"(eerie music playing)" "(theme from ( the twilight zoneplaying)" "(heartbeat)" "a city hospital, 8:00 p.m." "an unexpected visitor has just arrived bearing unwelcome tidings-- a disease so new the textbooks haven't recorded it." "this then is its first case history documented from the medical files of the twilight zone." "i'm nurse hendricks." "may i help you?" "it's my eyes." "i need to see the doctor." "get dr. peterson." "let me take a look." "no." "please. we can't help you if we don't know what's wrong." "don't touch me." "i'll show the doctor." "get me the doctor, immediately." "name?" "jean reed." "mrs. jean reed." "address?" "1705 fairmont street." "please, where's the doctor?" "i've got to see him." "dr. peterson is on his way." "take a seat." "there isn't much time." "oh... oh, god." "no... it's too late." "what's too late?" "don't you understand?" "i can't see." "i'm blind." "let me see." "come with us, please." "good morning." "man:" "can't you do something?" "hendricks:" "try the clinic." "clinic's full." "my wife hasn't been well." "i think maybe it's her heart." "we just need somebody to see her." "maybe a day or two in here." "mr. wells, without medical insurance or some guarantee of payment we cannot admit her." "i'm sorry." "it's hospital policy." "there's nothing i can do." "come on, sweetheart." "what kind of hospital is this?" "i thought you're supposed to look after sick people." "i couldn't help overhearing." "are you all right?" "i'm fine." "it's not my decision." "it's hospital policy." "people should understand that." "got it." "mrs. hendricks, mrs. reed is asking for you." "she says she has to talk to you." "she was quite insistent." "you wanted to see me, mrs. reed?" "yes. hello." "won't you sit down, please?" "i have a great deal of work to do." "i have something to tell you." "sit down, please." "mrs. hendricks, we're alike, i think." "you and i." "i don't even know you and i don't think you know me." "no, but i sense that we're alike." "we are two of a kind." "mrs. reed, shouldn't you be sleeping?" "you're changing the subject." "of course." "i know because i used to do the same thing." "it's easier, isn't it?" "prescribe a pill, suggest a nap anything to not think about a person or talk to them." "sleep is the best thing for you." "dr. freidman will be in at 9:00." "he's our chief of staff, and one of the country's finest eye specialists." "you'll feel much better after he talks to you." "i feel all right now, mrs. hendricks." "it's you i'm worried about." "that's very kind of you." "now get some rest." "i don't care what your figures show." "my phone bill is wrong." "yes." "no, it's not." "it's $50 higher than it should be." "well... computers make mistakes." "no, i don't want to hold... looks like you need a vacation, claire." "it's the way people treat you sometimes." "you want to... never mind." "what can i do for you?" "you talked to mrs. reed yesterday." "did she mention her family, her husband?" "not that i recall." "why?" "he's here." "did he come in about his wife?" "no. he didn't even know she was here." "emergency picked up the call about an hour ago." "he was calling for help." "an ambulance just brought him in." "he's gone blind, claire, without apparent cause." "it's contagious?" "he claims he's had it since last night." "if it's contagious, she got it from him." "but if she knew... knew, and left him there and came in here to save herself." "he says he begged her not to leave him." "he must have passed out." "fear, i guess." "when he came to, she was gone." "he crawled around the house until he found a phone." "that's hard to believe." "she knew exactly what was happening." "she must have seen it happen to him." "mr. reed... it's dr. peterson." "do you have any news?" "what's causing this?" "we don't know yet." "then leave me alone." "mr. reed, would you like to be in a room with your wife?" "i wouldn't share her air if it was the last oxygen on earth." "do you have any idea what it's like to wake up blind, alone, calling for someone over and over who isn't there, realizing you've been abandoned?" "i don't need to talk to her or to you or anyone till someone tells me they've found a cure." "leave me alone." "i don't care what happens to her." "don't you understand?" "i don't care." "there you are." "you both better come downstairs." "all hell's breaking loose." "(people shouting) nurse:" "stay calm." "i'll get to you." "i must see a doctornow." "i'm sorry." "others are ahead of you." "i need a doctor." "please... this is an emergency." "wait your turn." "you're the same as everybody else." "who do you think you are?" "go to the end of the line." "man:" "i can't see anything." "woman:" "wait your turn." "man:" "help me, please." "woman:" "get to the end of the line." "i can't see." "i'm right here." "it's all right." "i was at work." "i'm not sure what happened." "hendricks:" "we'll take care of you." "they're blind, claire." "they're all blind." "man:" "stoned blind, we used to call it." "blindness is not new, this is." "this growth, this ocular window shade is beyond my experience." "i was informed that the center for disease control in atlanta is on full alert and that the surgeon general has convened an emergency meeting in washington of top physicians." "delay in responding to this could cost us dearly." "agreed." "any clue to the disease's origin?" "dr. gordon's been calling atlanta on that." "he went home to shower and change." "he should be back by now." "dr. gordon came in an hour ago." "he's blind." "my god." "we've had reports of an estimated 500 cases in new york city." "los angeles is running about the same." "it seems we have an epidemic on our hands." "what about the press?" "not being very helpful, are they?" "unless we say something constructive soon, we'll have a full-blown panic on our hands." "people are scared." "there must be something we can do." "there is and we are." "the difficult part is this waiting for someone to come up with a cause." "then we can proceed." "until then all we can do is keep running tests and wait." "when did you last get some sleep?" "i don't know." "go home and rest." "consider that an order." "you too, eddie." "i need my staff alert and clearheaded." "all right, but i'll be back for my regular shift tonight." "ditto." "who is it?" "it's