And now, tonight's presentation of radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense.
Tonight, the story of a bomb and the man who carried it to its ultimate destination.
We call it Lunch Kit.
So now, starring Harry Bartel, here is tonight's Suspense play, Lunch Kit.
My dad was almost finished.
He chipped out the last piece of glass from inside the thermos bottle.
He was starting to work on the detonator when the horn began to blow.
What's that?
Oh, Mike.
He's getting impatient.
Well, tell him to stop it.
It makes me nervous.
Can't afford to be nervous on a job like this.
All right.
I'll tell him, Dad.
Hey!
Hey, Mike!
Well, come on, Jonathan, let go!
Will you lay off that horn?
I told you before, my pal isn't feeling too well.
Give a word to him, will you?
I'm not going to let him go.
Okay, I'm going to let him go.
Are you sure you're not going to tell him that?
I'm sure I'm not going to let him go.
All right, my dad's going to be home by a little while.
I'm sure I'm not throwing him the horn.
Don't give him the horn.
Well, what is it, Mike?
I'm sorry.
How are you feeling?
I'm feeling all right.
How about you?
Well, you never were going to be late for work.
All right, I'll be down in a minute.
Now take it easy.
Well, hurry it up.
I wouldn't want to be late, Jonathan.
Okay, okay.
Who is this Mike?
Well, I told you about him, Dad.
He is an old timer at the plant.
I can't get rid of him.
You sure about him?
He won't cause trouble.
What does he think you're doing up here?
I told him I had to stop off for a minute to see a sick friend.
Well, I can't afford taking the chances in a thing like this.
First mistake will be the last.
He was winding the timing mechanism now.
It looked like an old-fashioned pocket watch.
Suddenly I hated him.
I hated him because he hated so much.
I hated him because he had trained me to do the work he could no longer do since his last stroke.
What time is it, son?
What time is it?
What's the matter? You aren't getting nervous, are you?
No, no.
It's 829.
829. Well, that's good. That's good.
You go up at 630 in the morning.
He limped over to a steel cabinet in the corner,
came back to the table tenderly, cradling a metal jug in his arm.
Put it down with the greatest of care.
I felt myself tightening inside. My mouth went dry.
Unthinking, I pulled a pack of cigarettes out of my jacket and put one in my mouth.
I was just about to strike a match when Dad grabbed my arm, twisting my wrist until it hurt.
Put that match down, you idiot.
If one spark gets into this nitrile, they won't find enough of us to fill that matchbox.
The unlit cigarette turned to straw in my mouth.
I spit it out, stamped it to dust on the rugless floor.
He fastened the detonator into the cap of the thermos bottle.
Then filled the bottle with the thick yellowish nitric glycerin.
Careful, kid.
Then he carefully screwed on the cap.
Got your lunch, kid.
Here.
He took the thermos out of my lunchbox, carefully replaced it with a thermos full of nitrile.
Then he closed it, handed it to me.
Here you are. Don't drop it.
No, I won't.
Son.
Yes?
Look at me.
Yes, Dad.
Everything will work according to plan, won't it?
Yes.
Make no mistakes.
No, Dad.
And you'll be here tomorrow morning?
I'll be here.
Very good. Perhaps we'll go away together.
Long time since we've had fun together, Jonathan.
Yes.
Tomorrow we'll begin. Tomorrow we will have earned it.
Yes, Dad.
I'm proud of you, my boy. Proud that there's you to carry on my work.
Thanks.
Well, there's your friend again. Go on now before the old fool gets us into trouble.
The drive to the plant was something I'd never forget.
Just thinking what was in that lunch kit was enough to make me lose my mind.
If I ran into something, if a tire blew, if a speck of dust got into my eye and I ran off the road,
I stayed off the main highway. Too much traffic.
I drove under 25 miles an hour all the way.
Can't you go any faster? We're going to be late.
And all the time the old man kept talking.
You young fellows of the day, you're a strange, disturbing lot.
Talk, talk, talk.
You have a fever in your blood. You're restless. You don't know why.
You're a strange lot.
Yeah. Yeah, a strange lot.
Last we came to the plant, the night shift guys were already at work.
The parking lot was jammed with their cars.
We were late, but I was glad of that.
Now I'd be able to park near the entrance and later on I'd be able to get out in a hurry.
