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And now, tonight's presentation of radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense.

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Tonight, the story of a supermarket and a young man who finds that after closing time,

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once the daily bustle is stilled, this very ordinary store becomes a place of danger and

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terror absolute.

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So now, with high ever back as Harry, here is tonight's Suspense play, Never Steal a

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Butcher's Wife.

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It started the first day of the job.

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I was cooking the liquor department of the supermarket.

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I haven't been to Los Angeles a week.

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My brother, when I left New York, had given me this letter to a friend of his, a guy who

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owned a stringery of supermarkets.

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The letter was about, could he use me?

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I was a good fella.

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He could count it a favor, you know.

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And a guy had this opening, liquor clerk, and comes the following Monday, I'm at work.

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I spent the morning loading the refrigerators with beer, soda water, all that stuff, and

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sizing up the place.

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You know, back east, we don't have many of these supermarkets.

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There was the vegetable department run by a nice little dark guy, and there was a delicatessen

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that was run by an old geezer and his frow.

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There was a bakery department and meat department, and of course, the groceries.

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No clerks.

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You pushed a little cart around and helped yourself.

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To get out, you passed the cash register, and the girl loaded your stuff, rang up the

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price.

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My surveillance of the place had reached the girl who checked the groceries when the trouble

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started.

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She was looking at herself in a little mirror and putting on some lipstick.

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Her back was to me.

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I see her stop putting on the lipstick but still looking at the mirror.

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I see her eyes in the mirror.

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And then she turns around very slowly and looks at me.

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Just looks at me.

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She must have been 50 feet away at the least and with customers between us, but it was

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like we were all alone, the two of us on a beach somewhere, an empty beach.

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I should have looked away.

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I should have winked and forgotten it.

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I should have gone on stacking beer and thinking about how to be a success.

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That's what I should have done.

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What I did do was I stood right there and locked eyes with her for I don't know how

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long.

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And all the time I was looking at her, I was sending her mental telegrams.

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You and me, baby.

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You and me.

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You and me.

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Hey, what's the matter?

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Are you sleeping on your feet?

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What'd you say?

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You're the new guy, huh?

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Oh, yeah.

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I just started this morning.

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I'm Nick Arnow.

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I work the vegetable store.

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I'm Harry Carr.

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I'm pleased to know you.

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Yeah.

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You got two bottles of cold beer?

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Sure.

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Cold is a witch's heart.

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Only don't open them here by the counter, you know, the law.

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I have them out back on my lunch.

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Nick.

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What?

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Come here.

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That gal over there by the cash register.

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Mary?

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Is that her name, Mary?

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Yeah.

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What about her?

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That's what I'm wondering.

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What about her?

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Oh.

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No, it's not.

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She's married.

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You kidding?

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You see that big guy over there with the knife?

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The butcher?

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Yeah.

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You ask him if I'm kidding.

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Who's he?

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Her husband.

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Oh.

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See.

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I looked over at him.

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He was a funny looking guy.

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A real creep.

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He stood there sharpening a tremendous big cleaver, whistling to himself.

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He had on a hard straw hat and a white apron.

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He had those rimless glasses with thick lenses so that his eyes looked like baseballs.

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When he saw I was looking at him, he nodded and went on whistling and stropping.

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A real creep.

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Later on, I watched him softening up some sort of steaks.

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He had a big steel mallet with points on it and he was wanging away at this meat like a

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pile driver.

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Next I watched him grinding and slicing and quartering, sawing the bones off some of the

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cuts and always those eyes like baseballs and that teeny little mouth lost in the big

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red face whistling.

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And I looked over at her and she was giving me the eye again.

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I closed at seven.

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The vegetable guys carted out the old stuff.

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The delicate test man put away his pickles.

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I checked the register, counted my slips and made my entries.

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Krause, the butcher, was still there packing and cleaning, putting stuff in that big refrigerator

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room back at the counter.

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But she had left.

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I got into my street coat and walked out.

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Hello.

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He was standing looking at the shoe display a couple of doors down from the market.

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I said hello.

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Don't you say hello wherever it is you come from?

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Well, sure.

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Hello.

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You're taking the bus?

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Yeah.

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Which way do you go?

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Down to Western.

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Oh, I'm going that way.

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I'll drive you.

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No, no, I don't think you'd better.

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What's the matter?

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I wouldn't want to trouble you.

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No trouble.

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Come on.

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I'm parked right here.

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What about Mr. Krause?

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Oh, he'll be there in an hour, yes.

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He takes the bus.

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Oh.

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Come on.

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Well, come on.

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Don't be afraid.

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You're afraid of me.

