"Oh, hi Ethel," Lucy greeted, quickly laying aside her darning. "Lucy! I expected you to be calling Ricky or getting dressed to go to him," Ethel began talking in a hurried fashion.

Lucy immediately got to her feet. "What is it, Ethel? What do you know? Has something happened to Ricky? Tell me!"

Staring at her friend and neighbor, Ethel said, "No, not yet. Nothing has happened to any of us yet."

A puzzled expression on her face, Lucy asked, "Ethel Mae Mertz, what are you talking about?"

"You really haven't heard, have you?" Ethel questioned, wide eyed. "Ethel, if you don't---" Lucy began, obviously intending to grill her landlady. But then, the front door opened and Fred Mertz appeared.

"Well, I'm ready to go," said Ethel's chubby husband.

"Fred!" The balding Mertz stopped in the middle of the Ricardos living room. He was carrying a life sized cut out of Ava Gardner. Staring at the woman, his wife, who had just said his name with such fervor, he said, "Ethel, if I have to go, I want to go in style."

Lucy spoke up. "Go! What do you mean? Fred, Ethel, tell me this minute what this is all about!"

"Lucy, the world in gonna end!" Ethel informed, serious as could be.

"The world's gonna end!" Lucy parroted. "When?"

"In two hours, they say on the radio," Ethel replied.

"Better make it three," Fred dead panned. "Those guys are always wrong."

Lucy's blue eyes opened wide. "Oh, Dear! In that case I'd better hurry and pick up Ricky's suits at the dry cleaners."

Ethel placed her hands on her hips. "Dry cleaners! Lucy, Ricky wont need his suits where he's going."

"He won't?" Lucy reacted to the news. "No, well, I guess----THE WORLD IS GONNA END!"

Lucy's scream caused Fred to drop the Gardner cut out. "Don't ever do that again, will ya?" he begged, hands over his ears.

Ignoring her husband, Ethel said, "I wondered when you were going to catch our meaning, Lucy. Yes, the world is ending." Then, turning to Fred, "And she probably won't have the chance to scream and hurt your ears again."

Fred waxed practical. "Well, there's always something good to be found in anything."

"Oh, Fred!" Ethel complained. "Leave it to you to say something like that."

"Never mind all of that," Lucy intervened, animated now. "Listen, I've got to find Ricky. What if the world ends and he's not home---"

And then she began to wail as only Lucy could.

Fred's face contorted and twitched. Anyone who knew him could easily see he was upset with Lucy's crying. "Stop that, will ya!" he finally said.

Ethel agreed, although she patted Lucy's shoulder. "It won't do any good to cry, Honey. We haven't got time."

The wailing stopped immediately. "Haven't got time!" Lucy exclaimed.

"Why, what do we have to do? Take out the trash? Fix lunch? Take dancing lessons? Ethel, if the world ends, it won't matter."

Ethel nodded. "I guess you're right. Go ahead and cry, Lucy, if that's what you want to do."

"Oh, Ethel!" Fred protested. "Why'd you tell her that?"

Mrs. Mertz turned on her husband and spoke testily. "Fred, go get rid of Ava here! I don't want her around when the world ends."

"Oh, Ricky, where are you?" Lucy moaned.

"I'm right here, Dear."

Ricky Ricardo entered the front door. His eyes grew large when he saw the Ava Gardner cut out Fred held.

"What on earth are you gonna do with that, Fred?" Ricardo asked his friend.

"He wants to be sure when the world ends, she goes with him," Ethel informed, straight faced. "Even if she is cardboard."

"Huh?" Ricky asked. "What's gonna end?"

Lucy stepped over to her husband and threw her arms around him. "Oh, Ricky, I'm so glad you came home. Now, when it all ends, we can tell people we went together."

The Mertzes stared at Lucy, digesting the logic of her statement. Ricky, on the other hand, repeated his previous inquiry. "What's gonna end? What's goin' on here?"

"You mean you haven't heard, Rick?" Ethel wanted to know.

"Heard what?" Ricky shot back at her.

Fred took over. "Rick, they're sayin' on the radio the world will end in two hours from now."

"What?" Ricardo asked, bug eyed. "I haven't heard that."

"It's on the radio, Rick," Ethel backed up her husband. "It'll all be over in two hours."

Lucy began to cry again. "Oh, Ricky, and I was gonna have such a nice dinner for you tonight. And now the world's gonna go and end and there won't be time to do it."

"I wouldn't let her get away with that, Rick," Fred spoke up. "Aint it just like a woman to always be lookin' for excuses not to cook."

"Fred!"

"Ah, Ethel," Fred reacted to his wife's admonishment. "I was just jokin' with her. Lucy knows I'll like her till the end of the world."

Ricky shook his head. "All right now. If the world really is gonna end, we need to come up with a plan."

The Mertzes stared and Lucy looked confused. "A plan, Dear?"

"Yea, a plan," Ricky went on. "We can't just sit here and do nothin' to stop it."

"You're right, Rick," Fred remarked, sarcastic. "A little ole thing like the world comin' to an end shouldn't get the best of the Mertzes and the Ricardos."

