(mystical music) (cat meows) (mystical music) - Broadcasting from the KTWU Studios, thee Air Command presents Theater of the Mind radio you can see.

Turn out your lights, move in close to the glow of your radio dial and come with us to those thrilling days of yesteryear, the golden age of radio and terror on the air with "Good Little Girl, Goodnight."

- Excuse me.

- What can I do you for honey?

- You do take home orders?

- Sure do sweetie.

Got far to go.

- My wife and I bought the old Westbury house.

- Ah!

So you're a citizen now!

- Brand new to Maine and brand new to Thanatos.

- Well, welcome on both counts!

M'name's Loretta, Loretta Felch.

- Thanks.

Gaithin Teller.

- The Westburys were good folks.

Hardware store's still here in town.

- House is still furnished.

Even a big library.

- Yeah.

They didn't have no family t'will it to.

You ready to order, honey?

- What's good?

- Everything.

- Well then, we'll have two of your best cheeseburgers and fries and maybe.

Joanna!

I'm home!

- Good!

I'm starving!

- Whew!

What's that smell?

- I was painting the library.

I threw sheets over the furniture.

- Glad to have all the furniture.

- Oh, and the tower is a perfect place to set up my telescope.

Windows on four sides, four floors up.

- Let's wait till we've replaced the railings.

Wood's rotten.

Can't have you hurling through inner space while exploring outer space.

- I'm a little dizzy.

- It's paint fumes.

C'mon, let's eat out on the porch.

- Ah, dining alfresco.

- Romantic.

We'll sit on the steps.

What's the vase for?

- For the flowers.

On the porch from the garden.

- Oh.

Yeah.

Here you go.. - [Joanna] Oh, it's nice out here.

What'd you get?

- Here cheese burgers.

- [Joanna] Oh, good!

- And fries and you ready?

- [Joanna] I'm braced.

- Chocolate malteds!

- Oh, and we've satisfied all the food groups!

Mm.

Where'd you get this?

- there's Café in town, The Sugar Bowl.

- Excuse me.

- Oh!

- Where did you come from?

- Down the road.

- Ah, you're a new neighbor.

I'm Joanna Teller, and this is my husband Gathin.

- I'm Ann.

Ann Morrigan.

The people who lived here- - The Westburys.

- They're, they're dead now.

- Um, they are, yes.

- They read stories to me.

I liked it.

- Everybody likes a good story.

- May I have one, please?

- Um sure.

- Your storybook is probably still in the library.

- We'll find it, Ann.

Here, take my hand.

- I'll wait out here.

- Find it?

- We did, didn't we, Ann.

- [Ann] Yes.

- [Joanna] Oh, look on the flower.

A ladybird.

- So it is!

- [Ann] Ladybird, ladybird fly away home.

You are fated to reach it at last!

The owls come abroad, and the bats on the roam.

In search of their night time repast.

Mama used to say it to me.

- [Joanna] Why don't you pick something out, Gathin?

- [Ann] And read it to me.

- Let me see if I can find one that, ah, here.

Are you ready?

- Yes.

- "The King of the Cats."

"One winter's evening, the sexton's wife, Elizabeth, was sitting by the fireside with her big black cat, Old Tom, waiting for the master, who had been tending to the church yard.

- He's very late, Tom.

(cat meows) But still...he was diggin' a grave for old Mister Fordyce and it could for sure take a bit of time to dig deep enough, for the winter soil is hard.

(cat meows) Oh, you can't understand a word I tell ya, but it's a comfort just to be tellin' it.

(cat meows) It is terrible cold tonight 'Cause, that means old Mister Fordyce coulda kept a bit longer!

(chuckles) John wouldn't've had t'work this hard.

(cat meows) He'll be most froze by the time he comes home.

- [John] Elizabeth!

(cat yelp) Who's Tim Tildrum?

- Oh, you gave me such a start John.

Close the door.

- I asks ya again.

Who's Tim Tildrum?

- [Elizabeth] I've never heard of Tim Tildrum.

- I ain't neither.

- [Elizabeth] Then why'd y'ask me?

- Best sit down.

Move off m'chair, cat.

(cat hisses) I was six feet down in that grave for old Mister Fordyce.

The ground was froze hard and I was cursin' on old Mister Fordyce for not dyin' last summer.

Bertie come by to see me.

Been out drinkin'.

- [Bertie] Y'friz down there yet, Johnny?

- Any time now, Bertie.

I'm colder'n a brass cannonball in Avi's ice house!

- [Bertie] I gots me some good eyewater here.

Most half a bottle.

- Oh, pass it down.

- [Bertie] Can ya reach, Johnny?

- I can, thank y'kindly.

Ah!

That does make it better.

Here gimme a hand up.

- [Bertie] Here y'go.

(both grunt) - How'dja find me back here?

- [Bertie] I Knew where t'look Fordyce plots.

Me an' the boys is makin' the rounds.

Come on wif us.

- Can't.

Elizabeth's waitin'.

- [Bertie] (teasing) Trouble 'n' strife!

No problem, mate!

I'm goin' out this way!

Closer to the next pub!

- I'll go out the frontways.

Thanks for the help, Bertie!

- [Elizabeth] What's that to do with Tim Tildrum?

(cat meow) - I'm getting' to it.

Right after Bertie left, y'see.

I started the walk home.

I come to the gate by the roadside and seen strange shadows and a movin' light.

Well, I ain't a man t'be easy frightened.

I sez to m'self, "Hullo!

What's here?"

And then I hears a cat's meow.

(cat meows) Exactly, just like that.

So I look down the road, and what do y'think I saw?

- [Elizabeth] Tell me!

- Nine black cats, and one in the lead, carryin' a torch.

And what do y'think the others was carryin'?

- [Elizabeth] What?

- A coffin!

A little coffin covered with a black velvet pall and on the pall was a cat-size crown, all of gold.

(cat meow) - They was all black cats with white spots on their chestesses, just like our own cat here.

Their eyes shown with a sorta green light.

But look at our Tom here how he's lookin' at me.

- [Elizabeth] Never mind old Tom, what happened next?

- Well, they come towards me slowly and solemnly then, when they gets close, they stop.

And all of 'em looks straight at me.

And the one with the torch comes forward and says to me- - [Elizabeth] Says to you?!

- Says to me!

He says to me "Tell Tom Toldrum that Tim Tildrum's dead."

- Tell Tom Toldrum that Tim Tildrum's dead.

- [Elizabeth] Look at our cat!

Look at old Tom!

He's swellin' up and starin'!

- What-Tim Tildrum dead!

Then I'm the King of the Cats!

(cat meows) - And then Tom jumped up ran across the room, up the chimney...whoosh!

And was never seen again.

Loretta!

Almost got yer order ready.

Doris!

Sack up Gathin's order!

- [Malvin] Mind if I sit here?

- That's why they've got stools.

- You the fella bought the old Westbury house?

