Storm of the Century (33 page)

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(delighted)

It’s got a doggy head! A silver doggy head! How cool!

CAT suddenly understands and is horrified.

CAT

(to KIRK)

Go get Mike.

I don’t understand--what-CAT

Right now.

KIRK turns and does what she says, dropping the games and puzzles heedlessly on the stairs.

41 INTERIOR: DON REALS, CLOSE-UP.

DON

A doggy head! Yeah!

42 INTERIOR: THE SHELF, FROM DON’S POINT OF VIEW.

Hanging from the shelf is LINOGE’S cane. The SILVER SNARLING WOLF’S HEAD is now a FRIENDLY, GRINNING SAINT BERNARD.

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43 INTERIOR: RESUME THE CIRCLE OF KIDS.

MELINDA still kneels in front of PIPPA, but PIPPA is looking over her head, like the others.

A doggy! A doggy!

Bewildered and afraid, MELINDA turns to look. Nothing there.

44 INTERIOR: THE TOWN MEETING HALL--LATE AFTERNOON.

MIKE is just getting up from the stage. The interview with ANGELA is over.

(to JACK)

Why don’t you see if you can get her to lie down for a little while?

That’s a good-KIRK comes bursting through the clustered ISLANDERS.

Mike! Mike, there’s somethin’ wrong with the kids!

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FRIGHTENED MURMURS from the ISLANDERS ... but some do more than just MURMUR--JILL

and ANDY, MIKE and MOLLY, ROBBIE and SANDY, the BRIGHTS, HATCH, URSULA ... the parents BOLT FOR THE STAIRS.

(as if waking up)

Buster? Is something wrong with Buster? Buster! Buster!

She is up in a flash, knocking the cup of broth from JACK’S HAND.

Honey, wait-

(ignores him)

Buster!

45 INTERIOR: BUSTER, CLOSE-UP.

He breaks from the circle and runs to the shelf, where the cane hangs by the crook of its neck. He touches it ... and crumples to the floor as if shot.

46 INTERIOR: THE DAY-CARE AREA, WIDER--LATE AFTERNOON.

The rest of the children follow BUSTER’S lead. They are laughing and excited, like kids who have just been given free all-day passes to Disneyland. They reach out to thin air ... or to something only they can see ... and one by one CRUMPLE TO THE FLOOR, joining BUSTER.
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CAT

No! Don’t let them-A gaggle of FRIGHTENED PARENTS, led by JILL and ANDY, appear at the head of the stairs.

Get out of my way!

He shoves JILL aside--would have knocked her right downstairs, if not for ANDY’S last-second grab--and goes pelting down to the basement.

CAT ignores all this and runs across the room. HARRY ROBICHAUX touches thin air and falls down with the others. Now there’s only RALPHIE ANDERSON and PIPPA, who is back where the circle was. PIPPA is struggling in her mother’s grip. CAT grabs RALPHIE and pulls him back as he reaches up to touch . . . well, to touch whatever it is he sees.

Let me go! Wanna see doggy! Wanna see DOGGY!!

47 INTERIOR: CAT AND RALPHIE, CLOSE-UP.

CAT doesn’t see the cane hanging down from the shelf, but in this shot we do ... and RALPHIE does, too. He reaches for it ... almost touches it ... and CAT pulls him back out of reach.

CAT

Ralphie, what do you see?

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(struggling wildly)

Let me go! Let me go!

He reaches again . . . CAT pulls him back again . . . and then ROBBIE BEALS comes cannonading into her, wanting only to reach DON, who is lying in the pile of tangled limbs with his eyes closed and doughnut crumbs still on his mouth. CAT, meanwhile, loses her grip on RALPHIE and goes sprawling.

(to his knees)

Donnie!

RALPHIE is free. He lunges forward and touches the cane. For a moment we see a DEEP AND

PERFECT BLISS on his face.

Neat!

His eyes roll up to whites, and he sprawls with the others.

48 INTERIOR: PIPPA AND MELINDA, CLOSE-UP.

PIPPA is now the only child left-. She struggles furiously with her mother, tearing her shirt in her efforts to get free, her eyes continually turning to the area above the tangle of KIDS.

