On Borrowed Time

On Borrowed Time (1937), a novel by American author and film producer Lawrence Edward Watkin, tells the story of an old man who catches the personification of death in an apple tree, leading to a number of complications. For On Borrowed Time, Watkin received the National Book Award for Bookseller Discovery. In 1939, the book was adapted into a film starring Lionel Barrymore and Sir Cedric Hardwicke.

Mr. Brink, a personification of death, takes Mr. and Mrs. James Northrup's lives in an automobile accident. As a result, their son, Pud, goes to live with his grandparents, Julian and Nellie, who are known as Gramps and Granny, respectively. Next, Mr. Brink sets his sights on taking Gramps's life. Though Mr. Brink looks a bit mysterious, Gramps believes him to be an ordinary human being. As he would with any other stranger on his property, the misanthropic Gramps threatens Brink if he doesn't leave. Brink eventually leaves. When Pud asks who the stranger is, Gramps is surprised the stranger is visible to his grandson. Due to the apparition's appearance, Gramps feared he was the product of a hallucination or some kind of spirit only visible to Gramps.

Later, Gramps tells Pud that you can make a wish every time you do a good deed. With his apples always going missing, Gramps wishes that if someone climbs his apple tree, that individual will be stuck up there until Gramps gives his permission to come down. To test the veracity of Gramps's wish theory, Pud climbs the tree himself. Just as Gramps suggested, Pud is stuck up there until Gramps allows him to come down.



Meanwhile, Pud's devious Aunt Demetria hopes to take the boy away from Gramps and Granny so that she can gain access to the money left to him by his parents. Gramps works hard to protect the boy from Aunt Demetria's designs.

One day, while Granny knits, Mr. Brink takes her life away peacefully. The next time Gramps sees Mr. Brink—this time he is after Gramps's life—Gramps deduces the true nature of the mysterious phantom. Worried about what will happen to Pud and his inheritance if he dies, Gramps tricks Mr. Brink by convincing him to climb up the apple tree. Now that death is in the apple tree, presumably nobody in the whole world can die. Mr. Brink says that if anyone touches him or the tree, that individual will die.

When Gramps tells others that death is caught in his apple tree, Aunt Demetria hatches a plot to have him committed to an insane asylum, thus giving her access to Pud and his inheritance. The local physician, Dr. Evans, seems persuaded by Aunt Demetria's insistence that Gramps is crazy. Gramps tries to convince Dr. Evans by showing that neither of them can kill a fly Gramps captured. Dr. Evans finds this curious but still isn't entirely convinced. Desperate to prove his story, Gramps shoots Mr. Grimes, one of Dr. Evans's orderlies who tries to drag Gramps off to the asylum. Even though the gunshot should have killed him, Mr. Grimes survives, albeit in agony.



Although Dr. Evans now believes Gramps's story, he also insists that Gramps allow Mr. Brink to descend the tree so that all the people in critical condition at the hospital can be relieved of their pain. When Gramps holds firm, Dr. Evans enlists the local sheriff to help him commit Gramps to the asylum and bring Pud to Aunt Demetria. That's when Gramps gets an idea. He has his housekeeper, Marcia Giles, tell Dr. Evans and Aunt Demetria that as soon as Mr. Brink descends, he plans to take their lives next. Terrified, Aunt Demetria vows to leave Gramps and Pud alone, while Dr. Evans also relents.

Knowing that death is an escapable part of life and that Aunt Demetria will now leave Pud alone, either way, Gramps decides to finally free Mr. Brink. Gramps has an argument about this with Pud who is too young to understand why death can't be allowed to stay in the tree forever. After the fight, Pud angrily climbs a fence and falls, suffering grievous injuries that should have killed him. As he cries out in pain, Gramps knows he must let Mr. Brink down. After doing so, Mr. Brink takes Gramps and Pud, reuniting them with Granny.

On Borrowed Time is a cute supernatural fable with a dark ending.