- My wife and I bought it.

We're fixing it up.

- [Malvin] You friends with the Westburys?

- Never met 'em.

- [Malvin] They dead.

- Uh, yeah.

So I hear.

My name's Gathin Teller.

- [Malvin] Malvin Gitlow.

- Happy to meet you, Mr. Gitlow.

- [Malvin] Mr. Gitlow's m'dead father.

Call me Malvin.

Everybody does or somethin' worse.

They was meddlers.

- Who was were?

- [Malvin] The Westburys.

Got one o' them legal papers agin me.

- That right?

- [Malvin] Made me stay away from m'wife 'n' kids.

Well, step kids but still kids.

- Ah.

- [Malvin] I ask ya, is that fair?

- Well, I don't- - [Malvin] They dead.

- Yeah, you said that.

- [Malvin] I mean the wife and kids.

- [Malvin] Oh, I'm sorry.

- [Malvin] House fire.

Been ten years now all dead.

- Well, I'm- - [Malvin] They was turned agin me.

Wife threw me out.

Westburys done it.

Brainwashed 'er.

I was livin' in an old shotgun house other end o' town.

Found out in the mornin' paper.

- I'm, I'm not- - Here ya go!

Fresh and hot.

- Thanks, Loretta.

- You done, Malvin?

- [Malvin] Whaddoo I owe ya.

- Dollar even.

- [Malvin] Dollar?

Okay.

Here ya go!

- Really?

- [Malvin] Them's pennies 'n' nickels.

- [Gathin] Mostly pennies.

- [Malvin] They come to a dollar.

That there's legal tender.

If ya don't want 'em, then it's free.

- No.

That's fine.

- [Malvin] You're gonna wanna count it.

- No.

I ain't gonna wanna.

- [Malvin] Wanna tip?

- Well, sure.

- [Malvin] Here it is.

lose some weight.

(laughs) - [Gathin] Hey, that's not very funny.

- [Malvin] Good meetin' ya, Teller.

- [Gathin] That was just- - Ya git used to it from him.

Every good-lookin' woman in town of any age stays away from him all hands.

- [Gathin] Well that's creepy.

- Fancies himself the local Romeo.

Ain't worth a bucket o' warm spit.

- [Gathin] Got a chip on his shoulder.

- Can't blame the fire.

Most folks 'round here figure he saw it as a gift.

Fire department got there maybe fifteen minutes after it started.

Westbury called 'em.

- [Gathin] Westbury?

- Yep.

Malvin turned up on foot not ten minutes later.

- [Tess] Say, I couldn't help hearing, you and your wife bought the Westbury house?

GATHIN.

We did, Miss?

- [Tess] Harding, Tess Harding.

- Tess owns the local newspaper last ten years now.

- [Tess] The Thanatos Tribune.

Editor, writer, photographer, printer.

- [Gathin] Pleased to meet you, local newspaper.

- [Tess] I talked to your wife last week.

I'd like to come out and see the house maybe take some pictures write a story about the new owners.

- [Gathin] Sure.

- So now ya met the local newspaper and just a minute ago, the local jerk.

- [Tess] I caught part of that.

You mentioned the fire, too.

- [Gathin] It's interesting story.

Seems like there might be pieces missing.

- [Tess] Yeah.

If I could find all those pieces, it'd make a great story.

But I can't make it come together.

- [Gathin] Well, I'd, I'd better get back before this food gets cold.

Nice meeting you Miss Harding.

- [Tess] Same here.

- [Gathin] Loretta, same order?

- Yep.

Your usual.

- [Gathin] Same cost?

- Yep.

- [Gathin] Thank you, Loretta, keep the change.

- Thanks for not usin' pennies.

- [Malvin] Hey, Teller!

- Oh, Malvin.

- [Malvin] Hey, if y'need any help with fixin' up the house, lemme know.

- We do need somebody.

Especially on that tower.

She wants to put her telescope up there.

- [Malvin] Oh, I did some work on that for the Westburys.

I know exactly what y'need up there.

Especially for the railing on them four balconies.

- Good.

Hey, um, I gotta get this food home before it gets cold.

- [Malvin] Yeah, sure!

That your truck?

- Yeah, it's old, but it's.

- [Malvin] Who y'got sittin' in it?

- Nobody's sit- - [Malvin] Who is that?

Who is that!

- There's nobody in- - [Malvin] No, it ain't real!

What kinda tricks you pullin' here?

- I'm not- - [Malvin] Stay away from me, y'hear?

Stay away!

- Ah, Ann.

Come in.

- [Ann] Thank you.

- What have you been up to today?

- [Ann] I went into town.

- Did you see Gathin?

He's in town.

- [Ann] I did.

- Good.

- [Ann] But he didn't see me.

- He was going to pick up food at the café.

I told him to get something for you, in case you came by.

- [Ann] Thank you.

May I, may I please have another story?

- You do love the stories, don't you?

- [Ann] I do.

- Your book's in the library where we left it last time.

Let's go in there for a story.

Here it is.

- [Ann] May I read to you this time?

- Oh!

That would be lovely.

Thank you.

Choose a story.

- [Ann] I've already chosen.

- Then read on.

- [Ann] "The case of M. Valdemar has excited discussion, and caused an exaggerated account to be presented.

It is now rendered necessary that I give the facts."

- You read very well.

- [Ann] Thank you.

- That's by Edgar Allan Poe.

It's pretty scary.

- [Ann] I'm not afraid.

Shall I continue?

- Please.

- [Ann] "My attention, for the last three years, had been drawn to the subject of mesmerism or hypnotism.

As Dr. Braid has recently named it.

And it occurred to me that no person had as yet been mesmerized in articulo mortis."

- That means, um at the point of death.

- [Ann] Yes.

I know about death.

- Well, read on, then.

- [Ann] "No person had as yet been hypnotized in articulo mortis.

And how long death might be arrested by the process.

I immediately thought of my friend Ernest Valdemar.

On two or three occasions, I had put him to sleep with little difficulty.

Though his will was never completely under my as never completely under my control."

- His physician had informed him that the disease from which he suffered would soon end with suffered would soon end with his death.

Though it was his custom to speak calmly of his approaching dissolution, and so I spoke frankly about my idea of putting him in a trance as he approached death, in an attempt to slow down the process and alleviate his pain.

I didn't hear for several months, and then, one evening.

Doctor Griswald!

- [Griswald] You'd best come, Parker.

- Valdemar?

- [Griswald] Yes.

- How bad?

- [Griswald] He won't last more than perhaps another day, if that.

- I'll get my coat and hat.

- [Clara] Oh, Dr. Griswald.

He's been calling for you.

- [Griswald] Parker, this is Valdemar's nurse, Clara.

- Clara Bennett.

- [Valdemar] Parker?

Is that you?

- [Parker] I'm here, Ernest.

- [Valdemar] I waited for you.

