[Theme music playing]
(Narrator) You're tra vel/ng through another dimension.
A dimension not onl y of sight and sound, but of mind,
a journey into a wondrous land
whose boundaries are tha t of ima Gina t/on.
Your next stop, the twilight zone.
[Suspense music]
[Knock at door]
[Door opening and then closing]
(Man) Suz y!
Don't take the lady's water.
It's all right, Mr. Schuster.
I've got plenty.
Nobody's got plenty.
Oh, Mr. Schuster, I thought
I heard your voice.
For the last time, Mrs. Bronson, we're leaving.
Did you, uh, did you get gas?
I got 12 gallons. I figure that ought to get us
at least to Syracuse.
Where are you going?
We're trying to get to Toronto.
Mr. Schuster has a cousin there.
I'm not sure it's wise you're doing this.
The highways are packed bumper to bumper, the radio says.
And what with the gas shortage and everything...
I know that,
but we've got to try anyway.
It's been nice living here.
You're good neighbors.
Let's go, honey.
Bye.
Good luck.
Safe trip.
[Door closes]
And now we are two.
They were the last?
Building's empty now.
Except for you and me.
What happens now?
I don't know.
I heard on the radio
that they're only going to turn the water on
an hour a day from now on.
They said they'd announce what time.
Aren't you going to leave?
No, I'm not going to leave.
[Melancholy music]
You know, Mrs. Bronson,
I keep getting this crazy thought.
This crazy thought that I'm going to wake up
and none of this will have happened.
I'll wake up in a cool bed,
it'll be night outside
and there'll be a wind,
branches rustling,
shadows on the sidewalk,
a moon.
Traffic noises.
Automobiles.
[Suspense music]
Garba ge cans.
Milk bottles.
And voices.
There was a scientist on the radio this morning.
He said that it'll get a lot hotter, more each day,
now that we're moving so close to the sun.
And that's why we're... [Suspense music]
That's why we're...
The word that Mrs. Bronson is unable to put
into the hot, still, sodden air is "doomed"
because the people you've just seen
have been handed a death sentence.
One month ago, the earth
suddenly changed its elliptical orbit,
and began to follow a path
which gradually, moment by moment, day by day,
took it closer to the sun.
And all of man's little devices to stir up the air
are now no longer luxuries.
They happen to be pitiful and panicky keys to survival.
The time is five minutes to 12, midnight.
There is no more darkness.
The place is New York City, and this is the Eve of the end
because even at midnight, it's high noon,
the hottest day in history,
and you're about to spend it in the twilightzone.
[Melancholy music]
(Bronson) Norma, is that you, honey?
Yes, Mrs. Bronson.
The store was open.
Wide open.
Oh, I think
that's the first time in my life
I was ever sorry I was born a woman.
This is all iwas strong enough to carry.
There weren't any clerks around.
Thank you.
Just a handful of people
taking what they could grab.
Well, at least we won't starve anyway.
And there are three cans of fruit juice in there.
Fruit juice?
Oh, Norma, could we open a can now?
Oh, of course we can open a can now.
Oh, where's the can opener?
Oh, in the other drawer.
[Suspense music]
Oh, I'm sorry.
I'm acting just like an animal, aren't I?
No, no, just...
Just like a frightened woman, that's all.
[Chucang] You should have seen me in the store
running up and down the aisles,
and I mean running.
Knocking things over and grabbing things
and throwing them away and grabbing again.
And at that, I think I was
the calmest person in the store.
One woman just stood in the middle of the room and cried.
She cried like a baby,
pleading for someone to help her.
(Announcer over radio) Ladles and gentlemen.
This is sta t/on wnyg
coming on the air to bring you essential news.
First, a bullet/n from the police department.
Keep your doors locked.
And prepare to protect yoursel ves, if necessary,
with any weapons you ma y ha ve.
The major/ty of the police force
has been assigned to the crowded highwa ys.
Outs/de this deserted city.
And citizens remaining in New York
ma y ha ve to protect themsel ves from the cranks and looters
known to be roam/ng the streets.
From the weather bureau.
The tempera ture stood a t 710 degrees.
At 11:00 this morning.
Humidity, 97%.
Forecast for tomorrow.
Forecast for tomorro w...
Hot. More of the same, onl y ho tter.
(Man over radio) 8 top / t.
(Announcer) Who are they k/dd/ng with this wea ther report?
Tomorrow you can fry eggs on sidewalks,
hea t up soup in the ocean,
and get help from wander/ng man/acs if you choose.
Wha t do you mean "pan/c"?
Who's left to pan/c?
[Chuckles] Ladles and gentl emen,
I'm told thatmydepart/ng from the script might pan/c you and...
Let me alone. Do you hear me?
Let me alone. Let go of me.
Th ere, you... [Music playing over radio]
You see, Mrs. Bronson?
You're not the only one who's frightened.
There we are.
[Liquid pouring]
[Music continues playing]
Go ahead, drink it.
It's grapefruit juice.
No, I can't. I can't live off you like this.
You need it for yourself.
Mrs. Bronson, we'll have to start
living off each other from now on.
[Clinks glasses]
Here's looking at you.
[Music dies ouz']
Current's off again.
It stays on a shorter time each day.
Norma,
what if it shuts off and,
doesn't come back on again?
