"Good to see you back, Jeff." "Town looks great." "80% better than Korea, I'll bet." "100%." "No medals?" "They ran out of them." "Take it away!" "Take it easy." "(BELL RINGING)" "(BRAKES SCREECHING)" "Hi, Jeff." "Hi!" "How's the soldier?" "Fine." "How come they didn't make you a general?" "They'll make me a general next time." "YARD DISPATCHER ON PA:" "Pick up the string of box cars on RIP One." "set them in on the wash track." "Pick up the string of box cars on RIP One." "set them in on the wash track." "Heard you were checking in." "John Statton." "Call diesel maintenance." "John Statton." "Call diesel maintenance." "How are you, Mr. Thurston?" "Good morning, Mr. Warren." "Been away three years, and all he says is "Good morning."" "Three years and 43 days, Mr. Warren." "Welcome home." "Feel a draft?" "Oh, the old man ain't so bad." "Oh, I almost forgot." "You're taking the 83 into Kentville tomorrow morning." "Well, ain't that Foley's route?" "He's down with bursitis." "What do I do?" "Lay over?" "Well, you can deadhead back on Number Four." "How do you like that?" "First day back and I get stuck on relief." "Well, that's railroading." "Where you staying?" "At a hotel?" "No, Alec's." "The food's better at his place." "See you later." "Yeah, so long." "YARD DISPATCHER ON PA:" "Carl Buckley." "Check with the yardmaster." "Carl Buckley." "Check with the yardmaster." "Hi, Alec." "You remember Carl Buckley." "Sure, Carl was with me the night of the big slide up the pass." "Remember?" "Remember?" "It was 30 below." "Yeah, Carl's done all right for himself since you've been away." "Assistant yardmaster." "Congratulations." "Thanks." "I've been lucky." "Carl Buckley." "Check with the yardmaster." "Carl Buckley." "Check with the yardmaster." "Thurston still on your tail?" "Every time something happens around this yard, he chews me out first." "Last week we were working double shifts." "That's how heavy the load's been." "I'd get home nights, my wife would hardly recognize me." "Carl Buckley." "Report immediately to yardmaster's office." "All right, I'm coming." "I'd better go before he blows out his liver." "Got himself a wife, huh?" "Yes, sir." "He sure did." "(HAMMERING)" "Just try it." "(LAUGHING) Ah, don't ruin your bread and butter." "JEFF:" "Whenever you want to get rid of that big ape, I'm available." "Jeff!" "Oh!" "(SOBBING)" "Well, what are you bawling about?" "Oh, shut up!" "I can cry once in a while." "I..." "I fixed up your old room." "(DOOR CLOSING)" "ELLEN:" "Is anybody home?" "Jeff!" "I don't believe it." "Where are the pigtails?" "Gone." "And the freckles?" "Scrubbed away." "Three years." "Oh, they grow up too fast." "It wasn't fast for me." "It was real slow." "Last year I couldn't keep up with her." "One night she was out on a date, and the next she was home playing with her dolls." "Ma, you..." "(ALL LAUGHING)" "Is Jeff going to be staying with us again?" "Yeah, if she doesn't raise the rent on me." "Hmm?" "Wonderful." "Come on." "I'll show you the way." "Now, I remember the way." "Is it still permitted?" "What?" "Kissing her." "Why don't you ask me?" "Come on." "I'll be the bellhop." "Don't expect a tip." "Oh!" "I'll have a million questions to ask you." "I know you want to get settled first, but..." "I was settled as soon as I saw this house again." "Oh!" "(GRUNTING) There." "Now you're home." "I brought you something from Tokyo." "Oh, what is it?" "Hang on." "Well, hurry up." "No, that's not it." "(LAUGHING) What is it?" "You've got me all excited." "Wait a minute." "There!" "Oh!" "Oh!" "Jeff!" "Oh, it's lovely." "Shall I try it on?" "Well, that's what I bought it for." "Oh!" "Were the girls pretty in Tokyo?" "Yep." "Did you date any, uh, beautiful Japanese girls?" "Well, the officers got a hold of most of the beautiful ones before I got there." "Poor Jeff." "Mmm." "What are you going to do now that you're back home?" "All the time I was overseas," "I figured that if ever I got back to running an engine again," "I'd be the happiest guy in the world." "Nothing but a lot of