Storm of the Century Read online

  212 EXTERIOR: GODSOE FISH & LOBSTER NIGHT.

  A GIGANTIC WAVE rolls out of the reach, smashes the end of the town dock, and chews off the end of Peter Godsoe's building. We can hear the SNAP OF WOOD even above the storm.

  213 EXTERIOR: FERD ANDREWS, BY THE FIRE DEPARTMENT SIDE DOOR.

  FERD ANDREWS

  Oh . . . my . . . God! (raises his voice) Lloyd! Lloyd, you gotta see this!

  214 INTERIOR: THE FIRE STATION GARAGE, WITH LLOYD WISHMAN NIGHT.

  The two island pumpers are apple green. The passenger window of one is partly open. Hanging from it is the bloody wolfs head of LINOGE'S cane. Standing nearby, looking as blank as PETER

  GODSOE, is LLOYD. In one hand he has a small can of red paint. In the other is a brush. He's working with the care of a Manet or van Gogh.

  FERD ANDREWS (voice-over)

  Lloyd! It's gonna take Godsoe's! It's gonna take the whole dock!

  116

  LLOYD WISHMAN pays no attention. Goes on painting.

  215 INTERIOR: THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE, A HIGH ANGLE.

  The cane no longer hangs over the beam, but a coil of rope is flung up and over the place where it was. In the background, LINOGE sits in his cell, face predatory, eyes ROLLING WITH RED AND

  BLACK.

  216 EXTERIOR: GODSOE'S FISH & LOBSTER NIGHT.

  Another HUGE WAVE smashes into the town dock, tearing a lot more of it away and capsizing a small boat someone foolishly left tied there. It also takes another huge bite out of the warehouse.

  217 INTERIOR: GODSOE'S FISH & LOBSTER NIGHT.

  We can see right outside through a RAGGED HOLE in the end of the building: the amputated dock and the heaving waves of the reach. Now another of these big ones ROLLS TOWARD THE CAMERA, inundating what's left of the dock and SMASHING INTO THE WAREHOUSE. Lobster traps are lifted and sucked away. The lobster tank is overturned, and lobsters are freed by the dozens, a sudden and unexpected commutation of their death sentence. And, as the big wave retreats, BALES OF POT

  also float out of the hole at the end of the building.

  218 EXTERIOR: OUTSIDE THE FIRE DEPARTMENT, WITH FERD ANDREWS.

  FERD ANDREWS

  (shouting)

  You better come, Lloyd, if you want to see sumpin' you ain't never gonna see again! She's a-goin'! She's a-goin'!

  219 INTERIOR: THE FIRE STATION, WITH LLOYD WISHMAN.

  LLOYD is also a-goin', as it happens. As he finishes painting, THE CAMERA MOVES around, showing us what is written in big red capitals up the side of the green pumper. Overlaying the gold letters that read LITTLE TALL ISLAND V.F.D. is this message: "GIVE ME WHAT I WANT AND I'LL GO

  AWAY."

  FERD ANDREWS (voice-over) Git out here, Lloyd! The whole shebang's gain' into the drink!

  117

  Taking no notice, LLOYD sets the paint can down on the running board of the pumper and puts the brush neatly across the top. As he does these things, we see that the cane that was hanging from the partly open window is gone ... or maybe it was never there in the first place. Maybe it was just in LLOYD WISHMAN'S mind.

  LLOYD moves to the side of the pumper and opens one of the tool storage compartments. He takes out a fire axe.

  220 INTERIOR: THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE NIGHT.

  PETER GODSOE, eyes blank, is standing on a chair. The end of the rope he threw over the beam has been fashioned into a noose, and the noose is around his neck. Pinned to his shirt is his

  "homework": the sheet with "GIVE ME WHAT I WANT" written all over it, plus the cane drawings.

  Written in extra-big letters at the top, like a title, is "GIVE ME WHAT I WANT AND I'LL GO AWAY."

  221 INTERIOR: LINOGE, CLOSE-UP.

  Lips moving. Chanting silently. Eyes BIG BLACK HOLES shot through with RED FIRE.

  222 INTERIOR: THE FIRE STATION NIGHT.

  LLOYD stands with the keen blade of the axe pointing at the center of his face. He's gripping the handle far up on the shaft, the kind of grip you want if you're going to chop kindling out back of the house ... or your own face in two.

