 That's the theme from the Sears Radio Theater. Tonight, a program of mystery with Vincent Price as your host. Here's a preview. In order for me to help you in any way, you must believe. In you? Oh, not in me. In the power that operates through me. Oh, make me believe, Miss Rabbit. Make me believe. Make my son live. The Sears Radio Theater will begin after this message from your local station. This is Vincent Price. From the beginning of our story, we should be made to understand certain things. If, for example, you have a problem, a soulful problem, one that strays beyond the recognized boundaries, remains aloof from the normally available resources, then we should understand that there are other forces, something else that can be asked to serve. Fragrant powders, clairvoyant bones, cautiously mixed remedies, herbs, and scented candles with icy flames that burn for seven days, blessed by holy mouths filled with supernatural language, can be sought out. The powders, bones, roots, herbs, and candles can be found in the shadowed spaces that leak ancient rites nourished by African blood. Encrypled veins, veins filled with stone and steel now, but still carrying a clear message from ancestors whose bones have found in the new world old bodies in which to live and advise. Knock, knock, knock, knock. Meow. So yeah. Not this lady, Glenda Dugan. I thought I told you. I just had to see you, Miss Rabbit. It's about Danny, ain't it? Yeah. I won't ask you how you knew. I need help, Miss Rabbit, and you're the only one I know. Sit down and tell me about it while I brew us a little tea. And thus our story begins. A adventure in radio listening. Five nights of exceptional entertainment every week brought to you in Elliott Lewis' production of the Sears Radio Theater. Our story, Boudou Lady by Odie Hawkins. Our stars Helen Martin, Kim Hamilton, and Robin Braxton. The Sears Radio Theater is brought to you by Sears Robach & Company. Sears, where America shops for value. Formerly thought to be unknowable areas of wisdom. Those places from which intuition and karma flow and a kind of common sense expertise. Miss Rabbit, a student of the unknown, applies her knowledge to known problems. Here's your tea. That smells good. Now there. Go on. What's this about Danny? Well, I don't know how to come up right out and tell you no rush. Get time, honey. It's like this, Miss Rabbit. You know Danny and I've been married for nine years. I remember when you moved into the neighborhood. You remember that? We've just gotten married and decided to leave New Orleans because Danny thought that... I remember all of that. Now go on about this other thing. Well, what I was going to say was, well, we've never really had too many problems, me and Danny. You know, the way some couples have. I mean, it's been kind of rough at times like when Danny lost his job and I was pregnant with Danny Jr. But here lately he stays gone a lot. He says that he's playing cards with the guys down at the club. But you think there's another woman out there somewhere? Is that it, honey? I know for certain he's got another woman. I found a note from her in his shirt pocket. Please help me, Miss Rabbit. We have four children that need a full-time father. I love, I really love Danny, Miss Rabbit. I really do. Will you help me? Now, you listen to me close, Glenda Duggan. I'm not going to repeat myself. Do everything exactly the way I tell you to do and you won't have any more problems with Danny. At least, why is not this year anyway? Is Danny home now? He's supposed to be down at the club. Well, okay. Now, here's what I want you to do. When you get a chance, put two pinches of this powder in his coffee. What is that, Miss Rabbit? Woman, will you stop asking foolish questions and listen to me? You want your man to stop fooling around in the streets, don't you? Uh-huh, all right then. Now, after you've put two pinches of this powder in his coffee, all his food, either one, makes no never mind. Don't do anything else for ten hours. And then, Glenda, are you listening to me? I'm listening. I'm just scared. What if Danny found out I'd been to see you? What if he left me because he... Honey, Danny ain't no different from any other man. If you do just like I say, you have him strolling around behind you on his eyebrows by the end of next week. But what if he... No buts, what's all ifs? Listen, the day you give him the two pinches of powder, don't use more than two because it's mighty powerful. He'd be feeling kind of low. Then you'll have a nagging headache and his stomach will be troubling him. Miss Rabbit, Danny never has any headaches or stomach problems. He's never been sick from anything like that. Glenda Duggan, I'm telling you one last time, if you make it hard for me, I'm gonna put you out of here and you'll lose that Glenda and bastard you call your husband. I'm sorry, Miss Rabbit. I'm sorry. It's just that I've been so nervous and upset lately. I know. I know you have, honey. Now then, when he comes home feeling bad, he or most likely want to lay down. While he's laying down trying to get