 Family Theater presents Steven McNally and Donna Atwood. From Hollywood, the Mutual Network in Cooperation with Family Theater presents Strangers, starring Steven McNally. And now here is your hostess, Donna Atwood. Thank you, Tony LaFranco. Family Theater's only purpose is to bring to everyone's attention a practice that must become an important part of our lives if we are to win peace for ourselves, peace for our families, and peace for the world. Family Theater urges you to pray. Pray together as a family. And now to our transcribed drama, The Strangers, starring Steven McNally as Fred. It was a little after 4.30 when we pulled into the filling station in the outskirts of Acalpa. Rolling away to the west is the flat barren desert with a white ribbon of highway running across it. 80 miles, 80 miles more and we'd be there. Check your oil and water, mister. Yeah, you better. Can I have a root beer, daddy? You just had a root beer. Take an orange out of the cooler, Annie. I had an orange. Well, have another, they're good for you. You want me to light you a cigarette, Fred? Yeah, thanks. Boy, it's really been a scorcher. Yeah, I'm gonna start cooling off pretty soon. Hey, you could use about a quart of oil, mister. No, OK. Got a number 20? Yeah. Say, my map says we're 80 miles from Bonsdale. That about right. Well, if you stay on the main highway, there's a cutoff to the south about 40 miles out, but it ain't much of a roll. Well, does it save you any mileage? Yeah, maybe 10 or 15. It'd be driving it in the dark, though. Me. All right, stay on the highway. Not too well marked, huh? Almost nothing. I notice you've got a Missouri plate. Yeah, St. Louis. Are you from the Midwest? No, Albert Kirk. I just figured if this was your first time over the desert, I'd give you some advice. Sure. We can use it. Don't pick anybody up. What do you mean? Hitchhikers. Most of them are probably OK, but every week or 10 days, some guy picks up somebody out on the desert, and all the thanks he gets is a bang over their head. Yeah, I guess there's plenty of that. Well, maybe there ain't plenty, but there's enough. You can't go wrong playing it safe. But what if you see someone out there whose car is broken down or something? Don't worry about him. State police patrol the whole main highway about once every two hours. Even if you break down yourself, that's the most you'll have to wait. Well, I'm not much for picking up strangers anyway, especially with my family in the car. I know. But you get out on that desert and don't see anything for miles. And all of a sudden, here's some clown walking along in the hot sun with his thumb in the air, and it breaks your heart. Yeah, I know. Well, don't let it. Little crazy to be out there all alone in the first place. And if you get some real trouble, the cops will help. Yeah, I guess you're right. How much do we owe you? See, 312 for the gas, 40 for the oil, or 352. There you go. And give us a receipt, will you? Sure, sure. 352 out of five. I'll get you changed and make out a ticket. Daddy? Yeah? Why shouldn't we give anyone a ride? Because they might hit us over the head. Oh, Fred. Well, that's what the man said. Would they, mommy? What your father means is that we might give a ride to a desperate man who would try to rob us or steal our car. Anybody would steal this car is really desperate. Fred, if we're going to explain it to her. OK, OK. Look, I'm just kidding, Annie. What the man said was there's a lot of strangers out there in the desert, and you can't always tell the good ones from the bad ones. Like we tell you, never to get in a car with a stranger? Uh-huh. Well, this is just the other way around. Don't let a stranger get into your car. Oh. Well, here we are. Let's see, 55, 75, 4, and minus five is juicy. Thanks. We're moving out here to Bonsdale. My company's paying for the trip. So I got to show them where the money goes. Oh, sure. Well, thanks for the advice. Forget it. It didn't cost me a cent. Even so, we appreciate your telling us. As far as that goes, it won't cost you a cent either. The advice? Yeah, unless you don't follow it. By the time we were five minutes out of a culper, I'd lost sight of it in my rear view mirror. Ahead of us, the desert had suddenly started to grow dark. A long black layer of clouds hung low in the distance, blotting out the late afternoon sun and turning the stretch of rim rock along the horizon into a wall of shapeless shadows. We were doing about 55. Do you mind if we put up the windows? No. Loin in pretty hard on your side. Yeah, it's starting to. Do you think it's going to rain? I hope not. That's all we'd need. Annie, put up the back windows, will you? OK, can we keep plant? Sure. Whose turn, mommy's? No, it's yours. You guessed strawberry shortcake. That