Episode Transcript
Through a Glass, Darkly
“The Flowering of the Strange Orchid”
ANNOUNCERLAND
MUSIC CUE: OMINOUS DRONE
ANNOUNCER
Jabberwocky Audio Theater presents Through a Glass, Darkly. Tonight’s production: “The Flowering of the Strange Orchid,” by H.G. Wells.
TOWN STREETS – MORNING
MUSIC: TITLE THEME
SOUND: NINETEENTH-CENTURY TOWN ACTIVITY
NARRATOR
The buying of orchids always has in it a certain speculative flavour. You have before you the brown shrivelled lump of tissue, and for the rest you must trust your judgment, or the auctioneer, or your good luck, as your taste may incline. The plant may be moribund or dead, or it may be just a respectable purchase, fair value for your money, or perhaps — for the thing has happened again and again — there slowly unfolds before the delighted eyes of the happy purchaser, day after day, some new variety, some novel richness, a strange twist of the labellum, or some subtler colouration or unexpected mimicry. Pride, beauty, and profit blossom together on one delicate green spike, and, it may be, even immortality. For the new miracle of Nature may stand in need of a new specific name, and what so convenient as that of its discoverer? “Johnsmithia”! There have been worse names.
(BEAT)
It was perhaps the hope of some such happy discovery that made Winter-Wedderburn such a frequent attendant at these sales — that hope, and also, maybe, the fact that he had nothing else of the slightest interest to do in the world.
WEDDERBURN’S HOME – MORNING
SOUND: BUSY MORNING ACTIVITY
NARRATOR
He was a shy, lonely, rather ineffectual man, provided with just enough income to keep off the spur of necessity, and not enough nervous energy to make him seek any exacting employments. He might have collected stamps or coins, or translated Horace, or bound books, or invented new species of diatoms. But, as it happened, he grew orchids, and had one ambitious little hothouse.
WEDDERBURN
I have a fancy…
NARRATOR
he said over his coffee,
WEDDERBURN
that something is going to happen to me today.
NARRATOR
He spoke — as he moved and thought — slowly.
HOUSEKEEPER
Oh, don’t say that!
NARRATOR
said his housekeeper — who was also his remote cousin. For “something happening” was a euphemism that meant only one thing to her.
WEDDERBURN
You misunderstand me. I mean nothing unpleasant… though what I do mean I scarcely know.
(BEAT)
Today…
NARRATOR
he continued, after a pause,
WEDDERBURN
Peters’ are going to sell a batch of plants from the Andamans and the Indies. I shall go up and see what they have. It may be I shall buy something good unawares. That may be it.
NARRATOR
He passed his cup for his second cupful of coffee.
HOUSEKEEPER
(POURING COFFEE)
Are these the things collected by that poor young fellow you told me of the other day?
NARRATOR
asked his cousin, as she filled his cup.
WEDDERBURN
Yes.
NARRATOR
he said, and became meditative over a piece of toast.
WEDDERBURN
Nothing ever does happen to me.
NARRATOR
he remarked presently, beginning to think aloud.
WEDDERBURN
I wonder why? Things enough happen to other people. There is Harvey. Only the other week — on Monday he picked up sixpence, on Wednesday his chicks all had the staggers, on Friday his cousin came home from Australia, and on Saturday he broke his ankle. What a whirl of excitement…! Compared to me.
HOUSEKEEPER
I think I would rather be without so much excitement.
NARRATOR
said his housekeeper.
HOUSEKEEPER
It can’t be good for you.
WEDDERBURN
I suppose it’s troublesome. Still… you see, nothing ever happens to me. When I was a little boy I never had accidents. I never fell in love as I grew up. Never married… I wonder how it feels to have something happen to you, something really remarkable.
(BEAT)
That orchid-collector was only thirty-six — twenty years younger than myself — when he died. And he had been married twice and divorced once; he had had malarial fever four times, and once he broke his thigh. He killed a Malay once, and once he was wounded by a poisoned dart. And in the end he was killed by jungle-leeches. It must have all been very troublesome, but then it must have been very interesting, you know… except, perhaps, the leeches.
HOUSEKEEPER
I am sure it was not good for him.
NARRATOR
said the lady with conviction.
WEDDERBURN
Perhaps not…
NARRATOR
And then Wedderburn looked at his watch.
MUSIC: LIGHT TRANSITIONAL MUSIC CUE
WEDDERBURN
Twenty-three minutes past eight. I am going up by the quarter to twelve train, so that there is plenty of time. I think I shall wear my alpaca jacket — it is quite warm enough — and my grey felt hat and brown shoes.
