Radio 59 WROW first on the dial.
And now another tale well calculated to keep you in suspense.
Elemental adapted for suspense from a story by Steven Vincent Benet.
Thirsty people everywhere prefer ice cold Pepsi Cola and because it's light it refreshes
without filling.
Charlie be sociable.
I am Kay.
Pepsi is a favorite of thirsty people from Maine to Hawaii, from Alaska to Florida.
Charlie.
It's perfect for parties or picnics.
So serve Pepsi to your guests.
That's helpful but...
This is the sociable part.
Keep plenty of Pepsi ice cold and ready.
Remember it goes fast because everybody likes Pepsi.
Singing still sounds more inviting.
May I?
Be sociable.
Look smart.
Keep up to date with that.
Drink light refreshing Pepsi.
Stay young and fair and care for their.
Be sociable.
Have a Pepsi.
But singing doesn't say pick up an extra carton of Pepsi today.
Better yet get a case.
You do that.
A young man, an assistant in history at Harvard University, sits across from his host at little
dinner for two in a big ugly residence on Madison Avenue.
And now the after dinner talk has somehow drifted to elementals.
I was speaking Mr. Latimer of the elementals of life itself.
What rules this curious thing called human existence?
What forces sway it most wholly and make it a pageant or tragedy or only a gray succession
of lackluster days?
I'm afraid I haven't thought about that too much Mr. Slake.
An historian?
Well, I don't suppose it can be helped these days.
Would you care for more Rebacchio or perhaps the Coq Graff?
No, no thanks.
Nothing more.
It was delicious.
How nice of you to be so pleased.
I must confess I found the bavetti prepared shall we say a little beyond al dente.
Still your pleasure allows me to excuse the oversight.
Your gratification is my own.
I thought it was perfect.
Good.
The Abacchio, the little spring lamb, was actually less than six pounds on the hoof.
Barely able to walk I should say.
Six pounds?
A little less and all the way from Rome.
I suppose it's a shame in a way but then refinement of appetite is bound to lead to what I imagine
you think of as cruelty.
Oh I do think it's cruel.
I don't see why refinement of appetite as you call it should necessarily lead to cruelty.
Don't you?
What are you saying to a bit of pasticceria and an excellent Marsala I stumbled on in
Sicily?
Impossible.
Oh that's too bad.
Tonight I have wanted to especially honor you for your flawless translation of Wuyut
Cerdini.
Thank you and forgive me it's just too much.
Really.
Perhaps a little later the beautiful country chief Bel Pais and Pears.
But for now my question Mr. Lattimer was about essentials.
What would you say was the essential invisible power that rules all human affairs?
I really couldn't say unless you mean God.
I was thinking of something quite different and it was you who clarified it for me in
your remarkably terse version of the chapter on the merry diversions of his highness Prince
Alessandro.
Prince Alessandro yes I remembered his highness very well and I remember the agony of the
translation the endless searching for the exact word in each sentence of the chapter
describing the 15th century prince and his refined and exquisite delights and then I
heard Slake's voice again soft and purring like a gigantic cat.
I understand you're engaged to be married Mr. Lattimer.
Yes sir I am.
So you will forgive me if I presume that you're in love.
You embarrass me but I think you can presume that we both are.
That is to say I love Catherine and Catherine loves me.
Ah so Catherine Vane I believe.
Yes Catherine Vane.
Would you say then that love was one of the powers that guide the destiny of men?
Yes I would.
Wouldn't you?
On the contrary.
I venture to say that love is the most fragile of things always evanescent disappearing much
too delicate to last.
And yet love has been known to build empires.
Romantic nonsense hate and fear and hunger have created empires.
They always will.
There are only three prime movers in this vagrant piece of oddity we please to call
the human soul.
I don't believe you.
I see.
Do you think love can hold out against fear?
Yes.
And love can stand against hate?
Yes.
And do you think love can survive hunger?
Yes I most certainly do.
Very well then.
Let's get back to Alessandro and the two lovers whose devotion was a proverb in his court.
