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Now it's time for the conclusion of this week's Yours Truly Johnny Dollar Cereal
The Nick Sharan Matter from December twenty first, twenty second, and twenty third,
nineteen fifty five. From Hollywood. It's time now for Johnny Dollar damn
marking here. I was up the street with listening Sheriff. They've traced Kathy
O'Dare here to you A nice little town of Branbury, Oh, Nick Shuran's
boys. One of them, a trigger man named Benny Stark, came out
to the sawmill hell a few minutes ago. I traded a couple of show
with him, but he got away in a car. Did he head north
or back toward town? Toward town? I think you can't see the turnoff
from here. All right, Dollar, you're packing a gun. Will you
take a pickup truck and black bet turn off? Hold it until I can
get somebody out there to relieve it. Right, how many deputies you got?
Deputies? Oh? What about volunteers? Is this Benny Stark, the
man Kathy's afrido, he's one of them? Then I'll have volunteers, twenty
men within a half hour, armed with deer rifles, and every one of
them a dead shot. Good Night and every weekday Night. Bob Bailey,
in the Transcribed Adventures of the Man with the Action Packed Expenser gout America's Fabulous
Freelance insurance investigator, Heirs Truly Johnny Dollar. From Special Investigator Johnny Dollar,
location Branburry, Michigan to the home office Primutual Insurance Limit at Hartford, Connecticut.
Assignment. The Nick arn Matter expense account continued. Itam eight three dollars
sixty cents for two packs of cigarettes and a pint of applejack borrowed from the
foreman's locker at the sawmill. I figured these as standard equipment for holding down
a roadblock at ten degrees above zero, and Mike O. Dare agreed with
me one hundred percent. Oh, I'll tell you one thing. They can
make it out of corn RYE. Piley, make it at a gold if
they want to, but they'll never come up with anything better than what they
make out of apples. Yet here have a short term john No, no
thanks, I'll save it for later. Well, I'll just it's got the
taste of Indian summer in it. You ought to see this country around that
time of year, Johnny, break your heart. It's so beautiful. Well,
it's beautiful now with the snow on, and there would be more so
if there wasn't a killer running loose in it. Johnny. I want to
ask you something about my daughter, and I want you to answer me honest,
all right, it's no use training to fool you. She's here,
all right, I know, but she hasn't pulled me. But it was
it happened in New York, but she ran away from it. Somehow,
I figured it was just as well not to ask. You're sure if Dan
Martin said practically the same thing. Den's been in love with Kathy since he
was twelve years old. He's a good man, so so I forged anyway,
she was scared, scared half to dick, and she'd come home for
help, so we tried to help. What was it you wanted to ask
me, mister Odare you mentioned a murder case? Johnny? You didn't give
any of the details, just said that Kathy was her witness? Is is
she mixed up in this murder? And you wanted an honesstancing? All right?
I'm not sure, you see. That's why I wanted to talk to
her, get her story, the truth. I realized on the start she
might be guilty. I don't think so, but it's a possibility. You
may as well know about it. I guess you realized it wouldn't make any
difference not to me or today. Oh yeah, I figured. In other
words, you're with me as long as I'm trying to protect her, but
you'll fight me if I find reason to think she's guilty about it. Johnny.
Well, at least we know where we stand, and I hope it
won't come. What's the matter a car coming light on the trees there at
the bend? Yeah, do you suppose? Maybe? Probably not, but
you can't tell. Better get behind the truck just in case, and I'll
have to shift in the load the wedge past us. And if we get
that spotlight on right, I guess so just have another quick one. The
wind cuts right through your bones. It's a dark colored said Dan. It
might be him, Fenny. I had been hoping for two months. I
kat he'd come home for Christmas, and they didn't figure I'd be out here
in the woods hiding behind a truck waiting to shoot it out with somebody that
wanted to kill. It's a crazy world. Keep your head down a stilt.
Yeah, just the driver by himself, wearing a dark cant Oh no,
you know that kind of looks right. What's kid Perkins or wreck?
No doubt about it. All right, shoot better wave him out past.
