Storm of the Century Read online

  STORM OF THE CENTURY 355 MOLLY

  258

  Stop! I'm warning you!

  LINOGE sweeps on, and A CHANGE IS TAKING PLACE as he walks: the pea coat is becoming a robe of royal silver-blue, decorated with suns and moons and other symbols of cabalistic design. The watch cap is becoming the tall, pointed hat of a SORCERER or WIZARD. And the cane is becoming a SCEPTER. The wolf's head is still there, but now it tops a GLOWING WAND worthy of Merlin.

  MOLLY either doesn't see or doesn't care. All she wants to do is to stop him. She steps to the head of the center aisle and levels the pistol.

  MOLLY Stop, or I'll shoot!

  But SONNY and ALEX HABER crowd into the aisle, blocking her off from LINOGE. LUCIEN and JOHNNY HARRIMAN grab her ... and HATCH plucks the gun neatly from her hand. During all this, MIKE only sits with his head down, unable to look.

  LUCIEN Sorry, Missus Anderson . . . but we made a deal.

  MOLLY

  We didn't understand the deal! We didn't understand what we were doing! Mike was right, we didn't. . . didn't . . . Jack, stop him! Don't let him take Ralphie! Don't let him take my son!

  JACK I can't do that, Molly.

  (then, with some resentment)

  And you wouldn't be screaming like that, either, if it'd been me with the black marble.

  She looks at him, unbelieving. He holds her eyes for a moment, then wavers. But ANGELA is there to put her arm around him, and ANGIE looks at MOLLY with bright hostility.

  ANGIE Can't you be a good loser?

  ^

  356 STEPHEN KING

  MOLLY This isn't a ... a baseball game!

  137 INTERIOR: THE KIDS' CORNER, WITH LINOGE.

  He is now a WIZARD from head to toe, wrapped in a BRIGHT BLUE AURA. We once more see his GREAT AGE. The other parents and friends surrounding the sleeping children draw back from him in fear. He pays them absolutely no notice. He bends down, picks RALPHIE ANDERSON up in his arms, and gazes at the boy raptly.

  A

  138 INTERIOR: THE FOOT OF THE CENTER AISLE, WITH MOLLY.

  In her hysteria, she almost succeeds in struggling free from the big men holding her. She faces LINOGE along the length of the aisle with HYSTERICAL DEFIANCE.

  MOLLY

  You tricked us!

  LINOGE

  Perhaps you tricked yourselves.

  MOLLY He'll never belong to you! Never!

  259

  LINOGE lifts the sleeping boy up like an offering. The BLUE GLOW around him INTENSIFIES . . .

  and now it begins to STEAL OVER RALPHIE, as well. LINOGE'S age is not kindly but cruel, a thing to be feared. And his smile is horrible in its triumph ... a thing to haunt our dreams.

  LINOGE

  But he will. He'll come to love me. (pause) He'll come to call me Father.

  There is an awful truth to this against which MOLLY cannot hold out. She slumps in the hands holding her back, ceasing to resist. LINOGE holds her gaze a moment longer, then turns, the hem of his silk robe flaring out. He strides for the door. Everyone turns to watch him.

  STORM OF THE CENTURY 357

  139 INTERIOR: MIKE.

  He gets up. That DEAD LOOK is still on his face. HATCH reaches for him.

  HATCH Mike, I don't think

  MIKE

  (pushes his hand off) Don't touch me. Don't ever touch me again. Not any of you.

  (looks at MOLLY) Not any of you.

  He walks up the side aisle. No one stops him.

  140 INTERIOR: THE CORRIDOR OF THE TOWN HALL.

  MIKE steps out of the meeting hall just in time to see the hem of LINOGE'S robe going out the front door and into the night. He pauses, then goes after.

  141 EXTERIOR: THE FRONT STEPS OF THE TOWN HALL NIGHT.

  MIKE comes out and stands looking, his breath PUFFING SILVER in the moonlight.