rid of his aches, take these three bunions and toss them under the bed and sprinkle three more pinches of this powder around the bed. Lightly. Just lightly, my angel. If you're sprinkled too much in one place, it's after making go blind in his left eye for three days or else he'll begin to have bad dreams every morning for a week. I'll do exactly what you told me to do. And thanks, Miss Rabbit. I'd like to give you a little something, but since Danny messed up most of his last two paychecks playing cards down at the club, we've been in a bit of a tight. Not only that, Danny Jr. stepped on a nail in the Dr. Village. We won't get out of here, Glenda. Do what I told you to do. And bring me one of those peach cobblers you make so good after you brought your man back to his good senses. That's a deal. I'll do exactly what you told me to do to the letter. You're better. Or else you won't have a man to help you with those children. And you know how hard things are today, even with the man. Night, Miss Rabbit. Night, Glenda. You be careful now. There's bad vibes swirling around out there tonight. I will. Bless you, Miss Rabbit. Are you sure you gave her the proper remedy for that situation? Are you sure your instructions covered the full use of the medicine? I'm not exactly sure about anything. What would you advise? Oh, I don't know. Maybe I would have prescribed the same thing. Maybe not. Well, I must say, that's not saying too much. Maybe it isn't. Maybe it is. Let's wait for the results. You might not think it's strange to hear an old woman talk to her cat, but when the cat talks back, engages in a dialogue, it's like jewels. We see them in a different light whenever we turn them this way or that, or when we look at them through other eyes. Miss Rabbit, what a strange-looking woman, you know what I'm saying? She really resembled a rabbit, not because she actually looked like one, but in a way, you know what I mean? Something very quick, kind of nervous in a manner, made you think, Rabbit, some other kind of gentle animal. Well, there she was in the wind of this two-story framehouse in the rear of a taller building, go with the one side, which didn't pay no attention. Your attention was pulled to the wind of her apartment. There you paid attention. She always seemed to be there, especially in the warm months. Whenever she'd hear my footsteps, she'd nod politely in my direction. I'd always mumbled, dibble to myself, and then nod back with a smile yet. She was what you might call, for want of a more precise term, a presence. I mean, there was something definitely about this lady, believe me. She'd come at you from angles that seemed impossible for her to see around or pass, but she did see. For example, she'd always see her doing things that you weren't supposed to be doing. Now, some of the people in the neighborhood thought Miss Rabbit had X-ray vision, heavy TV watches, people like that. Oh, Miss Rabbit was blind, but that wasn't something you automatically know unless you knew it. What I'm saying is this, it would have been pretty hard to tell she was blind from the way she got around. She could go anywhere in the neighborhood by feel. That's right, by feel. From time to time, whenever she decided she didn't need to use somebody else's legs, she'd ease down the steps of her place and feel her way from one end of the street to the other. If she happened to want to go to the supermarket at the far end of the block, for example, she didn't use a cane or anything. She'd just kind of shuffle along in her cloth slippers, one foot after another, making fairly good time. And maybe hold her hand up in front of herself whenever she got to certain places, feel in her way. The whole street got quiet when she moved. It was a little bit like watching a sleepwalker, her and that big old black cat of hers named Zule. Some people thought that Zule was leading her by some kind of old vibrations or something with this bail around his neck. He could have been leading her hard to say, except he was just as apt to be behind us in front. From time to time, she'd say, Zule, Zule, come on now, Zule. Old nosy tale, Miss Brooks asked her one day, why you call that cat Zule, Miss Rabbit? Of course, that's his name, she answered, and kept right on stepping. She was a low and independent person, you know? I mean, like, she didn't take no stuff from nobody. If there was one thing that everybody in the neighborhood agreed on, it was Miss Rabbit's independent ways. The other thing was what you might call a Hondura, or depth. Hondura took in a lot of ground. She could listen to a problem and give you the solution if she felt you were open. Otherwise, she'd suggest a solution. My grandmother, Sanchez, used to say that she was a curandera, you know? A lady with a curse? I don't know. Maybe it's got something to do with being from Nolines, where people still believe in lots of stuff that other people have forgotten about, or never knew. Stuff about Marie Laveau and Mama Pleasant. I can't honestly say which it is. All I know is this. Miss Rabbit could explain your