"You unlock this door with the key of imagination." "Beyond it is another dimension- a dimension of sound," "a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind." "You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas." "You've just crossed over into the twilight zone." "Oh, jeffrey, put those in the study." "All right." "Crowded downtown?" "The greatest mardi gras ever." "Least that's what they're saying." "How is he?" "Not good, not good at all." "Doctor's with him now, but he wants to be advised when the relatives arrive." "Those relatives of his." "I'm quite sure they'll make themselves known." "Well, sawbones?" "Well, it's too fast, it's too weak, and it's too uneven." "Where were you when they taught bedside manner at medical school?" "Trying out for soccer?" "Jason, i have been your physician for 25 years, and the first time i treated you for a head cold and i allowed myself one compassionate cluck, you threw a lamp at me." "That established the pattern then and there." "I have put up with your inept ministrations all these years because your candor is a refreshing departure from the modern medical norm." "I ask you a straight, simple question, i get a straight, simple response." "Sam... yes, jason, what is it?" "The oft-asked question how long?" "Oh, jason, you can't exactly say... tell me, sam, do i have a week?" "Do i have a day and a half?" "Or is there no need to wind my watch to cover the possibilities of the next four hours?" "Jason... my guess is you can measure your life in moments." "It can come at any time now." "But that fact you're still here is a tribute to..." "to inner strength most of us don't even possess." "Nonsense." "It's attributable to a cross-grained orneriness." "And the fact that there are one or two things left to do before i leave this earth." "That's why i must stay alive at least until midnight." "All right, jason, all right." "Doctor?" "Yes?" "I'll see you tomorrow." "Yes, jason, i believe you will... god willing." "Mr. Jason foster, a tired ancient who on this particular mardi gras evening will leave the earth." "But before departing, he has some things to do, some services to perform, some debts to pay and some justice to mete out." "This is new orleans, mardi gras time." "It is also the twilight zone." "Oh, what a ghastly trip." "I'm absolutely exhausted!" "Here, take this, jeffrey." "And these, too." "Yes, sir." "Jeffrey, are our rooms ready?" "Yes, ma'am, all prepared." "Oh, fine." "Thank you." "Good afternoon." "Dr. Thorn!" "How nice to see you!" "Well, emily, how are you?" "Oh... i'm bearing up, doctor, under the circumstances." "You remember my husband, wilfred?" "Oh, yes." "Hello, doctor." "We met some time ago." "And this is my son, wilfred jr." "Hi." "And my daughter, paula." "Hello." "Your father has been expecting you, emily." "I'm awfully glad you can be here." "Oh, that silly mardi gras." "Oh, really, the traffic was just unspeakable." "All the shouting, screaming, rude people." "It's a wonder father's chauffeur was ever able to get us... emily... your father is extremely ill." "In my opinion, it is only a matter of days, even hours." "Oh, how perfectly awful." "But, of course, we've been expecting it." "Haven't we?" "Oh, incidentally, doctor, i've been getting these absolutely horrible muscle spasms in my arm." "Sometimes they're just unbearable." "Perhaps you might prescribe something... emily... i'm sorry, but i have other patients to visit today." "Oh, yes, of course." "If you'll all excuse me." "Oh, doctor?" "Yes?" "I'll see you to the door." "You two take your mother upstairs." "Tell me, uh... the old boy's in bad shape, huh?" ""The old boy" is dying." "Good afternoon." "Well, father." "Father." "Oh!" "Father, you're awake." "How are you, emily?" "Oh... i'm bearing up." "Bearing up?" "You sound like job itemizing his calamities." "What's your illness this month, emily?" "It doesn't matter, father." "I'll muddle through." "You are the four most changeless people on this earth." "I don't like being ill, father, if that's what you mean." "Don't you?" "Well, i find that hard to believe... considering in the past 25 years, you've been at death's door so often, it's a wonder you haven't worn a hole in the mat." "Well!" "Father!" "And wilfred... how's business?" "Oh, making a little, losing a little, father, but i manage to keep my head above water." "You know, wilfred, i think the only book you ever read was a ledger." "I think if someone cut you open, they would find a cash register." "Oh, really, father?" "Really." "And you, paula." "Delighted to see you, grandfather." "Now, that's friendly of you to tell me that... considering that you haven't seen me yet." "All you've seen is your mirror image." "Oh, grandfather, you're