WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:14.000 And now, tonight's presentation of radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense. 00:14.000 --> 00:20.000 Tonight, the story of terror in the streets. 00:20.000 --> 00:22.760 We call it, The Whole Town Sleeping. 00:22.760 --> 00:27.360 So now, starring Miss Jeanette Nolan, here is tonight's Suspense play written by Ray 00:27.360 --> 00:37.800 Bradbury, The Whole Town Sleeping. 00:37.800 --> 00:42.640 It was a warm summer night in the middle of Illinois country. 00:42.640 --> 00:46.720 The little town was deep, far away from everything. 00:46.720 --> 00:52.760 Kept to itself by a river and a forest and a ravine. 00:52.760 --> 00:56.160 In the town, the sidewalks were still scorched. 00:56.160 --> 01:00.800 The stores were closing and the streets were turning dark. 01:00.800 --> 01:03.800 Screen doors whined their springs and banged. 01:03.800 --> 01:10.400 And there was the sound of Grandma Hanlon's swing hammock across the street. 01:10.400 --> 01:18.060 On her solitary porch, Lavinia nebs, age 37, very straight and slim, sat with a tinkling 01:18.060 --> 01:23.560 lemonade in her white fingers, tapping it to her lips, waiting. 01:23.560 --> 01:26.560 Here I am, Lavinia. 01:26.560 --> 01:27.560 Lavinia turned. 01:27.560 --> 01:29.800 There was Francine at the bottom porch step. 01:29.800 --> 01:35.080 She was all in snow white and didn't look 35. 01:35.080 --> 01:36.440 I won't be a minute, Francine. 01:36.440 --> 01:37.440 I'll just lock the door. 01:37.440 --> 01:38.440 All right. 01:38.440 --> 01:40.960 Oh, I do like your dress, dear. 01:40.960 --> 01:41.960 Why thank you, dear. 01:41.960 --> 01:44.200 You look so well in that color. 01:44.200 --> 01:45.800 I'm afraid I could never wear it. 01:45.800 --> 01:46.800 It makes me look sallow. 01:46.800 --> 01:47.800 No, it doesn't. 01:47.800 --> 01:48.800 I'm sure not. 01:48.800 --> 01:51.800 Of course, I've always loved you in white. 01:51.800 --> 01:53.960 Evening, ladies. 01:53.960 --> 01:54.960 Good evening, Mrs. Hanlon. 01:54.960 --> 01:55.960 Good evening. 01:55.960 --> 01:59.440 Where are you ladies going all dressed up so pretty? 01:59.440 --> 02:01.520 To the Majestic Theater, Mrs. Hanlon. 02:01.520 --> 02:04.160 Robert Mitchum's playing in Not as a Stranger. 02:04.160 --> 02:06.760 Won't catch me out on a night like this. 02:06.760 --> 02:09.960 Not with the lonely one strangling women. 02:09.960 --> 02:12.120 Lock myself in with my gun. 02:12.120 --> 02:13.400 That's what I'm going to do. 02:13.400 --> 02:15.760 I wouldn't worry, Mrs. Hanlon. 02:15.760 --> 02:17.640 What about Eliza Ramsell? 02:17.640 --> 02:19.880 You think she's not worrying? 02:19.880 --> 02:21.720 Lock myself in with my gun. 02:21.720 --> 02:26.240 That's what you ladies should do. 02:26.240 --> 02:27.240 So silly. 02:27.240 --> 02:29.240 Silly old woman. 02:29.240 --> 02:34.360 Lavinia, you don't believe all that gossip about the lonely one, do you? 02:34.360 --> 02:37.840 A lot of silly old women who haven't got anything better to do than talk. 02:37.840 --> 02:39.000 Well, just the same. 02:39.000 --> 02:44.160 Hattie McDowell was killed a month ago and Roberta Ferry the month before. 02:44.160 --> 02:46.480 And now Eliza Ramsell disappearing. 02:46.480 --> 02:49.760 Eliza Ramsell walked off with a traveling man, I bet. 02:49.760 --> 02:58.000 The others strangled old Francine. 