Loading summary
Narrator
Running a business is hard enough. Don't make it harder with a dozen apps that don't talk to each other. One for sales, another for inventory, a separate one for accounting. That's software overload. Odoo is the all in one platform that replaces them all. CRM, Accounting, Inventory, E Commerce, hr. Fully integrated, easy to use and built to grow with your business. Thousands have already made the switch. Why not you try Odoo for free@odoo.com that's odoo.com.
Christine
Down look how Baby Cradle andor. I'm Christine with my mummy and daddy. Oh, but they are my mummy and daddy.
Mrs. James
Such ordinary things make me afraid. Sunshine, sharp shadows on grass, white roses, children with red hair and the name Harry. Harry. Such an ordinary name.
Jim / Dr. Webster
Biotechs the new soak and pre wash powder presents beyond midnight by michael mccabe.
Christine
Sa.
Mrs. James
Harry. Such an ordinary name. Yet the first time Christine mentioned it I felt a premonition of fear. She was five years old, due to start school in three months time. It was a hot, beautiful day and she was playing alone in the garden as she often did. I saw her lying on her stomach in the grass, picking daisies and making daisy chains with laborious pleasure. The sun burned on her pale red hair and made her skin look very white and lovely. Her big blue eyes were wide with concentration. Suddenly she looked towards the bush of white roses which cast its shadow over the grass and smiled.
Christine
Yes, I'm Christina.
Mrs. James
She rose and walked slowly towards the bush, her plump little legs defenceless and endearing beneath a too short cotton skirt. She was growing fast.
Christine
Just my mummy and daddy. All of our Mummy and daddy. Chris.
Mrs. James
Chris, what are you doing?
Christine
Nothing.
Mrs. James
Well, come indoors now, darling.
Christine
Goodbye Miss. Kiss hello now. Goodbye.
Mrs. James
Chris. Who are you talking to?
Christine
Harry.
Mrs. James
And who's Harry?
Christine
Harry.
Mrs. James
I couldn't get anything else out of her, so I just gave her some cake and milk and read her until bedtime. As she listened, she stared out at the garden. Once she smiled and waved. It was a relief finally to tuck her up in bed and feel she was safe. What do you mean, Jim?
Jim / Dr. Webster
Well, it's not so rare for only children to have an imaginary companion. I had one myself called Oz. Used to talk to him all the time. Some kids talk to their dolls. Chris has never been very keen on dolls. She hasn't any brothers or sisters, so she talks to. What was it? Who did you say?
Christine
Harry. Harry.
Jim / Dr. Webster
Well, she hasn't any friends of her own age, so she imagined someone.
Christine
Harry.
Mrs. James
But Jim, why has she picked that particular name?
Jim / Dr. Webster
You Know how kids pick things up. I don't know what you're worrying about. Honestly I don't.
Mrs. James
Well, I'm not worrying exactly. It's just that I. Well, I feel extra responsible for her. More so than if I were her real mother.
Jim / Dr. Webster
Sure, sure. But Chris is all right. Chris is fine. She's a pretty healthy, intelligent little girl. A credit to you. And to you in fact a thoroughly nice parent.
Mrs. James
Oh yes, and so modest. Oh, it's silly of me, I know but. Oh, I just get a bit worried sometimes. I feel better. You always make me feel better about everything. I felt consoled until the next.
Christine
Again.
Mrs. James
The sun shone brilliantly on the small bright lawn and white roses. Christine was sitting on the grass cross legged staring towards the rose bush, smiling.
Christine
Hello. I hoped you'd come because I like you. How old are you? I'm only five and a bit. I'm not a baby. I'm going to school soon and I'm going to have a new dress. Oh yes, I did go for a little while. Infant school. But I didn't stay very long because we moved. Daddy had to go somewhere else for his work. And yes, this time I'm going to start big school problem. And I'll stay there for years and years and years. And I'm going to have a green dress. Do you go to school? Well, what do you do then?
Mrs. James
I felt myself going cold as I stood listening to her. Don't be silly, I told myself. Lots of children have an imaginary companion. Just carry on as if nothing were happening. Don't be a fool. But I called Chris in earlier than usual for mid morning milk.
Christine
Can Harry come too? No. Goodbye Harry. I'm sorry you can't come in but I've got to have my milk. Why can't Harry have some milk?
Mrs. James
Who is Harry, darling?
