WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:14.000 And now, tonight's presentation of radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense. 00:14.000 --> 00:21.640 Tonight, the story of a supermarket and a young man who finds that after closing time, 00:21.640 --> 00:26.800 once the daily bustle is stilled, this very ordinary store becomes a place of danger and 00:26.800 --> 00:28.680 terror absolute. 00:28.680 --> 00:34.440 So now, with high ever back as Harry, here is tonight's Suspense play, Never Steal a 00:34.440 --> 00:50.920 Butcher's Wife. 00:50.920 --> 00:53.040 It started the first day of the job. 00:53.040 --> 00:55.760 I was cooking the liquor department of the supermarket. 00:55.760 --> 00:57.920 I haven't been to Los Angeles a week. 00:57.920 --> 01:01.160 My brother, when I left New York, had given me this letter to a friend of his, a guy who 01:01.160 --> 01:03.200 owned a stringery of supermarkets. 01:03.200 --> 01:04.640 The letter was about, could he use me? 01:04.640 --> 01:05.640 I was a good fella. 01:05.640 --> 01:07.480 He could count it a favor, you know. 01:07.480 --> 01:13.680 And a guy had this opening, liquor clerk, and comes the following Monday, I'm at work. 01:13.680 --> 01:17.880 I spent the morning loading the refrigerators with beer, soda water, all that stuff, and 01:17.880 --> 01:18.880 sizing up the place. 01:18.880 --> 01:22.800 You know, back east, we don't have many of these supermarkets. 01:22.800 --> 01:27.360 There was the vegetable department run by a nice little dark guy, and there was a delicatessen 01:27.360 --> 01:29.520 that was run by an old geezer and his frow. 01:29.520 --> 01:34.600 There was a bakery department and meat department, and of course, the groceries. 01:34.600 --> 01:35.600 No clerks. 01:35.600 --> 01:38.120 You pushed a little cart around and helped yourself. 01:38.120 --> 01:41.920 To get out, you passed the cash register, and the girl loaded your stuff, rang up the 01:41.920 --> 01:42.920 price. 01:42.920 --> 01:48.840 My surveillance of the place had reached the girl who checked the groceries when the trouble 01:48.840 --> 01:49.840 started. 01:49.840 --> 01:53.800 She was looking at herself in a little mirror and putting on some lipstick. 01:53.800 --> 01:55.320 Her back was to me. 01:55.320 --> 01:59.280 I see her stop putting on the lipstick but still looking at the mirror. 01:59.280 --> 02:01.080 I see her eyes in the mirror. 02:01.080 --> 02:06.320 And then she turns around very slowly and looks at me. 02:06.320 --> 02:07.320 Just looks at me. 02:07.320 --> 02:13.440 She must have been 50 feet away at the least and with customers between us, but it was 02:13.440 --> 02:21.520 like we were all alone, the two of us on a beach somewhere, an empty beach. 02:21.520 --> 02:23.320 I should have looked away. 02:23.320 --> 02:25.360 I should have winked and forgotten it. 02:25.360 --> 02:29.320 I should have gone on stacking beer and thinking about how to be a success. 02:29.320 --> 02:31.520 That's what I should have done. 02:31.520 --> 02:34.560 What I did do was I stood right there and locked eyes with her for I don't know how 02:34.560 --> 02:35.560 long. 02:35.560 --> 02:40.120 And all the time I was looking at her, I was sending her mental telegrams. 02:40.120 --> 02:42.040 You and me, baby. 02:42.040 --> 02:44.160 You and me. 02:44.160 --> 02:45.160 You and me. 02:45.160 --> 02:46.160 Hey, what's the matter? 02:46.160 --> 02:47.160 Are you sleeping on your feet? 02:47.160 --> 02:48.160 What'd you say? 02:48.160 --> 02:49.160 You're the new guy, huh? 02:49.160 --> 02:50.160 Oh, yeah. 02:50.160 --> 02:51.160 I just started this morning. 02:51.160 --> 02:52.160 I'm Nick Arnow. 02:52.160 --> 02:53.160 I work the vegetable store. 02:53.160 --> 02:54.160 I'm Harry Carr. 02:54.160 --> 02:55.160 I'm pleased to know you. 02:55.160 --> 02:56.160 Yeah. 02:56.160 --> 02:59.160 You got two bottles of cold beer? 02:59.160 --> 03:00.160 Sure. 03:00.160 --> 03:04.880 Cold is a witch's heart. 03:04.880 --> 03:07.600 Only don't open them here by the counter, you know, the law. 03:07.600 --> 03:10.600 I have them out back on my lunch. 03:10.600 --> 03:11.600 Nick. 03:11.600 --> 03:12.600 What? 03:12.600 --> 03:13.600 Come here. 03:13.600 --> 03:14.600 That gal over there by the cash register. 