ll right . . . but I'll remember this.

HATCH You do that. Did you lock the place up?

ROBBIE

(contemptuously) Of course. Do you think I'm stupid?

HATCH won't touch that one with a ten-foot pole . . . although he probably could if he wasn't set on being as diplomatic as possible. He only nods and starts slogging back toward the Island Services vehicle, his flashlight cutting arcs through the falling snow. HENRY opens his door again to call after him.

HENRY

Can you raise the town hall on the CB? Tell Carla and Sandy we're okay?

HATCH gives him a thumbs-up and climbs into the truck. He revs the engine, then pulls slowly around so he's headed back toward the market, all four wheels whirring and spuming up snow. The Sno-Cat, with ROBBIE at the controls, follows.

43 INTERIOR: THE CAB OF THE ISLAND SERVICES VEHICLE, WITH HATCH.

HATCH (on the radio) Ursula? Are you there, Ursula? Come on back?

152 STEPHEN KING

44 INTERIOR: THE TOWN OFFICE.

There's a good-sized crowd, very anxious, grouped around URSULA. Among them is FERD ANDREWS, now out of his coat, sipping a hot drink and wearing a blanket. Also prominent are MOLLY, CARLA, and SANDY, who now has DON with her, for comfort.

HATCH (staticky radio voice) . . . sala? . . . Come on ... ack . . .

URSULA ignores the voice for a moment, holding the mike against her shoulder and looking uneasily at the crowd, which is hemming her in even more closely now, eager to hear any fresh news. These are her neighbors, sure, but . . .

MOLLY sees the incipient agoraphobic reaction and turns to the crowd.

MOLLY

Come on, folks, give Ursula some room. Back off ... If we hear anything, you'll know.

TESS MARCHANT

(joining in)

Move back! Move back! If you don't have anything else to do, go on downstairs and watch the storm on the Weather Network!

UPTON BELL

Can't! The cable's out!

But they move back and give URSULA some room. She flashes MOLLY and TESS a look of thanks, then raises the microphone and pushes the transmit button.

URSULA

You're weak, but I've got you, Hatch. Talk slow and loud, come on back.

45 INTERIOR: THE ISLAND SERVICES VEHICLE, WITH HATCH.

STORM OF THE CENTURY 153

HATCH

Robbie and Henry are fine. Thought you'd want to know that, come back.

46 INTERIOR: THE TOWN HALL, FEATURING URSULA.

SANDRA BEALS and CARLA BRIGHT both register relief. DON, never one to rest for long when there are toys to be destroyed and peers to humiliate, tears free of his mother and hurtles back downstairs.

DON BEALS

My dad's okay! He's the town manager! He can pass a football nine miles! Last year he sold a billion-billion dollars of insurance! Who wants to play monkey?

URSULA Is Lloyd Wishman really dead, Hatch?

47 INTERIOR: THE ISLAND SERVICES VEHICLE, WITH HATCH.

He hesitates and exchanges a glance with KIRK FREEMAN. No help there. HATCH knows he must be careful; deciding what information to give out and what to sit on is really MIKE'S job. He checks the rearview, just to make sure the Sno-Cat's still behind him. It is.

HATCH

Uh . . . I don't know all the details yet, Urse. Just tell Sandy and Carla their boys'll be a while longer. Mike wants 'em over to the store for a little bit.

URSULA (very staticky voice) Why . . . ore? Is that . . . ocked up? Molly wants . . . know . . .

HATCH

Can't hear you very well, Urse you're breakin' up. I'll try you again in a little while. This is Island Services, 10-60 by.

He hangs up the mike with an expression of guilty relief, sees KIRK looking at him, and gives KIRK a little shrug.

HATCH

Hell, / don't know what to tell 'em! Let Mike do that part it's what they pay him for.

154 STEPHEN KING

KIRK

Yeah grocery money, with a few bucks left over for lottery tickets.

48 INTERIOR: MIKE AND LINOGE, IN THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE NIGHT.

MIKE is sitting in the chair he dragged over. LINOGE is sitting on his bunk with his back to the wall and his knees apart. They look at each other through the bars. In the background, by the desk, JACK CARVER stands watching them.

MIKE

Where's your cane?

(no response from LINOGE) You had a cane I know you did where is it?

(no response from LINOGE) Sir, how did you get to Little Tall Island?

(no response)

MIKE holds up the Polaroid that shows the message over MARTHA'S living room door.

MIKE

"Give me what I want and I'll go away." Did you write that? You did, didn't you?

(no response) Just what is it you want, sir?

No response . . . but the prisoner's eyes gleam. The tips of his teeth show in that creepy little smile. MIKE gives him time, but there is no more.

MIKE

Andre Linoge. I take it you're French. There are a lot of people of French descent on the island. We've got St. Pierres . . . Robichauxes . . . Bissonettes . . .

