This is Mr. Bartlett Finchley, age forty-eight, a practicing sophisticate who writes very special and very precious things for gourmet magazines and the like. He's a bachelor and a recluse with few friends, only devotees and adherents to the cause of tart sophistry. He has no interests save whatever current annoyances he can put his mind to. He has no purpose to his life except the formulation of day-to-day opportunities to vent his wrath on mechanical contrivances of an age he abhors. In short, Mr. Bartlett Finchley is a malcontent, born either too late or too early in the century, and who in just a moment will enter a realm where muscles and the will to fight back are not limited to human beings. Next stop for Mr. Bartlett Finchley - the Twilight Zone.
“A Thing About Machines” · Season 2, Episode 4
In this episode: Narrator (2), Rod Serling (1)
Yes, it could just be. It could just be that Mr. Bartlett Finchley succumbed from a heart attack and a set of delusions. It could just be that he was tormented by an imagination as sharp as his wit and as pointed as his dislikes. But as perceived by those attending, this is one explanation that has left the premises with the deceased. Look for it filed under 'M' for machines in the Twilight Zone.
You pulled the body out?
Yeah. It's funny. They usually float.
What do you mean usually?
Well, he was on the bottom. He hadn't come up. He wasn't weighted either. There was nothing to hold him down.
Huh.
His eyes were open. He looked scared, like something had been chasing him or something. The neighbors said that he'd been shouting and running around last night. I wonder what it was that could've scared him.
Whatever it was, it's a little item he took along with him.
Yeah. Maybe he was drunk, imagining things.
Maybe.
Could be he had a heart attack or something.
Could be. Could just be.
Yes, it could just be. It could just be that Mr. Bartlett Finchley succumbed from a heart attack and a set of delusions. It could just be that he was tormented by an imagination as sharp as his wit and as pointed as his dislikes. But as perceived by those attending, this is one explanation that has left the premises with the deceased. Look for it filed under 'M' for machines in the Twilight Zone.
These quotes come from Wikiquote's The Twilight Zone (1959) pages and are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.