(Eerie music)
(Male presenter, off) There is a fifth dimension
beyond tha t which is known to man.
It is a dimension as vastas space
and as timeless as infinity.
It is the middle ground between lightand shadow.
Between science and s upers ti tion.
And it lies between the pit of man's fears
and the summit of his knowledge.
This is the dimension of ima Gina tion.
It is anarea which we call
the twil igh t zone.
[Car braking and engine revving]
[Horn blaring]
When you're finished, mister.
How about some service?
When it's quiet.
[Sighs] I'm sorry.
Fill it up, will you?
Sure.
(Male presenter, off) Martin sl oan, age 36.
Occupa tion, vice president, ad agency, in charge of media.
This is not just a s unda y drive for Martin Sloan
he perhaps doesn't know ita t the time, but it's an exodus.
Somewhere up the road, he's looking for san/ty
and somewhere up the road he'll find something else.
Oil change and lube job. That what you want?
Yeah.
Take about an hour.
It's all right. I'm in no hurry.
That's homewood up ahead, isn't it?
Yep. About a mile and a half.
I used to live in homewood.
Grew up there, as a matter of fact.
Haven't been back in 20, 25 years.
20, 25 years.
Yesterday I just got in the car and drove.
I had to get out of New York City.
One more board meeting phone call, report, problem
I would have jumped right out the window.
That's walking distance, isn't it?
Yeah. About a mile and a half.
Yeah, that's walking distance.
Yeah? What'll it be?
I don't suppose you still make
those great chocolate sodas, do you? Three scoops?
How's that?
Well, I spent half my life in this drugstore.
Grew up here.
One thing I always remember ordering
was a chocolate soda with three scoops.
It was only a dime!
You look familiar to me.
Have I seen you before?
I got that kind of face.
It's been a long time, 20 years to be exact.
Wish I had a buck
for every hour I sat at this fountain...
Grammar school right through third year high.
Town looks the same too.
Pretty amazing, you know?
20 years to look so exactly the same.
That'll be a dime.
A dime? Three scoops?
That's the way we make 'em.
Well, you're going to lose your shirt that way.
Nobody sells sodas for a dime anymore.
They don't?
Where you from?
New York.
Mmm.
That's a good soda.
Taste oka y?
Mmm, wonderful.
You know, it's funny
how many memories you connect with a place.
I always thought if I ever came back here
everything would be all changed.
You know, nothing recognizable.
Instead, it's just as if,
just as if I'd left yesterday.
Just as if I'd been away overnight.
I almost expect Mr. Wilson to be in the stockroom sleeping
just like heal wa ys did before he died.
It's one of the memories I have
old man Wilson...
May god rest his soul.
Sleeping in his big comfortable chair
in the other room.
Well,
here you are.
Thanks a lot.
That's a buck.
Yea h.
It was worth it.
So long!
[Suspense music]
(Clears throat)
Mr. Wilson?
Yep, Charlie?
We're going to need some more chocolate syrup, Mr. Wilson.
I'll order some more of it this afternoon.
[Suspense music and dogs barking]
Paul Cox, Michael bradbury
Van buren, Bruni.
(Little boy) Hi.
Pretty good.
Maggie's not bad.
[Sighs] I used to play marbles. We used to give them special names.
The Steele kind we called those "steelies",
the clear kind that you could see through we called those "clearies".
You still give them special names?
Sure.
I used to play hide and seek over there.
We'd all circle around the old man's back
and we used to punch it.
See that house?
Right across the street? I used to live there.
Sloan house?
You still call it that?
Still call it what?
Sloan house.
My name is Sloan. Martin Sloan. What's yours?
You're not Marty Sloan. I know Marty Sloan and you're not him!
Oh, I'm not? Well, let's just see.
What the driver's license says. Huh?
(Woman) Bobby, come down from there. Bobby!
Bobby, listen to me.
Bobby?
Bobby, mind me.
Will you come down from tha t tree?
Come on, Bobby.
Bobby, listen to me.
