Storm of the Century (36 page)

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(smiling)

Of course you did! Two years ago, right after they fired you!

(switches to KIRK FREEMAN)

And Kirk helped . . . didn’t you? Of course you did--after all, what are friends for?

(back to JOHNNY)

Seventy men lost their jobs, but you got your payback, and that’s what matters, isn’t it? Ayuh--shoah, deah!

ISLANDERS are staring at JOHNNY as if they have never seen him before . . . and at KIRK. JOHNNY shrinks under that gaze until he’s about a foot high.

(to JOHNNY)

There now, you dope. Lookit the trouble you got us into!

Shut up!

KIRK does, but it’s too late. Smiling, LINOGE walks on toward the stage. Each person he looks at cringes like an oft-kicked dog. No eye will meet his. Every ISLANDER hopes LINOGE will not stop and speak to him or her, as he did to STAN and JOHNNY HARRIMAN.

LINOGE stops one more time, when he reaches JACK CARVER. JACK is sitting flanked by the two men LINOGE also mentioned in connection with the assault on the young gay man. JACK looks up quickly at LINOGE, then looks away. ALEX HABER and LUCIEN FOURNIER are equally uncomfortable.

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You boys really ought to go see that gay fellow you beat up. You’d get a kick out of the eye patch he wears. That paisley eye patch.

84 INTERIOR: ANGIE CARVER.

Frowning, curious. What is LINOGE saying about her husband . . . that he beat someone up? JACK

wouldn’t do something like that. Would he?

85 INTERIOR: RESUME CENTER AISLE OF TOWN MEETING HALL.

(hardly more than a whisper)

Shut up.

Fellow’s in one of those walk-ups on Canal Street, right behind Lisbon. I could give you the address. I don’t know, maybe the three of you would like to take away the rest of his light. What do you think, Lucien, want to poke out his other eye? Finish the job?

(LUCIEN looks down, says nothing)

Alex?

(ALEX is also mum)

Born in sin, come on in.

LINOGE leaves them, walking toward the front of the hall again.
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86 INTERIOR: ROBBIE BEALS.

He’s standing between his little town-manager’s table and the stage, face still running with sweat, the collar of his shirt now drenched, as well. He is seeing:

87 INTERIOR: THE MEETING HALL, FROM ROBBIE’S POINT OF VIEW.

Coming slowly up the aisle to the stage, still wearing the hospital johnny, her wild white hair spraying out all around her head, is the FALSE MOTHER. It’s still LINOGE, of course, and he’s still clutching the wolfs head cane.

Robbie, why did I have to die among strangers? You still haven’t explained that. Why did I have to die calling for you? All I wanted was a kiss-88 INTERIOR: THE MEETING HALL, ANGLE ON THE STAGE.

As LINOGE (he is LINOGE, in this shot) approaches, ROBBIE yanks the pistol from his pocket and points it at him.

Stay away! I’m warning you, stay back!

Oh, put that down.

ROBBIE’S hand opens. We can see him struggling to keep this from happening, but it’s as though a bigger hand--one we can’t quite see--has grabbed his and is bending the fingers back one by one. The
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pistol THUMPS TO THE STAGE FLOOR just as LINOGE mounts the stairs at center stage.

89 INTERIOR: THE FRONT OF THE STAGE, FROM ROBBIE’S POINT OF VIEW.

It’s the FALSE MOTHER mounting those steps, with the hospital johnny flapping around her scrawny body. She points the tip of the cane at ROBBIE; her rheumy old eyes FLASH MALEVOLENTLY.

Why don’t you tell these people where you were and what you were doing when I died, Robbie? I think your wife would be especially interested, don’t you?

90 INTERIOR: ANGLE ON ROBBIE, LINOGE, AND THE FIRST FEW ROWS BELOW.

You keep your mouth shut! Sandra, don’t listen to him! It’s all lies!

