Bela Boczniak’s Bad Dreams by the clock

Summary

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Strange Tales Podcast Summary

Episode Title: “Bela Bosniak’s Bad Dreams” (from The Clock)
Release Date: June 14, 2026 (original broadcast: April 25, 1948)
Podcast: Strange Tales (by RelicRadio.com)
Story by: Lucille Fletcher
Stars: Elliot Lewis as Bela Bosniak, Jeanette Nolan as Charlotte
Producer/Director: William Spear

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Main Theme / Purpose

This episode presents a psychological suspense story centered on Bela Bosniak, an anxious, middle-aged immigrant living in New York. Plagued by persistent, vivid nightmares about execution and guilt, Bela’s grip on reality steadily weakens as his relationships fray and his sense of culpability grows. The narrative explores themes of guilt, self-doubt, and the blurry line between dreams and reality, characteristic of Lucille Fletcher's suspenseful storytelling.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Setting the Stage — The World of Bela Bosniak

• New York’s Lower Third Avenue: Bela and his wife Charlotte live above a secondhand clothing store.
• Bela’s World: He works for his Uncle Miklos at a delicatessen. Their life is marked by routine, economic hardship, and fraught domestic relationships.
• The city’s many clocks—and the unrelenting passage of time—are a recurring motif.

The Nature of the Dreams

• Recurring Nightmare: Bela’s dreams center on being electrocuted as a condemned man in prison, notable for their intense realism.
  • Quote (03:44):

    “I dreamed I was being electrocuted. Electrocuted, Charles, isn’t that terrible?”
    — Bela Bosniak

• His dreams expand to crowds judging and condemning him, relentless pursuit, and specific, oddly clear details (magazines, faces, food).
• Bela’s Anxiety: The dreams foster feelings of guilt, though neither he nor anyone else can articulate what, if anything, he’s done wrong.

Character Dynamics

• Charlotte’s Frustration: She is brusque, practical, and dismissive of Bela’s worries, interpreting his malaise as laziness and irresponsibility.
  • Quote (06:13):

    “What an idiot. He worries about his dream.”
    — Charlotte

• Uncle Miklos’s Role: An offstage figure embodying familial obligation, judgment, and a measure of charity (and, later, disappointment).
• Isolation and Alienation: Bela feels hunted, both in dreams and waking life. His sense of persecution is heightened by his inability to explain, or escape from, his fate.

Descent into Paranoia and Self-Doubt

• Increasing Reality of Dreams:
  • Visions involve specific places (the delicatessen, streets, parks) and people (Uncle Miklos as both a dream visitor and a judge).
  • “Mr. Trainer Gordon” becomes a symbol of inescapable judgment, appearing everywhere in his dreams.
    • Quote (14:00):

      “I am running along the Whitestone Bridge … at the end of the bridge, I see the man at the toll gate waiting to stop me. … His name is Mr. Trainer Gordon.”
      — Bela Bosniak

• Medical Advice Dismissed: Bela visits the doctor, only to receive sleeping pills he’s too afraid to take, fearing dreams more than insomnia.
  • Quote (16:09):

    “They are sleeping pills. I don’t need sleeping pills. I don’t want to go to sleep.”
    — Bela Bosniak

Loss and Self-Sabotage

• Job Loss (19:15-21:42):
  • Charlotte informs Bela he’s been fired. A high school boy now holds Bela’s place.
  • The reasons: neglect, drunkenness, and absence fueled by his psychological state and inability to function.
    • Quote (19:18):

      "You are fired. Uncle Nicholas refuses to put up with you anymore. … Now sloping on the sidewalk and taking naps and talking like a lunatic and getting drunk every other night. And now what are you going to do?"
      — Charlotte

• Increasing Guilt and Confession:
  • Bela fixates on possible past sins: neglecting his late mother, stealing, possibly even murder.
  • He wonders if he is sleepwalking, committing terrible acts he cannot remember.
    • Quote (23:06):

      "Maybe I climbed down the fire escape sometime and went into somebody’s kitchen somewhere and committed a murder. I couldn’t dream such things all by myself." — Bela Bosniak

The Blurring of Dream and Reality

• Final Dream Sequence (26:17-27:59):

  • Bela, holding a knife late at night, emerges from a dream where he is washing blood off his hands.
    • Quote (27:23):

      "And they were covered with blood. I was washing this knife, too. It was covered with blood. … It was your blood, Charlotte."
      — Bela Bosniak

• The story ends unresolved, the boundaries between Bela’s guilt-ridden dreams and potential crime ominously faded.

