(etc.)

STORM OF THE CENTURY 339

ROBBIE

Will somebody move the question of who can vote? It's probably not parliamentary, but we have to move on. I'd prefer to hear from one of the parents.

A moment of TENSE SILENCE, then:

* 1

MELINDA HATCHER

I move everybody votes.

CARLA BRIGHT I second it.

MIKE This isn't

ANGIE Shut up! You've had your say, now just shut up!

ROBBIE

It's been moved and seconded that everyone be allowed to vote on whether or not to give Mr. Linoge what he has demanded. Those in favor?

Every hand goes up except for MIKE'S. He sees that MOLLY has also raised her hand, sees she won't look at him, and something in him dies a little.

ROBBIE Those opposed?

Not a single hand goes up. MIKE simply sits in the front row, his head dropped.

ROBBIE

(whacks the gavel) The motion carries.

TESS MARCHANT Call the question, Robbie Beals. The real question.

340 STEPHEN KING

118 INTERIOR: THE BASEMENT, WITH LINOGE.

He looks up at the ceiling, EYES GLEAMING in the gloom. They're going to vote, and he knows it.

119 INTERIOR: RESUME TOWN MEETING HALL NIGHT.

JOANNA

For God's sake let's vote and have done!

MIKE

My son isn't a part of this. Let's understand that, all right? He's not a part of this . . . obscenity.

MOLLY Yes. He is.

UTTER SILENCE greets this. MIKE stands up and looks unbelievingly at his wife. They face each other that way across the length of the meeting hall.

MOLLY

We've never shirked our duty, Michael, we've taken part in all the life of this island, and we'll take part in this.

MIKE You don't mean it you can't mean it.

MOLLY I do.

MIKE It's insane.

MOLLY

Maybe but it's not an insanity we made. Michael

MIKE

I'm leaving. Screw this. Screw all of you. I'm taking my son and leaving.

He gets about three steps before the self-appointed sergeants-at-arms grab him and yank him back to his seat. MOLLY sees MIKE struggling,

STORM OF THE CENTURY 341

sees how rough they're being they don't like his disapproval of this highly questionable decision and runs down the aisle toward him.

MIKE Hatch! Help me!

But HATCH turns away, FACE FLUSHING WITH EMBARRASSMENT. And when MIKE lunges in his direction, LUCIEN smashes him in the nose. Blood flows.

MOLLY Stop it! Stop hurting him! Mike, are you all right? Are you

MIKE

Get away from me. You want to do it before I lose control of myself and spit in your face.

She takes a step back from him, eyes huge and shocked.

MOLLY

Mike, if you'd only see . . . this isn't our decision to make alone. This affects the whole town!

MIKE

I know it does what else have I been saying? Get away from me, Molly.

She backs away, GRIEVING and SORROWFUL. SONNY BRAUTIGAN hands MIKE a handkerchief.

MIKE

You can let go. I'll sit.

They let go, but warily. On the podium, ROBBIE looks on with unmistakable satisfaction. "This may be a bad situation," his face says, "but at least our self-righteous prick of a constable is taking a face-washing, and that's something."

MOLLY, meanwhile, backs away from MIKE, who won't look at her. Her face twists and crumples. WEEPING, she walks toward the back of the room. People sitting on the aisle pat her hands and WHISPER COMFORTS and ENCOURAGEMENTS as she goes "That's all right,

342 STEPHEN KING

deah" . . . "He'll come around" . . . "You're doing the right thing." At the back of the room, MELINDA, JILL, and LINDA ST. PIERRE enfold her.

HATCH slides close to MIKE, almost humming with shame.

HATCH Mike, I

MIKE

(doesn't look at him) Shut up. Get away from me.

HATCH

When you've had a chance to think about it, you'll understand. You'll come around. It's the only thing we can do. What else is there? Die for a principle? Every one of us? Including those who're too young to understand why they're dying? You need to think about it.

MIKE at last looks up.

MIKE And if it's Pippa that Linoge ends up taking?