"Well, what can we do?" Ethel wondered, puzzled.

"Yes, Dear," Lucy joined in. "I don't see how we could stop a thing like that. We'll just have to make the best of the time we have left."

"I agree with Lucy," Ethel said.

Fred reluctantly put his stamp of approval on it. "I'm afraid these daffy dames are right for once, Rick. We should spend the next two hours doin' what we enjoy most 'cause that's all we've got."

"All right," Ricky agreed. "What shall we do?"

Lucy began walking around, obviously thinking. "Well, let's see. We like to play Bridge. We could do that. or, we could go to a movie---no, that might put us away from home when the end comes. I want to be home."

"We could watch a movie on television," Ethel offered a choice.

"Ethel, for corn's sake!" Fred renounced his wife's suggestion. "You know dang well there won't be any movies on the last day of the world."

"I guess you're right," Ethel admitted.

"I know!" Lucy lit up with a bright smile. "We can sing! Ethel, you can play the piano and we'll all harmonize our favorite songs!"

Fred's face wrinkled and contorted. "I never thought I'd say this, but hurry up world, end!"

Lucy swelled up and began a retort. "Well, I never---"

"Now, now," Ricky acted as peacmaker. "Let's not argue. I have an idea."

"What is it, Dear?" Lucy questioned.

"Yea, Rick, save the day for us, will ya?" Fred added. "I don't want to spend my last hours listening to Lucy sing."

"Tell us, Rick," Ethel urged.

Ricky said, "Well, we've been friends for years, right?"

"Right!" came a one word chorus from three voices.

"So, we have lots of memories, right?"

"Right!" the other three repeated.

"So, we'll talk about those memories the rest of the afternoon. And, if the world ends, we'll go happy."

"Ricky, Honey, that's a good idea," Lucy smiled.

"An O.K. deal, Rick," Fred agreed.

"I'm game," said Ethel.

"All right, let's all sit down and start talkin'", Ricky suggested. And so they did.

The music began to play as it did every night. Those at home recognized the theme song for Larry King Live on CNN. Larry's voice could be heard telling who his guests were for the evening. "They'll be here for the entire hour," King intoned. "Rick and A.J. Simon. Stay tuned for their incredible story on Larry King Live."

The camera then honed in on King at his desk. Across from him set two men who looked to be in their thirties. They looked to be because they were. Andrew Jackson Simon, better known as A.J., was 34 and his brother Richard, better known as Rick, was 39. They both fidgeted a bit and shot each other nervous glances when they realized they were on the air.

"Welcome to Larry King Live," said Larry King into the camera. "We have just an outstanding show for you tonight. You've all heard about what happened out in the California desert a few weeks ago, and now we have the two participants here with us to give you a blow by blow account. Rick and A.J. Simon are here."

"Now, you two are Private Investigators?"

Silence reigned as the Simons mulled over who should answer. "Either of you can answer," King said helpfully.

"Uh, yea," Rick finally muttered. "We are. That is, we are P.I.'s, er, uh, private investigators."

A.J. Simon looked embarrassed. "What my brother is trying to say, Mr.King,---"

"Call me Larry," King cut in. "Everyone calls me Larry."

"All right," A.J. went on, "Larry, what my brother is trying to say is that, yes, we are private investigators."

Rick glared at his brother. "That's what I said!"

King chuckled. "Well, we've established that okay, I think. Now, tell us what happened that day. You were just riding along, right? Never had any idea what you were about to encounter?"

"Never in our wildest dreams, Larry," Rick Simon replied, obviously more relaxed now.

"And then what did you see?" King questioned, resting his chin in his hand and leaning on his desk, eyebrows knitted in that curious expression he always favored his guests with.

"Well, we saw a shiny object first, " A.J. handled the inquiry. "The sun was shining and---"

"We were drivin' in the desert, so the sun was shining," Rick interrupted. "It does that a lot in the desert. The sun, I mean. It shines a lot there."

A.J. squirmed. "Rick," he said under his breath. "I'll tell it."

Rick grinned at King. "He'll tell it."

"You seem to have a great wit, Rick," the host expressed an opinion, as he watched the now very much relaxed older Simon brother. "Here you are, dressed casually, an old hat on your head, teasing your brother on national television. Ever think of going into show business?"

Rick grinned a very engaging grin and began to form a reply. A.J. was having none of it. "No, he hasn't thought of it, Mr. King. We have a P.I. business to run."

"Larry, please call me Larry," King reminded A.J. almost testy about it. "Now, let's get back to what happened that day in the desert. A.J., oh, by the way, who was driving?"

"I was," A.J. said. "I was driving. Rick spied the object first."

"I did," Rick agreed, nodding his head dramatically. "I saw the thing there shinin' in the sun and I said to A.J. that we should stop and see what it was."

"Yes," A.J. clarified. "But that was before we got close to it."

King said, "We have to take a break, but before we do, let's cut to the chase a bit. When you got close to it, what did you think it was?"

"We didn't know," A.J. hurried to say.

"Yes we did," Rick disagreed. "We thought it was a space craft."

"We did not, Rick! That's not true, Mr. King."

