The Twilight Zone: Complete Stories (67 page)

The girl put the paintbrush down and went slowly across the room to a small refrigerator. She got out a milk bottle full of water and carefully measured some into a glass. She took one swallow and felt its coolness move through her. For the past week just the simple act of drinking carried with it very special reactions. She couldn’t remember actually
feeling
water before. Before, it had simply been thirst and then alleviation; but now the mere swallow of anything cool was an experience by itself. She put the bottle back inside the refrigerator and looked briefly at the clock on the bookcase. It read “11:45.” She heard footsteps coming down the stairs outside and she walked slowly over to the door, opened it, and went out into the hall.

A little four-year-old girl stared up at her soberly, her eyes fixed on Norma’s glass of water. Norma knelt down and put the glass to the child’s lips.

“Susie!” a man’s voice cut in. “Don’t take the lady’s water.”

Norma looked up at a tall, sweat-drenched man in an unbuttoned sport shirt. “That’s all right, Mr. Schuster,” Norma said, “I have plenty.”

“Nobody has plenty,” the man said as he reached the bottom of the stairs and moved the little girl aside. “There’s no such thing as ‘plenty’ anymore.” He took the little girl’s hand and crossed the hall to knock on the opposite door. “Mrs. Bronson,” he called, ‘we’re leaving now.”

Mrs. Bronson opened the door and stepped out. She was a middle-aged woman in a thin housecoat, her face gleaming with sweat. She looked frowsy and dumpy, although Norma could recollect that she had been a petite, rather pretty woman not too long ago—much younger-looking than her years. Now her face was tired, her hair stringy and unkempt.

“Did you get gas?” Mrs. Bronson inquired in a flat, fired voice.

The tall man nodded. “I got twelve gallons. I figured that’d take us at least to Buffalo.”

“Where are you going?” Norma asked. The tall man’s wife came down the stairs. “We’re trying to get to Toronto,” she said. “Mr. Schuster has a cousin there.”

Mrs. Bronson reached down to stroke the little girl’s hair, and then wiped some of the perspiration from the tiny flushed face. “I’m not sure it’s wise—you trying to do this. The highways are packed. Bumper to bumper, the radio said. Even with the gas shortage and everything—”

Schuster cut her off. “I know that,” he said tersely, “but we gotta try anyway.” He wet his lips. “We just wanted to say good by to you, Mrs. Bronson. We’ve enjoyed living here. You’ve been real kind.” Then, somehow embarrassed, he turned quickly to his wife. “Let’s go, honey.” He picked up the single suitcase and holding his little daughter’s hand, started down the steps. His wife followed.

“Good luck,” Mrs. Bronson called down to them. “Safe trip.”

“Good-by, Mrs. Bronson,” the woman’s voice called back.

The front door opened and closed. Mrs. Bronson stared down the steps for a long moment, then turned to Norma. “And now we are two,” she said softly.

“They were the last?” Norma asked, pointing to the steps.

“The last. Building’s empty now except for you and me.”

A man, carrying a tool kit, came out of Mrs. Bronson’s apartment.

“She’s running’ again, Mrs. Bronson,” he said. “I wouldn’t sign no guarantee as to how long she’ll run—but she shouldn’t give you any trouble for a while.” He looked briefly at Norma and fingered his tool kit nervously. “Was you going to pay for this in cash?” he asked.

“I have a charge account,” Mrs. Bronson said.

The repairman was ill at ease. “Boss said I should start collecting’ in cash.” He looked a little apologetically toward Norma.

“We been working’ around the clock. Refrigerators breaking’ down every minute and a half. Everybody and his brother trying’ to make ice—then with the current been’ cut off every coupla hours, it’s tough on the machines.” With obvious effort he looked back at Mrs. Bronson. “About that bill, Mrs. Bronson—”

“How much is it?”

The repairman looked down at his tool kit; his voice was low. “I gotta charge yuh a hundred dollars.” He just shook his head disconsolately.

The quiet of Mrs. Bronson’s voice did not cover her dismay. “A hundred dollars? For fifteen minutes’ work?”

The repairman nodded miserably. “For fifteen minutes’ work. Most outfits are chargin’ double that, and even triple. It’s been that way for a month. Ever since...” He looked out the hall window toward the street. “Ever since the thing happened.”

There was an embarrassing silence and finally Mrs. Bronson took off her wedding ring. “I don’t have any money left,” she said quietly, “but this is gold. It’s worth a lot.” She held the ring out to him.

The repairman failed to meet her eyes. He made a jerky spasmodic motion that was neither acceptance nor rejection. Then he looked at the ring and shook his head. “Go ahead and charge it,” he said, keeping his face averted; “I ain’t takin’ a lady’s weddin’ ring.” He went over to the stairs. “Good-by, Mrs. Bronson. Good luck to you.” He paused at the top of the stairs.

The yellow-white sun was framed in the window above him. It was constant now, but somehow an evil thing that could no longer be ignored.

“I’m gonna try to get my family out tonight,” the repairman said, staring out the window. “Drivin’ north. Canada, if we can make it. They say it’s cooler there.” He turned to look back toward the two women. “Not that it makes much difference—just kind of... kind of prolonging it.” He smiled, but it was a twisted smile. “Like everybody rushin’ to fix their refrigerators and air conditioners...” He shook his head. “It’s nuts. It’s just prolonging it, that’s all.”

He started slowly down the steps, his big shoulders slumped. “Oh, Christ!” they heard him say as he turned at the landing and went down again. “Christ, it’s hot!” His footsteps crossed the downstairs hall.

Norma leaned against the side of the door. “What happens now?” she asked.

