You, finding life rather dull, dreaming again of exotic places, wishing you were somewhere else, we offer you Escape. Today with the performance of John Danier as Isherwood Williams, Escape brings you one of the most unusual and terrifying stories of recent years, George Stewart's powerful novel Earth Abides. If you should awake some morning, tomorrow morning let's say, if you should awake to a man-dead world where virtually all of human life had been destroyed from the face of the earth, leaving behind only buildings, bridges, machines, if you should awake to such a world tomorrow morning, what would you do? Where would you go? This is the year three. My name is Isherwood Williams. Three years since I returned from the lonely mountain country of Northern California to find that mankind had virtually vanished from the earth. Some unknown virus had scourged him from his high place among animals. His great cities were tombs. His entire civilization was crumbling. I toured the emptiness that had once been called America, from the silent towers of Manhattan to the Golden Gate Bridge I saw in all, ten human beings still alive. In the fourth month after my return to San Francisco, I saw a light on Knob Hill. It was there I found M, who became my wife. Year one passed. We call it the year of the baby. Year two, we call it the year of the rats. Now it was year three. M, the baby and I were struggling for existence amid the fast decaying wealth of San Francisco. All right, now be careful. Careful, M. Isn't it funny? This always makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong. Why? I'm not breaking into the biggest food store on Market Street. It's not wrong, M. There's no private property anymore. This city, this grocery store, it's all ours now. But Ish, look, look at this place. Rats left their mark here all right. There's the answer to their death. They ate all the food they could get at, then they ate each other. Oh, Ish, how horrible. It's a familiar pattern, M. The species grows, dominates the earth for a short time, then dies. Oh, come on, we'll take a look at the bottles and the canned goods. Ish, look, the labels are gone. They're eaten off. Yeah, well, we'll just have to try to guess at the contents by the shape of the can. Bottles are easy. Here, look, bottles of real lemon juice. Fine. You should be corned beef. Look at it all, tons of it. We could live on just this forever. No, no, M. We can't be scavengers forever. That's why the rats died. M. We've got to grow things. We've got to bring something new into the world. Oh, come on, let's get some of this stuff home. During that year, M. and I found whatever we needed for ourselves and the baby in the empty, silent stores of San Francisco. We lived on the spoiling supplies of a million people. One evening, just after dusk, I suddenly noticed a strange wavering glow in the sky over the downtown area of the city. I called M. to the window. There was a smell of smoke in the air. Fire, M. Ish. San Francisco is on fire. Ish. Isn't there something we can do? No. If there were, it must be three square miles of flame. What started it, do you suppose? Well, there were no oily rags in the basement. Some gasoline explosion could be any one of a thousand causes. Will it reach the house? No, I don't think so. Wind's blowing it away from us. It'll burn itself out in a day or two. It'll come away from the window. M. Do you smell gas? I don't know. Smells like it to me. Open the door to the hall. Yeah. Hey, hey. Hey, the hall is filled with it. Hey, we've got to get out of here. Gas line must have burst. One spark in this place will blow up like a bomb. Baby, I'll get the baby. All right. We'll be safe from the fire escape. Hurry, M. Here, here. I'll take the baby. Be careful. Just hang onto the rail and walk slowly. Come on. We started down the fire escape. In the distance, the flames were gutting the heart of the city. Parts of Chinatown were already gone. Get going down the street level, and then we started running. Any second a spark could blow the building to dust, and we ran, our breath tearing our throats. Back against the wall, M. The shock wave. M, are you all right? Oh, my God. It's all over, M. We're going to be all right. We moved to another section of town that had been spared by the fire. The days passed, the days, and the weeks. M and I were growing tired of the canned foods and wanted some fresh vegetables and fruit. We needed a car. One day, M and I found a Jeep in a garage. In the store room, I found new tires to replace the rotted ones the Jeep had been standing on. Will it work? Well, after two years, hard to say. No mechanic. All the cars to choose from, and we picked something like this. I always wanted a convertible. Maybe a Cadillac, or a Packard. It's more useful, M, more durable. Besides, it's all we need. All right, M, let's try it. Step on the starter. Oh. All right, now try it. Oh, come on. Come on, start, start, start. Oh. Good. Good, come on, come on. Good. Good. One night, several months later, M shook me awake. Ish. Ish, wake up. There's something outside moving around. What? Right by the window. Give me the hammer. Be careful, Ish. I'll be all right. I'll come with you. Stay here. I'll be right back. