Speaker 1: Author's Playhouse.
Speaker 2: Well, there's this stuff Pazz always telling us about strangers.
Speaker 2: But I'm not a baby anymore. I can take care
Speaker 2: of myself. Besides, what could happen at the movies anyway?
Speaker 2: This guy wasn't a stranger. He's been around before I've
Speaker 2: seen him. I guess he must be retired or something.
Speaker 3: Young Frankie didn't know just what to make of this man.
Speaker 3: He'd never seen before, or had he what the stranger
Speaker 3: offered him adventure? I released boredom of his sick death.
Speaker 3: Author's Playhouse presents Zachary Gold's intrigguing story of a youngster's
Speaker 3: rendezvous with a mysterious stranger.
Speaker 2: I was lost, and that was funny because I knew
Speaker 2: the way. I mean, I can understand a fella getting
Speaker 2: lost when he's somewhere new. He can't know every place.
Speaker 4: In the world.
Speaker 2: But I wasn't anywhere New. I was only around the
Speaker 2: corner they resave Meyer's garage with the old car in
Speaker 2: front that he's been trying to sell as long as
Speaker 2: I can remember. This person's grocery in Sam's candy store,
Speaker 2: it was just the same as always. I'd been there
Speaker 2: a million years. It's only around the corner. Now, maybe
Speaker 2: I was just tired. I put in a big day,
Speaker 2: and maybe I was just knocked out, you know how
Speaker 2: you get old guy should let me ease when asked
Speaker 2: me what he wanted with a kid like me, make
Speaker 2: an older guy to have his own bells. And that's
Speaker 2: another funny thing. I can't remember his name. It's right
Speaker 2: there in the tip of my tongue. You'd know it
Speaker 2: in a minute. I mean him, doesn't Smith or Jones
Speaker 2: put it something like that. I'll tell you, I'm beginning
Speaker 2: to feel dopey about the whole thing. That's the way
Speaker 2: it always goes, though. You gotta get home in a hurry,
Speaker 2: and a million things turn up to stop you. Then
Speaker 2: when you get back home, everybody saw her, and PA
Speaker 2: wants to know where you've been, and PA wants to
Speaker 2: know what kept you so long. Just to make it worse,
Speaker 2: I shouldn't have been out at all. I thought I
Speaker 2: could be up and back before anybody find out about it.
Speaker 2: I thought I could do it in a hurry. I
Speaker 2: was in hot water, all right. But a fella gets
Speaker 2: tired staying in bed all the time. If you know that,
Speaker 2: they keep you cooped up for no good reason at all.
Speaker 2: Maybe just because you got up looking a little cross
Speaker 2: eye in the morning, the pile in the bed, and
Speaker 2: it's goodbye for a week. Maybe you're more what's the
Speaker 2: sense of It just makes you tired and sleepy and stiff.
Speaker 2: You look out of the window, you look up at
Speaker 2: the ceiling. He go whacky trying to figure out things
Speaker 2: to do. If you keep your eyes almost closed, it's
Speaker 2: just a narrow crack open, everything gets blurry and starts
Speaker 2: to fade away. If you look up at an electric
Speaker 2: light like that, gets big and fuzzy, got it with
Speaker 2: all kinds of colors you'd never see otherwise. It's a trick,
Speaker 2: but you can do it, which you get the hang.
Speaker 2: It's easy, anybody can do it. But a fella can't
Speaker 2: be playing games like that all the time. He gets
Speaker 2: sick and tired of it after a while, I tell you,
Speaker 2: you get sick and tired of a lot of things.
Speaker 2: Laying in bed, mos tiptone around all the time, and
Speaker 2: every ten minutes Pat calls up on the phone. You'd
Speaker 2: think a fella never got a little sick in his life.
Speaker 2: The fuss they make he get, the doctor poking his
Speaker 2: fingers all over the place, shoven stick in your mouth
Speaker 2: and gouge in your and all the time. You just
Speaker 2: gotta lay there and take it while he keeps talking
Speaker 2: the way doctors talk, just to hear the voices, I think,
Speaker 2: because it doesn't make any sense.