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No, I'm not afraid of you.

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Well, then get in.

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It's all day long.

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I'm pushing liquor at them.

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Now they're pushing it at me.

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Oh, you're cute, Harry.

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No, I mean it.

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You're cute.

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Well, so are you, baby.

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You really think so?

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Sure, baby.

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Harry, let's get out of here.

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Go someplace else.

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Hey, I got to work in the morning.

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Silly, this is the morning.

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It is.

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Hey, Mac, what's the time?

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Quarter of two.

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Last call.

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You really think I'm cute, Harry?

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Sure, baby.

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But it's late.

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It's really late.

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Don't worry, sugar.

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Come on.

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I'll take you home.

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Uh-uh.

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I'll take you home.

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Of course I felt lousy the next morning.

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I'm not much of a drinker.

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But she looked fresh as a daisy smiling and enjoying her time.

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But she looked fresh as a daisy smiling and joking with the customers.

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I didn't look over there. I didn't want to.

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I didn't want to think about what must have gone on between her and Krauss when she got in.

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He didn't look happy. I knew why.

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I kept waiting for him to turn those baseball eyes on me.

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But he never did. He just went on smashing, slicing, grinding, sawing, all that.

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When I came out that night she was there, I tried to disregard her.

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Harry.

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But she said she had something very serious to talk over.

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And the way she said it.

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Well, I got in the car again.

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He's awful. Really, you don't know?

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Yeah, I guess it's tough.

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You just wouldn't believe some of the things.

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Yeah, look baby, I think we...

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He's crazy jealous.

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Of you?

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Yeah. Isn't that silly?

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Well, I guess maybe...

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He knows. Of me. Or should I say, of you.

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Me? What does he know about me? What did you say?

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Well, I got in this morning and there he was, sitting up like grandma in his bathrobe.

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He said, where have you been? And I said, what's it to you, auntie?

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I call him auntie. It drives him crazy.

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He said, don't you think you can fool me?

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He started to cry and say a lot of things about Babylon and sitting on the water.

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He's a real crazy talker.

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Well, I better go.

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Oh, don't be silly. He doesn't know who you are or who it is.

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But he could find out.

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Oh no. Not unless I told him.

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You wouldn't do that.

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Of course not, baby. As long as you're good to me.

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The next night I stayed in the market. I was scared. Didn't want any more of that.

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I did inventory. I counted bottles. I cleaned the refrigerator.

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I changed the water in the soft-rings cooler. I kept busy.

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Across the market, Kross was moving around, cleaning up.

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And after a while he took off his apron and his straw hat and he came over.

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Hello, Mr. Kross.

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Yeah. Give me a bottle of beer.

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Sure thing.

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Is it all right to drink it here?

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Well, sure. We're close, ain't we?

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Yeah.

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Here. Here's an opener.

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Thank you.

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You... you're working late.

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Well, you know how it is. Nothing to do evenings.

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No?

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No. I'm new out here. It takes time to make friends.

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For me, maybe it would take time. Not for you, good-looking young fellow like you.

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Well, I don't know. You're a big broad-shouldered guy.

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Yeah, sure. Big. That's me.

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How's the beer?

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It's all right. Listen, you... you know my wife.

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Your wife?

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Yeah. You know her.

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Well, yeah, she... isn't she the one who checks the groceries?

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Yeah.

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Very nice-looking lady.

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You think so?

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Of course. Well, I mean, don't get me wrong. I mean it very sincerely. A very nice, respectable-looking...

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Yeah, sure enough. Listen, you notice something funny goes on there?

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Funny?

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Somebody's playing around with her. I want to find out who.

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With her?

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You wouldn't believe that, would you?

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No, no, no. I should say no.

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Listen, do... do me a favor, huh?

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Sure. What?

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You keep your eyes open, huh?

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I will, Mr. Krauss. I promise you.

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I find that guy. I find out who he is if it takes a year.

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Then I do. I kill him.

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Good night.

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Good night.

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You're listening to Never Steal a Butcher's Wife, tonight's presentation in radio's outstanding

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theater of frills, Suspense.

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There are all kinds of tales of suspense, and you'll find an exciting one when you listen to the latest Perry Mason story on CBS Radio tomorrow.

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He's the debonair lawyer detective whose exciting cases come your way Monday through Friday, daytimes, on most of these stations.

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This week, listen to Perry Mason try to help a damsel in distress.

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And now we bring back to our Hollywood soundstage, I, Aberback, in tonight's production of Never Steal a Butcher's Wife, a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense.

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You see how it happens?

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You go along minding your own business, trying to be a sweet guy and whammy.

