 Suspense! Autolight and its 96,000 dealers present Mr. Kirk Douglas in The Butcher's Wife, a suspense play produced and edited by William Spear. I say there, we'll cocture, man. Remming Chester shotgun as I live, breathe, and batter my brains for burgeoning boasts about the battery of batteries, the autolight stay full battery. The battery that needs water only three times a year in normal car use. See, sounding of. Was it not you who defied me to find a camel that could go without water as long as an autolight stay full battery? Defy you I did, you dubious dunderhead. Please, no compliments. I can see your claim regarding ordinary one-hump camels, but what about a two-hump camel? Need I say more? Well, you probably mean he can go twice as long without refilling. But autolight stay full batteries hold over three times as much liquid reserve above the place as ordinary batteries. Need I say more? No. I shall have to find a dromedary with four-hump. Even that won't do it. For autolight stay full batteries need water only three times a year in normal car use. What's more, in recent tests based on SAE life cycle standards, autolight stay full batteries gave 70% longer average life than batteries without stay full features. So get wise, get an autolight stay full battery because you're always right with autolight. And now with the butcher's wife and the performance of Kirk Douglas, autolight hopes once again to keep you in suspense. It started the first day of the job. I was clerking the liquor department of this supermarket. I hadn't been in Los Angeles a week. My brother when I left New York had given me this letter to a friend that he's a guy owned a string of these markets. The letter was about could he use me as a good fellow he'd counted the favor, you know. And the guy had this opening liquor clerk and comes the following Monday. I'm at work. I spent the morning loading the refrigerators with beers, soda water, all that stuff and sizing up the place. You know, back east we don't have these supermarkets. There was a vegetable department run by a nice little dark guy. There was a delicatessen that was run by an old geezer in his frow. There was a bakery department, a meat department, of course, the groceries. No clerks. You pushed a little car around and helped yourself. To get out, you passed the cash register and the girl loaded your stuff and rang up the price. My surveillance of the place had reached the girl who checked the groceries when the trouble started. She was looking at herself in a little mirror and putting on some lipstick. Her back was to me. I see her stop putting on a lipstick but still looking at the mirror. I see her eyes in the mirror and then she turns around very slowly and looks at me. Just looks at me. She must have been 50 feet away at the least and with customers between us. But it was likely we were all alone, the two of us, on a beach somewhere, an empty beach. I should have looked away. I should have winked and forgotten it. I should have gone on stacking beer thinking about how to be a success. That's what I should have done. What I did do is I stood right there and locked eyes with her for I don't know how long. And all the time I was looking at her, I was sending her mental telegrams. You and me, baby. You and me. Hey. Hey, you. Hey. You and me, baby. Hey, what's the matter? Sleep on your feet? Oh, what'd you say? You the new guy, huh? You just started this morning. I'm Nick Arnault. I work the vegetables. Oh, Harry Carr, pleased to know you. Yeah. You got two bottles of cold beer? Oh, sure. Cold is a witch's heart. Honey, don't open here by the comrade. You know it's the law. Yeah, sure. I have them out back with my lunch. Well... Oh, Nick. What? The gal over there by the cash register. Mary? Is that her name? Mary? I'm wondering. What about it? Oh. No soap. She's married. Oh, you're kidding. You see that big guy over there with the knife? The butcher? Yeah. Ask him if I'm kidding. Well, who's he? Our husband. Oh. See ya. He's a funny-looking guy, a real creep. He stood there stropping a tremendous big cleaver, whistling to himself. He had on, you know, one of those hard straw hats and a white apron. He had glasses with thick lenses so that his eyes looked like baseballs. When he saw I was looking at him, he nodded and went on whistling and stropping. It's a real creep. Later on, I watched him softening up some sort of stakes. He had a big steel mallet with points out. He was whacking away