Okay, Mike. Sorry if I made you late.
Oh, that's all right, Jonathan. You mind if I go back with you in the morning?
Okay, just be here prompt. I won't wait for you.
I took the lunch kit and started for the main gate.
I was standing there inspecting everybody with a flashlight.
I grinned at him and snapped the lunch kit open.
He waved me on. I was through the gate.
I changed my clothes quickly and left the lunch kit in my locker.
I figured I must look pretty bad, so before going into the plant I went to the washroom,
washed my face, let cold water run down my wrists.
Then I saw I'd left my wristwatch in my street clothes.
This bothered me because it was against the rules to go back into the locker room until after the shift was over.
Now all night long I wouldn't know what time it was.
I'd have to ask, I'd have to guess.
My mother wouldn't like that at all, being so careless.
I began noticing a kind of ache in the pit of my stomach.
I mustn't get sick tonight.
I drank a lot of water and the pain left me.
And then I went back into my unit.
This was going to be a bad night. I was all raw nerves.
My hands were all thumbs. The instrument I worked with felt like it weighed a ton.
My father wouldn't like the way I was doing things.
He couldn't stand it much longer.
Hey, Jonathan!
Huh?
What are you doing? Cut your switch.
What's wrong, Mr. Davis?
What's wrong? Is that the way to handle that modifier?
Then where's your apron?
Gee, I'm sorry, Mr. Davis.
Oh, don't be sorry. Just do it right.
Now get on the ball, Jonathan.
What time was it getting to be?
I couldn't concentrate, I couldn't think.
All I could remember was what was in my locker.
All I could remember was that thermos bottle filled to the top with nitro.
All I could remember was that detonator set for 6.30.
Hey, Mike, what time is it?
Uh, 12.30.
Mike, what's the time?
Ten minutes after one.
Hey, Mike, what time is it?
Five minutes to two.
Hey, Mike!
Almost time for lunch.
Lunch?
Yeah, am I hungry? I swear I can eat it.
Hey, what's wrong with you?
Well, your wife...
My stomach...
Hey, man! Hey, you guys, come over here, quick!
How do you feel now, son?
Better. What time is it? Where am I?
In the plant dispensary.
You ever have a spell like that before?
No, no, I never did, Doc. What time is it?
You're pretty nervous, aren't you?
No, I'm all right.
I know your pulse was very high when they brought you in.
But I'm all right now, Doc. I want to go back to my job.
You want to watch? Well, I can't allow you to go back to your job.
Relax.
But I'm all right now. What time is it?
Take it easy. It's 2.30.
2.30?
Then they've all gone back to work. I won't be able to go to my locker.
I know what you're thinking. Your lunch.
Isn't that what's on your mind?
But lunch is over. I won't be able to go back to...
Never mind. I'll send somebody to get your lunch.
No, no! Don't do that.
What?
No, really, Doctor. I'm not hungry.
Sure, sure, I know.
But you've got to have something. You just sit there.
He went into the next room.
I wanted to jump up and start running, but that was no good either.
Why had I made such a fuss about the lunch kit?
What was he doing in there?
Then he came back.
He was carrying a glass of milk.
Here. If you're going to miss lunch, at least drink this.
Milk?
Go on. Drink it down.
Okay.
Finish it all.
That's it.
Feel better?
Yeah, yeah. I think I better go back to work.
No, you don't want to do that. Just take it easy.
No, I feel fine now, really.
You couldn't go back to work even if I let you.
What do you mean?
You'll lie down on the cot there in the next room and take it easy.
You're going to take a nice long sleep.
Sleep? No! No, I've got to go back to work.
No, not tonight anymore.
No, I couldn't sleep.
You'll sleep all right.
I put a couple of grains of barbitol in that milk you drank.
No!
What's the matter with you?
I don't want to go to sleep. I'm all right.
Yes, you're all right. You're in fine shape.
I don't like taking dope.
It'll slow you down.
You'll wake up feeling like a new man.
You little fellas, you don't know how to relax.
It's a wonder you live as long as you do.
Now you come along with me.
You just lie there and behave yourself.
Go on.
That's right.
Now in a few minutes you'll be sleeping like a baby.
You don't need the lights.
Good night, young fella.