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Up pops the devil, the roof caves in, and there you are.

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The executioner's honing the axe and whistling to himself.

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I tell you, I was nervous. My hands were sweating and my teeth were aching.

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If it hadn't been for needing that job bad, if it hadn't been for that,

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I'd have put on my coat and hightailed it out of their butt fast.

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It was a situation.

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And Mary's looking over at me every now and then, giving me the big eyes.

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Yeah, the heck with you, baby, get yourself another boy.

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And Krauss is looking over and raising his eyebrows. Do I know who it is yet?

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And I'm making a long face and shaking my head.

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And then Nick, the vegetable man, comes over.

259
00:14:07,800 --> 00:14:10,800
I see you didn't understand what I told you the other day.

260
00:14:10,800 --> 00:14:11,800
What's that, Nick?

261
00:14:11,800 --> 00:14:14,800
About Mary. I told you she was a married woman.

262
00:14:14,800 --> 00:14:15,800
What are you talking about?

263
00:14:15,800 --> 00:14:17,800
I seen you, the both of you, coming out of a bar the other morning.

264
00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:18,800
You're nuts.

265
00:14:18,800 --> 00:14:22,800
Don't pull a hard face with me, Harry. I ought to tip-cross off to what's going on.

266
00:14:22,800 --> 00:14:24,800
Nick, Nick, Nick, Nick, be a good guy, will you?

267
00:14:24,800 --> 00:14:26,800
Be a good guy.

268
00:14:26,800 --> 00:14:30,800
I'm telling you, you better be a good guy and leave the butcher's wife alone

269
00:14:30,800 --> 00:14:31,800
if you know what's good for you.

270
00:14:31,800 --> 00:14:34,800
I will, Nick, Nick, I will. I swear it was a mistake, that's all.

271
00:14:34,800 --> 00:14:36,800
So be a good guy, Nick. Forget about it, huh?

272
00:14:36,800 --> 00:14:39,800
This one's okay, but you do it again. You get what's coming to you.

273
00:14:39,800 --> 00:14:41,800
Sure, Nick. Sure, sure thing.

274
00:14:41,800 --> 00:14:44,800
I'm not just talking.

275
00:14:48,800 --> 00:14:49,800
Harry.

276
00:14:49,800 --> 00:14:50,800
What?

277
00:14:50,800 --> 00:14:51,800
Will you blow?

278
00:14:51,800 --> 00:14:53,800
Harry, I wish you wouldn't treat me this way.

279
00:14:53,800 --> 00:14:54,800
Blow, blow, get away.

280
00:14:54,800 --> 00:14:55,800
Look at me.

281
00:14:55,800 --> 00:14:57,800
Don't you know your husband is watching you?

282
00:14:57,800 --> 00:15:01,800
Oh, he's got his glasses off. He couldn't see Hollywood Bowl.

283
00:15:01,800 --> 00:15:03,800
You better be nice to me, Harry.

284
00:15:03,800 --> 00:15:06,800
Please, Mary, please, go back to your cash register.

285
00:15:06,800 --> 00:15:07,800
Look, I want to see you tonight.

286
00:15:07,800 --> 00:15:08,800
No.

287
00:15:08,800 --> 00:15:09,800
Oh, yes.

288
00:15:09,800 --> 00:15:11,800
Understand me, baby, you're poisoned. Now get away.

289
00:15:11,800 --> 00:15:12,800
You'll see me, Harry.

290
00:15:12,800 --> 00:15:13,800
I don't want...

291
00:15:13,800 --> 00:15:16,800
Or you'll see Krauss.

292
00:15:16,800 --> 00:15:19,800
All right. Where?

293
00:15:19,800 --> 00:15:21,800
I'll be parked around the corner.

294
00:15:21,800 --> 00:15:22,800
Around the corner.

295
00:15:22,800 --> 00:15:25,800
And don't be late.

296
00:15:30,800 --> 00:15:32,800
Oh, look, now stop being silly and get in.

297
00:15:32,800 --> 00:15:35,800
Look, can't you understand I don't want any trouble?

298
00:15:35,800 --> 00:15:37,800
What are you so afraid of?

299
00:15:37,800 --> 00:15:38,800
Trouble.

300
00:15:38,800 --> 00:15:41,800
Oh, come on, baby.

301
00:15:41,800 --> 00:15:43,800
Let's go have some fun.

302
00:15:43,800 --> 00:15:45,800
Look, please, I've asked you not...

303
00:15:45,800 --> 00:15:47,800
What is it?

304
00:15:47,800 --> 00:15:48,800
Hello.

305
00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:49,800
I warned you.