very naughty, really, you are." "We've had the most miserable, long trip, and mother hasn't stopped complaining one instant." "Well!" "Do you hear that, father?" "The younger generation." ""He jests at scars that never felt a wound."" "Oh, emily, my dear." "I believe that my trouble is hardening of the arteries in a very sick heart." "But if you don't stop playing sarah bernhardt, i think i shall succumb to an intestinal disorder." "And... there's wilfred jr., looking as aware as ever." "Wilfred, dear, tell grandfather how nice it is to see him." "It's nice to see you again, grandfather." "It was very nice and gracious of you all to come see me." "Why, father dear, wild horses couldn't have kept us away, even my own agony." "Oh, i hope you survive, emily." "Now, i've planned that you all have an excellent dinner this evening, and then we're going to have a surprise." "Oh, grandfather, it's mardi gras, and i was rather hoping you'd know of some... nice young man." "But we're going to have a partyhere, paula." "We're going to have a marvelous time." "And i've arranged for all of us to... to wear masks." "What?" "Masks?" "How droll, father." "Masks!" "I swear, you people don't just celebrate the mardi gras, you succumb to it." "Masks, indeed." "That might be fun." "Oh, it shall be, junior, my boy." "It shall be." "Oh, perhaps not the same degree of excitement that you get from torturing small animals as i've seen you do in the past." "Lay off, grandfather." "Besides, that was a long time ago." "Wilfred's getting along very well in school now, father." "He made the football team." "Chip off the old block, right, son?" "Chip off the old block, grandfather." "Oh, i'm sure of it." "Now, why don't you all go and prepare for dinner?" "We're going to have a very interesting evening." "As a matter of fact, i'll guarantee it." "Anything you say, father." "Come along, darlings." "Excuse me, sir." "Your milk, mr." "Foster." "Oh, thank you, jeffrey." "Anything else i can do for you?" "Yes." "You may get the masks and put them in the study, if you will." "Yes, sir." "Oh, really." "I think this whole thing is too ridiculous." "It's the most exciting night of the whole year, and we... we sit here in this..." "this mausoleum." "The whole city of new orleans is dancing, and what do we do?" "We have a death watch for a crazy old man." "Did you have a swinging time in new orleans, baby?" "Oh, indeed." "We wore funny masks and all sat around and looked at each other." "Oh, i'm so bored." "Ah, that'll be all, jeffrey." "Thank you." "Yes, sir." "Well, tell me, my loved ones, did you have a satisfactory dinner?" "Oh, yes, yes, yes, we did, father." "Sumptuous, father." "Really excellent." "Do you think it wise to be up like this?" "Wise?" "No, no, but necessary, assuredly." "Tell me, have you examined your masks?" "Ourmasks?" "They're-they're, uh, unique, father." "They are very unique." "You know, they are made by an old cajun." ""Made" is inaccurate." "They are created." "I am told that in addition to their artistic value, they have certain, uh... certain properties." "They're worn only during the mardi gras, and there's a ritual to the wearing." "One tries to select a mask that is the antithesis of what the wearer is." "Oh, sure." "Well, that's, uh, very interesting." "Um, very interesting." "Yes, it is." "Now, shall we select our masks?" "Tell me, wilfred, how do you fancy yourself?" "Oh, uh, i don't understand, father." "Oh, come now, be candid." "When you shave in the morning, what looks back at you from the mirror?" "Really, father, i think we're a little old for parlor games... let me be the judge of that." "Now, i want an honest self-assessment." "You're serious, aren't you?" "I was never more serious." "Well, i'm an affable man." "I've always been an affable man." "Oh, you're an affable man." "Well, then, you're, uh, friendly?" "You're outgoing?" "You're, uh, extrovertish?" "I think so." "Yes, then, along with this affability, you have a certain rapport with your fellow man." "Uh, yes, indeed." "Uh-huh." "Now, the opposite of all this... amiability would be, uh... this face here." "Look at it." "Charming." "Wear it!" "Live with it a while, wilfred." "It has great subtlety, wilfred." "There's greed, avarice, cruelty... all of the character traits that you don't have." "Ah, and my dear, brave emily." "I'm really not up to this, father." "Of course you are, my dear." "You're up to anything." "Your courage dictates this brief period of sacrifice." "Now... look at this face, my dear." "The face of a self-centered coward, a gutless flab... in contrast to your intrepid valor." "Here, emily." "And the one who walks in beauty like the night." "Frankly, grandfather, i think this whole thing is