 tired of the everyday grind ever dream of a life of romantic adventure want to get away from it all we offer you escape escape design to free you from the four walls of today for a half hour of high adventure you are in a farmhouse on the southern coast of England the autumn countryside around you desolate and bleak and you know that in the dusk outside waiting patiently for you silently watching for you is an enemy from whom there may be no escape listen now as escape brings you Daphne de Marier story the birds on December the third the wind changed overnight and it was winter until then the autumn had been mellow soft the earth was rich where the plow had turned it I didn't do the plowing no my wartime disability had seemed to that they gave me mostly the lighter repair jobs to do in the three days a week that I worked at the farm a bank to build up for a gate to mend at the far end of the peninsula where the seas surrounded the farmland on either side Deborah I had taken a cottage up here to try again for the sake of the children and it seemed to be working fairly well I enjoyed my work on the farm it was pleasant to pause at midday to eat the lunch that Debbie prepared and brought to me we'd sit there on the cliff while I ate and we'd watch the birds many of them that yes well the autumn is better than spring for watching them oh my oh well in the spring they're content they're full of purpose they know where they're going there's no delay but then in autumn it's different the birds that don't my great seem to follow a pattern of their own pattern great fluxes and here on the peninsula restless uneasy wheeling circling coming to rest and flying again the lamb birds and the girls down there in the bay strange sort of rhythm in their movements they don't really go anywhere doesn't seem to be any purpose to it no well if there is we don't see it restlessness and they're more restless this year than usual it seems to me you know this morning two girls flew so close they knocked off my cap just like yesterday when the school bus later off there was quite a few of them overhead as if they'd been following oh well I suppose it means a hard winter they always seem to know perhaps a message comes to them in autumn a warning about winter and about death many of them will die and I think they know it perhaps they feel they have to spill their motion out before they die like people who know their time is up and run about stupidly driving themselves I wish you wouldn't talk like that Nat that that black side of you that stayed up the trouble between us before I'm sorry Debbie but it's come over me lately as I've watched them the land birds mingling with the sea birds in a sort of strange unnatural partnership land and see life and death that night it turned colder at the wind strengthened around two in the morning the sound of it beating against the house woke me up I lay there with this slow even breathing of Debbie beside me and I thought of Jill and Johnny in the room across the hall we seemed safe secure and then I heard it a tatting on the window first I thought it was a loose shutter and then I realized it wasn't I got out of bed and to the window open but something brushed against my hand and jet my knuckles and it was gone over the roof and the cottage it's all right Debbie it was a bird I don't know what kind bird hmm wind must have driven it against the window so my hands wet it's blood a little blood must have been frightened and stabbed at me in the dark well for the window see to it it's rattling I've already seen to it it's some bird trying to get in send them away I can't sleep with that noise all right all right off with you that's why you live up stay away from my face get out get away did you see that half a dozen this time they went for me tried to peck my eyes I'm not making it up to me but it's Jill go see what's the matter right coming Jill where's Johnny quick get the children out of here the door quick I pushed them out of the room and now I was alone with the seems to blanket my use as a weapon sweeping it right left I could hear the bodies but they kept coming at me they're jumping my hands my head trying for my eyes with beaks as sharp as pointed forks night wrap the blanket around my head beat up out with my bare hands blindly I don't know how long I fought them finally beating of wings lessened and then I still unwrapped the blanket from my face the cold gray dawn had seeped into the room the floor was littered with the tiny corpses the birds robins finches sparrows larks some had lost feathers in the fight the others had blood my blood on their beaks second I went to the window the fierce sea broke harshly in the day but there was not a bird in sight not a sparrow chattered in the hedge no early thrush or blackbird pecked on the grass for worms there was no sound at all but the east wind and the sea mad I'm all right Debbie I didn't know but some of it's the best look on the floor so many of them here 50 I counted them come on I'll clean the room later when I have more stomach for it the children all right yes I put gel to work making tea Johnny's in our bed just now asleep not why the birds well it must be the weather the sudden change confuse them it has to be that the cheese ready mommy oh good did you drive away the birds yes they're all gone now do you hope they won't come again perhaps if we put breadcrumbs for them outside the window they leave that and fly away I've already had breakfast I better hurry I'll be late for the school bus bus oh I'll walk with you to the road yes I think that'd be a good idea I'll go get my coat and look I didn't want to walk alone that they they wouldn't come back again I'll go over to the farm and find out if they heard anything during the night they keep all the windows and doors closed they'll be just to be on the safe side with the mystery around mrs. Trigg can you tell me where this cold is coming from Russia I've never seen such a change and it's going on the wireless says something to do with the Arctic Circle are we didn't turn on the wireless this morning and back tears we had trouble in the night all kiddies poorly no not exactly no we we had some trouble with birds I why it sounds absurd but they flew in the window and attacked us attach now mr. I'm not making it up mrs. Trigg there are 50 dead birds on the floor of the children's bedroom foreign birds no no the kind you see about here every day really well you ought to write up and ask the Manchester