was an easy one. OK, then we'll have a tough one. My father owns a grocery store and in it he sells sea. Cupcake? Nope. And a cantaloupe? No, not a cantaloupe. Give us a hint. Well, it's something to eat. Cauliflower? Uh-huh. Cabbage? No, it's not a vegetable. There's another one of those Indian hussles on the road. Yeah. You know, it's hard to believe anybody lives like that. Well, they must get some kind of help from the government. Yeah, they've got little clay balls for sale out in front. We bought you a little clay ball in Oklahoma and it's broken already. I don't want another. What do you suppose they do for food? I don't know, it beats me. I don't see any gardens or anything. Well, maybe they live on cornmeal or some kind of flour cakes. Brad, look at that old fellow sitting alongside the hut. Boy, isn't he a hard-looking customer. Oh, spooky. Hey, look, a hitchhiker. Where? Up ahead, see him? I see him. You keep your foot on the gas, Mr. Reynolds. Yes, ma'am. You think he might be a bad one, ma'am? I haven't the slightest idea. And what's more, I'll never find out. He's giving us the thumb. Can I wave to him? Oh, no, for heaven's sake, Annie. We're not trying to rub it in. Say, say, he's wearing a uniform. He's a soldier. Remember what the man in the gas station said. OK, OK. He was just a kid. Don't make me feel any worse than I already do. What's he doing way out here, Day? He's taking a long walk if everybody gives him the same treatment we did. Fred, if you're going to sulk about this. I'm not sulking, but when I was a GI, people picked me up all the time. In the desert? After they'd been warned not to? OK, OK. Who heard the man in the gas station? I didn't make this up. OK, let's forget it, huh? We drove on. Gradually, the black clouds had begun to drift south. And by now, the sun was low on the horizon. The yellow floor of the desert had turned to a dark murky gray. We'd gone about 30 miles, and I had just switched on the headlights when I saw a patling forward and stare through the windshield down the highway. Fred, look. Yeah, another one of those Indian huts. Yes, but isn't that someone standing out in front of it? Yeah, right on the highway. What is it? It looks like a child. Waving his arms about something. It's a little boy. I think it is, Fred. Yeah, a little Indian kid. He wants us to stop. Help! Fred, I think he's in some kind of trouble. Oh, he probably makes a practice of waving at cars. Don't you think we ought to find out if it's anything serious? He's trying to run after us. He's still waging. You two are really a riot. We can't pick up a soldier. He's just a little kid. He couldn't hurt us. I think we should at least try to find out what's wrong. What could be wrong? Well, it can't do any harm to back up and see. Boy, what happened to all that advice we got back in the gas station? I'm not asking you to pick him up. But if he's in trouble, maybe we can help. All right, all right. Can't win. He's coming to meet us. Any cars coming from behind? No, you're all right. Keep backing up. I still think this is a punk idea. How do we know who's inside that hut? Maybe this kid's just bait to get us to stop. I don't see anyone else around it. Yeah, that's what worries me. Mr. You, you help. Please, mother. What's wrong, son? Mother, sick. You help. Please. Where is your mother? She's sick in the hut. All day sick. You all alone in there? Yeah. You help. What do you think, honey? I don't like it. How do you know who's in there? Maybe it's old man or the club. Please, you help. Well, where's your father? Why isn't he home? My father, go away. Fred, he's just a child. I think he's telling the truth. All right, all right. I'll take a look, but I don't know what I can do. I know Dr. We'll go with you. I don't think that's a very good idea. You certainly don't want to stay out here in the car. It's getting dark. Well, OK. Come along. Take my hand, honey. You got any light in there? Have candle, please. Well, hold it up a second. I got a pocket light on my key ring. Honey, you and Annie stay right outside here by the door. All right. Light wasn't very strong the last time you used it. Let's see. It's not much, but it'll do. Go ahead, son. I'm right behind you. Follow the Indian boy across the threshold into the dark, musty interior of the hut. For a moment, I couldn't see anything. Then I made out the boy bending over the figure of someone stretched out on the floor along the back wall. What made her sick, you know? She's sick. Is everything all right? Well, whoever it is, they don't look too good. Can we come in? Yeah. There's nobody in here. She's asleep. She's not asleep or faking it. I don't know. She's breathing. Maybe she's unconscious. How long has your mother been like this? All day, all night. When was