Come closer.

- [Parker] Didn't want to start without me?

- [Valdemar] Didn't want to end without you.

Forgive me for not rising.

- [Parker] You're looking well, Ernest.

- [Valdemar] (laugh) And you're a liar, Parker.

Griswald assures me, I won't see the sunrise.

- [Parker] So then, you're willing that I make the experiment of hypnotizing you?

- Yes.

- [Parker] In order to postpone death.

- Yes.

And eliminate the pain.

- [Parker] Shall we begin, then?

- Yes, yes.

- [Parker] Very well, then.

Valdemar.

- Parker.

- [Parker] I want you to close your eyes.

- My eyes.

- [Parker] And relax, relax.

Say it.

- Relax.

- [Parker] Search every muscle, find the tension and relax it.

- Search, relax.

- [Parker] I want you to imagine that you are weightless, floating.

- Floating.

- [Parker] Floating.

- Floating - [Parker] And because you feel relaxed.

- Relaxed.

- [Parker] Because you feel relaxed.

- Relaxed.

- [Parker] You realize.

- Realize.

- [Parker] That there is no pain.

- No pain.

- [Parker] Now you must remember a time when you could breathe without effort.

- Without effort.

A time when- - [Parker] Without effort.

- Without effort, without - [Parker] Withoutttttt - [Griswald] He's stopped breathing.

- [Parker] No, it's shallow, though.

- [Clara] His hand is so cold.

- [Griswald] His pulse is slow and faint.

- [Parker] Valdemar, are you asleep?

- Yes.

Asleep now.

- [Parker] Good.

- Do not wake me!

- [Parker] We're going to extend your life, Valdemar.

- It is, it is too late.

- [Griswald] May I, speak to him?

- [Parker] Yes, of course.

- Are you, are you in pain, Ernest?

- [Valdemar] No pain.

I am dying.

- But tell me what I can do- - [Valdemar] Too late, too late.

- [Parker] Griswald, note his skin.

- He's, he's white as parchment!

- His mouth has fallen open!

- [Parker] See his tongue?

- Black, swollen!

- Horrible!

- [Parker] Miss Bennett, see if you can find a pulse.

- I've been trying.

I can't find one.

- [Parker] And he's not breathing.

- He's dead.

Nurse, prepare the body.

I'll notify the coroner.

- Yes, of course.

- And make note of any anomalies you- - [Valdemar] I am not sleeping!

(Clara screams) - [Parker] What the devil!

- I would swear he- - [Valdemar] I am not sleeping.

- [Parker] Check his pulse!

- Yes, yes, of course.

- [Parker] Stethoscope.

- In the bag there.

- [Parker] Got it.

I don't hear a heartbeat.

- He's dead.

- How does he speak?

- [Parker] The mesmeric trance.

The completion of death has been arrested.

His body is dead, but his soul is trapped.

- His, his, soul is- - Oh, fascinating.

- [Parker] Horrifying.

- [Valdemar] For God's sake, wake me.

Let me go.

- Bring him out of the trance!

- No!

No, you can't!

- [Parker] What?

- Think of it, Parker.

His feet are planted in two worlds.

He can speak to us of the afterlife.

What does he see?

Is there a Heaven?

A hell?

Now we can find out!

- [Valdemar] Waken me!

- Doctor Griswald, please.

You can't- - Give me a week, just a week!

- But he's pleading!

- Allow me some small research.

- [Parker] Very well.

- Mister Parker, you can't- - [Parker] A week then, Griswald.

- Good.

- [Parker] But then you must awaken him.

- And free his soul.

- Of course.

- [Parker] Then I wash my hands of all of it.

Don't call upon me again.

Good day, Griswald.

Miss Bennett.

- Mr. Parker.

Please, please, Mr. Parker!

Oh, thank heaven!

- [Parker] What in the you're soaked through, come in, come in.

- You must come at once, Mister Parker!

It's horrible, it- - [Parker] Come where?

Who are you?

- You don't don't, you don't remember me.

Clara, Clara Bennett.

- [Parker] Clara?

Valdemar's nurse!

- Yes.

- [Parker] I'm sorry!

It's been seven months since- - Mr. Parker, you've got to come!

- [Parker] Where?

- To Mr. Valdemar's estate!

- [Parker] Valdemar's been dead since- - That's just it.

Doctor Griswald didn't keep his promise.

He never awakened Mister Valdemar.

- Storm's worse.

Where's Griswald?

- Upstairs in the bedroom with Mr. Valdemar.

- Griswald!

- [Griswald] Parker!

What are you doing here?

- I brought him.

- Release him, Griswald!

- [Valdemar] Yes, yes.

I beg of you, release me.

- [Griswald] No, Parker.

You, you don't understand.

This will revolutionize everything, Parker.

Science, life, religion.

- At what cost, Griswald!?

- [Griswald] His body remains as fresh as it was in life but he's dead.

He died seven months ago somehow he's in stasis.

His captured spirit- - His soul.

- [Griswald] His soul, then spirit, life force, whatever you care to call it.

The body has died, the life force, trapped within, preserves it.

- [Valdemar] Free me!

- Doctor, he's suffering!

- Have some compassion, Griswald!

- [Griswald] Compassion?

You put him in this thrall.

- To extend his life.

But this, this is torture.

I'll wake him myself.

Valdemar, listen to my- - [Griswald] No!

Get back, I won't let you near him!

- A gun?

Are you insane, Griswald!

- [Griswald] Oh, you'd like to think that, wouldn't you?

You'd like to have these discoveries to yourselves.

But they're mine!

- He's up!

- Walking Mister Valdemar, don't- - Griswald!

Behind you, Valdemar is- - [Griswald] Oh no, oh no, you can't fool me!

You're trying- - [Valdemar] Dead!

- [Griswald] Wha...!

- [Valdemar] Dead!

- Look out!

- [Griswald] No, no Let go!

Let go.

- Valdemar, let him go.

Valdemar listen to me!

- [Valdemar] I suffer!

I suffer!

- He's killing him.

- Valdemar!

- Stop him!

- Valdemar, you will awaken!

I will count to three and you will awaken!

- [Valdemar] Dead!

Dead!

- One, two, three!

- [Valdemar] Dead!

Dead!

Dead!

- He's, he's melting like, like a candle.

- Seven months of rot catching up to the calendar.

- But, Doctor Griswald is- - Valdemar is gone and he's taken Griswald with him.

- His whole frame at once, within the space of a single minute, shrank, crumbled, rotted away, engulfing and smothering Griswald beneath a nearly liquid mass of loathsome and detestable putrescence."

- Oh my.

Are you all right?

- [Ann] Yes.

- [Joanna] That's horrifying.

- [Ann] Is it?

- Yes, it- - Lunch time.

Fresh from the kitchen of the world-renowned Sugar Bowl.

- [Joanna] Good!

We're starved, aren't we, Ann?