  223 INTERIOR: LINOGE, CLOSE-UP.

  Lips moving faster now. Weird eyes wider. Hands clenched into fists in front of him.

  224 EXTERIOR: THE OCEAN SIDE OF THE FIRE STATION, WITH FERD.

  His face is filled with awe and terror. His mouth hangs open.

  FERD ANDREWS

  My sainted hat!

  225 EXTERIOR: THE TOWN DOCK, WITH WHAT REMAINS OF GODSOE'S.

  Bearing down on it through the HOWLING SNOW is a huge wave almost a tidal wave.

  118

  226 INTERIOR: THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE, WITH PETER'S FEET.

  They kick away the chair with a CLATTER, then begin to JITTER.

  227 EXTERIOR: THE ONCOMING WAVE NIGHT.

  It dwarfs the dock and the warehouse.

  228 INTERIOR: THE MARKET, WITH HATCH.

  He stops pouring his coffee and turns toward the constable's office door, reacting to the CLATTER

  OF THE CHAIR.

  HATCH Peter?

  229 INTERIOR: THE AXE, CLOSE-UP.

  It swings out of the frame, and we hear an unpleasant SOUND it's like someone slapping mud with the flat of his hand. CHUMP!

  230 INTERIOR: GODSOE FISH & LOBSTER NIGHT.

  We're looking out at the reach . . . but suddenly the view is blotted out by the ONCOMING WAVE.

  There's nothing to be seen through the broken-off stump of the warehouse but SURGING GRAY

  WATER. It SMASHES INTO GODSOE'S, and suddenly THE CAMERA IS UNDERWATER. A SMASHED

  TRAP, a BALE OF POT, and a LOBSTER with its claws still pegged go floating past in gusts of bubbles.

  231 EXTERIOR: THE TOWN DOCK NIGHT.

  What remains is inundated and torn completely away. The retreating wave carries off a tangle of boats, ropes, cleats, rubber boat-bumpers, and Godsoe's shingled roof. Maybe we see part of the sign GODSOE FISH & LOBSTER before it all disappears into the BELLOWING BLIZZARD.

  232 INTERIOR: THE TOWN HALL, WITH URSULA, TAVIA, TESS, ETC.

  119

  All the bustle is momentarily silent. The CRACKLE AND HISS of the CB is very loud. Everyone has turned toward the door.

  RALPHIE Mommy, what's wrong?

  MOLLY

  Nothing, hon.

  JONAS

  What in God's name was it?

  CORA

  The town dock, setting off to sea.

  ROBBIE comes up the stairs, followed by GEORGE, HENRY BRIGHT, and BURT SOAMES. ROBBIE'S

  bluster and swagger are gone.

  ROBBIE Ursula. Blow the whistle.

  233 EXTERIOR: OUTSIDE THE FIRE DEPARTMENT, WITH FERD NIGHT.

  He's as excited and dismayed as a man who has just seen Satan peering at him from around a tree trunk. He turns and runs back to the door of the firehouse.

  234 INTERIOR: THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE, FEATURING THE DOOR.

  HATCH comes through the door, Styrofoam cup of joe in one hand.

  HATCH Pete? You okay? I heard

  His face fills with startled horror. His eyes go upward, presumably to the face of the man who has hung himself from the beam. The coffee drops from his hand, hits the floor, splashes his boots.

  235 INTERIOR: THE FIREHOUSE, WITH FERD.

  FERD ANDREWS Lloyd! Where the hell are you? Did you go to sleep, or wh 120

  He starts around the rear of the closest pumper, then stops. There's a pair of boots sticking out.

  FERD

  Lloyd? Lloyd . . . ?

  Slowly, not really wanting to, he goes the rest of the way around, to where he can see his partner. For a moment he's silent, so shocked he is unable to vocalize. Then FERD screams like a woman.

  236 INTERIOR: HATCH, CLOSE-UP.

  His face is frozen in an expression of utter horror.

  237 INTERIOR: THE SIDE OF THE PUMPER.

  "GIVE ME WHAT I WANT AND I'LL GO AWAY" painted in bloodred capital letters.

  238 INTERIOR: THE SIGN AROUND PETER GODSOE'S NECK.
>
  "GIVE ME WHAT I WANT, GIVE ME WHAT I WANT, GIVE ME WHAT I WANT AND I'LL GO AWAY."

  Plus those creepy little dancing canes.

