The Fountain of Youth Page #3

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at least, on a woman.

- Not every woman.

- Every woman.

I think you look of fly

distinguished with grey hair.

I can't imagine you with grey hair.

Oh, and I couldn't bare to

see you get old and ugly.

I'd rather with me.

Oh no, honey!

But you would still love me, even

if I did get old, wouldn't you?

Or would you?

Caroline, you know I would.

I know you wouldn't.

But I would you.

If that's what you think

you better take it yourself.

Go on, let me get old.

Why would Humphrey never

give us the right stuff!

- Let's pour it down the sink.

- Are you crazy!

The only bottle in the whole world?

What Baxter said,

a man died for what's in that bottle.

I guess he would be off, if he

heard we've throwed it away.

After all... it's a wedding present.

So they left Humphrey's little

bottle on the mantel piece.

which is an excellent place

for a wedding present to be.

And the wonderful life of

this wonderful couple went on.

Caroline became more and more

excited in the beauty parlor

and it was pathetic to see Allan

hover in front of the mirror

as if deciding, that was

only a sun bleached hair

on his temple, not a grey one.

She watched him, in the mirror.

And he saw her watching him.

- What is it? -Hm?

What's the matter?

- I was just looking at you.

- You're staring.

Oh my goodness!

Most men if they found being gazed at

would think they've

died and gone to heaven.

You're not gazing at me with

love, you're, you're examining me

for enlarged pores and wrinkles

and sagging tissues.

I've got a good mind and take

this stuff and swallow it down.

- Right now! -Yes, it's just

the sort of thing you'd do!

Things went on like this until the

last day of the tennis tournament.

When Dorian Cody the boy

wonder from California

who played into a standstill

until they walked up and Cody

put his hand on his shoulder,

the hand of the victorious

is a heavy load to carry.

That night,

in spite of his aching weariness,

Brody lay awake long after

Caroline was sound asleep.

He ghostly got up and crept,

with infinite caution

into the living room

where, I'm sad to say,

he drank the contents

in Humphrey's bottle.

The scientist may better do

something about the taste.

He found some cocktail beaters

and added several drops to the water

which he had already

put in the vial. Then he

put it back on the mantel piece and

over the mantel piece

there was a mirror.

Allan took a long

look in this mirror.

And he smiled.

Now it happens that in Caroline's

play there was another part,

supposedly her sister,

and the actress playing

this part walked out

in a beat of temper.

A new girl had to be found

in a hurry and the producer

nominated the niece

of a friend of his.

This new girl, was a smash hit.

Caroline went home that night

with the sound of this new

applause ringing in her ears

and found the place empty.

Now, the emptiness

of one's own home

at midnight,

can seem like an injury

and Caroline took it as an injury.

She looked at the largest of the framed

photographs of Allan and felt

somehow dissatisfied with his smile.

It's not mature, she thought.

And she looked in the mirror

and tried and it wasn't

easy a smile of her

own and then she found

even less satisfaction,

I might as well face it.

said this matron of twenty seven

I'm old.

She stood and watched her

reflection, and in the stillness

and silence of the apartment

she could feel and almost hear the

the remorsefully

Moment after moment particles of

skin wore away. Hair follicles

broke, splintered and decayed

like the roots of dead trees.

All those little

cubes and lines of

red light chains in the inner organs

were silted up like doomed rivers.

The glands, the all important glands,

were choking and coughing and

falling a...

- Aaaah!

She thought the marriage, was falling apart

and Allan, would be gone.

And life would be gone.

So she, drank the contents

of the little bottle.

She was very calm as she

went to the bathroom and

refilled the little bottle with

water and added a little quinine

to give it, a bitter taste.

When Allan came home

she overwhelmed him

with tenderness feeling, of

course, as if she'd betrayed him

was going to desert

him and go away and to

endless spring time.

Where he could never follow her.

So, time, which was the

cause of all this trouble

went on and both

Caroline and Allan, secured

an imperishable youth.

Saw in the others, through

a magnifying glass

more and more of the

hazening science of decay.

Allan began to feel that

Caroline, at the very least

should have provided

herself with a younger sister.

And one night he dropped

into the theater and discovered

that, in a matter of speaking,

she'd done so.

All this time, Humphrey, being trained

to await patiently the outcome of his

scientific experiments,

wait patiently.

And then Caroline came to him.

Humphrey.

Humphrey, I've left Allan.

This things happen.

- It's your fault.

- Oh?

Well, maybe not yours exactly, but

with that horrible stuff you gave us.

Oh, Humphrey.

I'm the lowest kind of

hypocrite and traitor

All of which means, I suppose, that

you're the one who took the stuff.

What did he said when you told him?

He doesn't know.

I filled the thing up with water

and put some quinine in it.

Tell me...

Why did you put quinine in it?

To give it that bitter taste.

I see.

Well.

Oh, I tried so hard

to love him more than ever

and make up for it but

you just can't make

up for a thing like that.

Besides...

Guess?

You can't help watching

a person who's aging

in front of your eyes!

When you watch someone like that

you notice all sort of

things wrong with him.

It's all my fault, of course, because

I just don't love him anymore.

Maybe I never did.

You've changed your mind about

wanting to be young forever?

Well? Don't you?

Not if I can't ever love anyone again.

There's always yourself, of course.

That's mean, Humphrey.

Mean and cruel.

Even if it's true.

Well...

It is lonely being like this.

But then that's the price

we pay for our little

immortality.

You... and me.

And of course old Bingleburg.

We are animals of a new species.

There's us.

And the rest of the world.

Of course I,

used to think we were like that

for quite a different reason.

Oh, Humphrey! If we only...

Perhaps, so unworthy.

I let you down and,

now I've let him down.

The first was a mistake

that can be fixed.

- But not the second.

- You mean letting him down?

We can't put that right.

No, we can't live with that.

Oh, I think so.

You said, the stuff tasted bitter.

You're quite sure

about that, I suppose.

No, oh no, it was very bitter.

You see...

that has far reaching implications.

I used nothing but,

ordinary salt in the water.

Orson Welles will be

back in just a moment.

You've heard of a,

tiger orchid and a

man eating tiger, but

have you ever heard of a

man eating tiger orchid?

No? Well, we are going to show

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