- [Ann] Yes - Well, here, have a sandwich and milk for growing bones.

- [Ann] Bones.

- We expecting company?

- [Joanna] Not that I know of.

- I love surprises.

I'll get it.

- Malvin!

- [Malvin] C'n I come in.

- Um, yeah, sure.

- [Malvin] Thanks.

Jes' wanted t'drop by an' make sure y'still wanted me t'maybe do some work for ya on the house.

- Oh, yes, of course.

- [Malvin] Tomorrow be okay?

- Sooner the better.

- [Malvin] I wanted t'git squared away on how I left so sudden-like in town.

- It was odd, yeah.

- [Malvin] I thought I saw somethin' I couldn't've seen.

Too much whiskey, if y'know what I mean.

- I do.

- [Malvin] Okay.

Good.

Well then, I'll see ya tomorrow.

- Who was it, Gathin?

Oh.

- [Malvin] Well, well, well.

- [Gathin] Oh, this is Malvin Gitlow.

This is my wife, Joanna.

- Very nice to meet you, Mister Gitlow.

- [Malvin] Y'didn't tell me you was married to a beauty queen.

- [Gathin] Ah,um well.

- I'll take the compliment, thank you, Mister Gitlow.

GATHIN.

Yes, well, um, tomorrow then.

- [Malvin] Fer sure now.

- [Gathin] Goodnight then, Malvin.

- [Malvin] Night.

Night, Mrs. Teller.

- [Gathin] Goodnight, Mister Gitlow.

- [Gathin] Well, that was- - Comedic.

Mm, you just know he plays the banjo.

Come back into the library Ann's talked us into another story.

- [Gathin] Ann, you have another story?

- [Ann] Yes, and another ladybird verse.

I found it in the book.

- [Gathin] Excellent, let's hear it!

- [Ann] "Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home.

The glow worm is lighting her lamp.

The dew's falling fast, and the sunlight has passed and now it will be cold and damp."

- [Gathin] Very nice!

So, what story do we have to read now, Ann?

- [Ann] This one.

- [Gathin] "Morella."

- Another Poe story.

- [Gathin] Your taste in literature is not sunny.

- [Ann] Mister Poe's stories are very popular.

- [Gathin] Point taken.

- [Ann] I'd like Joanna to read this time.

- I shall try to deliver it with popularity.

- [Gathin] Hear, hear!

- Are you cheering, Gathin darling?

GATHIN.

I'm ravin'.

- Mm, Very well "Morella," by Edgar Allan Poe.

"With a feeling of affection, I think of Morella.

From our first meeting, I wanted her arcane secrets her knowledge for my own.

I craved them, and so we were wed and though I never loved her, it was clear that she loved me, and hoped for my love, even as I never granted it.

She attached herself to me alone, rendering me happy."

- [Perry] It is a happiness to wonder, it is a happiness to dream.

Morella's erudition was profound.

I coveted what she had and she placed before me the mystical writings of the early German literature, metaphysics and philosophy, theories about identity and the boundaries of the soul.

These were her favorite and constant study.

- Individuation brings about identity, and space and time have no existence except in our sensibilities.

- [Perry] I don't understand.

- Then I shall teach thee, my love.

Here, take my hand.

- [Perry] Oh!

Cold.

- Thou shalt give it warmth.

- [Perry] Teach me.

- You see, we give objects form through our own sensory evidence.

And since this is so, we have our destiny.

We are all one with God, and with each other.

God is everything and everything is God.

Our boundaries come from ourselves and with no boundaries, identity survives death.

- [Perry] You mean, ghosts?

- (laugh) No, not as ghosts, but as ourselves.

It is only our perceptions that standeth in the way of the immortality that is always there that has always been there waiting.

- [Perry] But- - To know this is to empower the will and so to transcend all that we perceive as law.

- [Perry] How?

- I have already done it, my love.

- [Perry] And so I became her pupil, abandoning myself to her guidance, and entering into the intricacies of her studies and I still could not pierce the veil of their meaning.

- Each of us is a specific consciousness.

It is this which gives us our personal identity.

So, then I ask thee, is identity lost when we die?

- [Perry] I've never taken the time to... - There is no time.

Time existenth not outside of us nor doth space.

They are subjective forms of sensibility.

We perceive things as we must, not as they are even death.

- [Perry] But death is the, the end of perception.

- That is the perception.

- [Perry] Day after day, we pored over forbidden pages in proscribed volumes, and in the night, I would provide what she perceived as love.

Before too many months had passed, she began to realized that I harbored no love for her.

But then.

- My love, I have one more great secret to share with thee.

I am with child.

- [Perry] But she could not tolerate being unloved while carrying a child, and grew weaker each day.

I cursed the days which seemed to lengthen as her gentle life declined and I longed for the moment of Morella's death.

Then, one autumnal evening, she called me to her bedside.

- It is a day of days, my love.

The days have never been when thou couldst return my love but in death, I shall be adored by thee.

- [Perry] You speak in riddles, Morella.

- How I longed that thou couldst have loved me as I did thee.

I am dying, yet shall I live, and return upon my name.

- She turned away her face upon the pillow, and was gone.

But, as she died, she gave birth to her child, a daughter.

Years rolled away and the child grew as I gazed daily upon her face, the perfect resemblance to Morella's.

That her smile was like her mother's I could bear, that her eyes, like Morella's, looked into my soul and all the phrases and expressions that had belonged only to Morella were on the lips of this child to whom I had not given a name.

"My child," I called her...or "my love."

I feared Morella's name which I hoped to have died with her.

- Father, why do we never speak of my mother?

- [Perry] She died long ago, my child.

- Couldst thou, my father, tell me of her.

- [Perry] She was the most intelligent creature I would ever know until your birth.

- And wilt thou reveal to me her name, Father?

- [Perry] It is unimportant.

- Shall I have a name?

- [Perry] Yes, dearest.

- When?

- [Perry] When you are old enough to be baptized.

- I am ten, father.

I am old enough now.

- [Perry] Yes, I believe you are.

And perhaps, perhaps it will release me from my own fears.

- Perhaps.

- [Perry] I thought that, were she to be baptized, the ceremony would drive out the spirit of Morella.

- Do you, in the name of this child, renounce the devil and all his works, the vain pomp and glory of the world, and the carnal desires of the flesh?

- [Perry] I renounce them all.

- Then what is the name of the child?

- [Perry] Many wise and beautiful names came to my lips.

But then, in the silence of the night, I whispered within the ears of the holy man, Morella!

(both screaming) - I am here!

- [Perry] And then she fell and died.

And the stars of my fate faded from heaven, and the earth grew dark.

And I laughed with a long and bitter laugh, for I bore her to the tomb and it was empty.

Until I laid there my child, my love, Morella.

- [Joanna] Well, you're up early.

- Went to the Sugar Bowl, was waiting at the door when Loretta opened up.