He probably thinks we need help. It's all right, dead, it's my
good hair. Go ahead ahead, We don't need anything. Eh, well,
all right, thanks. Anyway. You know there's one thing about people
around here. They mind their own business and don't ask no questions, and
they don't answer them often either. How's that applejack holding out? Two long
hours went past. Only three cars came out from the village, and each
time a long moment of tension while we waited to identify the occupants, But
all of them were townspeople, and he didn't show. One truck came down
the logging road from the back hills, loaded with dwarf spruce and fir peace
on earth, goodwill toward men. We were waiting for an assassin. The
truck only carried Christmas trees. The night was crystal clear, with bright stars
hanging low in the blackness, but it kept turning colder and colder, and
believe on the apple jack didn't help much. And the wind too, changed
gradually and blew fitful and gusty and strange. It's kind of storm come a
blizzard. Maybe not tonight, tomorrow sometime or tomorrow night. I know this
country, know the signs. There's an odd feeling in the air, all
right, there's an even order. When in my leg log rolled over on
it, putting it six years ago, bothers me some in the winter till
that wears so right before the storm. And that's kind of a handy thing
to have. Well, that's one way of looking at it. I guess.
Like one time when Kathy was little, when the more was still alive,
cried rosterssoul. We had a big measles epidemic here in Branberry, and
every night Kathy used to add a line to a prayer, kid say,
and please let me catch the meat so they can stay out of school like
the other kids. Now she's wanted as a witness in a murder case,
and somebody's prowling out there in the dark trying to find her and kill her.
Little Kathy, who never harmed anybody in her whole life. Some things
just don't make sense, Johnny. Some things never have. There was another
time once when men like Benny were prowling in the dark trying to find a
little child and kill him, and he hadn't harmed anybody either. That was
nearly two thousand years ago. Yeah, sure it was. I like you,
Johnny, Kathy, you'll like it too. Live a jail, huh
ah, there's a pair for that kid. Looks more like a mother did
at her aid. Another car coming astrol there. Yeah, so there is,
and this just might be the one. Maybe I wish that apple Jack
hadn't run out, But it was only a couple of men. Deputy Martin
had sent out from town to relieve us and take over. Big men,
calm and quiet, wearing plaid mackinaws and heavy laced boots and carrying Winchester ninety
fours over their arms. They told us Benny Stark had been seen. He'd
come up from the west, driven onto one of the roadblocks unexpectedly, and
a flurry of shots he'd broken through. The men couldn't understand his persistence.
They thought he'd run for it, get out of the area once his presence
was known. I didn't bother to explain, to put him straight, but
I knew Benny had never run, not now. He was a trigger man,
a professional killer with a reputation at stake, and he had his orders
to silence Kathy o'dair. A half hour later, we were back in town,
turning into the main street. Around the village square. Strings of pilly
lights and a tall pine in the center of the square blinked and sparkled as
they swayed in the wind. Around one hundred cars and trucks were parked in
the street and in the lot behind the town hall, and the sound of
singing drifted out from inside. They're practicing carols and things for the big doings
on Christmas Eve. He did beautiful. The man at the roadblock had given
a description of Benny's car and the license number. It was just barely possible.
Good something in mind, Johnny. Let's take a look through those park
cards. I don't know. If it was me, I sure wouldn't be
hanging around here. I'd stick to the tall timber. Yeah, you're not
a city boy, and like tall timorous foreign soil. To Benny, he's
only comfortable when he's close to a crowd. Either. Fellow that's supposed to
have done that murder now is the man he works for, a cafe on
or ex gangster, a man named Nick Shearn. Let's check that lot around
at the side. I don't think he'd show here in front. He'd be
taking a big chance showing anywhere in the town this size. People know each
other. It's his job to take chances, and he probably doesn't realize whatever's
that's the dan against the building with the side window broken shifting and cool.
That's his card, Johnny. Yeah, I wait here. I eased my
gun out of the holster and started toward the car. There were no lights
in the lot, only the soft glow reflected from the packed snow on the
foot, and the car itself stood in the dark shadows next to the building.
I couldn't see whether anyone was in it or not. The singing seemed
to swell louder as I approached. I moved slowly, watching for any sudden
movement. The car was empty. It was time past time to talk to
Kathy Adare, and, with a pressure tightening, the danger close to home
now, her father was ready to take me to her. We drove over
to Dan Martin's house, where it turned out Kathy and my daughter was staying.
Dan's mother had been looking after her. Dan was there when we arrived,
busy on the phone. Yeah, I know the carl right, the
one Jed bought last spring down in Bay City seven three? Where was it
park? All right? Keep an eye on Charlie. So on. Benny
Stark had stole himself another car. H took Jed Wharton station wagon we went
for that was a better one. He had Charlie says the steering gear was
sprung. I guess it happened when he crashed that roadblock. When it was
Kathy and the young and oh fine, they were asleep upstairs. Mom's next
door helping missus Barton stuff a turkey, Johnny, you figured it could wait
two more. I'm sorry, mister, oh dear. I've got to talk
to her tonight. All right, I'll go wake her up, mister Dollar.
No matter what she's done, don't hurt her anymore than you have to.
