Suspense.
And the producer of radio's outstanding theater of thrills, the master of mystery and adventure,
William N. Rogerson.
You know the old saw about the importance of trivial things.
For the want of a nail, the shoe is lost.
For the want of a shoe, the horse was lost, and so on.
Take a dime, for instance.
One thin dime.
Just chicken feet.
Yet it can make the difference between life and death, as it does in the story you are
about to hear.
Listen then, and ponder on the potential dimensions of trivia, as Lloyd Bridges stars in Chicken
Feet.
Now, Mr. Lloyd Bridges in Chicken Feet.
A tale well calculated to keep you in suspense.
All right, it was a silly thing to fight over, I admit, but there it was.
A dime.
A measly thin dime.
Chicken feet.
Of course, that was only the beginning.
You see, your junior asked for a dime, and I flipped it over to him.
And after he left the room, Mary said I shouldn't spoil a gig.
It was time you learned the value of money.
And I said, well, great, Scott, if I couldn't give my own child a dime without her jumping
down my throat.
Oh, you know, those things get going.
Keep saying things you shouldn't, and she lashes out with an answer, and before you know
it, you've stormed out of the house, and you're taking it out in the car.
Fifty miles cooled me down a little, but not much.
They automatically slowed up when I came to the sign, You are now entering Lansing, California.
Go slow and see our town.
Go fast and see our jail.
Everybody knew Lansing, a speed trap, a tough town.
Driving at a normal speed through the quiet Sunday street gave me time to think of something
besides the biting words Mary and I had slugged at each other.
I pulled up at a little cafe next to the police station.
Had a whitewashed sign in the window.
The best cup of coffee in town for ten cents.
How do you have your eggs this morning, Sherlock?
Same as always.
Numpy Saskatchewa, the fried but safe.
I resent that, Officer Brady, and what's more, my whole family resent it.
Too over easy, Sam.
Heavy on the fried.
What would you like, Mr.?
Coffee, please.
Coming up.
Here you are.
Say, Officer Brady, how's your starboarder?
Phillips.
They're coming for him in the morning.
Think you'll be able to hold him till then?
He got out of that Bennington jail like a paper bag.
Don't worry, Sister.
This is what will happen here while I sip my coffee.
Best cup of coffee in town for a dime.
That reminded me of our argument over a dime.
That's what I'm talking about.
A dime's good for a guest, a cup of coffee, newspaper, phone call.
There's a stack of the local papers nearby, and I pulled one over to look at it.
This Phillips was on the front page.
Bank robber.
Killed the teller.
He had a face I wouldn't want to run into.
Close.
After a while, the hot coffee cut through the icy core of resentment I'd carried out
of the house with me.
Maybe, maybe I'd been at fault as much as Mary.
She wasn't the only one who had a bad temper.
On a sudden impulse, I left my coffee and went over to the phone, the firewall.
I heard the dial tone, then I fished in my pocket for change.
It was empty.
Say, Miss, could you change a dollar for me?
I want to use the phone.
Yes, sir.
What's the...
What's the matter, Mister?
My wallet, I seem to...
Look, I'll be back in a minute, huh?
No, Mary wasn't the only one with a temper.
I'd stormed out of the house without changing the contents of my pockets to my clean suit.
I didn't have a dime on me.
Not even a nickel.
I had rummaged in the glove compartment of the car.
Mary sometimes left a coin purse.
But this time, that lid wasn't there.
I felt like a fool.
And then...
Well, that seems to be the trouble, Mister.
Oh, hello, Officer.
I seem to have come off without any money.
Embarrassing.
Yeah, embarrassing.
I didn't realize it until I tried the phone.
I'll, uh...
Well, I'll have to send that girl a dime for the coffee since I get back to town.
You will, huh?
Well, I don't know what else I can do under the second sentence, is that?
I'd better go inside and tell her.
Hold on a minute.
Huh?
Where's your driver's license?
It's in my wallet in San Francisco.
You got any other identification?
Well, the registration slip in the car.
That's the car.
What about you?
Me?
Well, I just got through telling you.
Officer, I'm Ralph Clark.
Clark and Jacobs in the Hatfield building.
We're attorneys.
Attorneys?
I should have a card here somewhere.
You're kind of far from home to be without any dough, ain't you?
Well, I came out of the house without changing the stuff into this suit.
You know how it is, huh?
Yeah.
How'd you happen to have the keys to the car?
Well, I don't take them out when it's in the garage.
Hey, you don't think...
Where are you headed for?
Well, I know it sounds funny, but nowhere, really.
See, I had a fight with my wife and I just batted out of the house to cool off.
Well, tell you what, Mr. Clark, suppose we just mosey into the station house.