Pippa . . . Pippa, no ...

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Let me go!

HATCH comes pelting down the stairs and runs toward his wife and his daughter.

Pippa! What’s wr-MELINDA turns some of her attention toward her husband. A bad mistake. PIPPA’S sweet little face twists into an expression of rage, and she claws at her mother’s cheek, drawing blood in three lines.

Let me go you BITCH!

Stunned both by the pain and by the word her daughter has used, MELINDA loosens her grip. Only a little, and only for a moment, but it’s enough. PIPPA tears out of her grasp and races across the room.

Honey, no!

He goes after her.

49 INTERIOR: PIPPA, CLOSE-UP.

HATCH loses the race. PIPPA touches the cane an instant before he can grab her around the waist. We see that same BLISSFUL EXPRESSION on her face, and then she SWOONS AWAY with the others.

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No! No! NO!

He picks her up in his arms, looks at the place where her hand touched, and sees nothing but thin air. He turns around with her, unbelieving.

50 INTERIOR: THE BASEMENT OF THE TOWN HALL--LATE AFTERNOON.

Total pandemonium--as choreographed by our fearless director--reigns as ISLANDERS continue to push down the stairs and crowd into the makeshift day-care space. The dominant note is CONFUSED

TERROR.

ROBBIE is shaking DONNIE, trying to wake him up. HATCH stands up with PIPPA in his arms, beginning to WEEP. MIKE pushes through the cluster of people at the foot of the stairs and looks with unbelief at the TANGLE OF TINY BODIES.

They’re dead! He’s killed them!

No! Oh, God, please no! Not Sally! Not my Sally!

She pushes her way through the people in her way, actually knocking a couple of them over. She is maddened with grief and terror . . . this lady lost her husband just the day before, remember.

Shoving down the stairs--almost moshing down the stairs--comes ANDY ROBICHAUX, dragging JILL by the hand. ANDY knocks old BURT SOAMES down on the stairs. There’s a CRUNCH as BURT’S ARM BREAKS. The old guy SCREAMS WITH PAIN.

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(shrieking)

You’re trampling him! Stop! You’re killing him!

ANDY and JILL take no notice. They don’t care about BURT SOAMES; they care about HARRY, who is lying with the others.

Meanwhile, DELLA’S hysterical cry has been picked up by the others, and it jumps from person to person like a virulent flu germ: they’re dead; the kids are dead; LINOGE has somehow killed the children.

51 INTERIOR: MIKE, MOLLY, RALPHIE.

As MOLLY arrives, CRYING WITH TERROR, MIKE is gently lifting RALPHIE into a sitting position and dropping one ear to the boy’s face and chest.

Is he-MIKE takes her hand and holds it in front of RALPHIE’S nose and mouth. She feels his breath going in and out. An expression of deep relief comes over her face. Her shoulders sag.

Thank God. Is he asleep, or-

I don’t know.

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He scoops RALPH into his arms and stands up.

52 INTERIOR: THE BASEMENT DAY-CARE AREA, ANGLE ON THE STAIRS.

ROBBIE has DONNIE in his arms now. He runs for the stairs, with his BEWILDERED, TERRIFIED

wife tumbling along in his wake. His way is blocked by the SOAMESES; BETTY is just helping BURT

to his feet. Also nearby are JOHNNY HARRIMAN, SONNY BRAUTIGAN, and UPTON BELL. But the SOAMESES, unlucky parents of the late BILLY, are ROBBIE’S first obstacle.

(no great diplomat he)

Outta my way!

He shoves BURT, whose broken arm smashes against the side of the stairs. BURT SCREAMS

AGAIN, and BETTY grabs him again. JOHNNY, outraged, blocks ROBBIE’S path.

Here, here, now! That’s an old man you’re pushing around! Where do you think you’re going, anyway?

Let me by! I have to get him to a doctor!

Good luck to you, Robbie Beals--closest one’s across the reach in Machias, and the wind’s blowin’ a hurricane.

ROBBIE looks at him, wide-eyed, some semblance of sanity dawning. SONNY is right, of course. SANDRA joins ROBBIE and brushes DONNIE’S hair gently back from his brow. BETTY SOAMES, hugging her WEEPING HUSBAND, glares at them.

