The Lunch Kit

Originally Aired: April 12, 1955

Suspense #593, "The Lunch Kit," Jonathan reluctantly helps his embittered father construct a devastating weapon disguised as an ordinary thermos bottle. Filled with nitroglycerin and fitted with a timer set to detonate at 6:30 in the morning, the deadly device goes into Jonathan's lunch kit as he heads to work the night shift at an industrial plant. His elderly coworker Mike carpools with him, completely unaware of the lethal cargo. Once inside the plant, Jonathan leaves the lunch kit in his locker and tries to work normally, but his nerves betray him. He obsessively checks the time, makes careless mistakes, and eventually collapses from the strain. When the plant doctor confines him to the dispensary and gives him sedated milk to help him rest, Jonathan's panic escalates. Unable to access his locker with the ticking bomb inside, and fighting against medication forcing him to sleep, he faces a desperate race against time as the deadly detonation hour approaches and his control over the situation slips away.