It's now.
The Island, starring John Lund.
A tale well calculated to keep you in...
suspense.
This Corporal Lacey was okay, a good Marine.
But the way I looked at it, he'd been hopping too many islands.
Battle fatigue can get the best of him.
Anyway, here I was somewhere in Okinawa with him.
In the middle of the night, and I just as least be anywhere else.
Okay, D'Borry, the sub-trench is deep enough.
I guess we're safe for a while.
Where are we anyhow?
A couple of miles behind the jet lines.
How safe is that?
You worry too much, pal, even for a guy on his first patrol.
I was thinking of it as my last.
Ah, relax like me in your little...
What's that?
That's nothing.
It's just a scream of Mimi.
Got some kind of tail adjustment that cuts the wind and sort of screams.
The Lips used it to scare us.
They sure succeeded.
You scare easy, pal.
Sure.
I'm a pushover for that Shrek-like stuff.
Shrek-y? What kind of jive is that?
It means terror.
Strifeless.
The Germans got a whole arsenal of terror weapons.
The Japs got a few themselves.
You take the first watch. I'm second in.
Maybe.
Maybe I'll just sit here and dream a while.
Sure taking a fine time for it.
Did I ever tell you about my island?
Yeah, you told me.
What is this island?
You must have told me 50, 60 times already.
So I'll tell you again.
This island is sort of a special place.
No rain, no jungle rot, no war.
There is no such place.
On this island, a man would never go hungry.
All you've got to do is fish a little with the natives.
They're all big men and friendly.
Not like the Nips.
All the dames are beautiful.
You read too many comic books.
That's where I'm fixing to go as soon as I find it.
Never going back stateside.
I'm going to lay down under that little old banyan tree.
I let him rave on.
What else could I do?
Argu with him?
There I was a couple of miles behind the enemy lines with a stranger.
His eyes narrowed on a thousand-yard stairs,
rushing words like a nervous twitch.
He raved on about a place that don't exist.
Big men, beautiful women.
This island, real pretty, different, like nothing you ever saw,
all surrounded by mist.
And then I found myself listening, sort of hypnotized.
I knew I was listening to battle fatigue.
Like I said, the corporal has hopped too many islands.
He had seen too much death, too many crackups.
He was half-cracked and slightly dead himself.
So what could I do?
Argu with him?
Pineapple, bat the breeze with the people,
and I'll find me a beautiful girl and we'll...
Kibori.
Yeah, yeah, I'm listening.
Look, Kibori, out there, coming toward us.
Over there.
A bunch of them.
Not a bunch, four.
Three men and a woman.
They're heading right for us.
Put down that rifle.
What's the matter, you flip or something?
They're not Japs, the men are too big.
And the woman, she's beautiful in the moonlight.
Japs, they're no Japs, I ain't taking no chances.
Knock it off, you jerk, you hit the dame.
Lacey, where you going?
I'm gonna see if she's hurt, come on.
Don't go, Lacey, you know the Japs, there might be a trick.
Don't worry about me.
Let go of my arm.
You'll get yourself killed.
Not me, Kibori, I'll live to spit on your grave.
Now let's go.
Okay, I hope you know what you're doing.
Must be around here somewhere.
Listen, came from over there, come on.
Here she is.
Go away, do you go away?
Break out your first aid kit, Kibori.
Here, look lady, let me fix your arm, huh?
Look, see, bandages, adhesive tape, penicillin.
You don't get what you're talking about.
She gets the idea.
Yeah, now, that's right, lady.
Now this won't hurt a bit.
There, you just got nicked a little in the arm.
It's just a flesh wound.
She trusts you.
Yeah, she trusts me more than you do.
Didn't I tell you she was beautiful?
You told me a lot of things.
How about the men she was with, the big men?
They weren't Japs.
Not Japs?
In a pig's eye they weren't Japs?
No, they're not Japs.
Yeah, you see?
Then what were they?
They were my people.
Who are you?
What's your name?
Me, Ducky.
Kibori, I'm going to go home.
Go home, scram, lose yourself.
Oh, no you don't.
Let her alone, Lacey, you'll keep out of this.
Let her go.
Let her go back to her right patty.
You still don't catch Kibori.
She ain't from Okinawa.
She's from that island.
