1 00:00:01,680 --> 00:00:10,000 Speaker 1: Cool Zone Media book Club book Club book Club, book 2 00:00:10,080 --> 00:00:15,000 Speaker 1: Club book Club. Hello and welcome to Cooleson Media book Club, 3 00:00:15,320 --> 00:00:17,479 Speaker 1: the only book club where you don't have to do 4 00:00:17,560 --> 00:00:20,480 Speaker 1: the reading because I do it for you. I'm your host, 5 00:00:20,560 --> 00:00:24,280 Speaker 1: Margaret Giljoy, and every week I bring you usually stories, 6 00:00:24,880 --> 00:00:27,280 Speaker 1: and this week I'm bringing you a story by someone 7 00:00:27,320 --> 00:00:29,880 Speaker 1: that I didn't even realize wrote fiction, but someone that 8 00:00:29,920 --> 00:00:34,240 Speaker 1: I've referenced a lot in my historian research. Historical research, 9 00:00:34,320 --> 00:00:37,720 Speaker 1: I'm not really a historian, but in the history podcast 10 00:00:37,720 --> 00:00:41,080 Speaker 1: that I run, because I'm going back to a story 11 00:00:41,120 --> 00:00:45,839 Speaker 1: from nineteen twenty written by the civil rights leader, Harvard 12 00:00:45,880 --> 00:00:52,520 Speaker 1: trained sociologist and prolific author W. E. B. Dubois. Basically, 13 00:00:53,200 --> 00:00:56,040 Speaker 1: if you've heard me reference on cool people who did 14 00:00:56,120 --> 00:01:00,320 Speaker 1: cool stuff, the idea that the Civil War was one 15 00:01:00,760 --> 00:01:04,800 Speaker 1: by the general strike of enslaved people in the US South, 16 00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:08,800 Speaker 1: and how that crippled the Confederate economy. I'm referencing W. E. B. 17 00:01:08,959 --> 00:01:12,440 Speaker 1: Du Bois, and he's written a lot, but that's the 18 00:01:12,480 --> 00:01:17,240 Speaker 1: most influential on my understanding of history. W. E. B. 19 00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:20,760 Speaker 1: Du Bois was born in eighteen sixty eight, and he 20 00:01:20,840 --> 00:01:24,120 Speaker 1: is primarily known as a nonfiction writer. Most notably The 21 00:01:24,120 --> 00:01:29,160 Speaker 1: Souls of Black Folk and Black Reconstruction in America. But 22 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:32,200 Speaker 1: he also left us some fiction that explored ideas he 23 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:35,959 Speaker 1: couldn't articulate with his nonfiction work, And it's actually good fiction. 24 00:01:36,280 --> 00:01:39,480 Speaker 1: Just to be clear. Sometimes when nonfiction writers are like, 25 00:01:39,560 --> 00:01:44,720 Speaker 1: I'm a writer, story, they're not nailing it. But yeah, no, 26 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:49,200 Speaker 1: the stories, it's very good. Dubois was one of the 27 00:01:49,240 --> 00:01:53,200 Speaker 1: founders of the NAACP and was a longtime editor of 28 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:56,400 Speaker 1: its newspaper, which is called The Crisis, which is a 29 00:01:56,440 --> 00:01:59,919 Speaker 1: fantastic name for a paper. Politically, he was a Panaic 30 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:03,440 Speaker 1: Africanist and sympathetic to socialism, and found capitalism to be 31 00:02:03,480 --> 00:02:07,400 Speaker 1: the root cause of fascism, though pragmatism and personal conflicts 32 00:02:07,440 --> 00:02:11,560 Speaker 1: with socialist organizers often led him back to electoral politics. 33 00:02:12,919 --> 00:02:17,280 Speaker 1: This story, The Comet, is a pillar of early twentieth 34 00:02:17,280 --> 00:02:20,520 Speaker 1: century Black science fiction, and a lot of critics look 35 00:02:20,600 --> 00:02:25,320 Speaker 1: back on it as an early example of afrofuturism. Dubois 36 00:02:25,480 --> 00:02:29,160 Speaker 1: was a lifelong atheist, but was deeply interested in religious 37 00:02:29,200 --> 00:02:33,079 Speaker 1: metaphor apocalyptic language and the way that systems bigger than 38 00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:36,760 Speaker 1: us filter down into everyday lives. And you'll see that 39 00:02:36,960 --> 00:02:40,560 Speaker 1: on full display in this story. And just as a note, 40 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:42,480 Speaker 1: this was written by a black author nineteen twenty talking 41 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:44,320 Speaker 1: about people at the time, and some people are going 42 00:02:44,360 --> 00:02:46,960 Speaker 1: to use the N word to describe a character in 43 00:02:47,080 --> 00:02:50,320 Speaker 1: the story. I am not going to read the N word, 44 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:56,000 Speaker 1: but instead I'm going to introduce a bleep okay, without 45 00:02:56,080 --> 00:02:58,720 Speaker 1: further ado, because that's the ado. The ado is done 46 00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:04,680 Speaker 1: without any more of that ado. Here is the Comet 47 00:03:05,200 --> 00:03:11,560 Speaker 1: by W. E. B. Du Bois. He stood a moment 48 00:03:11,720 --> 00:03:14,560 Speaker 1: on the steps of the bank, watching the human river 49 00:03:14,800 --> 00:03:20,239 Speaker 1: that swirled down Broadway. Few noticed him, few ever noticed him, 50 00:03:20,480 --> 00:03:25,560 Speaker 1: save in a way that stung. He was outside the world. Nothing, 51 00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:29,320 Speaker 1: as he said bitterly, bits of the words of the 52 00:03:29,360 --> 00:03:34,640 Speaker 1: walkers came to him. The comment, oh, the comment. Everyone 53 00:03:34,760 --> 00:03:37,760 Speaker 1: was talking of it. Even the President, as he entered, 54 00:03:37,800 --> 00:03:44,160 Speaker 1: smiled patronizingly at him and asked, well, Jim, are you scared. No, 55 00:03:44,880 --> 00:03:48,200 Speaker 1: said the messenger shortly, I thought. We journeyed through the 56 00:03:48,240 --> 00:03:53,000 Speaker 1: comet's tail once broke in. The junior clerk affably, Oh, 57 00:03:53,080 --> 00:03:56,640 Speaker 1: that was Haley's, said the President. This is a new comment. 58 00:03:56,800 --> 00:04:00,600 Speaker 1: Quite a stranger, they say, wonderful, wonderful. Well, I saw 59 00:04:00,600 --> 00:04:04,200 Speaker 1: it last night. Oh, by the way, Jim, turning around 60 00:04:04,240 --> 00:04:07,040 Speaker 1: again to the messenger, I want you to go down 61 00:04:07,120 --> 00:04:12,680 Speaker 1: into the lower vaults today. The messenger followed the President silently. 62 00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:15,960 Speaker 1: Of course they wanted him to go down to the 63 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:19,479 Speaker 1: lower vaults. It was too dangerous for more valuable men. 64 00:04:20,120 --> 00:04:25,000 Speaker 1: He smiled grimly and listened. Everything of value has been 65 00:04:25,040 --> 00:04:27,800 Speaker 1: moved out since the water began to seep in, said 66 00:04:27,800 --> 00:04:31,440 Speaker 1: the President. But we missed two volumes of old records. 67 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:35,400 Speaker 1: Suppose you nose around down there. It isn't very pleasant. 68 00:04:35,440 --> 00:04:41,360 Speaker 1: I suppose not very said the messenger as he walked out. Well, Jim, 69 00:04:41,440 --> 00:04:43,400 Speaker 1: the tale of the new comet hits us at noon 70 00:04:43,480 --> 00:04:46,200 Speaker 1: this time, said the vault clerk as he passed over 71 00:04:46,240 --> 00:04:49,760 Speaker 1: the keys. But the messenger passed silently down the stairs. 