02:58.000 --> 03:02.360 They reached the edge of the ravine that cut the town in two. 03:02.360 --> 03:03.360 Stood there. 03:03.360 --> 03:06.360 Behind them were the lighted houses. 03:06.360 --> 03:15.760 Ahead, deepness, moistness, fireflies and dark. 03:15.760 --> 03:19.240 The ravine had to be crossed to reach the movies. 03:19.240 --> 03:21.680 Deep and black as a cut under the hills. 03:21.680 --> 03:25.400 Then a creaking bridge to cross over the stream. 03:25.400 --> 03:31.720 Then 113 steps up the steep and bramble bank to the other side. 03:31.720 --> 03:36.320 The ladies stood there, looking down. 03:36.320 --> 03:38.680 It won't be me coming back tonight, Lavinia. 03:38.680 --> 03:39.680 It'll be you. 03:39.680 --> 03:42.680 Oh, I'd never, never walk there alone at night. 03:42.680 --> 03:43.680 Never. 03:43.680 --> 03:44.680 Bosch. 03:44.680 --> 03:45.680 Well, you can say Bosch. 03:45.680 --> 03:48.000 But it'll be you alone on the path, not me. 03:48.000 --> 03:51.920 Oh, Lavinia, I do wish you didn't live on this side. 03:51.920 --> 03:55.560 Don't you get lonely living by yourself in that house? 03:55.560 --> 03:57.680 Old maid loved to live alone. 03:57.680 --> 03:59.280 Come on, we'll take the shortcut. 03:59.280 --> 04:00.280 I'm afraid. 04:00.280 --> 04:01.280 Oh, come on. 04:01.280 --> 04:02.280 Don't be so silly. 04:02.280 --> 04:04.280 I'll hold your hand. 04:04.280 --> 04:11.560 Lavinia, cool as mint ice cream, took the other woman's arm and led her down the dark 04:11.560 --> 04:19.040 winding path into cricket warmth and frog sound and mosquito delicate silence. 04:19.040 --> 04:21.720 Oh, let's run, Lavinia, please. 04:21.720 --> 04:22.720 No. 04:22.720 --> 04:24.720 Why should we? 04:24.720 --> 04:29.320 If Lavinia hadn't turned her head just then, she wouldn't have seen it. 04:29.320 --> 04:36.680 But she did turn her head, and it was there, back among a clump of bushes half hidden, 04:36.680 --> 04:42.200 but laid out as if she had put herself there to enjoy the soft stars. 04:42.200 --> 04:49.600 Lay Eliza Ramseau, her face moon freckled, her eyes like white marble. 04:49.600 --> 04:55.360 Then Francine saw it too, and the women stood on the path for a frozen second, not believing 04:55.360 --> 04:58.360 what they saw. 04:58.360 --> 05:12.000 Lavinia held Francine, and the policemen were all around in the ravine grass. 05:12.000 --> 05:19.360 Flashlights dotted about, voices mingled, and the night grew on toward 8.30. 05:19.360 --> 05:21.240 You didn't move her, ladies. 05:21.240 --> 05:22.240 Of course not. 05:22.240 --> 05:23.640 Oh, no, we couldn't touch her. 05:23.640 --> 05:24.640 How could we? 05:24.640 --> 05:25.640 And there was nobody? 05:25.640 --> 05:26.640 You didn't hear anything? 05:26.640 --> 05:27.640 Sounds? 05:27.640 --> 05:28.640 No, nothing. 05:28.640 --> 05:29.640 It's, it's the lonely one, isn't it? 05:29.640 --> 05:30.640 He did it, didn't he? 05:30.640 --> 05:31.640 Couldn't say, ma'am. 05:31.640 --> 05:32.640 We, we knew her, you know. 05:32.640 --> 05:33.640 She was a friend of ours. 05:33.640 --> 05:34.640 Oh, I'm sorry. 05:34.640 --> 05:35.640 Well, I'll have one of my men walk you across the ravine. 05:35.640 --> 05:36.640 That won't be necessary. 05:36.640 --> 05:37.640 Thank you very much. 05:37.640 --> 05:38.640 We'll be all right. 05:38.640 --> 05:39.640 Oh, Lavinia. 