Larry King, looking exasperated, said into the camera, "We'll be right back after a break. Meanwhile, I'll try to teach A.J. what to call me."

After a round of commercials, the camera zoomed in on Larry King once again. "We're back," the host said. "And we were just getting to the heart of the story of what happened to the Simons that day. Rick, you say you thought it was a space craft right from the get go?"

"Yep, I sure did. 'Course, it was hard to believe, I mean that stuff is just fiction, not real, and I'm a realist usually."

A.J. Simon laughed aloud, causing King to turn to him. "Your brother isn't a realist?"

"No, uh, Larry, he isn't. He doesn't take that first thing in life seriously. He's just an overgrown kid. He thinks he's Peter Pan."

Rick chuckled. "Anyway, Larry, I did, I thought it was a space craft. I said to A.J. that maybe it fell out of space and maybe there were dead aliens in it."

"Rick," A.J. said, shooting his brother a nasty look. "You didn't say that."

"You wouldn't know, Kid, because you got pretty spaced out yourself when you saw those people sittin' there alongside of it."

"Okay," Larry King said, as though he were about to hear the most exciting thing he'd ever heard. "The people there, they weren't aliens, right?"

"No," A.J. answered. "They were two couples from New York, it turned out. A younger couple and an older couple."

"Yea, that's how it turned out," Rick added. "The Mertzes and the Ricardos."

King leaned forward. "And they were from another time?"

"Yes they were, Larry," said A.J.

"From the fifties," Rick put in. "And they thought the world had ended."

"We have to take another break," King said. "But we'll be back with this unusual story. The Simon brothers are with us for the full hour. We'll ask some more questions and then we'll be taking your phone calls so don't go away."

Again, the camera moved in on Larry King. "We're back. Let me re-introduce our guests. Rick and A.J. Simon are here. The Simons had quite an experience a while back in the California desert. So, moving on with your story, A.J. You talked to these people? Did you hesitate to approach them?"

"Well, yes, a little," A.J. answered. "It was so weird appearing you know, Mr., uh, Larry, four people sitting there alongside that shiny capsule looking thing---"

"Capsule?" King interrupted. "Is that what it looked like when you got close enough to get a good look?"

"Yea, it was shaped like the space capsules you see in the movies," Rick spoke up. "It looked just like 'em, and then these folks were sittin' next to it on a couch and a couple of chairs."

King rared back in his seat. "Why don't you fellows just go ahead and tell us what happened?"

Rick and A.J. exchanged glances. "Well, sure, Larry, if that's what you want," Rick said. "We can do that, can't we, Kid?"

A.J. smiled a beautiful smile. "Sure, we can. Why don't you start, Rick?"

Rick nodded and grinned at his brother. "Okay. Here goes. Well, you see, Larry, these people were sittin' there talkin' among themselves when we first pulled up------"

"Boy, we sure have a lot of wonderful memories, don't we?" Ricky Ricardo smiled at his wife and neighbors, Fred and Ethel. "I wouldn't trade them for nothin' in the world."

"The world!" Lucy exclaimed and then jumped up. "The world! It was supposed to end, remember?"

Ethel Mertz also stood up. "Yes. Oh Lucy, we've talked on and on and nothing has happened. Why, the world hasn't ended."

"No, we're still here," Lucy said happily, but then noticed the others weren't as joyful. "What is it? Ricky? Ethel? Fred, what is it?"

"Well, Honey," Ricky began in his ever present Cuban accent. "There is somethin' a little different than when we started to talk."

"There is?" Lucy asked. "What?"

"Can't you see we're not in your living room anymore, you daffy dame?" Fred Mertz entered the discussion with a sarcastic question.

"We're not," Ethel said in that spooky way she had of speaking when she, herself, was spooked. "We're not. We're outdoors!"

"We're in the desert, that's where we are," Fred gave his opinion. "The world has come to an end and left the four of us in the desert."

Lucy's eyes grew large. "And we got to keep our furniture. Look, Ricky, our couch and chairs are here."

"Ah, this can't be what the end of the world looks like," Ricky said. "I don't believe it for a minute."

"What were you expectin', Rick?" Fred wondered. "A kitchen, bedroom, everything, and under a roof, too?"

"Ah, Fred, I don't know. I was expectin' the end of the world to be just that. Nothin'. The end. I didn't spose we'd ever see each other again."

"Well, Dear, it looks like you sposed wrong," Lucy retorted, mocking her husband's accent.

"Oh Lucy, let's not argue. We may be here forever. We may never see another soul again. It'll be just the four of us," Ethel put in.

Fred looked around. "What happened to my Ava cutout? Looks like I could have kept it anyhow."

"Okay now," Ricky spoke again. "We have more to worry about than Ava."

"What could be more important than Ava Gardner, I ask you?" Fred wanted to know.

"Oh Fred!" Ethel complained. "Be serious. We don't have anything to eat."

"That's right, Ethel," Ricky concurred. "Nothin' to eat and nowhere to get anything."

Lucy began to wail. "I don't wanta starve to death. Ricky, can't you do something?"

"Honey, there's nothin' to do," Ricky told her. "We'll---wait, what's that?"

