- A boy is terrified of his odd, sinister, bed-ridden grandma. / A hack with writer's block is tormented by impish hell-raising creatures that only he can see. / An understudy copes with radio director's insistence on real sound effects.
- In GRAMMA, a long-standing family tradition is passed to the next generation when young George looks after his invalid grandmother during his mother's absence. Blocked hack writer Rockne O'Bannon is plagued by destructive PERSONAL DEMONS that only he can see. During the heyday of radio, a director plans a COLD READING of a play with authentic special effects.—Anonymous
- "Gramma" (by Harlan Ellison, based on a story by Stephen King)
George is a young boy left alone with his infirm grandmother, after his mother must tend to his brother, who apparently has broken his leg. The mother is concerned that George is still frightened of his grandmother, but George insists he's not. As soon as the mother leaves, George goes about dealing with the household chores he was asked to do and his school work. However, a dark storm seems to come on suddenly and a monstrous growl comes from the bedroom. It is apparently the grandmother asking George for her tea. After a frightening optical illusion, George hides, but then he realizes he must still bring her the tea. As he walks down the hall to the grandmother's room, George hears his mother and other family members echoing in his head, discussing how dangerous she is now that she's senile. As he enters her room, he starts thinking about how awful it would be if she died while he was watching her. A gnarled hand reaches out and frightens George into dropping the tea and he runs out.
After soul-searching for a while, George goes back in to clean up the broken tea cup and tea. He accidentally opens a panel in the floor from which he hears screams and red light and smoke. He thinks it's Hell. George then finds his grandmother's books and runs out with them. George, in the kitchen, looks over his grandmother's books. They appear to be "books of the dead" and others written in strange characters that he can't read. He draws the conclusion that his grandmother wrote some of the books and apparently she is a witch. George re-enters his grandmother's room and tries to rouse her. He thinks she must be dead. He then runs to the phone to call the hospital. He then goes over in his head about covering her face, talking to the doctor and going back in the room even though he doesn't want to. As he does, however, a gnarled hand reaches out and grabs him. He sees a strange red eye open and look at him. She apparently magically draws him to her and she embraces him, telling him he is her favorite. Then he seems to disappear.
The mother returns to find George at the kitchen table with the books. George claims that the grandmother died and he didn't know what to do. The mother tries to comfort him, but as she holds him she does not see that he now has red eyes like Gramma.
"Personal Demons" (by Rockne S. O'Bannon)
A successful but aging writer, Rockne O'Bannon, is complaining to his neighbor that he has writers' block and that the last original idea he had was twenty years ago. His neighbor tells him he should consider retiring, but Rockne decides he must write one more story.
Later that day, as he is going to his car, he sees a diminutive hooded creature with a monstrous face, running toward him but he is able to escape. That night, his car is destroyed by a group of these creatures, and he discovers that only he can see them. The creatures break into his apartment, trashing it, and corner him. Rockne asks the creatures what they want, and the creatures offer to leave and never return if he writes about them. As Rockne begins writing, the creatures disappear one by one.
"Cold Reading" (by Rebecca Parr and Martin Pasko)
Milo Trent, an aspiring radio drama actor in the '30s, is invited as a last-minute replacement for a famous weekly show Dick Noble, African Explorer. The show is a creation of the famous writer Nelson Westbrook, who often does rewrites on the fly while in the studio with the actors. But, when Westbrook accidentally wishes for realistic sound effects while holding an ancient voodoo artifact, he gets what he wanted--and more.
As the actors in the studio read out their lines, the exact things happen to them--first there is a storm inside the studio, then African tribesmen appear, followed by monkeys, parrots, rifles in the distance, etc. Realizing very well that their safety is in peril, Westbrook feverishly rewrites the show so nothing drastic happens, writing around a plane crash and an earthquake amongst other things.
With all hazards averted, the cast brings the show to an ending and everyone breathes a sigh of relief. The relief turns out to be rather premature, as one can imagine what happens when the show host announces next week's episode: "Dick Noble and the Invaders from Mars".
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