Undercurrent Page #9

---

All I know is that he and Alan

had a frightful fight.

He left. Disappeared.

But it's not easy to forget him.

In fact,

he seems to be coming up...

...more and more in our lives,

wherever we go.

Whatever we do.

I've got to know more about him,

understand him.

My marriage, my happiness,

my future, seem to depend on it.

- That's about it.

- That quarrel.

- What was that about? Money, wasn't it?

- I believe it was.

Bunk. Everyone who knew Mike

knew that was bunk.

Mike never thought about money.

He never even cared about it.

I thought he'd really be happy...

...if he retired to his ranch

and grew tomatoes.

Have you ever seen it, the ranch?

- No, have you?

- Yes.

Then why did you ask?

- I don't know.

- Wondering how close we were?

We weren't. I tried,

but Mike wouldn't have it.

I used to think that he had

some sort of funny sense of loyalty...

...because I'd met him through Alan.

He was that thing that

you have to look for with a microscope.

A gentleman.

That's the man that your husband

spread those lies about stealing money.

Miss Burton...

...you'll have to remember,

I believe my husband.

You don't believe Alan,

or you wouldn't be here.

You wouldn't have called me.

You think he's lying, and I know he is.

Why?

Because I went through this myself,

several years ago.

When Mike disappeared, I nearly

went crazy trying to find what happened.

Did you find out?

Only that it was a complete mystery,

and only one man had the answer.

When I tried to find Mike,

I discovered he'd gone to the ranch...

...and stayed until he disappeared.

That was the last that anyone saw of him,

except your husband...

...who was seen out there one night

by a rancher.

Alan told me, if that was the same night,

there was a party.

Party?

Mike never gave parties.

No, they were alone,

just the two of them.

What do you mean, Miss Burton?

I discovered

your husband was probably...

...the last person

who ever saw him alive.

Because I think he's dead.

Knowing the man Mike was,

I can't believe...

...he'd cut himself off from everyone and

everything unless something happened.

You mean he was killed in the war?

No. I don't mean that he was killed

in the war.

Before you went to war,

you went to camp, didn't you?

Where was Mike all that time?

What kept him from writing?

Not to me, I couldn't expect that...

...but his friends

or his neighbors...

...or a thousand people he knew

in San Francisco?

Ask your husband, will you?

Lots of us would like to know

what happened at that meeting.

What kind of a fight was it?

And what happened to Mike Garroway?

How dare you speak to me this way,

Miss Burton.

Forgive me for coming here. I'm sorry.

It isn't...

It isn't such a shocking idea...

...when you've lived with it for a while.

- Hello?

- Ann?

Ann, I miss you, darling.

I miss you very much.

I haven't been able to think

or concentrate on anything but you.

I'm so glad you said that, Alan.

I'm... I'm so confused.

I'm so...

Don't, darling. Don't.

No more of that, ever.

I have to leave for Baltimore in the

morning. I can 't very well get out of it.

All right, Alan.

But I think it'll work out well for us

if you like it.

You could go to Middleburg. I'll call

Warmsley, have him get you on a train.

By the time you get there,

I'll be through in Baltimore...

... and can join you. Would you like that?

Well, yes. Yes, Alan.

I'm going to devote

the next few weeks to us, Ann.

Middleburg'll be beautiful now.

We're going to have a real honeymoon.

You wait and see.

Goodbye.

I love you, Ann.

I love you, Ann.

I love you.

Trust and faith.

It isn 't such a shocking idea

when you've lived with it for a while.

- Faith.

- When you've lived with it.

- Faith.

- Lived with it.

Blind faith.

And what happened at the finish?

What happened to Mike Garroway?

- Hello, George. How are you?

- Mrs. Garroway.

Mighty sorry, ma'am.

Didn't know you was coming

till about an hour ago.

Miss Foster sent her boy over.

I wished you'd give me a little time

to kind of fix things up.

That's all right.

- He'll be along soon?

- Mr. Alan? Yes, I think so.

I wished you had told me.

- Told you what?

- Nothing, ma'am.

It is beautiful, isn't it?

While you take the bags upstairs,

I'll stretch my legs a little.

- Three days on a train.

- Ground's awful damp.

- Looks dry enough.

- It's been damp, and...

George, I don't think

you're very glad to see me.

Oh, yes, ma'am. Real pleased.

Before you take your walk,

don't you wanna get settled first?

All right, George. Maybe you're right.

George, here are the keys

to the suitcases.

- George.

- Yes, ma'am?

There's somebody down by the stables.

Who could it be?

- Nobody, Miss Garroway.

- Bate was very excited.

- Ain't nobody there.

- How do you know?

Maybe it's old Ben.

Would Bate act as though

he'd gone crazy just for old Ben?

Oh, let it pass.

Please, Miss Garroway, let it pass.

Where is he, Bate?

Did you see him?

Did you see Michael?

He's alive. He's alive, isn't he, Bate?

I thought that Sylvia Burton was right,

that Alan had killed him.

But I was wrong. Michael's alive.

He's here, and everything

that Alan said about him is true.

He's here and he's hiding.

He doesn't dare show his face.

Oh, Alan, how could I have thought...?

Hello, Alan.

Take it easy, Al. I don't wanna see you

any more than you wanna see me.

Why did you come back?

Wouldn't you rather know

why I went away?

Of course, I heard

the reason you gave, Alan.

That was a lie.

You've been a long time denying it.

Be kind of tough to prove.

You had the books pretty well rigged.

But that's not what sent me away

and kept me away.

It was Carl Steuer, Alan.

Carl Steuer and what happened to him.

- Steuer's dead.

- That's right.

Dead and buried.

He's almost forgotten now.

Not that anyone

paid much attention to him.

He was just an old German refugee

who worked for us.

Nice old guy.

Didn't hate anybody except the Nazis.

Lived for one thing: To get back at them.

He was senile.

I kept him on at the plant out of pity.

He wasn't senile.

The best engineer we had.

You remember that invention

he was working on...

...in the cellar of his house

in San Francisco?

Never talked about it too much.

Just a little bit to me, and a lot to you.

He liked you, Al.

Every man at the plant was working on

an invention of some kind or other.

That's right. But only Steuer died.

The coroner said it was an accident.

Fell down the cellar steps.

- What's that got to do with me?

- Afraid it's got a lot to do with you.

Steuer had a pet name

for that invention of his.

His "Fern," he used to call it...

...as though it were alive,

like a child or something.

"My Fern'll fix the Nazis," he'd say.

"Your brother and me know.

Some day, my Fern'll pay them back."

Fern. Fern. Had me winging for a while.

And then it made sense.

Steuer was German.

Fern is a German word. Means distant.

Fernsteuerung, long-distance control.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes