The Orbiting Human Circus (of the Air): Season One, Episode 3
Thanks to Rocket Mortgage by Quicken Loans and HelloFresh for supporting our podcast! Go to HelloFresh.com and use the code OHC to get $35 off your first week of deliveries, and check out Rocket Mortgage at QuickenLoans.com/OHC.
In November 2016, the janitor will be cleaning a venue near you! Upcoming tour dates: www.orbitinghumancircus.com
Featuring John Cameron Mitchell as Mr. Cameron, Julian Koster as the Janitor, and Drew Callander as the Narrator, with Tim Robbins as the Cricket, Charlie Day as Macbeth, and Mary Elizabeth Ellis and Lady Macbeth, and the Alicia Svigals Klezmer Ensemble featuring the late Evan Harlan (Julian's uncle) on accordion and North the Singing Saw.
Written and created by Julian Koster. Co-directed by and developed with Ellie Heyman. Produced by Christy Gressman. Featuring musical composition and arrangement by Thomas Hughes and music by The Music Tapes.
Full credits: www.orbitinghumancircus.com
Part of the Night Vale Presents network: www.nightvalepresents.com
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Press play and read along
Transcript
Speaker 1 Here's something I say a lot, but it's just the truth. We couldn't make this show without our Patreon.
Speaker 1 It is by far the biggest way we are able to pay everyone working on the show, from the writers to the actors, to Jessica, who does original artwork for every single episode, to Joella, who does all the back-end business stuff.
Speaker 1 All of these people are able to pay their bills, and we are all able to put out the show because of our Patreon. And we try to give some cool rewards as a thank you.
Speaker 1 Four bonus episodes a year that are not released on the main feed, ad-free versions of our episodes, monthly Zoom hangouts with the Nightvale Writers, director's notes on every episode, a brand new book club we are launching led by the Nightfale Writers, and even the chance for you to appear in future Nightfall episodes as a character.
Speaker 1 So all of that is there, but also just the knowledge that this thing exists in the world that otherwise wouldn't and you are part of that.
Speaker 1 So consider heading to welcometonightvale.com and clicking on Patreon and becoming a patron or upgrading your existing membership. We deeply, truly appreciate it.
Speaker 4 Thank you.
Speaker 5 If you're dying for the next batch of Wednesday season 2 to drop on Netflix, then I'll let you in on a secret. The Wednesday season 2 official Wocast is already here.
Speaker 5 Dive deeper into the mysteries of Wednesday with the Ultimate Companion Video Podcast. Join the frightfully funny Caitlin Riley along with her producer, Thing, as she sits down with the cast and crew.
Speaker 5 Together, they'll unravel each shocking twist, dissect the dynamics lurking beneath, unearth Adam's family lore, and answer all of your lingering questions.
Speaker 5 Guests include Emma Myers, Joy Sunday, Hunter Doohan, Steve Buscemi, Fred Armison, Catherine Zeta Jones, the Joanna Lumley, also show creators Al Goh and Miles Miller, and of course Wednesday herself, Jenna Ortega, plus many, many more.
Speaker 5 With eight delightfully dark episodes to devour, you'll be drawn into the haunting halls of Nevermore Academy deeper than ever before. But beware, you know where curiosity often leads.
Speaker 5
The Wednesday season 2 official wo cast is available in audio and video on todoom.com or wherever it is you get your podcasts. Hi, it's Jeffrey Kraner.
This is episode 3 of Orbiting Human Circus.
Speaker 5 It's the last episode of this new podcast we'll be playing here on the Welcome to Night Vale feed, but it is not the last episode of the podcast.
Speaker 5 If you want to hear all future episodes of the Orbiting Human Circus, make sure sure you go subscribe to their feed directly on iTunes or wherever it is you get your podcasts.
Speaker 5
We at Night Vale Presents have been over the moon about this show. That's a metaphor.
There's no such thing as a moon.
Speaker 5 The music, the acting, and the wonderfully unique stories and unpredictable paths it takes have been everything we could want out of a podcast, which is why we're so proud to present it to you.
Speaker 5
It's been a welcome addition to our podcast family. We hope you feel the same way.
If you do, then don't forget forget to subscribe directly to the Orbiting Human Circus of the Air.
Speaker 2 Thanks.
