Come in. Welcome. I'm E .G. Marshall. Welcome
to the fear you can hear. Welcome to the sounds
of suspense. It was the ill -fated Prince of
Denmark, Hamlet, who lamented, The time is out
of joint, O cursed spite, That ever I was born
to set it right. Many people before and since
have echoed the same cry of despair, but none
with more compelling justice and reason than
Ethan Vigil, clockmaker and destroyer. Ethan
Vigil, for whom a special clock struck a magic
and an evil hour. Get your box in. Your move,
Jake. No, don't rush me. I'm thinking, I'm thinking.
God in heaven, Ethan, how can you stand that
infernal racket? What racket? Oh, you mean the
clock striking? I don't even notice them anymore.
Well, go ahead. What do you want to give up?
No, no. Who can think of a chess move with all
hell breaking loose? From now on, start our games
after midnight. We have to drive a man's stock
staring mad. I swear to Sam Hill, Ethan, you
deliver. two living things left in the room at
that terrifying moment as time stood still for
myself and that damnable machine. Our mystery
drama, Time and Again, was written especially
for the Mystery Theatre by Ian Martin. and stars
John Beale. I'll be back shortly with Act One.
Few of us can resist the fascination of an auction,
and I'm no different than most, which is how
and why I happen to possess this curious document.
which reveals a bone -chilling account of how
many lives were lost so uncannily and eerily
to the inhuman demands of what Ethan Vigil called
that damnable machine. The tale I'm about to
tell... No, no, wait. If you can manage to decipher
his cramped long hand, let Ethan Vigil confess
for himself. I, Ethan Vigil, clockmaker by trade.
I'm writing this in case when the moment comes
I fail to destroy the hourglass clock. For if
I fail, someone must destroy it, kill it, end
its ghastly existence before God knows how many
innocent people will die to satisfy its insatiable
thirst. The clock itself came into my possession
more or less by accident. I was working late
at my shop one night about a year ago, when I
heard a tapping on the closed glass door. It's
hard to imagine some people can't read signs.
Darn fools like to break their glass. Stop that,
can't you see I'm closed? And, Governor, please
let me in. No, get on with you. You won't be
sorry. Give me a chance. I'll give you the chance
of a lifetime It was raining heavily water streaming
down the glass But the object he had drawn from
the cover of his pea jacket drew my eyes like
a magnet It was a clock the like of which I'd
never seen It was shaped like an hourglass with
a strange -appearing pendulum hanging in the
lower half, and the face in the upper half. And
in the place of the figure 12, at the top of
the face, was the numeral 13. I had to see that
clock more closely. Oh, bless you, Governor.
You're a lifesaver, you are. What do you want?
Oh, I want you to have a look at this here clock.
The clock is the only reason I let you in. I'd
like to have a look at it myself. Let's take
it over to the bench. You want this clock repaired?
I want to send it to you, is what I want. I hope
I don't regret this, but come on to my place
in the backroom. There's a fire in there to dry
you up a bit. Where'd you get this clock? Why,
it came into my possession when its owner died.
Does it run? Well, now, that there clock, it
doesn't run. I'd be the first to admit it. I'll
give you $20. Oh, now, look here. $20, take it
or leave it. Oh, don't intend to be taken advantage
of by somebody... There doesn't seem to be any
question of who's being taken advantage of. Harriet.
Ethan, who is this person? He's a customer, more
or less. This is my sister -in -law. It's near
on to midnight, and my poor sick sister is...
pining upstairs for her husband to bring her
a little faith and consolation. Oh, now, ma 'am,
I certainly am sorry to intrude on family problems.
Then don't. Ethan, get rid of this man. You'd
better go. Yeah, but what about our business
and the clock? Well, $20 is all I have to my
name. Oh, take it. Don't you do it, Ethan. Mind
your own business for once, Harriet. I had little
doubt my sailor, who called himself Harry Stubbs,
had dubious title to that strange clock. But
like all collectors, to own something totally
and unreservedly unique is an overriding obsession.
Is he gone? Yes. Oh, just look at this place
after you had that derelict in here. Lights on
all over the place eating up money. To say nothing
of good hard cash thrown away on that piece of
junk on the table. It was my own money. What
own money? You and Henrietta wouldn't even have
a roof over your heads, let alone a piece of
business if it weren't for me. Oh no, it's my
money that keeps you going and don't you forget
it. Now you lock the door to the shop. I still
have some repairs left to do. You'll have to
get up early tomorrow and do them. I just...
