Walking Distance

"Walking Distance" is episode five of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It originally aired on October 30, 1959 on CBS. The episode was listed as the ninth best episode in the history of The Twilight Zone by Time.

Plot summary

While driving his car in the countryside (c. 1959), thirty-six-year-old advertising executive Martin Sloan stops to have his car serviced at a gas station within walking distance of his hometown, named Homewood. After walking into town, he sees that it apparently has not changed since he was a boy, and it is the year 1934.

Martin walks to the park where he is startled to see himself as a pre-teenaged boy. Following the tween home, he meets his parents as they were in his childhood. Confused and worried, Martin wanders around town and ends up at his former home again that evening, where he again tries to convince his folks who he is, but is again turned away.

Martin as a man wanders back to the park and finds his younger self on a carousel, and tries to tell him to enjoy his boyhood while it lasts. His advances scare young Martin, who falls off the merry-go-round and injures his leg. After tweenage Martin is carried away, adult Martin is confronted by his father who, having seen the documents and money with future dates on them in the mature Martin Sloan's lost wallet, now believes his story. The dad advises his son that everyone has his time, and that, instead of looking behind him, he should look ahead, because as delightful and rewarding as he may remember the past may be, the present and future hold their own delights and rewards.

Walking Distance (album)

Walking Distance is an album by Texas-based folk singer-songwriter Robert Earl Keen, released in the United States in 1998 on Arista Records.

Track listing

All tracks written by Robert Earl Keen, except where noted

External links

"Holiday Coping" by Neal Conan from NPR's Talk of the Nation December 18, 2002 (includes Keen's in-studio performance)

References