As far as I know at the moment, Dan, all she's guilty
of is withholding information, and most people would have done the same thing.
Nick Suran's a rough boy. At a time, she was scared. That's
all lost her head. She never did belong in a city. She belongs
right here in Branbury. This is her kind of life. Why did she
leave? Well, we argued one day and she said she'd show me.
So she ran off and married that fellaw. He treated her bad, finally
left her, but she was too proud to come back. She wouldn't have
come back now she hadn't have been so scared. Well, maybe it'll work
out now. She ought to stay her kid ought to grow up here,
learned the outdoors in the woods like Kathy used to know it where she roamed
through those hills like a young Indian. Knew every trail in that forest,
every timber camp and trapper's cabin from here to the ridge. I remember one
time the two of us were up toward what you said. You said,
Kathy were sleep upstairs? That what you said, Dan, Of course that's
what I'm Mike. What's happened? They're not up here, They're not up
there anywhere else in the house there, God, Johnny Dollar might go there,
Johnny any signed a Cathy. No, the boys of the highway turn
off haven't seen her or Benny either one. Not a soul out that way
in the last hour. What about there at this armon nothing, Mike,
No fresh tracks on the logging road, no sign of her. And the
worst thing is it's starting to snow again here in town. Two. Dan
Martin, just phone, no luck. She hasn't shown up at any of
the roadblocks. She's she's around somewhere, and we've got to find her.
We will, Mike, and it's got to be fast. Johnny. There's
a blizzard coming up, and that gunman Benny's is a round two. Maybe
he's already found her, maybe even took her from the house Hard and Jiti
both. Maybe she didn't get scared and run. Maybe it was him.
Maybe I stop at that kind of thing. It's not gonna help anything.
I don't know, but I've got a half baked idea, and I may
be right. Stay there at the house. I'm coming back to pick you
up. And one thing you can do while you're waiting, what Johnny pray?
From Special Investigator Johnny Dollar location, Branbury, Michigan to the home office
Tri Mutual Insurance Limited, Hartford, Connecticut. Assignment the Nick Shuran matter,
or more important, find Kathy O'Dare itdem twelve on expense account four dollars and
ninety cents. A tank full of gas for the county pickup I'd borrow from
Deputy Sheriff Dan Martin. The falling snow was thickening now and the wind was
rising and steadying in the northwest. The night had all the makings of a
blizzard, and wherever Kathy and her daughter had gone, we had to find
them before it hit. It was ten fourteen PM when I pulled up at
the side porch of the Adare house. Kathy's father came hurrying out to the
truck, leaving the door open behind him and butting his heavy mcinaws. He
ran and he knew was my utter king. All right, get in,
shut the door. Hey, we'll get a foot of snow before money with
a zero win behind it. Now, listen, Mike, I think we
can forget any idea that Benny found her and got her out of the house.
In that case, she wouldn't have taken your car. He's already got
one. I know I thought her that, And he wouldn't have given her
time to dress herself and jail the way she did with heavy clothes and snow
boots. And she wouldn't have taken the rifle. And what has happened.
She knew I'd be there to talk to her sometime this evening. I think
she lost a nerve, couldn't face it, decided to run again. Maybe
so, But where Johnny? That's what I want you to tell me that
Now. I don't mean you knew what she was going to do and where
she was going to go, or how do you think I can tell you?
Look, Kathy knew about the roadblocks, Stan Martin sat up to trap
Benny Stock knew where they were, so she didn't want to be seen.
Then naturally she'd avoid She couldn't. Not if she wanted to get away,
take the highway to Flint to Detroit, she'd have to pass one of them
at least. But she hasn't passed any of them. So she's still in
this area, and I don't think she ever meant to leave it. But
then then, Martin said, Cathy used to spend a lot of time in
the woods when she was growing up. He said, she knew every back
trail in these hills, logging camps, trappers, cabins. She did.
She used to worry that dickens out to be the way she Yeah, Now
where would she go, Mike, if she wanted to hide out back in
the hill somewhere? There's a lot of places, Chippewa canyons, one here
for timbercamps abandoned in the winter, some cabins along it. No, No,
she couldn't make it. There's a roadblocked before you get to the turnout
there. It's gotta be someplace she could reach without being seen. There's workers
flats, ah, but that's twelve miles of foot trail. She wouldn't try
it in this weather, not with Gill along anyway. Then there's Lake Pine.
No, it's over the other way, Pine Lake Rows that runs northwest
of town. Not much better than the wagon road. The DAN didn't put
a block on it because it dead ends at the lake about five miles out.
