michael shayne 48_07_15 ep04 case of Anthony carrell
Transcript
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01:09Look, doll girl, I've got to know what goes.
01:11Last night, someone ran me down.
01:12Later on, they killed an old man who tried to tell me something.
01:15My nerves are like radar, and they're sending out all kinds of danger signals.
01:17I'm on somebody's list. Who's list, doll girl? Come on, give!
01:25THE NEW ADVENTURES OF MICHAEL SHANE
01:31The new adventures of Michael Shane, private detective.
01:34Michael Shane, reckless, red-headed Irishman, back in his old haunts in New Orleans.
01:39Ready as always to risk his neck for law, order, and an occasional dollar.
01:44Listen now as we bring you the new adventures of Michael Shane.
01:55Hello?
01:56Michael Shane, private detective.
01:57Speaking.
01:58Mr. Shane, I have a job for you, but I can't pay you very much.
02:01Keep talking, I'm listening.
02:02My name is Marina Lauroux. I want you to come over to 1612 Wentworth Street.
02:07I meet you on the porch.
02:08On the porch?
02:09Yes, this is why I call you.
02:10My father is locked on the doors and windows.
02:13He's in the house, sitting in the dark, waiting.
02:16Waiting for what?
02:17For death, Mr. Shane.
02:25THE NEW ADVENTURES OF MICHAEL SHANE
02:28Now we return to New Orleans and a new adventure with Michael Shane.
02:44So I was on my way across New Orleans to see Marina Lauroux, whose papa was waiting for death.
02:501612 Wentworth Street was a couple of minutes by cab in ordinary times.
02:54But these were not ordinary times, so it was taking me a half hour to walk it.
02:58Yeah, this had been a bad month for little Mike.
03:01Police headquarters had suspended my license for 60 days for being a stunk.
03:06But even stunks have stomachs and creditors.
03:09And that last buck in my wallet was so lonely it was getting psychoneurotic.
03:13So, license or no license, I wasn't letting Marina Lauroux get away.
03:18And just like she said, she was waiting on the porch and she was some baby doll.
03:22Creole from way back and round and ripe like a cantaloupe busting at seams.
03:27Only I've been living on shredded wheat and canned milk for so long,
03:30all Marina Lauroux meant to me then was ham and eggs and pork chops and maybe pie a la mode.
03:35Mr. Shane.
03:36Yeah.
03:37Oh, I'm so glad you're here.
03:39I'm half out of my mind. I don't want to call the police if nothing is really wrong.
03:42Hey, hey, slow down, slow down. Your father's inside the house?
03:45Yes, he has been in there for the last eight days.
03:48Just sitting in his room in the dark.
03:50Like I said, waiting for death.
03:52What's the matter? Is he sick?
03:54No, he's as healthy as you are.
03:56That's why I don't understand.
03:58Tonight, he won't even let me in the house.
04:00He has locked all the doors and the windows.
04:02I don't know what to think.
04:03Well, I think we ought to tap a brick against one of those windows and have a talk with Papa.
04:06Yes.
04:07Yeah, but first I ought to tell you that I,
04:09I break windows and talk to Papa's who wait for death for something more than the sheer joy of it.
04:14For something like 20 bucks a day.
04:16You, uh, you understand that, of course.
04:18I told you I'd pay you.
04:19Okay.
04:20I always like to begin business on a friendly basis.
04:23Now, where's that brick?
04:28I broke the window, reached in and unlocked it, and then slid over the sill.
04:31The house was as black as a mug of GI coffee.
04:35I found a light switch and clicked it back and forth, but nothing happened.
04:38Then I let the girl in through the front door.
04:40Come on in.
04:42What happened to the lights?
04:43I don't know.
04:44Where is Papa?
04:46Yeah.
04:47Papa!
04:48Papa!
04:49They started lighting matches and we wandered through the house.
04:52Papa, where are you?
04:53A single flare of light cast crazy shadows against the walls and the ceiling.
04:57Papa!
