The Ray Bradbury Theater (1985–1992): Season 1, Episode 4 - The Town Where No One Got Off - full transcript

[music playing]

[theme music]

RAY BRADBURY
[VOICEOVER]: People ask,

where do you get your ideas?

Well, right here.

All this is my
martian landscape.

Somewhere in this room
is an African veldt.

Just beyond, perhaps, is a small
Illinois town where I grew up.

And I'm surrounded on every
side by my magician's toy shop.

I'll never starve here.

I just look around, find
what I need, and begin.



I'm Ray Bradbury, and this is--

Well, then, right
now, what shall it be?

Out of all this, what do
I choose to make a story?

I never know where the
next one will take me.

And the trip?

Exactly one half acceleration,
exactly one half terror.

[crickets chirping]

[owl hooting]

Well, where to this time?

Anywhere.

Everywhere.

Hogtown, Ironville, Wooster
Falls, look at all those names.

Hard to decide.

So that's where you
get all them crazy ideas?



Yes.

Blind faith.

I collect things--
train schedules, signal

lights, train tracks, switches.

I collect them all up,
write them down, and--

[train whistling]

Hey, that can't be Old 99.

What's that coming
down the track?

It might be Old 99.

It might be a story.

[music playing]

[train whistling]

What kind of life
do people live in god

forsaken places like that?

Peace and quiet, clean,
fresh air, friendly people.

It looks good to me.

If you believe
that, you're dreaming.

What, corruption?

Violence, murder, suicide?

Living in a city
full of crazies,

that doesn't get to you?

And you think
that's the answer?

As a matter of fact, I do.

A place where you
know everybody,

and everybody knows
you, and people give you

the time of day and
look out for each other,

instead of always looking
out for number one.

You know what you sound like?

No, what?

A damned fool writer.

A nipped in the bud, oh so
sensitive, author of books,

probably never published.

Have I got you nailed?

I have some stories
being considered.

You see?

By god, I spot them every time.

Bleeding hearts, with their
heads buried in the past,

who think the solutions
to life's problems

are waiting around that bend
on small town front porches.

Hogwash.

Son, there's no
answers out there.

Nothing but boring
people in boring houses

in boring jerkwater junctions.

I'll take the rat race any
day, thank you very much.

Well, I think otherwise.

Well, hell, if you
think, why not act?

I mean, next town comes
up, stop the train,

jump off, and meet the wonderful
folks in your rural paradise.

Go on, do it.

Believe me, I've
thought of it.

Sure.

Someday, huh?

Someday.

But right now, you
haven't got the guts.

Because if you did,
you'd grab your suitcase

and jump off this train
the next town we come to.

Excuse me, what's the name
the next time we come to?

That'd be, uh, Erewhon.

But no one gets off there.

No?

Hang on.

Well, no one until now.

Thank you.

Damn fool.

Am I?

Wish me luck.

You'll need it.

About as boring as hell.

You sure you want to get off?

Absolutely.

Well, in or out?

Out.

Thank you.

[music playing]

Hi.

How ya doing?

Say, I wonder--

I decided to drop in
on your town here,

kind of spur of the
moment, probably

staying a couple of
days-- would you be able

steer me to a rooming house
in town, something with a bed

and breakfast maybe?

No?

I'll be able to find
something, I'm sure.

Do you have a locker
here, or something

where I can keep
my bag and my coat,

while I find a place to say?

Oh, I see.

Thank you.

Yeah, that's great.

Thank you.

See ya.

[music playing]

Hi.

What do you
think you're doing?

I'm, uh, trying
to get a drink.

I never seen ya before.

Well, I never seen
you before either.

You might as well quit
banging on that thing.

It's broken already.

[suspenseful music]

Hello there, young lady.

Is your mother home?

Mommy!

Good afternoon, ma'am.

Uh, I see you have
a room for rent.

Is it possible--

Sorry, room's rented.

Oh.

OK, thank you.

[suspenseful music]

Hey, fellas.

What's up?

What time's the
next train stop here?

It don't.

I'm sorry, what
does that mean?

What are you--

It comes through about 10:00,
but it doesn't stop unless they

see a flare out on the track.

You're leaving
us already, are ya?

[music playing]

[dog barking]

Been a long time.

A long time, me waiting
at that station platform.

Who were you waiting for?

You.

I'm sorry, have we ever met?

Do you know me?

Didn't say I did.

Just said I was waiting.

I'm surprised you're
here at last, that's all.

Surprised?

And pleased.

How long were you sitting
at the station platform?

About 20 years,
give or take a few.

20 years waiting for me?

Or someone like you.

What do you think of our town?

Uh, it's nice.