the last time she had anything to eat? Once last night. Drink water. What did she say then? She say her head running. Get the police man car. Well, Farah doesn't seem very hot now. Why didn't you stop the police car? I fell asleep last night. What about today? Every time they come by, I was in the hut with my mother. I come out too late. Fred, if she's sick, shouldn't we do something? Yeah, yeah. If she's sick, but how can we be sure? Maybe it's just an act. I don't think he's lying, Daddy. You don't, huh? We'd better let Daddy handle this, Annie. But I wouldn't lie about you being sick, Mommy. I know you wouldn't, honey. So I don't think he would either. Why not? I don't think his mommy would let him. Between us, Pat and I got the unconscious Indian woman in the car and made her comfortable. I still wasn't convinced. It could have been an act, just to get picked up. But Pat and Annie felt the boy was telling the truth, so we went ahead with it. It was almost dark when we started west again. Pat and Annie riding up front with me, the boy and his mother in the back seat. Fred, how far have we gone since we left the culprits? I don't see. It was 9.05 on the speedometer, about 36 miles. Why? I was thinking we ought to be coming to that cut-off pretty soon. So? Well, don't you think we ought to take it? The sooner we get this woman to the hospital. Look, honey, I'm not sold on this idea in the first place. It could still be a phony. And she really seems to be unconscious. Yeah, every time I look, her eyes are closed. She hasn't moved. I know. That's one of the things I don't like. What do you mean? Well, according to the boy, she's been feverish. People of the fever don't just lie there. They're fitful. They twist around. He said she hadn't eaten for almost two days. She might be so weak she hasn't got the strength to move. I suppose it's possible. Daddy? Yeah? Can I give him an orange? Sure, I guess it's all right. Maybe he'd like some of your peanuts, too, honey. Can I ask him? Sure, you'll be the hostess. Little boy? Yes. Would you like an orange? No. No. How about some peanuts? To eat? Sure, they're good. Go ahead, have some. They're good. Fred, that poor little guy's ravenous. Have all you want. I wish we had something a little more substantial to offer. Look, isn't that the turnoff up ahead? Yeah, I guess that's the one that goes south. Do you think we ought to take it? Not if you're really worried about them. Well, it isn't that so much anymore. I, the way that kid's gobbling up those peanuts, I guess he was telling the truth about not having anything to eat all day. I'm just worried about getting her to a hospital in time to help. Well, that's why I wanted to stay on the main highway. Thought we might run into one of those police patrols by now. Maybe they don't come through here as often after it gets dark. Maybe not. Why are we stopping, Daddy? Just trying to decide whether to take that shortcut up ahead. Oh, Mr. Yes? You, you worry, take my mother to doctor, please? All right, son. We'll hurry. I swung the car off the highway and started south along the narrow dirt road. The farther we went, the less I liked it. At least while we were on the main highway, there was always a chance we'd run into another car or maybe the police patrol. But here on a wagon track, 40 miles from nowhere, if it turned out you were a bad judge of character, the police might not find you for days. Honey? Hm? What time you got? About a quarter to six. Make a pretty good time. The way I figure it, we're only about 18 miles in Bernsdale. Now, don't you feel a little better that we picked them up? Yeah, I guess so. Any of sleep. Look. Really saw it off, huh? Can you see in the mirror if the boy's still awake? I can't tell, it's too dark. Son? Yes, mister? All right, just wondering if you're asleep. No. Does your mother seem to be resting all right? Yes, she's quiet. Well, it won't be long now. We'll be in Bernsdale another half hour. You take her to Dr. Mann? Sure, we'll go straight to the hospital. Would you happen to know where it is? No, no, I don't know. That's all right, we'll find it. Money for medicine? Don't you worry about that. They'll take care of her, won't they, Fred? Sure, sure. What's wrong? The motor. Oh, no. I guess OK. We're all right on gas, aren't we? Sure, sure, just started to miss, I don't know. Seems all right now. Brother. What do you think it is? I don't know, feels like something with a fuel line. Can't be the plugs, they're brand new. Great. Fred, what are we going to do? Take it easy, take it easy. Well, I'll just have to wait a second. Maybe it's just flooded. You're caught. I think it'll be all right in a minute, son. Maybe it's overheated. No, it's possible. Well, sleeping beauty. Are we there already? No, honey, we're