Latest / Suspense / The Last Kilometer
Transcript
- 0:05Speaker 1: Suspense. And the producer of radio's outstanding theater of thrills,
- 0:12Speaker 1: the master of mystery and adventure, William N. Robeson.
- 0:16Speaker 2: In these uncertain and changing times, it is reassuring to
- 0:20Speaker 2: know that some things can be counted on, such as death, taxation,
- 0:25Speaker 2: tomorrow's sunrise, and suspense. Which is a devious way of
- 0:29Speaker 2: remarking that with this broadcast, Radio's outstanding.
- 0:32Speaker 1: Theater thrills begins its 17th year on the air.
- 0:36Speaker 2: We are proud to be one of the oldest programs
- 0:39Speaker 2: in radio, and we are most keenly aware that this
- 0:41Speaker 2: anniversary would not have been obtained without the loyal and
- 0:44Speaker 2: continuing interest of you who are listening to these words.
- 0:48Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you very much. And now to our story.
- 0:52Speaker 2: It concerns sports cars and one of the most grueling
- 0:55Speaker 2: tests of driving skill in the world.
- 0:57Speaker 3: The rally days out.
- 0:59Speaker 1: Which is run every year across the mountains of France, Switzerland,
- 1:02Speaker 1: and Italy.
- 1:03Speaker 2: Listen, listen then as Miss Marsha Hunt stars in The
- 1:08Speaker 2: Last Kilometer, which begins in just a moment.
- 1:11Speaker 4: What makes a person a hero? That's a difficult question
- 1:15Speaker 4: to answer, for heroes can come from widely differing backgrounds,
- 1:19Speaker 4: and there have been heroes in our armed forces who
- 1:22Speaker 4: performed their acts of heroism in non-combat situations. To recognize
- 1:27Speaker 4: these achievements and to do honor to her brave men,
- 1:31Speaker 4: the Navy has authorized the awarding of the Navy and
- 1:35Speaker 4: Marine Corps Medal. This decoration is given to anyone serving
- 1:39Speaker 4: in the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, or Naval Reserve who
- 1:44Speaker 4: distinguishes himself or herself by heroism not involving actual conflict
- 1:50Speaker 4: with an enemy. Authorized in August of 1942, The Navy
- 1:56Speaker 4: and Marine Corps Medal is one of our country's newer
- 1:59Speaker 4: major decorations and applies to activities after December.
- 2:06Speaker 1: 6, 1941.
- 2:07Speaker 4: It is comparable to the Army Soldiers Medal and is
- 2:11Speaker 4: given in tribute to distinguished devotion Navy and Marine Corps
- 2:15Speaker 4: personnel bring to their tour of duty. The Navy and
- 2:19Speaker 4: Marine Corps Medal stands as a symbol of recognition from
- 2:23Speaker 4: a grateful nation.
- 2:25Speaker 1: And now, the last kilometer starring Marsha Hunt. A tale
- 2:31Speaker 1: well calculated to keep you in suspense.
- 2:50Speaker 5: The party was nice. The champagne was lovely. Renee's family
- 2:53Speaker 5: was sweet. But something was wrong.
- 2:56Speaker 6: There was a mysterious, well, curiosity in the way people
- 3:00Speaker 6: would look at me and then look away.
- 3:02Speaker 5: Especially his younger sister, Marie.
- 3:04Speaker 6: I began to wonder if my lipstick was on crooked
- 3:08Speaker 6: or my.
- 3:08Speaker 5: Slip was showing.
- 3:10Speaker 6: Marie? Marie?
- 3:11Speaker 7: Oui, mademoiselle.
- 3:12Speaker 6: What's wrong with me?
- 3:13Speaker 5: Do I look all right?
- 3:15Speaker 3: Ah, but mademoiselle, you are beautiful.
- 3:18Speaker 5: No, I'm not, and that's not what I mean.
- 3:21Speaker 6: It's just the way all of René' s friends stare at me. Oh,
- 3:24Speaker 6: perhaps it's the resemblance. What resemblance?
- 3:27Speaker 5: I suppose it's only imagination.
- 3:30Speaker 6: You are Suzanne, the American girl my.
- 3:33Speaker 5: Brother is going to marry.
- 3:35Speaker 6: Marie, do you think I can make him happy? I
- 3:38Speaker 6: hope so, Suzanne. It frightens me a little. After all,
- 3:42Speaker 6: I will be his second wife. And.
