The Twilight Zone (1959) s02e07 Episode Script
Nick of Time
You're traveling through another dimension- a dimension not only of sight and sound, but of mind.
A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination.
That's the signpost up ahead.
Your next stop, the twilight zone.
How long is this going to take? Like i told you, nobody stocks fuel pumps around town.
I'll have to send into dayton for it.
How long will that take? Oh, three, four hours.
Better figure on four, to play safe.
Four hours? Crazy.
Let's get some lunch.
Lunch? We can homestead.
June, croon, honeymoon.
Quiet.
Don't think i should phone the office again, huh? You are going to lose that promotion if you keep pestering them, lover.
I'm going to lose it anyway.
Ah, that's a fine way to talk.
And i thought i married a man with confidence.
And who is the best man for the job? Me, but but? But thompson has seniority.
Aw! Doesn't mean a thing.
Little miss sunshine.
That's me.
Bread and butter.
Yes, dear.
Just trying to save your life.
Shall we? Let's have some music, don.
Great.
I thought we came in here to eat.
Yes, we did.
Shall we sit here? Well, what have we got here? "The mystic seer.
" The what? Let's try it, shall we? Have you got a penny, honey? I think so.
What'll we ask it? I don't know.
I got it.
What? Does anything exciting ever happen around here? "It is quite possible.
" The hand belongs to mr.
Don s.
Carter, male member of a honeymoon team en route across the ohio countryside to new york city.
In one moment, they will be subjected to a gift most humans never receive in a lifetime.
For one penny, they'll be able to look into the future.
The time is now, the place is a little diner in ridgeview, ohio, and what this young couple doesn't realize is that this town happens to lie on the outskirts of the twilight zone.
Howdy.
Howdy.
Hello.
What'll it be? I think i'll have a tomato and lettuce on whole wheat and some iced coffee, please.
I'll have the same.
I've got some very good chicken-fried steak out there.
No, thank you.
No? No.
You finished with that? Yes.
Oh! Good, hmm? Great.
He must have siphoned it out of a swamp.
What are you doing? Getting some pennies.
What are you going to ask it now? What else? Am i going to be promoted, for pete's sake.
Hey, look.
What? "It has been decided in your favor.
" Ah! You see, your worries are over.
I think i'll phone.
Honey well, i was going to anyway.
Wasn't i? Hello, operator? Give me main 1-8-9-9-7 in saint louis, please.
That's right.
How much? Honey, you got another quarter on you? Is this call necessary? Here you are, operator.
Hello.
Connect me with mr.
Welden's secretary, please.
Keep your fingers crossed.
I'm doing it up here.
Hello.
Hello, pauline? It's don.
Fine.
Fine.
And you? What's the secret word, pauline? I did? I made it.
Oh thank you, pauline.
Yes, we'll send you a postcard from new york.
As soon as we arrive.
Good-bye, and same to you.
Good-bye.
I made it.
Oh, darling, i'm so proud of you.
You're now looking at the world's youngest office manager.
And i'm happy to say i told you so.
And so has he.
Yeah? Well, i told you first.
I think we ought to celebrate.
Here's a dime for the jukebox.
Some success music.
Or "the triumphal march.
" Don't know that i can find it here.
Crazy.
Oh.
Thank you.
You ain't going to like this as much as you would that chicken-fried steak.
We'll bear up.
Ah office manager.
I think it's wonderful.
Let's ask him something else.
He really came through on that one.
Why don't you ask him why he didn't warn us that the whole-wheat bread is stale? "Does he/she love me?" I know the answer to that one, huh? "Will i become rich?" I know the answer to that one, too.
I'm going to be the world's first millionaire accountant.
Office manager.
Right.
Is it really going to be four hours before we get out of here? "You may never know.
" What does that mean? Who knows? He does.
Mm-hmm but it'll cost you another penny.
I'm an office manager now.
What do you mean, "we may never know"? No, that's not a "yes" or "no" question.
You mean something will keep us from knowing? Something will happen to us? "If you move soon.
" What does that mean? Well, he's a mystic.
What do you expect? Oh, i can see i'm going to have to be the frugal one in our family.
Just one more.
You mean, if we're not supposed to move, we're supposed to stay here? Just one question per penny, please.
"That makes a good deal of sense.
" How long should no, uh should we stay here until 2:30? "Try again.
" Should we stay in here until 3:00? "There's no question about it.