"What's what?" Lucy asked.

"That thin there," said Ricky, pointing.

"What thin?" Lucy shot back at him, still mocking his accent.

"Can't you ever give up on that?" Fred growled. "What's the use of makin' fun of the way Rick talks now?"

"Oh, she's just trying to act natural, Fred," Ethel told her husband.

"Leave her alone."

"God help us, if Lucy acts natural too long," Fred came back. "We'll never get anything to eat."

"Will you people stop talkin' and look at this thing!" Ricky said.

"What is it, Dear?" questioned Lucy. "It just looks like a big rock to me. It's just got more of a shine to it than the others around here, is all."

"A rock!" Ricky exclaimed, moving closer to the object in question. His eyes were practically bugging out of his head. "This is no rock! Fred, come over here. I think this is one of those rocket ships!"

Immediately, Lucy, Fred, and Ethel locked in a three way embrace. "A rocket ship!" they said in unison, then Lucy took over as the solo speaker. "Oh Ricky, it can't be. Why, that's only in the movies that you see rocket ships. There's nothing like that here on earth."

Ricky stepped back over to the others. "Yea, but the world sposedly ended. Now, do you spose there's still an earth like we knew it back in New York?"

Lucy looked confused. "I don't spose, Dear. Do you think we're on---Oh Ricky, you don't think---"

"Think what?" Fred grouched. "Will you people quit jabberin' and tell me what you're thinkin'?"

Ethel folded her arms and glared at her husband. "Fred, they think we're on a different planet. They think we're not on earth anymore. Wouldn't that be something? On another planet. ON ANOTHER PLANET!"

"Could be," Ricky said, his eyes bulged out again. "It just could be we've been transported to another planet."

"Uh, Rick, I hate to burst your bubble," Fred said. "But if the world ended, so did all the planets."

"Well, Fred's right about that," Ethel conceded. "Yes, but what if they forgot to destroy one of the planets and we got sent there?" Lucy suggested.

"Yea, and with part of your furniture," Fred added.

"Maybe if we got on this thing, we could go somewhere else more friendly." said Ricky.

"Well, I'm hungry," Fred told them. "So, I say it's worth a try."

"Get on that thing!" Ethel exclaimed. "Do you know how to drive it, Ricky?"

"Of course he does, don't you, Dear?" Lucy asked, appealing to her husband with her eyes.

"No, but I'll give it a try. Come on."

The four of them approached the capsule, but then they saw something which frightened them all. "What's that?" Lucy asked, pointing in the distance.

"It's a car," said Ethel.

"No kiddin'," Fred said. "Ethel, you're a genius."

"Yea, it's a car, but it's nothin' like any car I've ever seen." Ricky said.

"Oh Ricky," Lucy began to wail again. "I'll bet it's aliens coming to get us. What'll we do?"

"Quick, hide behind a rock," Fred offered.

"Oh Fred," Ethel said. "They've already seen us."

"They don't look much different than we do," Lucy gave her opinion.

"Maybe they're friendly."

"They're comin' toward us," Ricky told them what they all could see.

"Let me handle this."

Lucy glared at him. "Oh sure, just what we need. With your accent, they'll think we're really strange."

"What makes you think they speak English or Spanish?" Fred inquired.

"We'll soon find out. They're almost here." Ricky said.

"I'm scared," Ethel admitted.

"Me too," Lucy agreed.

"Let me handle this, A.J.," Rick Simon said to his brother after they left the younger man's car on the side of the highway and began walking toward the strange object and the people next to it.

"Well, that makes sense," A.J. responded. "You're probably more their type."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that people sitting out in the desert on a couch and chairs next to a, a, well, whatever that thing is, are no doubt more your type than they are mine."

"You mean weird, don't ya?" Rick asked, walking faster now.

A.J. shrugged. "That might be a good choice of words."

"Fine, I'll handle it. I said I would and I will."

"Probably just some folks out here on a picnic or something," A.J. said.

"Don't look to me like they're enjoyin' themselves much," said Rick.

"They look scared."

"Yes, and their clothes don't look right. Look more like people wore in the fifties."

"A.J.?"

"Yes, Rick?"

"Keep your hand on your gun," Rick advised. "I don't like the looks of this. That thing with the shine on it. I'm not sure what it is, but it looks like---"

"No it doesn't."

"I didn't even say what I thought it looked like!" Rick growled, stopping in his tracks.

"No, but I know what you were thinking," A.J. said. "That's just in the movies. Now, let's go talk to them."

"Yea," Rick grumbled, "It can't be that, and these people, they can't be---nay---"

"No, they're not," A.J. said.

"They're gettin' closer," Ethel Mertz said, clinging to Fred. "Oh, I think we should jump on this shiny thing and see if it will take us out of here before they reach us."

"You're a caution, you know that, Ethel," Fred told his wife. "We couldn't get that thing started, even if it's what Ricky thinks it is. It's too late."

"Well, we might as well surrender," said Lucy. "Surrender?" Ricky and the Mertzes said as one.

"One of the women is holdin' up her hands, A.J.," Rick said.

"Yes, I see that. She must think we're going to rob them."

