Lloyd Bochner

            On Friday after midnight I laid down fresh carpet tape on some of the edges of mattress where it had gotten less sticky. I lint-rolled the curtains between the bedroom and the living room, the top of the bed, and my pillow. As usual there were a few bedbugs on the curtains. I shook out my sheet and my comforter on the deck and went to bed coughing at 2:08. Like the night before I didn’t sleep very well. It’s weird that in the afternoons when I take my siestas I usually have a pretty good sleep. I got up at 5:00 for my fourth day of this cold. 

            I worked out the chords for the second verse of “Elle voulait toucher du pognon” (She Wanted a Little Money) by Boris Vian. 

            I weighed 90.75 kilos before breakfast. 

            I played my Kramer during the first fifteen minutes of song practice but then I had to stop to get ready to leave for my 11:45 appointment with my student periodontist Dr. Martin Lambert at the U of T Faculty of Dentistry. I left at 10:55 and got there with five minutes to spare. Martin said the coverage was good on my bone graft over the implant. He took out my stitches and said to make an appointment for four months from now to see if the healing is complete. The office was closed for lunch so I just went home. I’ll call them next week. 

            I weighed 91.1 kilos before lunch. 

            I took a siesta. 

            I weighed 91.25 kilos at 17:15. 

            I complained to the landlord by email again about the heat not being on. Later I saw Raja’s handyman Yogi fiddling with the thermostat. He said it was broken and installed a temporary one with just a dial and no screen. Within an hour the heat came on and I turned it off because just a little bit is enough to last for hours. 

            I was now one day behind in my journal and worked on catching up. 

            I had a potato with gravy and my last chicken leg while watching episode 9 of the TV series Custer. 

            Everyone in a Sioux village has died of smallpox and so Custer and his men are burning everything there to prevent the spread. But Red Wolf and his warriors return from hunting to the village and believe that the white soldiers have just massacred their people, so they attack. They kill all of Custer’s men and leave Custer for dead. Custer makes his way back to Fort Hays and tells General Terry he needs men to go after Red Wolf and his Sioux warriors who are carrying Pawnee blankets that they don’t realize are infested with smallpox. Red Wolf is headed for the main Pawnee village and if he reaches it he could unintentionally wipe out the entire Pawnee nation. There is also danger of the Sioux uniting with the Pawnee because of the belief there was a massacre. Custer says they need to get to Chief Running Bear of the Pawnee first to convince him of Red Wolf’s mistake and potentially make a powerful ally. 

            Terry says he doesn’t have the men to spare for such a mission but Custer recruits a group of prisoners in the stockade. He asks for volunteers and he can’t guarantee that it will save them from their upcoming court-martials but he will make a report that will probably influence the review board. 

            Powell is the dominant prisoner and he’s in for murdering an officer. His young protegee Billie tells Custer that the officer was insane and would have caused the death of every man in his command. Powell volunteers and so does Billie to be with Powell. Billie is in for desertion because he wanted to see his father who’d been hurt in a battle. Reicher reminds Custer that he hates his guts for putting him where he is now but he volunteers to delay the US Marshall coming to collect him for several bank robberies. Stanhope studied medicine for seven years at Columbia University but he says he won’t volunteer. Custer starts reciting the Hippocratic oath: “I swear by Apollo the physician and Asclepius and Hygieia and Panaceia and all the gods and goddesses, making them my witness that I will fulfill according to my ability and judgement this oath and this covenant…” Stanhope adds, “Whatever houses I may visit, I will come for the benefit of the sick, remaining free of all intentional injustice…” Stanhope now says that since he already has a noose around his neck he hasn’t much to lose, so he also volunteers. Rod Tolby says he’s there because he traded some cavalry horses for beaver pelts but now he’d rather be out riding than sitting in the stockade so he volunteers as well. Bishop also volunteers but only because Tolby owes him a lot of money and he doesn’t want him to get away. Custer warns them that anyone who disobeys will be shot. 

            They leave in one hour. On the way they find a Pawnee dying of smallpox. Stanhope can’t help him but uses a syringe to extract some of his blood. 