04:58You got the screwy feeling that the house itself was alive and watching you.
05:01Except for our footsteps, there wasn't a sound.
05:03Papa, where are you?
05:05Oh, my error.
05:06Yeah, yeah, there was a sound, all right, coming from the next room down the hall.
05:10I felt a nerve deep down inside me start jangling like a burglar alarm.
05:13Papa!
05:14I knew that sound like I know my heartbeat.
05:16We were at the door of the room.
05:17I struck another match and the girl saw it.
05:19Papa!
05:20No.
05:21No!
05:22Papa!
05:23No!
05:24Papa, no!
05:25He was hanging like a pig in a butcher shop, tied to the chandelier.
05:28His head lolled on his shoulder and his eyes stared up at a nothing block.
05:32Then suddenly the girl saw the end of it,
05:34as though somebody had clamped a hand over her mouth.
05:36When she spoke, she sounded like a stranger.
05:39Strike another match.
05:41A little close to him.
05:43Wasn't one look enough?
05:44Strike a match.
05:46Okay.
05:48His forehead.
05:50Yeah.
05:51Funny mark.
05:52Looks like a brand or something, a coiled snake.
05:55I should have known.
05:57I should have known that's why he was so frightened.
06:01That is who he was waiting for.
06:04Antonio Miguel.
06:06Hey, kid, snap out of it.
06:08What's wrong with you?
06:09What are you talking about?
06:10Who's Carell?
06:11I didn't say.
06:13I didn't say.
06:14Hey, hey, hey, hey!
06:17Call the police.
06:19Tell them my father committed suicide.
06:24And then go away.
06:29I did what the lady said.
06:31I called the cops, collected my 20 bucks and beat it.
06:34Because if the police found me working without a license,
06:36they might send me to bed without supper.
06:39For 20 bucks, I was once again a man of distinction.
06:42So I took a cab downtown.
06:44On the way, I debated whether to sample Antoine's elegant crawfish
06:48or Galatoire's savory bouillabaisse.
06:51And I settled for Charlie's hashem deer.
06:53Charlie was an ancient moth-eaten character
06:55who kept a basement bar on Beale Street
06:57just so he'd have somebody to talk to.
06:59And there weren't many customers tonight,
07:01and he stayed close to me, polishing the mahogany and looking annoyed.
07:05How quaint.
07:06Huh?
07:07Yeah, that's what they said.
07:08How quaint.
07:09What are you talking about, Charlie?
07:11Tourists I'm talking about.
07:12Six of them.
07:13Came down a while back from Peoria, they said.
07:16Just looking, they said.
07:18How quaint.
07:19All right, pour me another one, Charlie.
07:21Yeah, okay.
07:22Okay, Mike.
07:23Ah, quaint they think this is.
07:25I should have told them how my place used to be.
07:28About the cockfights we had right there in the center of the floor,
07:31by candlelight.
07:32And the twelve ladies from Natchez doing the can-can.
07:35Peoria.
07:37Charlie.
07:38Huh?
07:39Did you ever hear of anyone named Anthony Carell?
07:43Charlie, I'm talking to you.
07:44I heard you, Shane.
07:45Well?
07:46You better stick to looking through hotel transoms and forget Anthony Carell.
07:50Why?
07:51Because it's something out of the past.
07:53Something that hasn't got any place in this world.
07:56What are you talking about?
07:57You see, according to the story,
07:59there's something special about Anthony Carell.
08:01Special?
08:02Yeah.
08:03He ain't like you and me, Shane.
08:04You see, Anthony Carell ain't never gonna die.
08:10That tickled me.
08:12I finished my drink, waved goodbye to old Charlie,
08:15yelled something about getting Carell's formula and putting Perona out of business,
08:18and then I was on my way.
08:21The air was better outside, and I decided to walk.
08:25It was a nice, quiet street.
08:28Great place to start a cemetery.
08:30As it turned out, I was just the kid to start one.
08:33I didn't hear the car behind me.