What's out there? Nothing at the lake, but you can go on
up Pine Creek about four miles on foot, and there's some cabins. Maybe
you waste the time, Johnny, let's get going expense account. It am
thirteen six dollars and ninety cents one dry cell electric lantern, an extra pair
of batteries picked up at the Branberry Hardware Company. And the way through town,
the falling snow, driven by a bitter cold wind, formed a dense
curtain in front of our headlights, and from the turnoff all the way up
the narrow, twisting road to Pine Lake, I had to keep the truck
in second gear. There were car tracts in the road, all right,
several of them, but they were covered now with a new blanket of snow,
and it was impossible to tell whether they'd been made earlier tonight or a
week ago. The road ends a couple of yards past this next turn,
and we'll soon know. There's four or five side turnoffs clearance where you can
pack. We'll left to check out of them. I guess all right,
that draw there on the right, that break there in the trees, that's
that's where the Pine Creek trailer starts. I will swing in, Mike.
I guess we won't have to check those turn ups. Eh. Is that
your car over there under the trees, Yeah, that's it. I left
Mike waiting in the cab while I went over to look inside the car.
It was empty, abandoned, and there was no note, no clue of
any kind to tell where Kathy had gone. I raised the hood and felt
the motor block ice cold. The car had been here for some time.
I flashed the lantern on the ground and followed the faint tracks made by two
pairs of snowboats the end of the deep draw that led back into the hills,
the start of the Pine Creek trail. I snapped off the lantern and
stumbled through the snow back to the truck. But you, Praine, Johnny,
it's them all right, They've headed up the trail. I found tracks
in the snow. Then we'd better get started. Oh wait, I'll go
after the Mic. You take the truck, go into town. Fi and
Dan Martin, bring help as fast as you can. That storm is getting
worse. No you don't. I know there is starting up that trailer with
a blizzard coming on. And if you think you've got to protect me,
but I said, I get off, Mike. There's no time, and
you're wrong. I'm not protecting you. I'm protecting myself. What do you
mean that bum leg of yours. I don't want you on my hands too,
along with the girls. All right, Johnny, I'll go after Dan
and hurry Mike. I'm depending on you. Yeah, good luck, Johnny,
see you, Mike. I stood there in the snow watching the headlights
of the truck move away. Finally they swung around the bend and disappeared,
and I suddenly felt more alone than I ever had in my life. I've
gotten rid of Mike. Deliberately send him away on purpose, because I hadn't
told him everything. I could see no point in tearing his heart out.
There was another car parked on beyond Kathy's, nearly hidden by the trees.
Jed Wharton's station wagon, the car that had been stolen by a killer named
Benny Stark. It took me half an hour to cover the first mile,
and the storm kept getting worse. The beam of the lantern penetrated a bare
thirty feet ahead of me before it was smothered out in the white blackness of
the night. After a few hundred yards, the tracks I was trying to
follow and nearly disappeared snowbover were blotted out. I gave up looking for them
and struck to Old Mike's description of the trail following the left bank of the
frozen creek. The drifts were deeper down along the creek bottoms, and the
going was rougher, but I didn't dare leave it to look for better footing.
It was my only landmark. The trail itself was buried. Any man
who lost his way to night and wandered off into one of those side gullies,
but wanted us straight to his death. An hour past, then an
hour and a half, or two hours. Maybe I lost all track of
time and distance. The wind cut through my clothes, and the numbing pole
crept into me deeper and deeper. Gradually, the walking stumbling, breathing,
even thinking became automatic, and without feeling, the world itself seemed to narrow
down to a tiny circle close around me, and all beyond was chaos,
blackness, and the roaring storm. I tripped over fallen logs and floundered back
to my feet, dropped my lantern and recovered it, broke through the crested
brists and struggled for footing, and kept on moving in the weird nightmare of
the blizzard. I could highly recognize reality when I came face to face with
it, and a beam from my lantern touched him, crouching by a tree
a few yards away. I could barely accept him as being real. He'd
been watching my light as I approached, waiting for me. It was Benny
Stark, with his gun leveled and named, don't be a fool of any
drop that gun. A curtain of snow swept between us, then blotting out
the side of them, and I was grateful. I turned and stumbled on
into the storm, moving in pitch darkness, now except for the ghostly glow
from the snow covered ground. The second shot had smashed my land, and
I had nothing left to go by but instinct and luck, and they weren't
enough. Within fifteen minutes, I was hopelessly lost. That's when I started
hearing the music miles from no place where there couldn't be any music except inside
my head. The cold and fatigue were finally doing their work. I knew
the signs. The next step was to start wandering in circles, smaller and
smaller ones, and the last step to drop it, Austin and go peacefully,
to sleep, peacefully and permanently. But the sound kept going louder,
and I moved in the direction it seemed to be coming from. It couldn't
be just illusions. It had to be real. Hello, Hello, there.