" Don, let's take a look around the town, hmm? Every answer seems to fit.
You're joking, aren't you? I mean don, no more.
If we don't stay in here until 3:00, something bad will happen to us? Oh, don, for heaven's sakes.
Read it.
"Do you dare risk finding out?" Don, let's go.
Well, i haven't finished my sandwich yet.
Don't you want some ice cream? Can we go now? Don't you want something cold to drink? Please, let's go.
All right.
Say, can i have my check? You don't need a check.
I know what you had.
$1.
10, $1.
60, with three cents tax.
Here.
Keep the change.
Well, thanks.
And come on back, now.
Hot, hot, hot.
Yeah.
Maybe it won't take them four hours to fix the car.
You think? Maybe.
Don, you didn't really want to stay in there, did you? No.
Honest? Well, why was it so specific? Specific? Sweetie "if you move soon.
" "That makes a good deal of sense.
" "Try again.
" "There's no question about it.
" "You may never know.
" "Do you dare risk finding out?" Don, it's just a napkin holder in a little cafe in ridgeview, ohio.
Oh, i know, i know.
All right, what about my promotion, then? Didn't it tell me, "it has been decided in your favor"? Isn't that? Oh, forget it.
I suppose i'm just being stupid.
No, you're not.
You're just don't say it.
Superstitious.
It's like you married an alcoholic, isn't it? Only, instead of bottles in the chandelier, it's rabbits' feet and four-leaf clovers in my pockets, in the car and and you're all mine.
Whatareyou doing? What? Well, you keep looking around as if do i? Youareworried.
You're worried about that oh, don, i wonder when you act like this.
I'm sorry.
I'm not trying to upset you.
I know you're not.
Doesn't change the facts, though.
What facts? Six straight answers.
Oh, don, please! Oh, stop treating me like a retarded child or something.
I didn't make those answers up.
Wait, don.
Wait.
We can make it.
You all right? Quite a moment.
If you hadn't pulled me out of the way of that car, one squashed honeymooner.
Come on.
Well, where are we going now? Oh, we're not going back to that why not? All right, i admit it was a strange coincidence.
If it was a coincidence, what are you worrying about us going back, then? I'm not.
So stop worrying.
Just the same, you will admit that, for a coincidence, it was pretty far-fetched.
Maybe.
Well, someone's sitting in front of our mystic seer.
Don? Why don't you try this one, or one of the others? I'm sure that don? What? Look at me.
Well, you you really don't think that that that gizmo can foretell the future, do you? It foretold ours.
How? How did it? Well, back already.
What will you have? Honey? Oh, i'll have some iced coffee, please.
And how about you? The same.
Um all right, how? When that car almost hit us, it was 3:00- exactly when that machine said.
Don, yousaid 3:00, not the machine.
Youdecided to sit in here as long as we did.
You.
Oh, this is ridiculous.
Can't you see that youmade up all the details, and all that that that thing did was give back generalities? What are you getting so upset about? You.
That you could even consider the possibility will will you listen? Will you listen? Excuse me.
Yes? Can you give me some pennies? Oh, sure.
How many? Ten.
Thank you.
Come on.
Yes, sir.
Did you know about the car almost hitting us? "What do you think?" Will we reach new york all right now? "Your chances are good.
" Very precise.
Honey, what do you expect? A slip should come out and say "hiya, donsy and patsy, so how's by you?" Excuse me.
I never said these slips were made for us personally i heard! Don don't you realize that you could get the same kind of answers from any one of these machines in here? Try and see.
The same kind, maybe, but not the same answers.
Will it still take four hours before the car is ready? Hey "it has already been taken care of.
" Swell.
Let's go, then.
Mister your car's ready.
Got a lucky break.
Found a fuel pump right here in town.
Last one they had, too.
Figured you'd be walking around a couple of hours before you finally came to the garage, so i come looking for you.
Thank you.
We appreciate it.
We'll be right over.
Okey-doke.
Coincidence? Yes.
All right, then you ask it some questions.
Or are you afraid to? All right.
Will we reach columbus by tomorrow? We're not going through col "if that's what you really want.
" Will i ever be married? "The answer to that is obvious.
" It's not possible to foretell the future, is it? "That's up to you to find out.
" You're just a stupid piece of junk, aren't you? "It all depends upon your point of view.
" I don't want to stay here anymore, don.
Even if it's true? Especially if it's true.