Guardian they never not the third it morning Hawkins mr. Hawkins been telling about some birds last night they he says the attack you sure quite heard of a thing like that before hungry maybe looking for food you put out some crumbs yes course I'll be up tomorrow as usual good morning ordinary birds intact him now what does he take us for coming around with a story like that strange one he is with those superior airs you see the look he gave us when we didn't swallow his story attacked him I think he reads too many of those books that did you find out anything at the farm no the Triggs brilliant advice was to put out some crumbs Debbie I looked all around this morning there's not a single bird in sight outdoors quick they've gone I don't know Triggs had no trouble last night not only that they clearly thought I was imagining it oh I heard trig mutter something about my superior airs and reading too many books as I walked away nothing's real to those clubs until it hits them over the head well nice enough people net just that they're isolated up here but that's certainly the polite word for it I haven't been able to face going to the children's room the birds oh yes I'll go and clean it up I suppose the least I can do is give the little beggars a decent burial I dropped the dead birds into a sack went down to the beach to bury them the wind was bitter cold I dug a pit in the sand with my heel and started to empty the sack into it but the wind caught the birds and whirled them along the shore there was something ugly in the site that the tide would take them when it turned I looked out at the crested breakers and I saw them but gulls out there riding the seas thousands tens of thousands they rose and fell in the trough of the sea like a mighty fleet at anchor waiting for the turn of the tide waiting they stretched as far as my eye could reach they covered the sea I started up the steep pile poem almost running someone should know what this someone should be told but who and then as I opened the front door I saw a daddy decide the wildest list and he's thought that the Arctic air stream is causing the birds to migrate south in immense numbers and that intense hunger may drive them to attack human beings our soldiers are warned to see to their windows doors and chimneys and to take all precautions for the safety of their children further bulletins will be issued later they've been repeating it every few minutes since you left well perhaps now those empty-headed idiots at the farm will know that you sound almost glad don't talk rock Debbie it's just that when people with half a brain try to tell me forget that superior attitude of yours even now don't choose that word superior to me I'm sick of it so I'm I'm sorry deep things made me a little nervy I guess yes I I'm sorry too much Nat one of the bulletin said the birds seem to be waiting for what I don't know they said the birds are hungry you know the hammer again to get some boards and see to the doors and windows as they tell you to think they could break in with the windows shut the sparrows and robins and how could they I wasn't thinking about the smaller birds I was thinking about the gulls have you ever been close enough to get a good look at a gulls beak there must be a hundred thousand of them out there riding the sea waiting the rest of the morning I worked upstairs boarding the bedroom windows and I wondered whether they'd take these precautions up at the farm I doubted it it might have been a big joke to the Triggs but according to the wireless it was no joke at first some of the bulletins had been light in turn but as the morning wore on the concern in the announcers voice became more and more apparent after I finished upstairs I took the rest of the lumber down boarded up the lower floor windows what they ought to do is call the army out and shoot the birds that would soon scare them off baby how are we off for food now that whatever next I never mind what have you got in the lard shopping day tomorrow you know that I don't keep uncooked food hanging about it goes off but I can put some things in tomorrow tomorrow it's only three in the afternoon and it's almost dark I guess this guy looks so heavy Matt what's the matter you've gone quite wide look the tides turned the gulls they've risen circling over the sea not a sound from I'm going for Jill I'll wait for at the bus stop you keep Johnny inside and keep the door shut outside I looked for a weapon that a hole was all I could find and I went to the top of the hill and waited surf was booming below and a smudge rose behind the clay hills in the distance it widened divided and spread north east south west it was a vast cloud of birds passed close by heading inland upcountry they had no business with the people here on the peninsula rocks crows jackdaws magpies birds that usually preyed upon the smaller species but this afternoon they were bound on some other mission they've been given the towns I thought they know what they have to do we don't matter so much here the gulls will serve for us the others go to the towns the final of the bus came when Jill got up I took it by the hand oh I just bought it along come along now darling let's go home it's cold no hanging about I want to play a bit in the rain not tonight now come on no dawdling look over there look at the girls they're flying in from the sea it's so quiet yes sir do hurry darling where are they flying to oh upcountry I dare say well where it's warmer don't go so fast I can't keep up hurry circling it looks like they're waiting for something for a signal in order nothing come on there faster wait wait there's trig in his two-seater so we're in for some fun hocking have you heard the news everyone's gone bird crazy talking of nothing else I'm going to take a crack at them with my gun could you run Jill home first oh yes of course not room for you too I'm afraid that's all I just get Jill home get in Jill dear you like to come shooting with me no thanks have you boarded your windows no a lot of nonsense they like to scare you on the wireless I'd board them if I were you oh go on you're windy well see you in the morning give you a girl breakfast I watched trig drive Jill toward the cottage and then I followed on foot the sounds made me look up the girls were approaching the order had been given and the farm was their target the black backed gulls were leading and they were bigger birds gannets turns and suddenly one of them throw that missed rose to drive again and