at this meat like a pile driver. I watched him grinding and slicing, quartering, sawing the bones off some of the cuts. And always those eyes like baseball. He had a neat little mouth loss and a big red face, whistling. I looked over at her and she was giving me the eye again. We closed at seven. The vegetable guys carted out the old stuff, delicatessen man put away his pickles. I checked the register, countered my slips, made my entries. Crows to butcher was still there, packing and cleaning, putting stuff in that big refrigerator room back at the counter, but she'd left. I got to my streetcoat and walked out. I was standing, looking at the shoe display, a couple of doors down from the market. I said hello. Don't you say hello wherever it is you come from? Sure. Hello. Taking the bus? Yeah. Which way do you go? No, no western. I'm going that way. I'll drive you. No, no, I don't think it better. What's the matter? I wouldn't want to trouble you. No trouble. Well, I... Come on. I'm parked right here. What about Mr. Crows? He'll be there an hour, yes. He takes the bus. Oh. Come on. Come on. Don't be afraid. I'm not afraid of you. You're afraid of me. Come on. Get in. So all day long I'm pushing liquor at them, now they're pushing it at me. Oh, you're cute, Harry. I mean it. You're really cute. Yes. So are you, baby. You really think so? Sure, baby. Harry, let's get out of here. Go someplace else. Hey, hey, wait, wait a minute. I got to work in the morning. Hey, silly. This is the morning. It is. Hey. Hey, Mack, what's the time? 2.30. Harry, Harry, you really think I'm cute? Oh, sure, baby. Look, but it's late. Real late. Don't worry, sugar. Look, look, come on. I'll take you home. No, no. I'll take you home. I felt lousy the next morning. I'm not much of a drinker. She looked fresh as a daisy, smiling and joking with the customers. I didn't look over there. I didn't want to. I didn't want to think about what she must have gone on between her and Kraus when she got in. He didn't look happy. I knew why. I kept waiting for him to turn those baseball eyes on me. But he never did. Just went on smashing, slicing, grinding, sawing, all that. He came out that night. She was there. I tried to disregard her, but... Mary. She said she had something very serious to talk over. Well, the way she said it, I got in the car again. It's awful, Harry. Really, you don't know. Yeah, I guess it's tough. You just wouldn't believe some of the things. Look, Mary, I... He's crazy jealous. Of you? Not really. Well, I guess it's... Jealous of me. Or should I say of you? Me? What's he know about me? Well, I got in this morning, and there he was, sitting up like Grandma in his bathrobe. He says, where you been? I said, what's it to you, Auntie? They call him Auntie, it drives him crazy. Oh, look, Mary, I... So he said, don't think you can fool me. And then he started to cry and say a lot of things about Babylon, and then sitting on the water is real crazy talk. Look, I better go, Mary. I don't... Oh, Harry, don't be sorry. He doesn't know who you are, who it is. Yeah, but he could find out. Not unless I told him. Oh, look, you wouldn't do that. Of course not, baby. As long as... you're good to me. The next night I stayed in the market. I was scared. I didn't want any more of that stuff. I did inventory, counted bottles, cleaned the refrigerator, changed the water in the soft drink scooter. I kept busy. Across the market, Krauss was moving around, cleaning up. After a while, he took off his apron and his straw hat, and he came over. Hello, Mr. Krauss. Give me a bottle of beer. Sure thing. I'd like to drink it there. Sure. We're closed, aren't we? Yeah. Oh, here. Here's an opener. Thanks. You're working late, huh? Well, you know how it is. Nothing to do evenings. No? Nah. I'm new out here. It's time to make friends. For me, maybe it would take time, but not for a good-looking young fellow like yourself. Oh, I don't know. You're a big, broad-shouldered guy. Yeah, sure, big. That's me. How's the beer? It's all right. Listen, do you know my wife? Your wife? Yeah. You know her? She... Oh, isn't she the one who checks the groceries? Yeah. Oh, very nice-looking lady. You think so? Well, of course, don't get me wrong. I mean it very sincerely. A very nice, respectful-looking... Yeah, sure. Listen, have you noticed anything funny going on there? Funny? Somebody's playing around with her. And I want to find out who. With her? You wouldn't think it now, would you? No. I