Come on, get down.
B obb y!
That's a boy.
Come on. Right here.
What am I ever going to do with you?
Ah, it's wonderful, isn't it?
The park?
Certainly is.
All right, Bobby.
That's part of summer, too.
Music from the merry-go-round, the Calliope.
And the cotton candy, the ice cream,
and the band concert.
Nothing quite as good ever.
Nothing quite as good as summer and being a kid.
Are you from around here?
No. Oh, what I mean is I used to be a long time ago.
Lived a couple blocks away.
I played baseball on that field over there
and that merry-go-round... Oh, my goodness.
I grew up with that merry-go-round.
I carved my name on that post on the bandstand one summer.
I was 11 years old and I carved my...
(Martin) Ma r tin sl oa n.
You're Martin Sloan?
Yes, sir, but I didn't mean nothing. Honest.
Lots of kids car ve their name here.
No kidding.
I'm not the first.
You are Martin Sloan.
Of course you are.
Tha t's the way I looked.
[Suspense music]
Martin!
[Rings doorbell]
Yes?
Yes? Whom do you want to see?
Pop.
Woman: Who is it, Robert?
Mom.
Is that mom?
Who are you?
What do you want?
Who is it?
You're both here.
How can you be here?
What do you want, young man?
Mom, don't you know me?
I'm Martin!
Martin?
Must be a lunatic or something.
You mustn't be frightened.
I grew up here, mom. Don't you know your own son?
[Bangs door]
( Young man) Hi.
Like it?
It's got a rumble seat.
It's been a long time since I've seen a rumble seat.
Where you been, mister? Siberia?
Pop just bought me this.
First brand-new car I've ever owned.
This? Brand-new?
First of its kind in the whole town.
Right out of Detroit yes terda y morning.
Brand new? 34 roadster?
Right out of Detroit?
Brand new?
[Music intensifies]
[Distant bell tolling]
(Male presenter, off) A man oan think a lot of thoughts
and walka lot of pa vements between afternoon and night,
and toa man like Martin Sloan,
to whom memory has suddenl y become reality,
a resol ve can come just as clearl yand inexorabl y
as stars in the summer night.
Martin Sloan is now back in town
and his resol ve is to put a claim to his past.
Back again, huh?
I had to come back, pop.
This is my house and this is my glove.
You gave it to me on my 11th birthday.
And the baseball autographed by Lou gehrig.
Who are you?
What do you want here?
I don't know.
I just want to rest. I want to stop running.
I... I belong here.
Don't you understand that? I belong here.
Now, look, you're probably sick.
You're having delusions.
I don't want to hurt you.
I don't want you to get into trouble.
But if you hang around here, there may be trouble.
(Woman) Robert?
(Woman) Who were you talking to?
Mom! Look at me.
You have a son named Martin, haven't you?
He goes to Emerson public school.
In the month of August he spends
at his aunt's farm near buffalo.
A couple of summers
you've gone to saratoga lake,
rented a cottage there.
Once I had a sister.
She died when she was a year old.
Where is Martin?
I'm Martin!
You've got to believe me.
I'm Martin. You've got to believe me!
Look, here are my identification,
all my cards.
They'll tell you who I am.
Look at them. Go on, they'll tell you.
[Distant merry go round music]
Martin.
Martin, I've got to talk to you.
Martin.
Martin!
Ma r tin.
[Merry go round music]
Martin.
Martin!
Ma r tin!
Let me talk to you!
Let me tell you something.
I don't want to hurt you, son.
I won't hurt you.
(Martin) I won't hurt you, son.
Martin!
Ma r tin!
Martin!
Ow! My leg! My leg!
Martin!
Martin.
I only wanted to tell you
that this is a wonderful time of life for you.
Don't let any of it go by without enjoying it.
There won't be any more merry-go-rounds.
No more cotton candy.
No more band concerts.
I only wanted to tell you
that this is a wonderful time for you.
Now. Here.
That's all, Martin.
That's all I wanted to tell you.