- [Joanna] Because?

- It's doughnut making day.

So I got some for our breakfast.

- [Joanna] Ah, still warm!

- Piping hot from the donut-making thing.

- [Ann] We should call Ann in.

- She's here?

- [Joanna] She's out back reciting poetry to ladybirds in the garden.

- Well then, let's take a doughnut out to her.

- You go ahead.

I'm scrambling eggs.

- Oh, can I help?

- No, no, generally, when you help, it takes longer.

Go on out with Ann.

Talk to the ladybirds.

Give them my best.

- I'll take a couple doughnuts for the ladybirds too, then.

- Hm, early.

Milkman?

Mister Gitlow.

- [Malvin] Mornin', pretty lady.

- Oh, um- - [Malvin] I thought we should git t'know each other.

- Gathin's actually- - [Malvin] At the Sugar Bowl I seen him there.

Asked him to pick up some stuff at Westbury Hardware for the work on your telescope tower thing.

- He, he must've forgotten.

He's out back.

- [Malvin] Oh, he is?

- Yes.

I'll, I'll call him.

Let me- - [Malvin] No, no, I'll, I'll be back later.

- Ladybird, ladybird fly away home.

The fairy bells tinkle afar.

Make haste or they'll catch you, and harness you fast with a cobweb to Oberon's star.

- [Gathin] What's up, Ann?

- I found another ladybird.

- [Gathin] So you did.

This is quite a book.

- Would you like to read a story to me?

- [Gathin] Would you like me to?

- Yes, please.

- [Gathin] Have you picked one out?

- This one.

- [Gathin] "The Monkey's Paw," by W. W. Jacobs kinda scary.

- I have known scary things.

- [Gathin] Very well then, "The Monkey's Paw."

"Outside, the night was cold and wet, but in the small living room the curtains were closed and the fire burned brightly.

Father and son were playing chess, the father, "Whose ideas about the game involved some very unusual moves."

Put his king into sharp and unnecessary danger."

- (chuckles) Oh my, hark at that wind!

- You're trying to distract me.

- (laugh) I am.

- I knew it!

You've put your king in jeopardy.

- That was a, a practice move.

- [Mary] You took your fingers off, James.

- Whose side are you on, Mary, mine or Herbert's?

- [Mary] The side that follows rules.

Which means our son's side.

- And checkmate.

- What, how did you do that?

- By following the rules.

- Oh, look at the time.

- [Mary] The Sergeant-Major's late.

- I hardly think he'll come at all.

The road's all mud and the wind's strong enough to blow a body away.

- Well, the sergeant-major is coming on the train and the station's a short walk on a gravel path.

- Whose idea was it for us to move so far from the village?

- Yours, dear.

So don't be cross, you'll win the next game.

- (chuckles) You know me too well, Mary.

- It'll be a challenge walking to work in the morning.

- But there, you see?

Since we've moved here, Herbert can walk to work.

- I don't have to catch the train.

Just out the door, down the road, up the hill, past the graveyard, around the corner, and there's the factory, 15 minutes.

- There's Sergeant-Major Morris!

- I'll get it.

- I wasn't sure he'd come.

The weather- - [Mary] He's just spent nearly 25 years in the army James.

- Yes that's true.

- In India.

The monsoons in India make a thunderstorm in Worcester look like a gentle rain.

- (laughs) Yes, now that you mention it.

- I just know he'll have some romantic and exciting stories about India.

- James, Mary.

- Sergeant-Major!, you must be soaked through!

- No, no wore my mackintosh.

- I hung it up by the door.

- Good, good lad.

- Oh, come sit by the fire.

Herbert, pull up a chair for the Sergeant-Major!

- Whiskey?

- Of course whiskey, always whiskey.

- Mary?

Herbert?

- [Mary] No, James.

I still have my tea.

- Not for me.

I have to get to the factory in the morning.

- Mason and Miggins, isn't it?

- It is.

- Well, you stay with 'em laddie, you'll have a great future!

- Well, I'm having whiskey.

I don't have to get anywhere in the morning!

(Major laughter) - Here you are, Sergeant-Major.

- Ah, thank you.

Aah, Ambrosia.

Whisky in India's too sweet.

It's good to be home.

- Sometimes I wish I'd gone to India.

I should like to see those old temples and fakirs and jugglers.

Some excitement some magic.

- [Mary] Don't we make our own magic, James?

- (laugh) We did, we did.

- [Mary] We did?

- Oh, ah, We do!

- [Mary] That's better.

- Besides, if you'd gone to India, I wouldn't be sitting here.

- (laugh) True, true!

- Just now there's a great drought in India.

No monsoons and the famine.

People dead in the streets.

- Not so romantic and exciting, mother.

- [Mary] No.

- But still, you've led a life of adventure.

- Ah yes, wild scenes and doughty deeds, mystery and magic.

- Magic.

Oh, I remember a wonderful story you have about a monkey's paw.

Can you tell- - Monkey's paw?

You mean, from a real monkey?

- What other kind is there?

(both laughs) Cut from a real monkey and mummified.

- Did you actually see it?

- I have it here in my pocket.

- [Mary] Oh, mercy!

- Let me see!

- Here it is.

- Give it to me!

- Certainly.

Here.

- Hm.

What's so special about it?

- It had a spell put on it by an old fakir.

- May I see it, father?

- Oh, here.

- Still has fur on it.

Look, Mother it's from a real monkey.

- [Mary] No, last thing I need is a dirty old animal foot.

- The old fakir wanted to show that fate rules people's lives and those who interfere with fate, do so at their own peril.

He put a spell on it, so that three separate men could each have three wishes from it.

- Have you wished on it?

- Oh, I have.

- You had your wishes granted?

- I did.

- What did you wish?

- I'd (chuckles) rather not say.

- Why?

- They didn't turn out as I'd hoped.

- But they were granted?

- Yes.

- [Mary] Has anyone else wished on it?

- I know of at least one.

He was a friend.

- What did he wish for?

- I don't know what the first two wishes were.

- What was third wish for?

- It was for his death.

(all gasps) And then the monkey's paw came to me.

- If you've had all your wishes, why do you keep it?

- Protection, perhaps.

- How does it protect you?

- Ooh, not me.

As long as I hold it you are protected.

- Psh, what nonsense.

- [Mary] Herbert, behave.

- If you could have another three wishes, would you want them?

- Another three wishes another.

No, no!

- He's thrown it into the fire!

- Get back!

- [Mary] James, you'll burn yourself!

- Got it!

Not even singed.

- But your sleeve is.

- It's an old shirt.

- Pitch it back in the fire!

- No, it's mine now.

How do I wish?

- I beg you, don't do this!

- How do I do it!

- Hold it up in your right hand, and wish aloud.

But I warn you, when you wish, you must be very precise.

- [Mary] Oh, pish tosh, this is all nonsense.

- I assure you it is not.