A long silence as HATCH thinks. Then he meets MIKE'S eyes.

HATCH

I'll tell myself she died as an infant. That it was a crib death, something no one could help or foresee. And I'll believe it. Melly and me, we'll both believe it.

ROBBIE hammers on the podium some more with the gavel.

ROBBIE

Oyez, oyez this question has been called. Do we or do we not give Mr. Linoge what he has asked for, pursuant to his promise that he will leave us in peace? How say you, Little Tall? Those in favor, signify in the usual way.

There is a moment of BREATHLESS SILENCE, and then, at the back of the room, ANDY ROBICHAUX raises his hand.

STORM OF THE CENTURY 343

ANDY I'm Harry's father, and I vote yes.

JILL ROBICHAUX I'm his mother, and so do I.

HENRY Carla and I vote yes.

LINDA ST. PIERRE raises her hand. So does SANDRA BEALS, and at the podium, ROBBIE raises his.

MELINDA (raises her hand) Yes. We have no choice.

HATCH No choice.

He raises his hand.

URSULA I vote yes it's the only way.

She raises her hand, and so does TAVIA.

JACK Got to.

Up goes his hand. ANGELA takes a long, loving look at the sleeping BUSTER, then raises her own.

The eyes of everyone in the room turn to MOLLY. She kneels, kisses RALPHIE on the fairy saddle on his nose, then rises to her feet. She speaks to them all ... but in a way, she speaks only to MIKE, her face pleading for understanding.

MOLLY

To lose one in life is better than to lose them all in death. I vote yes.

��

344 STEPHEN KING

She raises her hand. Soon other hands go up. THE CAMERA RANGES AMONG all the folks we have come to know, watching as every hand goes up ... save one.

ROBBIE draws the moment out, looking at the forest of raised arms and solemn faces. To give these people the credit they're due, they have made a terrible decision . . . and know it.

ROBBIE

(soft) Those opposed?

The raised hands go down. MIKE, still looking at the floor, hoists his hand high in the air.

ROBBIE I count all in favor save one. The motion is carried.

120 INTERIOR: THE REGULATOR CLOCK, CLOSE-UP.

The minute hand reaches 9:30, and the CLOCK CHIMES ONCE.

121 INTERIOR: RESUME TOWN MEETING HALL NIGHT.

The doors open. LINOGE steps in, his cane in one hand, the small chamois bag in the other.

LINOGE

Folks, have you reached your decision?

ROBBIE -j Yes . . . we've voted in favor.

LINOGE

Excellent.

He walks along the back row, then pauses when he reaches the center aisle. He looks at the parents.

LINOGE

You've made the right choice.

STORM OF THE CENTURY 345

MOLLY turns away, sickened by this smiling monster's approval. LINOGE sees her revulsion, and his smile broadens. He makes his way slowly down the center aisle, holding the bag of marbles out before him.

He mounts the steps, and ROBBIE moves away from him rapidly, his face full of terror. LINOGE stands by the podium, looking at his hostages with a kindly smile.

LINOGE

You've done a hard thing, my friends, but despite what the constable may have told you, it's also a good thing. The right thing. The only thing, really, that loving, responsible people could have done, under the circumstances.

He holds out the bag by the drawstring, so it hangs down from his hand.

LINOGE

These are weirding stones. They were old when the world was young, and used to decide great issues long before Atlantis sank into the African Ocean. There are seven white stones in here . . . and one black one.

LINOGE pauses . . . smiles ... a smile that shows the tips of his fangs.

LINOGE

You're eager for me to be gone, and I don't blame you. Will one parent of each child come forward, please? Let's finish this up.

122 INTERIOR: THE ISLANDERS.

Realizing for the first time on a gut level what they have done. Realizing also that it's too late to turn back.

123 INTERIOR: LINOGE, CLOSE-UP.

Smiling. Showing the tips of his fangs. And holding out the bag. It's time to choose.

FADE TO BLACK. THIS ENDS ACT 5.