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Most Memorable Quotes & Timestamps

• (03:44) Bela: “I dreamed I was being electrocuted. Electrocuted, Charles, isn’t that terrible?”
• (06:13) Charlotte: “What an idiot. He worries about his dream.”
• (09:29) Bela: “You only got another month to live.” (Uncle Miklos, in Bela’s dream)
• (14:00) Bela: "I am running along the Whitestone Bridge ... His name is Mr. Trainer Gordon."
• (16:09) Bela: “They are sleeping pills. I don’t need sleeping pills. I don’t want to go to sleep.”
• (19:18) Charlotte: “You are fired. ... Now what are you going to do?”
• (23:06) Bela: “Maybe I climbed down the fire escape ... and committed a murder. I couldn’t dream such things all by myself.”
• (27:23) Bela: "And they were covered with blood. ... It was your blood, Charlotte."

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Important Segment Timestamps

• [03:44] — Introduction of Bela’s persistent dream of execution
• [04:43] — "I dreamed I was being electrocuted."
• [05:26-06:13] — Bela recounts the terrifying realism and helplessness of his nightmares
• [09:00-09:29] — Uncle Miklos appears in his dream; foretells death
• [13:29-14:00] — Confessions of persistent guilt, growing paranoia
• [16:09-16:19] — Doctor’s visit, failing to help
• [19:15-21:42] — Bela learns he’s been fired; worsening conflict with Charlotte
• [23:06-24:06] — Fears of having committed murder in his sleep
• [26:17-27:59] — Shocking final vision of washing Charlotte’s blood from his hands

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Tone and Mood

The episode is tense, oppressive, and claustrophobic, sustained by Bela’s anxious, confused monologue and Charlotte’s gruff impatience. The language is colloquial, gritty, often tinged with a working-class New York immigrant flavor. The dialogue’s dark humor and relentless pressure reinforce the uncertainty of whether Bela’s guilt is delusional or rooted in something real.

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Summary

Bela Bosniak’s Bad Dreams is a masterfully constructed psychological suspense tale. Bela’s struggle with repeated nightmares and an overwhelming sense of guilt slowly erodes his sanity, threatening both his livelihood and marriage. The story’s final moments leave the listener unnerved and uncertain: has Bela merely been tortured by his subconscious, or has his guilt-driven dreamworld spilled blood into waking life?

This episode stands as a testament to Lucille Fletcher’s ability to blend suspense, psychological horror, and social realism into a haunting old-time radio drama.

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Transcript

[Bela Bosniak]

Brain.

[Relic Radio Narrator]

Relicradio.com presents Tales of the strange and bizarre, the weird and the wicked. Stories not necessarily of the supernatural, but of the unnatural. Join us now for Strange Tales, featuring radio drama at its most mysterious and unusual. Welcome back to Strange Tales, Weird Stories from the golden age of Radio every Sunday@ Relicradio.com Our story comes from the Clock this week, an ABC series of 78 episodes that was first heard from November of 1946 to May of 1948. There was a separate Australian production of the series in the mid-1950s. 52 episodes there. Our story today is Bela Bosniak's Bad Dreams. This one aired April 25, 1948.