03:14.600 --> 03:15.600 Mary? 03:15.600 --> 03:16.600 Is that her name, Mary? 03:16.600 --> 03:17.600 Yeah. 03:17.600 --> 03:18.600 What about her? 03:18.600 --> 03:19.600 That's what I'm wondering. 03:19.600 --> 03:20.600 What about her? 03:20.600 --> 03:21.600 Oh. 03:21.600 --> 03:23.320 No, it's not. 03:23.320 --> 03:24.320 She's married. 03:24.320 --> 03:25.320 You kidding? 03:25.320 --> 03:28.440 You see that big guy over there with the knife? 03:28.440 --> 03:29.440 The butcher? 03:29.440 --> 03:30.440 Yeah. 03:30.440 --> 03:32.440 You ask him if I'm kidding. 03:32.440 --> 03:33.440 Who's he? 03:33.440 --> 03:34.440 Her husband. 03:34.440 --> 03:35.440 Oh. 03:35.440 --> 03:36.440 See. 03:36.440 --> 03:43.280 I looked over at him. 03:43.280 --> 03:45.040 He was a funny looking guy. 03:45.040 --> 03:46.040 A real creep. 03:46.040 --> 03:51.160 He stood there sharpening a tremendous big cleaver, whistling to himself. 03:51.160 --> 03:54.120 He had on a hard straw hat and a white apron. 03:54.120 --> 03:59.280 He had those rimless glasses with thick lenses so that his eyes looked like baseballs. 03:59.280 --> 04:03.240 When he saw I was looking at him, he nodded and went on whistling and stropping. 04:03.240 --> 04:05.760 A real creep. 04:05.760 --> 04:09.080 Later on, I watched him softening up some sort of steaks. 04:09.080 --> 04:12.840 He had a big steel mallet with points on it and he was wanging away at this meat like a 04:12.840 --> 04:15.840 pile driver. 04:15.840 --> 04:22.080 Next I watched him grinding and slicing and quartering, sawing the bones off some of the 04:22.080 --> 04:28.080 cuts and always those eyes like baseballs and that teeny little mouth lost in the big 04:28.080 --> 04:32.080 red face whistling. 04:32.080 --> 04:44.440 And I looked over at her and she was giving me the eye again. 04:44.440 --> 04:46.040 I closed at seven. 04:46.040 --> 04:48.120 The vegetable guys carted out the old stuff. 04:48.120 --> 04:50.560 The delicate test man put away his pickles. 04:50.560 --> 04:53.560 I checked the register, counted my slips and made my entries. 04:53.560 --> 04:58.160 Krause, the butcher, was still there packing and cleaning, putting stuff in that big refrigerator 04:58.160 --> 04:59.320 room back at the counter. 04:59.320 --> 05:00.640 But she had left. 05:00.640 --> 05:06.400 I got into my street coat and walked out. 05:06.400 --> 05:10.480 Hello. 05:10.480 --> 05:14.480 He was standing looking at the shoe display a couple of doors down from the market. 05:14.480 --> 05:16.480 I said hello. 05:16.480 --> 05:19.120 Don't you say hello wherever it is you come from? 05:19.120 --> 05:20.480 Well, sure. 05:20.480 --> 05:21.480 Hello. 05:21.480 --> 05:23.480 You're taking the bus? 05:23.480 --> 05:24.480 Yeah. 05:24.480 --> 05:26.360 Which way do you go? 05:26.360 --> 05:27.360 Down to Western. 05:27.360 --> 05:29.600 Oh, I'm going that way. 05:29.600 --> 05:30.600 I'll drive you. 05:30.600 --> 05:32.600 No, no, I don't think you'd better. 05:32.600 --> 05:33.600 What's the matter? 05:33.600 --> 05:37.480 I wouldn't want to trouble you. 05:37.480 --> 05:38.480 No trouble. 05:38.480 --> 05:42.320 Come on. 05:42.320 --> 05:44.720 I'm parked right here. 05:44.720 --> 05:45.720 What about Mr. Krause? 05:45.720 --> 05:48.160 Oh, he'll be there in an hour, yes. 05:48.160 --> 05:50.160 He takes the bus. 05:50.160 --> 05:52.040 Oh. 05:52.040 --> 05:53.040 Come on. 05:53.040 --> 05:55.560 Well, come on. 05:55.560 --> 05:56.560 Don't be afraid. 05:56.560 --> 05:59.560 You're afraid of me. 05:59.560 --> 06:02.400 No, I'm not afraid of you. 06:02.400 --> 06:03.400 Well, then get in. 06:03.400 --> 06:23.000 It's all day long. 06:23.000 --> 06:24.360 I'm pushing liquor at them. 06:24.360 --> 06:26.360 Now they're pushing it at me. 06:26.360 --> 06:28.360 Oh, you're cute, Harry. 06:28.360 --> 06:30.360 No, I mean it. 06:30.360 --> 06:31.360 You're cute. 06:31.360 --> 06:33.960 Well, so are you, baby. 06:33.960 --> 06:34.960 You really think so? 06:34.960 --> 06:35.960 Sure, baby. 06:35.960 --> 06:38.960 Harry, let's get out of here. 06:38.960 --> 06:40.960 Go someplace else. 06:40.960 --> 06:45.560 Hey, I got to work in the morning. 06:45.560 --> 06:48.560 Silly, this is the morning. 