Then suddenly, only a few yards away, a brilliant blaze of light
exploded from the darkness, and it seemed that a golden haired girl was standing
in the middle of it, And for a moment my sanity tottered, who's
out there? My golden vision was wearing blue jeans and a flannel shirt and
was holding a rifle. She looked exactly like the photograph I'd seen of Kathy
Adare, And the blaze of light came from an open cabin door. Who
is it? Speak up for our shoe holdly, mistair, it's Johnny Dollar.
Are you getting warm now? I don't think I'll ever get warm again.
You will if you don't move away from stove a little the back.
You're sure you're starting to smoke? Yeah? I thought I was beginning to
feel something. How's the firewood? There's plenty. There's plenty of food and
a radio. If I hadn't heard that music, had a blunded right on
past this cabin. We've got everything. You can hold out for a month
if we have to, I hope we have to. What about your daughter?
Is she all right? Sure? She's fine? The picnic for her
a camping trip. She's fund asleep back there, maly in too dreaming about
Santa Claus. I suppose I wish I could. How did you find news?
To Dollar? Hunch? Guess work? I was born under a lucky
story. I wasn't. Oh on all, I think you've been pretty lucky
considering everything, more so than your landlady back in New York, missus Grobler,
what do you mean? Pretty stark? Want to see her? Tried
to find out where you were. When she wouldn't tell him, he broke
her arm. No oh, oh, it's a rough game, is so
they're trying to play it cozy with a mobster like Nick Sheran. You know,
of course, that he sent Benny here to find you. You'll have
a hard time finding me in this place. He did find you, what
maybe he followed you from the house. I saw you drive through town anyway.
I ran into him back down the trailer ways. I thought that you're
chooting a while ago. You did. He tried to ambush me. He
thought he had the drop and he wouldn't give up. I had to kill
him. Johnny Dollar, Johnny Dollar, spill it. J O h n
n y d O L l a R. That's not right. You forgot
to capitalize. You're right, honey. Let me hear you spout your name,
okay, capital j I L L jill, capital O apostrophe, apostrophe.
I never can see that capital d ari dare. Of course, my
last name is actually something else I forget, but my mother says I'm really
an o' dare not the least out about it. I could see it in
my minna. I like you, Johnny Dollar, and I kind of like
you too, jell ol dare. Do you think my mother's pretty I think
she's lovely. Why don't you get married to her so I can have a
daddy. Well, that's well, it's certainly something to think about and not
a bad idea. Now I'll be quiet before you wake her up. I'm
already awaken. With a plot like that being hatched, I think I better
stay awake. Is there coffee, Johnny? From Special Investigator Johnny Dollar.
Location a small cabin in the timber outside Branbury, Michigan, to the home
office Trimutual Insurance Limited, Hartford, Connecticut. Assignment the Nick Suran matter expense
account final page item fifteen one million dollars for a certain feeling. I realize,
of course, that the amount of this item is somewhat unusual. It
may be cause for mild criticism by your accounting department unless the accompanying report includes
an adequate and detailed explanation. Therefore, to avoid unnecessary correspondence and delay,
I am attaching said explanation herewith here's your coffee, County. Say how long
did I sleep, Johnny? Oh? A couple of hours. It's around
four in the morning. Storm hasn't let up at all, has it?
Oh? It's worse, If anything, Jill, Honey, it's four o'clock
morning and your eyes are just about to fall out, and you go back
there and go to sleep. Do I have to move? You have to
I long now, mister Johnny Dollar, and you were having a lot of
fun till you woke. Well, that's life, Seetie, night now,
good night night. Proud of her. I'm crazy about her, that's what
you mean. She's a great little girl. She's the only thing I ever
did in my whole life that turned out right that bad. Huh, Johnny,
it's no good. I know why you're here, I know what you
expect from and the answer is no, you're jumping the gun. I haven't
asked you anything. You will, You haven't done all this for nothing.
You're going to ask me to come back to New York and testify against Nick
Shuran. I might ask you to tell the truth. Is that just another
way of wording. I didn't see anything, hear anything. I don't know
anything about it, and I have nothing to say. So next Sharan gets
away with another murder, I wouldn't know anything about that, and sooner or
later, of course he'll kill you two. He sent Benny Stark out to
do it and Benny missed. But he's got other boys, or he might
even handle the job himself. Why by now he ought to know that.
I'm not going to tell, but there's always that chance you might change your
mind. And Nick's a gambler, but he likes the odds on his side.
He doesn't take chances. Whenever he can, he stacks a deck.