I just wanted to have another look at this clock.
You'll waste no more time or light or fuel down
here tonight. It wasn't for good money paid out.
I checked that piece of junk on the table and
dumped it in the rubbish. Oh, I wish she'd done
just that. Let the city collect it with the morning
trash and bury it forever. But fate hadn't planned
it that way. So I went upstairs from Harriet
to face another problem I didn't know how to
solve. My ailing wife, Henrietta. Ethan, is that
you? Yes, Henrietta. Where have you been? Working,
dear. Are you hurting? When don't I hurt? I know.
How's your back? It isn't my back. It's my stomach,
Ethan. I've been... I'm scared. I've been afraid
to think of it, but I know, Harriet, sure, I've
got the... Rise now, now. None of that. You just
get off to sleep. That's what you need. You just
don't know how it is to be suffering every blessed
minute of every day. As I slipped under the covers
and lay wide awake beside Henrietta, snoring
away, my mind went back to the strange clock.
on the table downstairs. The intriguing mystery
of a mechanism I had never even imagined in 40
years of clockmaking. And the enigma of why 13
replaced the numeral 12 on the face. All the
next morning, between my infrequent customers,
I puzzled and poked and... pride to reveal the
workings of this bizarre clock. But by one o
'clock in the afternoon, when I was completely
stymied, my wife surprised me by coming out to
the bench in her bathrobe. Henrietta, what's
wrong? I've been calling for someone. Where's
Harriet? She went to Markham. Is that the old
clock that Harriet told me you threw away hard
-earned money on? It's a very valuable antique,
an original. And it was my money. Does it run?
No. Then what good is it? It's worth $20 as it
is, at least. In working condition, it could
be priceless. Can you fix it? I don't know. I
don't know. Why not? Well, look at it, Henrietta.
Have you ever seen anything like it? First of
all our glass shape of the case. What's inside?
That's the problem except for the two round glass
windows and they're not even glass I don't know
what they are. What windows? The one for the
clock face in the upper cup if you want to call
it that no one in the lower inverted cup where
you can see What looks like a pendulum. Can't
you shake it and get that to swing? That doesn't
seem to be the way it's activated. It's quite
stationary. Funny lopsided shape. Maybe it melted
or something. Can't you get into the works? Only
through this lid on the top. Now look. There's
all you can see of the works. Very old. Wooden
gears, wooden pinions, wooden axes. No way to
lift it out. Can't even get my hand in there
to try. Let me it's so silly. There must be some
way What is it? Look what your silly old clock
is done. What's the matter my finger? It's bleeding
it it felt like something bit me. Oh, come on.
Let me see It's just a scratch scarcely drew
blood the same. I'm not taking any chances with
that dirty old clock I could end up with blood
poisoning. I'm going to run this underwater now
you get me a bad I was suddenly aware that the
clock was running, and its beat was the sound
of the human heart. But Ethan didn't follow his
wife right away, because suddenly he had become
conscious that the dead clock had come to life,
that it had started to record time again. and
that the sound of its beat was very different
from all other clocks. It was a sound akin, if
not completely similar, to the beat of the human
heart. I shall return shortly with Act II. Whatever
his wife had accidentally touched, The clock
had begun to run and remained running steadily,
without any sign of stopping. Ethan checked that
Henrietta's wound was little more than a surface
scratch, and returned to observe, but let him
tell his own story for himself as he wrote it
in his confession. My examination of the clock,
as it ran, made it even more of an enigma. Behind
the face, beneath the lid, the gears I so engaged,
second by second, operated the hands that told
the time. What motivated them was obvious, the
strange mass that I had supposed a pendulum weight,
but which now, quite clearly, was a diaphragm,
or pump. Opening and closing to create energy.
In a motion like a human fist or... Yes. Suddenly
I knew why the irregular shape was familiar.
Like the human heart. But what in turn motivated
that, or fueled it, was the ultimate mystery.
Everything about this clock was different, exotic,
strange. Even its chime for the hours. Plangent,
plaintive, almost the sound of a human voice.
I watched it irresistibly all day, all during
the night while I waited for Dr. Jacob Royce
to come and examine my wife. Even while I waited
for the result of that examination. What the
devil are you doing out here? Oh, I'm sorry,
Jake. Just observing this clock, it's got me
mesmerized. How's Henrietta? Oh, what am I going
to tell you, Ethan? Same thing as usual. Yep.