06:48.560 --> 06:49.560 It is. 06:49.560 --> 06:51.560 Hey, Mac, what's the time? 06:51.560 --> 06:53.560 Quarter of two. 06:53.560 --> 06:54.560 Last call. 06:54.560 --> 06:57.560 You really think I'm cute, Harry? 06:57.560 --> 06:58.560 Sure, baby. 06:58.560 --> 06:59.560 But it's late. 06:59.560 --> 07:00.560 It's really late. 07:00.560 --> 07:01.560 Don't worry, sugar. 07:01.560 --> 07:02.560 Come on. 07:02.560 --> 07:03.560 I'll take you home. 07:03.560 --> 07:04.560 Uh-uh. 07:04.560 --> 07:05.560 I'll take you home. 07:05.560 --> 07:06.560 Of course I felt lousy the next morning. 07:06.560 --> 07:21.560 I'm not much of a drinker. 07:21.560 --> 07:26.800 But she looked fresh as a daisy smiling and enjoying her time. 07:26.800 --> 07:31.800 But she looked fresh as a daisy smiling and joking with the customers. 07:31.800 --> 07:34.800 I didn't look over there. I didn't want to. 07:34.800 --> 07:38.800 I didn't want to think about what must have gone on between her and Krauss when she got in. 07:38.800 --> 07:42.800 He didn't look happy. I knew why. 07:42.800 --> 07:45.800 I kept waiting for him to turn those baseball eyes on me. 07:45.800 --> 08:01.800 But he never did. He just went on smashing, slicing, grinding, sawing, all that. 08:01.800 --> 08:04.800 When I came out that night she was there, I tried to disregard her. 08:04.800 --> 08:05.800 Harry. 08:05.800 --> 08:08.800 But she said she had something very serious to talk over. 08:08.800 --> 08:10.800 And the way she said it. 08:10.800 --> 08:23.800 Well, I got in the car again. 08:23.800 --> 08:28.800 He's awful. Really, you don't know? 08:28.800 --> 08:29.800 Yeah, I guess it's tough. 08:29.800 --> 08:31.800 You just wouldn't believe some of the things. 08:31.800 --> 08:32.800 Yeah, look baby, I think we... 08:32.800 --> 08:34.800 He's crazy jealous. 08:34.800 --> 08:35.800 Of you? 08:35.800 --> 08:38.800 Yeah. Isn't that silly? 08:38.800 --> 08:39.800 Well, I guess maybe... 08:39.800 --> 08:45.800 He knows. Of me. Or should I say, of you. 08:45.800 --> 08:48.800 Me? What does he know about me? What did you say? 08:48.800 --> 08:55.800 Well, I got in this morning and there he was, sitting up like grandma in his bathrobe. 08:55.800 --> 09:00.800 He said, where have you been? And I said, what's it to you, auntie? 09:00.800 --> 09:04.800 I call him auntie. It drives him crazy. 09:04.800 --> 09:08.800 He said, don't you think you can fool me? 09:08.800 --> 09:15.800 He started to cry and say a lot of things about Babylon and sitting on the water. 09:15.800 --> 09:18.800 He's a real crazy talker. 09:18.800 --> 09:20.800 Well, I better go. 09:20.800 --> 09:27.800 Oh, don't be silly. He doesn't know who you are or who it is. 09:27.800 --> 09:29.800 But he could find out. 09:29.800 --> 09:34.800 Oh no. Not unless I told him. 09:34.800 --> 09:36.800 You wouldn't do that. 09:36.800 --> 09:43.800 Of course not, baby. As long as you're good to me. 09:49.800 --> 09:55.800 The next night I stayed in the market. I was scared. Didn't want any more of that. 09:55.800 --> 09:59.800 I did inventory. I counted bottles. I cleaned the refrigerator. 09:59.800 --> 10:03.800 I changed the water in the soft-rings cooler. I kept busy. 10:03.800 --> 10:07.800 Across the market, Kross was moving around, cleaning up. 10:07.800 --> 10:13.800 And after a while he took off his apron and his straw hat and he came over. 10:13.800 --> 10:16.800 Hello, Mr. Kross. 10:16.800 --> 10:20.800 Yeah. Give me a bottle of beer. 10:20.800 --> 10:24.800 Sure thing. 10:24.800 --> 10:26.800 Is it all right to drink it here? 10:26.800 --> 10:28.800 Well, sure. We're close, ain't we? 10:28.800 --> 10:30.800 Yeah. 10:30.800 --> 10:31.800 Here. Here's an opener. 10:31.800 --> 10:33.800 Thank you. 10:43.800 --> 10:47.800 You... you're working late. 10:47.800 --> 10:50.800 Well, you know how it is. Nothing to do evenings. 10:50.800 --> 10:52.800 No? 10:52.800 --> 10:56.800 No. I'm new out here. It takes time to make friends. 10:56.800 --> 11:03.800 For me, maybe it would take time. Not for you, good-looking young fellow like you. 11:03.800 --> 11:05.800 Well, I don't know. You're a big broad-shouldered guy. 11:05.800 --> 11:10.800 Yeah, sure. Big. That's me. 11:10.800 --> 11:11.800 How's the beer? 11:11.800 --> 11:15.800 It's all right. Listen, you... you know my wife. 11:15.800 --> 11:16.800 Your wife? 11:16.800 --> 11:19.800 Yeah. You know her. 11:19.800 --> 11:22.800 Well, yeah, she... isn't she the one who checks the groceries? 