NARRATOR
He glanced out of the window at the serene sky and sunlit garden, and then nervously at his cousin’s face.
WEDDERBURN
I suppose…
HOUSEKEEPER
(FIRMLY)
I think you had better take an umbrella if you are going to London.
NARRATOR
she said in a voice that admitted of no denial.
HOUSEKEEPER
There’s all between here and the station coming back.
WEDDERBURN’S HOME – EVENING
NARRATOR
When he returned he was in a state of mild excitement. He had made a purchase. It was rare that he could make up his mind quickly enough to buy, but this time he had done so.
WEDDERBURN
(EXCITED)
There are Vandas…
NARRATOR
he said.
WEDDERBURN
and a Dendrobe and some Palaeonophis.
NARRATOR
He surveyed his purchases lovingly as he consumed his soup. They were laid out on the spotless tablecloth before him, and he was telling his cousin all about them as he slowly meandered through his dinner. It was his custom to live all his visits to London over again in the evening for her and his own entertainment.
WEDDERBURN
I knew something would happen today. And I have bought all these. Some of them — some of them — I feel sure, do you know, that some of them will be remarkable. I don’t know how it is, but I feel just as sure as if some one had told me that some of these will turn out remarkable.
(BEAT)
That one…
NARRATOR
He pointed to a shrivelled rhizome.
WEDDERBURN
was not identified. It may be a Palaeonophis — or it may not. It may be a new species, or even a new genus. And it was the last that poor Batten ever collected.
MUSIC: OMINIOUS MUSIC CUE
HOUSEKEEPER
(UNEASY)
I don’t like the look of it.
NARRATOR
said his housekeeper.
HOUSEKEEPER
It’s such an ugly shape.
WEDDERBURN
To me it scarcely seems to have a shape.
HOUSEKEEPER
I don’t like those things that stick out.
NARRATOR
said his housekeeper.
WEDDERBURN
It shall be put away in a pot tomorrow.
HOUSEKEEPER
(SHUDDERING)
It looks…
NARRATOR
said the housekeeper,
HOUSEKEEPER
like a spider shamming dead.
NARRATOR
Wedderburn smiled and surveyed the root with his head on one side.
WEDDERBURN
It is certainly not a pretty lump of stuff. But you can never judge of these things from their dry appearance. It may turn out to be a very beautiful orchid indeed. How busy I shall be tomorrow! I must see tonight just exactly what to do with these things, and tomorrow I shall set to work.
(BEAT)
They found poor Batten lying dead, or dying, in a mangrove swamp… I forget which…
NARRATOR
he began again presently,
WEDDERBURN
with one of these very orchids crushed up under his body. He had been unwell for some days with some kind of native fever, and I suppose he fainted. These mangrove swamps are very unwholesome. Every drop of blood, they say, was taken out of him by the jungle-leeches. It may be that very plant that cost him his life to obtain.
HOUSEKEEPER
I think none the better of it for that.
WEDDERBURN
Men must work though women may weep.
NARRATOR
said Wedderburn with profound gravity.
HOUSEKEEPER
Fancy dying away from every comfort in a nasty swamp! Fancy being ill of fever with nothing to take but chlorodyne and quinine — if men were left to themselves they would live on chlorodyne and quinine — and no one round you but horrible natives! They say the Andaman islanders are most disgusting wretches — and, anyhow, they can scarcely make good nurses, not having the necessary training. And just for people in England to have orchids!
WEDDERBURN
I don’t suppose it was comfortable, but some men seem to enjoy that kind of thing.
NARRATOR
said Wedderburn.
WEDDERBURN
Anyhow, the natives of his party were sufficiently civilized to take care of all his collection until his colleague, who was an ornithologist, came back again from the interior… though they could not tell the species of the orchid, and had let it wither. And it makes these things more interesting.
HOUSEKEEPER
It makes them disgusting. I should be afraid of some of the malaria clinging to them. And just think, there has been a dead body lying across that ugly thing! I never thought of that before.
(PUSHING BACK FROM TABLE)
There! I declare I cannot eat another mouthful of dinner.
WEDDERBURN
I will take them off the table if you like, and put them in the window-seat. I can see them just as well there.
WEDDERBURN GREENHOUSE – DAY
MUSIC: ACTIVE MUSIC CUE
SOUNDS: GREENHOUSE ACTIVITY
NARRATOR
The next few days he was indeed singularly busy in his steamy little hothouse, fussing about with charcoal, lumps of teak, moss, and all the other mysteries of the orchid cultivator. He considered he was having a wonderfully eventful time. In the evening he would talk about these new orchids to his friends, and over and over again he reverted to his expectation of something strange.