Speaker 5 And now, let's start the show.
Speaker 7 Sometime last week, stagehands Jacques and Francois had this conversation in the backstage lounge.
Speaker 8
I didn't even tell you about this. Yeah.
I caught that janitor kid backstage.
Speaker 3 What, the kid that was banned?
Speaker 8
Yeah, the one that was banned during the show. He's backstage.
I'm out for a cigarette. I see him standing.
Speaker 2 How'll he get back in?
Speaker 8 That's the thing.
Speaker 2 I don't know.
Speaker 2 So, hey, hey, hey. Us, right?
Speaker 8
I mean, so I'm about to throw him out. Right.
You know what I'm saying?
Speaker 9 He's like, if you let me stay, I'll tell you where Mr.
Speaker 2 Cameron gets the acts from.
Speaker 3 First of all, he's full of shit.
Speaker 2 And you believe it. And that was a horrible, that was a horrible thing.
Speaker 8 That's exactly what he sounds like.
Speaker 2 Yeah, yeah, yeah. That is exactly what he sounds like.
Speaker 8
So, 10 minutes, I come back to him, and I go, all right, kid, time to pay up. What's the secret? Right.
He won't tell me. Yeah.
So I push him around a bit.
Speaker 2 You're a tough guy. Hey.
Speaker 8 Hey, tougher than anyone here.
Speaker 2 You know that.
Speaker 10
All right, Rocky. All right, Rocky.
Pull it in. Pull it in, Rocky.
Speaker 8 But get this. Yeah.
Speaker 9
He goes, even Mr. Cameron doesn't know.
I can't tell you.
Speaker 8 I'm like, really, kid? Mr. Cameron doesn't know where to get his own acts from?
Speaker 6
Hello, this is Drew Callender. It's so good to see you again.
Yes, I can see you. This November, the janitor is cleaning venues in the northern U.S.
Speaker 6 and he invites you to run away and spend a night with the Orbiting Human Circus. Come visit us by going to orbitinghumancircus.com/slash shows on tour now.
Speaker 6 And on behalf of the orbiting human circus we want to say hello and thanks to hellofresh.com for supporting us.
Speaker 6 Hello hello fresh and thanks and listeners you can get $35 off your first week of deliveries when you go to hellofresh.com and use the offer code OHC.
Speaker 6 We're very happy to have Rocket Mortgage as our sponsor because they're not like traditional banks offering traditional loans, and we're not very traditional here at the Orbiting Human Circus.
Speaker 6 For instance, I made an untraditional choice when I moved to New York City and chose to seek a career as a professional couch surfer.
Speaker 6 For all you couch surfers out there, you know how hard it can be to apply for a bank loan when you don't have a traditional job or your own address.
Speaker 6 But Rocket Mortgage makes it easy by bringing the entire process online.
Speaker 6 You can share bank statements and pay stubs at the press of a button on your phone or tablet and get approved for a custom mortgage in minutes.
Speaker 6 You don't have to lug all those boxes of old paperwork around with you because let's face it, when you're a couch surfer, you have to travel light.
Speaker 6 You can do it all from the comfort and convenience of someone else's couch.
Speaker 6 So if you're looking to refinance your mortgage or buy a home, go check out Rocket Mortgage today at quickenloans.com slash OHC. That's OHC for orbiting human circus.
Speaker 6 Equal housing lender license in all 50 states and MLS consumer access.org number 3030.
Speaker 6 And now, please sit back and enjoy episode 3.
Speaker 6 Broadcasting from the top of the Eiffel Tower, the orbiting human circus of the air.
Speaker 11 The orchestral starts us off with its version of Wagner's Put No Pork in My Pork by Hap, featuring North the incredible singing saw.
Speaker 7 And as the earnest hardware saw sings its little heart out, they are listening. in the fashionable restaurants beside the Seine.
Speaker 13 I'm so glad that Gaston put on the radio, darling. You know, everybody's talking about that story the cricket was telling.
Speaker 3 Cricket, darling.
Speaker 7 Listening in the bagel bakeries of Brooklyn.
Speaker 14 The craziest thing happens. The crickets tell that story.
Speaker 15 The crazy word they got playing, the music swoops down and attacks the cricket.
Speaker 10 Just like that.