72 00:04:50,839 --> 00:04:54,719 Speaker 1: Down he went beneath Broadway, where the dim light filtered 73 00:04:54,760 --> 00:04:59,080 Speaker 1: through the feet of hurrying men, Down to the dark basement, beneath, 74 00:04:59,720 --> 00:05:04,840 Speaker 1: down into the blackness and silence, beneath that lowest cavern. Here, 75 00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:07,400 Speaker 1: with his dark lantern, he groped in the bowels of 76 00:05:07,400 --> 00:05:12,320 Speaker 1: the earth, under the world. He drew a long breath 77 00:05:12,320 --> 00:05:16,159 Speaker 1: as he threw back the last great iron door and 78 00:05:16,320 --> 00:05:21,640 Speaker 1: stepped into the fetid slime within. Here at last was peace, 79 00:05:22,320 --> 00:05:27,120 Speaker 1: and he groped moodily forward. A great rat leaped past him, 80 00:05:27,480 --> 00:05:31,919 Speaker 1: and cobwebs crept across his face. He felt carefully around 81 00:05:31,960 --> 00:05:35,400 Speaker 1: the room, shelf by shelf, on the muddied floor, and 82 00:05:35,520 --> 00:05:39,599 Speaker 1: in crevice and corner. Nothing. Then he went back to 83 00:05:39,680 --> 00:05:43,479 Speaker 1: the far end, where somehow the wall felt different. He 84 00:05:43,640 --> 00:05:49,400 Speaker 1: sounded and pushed and pried. Nothing. He started away, then 85 00:05:49,480 --> 00:05:53,000 Speaker 1: something brought him back. He was sounding and working again, 86 00:05:53,040 --> 00:05:57,320 Speaker 1: when suddenly the whole black wall swung as on mighty hinges, 87 00:05:57,880 --> 00:06:03,080 Speaker 1: and blackness yawned beyond. He peered in. It was evidently 88 00:06:03,120 --> 00:06:06,640 Speaker 1: a secret vault, some hiding place of the old Bank vault, 89 00:06:06,760 --> 00:06:12,040 Speaker 1: unknown in newer times. He entered hesitatingly. It was a long, 90 00:06:12,360 --> 00:06:16,120 Speaker 1: narrow room with shelves, and at the far end an 91 00:06:16,160 --> 00:06:20,320 Speaker 1: old iron chest. On a high shelf lay the two 92 00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:24,839 Speaker 1: missing volumes of records and others. He put them carefully 93 00:06:24,920 --> 00:06:29,520 Speaker 1: aside and stepped to the chest. It was old, strong, 94 00:06:30,040 --> 00:06:33,880 Speaker 1: and rusty. He looked at the vast and old fashioned 95 00:06:33,920 --> 00:06:37,720 Speaker 1: lock and flashed its light on the hinges. They were 96 00:06:37,760 --> 00:06:41,600 Speaker 1: deeply encrusted with rust. Looking about he found a bit 97 00:06:41,680 --> 00:06:44,719 Speaker 1: of iron and began to pry. The rust had eaten 98 00:06:44,760 --> 00:06:49,480 Speaker 1: a hundred years, and it had gone deep slowly wearily, 99 00:06:49,640 --> 00:06:53,160 Speaker 1: the old lid lifted, and with a last low groan, 100 00:06:53,360 --> 00:06:56,479 Speaker 1: lay bare its treasure, and he saw the dull sheen 101 00:06:56,560 --> 00:07:04,320 Speaker 1: of gold. Boom, A low, grinding, reverberating crash struck upon 102 00:07:04,360 --> 00:07:08,680 Speaker 1: his ear. He started up and looked about. All was 103 00:07:08,760 --> 00:07:12,480 Speaker 1: black and still. He groped for his light and swung 104 00:07:12,520 --> 00:07:16,760 Speaker 1: it about him. Then he knew the great stone door 105 00:07:16,920 --> 00:07:20,840 Speaker 1: had swung to He forgot the gold and looked death 106 00:07:20,960 --> 00:07:24,240 Speaker 1: squarely in the face. Then, with a sigh, he went 107 00:07:24,360 --> 00:07:29,000 Speaker 1: methodically to work. The cold sweat stood on his forehead, 108 00:07:29,400 --> 00:07:34,040 Speaker 1: but he searched, pounded, pushed, and worked until after what 109 00:07:34,240 --> 00:07:39,680 Speaker 1: seemed endless hours, his hand struck a cold bit of metal, 110 00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:43,560 Speaker 1: and the great door swung again, harshly on its hinges, 111 00:07:44,160 --> 00:07:49,880 Speaker 1: and then, striking against something soft and heavy, stopped. He 112 00:07:49,920 --> 00:07:54,720 Speaker 1: had just roomed squeeze through. There lay the body of 113 00:07:54,720 --> 00:07:59,160 Speaker 1: the vault Clerk, cold and stiff. He stared at it 114 00:07:59,400 --> 00:08:04,360 Speaker 1: and then felt sick and nauseated. The air seemed unaccountably foul, 115 00:08:04,840 --> 00:08:09,320 Speaker 1: with a strong peculiar odor. He stepped forward, clutched at 116 00:08:09,360 --> 00:08:14,400 Speaker 1: the air and fell fainting across the corpse. He awoke 117 00:08:14,440 --> 00:08:17,600 Speaker 1: with a sense of horror, leaped from the body, and 118 00:08:17,720 --> 00:08:22,160 Speaker 1: groped up the stairs, calling to the guard. The watchman 119 00:08:22,240 --> 00:08:26,400 Speaker 1: sat as if asleep, with the gate swinging free, with 120 00:08:26,520 --> 00:08:30,280 Speaker 1: one glance at him. The messenger hurried up to the subvault. 121 00:08:31,080 --> 00:08:34,360 Speaker 1: In vain, he called to the guards. His voice echoed 122 00:08:34,400 --> 00:08:39,680 Speaker 1: and re echoed weirdly. Up into the great basement, he rushed. Here, 123 00:08:39,800 --> 00:08:43,560 Speaker 1: another guard lay prostrate on his face, cold and still. 124 00:08:44,679 --> 00:08:48,560 Speaker 1: A fear arose in the messenger's heart. He dashed up 125 00:08:48,600 --> 00:08:52,359 Speaker 1: to the cellar floor. Up into the bank, the stillness 126 00:08:52,360 --> 00:08:56,760 Speaker 1: of death lay everywhere, and everywhere bowed, bent and stretched, 127 00:08:56,880 --> 00:09:01,320 Speaker 1: the silent forms of men. The messenger paused and glanced about. 128 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:04,640 Speaker 1: He was not a man easily moved, but the sight 129 00:09:05,040 --> 00:09:10,280 Speaker 1: was appalling robbery and murder. He whispered slowly to himself 130 00:09:10,320 --> 00:09:13,600 Speaker 1: as he saw the twisted, oozing mouth of the President, 131 00:09:13,640 --> 00:09:17,200 Speaker 1: where he lay half buried on his desk. Then a 132 00:09:17,240 --> 00:09:20,800 Speaker 1: new thought seized him. If they found him here alone, 133 00:09:21,240 --> 00:09:24,000 Speaker 1: with all this money and all these dead men, what 134 00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:28,119 Speaker 1: would his life be worth? He glanced about, tiptoed cautiously 135 00:09:28,160 --> 00:09:32,120 Speaker 1: to a side door, and again looked behind. Quietly, he 136 00:09:32,200 --> 00:09:36,280 Speaker 1: turned the latch and stepped out into Wall Street. How 137 00:09:36,360 --> 00:09:39,679 Speaker 1: silent the street was not, A soul was stirring, and 138 00:09:39,760 --> 00:09:44,520 Speaker 1: yet it was high noon Wall Street Broadway. He glanced 139 00:09:44,559 --> 00:09:47,680 Speaker 1: almost wildly up and down, then across the street, and 140 00:09:47,760 --> 00:09:51,120 Speaker 1: as he looked, a sickening horror froze in his limbs. 141 00:09:51,679 --> 00:09:55,319 Speaker 1: With a choking cry of utter fright. He lunged, leaned 142 00:09:55,400 --> 00:09:59,000 Speaker 1: giddily against the cold building, and stared helplessly at the sight. 143 00:10:00,240 --> 00:10:04,000 Speaker 1: In the great stone doorway. A hundred men and women 144 00:10:04,040 --> 00:10:08,360 Speaker 1: and children lay, crushed and twisted and jammed forced into 145 00:10:08,400 --> 00:10:12,679 Speaker 1: that great, gaping doorway, like refuse in a can, as 146 00:10:12,720 --> 00:10:16,240 Speaker 1: if in one wild frantic rush to safety, they had 147 00:10:16,320 --> 00:10:21,320 Speaker 1: rushed and ground themselves to death. Slowly the messenger crept 148 00:10:21,320 --> 00:10:25,680 Speaker 1: along the walls, wetting his parched mouth and trying to comprehend, 149 00:10:26,240 --> 00:10:29,400 Speaker 1: stilling the tremor in his limbs and the rising terror 150 00:10:29,440 --> 00:10:33,640 Speaker 1: in his heart. He met a business man, silk hatted 151 00:10:33,679 --> 00:10:38,320 Speaker 1: and frock coated, who had crept too along that smooth wall, 152 00:10:38,800 --> 00:10:42,360 Speaker 1: and stood now stone dead, with wonder written on his lips. 153 00:10:43,679 --> 00:10:47,000 Speaker 1: The messenger turned his eyes hastily away and sought the curb. 154 00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:51,959 Speaker 1: A woman leaned wearily against the sign post, her head 155 00:10:52,080 --> 00:10:57,040 Speaker 1: bowed motionless on her lace and silken bosom. Before her 156 00:10:57,080 --> 00:11:01,240 Speaker 1: stood a street car, silent and within. But the messenger 157 00:11:01,280 --> 00:11:05,000 Speaker 1: but glanced and hurried on. A grimy newsboy sat in 158 00:11:05,040 --> 00:11:08,960 Speaker 1: the gutter with the last edition in his uplifted hand. 159 00:11:09,960 --> 00:11:14,640 Speaker 1: Danger screamed its black headlines, warnings wired around the world. 