(BEAT)
Several of the Vandas and the Dendrobium died under his care, but presently the strange orchid began to show signs of life. He was delighted, and took his housekeeper right away from jam-making to see it at once, directly he made the discovery.
WEDDERBURN
That is a bud…
NARRATOR
he said,
WEDDERBURN
and presently there will be a lot of leaves there, and those little things coming out here are aerial rootlets.
HOUSEKEEPER
(SHAKEN, DISTURBED)
They look to me like little white fingers poking out of the brown.
NARRATOR
said his housekeeper.
MUSIC: OMINOUS MUSIC CUE
HOUSEKEEPER
I don’t like them.
WEDDERBURN
Why not?
HOUSEKEEPER
I don’t know. They look like fingers trying to get at you. I can’t help my likes and dislikes.
WEDDERBURN
I don’t know for certain, but I don’t think there are any orchids I know that have aerial rootlets quite like that. It may be my fancy, of course. You see they are a little flattened at the ends.
HOUSEKEEPER
I don’t like ’em.
NARRATOR
said his housekeeper, suddenly shivering and turning away.
HOUSEKEEPER
I know it’s very silly of me — and I’m very sorry, particularly as you like the thing so much. But I can’t help thinking of that corpse.
WEDDERBURN
But it may not be that particular plant. That was merely a guess of mine.
NARRATOR
His housekeeper shrugged her shoulders.
HOUSEKEEPER
Anyhow, I don’t like it.
NARRATOR
she said.
WEDDERBURN HOME – DAY
NARRATOR
Wedderburn felt a little hurt at her dislike to the plant. But that did not prevent his talking to her about orchids generally, and this orchid in particular, whenever he felt inclined.
WEDDERBURN
There are such queer things about orchids,
NARRATOR
he said one day;
WEDDERBURN
such possibilities of surprises. You know, Darwin studied their fertilization, and showed that the whole structure of an ordinary orchid flower was contrived in order that moths might carry the pollen from plant to plant. Well, it seems that there are lots of orchids known the flower of which cannot possibly be used for fertilization in that way. Some of the Cypripediums, for instance; there are no insects known that can possibly fertilize them, and some of them have never been found with seed.
HOUSEKEEPER
But how do they form new plants?
WEDDERBURN
By runners and tubers, and that kind of outgrowth. That is easily explained. The puzzle is, what are the flowers for?
(BEAT)
Very likely…
NARRATOR
he added,
WEDDERBURN
my orchid may be something extraordinary in that way. If so, I shall study it. I have often thought of making researches as Darwin did. But hitherto I have not found the time, or something else has happened to prevent it. The leaves are beginning to unfold now. I do wish you would come and see them!
MUSIC: OMINOUS MUSIC CUE
NARRATOR
But she said that the orchid-house was so hot it gave her the headache. She had seen the plant once again, and the aërial rootlets, which were now some of them more than a foot long, had unfortunately reminded her of tentacles reaching out after something; and they got into her dreams, growing after her with incredible rapidity. So that she had settled to her entire satisfaction that she would not see that plant again, and Wedderburn had to admire its leaves alone.
WEDDERBURN GREENHOUSE – DAY
SOUND: GREENHOUSE DOOR OPENING
SOUND: GREENHOUSE ACTIVITY
SOUND: WATER SPRINKLING
NARRATOR
They were of the ordinary broad form, and a deep glossy green, with splashes and dots of deep red towards the base. He knew of no other leaves quite like them. The plant was placed on a low bench near the thermometer, and close by was a simple arrangement by which a tap dripped on the hot-water pipes and kept the air steamy. And he spent his afternoons now with some regularity meditating on the approaching flowering of this strange plant.
MUSIC: ANTICIPATORY MUSIC CUE
WEDDERBURN GREENHOUSE – LATER
NARRATOR
And at last the great thing happened.
SOUND: GREENHOUSE DOOR OPENING
NARRATOR
Directly he entered the little glass house he knew that the spike had burst out, although his great Palœonophis Lowii hid the corner where his new darling stood.
WEDDERBURN
[Oohs and aahs of admiration]
NARRATOR
There was a new odour in the air, a rich, intensely sweet scent, that overpowered every other in that crowded, steaming little greenhouse.
WEDDERBURN
[More sounds of pleasant surprise]
NARRATOR
Directly he noticed this he hurried down to the strange orchid. And, behold! the trailing green spikes bore now three great splashes of blossom, from which this overpowering sweetness proceeded. He stopped before them in an ecstasy of admiration.