dreams to you. I caught a three, six, nine, five times playing my dream the way she explained it to me. She could make your bad luck go away if you promised to do right. She could make up stuff for you, you know, for different things. If you were righteously sincere, she could throw the bones for you to give you an idea of what your future would be like, or stir your mind around. But more than anything else, she could pray for you. One of the heaviest things anyone on the block could say was, Miss Rabbit's praying for me. It was even said at one time that she was praying for the preacher. No need to mention his name at this late date, but we can be certain that he thanked the Lord for Miss Rabbit's prayers, especially at that point in time of his life. But it was something. Everybody went to her when they needed advice or whatever. It was something I never forgot. Even after Miss Rabbit and Zully disappeared. Miss Edna Barnes, and I live north of here in Hyde Park. Where do you walk? I'd like to talk to you about a serious problem I have. Who sent you to see me? Nobody sent me. Please let me talk to you for a few minutes. Can't see. May I turn on the light? Oh, sorry about that. Being blind, I kind of forget about things like that sometimes. I understand. Well, what is it? You begged the way in here. Now, what do you want? Please, Miss Rabbit, don't be angry. I know it's not right to intrude on you like this, but... How did you know to come to see me with your problem? Well, whether you know it or not, you do have a reputation. Oh. I'll put it this way. Some of the people you've helped in different ways know about you. I know about you from... Let's skip all that stuff and get to the point. What's the matter with your son? My son? Oh, yes, my son. How did you... Get to the point. I'm an old lady and it's 1030. Well, the reason why I'm here... You do have a reason for being here, don't you? Yes. My baby Vernon is almost nine months old and he's in the hospital dying. Of what? I don't know. The doctors don't know. They've written failure to thrive all over his charts. And all the doctor can say is that his vital signs are deteriorating. The tests they've made don't show any physical reason why he's dying. They can't explain it except by giving me some kind of percentage double talk. One-third or one-fifth of 10% of some babies just don't thrive, as they say. Now, none of that means anything to me. It's my son that they're making percentages out of. It's Vernon, the baby I had and I want him to thrive. I'll pay you. Oh, I ain't here to skew for any money. I'll do anything. What will you take? What will it take to bring my baby into a full life? You don't know what it feels like to be a mother. I may not be a mother, but I am a woman. And I know a little bit about how it feels to be handicapped. You'll help me? What can I do? You can make him live. Well, I could try to make him live. Now, I'm going to tell you exactly how I feel, Miss Rabbit. I've heard what I've heard about you from people who believe that you can make things happen. I don't happen to believe in spirits of stuff like that, but I want my son to live. Do you believe in God? I used to. We have a problem, honey. In order for me to help you in any way, you must believe. Can you? Oh, not in me. In the power that operates through me. Oh, make me believe, Miss Rabbit. Make me believe. Make my son live. Hey, Phelma, you really put your foot in it this time. What in the world possessed you to promise that woman you could make her child live? It's that kind of arrogance that cost you your sight. Do you have to remind me? I have no choice. A price must be paid for serious mistakes, and the price can be high. As you well know. Well, it's too late for me to make all those considerations now. Will you help me? The price will be high. Very high? Are you willing to pay? As you said, I put my foot in it. I made a promise that I must keep. The price will be high. What will it be? I don't know yet. The books have to be checked to determine what the cost is for such an intercession. But it won't come cheap. You know that. Rabbit the voodoo lady has made a promise. The infant child will recover. He'll be a healthy baby, able to live a long life. But once the promise was made, Zuley, the cat cautioned her, warned her. There would be a terrible cost. Who could that be? I'm on a night like this. Yeah? Who's that? Me and the cats have got the cold out there. Thanks. It is kind of wet out. Well, I was just about to have a cup of sass for ST. You want a cup? Woo! That would hit the spot. How have you been? I've done it, do it. Oh, is it too soon to say? And where is that cobbler you were going to bring me? Everything's all right, I guess. Hmm. Don't sound like everything's all right. What's the problem now? I, uh... It's not exactly what you'd call a problem. Well, what I mean is... Go on, honey. Let's hear it, whatever it is. I haven't had time to make that cobbler. Oh, is that what you came over here in the rain to tell me? Well, not exactly. I can't stay but a minute. What's wrong with