160 00:11:14,679 --> 00:11:18,959 Speaker 1: The comet's tail sweeps past us at noon, Deadly gases expected, 161 00:11:19,280 --> 00:11:24,320 Speaker 1: Close doors and windows, seek the cellar. The messenger read 162 00:11:24,440 --> 00:11:28,280 Speaker 1: and staggered on far out from a window above a 163 00:11:28,320 --> 00:11:31,880 Speaker 1: girl lay with gasping face and sleevelets on her arms. 164 00:11:33,080 --> 00:11:36,160 Speaker 1: On a store step sat a little, sweet faced girl, 165 00:11:36,280 --> 00:11:39,680 Speaker 1: looking upward toward the skies, and in the carriage by 166 00:11:39,760 --> 00:11:44,360 Speaker 1: her lay. But the messenger looked no longer. The cords 167 00:11:44,400 --> 00:11:47,600 Speaker 1: gave way. The terror burst in his veins, and with 168 00:11:47,720 --> 00:11:52,400 Speaker 1: one great gasping cry, he sprang desperately forward and ran 169 00:11:53,120 --> 00:11:56,640 Speaker 1: ran as only the frightened run, shrieking and fighting the air, 170 00:11:57,200 --> 00:12:00,120 Speaker 1: until with one last wail of pain, he sank on 171 00:12:00,160 --> 00:12:04,200 Speaker 1: the grass of Madison Square and lay prone and still. 172 00:12:05,640 --> 00:12:08,440 Speaker 1: When he rose, he gave no glance at all. To 173 00:12:08,520 --> 00:12:11,880 Speaker 1: the still and silent forms on the benches, but going 174 00:12:11,960 --> 00:12:15,440 Speaker 1: to a fountain, bathed his face. Then, hiding himself in 175 00:12:15,480 --> 00:12:18,800 Speaker 1: a corner away from the drama of death, he quietly 176 00:12:18,880 --> 00:12:22,880 Speaker 1: gripped himself and thought, the thing through the comet had 177 00:12:22,920 --> 00:12:27,400 Speaker 1: swept the earth, and this was the end. Was everybody dead? 178 00:12:28,200 --> 00:12:31,560 Speaker 1: He must search and see. He knew that he must 179 00:12:31,559 --> 00:12:35,320 Speaker 1: steady himself and keep calm, or he would go insane. 180 00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:38,600 Speaker 1: First he must go to a restaurant. He walked up 181 00:12:38,640 --> 00:12:42,599 Speaker 1: Fifth Avenue to a famous hostelry and entered its gorgeous, 182 00:12:42,960 --> 00:12:47,280 Speaker 1: ghost haunted halls. He beat back the nausea, and, seizing 183 00:12:47,320 --> 00:12:50,480 Speaker 1: a tray from dead hands, hurried into the streets and 184 00:12:50,640 --> 00:12:56,959 Speaker 1: ate ravenously, hiding to keep out the sights. Yesterday they 185 00:12:56,960 --> 00:13:00,000 Speaker 1: would not have served me, he whispered as he forced 186 00:13:00,120 --> 00:13:05,599 Speaker 1: the food down. Then he started up the street, looking, peering, telephoning, 187 00:13:05,720 --> 00:13:11,319 Speaker 1: ringing alarms, silent, silent. All was nobody, nobody. He dared 188 00:13:11,320 --> 00:13:15,800 Speaker 1: not think the thought, and hurried on. Suddenly he stopped still. 189 00:13:16,520 --> 00:13:20,400 Speaker 1: He had forgotten, My god, how could he have forgotten? 190 00:13:20,800 --> 00:13:24,240 Speaker 1: He must rush to the subway. Then he almost laughed, No, 191 00:13:24,440 --> 00:13:27,200 Speaker 1: a car, if he could find a Ford. He saw 192 00:13:27,280 --> 00:13:30,560 Speaker 1: one gently, he lifted off its burden and took his 193 00:13:30,720 --> 00:13:34,760 Speaker 1: place on the seat. He tested the throttle. There was gas. 194 00:13:35,320 --> 00:13:39,439 Speaker 1: He glided off, shivering, and drove up the street. Everywhere 195 00:13:39,480 --> 00:13:43,520 Speaker 1: stood leaned, lounged, and lay the dead in grim and 196 00:13:43,559 --> 00:13:49,079 Speaker 1: awful silence. On he ran past an automobile wrecked and overturned, 197 00:13:49,600 --> 00:13:52,880 Speaker 1: passed another filled with a gay party whose smiles yet 198 00:13:52,960 --> 00:13:57,200 Speaker 1: lingered on their death. Struck lips on past crowds and 199 00:13:57,280 --> 00:14:02,440 Speaker 1: groups of cars, pausing by dead policeman at forty second Street. 200 00:14:02,480 --> 00:14:05,240 Speaker 1: He had to detour to Park Avenue to avoid the 201 00:14:05,280 --> 00:14:09,040 Speaker 1: dead congestion. He came back on Fifth Avenue at fifty 202 00:14:09,080 --> 00:14:12,079 Speaker 1: seventh and flew past the plaza and by the park 203 00:14:12,120 --> 00:14:15,720 Speaker 1: with its hushed babies and silent throng, until as he 204 00:14:15,800 --> 00:14:19,160 Speaker 1: was rushing past seventy second Street, he heard a sharp 205 00:14:19,360 --> 00:14:23,640 Speaker 1: cry and saw a living form leaning wildly out an 206 00:14:23,720 --> 00:14:28,160 Speaker 1: upper window. He gasped. The human voice sounded in his 207 00:14:28,280 --> 00:14:32,200 Speaker 1: ears like the voice of God. And do you know 208 00:14:32,280 --> 00:14:36,000 Speaker 1: what else is in your ear right now? Like the 209 00:14:36,120 --> 00:14:39,960 Speaker 1: voice of God. I'm sure as fuck is in sports gambling, 210 00:14:40,040 --> 00:14:41,760 Speaker 1: but it might be the rest of these goods and 211 00:14:42,120 --> 00:15:01,080 Speaker 1: services and we're back. Hello, Hello, Hell in God's name, 212 00:15:01,240 --> 00:15:03,920 Speaker 1: wailed the woman. There's a dead girl in here, and 213 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:07,400 Speaker 1: a man, and see yonder, dead men lying in the street, 214 00:15:07,480 --> 00:15:10,120 Speaker 1: and dead horses. For the love of God, go and 215 00:15:10,160 --> 00:15:14,800 Speaker 1: bring the officers. And the words trailed off into hysterical tears. 216 00:15:16,520 --> 00:15:19,600 Speaker 1: He wheeled the car in a sudden circle, running over 217 00:15:19,640 --> 00:15:22,680 Speaker 1: the still body of a child and leaping on the curb. 218 00:15:23,280 --> 00:15:25,520 Speaker 1: Then he rushed up the steps and tried the door, 219 00:15:25,560 --> 00:15:28,880 Speaker 1: and rang violently. There was a long pause, but at 220 00:15:28,960 --> 00:15:32,840 Speaker 1: last the heavy door swung back. They stared a moment 221 00:15:32,920 --> 00:15:36,240 Speaker 1: in silence. She had not noticed before, but he was 222 00:15:36,280 --> 00:15:40,160 Speaker 1: a Negro. He had not thought of her as white. 223 00:15:40,200 --> 00:15:43,720 Speaker 1: She was a woman of perhaps twenty five, rarely beautiful, 224 00:15:43,720 --> 00:15:48,400 Speaker 1: and richly gowned, with darkly golden hair and jewels. Yesterday, 225 00:15:48,440 --> 00:15:51,320 Speaker 1: he thought with bitterness, she would scarcely have looked at 226 00:15:51,360 --> 00:15:55,040 Speaker 1: him twice. He would have been dirt beneath her silken feet. 227 00:15:55,800 --> 00:15:58,600 Speaker 1: She stared at him. Of all the sorts of men 228 00:15:58,680 --> 00:16:01,160 Speaker 1: she had pictured as coming to a rescue, she had 229 00:16:01,200 --> 00:16:04,040 Speaker 1: not dreamed of one like him, not that he was 230 00:16:04,080 --> 00:16:07,120 Speaker 1: not human, but he dwelt in a world so far 231 00:16:07,160 --> 00:16:10,920 Speaker 1: from her, so infinitely far that he seldom even entered 232 00:16:10,920 --> 00:16:14,520 Speaker 1: her thought. Yet as she looked at him curiously, he 233 00:16:14,560 --> 00:16:19,200 Speaker 1: seemed quite commonplace and usual. He was a tall, dark 234 00:16:19,280 --> 00:16:23,480 Speaker 1: workingman of the better classes, with a sensitive face trained 235 00:16:23,480 --> 00:16:27,440 Speaker 1: to stolidity, and a poor man's clothes and hands. His 236 00:16:27,560 --> 00:16:30,240 Speaker 1: face was soft and slow in his manner, at once 237 00:16:30,440 --> 00:16:34,440 Speaker 1: cold and nervous, like fires long banked but not out. 238 00:16:35,920 --> 00:16:39,840 Speaker 1: So a moment each paused and gaged the other. Then 239 00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:42,960 Speaker 1: the thought of the dead world without rushed in, and 240 00:16:43,040 --> 00:16:47,280 Speaker 1: they started toward each other. What has happened, she cried, 241 00:16:47,760 --> 00:16:51,160 Speaker 1: Tell me nothing stirs, all is silence. I see the 242 00:16:51,240 --> 00:16:54,240 Speaker 1: dead strown before my window, is winnowed by the breath 243 00:16:54,280 --> 00:16:57,880 Speaker 1: of God. And see she dragged him through the great 244 00:16:57,960 --> 00:17:01,920 Speaker 1: silken hangings to wear the sheen of mahogany and silver. 