306
00:15:49,800 --> 00:15:50,800
You got it wrong, Nick.

307
00:15:50,800 --> 00:15:51,800
Oh, no.

308
00:15:51,800 --> 00:15:52,800
Say, what is all this?

309
00:15:52,800 --> 00:15:53,800
You shut up.

310
00:15:53,800 --> 00:15:55,800
Don't you talk to me like that.

311
00:15:55,800 --> 00:15:57,800
I'll talk to you like I please cheat.

312
00:15:57,800 --> 00:16:00,800
Harry, hit him, Harry.

313
00:16:02,800 --> 00:16:03,800
I didn't hit him.

314
00:16:03,800 --> 00:16:06,800
He was looking down his nose at me and he was a nice wide open target,

315
00:16:06,800 --> 00:16:09,800
but I didn't hit him because all of a sudden I knew what I had to do

316
00:16:09,800 --> 00:16:11,800
and I knew I had to do it fast.

317
00:16:11,800 --> 00:16:13,800
Harry, where are you going, baby?

318
00:16:13,800 --> 00:16:14,800
I didn't turn.

319
00:16:14,800 --> 00:16:16,800
Nick was still back there beside the car.

320
00:16:16,800 --> 00:16:19,800
I went into the market.

321
00:16:25,800 --> 00:16:26,800
Mr. Krauss.

322
00:16:26,800 --> 00:16:27,800
Yeah.

323
00:16:27,800 --> 00:16:28,800
I...

324
00:16:28,800 --> 00:16:29,800
What, what?

325
00:16:29,800 --> 00:16:30,800
I found out.

326
00:16:30,800 --> 00:16:32,800
What? I can't hear you, what?

327
00:16:32,800 --> 00:16:33,800
I said I found out.

328
00:16:33,800 --> 00:16:35,800
I found out who it is.

329
00:16:35,800 --> 00:16:36,800
Who?

330
00:16:40,800 --> 00:16:42,800
Who?

331
00:16:42,800 --> 00:16:44,800
Nick.

332
00:16:46,800 --> 00:16:48,800
The vegetable man?

333
00:16:48,800 --> 00:16:49,800
Yeah.

334
00:16:51,800 --> 00:16:53,800
The vegetable man.

335
00:16:53,800 --> 00:16:55,800
Now, look, Mr. Krauss, I knew yesterday,

336
00:16:55,800 --> 00:16:57,800
but I didn't want to get him in trouble.

337
00:16:57,800 --> 00:16:59,800
I told him to lay off, but he said nuts.

338
00:16:59,800 --> 00:17:02,800
He said if I opened my mouth, he'd tell you it was me, that I was the one.

339
00:17:02,800 --> 00:17:04,800
Vegetable man.

340
00:17:04,800 --> 00:17:06,800
I'm sorry, Mr. Krauss.

341
00:17:06,800 --> 00:17:08,800
I never did like him.

342
00:17:08,800 --> 00:17:10,800
I never did.

343
00:17:10,800 --> 00:17:13,800
Well, good night.

344
00:17:13,800 --> 00:17:15,800
Vegetable man.

345
00:17:20,800 --> 00:17:22,800
I took a fifth of old smuggler home with me.

346
00:17:22,800 --> 00:17:24,800
No dinner.

347
00:17:24,800 --> 00:17:26,800
I just lay there on the bed about three hours,

348
00:17:26,800 --> 00:17:28,800
talking to myself.

349
00:17:28,800 --> 00:17:31,800
And finally, to heck with the job.

350
00:17:31,800 --> 00:17:33,800
I got up and I started to pack.

351
00:17:33,800 --> 00:17:35,800
I was broke, but I didn't care.

352
00:17:35,800 --> 00:17:37,800
I'd have to skip out of my rent, but it didn't matter.

353
00:17:37,800 --> 00:17:39,800
I didn't care.

354
00:17:39,800 --> 00:17:43,800
I wanted out from Krauss, from Mary, from Nick.

355
00:17:43,800 --> 00:17:47,800
And suddenly, I figured that even if Nick was a snooping little rat

356
00:17:47,800 --> 00:17:50,800
with his holier now, I ought to clear him.

357
00:17:50,800 --> 00:17:52,800
So I wrote a note to Krauss.

358
00:17:52,800 --> 00:17:54,800
I said, I did it, Krauss.

359
00:17:54,800 --> 00:17:56,800
Don't blame anybody else.

360
00:17:56,800 --> 00:17:58,800
I took the note and my bag and the key to the market,

361
00:17:58,800 --> 00:18:00,800
and I tiptoed out of the rooming house.

362
00:18:00,800 --> 00:18:03,800
I caught a bus and went to the market.