"Tell 'em we're friendly, Kid."

"What?"

"Tell them we come as friends," Rick urged his brother.

"You really think these people are----"

"Yes, I do," Rick confided. "Now, let's walk up close and then you tell them we come as friends."

Lucy Ricardo kept her hands high in the air, while her husband looked on wild eyed, and the Mertzes stepped backwards together as though they were about to make a run for it. The two approaching men were upon them now.

"You ums don't have to worry about us ums," said Lucy. "We ums are peaceful. You ums speak English?"

Rick and A.J. exchanged glances, both sets of eyebrows high in the air.

Rick spoke to his brother. "Tell 'em, Kid."

A.J. stuttered. "Uh, yes, uh, we speak English and, uh, we're peaceful too."

"Oh?" Lucy said. "You mean us uns, I mean, you mean us no harm?"

"No, of course not," said the younger Simon.

Lucy lowered her arms and then began swinging them as she chattered to her companions.

"Oh, Ricky, Fred, Ethel, they're peaceful. Isn't that wonderful?"

"Yea, swell," Fred commented, brusk.

"I hope it's true," Ethel said, doubt in her tone.

"Well, if they say they are peaceful, then they're peaceful," Ricky joined in.

"Hey, Rick," Fred spoke again. "Most peaceful guys don't tote guns, do they?"

No," Ricky replied, noticing that both of these men had their hand on a pistol ready to draw.

"Oh, Ricky!" Lucy began to wail. "They're not peaceful at all, they're going to kill us all."

"Rick?" A.J. Simon said softly to his brother.

"Yea?"

"What do you think?"

"Think?"

"Yes, what do you think we should do now?"

"What do you think we should do now?"

"Well," A.J. began in his thoughtful way, "We could go back to the car and go home, I suppose."

"Yea," Rick agreed. "We could, and probably should."

"Yes, that's what we should do," A.J. said.

"But?"

"But we're not going to, are we?"

Rick grinned. "Not me. I gotta know where these people come from, what makes 'em tick, what---"

"Fine, Rick, I get your point," A.J. said. "I think they're still frightened of us."

"I'll talk to 'em."

"That ought to do it."

"Hey, how you folks doin'?" Rick Simon asked in his most friendly manner, while his brother looked at him with an expression of wonder at his audacity.

The Ricardos and Mertzes exchanged glances all around and then Lucy spoke. "How are we doin'? Well, uh, Ethel, how are we doin'?"

""Oh, I'd say we're not doin' too bad," Ethel answered, obviously working to be nonchalant about it.

"Will you two daffy dames cut it out!" Fred squalled, then stepped up to Rick Simon. "How would you be doin' if you got stranded on another planet?"

"Yea!" Ricky Ricardo backed his friend up. "How would you like it to end up in a place like this when the world ended?"

The Simons, as was their custom, spoke to each other with their eyes.

The older brother then spoke aloud to the younger. "You better have a go at it, Kid. I'm, uh, not doin' so well."

"Well, you thought they were from, uh, somewhere else. Sounds like you were right."

Rick chuckled. "Very funny, A.J. I was only jokin'. I didn't really think---wait a minute."

"What is it?"

Turning back to the four people, Rick said, "What did you say about the world ending?"

Ricky Ricardo answered readily. "The world ended today. We don't know what hoppened, but my wife and the Mertzes here and myself, we ended up here."

"Yea, we don't know what hoppened, but here we are," Lucy put in. "Are you two natives of this planet?"

"Shall we make a run for it?" A.J. said to his brother in a loud whisper.

"Nay, they seem friendly enough," Rick answered.

"Yes, but how are you going to answer that question?"

"By just answerin'," Rick said, then turned back the Ricardos and Mertzes. "Yes, we're natives.

Aren't you?"

Ricky Ricardo replaced his wife as spokesman for the group. "Well, you see, we don't know where we are, exactly. We're from the planet Earth."

"Holy Toledo, Rick!" Fred spoke up. "This conversation is clear out in left field. Ask these characters where we are, will ya?"

Rick Simon said to Ricky Ricardo, " You and me, we've got the same name.

How 'bout that?"

"Yes, how 'bout that?" Ricardo responded. "That's not my name, really. I mean, my actual name is----"

"Ricky!" Lucy interrupted. "By the time you go all through those spanish names your mother gave you, it'll be too late to get out of here before dark. Find out where we are, please?"

"What difference does it make, Lucy?" Fred wanted to know. "We don't know anybody on this planet anyway."

Rick Simon motioned his brother to the side. "What do you think?"

"I don't know," A.J. said seriously. "They must truly believe they're on another planet, but they said they're from Earth. Maybe we should tell them this is Earth. It might make them feel less frightened."

"Maybe we don't want 'em to be less frightened," Rick speculated. "Maybe frightened is a good way for 'em to be."

"Get to it, Rick," A.J. requested, exasperated. "What do you mean?"

"Well, if they believe they're on another planet, and think we're aliens, maybe they won't try nothin'."

"Or maybe they'll try something for sure," A.J. said. "I'm going to tell them the truth."

"Okay," Rick shook his head. "You're the one with the college education."

