Episode no. Season 2
Episode 16 Written by George Clayton Johnson Production code 173-3650 | Directed by James Sheldon Featured music Stock Original air date February 3, 1961 | |
"A Penny for Your Thoughts" is episode 52 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone, written by George Clayton Johnson. It originally aired on February 3, 1961 on CBS.
Contents
Plot
Hector B. Poole, a sensitive, insecure bank clerk, tosses a coin that miraculously lands on its edge while buying a newspaper. He now hears other people's thoughts. He's nearly hit by a car when distracted by these voices, and is confused when he hears the driver simultaneously voicing concern for him and thinking angrily about his carelessness.
At work, he hears his boss, Mr. Bagby, thinking about a weekend affair he is planning with his mistress. Hector also hears the thoughts of Miss Turner, a co-worker who admires him from afar and wishes he would be more assertive. While Hector is finalizing the paperwork for Mr. Sykes, a businessman who has just been approved for a $200,000 loan, he hears Sykes thinking about using the loan money for a run at the horse track to win back money he has embezzled from his company. When Hector challenges him about this, Sykes accuses him of lying and ultimately withdraws his business from the bank, leading Bagby to rebuke Hector. Despite this embarrassment, Hector finally summons the courage to talk to Miss Turner. When one of Poole's coworkers thinks inappropriate thoughts about her, Hector pours water on his head, to Miss Turner's great satisfaction.
Hector hears an old, trusted employee, Mr. Smithers, thinking about stealing cash from the bank and escaping to Bermuda by boat. He takes Miss Turner into his confidence about his psychic abilities, and what he's heard. Miss Turner doesn't believe in his powers but urges him to tell Mr. Bagby about Smithers. Bagby is incredulous at first but reconsiders and attempts to catch Smithers in the act. Smithers proves to be innocent, and Mr. Bagby fires Hector. Smithers then privately admits to Poole that he has fantasized for years about stealing money from the bank as an escape from being stuck in a dead-end job, but would never go through with such a plan because he is too set in his ways.
Hector vents his unhappiness to Miss Turner, saying being able to read minds has taught him more than he wanted to know about the disconnect between people's thoughts and their actions. Mr. Bagby offers to reinstate him when he discovers that Sykes has been arrested for gambling with company money. With Miss Turner's telepathic encouragement, Hector makes the case to Mr. Bagby that he deserves to be accounts manager. When the bank manager resists reason, Hector uses his knowledge of his boss's adultery to blackmail him into granting the promotion and giving Mr. Smithers a vacation to Bermuda at the bank's expense.
After work, as Hector returns home with Miss Turner (now calling her by her first name, Helen) he inadvertently knocks the standing coin over. His mind-reading ability is gone, but he is a man changed for the better, with a new job, a girlfriend, and a new-found confidence in himself.