Not a trace of any physiological problem. Never
is. Oh, there's a name for it if it's of any
help. Chronic Inadequate. Someone who just can't
handle the simple process of life. and has to
make excuses for it. I'd better go up to her.
Oh, there's no need. I gave her a sedative. Won't
hurt her, but it might do you some good. Come
on now, let's play chess. If I set us up right
here, all right? With all those clocks rattling
away. I want to keep my eye on this baby here.
If you can't sit up with one sick friend, you
got to sit up with another. And for the next
10 or 15 minutes, I did forget the clock that
was to haunt the rest of my days. Inexorably,
as we concentrated on the chessboard, all of
the clocks ticked on towards 12 o 'clock. And
the moment when the explanation of that substitute
number 13 was about to be made by the clock itself.
Don't think much of your King's pawn variation
Jake got you boxed in Don't rush me. Don't rush
me. I'm thinking Good Lord Ethan, how can you
stand that infernal racket? What racket? Oh,
I mean the clock striking I don't even notice
him anymore Go ahead. What do you want to give
up? But who can think of a chess move with all
hell breaking loose? Now on we start our games
after midnight, enough to drive a man stark staring
mad. I swear to Sam Hill, Ethan, you deliver...
After the twelfth stroke of the hourglass clock's
chime, there was no sound but the beat of the
clock and my own heart. Everything else had stopped
dead. My friend's mouth was frozen in the act
of speaking, his hand poised over a chestman
as though cast in bronze. Outside, like the old
child's game, people had turned to statues. A
car backing into a parking space was stopped
in its tracks. The very raindrops hung motionless
in the air like a sprangled curtain. For everyone
else in the world Save only me and that damnable
clock Time was standing still The next hour was
a strange delirium my brain raced with new ideas
for achieving my lifelong dream a perpetual motion
timepiece My legs were as supple and tireless
as an 18 -year -old's, as I climbed the stairs
to look at my wife, frozen in the act of turning
in her sleep. My sister -in -law caught in the
middle of a snore. Towards the end of the hour,
I returned to the shop. A quick stab of terror
prodding at me. Was this to be forever? Poor
Jake. still sat in the middle of the move he
had started almost an hour ago. The hands of
all the clocks pointed to exactly twelve, except
the hourglass. There, the small hand stood directly
at thirteen, while the minute hand swept closer
and closer to join it. With a sense of mounting
excitement, I waited for their junction. Like
the other clocks, my strange new one had only
struck 12 before. Now I felt I knew the reason
for 13, the extra magic hour of precious time
that twice a day it offered to its owner. With
bated breath, I waited for the proof, the missing
chime, and then it came. I rightly set us up
here tonight to get me off my game. I concede.
Don't you want some more time to think it over?
Oh, it wouldn't matter if you gave me an hour
to consider it. Tonight I'm too bush to think.
Just one minute after 12. We've only been at
the game 10 minutes or so, and I feel as if I've
been here for 70. Is it really only 10 minutes?
You're the clockmaker, Eton. Look all around
you at your little markers. Yes. Yes, you're
right. So it's true. You feelin' all right? Never
better. Why? You look a little strange for a
minute. In fact, Ethan, I've been meaning to
mention it. I'd like to have you drop around
to the office some day soon. What for? Well,
you're not as young as you were, you know. And
you've been pushing yourself pretty hard lately.
Want to make a date now? No, I'll call you. Don't
forget. Now, there's something I wish all my
patients were as healthy as. Well, 20 years since
I started that old avocado tree in the window.
And like Topsy, it just grew. Don't you believe
it? It took a lot of tender loving care. Watered
just right, pinching it back, bringing it along
to grow upright. Just like the child. I love
that old tree. Man's got to have something to
love. Yeah, I reckon. You don't think there's
anything really wrong with him? No, no, I don't.
Just another of her eternal spells. Well, night,
old friend. Rain stopped. Good night, Jake. For
a long time after my old friend drove away, I
stood by the door, gazing into the cool, crisp
night. I didn't notice the cold. I was too full
of a kind of welling excitement inside me. What
a gift that clock had brought me. The dreams
were building like castles in my head. Why, I
was richer and more powerful than a king. Well,
now I knew no matter what. But for two blessed
hours, every day, from now on, I was a free man.
And the last thing I heard that night, as my
head hit the pillow, was the triumphant beat
of the clock sounding in my inner ear. Or was
it the sound of my own heart? How is she, Doctor?