I wish I could help you, Johnny, but I don't know anything about
it. I left before it happened. How long have you worked for Nick?
Sharon known him two years. I'm not wide eyed about him, Johnny.
I've heard what he's been what he may even still be a gangster,
hoodlum, racketeer, but that's none of my business. The club was legitimate.
My job there was on the level, and he never got out of
line once and now doubt. He's always been kind to his mother and loves
dogs and children. I wouldn't know except children. He's crazy about them.
He was always buying something for Jill. Ask him about it. And they
also shot and kill Milk Priker. I couldn't say, I see, well,
you're letting a lot of people down, people here in Branbury that you
grew up with people that love you, your father, Dan Martin. What
have they got to do with it? You know, it's a great country
up here. I like to spend more time in it. And it's a
big country, big and beautiful and dangerous like that blizzard outside there. It's
not the kind of country that turns out cowards. Cowards. Your father said
something yesterday that some people belong in cities and some don't, and that you're
one of the second kind. He was right. The city's made a coward
of you. You don't understand. They know it, oh, Mike,
Dan, all of them. Of course, they'll never mention it, but
you're letting them down, and they know it, and you'll know it,
Kathy. They don't have a daughter to think of it. It's not her
fear we're talking about. It's yours, all right, I'm scared. I
got reason to be. It's easy for you to talk. You don't know
what fear is, what it can do to you. I don't. It
can push you and drive you and make you do things you hate yourself for,
and it can destroy How would you know? How would any of them
know? Who haven't felt it, who haven't been there. I can think
you are not alone. We've all been there. It's not the fear that's
important, it's the courage you bring up to fight it. I've tried,
I've I've nearly goten crazy trying to think it out. But it always comes
back to one thing. Jill. She is what counts. Nothing else matters.
And if you love her, teacher to grow up without fear, sacrifice
anything. If you have to leave in your life, but teach your courage,
there's nothing greater you could do for Sorry, all right, Sorry,
I knew what was right, Johnny, I knew all time. Sure,
of course you did. All you needed was a little push. I want
to tell me about it now. I was to hear at the club that
night when it happened. I stayed after closing. I had some presents for
Jill and I wanted to wrap them before I took them home. Nick and
North Priker were upstairs in the office. Nick was there, Yes. I
could hear them arguing they didn't know I'd stayed in. Then go on,
I heard Mel yell out. He said no, Nick, No, And
then I heard the shots. Yes, I didn't even think. I ran
up to the office. Mel was lying on the floor and Nick was standing
there with a gun. He told me to get out and to keep quiet
if I wanted to keep on living, that's it. Yes, will you
make a statement to the police, testify at the trial. Yes, I'm
going there. Will you help me, Johnny, Will you stand by me?
You know I will got too, because I'm scared. I'll be scared
all the way. But I'll do it if you will help me. I'll
help you. Kathy all away. Why don't you curl up here and get
some sleep? Come on, maybe, no, I can't sleep. It's
going to be all right, thanks Johnny giving me the push. Oh sure,
honey. You know something, Johnny, I'm with Jill. I like
you too. She went to sleep with a face against my chest, and
after a while little Jill came tiptoeing in and curled up on the other side,
and I sat there, holding them both, thinking and waiting for the
dawn. So that's what I mean about a million dollar feeling. True,
it wasn't my little girl or my big girl either, but for the moment
at least, well, that item still goes. I'll still tag that feeling
at one million dollars. And I was sorry when the storm was over and
the rescue party came up from town. Because I felt I'd had one moment
in a lifetime that I'd never find again, went went. The big event
of the year in Bramburry was the Christmas Eve show in the town hall.
There was music and a pageant and singing, and everybody took part in it,
from the youngest kid in town to the toughest, old grizzled lumberjack from
the back hills. Jill was in the children's car as and Old Mike was
to operate the spotlights, so they went on ahead. I took Kathy,
and since she wasn't quite ready to face people yet, we made a point
of getting there late. I didn't care when we got there, as long
as I was with her. We slipped in quietly and took seats at the
back of the room. The spring group from the high school orchestra was playing,
and no one noticed us, not even Old Mike, Kathy's father,
who was working in the spotlights. I hope Jill Daggar actually hadn't had any
time to practice with him, or she'll do all right. We'd been there
about ten minutes when somebody else came in and slid into the one seat between
us and the door. I didn't look around until I felt Canty stiffened beside.
