The Ray Bradbury Theater (1985–1992): Season 3, Episode 2 - A Miracle of Rare Device - full transcript
Two drifters, Robert and William, stumble across a desert mirage while evading their nemesis, Ned. The two men soon realize that the mirage shows each viewer the city where they'd like to be, and start selling views.
[theme music]
RAY BRADBURY
(VOICEOVER): People ask,
where do you get your ideas?
Well, right here.
All this is mine.
I'll never starve here.
I'm Ray Bradbury.
And this is--
When I was a boy, my
dad, looking for work,
picked up my mom, my
brother, Skip, and myself,
and headed West.
Along the way, in the middle
of nowhere whatsoever at all,
on a hot, summer desert
moon, with the wind still,
and heat rising
from the sand dunes,
we were witness to a miracle.
Years later, I
remembered the miracle.
This is that remembrance.
Did we lose him?
Yeah.
No, there he is.
- Where?
- There!
- Where?
There.
Where?
There!
I see him.
Come on, baby!
Come on!
Go, go, go, go, go!
Come on!
[cackle]
He's gaining.
Yeah.
Aw!
All right.
I'm going to-- I'm
going to turn off.
- Where?
- I'm going to turn off here.
- Where?
- Here!
Where?
Right here, by
the sign, where!
As one drifter to another,
so long, Ned Bantlin.
Why does he always
got to follow us?
Because somehow, we're always
leading them to luck, Will.
We find harvests, and
that guy does them in.
I wish we could get
something that was just ours,
never winds up his.
Our luck changing?
Yes.
Something close by?
Almost.
Almost here.
Why the hell'd
you pull off here?
I don't know.
There's nothing here.
Let's get back on the road.
Nothing here.
Sure.
Only mountains, and
desert, and that.
That.
Oh, hold on.
I'm holding.
It can't be.
Robert, I ain't had an
acid flash in 10 years.
Me neither.
But that ain't no hallucination.
Phoenix is 90 miles off.
There ain't no other
town in 100 miles.
ROBERT: That's right.
Well then my gosh,
what the hell is that?
It's a mirage.
No.
Yeah.
Light rays, just right,
atmospheric sky, temperature.
The city's the other side
of the horizon, see--
reflected off the sky
up there, like a mirror.
It comes down here,
for us to see.
But it's big.
Mirages come in
all sizes, but that
is the grandaddy of them all.
I mean, look at that thing.
Ain't Sante Fe.
No, or Alamogordo.
No.
That's too far off.
Those building is the
tallest in the world.
Oh, Willie, Willie, Willie.
Never ask nature.
There's things
about radio waves,
and rainbows, and
Northern Lights.
we ain't never going to know.
Yeah, but--
But what?
WILLIAM: One minute,
it is New York.
Next minute, it isn't.
It keeps changing.
How come?
Well, hell, you've
got one set of eyes.
I got another.
Maybe it's different for both.
No.
Willie, come on.
On a day that we
need to be cheered--
that's a beautiful gift horse.
You're going to
look at the mouth?
I don't know.
That's a gift, all right.
That's just for us.
No.
It's not just for us.
Look.
Tire marks.
Th-- there's hundreds of them.
Lots of cars pulled off here.
To look at the
mirage, of course.
Oh, right.
Willie, look east.
Look west.
There's thousands
of cars been here.
This is the only place
that you can really stop
and take a look at that thing.
Eh-- you know, it's nice
folks got an eye for beauty.
Eye for beauty, my socks.
Who owns this land?
The US government, I guess.
Well, why not us?
We set up camp.
We improve the property.
Law reads it belongs
to us, am I right?
Hold on.
You mean, y--you
You bet I mean.
Ha, ha, ha-- and ain't
it sweet, partner?
We're going to
homestead a mirage.
[laughs]
Now, excuse my dust, OK?
But from here to here--
get some twine, pack it down.
Then from there, to up here--
Oh, what are you going
to do with this mirage,
once we got it?
- It's a cow!
We're going to milk it.
It's a (SING-SONG-EY)
lake of money.
We're going to swim in it.
Are you sure you
know what the hell
property law, homestead law is?
One day won't hurt,
if that's all we get!
One day?
Willie, let's give you a test.
Pull out your right pocket.
Go ahead.
Now, pull out your left pocket.
[laughs]
Enough said?
There.
Hey!
Hey!