A.J. moved to stand directly in front of Ricky Ricardo. "Mr., uh, do you mind telling me your name? I mean, I know it's Ricky, but do you have a last name?"

"Ricardo," came the reply.

"Maybe you shouldn't tell them that, Rick," Ethel Mertz said.

"Why not, Ethel?" asked Lucy. "It's a perfectly good name."

"Yes, it is, Mr. Ricardo," A.J. smiled his nicest. "And I'd like to give you mine. It's Simon, A.J.

Simon. And this fellow with me is my brother, Rick."

"How do you do?" Ricky Ricardo said pleasantly, sticking out his hand to A.J.

"Be careful!" Fred screeched. "It may be a trick. Or his touch might set you on fire."

"Oh, Fred," Ethel said, turning to her husband in disgust. "You've been watching too much of that Captain Video stuff."

Again, the Simon brothers made eye contact and arched their brows. Both mouthed the words

"Captain Video?", and then A.J. spoke to Ethel Mertz. "Ma'am, did you say Captain Video just now?"

"Yes," Ethel replied. "It's a kid's show, but Fred watches it."

"But Captain Video hasn't been on in years," Rick Simon said. "That was a---"

Before he could finish his statement, A.J. grabbed him and pulled him aside once more. "What the hell, A.J.?"

"Remember what I said when we were walking up to them?" A.J. asked.

"What?"

"That they were dressed like people from the fifties?"

"Oh yea," Rick said. "And now they're talkin' 'bout Captain Video."

"Yes they are. What do you think?"

Rick shrugged. "Ask 'em what year it was on Earth when they left."

"Rick!"

"Okay, I'll ask 'em."

Facing the four people they had encountered in the desert, Rick Simon inquired, "You folks say you're from Earth, is that right?"

"Yes, we're from Earth," Lucy said.

"Yea, we were there just a few hours ago," Ethel added.

"I see," the oldest Simon brother said. "Could you, I mean, would you mind tellin' me what year it was on Earth this morning?"

A.J. rolled his eyes heavenward in reaction to the way Rick had worded the question, but was amazed at the quick and startling reply received by way of Ricky Ricardo. "Year it was? Sure, we can tell you that, I guess. The year was 1952."

"1952," Rick Simon repeated.

"Yes, 1952," Lucy said. "What year is it here on your planet?"

"Not 1952," The Simons said in unison, then A.J. began the process of qualifying their words.

"That is to say, it's not 1952 here, but this isn't another planet. This is Earth."

"We're still on Earth?" Lucy asked, obviously happy. "Oh, that's wonderful. Isn't is wonderful, Ricky? We're not on another planet after all. And these two are earthlings just like us."

"Yes, wonderful," her husband responded, "except for one small little thing, Honey."

"Yea," Fred joined in. "These guys say it's not 1952. Either they're cracked or we are."

The Ricardos and Ethel gave Fred a lingering look, but none remarked on his statement. A.J. Simon did. "No one need be, uh, cracked."

Rick Simon snickered. "A.J., you're beginin' to sound like you believe what they say."

A.J. turned to his sibling. "Don't you? Rick, it was you who thought all along---"

"Thought what?" Lucy wanted to know. "What did you think?"

"I'll tell you what they think, Lucy!" said her husband. "They think we're a bunch of crackpots."

"That's what I said," Fred ventured. "Either they're cracked or we are."

"We heard you the first time, Fred." Ethel said.

Rick Simon took over again. "Uh, look, my brother and I are havin' a time believin' you could be from the fifties. I mean, you're dressed like you could be, and you say you are, but it's hard to swallow. You got any way of provin' it?"

"Proving it?" Lucy asked, puzzled.

"Why should we have to prove anythin'?" Ricky Ricardo asked, eyes bulged out again.

Yea, why should we have to prove anythin'?" Lucy repeated.

"Will you quit mocking his English!" Fred put in, exasperated.

The Simons exchanged glances again. Rick grinned a bit and so did A.J. before the latter spoke. "You see, it would put us more at ease to know you are sincere in what you say," said the younger Simon. "I have a question for you that will maybe help prove it."

"A question?" Ethel responded.

"What kind of question?" Lucy wanted to know.

"We aint answerin' no personal questions, if that's what you mean," Fred spoke up.

"No, this isn't personal at all," A.J. said, smiling at them. "I'm only wondering if you could tell me who the President of the United States is?"

Rick Simon gave a typical for him short laugh, then said, "A.J., that won't prove anything.

Everybody knows the president is---"

"Is Harry Truman," Ricky Ricardo interrupted. "Of course, everybody knows that."

"Well, he won't be long," said Fred Mertz. "Ole Ike's gonna be the next president."

The Simons turned to each other. Rick whispered, "Are they right? Is that who was President then?"

"Rick!" A.J. exclaimed. "You should know that stuff. Didn't you learn anything in school?"

"Forget the lecture, Kid!" Rick snapped. "Are they right?"

"Yes!"

"Oh boy"

"Oh boy is correct," A.J. said. "They've been transported here somehow."

Rick stared at his brother. "You really believe that? You, the practical Andrew Jackson Simon?"