should say not. I don't know who it is, but... Listen, haven't you noticed anything? I mean, some guy who shoots the breeze with her or something like that. No, no, no. And will you do me a favor? Sure. What? Keep your eyes open. Oh, I will, Mr. Cross. I promise you. I'll find the guy. I'll find out who he is if it takes a year. And then I do. I'll kill him. Good night. Good night. Autolight is bringing you Kirk Douglas in The Butcher's Wife. Tonight's production in Radio's Outstanding Theatre of Thrill's... Suspense. Keeping me in suspense. Ah, but not for long, Remingchester old man. I'll tell you here and now, you just can't find anything. Man, bestore battery. To beat the liquid reserve of a genuine Autolight's faithful battery. That's a powerful statement we'll call. That's a powerful battery, Remingchester. Needs water only three times a year in normal car use. Extraordinary. Well, I must be on my way. If I am to find a more capacious Camel. After all, life is short. Not the life of the Autolight's faithful battery. With fiberglass retaining mats at every positive plate. Autolight's faithful batteries give 70% longer average life than batteries without the faithful features. That's based on recent tests conducted according to SAE life cycle standards. See your Autolight dealer soon, friends, because you're always right. With Autolight. And now, Autolight brings back to our Hollywood soundstage our star, Kirk Douglas. In The Butcher's Wife. A tale well calculated to keep you in suspense. You see how it happens? You go along, minding your own business. Trying to be a sweet guy in a whammy. A pops the devil. The roof caves in and there you are. The executioners honing the axe and whistling to himself. I tell you, I was nervous. My hands were sweating and my teeth were aching. Well, if it hadn't been for needing the job bad, I'd have put on my coat and high-tailed it out of there, but fast. It was a situation. Mary's looking over at me every now and then, giving me the big eyes. The heck with you, baby, get yourself another boy. And Krause is looking over, raising his eyebrows. Do I know who it is yet? And I'm making a long face and shaking my head. Hey, Nick, the vegetable man comes over. I see you didn't understand what I told you the other day. What's that, Nick? About Mary. I told you she was a married woman. Oh, what are you talking about? I see you, the both of you, coming out of a bar the other morning. You're nuts, Nick. Don't pull the hard face with me, Harry. I ought to tip Krause off to what's going on. Nick, be a good guy, will you? Be a good guy, will you? I'm telling you, you better be a good guy with his wife alone if you know what's good for you. Look, I will, Nick, I will, I swear it. It was a mistake, that's all. Be a good guy, Nick, forget about it. All right, this once, okay. We'll do it again and you'll get what's coming for you. Sure, Nick, sure. Harry, blow, will you blow? Harry, I wish you wouldn't treat me this way. Look, blow, get away. Look at me, Harry. Don't you know your husband's watching you? He's got his glasses off and couldn't see Hollywood Bowl. Nice to meet you, Harry. Please, Mary, please go back to your cash register. I want to see you tonight. No. Oh, yes. Look, understand me, Mary, you're poison. Now get away. You'll see me, Harry, or you'll see Krause. All right, where? I'll be right around the corner. Around the corner. Don't be late, Harry. Stop being silly. Come on, get in. Look, please, can't you understand? I don't want any trouble. Why are you so afraid of trouble? Oh, come on, baby, let's go and have some fun. What's the matter? Hello, Nick. I warn you. Listen, you've got it wrong, Nick. Oh, no. What is all this? You shut up. Don't you talk to me like that. I talk to you like I please, chief. Harry, hit him, Harry. Looking down his nose at me and he was a nice, wide-open target, but I didn't hit him because all of a sudden I knew what I had to do and I knew I had to do it fast. I didn't turn. I was still back to beside the car. I went into the market. Mr. Kraus. Mr. Kraus. Yeah? I, uh, I... What? I found out. What? I can't hear you. I said I found out. I found out who it is. Nick. The vegetable man. Yeah. The vegetable man. I knew yesterday, but I didn't want to get him in trouble. I told him to lay off and he said not. He'd tell you it was me, then I was the one. The vegetable man. I'm sorry, Mr. Kraus. I never did like you. I never did like you. Well, uh, good night. Good