245 00:17:02,400 --> 00:17:06,679 Speaker 1: A little French maid lay stretched in quiet, everlasting sleep, 246 00:17:07,240 --> 00:17:10,280 Speaker 1: and near her a butler lay prone in his livery. 247 00:17:11,320 --> 00:17:14,600 Speaker 1: The tears streamed down the woman's cheeks, and she clung 248 00:17:14,640 --> 00:17:17,920 Speaker 1: to his arm, until the perfume of her breath swept 249 00:17:17,920 --> 00:17:20,919 Speaker 1: his face, and he felt the tremors racing through her body. 250 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:24,320 Speaker 1: I had been shut up in my dark room, developing 251 00:17:24,400 --> 00:17:27,320 Speaker 1: pictures of the comet, which I took last night. When 252 00:17:27,359 --> 00:17:32,200 Speaker 1: I came out, I saw the dead. What has happened? 253 00:17:32,480 --> 00:17:38,679 Speaker 1: She cried again. He answered slowly, something comet or devil 254 00:17:39,240 --> 00:17:44,240 Speaker 1: swept across the earth this morning. And many are dead, many, 255 00:17:45,040 --> 00:17:48,119 Speaker 1: very many. I have searched, and I have seen no 256 00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:52,520 Speaker 1: other living soul but you. She gasped, Oh. And they 257 00:17:52,560 --> 00:17:59,120 Speaker 1: stared at each other. My father, she whispered, where is he? 258 00:17:59,119 --> 00:18:02,639 Speaker 1: He started for the office. Where is it in the 259 00:18:02,680 --> 00:18:06,720 Speaker 1: Metropolitan Tower? Leave a note for him here and come. 260 00:18:07,560 --> 00:18:12,280 Speaker 1: Then he stopped. No, he said firmly. First we must 261 00:18:12,320 --> 00:18:18,439 Speaker 1: go to Harlem. Harlem, she cried. Then she understood. She 262 00:18:18,560 --> 00:18:23,040 Speaker 1: tapped her foot at first impatiently. She looked back and shuddered. 263 00:18:23,520 --> 00:18:27,439 Speaker 1: Then she came resolutely down the steps. There's a swifter 264 00:18:27,560 --> 00:18:30,600 Speaker 1: car in the garage in the court, She said, I 265 00:18:30,680 --> 00:18:33,560 Speaker 1: don't know how to drive it. He said, I do, 266 00:18:33,800 --> 00:18:38,240 Speaker 1: she answered. In ten minutes, they were flying to Harlem 267 00:18:38,280 --> 00:18:43,120 Speaker 1: on the wind. The stoots rose and raced like an airplane. 268 00:18:43,280 --> 00:18:45,679 Speaker 1: They took the turn at one hundred and tenth Street 269 00:18:45,720 --> 00:18:48,960 Speaker 1: on two wheels and slipped with a shriek into one 270 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:53,919 Speaker 1: thirty fifth. He was gone but a moment. Then he returned, 271 00:18:54,320 --> 00:18:58,280 Speaker 1: and his face was gray. She did not look, but said, 272 00:18:59,040 --> 00:19:05,800 Speaker 1: you have lost somebody. I have lost everybody, he said, simply, 273 00:19:06,680 --> 00:19:11,359 Speaker 1: unless he ran back and was gone several minutes hours 274 00:19:11,400 --> 00:19:15,879 Speaker 1: They seemed to her everybody, he said, and he walked 275 00:19:15,920 --> 00:19:18,800 Speaker 1: slowly back, with something film like in his hand, which 276 00:19:18,840 --> 00:19:23,160 Speaker 1: he stuffed into his pocket. I'm afraid I was selfish, 277 00:19:23,240 --> 00:19:26,600 Speaker 1: he said. But already the car was moving toward the park. 278 00:19:26,680 --> 00:19:29,879 Speaker 1: Among the dark and lined dead of Harlem, the brown 279 00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:34,240 Speaker 1: still faces, the knotted hands, the homely garments, and the silence, 280 00:19:34,680 --> 00:19:38,760 Speaker 1: the wild and haunting silence. Out of the park and 281 00:19:38,800 --> 00:19:42,480 Speaker 1: down Fifth Avenue, they whirled in and out among the dead. 282 00:19:42,520 --> 00:19:46,119 Speaker 1: They slipped and quivered, needing no sound of bell or horn, 283 00:19:46,720 --> 00:19:51,960 Speaker 1: until the great square Metropolitan Tower hove in sight. Gently, 284 00:19:52,040 --> 00:19:55,959 Speaker 1: he laid the dead elevator boy aside. The car shot upward. 285 00:19:56,560 --> 00:19:59,760 Speaker 1: The door of the office stood open. On the threshold 286 00:19:59,800 --> 00:20:04,240 Speaker 1: lay the stenographer, and staring at her sat the dead clerk. 287 00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:07,679 Speaker 1: The inner office was empty, but a note lay on 288 00:20:07,720 --> 00:20:13,840 Speaker 1: the desk, folded and addressed, but unsent, Dear daughter, I've 289 00:20:13,880 --> 00:20:17,360 Speaker 1: gone for a hundred mile spin in Fred's new Mercedes. 290 00:20:17,880 --> 00:20:21,480 Speaker 1: Shall not be back before dinner. I'll bring Fred with me. 291 00:20:22,640 --> 00:20:27,760 Speaker 1: J B H. Come, she cried nervously. We must search 292 00:20:27,800 --> 00:20:33,199 Speaker 1: the city, up and down, over and across back again. 293 00:20:33,920 --> 00:20:38,320 Speaker 1: On went that ghostly search. Everywhere was silence and death, 294 00:20:38,840 --> 00:20:43,119 Speaker 1: death and silence. They hunted from Madison Square to Spute 295 00:20:43,119 --> 00:20:47,439 Speaker 1: and deval. They rushed across the Williamsburg Bridge. They swept 296 00:20:47,520 --> 00:20:51,320 Speaker 1: over Brooklyn from the Battery and Morningside Heights. They scanned 297 00:20:51,320 --> 00:20:57,360 Speaker 1: the river, silence, silence everywhere, and no human sign. Haggard 298 00:20:57,359 --> 00:21:00,760 Speaker 1: and bedraggled, they puffed a third time, so slowly down 299 00:21:00,800 --> 00:21:05,760 Speaker 1: Broadway under the broiling sun, and at last stopped. He 300 00:21:05,880 --> 00:21:09,439 Speaker 1: sniffed the air, an odor, a smell, and with a 301 00:21:09,440 --> 00:21:13,440 Speaker 1: shifting breeze, a sickening stench filled their nostrils and brought 302 00:21:13,480 --> 00:21:17,639 Speaker 1: its awful warning. The girl settled back helplessly in her seat. 303 00:21:19,640 --> 00:21:23,160 Speaker 1: What can we do, she cried. It was his turn 304 00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:25,280 Speaker 1: now to take the lead, and he did it quickly, 305 00:21:26,640 --> 00:21:31,480 Speaker 1: the long distance telephone, the telegraph and the cable, night rockets, 306 00:21:31,520 --> 00:21:36,320 Speaker 1: and then flight. She looked at him now with strength 307 00:21:36,359 --> 00:21:40,080 Speaker 1: and confidence. He did not look like men as she 308 00:21:40,119 --> 00:21:43,639 Speaker 1: had always pictured men, but he acted like one, and 309 00:21:43,720 --> 00:21:46,720 Speaker 1: she was content. In fifteen minutes. They were at the 310 00:21:46,720 --> 00:21:50,199 Speaker 1: Central Telephone Exchange. As they came to the door, he 311 00:21:50,200 --> 00:21:53,360 Speaker 1: stepped quickly before her and pressed her gently back as 312 00:21:53,359 --> 00:21:56,480 Speaker 1: he closed it. She heard him moving to and fro, 313 00:21:57,000 --> 00:22:00,800 Speaker 1: and knew his burdens, the poor little bird turdans he bore. 314 00:22:01,960 --> 00:22:04,760 Speaker 1: When she entered, he was alone in the room. The 315 00:22:04,800 --> 00:22:10,080 Speaker 1: grim switchboard flashed its metallic face and cryptic sphinx like immobility. 316 00:22:11,400 --> 00:22:15,159 Speaker 1: She seated herself on a stool and donned the bright earpiece. 317 00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:18,479 Speaker 1: She looked at the mouthpiece. She had never looked at 318 00:22:18,480 --> 00:22:22,400 Speaker 1: one so closely before. It was wide and black, pimpled 319 00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:28,200 Speaker 1: with usage, inert, dead, most sarcastic in its unfeeling curves. 