I Saw Myself Running
WILLIAM CONRAD: Tired of the everyday grind? Ever dream of a life of romantic
adventure? Want to get away from it all? We offer you ...
MUSIC: "ESCAPE" ACCENT
WILLIAM CONRAD: ... ESCAPE!
MUSIC: EERIE THEME, IN BG
ANNOUNCER: ESCAPE! Designed to free you from the four walls of today for a
half hour of high adventure!
MUSIC: "NIGHT ON BALD MOUNTAIN" ... THEN OMINOUS, IN BG
WILLIAM CONRAD: You are standing in inky blackness - looking up a long flight
of stairs, at the top of which lurks something unbelievably evil. Out of the
moving shadows behind you, coming closer to you, is the shadowy figure of
something that could only come from - a nightmare.
MUSIC: OUT
ANNOUNCER: Listen now as ESCAPE brings you Antony Ellis's terrifying story,
"I Saw Myself Running"!
MUSIC: FOR AN INTRO
SOUND: CLINK OF COFFEE CUPS, RUSTLE OF NEWSPAPERS ... FOR A MOMENT, THEN IN
AGREEMENT WITH THE FOLLOWING
FRED: (SIGHS WEARILY, BORED) You through with the magazine section, sweetie?
SUSAN: (ON EDGE, TRYING NOT TO SHOW IT) No, but it's all right. Here.
FRED: Oh, well, if you're not through with it--
SUSAN: No. You have it.
FRED: Thanks. (SIGH) Want the woman's page?
SUSAN: No, thanks. (BEAT) Freddy?
FRED: Mmm?
SUSAN: (SERIOUS) I had the strangest dream last night.
FRED: (LIGHTLY) Oh? Anybody we know?
SUSAN: Don't be funny. If you stop reading for a minute, I'll tell you about
it.
FRED: (RELUCTANT SIGH, LOWERS PAPER) Okay.
SUSAN: I was scared.
FRED: Well, why didn't you wake me up?
SUSAN: Why? It wouldn't have done any good. It - it's a funny thing. It was a
nightmare, I guess. You know, the kind where you see yourself running away
from something or from somebody?
FRED: (GENTLY DISMISSIVE) Pah, too much beer.
SUSAN: I want to ask you. It's very important.
FRED: What, darling?
SUSAN: Do you notice how sometimes, in a dream, everything is happening to you
and then suddenly you find yourself standing there watching it? Watching
yourself? And you say to yourself, "It's a dream -- and I don't have to be
frightened because in a minute I'll wake up"?
FRED: I guess so. Something like that, I guess.
SUSAN: Well, last night -- a lot of other nights, Freddy -- it's been
different. It starts the same way, like any other dream, I suppose. But - then
I'm running away. Somebody I don't know is following me and then - there are -
two of us. Both me. Running.
FRED: (FEIGNING INTEREST) Mm hm. (CHANGES THE SUBJECT) Uh, coffee still hot?
SUSAN: (PROTESTS) Freddy--
FRED: (TRIES TO BE REASONABLE) Sue. Honey. I don't know anything about dreams.
If you're asking me what I think it means-- Well, I don't know. Offhand, I'd
say that last bottle of beer. Coffee?
SOUND: COFFEE POURED
FRED: Thanks. (BACK TO HIS PAPER) Mmm.
SUSAN: Freddy?
FRED: (READING) Hmm?
SUSAN: (SIGHS, GIVES UP) Nothing.
MUSIC: A BRIEF, SOMBER TRANSITION ... THEN IN BG
SUSAN: (NARRATES) How do you explain a dream? You don't. You can't. At first,
it frightens you and then as the morning passes it fades and by lunchtime ...
forgotten. Freddy and I went to bed early that night.
MUSIC: TO DREAM BY ... SLOWLY BUILDS TO AN OMINOUS CLIMAX, IN BG
SUSAN: (NARRATES) I think I was a little surprised when it began again. I
didn't realize I was asleep yet. But it was there. The same as the last time.
