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And now, The Right To Happiness.
Announcer: And now The Right To Happiness.
The voice of the Past: I am the past...
Invisible, unseen. And yet a living whispering thing. You've heard my voice on sleepless
nights. When the shadows seemed filled with nightmare forms and phantoms. Ghosts of yesterday.
You've heard my voice and you've had to listen. Even as Carolyn had to listen lying awake
last night. Staring into the darkness. Reliving again - the past. One scene etched indellibly
in her memory. Facing a man with a gun in her hand. Threatening her former husband,
Bill Walker. And then a struggle - a shot!
A shooting that was an accident. But the state has called it ***. The state has tried
her for ***. And all through the night a woman is laying in a half darkened cell
realizing that a jury is still diliberating. Still trying to reach a verdict. A woman has
waited for and yet feared the moment when the veil of darkness should be lifted and
night should merge into day.
The sun has moved up in the heavens now. It's rays stream through a barred window to cast
an ominus pattern on the floor her cell. Some time ago a tray was brought in - her breakfast.
Food left untouched. She paces back and forth. Her face haggered, her eyes weary with lack
of sleep. The sunlight has failed to dispell the phantoms hasn't it Carolyn. And you know
that I'm still with you. As you relive the past.
Carolyn: I've got to stop remembering, remembering, remembering.
The voice of the Past: Oh no Carolyn. You'll never forget. Bill's face - that moment after
a shot. That moment before he fell to the floor. Can you ever forget how he looked when
he said...
Bill: Carolyn
Carolyn: No
Bill: Carolyn
Carolyn: No - no...
Bill: Carolyn
Carolyn: I didn't kill him. I didn't shoot the gun - it just went off.
Bill: She meant to kill me. She meant to kill me...
Carolyn: No
The voice of the Past: Bill's statement before he died.
Carolyn: He was lying.
The voice of the Past: Perhaps he wasn't Carolyn. Perhaps he believed what he was saying. You
threatened him with a gun. How could he know you didn't mean to use it.
Carolyn: He was twisting my arm... hurting me.
The voice of the Past: If you hadn't gone there with a gun it wouldn't have happened.
Carolyn: (unintelligable)
The voice of the Past: But what will the jury say - if their verdict is guilty?
Carolyn: It won't be - it can't be.
The voice of the Past: Prison - Who knows? A lifetime in prison. Your child born in prison.
Carolyn: No
The voice of the Past: What chance have you got Carolyn? After everything the jury was
told about you - your mother..., Bill... The Past... You could tell what they were thinking
of you - you could see it in their eyes.
Carolyn: I made a mistake. A terrible mistake when I married Bill. I realized that when
I came to hate him yes but... not enough to ...
The voice of the Past: He's dead.
Carolyn: But it wasn't my fault
The voice of the Past: The jury will place the blame Carolyn. The jury heard all the
evidence. And now... an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, - a life for a life. Justice.
Carolyn: Justice... that's all that I wanted, justice.
Female police officer: Mrs. Kramer... (trying to get her attention) Mrs. Kramer.
Carolyn: Yes?
Female police officer: You're going to court now.
Carolyn: To court? You mean...?
Female police officer: I was told to take you to court.
(Unlocking the cell and opening the door)
Carolyn: And the jury...?
Female police officer: Yes. The jury has reached a verdict.
(Closing the cell door)
The voice of the Past: Come Carolyn. They're waiting. Come. I'll go with you. Step by step
down a long corridor. Step by step past the cells. Into the elevator now. Moving down.
Level after level. To the underground passage way that
leads to the court building. Walking at the matron's side. Your arm manticled to hers.
Into another elevator up - level after level.
A door opens. A corridor stretches down to the courtroom. Now, at the entrance the bailif
leads you. Your handcuffs are removed. You step into a crowded courtroom. A murmer swells
up as you enter.
(A noisy courtroom filled with excitement)
Judge: (Tapping gavel) Order please, order in the Court.
The voice of the Past: The judge is on the bench. You see your attourney seated at a
table, your mother, Fred Mintern. And just before you take a chair, your eyes fall upon
a face among the spectators...Dwight! You stare at him for
a moment. Almost force yourself to turn away. And now - the door of the jury room opens,
and twelve men and women file out to take their
places in the box.
(Footsteps)
The voice of the Past: You study their faces. But you see only masks. You begin trembling.
Your breath quickens. Your attourney reaches over to place his hand on yours.
(Three strikes of the gavel...)
The voice of the Past: And now, all eyes are directed upon the judges bench. The judge
turns to address the foreman of the jury.
Judge: Ladies and gentlemen of the jury have you reached a verdict?
Jury foreman: We have your honor.
Judge: Will the prisoner at the bar arrise and face the jury.
The voice of the Past: Your attourney gives you his arm as you rise to your feet. Your
mother's face, Fred Mintern, Dwight, the men and women of the jury... Everything blurs
in your eyes.
It...it...It all seems unreal. Something that can't concern you - and yet it does. You're
the central figure in this drama Carolyn. And in a moment you'll hear the verdict from
the lips of the foreman of the jury. You wait... and time seems to stand still... while a wave
of fear and uncertainty sweeps over you.
As yet the verdict is unknown except to he twelve men and women who watch you. Not even
I can know it. For I'm the past. A moment or two into the future and you'll know Carolyn.
You'll hear words that must affect the course of yout entire life.
(Music)
Announcer: Carolyn standing alone. But not alone. For the Past is her companion. The
past who walks with all of us, as we seek for our Right To Happiness.
(Exit music)
Transcribed by Josiah Cooney, soap lover, and devoted fan of All My Children and One
Life To Live, Agnes Nixon, and Irna Phillips.