 And now, another tale well calculated to keep you in suspense. A Wreath for Emily by Barrow Firestone. Isn't that pile of socks on the table? Here you are, my dear. My dear, what a laugh you are, Orrin Reed. Thirty years of slaving on a dried up farm. Thirty years of hatin' what you do and the woman you're livin' with. Thirty years of death and drudgery, and you still say, my dear. Weak. Weak in a matter of habit. That's what you are, Orrin Reed. Don't start tonight, Emily. There's paperwork to be done. So let's not start it tonight, please. Paperworks, figuring out your million-dollar income tax. Paperworks. What's that? Step my finger with a needle. Darnin' socks. Darnin' socks and cookin' meals within' on the food. Talkin' to myself, livin' in this miserable place. I'm dried up too, Orrin. Just like the land out there, dried up and tired. We do the best we can, Emily. The good Lord made it so it'd be hard for us. There's no use tryin' to make it out. It can be any other way. The good Lord, which you made it hard for us, Orrin Reed. The poor man in spirit, the poorer one, and what he can do. Where are you going? I don't want to listen no more. I'm going out for a minute. You come back here, and you listen to what I say. A poor man. You hear me, husband, a poor man, a poor farmer. There's nothin' inside you, Orrin Reed, and you listen to what I say. No, family, no more. No more tonight. Oh, there'll be more tonight, and the next night, and the next. Until you're in your grave with the words I say, fillin' out of your head. And givin' the only life to the land. And you come back here, and you listen to me. You shouldn't talk to me that way. There was a time you had love for me. Things in this house were better. And she looked at me the way a woman looked for the man. She don't look at me at all no more. Around me, through me, but never at me. And then you got stopped talkin' to me that way, Emily. I ain't goin' to listen no more. So you might just as well not talk to me that way. Orrin, get back in here. You gotta stop talkin' to me that way, Emily. I'll talk whatever way the words come out. If the truth comes out in bitter words, then that's the way I'll talk. Now, get the coffee. Well, I'm not hearin' you anymore, Emily. I'm not hearin' you. Oh, you hear all right. Whatever else you got, you got good ears in your head. Ears for listenin' to what I say. Now, I'm not hearin' you anymore. You won't talk to me anymore. Same thing as no man should be made with me, too. You putin' a fire under that coffee? The land is dry, the land is cracked. Well, that ain't my fault. I do it best than I know how. If no fall to mine, the crops grow sick, the animals grow thin, you've got no right to faultin' the things not in my doing. Who are you not out there? A man wins some rest. A man shouldn't have to hear that hardness for 30 years. He should be able to sit with his woman in quiet. Orrin, what's keepin' you? No more, Emily. No more. What's that you said? No more. I'll hear no more. You makin' that coffee hot. What are you doing with that rightful? No more. You'll not talk to me that way again. That's rightful away, you crazy old fool, and get the coffee. There'll be no more your hatred in this house, Emily. No more your naggin' talk and hard words. Orrin! No more! I'll put you to rest, Emily. I'll give you good graves and a barn, covered with lice so you can be part of the land. But now I'll rest a bit, have my coffee, and then sleep quiet. I'll never get away with it. What? What's that you say? He said it so much. You'll never get away with it. What did he say? He said it's scary to death. Who said it? You said it! I thought he jumped right through the bone. Dad, you're a riot. Now really, you better be gettin' home, it's late. How about a good night kiss, Merrily? Not death. Good night, Merrily. Good night. Don't forget our date. I won't. Good night. You'll never get away with it. Loper Farms supply warehouse. Oh, hello, Orrin. This is Loper. What? What was that you wanted? 200 pounds of lye. Well, it's after eight now, and Ted hasn't even started yet. He's got to make four or five stops first, but I guess he can get to your place around 11. All right, Orrin, I'll put it on your bill. Bye. Ted! Come on in here for your leave. Call me, Pa. I called. You put 200 pounds of lye on the truck and take it out of the read place. I promised you'd be there before noon. The read place? Pa, that's on the other side of the ridge, with Mary Lee for lunch at noon. I'll never be back in time. Now, you do as you're told. Get that line of the truck and get out to Orrin Reed for noon. Here. Oh, but Pa, come on. No buts. And then you're going to be late. You can call Mary Lee for Mr. Reed. She'll wait. Can't Mr. Reed wait till this afternoon? I want Scott in to you, boy. Now, you get those