Chicken Feed

Originally Aired: September 8, 1949

Suspense #349, "Chicken Feed," stars Ray Milland as Ralph Clark, a San Francisco attorney whose marriage spat over a nickel spirals into a nightmare. After storming out of his house following an argument with his wife Mary about giving their son Junior a nickel, Ralph drives fifty miles to cool off. He stops in Lansing, California—a notorious speed-trap town—for a cup of coffee, only to discover he's left his wallet at home when he tries to make a phone call to apologize to Mary.

What begins as an embarrassing situation quickly escalates when Officer Brady grows suspicious of Ralph's lack of identification or money. Taken to the police station to make his call, Ralph watches helplessly as Mary refuses to accept the collect charges, still angry from their fight. With no way to prove his identity and the station's regular phone out of order, Ralph finds himself locked in a cell on suspicion of fraud and car theft. All for the want of a single nickel—the very thing that started the argument in the first place.