320 00:22:28,920 --> 00:22:31,520 Speaker 1: It looked she beat back the thought, but it looked 321 00:22:32,240 --> 00:22:36,040 Speaker 1: it persisted in looking like. She turned her head and 322 00:22:36,080 --> 00:22:40,439 Speaker 1: found herself alone. One moment she was terrified. Then she 323 00:22:40,600 --> 00:22:44,679 Speaker 1: thanked him silently for his delicacy and turned resolutely with 324 00:22:44,720 --> 00:22:50,200 Speaker 1: a quick intaking of breath. Hello, she cried in low tones. 325 00:22:50,760 --> 00:22:53,640 Speaker 1: She was calling to the world. The world must answer. 326 00:22:53,960 --> 00:22:58,880 Speaker 1: Would the world answer? Was the world? Silence? She had 327 00:22:58,880 --> 00:23:05,399 Speaker 1: spoken too low? Hello, she cried, full voiced. She listened silence. 328 00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:14,320 Speaker 1: Her heart beat quickly she cried, in clear, distinct loud tones, Hello, Hello, Hello, 329 00:23:14,840 --> 00:23:18,840 Speaker 1: What was that worrying? Surely no, was it the click 330 00:23:18,840 --> 00:23:22,480 Speaker 1: of a receiver. She bent close. She moved the pegs 331 00:23:22,480 --> 00:23:25,600 Speaker 1: in the holes and called and called into Her voice 332 00:23:25,680 --> 00:23:29,840 Speaker 1: rose almost to a shriek, and her heart hammered. It 333 00:23:29,960 --> 00:23:32,520 Speaker 1: was as if she had heard the last flicker of creation, 334 00:23:33,359 --> 00:23:38,400 Speaker 1: and the evil was silence. Her voice dropped to a sob. 335 00:23:39,080 --> 00:23:42,960 Speaker 1: She sat stupidly staring into the black and sarcastic mouthpiece, 336 00:23:43,680 --> 00:23:48,560 Speaker 1: and the thought came again. Hope lay dead within her. Yes, 337 00:23:48,680 --> 00:23:52,399 Speaker 1: the cable and the rockets remained, but the world. She 338 00:23:52,440 --> 00:23:55,280 Speaker 1: could not frame the thought or say the word. 339 00:23:56,080 --> 00:23:56,800 Speaker 2: It was too. 340 00:23:56,760 --> 00:24:00,560 Speaker 1: Mighty, too terrible. She turned toward the door with a 341 00:24:00,560 --> 00:24:03,119 Speaker 1: new fear in her heart. For the first time, she 342 00:24:03,160 --> 00:24:05,280 Speaker 1: seemed to realize that she was alone in the world, 343 00:24:05,280 --> 00:24:08,240 Speaker 1: with a stranger, with something more than a stranger, with 344 00:24:08,320 --> 00:24:13,199 Speaker 1: a man alien in blood and culture unknown, perhaps unknowable. 345 00:24:13,920 --> 00:24:17,520 Speaker 1: It was awful. She must escape, She must fly, He 346 00:24:17,600 --> 00:24:21,680 Speaker 1: must not see her again. Who knew what awful thoughts? 347 00:24:22,359 --> 00:24:27,560 Speaker 1: She gathered her silken skirts deftly about her young smooth limbs, listened, 348 00:24:27,600 --> 00:24:32,000 Speaker 1: and glided into a side hall a moment, she shrank back. 349 00:24:32,440 --> 00:24:35,840 Speaker 1: The hall lay filled with dead women. Then she leaped 350 00:24:35,880 --> 00:24:38,520 Speaker 1: to the door and tore at it with bleeding fingers 351 00:24:38,600 --> 00:24:42,560 Speaker 1: until it swung wide. She looked out. He was standing 352 00:24:42,600 --> 00:24:47,720 Speaker 1: at the top of the alley, silhouetted, tall and black, motionless. 353 00:24:48,640 --> 00:24:51,840 Speaker 1: Was he looking at her or away? She did not know, 354 00:24:52,640 --> 00:24:56,400 Speaker 1: She did not care. She simply leaped and ran, ran 355 00:24:56,480 --> 00:24:59,720 Speaker 1: until she found herself alone amid the dead and the tall, 356 00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:05,600 Speaker 1: imparts of towering buildings. She stopped. She was alone, alone, 357 00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:09,159 Speaker 1: alone on the streets, alone in the city, perhaps alone 358 00:25:09,200 --> 00:25:12,320 Speaker 1: in the world. There crept in upon her the sense 359 00:25:12,359 --> 00:25:16,560 Speaker 1: of deception, of creeping hands behind her back, of silent 360 00:25:16,680 --> 00:25:20,119 Speaker 1: moving things she could not see, a voice hushed in 361 00:25:20,200 --> 00:25:25,880 Speaker 1: fearsome conspiracy. She looked behind and sideways, started at strange sounds, 362 00:25:25,880 --> 00:25:30,320 Speaker 1: and heard still stranger, until every nerve within her stood 363 00:25:30,359 --> 00:25:33,680 Speaker 1: sharp and quivering, stretched a scream. At the barest touch. 364 00:25:34,200 --> 00:25:37,320 Speaker 1: She whirled and flew back, whimpering like a child, until 365 00:25:37,359 --> 00:25:40,320 Speaker 1: she found that narrow alley again, and the dark, silent 366 00:25:40,400 --> 00:25:45,200 Speaker 1: figure silhouetted at the top. She stopped and rested. Then 367 00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:48,960 Speaker 1: she walked silently toward him, looked at him, timidly, but 368 00:25:49,040 --> 00:25:51,200 Speaker 1: he said nothing as he handed her into the car. 369 00:25:51,920 --> 00:25:56,960 Speaker 1: Her voice coughed as she whispered, not that, and he 370 00:25:56,960 --> 00:26:03,639 Speaker 1: answered slowly, no, not. And you, dear listener, are also 371 00:26:03,760 --> 00:26:07,000 Speaker 1: never alone in this great and terrible world, for you 372 00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:12,040 Speaker 1: will always have the accompaniment of these sweet, sweet deals 373 00:26:12,119 --> 00:26:15,119 Speaker 1: on products and services waiting for you. 374 00:26:15,440 --> 00:26:29,560 Speaker 2: Gently, here's ads, and we're back. 375 00:26:34,119 --> 00:26:36,919 Speaker 1: They climbed into the car. She bent forward on the 376 00:26:36,920 --> 00:26:41,320 Speaker 1: wheel and sobbed with great, dry, quivering sobs as they 377 00:26:41,400 --> 00:26:44,600 Speaker 1: flew toward the cable office on the east side, leaving 378 00:26:44,640 --> 00:26:47,520 Speaker 1: the world of wealth and prosperity for the world of 379 00:26:47,560 --> 00:26:51,120 Speaker 1: poverty and work. In the world behind them were death 380 00:26:51,160 --> 00:26:55,520 Speaker 1: and silence, grave and grim, almost cynical, but always decent. 381 00:26:56,480 --> 00:26:59,960 Speaker 1: Here it was hideous. It clothed itself in every game, 382 00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:04,960 Speaker 1: vastly form of terror, struggle, hate, and suffering. It lay 383 00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:09,520 Speaker 1: wreathed in crime and squalor, greed and lust. Only in 384 00:27:09,600 --> 00:27:15,080 Speaker 1: its dread and awful silence was it like death everywhere. Yet, 385 00:27:15,320 --> 00:27:18,959 Speaker 1: as the two flying and alone, looked upon the horror 386 00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:23,560 Speaker 1: of the world, slowly, gradually the sense of all enveloping 387 00:27:23,640 --> 00:27:26,959 Speaker 1: death deserted them. They seemed to move in a world 388 00:27:27,080 --> 00:27:31,960 Speaker 1: silent and asleep, not dead. They moved in quiet reverence, 389 00:27:32,600 --> 00:27:35,880 Speaker 1: lest somehow they wake these sleeping forms who had at 390 00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:41,560 Speaker 1: last found peace. They moved in some solemn, worldwide friedhoff, 391 00:27:42,320 --> 00:27:45,800 Speaker 1: above which some mighty arm had waved its magic wand 392 00:27:46,680 --> 00:27:50,600 Speaker 1: all nature slept until until and quick, with the same 393 00:27:50,680 --> 00:27:54,920 Speaker 1: startling thought, they looked into each other's eyes, he Ashen 394 00:27:55,080 --> 00:28:00,440 Speaker 1: and she crimson, with unspoken thought to both, the vision 395 00:28:00,520 --> 00:28:05,159 Speaker 1: of a mighty beauty of vast unspoken things swelled in 396 00:28:05,240 --> 00:28:10,600 Speaker 1: their songs, but they put it away. Great dark