- 3:45Speaker 8: And yet?
- 3:47Speaker 5: Tell me about her.
- 3:48Speaker 3: About Claudette? Yes.
- 3:51Speaker 6: Did she make him happy?
- 3:52Speaker 5: Oh, yes, Suzanne.
- 3:53Speaker 6: Always they were laughing, even when they would lose.
- 3:57Speaker 5: Lose?
- 3:58Speaker 6: The races and the rallies. She was his, uh, comment dit-on, his, uh,
- 4:03Speaker 6: navigateur in the rallies. Was she a good navigator?
- 4:06Speaker 5: Oh, Marie, they almost always won.
- 4:11Speaker 6: Until she died four years ago, she has not entered
- 4:15Speaker 6: a rally since then. Until now.
- 4:18Speaker 3: Now?
- 4:19Speaker 5: He really does. He's taking me as his navigator.
- 4:22Speaker 3: Oh, no.
- 4:23Speaker 5: Oh, I know. I can read a map. Suzanne, have
- 4:26Speaker 5: you ever ridden in a rally?
- 4:28Speaker 6: Oh, no, but... Then don't, don't.
- 4:30Speaker 5: Please don't go on this one.
- 4:32Speaker 7: Why not?
- 4:34Speaker 6: Please don't ride with my brother in this rally. Perhaps
- 4:38Speaker 6: a later one.
- 4:39Speaker 5: But please, not the rally design.
- 4:43Speaker 6: Why not?
- 4:43Speaker 5: I'm not afraid.
- 4:44Speaker 3: Not afraid of what, my dear?
- 4:48Speaker 6: Riding with you in the rally design.
- 4:50Speaker 3: Then why should you be?
- 4:51Speaker 5: Marie's been trying to talk me out of it.
- 4:54Speaker 6: Oh?
- 4:56Speaker 3: Little sisters should be seen and not heard. Come, darling.
- 5:00Speaker 3: Let me take you on a tour of the chateau
- 5:02Speaker 3: of my ancestors. Perhaps we can discover a ghost or
- 5:05Speaker 3: two that will really scare you. What was Marie saying
- 5:13Speaker 3: about the Rallye des Alpes?
- 5:15Speaker 6: Nothing, except she begged me not to go.
- 5:17Speaker 3: She begged you. And of what else did you speak?
- 5:22Speaker 5: I asked her about your first wife.
- 5:26Speaker 3: And what did my little sister say about Claudette?
- 5:29Speaker 6: Only that you were very much in love.
- 5:32Speaker 5: How did she die, René?
- 5:34Speaker 3: In an accident. Viviane, now, this is my room since
- 5:39Speaker 3: I was a little boy.
- 5:40Speaker 6: What sort of an accident did Claudette die in, René?
- 5:44Speaker 3: Susan, I do not care to discuss it.
- 5:46Speaker 5: Do you still love her?
- 5:48Speaker 3: She's dead. I love you. Now, I shall show you
- 5:54Speaker 3: the gardens.
- 5:55Speaker 7: I say, René.
- 5:56Speaker 9: Eh?
- 5:57Speaker 10: Oh, Johnny.
- 5:58Speaker 3: This idiot over there is trying to tell me that
- 6:00Speaker 3: Madero won the class B trophy of sleeping in 54.
- 6:03Speaker 1: Madero? Oh, no, no, no.
- 6:06Speaker 3: He's mistaken. Madero wasn't even driving in class B. Pardon,
- 6:10Speaker 3: my dear. I must settle an argument. I shall be
- 6:13Speaker 3: right back.
- 6:15Speaker 6: I wandered into the high-ceilinged room Rene had lived in
- 6:18Speaker 6: since he was a child. And for some strange reason,
- 6:22Speaker 6: I thought of a tiny apartment back in Fresno, California...
- 6:26Speaker 6: An apartment that would have fitted into this room with
- 6:28Speaker 6: space to spare. The apartment Jimmy North and I had
- 6:33Speaker 6: almost taken before we quarreled and decided that we weren't
- 6:36Speaker 6: in love after all. And I thought how everything works.
- 6:40Speaker 5: Out for the best.
- 6:42Speaker 6: If I hadn't broken with Jimmy, I would never have
- 6:44Speaker 6: run away to France and met Renee and fallen in love,
- 6:48Speaker 6: really and truly in love.