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53 INTERIOR: THE BASEMENT DAY-CARE AREA, ANGLE ON THE ANDERSONS.

MIKE is aware of the panic in the parents, which is bad, and the panic of the ISLANDERS in general, which could be even worse. He draws in a deep breath, and lets loose the LOUDEST SHOUT he can manage.

Everybody JUST. . . SHUT. . . UP!!!

Some people in their immediate vicinity quiet down . . . and that quiet SPREADS OUTWARD. Only ROBBIE BEALS doesn’t turn toward the constable, and by now that shouldn’t much surprise us.

Where’s Ferd? He’s got EMT training, at least . . . Ferd Andrews, where the hell are you?

(lost in the back of the crowd)

Here-We see him struggling to get through.

Get your ass down here! Folks, let him pass! My boy-

That’s enough. Shut up.

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Don’t you tell me to shut up, fatso. I’ve had all the crap out of you I’m going to take.

The two men face each other, each with an UNCONSCIOUS CHILD in his arms, but ready to brawl, just the same.

Stop it. Both of you. Robbie, I don’t think Don’s in any immediate danger. Or Pippa, or Ralphie, or any of them.

URSULA has been kneeling over SALLY, keening to her. Now MOLLY whispers something in her ear, and URSULA stands up.

Then . . . they’re not dead?

The ISLANDERS are all quiet now, watching and hoping. ANDY has got his son HARRY in his arms. JILL is standing next to them. Nearby, JACK is holding BUSTER while his wife--the haggard, newly gray-haired ANGIE--kisses the boy’s cheek and whispers in his ear.

I think . . . he’s sleeping.

This isn’t sleep. If they were asleep, we could wake them up.

(finally at the front of the crowd)

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Then what is it?

I don’t know.

He looks down into RALPHIE’S serene face, as if trying to read whatever is happening behind the boy’s closed eyes. THE CAMERA FOLLOWS HIS GAZE, moving in and in on RALPHIE’S face, from MEDIUM SHOT to CLOSE-UP, from CLOSE-UP to EXTREME CLOSE-UP. And as it does, we:

SLOWLY DISSOLVE TO:

54 EXTERIOR: BLUE SKY, WHITE CLOUDS--DAY.

The sky above is that DEEP, PENETRATING BLUE that we see only from airplanes. We are at about 22,000 feet above the surface of the earth. Below us, at 21,000 or so, is a WIDE DECK OF

CLOUD--an enormous ballroom floor in the sky. We can see tendrils of cloud smoking off the top of this deck and into the blue. Up where we are, all is sunlit and serene. Below, still driving like hell, is the Storm of the Century.

A V-SHAPE becomes visible through the clouds, grayish against the white. It’s like watching a submarine running just below the surface, or a plane about to break into the clear. You’d think “plane,”

given our location, but it isn’t.

The V-SHAPE rises out of the clouds. At the tip of the V is LINOGE, dressed in his watch cap, pea coat, blue jeans, and yellow gloves. Ahead of him, leading the way like a lodestar, is the CANE. LINOGE holds his hands out to either side, slightly spread. Clinging to one is PIPPA HATCHER. Clinging to the other is RALPHIE ANDERSON. Clinging to the hands of these two are HEIDI and BUSTER; clinging to HEIDI’S and BUSTER’S are SALLY and DON; clinging to their hands and bringing up the rear are HARRY and little FRANK BRIGHT. Their hair flies back from their foreheads. Their clothes ripple. They are totally blissed out.

(calls back)

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Having fun, kids?

Yeah . . . yeah . . . Cool. . . This is great!

(etc.)

55 EXTERIOR: LINOGE, CLOSE-UP.

His eyes are BLACK, shot with TWISTING RED VEINS. When he smiles, he once more reveals those SHARPENED FANGS. The shadow of the CANE lies on his face like a scar. The KIDS think they have gone flying with a fabulous friend. We know the truth: they are in the grip of a monster.

FADE TO BLACK. THIS ENDS ACT 2.

Act 3

56 EXTERIOR: THE TOWN HALL--NIGHT.

It’s still almost blotted out by the snowstorm, its few lights flickering bravely.