  142 EXTERIOR: LINOGE AND RALPHIE IN FRONT OF THE TOWN HALL NIGHT.

  LINOGE is still GLOWING BRIGHT BLUE. THE CAMERA TRACKS WITH HIM as he carries RALPHIE

  down the slope toward the street . . . the shore . . . the reach . . . the mainland . . . and all the leagues of Earth beyond. We see LINOGE'S tracks, first quite heavy . . . then light. . . then just faint prints.

  As LINOGE passes the cupola with the memorial bell inside, he begins rising into the air. Only an inch or two at first, but the distance between him and the earth is growing. It's almost as if he's climbing stairs we can't see.

  143 EXTERIOR: MIKE, ON THE TOWN HALL STEPS NIGHT.

  He cries out after his son, putting all his grief and loss into that one shouted word: 358 STEPHEN KING

  MIKE Ralphie!

  144 EXTERIOR: LINOGE AND RALPHIE NIGHT.

  RALPHIE opens his eyes and looks around.

  RALPHIE

  Where am I? Where's my daddy?

  260

  MIKE (voice, growing faint) Ralphie . . .

  LINOGE

  It doesn't matter, fairy-saddle boy. Look down!

  RALPHIE looks down. They are flying over the reach now. Their shadows flee across the waves, etched in moonlight. RALPHIE smiles, delighted.

  RALPHIE Whoa! Neat! (pause) Is it real?

  LINOGE Real as rhubarb.

  RALPHIE looks back at:

  145 EXTERIOR: LITTLE TALL ISLAND, FROM RALPHIE'S POINT OF VIEW NIGHT.

  This is almost a negative image of our introduction to the island night instead of day, going away instead of approaching. In the moonlight, Little Tall looks almost like an illusion. Which, to RALPHIE, it will soon be.

  146 EXTERIOR: RESUME LINOGE AND RALPHIE NIGHT.

  RALPHIE

  (very impressed) Where we going?

  LINOGE tosses his scepter into the air ahead of him. It rises and STORM OF THE CENTURY 359

  resumes the position it held in the visions of LINOGE and the FLYING CHILDREN. Its shadow, now thrown by the moon instead of by the sun, lies across LINOGE'S face. He bends and kisses the fairy saddle on RALPHIE'S nose.

  LINOGE

  Anywhere. Everywhere. All the places you ever dreamed of.

  RALPHIE What about my mom and dad? When are they coming?

  LINOGE

  (smiling) Why don't we worry about them later?

  Well, he's the grown-up . . . and besides, this is fun.

  RALPHIE Okay.

  LINOGE turns banks like an airplane, almost and flies away from us.

  147 EXTERIOR: MIKE, ON THE TOWN HALL STEPS NIGHT.

  He's weeping. JOANNA STANHOPE comes out and puts a hand on his shoulder. She speaks to him with infinite kindness.

  JOANNA

  Mike. Come in.

  He ignores her, going down the steps and stumbling his way into the new snow. It's tough going for folks who aren't wizards, but he flounders ahead just the same, even though it's waist deep at times. He follows LINOGE'S footprints, and THE CAMERA TRACKS WITH HIM, watching as the impressions grow lighter and lighter, less and less tied to the earth where mortals must live.

  261

  Past the memorial bell, there is one more faint imprint. . . then nothing. Just acres of virgin snow.

  MIKE collapses beside that last print, CRYING. He holds his hands up to the EMPTY SKY, the GLOWING MOON.

  360 STEPHEN KING

  MIKE

  (low)

  Bring him back. Please. I'll do anything if you bring my son back. Anything you want.

  148 EXTERIOR: THE DOORS TO THE TOWN HALL NIGHT.

  They are crowded with ISLANDERS who stand there, silently watching. JOHNNY and SONNY, FERD and LUCIEN, TAVIA and DELLA, HATCH and MELINDA.

  MIKE (pleading voice) Bring him back!

  The faces of the ISLANDERS do not change. We may see sympathy, but we will see no mercy.

  Not here; not among these. What's done is done.

  149 EXTERIOR: RESUME MIKE, ON THE SNOWFIELD NIGHT.

  He huddles in the snow beyond the cupola holding the memorial bell. Holds his arms out to the moon and the light-drenched water one final time, but without hope.r />
  MIKE

  (whispers) Please bring him back.

