When Sally Fell

hello I'm Raymond Burr and as a result I've become keenly interested in the subjects of Law and criminology one thing I've learned to get at the root of a crime to establish guilt you must first determine a motive the case you're about to see is a baffling one for there is no apparent motive victims suffer and the guilty Contin to operate unpunished until something strange happens let's see if you can find the motive and then the guilty party in the case of When Sally fell it takes an awful lot to make some people happy but me well I get a big kick out of just driving down the street in our part of town I get a real proud feeling when I turn into our block on my way home from work Sally and I saved for a long time to buy a house in this area ever since Tommy was a baby see there it is now the one on the corner it's pretty nice huh uh we've had it pretty good here that is until recently everything was just fine until that Tuesday night I was relaxing feeling pleased with myself you see I just had a talk with Mr Jenkins he's my boss at the Mills engine company you've probably heard of that engine is uh one of theirs anyway old Jenkins had given me a raise a good one and had made me supervisor of my group which is no mean job believe you me the kids were watching TV as usual there was something good on uh Peter Pan I think it was not that I looked at it I looked at them looking at it there are some things I'd rather watch through their eyes than my own you know what I mean that's Sally my wife she was busy cleaning up the supper dishes even though she was smiling as usual she'd had a hard day that Tuesday but it wasn't quite over yet she was a bit tired but she decided she'd get everything clean and Ship Shape anyway she figured she'd even put away the last of the preserves she'd made earlier that's the way she is my Sally once she sets her mind on something she does it all of a sudden our happy little world [Music] changed Sally Sally are you all right my back my back now don't move don't move darling what's happened to mommy don't cry Mom hello is the doctor there yes please it's an emergency what's happened to you Mom sry darling I can't know what's happened to mommy mommy's crying daddy shut up Tommy what's happened to Mommy what's happened to my mommy Tommy I'm sorry Mommy fell and she H her back uh hello doctor yes uh this is Harry Carter we've had a terrible thing happen here my wife this is the story of what happened to all of us beginning on that Tuesday night when Sally [Music] fell it could have been worse the doctor said much worse but as it was she'd have a few days of pain and would have to stay a total of 6 weeks in the hospital after that she'd have a few more week weeks of taking it easy at home it took a while for it to sink into to me that Sally wasn't going home with me that night as usual it was even harder to accept the fact that she wasn't going to be home with us for at least another 6 weeks funny how you always take things for granted how many guys ever worry about who's going to take care of their kids if something happens to their wife boy I never did but I sure started worrying about a then our next door neighbor Helen Davis had stayed with the kids that night while I went to the hospital with Sally but I had to find someone to take care of them while I was at work fall was really in the air I hadn't noticed the chill when we came in the doctor had said she would be completely recovered by Thanksgiving well Thanksgiving was a long way off but we could manage we'd have to [Music] manage at first we did manage and it wasn't too bad Mrs Wilson who lives a couple of blocks from our house looked after the kids till my mother could come sometimes it was sort of hectic in the morning and I'd be a little late getting off to work but all in all we were doing all right the kids were great Linda was trying very hard to act grownup and do her share around the house even though she missed her mommy and Tommy well he was a real little man Sally was terrific too she was really brave but then problems started cropping up I've been working on the whale wood first there was the baby problem my mother was willing at first Tommy where are you oh for goodness sake come here and sit down and eat your dinner down but it turned out that her patience was shorter than it used to be some in the p grandma look what I did poor mom she just couldn't take it and the other babysitters didn't turn out very well for one reason or another one fed the Kids Cookies by the barrel either the kids weren't fed properly or even worse they were completely [Music] neglected boy some of those sitters were just too [Applause] much and and you'd be surprised how expensive they were day in and day out especially considering there were other builds by the Dozen helping to eat up the few nickels Sally and I had saved the money was going as the whale had eaten Jonah in one bite things were rough all over the kids wouldn't eat the food I cooked can't we have peanut butter no you eat that but this is just awful dad boy did they get on my nerves you eat it or there's going to be trouble but believe you me you too Daddy do we have to eat it do we have to eat all of it Dad at the same time I felt so darn sorry for them they seemed so pale and [Music] miserable I'll get it I was sure it was Sally calling okay so I went where I could be comfortable before I answered [Music] hello oh hi Mr Jenkins how are you it was my boss at the Mills engine company oh no it turned out I'd been thinking of babysitters that day instead of engines and boy had I made a mistake yes Mr Jenkins well I I yes sir good night Sir from then on it was pretty tense believe you me the kids got worse and worse and life at the plant was no joke one more goof and I'd had it and although I never told Sally I think she knew darling if only I hadn't been so stupid it wasn't your fault no one falls on purpose it was ridiculous if I'd used the step ladder I wouldn't cheer up darling such a pointless waste of time and money and happiness well at least you got some reading done I'm sorry H oh I'll cut it out will you you're the one that's having a hard time the kids and me we're fine but she knew I was lying she knew I thought the whole thing was miserable the whole deal you know I used to get sore just looking at other people's houses boy were they lucky I thought oh Sally I can hardly wait till you come home again we waiting for a momy live long day we wait for pass the time away you see a mommy's com coming home today can't you see Mommy's coming coming home today Mommy's coming home mommy's coming home mommy's coming home today Mommy's coming home mommy's coming home mommy's coming home today Mommy's coming home mommy's coming home mommy's coming home today hey let's go look for Mommy hey Mommy Mommy [Music] Mommy Mommy we got a big had a listen we got balloons and decorations Mommy I have it in my hand oh darling so darling and you're not going to have to work it all mommy mommy you can see it breathe mommy mommy it was alive come on let's take mommy inside to show our suppli okay come on mommy of course it would be some time before Sally could take on her full-time job as Homemaker but the worst was over and I had had time to think about what happened I wondered why it had never occurred to me before that the attitude toward safety which was part of daily life at the plant belongs in our home as well I wonder why it had never occurred to me that protecting myself and my children and my husband from such useless accidents as Falls is an essential part of protecting our health it's just as important as the right food is Medical checkups and polio shots a fall can be just as crippling as polio it can even be fatal it was a school holiday for the kids and uh Mr Jenkins had given me the morning off so after breakfast we decided to look around the house a fall on this thing can break your leg or your back this is just as dangerous and it only takes a few minutes to fix and as for that beat up ladder by the basement door it should have been made into firewood long ago there were many other places where a little effort now would save a lot of misery later and once we started thinking about them everyone had ideas roller skates on the stairs said Sally making sure no one slipped in the ice in the winter or anything don't leave open cans of paints or varnishes in the basement said Tom Tomy it was all a matter of common sense of profiting by the unpleasant experience we had had to live through but what about them Dad okay what about you will you protect your family's health Now by making your home a safe place to live in or will you wait until it's too late as we did if you do wait you can be sure of one thing an accident will happen believe you him that's right Tommy believe you me [Music] could you qualify as a witness in such a case or would you be an accessory after the fact maybe you're the accused with the victim being either yourself or a loved one you have just seen a small portion of the testimony in the people versus accidents in the home every every year in our country hundreds of thousands are seriously injured or maimed for life from an easily avoidable fall right in their own homes many lose their lives of course as you saw there is no motive for these unfortunate crimes but the guilt is easy to find if you're one of the guilty parties you'll go unpunished until something strange happens I shouldn't think you'd care to wait especially when it's so easy to do something positive now just be aware develop sound safety habits right in your own home teach them to your children