That island I was telling you about.
I saw Yagachi.
Yagachi Shima.
Shima, see? Shima means island.
Yes, island.
What are you doing here?
Nothing, no.
Japanese bring us in canoes.
She's crazier than you are, whoever her...
Shut up.
Taki, Taki.
Where is your island?
Where is Yagachi Shima?
In the East.
In China Sea.
Half a day from Okinawa by canoe.
Canoe?
What's it like, Taki?
What's your island like?
Never mind the island.
Let's find a canoe.
But to see Lacey with the canoe,
we can get back to our lives by water.
Taki, can you find the canoe?
Yes, I think I can.
Let's go.
The
She led us through the wood towards the beach.
The moonlight, her delicate face was like ancient ivory.
Her hair was long and black and drawn tight over her head.
She was straight and slim.
She walked with dignity.
She was beautiful.
As beautiful as a dream.
Lacey's dream.
For a moment she had me dreaming too.
But only for a moment.
Then we were on the beach and there was a canoe.
And leaning against the prow of Japs entering,
you never know what hit them.
Taki.
Hurry up, Taki. In the canoe.
Get out of here, Sabore.
You take the bow.
Where to?
Straight out to sea. Two weeks.
You know what? I think...
I think we're going to make it.
Okay, Sabore.
We can take it easy now.
I'm not taking it easy until we cross our perimeter.
How are you going to tell at night?
Maybe you think they got neon signs.
What are you going to do then?
We're going to stand by till morning.
I don't know. I think it'd be better to...
Now, whatever you think you're outvoted.
You're outvoted two strikes to one.
You're pulling rank, Corporal?
Why not, knucklehead?
This shipper's got one shipper and I'm it.
If I want any stuff out of you, I'll knock it out of you.
I'm warning you.
Don't follow up this detail.
So what was I going to do?
Argue with them?
Start a private firefight in the middle of the China Sea?
I was getting a little combat weary myself.
Lately, he was all charged up,
as though his crazy dream had come true.
Lying on the narrow deck of the canoe,
I could hear him droning on about the island.
It's not like other islands, is it, Taki?
Oh, you're giving me the answer.
I wish I could tell you how.
It's pretty, huh?
It's very pretty, but...
Is the fishing good?
Oh, very good fishing.
I knew it would be like that. I knew it.
And that's the last thing I remembered.
I guess I fell asleep.
And then Sunday, it was daylight and...
Kibori, look! Kibori!
Huh? What?
Look over there.
What do you see?
An island. Just an island.
Not just an island. My island.
How do you know?
Look, surrounded by mist, just like I said.
Ah, tell it to the Marines when we get back to Okinawa.
Stand by the ramp, Kibori.
We ain't going back to Okinawa.
Now, wait a minute.
I don't want no more trouble for you, Kibori.
And don't make any up.
Where? Where?
You're looking for your rifle?
Don't bother, because I got it right here.
Now, get your rump forward.
You're crazy.
Move, Kibori.
You're flirting with a purple heart.
Now, lean on that paddle.
Ah, that's right. We're heading for Yagachi.
Our canoe scraped the coral beach of Yagachi about four hours later.
The place he was right. It was a lovely island.
Now, here we are.
The Indians believe in hunting, Kibori.
Kibori, it's funny. So close to Okinawa, and this place looks like it's never heard of shot, fire, or anger.
Where are your people, Taki?
They're all going over here.
But you must not come. You go back now.
Oh, no. I'm sticking around.
How about you, Kibori?
I came this far, I'll sweat it out just for laughs.
You're going to laugh out of the wrong side of your face.
Oh, you mean it's not too loud?
Just a figure of speech, Taki.
Let's go.
The trail snaked upwards.
Pine trees and casserinas rattled in the sweet, strong winds from the China Sea.
In the fields were raspberry bushes.
There were lilies in the stork grass and scarlet flowers.
But I was looking for people.
The big men of Lacey's Dream.
The girls all as lovely as the girl walking beside them.
I was tense with expectancy.
These men in the trail.
The place is tense with advantage.
They lost them because they had found Taki.
Robert Lacey.
No, no, Taki.
My name is Lacey.
I'll try it again.
Lacey.
L, I can't.
This is a lily.