- 6:51Speaker 5: Then I saw her.
- 6:53Speaker 6: On Gilded Louis Kearns' commode stood my picture.
- 6:57Speaker 5: I couldn't remember giving René a picture. And I couldn't
- 7:00Speaker 5: remember having had this one taken. And then I knew.
- 7:05Speaker 6: It wasn't me.
- 7:08Speaker 5: It wasn't me at all.
- 7:10Speaker 6: On the bottom was written, I'm a très chère Marie Claudette.
- 7:17Speaker 6: To my dearest husband from Claudette.
- 7:22Speaker 5: It was like looking into a mirror.
- 7:24Speaker 6: The laughing face in the photograph was mine almost exactly.
- 7:29Speaker 6: My hands felt suddenly clammy and wet. And I wondered
- 7:33Speaker 6: why Marie had warned.
- 7:34Speaker 5: Me about Rallye des Arts.
- 7:37Speaker 6: And I wondered what kind of an accident Claudette had
- 7:40Speaker 6: died in.
- 7:49Speaker 1: In a moment, we continue with the second act of... Suspense.
- 7:55Speaker 11: Another visit with Joe and Daphne Forsythe.
- 8:00Speaker 8: Joe.
- 8:04Speaker 6: Joe.
- 8:05Speaker 10: Joe.
- 8:07Speaker 7: Joe!
- 8:08Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm up.
- 8:10Speaker 1: I'm up. If I get breakfast, I'll shave at work.
- 8:12Speaker 9: Joe, it's not time to go to work.
- 8:14Speaker 3: Then why'd you wake me up?
- 8:16Speaker 6: You were snoring.
- 8:17Speaker 1: How about that?
- 8:18Speaker 9: You were snoring loud.
- 8:20Speaker 1: Oh, really?
- 8:21Speaker 9: I just wanted to quiet you.
- 8:23Speaker 3: I thought I was quiet.
- 8:24Speaker 9: You sounded like a buzzsaw going through a pine nut.
- 8:27Speaker 3: Pretty good. Pretty good.
- 8:30Speaker 1: I wish I could be with you at 2.30 in
- 8:32Speaker 1: the morning.
- 8:32Speaker 9: You can go back to sleep now.
- 8:34Speaker 3: Oh, gee, thanks.
- 8:35Speaker 9: You can get a good night's sleep, too. Our savings
- 8:39Speaker 9: bonds will protect us.
- 8:40Speaker 3: Huh?
- 8:41Speaker 9: They protect us. The money we invest is used to
- 8:44Speaker 9: protect our country.
- 8:45Speaker 6: And its freedoms.
- 8:46Speaker 9: Why, all around us, we can see the safeguards that
- 8:49Speaker 9: our bonds.
- 8:49Speaker 6: Have paid for.
- 8:50Speaker 3: How about that?
- 8:52Speaker 9: So, you see, when you buy that savings bond with
- 8:55Speaker 9: every paycheck, you're really investing in a secure night's sleep.
- 8:59Speaker 3: Not in this house, I'm not.
- 9:01Speaker 6: What?
- 9:01Speaker 1: Good night, Daphne.
- 9:03Speaker 6: Good night, Joe.
- 9:05Speaker 1: And now.
- 9:07Speaker 1: Starring Miss Marcia Hunt. Act Two of The Last Kilometer.
- 9:18Speaker 6: My dark foreboding soon vanished before Renee's gay smile. And
- 9:23Speaker 6: I forgot Marie's warning in excitement of preparing for the rally.
- 9:33Speaker 7: At last, on a bright, clear morning, we were in
- 9:36Speaker 7: the Parc Fermé in Marseille, from which, one by one,
- 9:40Speaker 7: a minute apart, the cars roared off on one of Europe's.
- 9:44Speaker 6: Most difficult tests of driving skills. As Rene pulled his
- 9:50Speaker 6: Alfa Romeo up to the starting gate, I thought he
- 9:53Speaker 6: was the most handsome man I had ever seen, his
- 9:56Speaker 6: dark eyes flashing with excitement. But his mouth was a
- 10:01Speaker 6: grim line. And somehow, behind the excitement, he had a haunted,
- 10:06Speaker 6: secret look which brightened me.
- 10:10Speaker 3: Ah, René Beranger, you honor us again. It has been two,
- 10:14Speaker 3: three years? Four, mon vieux, four. We try once more.