[Radio Show Announcer]

In just a moment, you will hear the Clock presenting transcribed the premiere of a new thrill drama by Lucille Fletcher, the author of Sorry, Wrong Number and other noted studies in suspense. Listen now to the Clock. The American Broadcasting Company presents another in a series of dramatic programs, the Clock from Hollywood. The Clock tonight stars two distinguished players, Elliot Elliot Lewis and Jeanette Nolan, and is produced and directed by radio's master of the art of suspense, William Spears. Sunrise and sunset. Promise and fulfillment, Birth and death. The whole drama of life is written in the sands of time. Clocks all over the city. Clocks, little clocks and big ones, new ones just learning to count old ones, Old hands at the game. Clocks standing aloof from their owners, taking no part in their joys or sorrows. Their faces immutable, impervious. All over the city, the clocking needles sewing the fabric of life and the death which must make room for new life. Stitching time. The clock whose face shows no anger or delight or surprise. Because time sees all things. From the two room walk up flat on the lower Third Avenue, New York, where Mr. And Mrs. Bela Bosniak live over a secondhand clothing store. You can hear if the 3rd Avenue elevated isn't going by the chimes of the huge clock atop the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company building.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

Good morning, Charlotte. I'm so sorry to be so late, but I overslept myself. I was dreaming.

[Charlotte]

Breakfast is over two hours ago.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

Everything is put away, of course, but perhaps there's some coffee.

[Charlotte]

I don't keep stale coffee standing around all day. If you want, you can make some for yourself.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

Thank you, Charlotte. Such a dream I had. Does my head ache? Do I feel depressed? Is there by any chance a piece of coffee cake in the house?

[Charlotte]

No. Uncle Miklos come by this morning.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

What do you want?

[Charlotte]

He wants you to come down and make fresh potato salad. The boy from the high school didn't

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

come, but I Thought it was my day off. All right, all right, Charlotte. I will go just as soon as I have my coffee. Oh, what a dream. It's a terrible dream. Cannot seem to get it out of my head. Do you know what I was dreaming, Charles?

[Charlotte]

Who cared?

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

I dreamed I was being electrocuted. Electrocuted, Charles, isn't that terrible?

[Charlotte]

The water's boiling.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

And it was so real, too. I was in a cell, a real cell in a prison. White. Glaring white, like a bathroom. I was lying on a cart with my hands behind my head when suddenly I heard these footsteps outside the door. Then I jumped up like a madman. And it came over me that the footsteps were my jailers. They were coming for me, to kill me. I was condemned to die.

[Charlotte]

Will you hurry? Drink your coffee. I told them you'd be right now.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

Yeah, but the coffee's so hot. A cup for you, Joe?

[Charlotte]

No.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

And then these guards came into my cell and dragged me from the bars. There were four guards in gray uniforms. There was also a tin priest. Now everything was very quiet. All the other prisoners shut up. They watched me from behind their cell doors. I could feel their eyes burning at me. I could hear my feet shuffle, shuffle along the floor. I felt so weak.

[Charlotte]

No, you don't have another cup. Give me that pot.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

But it would help clear my head a little after a dream like that.

[Charlotte]

Get your clothes on. That will clear your head.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

In a minute. In a minute. Just trying to remember.

[Charlotte]

Remember what?

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

Why they were electrocuting me. What I had done.

[Charlotte]

What an idiot. He worries about his dream.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

I suppose it's silly, but that is the trouble with dreams. They tell you one little thing and it is so real. But the rest of the story, they keep it to themselves.

[Charlotte]

Are you going to stand around here talking all day?

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

No, no, I was just going.

[Bela Bosniak]

I'll.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

Down. Charlotte. Charlotte. I don't want to disturb you.

[Charlotte]

Charlotte, you can't come in. I'm scrubbing this chicken and I don't want you making tracks across my.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

I know, Charlie. I wouldn't want to mark your nice clean floor. It's only my coffee.

[Charlotte]

Go down to the drugstore for your coffee.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

It's closed on Sundays.

[Charlotte]

So. I told you when we were having breakfast.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

I know, but 8 o'? Clock? It's such an early hour for Sunday. And Uncle Nikolash kept the Stolton last night till 11.

[Charlotte]

You didn't come home last night at 11.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

A little glass of beer at Kleinman. Would you begrudge me that? After I was on my feet till 11 o', clock? night? Please, Charlie. I don't feel so good this morning either.