you, Glenda Dugan? It's about Danny. Ms. Rabbit, Danny has head over heels in love with me again. What, that's wonderful, honey. Well, that's what you wanted, wasn't it? It's what I wanted to have my man back. But... But what? Well, it's like Danny is on a honeymoon all by himself. He sends the children to the movies all the time. They've been sent to the movies every evening this week. Well, I'll be, Glenda. Are you sure you didn't put but two pinches of powder in Danny's coffee, two pinches in his coffee, and three around the bed bones? How did they land when you tossed them under the bed? How did they land? I don't understand what you mean. When you tossed those three bones under the bed, how did they land? How did they spread out like a fan or form a letter or what? I don't know. I didn't look. I just chucked them under the bed and scooted away. I didn't want Danny to catch me. Glenda, go on back home, honey, and uncross those bones. What? Where's Danny now? He's at home, taking a nap. And the children are at the picture show. And the children are at the movies. Go on back home while he's taking his nap and uncross those bones. Now, what happened is this. I'll bet you a bottle roll to a doughnut is that two of those bones have crossed each other. For I know all three of them might have gotten piled up under the bed. It's been known to happen, Ms. Rabbit. I'll bring you that cover this Saturday first thing. I was really beginning to get worried. Oh, you bring those bones back when you uncross them. It's not too likely you'll be needing them anymore this year. Is that you? Yes, it's me. Where have you been? Oh, you know where I've been. Well, I told you the price would be high like everything else these days. How is the child? Worse than before. The doctors won't say it, but Edna Barnes thinks they've given up. They're just going through the motions. What about you? I've done everything I can do. Everything? You know everything I know how to do. I don't seem to be able to come up with the right combinations. I've spoken to the numbers, sent Molly messages out. There is a way to save the child. I made a commitment to saving. His mother believes now that I'm the only one who can. I feel a heavy weight on this. I said there is a way if you're willing to make the sacrifice. I gave my eyes for another life years ago. What now? My life for the child's life? Not exactly. Well, tell me. What? I've done every single thing you asked me to do. I brought you a photograph of my baby, clippings from his fingers and toes, two snips of his hair spit from his mouth even. And what happened? Not a damn thing. Edna, Edna, calm down. These things take time. He doesn't have time. He's dying. Don't you understand? My son is dying and you sit here talking about time. He still has a chance. Yes. I believe he still has a chance. I'll have to believe he has a chance until he dies. But I won't have you to thank for saving him. No, no, honey. You just have to. You asked me to believe, to have faith in you. In the power that operates through. Whatever. Well, I did have faith, but I don't anymore. My beliefs have changed. I believe that you are an old, dirty rotten, stinking fraud. You gave me the impression that you could perform some kind of miracle and it hasn't happened. I hate people like you, Miss Rabbit. All of you are just the same. You offer hope and never deliver. Edna, I hate your hands off me, you old creep. What been wrong? What did I do wrong? Why won't my medicine work? You please stop teasing me. Tell me, why doesn't he get well? Maybe it's because you haven't offered the right sacrifice. Why don't you stop beating around the bush and say what you have to say? I am saying it. I am saying it. I guess I'm not understanding you too well. Maybe you don't want to understand me. Do it about myself. Many years ago, when I was a girl growing up in the deep south, I understood that I was strange. I would have to say strange because I can't think of a better word to use. From the earliest time I can remember, I was always able to speak with plants, young trees especially. My mother once caught me having a serious conversation with a rose bush that grew out beside our front porch. Being a very wise lady, she didn't make a big stink about it. She just made me understand. She suggested that I shouldn't talk with the flowers while anyone else was around. They probably wouldn't understand. My daddy discovered my healing powers when he broke his leg one day. He'd taken me out hunting with him. I didn't like the idea of killing anything, but I liked being out in the woods with my daddy. Hopping over a big log, he got his foot tangled in some roots and stumbled to the ground. Both of us knew he had broken something. He knew it because he could feel it. And I just knew it. I don't know how I knew it, but I did. I knew exactly where the break was. They'll run on back to the house and tell your mother to get help for me, he said. His face all squinched up with pain. Don't worry, daddy, I told him, and placed both of my hands on the place that was broken. But