What are you talking about? I think youare afraid of it.
Not of it.
Of what, then? Don't you know? Are we always going to live in saint louis? Are we going to live in the east? Are we going to live in the west? Are we going to live in this country? Don don! What? Let's go.
No.
Are you just going to stay here? I don't know! Oh, sweetheart, listen to me.
Please, if you love me, just listen to me.
No, you listen to me.
This machine is predicting our future.
Do you think i could just walk away from it? I'm not talking about that machine anymore.
I'm talking about you.
Are you just going to sit here and let that that that thing run your life? Run my life? Run my life? Isn't that exactly what you're letting it do? Don, it made you call the office before.
It made you stay here instead of leave.
It made you afraid to walk down the street.
And now it's telling you where you're going to live.
Why, it's as if every superstitious feeling you ever had is wrapped up in that one machine.
It doesn't matter whether it can foretell the future.
What matters is whether you believe more in luck and in fortune than you do in yourself.
Well, you can decide your own life.
You have a mind- a wonderful mind.
Don't destroy it trying to justify that cheap, penny fortune machine to yourself.
Pat we can have a a wonderful life together if we make it wonderful ourselves.
I pat i don't want to know what's going to happen.
I want us to make it happen together.
Don't cry, darling, don't cry.
Is there something wrong? No, no, no, it's all right.
Don't cry.
We'll go, we'll go.
You're right.
I'm a jerk.
No, you're not.
You're wonderful.
Yes, yes, i am.
I'm the world's biggest jerk.
Come on, let's go get our car.
Yes, that's right.
Let's go get our car and we'll drive out of this town and go where we want to go anytime we please.
Oh oh, don, i love you.
I love you, too, baby.
You keep the change.
Thanks! Come on back, now.
Go ahead.
Can we ask some more questions now? Do you think we might leave ridgeview today? Is there any way out? Any way at all? Counterbalance in the little town of ridgeview, ohio.
Two people permanently enslaved by the tyranny of fear and superstition, facing the future with a kind of helpless dread.
Two others facing the future with confidence having escaped one of the darker places of the twilight zone.
Captioned by media access group at wgbh access.
Wgbh.
Org be sure and see the colgate-palmolive company's new comedy show my sister eileen.
Wednesday night on many of these same stations.
A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination.
That's the signpost up ahead.
Your next stop, the twilight zone.
How long is this going to take? Like i told you, nobody stocks fuel pumps around town.
I'll have to send into dayton for it.
How long will that take? Oh, three, four hours.
Better figure on four, to play safe.
Four hours? Crazy.
Let's get some lunch.
Lunch? We can homestead.
June, croon, honeymoon.
Quiet.
Don't think i should phone the office again, huh? You are going to lose that promotion if you keep pestering them, lover.
I'm going to lose it anyway.
Ah, that's a fine way to talk.
And i thought i married a man with confidence.
And who is the best man for the job? Me, but but? But thompson has seniority.
Aw! Doesn't mean a thing.
Little miss sunshine.
That's me.
Bread and butter.
Yes, dear.
Just trying to save your life.
Shall we? Let's have some music, don.
Great.
I thought we came in here to eat.
Yes, we did.
Shall we sit here? Well, what have we got here? "The mystic seer.
" The what? Let's try it, shall we? Have you got a penny, honey? I think so.
What'll we ask it? I don't know.
I got it.
What? Does anything exciting ever happen around here? "It is quite possible.
" The hand belongs to mr.
Don s.
Carter, male member of a honeymoon team en route across the ohio countryside to new york city.
In one moment, they will be subjected to a gift most humans never receive in a lifetime.
For one penny, they'll be able to look into the future.
The time is now, the place is a little diner in ridgeview, ohio, and what this young couple doesn't realize is that this town happens to lie on the outskirts of the twilight zone.
Howdy.
Howdy.
Hello.
What'll it be? I think i'll have a tomato and lettuce on whole wheat and some iced coffee, please.
I'll have the same.
I've got some very good chicken-fried steak out there.
No, thank you.
No? No.
You finished with that? Yes.
Oh! Good, hmm? Great.
He must have siphoned it out of a swamp.
What are you doing? Getting some pennies.
What are you going to ask it now? What else? Am i going to be promoted, for pete's sake.
Hey, look.
What? "It has been decided in your favor.
" Ah! You see, your worries are over.
I think i'll phone.