05:39.640 --> 05:40.640 Come along, dear. 05:40.640 --> 05:41.640 And they crossed the ravine, each with her own thing. 05:41.640 --> 05:49.060 The 05:49.060 --> 06:01.240 river, and the creek waters under the bridge whispered, I'm the lonely one. 06:01.240 --> 06:03.240 I'm the lonely one. 06:03.240 --> 06:05.280 I kill people. 06:05.280 --> 06:18.160 Then they were at the top of the stairs and bathed in safe light from the street lamp. 06:18.160 --> 06:20.620 I've never seen a dead person before. 06:20.620 --> 06:22.600 It's only a little after 8.30. 06:22.600 --> 06:25.000 We'll pick up Helen and get on to the show. 06:25.000 --> 06:26.000 The show? 06:26.000 --> 06:28.080 Oh, Lavinia, you don't mean it. 06:28.080 --> 06:29.680 Of course, I do. 06:29.680 --> 06:32.360 We've got to forget that, it's not good to remember. 06:32.360 --> 06:34.480 But Eliza's back there and... 06:34.480 --> 06:36.320 We need to laugh. 06:36.320 --> 06:39.040 We've got to pretend that nothing happened. 06:39.040 --> 06:40.880 But she was our friend. 06:40.880 --> 06:43.000 We can't help her. 06:43.000 --> 06:44.800 There's no good brooding about it. 06:44.800 --> 06:49.400 I'm going to get it out of my mind, and you should too. 06:49.500 --> 06:51.800 Now if we hurry, we won't miss too much. 07:02.100 --> 07:04.700 I thought you'd never come. You're an hour late. 07:04.800 --> 07:05.300 Well, we... 07:05.400 --> 07:08.300 Someone found Eliza Ramselle dead in the ravine. 07:09.000 --> 07:11.900 Oh, no! Eliza... 07:12.500 --> 07:13.500 Who found her? 07:13.500 --> 07:15.000 We don't know. 07:15.100 --> 07:18.800 Oh, how awful. Did you see her? Was it terrible? 07:18.900 --> 07:20.400 Let's not talk about it. 07:20.500 --> 07:22.800 Oh, I really think I should lock myself in my house. 07:22.900 --> 07:24.200 I don't think we'd better go tonight. 07:24.300 --> 07:26.900 Of course we will. It's the last showing today. 07:27.000 --> 07:30.600 Besides, the lonely one can't kill three ladies. 07:30.700 --> 07:34.000 There's safety in numbers. Anyway, it's too soon. 07:34.100 --> 07:36.100 The murder's come a month separated. 07:36.200 --> 07:37.400 Come along, Helen. 07:37.500 --> 07:38.900 Well... 07:38.900 --> 07:43.200 Oh, I'll get a sweater. You wait for me. 07:44.500 --> 07:47.700 Why didn't you tell her about us finding Eliza? 07:47.800 --> 07:49.300 Why upset her? 07:49.400 --> 07:50.900 Time enough tomorrow. 07:51.000 --> 07:53.400 I told you, tonight we've got to forget. 07:53.500 --> 07:56.200 We're going to the show, and let's not talk about it anymore. 07:56.300 --> 07:57.700 Enough's enough. 08:04.100 --> 08:07.800 The ladies walked downtown and stopped at the drugstore, 08:07.800 --> 08:10.300 which was a few doors from the theater. 08:10.400 --> 08:13.900 Lavinia bought a quarter's worth of green mint chews, 08:14.000 --> 08:17.800 and the druggists dropped the mints into a sack with a silver shovel. 08:17.900 --> 08:21.600 You looked mighty cool this noon, Miss Lavinia, when you was in. 08:21.700 --> 08:24.300 So cool and nice, someone asked after you. 08:24.400 --> 08:25.400 Oh? 08:25.500 --> 08:27.500 Yeah, a man sitting at the counter. 08:27.600 --> 08:30.100 He watched you walk out, and he says to me, 08:30.200 --> 08:31.500 Who's that? 08:31.600 --> 08:33.300 Just like that, he says. 08:33.400 --> 08:37.600 Why, that's Lavinia Neb's prettiest maiden lady in town, I says. 08:37.600 --> 08:39.300 Beautiful, he says. 08:39.400 --> 08:40.700 Beautiful. 