- 10:17Speaker 3: I go now to get our number.
- 10:21Speaker 6: The starter began walking around our car, making the safety inspection,
- 10:24Speaker 6: the rules required. Suddenly, he stopped and stared at me.
- 10:28Speaker 3: Pardonnez-moi, mademoiselle, vous êtes un mariage?
- 10:31Speaker 6: Yes.
- 10:31Speaker 3: I thought for a moment you looked like... It's no matter.
- 10:35Speaker 6: I look like his first wife?
- 10:37Speaker 3: Oui, mademoiselle, very much. Very, very much. Our number, ma chérie, 107.
- 10:42Speaker 3: It is the one I have asked for. You will
- 10:47Speaker 3: place it in the windscreen, no?
- 10:49Speaker 6: A lucky number?
- 10:50Speaker 3: Lucky? Perhaps. I have had it before. Est-ce que vous
- 10:55Speaker 3: êtes prêt, Monsieur Béranger? Oui, tout à fait prêt.
- 10:56Speaker 10: Bien.
- 10:57Speaker 11: Dix.
- 10:58Speaker 3: Faites attention, chérie, the count begins.
- 11:02Speaker 6: René, René, there's something I must know. The what? René,
- 11:05Speaker 6: you must tell me, did you ever take.
- 11:07Speaker 5: Claudette on this rally?
- 11:08Speaker 3: She does.
- 11:09Speaker 6: René, answer my question.
- 11:10Speaker 3: About that? I don't see.
- 11:21Speaker 6: Now there was no time to think, to wonder, to
- 11:23Speaker 6: ask questions, or to enjoy the scenery. The day was
- 11:27Speaker 6: the roar of the motor, the screech of tires, and
- 11:31Speaker 6: the map of our route, from which I scarcely looked
- 11:33Speaker 6: up if I checked off the villages we'd passed through,
- 11:36Speaker 6: and the control points where officials would penalize us if
- 11:38Speaker 6: we were late. The night was wind and cold, and
- 11:43Speaker 6: stay-awake pills, and shortness of breath, as we whined across
- 11:47Speaker 6: the high alps of Switzerland toward Edinburgh. The second day
- 11:51Speaker 6: was like the first, excepting the names on the maps
- 11:54Speaker 6: were no longer French. And then, in a little town
- 11:58Speaker 6: on Lago di Gardo, at last I slept.
- 12:02Speaker 5: For three beautiful hours.
- 12:05Speaker 6: But only because René had to free a sticky valve.
- 12:08Speaker 5: But too soon, we were on the road again.
- 12:11Speaker 6: We'd lost time to make up.
- 12:13Speaker 1: Cortina, Susan.
- 12:15Speaker 3: When must we be in Cortina?
- 12:17Speaker 8: Cortina. Cortina, just a second.
- 12:20Speaker 3: Here, give it to me.
- 12:21Speaker 8: You see, it's right there.
- 12:25Speaker 3: We must make the Cortina control point at 3.06 in
- 12:28Speaker 3: the morning. That seems simple to read, no?
- 12:31Speaker 6: Yes, Rene.
- 12:32Speaker 3: Sorry. We're almost the only car still unpenalized. Just like before.
- 12:39Speaker 6: Like when before?
- 12:41Speaker 3: Like four years ago. Each checkpoint... Each control, we hit
- 12:47Speaker 3: both on schedule.
- 12:49Speaker 7: Who is we, Rene?
- 12:50Speaker 3: We fall behind. And I try to make it up.
- 12:53Speaker 3: And never has the car's car been driven like I
- 12:57Speaker 3: told it. And we were on the last kilometer. Oh,
- 13:02Speaker 3: mon Dieu. Et toi?
- 13:06Speaker 9: What is it?
- 13:06Speaker 3: The Porsche ahead. He sees my license. No, more forward. No,
- 13:10Speaker 3: not so fast. He does not know this road.
- 13:14Speaker 8: Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no.
- 13:25Speaker 3: Stay here, Susan.
- 13:26Speaker 10: No, no, I'll go too.
- 13:27Speaker 3: Stay and stop at the next car. Send him back
- 13:31Speaker 3: for an ambulance.
- 13:33Speaker 6: I stayed and flagged down the next speeding car.
- 13:37Speaker 5: And finally an ambulance came.