08:35All I saw was the cab on the next corner.
08:37Cab driver was leaning against the open door, waiting for me.
08:40I stepped off the curb, and a couple of head...
08:42Hey, look out!
08:45Then I was rolling on cobblestones,
08:47watching a red taillight disappear in the distance.
08:49Next thing, the...
08:51The cab driver was bending over me.
08:53You okay, Pally?
08:55Yeah.
08:56Yeah, I guess so.
08:58Hey, take me home, will you?
09:00That sure was close.
09:02No, no, I just got careless crossing the street.
09:05Careless?
09:06I was watching, Pally.
09:08That car followed you for maybe two blocks, waiting to get a chance at you.
09:12Huh?
09:13Yeah.
09:14Somebody in this town don't like you very much, Pally.
09:22The cabbie drove Pally home.
09:25Between my evening of hilarity and my nosedive in the gutter,
09:27I felt kind of rocky.
09:29As soon as I got in the room,
09:30I flopped down in bed and bid the world goodnight.
09:35But the world wasn't finished with me.
09:40Yeah.
09:42Yeah, yeah, yeah.
09:45Mike, this is Charlie.
09:47Oh, yeah, Charlie.
09:48Listen to me, boy, something funny's going on.
09:50Yeah, yeah, funny.
09:52They're trying to scare me.
09:53But old Charlie's been around too long to scare.
09:56Oh, good for old Charlie.
09:58You come on over now, I'll tell you what they're up to, boy.
10:00Uh-huh, yeah, yeah, sure.
10:02You come on over right away.
10:03Okay, okay.
10:04You know where I bunk?
10:05In the room behind the bar.
10:07Just knock on the front door.
10:08Uh-huh, yeah, yeah.
10:09Get here quick as you can.
10:11Sure, sure.
10:15Sure, Charlie.
10:18Sure.
10:22The last thing I saw before I fell asleep again
10:25was the luminous green dial on my bedside clock.
10:283-47.
10:31It said 10-20.
10:32When I saw it again, the room was lousy with sunshine.
10:35I was brushing my teeth
10:36and trying to avoid my reflection in the mirror
10:38when I remembered Charlie calling me.
10:40I found the phone number of his joint in the book
10:41and I called him.
10:43Only it wasn't Charlie who answered.
10:45Yeah?
10:46I want to speak to Charlie.
10:47Just let me talk to Charlie.
10:48Sorry, Mr. Charlie isn't here.
10:50Where is he?
10:51They took him to the morgue an hour ago.
10:53He's dead.
11:05Now back to New Orleans
11:07to the new adventures of Michael Shane.
11:18From the beginning, it hadn't made much sense.
11:20Moreno LaRue calling me to break into our father's house.
11:23Him hanging from the chandelier
11:25with a snake brand on his forehead.
11:27And now old Charlie's dead.
11:30Well, I went down to the morgue.
11:32The attendant took me to the basement
11:34where Charlie was on a table.
11:36Lieutenant Burns of headquarters was just taking a peek.
11:39Nasty, Redhead.
11:41Yeah.
11:42Yeah, necks of bum sheep, unfortunately.
11:45What's that on his forehead?
11:47Looks like a brand, like a coiled snake.
11:50I probably banged his head. It's nothing.
11:52You want to bet, Lieutenant?
11:54Hey, look, Shane, what are you doing around here?
11:56You're not forgetting that your license is suspended.
11:59A guy can get in here without a license.
12:01Look at Charlie.
12:03All he had was a license to sell bad booze.
12:05You're not doing any work for anybody?
12:07No, I'm just keeping him trained.
12:09Come on, be a good boy, Redhead.
12:11You've only got a couple of weeks to go.
12:13Then it'll be legal for you to start bothering us.
12:16Burns, tell me about Anthony Carell.
12:19Who?
12:20Sometimes called the Deathless One.
12:23Oh, my back. Don't tell me that's going around again.
12:26What about him?
12:27That's what I love about this town.