08:40.800 --> 08:41.900 Where she live. 08:42.000 --> 08:44.400 You didn't give him her address, I hope. 08:44.500 --> 08:45.500 You didn't. 08:45.600 --> 08:47.900 Well, maybe I shouldn't have. 08:48.000 --> 08:50.100 I didn't give him the exact address. 08:50.200 --> 08:52.900 I said over on Park Street, you know, near the ravine. 08:53.000 --> 08:54.400 Kind of casual. 08:54.500 --> 08:55.900 I'm sorry. 08:56.000 --> 08:57.300 What did he look like? 08:57.400 --> 08:59.100 Oh, not much, I guess. 08:59.200 --> 09:02.900 Wore a dark suit, tail, kind of thin. 09:03.000 --> 09:05.100 Probably nothing but a stranger passing through. 09:05.200 --> 09:06.600 I'm sorry, Miss Lavinia. 09:06.600 --> 09:07.900 No charge for the peppermint. 09:08.000 --> 09:09.700 Don't be silly, Mr. Briggs. 09:09.800 --> 09:12.300 Well, I know what we're going to do right now. 09:12.400 --> 09:14.100 We're going straight home. 09:14.200 --> 09:16.100 That man asking after you. 09:16.200 --> 09:18.100 You're next, Lavinia. 09:18.200 --> 09:19.800 You want to be dead in that ravine? 09:19.900 --> 09:22.800 It was just a man, that's all. 09:22.900 --> 09:24.300 It doesn't mean a thing. 09:24.400 --> 09:25.400 That's what I figure. 09:25.500 --> 09:26.600 Nothing to worry about. 09:26.700 --> 09:27.900 Nothing to worry about. 09:28.000 --> 09:29.600 I'm not going to miss the movie. 09:29.700 --> 09:31.000 You two can do what you want. 09:31.100 --> 09:32.100 I'm going. 09:32.200 --> 09:33.400 Well, I think we should all go home. 09:33.500 --> 09:34.800 So do I. She's right, Lavinia. 09:34.900 --> 09:35.900 No, she's not. 09:35.900 --> 09:36.900 Yes, she is. 09:37.000 --> 09:38.000 She's not. 09:42.700 --> 09:44.300 They argued for five minutes, 09:44.400 --> 09:47.100 then the three of them went to the theater. 09:47.200 --> 09:49.500 Francine and Helen reluctantly. 09:49.600 --> 09:54.100 Lavinia, head high, self-possessed, cool. 09:54.200 --> 09:57.700 In the auditorium, they sat in the order of ancient brass 09:57.800 --> 10:01.800 polish, waiting for the second show to begin. 10:01.800 --> 10:05.800 And the lights began to fade. 10:05.900 --> 10:19.500 As we came in, a man in a dark suit followed us. 10:19.600 --> 10:22.000 He was thin, and I think he had a pale face. 10:22.100 --> 10:24.200 He just came in, and he's sitting behind us. 10:24.300 --> 10:25.000 What? What? 10:25.100 --> 10:25.900 Oh, Helen. 10:26.000 --> 10:26.700 What man? 10:26.800 --> 10:28.000 The man behind us. 10:28.100 --> 10:30.400 It's the one Mr. Briggs said was in the drug store. 10:30.400 --> 10:32.000 The one behind us now. 10:32.100 --> 10:34.300 Oh, I'm calling the manager. 10:34.400 --> 10:35.100 It's him. 10:35.200 --> 10:36.500 Oh, stop the movie. 10:36.600 --> 10:37.300 Stop it. 10:37.400 --> 10:38.700 Put on the lights. 10:38.800 --> 10:40.700 It's the murderer, the lonely one. 10:40.800 --> 10:41.900 He's here. 10:42.000 --> 10:43.000 Put on the lights. 10:43.100 --> 10:43.900 Lights! 10:54.500 --> 10:57.900 The drug store clocked set 1125. 10:57.900 --> 11:00.800 They'd come out of the theater feeling new, 11:00.900 --> 11:04.100 and now they were laughing at Francine. 11:04.200 --> 11:06.600 And Francine was laughing at herself. 11:06.700 --> 11:10.600 You see how silly it was, all that riot for nothing. 