Station house?
Hey, what is this?
Nothing, nothing at all.
Just next door and you can go right away from there.
I don't see why that's necessary.
If you'd just lend me a dime, I could go...
Well, I could go right in here and reverse the charges.
Let's go.
You can leave the car here.
I'll take that key.
No, look here, officer.
I don't get any...
Move.
Come on, move.
Hi, Jim.
What you got this time?
I'll tell you better after he makes the call.
Give me the phone, will you, Ross?
It's out of order.
One day, at half an hour ago.
Did you report it?
Yeah.
They said they can't have a man here before tomorrow.
Did you tell them this is a police station for Pete's sake?
Sure I told them.
Oh, it's not bad, though.
We can get in, come on.
I'm not going to tell them.
They still got the pay phone over there.
Yeah, there's the pay phone, Mr. Clark.
You can make your call from there.
I don't have any money, remember?
Oh, yeah.
Okay.
What is it now?
Gee, thanks.
Let me speak to your wife when you get her.
Oh, this is going to sound fine.
Just fine.
Do you think I've really tied one on?
Operator.
I want to call San Francisco.
Gary 49978 and reverse the charges, please.
Thank you.
Your number, please.
This is 460.
Hello.
I have a collect call from Lansing, California for Gary 49978.
Will you accept the charges?
Lansing?
I don't know anyone.
It's me, Mary.
Take the call.
Oh, it's you, is it?
What do you think you're doing?
Fifteen miles from...
Will you accept the call, madam?
I should say nothing.
Mary!
Mary, wait, hey, hey!
I am sorry.
I'm sorry.
The party will not accept the call.
Look, operator, get it back, will you?
This is important.
I will ring them again.
Thanks.
Oh, why didn't you pick up that phone?
Your party does not answer.
No soap, huh?
Hey, they kept our dime.
Well, you shouldn't have slammed it so hard.
Let me have another one, will you?
I'll get a hold of my partner.
He liked it in the fight.
Look, we've wasted enough time.
Get in there.
You think I'm gonna do that?
It's not like you're gonna do that.
I'm not gonna do that.
I'm just gonna get my phone out of the way.
I don't know what you're gonna do.
I'm not gonna do that.
I'm just gonna get my phone out of the way.
I'm not gonna do that.
And I was glad that there were bars between us of course now us guys we ain't much
Yeah, but mr. Phillips here now. He's a big shot. He robbed four banks and broke out of two jails
Killed a man, too. Hey sure we're just bags, but mr. Phillips. He's going to the hot seat
They're coming to get him and take him back to Nevada and burn. Oh, no. No, Peter
They don't burn them in the matter to shoot him ain't that right mr. Phillips
Mr. Phillips don't want to talk about it. Mr. Phillips don't want to talk about another mr. Phillips
Mr. Phillips ain't very sociable just like this
Oh now look fellas I didn't mean look I just meant that I wanted to get out of this jail
Here take the watch and give me the dime, huh?
Okay, and I'll tell you what I'll match you for it. Match me? Yeah a dime again to watch
Well, that's fair and I got me a fair chance to get my six and you got you a chance to get your dime free
Yeah, but I'd rather take it or leave it
Well, all right, all right now you need to hold the watch I'll flip the dime on the floor you call
heads
Tails I win. Hey, wait a minute. Get your foot off of it. How do you know it's tails? It's tails
Ain't it Peter? Well sure it's tails. All right. Here's what slip. What is this? Watch it, brother
You're not gonna get away with this. Oh get him Pete
Don't get him Pete
Had it on you. This is for nearing me
Hey, hey what goes on here?
Officer, these men
It ain't nothing this new guy's acting on us
Yeah, it's this new guy
Quiet down in there
Trying to get us in trouble, huh?
No, no, no, look
Well shut up
Okay, kangaroo
I'll be judge you be process
All right prisoner at the bar stand up
Yeah, all right consulate what is the prisoner charged with are you wanna this man here is a desperate criminal
He's charged with breaking into jail insulting his fellow borders poor sportsmanship and fighting
He's a very dangerous character you honor. Yeah
You'll be on all counts
I'll fire you
Ten cents. You know I haven't got a dime
Yeah, yeah
Well then
You can work it out
Rate of one cent a day
First job be to shine the core shoes
Shine your own shoes
Oh, she's gonna be like that, huh?
Hold him, slip
Officer!
Hey shut up
Hike down in there
Come and get us some disclog about
Another peep out and you you gonna get it again
You understand?