Speaker 5: Just once more, just once more. There, now, that didn't hurt. Now,
Speaker 5: just turn a little mm now, cough.
Speaker 2: There, that's fine, what's fine? Anyway? It got me all right,
Speaker 2: hym not making any excuses for what I did. I'm
Speaker 2: just telling you how it happened. That's all it got
Speaker 2: under my skin. I tell you, the sun was shining
Speaker 2: that day, and I could hear the kids yelling and
Speaker 2: pepping it up on the street. I could smell the trees,
Speaker 2: and I could see the sparrows going like boebe shots
Speaker 2: through the air. I tell you I was sick of
Speaker 2: that bed. I had an awful yin. I mean, I
Speaker 2: just had to get out. Then I heard the side
Speaker 2: door slamming. The kitchen faucet went on like Niagara falls.
Speaker 2: Sitting in the rocks, it was my kid, brother Itzsey,
Speaker 2: home from school. That kid's always drinking water. He's like
Speaker 2: a fish. I can't figure what anybody does with all
Speaker 2: that water? Huh? But then I can't figure it sy anyway.
Speaker 2: My kid brother's a nut house, franky, nut, so loud.
Speaker 2: Can I do anything for him? Can I get him anything?
Speaker 2: Fifty weeks a year, He don't care if my head
Speaker 2: split open all of a sudden. He's my pal when
Speaker 2: I'm up and around. I can't get him to move
Speaker 2: from here to there for me, go figure out a
Speaker 2: kid like itsy? Can I go in later? Maybe he's
Speaker 2: sleeping now. But MA didn't know the half of it.
Speaker 2: I tell you it was then or never for me.
Speaker 2: I was out of bed and it was something to
Speaker 2: feel a solid throw under my feet again. I grabbed
Speaker 2: my knickers off the hook and pull him over my pajamas.
Speaker 2: I does out an old shirt in my socks and chow.
Speaker 2: I must ad dressed and flat my window open something
Speaker 2: in the portroof, and from there it isn't much to
Speaker 2: get down to the street. Just winging and jumpin', that's all.
Speaker 4: It's easy.
Speaker 2: Anybody can do it. I was out in the shingles
Speaker 2: in a minute. A All right, MA, won't he that kid?
Speaker 5: Some day?
Speaker 2: I'll get Einstein to tell me what makes him take
Speaker 2: I took the drop from the port roof to the
Speaker 2: street with my knees bent. Oh boy, it felt good
Speaker 2: to be out again. All I wanted was a smell
Speaker 2: of fresh air. I thought I'd be back in no
Speaker 2: time at all. I didn't have to know, nobody had
Speaker 2: to know. I skipped along the curve, walking tight rope.
Speaker 2: I tell you I hadn't been out so long. I
Speaker 2: wasn't near half as good at it as I used
Speaker 2: to be. Some days I could be four or five
Speaker 2: blocks without losing my balance. But the day was falling
Speaker 2: all over myself. I was staying a lot of practice.
Speaker 2: I cut up toward the parkway a couple of blocks.
Speaker 2: There's an empty lot in the corner of Eleventh Street
Speaker 2: where the gang hangs out after school. Most time there's
Speaker 2: a game going on, ball maybe or stickball. I tell you,
Speaker 2: it felt like a million years since I had a
Speaker 2: bat in my hands. I mean, I felt like I
Speaker 2: was coming back from a long vacation or something. I
Speaker 2: can hear him yelling him a lot even before I
Speaker 2: got there. I can hear Hanny, Joey, You're on their
Speaker 2: heads off. The whole gang was there. Sounded like a
Speaker 2: hot game. I came around the corner on the lope.
Speaker 6: Hi yer, Hi, you guys.
Speaker 2: There was somebody coming around second heading for third. Joey
Speaker 2: had the ball in the outfield and he uncorked to throw.
Speaker 2: It must have been a mile high. The guy came
Speaker 2: around third and headed home, and by that time the
Speaker 2: ball was botting in the high grass over in a
Speaker 2: corner of the lattin. He made a homer standing up.