a bore." "Oh, but, paula, look at that beauty, that insolent hauteur, that skin-deep vanity." "It has none of your heart, none of your selflessness." "Wear it, paula, just for a few hours." "And the timid, gentle wilfred jr." "Over there." "Ah, come on, grandfather." "Now, this would be your mask, wilfred, my boy." "It's a face of a dull, stupid clown- in contrast to your gentle refinement, your... courteous civility." "Here." "Uh... what about your mask, father?" "Oh, this is mine." "The face of death, because i'm alive, understand?" "I shall wear the thing stalking me at this moment." "Father, you don't mean... we have towear these ugly things?" "Only for a few hours." "Only till the unmasking at midnight." "Well, i won't wear mine." "Me neither." "It's stupid." "Well, father, it seems we're somewhat at odds here." "Notreally, wilfred." "You all came here for one purpose:" "To watch me go and cry "bon voyage."" "To put coins on my closed eyes and with your free hands, start grabbing things from my shelves." "Father, that's cruel." "That's truth!" "You came to reap everything i've sown, to collect everything i've built." "Well, i shall not disappoint you." "Everything is yours." "Everything is prepared." "The will is made." "The four of you inherit everything i own." "Everything." "Money, house, property holdings, stocks, bonds- everything." "Father, you're breaking our hearts." "That's the most touching thing you ever dredged up by way of conversation, wilfred." "But i must include this addendum, this small proviso." "You shall wear your masks until midnight." "If any one of you should take them off, from my estate, you shall each receive train fare back to boston, and that's it!" "Well, we won't be spoilsports." "If this is your pleasure, father, we'll indulge you." "And now, my dear ones, we will wait until midnight." "Oh... oh, this is horrible." "Oh, this is horrible, father." "I'm suffocating." "I really am suffocating!" "I've had dull times before, grandfather, but this is the worst." "This takes it." "I don't know about the rest of you, but i've had it." "I can't stand this thing on my face another minute!" "I'm taking it off!" "I don't care!" "Stop it!" "You stop it!" "I don't blame her." "I don't blame her a bit!" "This is cruel, father." "I have to agree, father." "Really, this has gone far enough." "We've been here for hours staring at these grotesque masks." "I think there is a limit." "Please, father, please let us take them off now." "Have you all had your say?" "Paula?" "Wilfred jr.?" "You, emily?" "And that captain of industry you're married to?" "Is there nothing else you have to say to me?" "Only that i'm-i'm feeling buried alive." "Me, too!" "I think you're out of your mind." "Come on, let us take them off!" "Father, i appeal to you." "It's more than just discomfort." "It's becoming unbearable." "What is it, father?" "It's, uh, what you've all been waiting for, i believe, wilfred." "Now you can dig deep in the treasury." "Are you feeling weaker, father?" "At last, a note of hope in your voice, emily." "Why must you always say miserable, cruel things to me?" "!" "I quite agree, father." "Why, indeed, emily." "Because you're cruel and miserable people." "Because none of you respond to love." "Emily responds only to what her petty hungers dictate." "Wilfred responds only to things that have weight and bulk and value." "Hefeelsbooks;" "he doesn't read them." "He appraises paintings;" "he doesn't seek out their truth or their beauty." "And paula there lives in a mirror." "The world is nothing to her but a reflection of herself." "And her brother." "Humanity to him is a small animal caught in a trap to be tormented." "His pleasure is the giving of pain, and from this, he feels the same sense of fulfillment most human beings get from a kiss or an embrace!" "You're caricatures!" "All of you." "Without your masks... you're caricatures." "And now... you're all very rich." "Now you own everything that i have owned." "You kept your bargain." "You wore the masks." "Enjoy yourselves, dear ones." "I've lived a full life." "May god pity you." "He's dead." "At long last, he's dead." "Good." "Now, let's celebrate!" "Wha... what's the matter?" "What's the matter with you all?" "Oh!" "Oh... oh... oh." "I called you just as soon as i found out, doctor." "This must be death." "No horror, no fear." "Nothing but peace." "Mardi gras incident." "Thedramatis personae being four people who came to celebrate and, in a sense, let themselves go." "This they did with a vengeance." "They now wear the faces of all that was inside them, and they'll wear them for the rest of their lives- said lives now to be spent in shadow." "Tonight's tale of men, the macabre and masks on the twilight zone."