coils 397 00:28:10,640 --> 00:28:13,760 Speaker 1: of wire came up from the earth and down from 398 00:28:13,800 --> 00:28:18,000 Speaker 1: the sun, and entered this low lair of witchery. The 399 00:28:18,040 --> 00:28:22,120 Speaker 1: gathered lightnings of the world centered here, binding with beams 400 00:28:22,160 --> 00:28:25,399 Speaker 1: of light the ends of the earth. The doors gaped 401 00:28:25,440 --> 00:28:29,840 Speaker 1: on the gloom within. He paused on the threshold. Do 402 00:28:29,920 --> 00:28:33,040 Speaker 1: you know the code, she asked, I know the call 403 00:28:33,119 --> 00:28:36,320 Speaker 1: for help. We used it formerly at the bank. She 404 00:28:36,440 --> 00:28:40,200 Speaker 1: hardly heard. She heard the lapping of the waters far below, 405 00:28:40,680 --> 00:28:44,800 Speaker 1: the dark and restless waters, the cold and luring waters, 406 00:28:44,880 --> 00:28:49,480 Speaker 1: as they called. He stepped within. Slowly. She walked to 407 00:28:49,520 --> 00:28:52,840 Speaker 1: the wall where the water called below, and stood and 408 00:28:52,920 --> 00:28:57,760 Speaker 1: waited long. She waited and he did not come. Then 409 00:28:57,840 --> 00:29:01,320 Speaker 1: with a start, she saw him too, standing beside the 410 00:29:01,360 --> 00:29:05,880 Speaker 1: black waters. Slowly he removed his coat and stood there silently. 411 00:29:06,720 --> 00:29:08,920 Speaker 1: She walked quickly to him and laid her hand on 412 00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:13,320 Speaker 1: his arm. He did not start or look. The waters 413 00:29:13,400 --> 00:29:17,320 Speaker 1: lapped on in luring, deadly rhythm. He pointed down to 414 00:29:17,360 --> 00:29:21,400 Speaker 1: the waters and said, quietly, the world lies beneath the waters. 415 00:29:21,440 --> 00:29:27,680 Speaker 1: Now may I go. She looked into his stricken, tired face, 416 00:29:28,080 --> 00:29:31,560 Speaker 1: and a great pity surged within her heart. She answered, 417 00:29:31,600 --> 00:29:37,400 Speaker 1: in a voice clear and calm, no, upward. They turned 418 00:29:37,440 --> 00:29:40,959 Speaker 1: toward life again, and he seized the wheel. The world 419 00:29:41,080 --> 00:29:44,320 Speaker 1: was darkening to twilight, and a great gray pall was 420 00:29:44,360 --> 00:29:48,360 Speaker 1: falling mercifully and gently on the sleeping dead. The ghastly 421 00:29:48,400 --> 00:29:51,160 Speaker 1: glare of reality seemed replaced with the dream of some 422 00:29:51,280 --> 00:29:55,880 Speaker 1: vast romance. The girl lay silently back as the motor 423 00:29:55,920 --> 00:29:59,600 Speaker 1: whizzed along, and looked half consciously for the elf queen 424 00:29:59,680 --> 00:30:03,080 Speaker 1: to wake of life into this dead world again. She 425 00:30:03,160 --> 00:30:05,680 Speaker 1: forgot to wonder at the quickness with which he had 426 00:30:05,800 --> 00:30:09,560 Speaker 1: learned to drive her car. It seemed natural. And then 427 00:30:09,600 --> 00:30:12,920 Speaker 1: as they whirled and swung into Madison Square and at 428 00:30:12,920 --> 00:30:16,360 Speaker 1: the door of the Metropolitan Tower. She gave a low cry, 429 00:30:16,760 --> 00:30:20,040 Speaker 1: and her eyes were great. Perhaps she had seen the 430 00:30:20,040 --> 00:30:23,640 Speaker 1: elf Queen. The man led her to the elevator of 431 00:30:23,680 --> 00:30:27,680 Speaker 1: the tower, and deftly they ascended in her father's office. 432 00:30:27,720 --> 00:30:30,680 Speaker 1: They gathered rugs and chairs, and he wrote a note 433 00:30:30,720 --> 00:30:33,480 Speaker 1: and laid it on the desk. Then they ascended to 434 00:30:33,520 --> 00:30:36,959 Speaker 1: the roof, and he made her comfortable. For a while. 435 00:30:37,040 --> 00:30:41,560 Speaker 1: She rested and sank to dreamy somnolence, watching the worlds 436 00:30:41,560 --> 00:30:45,640 Speaker 1: above and wondering Below lay the dark shadows of the city, 437 00:30:45,960 --> 00:30:49,320 Speaker 1: and afar was the shining of the sea. She glanced 438 00:30:49,320 --> 00:30:52,600 Speaker 1: at him timidly as he set food before her and 439 00:30:52,640 --> 00:30:55,360 Speaker 1: took a shawl and wound her in it, touching her 440 00:30:55,400 --> 00:30:59,800 Speaker 1: reverently yet tenderly. She looked up at him with thankfulness 441 00:30:59,840 --> 00:31:04,120 Speaker 1: in her eyes. Eating what he served, he watched the city. 442 00:31:04,640 --> 00:31:09,360 Speaker 1: She watched him. He seemed very human, very near. Now 443 00:31:11,040 --> 00:31:14,920 Speaker 1: have you had to work hard, she asked softly, always, 444 00:31:15,120 --> 00:31:19,360 Speaker 1: he said, I have always been idle. She said, I 445 00:31:19,480 --> 00:31:24,200 Speaker 1: was rich, I was poor. He almost echoed. The rich 446 00:31:24,240 --> 00:31:27,520 Speaker 1: and the poor are met together, she began, and he finished. 447 00:31:28,280 --> 00:31:32,360 Speaker 1: The Lord is maker of them all. Yes, she said, slowly, 448 00:31:32,880 --> 00:31:37,600 Speaker 1: and how foolish our human distinctions seem now, looking down 449 00:31:37,680 --> 00:31:43,080 Speaker 1: to the great dead city stretched below, swimming in unlightened shadows. Yes, 450 00:31:43,360 --> 00:31:48,000 Speaker 1: I was not human yesterday, he said. She looked at him, 451 00:31:48,800 --> 00:31:52,400 Speaker 1: and your people were not my people, she said. But today, 452 00:31:53,160 --> 00:31:56,719 Speaker 1: she paused, he was a man no more. But he 453 00:31:56,800 --> 00:32:00,600 Speaker 1: was in some larger sense of gentlemen, sensitive, kindly, chivalrous, 454 00:32:01,120 --> 00:32:06,680 Speaker 1: everything save his hands and his face. Yet yesterday death, 455 00:32:06,760 --> 00:32:11,719 Speaker 1: the leveler, he muttered, and the revealer, she whispered. Gently. 456 00:32:12,280 --> 00:32:15,600 Speaker 1: Rising to her feet with great eyes, he turned away, and, 457 00:32:15,640 --> 00:32:18,760 Speaker 1: after fumbling a moment, sent a rocket into the darkening air. 458 00:32:19,560 --> 00:32:23,560 Speaker 1: It arose, shrieked, and flew up a slim path of light, 459 00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:27,600 Speaker 1: and scattered its stars abroad. Dropping on the city below. 460 00:32:28,400 --> 00:32:31,719 Speaker 1: She scarcely noticed it. A vision of the world had 461 00:32:31,800 --> 00:32:35,760 Speaker 1: risen before her. Slowly, the mighty prophecy of her destiny 462 00:32:35,800 --> 00:32:40,680 Speaker 1: overwhelmed her. Above the dead past hovered the Angel of Annunciation. 463 00:32:42,040 --> 00:32:47,000 Speaker 1: She was no mere woman. She was neither high nor low, white, 464 00:32:47,120 --> 00:32:52,120 Speaker 1: nor black, rich nor poor. She was primal woman, mighty 465 00:32:52,200 --> 00:32:56,000 Speaker 1: mother of all men to come, and bride of life. 466 00:32:56,040 --> 00:32:59,440 Speaker 1: She looked upon the man beside her and forgot all else. 467 00:32:59,480 --> 00:33:04,400 Speaker 1: But his man manhood, his strong, vigorous manhood, his sorrow 468 00:33:04,440 --> 00:33:08,560 Speaker 1: and sacrifice. She saw him glorified. She was no longer 469 00:33:08,600 --> 00:33:12,280 Speaker 1: a thing apart, a creature below, a strange outcast of 470 00:33:12,320 --> 00:33:17,040 Speaker 1: another climb and blood, but her brother, humanity, incarnate, son 471 00:33:17,120 --> 00:33:20,280 Speaker 1: of God and great allfather of the race to be. 472 00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:24,880 Speaker 1: He did not glimpse the glory in her eyes, but 473 00:33:25,080 --> 00:33:28,520 Speaker 1: stood looking outward toward the sea, and sending rocket after 474 00:33:28,640 --> 00:33:33,640 Speaker 1: rocket into the unanswering darkness. Dark purple clouds lay banked 475 00:33:33,680 --> 00:33:37,000 Speaker 1: and billowed in the west behind them, and all around 476 00:33:37,080 --> 00:33:41,120 Speaker 1: the heavens glowed in dim, weird radiance that suffused the 477 00:33:41,200 --> 00:33:45,360 Speaker 1: darkening world and made almost a minor