Christine
Harry. He's my brother.
Mrs. James
But Chris, you haven't got a brother. Daddy and Mummy have only got one child. One little girl and that's you. Harry can't be your brother, darling.
Christine
Yes, Harry's my brother, he says so
Mrs. James
she drank her milk and emerged with a smeary top lip. And then she grabbed at a plate of biscuits. Well, at least Harry hadn't spoiled her appetite. He's your brother, he says. So does he.
Christine
Oh yes, he's nice. I must have my new dress soon because I want to show him. Mummy. It says green's a nice color. Oh, I wish Harry could come to
Jim / Dr. Webster
my new school with me.
Christine
He'd be able to look after me. He said he would look after Discom.
Jim / Dr. Webster
I'll say one thing for imaginary companions. They help the child with their talking.
Mrs. James
With an accent.
Jim / Dr. Webster
Accent?
Mrs. James
A Cockney accent today, Chris. Well, she started speaking to me with a. A sort of Cockney accent. Just a slight one.
Jim / Dr. Webster
My dearest, every London child gets a slight Cockney accent. It'll be even worse when she gets to school. I mean, the big school. Meets all the other kids. Don't worry.
Mrs. James
We don't talk Cockney. Jim, where does she get it from?
Christine
June?
Mrs. James
Who can she be getting it from
Jim / Dr. Webster
except Harold the butcher, the baker, the milkman, the Coleman, the. The window cleaner. Want any more?
Mrs. James
I suppose I'm so silly, but I. I can't help it. It's just that. Oh, darling, everything was so nice. So happy. Till this Harry business.
Jim / Dr. Webster
Do you know what I think? I think you should put your mind at rest.
Mrs. James
What?
Jim / Dr. Webster
Take Chris along to see old Dr. Webster tomorrow. Let him have a little talk with her.
Mrs. James
Jimmy, do you think she's ill in her mind?
Jim / Dr. Webster
Good heavens, no. It's just that you're obviously upset about it. You what? You don't understand. And when we meet something we don't understand, it's as well to take professional advice, that's all. That's what doctors are for. That's what they take a couple of quid from my salary every week for. Go and see Webster.
Mrs. James
Yes, I will.
Jim / Dr. Webster
Here, have a cigarette.
Mrs. James
Thank you.
Jim / Dr. Webster
It's a Fairly unusual case, Mrs. James, but by no means unique. I've had several cases of children's imaginary friends becoming so real to them that their parents get the jitters. Now, Christine's rather a lonely little girl, isn't she?
Mrs. James
Oh, she won't be when she goes to school again. But. Well, I suppose she is at the moment. Yes. She doesn't know any other children. We were quite new to the neighborhood.
Jim / Dr. Webster
Yes, you. You moved, haven't you? Well, I think you'll find these fantasies will disappear when she gets to school and meets the other children. At the moment, this friend of hers is a compensation for real children. You see, every child needs company of her own age. If she doesn't get it, well, she invents it. Older people who are lonely, they talk to themselves. But that doesn't mean that they're crazy or anything. It's just that, well, they need somebody to talk to. Yes, your child is more practical. Seems silly to talk to oneself than the child. So it invents another, a real person. I don't think you've got anything to worry about.
Mrs. James
That's what my Husband says.
Jim / Dr. Webster
I'm sure he does. So still, I'll have a chat with her as you bought her.
Mrs. James
Oh, yes.
Jim / Dr. Webster
Leave us alone together.
Mrs. James
Yes. Christine. Just come here a minute, will you, darling?
Christine
I was waiting.
Mrs. James
Where, Chris?
Christine
There. See, Mommy? Down there by the rose bush. It's just like our rose bush, isn't it? Do you see him?
Mrs. James
There's no one there now. Dr. Webster wants to see you now. You remember him, don't you? He gave you sweets when you were getting better with chickenpox.
Jim / Dr. Webster
Hello, Christine. My, you're growing. Shooting up.
Mrs. James
She went into Webster's surgery willingly enough. I waited restlessly. She was talking away to the doctor in a way she never talk to me, you see. I knew then that he would be full of reassurances when they came out. But I was afraid. Awfully afraid. And the ridiculous thing was, I couldn't put my fear into words.
Christine
Harry is waiting by the rose bush. See him?
