Editing Dust (The Twilight Zone)

{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}

{{Infobox television episode
| series       = [[The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)|The Twilight Zone]]
| image        =
| caption      =
| season       = 2
| episode      = 12
| airdate      = {{Start date|1961|01|06}}
| production   = 173-3653
| writer       = [[Rod Serling]]
| director     = [[Douglas Heyes]]
| guests       = {{ubl
|[[Thomas Gomez]]
|[[Vladimir Sokoloff (actor)|Vladimir Sokoloff]]
|[[John Larch]]
|[[John Alonzo]]
|[[Paul Genge]]
|[[Dorothy Adams]]
|Duane Grey
|[[Andrea Darvi]]}}
| music        = [[Jerry Goldsmith]]
| season_article = The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series, season 2)
| episode_list = List of The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series) episodes
| prev         = [[The Night of the Meek]]
| next         = [[Back There]]
}}

"'''Dust'''" is episode 48 of the American television [[anthology series]] ''[[The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)|The Twilight Zone]]''. It originally aired on January 6, 1961, on [[CBS]], and was the 12th episode of the second season. The episode was written by series creator [[Rod Serling]], and was directed by [[Douglas Heyes]]. It starred [[Thomas Gomez]] in his second appearance on the show following "[[Escape Clause]]", as well as [[Vladimir Sokoloff]], in the first of his three appearances on the series. It is one of the few episodes that does not contain any fantasy or science-fiction elements.

==Opening narration==
{{cquote|There was a village. Built of crumbling clay and rotting wood. And it squatted ugly under a broiling sun like a sick and mangy animal wanting to die. This village had a virus, shared by its people. It was the germ of squalor, of hopelessness, of a loss of faith. For the faithless, the hopeless, the misery-laden, there is time, ample time, to engage in one of the other pursuits of men - they begin to destroy themselves.}}

==Plot==
In the Old West, in a desolate barren town, the sadistic and unscrupulous peddler Sykes mocks Luis Gallegos, who is due to be hanged. Luis is guilty of driving drunk and accidentally killing a child. Luis' father arrives in the village and pleads with the mother and father of the dead girl to spare his son the hanging. His pleas fall on deaf ears. After selling the executioner some five-strand rope needed for the [[hanging]], Sykes sells a bag of dust to the condemned man's father, collecting ordinary dirt from the ground and insisting that it is magic dust that will spread good will throughout the crowd and make them feel love and sympathy for Luis.

As the crowd gathers for the hanging, Luis' father cries out and starts sprinkling the dust everywhere. He hears the trapdoor drop behind him and turns to see that the fresh and sturdy rope has snapped above the noose, and Luis is unharmed. When asked if another hanging attempt should be made, the girl's parents decide that it should not, that Luis has suffered enough and maybe they have had a sign from God. As father and son walk home, Sykes rechecks the rope which appears to be in perfect condition. Then he throws his gold pieces from the sale of the dust to the poor children of the town, insisting that they have them. He walks away from the scene bemused, stating that the dust must have been magic after all.

==Closing narration==
{{cquote|It was a very small, misery-laden village on the day of a hanging and of little historical consequence. And if there's any moral to it at all, let's say that in any quest for magic, in any search for sorcery, witchery, legerdemain, first check the human heart. For inside this deep place is a wizardry that costs far more than a few pieces of gold. Tonight's case in point - in the Twilight Zone.}}

==Cast==
* [[Thomas Gomez]] as Sykes 
* [[Vladimir Sokoloff (actor)|Vladimir Sokoloff]] as Gallegos 
* [[John Larch]] as Sheriff Koch 
* [[John Alonzo]] as Luis Gallegos
* [[Paul Genge]] as John Canfield 
* [[Dorothy Adams]] as Mrs. Canfield
* [[Duane Grey]] as Rogers 
* [[Andrea Darvi]] as Estrellita Gallegos

==See also==
* [[List of The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series) episodes|List of ''The Twilight Zone'' (1959 TV series) episodes]]

==References==
*DeVoe, Bill. (2008). ''Trivia from The Twilight Zone''. Albany, GA: Bear Manor Media. {{ISBN|978-1-59393-136-0}}
*Grams, Martin. (2008). ''The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic''. Churchville, MD: OTR Publishing. {{ISBN|978-0-9703310-9-0}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb episode|0734564}}

{{The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series) episodes}}

[[Category:1961 American television episodes]]
[[Category:The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series) season 2 episodes]]
[[Category:Television episodes written by Rod Serling]]
[[Category:Television episodes directed by Douglas Heyes]]