Honey well, i was going to anyway.
Wasn't i? Hello, operator? Give me main 1-8-9-9-7 in saint louis, please.
That's right.
How much? Honey, you got another quarter on you? Is this call necessary? Here you are, operator.
Hello.
Connect me with mr.
Welden's secretary, please.
Keep your fingers crossed.
I'm doing it up here.
Hello.
Hello, pauline? It's don.
Fine.
Fine.
And you? What's the secret word, pauline? I did? I made it.
Oh thank you, pauline.
Yes, we'll send you a postcard from new york.
As soon as we arrive.
Good-bye, and same to you.
Good-bye.
I made it.
Oh, darling, i'm so proud of you.
You're now looking at the world's youngest office manager.
And i'm happy to say i told you so.
And so has he.
Yeah? Well, i told you first.
I think we ought to celebrate.
Here's a dime for the jukebox.
Some success music.
Or "the triumphal march.
" Don't know that i can find it here.
Crazy.
Oh.
Thank you.
You ain't going to like this as much as you would that chicken-fried steak.
We'll bear up.
Ah office manager.
I think it's wonderful.
Let's ask him something else.
He really came through on that one.
Why don't you ask him why he didn't warn us that the whole-wheat bread is stale? "Does he/she love me?" I know the answer to that one, huh? "Will i become rich?" I know the answer to that one, too.
I'm going to be the world's first millionaire accountant.
Office manager.
Right.
Is it really going to be four hours before we get out of here? "You may never know.
" What does that mean? Who knows? He does.
Mm-hmm but it'll cost you another penny.
I'm an office manager now.
What do you mean, "we may never know"? No, that's not a "yes" or "no" question.
You mean something will keep us from knowing? Something will happen to us? "If you move soon.
" What does that mean? Well, he's a mystic.
What do you expect? Oh, i can see i'm going to have to be the frugal one in our family.
Just one more.
You mean, if we're not supposed to move, we're supposed to stay here? Just one question per penny, please.
"That makes a good deal of sense.
" How long should no, uh should we stay here until 2:30? "Try again.
" Should we stay in here until 3:00? "There's no question about it.
" Don, let's take a look around the town, hmm? Every answer seems to fit.
You're joking, aren't you? I mean don, no more.
If we don't stay in here until 3:00, something bad will happen to us? Oh, don, for heaven's sakes.
Read it.
"Do you dare risk finding out?" Don, let's go.
Well, i haven't finished my sandwich yet.
Don't you want some ice cream? Can we go now? Don't you want something cold to drink? Please, let's go.
All right.
Say, can i have my check? You don't need a check.
I know what you had.
$1.
10, $1.
60, with three cents tax.
Here.
Keep the change.
Well, thanks.
And come on back, now.
Hot, hot, hot.
Yeah.
Maybe it won't take them four hours to fix the car.
You think? Maybe.
Don, you didn't really want to stay in there, did you? No.
Honest? Well, why was it so specific? Specific? Sweetie "if you move soon.
" "That makes a good deal of sense.
" "Try again.
" "There's no question about it.
" "You may never know.
" "Do you dare risk finding out?" Don, it's just a napkin holder in a little cafe in ridgeview, ohio.
Oh, i know, i know.
All right, what about my promotion, then? Didn't it tell me, "it has been decided in your favor"? Isn't that? Oh, forget it.
I suppose i'm just being stupid.
No, you're not.
You're just don't say it.
Superstitious.
It's like you married an alcoholic, isn't it? Only, instead of bottles in the chandelier, it's rabbits' feet and four-leaf clovers in my pockets, in the car and and you're all mine.
Whatareyou doing? What? Well, you keep looking around as if do i? Youareworried.
You're worried about that oh, don, i wonder when you act like this.
I'm sorry.
I'm not trying to upset you.
I know you're not.
Doesn't change the facts, though.
What facts? Six straight answers.
Oh, don, please! Oh, stop treating me like a retarded child or something.
I didn't make those answers up.
Wait, don.
Wait.
We can make it.
You all right? Quite a moment.
If you hadn't pulled me out of the way of that car, one squashed honeymooner.
Come on.
Well, where are we going now? Oh, we're not going back to that why not? All right, i admit it was a strange coincidence.
If it was a coincidence, what are you worrying about us going back, then? I'm not.
So stop worrying.
Just the same, you will admit that, for a coincidence, it was pretty far-fetched.