Jim / Dr. Webster
Nothing wrong with her, whatever. She's just an imaginative little monkey, that's all. A word of advice, Mrs. James. Let her talk about Harry. Let her become accustomed to confiding in you. I gather you've shown some disapproval of this brother of hers. So he doesn't talk much to you about him, Christine? He makes wooden toys, doesn't he, Chris?
Christine
Yes. Harry makes wooden toys.
Jim / Dr. Webster
And he can read and write, can't he?
Christine
Yes. And swills and pins and climb trees. He can do everything you see.
Jim / Dr. Webster
Sounds quite a wonderful brother to me. He's even got red hair like you, haven't he?
Christine
Harry's got red hair. Redder than mine, too. And he's nearly as tall as Daddy, only thinner. He's as tall as you, Mummy. He's 14.
Jim / Dr. Webster
Don't you worry, Mrs. James. You let her prattle.
Mrs. James
Thank you, Doctor.
Jim / Dr. Webster
Bye, Chris. Your mother had him.
Christine
Harry's got red hair. Harry can swim. Harry can light fires. Harry can read and he can write, too. Harry's got red hair. Red and Elmo.
Mrs. James
Harry, Harry, nothing but Harry.
Christine
He can swim and fish and paint and run swamp and move lots of joy. I'm sick of Harry. I'm not. Won't school with Aunt Harry.
Mrs. James
But you're looking forward to school, Chris.
Christine
You know you are.
Mrs. James
He'll think he'll feel silly. A great lad of 14amongst all those little children and.
Christine
My goodness, go with Aunt Harry.
Jim / Dr. Webster
I won't.
Christine
I won't.
Jim / Dr. Webster
I won't,
Christine
Chris.
Mrs. James
I'm sorry, darling. I. I didn't. You see, darling, it's just it. Well, you wouldn't like Harry to be unhappy. Would you? Would you? It was still daylight, golden shadows and long strips of sunlight in the garden. Then, almost like a dream, the long, thin, clear cut shadow of a boy near the white roses.
Christine
Harry,
Mrs. James
I thought I saw a glimmer of red among the trees, among the roses, like close red curls on a boy's head. Then there was nothing.
Narrator
Running a business is hard enough, so why make it harder? With a dozen different apps that don't talk to each other, one for sales, another for inventory, a separate one for accounting. Before you know it, you are drowning in software. Instead of growing your business, this is where Odoo comes in. Odoo is the only business software you'll ever need. It's an all in one, fully integrated platform that handles everything CRM, accounting, inventory, E commerce, HR and more. No more app overload, no more juggling logins. Just one seamless system that makes work easier. And the best part? Odoo replaces multiple expensive platforms for a fraction of the cost. It's built to grow with your business, whether you are just starting out or already scaling up. Plus, it's easy to use, customizable, and designed to streamline every process so you can focus on what really matters running your business. Thousands of businesses have made the switch, so why not you try Odoo for free@odoo.com that's o d o o.com this episode is brought to you by Intuit QuickBooks Bill Pay. You didn't start a business to spend your Sundays chasing invoices and manual data entry. But as you grow, accounts payable starts to feel like a full time job you never applied for. Bills pile up, approvals get lost in email, and your vendors are constantly asking, where's my check? It's distracting, it's stressful, and it's keeping you from the work that actually moves the needle. Intuit QuickBooks Bill Pay is the exit ramp. QuickBooks Bill Pay automates the busy work that eats your calendar by bringing every bill, every every vendor and every payment into one organized dashboard. Stop chasing details and start seeing the big picture. Know exactly what's due, who needs to sign off, and how it impacts your cash flow before the money leaves your bank. Vendors can even manage their own details so you stay in control of how and when you pay. Grow with confidence and put your AP on autopilot in QuickBooks. Learn more@quickbooks.com BillPay Again, that's QuickBooks.com BillPay terms apply money Movement services are provided by Intuit Payments, Inc. Licensed as A money transmitter by the New York State Department of Financial Services.