- Very well then, make my housework easier.

Wish me four pair of hands.

- No, no, no.

- [Mary] You think I'm serious!

- Mother has a unique sense of humor.

(laughs) - Well, if you must you wish, wish for something sensible.

And wish carefully.

- Well, for now, I'll wish for some supper.

- Oh, put the dishes here and the cutlery over there.

- Here?

- Yes.

- I love hearing the Sergeant-Major's stories.

- May not be any more truthful than the one about the monkey's paw, though.

- Oh, my favorite is the one about the Buddhist lama and the little boy searching for the Arrow River.

- [James] Well, he's off for the last train!

- Uh, did you give him money, James?

- [James] Money?

- For that monkey paw in your hand.

- [James] I gave him a trifle.

Maybe I'll, make a wish.

- Do it, Father.

We'll be rich and happy.

- Oh, don't have him on like that, Herbert!

- [James] Don't know what to wish for.

- How much do you owe on the house?

- [James] 200 pounds.

- Wish for two hundred pounds, then.

- [James] Very well, I wish for two- - No.

You have to hold it up with your right hand.

And say aloud, "I wish for 200 pounds."

- This is absolutely- - [James] I wish for 200 pounds!

(screams) It moved.

It twisted in my hand like a snake.

- Oh, James!

Where is it?

- [James] I, I threw it!

- Well, go find it!

I don't want to step on the nasty thing.

- [James] All right, all right.

I think it's over, ah, here it is.

I'll put it on the mantel where you can see it.

- But I don't see any money.

Well, let's retire and dream that all of our wishes have come true.

I expect you'll find the cash tied up in a big bag in the middle of your bed.

(all laughing) - Goodnight sleep well.

- More bread, Herbert?

- No time.

Gotta get to work.

- [James] I'd like more drippings, Mary.

- There aren't any more, James.

- [James] Oh.

- Why don't you get the monkey's paw and wish for more?

(both laughs) - Oh, Herbert, do stop.

Such nonsense an old moldering monkey paw granting wishes pf.

- Them Sergeant-Major said that the wish would be granted so naturally, that a person would think it just a coincidence.

And he said that it could somehow hurt me.

How could money hurt me?

- Might drop on your head from the sky.

Well, I have to go.

Don't want to be late at the factory.

Don't spend your 200 pounds before I get back.

An excellent dinner, Mary!

You saved some for Herbert?

- I did.

- Working late.

- If Mason And Miggins have him working extra, they must have their eyes on him for something special.

He'll be making good money.

- Indeed.

Oh, you're thinking about those 200 pounds.

- I shouldn't have pinned any hope on that dirty old monkey's paw.

But you said the hand, moved.

- It seemed to.

- Who's that man?

- Where?

- Walking back and forth at the gate.

Come to the window.

Look, he's opened the gate.

- Coming up to the door.

I'll get it.

- [Harbinge] Mr. and Mrs. White?

- [James] Yes, come in!

- Welcome, come in.

- [Harbinge] Thank you, I- - [James] Sit down, sit down.

- [Harbinge] I, I, I think I should stand, you see- - We hadn't expected a visitor.

- Yes, I'm from Mason And Miggins.

- Herbert.

Has something happened to Herbert?

- [James] There, there, mother.

I'm sure everything's fine.

Isn't that right, Mister, Mister?

- Harbinge, Jonah Harbinge.

- [James] What can we do for you, Mister Harbinge - I'm sorry.

- It is Herbert, Is he hurt?

- He, he was caught in the machinery.

- [James] Machinery.

(Mary sobbing) - [James] There, there, Mary.

There, there- - The firm wishes to convey their sincere sympathy with you in your great loss.

They have asked me to say that Mason And Meggins disclaim all responsibility.

But, in consideration of Herman's service... - [James] Herbert!

- Yes.

Herbert's service, they wish to present you with a certain sum as compensation.

- [James] Money?

- Yes.

- [James] How much?

- 200 pounds.

(Mary shrieks) - [James] What are you doing down here, Mary?

- Watching the rain.

- [James] It's cold down here.

- It's colder for my son.

(weeps) - [James] Come back to bed.

- I curse the day the Sergeant-Major... James, the monkey's paw.

- [James] What?

- Where is it?

- [James] I suppose it's still on the mantel.

- Why didn't I think of it!

- [James] Think of what?

Where are you going?

- The other two wishes.

Here it is.

Here, take it, take it.

Wish our boy alive again.

- [James] What?

- Take it.

Take it.

- Oh, no, I don't- - Bring him back to us.

- [James] He's been dead ten days.

I didn't even recognize him.

I identified him by his clothes.

You don't- - Wish him alive.

- [James] This is foolish and wicked!

- Wish!

Wish!

- [James] I wish my son alive again!

(screams) It moved!

- Where is it?

- [James] I don't know.

I threw it.

Where are you going?

- To the window, he's coming home.

- [James] Come to bed, Mary.

It's been over an hour.

He isn't coming.

- I guess there are some things the monkey's paw can't grant.

- [James] It would've required true magic not just coincidence.

Come, Mary, let's go back to bed.

- Yes.

(door knock) Somebody at the door.

- [James] At this hour?

- It's Herbert come back to us!

- [James] No.

- Let me go, James!

I want to see my son.

- [James] For god's sake, Mary!

- Of course.

The graveyard is two miles away.

It would take time.

- By all that is holy, Mary, don't let it in!

- It?

You're afraid of your own son.

- He's not my son.

He's not anymore.

I wished him alive, Mary, but I didn't wish him whole.

I only wished him alive, after nearly two weeks dead and in the ground.

It's not Herbert out there, it's a thing!

- Let me go.

I'm letting him in.

- It's not Herbert!

- Herbert, Herbert, I'm here!

- The monkey's paw!

I threw it, where is it.

- The bolt's stuck, James, help me!

- The paw!

Where's the, where's the... - I got it!

It's coming.

- I wish him gone.

I wish him back in his grave.

- No, he's gone!

He's gone!

Herbeeert!

- Well, that was scary.

- [Ann] And sad.

- Yes.

Oh!

Look, some papers fell out of your book.

- [Ann] It's isn't my book.

- Well, true.

So I bequeath upon you, Lady Ann, this book to be your very own.

- [Ann] Thank you.

- Hm.

Receipts news clippings.

Wonder why they're in the book.

Well, we'll worry about that later!

Let's have breakfast!

Ah!

Here you are, the beautiful maiden in the tower.

- [Joanna] We've been married for just years.

I don't think I can be a maiden.

- Will you accept beautiful?

- [Joanna] Okay.

- Good.

You putting your telescope together?

- [Joanna] Up this high in this tower I can get a good angle over the trees.

Omega Centauri has been lonely without me.

- Not to mention the planets, the moon, the sun.

- I don't recommend using a telescope to look at the sun.

- Only at night.

Hey, I need to go into town.