still on the road. We're having some trouble with the motor. Because we can't go. There's something wrong with the engine. No, just lie on my arm here and daddy will fix it. Daddy will fix it. I don't know. Where are you going? Take a look under the hood. You need any help? Yeah, I need the help of a good mechanic. You happen to know one? Hi. No, you stay in the car. I'll give you two hands to work with. Well, I'll hold it in my mouth. It's so dim, you've got to be right on top of things with it anyway. Look, honey, if I've got to give you a progress report every 10 seconds, I'll never get this thing fixed. What seems to be the truth? I don't know, I just started looking. Good grief, if I... Say Pat, Pat, look. What? Way behind us, down the road, coming this way. What is it? Headlights. The approaching car must have been quite a way off when we first spotted it because we couldn't hear its engine at all. I had Pat and Annie get out on the road and the three of us stood there off to the side waiting as the car drew closer and closer. At the last minute, I reached into the front seat and turned on our parking lights so they'd be sure to see us. Should we yell, daddy? Sure, yell, wave, give them the works. Where do I tell you, though? You don't think there's any chance they might run into the car? We're off by the side. They can swing around us if they have to. They're getting closer. Yeah, okay now. When I say go, we all start yelling and waving for all your work, okay? Can you stay over close to me, Annie? Yeah. Here they come. Ready? All right, all right, ready. All right, all right, yell. Help! I told you to stay in the car. I stayed till they go by. How do you like that? They didn't even give us a second look. They didn't even slow up. I waved from road to you and you go by. What do you mean? It was the one thing I hadn't thought of. The car that passed us without even slowing up was a big flash of sedan. And I thought all sorts of things. I thought maybe we didn't look dressed up enough for them. Maybe they were a little class conscious. I thought a lot of mean things about the people in that car. But it never occurred to me they might simply be afraid. And I could see it hadn't occurred to Pat either. I wonder if they stopped and filled up their gas tank at the same place we did. Well, it's a thought. Mommy? Yes, honey. Can we get back in the car? I'm kind of cold. Oh, sure. Sure. You come along, too. What is your name? John. Yes. You come along, too, John. We've got some blankets in the trunk. We'll get you warmed up. Could my mother have a blanket? Yes, of course. Come on. Pat, I don't know what to do. Don't worry. We'll be all right. How can you fight a thing like this? We can stand by the edge of the road and wave our arms off. If they're afraid, they'll never stop. Someone will stop. The guy's like that calamity howler back in a culper telling everybody who comes through it's better to be safe than sorry. Well, he's trying to do the right thing. Trust nobody. It can't go wrong. Annie, you and Johnny get up in the front seat. We'll get the blankets out of the trunk. That's the right thing. I'm against it. Well, I guess we wouldn't be in this jam if we'd stayed on the main road. I'm sorry. You've got nothing to be sorry about. Why shouldn't we take the cut off if we want to? What's that make us criminals? On the main road, at least, we might have seen the police patrol. Oh, they're probably just as frightened and suspicious as anybody else. This is a fine situation. Really fine. Want me to hold the flashlight? Yeah. Yeah. You'd better take out all the blankets. We may have to spend the night here. Yeah. Boy, the more I think about it. Come on, now, honey. Won't do any good to get mad. Oh, I'm not mad. I was just thinking what that guy in the gas station told you when you asked him, what if you see someone who isn't real trouble? Someone whose car's broke down? I know. Don't worry about him, he said. The cops will be along. Let the cops worry about him. I know. Here, let me take some of those. It'd be a great country to live in if we decided to let everything up to the cops. Well, Freddie was just trying to tell us something for our own good. Sure, sure. The motors are always great. Except now it's us. It's not some poor little Indian kid who's probably got used to being pushed around. It's three respectable citizens whose car broke down. Now they, well, we can't get anybody to listen to us. Somebody will listen. I don't know. They've got to be pretty strong-minded. They don't have to believe they can still trust somebody. And if there are many guys around here like that bird back on the gas station, you can forget it. Fred? Say, it's another car. I didn't notice the lights. We've got our backs to them. Hanny? I'll