orders. I'll stop by again. You'll really be late. Too hot to dig. You have to sit here in the barn and wait. At 11 o'clock. Young Loper should be here soon. Maybe this afternoon will be cooler. I'll get you grave done, Emily. You'll have a decent place to rest. And Emily, you can't scare me anymore. Trying to make me think I had a phone call last night, are you? I know it was you. No, Emily, you're evil's done. I won't listen to you. Flying on the floor in the parlor, quiet, toned, still and quiet. You can't make me listen to things that never happened before. You're going to have company, old Sarah. Emily's going to join you here in the barn. She'll be here before morning to rest with your foal that died and the chickens never born and dogs long past. More lodges for the barn. Mr. Reed. Hey, hey, Mr. Reed, you're out? In here, young Loper, in the barn. Oh, hot enough for you, Mr. Reed. I'll bet it's 100 in the shade. Can you bring the lie? Sure it is. Where do you want it? In the barn. Okay. I'll get off the truck. I'm going to dig up the potatoes out that back there and then I'm going to turn the soil and that's why I need it, see? I'm going to turn the soil. What? You'll never get away with it. What that? What'd you say? Why, I said you'll never get away with it. Why, you don't have a third of what you'll need for that job. Tell you what, I'll bring another 500 pounds tomorrow. That should do it. So you don't think I'll get away with it? Oh, no, sir. Not with this much. Then you didn't lie to me, Emily. There was a call. Boy... Can you say something, sir? Boy, why don't you mop the house with me? I got some cold beer in the icebox and go right well on a hot day like this. Take the dryness out of your mouth. I don't think I want any beers, sir, but I tell you what, I'd like to do it. You don't mind. I'd like to call my girl and tell her I'm going to be a little late for our date. If you don't mind. I don't mind a bit. You just do that now. We've both got the house. And while you make your call, I... I'll do what I have to do. The phone's over there on the corner table. Oh, thanks, Mr. Reed. I'll just be a minute. Take your time, boy. Lots of it. Mary Lee? Kevin's, you called. Ted, just terrible. You've got to get back here right away. Well, hold on, honey. Hold on. What's so terrible? What's happened? Pa? Well, what about Pa? What's happened to Pa? There's been an accident. Accident? He's hurt bad, Ted. In the county hospital. They call me about a half hour ago to find out if I knew where you were. He wants you, Ted. He's bad. I'll leave right now. You tell Pa I'm leaving right now. I'll see you at the hospital. Mr. Reed. Mr. Reed. I'm going. I've got to get back to town right away. Wait, wait. Hold on, boy. You ain't going nowhere. Mr. Reed. I've got to. It's my Pa. He's hurt. You stay where you are, boy. I think I saved you. Mr. Reed. Put that rifle away. I've got to get to town. I said hold, boy. He ain't leaving. I don't know what you're doing. I've got to go see my Pa. Stop, boy. Stop. Don't start out that door. I told you. Mr. Reed. I told you. Now the next shot's going to be closer, boy. There's things to do. And I don't want to kill you now. Kill me? What for? What's it all about? You close the door, boy. But close the door and come in here. No, please, Mr. Reed. Mr. Reed. My Pa's hurt bad. He's at the county hospital. He hurt bad. He needs me. I've got to go and get to him. That's a shame. Certainly isn't. I'm right. Sorry about it. But it would have been better. A young back boy like you hadn't been snooping around where it didn't belong. Same things he had no right to say. I don't know what you're talking about. You like to talk on the telephone, don't you? You like to call people in the middle of the night? Tell them the things you got no right knowing about? What things? Talking about what things? Don't think I'll get away with it. Do you, young love? Talking about... Well, last night... Well, Mr. Reed, Mr. Reed, I'm sorry. But that was just a big joke. I was just playing a big joke. I didn't mean nothing. Please. Please, Mr. Reed. Let me go. You can bring the sheriff here. Sheriff? What? Why would I want to bring the sheriff here? You're not so smart, boy. Pretending you don't know anything about it after calling me last night. I told you. That was just a joke. And now you know. You're going to help me. You're going to carry Dick. A strong back like yours. You should be able to get the whole thing done. Right, smart guy? Carry? Dick? Mr. Reed? In the parlor, boy. Get in the parlor. That's where she is. Right, where she was when you called last night. Now get in the parlor. Don't you understand? My pa's hurt. I've got to get to him. He's over to the county hospital. The parlor. I told you in the parlor. Now the next shot will be closer. And the next one