You're going to miss the
greatest-- the greatest mirage!
Come on!
[shouting]
You're going to--
God's truth, wh-what the
sign by the highway says?
Uh--
It's gratis.
It's free, you're not satisfied.
No way to say.
No way to tell.
I ain't seen no
place in so long.
Well, it's 10 times
the asking price.
Uh, h-hold on there, sir.
You're giving me too much.
No, no.
It was a revelation.
Much thanks.
ROBERT: My pleasure.
What'd they mean?
Ain't seen the old place in
so long, just like old times.
What'd they mean?
What'd you mean!
Good gravy, we're back
where we started from!
Willie, we're ahead.
Aw, get out of my way.
I'll handle the advertising
and the box office!
Whoa!
Ho!
[car horn]
To see is to believe, sir!
Here it is!
Up here.
It's right up here.
You're going to love this.
Just wait.
WILLIAM: It's over here.
Wow, it is just like Rome.
Rome?
No, home-- she said home.
Boy, I almost feel
like I can speak French.
French?
[non-english speech]
Fog, and then the bridge.
I can hear Big Ben.
(LOW VOICE) Fog,
bridge, Big Ben.
Almost talked French,
that other fellow said.
That woman-- she did say Rome.
No.
No!
All those places?
We didn't tell anybody
what city they'd see.
Secret view mirage,
the sign said.
Xanadu.
It's Xanadu.
In Xanadu de Kubla Khan, a
"stately pleasure-dome" decree,
where Alph, the
sacred river, ran
"through caverns measureless
to man, down to a sunless sea."
So twice, five miles of fertile
ground, with walls and towers,
dirt all around.
And here were gardens,
bright with sinuous rills,
where blossomed many an incense
bearing tree and here were
forests, ancient as
the hills, infolding
sunny spots of greenery.
It was a miracle of rare device.
The sunny pleasure-dome--
it caves of ice.
No, no.
Please, you've already paid us.
Mountains, domes, cage of ice.
Hallelujah!
Steak dinners and new shoes!
Ha, ha!
Look at my fish bowl!
Willie, it's still New York.
You ever been to New York?
Always wanted, never did.
[laughs]
Always wanted, never did.
Same as them?
Paris, Rome, London,
and this last, Xanadu?
Willie, we've got hold of
something real big here.
It's different for
each one that sees it.
Now, how?
Why?
We've got to do
right by it, partner.
Well, we are.
Robert-- Bob!
Our luck's changed!
It's all ours!
No one to get in our way!
No one?
[laughs]
Nick Bantlin?
You.
Me.
[snickering]
Shut up!
Why?
[snickering]
Why?
You bust it, like a mirror.
MAN: Bust what?
Like what mirror?
There's nothing out there.
What you guys up to?
Ditched me this morning.
Hell, that ain't
like my buddies.
Loaned me my bike in '68.
You stole it!
Aw, we're pals.
We picked cherries in
Oregon, apples in Washington.
Help, mates.
But now, sudden
like, uh, you panic
off, like shotgun rabbits.
What are you hiding
from old Ned?
Nothing.
No?
I've been up on
that hill all day.
See these binoculars?
I can read lips, saw
all the cars, the cash.
Quite a circus you've got here.
Now, if you don't mind,
get off my property.
Yours?
[laughs]
When I seen what
you was up to, oh.
I headed in to the
Phoenix land office.
You filed a homestead claim?
NED: [snickering]
How do we know
you ain't lying?
[laughing]
You don't know.
Now, let's put down all the
money you earned since 2:00
this afternoon, which
is the hour I filed
my claim, from which time on,
you was trespassing my land.
NED: Oh, boy.
You got them in here.
Ha.
Nothing to see.
People pay cash.
Howdy dow.
Bantlin, are you sure you
can't see anything out there?
NED: Nothing.
Now, don't try to tell
me you see something.
We do.
Come on.
Yeah, but we--
You heard what he said.
There's nothing
out there to see.
Excuse me, gents.
Got to mind the box office.
Yes, sir!
Yes, ma'am!
This way.
Pull right up.
Come on, sir!
Pull right up.
Uh, cash in advance, please.
Uh, cash in advance.
WILLIAM: Bob, why are
you letting him do this?
Yes, sir!
It's wonderful sightseeing.
I'm glad it's not ours, Will.
Glad?