11:10.700 --> 11:13.400 When you went running up the aisle screaming lights, 11:13.500 --> 11:14.900 honestly, I thought I'd die. 11:15.000 --> 11:16.700 Oh, that poor man. 11:16.800 --> 11:20.500 The theater manager's brother from Racine. 11:20.600 --> 11:21.900 Oh, Francine. 11:22.000 --> 11:23.300 Well, I did apologize. 11:23.400 --> 11:24.200 No. 11:24.200 --> 11:27.900 You see what a panic can do, and all for nothing. 11:28.000 --> 11:29.800 We shouldn't have stopped for sodas, though. 11:29.900 --> 11:31.500 Wasn't that a wonderful picture? 11:31.600 --> 11:32.900 Will you ever forget? 11:38.700 --> 11:41.100 The streets were clean and empty. 11:41.200 --> 11:45.200 Not a car or a truck or a person was in sight. 11:45.300 --> 11:48.400 The ladies walked under a flickering neon sign, 11:48.500 --> 11:51.100 buzzing like a dying insect. 11:51.100 --> 11:54.900 The sounds of their heels shot on the big pavement. 11:55.000 --> 11:56.700 First, we'll walk you home, Francine. 11:56.800 --> 11:57.300 Oh, no. 11:57.400 --> 11:58.500 I'll walk you home. 11:58.600 --> 12:00.900 If you walked me home, you'd have to come back 12:01.000 --> 12:02.800 across the ravine alone. 12:02.900 --> 12:03.800 I know you. 12:03.900 --> 12:06.400 If a leaf even fell on you, you'd drop dead. 12:06.500 --> 12:08.800 Well, I could stay the night at your house. 12:08.900 --> 12:10.500 No, it's all settled. 12:10.500 --> 12:23.400 First, I'll take you home, and then Helen. 12:23.500 --> 12:26.400 Lavinia, Helen, stay here with me tonight. 12:26.500 --> 12:27.200 It's late. 12:27.300 --> 12:28.600 Mrs. Murdock has an extra room. 12:28.700 --> 12:29.900 No, thanks. 12:30.000 --> 12:32.000 I don't sleep well away from my own bed. 12:32.100 --> 12:34.600 Oh, please, Lavinia, please. 12:34.700 --> 12:36.200 I don't want you dead. 12:36.300 --> 12:38.800 Now, you've got to stop this. 12:38.900 --> 12:40.100 I mean it. 12:40.100 --> 12:43.000 I promise I'll call you the very minute I get home. 12:43.100 --> 12:43.800 Now, will you? 12:43.900 --> 12:44.800 Will you really? 12:44.900 --> 12:45.800 I promise. 12:45.900 --> 12:48.100 And Helen, you make her promise you to call. 12:48.200 --> 12:49.600 I will. 12:49.700 --> 12:52.100 Well, good night. 12:52.200 --> 12:52.900 Be careful. 12:56.200 --> 13:02.400 Now, I'll walk you home. 13:02.500 --> 13:05.300 The courthouse clock struck the hour, 13:05.400 --> 13:09.000 but the sounds went across a town that was empty. 13:09.000 --> 13:11.900 Emptier than it had ever been before. 13:12.000 --> 13:16.900 Over empty streets and empty lots and empty lawns, 13:17.000 --> 13:18.900 the sound went. 13:19.000 --> 13:25.400 10, 11, 12. 13:25.500 --> 13:28.900 I don't suppose it's any use asking you to stay, Lavinia. 13:29.000 --> 13:31.400 There's no reason for me to. 13:31.500 --> 13:34.400 You've acted so strangely tonight. 13:34.500 --> 13:36.900 I'm just not afraid, that's all. 13:36.900 --> 13:39.000 And I'm curious, I suppose. 13:39.100 --> 13:41.000 Of course, I'm using my head. 13:41.100 --> 13:45.500 I mean, logically, the lonely one can't be around. 13:45.600 --> 13:47.100 Not now, with the police and all. 13:47.200 --> 13:49.300 Did you ever think that maybe your subconscious 13:49.400 --> 13:51.100 doesn't want you to live anymore? 13:51.200 --> 13:54.200 You and Francine, honestly, Helen. 13:54.300 --> 13:55.900 Well, I feel so guilty. 