  239 INTERIOR: THE SCREEN OF HATCH'S POWERBOOK, CLOSE-UP.

  The answers he filled in are gone. Now, filling the crossword grid, are the words "GIVE ME WHAT

  I WANT AND I'LL GO AWAY." Across, down, interlocking at every point. And in the center of every black square is a little white cane-icon.

  240 INTERIOR: LINOGE, EXTREME CLOSE-UP.

  Grinning. The sharp tips of his teeth showing.

  SLOW DISSOLVE TO:

  241 EXTERIOR: THE CENTER OF TOWN, HIGH ANGLE NIGHT.

  121

  It's mostly dark, except for the town hall. And now the storm emergency signal begins to blow: two shorts, one long, a pause, and then once again. Take shelter.

  The image of LINOGE LINGERS, superimposed over the snowy town and perhaps suggesting there will be no shelter for the inhabitants of Little Tall Island . . . not tonight, perhaps not ever again. At last LINOGE'S image FADES OUT . . . and we do the same.

  THIS ENDS PART ONE.

  PART 2

  The Storm of the Century

  Act 1

  [We begin with a MONTAGE OF SCENES from PART ONE. This ends with the final image: LINOGE'S predatory tiger's face superimposed upon the intersection at the center of town.]

  1 EXTERIOR: THE CENTER OF TOWN NIGHT.

  The blizzard is rising toward a state of total fury, with snow falling so fast and hard that the buildings look like ghosts. Drifts are already beginning to pile up against the storefronts on Main Street.

  As LINOGE'S image fades, we hear a SOUND, LOW at first, then UP TO FULL: THE TOWN

  WHISTLE, blowing the EMERGENCY SIGNAL over and over again: two shorts and one long.

  On Main Street, we can see a STRING OF MOVING LIGHTS and hear the SOUND OF ENGINES as folks comply.

  132 STEPHEN KING

  2 EXTERIOR: MAIN STREET SIDEWALK, WITH FERD ANDREWS NIGHT.

  He comes pelting along toward the town hall through the snow, sometimes slipping and falling, then picking himself up again. He makes no attempt to go around the building drifts, but bulls his way straight through. He approaches a group of five or six men who are skiing toward the town hall.

  One of them is BILL TOOMEY.

  BILL TOOMEY Say, Ferd where's the fire?

  Because of Ferd's job (it says LITTLE TALL V.F.D. right across the back of his parka), this breaks BILL'S friends right up it doesn't take much to amuse island people, let me tell you, and these fellows have probably been having a little storm refreshment.

  FERD takes no notice, just picks himself up again and continues running toward the town hall.

  3 EXTERIOR: MIKE ANDERSON'S STORE NIGHT.

  Battened down for the storm. The porch has already drifted in. The storm shutters RATTLE on their tracks. PETER GODSOE'S pickup truck and MOLLY'S little car are now little more than snow-covered humps, but in the case of the truck, it's no big deal; PETER'S driving days are over.

  4 INTERIOR: THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE NIGHT.

  HATCH is as we left him at the end of Part One, staring up at PETER'S dangling legs. Nearby is the overturned chair PETER stood on while he was putting the noose around his neck.

  5 INTERIOR: THE SIGN AROUND PETER'S NECK, CLOSE-UP.

  122

  "GIVE ME WHAT I WANT" written all over it, helter-skelter, along with the dancing canes. And, at the top, like a title, is the complete thought in capital letters so big they almost scream: "GIVE ME

  WHAT I WANT AND I'LL GO AWAY."

  6 INTERIOR: RESUME CONSTABLE'S OFFICE.

  HATCH looks from the dangling legs to LINOGE, sitting there in the cell, his stocking feet cocked up on the cot's edge, his faintly smiling

  STORM OF THE CENTURY 133

  face peering out from between his spread knees. LINOGE'S eyes have gone back to normal, but he projects a terrible quality of hunger and predation, just the same. He's locked up, yes, but it's such a ridiculous sham of a cell, with its wood floor and home-welded bars. HATCH is getting the idea that he is the one in trouble, locked up with this tiger in human form. We can take it a step further: the whole town is in trouble.

  Between the dangling body and the silent, staring LINOGE, HATCH starts to lose it.

  HATCH What are you lookin' at?

  (no reply from LINOGE)

  Did you make him do it, somehow? Make him write that around his neck and then hang himself?

  Did you?