kind of heat began to flow through my hands after a few minutes. It was as though I wanted my father's leg to be healed so badly I was doing it with my bare hands, with this heat that seemed to melt the bones back in place. He felt it, too. And after a little while, he stood up, limped a few steps and said to me very quietly and respectfully, Thelma, you have healing powers. You healed my leg. When I was so weak, I had to stay in bed for a week after that. He never spoke about me healing his leg again. But from time to time, whenever one of the animals on our place got sick, daddy would always ask me if I could do something. Truth is, sometimes I couldn't, sometimes I couldn't. It seemed to depend on how much I liked the animal. I must have saved the old milktie we had, tune it. About five times. I knew I wasn't possessed by any devil, but at one point I did think I was crazy. It had to do with the voices that kept bringing me so much information. It was like somebody was always whispering in both my ears at the same time. The county authority showed up one day and took me away. My mama and daddy fought as hard as they could for ten years to get me out of the Filona home for the insane. Then they both died within six months of each other. My daddy first, heartbroken. It was while they were holding my body captive in that place that I lost my sight. I'd become arrogant about my powers and made a rash statement to one of my friends in the home who needed help. Jenny, I'd bit my eyeballs in all the sight inside that I'd have you cured by nightfall. Jenny had been bitten by a rabid squirrel on the grounds of the institution and within a week died a horrible death. The hospital attendance just took it for granted that she had simply become more insane than usual and strapped her into a straight jacket and left her to die alone. It wasn't until two more people had been bitten that they discovered their mistake. Meanwhile, because of what I said, a sight left me. It was like I went to sleep one night and when I woke up it was still night. A couple of years later, sitting in the sun on one of those cold stone benches they had at the home, I felt a ball of warm fur rub against my leg and whispered to me, it's time for you to leave this place. We have work to do. I had to save her from her false destiny after she lost her sight. It was obvious that she was taking psychic risks because she lacked a sense of spiritual proportion, the kind of perspective that could only be attained by developing control of her powers. I was tempted to leave her alone, to simply enjoy my vacation in the home for the insane, away from the day-to-day pressures of the unreal world, but after I found that she had been there for 12 years, I decided to help her out. Maybe it had something to do with being so very much older than she, but I found her a relative sense of innocence, charming and quite appealing, even when she has been guilty of placing false obstacles in the way of understanding each other. I have to ask you this one thing before you want to know. What is the biggest change, uh, you know, when different people experience different things? I suspect for you, seeing again will be the greatest change. I'm ready. Are you sure? As sure as I'll ever be. Good. Me will beside me. No, not like that. Like this. Now, take a deep breath and arch your back. Stretch your paw, your hands out in front of you, as though you were reaching for something right in front of you, but you can't quite get to it. That's it. Now, yawn as hard as you can. Stretch your mouth as wide as you can open it and close your eyes as tightly as you can. Good. Now, resettle your body in a kneeling position, like me. Good. Relax completely. Oh, it's open. Guess you went for a visit. I'll leave her a note. Dear Miss Rabbit, my son will live because of some unexplainable something that happened last night. The doctors are just simply shaking their heads and mumbling a lot of big words all over the place. They are as mystified as I am, but I feel that you and I know more than they do. We know everything they don't know. Last night, sitting at my baby's bedside, I could almost feel life flow into my son's hospital room and into his body at one point, and I knew your power was at work. Now, being a modern black woman, I have to admit I questioned everything, always have. You know, I'm really sorry I called you the names I called you and talked to you the way I did. My behavior was completely off base, but I hope you'll find it in your heart to forgive me. This was to have been the third child to be lost to me, and I just couldn't bear it. I just couldn't. The baby. My baby will be out of the hospital next week. I'll bring him over for your blessings, if you can forgive me for doubting your power. Till then, Mrs. Edna Agnes Barnes. Hmm, that's funny. She never leaves her door open. Maybe she's in bed. Miss Rabbit, it's Glenda. I brought you a beautiful cobbler. Come look at her. Come smell it. I'll put some cinnamon in the crust. Hmm, not in the bedroom. Wonder where she could be. What's