Now it was Nick shran. Nobody gets excited now the s any sudden
moves. I just said, here quietly. He slid his hand over the
feeling inside my coat under my arm. I'm backing Auna perfect. I'd left
my gun at Cathy's house. Old Mike had been duious about it, but
with Benny dead, I'd seen no reason to carry it. And after all,
it was Christmas Eve all no, I was gonna ease out of you
know it, out, attract no attention from any crazy and just don't forget
one thing now and that whole next gun. I knew he seem right at
the mill of Cathy's back. Let's go, no choice, Candy. Come
on. The back of the room was dark, nobody paid any attention,
and somebody was always leaving or coming back in. Come on, I got
a car over to side here, Johnny, watch your dollar. We'll be
right back. Mike. Just gonna get some there, all right, Johnny,
But don't go running out before I give you your present. Huh here,
and don't uncork that until you're ready for some serious business. All right,
I'll i'll thanks, Mike, thanks a lot, don't mention it.
Good luck, Johnny. Come on, let's get away from here, Johnny,
Jill go back. You tell me you're coming here, do you hear
me? Listen? Please take your hands on your pocket and pick me up.
Look, Jill, you run alone. Now, who's that Dan Martin?
He's a deputy sheriff and he's a dead shot. Better do like she
says, Nick, take your hand out of your pocket and pick her up.
All right, reach in my pocket, Johnny, take my gun.
Later, Kathy and I walked around outside. We could still hear the children's
cars singing inside. Jill saved our lives time. No, she saved Nick's
life. What do you mean that present your father gave me up there at
the spotlights. He could see what was happening, and he thought real fast
that present was a gun. I had Nick covered from the time we stepped
off the porch. I'm glad he didn't move. I'm glad it happened like
it did. Yeah, so, my I thought we'd never see those stars
up there again. You kept holding yourself, Kathy. You showed a lot
of courage. No, but maybe I can learn to show it. I
was just thinking, Johnny, looking at the stars up there, there was
fear in the world then. Two thousand years ago Key Head Courage expense account
Item sixteen two hundred and thirty dollars and forty cents incidentals in Bramburry and transportation
for two adults and one child Branburry to New York. Expense account total four
hundred and eighty six dollars and twenty cents. End of account and of report
remarks, Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas to all of you from all of us
here on the program, and God bless you, Yours truly, Johnny Dollar,
Yours Truly Johnny Dollar is starring Bob Bailey, is transcribed in Hollywood,
written by Les Crutchfield, It is produced and directed by Jack Johnstone. Heard
in this week's cast were Virginia, Greg Peggy Weber, Don Diamond, Ben
Wright, Jack Prussian, Barney Phillips, Sam Edwards, and Ken Christie.
Musical supervision by Arigo Marino. Be sure to join us on Monday night,
same time in Station for another exciting story of Yours Truly Johnny Dollar. Roy
Roman speaking welcome back, Well, I'll be honest, this is my all
time favorite, yours truly, Johnny dull or Cereal, And there's so much
to talk about on this one. We'll start with some of the smaller items
and then go into the big overarching themes as we get to the close of
the commentary. First of all, let's talk about the scene with Johnny on
the trail and episode four looking for Kathleen and dealing with Benny Stark and a
blizzard. This is, simplite, some of the best radio you will ever
hear, with the mix of music, sound effects and Bob Bailey's narration and
acting. Just grab your attention and carry the scene through. And this is
actually the only scene that I've ever actually paid someone to animate, and I'll
include a link to it in the show notes. It's to see how they
interpreted it at Even if the pictures don't quite match the vivid ones that would
be in the heads of most listeners, it's just such a well executed and
suspenseful and dramatic sequence. And of course that comes down to Bob Bailey,
and let's just appreciate how good he is in this serial. Bailey is praised
oftentimes for being the best Johnny Dollar actor, but in this serial, I
think it really is at another level. He has so many great scenes and
really his performance is just a masterclass. And having listened to the serial a
few times this time through, I noted some of the actors, and the
first few times through I was so into the story, I didn't pay a
whole lot of attention, but I noticed that you had a couple of actors
in this who were playing parts that were very different from the sort of roles
that you would associate with them. Now. Ken Christy tended to play a
lot of generic cops and policemen. It wasn't exclusively, but that's probably the
most common role I've heard him. And of course he had ongoing roles as
Lieutenant Johnson on Let George Do It after Wally Mayer was no longer available to
play Lieutenant Riley. And he was also the second actor to play Noah Danton
on Mystery as My Hobby, and in the serials Don Diamond. I've noticed
he plays a lot of younger, edgier hipper characters. For example, in
the Broderick Catter he played a jazz musician. In the Que Bono Matter,
he played the guy who is running the underground club sort of top from the
city, and that tends to be his roles. Yet in this one,
Ken Christie plays Old Mike and Don Diamond plays the sheriff's deputy, and I
think it really works well. I don't think I've ever enjoyed a Ken Christie
performance more than in this story. The start of the final episode was really
interesting from a character perspective, not just for the way it handled the Johnny
Dollar opening in a very different way, because Johnny, of course is a
bachelor, and that's a conscious choice. If there's any part of the character
that carried over from the O'Brien era, it may be from that one story
where Johnny said he didn't like policeman's wives and it was applied to both policemen
detective what have you. And what he meant by that is he didn't like
what the job did to them and how hard it was on them. And
so Johnny says a really strong conflict between his job and having a family life,
and he loves his job, you know, plus the fact that his
heart has gotten broken so many times probably doesn't out matters. Yet in this
brief moment, Johnny indulges in a bit of imagining what if or what could
have been, but which he never expects to happen. I think that the
fact that Johnny has conflicting desires about family lives actually makes him more interesting than
those sort of characters who you just know they're never going to get married and
have no interest in anything other than their work. And I think it's really
particularly well handled in his interactions with Jill. As for the story itself,
it's such a story of striking contrast. The majority of this serial after like
the first episode and and a half in New York, takes place in Bramberry,
which feels like the sort of town a Hallmark movie would be sent in.