Mrs. Bronson shrugged. “I don’t know. I heard on the radio that they’d only turn the water on for an hour a day from now on. They said they’d announce what time.” She suddenly stared at Norma. ‘‘Aren’t you going to leave?” she blurted.

Norma shook her head. “No, I’m not going to leave.” She forced a smile, then turned and went back into her apartment, leaving the door open.

Mrs. Bronson followed her. Norma walked over to the window. The sun bathed her with its heat and with its strange, almost malevolent light. It had changed the entire city. The streets, the buildings, the stores had taken on a sickly oyster color. The air was heavy and soggy.

Norma felt perspiration rolling down her back and her legs. “I keep getting this crazy thought,” she said, “this crazy thought that I’ll wake up and none of this will have happened. I’ll wake up in a cool bed and it’ll be night outside and there’ll be a wind and there’ll be branches rustling—shadows on the sidewalk, a moon.”

She turned her face to stare directly out of the window and it was like standing in front of an open oven. The waves of heat struck at her, pushed into her flesh, poured through her pores. “And traffic noises,” she continued in a softer voice, “automobiles, garbage cans, milk bottles, voices.” She raised her hand and pulled at the cord of the venetian blind. The slats closed and the room became shadowed but the heat remained. Norma closed her eyes. “Isn’t it odd...” she said, reflectively, “isn’t it odd the things we took for granted...” There was a pause. “…
while we had them?
”

Mrs. Bronson’s hands were like two nervous little birds fluttering. “There was a scientist on the radio,” she said, forcing herself to be conversational. “I heard him this morning. He said that it would get a lot hotter. More each day. Now that we’re moving so close to the sun. And that’s why we’re…that’s why we’re...”

Her voice trailed off. She couldn’t bring herself to say the word. She didn’t want to hear it aloud. The word was “doomed.” But unspoken or not, it hung there in the still hot air.

It was just four and a half weeks ago that the earth suddenly, inexplicably changed its elliptical orbit, and began to follow a path which gradually, moment by moment, day by day~ took it closer to the sun.

Midnight became almost as hot as noon—and almost as light.

There was no more darkness, no more night. All of man’s little luxuries—the air conditioners, the refrigerators, the electric fans that stirred up the air—they were no longer luxuries. They were pitiful and panicky keys to temporary survival.

New York City was like a giant sick animal slowly mummifying, its juices boiling away. It had emptied itself of its inhabitants. They had trekked north toward Canada in a hopeless race against a sun which had already begun to overtake them. It was a world of heat. Each day the sun appeared larger and larger; and each day heat was added to heat until thermometers boiled over; and breathing talking moving came with agony. It was a world of a perpetual high noon.

It was the next afternoon, and Norma walked up the steps carrying a heavy bag of groceries. A can and some wilted carrots protruded from the top. She stopped on the landing between two floors and caught her breath. Her light cotton dress clung to her like a wet glove.

“Norma?” Mrs. Bronson’s voice called out. “Is that you, honey?”

Norma’s voice was weak and breathless. “Yes, Mrs. Bronson.”

She started up the steps again as the landlady came out of her apartment and looked at the bag in Norma’s arms. “The store was open?”

Norma half smiled. “Wide open. I think that’s the first time in my life I’ve been sorry I was born a woman. “She put the bag on the floor and pointed to it. “That’s all I was strong enough to carry. There weren’t any clerks, just a handful of people taking all they could grab.” She smiled again and picked up the bag. ‘‘At least we won’t starve—and there are three cans of fruit juice on the bottom. “

Mrs. Bronson followed her into her apartment. “Fruit juice!” She clapped her hands together like a little child, her voice excited. “Oh, Norma... could we open one now?”

Norma turned to her, smiled at her gently, and patted her cheek. “Of course we can.” She started to empty the bag while Mrs. Bronson kept opening and closing drawers in the kitchen area.

“Where is the can opener?”

Norma painted to the far drawer on the left. “In there, Mrs. Bronson.”

The landlady’s fingers trembled with excitement as she opened up the drawer, rummaged through its interior, and finally pulled out a can opener. She carried it over to Norma and abruptly grabbed a can out of the girl’s hand. And then, her hands shaking, she tried to get the point of the opener firmly into the can, breathing heavily and spasmodically as she did so. Can and opener fell from her fingers and landed on the floor. She dropped to her hands and knees, emitting a childlike wail, and then suddenly bit her lip and closed her eyes.

“Oh, my God!” she whispered. “I’m acting like some kind of an animal. Oh, Norma—I’m so sorry—”

Norma knelt beside her and picked up the can and the opener. “You’re acting like a frightened woman,” she said quietly. “You should have seen me in that store, Mrs. Bronson. Running down the aisles. I mean, running. This way and that way, knocking over things, grabbing and throwing away, then grabbing again.” She smiled and shook her head, and then got to her feet. “And at that,” she continued, “I think I was the calmest person in the store. One woman just stood in the center of the room and cried. Just cried like a baby. Kept pleading for someone to help her.” Norma shook her head again, wanting to obliterate the scene from her mind.

A small radio on the coffee table suddenly lit up and began to hum. After a while there came the voice of an announcer. It was deep and resonant, but somehow sounded strange.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” the voice said, “this is station WNYG. We are remaining on the air for one hour to bring you traffic advisories and other essential news. First, a bulletin from the Office of Civil Defense. Traffic moving north and east out of New York City—motorists are advised to remain off the highways until further notice. Traffic on the Garden State Parkway, the Merritt Parkway, and the New York State Throughway heading north is reported bumper to bumper, stretching out in some places to upwards of fifty miles. Please... remain off the highways until further notice.”