363
00:18:03,800 --> 00:18:05,800
The boulevard was deserted.

364
00:18:05,800 --> 00:18:07,800
I looked in through the glass door.

365
00:18:07,800 --> 00:18:10,800
In the back of the place up high, there was a red neon beer sign

366
00:18:10,800 --> 00:18:13,800
that blinked on and off, on and off.

367
00:18:13,800 --> 00:18:18,800
I unlocked the door, went in, locked the door behind me.

368
00:18:18,800 --> 00:18:21,800
The place was eerie in the dark.

369
00:18:21,800 --> 00:18:24,800
What with that red light blinking on and off.

370
00:18:24,800 --> 00:18:26,800
One minute the place was pitch black.

371
00:18:26,800 --> 00:18:28,800
The next it was a thousand little red lights bouncing off the can

372
00:18:28,800 --> 00:18:30,800
stuffed in the grocery cart.

373
00:18:30,800 --> 00:18:33,800
I went to the butcher counter first, and I laid the note on the scale

374
00:18:33,800 --> 00:18:35,800
where he'd be sure to see it.

375
00:18:35,800 --> 00:18:38,800
Then I crossed over past the vegetables and the bakery,

376
00:18:38,800 --> 00:18:41,800
past the delicatessen to the liquor department.

377
00:18:41,800 --> 00:18:44,800
It was dark and I kept bumping into things, and I thought,

378
00:18:44,800 --> 00:18:46,800
why am I acting like a criminal?

379
00:18:46,800 --> 00:18:48,800
I turned on the light.

380
00:18:48,800 --> 00:18:50,800
The whole place was suddenly dazzling.

381
00:18:50,800 --> 00:18:52,800
It hurt my eyes.

382
00:18:52,800 --> 00:18:54,800
I looked at the cash register.

383
00:18:54,800 --> 00:18:59,800
I was just thinking about maybe taking a couple of bucks when it happened.

384
00:18:59,800 --> 00:19:04,800
I hadn't touched it.

385
00:19:04,800 --> 00:19:07,800
Somebody had turned the lights off again.

386
00:19:07,800 --> 00:19:09,800
There were other switches in the place.

387
00:19:09,800 --> 00:19:10,800
I didn't know where.

388
00:19:10,800 --> 00:19:13,800
And after the brightness, the place seemed twice as dark.

389
00:19:13,800 --> 00:19:16,800
The red sign blinked on and off, and on and off.

390
00:19:16,800 --> 00:19:19,800
And then I saw him.

391
00:19:19,800 --> 00:19:21,800
Krauss.

392
00:19:21,800 --> 00:19:23,800
He was standing behind the meat counter at the scale,

393
00:19:23,800 --> 00:19:25,800
and he picked up the note, my note.

394
00:19:25,800 --> 00:19:27,800
I did it, Krauss.

395
00:19:27,800 --> 00:19:29,800
And he read it.

396
00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:32,800
I couldn't see his eyes, just the glasses.

397
00:19:32,800 --> 00:19:36,800
And every time the light blinked, they shone red, bright red,

398
00:19:36,800 --> 00:19:38,800
like some sort of terrible toy.

399
00:19:38,800 --> 00:19:40,800
And then he began to move.

400
00:19:40,800 --> 00:19:44,800
And it was like a movie that you see one frame at a time.

401
00:19:44,800 --> 00:19:48,800
Each time the light blinked on, he wasn't where he'd been before.

402
00:19:48,800 --> 00:19:52,800
But closer, closer.

403
00:19:52,800 --> 00:19:57,800
Krauss.

404
00:19:57,800 --> 00:20:02,800
Mr. Krauss.

405
00:20:02,800 --> 00:20:04,800
Oh, no.

406
00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:06,800
No.

407
00:20:06,800 --> 00:20:10,800
No, Mr. Krauss.

408
00:20:10,800 --> 00:20:12,800
Those red glasses kept coming at me.

409
00:20:12,800 --> 00:20:15,800
I edged toward the vegetables, and he moved too.

410
00:20:15,800 --> 00:20:17,800
I moved the other way, toward the groceries.

411
00:20:17,800 --> 00:20:18,800
There was a railing.

412
00:20:18,800 --> 00:20:20,800
I climbed over it, and I was in one of the long,

413
00:20:20,800 --> 00:20:22,800
narrow aisles of cans and bottles.

414
00:20:22,800 --> 00:20:25,800
The stuff was piled head high.

415
00:20:25,800 --> 00:20:28,800
I waited, hoping maybe he didn't see me.

416
00:20:28,800 --> 00:20:33,800
But he did.