11:22.800 --> 11:23.800 Yeah. 11:23.800 --> 11:25.800 Very nice-looking lady. 11:25.800 --> 11:26.800 You think so? 11:26.800 --> 11:32.800 Of course. Well, I mean, don't get me wrong. I mean it very sincerely. A very nice, respectable-looking... 11:32.800 --> 11:37.800 Yeah, sure enough. Listen, you notice something funny goes on there? 11:37.800 --> 11:38.800 Funny? 11:38.800 --> 11:43.800 Somebody's playing around with her. I want to find out who. 11:43.800 --> 11:44.800 With her? 11:44.800 --> 11:46.800 You wouldn't believe that, would you? 11:46.800 --> 11:47.800 No, no, no. I should say no. 11:47.800 --> 11:50.800 Listen, do... do me a favor, huh? 11:50.800 --> 11:51.800 Sure. What? 11:51.800 --> 11:52.800 You keep your eyes open, huh? 11:52.800 --> 11:54.800 I will, Mr. Krauss. I promise you. 11:54.800 --> 12:00.800 I find that guy. I find out who he is if it takes a year. 12:00.800 --> 12:05.800 Then I do. I kill him. 12:05.800 --> 12:07.800 Good night. 12:07.800 --> 12:08.800 Good night. 12:08.800 --> 12:28.800 You're listening to Never Steal a Butcher's Wife, tonight's presentation in radio's outstanding 12:28.800 --> 12:40.800 theater of frills, Suspense. 12:40.800 --> 12:48.800 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. 12:48.800 --> 12:55.800 He's the debonair lawyer detective whose exciting cases come your way Monday through Friday, daytimes, on most of these stations. 12:55.800 --> 13:02.800 This week, listen to Perry Mason try to help a damsel in distress. 13:02.800 --> 13:17.800 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. 13:17.800 --> 13:28.800 You see how it happens? 13:28.800 --> 13:32.800 You go along minding your own business, trying to be a sweet guy and whammy. 13:32.800 --> 13:35.800 Up pops the devil, the roof caves in, and there you are. 13:35.800 --> 13:38.800 The executioner's honing the axe and whistling to himself. 13:38.800 --> 13:42.800 I tell you, I was nervous. My hands were sweating and my teeth were aching. 13:42.800 --> 13:45.800 If it hadn't been for needing that job bad, if it hadn't been for that, 13:45.800 --> 13:48.800 I'd have put on my coat and hightailed it out of their butt fast. 13:48.800 --> 13:50.800 It was a situation. 13:50.800 --> 13:54.800 And Mary's looking over at me every now and then, giving me the big eyes. 13:54.800 --> 13:57.800 Yeah, the heck with you, baby, get yourself another boy. 13:57.800 --> 14:02.800 And Krauss is looking over and raising his eyebrows. Do I know who it is yet? 14:02.800 --> 14:05.800 And I'm making a long face and shaking my head. 14:05.800 --> 14:07.800 And then Nick, the vegetable man, comes over. 14:07.800 --> 14:10.800 I see you didn't understand what I told you the other day. 14:10.800 --> 14:11.800 What's that, Nick? 14:11.800 --> 14:14.800 About Mary. I told you she was a married woman. 14:14.800 --> 14:15.800 What are you talking about? 14:15.800 --> 14:17.800 I seen you, the both of you, coming out of a bar the other morning. 14:17.800 --> 14:18.800 You're nuts. 14:18.800 --> 14:22.800 Don't pull a hard face with me, Harry. I ought to tip-cross off to what's going on. 14:22.800 --> 14:24.800 Nick, Nick, Nick, Nick, be a good guy, will you? 14:24.800 --> 14:26.800 Be a good guy. 14:26.800 --> 14:30.800 I'm telling you, you better be a good guy and leave the butcher's wife alone 14:30.800 --> 14:31.800 if you know what's good for you. 14:31.800 --> 14:34.800 I will, Nick, Nick, I will. I swear it was a mistake, that's all. 14:34.800 --> 14:36.800 So be a good guy, Nick. Forget about it, huh? 14:36.800 --> 14:39.800 This one's okay, but you do it again. You get what's coming to you. 14:39.800 --> 14:41.800 Sure, Nick. Sure, sure thing. 14:41.800 --> 14:44.800 I'm not just talking. 14:48.800 --> 14:49.800 Harry. 14:49.800 --> 14:50.800 What? 14:50.800 --> 14:51.800 Will you blow? 14:51.800 --> 14:53.800 Harry, I wish you wouldn't treat me this way. 14:53.800 --> 14:54.800 Blow, blow, get away. 14:54.800 --> 14:55.800 Look at me. 14:55.800 --> 14:57.800 Don't you know your husband is watching you? 14:57.800 --> 15:01.800 Oh, he's got his glasses off. He couldn't see Hollywood Bowl. 15:01.800 --> 15:03.800 You better be nice to me, Harry. 