Speaker 7 Just like that. Listening in the taxi cabs of Leningrad.
Speaker 7 And at the switchboards of the Perpetual Broadcasting Corporation itself. They are listening.
Speaker 13
Hello, Perpetual Broadcasting Corporation. We're sorry.
Still no news on the cricket. Oh, Perpetual Broadcasting Corporation.
I'm very sorry, sir. No.
Speaker 7 Yet beside the stage, we see our host, John Cameron, in the final throes of exhaustion, and the janitor himself standing despondently beside him.
Speaker 10 And what's this?
Speaker 7 In the janitor's hands.
Speaker 7 A cricket-sized casket carefully made out of toothpicks lined with cotton balls? But But what's happened? We take you back to 4 a.m. this morning.
Speaker 7 The janitor wanders the empty passageways of the Eiffel Tower, desperately in search of the cricket.
Speaker 2 Oh, please, Cricket, where are you?
Speaker 7 Cricket. Suddenly, he hears footsteps.
Speaker 7 And
Speaker 7 bumps into host John Cameron, who, his normally immaculate suit dirty and crumpled, staggers dangerously close to the tower's outer railing.
Speaker 10 Oh.
Speaker 2 It's you.
Speaker 16 Mr.
Speaker 13 Cameron, what are you doing here?
Speaker 17 It's late. I'm trying to find the cricket you lost.
Speaker 2 So sorry.
Speaker 18 I thought I locked the cage. I didn't know the orchestra was gonna get out.
Speaker 6 Do you know what I had to do earlier?
Speaker 17 Pump the orchestral stomach. Cricket wasn't in there.
Speaker 2 Oh my god.
Speaker 19 Why did I even trust you?
Speaker 2 What's happened to my life? What are these acts?
Speaker 20
I have no idea where they come from. Everybody wants to know if they're real.
I have no idea. Maybe none of this is real.
Speaker 21 Maybe I'm just having a psychotic break.
Speaker 7 The janitor's eyes widened.
Speaker 20 That's what happens when you base your life on lies, when you take credit for something you don't deserve. There wasn't even an act today at the show.
Speaker 2 This is the first time it's ever happened to me.
Speaker 17 I looked everywhere.
Speaker 20 There was always something waiting for me. There was nothing.
Speaker 17 Everybody would know the truth. Then I saw you, you, and the cricket.
Speaker 20 I thought, my god, an act, I've been saved.
Speaker 21 Saved? Haha, I'm ruined.
Speaker 2 But I want to help you. Help me.
Speaker 4 Don't you understand?
Speaker 21 You're the janitor!
Speaker 2 You're not part of the show!
Speaker 2 I'll find the cricket. Don't you ever come near me or my show again!
Speaker 18 I know how you find the axe! No.
Speaker 4
Push me off the tower. Just push me.
I'll just stand right here by the edge with my eyes closed.
Speaker 13 It's okay, Mr. Cameron.
Speaker 7 Horrified by his words' effect, the janitor tentatively puts a hand on John Cameron's shoulder.
Speaker 18 I mean, I mean, I know how anyone can find acts like that. What?
Speaker 2 How?
Speaker 18 Well, it's all about how you look at things. Like, take the tap-dancing mouse, for instance.
Speaker 7 Yes, yes.
Speaker 18 If you see a mouse
Speaker 2 and you look at it like you want to hit it with a broom or you're scared it has diseases, it'll just run away from you.
Speaker 16 But if you love it and you keep really still,
Speaker 18 it'll come right up to you.
Speaker 18 How else are you gonna find out if a mouse can tap dance?
Speaker 4 You know, it's good that you can live and work independently.
Speaker 2 Thank you.
Speaker 2 Get away from me! But get away!
Speaker 7 Holding back tears, the janitor continues to search, but it's hopeless. Finding one lost cricket in the hole of the Eiffel Tower?
Speaker 7 He studies every inch of the floor, examining every piece of lint, growing more and more depressed.
Speaker 2 Please, please, come on, come on.
Speaker 7 Sunrise.
Speaker 7 The morning mail is delivered at the base of the Eiffel Tower.
Speaker 7 John Cameron sleeps, draped over an observatory telescope on the top observation deck.
Speaker 10 Suddenly, he is startled! Mr. Cameron!