It ain't right,
handing a natural thing
with unnatural rules.
We should have just taken
enough to buy gas, and then
put the rest of the
money in the first church
poor box we come to.
That's a clear river
running, Willie.
People coming by thirsty.
They're wise.
You dip one cup of water,
you drink it cool in the heat
of the day, and you go on.
Ned Bantlin did us a favor.
He's always doing us favors.
Why?
Because, Willie--
we're the pure in heart.
Never quite got around
to being villains.
And the true villains of the
world, they see our light.
And they come a running to
warm their hands at our fire.
Well, fair is fair.
Men like Ned Bantlin live in
his white underbelly of a life.
Ain't he about due for
a bolt of lightning?
[laughing]
And I think it just struck!
Willie--
[laughing]
Get an eyeful!
They're-- they're making
him give back their money!
[laughing]
Aw!
He did it!
Ned Bantlin, may
you rot in hell!
You spoiled it all!
Ned!
[laughing]
Right now, I'm feeling
sorry for Ned Bantlin.
Sorry?
Sure.
He never saw what we saw.
He never believed,
not for a second.
When people drove
in here, the city's
mirage, whatever, it was there.
Then Ned Bantlin put his
big hand across the sun.
People wanted their money back.
Theater was closed.
Well, can't we
open it up again?
How do you-- how do you
bring a thing like that back?
Can we?
Aw, hell.
Ar-- are we the pure in heart?
Nah.
Not like the kids that
came through here today,
who saw anything they wanted to
see, and not like the big folks
with them born in wheat
fields, and by God's grace,
wandering the world.
No, we're not the big children.
We're not the little children.
Willie, I'm glad to be alive.
We know the morning
air early, on the road.
And maybe we take it
easy, don't think.
Relax.
You see anything?
It's late.
Maybe tomorrow.
We too late?
Or are you closed
up for the night?
It's no use.
What he means is no money.
Last customer of the da--
free.
Why, thank you, neighbor.
Bob, what ails you?
Now, just hush up and watch.
It's a lake.
Can't see much.
We can see lots.
Yes.
There.
(SOFTSPOKEN) Why, of course.
See, now.
Ain't that a beat?
Is it there?
Maybe if we don't try.
Just take it nice and easy.
It was a miracle, a rare device.
A sunny pleasure-dome,
with caves of ice.
Well, it's a miracle.
A rare device.
RAY BRADBURY
(VOICEOVER): People ask,
where do you get your ideas?
Well, right here.
All this is mine.
I'll never starve here.
I'm Ray Bradbury.
And this is--
When I was a boy, my
dad, looking for work,
picked up my mom, my
brother, Skip, and myself,
and headed West.
Along the way, in the middle
of nowhere whatsoever at all,
on a hot, summer desert
moon, with the wind still,
and heat rising
from the sand dunes,
we were witness to a miracle.
Years later, I
remembered the miracle.
This is that remembrance.
Did we lose him?
Yeah.
No, there he is.
- Where?
- There!
- Where?
There.
Where?
There!
I see him.
Come on, baby!
Come on!
Go, go, go, go, go!
Come on!
[cackle]
He's gaining.
Yeah.
Aw!
All right.
I'm going to-- I'm
going to turn off.
- Where?
- I'm going to turn off here.
- Where?
- Here!
Where?
Right here, by
the sign, where!
As one drifter to another,
so long, Ned Bantlin.
Why does he always
got to follow us?
Because somehow, we're always
leading them to luck, Will.
We find harvests, and
that guy does them in.
I wish we could get
something that was just ours,
never winds up his.
Our luck changing?
Yes.
Something close by?
Almost.
Almost here.
Why the hell'd
you pull off here?
I don't know.
There's nothing here.
Let's get back on the road.
Nothing here.
Sure.
Only mountains, and
desert, and that.
That.
Oh, hold on.
I'm holding.
It can't be.
Robert, I ain't had an
acid flash in 10 years.
Me neither.
But that ain't no hallucination.
Phoenix is 90 miles off.
There ain't no other
town in 100 miles.
ROBERT: That's right.
Well then my gosh,
what the hell is that?
It's a mirage.
No.
Yeah.
Light rays, just right,
atmospheric sky, temperature.
The city's the other side
of the horizon, see--
reflected off the sky
up there, like a mirror.
It comes down here,
for us to see.
But it's big.