I don't know, Harriet. Now, I don't mean to alarm
you, but... I think we'll put your sister Henrietta
in the hospital for a few days for observation.
What's the matter with her? That's what I want
to put her in the hospital for. Find out. What
do you suspect it is? I don't suspect it's Enidine.
I just want to reassure myself. Now, why don't
you go up and keep her company while I talk to
Ethan? You won't have any trouble convincing
him. I don't see why I can't take care of her.
Well, you can't this time, Harriet. If you want
to help, go sit with her. I'll make the arrangements
with Ethan. How's Henny? I, uh... I want to put
her in the hospital for a few days, Ethan. Oh,
she's that sick? I'm not sure. Whatever it is,
this is not just one of her spells. I want her
under observation for a while. Well, whatever
you say, Jake. Yeah. I wish I knew what to say.
I feel a little guilty. Ever since that night
a few weeks ago when we were playing chess. What
do you mean, guilty? Well, damn it, for 20 years
I've been medicating her imaginary ills. I wonder
if maybe I got careless that night. What? Well,
there's no doubt that from then on this... this,
uh, debility, anemia, whatever it is, started.
Well, I'll get along and make all the arrangements
I'll phone you when to expect the ambulance I
Had my own guilt nagging at me in the month since
I discovered the secret of the clock I'd thought
of pretty nearly nothing else. I Waited as eager
as a child for those two stolen hours every day
Not only for the relief from Harriet's nagging
and poor Henrietta's everlasting complaints,
but for the lift, the joy, the youth and vigor
that they brought me. For I'd gone one better
than Ponce de Leon. For part of a day, anyway,
I had found the Fountain of Youth. But a wave
of shocks was about to jolt me back to reality.
The first was Henny's being taken to the hospital.
The second was the morning the clock stopped.
Oh, no! No! No! What is it, Ethan? You can't
stop! What is it, Ethan? What's wrong? The clock!
It stopped! Is that all? I've got to get it started.
You shake it like that, it'll end up in pieces.
Good riddance. I told you it was a waste of money.
Get out of here. How dare you talk to me like
that? I certainly will. Nobody's going to talk
to me like that, particularly not you. I was
frantic. My golden hours of solitude gone. My
extra gift of precious time in the rebirth of
youth. I couldn't let them go. There must be
some way to bring them back. Start that damned
intricate mechanism again. The clock was dead.
It's life blood somehow drained. Blood? But that's
what started it in the first place. Maybe...
Oh, damn nation. Let it ring. I've got to find
something to... Oh, all right. Hello? I don't
want to talk now. Oh, then you've heard. Heard
what? About Henrietta. She's not... She's not...
I just got back to my office and got a message
from the hospital. I'm afraid she's passed away.
Are you sure? I'm on my way to the hospital now,
just on the outside chance. Better meet me there.
I'm on my way. We were too late, and he was gone.
With no goodbyes, I sat by a nurse's desk, waiting
for Jake to complete arrangements and drive me
home. A young nurse came down the hall with a
tray of blood samples, putting them on the desk.
She came towards me. Mr. Virgil? Yes, nurse?
Dr. Royce asked me to tell you he'll only be
a minute or two. Thank you, nurse. As she walked
away, my eyes following her blindly then I Was
looking at that tray of blood samples blood It
was Henny's cutting her finger that started the
clock Would that be the answer I? Acted without
thinking in a moment. I had slipped one of the
tubes into my pocket And I was back in my seat
before Jake came striding down the hall I was
back in the shop at last, alone. With shaking
fingers I lifted the lid, exposing the brain
of whatever it was of the clock. Uncapping the
tube, I poured in the blood. I looked at the
dial. The hands were spinning around to the proper
time. And then... It would have been better,
far better, had Ethan left it for dead, as we
shall see when we return shortly with Act III.
Which of us could resist the temptation of perpetual
youth, or short of that, any extension? of life.
Two extra hours a day is 730 a year, almost exactly
an extra month. In a lifetime, six whole more
years. But what Eason Vigil forgot is that for
every action there is a reaction, for every gift
a recompense. The saddest part of my confession
is that after my wife's death, I became completely
blind to everything but my two periods of escape
every day. More and more, my sister -in -law
Harriet took over the ordinary part of life,
transforming my beloved clock shop into a nightmare,
against which I preferred to close my eyes. Ethan?