(BEAT)
The flowers were white, with streaks of golden orange upon the petals; the heavy labellum was coiled into an intricate projection, and a wonderful bluish purple mingled there with the gold.
WEDDERBURN
[Laughing]
NARRATOR
He could see at once that the genus was altogether a new one. And the insufferable scent! How hot the place was! The blossoms swam before his eyes.
MUSIC: OMINOUS MUSIC CUE
NARRATOR
He would see if the temperature was right. He made a step towards the thermometer. Suddenly everything appeared unsteady. The bricks on the floor were dancing up and down. Then the white blossoms, the green leaves behind them, the whole greenhouse, seemed to sweep sideways, and then in a curve upward.
WEDDERBURN
[Groan of dizziness, losing consciousness]
SOUND: FALLING TO FLOOR
WEDDERBURN KITCHEN
SOUND: KITCHEN ACTIVITY, TEA POURING
NARRATOR
At half-past four his cousin made the tea, according to their invariable custom. But Wedderburn did not come in for his tea.
HOUSEKEEPER
He is worshipping that horrid orchid.
NARRATOR
she told herself, and waited ten minutes.
HOUSEKEEPER
His watch must have stopped. I will go and call him.
SOUND: DOOR OPENING
WEDDERBURN GREENHOUSE
NARRATOR
She went straight to the hothouse, and, opening the door, called his name.
HOUSEKEEPER
(CALLING OUT)
Wedderburn? Winter Wedderburn!
MUSIC: SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC CUE
NARRATOR
There was no reply. She noticed that the air was very close, and loaded with an intense perfume. Then she saw something lying on the bricks between the hot-water pipes.
(BEAT)
For a minute, perhaps, she stood motionless.
(BEAT)
He was lying, face upward, at the foot of the strange orchid. The tentacle-like aërial rootlets no longer swayed freely in the air, but were crowded together, a tangle of grey ropes, and stretched tight, with their ends closely applied to his chin and neck and hands.
(BEAT)
She did not understand. Then she saw from under one of the exultant tentacles upon his cheek there trickled a little thread of blood.
HOUSEKEEPER
[Shriek of panic]
SOUND: RUNNING, BUSY ACTIVITY
HOUSEKEEPER
[Assorted noises of exertion, pulling at plant]
NARRATOR
With an inarticulate cry she ran towards him, and tried to pull him away from the leech-like suckers. She snapped two of these tentacles, and their sap dripped red.
SOUND: PLANT STALKS SNAPPING
NARRATOR
Then the overpowering scent of the blossom began to make her head reel. How they clung to him! She tore at the tough ropes, and he and the white inflorescence swam about her.
SOUND: PLANT STALKS SNAPPING
NARRATOR
She felt she was fainting, knew she must not.
SOUND: DOOR OPENING
NARRATOR
She left him and hastily opened the nearest door, and, after she had panted for a moment in the fresh air, she had a brilliant inspiration. She caught up a flower-pot and smashed in the windows at the end of the greenhouse.
SOUND: WINDOW SMASHING
NARRATOR
Then she re-entered. She tugged now with renewed strength at Wedderburn’s motionless body, and brought the strange orchid crashing to the floor.
SOUND: HEAVY DRAGGING
SOUND: CRASH TO FLOOR
HOUSEKEEPER
[Sounds of exertion.]
NARRATOR
It still clung with the grimmest tenacity to its victim. In a frenzy, she lugged it and him into the open air.
SOUND: DOOR OPENING
NARRATOR
Then she thought of tearing through the sucker rootlets one by one,
HOUSEKEEPER
[Sounds of exertion.]
SOUND: PLANT STALKS SNAPPING
NARRATOR
and in another minute she had released him and was dragging him away from the horror.
WEDDERBURN PATIO
NARRATOR
He was white and bleeding from a dozen circular patches.
SOUND: FOOTSTEPS
NARRATOR
The odd-job man was coming up the garden, amazed at the smashing of glass, and saw her emerge, hauling the inanimate body with red-stained hands. For a moment he thought impossible things.
HOUSEKEEPER
(SHOUTING)
Bring some water!
NARRATOR
she cried, and her voice dispelled his fancies.
SOUND: RUNNING FOOTSTEPS
NARRATOR
When, with unnatural alacrity, he returned with the water, he found her weeping with excitement, and with Wedderburn’s head upon her knee, wiping the blood from his face.
