Time Enough at Last?

by Paulline Joyce N. Olabre
    2013-11698

"Time Enough at Last" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. The episode was adapted from a short story written by Marilyn Venable. The short story appeared in the January 1953 edition of thescience fiction magazine If: Worlds of Science Fiction about seven years before the television episode first aired. "Time Enough at Last" became one of the most famous episodes of the original Twilight Zone, and has been frequently parodied since.

A bank teller, Henry Bemis, longs for time alone to read books. He gets his wish. The problem is, his eyeglasses got broken. What happens next?

Because of what happened and his urge to read books, he came up with an idea of creating a technology that would help him read the books that he always wanted to read. He went to places to look for the materials and equipment that he would need in making his project. Since he was the only survivor in the explosion, he can take anything he wants and have everything he needs. But because the machines that were available are only low-tech, it would take time for him to finish his work. After years of hard work and determination, he was able to finish his creation and he is now ready to go back to the place where the books were. The sad part is, when he came back, the books turned to ashes. Not a single page was left. This happened because the books are exposed and different seasons have passed. Now, what would life be for him?