 Your Coca-Cola bottler presents, Claudia, based on the famous play and novels by Rose Frankin. Brought to you transcribed Monday through Friday by your friendly neighbor who bottles Coca-Cola. Relax and while you're listening, refresh yourself. Have a Coke and now, Claudia. Four and two is six. Oh six, Claudia. Shhh. Mama, you'll mix me up. Four and two is six. Seven and three is are ten. Carry one. Which finger do you carry one on? What one, David? The one left over from the seven and three are ten. Oh, that one. I carry that in my head. Congratulations. Now both of you, shhh. I'll add this column of figures all wrong. We merely interrupted you so you'd have an excuse for your errors, Mrs. Naughton. Thanks, Mr. Naughton. Now, let's see. Four and two is six. Seven, three are ten. Carry one. Four and one are five and the carried one are six. Claudia, you'll get wrinkles adding so many numbers. Don't distract your mother. We'll have to go through it all again. Please don't even suggest that. That makes six fourteen forty-two. I better check that just to make sure. Why don't you just go on to the next page. I'm tired of that one. David says checkbooks must be balanced, so I'm balancing it, dear. Go right ahead, darling. Don't let your mama sidetrack you. I won't, David. Can I turn on the radio or something? Since when do you listen to the radio? Anything to drown out the grounding of your brains. Oh, can you hear them too? David, you're tired. Are you ready to go back to bed yet? No. What should I be tired from? Well, it's the first day you're home from the hospital. If I were you, I'd be exhausted. Well, you aren't me. Darling, now don't say you're not tired just to be stubborn. Claudia, for Pete's sake, I know whether I'm tired or not, just because I've had a slight concussion doesn't mean that my brain is completely out of commission. Of course not, darling. No, all right then. Get back to your checkbook. Yes, ma'am. I'm Claudia, for heaven's sakes. Count to yourself. I always count to myself. Out loud. Of course, out loud. Why, of course, out loud? Because then I can hear my mistakes. Oh. What did you say? Honestly, people make such a fuss about balancing a mere checkbook. You think it was difficult or something? Well, I've been adding columns of figures ever since I was two. Now, let me see. Where was I? Oh, yes. Seven and two, nine, eight and three or eleven. Carry one. I don't think she can do it, David. Of course she can balance a checkbook. What do you think she is, an ignoramus? Yes. Well, you can balance a checkbook just as well as the other guy. What other guy? Any person who can run a house, take care of a convalescent husband, take care of a baby, and supervise the rebuilding of a barn can certainly balance a checkbook. Oh, there's the baby. Sir, I wonder what he's doing awake. I'll go up and see. You stay where you are. I'm on my feet. Break your neck running up those stairs. I never break mine there. I guess you don't at that. I'm the pot wishing the kettle were black. She managed pretty well, didn't she, mother? What's that, David? Man, she's got to be quite a person. I don't have to worry about her anymore. She's quite able to run her own life, I think. She was very lonesome with you away. That business about the checkbook. Trying to make me feel that everything is just the way it was, poor kid. Isn't it? Of course it isn't. And it's right that it shouldn't be. I suppose so, but still you sound as if you thought you'd lost something. Of course not. Claudia had to be full grown and independent sooner or later. Anybody who'd gone through what she did would be a little different now. She thought you were dead, David. You might have been. Many people don't live through automobile accidents or even through concussions. She released you, even if it was only for a little while. She released you. And you know what that's like, don't you, mother? Yes, I do. Claudia does too now. She's had a taste of widowhood. It's not easy to shake. No, I suppose not. So, David, if she seems over-anxious now and worries about you too much, it's only gratitude. Each little attention is like a prayer of thanks. She managed pretty well without you. You reason to be proud, but she's awful. Grateful you're back. So are we, Mrs Brown. And we, too. She's been gone quite a few minutes. I hope there's nothing to matter to the baby. Warrior? Just trying to stay in style. All right, I can take a hint. I'll go up and see what's keeping her. If you think that's what I was thinking and hinting why you... Too late to take it back, David. Besides, I like to see the baby myself. Well, give the baby my regard. Will do. Claudia, what's taking you so long? Shhh. I'm in the baby's room, mother. Is anything the matter? Nope. He's gone back to sleep. I think he's hungry, though. That's why he cried. Well, it's almost time for his feeding. Smart, wasn't he, to remind us. As if you would need reminding. He's wet again, mama. Of course he is. Now he's asleep again. Is it good, baby? Well, don't let him hear you say it. I love him, too. It's the one intelligent thing about you. Only the one. So it would seem. What's business with the checkbook, Claudia? You just can't be as dumb as you sound. Can't I? Nobody can be. Then you're not as smart as I thought you were, Mrs. Brown. No, you're just pretending to be dumb. At least I hope you are. You're getting warmer. Who's the big performance for? Can't you guess? David. Well, you're not fooling him for a moment, either. We'll see. It's beyond me. I'm not acting too dumb, am I? Well... I want him to know that I need him, and... I don't know how to tell him. Mama, I just can't believe he's home. When I see him sitting there and looking almost like always, well, I just can't believe it. He's home. I can't forget that a little more, and he might not be. I still have to keep reminding myself, Mama, that when we go downstairs, the room won't be empty. David will be there. Newspaper on his lap, his pipe on the table next to him, smiling and talking and alive. Why was I so lucky? Someone has to be. Poor Mama. You almost had to go through it twice, my father. But for the grace of God, my husband. Worst is the loneliness. He once survives. I know. I would have