A Penny for Your Thoughts

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“A Penny for Your Thoughts”
The Twilight Zone episode

Dick York in A Penny for Your Thoughts
Episode no. Season 2
Episode 52
Written by George Clayton Johnson
Directed by James Sheldon
Guest stars Dick York : Hector B. Poole
June Dayton : Miss Turner
Dan Tobin : Mr. Bagby
Hayden Rorke : Mr. Sykes
Cyril Delevanti : Mr. Smithers
Featured music uncredited
Production no. 173-3650
Original airdate February 3, 1961
Episode chronology
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"The Invaders" "Twenty Two"
List of Twilight Zone episodes

"A Penny for Your Thoughts" is an episode of the television series The Twilight Zone.

Contents

[edit] Opening narration

“ Mr. Hector B. Poole, resident of the Twilight Zone. Flip a coin and keep flipping it. What are the odds? Half the time it will come up heads, half the time tails. But in one freakish chance in a million, it'll land on its edge. Mr. Hector B. Poole, a bright human coin, on his way to the bank. ”

[edit] Synopsis

Hector B. Poole, a timid bank clerk, gains telepathic powers after tossing a coin that miraculously stands on its edge. He discovers that he is able to "read" other people’s thoughts, and is surprised to hear the things people are thinking around him.

He first "hears" a businessman, Mr. Sykes, trying to take out a large loan to pay for a run at the horse track to win back money he has embezzled from his company. Hector informs his boss, Mr. Bagby, and thwarts the businessman's plans. Hector then "hears" his boss thinking about a weekend affair he is planning with his mistress. Miss Turner, a co-worker, has been admiring Hector from afar, but wishes he would be more bold. Hector "hears" her thoughts and decides to take her into his confidence by revealing his "gift" to her.

Eventually he uncovers an apparent plot by an old trusted employee, Mr. Smithers, to steal money from the bank. The plot is eventually disproved; the veteran bank employee admits he has been thinking about stealing money from the bank for years, but would never go through with such a plan. Mr. Bagby fires Poole, but later reinstates him when he discovers Hector was correct about Sykes. With the encouragement of Miss Turner, Hector uses his knowledge of Mr. Bagby's tryst to blackmail his boss into giving him not only a better position as an office manager at the bank, but Mr. Smithers a long overdue vacation.

After work, as Poole returns home with Miss Turner, he inadvertently knocks down the coin he stood up earlier. To his relief, his ability to read minds is gone; but he is still a changed man, for the better.

[edit] Closing narration

“ One time in a million, a coin will land on its edge, but all it takes to knock it over is a vagrant breeze, a vibration or a slight blow. Hector B. Poole, a human coin, on edge for a brief time in the Twilight Zone. ”

[edit] External links

[edit] Twilight Zone links

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