15:03.800 --> 15:06.800 Please, Mary, please, go back to your cash register. 15:06.800 --> 15:07.800 Look, I want to see you tonight. 15:07.800 --> 15:08.800 No. 15:08.800 --> 15:09.800 Oh, yes. 15:09.800 --> 15:11.800 Understand me, baby, you're poisoned. Now get away. 15:11.800 --> 15:12.800 You'll see me, Harry. 15:12.800 --> 15:13.800 I don't want... 15:13.800 --> 15:16.800 Or you'll see Krauss. 15:16.800 --> 15:19.800 All right. Where? 15:19.800 --> 15:21.800 I'll be parked around the corner. 15:21.800 --> 15:22.800 Around the corner. 15:22.800 --> 15:25.800 And don't be late. 15:30.800 --> 15:32.800 Oh, look, now stop being silly and get in. 15:32.800 --> 15:35.800 Look, can't you understand I don't want any trouble? 15:35.800 --> 15:37.800 What are you so afraid of? 15:37.800 --> 15:38.800 Trouble. 15:38.800 --> 15:41.800 Oh, come on, baby. 15:41.800 --> 15:43.800 Let's go have some fun. 15:43.800 --> 15:45.800 Look, please, I've asked you not... 15:45.800 --> 15:47.800 What is it? 15:47.800 --> 15:48.800 Hello. 15:48.800 --> 15:49.800 I warned you. 15:49.800 --> 15:50.800 You got it wrong, Nick. 15:50.800 --> 15:51.800 Oh, no. 15:51.800 --> 15:52.800 Say, what is all this? 15:52.800 --> 15:53.800 You shut up. 15:53.800 --> 15:55.800 Don't you talk to me like that. 15:55.800 --> 15:57.800 I'll talk to you like I please cheat. 15:57.800 --> 16:00.800 Harry, hit him, Harry. 16:02.800 --> 16:03.800 I didn't hit him. 16:03.800 --> 16:06.800 He was looking down his nose at me and he was a nice wide open target, 16:06.800 --> 16:09.800 but I didn't hit him because all of a sudden I knew what I had to do 16:09.800 --> 16:11.800 and I knew I had to do it fast. 16:11.800 --> 16:13.800 Harry, where are you going, baby? 16:13.800 --> 16:14.800 I didn't turn. 16:14.800 --> 16:16.800 Nick was still back there beside the car. 16:16.800 --> 16:19.800 I went into the market. 16:25.800 --> 16:26.800 Mr. Krauss. 16:26.800 --> 16:27.800 Yeah. 16:27.800 --> 16:28.800 I... 16:28.800 --> 16:29.800 What, what? 16:29.800 --> 16:30.800 I found out. 16:30.800 --> 16:32.800 What? I can't hear you, what? 16:32.800 --> 16:33.800 I said I found out. 16:33.800 --> 16:35.800 I found out who it is. 16:35.800 --> 16:36.800 Who? 16:40.800 --> 16:42.800 Who? 16:42.800 --> 16:44.800 Nick. 16:46.800 --> 16:48.800 The vegetable man? 16:48.800 --> 16:49.800 Yeah. 16:51.800 --> 16:53.800 The vegetable man. 16:53.800 --> 16:55.800 Now, look, Mr. Krauss, I knew yesterday, 16:55.800 --> 16:57.800 but I didn't want to get him in trouble. 16:57.800 --> 16:59.800 I told him to lay off, but he said nuts. 16:59.800 --> 17:02.800 He said if I opened my mouth, he'd tell you it was me, that I was the one. 17:02.800 --> 17:04.800 Vegetable man. 17:04.800 --> 17:06.800 I'm sorry, Mr. Krauss. 17:06.800 --> 17:08.800 I never did like him. 17:08.800 --> 17:10.800 I never did. 17:10.800 --> 17:13.800 Well, good night. 17:13.800 --> 17:15.800 Vegetable man. 17:20.800 --> 17:22.800 I took a fifth of old smuggler home with me. 17:22.800 --> 17:24.800 No dinner. 17:24.800 --> 17:26.800 I just lay there on the bed about three hours, 17:26.800 --> 17:28.800 talking to myself. 17:28.800 --> 17:31.800 And finally, to heck with the job. 17:31.800 --> 17:33.800 I got up and I started to pack. 17:33.800 --> 17:35.800 I was broke, but I didn't care. 17:35.800 --> 17:37.800 I'd have to skip out of my rent, but it didn't matter. 17:37.800 --> 17:39.800 I didn't care. 17:39.800 --> 17:43.800 I wanted out from Krauss, from Mary, from Nick. 17:43.800 --> 17:47.800 And suddenly, I figured that even if Nick was a snooping little rat 17:47.800 --> 17:50.800 with his holier now, I ought to clear him. 17:50.800 --> 17:52.800 So I wrote a note to Krauss. 17:52.800 --> 17:54.800 I said, I did it, Krauss. 17:54.800 --> 17:56.800 Don't blame anybody else. 17:56.800 --> 17:58.800 I took the note and my bag and the key to the market, 17:58.800 --> 18:00.800 and I tiptoed out of the rooming house. 18:00.800 --> 18:03.800 I caught a bus and went to the market. 18:03.800 --> 18:05.800 The boulevard was deserted. 