[Charlotte]

Naturally, after Kleinman not sleeping so good.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

Not always having the same bad dream.

[Charlotte]

Yeah, all this stomach. Stupid.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

But it's true. Do you remember I told you I

[Bela Bosniak]

dreamed I was electrocuted? I was in that cell.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

Well, every night now for a week

[Bela Bosniak]

I have been dreaming about that cell.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

And in one corner there's a bed, blue magazines, the look magazine and the Hungarian weekly. I can see them just as clear as if they were in this kitchen.

[Charlotte]

Well, move those chairs out of the way. I want the scrub under the table.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

Don't you think that's very clear, Charlotte?

[Charlotte]

What clear? The dream, all that.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

Every night.

[Charlotte]

Ah, who cares about dreams? They're all junk in your head.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

But it is very clear just the same to be there night after night. Oh, yes. Last night Uncle Mikwash was there too.

[Charlotte]

What?

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

I mean in the dream he came to see me. And my cell wasn't that clear.

[Charlotte]

I don't see anything so queer about that.

[Bela Bosniak]

Can you imagine Uncle Mikolosh giving me anything?

[Charlotte]

That's a fine thing to say. Who brought you to America? Who gave you the job in the delicate?

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

I didn't mean that way, Charlotte.

[Bela Bosniak]

I meant.

[Charlotte]

What did you mean?

[Bela Bosniak]

I meant.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

Well, Uncle Miklos is always so careful with food in the delicatessen. But in the dream it was a

[Bela Bosniak]

very nice roast chicken in the dream,

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

with plenty of breast stuffing. And Uncle Miklos even had a bottle opener in his basket to open up the schnapps.

[Bela Bosniak]

He kept telling me to eat, eat, eat.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

Bella, he kept saying.

[Bela Bosniak]

Stop yourself.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

I can hear how he said it.

[Bela Bosniak]

You only got another month to live.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

Maybe. Maybe I should go to see a doctor.

[Bela Bosniak]

He should give me a thorough check.

[Charlotte]

Maybe you should go to a fortune teller too. There's lots of places you'll be glad to take your money. If you only got the money, might

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

be a good idea.

[Charlotte]

Only you don't got the money.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

But Charlotte.

[Charlotte]

Will you keep your dirty feet off my night clean floor?

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

I'm sorry, Charlotte.

[Bela Bosniak]

I'll wipe it off.

[Charlotte]

Oh, get out, will you? Go down to the drugstore and get yourself some coffee. What's going on? Bella, wake up. What are you sleeping here for? By the radio in the middle of the afternoon yet?

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

What time is this?

[Charlotte]

Four o'. Clock. Why aren't you in the store?

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

I just came up here for a nap.

[Charlotte]

A nap? In the middle of the day? Where is Uncle Miklos?

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

Uncle Miklos went out. There was no customers.

[Bela Bosniak]

I was very tired.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

But if it is 4 o', clock,

[Bela Bosniak]

Uncle Miklosh was coming back at 3.

[Charlotte]

So Uncle Miklos was coming back at 3. Now you're in a fine mess. A fine, nice mess.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

Oh, maybe he's not back yet.

[Charlotte]

And what's this bottle of beer doing under the sofa?

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

What bottle of beer?

[Charlotte]

So that's why you were so tired, why you didn't hear me. Why the radio was playing so loud I could hear it halfway down the street. Drunk?

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

Please, Charlotte, it was so hot.

[Bela Bosniak]

And I wasn't really drunk.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

I was only asleep. I was having a terrible nightmare.

[Charlotte]

Where did you get this bottle? From Kleinman's or from Uncle Mikos's store?

[Bela Bosniak]

From the store, of course.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

I will pay him back, Charlotte. Now listen to my heart, how it's still pounding.

[Bela Bosniak]

How can a man wake up quickly

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

when he's dreaming he's on trial for his life? Think of it. A thousand people looking at you. And the judge with his black cap on. And the jury standing there. And then one of them getting up and pointing. Can you hear the words clear? Clear.

[Bela Bosniak]

Guilty. Bela Bosniak is guilty and is condemned to death.

