01x08 - Time Enough at Last

Episode transcripts for the TV show "The Twilight Zone". Aired: October 1959 to June 1964.*
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Collection of fantasy and suspenseful stories.
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01x08 - Time Enough at Last

Post by bunniefuu »

[eerie music]

(male presenter, off)
There is a fifth dimension

Beyond that
Which is known to man.

It is a dimension
As vast as space

And as timeless
As infinity.

It is the middle ground
Between light and shadow

Between science
And superstition

And it lies between
The pit of man's fears

And the summit
Of his knowledge.

This is the dimension
Of imagination.

It is an area
Which we call
The twilight zone.

Two, three, four.

One, two, three.

Mrs. Chester,
Have you ever read
David copperfield?

How's that?

It's a wonderful book.

There's this
Poor little fella
And his father

Has passed away
And his mother
Has married

This miserable man
Called murdstone.

Isn't that
A villainous
Name? Murdstone.

Well, this murdstone
Has a sister
Called jane--

Mr. Bemis,
You shortchanged me again.

You owe me
One more dollar.

See?
There's only here

And there
Should be .

Oh, I'm terribly sorry,
Mrs. Murd-- er, uh--

Mrs., uh, chester.

I thought there was five ones

And there's only four.

I thought
I'd given you five.

I'm terribly sorry.
Then there's another
Funny character,

Called m icawber,
Mr. M icawber.

And he's
Always being sent
To debtor's prison.

Hm!

Then there's
Another character
Called peggoty.

That is david's--

Nurse.

[sighs]
Oh, well.
[mumbies]

Yes, sir?

I wonder if imight
See you in my office,
Mr. Bemis?

Why, certainly,
Mr. Carsville.

I don't suppose

You've read
David copperfield?

No, Mr. Bemis,
I have not.

Now if you'd kindly

Accompany me.

(male presenter, off)
Witness Mr. Henry Bemis,
A charter member

In the fraternity
Of dreamers.

A bookish little man

Whose passion
Is the printed page

But who is conspired
Against by a bank
President and a wife

And a world full
Of tongue-cluckers

And the unrelenting
Hands of a clock.
But in just a moment

Mr. Bemis will enter a world
Without bank presidents,

Or wives, or clocks,
Or anything else.

He'll have a world
All to himself,
Without anyone.

(president)
Now, Mr. Bemis

I shall come
To the point.

I shall arrive via
The following route

Which is namely,
"What constitutes

An efficient member
Of this organization?"

Viz, a bank teller
Who knows his job
And performs it.

I.E.,
An organization man

Who functions
Within an organization.

You, Mr. Bemis,
Do not function
Within the organization.

You are neither
An efficient bank teller

Nor a proficient employee.

You, Mr. Bemis, are a reader.

A "Reader"?

A reader!

A reader of books,
Magazines

Periodicals, newspapers.

I see you constantly
Going downstairs

Into the vault
During your lunch hour.

Ultimatum, Mr. Bemis!

You'll henceforth
Devote your time
To your job

And forget
Reading, or you'll
Find yourself outdoors

On a park bench reading
From morning till night

For want of having a job.

Do I make myself
Perfectly clear?

That's perfectly
Clear, sir. It's
Just that,

Just that what, bem is?

Make it quick
And get back to your cage.

It's just that my wife
Won't let me read at home.

See, when I get
Home at night and try
To pick up a newspaper

She yanks it out of my hand

And after dinner
If I try to find

A magazine, she hides them.

Well, I got so desperate
That I found myself

Trying to read the labels
On the condiment bottles
On the table.

Now, she won't
Even let me use
The catsup.

Unasked, I give
My reaction to this.

Your wife
Is an amazingly
Bright woman.

I remember last november
You spent the days

Reading campaign buttons
On customers' lapels.

You will recall
The lady who took
Exception to this

And tried to hit you
With her umbrella.

Yes, I remember that.

I never got a chance
To tell her

That I was only
Looking to see
Who she voted for.

Good day, bem is.

[ciears throat]

[startied gasp]

(wife, shrill call)
Henry!

Henry!

Yes, dear?
I'm in the living room!

You want more
Coffee or don't you?

No, thank you, dear.

But then why don't
You tell me that,

And don't sneak off
Into the loving room
To bury yourself in newsprint?

I think we've
Been over this
Quite enough, Henry.

I won't tolerate a husband
Of mine sacrificing the art
Of conversation.

[chuckies]

All right.
What's so funny?

No, no, dear, it's
Just that you said
"A husband of m ine."

How many husbands
Have you got? You've
Only got me!

I would appreciate that
Not being rubbed in!
[beats newspaper]

We're playing cards
Tonight. I want you
To change your shirt.

We're going over
To the phillips' house.

Oh, dear.

All right, Henry.
Anything to say?

No, dear, nothing to say.

What time
Do we do that?

In about m inutes.

I'll be ready on time.

See that you are!

[startied]
Oh!

Henry?

Yes, my dear?

What have
You got, Henry?

Got?

Got!

Nothing, my dear.

What's this?

What, that?

This!

Isn't that odd?

How did that
Get here?

I can only hazard
A guess.

"A book
Of modern poetry."

Yours, Henry?

Would you like
To read me some?

Read you some?

Do you mean
Read you out loud
Out of the book?

Do you want to?

Oh, I would love to.

You know,
There are some
Lovely things in here.

There are
One or two things
From t.S. Eliot

And edna st. Vincent m illay,
Robert frost, carl sandburg.

Helen.

Who did this, helen?

