1 00:00:02,800 --> 00:00:06,320 Speaker 1: Thirteen days of Halloween is from grim and mild blum house, 2 00:00:06,400 --> 00:00:20,680 Speaker 1: and I heart free d audio headphones recommended. Listener discretion advised. Mother, yes, 3 00:00:21,680 --> 00:00:26,160 Speaker 1: where is everyone gone? Oh, well, we've gone to begin 4 00:00:26,239 --> 00:00:30,480 Speaker 1: their preparation for the gathering. We wash ourselves in salt 5 00:00:30,520 --> 00:00:34,360 Speaker 1: water and say the sacred prayers. The afternoon beforehand is 6 00:00:34,360 --> 00:00:40,000 Speaker 1: a time for quiet gathering. Night is our highest holy day. 7 00:00:40,360 --> 00:00:43,600 Speaker 1: It's when we to beg forgiveness from the Father in 8 00:00:43,680 --> 00:00:46,519 Speaker 1: the sea and when we make our requests for the 9 00:00:46,640 --> 00:00:50,400 Speaker 1: year to come, and hope we're careful what we've asked for. 10 00:00:51,880 --> 00:00:58,760 Speaker 1: M Take a ride here. Are Outsiders allowed at this? 11 00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:04,440 Speaker 1: Do you mean you alone? Of course you are my guest. 12 00:01:05,040 --> 00:01:11,680 Speaker 1: You are welcome. Well, here we are, and it looks 13 00:01:11,720 --> 00:01:16,920 Speaker 1: like he's his what why are they staring at us? 14 00:01:18,080 --> 00:01:22,000 Speaker 1: They aren't. They're turning their eyes towards the noise of 15 00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:28,679 Speaker 1: the door. What's wrong with their eyes? They can still 16 00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:39,080 Speaker 1: hear you. Should we sit all right? Who Do we AH? Mother, hello, Doctor, 17 00:01:39,880 --> 00:01:44,679 Speaker 1: and WHO's this? That is the question of the hour. 18 00:01:46,319 --> 00:01:49,800 Speaker 1: She doesn't know the answer herself. If I were an 19 00:01:49,920 --> 00:01:54,160 Speaker 1: educated man, I'd suggest the forgetfulness has something to do 20 00:01:54,240 --> 00:01:58,840 Speaker 1: with that. Wound on her head. Well, come on back, 21 00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:06,520 Speaker 1: I'll be with a lot of you shortly. Please, Miss, 22 00:02:06,920 --> 00:02:12,240 Speaker 1: take a seat on the table. And you are you well? Mother? 23 00:02:12,600 --> 00:02:18,960 Speaker 1: I am good. Good, now let's take a look at you. 24 00:02:20,919 --> 00:02:26,480 Speaker 1: What's your name? I don't know. MM HMM. Do you 25 00:02:26,760 --> 00:02:31,720 Speaker 1: know how you got this wound? Mm Hmm, I see. 26 00:02:33,200 --> 00:02:37,600 Speaker 1: How badly? Does it hurt? Honestly, not at all. The 27 00:02:38,200 --> 00:02:44,200 Speaker 1: priest gave me something for it. I'll betty did. May 28 00:02:44,240 --> 00:02:50,360 Speaker 1: I ask? Go on the teenagers out there? Their eyes 29 00:02:50,400 --> 00:03:01,280 Speaker 1: are yes, well, what happens? Well, there was only one 30 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:05,160 Speaker 1: doctor in dyre brook. That was my father. When I 31 00:03:05,200 --> 00:03:09,000 Speaker 1: was old enough, I went to State University and med 32 00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:13,280 Speaker 1: school and took up the stethoscope and joined him working 33 00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:17,160 Speaker 1: in his shadow at our office on Main Street. That 34 00:03:17,320 --> 00:03:22,040 Speaker 1: was long ago. We took a contract with the county, 35 00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:28,239 Speaker 1: a