[Charlotte]

How many times do I have to tell you never to touch anything in that store that belongs to Uncle Mikhail?

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

Charlotte, why should they say I am guilty?

[Charlotte]

Because you are. You are guilty of stealing Uncle Nicholas bottle of beer and cheating on your time in that store. Napkia Nast, like a millionaire. And how do I know what other things you are guilty of? Maybe you steal from the cash register. Who knows? Maybe you stuff yourself full of brutewash and pickles when Uncle Miklos is not looking. Maybe you insult the customers.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

What a terrible thing to say.

[Charlotte]

I know what I hear from Uncle Miklos.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

What do you have, Uncle Miklosh?

[Charlotte]

Lots of things. But all I got to say to you, Bela Bosniakis, you better watch your step from now on. You better behave yourself. Why you fight me?

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

It's no use, Charlotte, no use.

[Bela Bosniak]

I got to see a doctor or something.

[Charlotte]

Oh, get out of that. Bad, lazy. Good for you.

[Bela Bosniak]

I'm really sick.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

I must have a growth in my brain.

[Charlotte]

Yeah, there's always something the matter with you when it comes time.

[Bela Bosniak]

Nobody keeps on dreaming the same dream night after night.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

Nobody with a normal mind in his head.

[Charlotte]

Keep quiet. I don't want to hear about your dreams.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

Always, always I got this terrible guilt in me. Like a pain.

[Bela Bosniak]

All night long I'm running away.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

I'm hiding from people who are trying to catch me.

[Charlotte]

So. So why do you run? Why don't you get caught.

[Bela Bosniak]

I am on the streetcar, riding under the L down 3rd Avenue. There are lots of people. I'm squeezing myself tied up against the window, turning so no one will recognize me. I am pulling my coat tower up around my face and my cap down over my eyes. I am wearing dark glasses. I am running along the Whitestone Bridge. It summer, a bright flaring day. I am like a little black speck on the big steel bridge. And over my head they are looking at me from airplane. And under the bridge they are watching me from boats. The automobiles are racing after me, honking their arms. Far, far ahead. At the end of the bridge, I see the man at the toll gate waiting to stop me. He's a tall man with glasses, a brown overcloth, bold. His name is Mr. Trainer Gordon.

[Charlotte]

Please, darling, don't do that. Maybe if the covers are off you, you will shut your mouth and get out of that bed.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

I can't.

[Charlotte]

I'm too weak, lazy, good for nothing. Get up. Well,

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

I was over to the doctor.

[Charlotte]

So you were over to the doctor. I wish you joy. To the doctors. And what did the doctor do for you, millionaire?

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

Nothing.

[Charlotte]

Nothing? $3 he pays to the doctor for a visit. And the doctor does nothing for him.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

Was not a mind doctor for the stomach and the heart. He knows nothing about the brain.

[Charlotte]

Oh, so now he figures that out. Dr. Stumfogel is not a mind doctor. Now, after he throws away the $3,

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

he gave me these pills.

[Charlotte]

Yeah, medicine already. How much do they cost?

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

They are sleeping pills.

[Bela Bosniak]

I don't need sleeping pills. I don't want to go to sleep.

[Charlotte]

So in this case, then why did you buy them?

[Bela Bosniak]

I'm afraid to sleep. Every time I sleep, there is that

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

Mr. Toyner waiting for me again.

[Bela Bosniak]

He is everywhere.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

Beside the ash cans in the air

[Bela Bosniak]

shaft, on the fire escape, in the hallway behind the baby carriages. I even dream he's in the delicatessen.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

He's looking over the counter at me like a customer.

[Bela Bosniak]

He's hiding behind the herring barrels.

[Charlotte]

Give me the pillow. You didn't take any yet, did you?

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

He's even inclined. He's sitting there in the back room

[Bela Bosniak]

drinking a glass of beer and looking

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

out the plate glass for me to go back. His face is green and red in the neon sign going on and off outside. Now green, now red. And sometimes I hear him whispering.