night. I took a bottle of brandy home with me. No dinner. I just laid around a bit about three hours talking to myself. Finally, the heck with the job. I got up, started the pack. I was broke, but I didn't care. I'd have to skip out on my rent, but it didn't matter. I didn't care. I wanted out from Kraus, from Mary, from Nick, and... Suddenly I figured that even if Nick was a snooping little rat with his holier than now, I ought to clear him. So I wrote a note to Kraus. I said, uh, I did it. Kraus, don't blame anybody else. I took the note in my bag and the key to the market. My tiptoed out of the rooming house. I caught a bus and went to the market. The boulevard was deserted. I looked into the glass door. In the back of the place up high, there was a red neon beer sign that blinked on and off, on and off. I unlocked the door, went in, locked the door behind me. The place was kind of eerie in the dark. What was that red light blinking on and off? One minute the place was pitch black and the next it was a thousand middle red lights bouncing off the can stuff in the groceries part. I went to the butcher counter first. I laid the note on the scale where you'd be sure to see it. Then I crossed over past the vegetables and the bakery and passed the delicatessen to the living department. It was dark and I kept bumping into things. And I thought, why am I acting like a criminal? So I turned on the light. The whole place was suddenly so dazzling it hurt my eyes. I looked at the cash register. I was just thinking maybe I'd take a couple of bucks when it happened and touched it. Well, there were other switches in the place hiding nowhere. After the brightness of the place seemed twice as dark. The red sign blinked on and off, on and off. Then I saw Trouse. He was standing behind the meat counter at the scale and he picked up an old mountain over there. I hid it to Trouse and he read it. I couldn't see his eyes, just the glasses. And every time the light blinked, it shone red, bright red like some sort of terrible toy. And he began to move. And it was like a movie that you see one frame at a time. Each time the light blinked on, he wasn't worried about before. But closer. Closer. Trouse! Mr. Trouse! Mr. Trouse! The red glasses kept coming at me. I edged over towards the vegetables and he moved to... I moved the other way towards the groceries. There was a railing. I climbed over. I was in one of the long narrow aisles of cans and bottles. The stuff was piled head high. I waited, hoping maybe he didn't see me. But he did. I hid behind a stack of canned dog food. He sounded 30 or 40 feet away. I waited around the corner. He was looking down another aisle. Couldn't understand that sound. I looked again. The aisle was empty, but in the center where Crouse had stood were his shoes. He'd taken them off. There's quietly a man. He took mine off. And I began to tip the door away from where I'd seen him. And then I rounded the corner. There he was. Not two feet away with his back to me. And I lost my balance. I put my hand out to steady him. A whole stack of cans went over. I ran. I kept running and there I was. I was at the end of an aisle. The back wall. And I turned and he was coming. Coming straight at me. My hand put something cold a bottle. I grabbed it. It was ammonia. Crouse, get back. Get back Crouse or I'll blind you. Crouse, I warn you. I swear I will. He stood there like a crazy giant. Like Cyclops tearing at his eyes. The ammonia running down his face. I didn't wait. I ran past him, bumping him aside. I ran and ran and cut around the cast register. Past the delicatessen and the bakery to the door. It was locked. The key. I'd left it in the lock. It was gone. I tried to break the trance with my fist. But it was like steel. I couldn't kick it. I'd left my shoes behind. And Crouse kept coming. Feeling his way along, moaning. And the blinking light I could see. He still had the knife in his hand. I slid behind the counter of the meat department. Under my feet the sawdust. His face was awful. Twisted and gleaming. His glasses were gone and his eyes were screwed tight-shot in pain. He stopped ten feet away, swaying. Then he opened his eyes. Opened them as wide as he could and moved his head from side to side. Trying near-sightedly to see me. Then his head stopped moving. And holding it sideways, using one eye to see me, he came on. The knife held way back. That fly with the sawdust. He jumped to one side, my back up against the block. And