Speaker 16 Mr. Cameron!
Speaker 22 There he is! Over there! By the boxes! I chased him down here. What? The cricket!
Speaker 2 Over there on the floor!
Speaker 22 I give it up, and there he was!
Speaker 2 The cricket!
Speaker 21 You're sure that's the one? Yes.
Speaker 16 How? I saw him shaking his fist at the orchestral.
Speaker 20 Thank God.
Speaker 19 Mr. Cameron.
Speaker 21 Oh, hello, Jacques.
Speaker 3 You'll never believe it. A hundred bags of mail just arrived.
Speaker 22 They're all about that cricket.
Speaker 3 I bet he's just about the most famous cricket on the earth.
Speaker 21 Yes, I imagine he is, Jacques.
Speaker 3 No, here's the crane with the lettuce.
Speaker 12 Hey, you want the mail over here, right?
Speaker 23 Wait, no, no, the cricket!
Speaker 15 No, no.
Speaker 15 No!
Speaker 7 All leading to the present moment where our host John Cameron stands holding the tiny toothpick casket, glancing woefully from it to a large group of thespians costumed seemingly to perform William Shakespeare's Immortal Macbeth.
Speaker 24 That was the orbiting human circus orchestral featuring North, the singing saw.
Speaker 24 Ladies and gentlemen, I know many of you are here tonight in the hopes of seeing a certain cricket. Where's the cricket?
Speaker 7 Bring out the cricket! However,
Speaker 24 however, it is important to remember in times like these with our flashy modern entertainments like tap dancing, mice, singing saws, and yes, storytelling crickets, it's important to do honor to the high art that is the genesis of all that graces the modern stage.
Speaker 24 The immortal classics, ladies and gentlemen, that paved the way for the superficial diversions of the now. We present to you our performance of Shakespeare's Scottish Play.
Speaker 7 Bring out the critics! Yes!
Speaker 24 Well, please do put your hands together for a play which is sure to turn your laughter laughter into tears. Where's the cricket? We give you Macbeth.
Speaker 24 Macbeth, ladies and gentlemen, Macbeth.
Speaker 10 When shall we three meet again?
Speaker 7
But in the audience, they are not listening. The word cricket whispered in chorus throughout the house.
And in the fancy cafes beside the Seine, they are not listening.
Speaker 13 Well, with all this build-up, I'm simply not going to enjoy my dinner. They don't find that cricket.
Speaker 21 Don't be so demanding, Lily.
Speaker 7 In the stage hands lounge behind the broadcast ballroom, they are not listening.
Speaker 13 Okay, if they riot Pierre, I need you stage left, Jacques. I need you stage right, and I will shield Jean.
Speaker 8 Yep, Miss Saltier, yep.
Speaker 7 And even in his seat beside the stage, John Cameron, our host, is not listening.
Speaker 7 He slumps despondently in his chair beside the stage. His eyelids growing heavy, he drifts and drifts.
Speaker 4 note.
Speaker 4 What's to be done?
Speaker 1 I've done the deed.
Speaker 1 Does thou not hear a noise?
Speaker 10 But what's this?
Speaker 7 Like the doberman pincher of showmanship, he is, John snaps to attention. What was Lady Macbeth saying?
Speaker 13 These pots full of pastries.
Speaker 5 Are greedy, greedy, greedy.
Speaker 7 And why was she straddling a mechanical bull?
Speaker 10 What was this?
Speaker 7 Some horrid modernist deconstruction? Good lord, not on his watch.
Speaker 13 I've crazy glued my eyelids, so not me. Cause I've crazy glued my eyelids.
Speaker 22 I crazy glued my eyelids!
Speaker 21 Woo!
Speaker 22 Blait like a shake!
Speaker 15 Man!
Speaker 10 And hang twins, my bad!
Speaker 7 But why was Lady Macbeth suddenly being played by his aged and annoying Aunt Helma?
Speaker 7 Those aren't the lines. And Macbeth himself.
Speaker 7 That's Morty the mechanic from the garage down the block, and he's
Speaker 7 smacking a newborn baby.
Speaker 15 No acrobats, but I throb to kiss a whale.
Speaker 15 So white, so white.
Speaker 23 To kiss it and give it ice cream, of course.