then came the other six seven dozen I dropped the hoe covered my head with my arms and ran towards the cottage they kept coming after from the air with beating wings each stab of a swooping dick to all my flesh I had to keep them from my eyes through each dive it became colder and they had no thought for themselves when they missed they crashed bruised and broken on the ground and as I ran I stopped kicking the spent bodies in front of me another aim got better closer to my eyes closer and then I reached the door of the cottage let me in let me in and then above me I saw the gannet poised against the sky for his dive the gulls drew back only the huge gannet the wings folded suddenly to its body and it dropped like a stone at me the door opened up I spun myself in what's load what was that a gannet he'd have split my skull better now yes thanks you're quite the wonderous are the children in the other room I didn't want them to see you that way no your hands are the worst I'll be all right we'd better all sleep here in the kitchen tonight I'll bring down the mattresses all right I'll pick something tasty for supper and wasn't prepared wait that sound what is it the birds crowding against the outside of the house they're trying to find a way in that don't they they can't get in I tell you they cannot get in the boards will hold for how long how long stop it here I'll turn on the wireless I'll round them out here that's better yes anything so I can't hear that whole it's only the food that worries me Debbie now I've noticed that the birds come in with the tide but the tide will go out about nine tonight and we should have a lull of about six hours I could slip out during that time and go to the farm see if they can give us something here's London a national emergency was proclaimed at four o'clock this afternoon measures are being taken to safeguard the lives and property of the population but it must be understood that these are not easy to affect immediately due to the unforeseen and unparalleled nature of the present crisis it is absolutely imperative that everyone remain indoors until further notice the birds in vast numbers are attacking everything in sight the population is asked to remain calm and not to panic there will be no further transmission from any broadcasting station until seven a.m. tomorrow it likes this all over then all over ready no matter supper let's let's forget it let's all just try to get some sleep and that back again but what time is it the ties come in again there's been a clear smell the last few minutes rather like burned feathers what burned feathers the chimney I forgot to keep the fire up and coming on the chimney no where's the oil on the shelf get the out of squeezing through the chimney stand back before the oil on the coast never get them get me paper wood anything it'll burn hurry their charred bodies get dropping down the chimney I raked them to one side but more came I threw on the rest of the oil without papers on it kindling anything the flames roared higher more bodies the stench was unbearable I kept at it finally they gave up and I went over to the basin I was sick around nine in the morning the rustling ceased I opened the door a crack crushed birds were deep about the house but there was not a living bird in sight the tide had gone out now was my chance to get food and fuel I ran all the way to the farm there was no smoke from the chimney I came around the corner of the house and stopped in the doorway almost covered with dead birds were mr and mrs trig what was left of them beside him was his gun beside her a broken umbrella I loaded the two-seater with all the food I could find enough for perhaps three days and drove back to the cottage I told Debbie the Triggs didn't need their car for a while and had told me to take it she said nothing and towards nightfall the birds came back again we sat by the fire and listened to the rustle as they crowded against the house but this time there was a new sound they brought up their heavier forces against us the birds with larger beaks I could hear the sound of tiny bits of wood being torn away the states of the tide turn then they leave then they'll come back again they'll keep coming back and that yes the Triggs they're dead aren't they yes they're all alone it's strange get closer to them than I'd ever that it should take something I'd best to bring it Debbie you you may be interested to know that right now I do not feel very superior I don't know Debbie I do not know I listen to the sound of the spindling wood and I wondered how many million years of memory were stored in those little brains behind the stabbing beaks the piercing eyes now giving them this instinct to destroy mankind with all the depth precision of machines I switched on the wireless was dead I reached for the cigarettes there was only one left in the packet I lit it I threw the empty packet on the fire and watched it burn under the direction of Norman Mcdonnell escape has brought you the birds by Daphne de Moirier specially adapted for radio by Robert Wright starring Ben Wright with Virginia Greg featured in the cast were John Daner and Morrison and Whitfield and John Doddsworth your announcer George Walsh the special music for escape is composed and conducted by Leith Stevens if you like your thrills to be real your adventure to be true to life gangbusters is the show for you now every Monday night most of these same CBS radio stations bring you the drama that names names places and dates in the nation's battle against crime state you now for night watch which follows immediately over most of these same stations where there's gun smoke there's western adventure Monday nights on the CBS radio network stay tuned for night watch Herman Hickman isn't the only exciting personality you'll want to hear right here at the stars address of course where sports are concerned the famous former football coach at Yale in one time all-american player is a natural and he's well worth listening for any Monday through Friday evening at 6 30 but when you're in the mood for musical entertainment as you're likely to be any Monday through Friday morning at 9 30 Joan Edwards is the person to hear the melody she sings her plays each weekday morning or a sunny as her disposition and her friendly personality only adds to the pleasure of listening to the Joan Edwards show Monday morning at 9 30 and every Monday through Friday morning at that time remember to tune in on happiness on our lighthearted