- 13:40Speaker 6: They struggled up the cliff with two sheeted thorns on livers.
- 13:44Speaker 6: And Renée climbed back into the car.
- 13:47Speaker 3: C'est le sport.
- 13:50Speaker 10: They were dead.
- 13:52Speaker 6: They were dead, weren't they?
- 13:53Speaker 3: Yes, ma chérie. They were dead.
- 13:56Speaker 5: Oh, how horrible.
- 14:00Speaker 3: It could be worse.
- 14:01Speaker 7: Worse?
- 14:01Speaker 3: That was Van Hoff and his wife. I knew them.
- 14:06Speaker 3: They were much in love.
- 14:08Speaker 6: Then what could be worse?
- 14:11Speaker 3: If one of them died, and not the other.
- 14:19Speaker 6: Another day of twisting mountain roads, of hairpin curves, with
- 14:24Speaker 6: no guardrails between the screaming, spinning car and the thousand
- 14:27Speaker 6: feet of emptiness. It was late evening when we roared
- 14:33Speaker 6: back into France, through the dank, dripping tunnel of the
- 14:37Speaker 6: Paul de Tendayes. and on down the tortuous descent of
- 14:41Speaker 6: the East Maritime, with the fresh, damp smell of the
- 14:45Speaker 6: Mediterranean rising up to us. It was midnight when we
- 14:49Speaker 6: ground to a stop at a gas station at La Tourbille,
- 14:52Speaker 6: on the Grand Corniche, high above Monte Carlo. Not much
- 14:56Speaker 6: further now, just a few kilometers to the finish line
- 14:59Speaker 6: at Nice.
- 15:01Speaker 3: Hey, service tout de suite! Ah, where are these peasants?
- 15:07Speaker 8: Hey!
- 15:08Speaker 6: Hey!
- 15:09Speaker 3: Oui, monsieur. Oui, monsieur. Qu'est-ce que vous voulez? Petrol, tout
- 15:13Speaker 3: de suite. You have coffee inside. Ah, monsieur Baron, c'est vous. Oui,
- 15:18Speaker 3: c'est moi. And late like before. Comme d'habitude, hein? It's
- 15:22Speaker 3: no matter. This is almost the last kilometer. Coffee, Susan?
- 15:28Speaker 6: No, no thanks.
- 15:29Speaker 3: I need a cup.
- 15:31Speaker 6: I looked at the man I.
- 15:31Speaker 5: Was going to marry. He was smiling stupidly.
- 15:36Speaker 6: I thought it was Jimmy North back home.
- 15:39Speaker 5: With his frank, open face, and I realized I didn't
- 15:42Speaker 5: know this man at all. René, wait, I want to
- 15:46Speaker 5: talk to you.
- 15:47Speaker 3: I must have coffee. You would not want me to
- 15:50Speaker 3: sleep at the wheel, not on the last kilometer. There
- 15:54Speaker 3: is a curve there. It is called La Courbe de Mort.
- 15:58Speaker 3: You would not want me to go to sleep there.
- 16:00Speaker 5: La Courbe de Mort.
- 16:03Speaker 6: The Curve of Death. I shivered. Then I looked at
- 16:07Speaker 6: the attendant.
- 16:09Speaker 5: He was staring at me wide-eyed.
- 16:11Speaker 6: What is wrong, monsieur?
- 16:13Speaker 3: Excuse, madame, but you look like... I know.
- 16:18Speaker 5: Like Madame Beranger. You knew her?
- 16:21Speaker 3: I saw her once. C'est incroyable. Incredible. You're the same.
- 16:27Speaker 3: But it must not happen again.
- 16:29Speaker 7: Happen?
- 16:30Speaker 1: What?
- 16:31Speaker 3: Mademoiselle. You must go no further on this rally. You
- 16:35Speaker 3: must remain here.
- 16:36Speaker 4: But why?
- 16:37Speaker 6: It's only a few kilometers to the finish.
- 16:40Speaker 3: Listen. Four years ago, this man, this Raleigh Beranger, he
- 16:44Speaker 3: has to stop here for petrol. The Raleigh des Alpes
- 16:49Speaker 3: in 1954. He has his wife with him. She is you.
- 16:53Speaker 3: Like you were the same girl. The same. They are behind.