Maybe.
Well, someone's sitting in front of our mystic seer.
Don? Why don't you try this one, or one of the others? I'm sure that don? What? Look at me.
Well, you you really don't think that that that gizmo can foretell the future, do you? It foretold ours.
How? How did it? Well, back already.
What will you have? Honey? Oh, i'll have some iced coffee, please.
And how about you? The same.
Um all right, how? When that car almost hit us, it was 3:00- exactly when that machine said.
Don, yousaid 3:00, not the machine.
Youdecided to sit in here as long as we did.
You.
Oh, this is ridiculous.
Can't you see that youmade up all the details, and all that that that thing did was give back generalities? What are you getting so upset about? You.
That you could even consider the possibility will will you listen? Will you listen? Excuse me.
Yes? Can you give me some pennies? Oh, sure.
How many? Ten.
Thank you.
Come on.
Yes, sir.
Did you know about the car almost hitting us? "What do you think?" Will we reach new york all right now? "Your chances are good.
" Very precise.
Honey, what do you expect? A slip should come out and say "hiya, donsy and patsy, so how's by you?" Excuse me.
I never said these slips were made for us personally i heard! Don don't you realize that you could get the same kind of answers from any one of these machines in here? Try and see.
The same kind, maybe, but not the same answers.
Will it still take four hours before the car is ready? Hey "it has already been taken care of.
" Swell.
Let's go, then.
Mister your car's ready.
Got a lucky break.
Found a fuel pump right here in town.
Last one they had, too.
Figured you'd be walking around a couple of hours before you finally came to the garage, so i come looking for you.
Thank you.
We appreciate it.
We'll be right over.
Okey-doke.
Coincidence? Yes.
All right, then you ask it some questions.
Or are you afraid to? All right.
Will we reach columbus by tomorrow? We're not going through col "if that's what you really want.
" Will i ever be married? "The answer to that is obvious.
" It's not possible to foretell the future, is it? "That's up to you to find out.
" You're just a stupid piece of junk, aren't you? "It all depends upon your point of view.
" I don't want to stay here anymore, don.
Even if it's true? Especially if it's true.
What are you talking about? I think youare afraid of it.
Not of it.
Of what, then? Don't you know? Are we always going to live in saint louis? Are we going to live in the east? Are we going to live in the west? Are we going to live in this country? Don don! What? Let's go.
No.
Are you just going to stay here? I don't know! Oh, sweetheart, listen to me.
Please, if you love me, just listen to me.
No, you listen to me.
This machine is predicting our future.
Do you think i could just walk away from it? I'm not talking about that machine anymore.
I'm talking about you.
Are you just going to sit here and let that that that thing run your life? Run my life? Run my life? Isn't that exactly what you're letting it do? Don, it made you call the office before.
It made you stay here instead of leave.
It made you afraid to walk down the street.
And now it's telling you where you're going to live.
Why, it's as if every superstitious feeling you ever had is wrapped up in that one machine.
It doesn't matter whether it can foretell the future.
What matters is whether you believe more in luck and in fortune than you do in yourself.
Well, you can decide your own life.
You have a mind- a wonderful mind.
Don't destroy it trying to justify that cheap, penny fortune machine to yourself.
Pat we can have a a wonderful life together if we make it wonderful ourselves.
I pat i don't want to know what's going to happen.
I want us to make it happen together.
Don't cry, darling, don't cry.
Is there something wrong? No, no, no, it's all right.
Don't cry.
We'll go, we'll go.
You're right.
I'm a jerk.
No, you're not.
You're wonderful.
Yes, yes, i am.
I'm the world's biggest jerk.
Come on, let's go get our car.
Yes, that's right.
Let's go get our car and we'll drive out of this town and go where we want to go anytime we please.
Oh oh, don, i love you.
I love you, too, baby.
You keep the change.
Thanks! Come on back, now.
Go ahead.
Can we ask some more questions now? Do you think we might leave ridgeview today? Is there any way out? Any way at all? Counterbalance in the little town of ridgeview, ohio.
Two people permanently enslaved by the tyranny of fear and superstition, facing the future with a kind of helpless dread.
Two others facing the future with confidence having escaped one of the darker places of the twilight zone.
Captioned by media access group at wgbh access.
Wgbh.
Org be sure and see the colgate-palmolive company's new comedy show my sister eileen.
Wednesday night on many of these same stations.