this? A note from Edna Barnes. How stupid can some people be? How does she expect a blind person to read a note? Oh, hi, Zuley. Where's Miss Rabbit? Uh-oh. Looks like you brought yourself a girlfriend home out of the rain, huh? Come here, pretty brown cat. Let me hold you. Looks like Miss Rabbit's going to be having a house full of kittens pretty soon. Wonder where she could be. Oh, well. She has her cobbler and two cats to take care of, and I got laundry to do. Is satisfaction guaranteed or your money back? Sears were America's shops for value. The was written by Odie Hawkins. Produced and directed by Elliot Lewis. Your host was Vincent Price. Our stars were Helen Martin, Kim Hamilton, and Robin Braxton. Featured in the cast were David Downing, Hans Conrad, June Foray, and Ray Tascow. The music for Sears Radio Theater was composed and conducted by Nelson Riddle. This is Art Gilmore speaking. The Elliot Lewis production of Sears Radio Theater is a presentation of CVI. It'll be a story of love and hate with Cicely Tyson as your hostess. Let's listen. How many times a week? Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Three times a week? Fame has its misfortunes. I couldn't imagine doing anything worse than having a writer's workshop full of gabby middle-aged women. So be sure and tune in tomorrow to the Sears Radio Theater. CBS News. The house has passed a standby gasoline rationing bill, but the Carter administration says it doesn't like it. This is Doug Polling reporting on the CBS radio network. By a vote of 263 to 159, the House tonight approved a bill giving the President the power to order rationing in the event of a severe shortage. But either House would have the power to veto the rationing plan. And rationing could only be imposed if the shortage reaches 20% or more for at least 30 days. The White House said it is disappointed the House has been unable to agree on a direct and clear bill. A statement also said the bill clearly needs improvement before the President can sign it. The rationing bill OK tonight now has to go to the Senate where other changes are expected. About 700 gasoline retailers demonstrated outside the White House today protesting new pricing policies set by the Department of Energy. Dealers said the policies did not allow them enough of a profit margin. In Minneapolis, Ken Weingart of the independent gasoline retailers of Minnesota said the Energy Department is going from bad to worse. All this confusion, all this mess with energy, the whole thing stems from the Department of Energy. Now they just keep sinking deeper and deeper into the mire and they can't get themselves out so they come up with some more crazy rules. If they leave the petroleum industry alone it would take care of itself. We might have some spot problems for a while and then the whole thing would settle down. You wouldn't have any of these problems. We had none of these problems before the DOE came into being. Some dealers also criticized new rules that will allow them to charge customers for such services as airing tires and honoring credit cards. They said that would just alienate customers. Heavy thunderstorms pounded sections of Indiana today, triggering flash floods. Two people were killed about 70 miles south of Indianapolis. In Morrisville, 20 miles south of Indianapolis, a tornado touched down in a mobile home park toppling two trailers and injuring two men. There have been reports of serious illness connected with two of the best known milk substitutes for babies. The manufacturer is now halting production. Details reported by Charles Crawford. The two widely sold infant formulas implicated are Neomolsoi and Cho or Cofre, spelled C-H-O. Both are soybean-based products used to feed infants allergic to milk-based formulas. Nationwide, 31 cases of illness have been reported among infants fed the formulas. The baby suffered symptoms including high fever, excessive vomiting, diarrhea, and growth retardation. FDA officials have met with the manufacturer and the company has notified some 23,000 U.S. physicians of the problem. In addition, the company told a New York City pediatrician it has stopped manufacturing and distributing the formulas and is asking retailers to stop selling the Neomolsoi and Cho-free. Charles Crawford, CBS News. House Republican leaders today proposed a $36 billion tax cut saying they are worried about the possible depth of the recession. The GOP lawmakers predicted President Carter will ask for tax reductions in 1980 as an election year ploy, but urged an immediate cut to help the country recover from the economic downturn. Assistant Senate Democratic Leader Ellen Cranston predicted today the Senate will ratify the SALT II Treaty with the Soviet Union coupled with an increase in defense spending. It was announced today in Washington a new political party called the Citizens' Committee has been formed to focus on the issues of inflation and energy. Organizers say they plan to hold a national convention next year to nominate a candidate for president. One of the organizers is author and environment...