- 16:57Speaker 3: The road is wet. I warned them, but... They go
- 17:01Speaker 3: over the side on La Corbe de Mor. He leaves,
- 17:04Speaker 3: but she is killed.
- 17:07Speaker 5: So that was the accident.
- 17:09Speaker 3: Oh, imagine. For years, we do not see Monsieur Beranger. Then,
- 17:13Speaker 3: six weeks ago, he comes back again to La Corbe
- 17:16Speaker 3: de Mor. He parks on the road, and he looks down,
- 17:20Speaker 3: and he laughs. He says he will be back, and
- 17:23Speaker 3: this time, he will die with his Claudette.
- 17:27Speaker 5: Six weeks ago?
- 17:28Speaker 6: Yes. It was just six weeks ago I met Rene
- 17:32Speaker 6: at the casino in Nice.
- 17:34Speaker 3: Don't you see? To him, you are his Claudette again.
- 17:38Speaker 2: No.
- 17:39Speaker 6: No, it's too fantastic.
- 17:41Speaker 3: What is so fantastic, Marguerite?
- 17:44Speaker 5: He says.
- 17:45Speaker 6: He says Claudette was with you before, but she was
- 17:49Speaker 6: killed on this road.
- 17:52Speaker 3: How much, old man? Oh, mademoiselle, you must not go.
- 17:54Speaker 3: I beg you. How much? The petrol.
- 17:56Speaker 11: Combien?
- 17:57Speaker 3: Combien? Deux mille neuf cents francs. Eh bien. Voilà. Keep
- 18:04Speaker 3: the difference. Now. Allons-y. No, René.
- 18:09Speaker 6: What? I'm not going any further.
- 18:11Speaker 3: Eh, what are you saying? Do I come so far
- 18:14Speaker 3: and miss the finish?
- 18:15Speaker 5: No, Renée.
- 18:16Speaker 6: No, you know the route well. You can drive the
- 18:18Speaker 6: rest of the way yourself.
- 18:19Speaker 3: That is enough. Quite enough. You were right, Miss.
- 18:22Speaker 8: Take me to the end. No, Renée. No. Please. Please.
- 18:29Speaker 3: Stop that sniveling. Get down to business. How much further?
- 18:33Speaker 3: How many kilometers from Maturbi to Nice? What time must
- 18:37Speaker 3: we cross the finish line?
- 18:40Speaker 7: The map was a blurb.
- 18:42Speaker 6: Then it came sharply into focus and I saw something
- 18:45Speaker 6: I hadn't noticed before. There was no time written on
- 18:49Speaker 6: the map for the finish. And the red crayon stopped
- 18:53Speaker 6: short of Nice.
- 18:54Speaker 5: Stopped just one kilometer from La Tourbille.
- 18:57Speaker 6: The last kilometer.
- 19:00Speaker 3: La Tourbille to Nice. How far? I ask how far?
- 19:10Speaker 6: It looks like Eighteen kilometers.
- 19:14Speaker 3: Merci. Merci, Claudette.
- 19:25Speaker 1: In a moment, we continue with the third act of Suspense.
- 19:32Speaker 10: We have together ample capacity and freedom to defend freedom.
- 19:38Speaker 12: This is NATO.
- 19:40Speaker 10: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization. NATO nations contribute to the
- 19:45Speaker 10: further development of peaceful and friendly international relations by strengthening
- 19:50Speaker 10: their free institutions, by bringing about a better understanding of
- 19:54Speaker 10: the principles upon which these institutions are founded, and by
- 19:58Speaker 10: promoting conditions of stability and well-being. The United States of
- 20:02Speaker 10: America is a part of NATO. You should be aware
- 20:06Speaker 10: of and alert to the objectives and programs of the
- 20:10Speaker 10: North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
- 20:13Speaker 1: And now, starring Miss Marsha Hunt, Act Three of The
- 20:19Speaker 1: Last Kilometer.
- 20:22Speaker 8: Oh, please, please.
- 20:26Speaker 3: It is like before, no? The rain and the darkness. Oh, remember,
- 20:33Speaker 3: remember this curve here?
- 20:35Speaker 8: This curve?
- 20:36Speaker 3: No, no.
- 20:38Speaker 8: Renée!
- 20:40Speaker 7: Renée, how can I remember?
- 20:41Speaker 6: I wasn't here!
- 20:44Speaker 3: And there. There it is at last, Claudette. There is
- 20:50Speaker 3: the grandfather of them all.