Speaker 2: I ran over toward home plate. Henny was there picking
Speaker 2: up a bat. Nice gone, I said. Henny didn't say anything.
Speaker 2: He banged the bat a couple of times on the
Speaker 2: plate it was just an old rock for use, and
Speaker 2: then took a couple of practice wings. They finally found
Speaker 2: the ball up there in the weeds and they threw
Speaker 2: it in. Henny stepped into the bucket and screwed up
Speaker 2: his face the way he does when he's all set
Speaker 2: the powin it in a mile, I said, I squat
Speaker 2: it over one side and picked me a handful of grass.
Speaker 2: Henny didn't even give me a look. But that's how
Speaker 2: he is when he's up there. He can drop a
Speaker 2: ten of bricks next to him and he won't bet
Speaker 2: an eye. He keeps his eye on the ball all
Speaker 2: the time. He let the fry. It was too wide anyway.
Speaker 2: Then on the next one he took a cut, but
Speaker 2: he was way off. There was nothing in the ball either.
Speaker 2: It was just a floater. Yeah yeah, out set ups.
Speaker 2: Henny husted a little choked up on the batin, and
Speaker 2: the next one came through. He swung like a rusty
Speaker 2: gate boy. Then Henny could look funny when he misses.
Speaker 2: What are you trying to do? Pick Flowers didn't even
Speaker 2: get a rise out of him most times. Jing Cans
Speaker 2: steamed up with just a word. Henny's got a temper
Speaker 2: like a gasoline fire. But he banged the rock a
Speaker 2: couple of times and keeps some dirt off his sneakers,
Speaker 2: just like he didn't hear me. You're a dead pigeon, Henny.
Speaker 2: He's got your number hard. It's good to be out
Speaker 2: there again talking it up. It fell right all the
Speaker 2: time I wasted just layin around. Art was ashamed. I
Speaker 2: could see that little Herby fending was playin. They must
Speaker 2: have missed me bad. If Herbie could get in the game.
Speaker 2: He was just a kid, that's all. He couldn't it
Speaker 2: wear sour apples and the hot grounder'd go past him
Speaker 2: like it was a rocket. Well, we still had forrnings
Speaker 2: to go. When I was back. Let's see it now, boy,
Speaker 2: let's see it travel. A ball came up, pick us
Speaker 2: a balloon. I could have hit that ball from here
Speaker 2: to China and back. But Henny almost split his side
Speaker 2: reachin for it. I wanted to bust out, laughin' put
Speaker 2: it's no joke. When a guy strikes out, the guy
Speaker 2: feels bad enough about your having to tell him too bad.
Speaker 2: Henny threw the bat away and kicked up some dirt. Eh,
Speaker 2: he was disgusted, all right. I could see that he
Speaker 2: cut across the sidelines to pick up his glove. He
Speaker 2: passed right in front of me. How about a game?
Speaker 1: Ain't he.
Speaker 2: Ah talk to the president or somebody? You think I
Speaker 2: was some chut narcy? He jest went on past without
Speaker 2: even lookin at me. He could a set a low
Speaker 2: or somethin, couldn't he? What about that?
Speaker 4: All right?
Speaker 2: So I missed a couple of games, and Henny got
Speaker 2: stuck with a deadlife herby finnin Oh. I know that's tough,
Speaker 2: but it wasn't my fault. I didn't ask to be
Speaker 2: coop of bedroom. Who's Hanny gott to be so sorry about?
Speaker 2: Plenty o other teams want me? I didn't have to
Speaker 2: take that kind of stuff. I didn't waste any more
Speaker 2: breath on him. You'd think he'd be glad to see
Speaker 2: a guy when he turns up after beIN away a while.
Speaker 2: I gave Henny just one shot one when he got
Speaker 2: out into the field. Back to the push nags, why't
Speaker 2: you try, Potsy? The other guys came in for their
Speaker 2: turn at bat fightin Mad. They were sore about that
Speaker 2: run that came in. They wanted it back bad. Joey
Speaker 2: looked down in the dumps about his wild throw. It's
Speaker 2: the brakes, everybody blows one. Maybe didn't hear me, Joey, Hey, Joey,
Speaker 2: what goes? Anyway? There was no call for Joey to
Speaker 2: be sore at me. I wasn't on his team, but
Speaker 2: they treated me like I was somebody's kid brother. Guys
Speaker 2: I've known ever since I was in first grade? How
Speaker 2: do you like that? Eh? It must have been Henny.