They were willing to undergo anything in life or death for each other.
Alessandro was a madman.
Perhaps.
In any case he suggested as you remember a test of this immortal emotion.
A very simple test.
Hardly simple.
His highness was well known for his cruel and sensitive torture.
But only with reason.
And in this case a reward was offered if they withstood the ordeal.
And it was liberal enough.
A dukedom for the man, a permanent revenue for them both, and titles of honor for each.
But the penalty Mr. Singh.
Why death of course.
Why not?
Carried out by one of Alessandro's curious methods of making people die.
True.
But even so.
Guiucardini says the lovers were genuinely delighted to accept the test.
They embraced it he said as if they were to dance together at feast day.
With great nobleness and joy of heart.
But as you know the test unfortunately was an elemental one.
Hunger.
Hunger for ten days.
That's all Mr. Lederman.
Yes but in separate cubicles with no knowledge of time.
An inconvenience perhaps but not an easy thing.
Having to stare at each other through a glass partition but unable to speak.
Yes wasn't that a pretty idea?
And on the tenth day the partition removed and one small piece of bread thrown into them.
It wasn't a fair test.
By no means a fair test.
Giving them food and then making them wait a half hour before touching it.
And yet if this elemental love of theirs had been greater than elemental hunger for one
half hour.
They both would have had their hearts desire forever.
But it was the means.
The dragging out of starvation.
It was hunger.
The elemental.
Guiucardini says it was difficult at first for the men were to take them to execution
to separate them.
They had torn and entwined their way into such a deadly knot in their death grapple
for that one small piece of bread.
They acted as any two people would have acted.
Any two would have been the same.
Any two would not.
They failed because their love wasn't big enough.
Certainly but some people would have been big enough.
Some loves would.
Some people would have been big enough you say.
I wonder.
I very much wonder Mr. Lederman just what people you mean.
About dozens most people or half of them at any rate even now.
Mr. Lederman would you.
Would I be willing to undergo Alessandro's test.
To prove what.
That love was durable.
That man was not ridden and spurred by fear and hate and hunger alone.
Shirley Slake and his comfortable boredom was playing hypothetical game.
He had dragged me back four centuries to play with him.
Well Mr. Lederman does it frighten you.
Would you be willing to wager your future professorship say on your and one woman's
ability to withstand Alessandro's test.
Are you absolutely sure of yourself and the lady in question.
This strikes me as an elaborate joke Mr. Slake.
But of course I'm sure.
Very well then.
Suppose we try it.
What.
Mr. Slake the premise was the premise is preposterous.
As to the stakes I could hardly ask you to put up your lives and forfeit.
Things being what they are.
But a written promise from you that you would give up your present career forever and enter
any business I wished you to.
Had a salary entirely at my discretion.
That would be quite sufficient in case either one of you failed.
You can't be serious Mr. Slake.
The idea would be fantastic if it weren't so insolent.
Should the test be withstood successfully.
And I should not require more than 20 minutes duration for the final bread to stay in your
common cubicle.
A check for twenty thousand dollars to be delivered to you the same day.
Twenty thousand dollars.
It meant that Catherine and I could marry at once instead of waiting another year.
It meant leisure for research.
It meant a home and children.
It meant security.
Everything that Catherine and I wanted most in life.
But the conditions were so unreal.
So lost in antiquity that I could only feel as though I were caught in a silken net and
unable to get out.
Well Mr. Latimer.
I offer.
And I refuse.
It's idiotic.
Idiotic.
Will you remember it that way when you're poor and at your wits end?
Will you remember that you might have had twenty thousand dollars for the asking in
exchange for a little courage?
I don't know.
But I'll be frank with you Mr. Slake.
If you'd made your incredible offer to me alone I'd have jumped at it.
But as it is...
Of course young lady.
Miss Vane would be unable to bear it.
What are you doing?
Nothing Mr. Latimer.
Nothing.
Merely a notation.
You see I have a whim since you are so obdurate.