13:56.000 --> 13:58.000 I'll be drinking a cup of coffee just about the time 13:58.100 --> 14:03.200 you get to the ravine and, ooh, that awful bridge in the dark. 14:03.300 --> 14:05.600 You will call us the minute you get home, won't you? 14:05.600 --> 14:07.100 I won't sleep a wink if you don't. 14:07.200 --> 14:08.500 I'll call. 14:08.600 --> 14:12.300 Now good night. 14:12.400 --> 14:16.000 Lavinia Nebs walked down the midnight street, 14:16.100 --> 14:19.200 down the late summer silence. 14:19.300 --> 14:22.500 She saw the houses with their dark windows, 14:22.600 --> 14:26.000 and far away she heard a dog barking. 14:26.100 --> 14:28.500 She thought to herself, in five minutes, 14:28.600 --> 14:30.500 I'll be safe at home. 14:30.600 --> 14:34.000 In five minutes, I'll be phoning Francine and Helen. 14:34.000 --> 14:37.700 They're so silly, like old hens. 14:37.800 --> 14:38.700 Old. 14:38.800 --> 14:40.100 I'm older than either of them. 14:40.200 --> 14:43.100 I'm... 14:43.200 --> 14:46.100 She heard a man's voice singing away among the trees, 14:46.200 --> 14:48.600 and she walked a little faster. 14:48.700 --> 14:50.300 And then coming down the street toward her 14:50.400 --> 14:55.200 in the dimming moonlight was a man. 14:55.300 --> 14:57.000 Well, look who it is. 14:57.100 --> 14:59.900 What a time of night for you to be out, Miss Nebs. 15:00.000 --> 15:02.000 Officer Kennedy. 15:02.000 --> 15:04.100 Oh, I'm so glad it's you. 15:04.200 --> 15:05.900 Is something wrong, Miss Nebs? 15:06.000 --> 15:07.300 No, nothing at all. 15:07.400 --> 15:09.600 I'm just glad it's you. 15:09.700 --> 15:11.900 You know you shouldn't be out now. 15:12.000 --> 15:12.700 I know. 15:12.800 --> 15:13.700 I've been to the movies. 15:13.800 --> 15:14.700 It is late. 15:14.800 --> 15:15.300 Yeah, come on. 15:15.400 --> 15:16.200 I'd better see you home. 15:16.300 --> 15:17.500 Oh, no. 15:17.600 --> 15:19.200 I can make it fine. 15:19.300 --> 15:21.000 Moon's going behind the trees. 15:21.100 --> 15:22.600 Be pretty dark. 15:22.700 --> 15:25.400 I'm not afraid of the dark, Mr. Kennedy. 15:25.500 --> 15:27.100 You sure you'll be all right? 15:27.200 --> 15:28.100 Quite sure. 15:28.200 --> 15:30.200 All right, tell you what. 15:30.200 --> 15:32.100 I'll wait here at U-Cross. 15:32.200 --> 15:33.300 If you need help, just give me a yell, 15:33.400 --> 15:35.100 and I'll come running. 15:35.200 --> 15:37.600 I'll check by your house later on my way back. 15:37.700 --> 15:38.800 Thank you. 15:38.900 --> 15:39.600 Good night. 15:39.700 --> 15:41.100 Good night. 15:43.200 --> 15:45.600 As she walked away, she thought, 15:45.700 --> 15:48.700 I won't walk in the ravine with any man. 15:48.800 --> 15:51.600 How do I know who the lonely one is? 15:51.700 --> 15:53.400 No, thank you. 15:53.500 --> 15:55.400 Then the ravine. 15:55.500 --> 15:59.100 She stood on top of the 113 steps, 15:59.100 --> 16:01.000 down the steep bramble bank 16:01.100 --> 16:03.500 that led across the creaking bridge 100 yards 16:03.600 --> 16:07.000 and up through the black hills to Park Street. 16:07.100 --> 16:08.500 Three minutes from now, 16:08.600 --> 16:12.000 I'll be putting my key in the house door. 16:12.100 --> 16:14.000 Nothing can happen. 16:14.100 --> 16:15.500 Nothing. 16:15.600 --> 16:18.800 She started down the dark green steps 16:18.900 --> 16:21.300 into the deep ravine night. 16:21.400 --> 16:26.200 Five, six, seven, eight, nine. 16:26.300 --> 16:28.000 The ravine was deep. 16:28.000 --> 16:30.900 Eleven, twelve, thirteen. 