(no response)

What happened to Peter Godsoe? Did you have something to do with that?

(no response)

How did you happen to know he was running pot out of his warehouse? Always assuming that he was?

STORM OF THE CENTURY 155

LINOGE

I know a lot. Constable. I know, for instance, that when you were at the University of Maine, and in danger of losing your scholarship over a D in chemistry during your sophomore year, you cheated on the midterm exam. Not even your wife knows that, does she?

MIKE is rocked. He doesn't want LINOGE to see it, but he can't help it.

MIKE

I don't know where you get your information, but you're wrong on that one. I was going to I had a crib sheet, Mr. Linoge, and every intention of using it but I threw it away at the last minute.

LINOGE

I'm sure that over the years, you've convinced yourself that's the truth . . . but right now we both know better. You ought to tell Ralphie sometime. It would make a nice bedtime story, I think. "How Daddy Got Through College."

(shifts his attention to JACK)

You never cheated on an exam in college, did you? Never went to college, and nobody bothers you for pulling D's in high school.

156 STEPHEN KING

JACK is staring, wide-eyed.

LINOGE

They still put you in jail for assault, though ... if you get caught. You were lucky last year, weren't you? You and Lucien Fournier and Alex Haber. Lucky boys.

JACK Shut up!

LINOGE

That fella just rubbed you guys the wrong way, didn't he? Had kind of a lisp . . . and that blond hair, curly like a girl's hair . . . not to mention the way he walked . . . Still, three against one . . . and pool cues . . . well . . . hardly sporting

LINOGE makes a tsk-tsk sound. JACK takes a step toward the desk, and his Ests CLENCH.

I'm warning you, mister!

LINOGE

(smiling)

The kid lost an eye how about that, huh? You could go and see for yourself. He lives in Lewiston. He wears a paisley eye-patch his sister made him. He can't cry out of that eye the tear duct is toast. He lies in bed late at night and listens to the cars on Lisbon Street and the live bands from the bottle clubs, the ones that can play anything as long as it's "Louie Louie" or "Hang On Sloopy," and he prays to St. Andrew to bring back the sight in his left eye. He can't drive anymore; he lost his depth perception. That happens when you lose an eye. He can't even read for long, because it gives him headaches. Still, he had that swishy way of walking . . . and that lisp . . . and you guys kind of liked the way his hair looked, all around his face like it was, although you'd never say that to each other, would you? Kind of turned you on. Kind of wondered what it would feel like to run your hands through it

JACK grabs the gun off the desk and points it at the cell.

STORM OF THE CENTURY 157

Shut up or I'll shut you up! I swear!

MIKE

Jack, put that down!

LINOGE never moves, but his face has taken on a kind of DARK GLOW. No special contact lenses or special-effects tricks here; it's all in his face goading . . . hateful . . . powerful.

LINOGE

There's another bedtime story for a stormy night. I can see you in bed with your arm around your little boy's shoulders. "Buster, Daddy wants to tell you how he put the nasty queer man's eye out with the end of a pool cue, 'cause "

JACK pulls the trigger of the pistol. MIKE falls off the chair he's been sitting in. He utters a CRY OF PAIN. LINOGE never budges from his place on the bunk, but now MIKE is on the floor, face down.

FADE TO BLACK. THIS ENDS ACT 1.

Act 2

49 EXTERIOR: THE ISLAND MARKET NIGHT.

The storm is HOWLING, the snow falling so thick and fast the store looks like a ghost.

SOUND: A RENDING, SPLINTERING CRACK. A tree falls, missing GODSOE'S truck but mashing the front end of MOLLY'S little car and pulverizing one end of the porch rail.

JACK (voice-over) Mike! Mike, are you all right?

50 INTERIOR: THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE.

MIKE is getting to his knees. His right hand is clapped to his left biceps, and a little blood is trickling through his fingers. JACK is overwhelmed with remorse and terror at what he's done ... or almost done. He drops the gun back on the desk and rushes forward. MIKE, meanwhile, is getting to his feet.

(babbling) Mike, I'm sorry ... I didn't mean . . . are you all r

MIKE pushes him violently backward.

MIKE Keep a safe distance from him didn't I tell you that?

But that's not why MIKE pushed him; MIKE pushed him for being an asshole, and JACK knows it. He stands between the cell and the desk, his mouth quivering and his eyes wet. MIKE takes his hand away from his arm to examine the damage. His shirt is torn, and blood is oozing out of the rip.

158

STORM OF THE CENTURY 159

SOUND: ENGINES. The four-wheel drive and the Sno-Cat, approaching.

MIKE Barely clipped the skin. Lucky.

(relief from JACK) But six inches to the left, I'm dead and he's laughing.