A face, only a face. Not unkind -- not anything. And it was so far away and,
around it, was a piece of cardboard with circles drawn on it; the face, in the
center. And it went round and round. First, only a dot. And then it came
closer, and the noise came with it, and everything was spinning so much it
made me dizzy but I could always see it, right side up. It was very close to
me and the face was somebody's I'd never seen before. It was a man, I think.
And I knew that he didn't care. And I wanted to cry!
MUSIC: OUT ABRUPTLY
SUSAN: (NARRATES) Then it was gone. I was alone ...
SOUND: SLIGHT ECHO FILTER ON DIALOGUE
SUSAN: (NARRATES) ... In a big hall. And I thought I'd seen the place before
but I couldn't have done because I knew it was only a dream. Even then, I knew
I was dreaming – because I could see myself. There was a wide staircase going
up into a dark place that was higher than any place I'd ever seen. I was at
the foot of the stairs -- looking up -- and my face was frightened. I saw
myself open my mouth to say something -- to call, upstairs, into the dark.
SUE: (IN A PANIC, CALLS) Don't come down! Please, don't! I don't want to see
you! I - I'm afraid! Don't come down!
SUSAN: (NARRATES) But I'd never heard myself before. Not really. I'd always
thought _I'd_ said things in dreams. But not this way; not so that I _really_
heard. And the voice wasn't my own. I found myself looking up the staircase
_with_ her, and there were two of us, standing next to each other -- touching.
I could feel her hand. It was warm.
SUE: (CALLS) Oh, don't! You mustn't come down!
SUSAN: (TO SUE) Who is it?
SUE: I don't know, Susan. I never know. But it's up there -- in the shadows.
SUSAN: It's too dark. I can't see anything. What does it look like?
SUE: Oh, listen.
SOUND: WEIRD OMINOUS NOISE, OFF ... THEN IN BG
SUE: You can hear it. I'm - I'm afraid. It'll come down soon, and I'll try to
run, but I won't be able to get away! It's always the same!
SUSAN: (BEING REASONABLE, TO HERSELF) But this is a dream. It's a dream. I'm
having a dream. I can wake up now, if I want to.
SUE: I'll be here alone then. You _always_ leave me here alone.
SUSAN: That's silly. How can I leave you alone when you're _me_? It's only a
dream. I can wake up now.
SUE: Oh, no! You've got to stay this time. Look up there. It'll be coming down
in a minute. We'll have to run!
SUSAN: I won't run.
SUE: I always do. I have to!
SUSAN: No. I want to see it.
SUE: It'll kill you if you stay!
SUSAN: How do you know? You haven't even seen it.
SUE: It'll kill me, too. I - I'm afraid!
SUSAN: This is a dream! There's nothing to be afraid of!
SUE: It's coming down! Run! RUN!
MUSIC: AN ACCENT TOPS THE WEIRD OMINOUS NOISE ... THEN IN BG
SOUND: SLIGHT ECHO FILTER OUT
SUSAN: (NARRATES) We ran. Both of us. And all this time -- in all my dreams --
that girl I'd seen hadn't been _me_ at all. And then the great hall and
staircase weren't there. We were in a lovely garden. And it was very quiet ...
MUSIC: OUT
SOUND: BIRD SINGS, WEIRDLY ... IN BG
SUSAN: (NARRATES) ... except for a single bird - and it sang - strangely - and
sadly.
SOUND: SLIGHT ECHO FILTER ON DIALOGUE
SUE: (CALMER, BUT STILL NERVOUS) Why do you dream?
SUSAN: What a silly question. Everybody dreams.
SUE: If you didn't dream, I wouldn't have to be here. I - I wouldn't be afraid
all the time.
SUSAN: There's nothing to be afraid of. It's warm. It's so peaceful. Look at
the roses. And the caterpillars.
SUE: I'm afraid of caterpillars.
SUSAN: I used to be. I'm not anymore.
SUE: I'm still afraid of them. I remember the first time you dreamed of them.