Ethan! What, Harriet? Would you mind helping
me dress this window, please? Well, what's the
matter with it as it is? If you just get away
from that bench of yours for a moment and come
here, perhaps I can show you. All right, Harriet.
You know how I'm branching out now that I'm the
active partner in the store. Oh, you, Jim Cratchit.
Well, you might know you'd lag a mile behind
the times. This is novelty jewelry, and to sell
it, we must display it. Cheap claptrap. Now,
first off, I want you to get this cheap, silly
rubber plant out of the window. Rubber plant?
That's my avocado tree that I grew with my own
hands. Well, whatever it is, it takes up the
whole window. I want it out of here. No, sir,
not my tree. Needs the sunshine it gets. But
what use is it? It's tarnished. Does everything
have to have a function? It's beautiful. It's
bombed my soul. That's enough reason for its
existence. Besides, it don't cost nothing, so
you leave it alone. Oh, very well. But I must
have somewhere to display my costume jewelry.
Oh, let's move that ugly old hourglass clock
somewhere else. Why does it have to be right
beside your bench where every customer comes
in? All right, I'm warning you. You leave that
clock where it is. Don't you ever dare lay a
hand on it. You hear me? Oh, my, aren't we touchy?
Well, just let me remind you of something, Ethan,
with Henrietta gone. Her share goes to me, so
I am two -thirds of this store. I can have it
any way I want to. Over my dead body. You can
do what you want with all your cheap tinsley
stuff, but you keep your hands off that clock.
Heaven's sake, all right. Don't you have an appointment
with Dr. Royce? I don't know. I forgot. Better
get right over to his office. Okay, Ethan, you
can put your shirt back on. I'm all finished
examining you. What's the verdict? I couldn't
be more pleased. You proved the shape, I mean,
huh? Before Henrietta died, I don't mind telling
you I was plum -worried about you. Your heart
was acting up. I didn't like your blood pressure.
When there was a lump in your belly, I could
palpate big as a grapefruit. And now? Now I don't
even need the x -rays I took. Know it before
I see them. Yeah, practically noon now go on
you don't need a doctor get out of here. Let
me get around to the sick people outside who
do As I went into the outer office I glassed
at the electric clock on the wall The hands clocked
to noon as I did so and I was looking at her
by now familiar scene The nurse who had risen
to escort the next patient in was suddenly transfixed
halfway up from her chair. A child about to scream
remained with face contorted, the scream not
yet uttered. A thought crossed my mind. It was
a month since I had fed the clock that first
transfusion. I went into Jake's small lab, opened
the refrigerator, I helped myself to a blood
sample and left. Back at the store, the only
sound was the beat of my clock. It seemed a little
labored to me, but for the moment I was too furious
to see what Harriet had been at since I left.
Draped all over my avocado tree were festoons
of cheap tin and glass jewelry, and Harriet...
The superior smirk on her face was caught immobile
in the act of adding more. I choked back my anger
because suddenly, before I could move, the clock
beat died. Why, Ethan, how'd you get back so
soon? What are you doing to the avocado? Well,
since I can't take it out of the window, I thought
I'd just use it as a display tree. You leave
that alone. As long as it's there no one moves
that or touches it except me you understand that
you certainly don't have to be so abusive Leave
me alone. Oh You're in a mood like this. I'm
glad to I'm sorry to tell you that your precious
clock seems to be out of order again I hope this
time it's broken for good Good riddance Tree
but first some special oil for the magic lamp
Please God you'll still run again And time stood
still again The pattern for the next months of
my life was set The part of it in my waking moments
was only a necessary bridge between the long
hours of infinite relief and accomplishment,
my clock brought me each noon and midnight. My
designs for my perpetual motion mechanism were
completed. I had already started to build it.
That was my real life. Although I found to my
dismay that the clock seemed to demand more and
more frequent transfusions to stay running. But
these were easy to steal from Jake's office in
the hours when... Time stood still. Then once
again, events caught up with me. Oh, Jake, just
a moment. What are you doing here this time of
night? Well, the evening's young. I thought a
chess game might get some things off my mind.
What were you frowning at on the window when
I passed? My plant there. The avocado? Oh, yeah.
Looks a mite -peeked. Can't understand it. It's
been wilting and drooping day by day. No reason.
Are you any good at diagnosing vegetable life,
Jake? No. I'm beginning to think I'm not much
better with humans. I wish I knew the secret
of your spot of youth. Think I'm getting old.