contract to monitor, track and report infectious diseases out 36 00:03:28,320 --> 00:03:33,680 Speaker 1: this way, a state initiative to counter influenza, chicken pox 37 00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:38,840 Speaker 1: and polio, which was still a thing back then. Sometimes 38 00:03:38,840 --> 00:03:45,480 Speaker 1: we had to track more mature infections, if you see 39 00:03:45,520 --> 00:03:48,440 Speaker 1: where I'm going with that, and it was my job 40 00:03:49,040 --> 00:03:52,880 Speaker 1: to chart the disease vector from one person to the next. 41 00:03:53,960 --> 00:03:57,000 Speaker 1: They didn't call it contact tracing back then. They called 42 00:03:57,000 --> 00:04:02,960 Speaker 1: it finding infection origin. It was detective work really, and 43 00:04:03,080 --> 00:04:11,320 Speaker 1: led to many awkward and hesitant conversations with mortified citizens, 44 00:04:11,360 --> 00:04:19,280 Speaker 1: sometimes adolescence. Hello, Bobby, seems you've contracted a more sensitive illness. 45 00:04:19,839 --> 00:04:22,320 Speaker 1: I don't mean to Pry, but I'm afraid I must. 46 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:29,520 Speaker 1: This bacteria, commonly known as NECESSARIA GNARRHEA, is highly contagious, 47 00:04:29,560 --> 00:04:36,520 Speaker 1: but only in certain circumstances can you tell me who 48 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:41,799 Speaker 1: you've been in contact with. Physical contact, I should add. 49 00:04:43,120 --> 00:04:47,320 Speaker 1: It's never easy and not too common, but it did happen. 50 00:04:48,800 --> 00:04:52,960 Speaker 1: My father, a man who never really seemed like a doctor, 51 00:04:53,240 --> 00:04:58,279 Speaker 1: found my job of interviewing the infected funny, a medical 52 00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:02,240 Speaker 1: gum shoe, I'll doctors are sluice, but you're a veritable 53 00:05:02,400 --> 00:05:07,919 Speaker 1: P I. When he wasn't laughing at my predicament, he 54 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:11,600 Speaker 1: found it an opportunity for introspection. Over a glass of 55 00:05:11,640 --> 00:05:15,080 Speaker 1: Scotch at the end of his work day. After I'd 56 00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:18,440 Speaker 1: make my report, he'd say they come out of the 57 00:05:18,480 --> 00:05:24,080 Speaker 1: woods and deep forests of Man Diseases? Do they hide 58 00:05:24,880 --> 00:05:29,599 Speaker 1: in the corridors of flesh and hang in mingled breath? 59 00:05:31,240 --> 00:05:33,680 Speaker 1: He was a man of exceptional flights of fancy my father. 60 00:05:34,600 --> 00:05:37,600 Speaker 1: He had wanted to be a poet in the war, 61 00:05:37,800 --> 00:05:42,080 Speaker 1: but all soldiers are poets and very few doctors are 62 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:49,279 Speaker 1: better the stethoscope and tongue depressor. Doctor confined happiness. Poets 63 00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:52,840 Speaker 1: rarely do. Maybe he knew more than he let on. 64 00:05:55,160 --> 00:06:00,160 Speaker 1: It started with a girl no more than thirteen. Her 65 00:06:00,240 --> 00:06:05,839 Speaker 1: sight was dimming save for a red smear that flashed 66 00:06:06,360 --> 00:06:13,520 Speaker 1: each time she blinked. Langer, listlessness, but sleeplessness as well. 67 00:06:14,560 --> 00:06:19,440 Speaker 1: She was in some sort of infectious half life, the 68 00:06:19,560 --> 00:06:23,800 Speaker 1: Fisher King's malady. It's like when you look at the Sun, 69 00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:29,000 Speaker 1: you get that red smear. She told me, retinal afterimage. 