survived, too, but... we'd better get back downstairs. Your David will think something's happened. You already think so. That's why I came up. I'll bring you your bottle in a minute, Bobby. Now, don't be impatient. Please learn not to be already. Look at that, Gloria. Beautiful Gloria. David, shh. You'll wake the whole house. What's kept you so long? I've been pining away. Oh, my darling, so have I. But your child is wet. Again. And hungry. Is that normal? Perfectly. Isn't it wonderful? I'm on my way up to bed, Gloria, so I'll give the baby his milk. Oh, would you, Mama? You're a fine mother, Mrs. Norton. Aren't I, though? Oh, well, I can't deprive Mama of all her pleasures. Thank you so much. Well, good night, David, sweet dreams. Same to you. Have a glass of milk, too, Mama. Good for you. I don't want to be done good for. Thank you. Good night. Is he such a stubborn woman? You want anything, David? No, thanks. Sure? Positive. And back to my checkbook. Haven't you balanced that thing yet? The bank has made a mistake again. They can't make mistakes. I've told you that a dozen times. Go ahead. Take their part against your wife. And anyway, why can't they? I'd like to know. They use adding machines. What does that prove? We use a washing machine. And look at your shirt last week. Go over your figures again. I've gone over them. And this time, if you please, they've made a mistake of $102.02. They're favored. Naturally, they're favored. Now, look, get this through your head. If they're so much as a single penny out of the way, they sit up all night to find you. Then they do make hours. They do not. Then why do they sit up all night? How would you like a good bat in the nose? I've been praying for one. All right. Bring me your book and vouchers. Yes, sir. Too bad the way I have to coach you. Now, what's this? GRBL2, exclamation point, question mark hyphen. GRBL. My gray blouse. What's your gray blouse doing in your checkbook? I have to remind me to call the dry cleaner any objections. You'll get yourself a diary. Are you being disagreeable? Now, what's this figure? Three or five? Three, my sweet angel. So it was a three, wasn't it? Well, here's the check. John's Grocery, $55. That's $2 accounted for. Two measly little dollars. Besides, it wasn't a mistake in addition. It was a mistake in reading. In adding and subtracting, I'm perfect. Oh, you're perfect, are you? Perfect. Now, what's nine from 13? Where? There. There, right there. Just where my pencil is, right there. Nine from 13 is six. What do you think it is? Never mind what I think it is. Count it on your fingers. Go on. Nine from 13. Very well. Four. Perfect. Ha. Well, anyway, there's still a hundred. The bank owes me. Forty-eight, fifty-three, fifty-eight. Can't you make out anything less than a five-dollar check? And what's the matter with five-dollar checks? I'll draw a check for $25 and be done with it. $25? So much money? Don't you know it costs the bank money every time you put a check through? Now, stop worrying about the bank losing money. Three from two is nine. Borrow one. Here. Here, you forgot to borrow one. Oh. No, you didn't either. I never forget to borrow one. Oh, now let's see. Three and two is four. And three from four. Now, darned if I can figure out where you slipped out. I should think that bank would be so red in the face. A bank doesn't have to get red in the face. Once and for all, banks don't make mistakes. I don't think. And neither do I. Now, read those checks off to me. No, all right. David, do you love me? No. Five dollars to cash on the fourteenth. Number to mount, please. Number 249, five dollars. 249, five dollars. Number 261, a dollar twenty to the Whitewash laundry. Right. Number 46, a hundred dollars to howl and hardware. You know, you shouldn't be staying up so late. What was that last check? A hundred dollars to howl and hardware, some tools bits needed. Uh-huh. You forgot to enter it. There's your mistake, you clock. Oh, no. I couldn't have. Then find it, my love. Don't my love me. It must be here. I'll find it. Perfect, are you? Well, I, I, the rest was right. That doesn't make up for it. But I could have sworn I... Oh, well, checkbooks are a bore anyway. Didn't your mother ever send you to school? Didn't you ever learn to add or anything? Sometimes I think you're completely helpless. You do? A simple thing like balancing a checkbook. What's the use of my knowing how I've got a husband who's a past master at it? Well, I guess you need him for certain details, after all. I need him for lots of details. Careful, or you'll convince me. Do I have to? Little clock. I love you. Oh, David, put down that checkbook and hold me tight. As you trudged the streets supplying the family's wants in grocery, drugstore and department store, it's an easy matter now to shop refreshed. Or more and more stores are installing Coca-Cola coolers. Who is step up, drop in a nickel, and enjoy delicious, ice-cold Coca-Cola. That'll remind you to take a carton of Coke home to the family, too. Mr. King, oh, Mr. King. Yes, Mrs. Brown. What happened with the checkbook? Did it finally get balanced? Yes, it got balanced, and everything else got back into balance, too. David and Claudia? Exactly. She still needs him. He knows it now. Good. Strange what tricks illness can play. Yes, you're right, Mrs. Brown, and strange what companions convalescence can make, too. What? What do you mean, Mr. King? Well, now tomorrow a convalescing measle case comes into David's life, and everything is cleared up. Including the measles? Including. Well, then it's safe to be around. See you then, Mr. King. Looking forward to it, Mrs. Brown. As I was about to say, every day Monday through Friday, Claudia comes to you transcribed with the best wishes of your friendly neighbor who bottles Coca-Cola. So listen again tomorrow at the same time. And now this is joking, saying, or of war. And remember, whoever you are, whatever you do, wherever you may be, when you think of refreshment, think of Coca-Cola. For Coca-Cola makes any pause the pause that refreshes, and ice-cold Coca-Cola is everywhere. This broadcast of Claudia was supervised and directed by William Brown Maloney. And now here's a word from your friendly neighbor who bottles Coca-Cola.