417
00:20:33,800 --> 00:20:35,800
I hid behind a tower of dog food boxes.

418
00:20:35,800 --> 00:20:38,800
He sounded 30 or 40 feet away.

419
00:20:38,800 --> 00:20:47,800
I waited.

420
00:20:47,800 --> 00:20:50,800
I looked around the corner.

421
00:20:50,800 --> 00:20:52,800
He was looking down another aisle.

422
00:20:52,800 --> 00:21:02,800
I ducked my head back.

423
00:21:02,800 --> 00:21:05,800
I couldn't understand that sound.

424
00:21:05,800 --> 00:21:07,800
I looked again.

425
00:21:07,800 --> 00:21:09,800
The aisle was empty.

426
00:21:09,800 --> 00:21:11,800
In the center where Krauss had stood were his shoes.

427
00:21:11,800 --> 00:21:13,800
He'd taken them off.

428
00:21:13,800 --> 00:21:16,800
Very quietly, I bent and took mine off too.

429
00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:19,800
I began to tiptoe away from where I'd seen him.

430
00:21:19,800 --> 00:21:21,800
Then I rounded the corner, and there he was,

431
00:21:21,800 --> 00:21:23,800
not two feet away, with his back to me.

432
00:21:23,800 --> 00:21:26,800
I lost my balance, and I put my hand out to steady myself.

433
00:21:26,800 --> 00:21:29,800
A whole display went over.

434
00:21:29,800 --> 00:21:31,800
I ran. I ran.

435
00:21:31,800 --> 00:21:33,800
Then I was at the end of an aisle, and there was a wall,

436
00:21:33,800 --> 00:21:34,800
the back wall.

437
00:21:34,800 --> 00:21:38,800
I turned, and he was coming, coming straight at me.

438
00:21:38,800 --> 00:21:41,800
My hand touched something cold, a bottle.

439
00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:42,800
I grabbed it.

440
00:21:42,800 --> 00:21:44,800
It was ammonia.

441
00:21:44,800 --> 00:21:46,800
Krauss, Krauss, get back.

442
00:21:46,800 --> 00:21:49,800
Get back, Krauss, or I'll blind you.

443
00:21:49,800 --> 00:21:52,800
Krauss, I warn you, I swear I will.

444
00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:53,800
Krauss, I've got ammonia here.

445
00:21:53,800 --> 00:21:58,800
I'll blind you if you come any closer, Krauss.

446
00:21:58,800 --> 00:22:05,800
He stood there like a crazy blind giant,

447
00:22:05,800 --> 00:22:07,800
tearing at his eyes, the ammonia running down his face.

448
00:22:07,800 --> 00:22:08,800
I didn't wait.

449
00:22:08,800 --> 00:22:10,800
I ran past him, bobbing him aside,

450
00:22:10,800 --> 00:22:12,800
ran and ran and cut around the cash register

451
00:22:12,800 --> 00:22:15,800
and passed the delicatessen in the bakery to the door.

452
00:22:15,800 --> 00:22:17,800
It was locked, the key.

453
00:22:17,800 --> 00:22:18,800
I'd left it in the locket.

454
00:22:18,800 --> 00:22:19,800
It was gone.

455
00:22:19,800 --> 00:22:22,800
I tried to break the glass with my fist, but it was like steel.

456
00:22:22,800 --> 00:22:24,800
I tried to kick it, but I left my shoes behind.

457
00:22:24,800 --> 00:22:27,800
And Krauss kept coming, feeling his way along, moaning,

458
00:22:27,800 --> 00:22:29,800
silhouetted in the blinking light,

459
00:22:29,800 --> 00:22:31,800
the red light that gleamed like a tongue of fire

460
00:22:31,800 --> 00:22:33,800
on the knife he held in his hand.

461
00:22:33,800 --> 00:22:38,800
I slid behind the counter at the meat department.

462
00:22:38,800 --> 00:22:40,800
Under my feet, the sawdust.

463
00:22:40,800 --> 00:22:42,800
I bent, scooped up a handful.

464
00:22:42,800 --> 00:22:46,800
His face was awful, twisted and gleaming in the blinking red light.

465
00:22:46,800 --> 00:22:50,800
His glasses were gone and his eyes were screwed tight shut in pain.

466
00:22:50,800 --> 00:22:52,800
He stopped ten feet away, swaying.

467
00:22:52,800 --> 00:22:54,800
Then he opened his eyes, opened them as wide as he could

468
00:22:54,800 --> 00:22:56,800
and moved his head from side to side,

469
00:22:56,800 --> 00:22:58,800
trying nearsightedly to see me.