18:05.800 --> 18:07.800 I looked in through the glass door. 18:07.800 --> 18:10.800 In the back of the place up high, there was a red neon beer sign 18:10.800 --> 18:13.800 that blinked on and off, on and off. 18:13.800 --> 18:18.800 I unlocked the door, went in, locked the door behind me. 18:18.800 --> 18:21.800 The place was eerie in the dark. 18:21.800 --> 18:24.800 What with that red light blinking on and off. 18:24.800 --> 18:26.800 One minute the place was pitch black. 18:26.800 --> 18:28.800 The next it was a thousand little red lights bouncing off the can 18:28.800 --> 18:30.800 stuffed in the grocery cart. 18:30.800 --> 18:33.800 I went to the butcher counter first, and I laid the note on the scale 18:33.800 --> 18:35.800 where he'd be sure to see it. 18:35.800 --> 18:38.800 Then I crossed over past the vegetables and the bakery, 18:38.800 --> 18:41.800 past the delicatessen to the liquor department. 18:41.800 --> 18:44.800 It was dark and I kept bumping into things, and I thought, 18:44.800 --> 18:46.800 why am I acting like a criminal? 18:46.800 --> 18:48.800 I turned on the light. 18:48.800 --> 18:50.800 The whole place was suddenly dazzling. 18:50.800 --> 18:52.800 It hurt my eyes. 18:52.800 --> 18:54.800 I looked at the cash register. 18:54.800 --> 18:59.800 I was just thinking about maybe taking a couple of bucks when it happened. 18:59.800 --> 19:04.800 I hadn't touched it. 19:04.800 --> 19:07.800 Somebody had turned the lights off again. 19:07.800 --> 19:09.800 There were other switches in the place. 19:09.800 --> 19:10.800 I didn't know where. 19:10.800 --> 19:13.800 And after the brightness, the place seemed twice as dark. 19:13.800 --> 19:16.800 The red sign blinked on and off, and on and off. 19:16.800 --> 19:19.800 And then I saw him. 19:19.800 --> 19:21.800 Krauss. 19:21.800 --> 19:23.800 He was standing behind the meat counter at the scale, 19:23.800 --> 19:25.800 and he picked up the note, my note. 19:25.800 --> 19:27.800 I did it, Krauss. 19:27.800 --> 19:29.800 And he read it. 19:29.800 --> 19:32.800 I couldn't see his eyes, just the glasses. 19:32.800 --> 19:36.800 And every time the light blinked, they shone red, bright red, 19:36.800 --> 19:38.800 like some sort of terrible toy. 19:38.800 --> 19:40.800 And then he began to move. 19:40.800 --> 19:44.800 And it was like a movie that you see one frame at a time. 19:44.800 --> 19:48.800 Each time the light blinked on, he wasn't where he'd been before. 19:48.800 --> 19:52.800 But closer, closer. 19:52.800 --> 19:57.800 Krauss. 19:57.800 --> 20:02.800 Mr. Krauss. 20:02.800 --> 20:04.800 Oh, no. 20:04.800 --> 20:06.800 No. 20:06.800 --> 20:10.800 No, Mr. Krauss. 20:10.800 --> 20:12.800 Those red glasses kept coming at me. 20:12.800 --> 20:15.800 I edged toward the vegetables, and he moved too. 20:15.800 --> 20:17.800 I moved the other way, toward the groceries. 20:17.800 --> 20:18.800 There was a railing. 20:18.800 --> 20:20.800 I climbed over it, and I was in one of the long, 20:20.800 --> 20:22.800 narrow aisles of cans and bottles. 20:22.800 --> 20:25.800 The stuff was piled head high. 20:25.800 --> 20:28.800 I waited, hoping maybe he didn't see me. 20:28.800 --> 20:33.800 But he did. 20:33.800 --> 20:35.800 I hid behind a tower of dog food boxes. 20:35.800 --> 20:38.800 He sounded 30 or 40 feet away. 20:38.800 --> 20:47.800 I waited. 20:47.800 --> 20:50.800 I looked around the corner. 20:50.800 --> 20:52.800 He was looking down another aisle. 20:52.800 --> 21:02.800 I ducked my head back. 21:02.800 --> 21:05.800 I couldn't understand that sound. 21:05.800 --> 21:07.800 I looked again. 21:07.800 --> 21:09.800 The aisle was empty. 21:09.800 --> 21:11.800 In the center where Krauss had stood were his shoes. 21:11.800 --> 21:13.800 He'd taken them off. 21:13.800 --> 21:16.800 Very quietly, I bent and took mine off too. 21:16.800 --> 21:19.800 I began to tiptoe away from where I'd seen him. 21:19.800 --> 21:21.800 Then I rounded the corner, and there he was, 21:21.800 --> 21:23.800 not two feet away, with his back to me. 21:23.800 --> 21:26.800 I lost my balance, and I put my hand out to steady myself. 21:26.800 --> 21:29.800 A whole display went over. 21:29.800 --> 21:31.800 I ran. I ran. 21:31.800 --> 21:33.800 Then I was at the end of an aisle, and there was a wall, 21:33.800 --> 21:34.800 the back wall. 21:34.800 --> 21:38.800 I turned, and he was coming, coming straight at me. 21:38.800 --> 21:41.800 My hand touched something cold, a bottle. 