Mirages come in
all sizes, but that
is the grandaddy of them all.
I mean, look at that thing.
Ain't Sante Fe.
No, or Alamogordo.
No.
That's too far off.
Those building is the
tallest in the world.
Oh, Willie, Willie, Willie.
Never ask nature.
There's things
about radio waves,
and rainbows, and
Northern Lights.
we ain't never going to know.
Yeah, but--
But what?
WILLIAM: One minute,
it is New York.
Next minute, it isn't.
It keeps changing.
How come?
Well, hell, you've
got one set of eyes.
I got another.
Maybe it's different for both.
No.
Willie, come on.
On a day that we
need to be cheered--
that's a beautiful gift horse.
You're going to
look at the mouth?
I don't know.
That's a gift, all right.
That's just for us.
No.
It's not just for us.
Look.
Tire marks.
Th-- there's hundreds of them.
Lots of cars pulled off here.
To look at the
mirage, of course.
Oh, right.
Willie, look east.
Look west.
There's thousands
of cars been here.
This is the only place
that you can really stop
and take a look at that thing.
Eh-- you know, it's nice
folks got an eye for beauty.
Eye for beauty, my socks.
Who owns this land?
The US government, I guess.
Well, why not us?
We set up camp.
We improve the property.
Law reads it belongs
to us, am I right?
Hold on.
You mean, y--you
You bet I mean.
Ha, ha, ha-- and ain't
it sweet, partner?
We're going to
homestead a mirage.
[laughs]
Now, excuse my dust, OK?
But from here to here--
get some twine, pack it down.
Then from there, to up here--
Oh, what are you going
to do with this mirage,
once we got it?
- It's a cow!
We're going to milk it.
It's a (SING-SONG-EY)
lake of money.
We're going to swim in it.
Are you sure you
know what the hell
property law, homestead law is?
One day won't hurt,
if that's all we get!
One day?
Willie, let's give you a test.
Pull out your right pocket.
Go ahead.
Now, pull out your left pocket.
[laughs]
Enough said?
There.
Hey!
Hey!
You're going to miss the
greatest-- the greatest mirage!
Come on!
[shouting]
You're going to--
God's truth, wh-what the
sign by the highway says?
Uh--
It's gratis.
It's free, you're not satisfied.
No way to say.
No way to tell.
I ain't seen no
place in so long.
Well, it's 10 times
the asking price.
Uh, h-hold on there, sir.
You're giving me too much.
No, no.
It was a revelation.
Much thanks.
ROBERT: My pleasure.
What'd they mean?
Ain't seen the old place in
so long, just like old times.
What'd they mean?
What'd you mean!
Good gravy, we're back
where we started from!
Willie, we're ahead.
Aw, get out of my way.
I'll handle the advertising
and the box office!
Whoa!
Ho!
[car horn]
To see is to believe, sir!
Here it is!
Up here.
It's right up here.
You're going to love this.
Just wait.
WILLIAM: It's over here.
Wow, it is just like Rome.
Rome?
No, home-- she said home.
Boy, I almost feel
like I can speak French.
French?
[non-english speech]
Fog, and then the bridge.
I can hear Big Ben.
(LOW VOICE) Fog,
bridge, Big Ben.
Almost talked French,
that other fellow said.
That woman-- she did say Rome.
No.
No!
All those places?
We didn't tell anybody
what city they'd see.
Secret view mirage,
the sign said.
Xanadu.
It's Xanadu.
In Xanadu de Kubla Khan, a
"stately pleasure-dome" decree,
where Alph, the
sacred river, ran
"through caverns measureless
to man, down to a sunless sea."
So twice, five miles of fertile
ground, with walls and towers,
dirt all around.
And here were gardens,
bright with sinuous rills,
where blossomed many an incense
bearing tree and here were
forests, ancient as
the hills, infolding
sunny spots of greenery.
It was a miracle of rare device.
The sunny pleasure-dome--
it caves of ice.
No, no.
Please, you've already paid us.
Mountains, domes, cage of ice.
Hallelujah!
Steak dinners and new shoes!
Ha, ha!
Look at my fish bowl!
Willie, it's still New York.
You ever been to New York?
Always wanted, never did.
[laughs]
Always wanted, never did.
Same as them?
Paris, Rome, London,
and this last, Xanadu?
Willie, we've got hold of
something real big here.
It's different for
each one that sees it.
Now, how?