Who do you think
Did it, Henry?

You should
Thank me, really.

A grown man who reads silly

Ridiculous,
Nonsensical doggerel.

This isn't doggerel!
There's some beautiful
Things here.

I say it's doggerel.

And I also say
It's a waste of time.

Helen, helen,
Don't do that!

Helen, please
Don't do that!

Why, helen?

Why do you do
These things?

Because I'm
Married to a fool.

[crash]

[expiosion]

(carsville)
I can only tell you

That in adherence to duty,
A constant remembrance

That a bank,
Like a political office
Is a public trust.

These things
Are of the essence.

Those things are basic
Above all things.

Just the qualities
I've mentioned.

Miss jackson, that's my speech
For thursday night banquet.

Would you type that--

[expl*si*n]

(presenter, off)
Seconds, minutes, hours,

They crawl by

On hands and knees
For Mr. Henry Bemis

Who looks for a spark
In the ashes of a dead world.

A telephone connected
To nothingness.

A neighborhood bar, a movie

A baseball diamond,
A hardware store

The mailbox of what
Was once his house
And is now a rubble.

They lie at his feet

As battered monuments
To what was, but is no more.

Helen!

Where are you?!

(male presenter, off)
Mr. Henry Bemis,
On an eight-hour tour

Of a graveyard.

They're all dead.

They must be.

Everybody's dead except

Me.

I'm all right.

Why am I all right?

I was right there
In the middle of--

The vault!

I was down in the vault.

That's why I'm alive.

I went down in the--

The thing of it is, though,

The thing of it is

I'm not at all sure

That I want to be alive.

Well, I'm not
Going to starve
To death anyway.

Lots of food.

Food enough to last
For years and years
And years

And years.

All the food I can eat.

All the food

And more too.

[humming]

Let's see, the worst part,
The very worst part

Is being alone.

Is this how it's going to be

Sitting around day after day

Eating?

Smoking a cigarette.

Reading the same half
Of a newspaper

Over and over,

And over

And over again.

[horn honking]

[engine sputtering]

Is someone there?

Please, someone!

Is someone there?

Someone!

No. No. No.

No. No, that doesn't make
Any difference.

No, it doesn't. It doesn't
Make a bit of difference.

It's quite all right.

This is solitude.

I've never had much solitude.


I have enough
To occupy my m ind
And my time.

I have enough food

And I'm really
Very fortunate.

Yes, I'm really
Extremely fortunate.

Help. Help. Help.

Someone, please! Someone!

Please. Please, someone!

Someone! Please!

Someone, please!

Someone.

[suspense music]

If it just weren't
Forthe loneliness.

If it just
Weren't for the sameness.

If there were
Just something
To do, do, do.

Oh, well,

I'm sure I'll be forgiven
For this--

The way things are.

I know I'll be forgiven.

Collected works of dickens!

Collected works
Of george bernard shaw!

Poems by browning!

Shelley, keats.

Great dramas of the world!

Books. Books.

All the books I'll need.

All the books

All the books
I'll ever want.

Shelley, shakespeare,
Shaw, oh.

All the books I want.

All the books.

Ah.

[sighs]

January,

February, march,

April,

May,

This year,

The next year,

And the year after,

And the year
After that,

And the year
After that.

Ah.

[chuckies]

Oh.

And the best thing,
The very best thing of all.

Is there's time now.

There's all the time I need
And all the time I want.

Time, time, time.

Ah, there's time enough
At last.

[crash]

That's not fair.

That's not fair at all.

There was time now.

There was,
Was all the time I needed.

[sobbing]
It's not fair.

It's not fair.

(male presenter, off)
The best laid plans
Of mice and men

And Henry Bemis

The small man in the glasses
Who wanted nothing but time.

Henry Bemis, now just a part
Of a smashed landscape

Just a piece of the rubble

Just a fragment of what man
Has deeded to himself.

Mr. Henry Bemis,
In the twilight zone.

(male presenter, off)
Rod serling, the creator
Of twilight zone,

Will tell you
About next week's story

After this word
From our alternate sponsor.

(male presenter, off)
And now, Mr. Serling.

Next week we enlist
The considerable
Literary talents

Of charles beaumont
And invite you to join us

In a strange
And shocking dream.

Our story is called
Perchance to dream
And stars richard conte.

I hope you will be able
To join next week's excursion
Into the twilight zone.

Thank you and good night.

(male presenter, off)
Kimberly clark invites
You to watch steve mcqueen

Inwanted dead or alive

Saturday nights over most
Of these same stations.

(male presenter, off)
Twilight zone
Is being brought
To you tonight

By kimberly clark

Whose handy kleenex
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Help you every day
In so many ways.

Why a new kind
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Let me show you.

We'll cover your screen
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Now let's see how
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See? It leaves
Streaks because it
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Look at the difference
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Kleenex towels
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And like a sponge,
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So the whole towel
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And look, even
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When your shopping
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Towel package

Yes, squeeze it,
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(jingle)
? The big soft towel
That's built like a sponge

Helpful kleenex towels ?

(female presenter, off)
Another good value
From kleenex.

(jingle)
? Soft, strong,
Pops up, too

? Kleenex tissues
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? Helping me
To wipe up quick

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Does the trick

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Pops up, too

Kleenex tissues
Are best for you ?

You know, I find kleenex
Tissues so useful

I keep a box in every
Room of my house.

It's a must in our
Living room, of course.

You know how
Youngsters will
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And what cleans up
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We find it best
For colds, too.

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Naturally, we keep
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