70 00:06:29,120 --> 00:06:32,280 Speaker 1: I said she was a nice young girl whom I 71 00:06:32,279 --> 00:06:36,560 Speaker 1: had seen around dating the son of a family friend, 72 00:06:36,880 --> 00:06:41,680 Speaker 1: so it was natural that my radar was pinged when 73 00:06:41,720 --> 00:06:45,480 Speaker 1: the family friend came in with the sun in tow 74 00:06:45,760 --> 00:06:49,599 Speaker 1: and described the same symptoms. It's like I see a 75 00:06:49,680 --> 00:06:53,200 Speaker 1: shining person, you know, doc, the boy said, shining all 76 00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:56,680 Speaker 1: read in the dark, but it's only when I closed 77 00:06:56,680 --> 00:07:00,839 Speaker 1: my eyes. If I can't sleep, my head hurts all 78 00:07:00,839 --> 00:07:05,800 Speaker 1: the time. It took some effort to get the rest 79 00:07:05,839 --> 00:07:10,320 Speaker 1: out of him. There's been a dance and a different 80 00:07:10,360 --> 00:07:15,800 Speaker 1: girl had shown him interest. They had danced, they had kissed, 81 00:07:17,120 --> 00:07:23,800 Speaker 1: their words had hung in mingled breath. That's all. I 82 00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:28,880 Speaker 1: asked him if they had traveled the corridors of flesh 83 00:07:28,960 --> 00:07:34,320 Speaker 1: and he blushed furiously and stammered. Of course not, kissing 84 00:07:34,360 --> 00:07:39,560 Speaker 1: and nothing more, he assured me, and I believed him. 85 00:07:39,600 --> 00:07:43,840 Speaker 1: The next day I knocked on the young girl's door. 86 00:07:44,160 --> 00:07:48,480 Speaker 1: To her father's surprise, she had kissed the boy beneath 87 00:07:48,600 --> 00:07:54,160 Speaker 1: the bleachers after school. Her Vision had deteriorated to near sightlessness. 88 00:07:54,200 --> 00:07:58,520 Speaker 1: All her world was tinted red and she was delirious 89 00:07:58,680 --> 00:08:02,679 Speaker 1: from lack of sleep. Ye, the boy she kissed was worse, 90 00:08:03,480 --> 00:08:07,600 Speaker 1: and so on and so forth, from team to team, 91 00:08:07,720 --> 00:08:10,800 Speaker 1: until I found a young man in the county jail. 92 00:08:11,640 --> 00:08:15,240 Speaker 1: The young man had gone blind save for a bright 93 00:08:15,760 --> 00:08:20,160 Speaker 1: and burning red vision endlessly churning in his mind's eye. 94 00:08:20,840 --> 00:08:25,320 Speaker 1: He had acted erratically assaulted his mother. She'd been wearing 95 00:08:25,360 --> 00:08:30,080 Speaker 1: a red apron. When I entered the jail cell he 96 00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:37,040 Speaker 1: was beyond conversation. I sitated the boy and he eased tension, 97 00:08:37,200 --> 00:08:40,600 Speaker 1: releasing and only afterwards did he tell me his story. 98 00:08:41,640 --> 00:08:44,520 Speaker 1: I was supposed to meet her at lover's leap, he said, 99 00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:49,000 Speaker 1: and she showed up, but she wasn't alone. She broke 100 00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:53,960 Speaker 1: it off with me. I can only imagine how bad 101 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:58,720 Speaker 1: that hurt. I said I ran away. They were laughing 102 00:08:58,840 --> 00:09:02,200 Speaker 1: at me, like they wanted to. I wanted to mock me. 103 00:09:03,040 --> 00:09:05,800 Speaker 1: The sedative was running rough in his veins by then 104 00:09:05,840 --> 00:09:10,959 Speaker 1: and