The Celestial Omnibus

This is the CBS Radio Workshop, the theater of the mind, dedicated to man's imagination. Today we take pride in presenting EM Forster's The Celestial Omnibus, adapted especially for the workshop by Richard Schatter. This is a story for skeptics, and the story of Jamie, who was not a skeptic.

Jamie, a small boy who found himself wondrously alive in the days of Victorian England. And Cynthia. You know, Mrs. Summers. How good to see you both again. We're so pleased that you could accept our invitation.

Do go again. Oh, thank you. Bert! Mr. Barnes and his daughter are here! Jimmy! Jimmy! Who came, mother? Do we have visitors? I saw the carriage drive away just as I came past the signpost.

Jimmy! What were you doing down at that end of the road? Your father and I have told you never to go beyond number 36. How's done by the alley, Mother? That sign says points up the alley.

But there's nothing there. The sign says, to heaven. But it only points up a blind alley. What does it mean, Mother? Many years back some naughty young men put it there as a joke. The sign ought to be removed by the authority of such nonsense.

What kind of young men were they? I believe your father told me that one of them wrote verses and was expelled from the university and came to grief in some way or another. Then it doesn't mean anything at all.

No, son, it doesn't. Now quickly, go in tidy up. Little Cynthia Barnes is here. President of the Literary Society this year. I say, but you've coached her well. She must be your most ardent publicist.