Speaker 2: He's got a mean streakin him as white as the Hudson. Eh.
Speaker 2: It was Henny set him up to it. I could
Speaker 2: tell him a minute. But it wasn't my fault. You'd
Speaker 2: think I got sick on purpose the way he was actin. Ah,
Speaker 2: he was just sorr out of spite.
Speaker 6: Henny's like that, all right, you guys, if you don't
Speaker 6: want me ro on. I got plenty of places where
Speaker 6: I can go. I don't have to take stuff like
Speaker 6: that from the governor of North Carolina. Got up and
Speaker 6: threw a bat over in the base line. I hope
Speaker 6: somebody'd slip on it and break his neck. That's the
Speaker 6: way I felt about it, my pals. It was just
Speaker 6: about then I met this guy, this guy I'm tellin
Speaker 6: you about. I went over and sat down in Miss
Speaker 6: Hammond's stoop. Across the street and a lot they were
Speaker 6: yellin and makin enough noise to scare.
Speaker 2: All the Indians in Indiana. I didn't even watch him.
Speaker 2: I kept my eyes on the street. A couple of
Speaker 2: cars passed. I guessed odds or evens on their license prison.
Speaker 2: I was right three times out o four. It's a
Speaker 2: system I got. Then I saw the ball comin across
Speaker 2: the street and a bouncin It was heading straight for
Speaker 2: Old Lockjaw's lawn. I could have caught that ball before
Speaker 2: it bounced over the hedges and rind Old Lockjaw's violet bed.
Speaker 2: But why should I go out on my way for
Speaker 2: those guys after what they did? So I watched it
Speaker 2: cut down a couple of violets and stopped there, right
Speaker 2: in the middle of a lawn. He didn't stop bouncing
Speaker 2: a minute before the front door opened. It Old lock
Speaker 2: Jaw himself came out. I guess he didn't see it, though,
Speaker 2: because he just stood there. If he'd seen that, bollyd
Speaker 2: grabbed it in a minute. He was a terror, Old Lockjaw.
Speaker 2: You couldn't play anywhere around his house. The least little
Speaker 2: noise in his allemy'd be calling the cops chase the
Speaker 2: kids away if he got yo on his arm. That
Speaker 2: was our brother, For I've seen him stap a kid
Speaker 2: so hard his face was red all the rest of
Speaker 2: the day, just for stepping on the grass a little
Speaker 2: well with a ball layin' under his nose. It was
Speaker 2: the end of the ball game. No kidney's right mind
Speaker 2: was gonna try to snatch it with him standing night there.
Speaker 4: It's so right too, foul ball.
Speaker 2: There was this old guy who walked up from I
Speaker 2: don't know where. Maybe he wasn't so old. I don't know.
Speaker 2: At first I thought it was old Lockjaw speakin' up.
Speaker 2: But that was a dopey idea because ol'd lock John
Speaker 2: never talks to anybody.
Speaker 4: Foul ball, Oh Lockjaw.
Speaker 2: Think Sophie saw it.
Speaker 4: Oh Lockjaw. Mister Martin there, oh lock yow, that's pretty good.
Speaker 2: It's not good enough to get the ball. So this
Speaker 2: guy just walked right up to the lawn, hopped the hedge,
Speaker 2: leaned down over the violet bit and picked up the ball.
Speaker 2: Oh lock John didn't even let out a peep. Who
Speaker 2: was out of this world? The guy had him buffalo.
Speaker 2: He hied to the ball a couple of times and
Speaker 2: then wind it over toward the lot. Wasn't much of
Speaker 2: a throw. He threw it like a girl with his
Speaker 2: elbow stiff. He didn't have any form, but it traveled
Speaker 2: all right. It made the load in the bouncing. I
Speaker 2: saw Hanny dive after it like it was a diamond
Speaker 2: or something. He didn't even yell thanks, though. That's Hanny
Speaker 2: for you. Some guy, that Hanny.