            Custer decides to take a shortcut through Sioux country to save a day. Reicher comments that Custer hasn’t changed, as risking his men’s lives still doesn’t mean a thing to him. 

            Billie is driving the supply wagon but he sees a rabbit and remembers that Stanhope has been looking for one. He jumps off the wagon and runs after it but the wagon is still moving and the horses begin running. He catches up and tries to stop them but the hitch breaks and the horses break free dragging Billie by the reins. Custer catches up, jumps on one of the horses and stops the team but the wagon is wrecked and all the water spilled. 

            Stanhope catches the rabbit from his horse by dropping a blanket on it. He says the rabbit is for serum (It turns out that the smallpox vaccine was the first vaccine to be developed in 1796). 

            Custer gets into a fight with Reicher because drinks water before watering the horses. He easily knocks him down but Reicher is still waiting for a chance for revenge. 

            Custer makes Powell his acting corporal to see that his orders are carried out. Powell says he’ll do it as long as it suits him. 

            Stanhope injects the smallpox infected blood into the rabbit. It’ll take 24 to 96 hours for the rabbit to be of use against the disease. 

            Custer now has smallpox but keeps pushing himself. 

            They make camp and Reicher pulls his knife to kill the rabbit. Billie steps in front of it and Reicher attacks but Powell easily disarms him and knocks him down. 

            Powell almost deserts but sees a Sioux camp up ahead. He tells Custer about it who decides they have to immediately break camp to get ahead of the Sioux. They try to quietly sneak past the Sioux but Billie's horse whinnies and the Sioux are alerted. The Sioux attack and Bishop takes a fatal arrow. Stanhope is also mortally wounded but lives until after the war party has been defeated. Before he dies he instructs Billie that when the rabbit keels over on its side it’s ready. He says to break the skin on Custer’s arm with a knife and rub the infected part of the rabbit’s belly across it. Then Stanhope dies and after he’s carried away to be buried, Billie lies down to sleep. 

            Reicher approaches the wooden rabbit cage, opens it and lets the rabbit go, but it immediately lies down on its side. Billie sees it and picks it up, taking it over to Custer, while Powell comes to help. But Reicher aims his gun commands they get away from Custer. Powell pulls his pistol and gets Reicher to back down. Billie does what Stanhope instructed. 

            Custer staggers to his horse and says they’re moving out. On the trail Custer falls from his horse. Reicher aims his rifle at him but Custer shoots him. They make camp and after a night of rest Custer is fine. They head out and are attacked by Sioux. They fight them off but now there are only Custer, Powell, and Billie left. 

            The Sioux arrive at the Pawnee village just as Custer, Powell and Billie do. Custer tries to explain to Running Bear that Red Wolf and his men are carrying smallpox. Red Wolf attacks Custer and they fight until Red Wolf is on the ground. He tells Running Bear to look at the red spots on Red Wolf’s face. He is convinced and now Red Wolf is worried. Billie still has the rabbit and can save Red Wolf and his warriors. 

            Back at Fort Hays, the review board has granted Billie a pardon but Powell is taken away either to prison or to be executed. 

            Stanhope was played by Canadian actor Lloyd Bochner, who was born in Toronto in 1924. By the age of 11 his sonorous voice already go him work as a radio and voice over actor. He started at the University of Toronto but his education was interrupted by WWII. He joined the Royal Canadian Navy and after the war returned to U of T to finish his BA in Sociology. He made hi TV debut in Studio One in 1950. In 1953 he participated in the first six seasons of The Stratford Festival. He made his film debut in The Mapleville Story in 1946. He co-starred in The Night Walker, The Detective, The Young Runaways, Tiger By the Tail, It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time, Mr. No Legs, The Hot Touch, Fine Gold, Bram Stoker’s The Legend of the Mummy, The Lonely Lady, He co-starred in the TV series Hong Kong, He appeared on 13 episodes of The Richard Boone Show. He starred in the classic Twilight Zone episode “To Serve Man”. He appeared on 27 episodes of Dynasty. He won two Liberty Awards for his work in Canadian television. He co-founded the Committee to End Violence.