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. What was that? What was that? Who's there? You girl. Come here. Oh, I won't hurt you, come here. What are you doing? Ah, Aileen... My name is Aileen. Where are you from? Aileen. Ah. Hungry. Well, come on. Come on inside. Eileen! Eileen! I've been looking all over for you. Eileen, where have you been? Okay, mister. You can put that hammer down. I ain't gonna hurt you. Oh, sure. Sure, well, come on inside. Em! Em, somebody's here! Just Eileen and me. She's my adopted daughter. About a year ago, I found her on Main Street in Los Angeles. She was starving. She's a forage for herself, Eileen Cant, so I gotta take care of her. She can't think so good. How long you been here? About two days, wandered around the city. Nice city, this San Francisco. Wish I'd have visited here when it had people. Reckon I really could have had myself a time. I'll get you two something to eat. Well, that's mighty nice. By the way, I sure am a impolite cuss. If my name's Ezra, I don't believe I caught yours. Isherwood, this is Em. Well, I'm happy to know you. Eileen, looks like we've met up with some real nice people. Music Ezra and his new daughter Eileen stayed with us, made their home in the house next door. Now the year three has passed. We called it the Year of Ezra. Music November, the year four. A woman came a week ago. She had dark hair, dark eyes. She was alone. Ezra has taken her for his wife. Music June 9th, the year five. Our second son was born this day. We named him Joey. Music April, the year six. Two men and a woman have come. George says he's a carpenter. Harry worked in the bank. He'll have to learn a trade. The woman is called Mabel. Music Ish, Ish, you better come with me. What's the matter? The water, it stopped running in the faucets. Maybe it's just a broken pipe in your place. No, I checked and it ain't just my place. I've checked all the houses around and there ain't any water running in any of them. Maybe it's a water main under the street. I don't think so. You know what I think? What? I think the water stopped way up in the mountains some place. Ish, San Francisco's going dry. Music Two weeks, not a drop of rain. Ezra, we can't go on boiling the water forever. If we're going to live, we've got to get out of here. Yeah, but there's still all them canned goods. That's what's wrong, Ezra. We've been living off the old instead of building something new. Look, we've got to forget that water ran out of faucets and vegetables come in cans. We've got to start growing things ourselves. We will when the time comes, I reckon. You better come quick. What is it, Em? Eileen. What's the matter with her? She must have been drinking polluted water. Typhoid. Music Well, what does the book say, Ish? What are we going to do? Isolate the others. Mabel can nurse Eileen. What do we do for her? What's the treatment? You can't shorten the disease, it says. All you can do is help make it less severe. Now, don't worry, Ezra. We'll do our best. Eileen, she's so helpless. She don't understand. But you move in with us. If this thing spreads, it can wipe out all of us. Music Elish? Another case. Who is it? George. Move him in with Eileen. Get another bed in there. You won't have to. What do you mean? Eileen's dead. Music This is the year six, a year of disease and death. I went to the drug stores, walking the misty, dark streets of the city, armed with my medical text, my hammer. I raided the dusty shelves and the long, warm refrigerators of the pharmaceutical departments. The wonder drugs had long since rotted in their vials. Some sulfur was still potent, and I used it liberally. Yet case after case of typhoid broke out. Some lived, most died, including our firstborn. Our little community, upon which I had pinned the hopes of a new birth of mankind, had dwindled from twelve persons to seven. Five adults, only two