I should like very much to find out what Miss Catherine Vane will say to this trifling experiment
of mine.
In just a moment we will return for the second act of...
Suspense.
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Just write Barbeque Book Box 56.
That's Box 56 Rochester New York.
Good evening Mr. Ledner.
Good evening Mr. Slake.
Everything perfectly all right Mr. Ledner?
Everything entirely satisfactory.
Oh charming.
You're admirable guests Mr. Ledner you must say.
I really wished for you at dinner tonight.
The beast had a tribal too much whipped cream in it but the fish was perfection.
Prodetta you know.
An ancient Spartan preparation.
Stop it.
Oh dear dear I forgot.
My apologies.
And by the way I trust you understand the inconvenience of no soap or toothpaste.
Cleansing to be sure but also edible.
I am sorry.
I have no complaints.
No complaints.
Very well then.
Good night.
The door closed on the muddy color of Slake's superbly well fed face.
And I turned away to look at the little white dents my teeth had made in the flesh of my
wrist.
I forced my eyes up and away from those pale hunger markings.
Away and around the walls of the neat luxuriously decorated box of a room I had come to know
completely by heart.
How long had it been?
Slake visited us twice a day.
And how many times had he come already?
Eight I think.
Yes I can still remember that much.
Eight.
That would be four days.
A short time.
And how long ago it seems that the contracts were drawn.
As you see my dears a miniature apartment on the third floor.
Seven rooms in all and all sound approved.
I use it whenever a problem chances to come up that I wish to think over entirely undisturbed.
We could carry out our little experiment here in perfect peace.
Catherine you understand this is simply a cruel and useless charade.
It's insane and I refuse.
Twenty thousand dollars for one week's lack of occupation.
Yes Mr. Slake if we win.
And of course you will.
In consideration of the fact that neither of you in all probability possesses a renaissance
physique I would be willing to shorten the time to seven days.
But what in the world is there in it for you?
Amusement.
In the old days they had gladiatorial games and that was as it should be.
You see I agree with the juvenile the Roman who said that the only needs in life are bread
and circuses.
And this is my circus.
You may have the bread if you can wait for it.
The answer is no.
Oh Sherry darling just think now it's everything we want Sherry.
Everything now.
And it's ours if we only have the courage to take it.
Of course Mr. Lattimer if you have doubts I would be willing if necessary to carry out
the experiment with Miss Vane alone.
The conditions might have to be altered somewhat but the terms would be the same.
Oh yes Sherry yes.
I'd rather have it that way really I would.
Then there would only be one of us but it would be for both.
The first day wasn't bad at all.
After all two ordinary human beings physically fit enough not weakling.
The Slake had given us Bibles and other religious works.
It seemed ridiculous to think we couldn't hold out seven days without food.
But the second day was worse in a way than the fourth.
The pain had been sharper and toward the end of the day the giddiness was bad.
It made your body feel light all over like a cork and with it the fierce and intermittent
spurts of pain as if it were filled with burning air.
And then as time went by my sense of time went with it.
There was only pain now.
Terrible terrible pain.
Pain that was as much a part of me as my ticking heart.
And then Slake came again.
How many times he had visited I no longer knew.
Still no complaints Mr. Lattimer?
Still no complaint.
I'm sorry to have taken away your books but the teeth marks and the leather binding of
the Hindu book gave me no other choice.
I'm sure you understand.
I understand.
And after all it's a mere question of hours shall we say?
Hours?
Hours?
Or shall we say days?
Days?
Is it days?
I'm afraid you'll have to puzzle that out for yourself Mr. Lattimer.
In just a moment we will return for the concluding act of suspense.
Munch, munch, munch a bunch of Fritos corn chips.
It's not polite to smack your lips but you can't help it with Fritos corn chips.
Munch, munch, munch a bunch of Fritos corn chips.
That's right Fritos corn chips.
So crisp and light there's contentment in every munch.
Serve them at outdoor parties, as snacks or with dips.
Fritos corn chips are so good with cold drinks everyone will want to munch a bunch.