  Nothing from LINOGE. He only sits there, looking at HATCH. HATCH has had enough and heads for the door. He tries to do it at a walk, but can't hold on to himself well enough to keep that pace.

  He begins to hurry . . . then simply BOLTS. He grabs the knob, turns it, yanks the door open . . .

  and there is a SHAPE out there by the meat counter. It GRABS HATCH. HATCH shrieks.

  7 INTERIOR: TOWN HALL BASEMENT, FEATURING PIPPA HATCHER, CLOSE-UP.

  In one hand PIPPA holds a tail (actually a rolled-up hankie) with a pin sticking out of it. She walks slowly toward a piece of paper that has been taped up to the wall. On the paper, MOLLY ANDERSON

  has drawn a smiling donkey. Gathered around PIPPA, calling "Warmer!" and "Colder!" are all but one of MOLLY'S day-care pupils: RALPHIE, DON BEALS, HARRY ROBICHAUX, HEIDI ST. PIERRE, BUSTER

  CARVER, and SALLY GODSOE (who has become fatherless but fortunately doesn't know it yet).

  FRANK BRIGHT is sleeping on a cot nearby.

  Behind the children, we see CAT WITHERS, MELINDA HATCHER, and LINDA ST. PIERRE making beds. Standing nearby, holding piles of blankets, are GEORGE KIRBY, HENRY BRIGHT, and ROBBIE

  BEALS. ROBBIE doesn't look happy about it.

  134 STEPHEN KING

  CARLA BRIGHT comes up to MOLLY, who is monitoring the festivities.

  CARLA

  Evening sessions now?

  MOLLY It's sort of fun. But . . .

  PIPPA manages to plant the tail somewhere in the region of the donkey's ass.

  MOLLY

  (continues)

  . . . when they all finally fall asleep, I intend to track down the nearest alcoholic beverage and make it disappear.

  123

  CARLA

  I'll pour.

  DON BEALS

  I wanna be next!

  MOLLY (to CARLA) Done deal.

  She takes the blindfold off PIPPA and starts putting it on DON.

  8 INTERIOR: THE TOWN HALL, UPSTAIRS NIGHT.

  FERD ANDREWS bursts in, wild-eyed and covered with snow from top to tail.

  FERD

  (top of his lungs) Lloyd Wishman's dead!

  All bustle and activity stops. Forty or fifty faces turn to FERD. Central to this group is URSULA GODSOE, with her clipboard.

  STORM OF THE CENTURY 135

  INTERIOR: THE TOWN HALL BASEMENT.

  The KIDS are still having a good time, shouting "Warmer!" and "Colder!" to DON SEALS as he tries to pin the tail on the donkey, but all the ADULTS have turned toward the SOUND of that SHOUT. ROBBIE BEALS drops his pile of blankets and heads up the stairs.

  10 INTERIOR: THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE NIGHT.

  HATCH grapples with the SHAPE, hysterical with fear, until MIKE Stop it, Hatch! Whoa! Whoa!

  HATCH stops it and looks up at MIKE, his terror becoming relief. He hugs MIKE tightly does everything but rain kisses on MIKE'S face.

  MIKE

  What's the-Then, without the distraction of being grappled by his rather overweight second-in-command, MIKE sees what the trouble is. His face fills with wonder. He walks slowly past HATCH to the dangling body. He looks at it ... then looks at LINOGE. LINOGE smiles back at him.

  11 INTERIOR: THE TOWN HALL, FEATURES FERD NIGHT.

  FERD

  Lloyd Wishman's killed himself! Chopped his face in two with a axe! Oh, God, it's awful! Blood everywhere!

  ROBBIE comes upstairs. His wife, SANDRA (a plain little thing), is there, and she grabs ineffectu
ally at his shoulder, probably wanting some comfort. He yanks her hand off him without so much as a look (pretty much the way he treats her even in ordinary circumstances) and goes to FERD.

  FERD

  (babbling)

  I ain't never seen nothin' like it! Knocked his own brains right out! And he wrote on the side of 124

  the new pumper, didn't make no sense

  136 STEPHEN KING

  ROBBIE

  (grabs him, shakes him) Get hold of yourself, Ferd! Get a damn grip!

  FERD quits babbling. It's so quiet now you could hear a pin drop except, of course, for the CEASELESS WHOOP OF THE STORM OUTSIDE. FERD'S eyes are filling with tears.

  FERD