even closer. Until now you get in the parlor. Mr. Reed, she's sick. She's old enough to keep on the floor. Pick her up. She's dead. Spin shot. Are you trying to make out like you didn't know, huh? Pick her up, boy, and carry her out. I didn't know. I didn't. I was Mr. Reed. I didn't. It was just a joke. Now you know for sure there ain't no joke out there in Reed's place, huh? Now pick her up. Pick her up. Take her to the barn. And we'll give Emily a decent rest in place. Dr. Murray? How is he? Will he... I mean... It's not too good, Mary Lee, but there is hope. He does want to see Ted. Did you get in touch with him? I talked to him just before I came over here. He's on his way over. Can I see Mr. Loper, doctor, please? No, I'm afraid not, Mary Lee. You better wait out here for Ted. Yes, sir. I better get in there. Oh, it's me, Mr. Loper, Dr. Murray. Ted's on his way here now. I want to see my boy. I want to tell him. Try to be quiet. Just try and rest. But I've got to tell Ted. When his mom died, I tried to do all I could and tried to be everything. I've got to tell him how I tried. Tell him I love him. He's a good boy, doctor. Ted's a good boy. You've got to rest, Mr. Loper. Come on, no more talk, please, now. I want to see my boy. Ted. Doctor, how are we... He's asleep now, Mary Lee. He'll sleep for a while. We're doing all we can. But as soon as Ted gets here, you have him get in touch with me. Yes, doctor. Oh, Ted. Hurry. Your pa needs you. Put her over there, boy. You have a stall. Now take that shovel and start digging. Please let me go, Mr. Rhee. I promise I won't tell my pa's hurt. Please, Mr. Rhee. Dig, boy, and dig deep enough and wide enough for two. Near one o'clock. You ain't done too good for a boy with such a strong back. Mr. Rhee, please let me go to my pa. Come with me if you like. I'll come back with you. Do anything you want. I promise. But let me see him. Please, Mr. Rhee, please. There's some things a man's got to do. Stop a evil lion mouth, protect himself, work his farm. But I love my pa. He needs me. I love too, boy. I love this farm and it needs me. I have to tend it. Nurse it, make it strong. Help me, pa. It was Emily who kept the farm from being strong and healthy. She said so. She was all dried up and she made the land dry up. And me. And now it'll be different. Now dig, young lopa. We'll get on with it. What time is it, doctor? It's almost 1.30. What time did you say it was, when Ted called? 11.30. Nearly two hours ago. And doctor, he's all right, isn't he? Ted's all right? Maybe he should have been here longer ago. Ted's all right, Mary. We'd have heard if he weren't. Maybe the truck broke down unless he had. But he'll be here, don't worry. Don't worry, Mary. I can't, I can't. I can't any more, Mr. Rhee. I'm sick with worry. I can't do any more. Go ahead and kill me. I don't care now. Do it now. I ask the heat, boy. You can take a rest there this time. Take a rest for a while and then you can get on with it. Please let me go to my pa. Let me see him. Take a rest, boy. He did to me. Is it him or you or you him? Boy, which is it? It's both. You can't live without love and needing. Without it, I'd be just as soon dead. So kill me now. Well, let me go to my pa. Man can't live with hate. That's why I had to stop Emily. There was no love here and I had to make room for it. But, Mr. Rhee, I've got love. I don't have to look for it and it's killing me not to show it. So don't make no difference. You kill me or I die inside. Please. I'd help you if I could. It's not easy to watch a thing die inside. I did it for 30 years. I did it. And I know how hard a thing it is. But what can I do? The farmer die if I wasn't here. I've got a lot to do. The grave will be finished in the live, pa. Then I can work in peace. The lie? The lie, Mr. Rhee. If you use the lie, they'll know you weren't telling the truth. When you say your order wasn't delivered. When you call the warehouse and tell them your order has not come. And the lie is not on the truck. They'll know you're not telling the truth. There's much in what you say but I need it. The lie will make you and Emily part the soil. Let me go, please. No, what am I going to do? Mr. Rhee, please let me go. I need it. I've got to get to my pa. Emily, what should I do? Oh, boy, what are you doing? Well, tell what happens to me. I've got it. Mr. Rhee. Oh, I didn't mean to. It's all right. It's all right. Why did I think I could let you rest alone? Why? You've been listening to Arrest for Emily. Written for suspense by Barrel Firestone. Third in tonight's story were Abby Lewis as Emily, Bill Smith as Orlan, and Lee Graham as Mary Lee. Mothers in the cast included Larry Robinson and Ralph Bell. Listen again next week when we return with A Grave Is For Sleeping by Edna Rowe. Another tale well calculated to keep you in.