by George Lefferts
Adapted for radio by Charles Hatton
Characters in order of speaking.
Produced by David H. Godfrey
Jeremy Throgg, the old sea captain, wants to die. In fact, he has quite made up his mind to die; and Jeremy, in the words of his friend the mortician, is the stubbornest cuss in Nantucket. You see, Jeremy's old house, in the garden of which his wife Matilda is buried, has been sold, and he doesn't want to live anywhere else. So he decides that, by sheer will power, he will die the moment the new owner takes possession. But perhaps sheer will power will not be enough; so he hits on the ingenious idea of digging himself a grave next to Matilda's in the garden. Maybe the digging will strain his old heart, and when the grave is finished he will just drop into it without exercising any will power at all. The crisis comes when the local doctor definitely certifies that Jeremy is dead. And yet Jeremy to all intents and purposes is still alive and, if not kicking, at least talking Siephen Williams