Pleasant dreams.
You're listening to Lunch Kit, tonight's presentation in radio's outstanding theatre of krills, Suspense.
A lawyer with a sixth sense for criminology is CBS radio's Perry Mason.
Perry follows up his latest case every weekday on most of these same stations.
You'll enjoy Perry Mason, one of the most colorful, most exciting of CBS radio's great daytime dramatic programs, Monday through Friday at the Star's address.
Listen for Perry Mason and to all the fine daytime programs where America listens most.
And now we bring back to our Hollywood soundstage, Harry Bartel, starring in tonight's production, Lunch Kit.
A tale well calculated to keep you in suspense.
Sleeping powder.
He put sleeping powder in the milk.
Like an idiot I drank it all down, every bit of it.
And then I started to get drowsy, with a time bomb in my Lunch Kit set to go off in just a few hours, I started getting drowsy.
I had to get up, to get out.
Couldn't stay there.
Couldn't sleep through.
Had to do something.
Something.
My eyes were getting heavy.
So heavy.
Couldn't keep them open.
A pint of pure nitro.
All the chemicals and inflammable stockpiles here, the place would go up like an a...
Had to get out.
Couldn't keep my eyes open.
So easy.
They were...
They would be so easy to let my eyes close.
To go to sleep.
No, no I couldn't go to sleep.
I couldn't, I couldn't.
Crawled off the cot.
Window in the room.
Had to get through the window.
Couldn't go through the doctor's office.
Get out through the window.
I started over.
And then I had to stop.
Had to sit down.
So tired.
So good to sit there.
So good to close my eyes.
Ryan!
The whistle.
Time to go home, six o'clock.
I slept right through.
And then the whistle woke me up.
It woke me up.
Oh, I'm lucky.
I'm lucky, six o'clock.
Lunch kit goes off at six thirty.
This time no mistake.
Getting out of the dispenser was easy.
There was a shed right below the window.
I dropped to the roof.
And then to the ground.
Didn't feel any too good.
Still groggy from the barbatoil.
But there was no time to think about that now.
When I got back to the locker room,
the boys were climbing out of their work clothes,
getting ready for the shower room.
Well, hiya, Jonathan.
You okay now?
Yeah, I feel fine.
Better stop drinking that turpentine, Jonathan.
Boy, you sure had me worried, Jonathan.
Well, I'm all right now.
Do I still get the ride?
Uh, oh, yeah, yeah.
All right, I'll see you later.
Then I'm going to take a shower.
I changed into my street clothes and nothing flat,
not caring particularly how I looked.
I was kind of worried the doctor would look in on me
and find me gone.
When I was ready to go,
all the other fellows were in the shower room.
That was the break I wanted.
I took the lunch kit out of my locker and slid it underneath.
And then I looked at my wristwatch.
Four minutes after six.
I had twenty-five minutes to get away.
I was working out fine.
I walked past the front offices.
There's no one else around yet.
Couldn't walk too fast, though.
Not too fast, not too slow.
Act natural.
Not too fast, not too slow.
Oh, Jonathan.
Huh?
How are you feeling now, Jonathan, huh?
I'm all right, Mr. Davis.
Ah, well, anyhow, I want to talk to you.
Come into the office, huh?
Now?
Sure, now.
Well, I'm in a kind of a hurry, Mr. Davis.
Oh, go on.
At six o'clock in the morning, nobody's in a hurry.
Come in, come in.
All right, but just for a minute.
Yeah, sure.
Close the door, will you?
Sit down, huh?
Oh, boy, not like sitting down relaxing after a long shift.
Chair can use a little...
Look, Mr. Davis, I really can't stay long.
I'm supposed to meet someone.
What, at six in the morning?
Hey, you still look pale, Jonathan.
You sure you feel all right?
Yes, yes.
Mr. Davis, if it's about the mistake I made tonight, I'll tell her...
No, no, no, it's not that so much.
It's just that I'm a little worried about you.
There's nothing to worry about, Mr. Davis.
It's just that sometimes I get a little nervous.
A little nervous?
Well, look at you now.
You're squirming on that.
You're a bundle of nerves.
Now, is something bothering you, Jonathan?
I mean, something really bothering you.
Nothing's bothering me.
Yeah.