- 20:53Speaker 7: La Cour de Mort.
- 20:54Speaker 3: Remember, ma chérie? Renée, I'm not Claudette.
- 20:59Speaker 9: I'm Susan.
- 21:00Speaker 8: Susan, Renée.
- 21:01Speaker 6: Susan. What?
- 21:02Speaker 8: Susan.
- 21:03Speaker 6: Susan.
- 21:04Speaker 3: Susan.
- 21:06Speaker 8: Susan, forgive me.
- 21:11Speaker 6: The old man from the gas station found me. A
- 21:27Speaker 6: hundred yards from the car, wandering in a daze.
- 21:30Speaker 3: Mademoiselle. Mademoiselle. Ah, so dear, you are safe.
- 21:34Speaker 5: Where is he? Is he.
- 21:36Speaker 3: He lives, mademoiselle, but I think not long. You must
- 21:40Speaker 3: not go there. Please.
- 21:42Speaker 6: He was lying among the rocks by the overturned car.
- 21:46Speaker 6: He was bleeding from the mouth. His eyes were glazed,
- 21:50Speaker 6: but when he saw me, he smiled.
- 21:53Speaker 3: Claudette.
- 21:56Speaker 6: I looked down at the man I had loved. Then
- 21:59Speaker 6: I kneeled beside him.
- 22:02Speaker 5: Oui, René.
- 22:06Speaker 8: Bonjour, Claudette.
- 22:10Speaker 5: Bonjour, René.
- 22:14Speaker 3: Adieu. Mademoiselle, there is nothing more you can do here.
- 22:23Speaker 3: Permit me to take you back to the village.
- 22:26Speaker 5: Thank you.
- 22:29Speaker 6: Is there a phone, a telephone there?
- 22:33Speaker 8: Oh, oui, mademoiselle.
- 22:35Speaker 3: You wish to make a call?
- 22:37Speaker 2: Yes, please.
- 22:39Speaker 5: An overseas call. To Fresno, California.
- 22:45Speaker 6: Yes.
- 22:57Speaker 8: Suspense.
- 22:59Speaker 1: In which Marsha Hunt starred in William N. Robeson's production
- 23:03Speaker 1: of The Last Kilometer by Michael Frost. In just a moment,
- 23:08Speaker 1: the names of the supporting players and a word about
- 23:10Speaker 1: next week's story of suspense.
- 23:13Speaker 11: If someone were to accuse you of being a firebug,
- 23:16Speaker 11: you'd probably be pretty indignant. But the fact is, you
- 23:19Speaker 11: may be a firebug unless you're unusually careful.
- 23:22Speaker 1: For example.
- 23:23Speaker 11: How often do you ride along the highway in your
- 23:25Speaker 11: car and thoughtlessly toss a lighted cigarette butt out the window?
- 23:29Speaker 11: Most of the time it may not do any damage,
- 23:32Speaker 11: but you're taking the chance because a gust of wind
- 23:35Speaker 11: may carry that butt into a clump of dry grass
- 23:37Speaker 11: and start a disastrous brush or forest fire. So from
- 23:41Speaker 11: now on, please use the ashtray inside the car. Of course,
- 23:46Speaker 11: when you're out in the woods for a walk or
- 23:48Speaker 11: a picnic, be especially careful with fire. Break all matches
- 23:52Speaker 11: in two before throwing them away. Make sure that ashes
- 23:55Speaker 11: from all smokes, cigarettes, cigars, and pipes are all the
- 23:59Speaker 11: way out before you leave them. The same goes for campfires,
- 24:03Speaker 11: which should be drowned and stirred.
- 24:05Speaker 1: Not once but twice. Don't run the.
- 24:07Speaker 11: Risk of losing acres of forest land so valuable for timber, water,
- 24:11Speaker 11: and soil conservation and for recreation areas.
- 24:15Speaker 1: Be careful with fire. Supporting Marsha Hunt in the last
- 24:20Speaker 1: kilometer were Ann Hunter, John Daner, and Ben Wright.
- 24:23Speaker 3: Listen.
- 24:24Speaker 1: Listen again next week when we return with another tale
- 24:27Speaker 1: well calculated to keep you in suspense.
- 24:47Speaker 12: This is the United States Armed Forces Radio and Television Service.
- 25:15Speaker 8: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.