Mrs. James
The next day, I started on my secret mission. I took a bus to town and went to the big gaunt building. I hadn't visited for over five years. Then Jim and I had gone together. The top floor of this building belonged to the Grey thorn Adoption Society. Mrs. James, how nice to see you. You again. How's Christine? My goodness, it must be four years at least. Oh, it's more than five, Ms. Cleaver. Well, well. And Chris is very well. Ms. Cleaver, I better get straight to the point. I. I know you don't normally tell people about a child's origins, not even to the child's adopters, but I. I must know who Christine is. I'm sorry, Mrs. James, but our rule fees. Let me tell you the whole story and you'll see I'm not just suffering from vulgar curiosity. Yes, all right, then. Please, won't you sit down? Thanks. Please. It's very queer. Very queer indeed. Mrs. James. Look, I'm going to break our rule for once. I'm going to tell you in confidence where Christine came from. Thank you. She was born in a very poor part of London. There were four in the family. Father, mother, son and Christine herself. Son? Yes. The parents hadn't really wanted Christine. Family lived in one room at the top of a very old house which should have been condemned by the sanitary inspector, in my opinion. It was difficult enough when there were only three of them. But with a baby as well, life became a nightmare. The mother was a neurotic creature, slattering, unhappy, too fat. After she had the baby, she took no interest in it. Brother, however, dawed the little thing right from the start. He constantly got into trouble for cutting school so that he could look after her. Christine.
Narrator
Yes.
Mrs. James
One morning, in the small hours, a woman on the ground floor saw something fall past her window. She heard a thud on the ground outside. She went out to look and found the son of the family there on the ground. Christine was in his arms. The boy's neck was broken. He was dead. The little girl was blue in the face, but still breathing faintly. The woman worked for husband code, sent for the police and the doctor, and they went to the top room. They had to break the door down because it was locked and sealed inside. The window was open, but there was an overpowering smell of gas. They found the husband and wife dead in bed. There was a note from the husband. It said, I can't go on. I am going to kill them all. It's the only way the police concluded that he'd sealed up the doors and windows, turned on the gas when his family were asleep and laying down beside his wife until he drifted into unconsciousness and death. But the sun must have woken up. Perhaps he struggled with the door but couldn't open it. He'd been too weak to shout. All he could do was pluck away the seals from a window, open it and fling himself out, holding his adored little sister tightly in his arms. So hope brother saved her life and died himself. Yes, he was a very brave little boy. Perhaps he thought not so much of saving her as keeping her with him. But. Yeah, that. That sounds ungenerous. I didn't mean to be, Ms. Cleaver. What was his name? The brother? Oh, I'll have to look that up for you. I'm glad Christine is well.
Christine
Though.
Mrs. James
I'd be most grateful if you count this information as secret between you and me, Mrs. James. As I said, we've never before.
Christine
Oh.
Mrs. James
The family's name was Jones. The 14 year old brother was Harold.
Christine
Come, Harry, come too. Goodbye, Harry. I'm sorry you can't come in, but I've got to have my milk. Goodbye, Harry. Goodbye, Harry. Goodbye, Harry.
Mrs. James
What does it all mean? I can't understand. It's not easy. But I think deep in her unconscious mind, Christine has always remembered Harry, the companion of her babyhood. We don't think of children as having much memory, but there must be images of the past tucked away somewhere in their little heads. Christine doesn't invent this, Harry. She remembers him so clearly that she almost brought him back to life again. May I have the address of the house where they lived, please? The house seemed deserted. It was filthy and derelict. But one thing made me stare and stare. There was a tiny garden. A scatter of bright uneven grass splashed the bald brown patches of earth. But the little garden had one strange glory that none of the other houses in the poor, sad street possessed a bush of white roses. What are you doing here? Oh, I. I thought the house was empty. Should be, being condemned. They can't get me out. Nowhere else to go.
Jim / Dr. Webster
Won't go.
Mrs. James
The others went quickly enough after it happened. No one else wants to come. They said the place is haunted, so it. But what's the fuss about life and death? They're very close. You get to know that when you're old. Alive or dead, what's the difference?
Christine
Yes.
Mrs. James
I saw him fall past me window.
Christine
What?
Mrs. James
That's where he fell among the roses. Oh, he still comes back. I see him. He Won't go away till he gets her.
Christine
Who?
Mrs. James
Who are you talking about? Harry Potter. Jones. Oh, nice boy he was. Red hair, very thin. Too determined though. Always got his own way. Loved the little girl too much, I thought. Died among the roses. Used to sit down there with her for hours. Then he died there. Or do people die? Nobody's got any answers. No one. Nowhere
Christine
for you.
Mrs. James
I go now.
Christine
Goodbye.
Mrs. James
I hurried across the bright hot pavements and my legs felt heavy and half paralyzed. I lost all sense of time. Then I heard the clock strike three and it chilled my blood. At three o' clock I was supposed to be at the school gates waiting for Christine.
