Time Enough at Last: The Ending (All the Time)

The episode, All the Time, is also known as Time Enough at Last. It is one of the episodes of an American television series, The Twiglight Zone. It was directed by John Brahm. It is a story of a man who loves reading books but he is surrounded by people who prevented him from doing so. Henry Bemis is a bank teller but more of a bookworm. He really loved reading pieces of literature yet there were his wife and his boss that thwarted him from reading. During lunch time at an ordinary day at work, he went inside the bank’s vault to eat and read so no one can disturb him. Minutes after reading a newspaper with a headline saying, "H-Bomb Capable of Total Destruction", there was a vast explosion outside which made the vault shake violently and knocking Henry unconscious. After regaining his consciousness, he found out that the whole city was destroyed and all the people died.  He is all alone now, with food plenty for him but no one to share. Because of despair, he tried committing suicide using the revolver he found. But then as he was about to pull the trigger, he saw the national library, destroyed, yet the books are still in good condition. He arranged the books then found the grandfather’s clock symbolizing that he can read now as long as he want, no one’s preventing him and he has all the time in the world. Then, as he is picking up a book, his glasses fell and broke, now he can’t see things clearly and all he can utter is “That’s not fair. That’s not fair at all.”

An update of the story goes like this:

He lost all his hopes after his pair of eye glasses broke. Now, he has all the things he wanted all his life, the books, the time and freedom of doing his passion, but he lost his ability to read and see things clearly because his pair of eye glasses is now broken. He tried to search for another pair of eye glasses. He can’t see things clearly so he just use his sense of touch as he search. After hours and hours of finding something he could use, he found nothing. He got tired. He is now all alone; nothing to do and his life is meaningless and destroyed. With his final cry, the flat finality of a gunshot was heard. And yes, he killed himself using the revolver he found before. 

Kimberly Pacle

2013-02319