Speaker 4: How come you're not in the game?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 4: I was late, just going to sit around and watch.
Speaker 2: What else was there to do?
Speaker 4: I wouldn't know. You tell me.
Speaker 2: If I had fifteen cents, I could go to the movies,
Speaker 2: fight a quarter. I could maybe rent a bike fight
Speaker 2: a quarter if the guy wanted to. I guess he
Speaker 2: could just sit around Twiddler's thumbs if he wanted to.
Speaker 4: You said, movies.
Speaker 3: I've got a friend in the business who sends me
Speaker 3: passes every now and then.
Speaker 4: The Ruby.
Speaker 2: Well, i've seen that picture.
Speaker 4: The Biju.
Speaker 2: It's pretty far. The Regal, the Regal, the Regal right
Speaker 2: down there, I think, so well, they got a good
Speaker 2: cereal there. Well, there's this stuff pause where he's telling
Speaker 2: us about strangers. But I'm not a baby anymore. I
Speaker 2: can take care of myself. Besides, what could happen at
Speaker 2: the movies anyway? This guy wasn't a stranger. He's been
Speaker 2: around before. I've seen him. I guess he must be
Speaker 2: retired or something. He wouldn't fool me, mister.
Speaker 4: You try it and see.
Speaker 2: They got a tough tournament at the Regal. But this
Speaker 2: time I figured it wasn't my worry, it was the
Speaker 2: other guy's tree. Those passes were phonny. They nab him,
Speaker 2: not me, So I might straight in, and the door
Speaker 2: man didn't even give me a tumbe freebies. What more
Speaker 2: did I want? He got there just in time too.
Speaker 2: I let out a root and a holler as soon
Speaker 2: as I saw Red coming over the canyon wall with
Speaker 2: his guns out, and I gave a double whistle for
Speaker 2: Jackson the cloud Ah. They had read in the cuffs
Speaker 2: spy there. He were locked in the cabin when they
Speaker 2: set a fire to it, tied up like a pick
Speaker 2: and a gunny said they didn't figure. He'd let the
Speaker 2: fire burned through his ropes and then jumped through the
Speaker 2: window into the river and put out the fire that
Speaker 2: had his clothes. Let's saws one step ahead of them,
Speaker 2: they laid thrown rode down by the pass. It almost
Speaker 2: got him, but Red just skidded through with a whole skin.
Speaker 2: And then he caught up with Jackson down by the
Speaker 2: wide hole, and they had it out with fists. But
Speaker 2: just when Red had him out on his feet, a
Speaker 2: couple of Jacksons guys came riding up and clouted Red
Speaker 2: from behind. They tied him on his horse, and then
Speaker 2: they drove the horse blindfolded out to the cliffs. They
Speaker 2: quipped the horse on him off it went over the cliff,
Speaker 2: with Red tied in the saddle, unconscious and not knowing
Speaker 2: what was going on. There was a good couple a
Speaker 2: hundred feet to the bottom. That that was the end
Speaker 2: of the chapter.
Speaker 4: Well that's that, that's what reds are gone ghost.
Speaker 2: Oh you'll get out of it.
Speaker 4: You can't be done. I know a little about it myself.
Speaker 2: Oh look, it's only chapter eight.
Speaker 4: I hadn't thought of that. They did promise twelve installments,
Speaker 4: didn't they.
Speaker 2: Oh you'll get out of it some way.
Speaker 4: Well, what time is it getting to be?
Speaker 2: He pulled out that watch of his like pause and
Speaker 2: took a peek at it.
Speaker 4: It's getting late.
Speaker 2: He was the boss. Besides, the feature wasn't much outside
Speaker 2: me knowsy down the block a bit. This guy didn't
Speaker 2: seem to have anything to do anyway. You'd think he
Speaker 2: could find better things to do with his time. There
Speaker 2: was a ball game over there. It's field, for one thing.