Instead Johnny's hunting for a killer. The contrast between the Christmas atmosphere and
the deadliness of the situation occurs time and time again. Christ Miss music is
often played at times of extreme peril. It's such an odd but intentional juxtaposition.
The conversation between Mike and Johnny in episode three, when Johnny can here's
Benny to those who haunted Baby Jesus drives home the point that this contrast between
the spirit of the season and the cruelty and harshness of the world has always
been present. I think there can be a view that Christmas, with its
joy and hope and peace on earth, really can only fit into a sort
of idyllic place, a sort of fantasy, because reality is far harsher,
because the more we look at the world and all that goes on, the
more Christmas and all of its themes can seem out of place. Yet,
one of the big themes of this episode is that evil in the world and
Christmas have always coexisted, and so they coexist in this story. The other
big theme is courage. Johnny's confrontation with Kathleen, as well as her final
line, really drive homeless theme and the idea that fundamentally Christmas is about courage.
It takes courage to celebrate peace on earth and goodwill toward men in the
face of all the evil and heartache in the world, to do the right
thing in your life all the year round, no matter how fearful the consequences
might be. And it explores this idea through the Christmas story and what I
think is a really effective way. The Nick Scharn Matter manages to be a
very good detective story and also a very good Christmas story while also offering some
unexpected thematic depth. It's acting is on point, and its use of music
to drive the themes home is effective without ever feeling overbearing. I'm the opinion
that this is one of the truly great audio dramas ever made. It's an
all time classic, and it's always such a pleasure to share it with you.
Well, now we turn to listener comments and feedback, and we have
an email from Tom, who writes, Adam, I've been joining the Old
Time Detectives Christmas shows very much before my time, but a really interesting glimpse
into the not too far past. Well, thank you so much, Tom.
And now it's time to thank our Patreon supporter of the day, and
I want to go ahead and thank Jonathan. Jonathan has been one of our
Patreon supporters since March of twenty twenty. He's currently supporting the podcast at the
shamous level of four dollars or more per month. Thank you so much for
your support, Jonathan, And that will do it for today. If you're
enjoying the podcast, please follow us using your favorite podcast software. Be sure
to rate and review the podcast wherever you download it from. We'll be back
a week from Tuesday with our next yours truly John ead All or Cereal as
we'll be bringing you on core presentation starting on Sunday and continuing through New Year's
Day for our recording break, but join us back here tomorrow for Dragnet where
sure a lot of people from the Mission Church come in here. Do people
ever come in and sell back a religious article like a prayer book? A
rodaries? Yes, sir, second hand? You mean, yes, sir,
not since I've ever been around. It's hilly Why people don't have religious
articles so they can get rid of them. They happened, so they can
happen. But if a man had a statue and wanted to sell it,
he'd come to a place like this, sure, But he wouldn't want to
sell it. He would if it was stolen. No, sir, if
a man was to steal a statue, he'd be crazy or something like that.
The only place he'd want to go is where crazy people are. You
may be right, mister Flann. I don't know what your fellas are looking
for. But if it's somebody who stole the statue, he's crazy and you
won't find him. You won't find him as long as you live or in
a million years. That should cover it. I hope you'll be with us
then. In the meantime, do send your comments to Box thirteen at Great
Detectives dot net, follow us on Twitter at Radio Detectives, and check us
out on Instagram, Instagram, dot com slash Great Detectives from Boise, Idaho.
This is your host, Adam Graham signing off.