This place would be like an oven.
As hot as it is,
it could be so much worse.
Oh, Norma, it could be so much worse.
[Melancholy music]
Norma.
Please paint something cool today.
Paint something...
Pastoral.
With a waterfall and,
trees bending in the wind.
Please paint something cool.
Don't paint the sun anymore!
[Dramatic music]
[Sobbing]
[Suspense music]
[Panting]
[Sizzling, Norma gasps]
Mrs. Bronson?
[Opening door]
You all right?
Yes, I'm all right.
It's so quiet.
I haven't heard a sound.
What time is it?
3:00 in the afternoon. [Panting]
Did you get any sleep?
I laid down awhile.
[Sofz' z'humping]
What was that?
Sounds like something fell.
It was someone.
Didn't you lock the roof door?
Yes.
No, I...
I don't know, I...
I don't remember.
I thought I did.
[Footsteps approaching]
[Doorknob rattling]
(Man) Hey, somebod y in there? Come on out.
Come on out, baby.
Come on out and be friendl y.
Ia/n't gotall da y.
If you don't come out, I'm going to come in.
[Cocks hammer]
Did you hear that?
That was a gun.
Get out of here.
Down the stairs and out the front door.
Leave us alone.
(Man) Oka y, bab y.
I never argue witha lady witha gun.
[Footsteps walking a way]
[Sighs] Oh, I'm so glad he's gone.
He hasn't come out the front door yet.
No! No!
[Suspense music]
Crazy dam es!
It's too hot to play games.
Much too hot.
[Glass shatters]
You do this?
You're good.
You paint real good.
My wife used to paint.
Please leave us alone.
We didn't do you any harm.
Please!
[Sighs]
She was so fragile, just... just a little thing.
She couldn't take this heat.
I tried to keep her cool.
But she couldn't take the heat!
Baby didn't live more than an hour.
Then she followed him.
I'm not a housebreaker.
I'm a decent man.
I swear to you, I'ma decent man.
I've been walking around
all, all day trying to find some water.
[Whimpering]
I wouldn't hurt you.
I wouldn't do you any harm.
Honest.
Please believe me.
Please.
Please forgive me, would you?
I'm just off my rocker.
[Panting] Please forgive me.
Why doesn't it end?
Why don't we just...
Just burn up?
[Sobbing]
I painted it for you last night.
It's for you.
Oh, it's beautiful, Norma.
I've seen waterfalls just like that before.
There's, there's one near ithaca, New York.
Yes, it's the highest waterfall,
the highest waterfall in this part of the country.
And I love the sound of it.
That wonderful blue water tumbling over the rocks.
That wonderful, cool, clear water.
You hear it, Norma? Hear it?
You do hear it, Norma, don't you?
Tha t wonderful sound?
You know, we could...
We could swim in that waterfall.
Let's do that.
Let's swim in it, shall we?
I used to do that when I was a little girl. [Chucang]
Just, just sit there and,
and let the water come down over me.
[Excited breathing and dramatic music]
[Faltering voice] Mrs. Bronson?
[Sobbing] Mrs. Bronson?
Mrs. Bronson?
[Sobbing]
[Intensifying suspense music]
[Glass breaks]
[Screams]
[Wind ho wling]
(Man) She's coming out of it now.
Norma?
Yes?
You were running
a high fever, but it's broken now.
Fever?
(Bronson) You ga ve us a start, child.
You were so ill,
but you're going to be all right now.
Isn't she, doctor?
Isn't she going to be all right?
Of course.
I wish I had something left to give her
but the medicine's pretty much all gone now. [Wind howling]
I'm afraid I won't be able to come back.
I'm going to try to move my family south tomorrow.
A friend of mine has a private plane.
Well, they say on the radio, Miami is warmer.
So they say.
But we're only prolonging it.
There was a scientist on the radio this morning.
Trying to explain what happened.
How the earth had changed its orbit
and was starting to move away from the sun,
and that within one, two,
or maybe three weeks at the most,
there wouldn't be any more sun...
We'd all freeze.
[Melancholy music]
Oh, Mrs. Bronson.
I had such a terrible dream.
It was so hot.
It was daylight all the time.
There was, a midnight sun.
There wasn't any night at all.
No night at all.
[Sighs]
Isn't it wonderful
to have darkness and coolness?
[Suspense music]
Yes, my dear.
It's wonderful.
(Narrator) The Poles of fear,
the extremes of how the earth might conce/vabl y be doomed.
Minor exercise in the care and feeding of a nightmare,
respectfull y submitted
byall the thermometer-wa tchers in the twilight zone.
(Announcer) Rod serl/ng, creator of the twilight zone,
will tell you about next week's story
after this word from our al terna te sponsor.
And now, Mr. Serl/ng.
Next week we move back into time,
back to 1863.
A distinguished actor, Mr. Gary merrill,
plays the role of a confederate scout
who goes off on a patrol and winds up smack-dab
in the center of the twilightzone.
Our story is an adaptation of a strange tale
by manly Wade wellman called "the still valley."
This one is for civil war buffs and the students of the occult.
I hope you're around to take a look at it.
Hello. I'm Celeste holm.
Give through the refugee aid programs
of the catholic, protestant and Jewish faiths.
- - fl from the first cigarette in the morning fl
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(announcer) Pa ck or box.