WEDDERBURN
(WEAKLY)
What’s the matter?
NARRATOR
said Wedderburn, opening his eyes feebly, and closing them again at once.
HOUSEKEEPER
(TO HANDYMAN)
Go and tell Annie to come out here to me, and then go for Dr. Haddon at once…
NARRATOR
she said to the odd-job man so soon as he brought the water; and added, seeing he hesitated,
SOUND: WATER SPLASHING
HOUSEKEEPER
I will tell you all about it when you come back.
SOUND: RUSTLING, SITTING UP
NARRATOR
Presently Wedderburn opened his eyes again, and, seeing that he was troubled by the puzzle of his position, she explained to him,
HOUSEKEEPER
You fainted in the hothouse.
WEDDERBURN
And the orchid?
HOUSEKEEPER
(DISMISSIVELY)
I will see to that.
NARRATOR
she said.
WEDDERBURN HOME – EVENING
SOUND: FIRE CRACKLING
NARRATOR
Wedderburn had lost a good deal of blood, but beyond that he had suffered no very great injury.
SOUND: GLASSES CLINKING
NARRATOR
They gave him brandy mixed with some pink extract of meat, and carried him upstairs to bed.
SOUND: STEPS ON STAIRS
SOUND: BEDCLOTHES RUSTLING
WEDDERBURN
[Sleeping noises.]
NARRATOR
His housekeeper told her incredible story in fragments to Dr. Haddon.
HOUSEKEEPER
It’s… it’s difficult to explain precisely… Come to the orchid-house and see.
SOUND: DOOR OPENING
WEDDERBURN GREENHOUSE – NIGHT
SOUND: WIND BLOWING
MUSIC: OMINOUS MUSIC CUE
NARRATOR
The cold outer air was blowing in through the open door, and the sickly perfume was almost dispelled.
SOUND: PLANTS RUSTLING
NARRATOR
Most of the torn aërial rootlets lay already withered amidst a number of dark stains upon the bricks. The stem of the inflorescence was broken by the fall of the plant, and the flowers were growing limp and brown at the edges of the petals. The doctor stooped towards it, then saw that one of the aërial rootlets still stirred feebly, and hesitated.
WEDDERBURN BEDCHAMBER – MORNING
NARRATOR
The next morning the strange orchid still lay there, black now and putrescent.
SOUND: DOOR OPENING, CLOSING
NARRATOR
The door banged intermittently in the morning breeze, and all the array of Wedderburn’s orchids was shrivelled and prostrate.
MUSIC: TITLE THEME
NARRATOR
But Wedderburn himself was bright and garrulous upstairs in the glory of his strange adventure.
WEDDERBURN
It was the most amazing adventure. You see, nothing exciting had ever happened to me. But I knew my fortunes were going to change. And surely they did. It’s a pity the orchid itself didn’t survive — I would have loved to show it to you. But you must believe that it was the most extraordinary specimen…
ANNOUNCERLAND
MUSIC CUE: OMINOUS DRONE
ANNOUNCER
You’ve been listening to Through a Glass, Darkly, from Jabberwocky Audio Theater. Tonight’s presentation: “The Flowering of the Strange Orchid,” first published in the Pall Mall Budget, August 1894. Written by H.G. Wells, and read by William R. Coughlan, with Brooks Tegler as Wedderburn and Anna Coughlan as the Housekeeper.
(BEAT)
Produced by Jabberwocky Audio Theater, in association with WERA-LP, Radio Arlington, 96.7 FM, Arlington, Virginia.
(BEAT)
Recorded at Tohubohu Productions in Burke, Virginia, and at Tulgey Wood Studios in Springfield, Virginia.
(BEAT)
Postproduction services provided by Tohubohu Productions, LLC.
(BEAT)
Edited, mixed and mastered by William R. Coughlan.
(BEAT)
This recording is the property of Team Jabberwocky, LLC, and may not be rebroadcast, retransmitted, or redistributed without express permission from Team J.
(BEAT)
For all the latest episodes and information on Jabberwocky Audio Theater, visit Jabber Audio dot com.
(BEAT)
If you’re enjoying Through a Glass, Darkly, and the other yarns we spin at Jabberwocky Audio Theater, be sure to subscribe, rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, or your podcast provider of choice. Check out our Patreon page at Patreon dot com slash Team Jabberwocky for exclusive content and to help us continue to bring you further tales of mysterious suspense and high adventure.
(BEAT)
Until next time, this is William R. Coughlan saying thanks for listening, and stay tuned for the next thrilling production from Jabberwocky Audio Theater.