Speaker 2: But if my gang was given me the cold shoulder,
Speaker 2: I wasn't complaining. If I had company, Let's stop for
Speaker 2: some gum. Okay. I guess the gun made him thirsty,
Speaker 2: as when he passed the candy store, he wanted to
Speaker 2: stop for a drink. I didn't like the idea too much.
Speaker 2: I could buy my own solders. Nine times out of ten.
Speaker 2: Pod gives me an a lawns lady. Never a penny
Speaker 2: on me and the sky under the trees. It was
Speaker 2: dead in the candy store. It was too early for
Speaker 2: any of the bigger guys to be around, and it
Speaker 2: was empty in there. He had some tables in the
Speaker 2: back against the wall, and there was a pink bom
Speaker 2: machine over by the telephone booth. I popped over to
Speaker 2: take a look at it. He certainly got some crazy kinds.
Speaker 2: This one was nothing special. He had bumpers and knights,
Speaker 2: but none next.
Speaker 4: He know how to play, Oh Pa, don't let me, but.
Speaker 2: I've seen how the bigger fellows do it. He slipped
Speaker 2: the nickel in the slot, pulled back the plunger and
Speaker 2: stepped away.
Speaker 4: Go ahead, take a try.
Speaker 2: It was a little trickier, and I thought on the
Speaker 2: third ball, I was lucky though, and neither the little
Speaker 2: extra spin and if you twisted the plunger on the
Speaker 2: way back, give just enough spin to catch the bumpers right.
Speaker 2: I rolled up seventeen thousand. That was pretty good. Two
Speaker 2: more thousand, and I would have worn one.
Speaker 4: Not bad.
Speaker 2: I guess I had a beginner's luck.
Speaker 4: I don't. But you didn't win anything.
Speaker 2: Why don't you roll again?
Speaker 4: It's pretty late.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll bet you're good. That got him. He got
Speaker 2: another nickel and put it in the slide. I could
Speaker 2: tell from the first he wasn't gonna get anywhere. He
Speaker 2: only got two bumpers on his first ball. It must
Speaker 2: have got him mad because he let the second one
Speaker 2: go like a rifle shot. Hey, you know what happens
Speaker 2: with those, just skidded right down after coming off the springs,
Speaker 2: and he didn't even get one hit, not one. He
Speaker 2: grunted and bent over.
Speaker 5: A little bit.
Speaker 2: He played the next one easy. It just dribbled out
Speaker 2: of the alley and on to the board. Didn't have
Speaker 2: anything behind it at all. Dribbled down into the gutter
Speaker 2: and he was lucky at the bottom to get a
Speaker 2: hit or so. He had a grand total of eight
Speaker 2: hundred going into his last ball. Well, better luck next time, mister.
Speaker 2: He pushed the last ball out and let it fly.
Speaker 2: It started to bounce up and back between the springs
Speaker 2: at the top of the board and and slid down
Speaker 2: between two bumpers with up neither one crash.
Speaker 4: Never mind, I'd get it loose.
Speaker 2: He grabbed the machine and began to shake it. It
Speaker 2: was all over. Then I knew that's stuff's for experts.
Speaker 2: Guy who doesn't know his shirt to tilt her. And
Speaker 2: he did, but he didn't even know it. He kept
Speaker 2: shaking her with a ball bounding against the bumpers and
Speaker 2: not scoring any points.
Speaker 4: Something wrong with this machine.
Speaker 2: I think maybe you'd tilted it. He saw the tilt
Speaker 2: sigh then, and he dropped the machine back on its
Speaker 2: legs with a bang.
Speaker 4: Too bad, my own fault.
Speaker 2: He looked at his watch again.
Speaker 4: I didn't know it was that late. We'll have to hurry.
Speaker 2: He grabbed my hand and we were out in the
Speaker 2: street before I could catch my breath. He sure was
Speaker 2: in a hurry, all right. I guess he was sore
Speaker 2: about the game. He ld me down a couple of
Speaker 2: blocks and then made a few turns. It was getting dark,
Speaker 2: and I could tell where we were hidden. He had
Speaker 2: my hand tight in his, and even in the dark,
Speaker 2: I saw a big warehouse and loading platforms. I could
Speaker 2: catch a whiff of the air. We were heading try
Speaker 2: the water. Sure enough, we came out on a quark.