Christine
Just a minute. Hello.
Mrs. James
Say hello.
Christine
Excuse me.
Mrs. James
I've come for Christine James. I'm her mother. I'm so sorry I'm late. Where is she?
Christine
Christine James. Oh, yes, I remember.
Mrs. James
She's new with a little red hair, that girl. It's all right, Mrs. James. Her brother called for her. How alike they, aren't they? And so do Moses. It's rather.
Christine
15. Where are you unto me?
Mrs. James
The futile search continued for months. The papers were full of the sea strange disappearance of the red haired child. The teacher described the brother who had called for her. There were stories circulated about kidnapping, baby snatching, child murders. Then the sensation died down. It became just another unsolved mystery in police files. And only two people knew what happened. An old crazed woman named living in a derelict house and myself. Such ordinary things make me afraid. Sunshine, sharp shadows on grass, White roses, Children with red hair and the name Harry. Such an ordinary your rename.
Jim / Dr. Webster
The program is adapted for broadcasting and Produced by Michael McCabe.
Mrs. James
Accident.
Jim / Dr. Webster
Automobile accident.
Christine
Sam. Race.
This episode features a radio drama from the series Beyond Midnight titled “Harry,” set among the classic Golden Age of Radio tradition. The story unfolds as a psychological and supernatural mystery centered around a young adoptee, Christine, her “imaginary” brother Harry, and her adoptive mother’s mounting unease. Blending elements of ghost story, familial trauma, and maternal anxiety, the episode explores the boundary between childhood imagination and deeply buried memory.
“Such ordinary things make me afraid. Sunshine, sharp shadows on grass, white roses, children with red hair and the name Harry. Harry. Such an ordinary name.” – Mrs. James
“It's not so rare for only children to have an imaginary companion. I had one myself called Oz. Used to talk to him all the time.” – Jim
“I've had several cases of children's imaginary friends becoming so real to them that their parents get the jitters…At the moment, this friend of hers is a compensation for real children.” – Dr. Webster
“Harry. He's my brother.” – Christine
“Harry's got red hair. Redder than mine, too. And he's nearly as tall as Daddy, only thinner. He's as tall as you, Mummy. He's 14.” – Christine
“The boy's neck was broken. He was dead. The little girl was blue in the face, but still breathing faintly...The sun must have woken up. Perhaps he struggled with the door but couldn't open it...All he could do was pluck away the seals from a window, open it and fling himself out, holding his adored little sister tightly in his arms.” – Mrs. Cleaver (Adoption Worker)
“That's where he fell among the roses. Oh, he still comes back. I see him. He Won't go away till he gets her.” – Neighbor
“Such ordinary things make me afraid. ...and the name Harry.”
“Harry.”
“Well, I'm not worrying exactly. It's just that I. Well, I feel extra responsible for her. More so than if I were her real mother.”
“Harry. He's my brother.”
“Now, Christine's rather a lonely little girl, isn't she?”
“Harry's got red hair. Redder than mine, too. And he's nearly as tall as Daddy, only thinner. ... He's 14.”
“The boy's neck was broken. He was dead. ... All he could do was pluck away the seals from a window, open it and fling himself out, holding his adored little sister tightly in his arms.” – Mrs. Cleaver
“That's where he fell among the roses. Oh, he still comes back. I see him. He Won't go away till he gets her.” – Old Neighbor
“Her brother called for her. How alike they, aren’t they?” – School Worker/Teacher
“Harry” is a classic haunting radio drama that masterfully entwines psychological realism and supernatural suggestion. The episode builds an unsettling atmosphere, relying on everyday details—sunlight, rose bushes, ordinary names—to heighten the sense of normalcy disrupted by tragedy and the unseen. Christine’s “imaginary” friend is revealed to be a vestige of a lost brother’s love and sacrifice, returning not merely in memory but, perhaps, in a spectral reunion. The ambiguity of the ending, with the child’s disappearance and the mother’s resigned dread, delivers a lingering sense of mystery and quiet terror emblematic of golden age radio storytelling.
This episode is a slow-burn ghost story framed by domestic concerns—a meditation on childhood trauma, memory, and the possibility that some bonds transcend even death. It is recommended for those who appreciate atmospheric, psychological horror with a poignant emotional core.