"Well, it could be! What do you believe?"

"I don't have the slightest idea. Let's ask 'em about the shiny thing."

A.J. nodded and they moved to speak to the other four again. The younger man did the talking.

"All right, let's say we believe you. That you were living in 1952 and suddenly you end up here in 1999---"

1999!" the Ricardos and Mertzes yelled as one.

"Yea, 1999," said Rick Simon. "That's what year it is. And this is California. Where were you living, uh, in 1952?"

Ricky Ricardo's mouth flew open and his eyes continued to bulge. Lucy was the one to answer. "California, you say? How did we get here? We're from New York City."

"Oh, for corn's sake," Fred interjected. "This is too much! Did the world end or didn't it?"

"I can certainly answer that, uh, Fred, is it?" A.J. stepped up to say. "No, the world defintely did not end. You must have come here, that is if you can be believed at all, in this capsule next to you."

"In that thing!" Ethel exclaimed.

"No we dent," Ricky Ricardo proclaimed.

"No, Ricky's right," said Lucy. "We dent. We were just sitting in our living room waiting for the world to end, and when we stopped talking we were here. This shiny thing was here too, but we didn't come in it."

"Oh boy," A.J. heard his brother say next to him.

"This is very peculiar," the younger Simon said.

"Peculiar's puttin' it mild, kid," said his brother.

"Quit mumblin', will ya?" Fred piped up. "And tell us how we can go home. If the world's still here, then New York's still here."

"Yea, Fred's right!" Ethel chimed in. "We'll pay you fellows, if only you'll help us go home."

"Ethel!" the ever frugal Fred exclaimed. Ricky Ricardo laughed. "My friend here is a bit close with his money, but Ethel's right, we'll pay you."

Back to Larry King Live

"We're back from the break," King told his audience just as if they couldn't see that for themselves. "And we were getting to a critical point in our story. Let me re-introduce our guests. This is Rick and A.J. Simon from San Diego. Now, Rick, they were offering you money to help them get home. Did you consider doing that?"

Rick grinned. "Well, Larry, we didn't know what to do. Myself,---"

"Rick never has any money, so he was willing," A.J. said seriously. "But I wasn't sure, because there was so much we didn't understand about it, so much that was weird."

"How they actually got to the desert, you mean?" King prompted.

"Yea, Larry," Rick took over. "We still couldn't buy it, you know what I mean? I really thought they were a bunch of jokers out of San Diego, just pullin' a prank."

"Did you think like your brother, A.J.?" King wanted to know.

"I never think like my brother," the younger Simon retorted. "Too dangerous."

Rick chuckled. "Anyway, Larry, we were makin' up our minds what to do, when somethin' else happened. Somethin' so far out, well, we'll tell you about it if you want."

"Yes, go ahead," agreed King. "You're doin' a good job so far. Go ahead with your story."

"Okay, Larry," Rick said. "Well, you see, there was another group of folks on their way to the capsule at that time----"

Inside of the car which had been their transportation since landing in the desert in the time capsule, the Barkley family rode along in momentary silence. They were heading back to the capsule, Nick Barkley at the wheel, with the intention of returning to their own time. All of them were reflecting on their brief stay in 1999.

"I'll be glad to get outa this place," Nick proclaimed, holding tight to the steering wheel.

"Boy Howdy, Nick," his brother Heath agreed. "That makes two of us. I don't see how people can stand all of these automobiles and fast movin'."

"It does give one cause for concern the way these conveyances move so quickly," Jarrod, sitting between his brothers on the front seat, said. "I believe I prefer horses."

"I know I do," came the voice of their sister Audra from the back seat. "I am feeling sad, though."

"Is that a fact!" Nick yelled. "Why on earth do you feel sad, Sis? Why, in just a few minutes we'll be back to that capsule, we'll get in it, and off we'll go back to our own time, our own ways, our own pace, our own---"

Victoria leaned over the seat between Nick and Jarrod. "We get the point you are trying to make, Dear," she informed Nick. "What I don't understand is why you, Audra, are feeling sad. Would you care to tell me, Dear?"

"Why, Mother," Audra began, "Surely you must all feel a little sad that Eugene is not returning with us."

"Who, Dear?" Victoria frowned.

"Yea, who was that you said, Sis?" Nick asked.

"Boy Howdy, don't tell me you people have forgotten Gene already?" Heath spoke up. "Why, it aint been an hour since we left him with that deputy sheriff, or trooper, or whatever he called himself."

"Oh, yes, I do recall now," Victoria said, patting her daughter on the arm. "But just think, Audra Dear, we have so much more room here in the automobile since he's not with us."

"My dear family," Jarrod joined the conversation. "Let's not discuss our past history here in this time. As it's not been, uh, shall we say, all that enjoyable for us, I suggest we just forget it."

"I agree, Pappy," said Nick, jovial. "Let's not let anything spoil our trip back home."

Heath shook his head. "Boy Howdy, poor Gene."

Victoria leaned over the seat between Jarrod and Heath and addressed the latter. "Heath, Dear, don't mention that name again please, unless you want to stay here in this time as he has chosen to do."