What do you think
of our people?

Quiet.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah, nice and quiet.

You know, when I
retired 20 years ago,

I set my chair down on that
railway station back there,

and I've been sitting
there ever since.

Just sitting and
waiting, waiting

for something to happen.

Didn't know what.

Couldn't say.

But when it happens, I said
to myself, I'll know it.

I'll know it just
as soon as I see it.

Then, I'll say,
yes, sir, that's it.

That's what I've
been waiting for.

Train wreck?

No.

Old girlfriend come back
to town after 50 years?

No.

Right now, it seems to have
something to do with you.

Well, I don't know what
you're talking about really,

but I don't see how it can.

I'm just passing through.

It's a spur of the moment
kind of thing, you know.

Do you know anything
about your insides?

What do you mean, my
stomach, or psychologically?

That's it.

That's what I mean.

What goes on up there in
your head, in your mind?

Do you know much about that?

A little, you know.

Mostly pretty basic.

Tell me, did you, um, hate
many people in your time?

Some

So there's nothing
wrong with hate, is there?

I mean, we all do it.

But even more than
the hate, didn't you

sometimes think you'd like to
hit somebody for hurting you?

Or maybe even kill them, eh?

You know, I don't think
there's anybody who hasn't felt

that at one time or another.

But you know, you hide it away.
- Sure.

All your life, you hide it away.

Father and mother taught you
what's right and what's wrong,

and the school says this,
the town says that, the law

says such and such.

Pretty soon, you put away
all those thoughts of hitting

and killing, and by the
time you get to be my age,

there's an awful lot of
yells and screams and blood,

was lost killings stored
up here between the ears.

And not a way in the
world to get rid of them.

No way to work them
out of your system.

I've got a bottle
stored in here.

Come on, let's have a nip.

Hey, come on, come on.

Yeah, all that stuff.

I guess some people work
it out of their systems

by taking up boxing.

That's why some people hunt,
you know, and they take karate.

Well, some people don't.

I was talking about
the ones that don't.

For instance, me.

I've been salting
down those bodies

and putting them on ice
in my head all my life.

You know, there were times
when I think I hate everybody

in this whole damn town.

Oh, yeah, standing
in my way, making

me save up all my nightmares.

Oh, just once--
just once I'd like

to be like one of those old
cavemen, and pick up my axe,

and just bash
somebody's head in.

[sinister laugh]

I guess I know what you mean.

Oh, everybody would like to
do one killing in his life,

you know, just to get rid
of that rot in his mind

for all the killings
that he never did.

And every once in a
while, you get a chance.

You know, somebody runs
in front of your car,

you forget the brakes,
and keep going.

Nobody is to blame.

The man just didn't get his
foot down on the brake in time.

Mm-hmm.

But you know, and I know,
what really happened, don't we?

Mm-hmm.

You know, the
only killing worth

doing is one when they can't
guess who did it, or how,

or why, huh?

Now, I had a notion,
oh, maybe 18,

19 years ago, I had this notion,
and I've never let go of it.

You see, there is
only one train that

stops in this town every day,
and it's just to pick up stuff.

No one ever gets off.

Now, what if you wanted to
kill somebody real bad, huh?

What would you do?

Me?

Well, I would go down to that
station, and I would sit there,

and I would wait
patient, oh, for years,

until one day a complete and
actual stranger would get off

that train for no reason,
a man who nobody knows,

a man who knows
nobody in the town.

And then, and only then, would
I be certain that I could get up

from my chair,
and I could follow

that stranger until I got
him some place inside alone,

and kill him.

Throw him in the river.

Body would be found
miles downstream,

maybe never found at all.

I mean, who would
come here, looking

for this lost, lonely traveler?

He was on his way
to someone else.

No one noticed him getting off.

There-- there is my
idea in a nutshell.

And the time has come at last.

That stranger got off the train,
and I knew him right then.

Well, I've said enough.

Yeah, this is--

this is incredible.

How very much alike we are--

you and I, our
lives, our thoughts.

It's incredible.

Just today, I was on the
train, and I had this thought,

I had this notion.

I thought how perfect it
would be, how very perfect

it would be if I got
off the train in a town

where nobody knows
me, and I walk

through the town
with this revolver

that I have in my pocket,
and I find a stranger,

and just like that,
kill him, and bury him,

and no one to know, and no
one the wiser, and no one

to guess who did
the murder ever.

Perfect.

I thought, perfect.

So I got off the train.

How do I know there's
a gun in that pocket?

You don't know.

You can't be sure.

No.

No.

That's how it is, huh?

That's how it is.

[suspenseful music]

[train brakes]

So did you find what
you were looking for?

[theme music]