his face took on a dissolute expression. I don't 105 00:09:11,040 --> 00:09:15,079 Speaker 1: know when I came to. I remember the old, ruined 106 00:09:15,200 --> 00:09:20,320 Speaker 1: church and then the graveyard, and then lying down. He 107 00:09:20,400 --> 00:09:24,160 Speaker 1: fell silent and closed his eyes. I watched as they 108 00:09:24,160 --> 00:09:27,640 Speaker 1: shifted back and forth beneath his eyelids, seeing it all 109 00:09:27,679 --> 00:09:33,679 Speaker 1: again over and over. And then she came. She kissed me. 110 00:09:34,400 --> 00:09:38,679 Speaker 1: I thought it was a dream. It was a dream, 111 00:09:38,720 --> 00:09:44,200 Speaker 1: and now she's all I see. After that, he would 112 00:09:44,240 --> 00:09:48,320 Speaker 1: talk no more. The drugs have done their work. He 113 00:09:48,440 --> 00:09:53,240 Speaker 1: slept a medical gum shoe, my father called me. Well, 114 00:09:53,240 --> 00:09:56,000 Speaker 1: it's only a short hike to the leap from Highway 115 00:09:56,080 --> 00:09:59,640 Speaker 1: Ninety two, where the salt air coming from the Bay 116 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:05,240 Speaker 1: art's trees into wind rated sculptures and eats at the cliffs. 117 00:10:06,480 --> 00:10:10,680 Speaker 1: It was cooling then, the sky hazy, casting the world 118 00:10:10,760 --> 00:10:16,560 Speaker 1: in autumnal light. The trees just beginning to change. In 119 00:10:16,600 --> 00:10:20,600 Speaker 1: the daylight the leap just looks like a flat rocky 120 00:10:20,679 --> 00:10:23,800 Speaker 1: promontory over the sea, like in an moss. At the 121 00:10:23,880 --> 00:10:28,800 Speaker 1: edges and in the crevices. At night, I'm told it 122 00:10:28,960 --> 00:10:35,400 Speaker 1: holds wonders and heartbreak. I followed the trail down and 123 00:10:35,559 --> 00:10:42,920 Speaker 1: away through wind card baberries and Sumac, towering oak and Evergreen, 124 00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:47,160 Speaker 1: to the old water shed where the original dire brook 125 00:10:47,400 --> 00:10:53,360 Speaker 1: church stood, it's ruined roof open to the sky, its 126 00:10:53,400 --> 00:10:59,920 Speaker 1: pews fall into dust. A strange lightness came over me. 127 00:11:00,720 --> 00:11:06,680 Speaker 1: I found myself in a garden of gravestones. I came 128 00:11:06,720 --> 00:11:10,880 Speaker 1: to a towering red maple blazing in the last of 129 00:11:10,960 --> 00:11:17,520 Speaker 1: the Day's light, brilliant Crimson Tree. Beneath it I found 130 00:11:17,559 --> 00:11:21,880 Speaker 1: a fallen gravestone. There were roses carved at the edges 131 00:11:21,920 --> 00:11:29,760 Speaker 1: of the stone. Here lies, upon unconsecrated ground, Amelia scarborough, 132 00:11:30,320 --> 00:11:36,000 Speaker 1: born seventeen fifty three, buried seventeen eighty, a blight upon 133 00:11:36,160 --> 00:11:40,559 Speaker 1: dire brook and its youth. May God have mercy upon 134 00:11:40,720 --> 00:11:46,440 Speaker 1: her soul. My vision wavered. A cloud passed in front 135 00:11:46,480 --> 00:11:51,360 Speaker 1: of the watery Sun. Gloom drew close around as I 136 00:11:51,520 --> 00:11:55,400 Speaker 1: stared at the grave. I to figure standing not too 137 00:11:55,480 --> 00:12:02,360 Speaker 1: far away. Come to me, thou art my love. She 138 00:12:02,520 --> 00:12:06,559 Speaker 1: said she would take my hand and lay me down 139 00:12:06,600 --> 00:12:09,320 Speaker 1: and kiss me and fill my eyes with the sight 140 00:12:09,400 --> 00:12:15,760 Speaker 1: of her. I knew this instinctively. I shook my head. 141 00:12:17,480 --> 00:12:22,080 Speaker 1: Do you not love me, she asked. I was young then. 142 00:12:23,520 --> 00:12:26,400 Speaker 1: It would be a year before I met Stephen, Thirty 143 00:12:26,400 --> 00:12:31,080 Speaker 1: five before we would wed. My father would die before 144 00:12:31,080 --> 00:12:32,719 Speaker 1: I would have the courage to tell him the sort 145 00:12:32,760 --> 00:12:36,440 Speaker 1: of man I am, but I like to think he 146 00:12:36,520 --> 00:12:41,520 Speaker 1: would have still loved me. No, none the way you 147 00:12:41,559 --> 00:12:47,160 Speaker 1: would want. I said. It has to stop. They would 148 00:12:47,200 --> 00:12:50,080 Speaker 1: put ye in a grave next to mine if they 149 00:12:50,160 --> 00:12:56,760 Speaker 1: truly knew Ye. She looked away towards town. Heal thyself, physician, 150 00:12:57,280 --> 00:13:02,880 Speaker 1: they will say, maybe, MH, but you don't have to. 151 00:13:03,880 --> 00:13:11,120 Speaker 1: I stopped to what. She lifted along cadaverous finger and 152 00:13:11,200 --> 00:13:14,319 Speaker 1: it came to rest pointing toward the garden of graves 153 00:13:14,400 --> 00:13:19,880 Speaker 1: behind me. I loved a woman a dire brook and 154 00:13:19,960 --> 00:13:24,040 Speaker 1: they hung leave for it as a witch. They are 155 00:13:24,160 --> 00:13:29,720 Speaker 1: all dead, I said, long dead, her mouth blackened and 156 00:13:29,840 --> 00:13:36,160 Speaker 1: her eyes burned. I will kiss every young soul and 157 00:13:36,320 --> 00:13:40,280 Speaker 1: dire book and fill their cries with the sight of me. 158 00:13:41,720 --> 00:13:45,839 Speaker 1: I will be the ruin of the proud families and 159 00:13:46,080 --> 00:13:52,360 Speaker 1: strike at the roots of every tree. She came close, 160 00:13:53,840 --> 00:14:05,080 Speaker 1: so very close. Our breath mingled. Why did JES? No? 161 00:14:16,679 --> 00:14:20,560 Speaker 1: When the sun returned, she was gone. I traced my 162 00:14:20,640 --> 00:14:24,000 Speaker 1: way back through the SUMAC and the babery to the 163 00:14:24,120 --> 00:14:28,120 Speaker 1: leap and beyond to my car. Back at the jail, 164 00:14:28,240 --> 00:14:32,800 Speaker 1: I bailed out the young man and we brought roses 165 00:14:32,880 --> 00:14:37,840 Speaker 1: that evening set them upon Emilia's grave. His side improved 166 00:14:38,280 --> 00:14:41,640 Speaker 1: and by the next day he was as good as new. 167 00:14:43,160 --> 00:14:47,880 Speaker 1: The rumor of the roses traveled quickly and Amelia's forgotten 168 00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:52,800 Speaker 1: grave was visited by the youth of Dyer Brook, strewn 169 00:14:52,880 --> 00:14:59,320 Speaker 1: and carmine and Crimson and red petals. The kissing sickness 170 00:14:59,360 --> 00:15:06,000 Speaker 1: returns every now and then when someone heartbroken finds Amelia's grave. 171 00:15:07,720 --> 00:15:13,200 Speaker 1: But it is no longer a mystery to be solved. 172 00:15:14,880 --> 00:15:24,040 Speaker 1: MM HMM. I am old and full of sleep and 173 00:15:25,720 --> 00:15:30,280 Speaker 1: my Stephen is gone. I am too old to be 174 00:15:30,840 --> 00:15:38,360 Speaker 1: a physician to dire brook anymore. I'm not crazy, I swear, 175 00:15:38,520 --> 00:15:48,080 Speaker 1: but I know this. Love, like disease, like hate, like knowledge, 176 00:15:49,360 --> 00:15:54,760 Speaker 1: hides in the corridors of flesh and hangs on mingled breath. 