"I must say, Heath," Jarrod commented seriously. "I do believe it would be wise for you to take Mother's advice."

"And that's a fact," Nick agreed. "Oh, look!" Audra suddenly spoke excitedly. "I can see the capsule. Oh my, I can hardly wait to get there! Nick, can't you make this thing go faster?"

"Wait a minute!" Nick roared. "We've already been in trouble with the law here for goin' too fast. I'm gonna---Wait a minute!"

"What is it, Dear?" his mother wanted to know.

"Do you see what I see?" Nick asked.

"Boy Howdy, I do," Heath replied. "There's a bunch of people around our capsule!"

"Oh no!" Audra cried. "You don't suppose they're trying to steal it!"

Steal it!" Nick asserted. "We'll see about that!"

"Now, family, let's remain calm," Jarrod soothed. "They are probably just curiosity seekers."

"Curiosity seekers, is it!" Nick continued to rant. "Well, they'd best take their curiosity somewhere else!"

"Oh, I'll bet they will try to stop us," Audra moaned. "I'll bet they're dangerous and plan to take us hostage, I'll bet---"

"Dear, you can bet I will take steps to gag you if you don't be quiet for a few moments," Victoria said sternly. "If those people intend us harm, we will just have to deal with it."

"Boy Howdy," Heath groaned. "It looks like somethin' in this time would go right for us."

"Aint nothin' or nobody gonna stop us from gettin' away in that capsule," Nick told the others, as he pulled off of the road and they bounced across the desert. "Mark my words, I'll see to that."

"And I'm sure gonna be there right beside you, big brother," said Heath.

Audra leaned over to get a better view out the side window. "Oh, Mother, look, there is one woman with bright red hair."

"Yes, Dear, I see," Victoria said rather smugly.

"Is there a law against havin' red hair?" Nick inquired.

"Of course not, Dear," his mother replied. "I'm sure Audra only pointed it out because---"

"Because what?" Heath demanded to know. "My Libby had red hair, you know?"

"Yes, and she was in show business too," Audra was quick to say. "So?" Heath pressed.

"So, ladies with red hair or those in show business are usually ladies of the evening," Audra advised. "Aren't they, Mother?"

"That's true, Dear, but of course, Heath's Libby was more than that, she was a murderer."

"Libby was a nice girl!" Heath exclaimed. "And I wouldn't be surprised to find that lady over there is nice too."

"Uh, family, we are working our way into an argument," said Jarrod, "when we might very well need to stand firm as a unit."

Heath shook his head. "Boy Howdy, Jarrod, you are right. It's just that Audra was pushin' me a bit hard."

"Will all of you pipe down!" Nick said. "Let's concentrate on gettin' through that bunch of ne'er do wells over there and on to our capsule. "

"Brother Nick, you make a good point," Jarrod said. "How do you propose we go about getting through them if they are of a mind to stop us?"

"Yea, Nick," Heath took up the point. "Looks like you could come up with somethin', tough as you are."

Victoria leaned over the seat between Nick and Jarrod. "Might I suggest that we just stop this, uh, automobile, get out, or off, or whatever you do, and then just walk right over to the capsule. It could be that those people mean us no harm, and that they will not try to impede us in any way."

"Is that a fact!" Nick was quick to say. "Let's hope you're right, Mother. Well, here we are. I'll stop this thing right where we found it. Are we ready to get out, or off?"

"Boy Howdy, I'm ready," Heath replied first. "I'm openin' the door now."

"I'll just slide out, or off, on Heath's side," Jarrod told the others.

"Keep your eyes on those people," Nick warned. "If they're up to somethin', they'll surely show their hand pretty quick like."

"Yes, good advice, Dear," Victoria agreed. "Audra, Dear, open the door on your side and we'll both get out, or off, that way."

"All right, Mother," said Audra and proceeded to open the door.

In a matter of seconds, all of the Barkleys were standing together alongside the vehicle.

"They're all starin' at us!" Nick said, rough. "Let's head toward the capsule. Mother, you and Audra stay behind Jarrod, Heath and me."

"Oh, I just know we'll never make it to the capsule," Audra fretted.

"Those people look so mean!"

"Let's not get overwrought, young lady," Jarrod advised his sister.

"I'll just speak to them as the family attorney---"

"Boy Howdy, Jarrod," Heath reminded his oldest brother. "You tried that with the trooper. It took Mother to straighten things out."

"Let's get walkin'!" Nick growled. "Time's a wastin'."

The Ricardos, Mertzes, and Simons were in a discussion about how the brothers could help the other two couples return to New York when they all noticed an automobile leaving the road and heading out across the desert floor, heading directly toward them.

"Would you look at that?" Rick Simon said.

"There has to be a crazy person behind the wheel of that car," A.J. told the others.

"He's comin' right at us," Fred Mertz said. "Quick, Ethel, let me get behind you."

"Fred Mertz!" his wife exclaimed. "What a coward you are!"

"Yea, Fred, you should let Ethel stand in front of me," Lucy proclaimed.

"After all, she's been my friend---"

"Come on, now," Ricky Ricardo spoke up. "Let's stop arguin'. We could all be in big trouble.