21:41.800 --> 21:42.800 I grabbed it. 21:42.800 --> 21:44.800 It was ammonia. 21:44.800 --> 21:46.800 Krauss, Krauss, get back. 21:46.800 --> 21:49.800 Get back, Krauss, or I'll blind you. 21:49.800 --> 21:52.800 Krauss, I warn you, I swear I will. 21:52.800 --> 21:53.800 Krauss, I've got ammonia here. 21:53.800 --> 21:58.800 I'll blind you if you come any closer, Krauss. 21:58.800 --> 22:05.800 He stood there like a crazy blind giant, 22:05.800 --> 22:07.800 tearing at his eyes, the ammonia running down his face. 22:07.800 --> 22:08.800 I didn't wait. 22:08.800 --> 22:10.800 I ran past him, bobbing him aside, 22:10.800 --> 22:12.800 ran and ran and cut around the cash register 22:12.800 --> 22:15.800 and passed the delicatessen in the bakery to the door. 22:15.800 --> 22:17.800 It was locked, the key. 22:17.800 --> 22:18.800 I'd left it in the locket. 22:18.800 --> 22:19.800 It was gone. 22:19.800 --> 22:22.800 I tried to break the glass with my fist, but it was like steel. 22:22.800 --> 22:24.800 I tried to kick it, but I left my shoes behind. 22:24.800 --> 22:27.800 And Krauss kept coming, feeling his way along, moaning, 22:27.800 --> 22:29.800 silhouetted in the blinking light, 22:29.800 --> 22:31.800 the red light that gleamed like a tongue of fire 22:31.800 --> 22:33.800 on the knife he held in his hand. 22:33.800 --> 22:38.800 I slid behind the counter at the meat department. 22:38.800 --> 22:40.800 Under my feet, the sawdust. 22:40.800 --> 22:42.800 I bent, scooped up a handful. 22:42.800 --> 22:46.800 His face was awful, twisted and gleaming in the blinking red light. 22:46.800 --> 22:50.800 His glasses were gone and his eyes were screwed tight shut in pain. 22:50.800 --> 22:52.800 He stopped ten feet away, swaying. 22:52.800 --> 22:54.800 Then he opened his eyes, opened them as wide as he could 22:54.800 --> 22:56.800 and moved his head from side to side, 22:56.800 --> 22:58.800 trying nearsightedly to see me. 22:58.800 --> 23:00.800 And then his head stopped moving 23:00.800 --> 23:03.800 and holding it sideways, using one eye to see me. 23:03.800 --> 23:07.800 He came on, the knife held way back. 23:07.800 --> 23:10.800 And I waited. 23:10.800 --> 23:12.800 Then I flew with the sawdust and jumped to one side, 23:12.800 --> 23:14.800 my back against the wall, and he pushed it and skidded 23:14.800 --> 23:18.800 in the sawdust and he fell. 23:18.800 --> 23:22.800 And then he was very still for a moment. 23:22.800 --> 23:26.800 I waited, backing. 23:26.800 --> 23:28.800 He rose to his knees. 23:28.800 --> 23:30.800 In the blinking light, I saw the knife. 23:30.800 --> 23:32.800 He'd fallen on it. 23:32.800 --> 23:35.800 It was sticking out of the middle of his chest. 23:35.800 --> 23:39.800 Crows! 23:39.800 --> 23:43.800 Then, very slowly, he got to his feet. 23:43.800 --> 23:45.800 One hand over the place where the knife was 23:45.800 --> 23:48.800 and then he started toward me again. 23:48.800 --> 23:50.800 There was a rack over the chopping block. 23:50.800 --> 23:52.800 He reached up and got a cleaver. 23:52.800 --> 23:53.800 I backed. 23:53.800 --> 23:55.800 Behind me I felt a large cold handle, 23:55.800 --> 23:57.800 the door to the meat storage room. 23:57.800 --> 24:03.800 I heaped it open. 24:03.800 --> 24:08.800 Inside, it was cold, bitter cold, and dark. 24:08.800 --> 24:10.800 In the center of the door was one small, 24:10.800 --> 24:11.800 thick pane of glass. 24:11.800 --> 24:13.800 It was clouded. 24:13.800 --> 24:15.800 I wiped it clear with my hand and looked out. 24:15.800 --> 24:18.800 Crow stood there, his face an inch from mine, 24:18.800 --> 24:20.800 looking in. 24:20.800 --> 24:22.800 And then his eyes rolled back and his face went slack 24:22.800 --> 24:32.800 and he fell out of sight. 24:32.800 --> 24:33.800 He was dead. 24:33.800 --> 24:35.800 I was sure of it. 24:35.800 --> 24:37.800 Now I felt around in the dark for the nabba, 24:37.800 --> 24:39.800 but I couldn't find it. 24:39.800 --> 24:41.800 I felt the door from the top to the bottom. 24:41.800 --> 24:44.800 There were bars and bolts and something that felt like a handle, 24:44.800 --> 24:46.800 but it wouldn't move. 24:46.800 --> 24:51.800 I mean, I heaved and tugged, but it wouldn't move. 24:51.800 --> 24:53.800 There was a knife on the slab there, a butcher knife. 