- [Joanna] It's pretty late.

I thought that's where you were most of the day.

- I was at the town library most of the day and then over to the Sugar Bowl for some history lessons with Loretta.

I met the local newspaper reporter the other day.

- [Joanna] Tess Harding.

She wants to write a story about us.

- Yeah.

She told me.

We got to talking about a sort of town mystery.

I think the papers from Ann's book might help solve it.

Either that or I'm paranoid and crazy.

- [Joanna] I love you in spite of your paranoia and craziness.

- And I love you in spite of your poor taste in the man you chose to marry.

- [Joanna] Then we're a perfect match.

- We are.

- [Joanna] Okay, go, go, let me know if your hunch plays out.

- I will.

I'll be back soon.

- And the beautiful maiden in the tower went back to putting her beautiful telescope together.

And they all lived- - Joanna?

- Oh, Ann, you startled me!

When did you come in?

- Just now.

- I didn't, well, what can I do for you?

- [Ann] May I have a story before I go home to bed?

- Have you picked one out?

- [Ann] Yes here.

- "The Masque of the Red Death" by Edgar Allan Poe.

Well, are you sure you want this just before bed?

It isn't exactly "The Bobbsey Twins."

ANN.

Yes, please.

- Very well.

Let me finish tightening a few things on the telescope and we'll commence.

- Hey!

You in there?

- [Tess] Who is... Oh, the new home owner.

Hold on.

Come in.

What's up?

- The housefire thing?

You said it'd be a great story, but you couldn't back it up.

- [Tess] Funny you'd come by.

I've been working on it a little just today.

It's like an itch I can't scratch.

- I've got some papers here and clippings.

I, I think this might be your back up.

- [Tess] Oh, come over here under the light.

Spread them out on the drafting table, billhead receipt, news clipping my byline news clipping, me again, both very well-written service station receipt.

- Maybe it doesn't mean anything but it feels like there's something.

And these, Westbury Hardware.

Explains why this stuff would be in a book in Westbury's library.

Anything in your news stories?

- [Tess] This one's the day after the fire, front page.

The other one...three days later.

- Wait, wait, wait.

Your story says Gitlow was there?

- [Tess] Yes.

- And that he narrowly escaped with his life.

- [Tess] That's what he told me.

- But he told me he was living across town, and didn't find out until he read your story.

- [Tess] Well, that doesn't even- - And he told Loretta he turned up ten minutes after the firetrucks - [Tess] Hold on.

Gotta get that.

Waiting for a call about this very thing.

Thanatos Tribune.

Do it and we'll tell everybody.

Hi, Rick.

Uh-huh.

Oh, okay, great, thanks.

I owe you.

Oh, Rick, don't talk dirty to me, you know I like it too much.

- [Tess] Bingo!

- What?

- [Tess] Rick's the local insurance guy.

Turns out Malvin Gitlow had life insurance.

He took it out a week before the fire on the wife and kids and not himself.

- He gets life insurance then kills his wife and his own kids?

- [Tess] They weren't his kids, they were hers.

And he wasn't living with them anymore, and she was planning a divorce.

What else do we have here?

- Receipts.

Westbury Hardware and Foley Service Station.

- [Tess] Put 'em in order.

Okay, see two days before the fire, Westbury Hardware.

- Itemized, candle wicks, box of wood shavings, bees' wax pellets, two jerry cans.

What are jerry cans?

- [Tess] Metal cans to carry gasoline.

Usually five gallons.

- Well then, that explains the other receipt.

A day before the fire.

Foley Service Station, gasoline, nine and a half gallons.

- [Tess] Candle wicks, wood shavings, bees' wax pellets, jerry cans, gasoline.

Sounds like an arsonist's Christmas list.

But how do I tie this to Gitlow?

- Look here, received by- - [Tess] M. Gitlow.

We've got him!

- Hallelujah!

Here, you've got the kids listed.

Victims were Jabez, 2; Perdita, 6; Ann, 10; Brennan, 11, all with the surname Morrigan, and their mother Dierdre Gitlow.

Four kids and the mom.

The last name Morrigan.

Was there another Morrigan family?

- [Tess] No.

- Look Ann Morrigan, ten years old!

- [Tess] Yes?

- She's still ten years old!

- All right, if we're going to have a story, let's sit toward the middle, away from the balconies.

They're not safe yet but the open doors give us a nice cross-breeze.

You comfortable, Ann?

- [Ann] Yes.

- Well then, "The Masque of the Red Death," by Edgar Allan Poe.

"The disease of the Red Death had devastated Prince Prospero's kingdom.

No pestilence had been so hideous, sharp pains and dizziness, bleeding through the pores.

The progress and termination over in half an hour.

So, when his dominions were depopulated by half, Prince Prospero summoned a thousand light-hearted friends to his castle."

(crowd laughing) - My friends welcome.

Welcome to my stronghold against suffering!

My bulwark against blight.

My protection against pestilence.

Here you are safe.

Here you are protected by your benevolent prince.

- [Crowd Member] Thanks you my liege.

- Once you entered, my courtiers welded the bolts, sealed all doors and windows, filled all cracks and crevices, within these strong and lofty walls, you are safe from the Red Death.

We defy contagion, and you are sheltered from the despair of those without.

- [Crowd Member] Bless you, Prince Prospero.

- [Prospero] It is folly to grieve for the world outside.

Here within these walls, I have brought all the appliances of pleasure.

Clowns and buffoons, musicians, dancers, art, theater, poets, food, and wine.

All these I provide while I protect you from the Red Death.

And so, revel, drink, sing (laughs) and dance.

- "It was a masked ball of most unusual magnificence.

Grotesque costumes, with glare and glitter, arabesque figures with unsuited limbs and appointments much of the beautiful, much of the wanton something of the terrible, and plenty to excite disgust revealing the inner demons of the prince and his guests."

- [Prospero] My friends, I have created chambers for your dance.

Each room has windows of stained glass in a variety of colors, illuminated by braziers of fire from the surrounding corridor.

Rooms of blue, purple, green, orange, white, violet, with matching decor.

Six rooms - [Crowd Member] Only six?

- [Prospero] Oh, there is a seventh with walls shrouded in black velvet falling to the stygian stone floor and an obsidian carpet.

In that room, the windows are as red as blood.

And there you will find a gigantic clock of the deepest ebony, ticking out the seconds and striking every hour, until one day, at midnight, our party, and our dance will end.

(laughs) And you, my friends, masked and shrouded in mystery you are invited to join me in a dance, a whirl.

(laughs) A frolic through my rooms.

Come, come.

We dance against the Red Death!

- "And so they danced.

They danced in every room but the seventh for there, upon each hour, the brazen lungs of the clock issued a sound that was clear and loud and deep.

And all was still and the musicians paused and the dancers grew pale.

But when the echoes had fully ceased, they vowed that they would not be so affected the next time."

- (laughs) Come, come, more wine dance.