  THE CAMERA begins to PULL UP AND AWAY. Little by little, MIKE loses his human dimension and becomes just a black speck on a VAST WHITE SNOWFIELD. Beyond is the headland, the tumbled lighthouse, and the waves of the reach.

  FADE TO BLACK.

  MIKE (voice) (a final whispered plea) I love him. Have mercy.

  THIS ENDS ACT 6.

  Act?

  150 EXTERIOR: THE REACH A SUMMER MORNING.

  The sky is bright blue, and so is the reach. Fishing boats chug stolidly; pleasure boats dash, dragging wakes and whooping water-skiers. Overhead, gulls SWOOP AND CRY.

  151 EXTERIOR: A SEACOAST TOWN MORNING. TITLE CARD: MACHIAS, SUMMER OF 1989.

  152 EXTERIOR: A SMALL CLAPBOARD BUILDING ON MAIN STREET MORNING.

  The sign out front reads SEACOAST COUNSELING SERVICES. And, below this: THERE IS A SOLUTION. WE'LL FIND IT TOGETHER.

  THE CAMERA MOVES IN on a side window. A WOMAN sits there, looking out. Her eyes are red, her cheeks wet with tears. Her hair is gray, and at first we do not recognize MOLLY ANDERSON. She has aged twenty years.

  153 INTERIOR: THE COUNSELOR'S OFFICE MORNING.

  MOLLY sits in a bentwood rocker, looking out at summer and CRYING SOUNDLESSLY. Sitting 262

  across from her is her COUNSELOR, a professional woman in a light cream-colored summer skirt and silk summer blouse. Nicely coiffed, nicely turned out, and looking at MOLLY with that kind of sympathy good psychologists show often helpful, but scary in its distance.

  The silence spins out. The COUNSELOR is waiting for MOLLY to break it, but MOLLY only sits in the rocker, looking out at summer with her streaming eyes.

  COUNSELOR You and Mike haven't slept together in ... how long?

  361

  362 STEPHEN KING

  MOLLY

  (looking out the window)

  Five months. Give or take. I could tell you exactly, if you thought it would help. The last time was the night before the big storm came. The Storm of the Century.

  COUNSELOR

  When you lost your son.

  MOLLY Correct. When I lost my son.

  COUNSELOR

  And Mike blames you for that loss.

  MOLLY I think he's going to leave me.

  COUNSELOR You're very afraid of that, aren't you?

  MOLLY

  I think he's running out of ways to stay. Do you understand what I mean by that?

  COUNSELOR

  Tell me again what happened to Ralphie.

  MOLLY

  Why? What good will it do? For God's sake, what good can it do? He's gone!

  The COUNSELOR makes no response. After a bit, MOLLY sighs and gives in.

  MOLLY

  It was the second day. We were in the town hall where we took shelter, you know. The storm . .

  . you can't believe how bad it was.

  STORM OF THE CENTURY 363

  COUNSELOR I was here. I went through it.

  MOLLY

  Yes you were here, Lisa. On the mainland. It's different on the island, (pause) Everything's different on the island, (pause) Anyway, Johnny Harriman came rushing in while we were having breakfast and said the lighthouse was going over. Everyone wanted to see, of course . . . and Mike .

  . .

  263

  154 EXTERIOR: THE ANDERSON HOUSE SUMMER MORNING.

  There's a SMALL WHITE CAR at the curb with the trunk lid up. There are two or three suitcases in it. Now the door opens and MIKE comes out, carrying two more. He closes the door, descends the porch steps, and goes down the walk. Every motion and gesture, every look back, tells us that this is a man who is leaving for good.

  MOLLY (voice-over)

  Mike told us it was whiteout, and to stay close to the building. Ralphie wanted to see . . . Pippa and all the kids wanted to go out and see . . . and so we took them. God help us, we took them.

  MIKE stops by the WEE FOLKS DAY-CARE sign. It's still chain-hung from a low branch of the yard maple, but now it looks dusty, somehow. Forgotten. Of no importance. MIKE yanks it down, looks at it, then turns and throws it back at the porch, momentarily FURIOUS.

  MOLLY (voice-over)

  It was a mistake for any of us to go out, especially the children. We underestimated the storm.