children. You've got to get some sleep-ish. How many of us have left, Em? Count them for me. Ezra, George, Mabel, my second son, Joey, and Ezra's boy. You and I. Oh, Em. Em, what's the good of starting again? We're being exterminated from the earth, every small being of us, so things can become green again. There are seven of us-ish. Once there was only me and once there was only you, alone and separated. There are still seven. Oh, Em. Em, what would I do without you? Go to sleep. You won't make the mistake a second time. Won't be any looking back. You'll forget the train that used to run, the tall buildings, and the soft food. We'll go back to the earth. Back to the earth, Em. Back to the earth. We left San Francisco, we few survivors. We packed only the essentials, the machines, the conveniences. We left to the sun and the wind. From this time on, we'd work in the soil. The decay of the old times was behind us now. We went south and east until we came to a watered land green with growing things. This would be our Eden. Here, without the memories of a dead people about us, we would begin mankind again. Come here, Joey. Yes, Daddy. Joey, here, sit down here next to me. I want to ask you some questions. Sure. Now, first of all, what year is this? Oh, that's an easy question. The year 15. Joey, did you do your reading today? Sure. You like to read. Yeah. Joey, there's something I want to tell you. You know, there were once a lot of people like us on earth, millions. You know that, don't you? Yeah, I read about them. They could fly. That's right. Well, someday there'll be millions of people again. And they'll fly again years, years from now. But after I'm gone, there won't be anybody to show them the way. That's why I'm depending on you. What am I supposed to do? Learn, read, study. You're going to leave them someday, Joey, after I'm gone. Don't let them go back. You don't understand. I think I do. Oh, you will. Look, I want to show you what I made this morning. What is it? It's called a bow. Guns won't be good much longer. The powder will get rotten. Guns will get rusty. You can hunt with this, kill animals for food. Here, look here, see? I carved it out of willow. Then I strung strips of calf hide from one end of the bow to the other. And now watch this. See here, this is the arrow. That's fun. Let me try. All right, here. Like this? Now pull back, hard. No, no, no, no, hard, hard. There, let go. Boy, that's swell. Can I take it outside and play with it? Sure, be careful with it. Hey, Billy, look what I got. Hey, Billy. It took thousands of years for man to pass from the spear to the bow and arrow. I've just done it in five minutes. This is the year 19. I have gray hair. It's odd to think of myself as an old man. Well, I'm not really 51. There are 19 numbers in a smooth piece of rock in the meadow that I chipped in with my hammer and chisel. My hammer. What would I do without my hammer? Everything is going along well. Quite a farmer now. Community is growing. There are 45 of us, strangers that drifted in, babies born. Maybe man is something you can't quite kill off. A stranger named Charlie came in today. I don't like him. He's gruff and hard. And his eyes, I don't like his eyes. Sure, three men at a time. Gee, Charlie, how'd you do it? With my bare hands. Came at me all at once. I grabbed two of them and banged their heads together. They cracked like coconuts. Then the other one I knocked down and stepped on his face. Wasn't much left of him after I got through. Gee. It's time for bed, Joey. Can't he tell one more, Dad? Maybe some other night. Okay. Good night, Dad. Good night, Charlie. Good night, Joey. Will you come tomorrow night? Maybe. Great kid you got there. What did you do in the old times, Charlie? Oh, a lot of things. For a while I was a stickman in Las Vegas. Used to be a fighter, too. A lot of things, you name it. You intend to stay? Sure I intend to stay. Why not? No other place to go. This is the only good-sized group of human beings I've seen. And believe me, I've been around. Sure, I'll stay. And everybody works. That's the only way we can live. Listen, you. If I want to stay, I'll stay, and I'll stay on my own terms. I don't ask anything from anybody. I live my own way. You better understand that right now. And you better understand something before we go any further, Charlie. I've been elected to leadership in this town, and we aren't a bunch of independent individuals doing what we please. We're a community, working together. Either you accept that or get out. We ain't gonna get along, Mr. Isherwood Williams. Then I'm staying. Good night. Gunshots! Ish, what is it? I don't know. Don't go out there, Ish. Ish is raw and drunk. Where is he? Right outside. What's the matter? Is he afraid? Ish, Ish, don't go. Well, well, well. The great Isherwood. Hotty Isherwood. Put down that gun, you crazy fool. Put down. Let go of me. Ish, Ish, are you all right? Never mind me. Get that gun away from him. Get George. Yeah, where's George? Bring George. Let's see George take this gun away from me. Hey, George, come on and try to take this thing away from me. Hey, what's going on here? Charlie, give me that gun. Nobody's taking my gun away. It's mine. Charlie. Well, it's mine is mine. Stay away. Give me that gun. Stay away, George. Stay away. I told him to stay away. George. George. He's dead. All right, you. You've done enough damage with that thing. Hand it over. There's only one answer. Death. Death. You mean kill him? Murder him? No, it's not murder him. You, Mabel, Nezra and I, we're the government now. We've been elected council of four. There isn't any government but us. It's not a matter of punishment. It's protecting the community from a menace and that's what Charlie is. But he was drunk. All the more reason he might do it again. Afraid so, M. We can't take the chance. We're like a jury. Let's vote. We've got all the facts. The vote's been called. Any questions? Ish, is it right? Is it right to take a human life? To save many lives, yes, M. It's got to be right. We'll take a voice vote. You first, Mabel. What do you say? Yes. Ezra? Death. M? Well, how do you vote M? Death. It's unanimous. We'll carry out the sentence tomorrow morning. The council of four had made its decision. This was not killing in passion or rage or hatred. This was the deliberate and sane elimination of an enemy. Early in the morning, we tied Charlie to an oak tree. Ezra took Charlie's revolver. Charlie stared at him with childish disbelief. Oh! He gasped, slumped into his ropes, his mouth red with blood, his eyes swollen in death. The power of the new state was born. Grandfather, is it the new year now? Yes, Carl, new year. Here, carry my hammer for me. No. It won't hurt you. My hammer, here. No, I don't want it. Why not? It's magic. Magic? My hammer? Aunt Phyllis says your hammer's magic. She says your magic. Carl, it's just a plain ordinary hammer. No, no. Carl, don't be afraid. No, it's magic. Dad. Ah, hello, Joey. Carl, go and play. Sure, Dad. Goodbye, Grandfather. Joey, what's the matter with them? They say I'm magic. My hammer is magic. You're a legend, Dad. You're the only one left out of them all. Ezra, George, Mabel, Mother M. All gone now, only you. A hammer's a symbol. Symbol of leadership. Yes, yes, that's the way things happen. You're the only one that's lived through from the old times. The only one. The only one. Joey. Yes, Dad? I'm old, very old, and I can't see very well. Did I make the numbers clearly? Yes, Dad, 48. The year 48. It's all begun again. Life, generations and generations. O.M. If you could have lived to see your faith come true. And once there were only the two of us alone and separated. I want to see the old once more before I die. Just once more. The bridge. The Golden Gate Bridge. We're here, Dad. How? How does it look, Joey? Tell me. How does the Golden Gate Bridge look? It's old and rusty, but it's wonderful, it's beautiful. Is there a car, small car on the bridge? Yes, Dad, it's still there. Can you still see buildings across the water? Only a few, Dad. It's mostly overgrown. But the hills behind the city are beautiful today. Good. Joey, here. Here's the hammer. Yes, Dad. You're the new leader now. The hammer has always been the symbol. Pass it on to the best of them. And, uh, Joey, don't let them make a god of you. Let knowledge be the watchword. Oh, will you understand, Joey? I understand, Dad. Know the earth, Joey. Know the earth. Ah, ah. Dad. Oh. Men go and come, but the earth abides. Music Escape is produced and directed by Norman MacDonald. You have just heard Earth Abides by George Stewart, especially adapted for Escape by David Ellis. John Danaer was starred as Ish with Peggy Weber as Em. Featured in the cast were Michael Ann Barrett, Parley Bear, Jeffrey Silver, Paul Fries, Lou Krugman, and Larry Dubkin. The special music for Escape was arranged and conducted by Ivan Dittmarz. Stay tuned now for Make Me Leave Town, which follows immediately on most of these same CBS stations. Roy Rowan speaking for CBS, where you spend an hour with Frank Sinatra every Sunday afternoon on the Columbia Broadcasting System.