Speaker 2: When we got to the edge, stopped and looked out
Speaker 2: across the waters. Quinton.
Speaker 4: He sighed, well, we made it.
Speaker 2: You just pulled my hand for a minute, and I
Speaker 2: pulled it away. I backed up a couple of steps.
Speaker 2: I didn't know what it was all about.
Speaker 4: Made What didn't I tell you we're going to cross
Speaker 4: the river For.
Speaker 2: Some reason, I shivered, and I knew my knees were shaken. Mister,
Speaker 2: there are no boats at doc airspt may be a
Speaker 2: couple of scows and tugs.
Speaker 4: I have my own boat, have you honest? Why are
Speaker 4: you always arguing? Believe me?
Speaker 2: All right, you got a boat.
Speaker 4: Don't you want to come? It's only to the other side.
Speaker 2: Oh mister, I gotta get back home. It's getting laid.
Speaker 2: It was dark then, and you could hardly make out
Speaker 2: anything along the river. Everything was shadowing here. There wasn't
Speaker 2: any moon that night. I put along the shore line.
Speaker 2: There was a glow in the sky, and I figured
Speaker 2: it must be the navy yard where the blast ferns going.
Speaker 2: They're working there all the time. Looks like a big fire.
Speaker 2: You're heading for the navy yard.
Speaker 4: Navy yard.
Speaker 2: Then he saw her I was looking, and he smiled.
Speaker 4: I don't think we'll head that way.
Speaker 2: And I really began to get scared. Where was he
Speaker 2: taking me? Listen, thanks for everything, but I gotta beat
Speaker 2: it now.
Speaker 4: Don't you want to cross the river? No, it's a
Speaker 4: nice ride.
Speaker 2: I gotta get back.
Speaker 4: It won't take long. No, listen, I can hear the boat.
Speaker 2: I gotta go. He stepped towards me, reaching out, Why
Speaker 2: don't you come leave me alone?
Speaker 4: What's the matter with you? You are afraid? He are you?
Speaker 5: I don't know.
Speaker 2: I I tucked away from his hand. I dodged back
Speaker 2: along the forth. I could hear his heels hit in
Speaker 2: the wood. I began to run.
Speaker 4: Wait.
Speaker 2: I didn't wait for anything. I just kept them running
Speaker 2: there all the time. Crazy ideas were running through my head.
Speaker 2: What's the guy I want to boot for? When you
Speaker 2: get across the river by a subway for only a nickel,
Speaker 2: tell you it didn't that up where? But I dodged
Speaker 2: away from and ran back along the wharf, into the street,
Speaker 2: across the cobble stone and got her on the dead
Speaker 2: running ducked into one of the eyes, hopped the fence,
Speaker 2: and came out along one of the loading platforms me
Speaker 2: down in the street. I circled the corner, but here
Speaker 2: his voice hitting softer behind me. I don't know where
Speaker 2: I was going. I just want to get as much
Speaker 2: distance between us as I could. What did I want
Speaker 2: to get across the river for anyway? What would I
Speaker 2: do there? Once I got there. I don't know how
Speaker 2: I did it, and I don't know which way I came,
Speaker 2: but I ended up on the street near Sands. I
Speaker 2: was only around the corner from home now, which is
Speaker 2: a hop, skip and jump. I was dog tired and
Speaker 2: I was sweating. I could hardly keep my eyes open.
Speaker 2: I'd tell you I wasn't in condition. After laying around
Speaker 2: so much, I felt all knocked out. And then of
Speaker 2: all the dopey things, I couldn't find the corner.
Speaker 4: Would you believe it?
Speaker 2: I mean, when I got where it should be, it
Speaker 2: just wasn't there. I was lost out in my own back. Yeah,
Speaker 2: well it sounds critizmal. I was just a hoodah holl
Speaker 2: away from home, and I've been there a million times before.
Speaker 2: I tell you, it's just around the corner.
Speaker 4: I felt.
Speaker 2: I can't get lost when he's a cross to home.