12:29No matter how modern it may look on the outside,
12:31underneath it's still a jungle.
12:33Still dancing to voodoo drums.
12:35Voodoo?
12:36Yeah, every so often some scared sucker comes in
12:39and whispers in our ears that Anthony Carell
12:41is still alive and terrifying the countryside.
12:44When we ask him for one teeny little bit of proof,
12:47the little sucker vanishes in a puff of smoke.
12:50Anthony Carell.
12:52Oh, Redhead, you can do better than that.
12:58Yeah, when I got outside on Jackson Street,
13:00it did seem kind of silly.
13:02What was so silly about that car trying to run me down last night?
13:06What was so silly about Charlie under a white sheet
13:08in the basement of that morgue?
13:10Oh, I had enough questions in my head to start a quiz show,
13:13but not enough answers to win a yo-yo.
13:15I knew a good place to ask questions, though,
13:18and I had to start asking questions fast.
13:20Something was happening, something big, and it was happening to me.
13:23I took a cab out to the Brownstone House on Wentworth Street
13:26where all this began.
13:29Come on, you're going to have to open up sometime, baby doll.
13:35Ah.
13:36Please, go away, Mr. Shane.
13:38In a little while, Marina, honey.
13:40Please, I'm in mourning. Have some respect.
13:43Sure, I'll take off my hat. Inside!
13:48What do you want?
13:49Why are you so scared?
13:50I'm not scared.
13:51Tell that to the little nerve in your cheek, it's twitching overtime.
13:53Look, I want to know about Anthony Carell.
13:55No, please, no.
13:56Yes, please, yes.
13:59Mr. Shane, I was rather glad when I saw you coming up the stairs.
14:03Yeah.
14:04Yes, really I was.
14:07I have trouble forgetting you, Michael.
14:09Uh-uh, doll girl, turn off the warm water.
14:11I'd love to, but I can't.
14:13How about Anthony Carell?
14:14Why do you bother with something that does not concern me?
14:16That's just it, doll girl. It concerns me clear up to here.
14:19Last night, somebody tried to run me down.
14:21Later on, they killed an old man who wanted to tell me something.
14:23Look, I've been in this business a long time.
14:25My nerves are like radar, and they're sending out all kinds of danger signals.
14:27I'm on somebody's list.
14:29I'm not one of those storybook detectives, doll girl.
14:31I've got to know what I'm fighting.
14:33I cannot help you.
14:34You've got to.
14:36Okay, mind if I use the phone?
14:40Who are you calling?
14:42The Daily Bulletin.
14:43I've got a pal working in the city room.
14:44I'm going to tell him Moreno LaRue of 1612 Wentworth Street
14:47says Anthony Carell was responsible for the death of her father.
14:50Can't.
14:51Bulletin, let me speak to Frazier in the city room.
14:53You give me the phone.
14:54No.
14:55You can't do this. They'll kill me.
14:56I'm fighting for my own neck, honey.
14:57Hello, hello, Frazier?
14:58This is Mike Shane.
14:59Please, please.
15:00I think I've got a story for you.
15:01I'll tell you what I'll tell you.
15:03Goodbye, Frazier.
15:06Okay, doll girl.
15:07Give her.
15:09Here.
15:10I tell you.
15:11When you go out, try to do something about it,
15:13the way men have done for a hundred years.
15:15And if they find you at all,
15:17if I'm branded into your flesh, they call it snake.
15:20The mask of Anthony Carell.
15:22Just as they have found it on all the others.
15:24Who is this guy, Anthony Carell?
15:26You have heard of Madame Lorette?
15:28Madame Lorette?
15:29Sure, wasn't she supposed to be some kind of big shot
15:31in a voodoo racket around New Orleans?
15:32She was the voodoo queen more than a century ago.
15:34Yeah.
15:35In the 1820s, she married another voodoo worshipper,
15:38a man already old, who comes to New Orleans from Haiti.
15:42He was the greatest of them all.
15:44His name was Anthony Carell.