music. Suddenly, as 478 00:33:45,360 --> 00:33:48,920 Speaker 1: though gathered back at some vast hand, the great cloud 479 00:33:48,960 --> 00:33:52,680 Speaker 1: curtain fell away. Low on the horizon lay a long 480 00:33:52,840 --> 00:33:58,160 Speaker 1: white star, mystic, wonderful, and from it fled upward to 481 00:33:58,200 --> 00:34:03,160 Speaker 1: the pole like some water bridal veil, a pale, wide 482 00:34:03,280 --> 00:34:07,280 Speaker 1: sheet of flame that lighted all the world and dimmed 483 00:34:07,320 --> 00:34:12,640 Speaker 1: the stars in fascinated silence. The man gazed at the 484 00:34:12,680 --> 00:34:16,560 Speaker 1: heavens and dropped his rockets to the floor. Memories of 485 00:34:16,680 --> 00:34:20,200 Speaker 1: memories stirred to life in the dead recesses of his mind. 486 00:34:20,840 --> 00:34:23,960 Speaker 1: The shackles seemed to rattle and fall from his soul. 487 00:34:24,920 --> 00:34:27,560 Speaker 1: Up from the crass and crushing and cringing of his 488 00:34:27,719 --> 00:34:32,160 Speaker 1: cast leaped the lone majesty of kings, long dead. He 489 00:34:32,200 --> 00:34:37,000 Speaker 1: arose within the shadows, tall, straight and stern, with power 490 00:34:37,080 --> 00:34:40,719 Speaker 1: in his eyes, and ghostly scepters hovering to his grasp. 491 00:34:41,520 --> 00:34:44,960 Speaker 1: It was as though some mighty pharaoh lived again, or 492 00:34:45,080 --> 00:34:49,000 Speaker 1: curled Assyrian lord. He turned and looked upon the lady, 493 00:34:49,320 --> 00:34:54,640 Speaker 1: and found her gazing straight at him, silently, Immovably, they 494 00:34:54,719 --> 00:34:58,799 Speaker 1: saw each other, face to face, eye to eye, their 495 00:34:58,840 --> 00:35:02,320 Speaker 1: souls lay naked to the night. It was not lust, 496 00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:07,160 Speaker 1: It was not love. It was some vaster, mightier thing 497 00:35:07,320 --> 00:35:10,600 Speaker 1: that needed neither touch of body nor thrill of soul. 498 00:35:11,880 --> 00:35:18,360 Speaker 1: It was a thought, divine, splendid. Slowly, noiselessly, they moved 499 00:35:18,400 --> 00:35:23,000 Speaker 1: toward each other, the heavens above, the seas around the city, 500 00:35:23,120 --> 00:35:27,800 Speaker 1: grim and dead. Below, he loomed out from the velvet shadows, 501 00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:32,560 Speaker 1: vast and dark, pearl white and slender. She shone beneath 502 00:35:32,600 --> 00:35:37,360 Speaker 1: the stars. She stretched her jeweled hands abroad. He lifted 503 00:35:37,440 --> 00:35:40,560 Speaker 1: up his mighty arms, and they cried to each other, 504 00:35:41,200 --> 00:35:46,879 Speaker 1: almost with one voice. The world is dead. Long live 505 00:35:47,120 --> 00:35:51,719 Speaker 1: the Hong Kong. Hoarse and sharp, the cry of a 506 00:35:51,800 --> 00:35:56,040 Speaker 1: motor drifted up clearly from the silence below. They started 507 00:35:56,040 --> 00:35:58,520 Speaker 1: backward with a cry, and gazed upon each other with 508 00:35:58,600 --> 00:36:03,640 Speaker 1: eyes that faltered and fell with blood that boiled. Honk honk, 509 00:36:03,920 --> 00:36:08,279 Speaker 1: honk honk, came the mad cry again, and almost from 510 00:36:08,280 --> 00:36:11,440 Speaker 1: their feet a rocket blazed into the air and scattered 511 00:36:11,480 --> 00:36:14,920 Speaker 1: its stars upon them. She covered her eyes with her 512 00:36:14,960 --> 00:36:19,400 Speaker 1: hands and her shoulders. Heaved, he dropped and bowed, groped 513 00:36:19,440 --> 00:36:23,000 Speaker 1: blindly on his knees about the floor. A blue flame 514 00:36:23,080 --> 00:36:25,960 Speaker 1: sputtered lazily after an age, and she heard the scream 515 00:36:26,040 --> 00:36:29,560 Speaker 1: of an answering rocket as it flew. Then they stood 516 00:36:29,640 --> 00:36:34,960 Speaker 1: still as death, looking to opposite ends of the earth. Clang, crash, clang. 517 00:36:36,440 --> 00:36:39,960 Speaker 1: The roar and ring of swift elevators shooting upward from 518 00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:44,400 Speaker 1: below made the great Tower tremble. A murmur and babble 519 00:36:44,440 --> 00:36:48,319 Speaker 1: of voices swept in upon the night, all over the 520 00:36:48,400 --> 00:36:52,440 Speaker 1: once dead city. The lights blinked, flickered, and flamed, and 521 00:36:52,520 --> 00:36:55,120 Speaker 1: then with a sudden clanging of doors, the entrance to 522 00:36:55,160 --> 00:36:58,880 Speaker 1: the platform was filled with men, and one with white 523 00:36:58,960 --> 00:37:01,520 Speaker 1: and flying hair, rushed to the girl and lifted her 524 00:37:01,560 --> 00:37:06,680 Speaker 1: to his breast. My daughter, he sobbed. Behind him, hurried 525 00:37:06,680 --> 00:37:11,160 Speaker 1: a younger comelier man, carefully clad in motor costume, who 526 00:37:11,239 --> 00:37:14,960 Speaker 1: bent above the girl with passionate solicitude and gazed into 527 00:37:14,960 --> 00:37:18,160 Speaker 1: her staring eyes until they narrowed and dropped, and her 528 00:37:18,200 --> 00:37:23,880 Speaker 1: face flushed deeper and deeper. Crimson, Julia, he whispered, my darling, 529 00:37:24,200 --> 00:37:27,120 Speaker 1: I thought you were gone forever. She looked up at 530 00:37:27,200 --> 00:37:31,800 Speaker 1: him with strange, searching eyes. Fred, she murmured, almost vaguely. 531 00:37:32,440 --> 00:37:37,400 Speaker 1: Is the world gone? Only New York? He answered? It 532 00:37:37,520 --> 00:37:41,960 Speaker 1: is terrible awful, you know, But you how did you escape? 533 00:37:42,239 --> 00:37:47,680 Speaker 1: How have you endured this horror? Are you well? Unharmed? Unharmed? 534 00:37:47,760 --> 00:37:51,480 Speaker 1: She said? And this man here, he asked, encircling her 535 00:37:51,560 --> 00:37:54,640 Speaker 1: drooping form with one arm and turning toward the negro. 536 00:37:55,760 --> 00:37:59,800 Speaker 1: Suddenly he stiffened, and his hand flew to his hip. Why, 537 00:38:00,160 --> 00:38:06,720 Speaker 1: he snarled, it's ah, Julia, has he has? He dared? 538 00:38:07,480 --> 00:38:11,040 Speaker 1: She lifted her head and looked at her late companion curiously, 539 00:38:11,200 --> 00:38:14,080 Speaker 1: and then dropped her eyes with a sigh. He has 540 00:38:14,200 --> 00:38:18,279 Speaker 1: dared all to rescue me, she said, quietly, and I 541 00:38:18,560 --> 00:38:22,000 Speaker 1: thank him much, but she did not look at him again. 542 00:38:22,560 --> 00:38:25,160 Speaker 1: As the couple turned away, the father drew a roll 543 00:38:25,200 --> 00:38:29,200 Speaker 1: of bills from his pockets. Here, my good fellow, he said, 544 00:38:29,560 --> 00:38:33,040 Speaker 1: thrusting the money into the man's hands. Take that. What's 545 00:38:33,040 --> 00:38:38,520 Speaker 1: your name? Jim Davis, came the answer, alive, voiced, well, Jim, 546 00:38:38,760 --> 00:38:41,480 Speaker 1: I thank you. I've always liked your people. If you 547 00:38:41,600 --> 00:38:45,480 Speaker 1: ever want a job, call on me. And they were gone. 548 00:38:45,880 --> 00:38:49,440 Speaker 1: The crowd poured up and out the elevators, talking and whispering. 549 00:38:50,120 --> 00:38:54,200 Speaker 1: Who was it? Are they alive? How many two? Who 550 00:38:54,320 --> 00:38:58,880 Speaker 1: was saved? A white girl in up there? She goes? 551 00:39:00,200 --> 00:39:00,319 Speaker 2: Uh? 552 00:39:01,239 --> 00:39:04,399 Speaker 1: Where is he? Let's lynch the damned shut up. He's 553 00:39:04,440 --> 00:39:06,960 Speaker 1: all right, he saved her, saved hell. He has no 554 00:39:07,080 --> 00:39:11,240 Speaker 1: business here. He comes into the glare of the electric lights. 