Yes
All right now get on them shoes
Why I don't have
I don't have anything to shine them with
You got a cold engine
Now get going
The next hours run adulterated agony
It was unbelievable the filthy and human jobs they could think up for me to do
It was frightful
With every move I made I could feel the glittering steely eyes of the silent man in the locked cage
Following me, weighing me
Finally when they couldn't think of anything more they forced me to stand at attention looking right into Phillips cell
They couldn't see his face it was too close to mine
But he winked at me and nodded his head as though it were a signal
And then his two huge arms came through the bars and thrust me reeling across the cell
I fell and hit my head
It's all I remember
In a moment we continue with
Suspense
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The address again is higher education box 36 Times Square station New York 36
And now we continue with Chicken Feet starring Mr. Lloyd Bridges
A tale well calculated to keep you in suspense
I don't know what time it was, two or three in the morning, when I felt a stealthy touch in my shoulder
I opened my eyes, I was still on the stone floor
And Phillips was bending over me, holding a revolver
I started to speak but he clapped a hand over my mouth
Shhh, you fool, you want to wake them punks, get up quick and be quiet about it
I glanced quickly at Phillips cell, it was open and so was the door to the corridor
He pushed me out and locked the door behind us
In his office bound and gagged securely to his desk chair, Sergeant Ross glared at us
The empty holster to his side told where Phillips had got his gun
Here, which is the key to your car?
This one
Okay, take it and let's move
Ah, we made it
The make bulls, they panic me
Guy could swing that croc with a hairpin
You nearly done a fine job of lusting things up, what happened to you getting thrown in a can in the middle of the day?
Huh? They picked me up on suspicion
It wasn't supposed to be till midnight tonight
What?
All that phony kid stuff about the dime
The dime?
Yeah, all that double talk
When all you had to do was slip me the word that Jerry Diamond sent you
Served you right the way them luscious treated you, acting like a dime in the Wolf Square
Jerry Diamond
Diamond
My numb brain slowly put the meaning of his words into shape
He thought that I was an accomplice
Sent by a partner to help him break jail
But all my screams about a dime had been nothing but a signal to him
A signal that I came from Jerry Diamond
I cast a quick glance sideways at the revolver held loosely but ready in his lap
At the eyes that never lost their eyes even when he laughed
It wasn't hard to guess what he would do when he found out it was a mistake
Jerry, you got the hideout set up?
Yes
Where is it?
The hideout
We're going to Jerry's place first, right? Then what?
Well, I'll take you to Jerry's and then he'll take over from there
Hmm
How far is it to Jerry's? Can't be more than about five miles, is it?
Well, it's... Look behind you
What's the matter?
There's a car following us without lights
Where? I don't see...
What?
Hey, hey, hey, what's the big idea? You trying to cross me?
I couldn't help it. My foot, it's slamming the brake
That car, we've got to get out of here
All right, go ahead, get it started
Come on, come on
It started
All right, I'm getting out till that car passes
You make for the other side and no tricks
Just to make sure I'll take this key
I had made myself a chance and I took it
I slipped out of the car on the other side and ran across the field until I could run no more
After a long time I found a road
And after a while of tramping along that road, a dark shape wound up before me
A gas station
And through the glass I could make out the outline of a telephone
I tried the door
It was locked, of course
But I found a tire iron and sprang the latch
I ran to the phone to make my call
And then I saw the coin slot
Gaping at me like a laughing mouth
In a rage I shook the black box
I could hear the dimes inside
Behind a sheet of metal no thicker than a playing card
Yet as inaccessible as the moon
But there must be some money in this room
My eyes focused on the battered desk
There was some change in it and a couple of dollar bills
The kind of money that a man will leave as a sob to possible burglars
Burglars? That meant me
Carefully I abstracted a single dime and went to the phone
Number please
Get me San Francisco, Fillmore 33265, it's Morris Jacobs
Tell him this is his partner Ralph Clark and ask him to accept the charges
Thank you
There's an interruption on the line and there may be a slight delay, sir
Will you hold on or shall I ring you?
I'll hold on but hurry operator, it's important
One moment please
As I waited, a glint of light pulled my eyes away from the phone
Far down the road the headlights of a car jogged over the rise and aimed toward me
It was the first car to come by since I'd hit the road
It might be a stray, a farmer starting out before sunup
But I couldn't take the chance
Hastily I hung up the receiver, closed the cash drawer
And snapped the lock on the door
Then I crouched beneath the desk and not a moment too soon
Off the knife
Hey, I've tried to wake this character before
Sleeps like a dead man
Especially if he's back on the bottom again
We'll get him up
Hey Jerry
Then I heard the creak of bed springs from the rear of the station
The light appeared under an inside door
It opened and two hairy barefoot legs in a flannel nightgown came through and made for the front door
Who is it?