Speaker 15 But all I have are pastries.
Speaker 23 Greedy, greedy pastries.
Speaker 16 Give me your mustache.
Speaker 7 And at last, the dream grows peaceful, and John relaxes and watches tiny Macbeth bubbles drift all around his weary head.
Speaker 7 Suddenly, a tap on his shoulder.
Speaker 22 Mr. Cameron, wake up!
Speaker 7 Wake up! What? John Cameron awakes in his seat beside the stage, on which he hears Macbeth being played correctly
Speaker 7 to find the janitor yelling and gesticulating wildly. The cricket!
Speaker 25
I was all about to bury him, and the top of the casket opened, and he sat up and started chirping. He's right here, in my hand.
Look. What? Listen, I brought you the machine.
Speaker 25 He'll He'll tell you himself.
Speaker 26 Oh, Mr. Cameron, when I saw all of those beautiful letters all of those nice people wrote, I fainted dead away.
Speaker 17 My God.
Speaker 26 But then I came to, in the beautiful bird-proof bed you made for me, out of toothpicks lined with cotton balls.
Speaker 2 It was the nicest thing anybody has ever done for me. Oh, well.
Speaker 2
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you.
Speaker 19 I have not slept so securely in a very very long time.
Speaker 17 My God, it's a miracle.
Speaker 21 A modern radio miracle.
Speaker 7 John Cameron hugs the janitor.
Speaker 7 And he hugs the little cricket.
Speaker 27 One thing I must ask you, when the radio broadcast is over, may I keep
Speaker 19 the bird-proof bed?
Speaker 20 With the compliments of the Perpetual Broadcasting Corporation.
Speaker 24 Oh, thank you.
Speaker 7 John Cameron turns and rushes onto the stage, where Macbeth continues.
Speaker 12 Tomorrow and tomorrow.
Speaker 11
And tonight, we bring you a small soul who needs little introduction. That's right.
Put him down and turn on the machine, Julius.
Speaker 11 Thank you. Thank you.
Speaker 11 Thank you. Thank you.
Speaker 7 Thank you.
Speaker 7 And so the cricket begins to tell the shocking conclusion of the story the whole world was waiting for. We will will return with our cricket and our feature presentation.
Speaker 6
Hello, listeners, and a special hello from our sponsor, HelloFresh. If you're like me, you live in a tiny box.
No, I'm not talking about my vampire coffin, I'm talking about my apartment in Brooklyn.
Speaker 6 I don't have room for lots of fruits and veggies that I probably won't get around to cooking, but that's what's great about HelloFresh.
Speaker 6 HelloFresh is a meal kit delivery service that delivers fresh and delicious ingredients to your doorstep with the exact ingredients you need to make three different delicious meals so you don't have to do any measuring.
Speaker 6
They only take about 30 minutes to make. I got a box last week and had the fatouche salad with chickpeas, feta, and zaatar spiced pita.
Zaatar for the record is a delectable mix of spices.
Speaker 6 It was great and it was the perfect amount because let's be honest, I don't really need an entire jar of Za'atar in my cupboard. That's valuable real estate in there that I need for my idol of Baal.
Speaker 6 But you don't have to be a famous radio personality with an idol of of Baal to get Za'atar. You can try it for yourself by going to hellofresh.com.
Speaker 6 And just for being a member of our audience, you'll get $35 off your first week of deliveries when you use the offer code OHC.
Speaker 6 That's hellofresh.com and the code is OHC as in Orbiting Human Circus for $35 off your first week of deliveries. Thanks again to our sponsor, Rocket Mortgage.
Speaker 6 Rocket Mortgage brings its untraditional mortgage process to all you untraditional listeners with a fast, easy, and completely online process.
Speaker 6 Check out Rocket Mortgage today at quickandloans.com slash OHC. That's OHC for orbiting human circus.
Speaker 6 And now we return you to our cricket and the conclusion of our feature presentation.
Speaker 6 Thank you. Thank you.
Speaker 6
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you.
Speaker 7 And so the cricket begins to tell the shocking conclusion of the story the whole world was waiting for.
Speaker 7 That of Ladislaw, genius clockmaker who realized that clocks run more accurately counterclockwise, but whose clocks no one wanted.