You are a lady and you're a loco.
Sabore, I'm going to cold cock you.
You're so funny.
You are, you're so funny.
What?
The first time I saw happy.
Yeah, me too.
I've been dreaming about you for so long.
I always knew I'd find you.
I never forget what you say.
I'll never let you forget.
Oh, Lacey.
No, Lacey, honey.
L, I can love.
They walked on together.
The tall Marine and the slim girl with the ivory skin.
Now and then she'd look up at Lacey and a pained expression clouded her face.
At first she was afraid to believe it, but I did.
Loneliness, the weariness of war, the refuge in a dream.
Very soon now that dream would burst like a bubble, or become reality.
I had to find out.
There was a tough hard climb, but finally we reached the summit.
Down below it in a little valley was the village of Taki's people.
Floating up to us was a strange, sad town.
Maybe, maybe it's what you call a ceremony or something.
Yes, it is.
Maybe it's for us.
I bet they know we're coming.
No.
It's for the day.
What happened, you suppose? The war?
The war? Not here.
It's just all my people died.
Well, everybody's people died.
It's gotta happen sooner or later.
Yes, sooner or later.
Like I always say, here today, gone tomorrow.
I never heard it so well put.
Tabori drop dead.
That dry up.
Let's go, Taki.
As we went down the mountainside, the singing stopped.
When we got to the village, it was deserted.
Taki stopped us at the edge of the clearing.
You wait here, I come back soon with father.
He's in the school.
You gonna stay here on the island with me, Tabori?
No, I see I just want one good look at your big men and beautiful women in their native habitat.
Then I'm shoving off Okinawa.
Little skeptical, huh?
Yeah.
Something's cool about this place. I'm not sure what it is, but I gotta find out.
Or it'll drive me crazy the rest of my life.
You mean crazy like me?
I didn't say that.
Since we left Okinawa, you've been giving me a bad time.
It was mutual.
And now you call me crazy.
I know what I said.
I know what you think.
I know what you'll do once you get back to Okinawa.
You'll tell the MPs I went over the hill. You'll tell them where I am.
And they'll come after me.
You are crazy.
I'm just crazy enough to make sure that you keep your trap shut.
Remember, Tabori?
I said I'd be around to spit on your grave.
Hey, stop kidding around with that rifle.
I ain't kidding.
I'm gonna kill you, Tabori.
But first you're gonna see I was right.
I want to see the expression on that smart Alex face of yours when you admit it.
And then I'm gonna kill you.
Here they come.
Get over there by that tree and keep your mouth shut.
Father Hoffman, you see?
You the headman?
I suppose you could call me that.
Well, you're not a...
You're not an orientalist.
No, I was three of them.
But what can I do for you?
I want to stay here.
But Taki...
I'm afraid you can't.
I'll work my ways. That's not the point.
You can't...
I don't want no argument.
You cannot stay.
Why not?
She's a leper.
But...
But she...
She's so beautiful.
I know, my son.
But in three years, in five years...
Oh, Taki.
Taki.
I...I tried to tell you at first, but...
I'm not sure how.
And then I could not, even if I want to.
I wanted to be last another hour, another minute.
Goodbye, you see?
I'll never forget you.
I won't forget you either.
It was like a dream come true.
For a while, it was.
Goodbye, you see?
Roger, what's it all about?
Quite simple. Horrible and simple.
Two nights ago, the Japanese came to the leper colony.
They took more than half my patients to Okinawa
and headed them towards the American line.
But why?
To disrupt your advance.
There was no chance of contagion, but...
Well, my patients aren't all as beautiful as Taki.
I see.
Schrecklichheit.
Exactly. A weapon of terror.
Tabori?
Yeah, lady?
I guess we'd better move out.
You ready, pal?
Yeah.
Long road back to Okinawa.
Yeah, for me, the road back is longer than that.
Suspense.
In which John Lund starred in William and Robeson's production of The Island
by Millard Kaufman.
In a moment, the names of tonight's supporting Mr. Lund in The Island
were Lillian Bias, Joe DeSantis, and Hans Conrad.
Listen.
Listen again next week when we return with
The Crowded Voice by Michael Frost.
Another tale well calculated to keep you in.
Suspense.
America listens most to the CBS Radio Network.