Chris: (on the phone) You said Billy gave you life, Mom. At his third birthday party, you picked him up and hugged him and said he gave you life. He's only five years old, Mom. He doesn't know anything about school, or girlfriends, or wearing long pants. You said he gave you life, if you love him, give him back.
Billy: (on the phone) Hurray for Peter Pan! That was a great story Grandma. Can I have a chocolate ice cream bar? Sylvia: Billy, who're you talking to? (takes the phone from him and listens) Billy: You broke my phone! (runs out) Sylvia: Chris! Chris: (running in) What is it? Sylvia: It was her! I heard her breathing!
Shirley: This is Mr. Peterson. Mr. Peterson: I've been sitting here shaking for 20 minutes because of what happened with your son. Chris: Well what did happen with Billy? Mr. Peterson: He ran out in front of my car, it's a good thing I'm a careful driver. You should talk to him about playing out in the street. Chris: Billy never plays out in the street. Shirley: He never played out in the street, that's why I didn't think anything of it when he went out to play. Mr. Peterson: When I asked him why he would do a thing like that, run out into busy traffic in front of an oncoming car, he said because somebody told him to do it. Shirley: I would never tell Billy to do anything like that, I swear. Chris: Who has he talked to this afternoon? Shirley: Nobody, he's been up in his room all day playing on that toy telephone.
Billy: (on the phone) Is it cold where you are? Can I come visit? Sylvia: Who're you talking to, Billy? Billy: Grandma, she wants me to come where she is. Can I go?
Grandma: Who are you? Chris: It's me, Chris, your son. Grandma: No, I have no son. My son was taken away from me by another lady. (to Billy) You are my son now.
(Closing Narration)
Narrator: A toy telephone, an act of faith, a set of improbable circumstances, all combine to probe a mystery, to fathom a depth, to send a facet of light into a dark after-region, to be believed or disbelieved depending on your frame of reference. A fact or a fantasy, a substance or a shadow, but all of it very much a part of the Twilight Zone.
(Opening Narration)
Narrator: As must be obvious, this is a house hovered over by Mr. Death, that omnipresent player to the third and final act of every life. And it's been said, and probably rightfully so, that what follows this life is one of the unfathomable mysteries, an area of darkness which we the living reserve for the dead - or so it is said. For in a moment, a child will try to cross that bridge which separates light and shadow, and of course he must take the only known route, that indistinct highway through the region we call the Twilight Zone.
This episode marked the first of three TZ appearances for Bill Mumy. He would return in "It's a Good Life" and "In Praise of Pip."
Included on volume 5 of Image-Entertainment's DVD collection.
This is one of six episodes originally shot on videotape, then transferred to sixteen-millimeter film for broadcast. This was done as a cost-cutting measure.
S 5 : Ep 36
Aired 6/19/64 (25:01)
S 5 : Ep 35
(25:35)
S 5 : Ep 35
Aired 5/29/64 (25:01)
S 5 : Ep 34
Aired 5/22/64 (25:02)
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