You'd been frightened when one crawled on your hand. You were very small then.
That's the first time I had to be afraid of them.
SUSAN: But that was a long time ago. I don't mind them now.
SUE: I do. I mind everything you think you've forgotten. Oh! Look! There's one
crawling on my shoe. Will you squash the caterpillar? I can't. I - I'm afraid.
SUSAN: All right.
SOUND: WHACK! ... SUDDENLY, BIRD OUT ... REPLACED INSTANTLY BY LOUD AIRPLANE
ENGINE IN MID-FLIGHT ... CONTINUES IN BG
SUSAN: Where's this place?
SUE: It's an airplane.
SUSAN: I've never been in an airplane before.
SUE: I know. I'm afraid of them. I'll fall out! And there'll be such a long
time for me to know that I'm going to die. I - I don't want to fall!
SUSAN: (REASSURING) Hold on to me, you won't fall. It's only a dream. You see?
Freddy's the pilot and he can't fly – I _know_ he can't!
SUE: You keep saying that.
SUSAN: What?
SUE: "It's only a dream." Doesn't matter to you. _You_ can wake up, I can't. I
have to stay. I have to live with this all the time.
SUSAN: Where are we going?
SUE: I don't know.
SOUND: ENGINE SPUTTERS ... PLANE STARTS TO BREAK UP
SUSAN: Look. The plane's breaking up.
SUE: We're going to fall. We're going to fall now!
SUSAN: We'll be all right; we've got our parachutes on. I know. You, uh, have
to count to three or - or ten, and then pull the ring. I've seen them do it in
the movies. We'll be all right, we'll jump.
SUE: No, I can't! I can't!
SUSAN: We've got to!
SUE: (SCREAMS)
SOUND: ENGINE AND PLANE NOISE RECEDES AND FADES OUT ... REPLACED BY LOUD RUSH
OF AIR AND WIND ... FOR A MOMENT, THEN IN BG
SUSAN: (DREAMILY, TO HERSELF) It's such a nice, floating sensation. I'd no
idea we were so high. I've got to count to ten and pull the ring. One, two,
three, four, five, six ... seven ... eight ... nine ... ten! (PAUSE, PANICS) I
- I can't find it! I can't find it! It won't work! I'm going to die! I'm
falling! I'm gonna die! (SCREAMS)
SOUND: RUSH OF AIR AND WIND OUT
SUSAN: (WHIMPERS, CONTINUES IN BG)
SOUND: ECHO FILTER OUT
SUSAN: (WHIMPERS, IN BED)
FRED: Honey? Honey, wake up! Susan, wake up; you're dreaming. Susan!
SUSAN: (WAKES, GASPS, BREATHES HEAVILY) Freddy? Freddy!
FRED: (COMFORTING) Now, now, now, now, now. It's all right. You're okay now.
It was a nightmare.
SUSAN: Please, turn on the light.
SOUND: LIGHT SWITCH
FRED: There. See?
SUSAN: I was falling. I fell out of an airplane. I was gonna die.
FRED: Now, darling. (LIGHTLY) It was that TV show we watched.
SUSAN: (PROTESTS) Freddy--!
FRED: It's all right. I love you. You don't have to be afraid. You're right
here. Everything's fine and it's nearly four o'clock. Come on, you climb in
with me.
SUSAN: Freddy, I don't want to dream anymore. I'm afraid. It was like last
night. The other night. But worse.
FRED: Now listen, Susan--
SUSAN: Freddy. Look at me. Do I sound the same?
FRED: Honey--
SUSAN: (INSISTS) Do I sound the same? (NO ANSWER) There's two of us. When I go
to sleep, when I dream, there's another woman there. That's who I've been
seeing all these years. It's not me! It's someone else! She's there. All the
time. Freddy, I don't want to dream anymore. Something's going to happen. I'm
afraid!
MUSIC: FOR A FINISH
(MIDDLE COMMERCIAL)
ANNOUNCER: Now, back to ESCAPE!