fishing, trains, and for excitement, a big night at the movies." "Didn't you leave something out?" "What?" "A girl." "Oh." "The right girl for the night at the movies." "Do you know one?" "I think so." "I think she'd be exactly right for you." "I'll introduce her to you one of these days." "Isn't that what soldiers want the most?" "Uh-huh." "That or a good steak." "(LAUGHS) Well, I can fix that up for you, too." "(JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING ON RADIO)" "CARL:" "Vicki?" "I'm in the bedroom, Carl." "You're home early." "Yeah, I'm kind of early." "Did you have a good day, baby?" "I took a walk, bought some stockings on sale." "Look at them." "Anything wrong, Carl?" "I tangled with Thurston today." "They brought 10 cars of perishables in on Number One." "Somebody forgot to unload them and the whole shipment spoiled." "He started to chew me out, and well..." "Well, I blew up." "Well, good for you." "It's about time." "He fired me, Vicki." "Fired you?" "I just couldn't take any more of it." "He's been trying to lower the boom on me for years." "One mistake and I'm out." "Afraid I'm going to get his job or something." "Maybe you can talk him out of it." "I tried that." "I went back in to see him." "It was no soap." "I even went to Hurley." "He said he couldn't do anything for me." "Don't take it to heart, honey." "You can get another job." "What other job?" "All I know is railroading." "I'm tired of this town, anyway." "We've always wanted to go east." "Well, this is our chance." "For what?" "(TURNS RADIO OFF)" "In five years I would have got a pension." "There's nothing to worry about." "I worked before we got married." "I can work again." "Wait a minute." "I don't want my wife working." "I didn't marry you so you could take care of me." "Vicki," "I've been thinking." "What about this fella, Owens?" "Do you think you could put in a good word for me?" "Mr. Owens?" "Why Mr. Owens?" "He's a big shipper." "He does a lot of business with the railroad." "Your mother used to work for him." "She was his cook or something, you said." "She was his housekeeper." "Well, I thought you could talk to him." "I need somebody important to help me." "I just can't walk into his office and..." "And start asking for favors." "Why not?" "Big men like him are used to having favors asked of them." "You said, once, he liked you." "If Owens puts in a word, why..." "Why they'd listen." "All right, I know I should have been smarter with Thurston, but, well, you know me." "One thing I can't stand is a guy trying to put something over on me." "Look, baby, call Owens." "Tell him we'll come to the city tomorrow, and that you want to talk to him for a couple of minutes." "I'd rather not, Carl." "Why not?" "What's wrong with a wife trying to help her husband?" "Come on, baby, what do you say?" "All right." "Forget it." "Are you sure you want me to call him?" "I wouldn't ask you if I wasn't in real trouble." "I got nobody else to turn to." "All right." "I'll call him." "Long distance, please." "All aboard." "(BELL RINGING)" "(HORN BLOWING)" "Vicki, you'll be sure and tell Mr. Owens exactly what happened." "In the yard, I mean." "I want him to know it wasn't my fault, that Thurston had it in for me." "You'll remember, won't you?" "I'll remember." "Maybe I ought to go to Mr. Owens' office with you, and explain to him exactly..." "I can explain anything to him that needs explaining." "(SIGHING) All right." "Say, did you call Jean?" "Yeah, she said we can use her apartment." "You can wait there for me." "Oh, fine." "(HORN BLOWING)" "(BELL RINGING)" "(BRAKES SCREECHING)" "(RINGING STOPS)" "(CHATTERING)" "Why, Mrs. Buckley." "We haven't seen you in some time." "Is Mr. Owens in?" "He's expecting you." "Mrs. Buckley is here, Mr. Owens." "OWENS:" "Send her in." "Go right in." "How are you, Vicki?" "Well!" "You've put on a little weight since you got married." "(CHUCKLES)" "Now, tell me, what's on your mind?" "All the trouble I go to just to look passable." "Zip me up, will you, Carl?" "You dames, you spend more time getting