Before you start assuming that I was being a “typical female” who cried after a silly dispute with a coworker or a reprimand from her boss, let me stop you. I don’t cry in those situations; I just go home, crack open a keg, and forget about my day. And my name.
The reason for my tears was a far more desolate moment: I was forced to discuss the Twilight Zone episode “Time Enough At Last” with my coworker and boss.
In case you are unaware, this is the plot of the episode:
“Henry Bemis can never find the time to read. He can’t read at home or at work because both his wife and boss think reading is a waste of time. At one point his wife, as a cruel joke, asks Henry to read her poems from a book. He is very pleased that she has asked him to do this; however when he opens the book he finds that she has blacked out all the pages.
The following day Henry takes his lunch break in the vault at the bank where he works. During his break, nuclear war breaks out, and Henry emerges to find he appears to be the last man on Earth. As he wanders through his town he sees devastation everywhere. Bemis even calls out for his wife but to no avail.
Even though he finds enough food to last him for the rest of his life, he loses hope and is about to commit suicide when he finds the public library. All the books he could ever hope for are his for the taking. He finally has all the time in the world to read. He sorts out stacks of books to read by the month. He finally has enough books to last until 2 years later. Unfortunately, as he is about to pick up a book, his reading glasses fall off and shatter. In tears, he picks up the remains of his glasses and utters the classic line, ‘That’s–that’s not fair. That’s not fair at all. There was time now. There was, was all the time I needed… ! It’s not fair!'”
As if talking about that story were not devastating enough, we found the following snapshots from the show, the first showing Mr. Bemis in ecstasy as he is surrounded by his beloved books, and the second showing a crushed Mr. Bemis. And that was when I started crying.
How can you not cry? Look at his face. Look at the disappointment. Imagine him crying and stuttering, “That’s not fair!” WHY ARE YOU NOT CRYING TOO? DO YOU NOT HAVE A SOUL?!
Oh, wow, pass the tissues on down – “Time Enough at Last” is one of my top five favorite Twilight Zone episodes. Every year around New Year’s when they have the Twilight Zone marathon on the Sci-Fi channel it hits me as hard as it did you today. In case you were wondering what the others in my top five are:
“A Game of Pool”
“Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up”
“He’s Alive”
“To Serve Man”
-Eric Anonymous
i hate to break this to you, but crying at your desk over a twilight zone episode is something only a typical female would do.
you should work at a newspaper.