MUSIC: FOR A SOMBER INTRO ... THEN IN BG
SUSAN: (NARRATES) Freddy took me to the doctor. And I tried to tell him about
the dreams. And when I finished he examined me. Tested my heart and blood
pressure. Then he said--
MUSIC: OUT ABRUPTLY
DR. PETERS: Susan, you're tired. That's what's the matter with you.
SUSAN: But I haven't been doing anything to be tired. Really, I haven't.
DR. PETERS: You're overwrought. It could be a vitamin deficiency; any number
of little things. But it's not serious. You're in good shape. Now, what you
need is to get away for a few days.
SUSAN: Well, I feel all right. It's just that dream; the girl, the one who
looks like me--
DR. PETERS: I want you to forget about that dream. It's only because you're
tired that you have the dream in the first place. Now, I'm going to give you a
sedative to take, just before going to bed. A few night's good sleep, you'll
be fit as a fiddle.
SUSAN: (HOPELESS) I don't want to dream anymore, that's all.
MUSIC: FOR A SOMBER BRIDGE, THEN IN BG
SUSAN: (NARRATES) He patted me on the arm, smiling. Freddy smiled. And I took
the little box of sedative pills home with me. I couldn't tell them. I
couldn't make them understand. It wasn't just a dream. It was something that
was happening, really happening. And that night I decided that I wouldn't
sleep. I'd stay awake. And if I was awake I _couldn't_ dream. After Freddy was
asleep, I got up and went into the living room. I got a new library book and I
began to read. It was eleven o'clock then.
MUSIC: OUT GENTLY
SOUND: TICKING CLOCK ... AFTER A MOMENT, IT CHIMES THE HOUR ... THEN CONTINUES
TICKING IN BG
SUSAN: (STARTLED, TO HERSELF) Oh! Oh, I mustn't. I almost did. (EXHALES) I
wish we had something to make me stay awake. This is silly. I'm a grown woman.
Why should I behave like a child? But I'm afraid. Who is she? That girl. It's
not a dream. And because it's not, I'm not going to sleep. I'm not. I'm not.
SOUND: TICKING CLOCK FILLS A LONG PAUSE ... CONTINUES IN BG
SUSAN: (WHIMPERS A LITTLE, TRIES TO KEEP FROM DOZING)
SOUND: RADIO TUNED ... SEVERAL STATIONS HEARD PLAYING MUSIC ... RADIO SETTLES
ON NOISY BIG BAND JAZZ WHICH CONTINUES IN BG
SUSAN: (TO HERSELF) Three o'clock. Wonder what time it gets light. It'll be
easier when it's light. (SIGHS) I'll read some more. Make some coffee.
SOUND: RADIO AND CLOCK FADE OUT
MUSIC: FOR A BRIEF TRANSITION, THEN IN BG
SUSAN: (NARRATES) At seven o'clock, I got back into bed and pretended to still
be asleep when Freddy got up. I heard him making coffee; then he came back in,
kissed me and left for the office. Somehow I stayed awake the whole day. I
tried to buy something at the drugstore to stop me from sleeping but they
wouldn't give it to me without a prescription. And then, Freddy called to say
he had to entertain some out-of-town people that night. After that, I _had_ to
lie down on the living room couch because I felt sick. It was eight o'clock.
MUSIC: OUT GENTLY
SOUND: TICKING CLOCK, IN BG
SUSAN: (WEARY, TO HERSELF) I won't. I won't. I'm not going to go to sleep. I'm
not going-- I won't. I won't! No, but I - I don't feel well. I just gotta lie
down a little while. But I won't sleep. In a minute, I'll feel all right. Then
I can get up. In a minute. In just a minute.
SOUND: TICKING CLOCK FILLS A PAUSE, CONTINUES IN BG
MUSIC: TO FALL ASLEEP BY ... OUT AT [X]
SUSAN: (TO HERSELF) I'll wake up in a minute. I'm so tired.