Brady and Ross, up and up
You ever find a bunch of cops running out of gas in the middle of the night?
Come on in, it's chilly with the door open
It ain't gas pal, Phillips broke jail
Huh?
How'd he do it?
Well, there was two of them, he hadn't accomplished, said he was a lawyer
First thing I know, I'm looking into the muzzle of my own gun
You know, they say Phillips used to work for Houdini once
Alright Ross, we don't have all night, point is we found their car abandoned on the road back at Ferris' Hopfield
Ran out of gas, they can't be far away
Hmm, hey, there was a big reward for Phillips after he broke jail at Bennington, wasn't there?
Yeah, a thousand dollars
Say Jerry, you know him, don't you?
You were in the Bennington Pokey when he made that break
What was it, a drunken disorderly or something?
Yeah, yeah, had me a little too much and broke a window in the general store
We were roommates for the night
I was pretty scared
How'd he do it, the break?
I don't know, I was sleeping at all
A thousand dollars reward, huh?
A man could do a lot with a thousand dollars
Not dead he couldn't
Don't you go getting any ideas now, that Phillips is a killer and so is his partner most likely
Well, I ain't exactly helpless myself
That nice little fella on my side
Now you take my advice chum and put that gun away
They show up here, you talk soft and let us do the capturing
Sure, sure, I'll play safe
Well, we'll be going
Just wanted to alert you, Joe
Yeah, thanks, go on boys
All right you, come out from under that desk
Come on out I say, this gun's getting mighty nervous
Now get your hands up, stand over there
Now, now look mister, I
I'll do the talking
Who are you?
You gotta believe me, I'm not a criminal, I'm a lawyer
Oh, so you must be the other one, keep them hands up
I got into this by accident
He helped me escape, yes, but
Where is Phillips?
I left him in the car
That's another thing, you can get the reward
I know who he's going to meet, they're going to a hideout
Oh, I see, who is he going to meet?
Somebody named Jerry Diamond
There, there, if you let me get to that phone I can clear up everything
No, you don't, you stay where you are I'll plug you
But that's my partner, my law partner in San Francisco
I only broke in here so I could phone him, he'll identify me
You don't believe me?
I believe you
Well answer it yourself, you'll see
Not on your life mister, you think I'm out of my mind?
But you've got to answer it, you don't know what I went through to place that call
You can't just stand there
Jerry, you're Jerry Diamond
That's right
Jerry, Jerry
Who's that? Turn off that light
Phillips
Stand over there, I wonder where he's with you
Go on
Jerry
Come on in Phillips
I ran out of gas and that pump did
It happened so fast that for a moment I had no reaction at all, none, I just watched it
Watched Phillips holding his chest with both hands
Watched that giant body twist compulsively on the floor and then lie still
Watched Jerry bend over him and then straighten up
Then as he turned grinning, my emotion, my feeling came back
And what I felt was seething overpowering rage, fury
Everything I'd been through this night was like a boiler that had to burst
Dead or alive, I just made me a thousand burns
You foul stinking old man
Huh?
You're worse than he is
Ah shut up, maybe I'll get an award for you too, a small one
I could feel the bullet land on my side, just below the belt
The avenues of pain spread out like the cracks in a hammered window glass
But somehow, strangely, it didn't stop me
I kept moving toward him, he backed away surprised
He was aiming for another shot when we grappled
I got the gun, he got my crook, a slumber
I held onto his hand that was holding the gun
I wouldn't let go
And as he fell backwards from the chair, I was on top of him
As we threshed around there on the floor, I saw him
I brought his hand up suddenly and smashed the gun into his face
And then he lay still
I listened to his heart
He was alright, he was alright
Then I realized that I was alright
Yet he'd shot me, hit me
I should be lying there on the plank floor instead of that grotesque heap in the shapeless flannel nightgown
I felt my side when the bullet had struck
I brought my hand away, there was no blood on it
There should be blood, touch the spot again
The finger that contoured something small and hard and round
I pulled it out of my watch pocket
A dime, a dime
The tenth part of a dollar
All a man needed to buy a cup of coffee, to make a phone call
To pay a fine in a kangaroo court
To save his life
And I'd had it all the time
I'd had it all the time
Suspense
In which Mr. Lloyd Bridges starred in William N. Robson's production of Chicken Feed by Lawrence Goldman
Listen
Listen again next week
When we bring you Francis Lettere in Escape to Death
Another tale well calculated to keep you in
Suspense
Supporting Mr. Bridges in Chicken Feed were
Amzie Strickland, Betty Grobely, Ted DeCorsa, Lou Krugman, Jack Crouchon, Charlie Lung, Lou Merrill, and Dick LeGrand