470
00:22:58,800 --> 00:23:00,800
And then his head stopped moving

471
00:23:00,800 --> 00:23:03,800
and holding it sideways, using one eye to see me.

472
00:23:03,800 --> 00:23:07,800
He came on, the knife held way back.

473
00:23:07,800 --> 00:23:10,800
And I waited.

474
00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:12,800
Then I flew with the sawdust and jumped to one side,

475
00:23:12,800 --> 00:23:14,800
my back against the wall, and he pushed it and skidded

476
00:23:14,800 --> 00:23:18,800
in the sawdust and he fell.

477
00:23:18,800 --> 00:23:22,800
And then he was very still for a moment.

478
00:23:22,800 --> 00:23:26,800
I waited, backing.

479
00:23:26,800 --> 00:23:28,800
He rose to his knees.

480
00:23:28,800 --> 00:23:30,800
In the blinking light, I saw the knife.

481
00:23:30,800 --> 00:23:32,800
He'd fallen on it.

482
00:23:32,800 --> 00:23:35,800
It was sticking out of the middle of his chest.

483
00:23:35,800 --> 00:23:39,800
Crows!

484
00:23:39,800 --> 00:23:43,800
Then, very slowly, he got to his feet.

485
00:23:43,800 --> 00:23:45,800
One hand over the place where the knife was

486
00:23:45,800 --> 00:23:48,800
and then he started toward me again.

487
00:23:48,800 --> 00:23:50,800
There was a rack over the chopping block.

488
00:23:50,800 --> 00:23:52,800
He reached up and got a cleaver.

489
00:23:52,800 --> 00:23:53,800
I backed.

490
00:23:53,800 --> 00:23:55,800
Behind me I felt a large cold handle,

491
00:23:55,800 --> 00:23:57,800
the door to the meat storage room.

492
00:23:57,800 --> 00:24:03,800
I heaped it open.

493
00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:08,800
Inside, it was cold, bitter cold, and dark.

494
00:24:08,800 --> 00:24:10,800
In the center of the door was one small,

495
00:24:10,800 --> 00:24:11,800
thick pane of glass.

496
00:24:11,800 --> 00:24:13,800
It was clouded.

497
00:24:13,800 --> 00:24:15,800
I wiped it clear with my hand and looked out.

498
00:24:15,800 --> 00:24:18,800
Crow stood there, his face an inch from mine,

499
00:24:18,800 --> 00:24:20,800
looking in.

500
00:24:20,800 --> 00:24:22,800
And then his eyes rolled back and his face went slack

501
00:24:22,800 --> 00:24:32,800
and he fell out of sight.

502
00:24:32,800 --> 00:24:33,800
He was dead.

503
00:24:33,800 --> 00:24:35,800
I was sure of it.

504
00:24:35,800 --> 00:24:37,800
Now I felt around in the dark for the nabba,

505
00:24:37,800 --> 00:24:39,800
but I couldn't find it.

506
00:24:39,800 --> 00:24:41,800
I felt the door from the top to the bottom.

507
00:24:41,800 --> 00:24:44,800
There were bars and bolts and something that felt like a handle,

508
00:24:44,800 --> 00:24:46,800
but it wouldn't move.

509
00:24:46,800 --> 00:24:51,800
I mean, I heaved and tugged, but it wouldn't move.

510
00:24:51,800 --> 00:24:53,800
There was a knife on the slab there, a butcher knife.

511
00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:55,800
I felt around the door for a crack,

512
00:24:55,800 --> 00:24:57,800
slipped the knife in and twisted.

513
00:24:57,800 --> 00:25:00,800
It broke off.

514
00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:01,800
Another door, I thought, maybe,

515
00:25:01,800 --> 00:25:05,800
maybe there's please another door out of this place.

516
00:25:05,800 --> 00:25:07,800
And I began to search for it in the dark,

517
00:25:07,800 --> 00:25:11,800
feeling along the icy damp walls.

518
00:25:11,800 --> 00:25:16,800
I walked under something cold that moved when I touched it.

519
00:25:16,800 --> 00:25:19,800
A side of beef, but no door.

520
00:25:19,800 --> 00:25:22,800
I moved farther.

521
00:25:22,800 --> 00:25:25,800
Another icy cold thing.

522
00:25:25,800 --> 00:25:30,800
And I moved on, came up against another.

523
00:25:30,800 --> 00:25:34,800
I don't know the rest, but I'm crazy.

524
00:25:34,800 --> 00:25:35,800
I know it.

525
00:25:35,800 --> 00:25:37,800
I'm crazy.

526
00:25:37,800 --> 00:25:43,800
This one, this one feels as though it's wearing silk stockings.