SOUND: TICKING CLOCK SLOWS ... OUT WITH MUSIC ... ECHO EFFECT ON DIALOGUE
SUSAN: (TO HERSELF) There's that big hall again. And the staircase. I can see
her -- looking up into the dark. [X]
SUE: You didn't come last night.
SUSAN: I know.
SUE: I was waiting here. It didn't come down, though; the thing up there.
SUSAN: You couldn't have been here. You're only me in a dream. And when I
don't dream, you're not here.
SUE: I'm always here. I have to see the things happen.
SUSAN: Things don't really happen in dreams. It's imagination.
SUE: No, it isn't! Look up there, in the dark. It's up there, waiting. Soon
it'll start to come down
SUSAN: How do you know?
SUE: It does. And we'll have to run!
SUSAN: But if we run, we can't see it. Perhaps, if we didn't run -- and we saw
it -- we wouldn't be afraid anymore.
SUE: Oh, no. Listen.
SOUND: WEIRD AND OMINOUS, FROM OFF
SUE: It's going to come down; I - I know it is!
SUSAN: We won't run. We'll wait for it.
SUE: I can't! I'm afraid!
SUSAN: You're me. I'm not afraid now. You can't be.
SUE: Look!
SOUND: WEIRD AND OMINOUS, GROWING CLOSER AND CLOSER, IN BG
SUSAN: (NARRATES) The darkness at the top of the stairs seemed to move, take
shape. And I heard her screaming.
SUE: (SCREAMS)
SUSAN: (NARRATES) I saw myself screaming, but it wasn't my voice. It was the
girl I stood next to. And slowly, painfully, she turned away from the stairs
and tried to run. It was like a slow motion picture. Her legs moved but she
stayed in the same place. And the darkness started to come toward us. It
swirled down the stairs and there was a figure in it! And a face! But the
mouth in the face wasn't a mouth at all. It had no form. And the face changed
and grew bigger -- came closer. Around it an awful blackness. And I saw myself
_running_! (LONG, LOUD SCREAMS)
SOUND: WEIRD AND OMINOUS, BUILDS TO A CLIMAX ... THEN OUT
SUSAN: (SCREAMS TRAIL OFF)
SOUND: SILENCE FOR A MOMENT ... THEN PHONE RINGS, CONTINUES IN BG
SUSAN: (NARRATES) We were standing in a narrow stone passageway. It was cold
and damp. And the other girl, who wasn't me, was holding a gun. We both were.
And we looked behind us because, around the corner, out of sight, it was
following. I heard the telephone ringing and I couldn't understand how there
could be a telephone in that place.
SUE: (OUT OF BREATH) I - I'm tired. I - I can't run anymore
SUSAN: We'll rest for a minute. I wish somebody would answer the telephone.
SUE: You do it.
SUSAN: It sounds like my telephone.
SUE: How _can_ it be?
SUSAN: Because this is only a dream. And if I wake up, I'll answer it. It's on
the table at the end of the couch. I can wake up! And answer it!
SUE: No, you can't. I won't let you. I'm not going to stay here alone.
SUSAN: I've got to wake up!
SUE: You can't now. Oh, listen.
SOUND: WEIRD AND OMINOUS ... APPROACHING
SUE: We've got to run again! It'll catch us!
SUSAN: No!
SUE: Hurry!
MUSIC: TOPS WEIRD OMINOUS NOISE ... THEN IN BG
SUSAN: (NARRATES) I felt the cold horror behind us. And I _ran_, following the
twisted passageway. And I knew that the telephone had been my last chance. My
last chance to wake up. And I hadn't! I couldn't!
MUSIC: OUT ABRUPTLY
SUE: There's a light ahead.
SUSAN: It won't dare to follow us into the light. Are you tired?
SUE: Are you?
SUSAN: No. It's funny how we seem to almost float. I'm not tired at all. I
don't think we need the guns now. I'm gonna throw mine away.
SUE: (NO LONGER AFRAID) I'm not.