Speaker 7 Who, hungry and broke, could not work for the noise of the poor children upstairs constantly begging their parents for dolls, and who found himself suddenly making from scraps two dolls, which he gave the children to their absolute delight.
Speaker 7 And as soon as this act of kindness was done, it seemed as though a miracle happened. His counter-clockwise clock suddenly became popular.
Speaker 7 As a joke, it broke his heart, and he smashed his clocks and closed up his shop and never came out.
Speaker 7 But then, months later, the shutters on his windows suddenly went up, revealing a wondrous doll shop.
Speaker 7 His dolls spread all over Bucharest until one day he disappeared.
Speaker 7 Because this is what he had done.
Speaker 7 On every doll was hidden a tiny catch beneath a layer of varnish that would rub off in a year's time.
Speaker 7 This catch, once exposed, would trigger when bumped, causing the doll's facial expression to change forever to a look of such hatred, such hideous pain and vile, it would give the children of Bucharest nightmares to last a lifetime.
Speaker 7 And what happened?
Speaker 7 I give you our cricket on the air.
Speaker 7
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you.
Speaker 12 When brutally attacked, I was telling the story of Ladislaw Kovschkovsky.
Speaker 12
He has filled all Bucharest with his horrible dolls, and so he has to run away before the first catch is sprung. He flees to Paris.
He turns to alcohol. He ends up on the street.
Speaker 12 Here, at last, Ladislaw feels he belongs. At least he thinks a man who had done what he has done deserves to be frozen, deserves to die slowly, and here, at last, he would.
Speaker 12
But he does not die, quickly or slowly. His constitution proves surprisingly robust, and so he lives.
Wishing to die nearly every moment. Ladislaw lives and lives.
Speaker 12 And then, one night, he has a dream. He is with a little girl, and that little girl is his.
Speaker 12 The little girl looks up at him with a look of love such as no one has given him in all his life.
Speaker 12 Its feeling
Speaker 12 fills all his soul.
Speaker 12 He
Speaker 12 is happy.
Speaker 12 But then he realizes the little girl is holding one of his dolls.
Speaker 12 He sees the face hasn't changed yet, but the varnish, it's rubbed away. The catch, it will spring any moment.
Speaker 12
He struggles madly to take it from her, but cannot reach it, as if space and time become quicksand. And then it happens.
He hears the catch strike. His heart runs cold.
He turns his eyes to the doll.
Speaker 12 But the doll's face has not switched. The girl's has.
Speaker 12
And her face has switched to such a... to such an inhuman mask of pure hatred.
Ladislaw's hatred. Terrifying cruelty.
Ladislaw's cruelty.
Speaker 12 He feels as if everything he has ever loved in the world has been snatched away from him, never to be given back. All goes cold.
Speaker 12 So cold.
Speaker 12 Ladislaw wakes up in the act of vomiting and lets loose a scream of such horror it is heard that night on both banks of the River Seine.
Speaker 12 He walks the Paris streets that night like a ghost, feels apart from all things on the earth.
Speaker 12 He wants to be beaten, to be punished. He wants to return to Romania and take all of the abuse that would come.
Speaker 12 Be sent to prison and be hated by everyone, grown-ups and children alike, for what he really is.
Speaker 12 He sets out, as if in a trance, on the journey home.
Speaker 12 When he reaches Bucharest, he expects a massive outcry.
Speaker 12 He makes it all the way across the city, and no one noticed.
Speaker 12 At last arriving at the first house whose children he had given his horrid dolls.
Speaker 12 He wants to cry.
Speaker 12 Like a child, he is terrified.
Speaker 12 So afraid.
Speaker 12 The time has come.
Speaker 12 He reaches the door. He manages to knock much too loud.
Speaker 12
The turning of the doorknob from within. The creaking of the hinges.
The opening of the door. And then the face peering out at him.
It was the mother. And then the look upon her face.
Speaker 12 Horror.
Speaker 12 Ladislaw Kovskovsky!
Speaker 12 My God!
Speaker 12 What's become of you? In her voice, warmth, concern. Come in, my cotton, come in.
Speaker 12 She takes his hand, leads him inside. My dear, it's Ladislav Kovskovsky.
Speaker 12 Ladislav Kovskovsky? The man answers in shock. Here!