527
00:25:43,800 --> 00:25:55,800
.

528
00:25:55,800 --> 00:25:58,800
So here I am.

529
00:25:58,800 --> 00:26:03,800
Cold as a witch's heart, cold as a tomb.

530
00:26:03,800 --> 00:26:05,800
This thing I have in my hand, this knife handle,

531
00:26:05,800 --> 00:26:07,800
I wish it had a blade.

532
00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:09,800
I know what I'd do, I know.

533
00:26:09,800 --> 00:26:11,800
But it hasn't.

534
00:26:11,800 --> 00:26:13,800
Anyway, I'm innocent of anything.

535
00:26:13,800 --> 00:26:15,800
They'll believe me.

536
00:26:15,800 --> 00:26:17,800
They will.

537
00:26:17,800 --> 00:26:19,800
There's a letter outside on the scale that says,

538
00:26:19,800 --> 00:26:20,800
I did it, Krauss.

539
00:26:20,800 --> 00:26:23,800
Don't blame anybody else.

540
00:26:23,800 --> 00:26:24,800
And there's my silk case.

541
00:26:24,800 --> 00:26:26,800
That'll prove I'm meant to go away

542
00:26:26,800 --> 00:26:28,800
and not to cause anybody a hard time.

543
00:26:28,800 --> 00:26:33,800
And there's, oh, the time goes slow.

544
00:26:33,800 --> 00:26:36,800
And while I'm waiting and waiting and waiting,

545
00:26:36,800 --> 00:26:41,800
I'll tell myself the whole story again and again.

546
00:26:41,800 --> 00:26:44,800
And again, it'll give me something to do, you know,

547
00:26:44,800 --> 00:26:47,800
something to think about.

548
00:26:47,800 --> 00:26:51,800
You see, it started the first day of the job.

549
00:26:51,800 --> 00:26:54,800
I was working the liquor department of the supermarket.

550
00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:56,800
I hadn't been in Los Angeles a week.

551
00:26:56,800 --> 00:26:58,800
Now, my brother, when I left New York,

552
00:26:58,800 --> 00:27:00,800
had given me this letter to a friend of his,

553
00:27:00,800 --> 00:27:02,800
a guy who owns a string of these supermarkets.

554
00:27:02,800 --> 00:27:06,800
The letter was, if I could use me, I was a good fellow.

555
00:27:06,800 --> 00:27:08,800
He was a kind of a baby, you know.

556
00:27:08,800 --> 00:27:27,800
Music

557
00:27:27,800 --> 00:27:30,800
Suspense, in which High Aberback starred as Harry

558
00:27:30,800 --> 00:27:35,800
in James Poe's story, Never Steal a Butcher's Wife.

559
00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:37,800
Enjoy tonight's tale of suspense

560
00:27:37,800 --> 00:27:40,800
while there's a different kind of suspense on CBS Radio's

561
00:27:40,800 --> 00:27:43,800
Monday through Friday daytime serial, The Brighter Day.

562
00:27:43,800 --> 00:27:46,800
This week, Reverend Dennis and his family are the targets

563
00:27:46,800 --> 00:27:48,800
of a vindictive plot.

564
00:27:48,800 --> 00:27:50,800
Find out what happens.

565
00:27:50,800 --> 00:27:52,800
Listen to The Brighter Day tomorrow and every weekday

566
00:27:52,800 --> 00:27:54,800
on most of these stations.

567
00:27:54,800 --> 00:28:03,800
Suspense is produced and directed by Norman MacDonald

568
00:28:03,800 --> 00:28:06,800
with music composed by Lucian Morrowick

569
00:28:06,800 --> 00:28:08,800
and conducted by Lud Bluskin.

570
00:28:08,800 --> 00:28:11,800
Never Steal a Butcher's Wife was written for Suspense

571
00:28:11,800 --> 00:28:15,800
by James Poe and starred High Aberback as Harry,

572
00:28:15,800 --> 00:28:17,800
featured in the cast were Paula Winslow,

573
00:28:17,800 --> 00:28:22,800
Jack Crouchon, and Lawrence Dobkin.

574
00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:25,800
Stay tuned now for Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar,

575
00:28:25,800 --> 00:28:28,800
which follows immediately over most of these same stations.

576
00:28:28,800 --> 00:28:30,800
Listen while you work.

577
00:28:30,800 --> 00:28:32,800
Enjoy Hilltop House every Monday through Friday

578
00:28:32,800 --> 00:28:36,800
in the daytime on the CBS Radio Network.

579
00:29:02,800 --> 00:29:07,800
The Brighter Day