555 00:39:11,239 --> 00:39:14,120 Speaker 1: The colored man moved slowly, with the eyes of those 556 00:39:14,160 --> 00:39:16,879 Speaker 1: that walk and sleep. What do you think of that? 557 00:39:16,960 --> 00:39:19,440 Speaker 1: Cried a bystander of all New York, Just a white 558 00:39:19,480 --> 00:39:23,880 Speaker 1: girl in a The colored man heard nothing. He stood 559 00:39:23,920 --> 00:39:26,640 Speaker 1: silently beneath the glare of the light, gazing at the 560 00:39:26,680 --> 00:39:29,800 Speaker 1: money in his hand, and shrinking as he gazed. Slowly, 561 00:39:29,880 --> 00:39:32,440 Speaker 1: he put his other hand into his pocket and brought 562 00:39:32,480 --> 00:39:36,800 Speaker 1: out a baby's filmy cap and gazed again. A woman 563 00:39:37,080 --> 00:39:40,280 Speaker 1: mounted to the platform and looked about, shading her eyes. 564 00:39:40,840 --> 00:39:44,959 Speaker 1: She was brown, small and toil worn, and in one 565 00:39:45,080 --> 00:39:48,960 Speaker 1: arm lay the corpse of a dark baby. The crowd parted, 566 00:39:49,239 --> 00:39:52,320 Speaker 1: and her eyes fell on the colored man. With a cry, 567 00:39:53,000 --> 00:39:58,000 Speaker 1: she tottered towards him. Jim. He whirled and with a 568 00:39:58,040 --> 00:40:03,759 Speaker 1: sob of joy, caught her in his arms. The end, 569 00:40:04,880 --> 00:40:09,240 Speaker 1: and yeah, we're back, Thanks for listening a story with me. Hazel, 570 00:40:09,280 --> 00:40:11,520 Speaker 1: who helps me pick the stories, has this to say 571 00:40:11,560 --> 00:40:15,200 Speaker 1: about it. Dubois is using common literary tropes of the 572 00:40:15,280 --> 00:40:18,120 Speaker 1: day to craft a powerful tale of apocalypse and rebirth 573 00:40:18,160 --> 00:40:21,360 Speaker 1: for black folks. He plays with archetypes from the Garden 574 00:40:21,360 --> 00:40:23,640 Speaker 1: of Eden to cast our protagonists as a new Adam 575 00:40:23,640 --> 00:40:26,400 Speaker 1: and Eve and a grand metaphor for the destruction of 576 00:40:26,480 --> 00:40:29,480 Speaker 1: racism in the birth of a new humanity. Du Bois's 577 00:40:29,480 --> 00:40:32,480 Speaker 1: protagonist could only imagine the destruction of racism through the 578 00:40:32,480 --> 00:40:36,000 Speaker 1: destruction of his entire society, and the restoration of societal 579 00:40:36,120 --> 00:40:40,040 Speaker 1: order coming with some pretty profound degradation and dehumanization. Even 580 00:40:40,080 --> 00:40:42,040 Speaker 1: as the scale of the story returns back to the 581 00:40:42,040 --> 00:40:45,200 Speaker 1: inner personal and out of the mythical. We still see 582 00:40:45,239 --> 00:40:47,400 Speaker 1: how the characters continue to be caught up in rolls 583 00:40:47,440 --> 00:40:49,919 Speaker 1: and narratives and violence that is greater than they are. 584 00:40:50,360 --> 00:40:52,680 Speaker 1: And even amidst that, we still end on a moment 585 00:40:52,719 --> 00:40:56,719 Speaker 1: of black joy, a reminder of resistance and interdependence, a 586 00:40:56,800 --> 00:41:01,800 Speaker 1: promise that the fight for liberation continues. Also that Hazel 587 00:41:01,840 --> 00:41:05,560 Speaker 1: specifically enjoys quote how when the cars honk and the 588 00:41:05,600 --> 00:41:08,440 Speaker 1: fireworks crack, the noise they make is put into quotation 589 00:41:08,560 --> 00:41:11,239 Speaker 1: marks as if they're characters who are also speaking. I 590 00:41:11,280 --> 00:41:14,520 Speaker 1: find this stylistically quite charming. As for what I have 591 00:41:14,520 --> 00:41:17,040 Speaker 1: to say about it, I tend to agree with Hazel 592 00:41:17,040 --> 00:41:19,239 Speaker 1: about stories, That's why we work together on this. But 593 00:41:20,400 --> 00:41:23,880 Speaker 1: specifically he loves alliteration, and it makes it really funny 594 00:41:23,880 --> 00:41:25,920 Speaker 1: to read and to do a lot of like retakes 595 00:41:25,960 --> 00:41:30,160 Speaker 1: of various parts. But I really appreciate that he actually 596 00:41:30,200 --> 00:41:32,320 Speaker 1: cares about the craft of writing. There's a lot of 597 00:41:32,320 --> 00:41:35,960 Speaker 1: stuff that isn't the modern style, right, like ending sentences 598 00:41:36,000 --> 00:41:38,680 Speaker 1: with exclamation marks is like seeing as cheesy from the 599 00:41:38,680 --> 00:41:41,879 Speaker 1: pulp air of fiction this was written. Then, I also 600 00:41:41,920 --> 00:41:44,880 Speaker 1: really appreciate that he's managed to write a nuclear apocalypse 601 00:41:44,960 --> 00:41:47,680 Speaker 1: story before the invention of the nuclear bomb. And it's 602 00:41:47,680 --> 00:41:51,200 Speaker 1: interesting because it was probably presented as horror, but it 603 00:41:51,239 --> 00:41:54,000 Speaker 1: doesn't read as horror to me now because the idea 604 00:41:54,040 --> 00:41:57,560 Speaker 1: of literally everyone dying is like apocalypse is a different 605 00:41:57,680 --> 00:42:01,000 Speaker 1: genre than horror now, even though most of the story 606 00:42:01,080 --> 00:42:03,960 Speaker 1: is just like describing dead bodies. And I also really 607 00:42:04,000 --> 00:42:07,839 Speaker 1: like the sort of subtle and unsubtle play of like 608 00:42:07,920 --> 00:42:10,680 Speaker 1: as they're like developing these like sexual thoughts towards each other, 609 00:42:10,719 --> 00:42:14,040 Speaker 1: it's mostly her deciding that she has sexual thoughts towards him. 610 00:42:14,400 --> 00:42:16,879 Speaker 1: I didn't catch it until my second read that she's 611 00:42:16,920 --> 00:42:19,759 Speaker 1: like holding the telephone and this like black telephone. She's 612 00:42:19,800 --> 00:42:23,640 Speaker 1: like it almost looks like a No, I can't think that. 613 00:42:24,520 --> 00:42:26,279 Speaker 1: I don't know, but the characters like they're still doing 614 00:42:26,280 --> 00:42:31,800 Speaker 1: this like mythical level thing, but they feel very real. Yeah, 615 00:42:32,600 --> 00:42:37,440 Speaker 1: I don't know. I understand why people have to imagine 616 00:42:37,520 --> 00:42:40,799 Speaker 1: the destruction of all of the existent. And also I 617 00:42:40,840 --> 00:42:42,920 Speaker 1: just really appreciate stuff that talks about death as the 618 00:42:42,960 --> 00:42:46,319 Speaker 1: great leveler. I really appreciate when I'm reading history, you know, 619 00:42:46,400 --> 00:42:49,200 Speaker 1: and you're like, oh, these revolutionaries they died or whatever, 620 00:42:49,200 --> 00:42:50,839 Speaker 1: and you're like yeah, and so did everyone who sat 621 00:42:50,840 --> 00:42:53,399 Speaker 1: it out right, so did everyone who just like stayed 622 00:42:53,400 --> 00:42:55,560 Speaker 1: at home twiddled their thumbs. You're talking about nineteenth century. 623 00:42:55,640 --> 00:42:58,360 Speaker 1: Everyone's dead. No one from the nineteenth century is alive. 624 00:42:59,280 --> 00:43:00,799 Speaker 1: So what do you want? 625 00:43:01,280 --> 00:43:01,520 Speaker 2: Yeah? 626 00:43:01,560 --> 00:43:05,520 Speaker 1: Anyway? This has been the comment by web du Bois, 627 00:43:05,600 --> 00:43:09,279 Speaker 1: published in nineteen twenty in a collection called Darkwater. I'm 628 00:43:09,280 --> 00:43:11,640 Speaker 1: Margaret Kiljoy. You can find me on the internet at 629 00:43:11,880 --> 00:43:15,520 Speaker 1: Margaret on Blue Sky and Margaret Kiljoy on Instagram, and 630 00:43:16,160 --> 00:43:18,920 Speaker 1: next Sunday I will be back with more short fiction 631 00:43:19,440 --> 00:43:22,239 Speaker 1: the cool Zone Media Book Club. Take care of each other, 632 00:43:22,400 --> 00:43:25,040 Speaker 1: love each other. It is our duty to fight for freedom, 633 00:43:25,239 --> 00:43:29,720 Speaker 1: and it is our duty to win. All right, Bye everyone. 634 00:43:31,000 --> 00:43:33,520 Speaker 1: It could happen here as a production of cool Zone Media. 635 00:43:33,600 --> 00:43:35,040 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from cool. 636 00:43:34,920 --> 00:43:37,759 Speaker 2: Zone Media, visit our website cool zonemedia dot com or 637 00:43:37,800 --> 00:43:40,320 Speaker 2: check us out on the Iheard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 638 00:43:40,400 --> 00:43:42,160 Speaker 2: or wherever you listen to podcasts. 639 00:43:42,560 --> 00:43:44,680 Speaker 1: You can find sources where it Could Happen here, updated 640 00:43:44,760 --> 00:43:48,800 Speaker 1: monthly at cool zonemedia dot com slash sources. Thanks for listening.