Speaker 12 They sit him down, bring him water, and then their little girl appears. Look, Romika, it's Ladislaw, the man who made your dolly.
Speaker 12
I know who he is, Mommy. Everybody does.
Ladislaw looks at the doll clutched in the little girl's fingers and sees the doll's sweet face, and it's just as it was, unchanged.
Speaker 12 But he can see the varnish has rubbed off and the tiny catch exposed, waiting to trigger. The girl looks to him so like the girl in his dream.
Speaker 12 Panicked, he reaches for the doll, but unlike his dream, he is able to touch the doll. He pulls it from the little hand so hard that the doll smacks against the table.
Speaker 12
Expecting it to trigger, he buries the doll in his chest to shield the girl from its change. But still, he hears no click.
The face did not change.
Speaker 12 Amazed, he bangs the doll on the floor twice more, just to see. Still, it does not open.
Speaker 12 And as he looked at it, feverishly, madly, he realized this catch would not open, could not open. It was at least a sixteenth of a centimeter too long,
Speaker 12 too big for its opening. It could never be struck.
Speaker 12
They give him food and a bath. Ladislaw could barely talk.
His mind is swimming. He stumbles out of their house and he brings himself to the next house.
Speaker 12 In house after house, he finds the same reaction, the same treatment. The catches had not opened.
Speaker 12 They'd all been made too long.
Speaker 12 Each and every last one.
Speaker 12 In each house, he is given a hero's welcome. The children look at him with reverence, and the parents treat him as an honored member of their family.
Speaker 12 He finds that in Romania, he is considered a great man.
Speaker 12 His dolls a national treasure, but one to be played with, to be passed down from generation to generation. It was by this measure that he marked the time of childhood for an entire country.
Speaker 12 So,
Speaker 12 what had Ladislaw Kotzkowski done?
Speaker 12 He had not brought nightmares to the children of Romania.
Speaker 12 He was a man who, late for an important appointment, loses his keys and searches for them madly when all the time they were right there in front of his nose.
Speaker 12 How often in those cases is the appointment not one on which we really wish to go.
Speaker 12 It is said that in Ladislaw Koskowski's time, all children in Romania were his children, his dolls, outliving him in their hundreds.
Speaker 12 And buried deep inside some, gone forever, and smothered by a visage of love.
Speaker 12 was all the pain and frustration of a man who had been a great failure, hurt and rejected, with no idea at all
Speaker 12 of the hero
Speaker 7 he would become.
Speaker 17 Broadcasting from the top of the Eiffel Tower, the orbiting human circus of the air.
Speaker 17 Thank you, thank you, thank you,
Speaker 17 thank you.
Speaker 17 Oh, thank you.
Speaker 11 Well, that's it for this week, ladies and gentlemen. I'm John Cameron, and I'm
Speaker 11 broadcasting from the top of the Eiffel Tower.
Speaker 11 The orbiting human circus wishes you a good night.
Speaker 4 Packages by Expedia.
Speaker 19 You were made to occasionally take the hard route to the top of the Eiffel Tower.
Speaker 19
We were made to easily bundle your trip. Expedia, made to travel.
Flight inclusive packages are at all protected.
Speaker 13 Starting a business can seem like a daunting task, unless you have a partner like Shopify. They have the tools you need to start and grow your business.
Speaker 13 From designing a website to marketing to selling and beyond, Shopify can help with everything you need.
Speaker 13 There's a reason millions of companies like Mattel, Heinz, and Allbirds continue to trust and use them. With Shopify on your side, turn your big business idea into
Speaker 13 sign up for your $1 per month trial at shopify.com/slash special offer.
Speaker 13 Hi, I'm here to tell you about Good Morning Night Vale. Welcome to Night Vale's official recap show and unofficial best friend food podcast.
Speaker 13 Join me, Meg Bashwiner, and fellow try-hosts, Hal Lublin and Symphony Sanders, as we dissect all of the cool, squishy, and slimy bits of every episode of Welcome to Night Vale.
Speaker 13 Come for the insightful and hilarious commentary, and stay for all of the weird and wild behind-the-scenes stories. Good morning, Nightvale, with new episodes every other Thursday.
Speaker 13 Get it wherever you get your podcasts. Yes, even there.