- [Crowd Member] Prince Prospero will protect us.

- [Crowd Member] Prince Prospero has conquered the Red Death.

- [Crowd Member] All hail Prince Prospero.

- [Prospero] Leap, whirl, fly.

- "They danced, month after month, while the pestilence raged beyond the walls.

Prospero's plans were bold and fiery and everything glowed with barbaric luster.

And the revel went whirling on.

It was in the blue room that the celebrants become aware of a tall masked figure, shrouded from head to foot with the habiliments of the grave.

The villain had assumed the form of the Red Death.

His vesture was dabbled in crimson gore, and the gaunt, corpselike mask was besprinkled with the bloody issue of the disease itself. "

- Who dares to make mockery of our woes?

Uncase the varlet that we may know whom we have to hang tomorrow from the battlements!

Stop him and strip him of those reddened vestures of sacrilege.

Are you all cowards?

Is this the way you repay my kindness?

Seize him.

- "And now, with deliberate and stately step, the intruder made closer approach to Prince Prospero."

- [Prospero] No!

No, stay away from me!

Get back!

Protect me, my subjects protect me as I have protected you!

- "But, none put forth a hand to seize the figure who, unimpeded, passed within a yard of the prince.

With solemn and measured steps from the blue chamber to the purple.

- [Prospero] Stop him you cowards!

He's getting away!

- [Crowd Member] He cannot escape, my liege!

- [Prospero] Seize him!

Unmask him!

Destroy him for his insolence.

- "And so the revelers followed the stranger, rushing to keep up with his wide gait.

Through the crowded purple room to the green they followed.

Through the green to the orange they followed.

From the orange to the white to the violet, they followed, adding to their number in each chamber but no one dared to speak to the intruder.

No one made a move to arrest his progress.

And then, as they reached the black room with its bloody windows.

- [Crowd Member] No, midnight.

- You, you've brought us here.

Don't walk away from me!

How dare you?

Will no one stop this, this invader?

This trespasser?

This intruder?

You!

- [Crowd Member] Me, your lordship?

- Is that a dagger on your belt?

- [Crowd Member] Yes, my liege.

- [Prospero] Is it a real dagger?

- [Crowd Member] It is, your grace, I thought it would be permitted.

- [Prospero] I would have it!

Give it to me!

- [Crowd Member] What?

- [Prospero] Give it to me!

Now!

- [Crowd Member] Yes, your grace.

Have it.

It is yours.

- [Prospero] Ah.

Good.

Now die, monster, die!

(screaming) - "Prince Prospero, maddened with rage, rushed across the room with the dagger born aloft, when the stranger, having attained the extremity of the velvet apartment, turned suddenly round to confront his pursuer."

(Prospero screams) - [Crowd Member] The prince!

- [Crowd Member] The prince is dead!

- [Prospero] He's killed our prince!

- [Crowd Member] The dark one must pay!

- "Now the spectre stood motionless within the shadow of the ebony clock.

The revelers, in the wild courage of despair, threw themselves upon the stranger, tore off his shroud, cerements and bloody corpse-like mask, only to find."

- [Crowd Member] Empty!

- [Crowd Member] No man is within!

- [Crowd Member] But this, this is, impossible.

It, it.

- "And now was acknowledged the presence of The Red Death.

He had come like a thief in the night.

And dropped the revelers one by one in the blood-bedewed halls of their bacchanal each dying in the despairing posture of their fall.

And the ebony clock ceased and the flames behind the windows expired and then came darkness and decay and the Red Death, held dominion over all."

- [Ann] I like that story.

- It could have used a happy ending.

- [Ann] I don't think there are happy endings.

- But there are, Ann.

Maybe the happy ending doesn't come when you want it to but if you're good, you get your happy ending.

You win.

- [Ann] I do?

- You do.

- Sounds like Gathin's coming up the stares!

He must have seen the light up here.

- We were just- - Well, hello, pretty lady.

- Mister, Mister Gitlow.

What are you- - [Malvin] I been thinkin' aboutcha.

You an' me is gonna have a little party - You're scaring Ann.

- [Malvin] Who?

- Ann.

She's right over... where is... - [Malvin] Ain't nobody here but you an' me, sweetness.

- You'd better think about this, Mister Gitlow.

- [Malvin] I been layin' awake at night thinkin' 'bout it.

See, that husband o' yours is in town over to the newspaper office.

I seen him an' that nosy news gal through the big winda, jist a studyin' an' studyin' a buncha paper.

- He'll be home any minute.

- [Malvin] Bet he isn't.

I took an ice pick to his tires.

We can have some get-to-know-ya-time.

- And when I tell him what you- - [Malvin] Oh, you ain't gonna tell nobody 'cuz when I'm done here, I'm pushin' ya out against that balcony rail.

A four-story drop should take care of ya.

What a tragedy.

You'll prob'ly even gitcher name in the paper.

- You just... You stay back, or- - [Malvin] Or whut?

You can't weigh more'n 120 pounds soakin' wet.

Me, I weigh in at 250.

I got me the advantage.

Now, c'mere.

- Not a chance.

- [Malvin] Or what?

Then I'll come there.

- [Ann] You stay away from her!

- [Malvin] Ann!

- [Ann] You are a very, very bad man!

- [Malvin] No, no, you, this is some kinda.

You're dead!

- [Ann] I'm dead.

- [Malvin] I killed you!

- [Ann] You killed me.

- [Malvin] You stay away from me!

- [Ann] You killed Brennan and Perdita and Jabez- - [Malvin] Jist, jist stay away.

- [Ann] And you killed my mama.

- [Malvin] Stay away.

Stay away.

- The balcony, look out for... (screams) Ann, where did... How...?

- [Gathin] Joanna!

- Gathin!

Malvin Gitlow, he, your car, he - [Gathin] I borrowed Tess's car.

I was right behind him.

- He was backing away scared of Ann.

He hit the railing.

- [Gathin] I know.

- [Ann] I can go home to Mama now, Joanna.

- Yes, Ann you can go home now.

- [Ann] I found more ladybird poems.

Would you like to hear?

- Please.

- Ladybird, ladybird fly away home.

Your house is on fire, your children are gone.

All except one, and her name is Ann.

And she will fly home when she can.

- I think that's the best one yet.

- No, Joanna, this is the best one.

- Lady-bird, lady-bird, fly away home.

Make haste, for the dew's falling fast.

- Your time here has ended.

- Mama?

- Your God-given wings Will take you to heaven at last.

(gentle music) - She's gone.

- I'll miss her.

- Me too.

Let's go downstairs, we have some phone calls to make.

- You have been listening to the radio dramatization "Good Little Girl, Goodnight."

a presentation of KTWU and The Air Command, and produced at the KTWU studios.

And now, our time here has ended and so we shall fly away home.

Goodnight, goodnight.

(mystical music) (cat meows) (mystical music)