Speaker 2: It just doesn't make sense, but I hung it all
Speaker 2: over the pace. I took it slow. I stopped running
Speaker 2: around like I was half crazy. I ate past Sam's,
Speaker 2: I caught its two stores, and I should have been
Speaker 2: at the corner. Then I knew that for sure it
Speaker 2: wasn't there. I had to get back. I just had
Speaker 2: to get back.
Speaker 5: Oh.
Speaker 2: I could have brawled. I could have burst out crying
Speaker 2: like then. I was so tired, and I've done everything
Speaker 2: I could think of and done my best. I'd tried
Speaker 2: to find the corner, try to get home. Oh, I
Speaker 2: tell you, I could have cried like a baby then,
Speaker 2: and maybe I did a little. I don't care what
Speaker 2: you say. I don't care what you call me. It's kids,
Speaker 2: stop crying, I know. But I tell you, by that time,
Speaker 2: I didn't know what I was doing anymore. I'm not
Speaker 2: making any excuses. I just broke down. Ma, Ma, I
Speaker 2: must have been moving. I just kept walking. Out my eyes.
Speaker 2: There was the corner right there, right in front of me.
Speaker 2: I yelled, and I was round the corner and the
Speaker 2: last stretched home. I was down the black and under
Speaker 2: the porch of our house, and nothing fat. I shinned
Speaker 2: up the roof and through my window in two shakes.
Speaker 2: I was out of my knickers and in the bed
Speaker 2: like a bowl of grease lightin. I tell you I
Speaker 2: was finished.
Speaker 4: I tell yo, I just.
Speaker 2: Barely made it. Ma, Yes, yes, Frankie. She was standing
Speaker 2: right by my bed. MA keep lying me all the time. Ma,
Speaker 2: I been, I know. I tell yo, you can't put
Speaker 2: anything over on em Ma. The doctor must have come
Speaker 2: in while I was out, because he was there too.
Speaker 2: I guess he wanted to poke around some more. Even
Speaker 2: know those doctors. I guess if he knew where I
Speaker 2: had been the last couple hours, he just skinned me alive.
Speaker 4: He'll be all right now.
Speaker 2: Funny thing it's he was in the room. He had
Speaker 2: his lip buttoned. I tell you, I can hardly recognize
Speaker 2: the kid without his mouth open yelling something. But I
Speaker 2: guess it was because he was standing there with paw.
Speaker 4: Hello, Frankie.
Speaker 2: I don't know what to make of it. I don't
Speaker 2: think my already knows who I was. She never said
Speaker 2: anything afterwards, and Pine never laid a finger on me. Oh,
Speaker 2: anybody asked for it, I guess I did. Maybe it's
Speaker 2: because they figured I was a little sick. He didn't
Speaker 2: get away with murders sometimes just because they think you're
Speaker 2: looking a little cross eyes in the morning. But there
Speaker 2: are a couple of things I gotta get straight yet.
Speaker 2: I got some business with Henny. He had his nerve,
Speaker 2: all right. I want to get us straight from him
Speaker 2: what the shooting was about. He'd half things out. And
Speaker 2: there are a few things I'm trying to figure out
Speaker 2: about that guy, you know what I mean? If I
Speaker 2: could think of his name, he can't. I'll see you yet.
Speaker 2: I'm pretty sure that I'll catch up with him again
Speaker 2: some day. He's always around. You can't miss him.
Speaker 3: You have heard Zachary Gold's story The Mysterious Stranger, adapted
Speaker 3: for Author's Playhouse by Dorothy Cheney Quinnan and directed by
Speaker 3: mister Homer Heck. Frankie was played by Master David Whitehouse,
Speaker 3: The Mysterious Stranger by mister Charles Eggleston, and Frankie's mother
Speaker 3: by Miss Fern Persons. Others in the cast of Author's
Speaker 3: Playhouse Tonight were mister Thomas Post and Master Bobby Ellis.
Speaker 3: The musical score was composed and conducted by Doctor Roy Shield.
Speaker 3: Next Week, same time, same station, Author's Playhouse will bring
Speaker 3: you the comedy Bad Dream by Isabel Scott Rock