15:47And this guy who's causing all the trouble today,
15:49he's his descendant, huh?
15:50Descendant, you fool.
15:51Don't you understand?
15:52It is the same man.
15:53That couldn't be.
15:54Why do you think we're all in such terror of him?
15:56He cannot die.
15:57Do you know what that means?
15:58He cannot die.
15:59His food has been poisoned.
16:01Cows he was riding in have been shot at.
16:03Once the house he was staying in was dynamited.
16:06Men stood at every door with guns.
16:08In less than a week, the plotters were dying one by one.
16:12And on their foreheads,
16:13the snake brand of Anthony Carell.
16:16That's crazy.
16:17That is the story, Mr. Shane.
16:18Believe it, don't believe it, as you wish.
16:19What does this big shot look like?
16:21No living man has ever seen his face.
16:24There are no pictures.
16:26And who takes care of him?
16:27The Carell clan, one generation after another.
16:30Today, there are only two left.
16:31Juan and Felipe.
16:33They do Anthony Carell's work.
16:35Collect his tribute.
16:36Juan and Felipe, where do they live?
16:37I don't know.
16:38I don't know.
16:39I've told you everything I know.
16:43What else do you want, Mr. Shane?
16:48What else do you want?
16:52What else do I want?
16:54A little while ago, you said you had trouble forgetting me.
16:57Well?
16:58Come here, doll girl.
17:00I don't want you to forget her.
17:06After I left Marina, I went to the library
17:08and spent half the day looking up the old history books of New Orleans.
17:12Madame Lorette and Anthony Carell were in every one.
17:15And every book agreed that Madame had died in 1845.
17:18There was no mention of Anthony Carell ever having died at all.
17:22I called an old guy I knew over at the Bureau of Records.
17:25I told him I was looking for the death certificate of one Anthony Carell.
17:29He laughed over the phone, asked me if I was falling for that old story.
17:32But three hours later, he called me back.
17:36Yeah?
17:37Shane, this is the Bureau of Records.
17:39Well?
17:40You were right. There is no death certificate for Anthony Carell.
17:44I had a couple of drinks after that.
17:46Then I started walking the streets.
17:48My head throbbed.
17:50Felt like a guy trapped in a nightmare,
17:52trying with all his might to wake up out of it.
17:54Around midnight, I found a small park near Jackson Square
17:57and sat down on a bench trying to think of an answer.
18:01May I sit down, Mr. Shane?
18:03Huh?
18:04Oh, yeah, sure.
18:06Hey, how come you know my name?
18:08Oh, you are a very famous man, Mr. Shane.
18:11Known particularly for your tenacity.
18:16Cigarette?
18:17Thanks.
18:18What do you want?
18:20Mr. Shane, it's very unfortunate that you so fit to
18:24interest yourself in Anthony Carell.
18:27Oh?
18:28Why?
18:30Because now I must kill you.
18:38I felt a bullet smash against me.
18:39But at first, there was so little pain,
18:41that same crazy feeling of maybe it's a dream came back.
18:43I lunged for the guy, trying to get hold of his gun hand.
18:46It was like wrestling with an octopus.
18:47He was soft and wet-skinned and a neat little fellow.
18:49He even wore cologne.
18:50It was slipping out of my reach.
18:51I jumped up and started running.
18:54I said the first prayer that came to my mind.
18:56Catholic, Hebrew, Episcopalian, who cared?
18:58I saw a row of shrubbery.
18:59I dived in.
19:01And that bullet had been real, all right.
19:03My side was beginning to ache like a whole mouth full of sore teeth.
19:07My friend with the gun came so close to the brush,
19:08I could smell his sweet, stinking cologne.
19:10I remembered a couple of other prayers.
19:11Something must have worked.
19:14The siren started sobbing the blues far off
19:16and the guy beat it.
19:17He climbed into a little black coupe, parked at the curb.
19:19Pulled away, but he was playing it very safe.
19:21There was a long stoplight at the corner
19:23and he waited for every second of it.