SUSAN: (SUDDENLY AFRAID) I'm afraid of guns.
SUE: I used to be. I'm not anymore.
SUSAN: Wait a minute. Those two men! You see? In the entrance?
SUE: Yes?
SUSAN: I wonder why they're there. Maybe they'll try to stop us from getting
out.
SUE: I've got the gun.
SUSAN: I shouldn't have thrown mine away.
SUE: Oh, it'll be all right. Come on.
SUSAN: (AFTER A BEAT) It's Freddy. Freddy and Doctor Peters!
SUE: I know.
SUSAN: (RELIEVED, CALLS) Freddy! Freddy! It's me! Susan!
FRED: (OFF) Stay where you are, Susan. Don't come any closer.
SUSAN: (CALLS) But it's following us. We've got to get out!
FRED: (OFF) You'll have to go back!
SUSAN: No!
DR. PETERS: (OFF) Go back, Susan! Go back into the passage!
SUSAN: No! No!
FRED: (OFF) You can't come out anymore, Susan!
SUSAN: But I must!
SUE: (REASSURING, CONFIDENT) Let me talk to them, Susan. You let me talk to
them. I'll take care of it. You'll see.
MUSIC: UNEASY ACCENT ... THEN IN BG
SUSAN: (NARRATES) I saw her walk slowly to the entrance. To where it was light
and there was sunshine. And the three of them talked very quietly. I couldn't
hear what they were saying, but I knew it was about me. And ever so faintly, I
heard the sound of the thing that was waiting somewhere -- in the blackness of
the passage.
BIZ: FRED'S MAD LAUGHTER ... OUT AT [X]
SUSAN: (NARRATES) She was pointing at me. And Freddy was laughing. And it made
me angry. So angry that I forgot to be afraid. [X] I ran over to them and, as
I did so, they _blocked_ the entrance, linking their arms to keep me back.
MUSIC: OUT GENTLY
FRED: She's told us all about you, Susan. It's taken a long time to find you
out.
SUSAN: Stop it. There's no such person! She's me! She's Susan! This is only a
dream!
BIZ: MAD LAUGHTER OF FRED AND DR. PETERS ... OUT AT [Y]
SUSAN: I can wake up whenever I want! Stop it! Stop it! It's true! [Y] Ask
her. Ask her. She'll tell you.
DR. PETERS: My dear, Susan. How can we ask her, if you say she doesn't exist?
You're tired. Overwrought.
SUSAN: Oh, I'm not. You mustn't say that. It isn't true. Please -- let me out.
I'm cold. I'm afraid!
FRED: You've kept her down here all your life. Now, because _you're_ afraid
and cold, you expect us to let _you_ out and make _her_ go back inside!
SUSAN: Freddy -- it's me. I'm your wife. Freddy!
FRED: I've always been fair. I want to be fair this time.
DR. PETERS: Oh, yes. We have to be fair.
FRED: Sue, what do you think? Should we let her out?
SUE: Why, no. She'll only wake up and leave me _here_. _I_ want to wake up
this time. Let _her_ stay.
SUSAN: You're - you're all crazy. She's not Susan. I am. She's nobody. She's
in the dream. Stop it. Please.
DR. PETERS: We have to be fair. We really do. If you only weren't so tired, so
overwrought.
FRED: I suggest we take a vote.
DR. PETERS: Yes, that's eminently fair. A vote.
SUE: I think so, too.
FRED: We'll vote yea or nay on the proposition. That's the way it's done at
board meetings in my office. Yea or nay? We let her out -- yea. We don't let
her out -- nay. (BEAT) Sue?
SUE: (BEAT) Nay!
FRED: Doctor?
DR. PETERS: (BEAT) Nay!
FRED: And I cast my vote. (BEAT) Nay! (BEAT) The vote has been taken and duly
recorded.
SUSAN: (STRUGGLES HELPLESSLY) You can't make me stay here. I won't. I won't!