dressed..." "Have to." "It's much better to have good looks than brains, because most of the men I know can see much better than they can think." "I wonder what's keeping Vicki." "She has no sense of time, you know that." "She was the same way when we lived together." "It's 6:30 already." "If you're married, that's late, and if you're single, it's early." "Well, how do I look?" "Fine." "Fine." "Say, are you still running around with that Harry what's-his-name?" "He went and married somebody else." "(LAUGHS) And since he took that attitude," "I didn't want to have anything more to do with him." "So I found another guy, a real doll." "The only trouble is, I'm much younger than he is." "But it all evens up." "He's got more money." "Tell Vicki I couldn't wait." "And be sure and lock up before you leave." "Okay, okay." "And stop worrying, Carl." "All women are alike." "They just got different faces so that the men can tell them apart." "She'll show up." "See you." "(DOOR OPENING)" "I was worried." "I thought something happened to you." "Nothing ever happens to me, darling." "You know that." "Did you think I was lost?" "I didn't know what to think." "Say, what happened?" "What about my job?" "You got your job back." "Mr. Owens called Rogers, the superintendent, and everything's taken care of." "Does that make you happier?" "I knew you could fix it, Vicki." "I caught Mr. Owens just in time." "He was taking the train for Chicago tonight." "Come here." "Oh." "Don't, Carl." "I'm hot and tired." "I..." "I'm going to take a shower." "You know, I'd like to see Thurston's face when he hears the news." "He's going to burn." "Honey, next time, try to get along with him, will you?" "Yeah, sure." "Pretty soon I'll have his job." "You haven't said anything about getting your job back." "Aren't you happy?" "Sure I'm happy." "Vicki, you were gone five hours." "You can't just barge in on a man as busy as John Owens." "He had a lot of appointments and, well, then he had trouble getting in touch with Rogers." "I telephoned Owens' office and you weren't there." "When?" "About 3:30." "We went out for a drink." "Where'd you go?" "Some bar." "You should have telephoned me." "You..." "You knew I was anxious." "There was nothing to be anxious about." "I told you Owens would do it for you." "You told me?" "I thought you said he didn't like doing favors." "What are we arguing about?" "You wanted your job back, didn't you?" "Well, you have it." "I couldn't just ask him and run." "That bar, what was the name of it?" "Some bar downtown." "I don't know the name." "And you just sat there for three hours talking?" "Yes." "This Owens must have a lot of time to waste." "He's got a big office and he can take off in the middle of the day for three hours." "What did you find so important to talk about?" "Old times." "Old times, for three hours, huh?" "I didn't keep track of the time." "I was trying to get you your job back." "And he was glad to help you." "Did you thank him?" "Of course." "How?" "Exactly what does that mean?" "What has he got, a private apartment he can drop into for a drink?" "Is that the bar you went to?" "Of course." "And we had champagne, buckets of champagne." "And he has a bear rug in front of the fireplace, and we toasted marshmallows all afternoon." "Now, will you stop being so stupid and let me take my shower?" "Sorry I'm so jealous, Vicki." "It's just that I love you so much." "Oh, don't paw at me." "I'm sick of it, from all of you." ""All"?" "What went on this afternoon?" "He was glad to help me, huh?" "Now I see why." "(SCREAMS)" "I've got the whole picture now." "He's rich, he's got a big estate." "I got his leftovers, didn't I?" "I got what he didn't want, didn't I?" "It went on after we were married, didn't it?" "No!" "No!" "I haven't seen him." "I wouldn't have seen him today if you hadn't made me." "(WHIMPERS)" "You've been making a fool out of me, both of you." "He palmed you off on me, didn't he?" "Admit it." "Admit it or I'll kill you." "It's true, it's true." "Don't hit me again." "(SOBBING)" "Get up." "Get