me." "claire hendricks." "i'm glad you've come to see me." "please, sit down." "you must be exhausted." "the others were talking about you, how hard you work." "they call you a dedicated woman." "is that what they call me?" "dedicated?" "they used to call me that, too." "i was very businesslike." "nothing bothered me." "why did you come to visit me?" "i don't know." "i was on my way home... normally you don't visit much, do you?" "the other nurses mentioned that, too." "is it because you sense it, too-- that we're two of a kind, you and i?" "i should let you get some sleep." "i know what's happening to us." "i know how it's happening and why it's happening." "would you like to hear?" "yes." "it's because we're monkeys." "remember... see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil?" "we used to be courteous." "we used to care." "we used to rise up in outrage if someone was in pain, abused, unsheltered, but now... don't you see?" "we've cut ourselves off from so much we refuse to see what's going on." "we turn a blind eye to pain." "now it's catching up with us." "now it truly is a blind eye." "that's preposterous." "is it?" "i heard your husband went blind first, and you abandoned him." "is that true?" "he'd just gotten a call his mother had died." "they weren't very close." "when he heard, it was like someone discussing the weather." "that's when he became a monkey, and i ran." "i ran to save myself." "now i'm a monkey, too." "this new growth is irritated and inflamed." "the ocular muscles are function normally, though, leading us to believe the eye itself is undamaged though hidden beneath a curtain of flesh." "there's a chance surgery can remove this without injuring the eye but we won't know for certain until we try it." "atlanta has no news on causes?" "they may have a theory but they're tight-lipped until they can confirm." "they estimate that at the present rate those afflicted could reach 100,000 by week's end." "what about quarantine?" "i can confirm it's being discussed, but that's all." "there's always a chance it may not be a disease at all but some latent mutation triggered by some change in the environment." "what's got 100 arms, 100 legs, 50 heads, and no eyes?" "the south wing of this hospital." "could i have your attention?" "i've just received a fax from washington." "at 1700 on 10 april-- only hours before the first case was discovered-- an explosion was reported at a top secret biological research lab in alaska." "it is presumed certain unstable bacteria may have been released into the atmosphere." "it is estimated that their effects could be unpredictable." "it is fairly certain the bacteria released cannot survive long... outside the laboratory." "well, i suggest we adjourn." "claire?" "hello, eddie." "thought you were leaving?" "i was, but there's no reason to go home." "jim and i have separated." "he moved out." "sorry, i didn't know." "nothing acrimonious, all very calm and sensible." "we just stopped connecting." "we led our separate lives like two strangers just sharing the same space." "no connection, no involvement, just lost in our indifference." "i came in here and started thinking about me about all of us." "she's right, eddie." "we're monkeys." "claire, you're not making any sense." "do you know, i can't remember the last time i looked a patient in the eye." "somewhere along the line i stopped treating them as individuals." "they're just numbers to me." "they don't have life stories." "they have charts." "i'm no different from you." "but you are." "you're an excellent nurse." "it's just part of the job." "isn't that a fine excuse?" "isn't that a comfortable bandage on our diminished humanity?" "the phone company overcharges us, there's nothing they can do about it." "we turn sick people away because they don't have the right insurance." "it's just part of the job." "so we lie to ourselves and cut ourselves off further and further because there's so much pain." "you were in the meeting with us." "you heard the reports from washington just as i did." "they know what the cause is now without a shadow of a doubt." "if you keep chasing this around in your head... there's something happening." "that report doesn't explain why only some people are susceptible and some aren't." "what does it say in the bible?" ""if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out."" "stop this." "you're upset." "this has all been a terrible strain on all of us." "what you need to do is go home." "get some sleep." "yes, i'm sure that will solve everything." "good night, eddie." "oh!" "god!" "oh!" "oh, my...!" "(screaming) help me." "somebody... help!" "it's okay, i'm here." "claire, it's me." "i'm blind, eddie." "i'm blind." "oh, god." "oh, god!" "dr. freidman." "ah, eddie." "good." "thank you." "dr. peterson will play guide dog for a while." "how's claire?" "she's the same." "no vision." "none at all?" "no, i'm afraid not." "mrs. reed, good." "i was hoping to see you." "dr. peterson here." "yes." "could you drop by mrs. hendricks' room maybe help cheer her up a little?" "she thinks a lot of you." "of course." "i'd be glad to." "nurse." "mrs. hendricks." "it's me, jean." "can i visit for a while?" "of course." "well, isn't that exciting?" "we're going to see again." "operation works." "20 out of 20 successful in l.a." "dr. freidman's getting his this afternoon, and i'm tomorrow." "and you?" "when are they planning to operate on you?" "they're not." "they're what?" "the operation isn't really the answer." "you said it yourself, remember?" "you're right." "that was before we knew about the bacteria... now we have an easy answer solid and uncomplicated." "but it won't last." "it will happen again and they'll think of something else." "what if we run out of solutions?" "easy answers?" "it's time to go now, mrs. reed." "wait, dr. peterson." "aren't they going to operate on mrs. hendricks?" "no." "an operation isn't the answer in her case." "how will she ever see again?" "she'll see again." "it will just take her a little longer." "enigma draped in hospital sheets in self-imposed darkness with the added sobering thought that claire hendricks is perfectly correct in her own diagnosis." "take it as a warning, a cry for humanity or a simple plea for responsibility from the dark places of the twilight zone."