get her out of the car. Get the little guy, too. Honey, come on, both of you. There's another car coming. Come on, come on, you too, Johnny. Are we going to wave again? That's right, and yell. Do you want them to see me? You bet I do. They're getting closer, Fred. Wait, let me turn on the headlights. All right, now let's all get out in front of the car. Let them really see us, huh? Mr. Maybe they'd be afraid if they see me. Why? You've got more right around here than any of us. Hanny, you and John come over here with me. All right, here they come. Really yelling out now. Now, now. Stay out the light now, where they can see us. Let them see we're OK. Can you give us a hand or a car broke down? What seems to be the trouble? Well, I don't know. First, I thought it was a fuel line. We've got a sick person with us, an Indian lady. We were trying to get her to the hospital. Who's that getting out of the car with her? Some guy, I don't know. It's the soldier. I wouldn't normally have stopped on this side road, but my son recognized your car. Hi. Oh, uh, how are you? He says you passed him on the highway this afternoon. Yeah, I, uh, I'm sorry, soldier. We'd been warned not to pick up anybody. Fred wanted to stop, but I talked him out of it. No, no, I was scared too. Oh, forget it. You were smart to be scared. Mom was late getting to the station of the culprits, so I just got out my thumb. Which wasn't very smart itself, Bill. I warned you about hitchhiking. Well, it'd be different if it was an emergency like these people. Well, that's the way we figured it. We saw the poor woman was actually ill. You just have to make exceptions in a case like that. I think anyone would have done the same thing. Of course. Is it the boy's mother who's sick? Yes, she's lying on the back seat. He, he flagged us down on the road just a while after we passed you. Well, what do you think's wrong with her? I don't know. Probably malnutrition more than anything else. She's pretty weak. We're trying to get her to the hospital at Barnsville and that our car broke down. Well, if you don't mind leaving your car out here overnight, we can probably get you all into town in the station wagon. Well, we'd sure appreciate it. Oh, by the way, our name's Reynolds, and this is our little daughter, Annie. How do you do, love? And this, this little boy is John. And he's a very brave boy, too. Yes. Why do you think he's brave, dear? Well, he got into our car just to help his mother because she was sick. Well, what's so brave about that? Well, because we were strangers. This is Donna Atwood again. I suppose the greatest lesson that I've learned since I first stood on a wobbly pair of ice skates at the age of 12 is practice makes perfect. You know, perfection is something that all of us try to attain in one way or another during our lifetime on Earth, whether it be in sports, in the arts, well as a matter of fact, in any sphere of life. And it is true that the only way to achieve it is through practice, sometimes long, long hours of practice. Because the home is the most important sphere of all, family theater suggests that you spend just 10 minutes of your time each day to join together as a family in daily prayer. For thus can be achieved that tremendous perfection, complete unity as a family with our Heavenly Father and with each other. So why not start the practice this evening if you have not already done so? Just 10 minutes each day, pray together as a family. And you too will discover that practice makes perfect. And the family that prays together stays together. More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. From Hollywood, Family Theater has brought you transcribed, Strangers, starring Stephen McNally. Donna Atwood was your hostess. Others in the cast were Virginia Greg, May Clark, Gayan Kelly, Richard Beals, and John Larch. The script was written and directed for Family Theater by John T. Kelly, with music composed by Harry Zimmerman. This series of Family Theater broadcasts is made possible by the thousands of you who feel the need for this type of program. By the mutual network which has responded to this need and by the hundreds of stars of stage, screen, and radio who give so unselfishly of their time and talent to appear on our Family Theater stage. To them and to you, our humble thanks. This is Tony Lafranco expressing the wish of Family Theater that the blessing of God may be upon you and your home. And inviting you to be with us next week when Family Theater will present Jeffrey Hunter is your star and Hildegard is hostess in. Beasley's boy, join us, won't you? You're invited to stay tuned now for the latest news with John Holbrook on the newspaper of the air which follows in just a few moments. This is the Mutual Broadcasting System.