19:25A nice, law-abiding, perfumed young man.
19:28There was a parking lot half a block down the street.
19:29I ran for it.
19:30As I ducked in, I saw the light on the corner change
19:32from the black coupe to down Canal Street.
19:34I hopped into the first car and turned on the ignition.
19:36A sleepy-eyed attendant came out of a little shed
19:37and I kicked the starter.
19:39Got your ticket, mister?
19:41Hey, come back here! Come back!
19:43I wasn't so law-abiding.
19:44I went down side streets like somebody lit a fuse.
19:46Yeah, just like in the movies, except my side hurt.
19:49My shirt felt sticky and warm and it was sick to my stomach.
19:52When I was sure no cops were following me,
19:54I cut back to Canal Street
19:55and pretty soon I saw the black coupe again.
19:57Still obeying all the laws.
19:59Now we're on the outskirts of town,
20:01along the wharves that reached out into the Gulf.
20:03The black coupe picked up speed.
20:05I picked up speed.
20:06Oh, it was a long ride through little country roads
20:09that stretch through the bayous.
20:10Once, I managed to slip my hand into my shirt.
20:13Made the happy discovery my wound felt a lot worse than it really was.
20:16Yeah, and I had another good break.
20:18In the dashboard compartment, I found a pint of bourbon
20:20that had hardly been touched.
20:22Oh, I touched it good.
20:24It was almost as fine as a blood transfusion.
20:26And then before I knew it,
20:27the black coupe had turned into a driveway.
20:29I went on a few hundred yards,
20:31pulled up onto some trees and turned the lights on.
20:34It was a battered, weather-beaten farmhouse
20:37standing all by itself in the middle of nothing.
20:39The windows were boarded up.
20:41Everything about it said,
20:42nobody home except the black coupe.
20:44I snuck around the back.
20:46Screen door was open.
20:48I walked across the porch
20:49and almost knocked over a row of milk bottles.
20:53I tried the back door.
20:55Door was open.
20:57Oh, no, I wasn't having any.
20:58You didn't have to be a quiz kid to know what this setup was.
21:00I started back across the porch.
21:02I reached the screen door and then I stopped.
21:04The only sound in all the world
21:06was a mosquito buzzing like mad in the darkness.
21:09Mad in the darkness.
21:11Hey, Shane, where are you going?
21:13Oh, I realized I'd said that out loud.
21:16I kind of giggled to myself.
21:18I rubbed my head.
21:19It was hot.
21:20A bullet hole.
21:22Maybe I was already getting delirious.
21:24Yeah.
21:25But where was I going?
21:27Back to little New Orleans?
21:28For what?
21:29The cops wouldn't listen to me.
21:30To them, I was just a big-nosed redhead
21:32out for a quick buck.
21:33And my sweet-smelling friend had slipped up twice now.
21:36I went back to town.
21:37He'd come after me again
21:38and he was just about due for the jackpot.
21:41Oh.
21:42Well, there was no place to go except inside the house.
21:47I picked up one of the milk bottles.
21:49Me and my homogenized blackjack.
21:52I went back to the door.
21:54Pushed it open.
21:55Went into the kitchen.
21:57Everything dark.
21:58I could just make out some dishes on the sink.
22:01Place smelled of bad, greasy cooking.
22:04Then I found another door.
22:07I was in a short hallway that led to a flight of stairs.
22:11Not a sound at all.
22:13Oh, I'd even been glad to hear that mosquito.
22:16Stairs.
22:18Started up a step at a time.
22:21Slow.
22:22Easy.
22:23Slow.
22:25Easy.
22:26Then when I was close to the top,
22:28there was something about the darkness that looked wrong.
22:32Real close to me, I smelled sweet cologne.
22:36I spun around and started down the stairs fast, but it was all wasted.
22:39At the foot of the stairs, a cigarette glowed in the dark.
22:41I was boxed in real nice.
22:43The guy downstairs spoke first.
22:45So this is Mr. Shane, Juan.
