Stranger in Possum Meadows

Stranger in Possum Meadows is the fifty-second episode (the seventeenth episode of the third season (1988–1989) of the television series The New Twilight Zone.

Opening narration

Plot

Inside a mobile home in a rural community, a mother is tuning the radio and beginning her daily chores while her son, Danny, finishes his breakfast. He runs to the door and says he's in a hurry to go down to the creek or Possum Meadows. His mother, just like every good mom, tells him to be careful. Danny soon makes his way to the creek, playing with his toy boat and running along the water. He notices the boat goes down the creek into this odd looking fog. Meanwhile, a man in a grey outfit walks over and attempts to touch a deer, but it runs off. Then he notices Danny. They exchange greetings and the man says his name is Scout. He questions Danny what his toy boat is and what a tadpole is, as if the man had no idea what these things were. Danny and Scout begin walking together and discussing things like the weather and what the area is called. Danny asks him if he's from around here, but Scout says no, but he likes it. Soon, Danny says he has to leave and Scout says goodbye. Danny's mom is furious with him for being so trusting to a strange man and she wants him to stay away from the strange man. Danny says he can't because he invited Scout to dinner. Meanwhile, Scout is outside and he starts studying birds and fish. He even manages to stop the deer, but then points his hand at the deer and it glows and disappears.

Later that evening, Scout arrives at the mobile home and Mrs. Wilkins answers the door. She tells Scout that Danny shouldn't go around inviting total strangers to dinner. Scout graciously understands and apologizes for being an inconvenience. Mrs. Wilkins changes her mind and invites him inside. Their dog starts growling and barking at Scout, but he puts his hand out and the dog whimpers and quiets down. During dinner, the conversation is about Scout's family and that Mrs. Wilkins has to work nights and often Danny is left alone. Scout tells them he is from a large industrial firm looking for places to put new locations and he stays in a small motor home near Possum Meadows. He thanks them for dinner and leaves. Mrs. Wilkins tells Danny that she wants him home after school and not to go see Scout.

The next day, Danny comes home to find his dog gone. Then Scout shows up with the flashlight Danny let him borrow and asks Danny to come help him. When he says his mom said he should stay home, Scout tells him he talked to her and said it was okay. He says that Mrs. Wilkins and the dog are at his house and they are going to have dinner together. At first, Danny is suspicious but he goes along. Soon, a car pulls up to the Wilkins' home and Mrs. Wilkins gets out. She notices that the flashlight Scout took is on the porch and Danny and the dog are nowhere to be found. She runs frantically to find Scout at the creek. She questions him about Danny but he says he hasn't seen Danny since the night before and wasn't home when he returned the light. He claims he wants to help her by looking in the woods while she looks along the creek.

Inside Scout's "motor home" are frozen bodies of the dog, the deer and other animals. Scout, at a control panel, and in an alien language, reports that he is prepared to return with his specimens. He looks over at Danny, also frozen in a compartment. Then Scout asks about how his family is and that he misses them. Meanwhile, Mrs. Wilkins is frantically searching in the dark for Danny when she comes upon an odd shape surrounding by blinding light and then it goes up into space. She begins crying thinking Danny might be in there, when she hears cries and mumbling from the grass. It's Danny, who, when asked by his mom if he's all right, says "just cold"...

Closing narration

See also

• TV.com - The Twilight Zone (1989) episode: Stranger in Possum Meadows