Why?
We've got to do
right by it, partner.
Well, we are.
Robert-- Bob!
Our luck's changed!
It's all ours!
No one to get in our way!
No one?
[laughs]
Nick Bantlin?
You.
Me.
[snickering]
Shut up!
Why?
[snickering]
Why?
You bust it, like a mirror.
MAN: Bust what?
Like what mirror?
There's nothing out there.
What you guys up to?
Ditched me this morning.
Hell, that ain't
like my buddies.
Loaned me my bike in '68.
You stole it!
Aw, we're pals.
We picked cherries in
Oregon, apples in Washington.
Help, mates.
But now, sudden
like, uh, you panic
off, like shotgun rabbits.
What are you hiding
from old Ned?
Nothing.
No?
I've been up on
that hill all day.
See these binoculars?
I can read lips, saw
all the cars, the cash.
Quite a circus you've got here.
Now, if you don't mind,
get off my property.
Yours?
[laughs]
When I seen what
you was up to, oh.
I headed in to the
Phoenix land office.
You filed a homestead claim?
NED: [snickering]
How do we know
you ain't lying?
[laughing]
You don't know.
Now, let's put down all the
money you earned since 2:00
this afternoon, which
is the hour I filed
my claim, from which time on,
you was trespassing my land.
NED: Oh, boy.
You got them in here.
Ha.
Nothing to see.
People pay cash.
Howdy dow.
Bantlin, are you sure you
can't see anything out there?
NED: Nothing.
Now, don't try to tell
me you see something.
We do.
Come on.
Yeah, but we--
You heard what he said.
There's nothing
out there to see.
Excuse me, gents.
Got to mind the box office.
Yes, sir!
Yes, ma'am!
This way.
Pull right up.
Come on, sir!
Pull right up.
Uh, cash in advance, please.
Uh, cash in advance.
WILLIAM: Bob, why are
you letting him do this?
Yes, sir!
It's wonderful sightseeing.
I'm glad it's not ours, Will.
Glad?
It ain't right,
handing a natural thing
with unnatural rules.
We should have just taken
enough to buy gas, and then
put the rest of the
money in the first church
poor box we come to.
That's a clear river
running, Willie.
People coming by thirsty.
They're wise.
You dip one cup of water,
you drink it cool in the heat
of the day, and you go on.
Ned Bantlin did us a favor.
He's always doing us favors.
Why?
Because, Willie--
we're the pure in heart.
Never quite got around
to being villains.
And the true villains of the
world, they see our light.
And they come a running to
warm their hands at our fire.
Well, fair is fair.
Men like Ned Bantlin live in
his white underbelly of a life.
Ain't he about due for
a bolt of lightning?
[laughing]
And I think it just struck!
Willie--
[laughing]
Get an eyeful!
They're-- they're making
him give back their money!
[laughing]
Aw!
He did it!
Ned Bantlin, may
you rot in hell!
You spoiled it all!
Ned!
[laughing]
Right now, I'm feeling
sorry for Ned Bantlin.
Sorry?
Sure.
He never saw what we saw.
He never believed,
not for a second.
When people drove
in here, the city's
mirage, whatever, it was there.
Then Ned Bantlin put his
big hand across the sun.
People wanted their money back.
Theater was closed.
Well, can't we
open it up again?
How do you-- how do you
bring a thing like that back?
Can we?
Aw, hell.
Ar-- are we the pure in heart?
Nah.
Not like the kids that
came through here today,
who saw anything they wanted to
see, and not like the big folks
with them born in wheat
fields, and by God's grace,
wandering the world.
No, we're not the big children.
We're not the little children.
Willie, I'm glad to be alive.
We know the morning
air early, on the road.
And maybe we take it
easy, don't think.
Relax.
You see anything?
It's late.
Maybe tomorrow.
We too late?
Or are you closed
up for the night?
It's no use.
What he means is no money.
Last customer of the da--
free.
Why, thank you, neighbor.
Bob, what ails you?
Now, just hush up and watch.
It's a lake.
Can't see much.
We can see lots.
Yes.
There.
(SOFTSPOKEN) Why, of course.
See, now.
Ain't that a beat?
Is it there?
Maybe if we don't try.
Just take it nice and easy.
It was a miracle, a rare device.
A sunny pleasure-dome,
with caves of ice.
Well, it's a miracle.
A rare device.