  Several people wandered away and were lost. Ralphie was one of them. Angie Carver found her way back. None of the others did.

  MIKE looks at the porch, where the sign has landed, then turns and walks down to his car. He puts the last couple of bags in and slams the trunk. As he starts around to the driver's side, digging the keys out of his pocket:

  HATCH (voice) Mike?

  364 STEPHEN KING

  MIKE turns. HATCH, looking strange in a T-shirt and Bermuda shorts, walks up to where he stands. He looks painfully unhappy to be here. MIKE looks back at him coolly.

  MIKE

  If you've got something to say, best say it. Ferry leaves at 11:10, and I don't intend to miss it.

  HATCH

  Where you going?

  (silence from MIKE) Don't, Michael. Don't leave.

  (silence from MIKE)

  Would it do you any good to tell you I haven't had a decent night's sleep since February?

  (no answer from MIKE)

  Would it do any good to tell you that . . . we might have been wrong?

  MIKE Hatch, I have to get going.

  HATCH

  Robbie says to tell you the constable's job is yours again whenever you want it. All you have to do is ask.

  MIKE

  Tell him where he can park his job. I'm done here. I've tried until I can't try anymore.

  He starts for the driver's door, and just before he swings in, HATCH touches his arm. MIKE whirls at that touch, eyes burning, as if he means to punch HATCH'S lights out. But HATCH doesn't flinch.

  264

  Maybe he thinks he deserves it.

  HATCH

  Molly needs you. Have you seen the way she is, now? Have you even looked?

  MIKE You look for me. Okay?

  STORM OF THE CENTURY 365

  HATCH

  (drops his eyes)

  Melly isn't doing very well, either. She takes a lot of tranquil-izers. I think she might be hooked on them.

  MIKE

  Too bad. But . . . you've got your daughter, at least. You may not sleep so well, but you can go into Pippa's bedroom and watch her sleep any night you want. Can't you?

  HATCH

  You're as self-righteous as ever. Can't see it any way but your way.

  MIKE swings behind the wheel and looks bleakly up at HATCH.

  MIKE

  I'm not anything. I'm empty scooped out as a gourd in November.

  HATCH If you could just try to understand

  MIKE

  I understand that the ferry leaves at 11:10, and if I don't get moving now, I'm going to miss it.

  Good luck, Hatch. Hope you catch up on your sleep.

  He slams the car door, starts the engine, and pulls out onto Main Street. HATCH helplessly watches him go.

  155 EXTERIOR: THE LAWN OF THE TOWN HALL MORNING.

  THE CAMERA looks down toward Main Street and picks up MIKE'S car, heading toward the docks where the interisland ferry is backed up, ENGINE RUMBLING. We HOLD for a moment, then PAN

  LEFT, to the cupola and the memorial bell. A second plaque has been added, to the right of the war dead. Heading it is this: THOSE LOST IN THE STORM OF THE CENTURY, 1989. Below are the names: MARTHA CLARENDON, PETER GODSOE, WILLIAM SOAMES, LLOYD WISHMAN, CORA STANHOPE, JANE KINGSBURY, WILLIAM TIMMONS, GEORGE KIRBY . . . and, at the very bottom, RALPH

  ANDERSON.

  I

  366 STEPHEN KING

  THE CAMERA MOVES IN ON HIS NAME.

  156 INTERIOR: THE COUNSELOR'S OFFICE MORNING.

  MOLLY has stopped talking and just looks out the window. Fresh tears well in her eyes and spill down her cheeks, but her weeping REMAINS SILENT.

  CO
UNSELOR Molly . . . ?

  265

  MOLLY

  He wandered away into the whiteout. Maybe he wound up with Bill Timmons, the gas station man. I like to think so; that he was with somebody at the end. They must have lost their bearings completely and gone into the water. They were the two who were never found.

  COUNSELOR

  There's a great deal of this story you haven't told me, isn't there?

  (silence from MOLLY) Until you do, until you tell someone, it will keep festering.

  MOLLY

  It will fester no matter what I do. Some wounds can never be cleaned out. I didn't understand that . . . before . . . but now I do.