[Charlotte]

That's good. It isn't a special prescription. I can take that back to the drugstore. You didn't even open the box.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

He whispers to somebody about me. He tells people What I have done.

[Bela Bosniak]

And I know it's true. I am guilty. Oh, how I am guilty.

[Charlotte]

I'll go take them back to the drug store right now.

[Bela Bosniak]

But why am I guilty? What have I done?

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

Charlotte, think. Think.

[Bela Bosniak]

How could I be guilty? Is it because of Mama that I left her there hungry and never brought her over like I promised you yourself? Charlotte said there was no room and the money Uncle Miklos paid me. How could I have brought mommy here to starve? How could I have paid a bolt rift when there was nothing for us half the time to pay the rent? But maybe it is Mama cursing me from the grave. Charlotte. Charlotte, don't leave me alone, please. Charlotte.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

Hello, Charlotte. I. I got good news for you, Charlie. At last. I just slept and. And the dreams, the bad dreams have gone away. Two hours, three hours I was sleeping and there was nothing. Just sleep. Isn't that wonderful, Charlie? I guess I'm cured. You went out and left me alone. I was so tired.

[Bela Bosniak]

But I was afraid to sleep. I went to the park and I

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

lay down on a bench. But the minute I closed my eyes,

[Bela Bosniak]

there was that Mr. Turner again. With his face green and red.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

Then I went over to climax. I had only two little beefs. The pianola was playing. It was nice and cool and.

[Bela Bosniak]

Charlotte. Charlotte, what is it? Please, Charlotte, you're not that mad at me, are you?

[Charlotte]

For nothing killer me and.

[Bela Bosniak]

Please, what has happened?

[Charlotte]

What has happened? You are fired. That is what has happened. Uncle Nicholas refuses to put up with you anymore.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

What?

[Charlotte]

He's through with you. Do you hear? Through. There is a boy, a high school boy, working in your place full time.

[Bela Bosniak]

You mean making the potato salad too?

[Charlotte]

Yes, making the potato salad and waiting on the customers. Now sloping on the sidewalk and taking naps and talking like a lunatic and getting drunk every other night. And now what are you going to do? What are you going to do?

[Bela Bosniak]

I will go down and speak to Uncle Miklos.

[Charlotte]

Ah, he will go speak to uncle Miklos. At 2 o' clock in the morning yet he will speak to Uncle Miklos and get thrown out on his ear and go to the hospital and call more expense.

[Bela Bosniak]

Uncle Nickloch. He will get over it, Charlie.

[Charlotte]

Yes, that's what you think. You haven't talked to Uncle Nikolai. Yes, but Charlotte. Two days. Two days. Yet Uncle Nicholas couldn't go to Hoboken to see about the cheesecake. You were lying home sick in bed. With what? With the fever? With the stomach? Trouble with that leg? No, the train. Bad breath. Just like a Baby.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

Charlie.

[Charlotte]

And where are you when the customers are telephoning for the orders? They should be sent up right away. Upstairs. Sleepy. Taking a nap. And where are you Friday night, the busiest night in the store, seeing Dr. Stuphausen throwing out your good money to a tract. And where are you today when Uncle Nicholas is going to play in the Interbrox Hungarian Czechos tournament?

[Bela Bosniak]

Chekhov tournament Today?

[Charlotte]

Yes.

[Bela Bosniak]

I'm sorry, I forgot.

[Charlotte]

Drunk sleeping in Kleinman's back room.

[Bela Bosniak]

Never.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

I wouldn't stay away on purpose, Charlotte.

[Charlotte]

Yeah, that's all the thanks Uncle Nikolash did. After all he's done for you, I don't blame him. He gave you plenty of rope you should hang yourself with. He closed his eyes so. Plenty.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

I'll apologize.

[Bela Bosniak]

I'll explain to him everything in the morning.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

He's not reasonable. And after all, he's your Uncle Charlie.

[Charlotte]

Too bad for him.

[Bela Bosniak]

He wouldn't let us starve. Charlie. Nikolai. Goodness.

[Charlotte]

So it's nine o'. Clock. How much longer you're going to wait to go down and speak to Uncle Nicholas?