Well, just to make sure, I'm going to call the dispensary.
I've got a hunch you're not telling me everything.
I tell you, I'm all right.
Give me the dispensary, please.
Jonathan, Jonathan.
Hey, come back here.
He wasn't chasing me.
I looked at my watch.
614.
Still plenty of time to get away.
I left the main building and started across the yard to the gate.
It was still dark.
I was one of the first out.
Hey, hey, you.
Hey, slow down.
Slow down.
How hard have I got to chase you?
What do you want?
You know as well as I do what I want.
You forgot something.
What?
What did I forget?
You forgot to punch the time clock.
I'll do it tomorrow.
Tomorrow?
You're not leaving this plant until you punch out, mister.
All right, all right.
I'll go back and punch out.
Hey, where's the fire?
You want to work that energy out during your shift, young fella.
I went back into the main building.
There were at least 20 others waiting in line before the clock.
Hey, look, I got to get to town early.
How about let me punch out now, will you?
End of the line, bud.
No, it'll just take a second.
End of the line.
Okay, okay.
Oh, hi there, Jonathan.
Oh, hello.
Say, I think Mike's looking for you.
Yeah.
You know, the old guy's sort of adopted you, ain't he?
Yeah.
Sure long line tonight, huh?
Uh-huh.
Say, how you feeling now?
Oh, okay.
Say, is my watch right? I have 621.
Let me look.
Yeah, yeah, 620 I got.
You sure figure it out to the minute.
Right to the minute.
Oh, come on.
Please.
It was 627.
I had three minutes.
Three minutes. I couldn't waste any time.
I was fighting for my life.
I started backing out quick.
I had to get up here in a hurry.
Three minutes less than that now.
Hey, look out, you. My headlights.
Hey, what's the matter with you?
Now, come on out and see what you did to my headlights.
I'm sorry, I'll pay for them.
Oh, that ain't the idea.
Why don't you watch where you're going?
All right, look, here's my driver's license.
I work in Unit 5.
I'll see you tonight. We'll work something out.
The name's Jonathan Peters.
Not so fast, not so fast.
I gotta write this down.
You got a pencil?
Here. Here's my pen.
We'll start writing.
All right, now, say it's Jonathan Peters.
Jonathan Peters.
Unit 5.
Yes, yes, that's right.
Unit 5. Yeah.
Okay, here's your pen.
I'll see you tonight.
I'm working two minutes.
We've got to hurry.
Hurry. Hurry.
Hurry.
Jonathan, wait for me.
Wait.
Wait, Jonathan.
He's got to wait.
Now, now, why'd he do that?
These young fellas, I don't know what the end will be.
You know, that kid sure is wacky.
In a hurry, always in a hurry.
What? What's the matter with him?
No sense of responsibility.
Last night, he drives like a turtle.
This morning, he races out of here like a demon,
leaves me standing.
Too bad.
Maybe somebody else will give you a ride home.
Oh, I can get a bus,
but this will teach me to do a guy a favor.
What do you mean?
Well, that Jonathan,
I didn't want to keep him waiting,
so I come out here looking for him,
and he's not in the car,
so I go back in the planter looking to miss him there,
and when I get back, he's driving off.
Yeah, so what's the favor you do?
Well, he was so darn particular about it,
then he goes off and leaves it under his locker,
but I found it and put it in his car for him.
What?
His lunch kit.
I put it in his car.
What's that?
Oh, that's funny.
That sounds like thunder.
Thunder?
Look at that sky.
Yeah, beautiful.
No, it couldn't have been thunder.
It's going to be a real nice day.
Suspense.
In which Harry Bartell starred in tonight's presentation of Lunch Kit.
Next week, Suspense will bring you the story of a mountain road
and the pursuit of a runaway car.
We call it Speed Trap.
Be sure to listen to Speed Trap next week on Suspense.
Suspense is produced and directed by Anthony Ellis.
Tonight's script was written by Lawrence Marcus.
The music was composed by Lucian Morrowick and conducted by Wilbur Hatch.
Featured in the cast were Carly Bear, Lawrence Dobkin, Victor Rotman,
Jerry Hausner, Barney Phillips, Joe Duvall, Joe Cranston, and Tom Hanley.
Join the FBI in peace and war Wednesday nights on the CBS Radio Network.