MIKE turns and looks at the cell. One of the bars has a scar of fresh, gleaming metal. MIKE reaches out and touches this with the tip of one finger, his expression wondering.

MIKE Where

LINOGE Here.

He holds out one hand, curled into a fist. Like a man in a dream, MIKE puts his arm through the bars, his hand open and palm up.

Mike, no!

MIKE pays no attention. LINOGE'S curled hand hovers over his palm, then opens. Something small and black drops. MIKE withdraws his hand. JACK comes forward a step or two. MIKE tweezes the tiny object between his fingers and holds it up so they can both see it. It's the slug from the bullet JACK fired.

SOUND OF ENGINES IS LOUDER.

MIKE

(to LINOGE) You caught this? You did, didn't you?

LINOGE only looks at him, smiling, saying nothing.

51 EXTERIOR: THE MARKET NIGHT.

The Island Services four-wheel drive pulls into the parking area, and

160 STEPHEN KING

the Sno-Cat pulls in next to it. The four men get out and look at the downed tree that's mashed the car and the porch.

HATCH Will his insurance cover that, Robbie?

ROBBIE

(don't bother me with trivialities) Come on. Let's get out of this.

They start up the porch steps.

52 INTERIOR: THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE.

MIKE'S shirtsleeve is rolled up, showing a shallow gash across his biceps. There's an open first-aid kit on the desk beside the handgun. JACK puts a folded-over gauze pad on the wound, then anchors it with a Band-Aid.

Mike, I'm really sorry.

MIKE takes a deep breath, holds it, lets it out, and stops being mad. It takes an effort, but he manages.

The market's main door opens. The bell above it TINKLES; there's the CLOMP OF BOOTS and the MURMUR OF APPROACHING VOICES.

MIKE That's Hatch!

JACK About the stuff that guy said . . .

JACK turns a hateful, bewildered look on LINOGE, who looks back at him calmly. MIKE holds up a hand to quiet JACK. The door opens. HATCH comes in, followed by HENRY BRIGHT and KIRK FREEMAN. Last of all is ROBBIE BEALS, looking both truculent and scared. Not a good combination.

ROBBIE

All right, what's going on here?

STORM OF THE CENTURY 161 MIKE

Robbie, I wish I knew.

53 EXTERIOR: THE INTERSECTION OF MAIN AND ATLANTIC NIGHT.

The storm HOWLS. The drifts are deeper than ever now.

54 EXTERIOR: THE STORE WINDOW OF THE ISLAND DRUGSTORE NIGHT.

There's a mural showing winter scenes: folks sledding, skiing, and skating. Hanging in front of it on threads are bottles of vitamins. KEEP YOUR WINTER RESISTANCE UP WITH NU-U GLOW VITAMINS! the legend at the top of the mural says. Standing by the wall to the left is a pendulum clock reading 8:30.

SOUND: Another of those RENDING, SPLINTERING crashes. A HUGE BRANCH crashes through the show window, SHATTERING IT and pulling down the mural. Snow goes flying into the drugstore.

55 EXTERIOR: THE TOWN HALL NIGHT.

We can barely see it for the thickly falling snow.

56 INTERIOR: A CORNER OF THE TOWN HALL BASEMENT.

This is kid country. PIPPA HATCHER, HARRY ROBICHAUX, HEIDI ST. PIERRE, and FRANK BRIGHT are already asleep. MOLLY is sitting on the side of RALPHIE'S bed. RALPHIE is pretty sleepy.

Outside, THE WIND GUSTS NOISILY. The building, although brick, CREAKS. MOLLY looks up.

RALPHIE

We won't blow away, will we? Like the house of straw and the house of twigs?

MOLLY

No, because the town hall's made of bricks, just like the third little pig's house. The storm can huff and puff all night long, and we'll still be safe.

RALPHIE

(sleepy) Is Daddy safe?

162 STEPHEN KING

MOLLY Yes. Safe as can be.

She kisses the fairy-saddle birthmark on the bridge of his nose.

RALPHIE

He won't let the bad man get out and hurt us, will he?

MOLLY Nope. I promise.

DON BEALS

(angry, yelling voice) Put me down! Stop it! Leave me alone!

MOLLY turns toward:

57 INTERIOR: THE STAIRS TO THE BASEMENT NIGHT.

SANDRA BEALS is trudging down them, carrying a kicking, squealing DON in her arms. The expression on her face suggests that she is used to such tantrums . . . too used to them, perhaps.

As she reaches the foot of the stairs, MOLLY comes hurrying to help, and DON finally succeeds in squirming free of his mother's grasp. He's tired and furious, exhibiting the sort of behavior that causes young marrieds to resolve never to have children.

MOLLY Need some help?

SANDRA BEALS (with a tired smile) No . . . he's just a little scratchy . . .

DON BEALS My daddy puts me to bed, not you!