Fritos have a flavor no other kind of chip can match.
Munch, munch, munch a bunch of Fritos corn chips.
Fritos are golden chips of corn just made to munch.
Keep Fritos corn chips on hand for the perfect warm weather between meal treat.
Serve them with sandwiches, salads.
Fritos corn chips are full of good crisp refreshing flavor.
F-R-I-T-O-S Fritos corn chips.
Munch, munch, munch a bunch of Fritos corn chips.
Slake, Slake!
Right here Mr. Latimer.
I'm afraid I shall have to withdraw from the contest.
Really?
When only a few more hours would have brought us to the interesting part?
Yes.
According to the agreement Mr. Latimer.
I don't care about the agreement.
Neither of you may be released without the full written consent of the others.
I'll find it so will she.
Just look at her.
A little less plump perhaps.
A forfeiture clause would be invoked of course.
I don't care.
And I could use your brains for let us say ten years.
Ten years?
She can't walk anymore.
She can't move don't you see?
You know Mr. Latimer the favorite Roman breakfast was bread dipped in wine.
Get her to sign.
Don't touch me Mr. Latimer.
Don't touch me.
Please, please.
What an exhibition of temper.
What a pitiful exhibition.
I'll see what the young lady has to say.
I remember that Slake came back and said that Katherine had refused to sign.
But I don't remember being carried down the corridor and placed in the other cubicle.
I remember only colors that streaked before my eyes like blocks of livid light.
Piercing colors of sunset orange and scarlet and bright green.
Reeling dreams like the patterns a madman draws in the air.
At the end of it.
A collapse and a broken piece.
A piece so complete that I thought I had died.
But turning on my couch I saw another figure in the room.
And between our two couches there was something on the floor.
Something solid and white.
A piece of bread.
And now the figure on the other couch stirred.
Its great eyes stared at the bread.
The thing on the other couch had seen the food too.
And wanted it as bitterly as I wanted it.
But I was careful.
I put my hand slowly in front of me like the paws of a cat.
And carefully slid to the floor.
I waited on all fours for a moment.
Waiting to see what that woman would do.
But she didn't get down from the couch to fight me for the food.
She wasn't able.
She could only lie there and stare at it with hopeless eyes.
Who was that strange gaunt woman who didn't move to take the bread from me?
I reached out slowly.
Very slowly.
And I touched the bread.
Its surface was rough and pleasant.
Exquisite.
Good, good bread.
And it was mine.
In a minute I'd feel that first sweet taste of it on my tongue.
But there was something wrong.
And I couldn't think of what it was.
So I brought the bread carefully to my mouth.
And a crumb would be lost.
Sherwood.
Sherwood.
Sherry.
Oh Sherry dear.
Sherry dear.
Oh Sherry I'm so hungry.
Catherine.
Catherine, Catherine, Catherine that was it.
That's what I forgot.
It was Catherine who was hungry.
And she'd have to eat right now.
That was Catherine.
That lean image of fever on the couch was Catherine.
And she was hungry.
I began the immense journey across the floor to the other couch.
Catherine was hungry so she must be fed.
Dear Sherry.
Darling Catherine.
Here darling.
Bread.
Eat it.
No you first dear.
You're hungrier.
No.
No dear.
No.
Oh Sherry.
You dropped the bread.
Yes.
We've got to wait.
If you can.
I'll try.
Time.
Time.
All over.
Oh pick it up you babies.
Pick it up.
It's yours.
Well.
Do you think I'm going to feed you?
Suspense.
You've been listening to Elemental.
Adapted for suspense from a story by Steven Vincent Benet.
In a moment the names of our players and a word about next week's story of suspense.
Hi this is Dennis James.
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There's only one all brand Kellogg's All Brand that's A double L hyphen B R A N. Kellogg's
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Heard in tonight's story were Phil Meader as Latimer.
Santos Ortega as Slake.
And Ellen McCray as Catherine.
And again next week when we return with 60 Grand Missing by Robert Arthur.
Another tale well calculated to keep you in suspense.