God help me.
That's all I wanted to tell you.
I thought you'd like to know
the boy will beall right.
Doctor says he'll limp some,
but he'll be all right.
Oh, thank god for that.
You dropped this at the house.
I looked inside it.
It tells a grea t many things about you.
Your driver's license, the cards, the money in it.
It seems you are Martin Sloan.
You're 36 years old
and ha ve an apartment in New York City.
It says your driver's license expires in 1960.
That's 25 years from now.
And the dates on the bills
those dates haven't happened yet either.
Then you... you know, pop?
Yes, I know.
I know who you are.
I know you've come from a long way from here.
A long way and a long time.
But I don't understand how or why.
Do you?
But you do know other things, don't you, Martin?
Things that will happen.
Yes, I do.
Martin.
Yes, pop?
You have to leave here.
There's no room, there's no place.
Do you understand that?
I see that now, but I don't understand.
Why not?
I guess because we only get one chance.
Maybe there's only one summer to every customer.
That little boy,
the one I know, the one who belongs here,
this is his summer, just as it was yours once.
Don't make him share it.
All right.
Ma r tin.
Is it so bad where you're from?
I thought so, pop.
I've been living at a dead run, and I was tired.
Then one day, I knew I had to come back here.
I had to come back and get on the merry-go-round
and eat cotton candy and listen to a band concert.
And to stop and breathe
and close my eyes and smell and listen.
I guess we all want that.
Maybe when you go back, Martin, you'll find
that there are merry-go-rounds and band concerts where you are.
Maybe you haven't been looking in the right place.
You've been looking behind you, Martin.
Try looking ahead.
Maybe.
Goodbye, son.
Goodbye, pop.
[Cheerful music]
Something for you?
How about a chocolate ice cream soda
with three scoops?
Three scoops? Sure I can make one for you
with three scoops, but it will be extra. 35 cents, okay?
Oh, 35 cents, huh?
How about old Ben Wilson who used to own this place?
Oh, he died about 15, 20 years ago.
Wha tkind of ice cream do you want?
Chocola te? Vanilla?
Vanilla?
Oh, i-I've changed my mind about the soda
if you don't mind.
[Groans]
These stools aren't made for bum legs, are they?
Hey. Did you get that during the war?
Matter of fact, I got it falling off a merry-go-round
when I was a kid, here.
And the freak thing...
Oh, a merry-go-round.
Hey, I remember.
They tore that down a few years ago.
C ondemned I t.
A little la te, I guess, huh?
Huh?
A little late for you, I mean.
Yeah, very late.
Very late for me.
(Male presenter) Martin Sloan, age 36'
vice-presiden t in charge of media.
Successful in most things but not in the one effort
tha tall men try a t some time in their lives.
Trying to go homeagain.
And also like all men, perhaps there will bean occasion,
ma ybe a summer night some time,
when he'll look up from what? the's doing
and listen to the distant music of a Calliope
and hear the voices and the la ughter
of the people and the places of his past.
And perhaps across his mind
there will flit a little errant wish
tha ta man might not ha ve to become old
never outgrow the parks
and the merr y-go-rounds of his youth.
And he'll smile then too
because he'll know it is justan errant wish
some wisp of memory not too important reall y.
Some laughing ghost
tha t cross a man's mind.
Tha tarea part of the twilightzone.
(Male presenter, off) Rod serl ing, the grea Tor of the twilight zone
will tell you about next week's storyafter this word from our sponsor
and noi/I/, Mr. Serl/ng.
An excursion into fantasy on the twilight zone next week
as two distinguished actors, Mr. David Wayne and Mr. Thomas Gomez
appear in "escape clause."
The story of a strange contract between a mortal man
and his satanic majesty.
A contract that ends most surprisingly.
We hope you'll be around to see what that surprise is.
Thank you and good night.
(Male presenter, off) Be sure to see the fun filled famil y life
one of america's grea test enter ta iners.
Danny Thomas shoi/I/, monda y nights, over most of these sta tions.