22:48Yes, this is him, Felipe.
22:50Juan and Felipe.
22:51The brothers Corral.
22:53And where is old man Anthony?
22:55You have come for Anthony?
22:57Well, he is in the last room at the end of the hall,
23:01but I don't think you will reach him.
23:04I think you are going to die on those stairs.
23:08Keep coming up the steps, Mr. Shane.
23:12Yeah.
23:14Yeah, sure.
23:16How's this?
23:18I lunged at him.
23:19There was a swirl of cologne.
23:20I brought the milk bottle down hard.
23:22Juan crumpled on the floor nice as you please.
23:24Behind me, I heard Felipe coming up after me.
23:26I raced down the hall.
23:27I tried the first door.
23:28Locked.
23:29The second door.
23:30Locked.
23:31The third door was unlocked.
23:32I opened it and slammed it shut behind me.
23:33I snapped the lock.
23:34Oh, friend, Felipe was at the door breaking through.
23:37I did the first thing that came to my mind.
23:39I picked up a chair and smashed it through the window.
23:41Then I jumped into a corner as the door flung open.
23:45Felipe came into the room holding his gun.
23:47He headed straight for the broken window.
23:49He stood looking out of it into the darkness for a long time.
23:52You won't get away, Mr. Shane.
23:55His back was to me.
23:56I started for him.
23:57His side was throbbing again.
23:59My throat was so dry, you could have struck matches on it.
24:02Something must have worn Felipe.
24:03He started turning around.
24:04I brought the milk bottle down hard.
24:09He staggered.
24:10Fell to his knees.
24:11Got up and started clawing at my legs.
24:13I went into a deep purple fog.
24:16When I came out of it, Felipe was very quiet.
24:19The milk bottle was broken into a thousand pieces.
24:23I sat down on a chair.
24:25I felt about as peppy as a floridora girl.
24:29Then I remembered.
24:30Anthony Carell, the man who couldn't die, was down the hall.
24:34I went over to Felipe and dug around until I found his gun.
24:36He groaned a little bit, but that's all.
24:39I went back out into the hall.
24:41The last room at the end of the hall.
24:44I started twerking.
24:46Then in front of the door, I saw Juan.
24:48I...
24:50I will not let you in this room.
24:52He wasn't able to stand up.
24:53He was on his knees in front of the door,
24:55and his mouth hung open as though he didn't have the strength to close it.
24:58For five generations, he has been our strength.
25:03With him, we've been able to rule everyone.
25:06I will not let you destroy him.
25:09Then I saw the gun in his hand.
25:10I saw him try to raise it.
25:13I shot three times.
25:14He collapsed in the heat.
25:16Even while dying, he wasn't going to let me into that room.
25:19As I reached for the knob, with his last strength,
25:21Juan flung his arm up and wildly tried to block me.
25:23What was there in that room that a guy would die like this just to protect?
25:27I reached for the knob and raised my gun.
25:32I entered the room, slowly.
25:34Looked around.
25:37Then I realized why Juan and Felipe had tried so hard to keep me out of here.
25:41Then I realized why Anthony Carell would not die,
25:44why he could not be killed.
25:46There was no Anthony Carell.
25:47The room was empty.
25:50THE END
25:55Yes.
25:56Yes, that was the story of Anthony Carell.
25:59He lived and died in his own time, just as any man.
26:02But the Carell clan, knowing the power of beer,
26:04it made it appear that the old man was still alive and kicking.
26:08Oh, I wonder how many people go through life being afraid of empty rooms.
26:15Well, as soon as I got back to town that night,
26:17I went to the emergency hospital and had myself pasted together.
26:20Then I called on Moreno to the room.
26:23I told her all about Anthony Carell.
26:25When I finished, she didn't say a word.
26:28Just came over and looked at me a long time,
26:31and she kissed me.
26:33After a while, I began to realize that trip to the hospital was wasted.
26:37Moreno was so much better than Penicillin.
26:41THE END