Not yourself, Jake. What's wrong? I don't know.
In a way, it goes back to... To Henrietta's death,
or seems to... What does? Well, I never said
too much about the way she died at the time,
Ethan. A congestive heart failure, you said?
No, that's true enough. That's a condition that
produces an end to living. But what caused it?
Are you asking me? No, I'm asking myself. And
I have no answer. All tests were run and the
pathological evidence was clear enough. But in
spite of massive transfusions, we couldn't stop
Henrietta's blood from from simply disintegrating
Quite literally turn into water and that's unusual
abnormal never seen a case like it before In
the last three months, I've lost three of my
patients to the same sort of What shall I say
same sort of malady? I might have seen it developing
except for a strange thing What? Well, all of
them had been to my office and had had routine
blood samples drawn for physical checkups. And
the samples didn't warn you? There weren't any
samples to examine. Unaccountably, they disappeared
from my office. And one other strange coincidence.
The night your wife died, a blood sample for
a patient in the hospital disappeared. And that
patient died later? Yep, about four weeks later.
But I don't know why I'm worrying you with all
this. It's none of your business. Well, it is.
Oh, you mean as far as Henrietta is concerned.
No, no. I mean, I mean much more than that. Ethan,
what is it? I didn't mean to upset you like this.
I'm not upset. I mean, I just want you to understand.
Understand what? That I'm sorry, oh I'm so sorry
Well, you're a good friend Ethan And I guess
I don't feel like any chess tonight now I run
along Jake yeah, I I never asked before but Do
you remember exactly? What time Henny died? About
25 to 12, I think. I didn't have to think. I
knew it all now. That was the precise moment
that that evil clock first stopped. So it was
a monster, insatiable, that once having tasted
blood... continued to suck on its victim till
it had drained all life away. And I was no better,
no less evil. I had been feeding this mechanical
vampire at the cost of other human lives. In
a daze, unable to explain to him, I saw my old
friend Jake out and turned to face what I had
to face. The shop was dark as I walked to the
clock My ears were so attuned to it by now that
I'd been aware that it had started to labor and
needed a fresh transfusion I was more than a
little mad by now as in the dark. I said to it
die I still had my own expiation to make, not
only for my wife, but for all those others. And
there was a personal sadness as my hands in the
darkness traced the form of my perpetual motion
machine, which would never be completed now.
A man without love, wife, or children would like
to leave a small footprint on the sands. He's
gauged to immortality. All I would leave now
was a sick avocado tree I had nourished for 20
years for nothing. And then suddenly I heard
stealthy footsteps and pulled back into the shadows.
I thought you'd gone to bed. What are you doing
to the plant? Oh, why, it's just some food to
make... Let me see. It's a weed killer. You've
been poisoning my tree. Why, you... Don't you
touch me! Get away from me! Look what you've
done. I've cut my hand. It's your fault. And
finally you've smashed up this ugly old clock
for good. It's dead. just as dead as your precious
avocado tree is going to be. And don't think
you can save it. I knew you'd never agree to
take it out of the window, so I've been poisoning
it for weeks. It's as good as dead, right? Her
blood had started the damn thing again. But this
was to be the last time. What is there left to
say? I have to watch another human being die.
Slowly, inexorably, unable to arrest the inevitable.
And even though it is someone I despise, my guilt
is in no way lessened. The only pleasure I can
take is that... As Harriet sinks, so does that
remorseless, evil, damnable machine. And once
its heart is stilled, I shall destroy it forever.
The one element I have not tried against it is
the enemy of the devil. I shall take it, chain
to my body, when we go to our grave in the river.
to share it for eternity. As I finish this confession
to mail to my good friend, Dr. Jacob Royce, I
can hear the evil thing, labor, about to die.
It's time for me to write the end. If you should
by any chance come across a clock in a curio
shop shaped like an hourglass with a dial that
bears the number 13 instead of 12, shun it like
the plague. I'll be back shortly. Though the
fascination of time and man's never -ending quest
to hoard it, I, too, have that irrational impulse,
all of us have felt sometime, to hold back the
hands and bring time itself to stop. And then
I remember Ethan Vigil, and I decide that once
around is enough for all of us. Our cast included
John Beale, Grace Matthews, Breiner Rayburn,
and Ian Martin. The entire production was under
the direction of Hyman Brown. This is E .G. Marshall
inviting you to return to our Mystery Theatre
for another adventure in the macabre. Until next
time, pleasant dreams.