Twilight Zone 1959

 

Rod Sterling

If you ask a group of people "Which is your favorite Twilight Zone?", what do you think will be cited?

Not everyone will know what to say. Will readers under 60 recall the old black and white episodes? Or, is it only the Baby Boomers?

This is one of my favorites.  It is not other worldly, but it is about returning to the world you had as a child. 

                                     Walking Distance: Gig Young and Martin Sloan

This was 1959, I was 8 years old.  Even then, I wondered what I would do if strange event came to me?  Now, I am many decades older, and I still wonder if I would take that chance? On some days, I would like to go back to 19** and set things aright, or take opportunities I missed.

The following are other episodes that I still have in my brain, from that amazing time of Twilight Zone.

Twilight zone, silent slide format

         

The swimming pool

                                       

 Plenty of Time

         I don't know about you, but this program changed the way I looked at the world, and what could be.  Did you?                                                     

Stupid Things I Have Done: #348

photo courtesy of Bing.com; sky courtesy of God

Yesterday I found myself lying by the pool under a cerulean sky.  The sun had not reached its apogee, and the air still had that early morning feel.  The concrete’s warmth seeped into me slowly, toasting all the parts of my body that ached.  Soon the sun would creep over the roof of our house, and I would spend the rest of the day doing—doing what, I wondered.

Not my pool...someone else has it.

I trailed my left hand through the coolness of the pool’s water, wishing I had thought to put on a suit and go swimming.  Instead I was lying on my back and thinking one particular thought.

‘What the hell just happened!!’

I do not swear, even under the most extreme circumstances, and then only when I am alone.  At that moment, I was in too much agony to summon up more than some sincere moans.

Accidents usually happen quickly, like the strike of a rattlesnake.  This one was a true slow sprawl, but one that I could not veer away from or avoid.

The events leading up to this were so uninteresting: the pool needed water, and I went outside to turn on the spigot.  Then I noticed that the strainer basket had some stray leaves that needed to be emptied.  I knelt down on both knees and reached into the strainer, pulled out the leaves.  This is when everything “…went to hell in a hand basket…”, as my father-in-law used to say. 

Note: bruising down the palm!

When I moved to stand up, I forgot that my right ankle was kinda broken, and that it wouldn’t support me.  “OH, NO!” was all I could say as I sprawled gracelessly forward.  My right knee came down the two inches to the concrete, then the right side of my ribs, and finally my right hand.

Note: bulge below little finger

After I hit, I rolled onto my back, groaning in utter pain and in total frustration. 

That was when I noticed the sky.

Author’s note:  Ribs are okay, just bruised.  X-ray of right hand doesn’t show any broken bones that Dr. can see.  Just have a severe sprain, and OH-BOY-HOWDY, that hurts like nobody’s business.