24:53.800 --> 24:55.800 I felt around the door for a crack, 24:55.800 --> 24:57.800 slipped the knife in and twisted. 24:57.800 --> 25:00.800 It broke off. 25:00.800 --> 25:01.800 Another door, I thought, maybe, 25:01.800 --> 25:05.800 maybe there's please another door out of this place. 25:05.800 --> 25:07.800 And I began to search for it in the dark, 25:07.800 --> 25:11.800 feeling along the icy damp walls. 25:11.800 --> 25:16.800 I walked under something cold that moved when I touched it. 25:16.800 --> 25:19.800 A side of beef, but no door. 25:19.800 --> 25:22.800 I moved farther. 25:22.800 --> 25:25.800 Another icy cold thing. 25:25.800 --> 25:30.800 And I moved on, came up against another. 25:30.800 --> 25:34.800 I don't know the rest, but I'm crazy. 25:34.800 --> 25:35.800 I know it. 25:35.800 --> 25:37.800 I'm crazy. 25:37.800 --> 25:43.800 This one, this one feels as though it's wearing silk stockings. 25:43.800 --> 25:55.800 . 25:55.800 --> 25:58.800 So here I am. 25:58.800 --> 26:03.800 Cold as a witch's heart, cold as a tomb. 26:03.800 --> 26:05.800 This thing I have in my hand, this knife handle, 26:05.800 --> 26:07.800 I wish it had a blade. 26:07.800 --> 26:09.800 I know what I'd do, I know. 26:09.800 --> 26:11.800 But it hasn't. 26:11.800 --> 26:13.800 Anyway, I'm innocent of anything. 26:13.800 --> 26:15.800 They'll believe me. 26:15.800 --> 26:17.800 They will. 26:17.800 --> 26:19.800 There's a letter outside on the scale that says, 26:19.800 --> 26:20.800 I did it, Krauss. 26:20.800 --> 26:23.800 Don't blame anybody else. 26:23.800 --> 26:24.800 And there's my silk case. 26:24.800 --> 26:26.800 That'll prove I'm meant to go away 26:26.800 --> 26:28.800 and not to cause anybody a hard time. 26:28.800 --> 26:33.800 And there's, oh, the time goes slow. 26:33.800 --> 26:36.800 And while I'm waiting and waiting and waiting, 26:36.800 --> 26:41.800 I'll tell myself the whole story again and again. 26:41.800 --> 26:44.800 And again, it'll give me something to do, you know, 26:44.800 --> 26:47.800 something to think about. 26:47.800 --> 26:51.800 You see, it started the first day of the job. 26:51.800 --> 26:54.800 I was working the liquor department of the supermarket. 26:54.800 --> 26:56.800 I hadn't been in Los Angeles a week. 26:56.800 --> 26:58.800 Now, my brother, when I left New York, 26:58.800 --> 27:00.800 had given me this letter to a friend of his, 27:00.800 --> 27:02.800 a guy who owns a string of these supermarkets. 27:02.800 --> 27:06.800 The letter was, if I could use me, I was a good fellow. 27:06.800 --> 27:08.800 He was a kind of a baby, you know. 27:08.800 --> 27:27.800 Music 27:27.800 --> 27:30.800 Suspense, in which High Aberback starred as Harry 27:30.800 --> 27:35.800 in James Poe's story, Never Steal a Butcher's Wife. 27:35.800 --> 27:37.800 Enjoy tonight's tale of suspense 27:37.800 --> 27:40.800 while there's a different kind of suspense on CBS Radio's 27:40.800 --> 27:43.800 Monday through Friday daytime serial, The Brighter Day. 27:43.800 --> 27:46.800 This week, Reverend Dennis and his family are the targets 27:46.800 --> 27:48.800 of a vindictive plot. 27:48.800 --> 27:50.800 Find out what happens. 27:50.800 --> 27:52.800 Listen to The Brighter Day tomorrow and every weekday 27:52.800 --> 27:54.800 on most of these stations. 27:54.800 --> 28:03.800 Suspense is produced and directed by Norman MacDonald 28:03.800 --> 28:06.800 with music composed by Lucian Morrowick 28:06.800 --> 28:08.800 and conducted by Lud Bluskin. 28:08.800 --> 28:11.800 Never Steal a Butcher's Wife was written for Suspense 28:11.800 --> 28:15.800 by James Poe and starred High Aberback as Harry, 28:15.800 --> 28:17.800 featured in the cast were Paula Winslow, 28:17.800 --> 28:22.800 Jack Crouchon, and Lawrence Dobkin. 28:22.800 --> 28:25.800 Stay tuned now for Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, 28:25.800 --> 28:28.800 which follows immediately over most of these same stations. 28:28.800 --> 28:30.800 Listen while you work. 28:30.800 --> 28:32.800 Enjoy Hilltop House every Monday through Friday 28:32.800 --> 28:36.800 in the daytime on the CBS Radio Network. 29:02.800 --> 29:07.800 The Brighter Day