16:31.000 --> 16:33.900 The world of safe people and beds. 16:34.000 --> 16:35.400 The locked doors. 16:35.500 --> 16:36.900 The town. 16:37.000 --> 16:38.400 The drugstore. 16:38.500 --> 16:39.400 The theater. 16:39.500 --> 16:40.900 Lights. 16:41.000 --> 16:42.900 Everything was gone. 16:43.000 --> 16:46.900 Only the ravine existed and lived. 16:47.000 --> 16:49.400 Black and huge around it. 16:49.500 --> 16:52.900 Nineteen, thirty, one. 16:53.000 --> 16:55.400 Nothing's happened, has it? 16:55.500 --> 16:56.900 No one around. 16:56.900 --> 17:00.800 The town is there. 17:00.900 --> 17:02.800 Remember that old ghost story you told each other 17:02.900 --> 17:04.800 when you were children? 17:04.900 --> 17:07.800 About the dark man coming into your house 17:07.900 --> 17:10.800 and you upstairs in bed. 17:10.900 --> 17:14.800 Now he's at the first step coming up to your room. 17:14.900 --> 17:17.800 Now he's at the second step. 17:17.900 --> 17:19.800 Now he's at the third. 17:19.900 --> 17:21.300 The fourth. 17:21.400 --> 17:23.800 The fifth step. 17:23.800 --> 17:26.700 You laughed and screamed at the story. 17:26.800 --> 17:29.700 Now the hard man is at the twelfth step 17:29.800 --> 17:31.700 opening your door. 17:31.800 --> 17:34.700 Now he's standing by your bed. 17:34.800 --> 17:37.700 Ah! 17:37.800 --> 17:39.700 What? 17:39.800 --> 17:41.700 What the? 17:41.800 --> 17:43.700 There at the bottom of the steps. 17:43.800 --> 17:46.700 The man under the light. 17:46.800 --> 17:48.700 No. 17:48.800 --> 17:51.700 He's gone. 17:51.700 --> 17:54.600 He's waiting there. 17:54.700 --> 17:57.600 Oh, but there's nothing. 17:57.700 --> 17:59.600 It's empty. 17:59.700 --> 18:01.600 There's nothing. 18:01.700 --> 18:03.600 Nothing on the bridge. 18:03.700 --> 18:04.600 Fool. 18:04.700 --> 18:07.600 It's that story I told myself. 18:07.700 --> 18:10.600 How silly. 18:10.700 --> 18:13.600 Shall I call Mr. Kennedy? 18:13.700 --> 18:15.600 Did he hear me scream? 18:15.700 --> 18:17.600 Or did I scream? 18:17.700 --> 18:20.600 Maybe I only thought I did. 18:20.600 --> 18:23.500 But then he didn't hear me at all. 18:23.600 --> 18:25.500 I'll go back up. 18:25.600 --> 18:28.500 Go to Helen's and sleep there tonight. 18:28.600 --> 18:30.500 No. 18:30.600 --> 18:32.500 It's nearer home now. 18:32.600 --> 18:35.500 Don't be silly. 18:35.600 --> 18:37.500 Wait. 18:37.500 --> 18:41.400 Someone's following me. 18:41.500 --> 18:46.400 Someone's on the steps behind me. 18:46.500 --> 18:51.400 I don't dare turn around. 18:51.500 --> 18:56.400 Every time I take a step, 18:56.500 --> 19:00.400 I feel like I'm being chased. 19:00.500 --> 19:04.400 I feel like I'm being chased. 19:04.400 --> 19:08.300 Every time I take a step, 19:08.400 --> 19:12.300 he takes one. 19:21.400 --> 19:24.300 Officer Kennedy? 19:24.400 --> 19:27.300 Is that you? 19:27.400 --> 19:29.300 Is it? 19:29.300 --> 19:34.200 The crickets were suddenly still. 19:34.300 --> 19:37.200 The crickets were listening. 19:37.300 --> 19:41.200 The night was listening to her. 19:41.300 --> 19:44.200 Then there was a sound. 19:44.300 --> 19:49.200 Only a woodchuck surely beating a hollow log. 19:49.300 --> 19:51.200 But it was Lavinia Nebbs. 19:51.300 --> 19:55.200 It was most surely the heart of Lavinia Nebbs. 