he twisted and skidded in the sawdust and he fell. He was very still for a moment. I waited. He rose to his knees. And the blinking light, I saw the knife. He'd fallen on it. It stuck out of the middle of his chest. Crouse! Very slowly, he got to his feet. One hand over the place where the knife was and started toward me again. There was a rag over the chopping block. He reached up and got a cleaver. I backed up. Behind me I felt a large, cold handle. The door to the meat storage room. I heaved it open. Inside it was cold. Bitter cold. And dark. In the center of the door was one small thick pane of glass. It was clouded. I wiped it clear with my hand and looked out. Crouse stood there. His face and inch for mine, looking in. His eyes rolled back and his face went slack. And he fell out of sight. He was dead. I was sure of it. I felt around in the dark for the night, but I couldn't find it. I felt the door from top to bottom. There were bars and bolts and something that felt like a handle. I came and tugged, but it wouldn't move. There was a knife on a slab there. I put your knife. I felt around the door for a crack. Slipped the knife in and twisted me. Another door I thought maybe it is. Oh, please. Another door out of this place. I began to search for it in the dark, feeling along the icy damp walls. I walked into something cold that moved when I touched it. Oh, the sight of beef. But no door. I moved farther. Another icy cold thing. And I moved on and came up against another. Cold as the rest, but... And I'm crazy. I know it. I'm crazy. This one. This one feels as though it's wearing silk stockings. So here I am. It's awfully cold. Cold as a witch's heart. Cold as a tomb. This thing I have in my hand is a knife handle. I wish it had a blade. I know what I do. I know what it has. Anyway, I'm innocent of anything they'll believe me. They will. There's a letter outside on the scale. It says, I did it. Kraus, don't blame anybody else. And there's my suitcase. Well, that'll prove I meant to go away and not cause anybody a hard time. And there's... Time goes slow. And while I'm waiting and waiting and waiting, I'll tell myself a whole story again. And then again, it'll give me something to do, you know. Something to think about. You see, it started the first day of the job. I was clerking the liquor department at the supermarket. I hadn't been Los Angeles a week. My brother, when I left in New York, had given me this letter to a friend of his. You know, a guy owned a string of these supermarkets. The letter was about, could he use me? I was a good fellow. He'd come in the favor. You know, the guy had this opening of liquor. It was the first day and I've come to Los Angeles. Presented by Autolife. Tonight's star, Kirk Douglas. Remingchester. March, hey! You gave me a star. No, I didn't. I'm a new master, old man. Must have been your new Autolife Stateful battery. The battery that needs water only three times a year in normal car use. Just the thing for starting right. And remember, it's just one of more than 400 products made by Autolife for cars, trucks, planes, and boats in 28 plants, coast to coast. These include complete electrical systems for many makes of America's finest cars. Batteries, spark plugs, generators, coils, distributors, starting motors, Autolife Bullseye-Sealed Beam Headlights. All engineers who fit together perfectly work together perfectly because they're a perfect team. So don't accept electrical parts supposed to be as good. Ask for and insist on auto light, original factory parts of your neighborhood service station, car dealer, garage, or repair shop. Remember, you're always right with auto light. Next Thursday for suspense, Marlena Dietrich will be our star. The play is called Murder Strikes Three Times and it is, as we say, a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense. Tonight suspense play was produced and edited by Williams Spear and directed by Norman MacDonald. Music for suspense is composed by Lucian Morrowak and conducted by Led Bluskin. The butcher's wife is an original play for radio by James Pohl. Kirk Douglas, whose throwing performance in champion has placed him among the Academy Award contenders, will soon be seen in Young Man with a Horn. You can buy auto light safety batteries, auto light regular or resistor spark plugs, auto light electrical parts at your neighborhood auto light dealer. Switch to auto light. Good night. CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.