. Now, Benny, Benny, you gotta. It. That 15 I laid out on the first was money I got for pawning my wife's wedding ring. I got to get it back, and I got a hot tip. The headlonger's a sure Benny, for for god's sake, Just just this once. Please. Benny? Benny? What am I gonna do? I wish to God wish that wishing stone. Yeah.
[00:51:37] Unknown:
Where's Jenny Judd? Oh, I left her down by the pond. We were skipping stones. I just came up to see how you were feeling. Fine. I'm gonna get up.
[00:51:46] Unknown:
Your pa didn't get back yet, did he? No, ma'am. I ain't seen him since early morning when he pulled out in the pickup.
[00:51:52] Unknown:
Well, you go on back down and keep Jenny company. I'm gonna bake me a cake so we can have a real birthday celebration. Oh, it's alright, ma. I don't need a cake. You're gonna get a lot more than you bargained for. Now go on. I don't like Jenny down by that pond alone. You know she can't swim.
[00:52:15] Unknown:
What? Hi, Pa. What are you doing up on top of the rock here? Oh, just sunning myself and listening to the birds. Jenny,
[00:52:24] Unknown:
you you know that wishing stone you talked about? Yes. Is it gold? You wanna see? Yeah. Yeah. Here.
[00:52:31] Unknown:
Oh, damn. It's nothing but pyrite.
[00:52:34] Unknown:
Isn't that a kind of gold?
[00:52:36] Unknown:
Fool's gold and even worth as much as a piece of charcoal.
[00:52:40] Unknown:
Reopa? No. Don't throw it away. It's still good for one wish. You think this makes any wishes come true? It made the school burn down and Ma got her neck unbroken. You're a ma.
[00:52:52] Unknown:
Why is your grow up as Xavier daydreaming? Don't you know nobody ever got nothing by wishing? I've been doing a kind of wishing all my life. Look at where I end up now. Well, I'm gonna wake up your little miss bright eyes to show just how tough a world this is. Pa, please please don't take that. If this was a wishing stone. Well, nobody ever needed it more than me right this moment. So look at this. I'm gonna make a wish. I need money. I need it bad. So I'm gonna wish that old Nick himself comes climbing up out of the middle of this pond with a sack of gold on his back for me. And I ain't gonna be greedy, and I ain't gonna ask for much.
Just just say, like, 10. No no no man make it $20,000. Okay. Now I rub the stone, and I wish. Yes. He he ain't no wishing stone. He'll make dreams come true. It's a nothing.
[00:53:59] Unknown:
Did he help me? No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No swim. John, help his boss.
[00:54:24] Unknown:
I don't know how I'm gonna tell the kids, Al.
[00:54:29] Unknown:
They're not really children anymore, Marge. They know.
[00:54:34] Unknown:
I guess I do baby them. I won't anymore. In a lot of ways, they're better off. Tom Well, Tom had a cancer that he just couldn't cut out. Even my wedding ring, he oh, I didn't want him dead, though.
[00:54:57] Unknown:
Well, he is, and it was of his own making. Kinda queer, ain't it?
[00:55:05] Unknown:
What?
[00:55:07] Unknown:
Him trying to show Jenny Lou her wishing stone wasn't worth a darn and he ended up having his wish come true?
[00:55:15] Unknown:
Not quite. The policy's only for 10,000.
[00:55:21] Unknown:
There's double indemnity for accidental death, Marge. Tom got everything he wished for, the full 20,000. 3 wishes, and they all came true. Whether by some supernatural force or sheer coincidence, it doesn't really matter. For in the end, everyone was better off except the one who didn't deserve to be. This was the gambler's last plunge. One he should never have taken with the odds so stacked against him. Like Jenny, Tom Coltrane had never learned to swim either. I'll be back shortly. Hey. We're the action course. See, we contribute more.
Tease for the teamwork of our crew. Hi. Our ideas are high. Oh, Autumn, you apply. Means it's now that we need you.
[00:56:26] Unknown:
A C T.
[00:56:28] Unknown:
Four. We could go on all day. Oh. Here's what volunteers are needed right away. Action is Vista, the Peace Corps, RSVP, SCORE, and other volunteer programs that are helping people to help themselves. If you're trained in a skill or just have a little love to share, action needs you. Yeah, baby. Action really needs Don't crawl under a rock. Get into action. Oh, yeah.
[00:57:04] Unknown:
This is a public service of this station and the advertising council.
[00:57:19] Unknown:
As for the wishing stone itself, since it lies buried deep somewhere in the mud at the bottom of the pond, no one will ever know if it had the power to grant wishes. For Jenny, like all of us, had no escape from a common fate that soon befell her. She grew up and inherited a mantle that only Peter Pan seems to have escaped. She stopped believing in magic. Our cast included William Prince, Clarice Blackburn, Anne Costello, Jack Grimes, and Robert Dryden. The entire production was under the direction of Hyman Brown. And now a preview of our next tale.
[00:58:03] Unknown:
Your husband, you dreamed? It was no dream. Oh, it was my husband.
[00:58:09] Unknown:
His ghost. Oh, for the love. Rory, Rory. Stood at the foot of my bed,
[00:58:14] Unknown:
and he begged my forgiveness, believing me a pauper and breaking my heart. And he said,
[00:58:20] Unknown:
Jessica, I promise you'll live in Gormley House again.
[00:58:27] Unknown:
And then he he vanished. The very next night,
[00:58:32] Unknown:
the Putnam's crashed through the bridge over Gormley Gorge. Well, accidents do happen. It was no accident.
[00:58:40] Unknown:
No. The real estate man didn't tell you the whole story. Missus Putnam lived long enough to tell just what had happened. The Putnam's didn't go off the bridge by accident. They were driven off it, forced to swear off it by an oncoming car, a car driven by a skeleton.
[00:58:58] Unknown:
Radio Mystery Theater was sponsored in part by Anheuser Busch Incorporated, brewers of Budweiser. This is EG Marshall inviting you to return to our mystery theater for another adventure in the macabre. Until next time. Pleasant dreams.
[00:59:41] Unknown:
WDAF,
[00:59:43] Unknown:
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[01:00:14] Unknown:
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[01:00:38] Unknown:
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Local News and Political Updates
National News and Nixon's Impeachment Risk
USO and Tax Relief Discussions
International News and Economic Concerns
CBS Radio Mystery Theatre Introduction
The Wishing Stone: A Tale of Dreams and Consequences
The Power of Wishes and Family Struggles
The Gambler's Last Plunge
Reflections on Magic and Reality