177 00:15:57,080 --> 00:16:01,560 Speaker 1: We know the symptoms. Failing sight, red afterimage in the 178 00:16:01,640 --> 00:16:07,720 Speaker 1: mind's eye, sleeplessness. The source of it is her grave 179 00:16:08,840 --> 00:16:13,880 Speaker 1: up the coast, above the bay, beneath the burning red tree. 180 00:16:16,080 --> 00:16:24,320 Speaker 1: She likes kisses, but for a cure roses will suffice. 181 00:16:25,280 --> 00:16:30,360 Speaker 1: At any rate. Let me give you a little something 182 00:16:30,720 --> 00:16:39,240 Speaker 1: extra in case the pastors cure wears off. Yes, here 183 00:16:39,280 --> 00:16:44,800 Speaker 1: we are. What is it? Oh, this and that, something 184 00:16:44,840 --> 00:16:52,280 Speaker 1: I made myself. It's yes, phosphorescence from the sea, blood 185 00:16:52,440 --> 00:16:59,920 Speaker 1: of the father himself. Is he no? No, figurative blood, 186 00:17:00,720 --> 00:17:04,119 Speaker 1: along with a number of local flora, all Brown together 187 00:17:04,160 --> 00:17:09,280 Speaker 1: and clarified over flame. Science and magic do seem to 188 00:17:09,440 --> 00:17:16,000 Speaker 1: overlap here. Now, do not take this until the pain 189 00:17:16,040 --> 00:17:21,800 Speaker 1: begins to return, probably this evening, I'd imagine. In time 190 00:17:22,600 --> 00:17:27,280 Speaker 1: your memory should return. Hopefully it's not too jarring when 191 00:17:27,320 --> 00:17:32,080 Speaker 1: it does. Thank you, Doctor. Of course, a friend of 192 00:17:32,119 --> 00:17:35,960 Speaker 1: mother's is a friend of mine. See You at the gathering, 193 00:17:37,240 --> 00:17:43,000 Speaker 1: of course. Well, father be with you both. Everything returns 194 00:17:43,080 --> 00:17:50,240 Speaker 1: to just like a local farewell, Doctor. Now come the 195 00:17:50,359 --> 00:17:54,480 Speaker 1: day grows old and the storm grows near, and we've 196 00:17:54,520 --> 00:18:14,879 Speaker 1: still got people to see. M M H tomorrow on 197 00:18:15,040 --> 00:18:19,719 Speaker 1: thirteen days of Halloween. The factory. I tried tell him 198 00:18:19,720 --> 00:18:22,160 Speaker 1: my dad not to go, but he told me something 199 00:18:22,200 --> 00:18:27,840 Speaker 1: I'd never forget. He said, Charles, someone has to take 200 00:18:27,840 --> 00:18:32,480 Speaker 1: on all this fear. Everyone has. Someone has to carry 201 00:18:32,480 --> 00:18:35,320 Speaker 1: it for him so they can be a little less afraid. 202 00:18:36,400 --> 00:18:39,840 Speaker 1: He said he and Granddad were gonna do that and 203 00:18:39,880 --> 00:18:43,119 Speaker 1: then he was off. They were going for three days 204 00:18:43,800 --> 00:18:48,160 Speaker 1: like they just vanished and they finally drifted back into 205 00:18:48,160 --> 00:18:52,119 Speaker 1: the bay. There sales were just torn shreds and the 206 00:18:52,119 --> 00:18:54,760 Speaker 1: rescue team they wouldn't even send a rowboat out to 207 00:18:54,800 --> 00:19:03,480 Speaker 1: get him they were so scared. Yeah, thirteen days of Halloween. 208 00:19:03,760 --> 00:19:07,560 Speaker 1: The doctor's Office, starring Kathy to Jimmy, Bethany and Lynde 209 00:19:07,680 --> 00:19:12,040 Speaker 1: and Jonathan Strickland. Written by John Horner Jacobs, with additional 210 00:19:12,080 --> 00:19:16,560 Speaker 1: material by Nicholas Takowski. Sound Design and mixing by Ben 211 00:19:16,640 --> 00:19:21,760 Speaker 1: Kiebrick engineering by violent Ferton, dubway studios, New York. Casting 212 00:19:21,800 --> 00:19:25,760 Speaker 1: by Jessica Losa, created by Matt Frederick and Alex Williams, 213 00:19:25,800 --> 00:19:29,760 Speaker 1: with executive producer Aaron Manky. A production of I heart radio, 214 00:19:29,960 --> 00:19:32,159 Speaker 1: grim and mild and BLUMHOUSE television.