Act 6

124 EXTERIOR: THE REACH NIGHT.

The snow has stopped, and now MOONLIGHT beats a gilded track across the reach toward the mainland.

125 EXTERIOR: MAIN STREET NIGHT. Snow-clogged and silent.

126 EXTERIOR: THE TOWN HALL NIGHT.

Dark on the right, BRIGHTLY CANDLELIT on the left, where the meeting hall is.

127 INTERIOR: THE MEETING HALL NIGHT.

Slowly, slowly, the parents come down the center aisle: JILL, URSULA, JACK, LINDA, SANDRA, HENRY, and MELINDA. At the rear of the group is MOLLY ANDERSON. She looks pleadingly at MIKE.

MOLLY

Mike, please try to understand

MIKE

Do you want me to understand? Go back and sit with him, then. Refuse to take part in this obscenity.

MOLLY I can't. If you could only see . . .

MIKE is looking down between his legs at the floor. He doesn't want to look at her, doesn't want to look at any of it. She sees this and goes on, sorrowfully, up the steps.

The PARENTS range themselves in a line on the stage. LINOGE looks at them with the benign smile of a dentist assuring a child that this won't hurt, this won't hurt at all.

346

STORM OF THE CENTURY 347

LINOGE

It's perfectly simple. You each draw a stone from the bag. The child whose parent draws the black stone comes with me. To live long . . . see far . . . and know much. Mrs. Robi-chaux? Jill? Would you start us, please?

He offers her the bag. At first it seems she won't reach into it ... or can't.

ANDY

Go on, honey do it.

She gives him a haunted look, then reaches into the bag, feels around, and comes out with her hand tightly clasped around a stone. She looks as though she might faint.

LINOGE Mrs. Hatcher?

MELINDA takes a stone. SANDRA is next. She reaches toward the bag . . . then draws away.

SANDRA

Robbie, I can't! You!

But ROBBIE doesn't want to be that near LINOGE.

ROBBIE Go on! Draw!

She does, and stands back, little mouth quivering, her hand clasped so tightly around the stone that the fingers are white. Next is HENRY BRIGHT, feeling around a long time, rejecting one (or two) in favor of another. Then JACK. He chooses fast, then steps back and gives ANGIE a desperate, hopeful smile. LINDA ST. PIERRE draws one. That leaves URSULA and MOLLY.

LINOGE

Ladies?

URSULA You go first, Molly.

348 STEPHEN KING

MOLLY No. Please. You.

URSULA plunges her hand into the bag, takes one of the two remaining stones, then steps back, fist clenched. MOLLY steps forward, looks at LINOGE, and takes the last stone. LINOGE tosses the empty bag aside. It flutters toward the stage . . . then DISAPPEARS IN A DIM BLUE GLOW before it ever reaches the boards. No reaction from the ISLANDERS; their silence is so thick and tense you could cut it with a knife.

LINOGE

All right, my friends; so far it's done very well. Now, who has the courage to show first? To put fear aside and let sweet relief rush in to take its place?

No one responds. They stand, eight parents with their hands clenched before them, each in utter white-faced terror.

LINOGE

(genial)

Come, come have you never heard that the gods punish the fainthearted?

(cries out) Buster! I love you!

He opens his hand. The marble he holds is WHITE. The AUDIENCE MURMURS.

URSULA steps forward. She holds out her closed, trembling fist. She nerves herself up, and her hand springs open. This marble is also WHITE. The AUDIENCE MURMURS AGAIN.

ROBBIE

Let's see, Sandra. Show it.

SANDRA

I ... I ... Robbie, I can't ... I know it's Donnie ... I know it is ... I've never been lucky . . .

STORM OF THE CENTURY 349

Impatient with her, contemptuous of her, in a frenzy to know one way or the other, he goes to her, seizes her hand, and pries the fingers open. We can't see, and at first we can read nothing from his face. Then he seizes what she holds, and lifts it up so they can all see. He's GRINNING SAVAGELY; looks like Richard Nixon at a political rally.