up." "(EXCLAIMING)" "You said Owens was going to Chicago tonight." "Oh, Carl, please." "Here, write what I tell you to write." "Go ahead." "What do you call him?" ""Sweetheart"?" ""Lover"?" "(SOBBING) Carl." "Write." "John Owens!" "Message for Mr. John Owens!" "MESSENGER:" "Mr. Owens!" "John Owens!" "Over here, boy." "Hey, Russ!" "Yeah?" "You got any room for a free passenger?" "Sure, we're riding light." "Track One, please." "I'll let you know what space I can give you." "Yeah." "(KNOCKING ON DOOR)" "Come on." "Go on!" "That was Warren, one of our engineers." "Did he see you?" "I don't know." "(DOOR OPENING)" "He's gone." "Warren might still be there." "I can't go past him like this." "Get him out of the vestibule." "How?" "What can I say to him?" "I don't care." "Just get him out of there." "And don't get any foolish ideas in your head, Vicki." "Remember that letter you wrote." "Go on." "Could you tell me where the Club Car is?" "Up ahead, about three cars." "Thanks very much." "I thought it might be nice to have a drink." "Yeah." "Yeah, I could use one myself." "Do you mind if I join you?" "Not at all." "Oh!" "What's the matter, you got something in your eye?" "Don't rub it that way." "Let's take a look, huh?" "No, I don't see a thing." "I guess it's out." "Thanks for the surgery." "Uh, say, I just remembered, the Club Car's closed by this time." "We could sit down someplace and have a smoke, if you like." "How about it?" "I'd like to." "How about in there?" "This isn't yours, is it?" "(LAUGHING) Mine?" "Uh-uh." "Now, you see?" "No luggage, no comic books." "Thanks." "I'll leave the door open, just in case, huh?" "In case what?" "In case one of us gets nervous." "Do I look nervous?" "Yeah, just a little bit." "It's all right, though." "It's very becoming." "I had a headache, couldn't sleep." "Well, there's more to life than sleeping, you know?" "(LAUGHS)" "Took that turn curve kind of fast, huh?" "Well, the engineer's a friend of mine, he..." "(BELL RINGING)" "Hello, Warren." "I didn't know you were making this run." "Oh, honey, this is Jeff Warren, one of our engineers." "You've met my wife?" "How do you do, Mr. Warren?" "Mrs. Buckley." "See you later." "They must have found him by now." "Now or later, what difference does it make?" "Why'd you take that money from him?" "They'll think it was a robbery." "Sure carried a bankroll, didn't he?" "Don't bother to look." "It's not there." "Burn it, Carl." "Please." "You'd like that, wouldn't you?" "We're going to go on like Owens never existed." "Better maybe." "How, Carl?" "Owens was an accident." "An accident I took care of." "That's all." "If you don't burn that letter, it means the end of everything." "No." "This letter is going to keep us together." "There's not going to be anybody else, Vicki." "There's nobody else." "Jeff?" "(DOOR OPENING)" "Yeah?" "Honorable sir, breakfast ready." "So am I. That's quite an outfit." "Who gave it to you?" "A fella." "Well, you look like a quiet afternoon at the Teahouse of the Rising Moon." "Eggs, Jeff?" "No, just coffee, Vera." "I had breakfast on the train." "Come on." "Where's Alec?" "Down at the yards." "Uh, fix the toast, Madame Butterfly." "Did you do anything in the city?" "Oh, nothing exciting." "Do you know Carl Buckley's wife?" "Vicki?" "Oh, is that her name?" "She's pretty." "Did you meet her?" "Yeah, I saw them at the depot this morning." "She used to work at the station in the city, the magazine stand." "That's where Carl met her." "A little young to be married to Buckley, isn't she?" "Does that matter if she's young?" "No, I guess not." "They get along all right?" "If they don't, she hides it pretty well." "You up?" "I was going to wake you." "Didn't you come in on Number Four?" "Yeah." "Why?" "They had some trouble on it." "Scratch my back, will you?" "Found somebody this morning up at Rainbow Gap, murdered." "Just came in over the wires." "Don't stop scratching, over a little further." "Murdered?" "Yeah, knifed in a drawing room." "There, that's it, right there." "(SIGHS)" "Porter found him."