19:55.300 --> 19:58.200 She went down the steps faster, faster, 19:58.200 --> 20:00.100 faster, run. 20:00.200 --> 20:04.100 She heard music in a mad way, a silly way. 20:04.200 --> 20:07.100 She heard the search of music that pounded at her. 20:07.200 --> 20:12.100 Rush punching her faster and faster down, down into the pit of the ravine. 20:12.200 --> 20:16.100 Only a little way across the bridge. 20:16.200 --> 20:18.100 Run, run. 20:18.200 --> 20:20.100 Don't turn. 20:20.200 --> 20:21.100 Don't look. 20:21.200 --> 20:23.100 If you see him, you'll not be able to move. 20:23.200 --> 20:25.100 Just run. 20:25.200 --> 20:27.100 And across the bridge, 20:27.100 --> 20:29.000 between the hills, 20:29.100 --> 20:31.000 to the top of the path, the street, 20:31.100 --> 20:37.000 and even with the light, the fear swirled about her, closing in, pressing. 20:37.100 --> 20:41.000 If I get home safe, I'll never go out alone. 20:41.100 --> 20:44.000 I was a fool. Never again. 20:44.100 --> 20:46.000 If you let me get home, 20:46.100 --> 20:50.000 but this, I'll never go out again, alone. 20:50.100 --> 20:53.000 I promise. Please. 20:53.100 --> 20:55.000 Please, let me. 20:55.000 --> 20:56.900 Please, please. 20:57.000 --> 21:00.900 Get me down to get inside and lock the door. 21:01.000 --> 21:02.900 And I'll be safe. 21:06.000 --> 21:07.900 Oh, safe at home. 21:08.000 --> 21:09.900 Safe, safe at home. 21:10.000 --> 21:10.900 Listen. 21:11.000 --> 21:12.900 Not a sound. 21:13.000 --> 21:14.900 Oh, wait. 21:15.000 --> 21:16.900 Oh, wait. 21:16.900 --> 21:18.800 Oh. 21:22.900 --> 21:24.800 The window. 21:33.900 --> 21:37.800 Why, there's no one there at all. 21:37.900 --> 21:39.800 Nobody. 21:39.900 --> 21:43.800 There was no one following me at all. 21:43.800 --> 21:47.700 Nobody running after me. 21:47.800 --> 21:49.700 How silly. 21:49.800 --> 21:53.700 If a man had been following me, he would have caught me. 21:53.800 --> 21:57.700 I can't run as fast as a man. 21:57.800 --> 22:01.700 I wasn't running from anything except me. 22:01.800 --> 22:05.700 The ravine was safer than safe. 22:06.800 --> 22:08.700 Oh. 22:08.800 --> 22:12.700 It's nice to be home, though. 22:12.700 --> 22:16.600 Home's a really good, warm, 22:16.700 --> 22:18.600 safe place. 22:18.700 --> 22:20.600 The only place. 22:20.700 --> 22:23.600 She had just put her hand out to the light switch 22:23.700 --> 22:27.600 when she heard it behind her in the blackness. 22:27.700 --> 22:30.600 Just a movement. 22:30.700 --> 22:32.600 What? 22:32.700 --> 22:34.600 What? 22:34.600 --> 22:40.500 Who is it? 22:40.500 --> 22:54.400 Beautiful. 23:10.500 --> 23:13.400 Suspense. 23:13.500 --> 23:16.400 In which Miss Jeanette Nolan starred with Paula Winslow, 23:16.500 --> 23:19.400 Eve McVeigh, and Bill Conrad in tonight's presentation of 23:19.500 --> 23:24.400 Ray Bradbury's The Whole Town Sleeping, adapted by Anthony Ellis. 23:24.500 --> 23:27.400 Next week, the story of a fishing cruise and bait 23:27.500 --> 23:29.400 that was a life insurance policy. 23:29.500 --> 23:32.400 We call it Over the Bounding Main. 23:32.500 --> 23:36.400 That's next week on Suspense. 23:36.400 --> 23:41.300 Suspense is produced and directed by Anthony Ellis. 23:41.400 --> 23:45.300 The music was composed by Lucian Marowick and conducted by Wilbur Hatch. 23:45.400 --> 23:48.300 Featured in the cast were Tom McKee, Florence Wolcott, 23:48.400 --> 23:51.300 Tom Brown, and Will Wright. 23:51.300 --> 24:07.200 Thursday night, The Whistler brings mystery on the CBS Radio Network. 24:21.300 --> 24:50.200 The Whistler.