GK: I used to listen to radio shows from New York when I was a kid and one of my favorites was this one-----
TR (CONDUCTOR, REVERB):nGRAND... CENTRAL... STATION...
(STEAM ENGINE TRAIN COMING TO A STOP, HISS, MUSIC)
TR:nIn the heart of the busy metropolis, deep underground,nthe shining steel tracks reach the marble temple where human lives converge and intersect ----every hour, day and night in---- GRAND CENTRAL STATION.
(THEME UNDER)
GK: Beverly! ----- Beverly!!! Hi! (RUNNING FOOTSTEPS) Hello, darling!
SS (COOLLY): Oh. Hello, Carson.
GK: What's wrong, sweetheart? You don't seem glad to see me.
SS (COOLLY): No, I'm glad you're here----- how are you, Carson?
GK: Okay. I guess----
SS (COOLLY): How did you know I would be on that train-----?
GK: I called your office----- I talked to Jean-----
SS: Oh. So you didn't get my letter then? The letter I mailed Special Delivery from Santa Monica two weeks ago------
GK: No.
SS:nIt was delivered to your home, Carson.
GK: Well, I'm not living there anymore. I couldn't pay the rent anymore. So I had to move to the Salvation Army.
SS: Oh-----
GK: I saw in the papers that you got the job at Random House----- I'm so happy for you------ I just wanted to see you again-----
SS: Carson. Please-----read the letter.
GK: What did the letter say, Beverly?
(RUNNING FOOTSTEPS AND STOP)
BC: Here, darling----- I found a porter to carry our bags----- I'll call us a cab to take us to the Carlisle. Oh----- who's this?
SS: This is Carson, Omar.
BC: Oh. Friend of yours?
SS: He used to be, yes----- I'll tell you all about it later, darling------
GK: Omar-----
SS: I told you all about it in the letter, Carson.
GK: But----
BC: Let's not stand around yakking, Beverly---- we have to make it to the church by 4 o'clock-----
GK: Church? I didn't know you attended church, darling---
SS: It's all in the letter, Carson.
BC:nTell him, Beverly. We're getting married------
GK: Married?????
SS:nOmar is a poet, Carson. You----- you're a prose writer. The moment I met him, I could feel the difference.
BC: I read your last book, Carson. Interesting. I could see what you were going for. The first couple of pages were...good. It sort of got away from you but------ there was a lot of good stuff there.
SS: Come, darling. Let's go.
BC: You know, my favorite thing of yours ------ I think it was the best thing you ever did ------ it was about thirty years ago------ I saw it in some magazine------- I forget what it was about, but it was just terrific. Great stuff. Well, anyway----- Goodbye. Gotta run.
SS: Goodbye. Life moves on, Carson. Ciao. (FOOTSTEPS OFF)
(FOUR BEATS) ------ (PASSERSBY)
TR (ON P.A.): Now boarding on track 11 ----- the Prairie Express ----- with stops at Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Chicago, Minneapolis, and Bismarck, ND -----
GK: Bismarck, North Dakota. Mom and Dad. The farm. I could be there in 24 hours. Excuse me----- what's one-way fare to Bismarck?
SS (CLERK): Fifty-seven dollars and forty-two cents.
GK: Coach?
SS (CLERK): Yes, of course. There are no first-class accommodations to Bismarck, North Dakota.n
GK: Fifty-seven dollars. By sheer coincidence, that's exactly how much money I have on me. Oh. Excuse me. (TR REACT) Wasn't looking where I was going----- I'm sorry. Are you okay?
TR: I can't believe it. You------ is your name Carson?
GK: Yes-----
TR:nCarson-----
GK: Yes.
TR: I've looked for you for more than a year----- ever since that day you pulled my wife out of the path of that runaway taxi.
GK: Oh. Right.
TR:nYou saved her life.
GK: Well, anyone would've done the same thing-----
TR: I owe you more than I can ever pay.
GK: Oh you don't owe me anything-----
TR:nI do. Here. Take it.
GK: I didn't do it for the reward.
TR: Please. Take it.
GK: A ten-thousand dollar bill-----
TR:nFor you------Merry Christmas.
GK: I had no idea they made ten-thousand dollar bills.
TR:nI work in Wall Street. We've got a lot of them down there.
GK: Thank you, sir. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
(FOOTSTEPS, CROWD PASSING) I walked through Grand Central, feeling very lucky indeed, feeling that I had gotten a fresh chance in life, and that now I could finish my new book...and then I remembered Omar's words -----
BC: (REVERB) You know, my favorite thing of yours ------ I think it was the best thing you ever did ------ it was about thirty years ago------ I saw it in some magazine------- I forget what it was about...
GK: And then I saw them...the two piano-players------ playing a Christmas tune ------ (TWIN PIANOS) and the glass bowl full of dollar bills on one piano------- something about their music made me think of home...of Bismarck...of Mom and Dad...(TRAIN WHISTLE) and I was on the train back home when I looked in my pocket for that ten-thousand dollar bill and couldn't find it and realized that I had put it in the glass bowl on the piano in the train station. (STING) But I was on my way home...home to the prairie...and it was then I saw the snow falling...the wind blowing...(SFX) there was deep snow...the train was slowing down (SFX) and a pack of wolves had gathered alongside the tracks and were following us (SFX)...and then I noticed that I was the only passenger on the train. The only one. (THEME)
TR: Will Carson make it home? Or is this the end of the line?n
TR:nJoin us again tomorrow when we bring you GRAND CENTRAL STATION. In the heart of the busy metropolis, deep underground, human lives converge and intersect ----every hour, day and night in---- GRAND CENTRAL STATION.n
(THEME UNDER)