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Authors: Richard Matheson
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Amelia’s office where he learns that Bart has cancer.
The news is jolting to him, his reaction even stronger than it might be normally; a reaction we will understand later.
“Dear God,” he says, faintly. “Is he in pain?”
“Hard to tell,” Amelia says.
He groans. He seems so happy most of the time, he tells her. I’m sure he is, she replies; he’s with you and he loves you.
“I love him too,” Robert says. He hesitates. “You don’t think… I should—” He cannot get the words out.
That’s up to you, she says. She can give him pills to ease the pain right now. He doesn’t have to make his mind up right away. Why not wait a while?
Robert drives Bart home, the dog’s head on his lap.
We see a quick, almost subliminal shot of some woman saying, “Cancer.”
The random vision confuses and disturbs him.
He drives to his father’s apartment building, taking Bart along; it is a day or so later. Norman Konrad has told him that he’s “closing down” the apartment and, if Robert wants any of his father’s belongings, now is the time to come and get them.
An evocative scene as Robert is admitted into the apartment by Norman and looks around, recalling various moments from his life and what his father looked like.
We see photographs of the Allright family on the wall. One shows Robert, three, beside his brother and sister. Another shows him standing beside his mother. We also see a full-face photograph of Robert’s mother; she was very beautiful.
It is the face we saw on Palladino’s body in Robert’s vision.
While he is in the apartment, he tells Norman that he’s turned down his father’s “legacy”—money to continue the Arizona dig, nothing if he does not continue it, the money going, instead, to the Archeology Department of Columbia University.
Does Norman have any idea what his father was working on? Not that anything he hears will convince him to drop everything he’s doing and head for Arizona with a pick and shovel. (Don’t blame you, Norman says.) But he would like to know.
“Not much I can tell you,” Norman answers. “Your father was a tight-lipped man. Some secret project. As best I could gather, it had to do with human advent in that area further back in time than any accredited archeologist (including himself) would care to accept.
“He said something about a link,” says Norman. He smiles. “I don’t believe he meant the missing link however; he was too sensible for that.”
Robert stares at him. “That’s it?” he says. After all the urging and mysterioso, it is a distinct let-down to him. Back-dating human existence in Arizona is hardly his idea of something to do.
“And why should you?” Norman agrees.
“Maybe you’d care to try it,” Robert says. “I’m sure I could get the money for you if—”
He breaks off as Norman raises his right hand in a traffic cop gesture to stop. “Not me,” says Norman. “I’m too old for that sort of thing—and really not interested.”
The entire time Robert is in the apartment, we keep CUTTING to the crystal on the desk. Robert passes it half a dozen times, ignoring it.
Only when he is about to leave, does he pick it up, apparently on a spontaneous impulse, and drop it into his jacket pocket.
He drives through Manhattan, talking to himself.
Why did his father make such a big deal of Arizona? It sounds completely boring to him. Probing for ancient skulls in the desert? “Forget it,” he mutters. He wishes that his father had offered it to John. After all, John was the one who went on digs with him when he was a boy. John was—probably still is—the one who has a feeling for their father; respect—admiration. No matter what he says. Really, it was thoughtless, even cruel of their father not to ask John.
Waiting for a traffic jam to break, he reaches into his pocket for his bio-feedback control, frowns. “Did I forget it?” he mutters.
He finds, instead, the crystal, holds it up and gazes at
The news is jolting to him, his reaction even stronger than it might be normally; a reaction we will understand later.
“Dear God,” he says, faintly. “Is he in pain?”
“Hard to tell,” Amelia says.
He groans. He seems so happy most of the time, he tells her. I’m sure he is, she replies; he’s with you and he loves you.
“I love him too,” Robert says. He hesitates. “You don’t think… I should—” He cannot get the words out.
That’s up to you, she says. She can give him pills to ease the pain right now. He doesn’t have to make his mind up right away. Why not wait a while?
Robert drives Bart home, the dog’s head on his lap.
We see a quick, almost subliminal shot of some woman saying, “Cancer.”
The random vision confuses and disturbs him.
He drives to his father’s apartment building, taking Bart along; it is a day or so later. Norman Konrad has told him that he’s “closing down” the apartment and, if Robert wants any of his father’s belongings, now is the time to come and get them.
An evocative scene as Robert is admitted into the apartment by Norman and looks around, recalling various moments from his life and what his father looked like.
We see photographs of the Allright family on the wall. One shows Robert, three, beside his brother and sister. Another shows him standing beside his mother. We also see a full-face photograph of Robert’s mother; she was very beautiful.
It is the face we saw on Palladino’s body in Robert’s vision.
While he is in the apartment, he tells Norman that he’s turned down his father’s “legacy”—money to continue the Arizona dig, nothing if he does not continue it, the money going, instead, to the Archeology Department of Columbia University.
Does Norman have any idea what his father was working on? Not that anything he hears will convince him to drop everything he’s doing and head for Arizona with a pick and shovel. (Don’t blame you, Norman says.) But he would like to know.
“Not much I can tell you,” Norman answers. “Your father was a tight-lipped man. Some secret project. As best I could gather, it had to do with human advent in that area further back in time than any accredited archeologist (including himself) would care to accept.
“He said something about a link,” says Norman. He smiles. “I don’t believe he meant the missing link however; he was too sensible for that.”
Robert stares at him. “That’s it?” he says. After all the urging and mysterioso, it is a distinct let-down to him. Back-dating human existence in Arizona is hardly his idea of something to do.
“And why should you?” Norman agrees.
“Maybe you’d care to try it,” Robert says. “I’m sure I could get the money for you if—”
He breaks off as Norman raises his right hand in a traffic cop gesture to stop. “Not me,” says Norman. “I’m too old for that sort of thing—and really not interested.”
The entire time Robert is in the apartment, we keep CUTTING to the crystal on the desk. Robert passes it half a dozen times, ignoring it.
Only when he is about to leave, does he pick it up, apparently on a spontaneous impulse, and drop it into his jacket pocket.
He drives through Manhattan, talking to himself.
Why did his father make such a big deal of Arizona? It sounds completely boring to him. Probing for ancient skulls in the desert? “Forget it,” he mutters. He wishes that his father had offered it to John. After all, John was the one who went on digs with him when he was a boy. John was—probably still is—the one who has a feeling for their father; respect—admiration. No matter what he says. Really, it was thoughtless, even cruel of their father not to ask John.
Waiting for a traffic jam to break, he reaches into his pocket for his bio-feedback control, frowns. “Did I forget it?” he mutters.
He finds, instead, the crystal, holds it up and gazes at
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