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

In a minute. I'm going right away. I just got to pull myself together a little.

[Charlotte]

Yeah, I thought so. You don't talk so brave this morning, do you?

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

It's not that. It's just I'm sick. I got the same bad dreams back all over again.

[Charlotte]

Sure, you got whenever you got something to do you don't want to do, back they come. Wonderful.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

No, Charlie. I'm not afraid of Uncle Miklos now. I am afraid of myself.

[Charlotte]

But don't think I'm such a sucker, Bella. I've listened to your complaining long enough. I don't fall for that same tool forever.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

Charlotte, listen to me just for once. Job can wait a few minutes.

[Charlotte]

Oh, the job can wait, can that. That's a new one the job can make.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

I have done something. Maybe. Maybe I did it in my sleep. Maybe I'm a sleepwalker. Maybe I climbed down the fire escape sometime and went into somebody's kitchen somewhere

[Bela Bosniak]

and committed a murder. I couldn't dream such things all by myself.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

Last night I dreamed I just killed somebody. It had just made two o'. Clock. I was coming out of a window, climbing out over the sill. It was night. There was a fire escape with flower pots going down into an air shaft. I started to climb down. It was a long way to the ground. I crept down like a monkey. And as I went, I could see into all the dark windows of the flats. A man was eating his supper and his radio was Playing. And a baby was crying. And all the time I kept holding my breath, afraid they would see me.

[Bela Bosniak]

Because upstairs there was somebody lying in

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

a room, white like a kitchen, dead,

[Bela Bosniak]

that I had killed.

[Charlotte]

Lunatic. Shut up with such nonsense or I'll clap you in the crazy house right now. Now get downstairs, Uncle Miklos, and get that job back, you hear? Do you hear me, Bella? Did you hear what I said? Look at you, shaking like a leaf. You're an old man already. You're not afraid of Uncle Miklos. Not much. You're afraid of everything. Afraid of your own shadow, your own crazy dreams. A fine man. I throw myself away on a fine hero. What are you looking at me that way for? You don't think I can hit you, huh? You think I'm going to stand around here forever wasting my time on a good for nothing? You think I'm good only to wash your clothes and keep your house clean? You think I got no strength in my hands? I can hurt you worst. And at some time much worse. You get your life. Well, what are you standing there for then? Are you going down now or not?

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

I am going down, Charlie. I'm going.

[Charlotte]

To. Bella. Where are you? Bella. Hey. What are you doing in the kitchen at this time of night? Making sandwiches. There's no bread for sandwiches. What you doing with that knife?

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

I was just dreaming. He had another strange dream.

[Charlotte]

Charlotte, get into bed. Put that knife back into the drawer.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

I was dreaming. I was washing my hands. Tyler, over there in that sink.

[Charlotte]

Oh, what?

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

And they were covered with blood. I was washing this knife too. It was covered with blood. Who?

[Charlotte]

Yeah. And? And what? So what strange about that?

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

It was your boy, Charlotte.

[Charlotte]

My blood.

[Bela Bosniak (dialogue)]

Yeah.

[Radio Show Announcer]

Transcribed from Hollywood the Clock is produced and directed by William Spear, the master of Suspense and tonight star Jeanette Nolan and Elliot Lewis. This evening's play was written by Lucille Fletcher. The Clock theme was composed by Bernie Green. Our musical director is Basil Adlam. Next week, same time, you will hear Kathy and Elliot Lewis as stars of the Clock. Now a listening reminder. Who knows, you might be telephoned to name the new mystery melody for fabulous jackpot prizes. Be sure to hear it on Stop the Music tonight over this ABC station.

[Relic Radio Narrator]

Visit relicradio.com for more of the Clock Strange Tales and all of the other Relic Radio podcasts. Our shoutcast stream is there as well with even more old time radio lots to listen to there. All made possible by your support. Visit donate. Relicradio.com if you'd like to help support us. Thanks again to those who have helped out. Thanks for joining me this week. I'll be back again next Sunday with another episode of Relic Radio's Strange Tales.