(CONTINUES TO STRUGGLE IN BG)
FRED: I think that you'd better talk to her, Susan. You're a woman. It's
better that way. The doctor and I'll wait for you outside.
SUE: All right.
SUSAN: (STOPS STRUGGLING)
SUE: (PLEASANT, TO SUSAN) Don't be afraid. You don't _have_ to be afraid
_now_. That comes later when you have to go back into the passage -- when _I_
wake up.
SUSAN: You can't wake up. Never. You're not alive.
SUE: I want to tell you something. When I wake up, I'm not going to be like
you. I'll never dream ever again. You're going to stay here alone. Just the
way you made me do it all your life. You can run. _You_ can run and never be
able to escape. But I shan't come here to be with you.
SOUND: WEIRD AND OMINOUS ... APPROACHES ... GROWS CLOSER, IN BG
SUE: Listen. It's waiting for you. Can you hear it?
SUSAN: No! Please! Don't leave me. Please. You can't leave! Please!
SUE: It won't get you if you keep running. But you mustn't ever stop!
SUSAN: (SLOWLY FADES AWAY) I'm afraid. It's dark! I'm afraid. Oh, please!
Don't make me go back. I'm _Susan_! I've _got_ to wake up! Please! I'm afraid.
It's so dark. So dark. I have to run. The darkness. It's behind me. Freddy ...
Freddy ... Freddy ...
SOUND: WEIRD AND OMINOUS ... FADES OUT WITH SUSAN
SUE: (EXHALES, SATISFIED) I think I'll wake up now.
MUSIC: ACCENT AND BRIDGE ... THEN GENTLY OUT
SOUND: ECHO EFFECT ON DIALOGUE OUT ... FRONT DOOR UNLOCKS, OPENS AND SHUTS ...
TICKING CLOCK, IN BG
FRED: (MOVING ON) Susan! Susan! Darling, are you all right? Susan.
SUE: (WAKING) Mmmmmm.
FRED: I called you but there was no answer. I was worried. You all right?
Feeling better?
SUE: (AFFIRMATIVE) Mmmmmm.
FRED: (RELIEVED) Ah! You _look_ better. Say, you know what? I've arranged to
take five days off from the office. We'll go up to the mountains. That's what
the doctor ordered. How about it?
SUE: Ah, it sounds wonderful, Freddy.
FRED: I figure if we-- (STUNNED) Suse?
SUE: Yes, darling?
FRED: (SLOWLY) Your - your voice. It sounds funny.
SUE: My voice? (LAUGHS) Well, it's _me_. It's the only voice I've got.
FRED: But it – it doesn't sound like you. Are you sure you're--?
SUE: Oh, silly. Why, how can it be me and not sound like me? (NO ANSWER) Oh,
you are silly. Give me a kiss?
FRED: (PAUSE, UNNERVED) Suse? What's the matter with your voice?
MUSIC: TOPS EVERYTHING FOR A FINISH ... THEN OUT
ANNOUNCER: ESCAPE has brought you "I Saw Myself Running," written and directed
by Antony Ellis, starring Georgia Ellis as Susan, with Sammie Hill as Sue.
Featured in the cast were John Stevenson and Edgar Barrier. Editorial
supervision is by John Meston. And the special music for ESCAPE is composed
and conducted by Leith Stevens.
MUSIC: "ESCAPE" ACCENT, THEN IN BG
WILLIAM CONRAD: Next week, you are standing on the bridge of a tramp steamer,
a ship captain, sailing through the vast emptiness of the ocean, while on the
deck below you, the crew -- a desperate gang of cutthroats and murderers --
are waiting for a signal that will give them your ship -- and bring you ...
your death.
MUSIC: OUT
ANNOUNCER: So listen next week, when ESCAPE brings you Antony Ellis' exciting
story, "The Tramp"!
MUSIC: THEME ... "NIGHT ON BALD MOUNTAIN" ... THEN OUT
LOCAL ANNCR: WCBS, AM and FM, New York.
______________________________________
Originally broadcast: 22 February 1953