SANDRA BEALS, puzzled and afraid, starts to get up. URSULA seizes her wrist and gets her to sit down again.

On stage, LINOGE reaches one hand out toward ROBBIE’S face, clutching with the fingertips.

Your eyes . . .

91 INTERIOR: THE FALSE MOTHER, FROM ROBBIE’S POINT OF VIEW.

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I’ll eat your eyes right out of your head . . .

The bony old hand not holding the cane continues to make CLUTCHING GESTURES.

92 INTERIOR: THE STAGE.

ROBBIE stumbles backward, trips over his own feet, and FALLS DOWN. He skitters backward from LINOGE/MOM on his butt, pushing with his feet, finishing up crouched beneath his own small town-manager’s table. There he stops, GIBBERING SOFTLY. His gun lies forgotten on the stage some five feet away.

The ISLANDERS MURMUR, FRIGHTENED, as LINOGE steps behind the podium and grips its sides like a confident politician about to orate.

Not to worry, folks--he’ll recuperate just fine, I’m sure. And in the meantime, it’s sort of nice to have him under the table instead of pounding on it, wouldn’t you say? Sort of restful. Come on. Tell the truth .

. .

(he pauses; smiles)

. . . and shame the devil.

They look at him silently, fearfully. He looks back, smiling.

So now we come to it, don’t we? I’ll lay things out for you, then go downstairs and wait for you to take your decision.

93 INTERIOR: THE ISLANDERS.

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SONNY BRAUTIGAN stands. He’s scared but determined to speak.

Why did you come here? Why us?

94 INTERIOR: MIKE AND MOLLY, CLOSE-UP.

(low; almost to himself)

I guess there’s just something about us that pisses him off.

MOLLY takes his hand. MIKE folds his fingers over hers, raises her hand to his cheek, and rubs it there, taking comfort from her touch.

95 INTERIOR: ANGLE ON THE STAGE AND THE HALL, FEATURES LINOGE

I’m here because island folks know how to pull together for the common good when they need to ... and island folks know how to keep a secret. That was true on Roanoke Island in 1587, and it’s true on Little Tall in 1989.

(stands)

Tell us. Quit dancing around it. Tell us what you want.

HATCH sits down. LINOGE stands at the podium with his head bent, as if in thought. The ISLANDERS wait breathlessly for him to go on. Outside, the WIND MOANS. At last, the stranger raises his head and looks at his audience.

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Your children are here with you . . . but they’re not. It’s the same with me, because part of me is with them.

322 STEPHEN KING

He points to his right, where the room’s outer wall is lined with windows. On a nice day, these would give a western view of the slope that runs down to the docks, the reach, and the mainland. Now the windows are DARK . . . except when LINOGE raises his other hand and points the wolf’s head of his cane in that direction.

The windows fill with BRIGHT BLUE LIGHT. The ISLANDERS murmur in FEAR and WONDER. Several of them actually shade their eyes.

Look!

THE CAMERA MOVES IN on the center window. We see BLUE SKY ... we see the CLOUDS

BELOW ... we see what could be a V-formation of birds (ducks, perhaps?) winging their way above the clouds. Except those aren’t ducks or geese . . . those are . . . are . . .

96 INTERIOR: THE “KIDS’ CORNER” OF THE MEETING HALL.

ANDY ROBICHAUX lurches to his feet, eyes never leaving the GLOWING WINDOWS. His face is filled with dismay.

Harry . . . oh, my God, that’s Harry!

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He looks wildly at his sleeping son, reassuring himself that the boy hasn’t disappeared, then back at the image in the window. And now ANGIE gets to her feet beside him.

(screams)

Buster! Jack, that’s Buster!

97 INTERIOR: LINOGE, CLOSE-UP.

That’s all of them.

98 EXTERIOR: LINOGE AND THE CHILDREN, FLYING--DAY.

LINOGE is in the lead as he was before, just behind the FLYING CANE. He is holding hands with PIPPA and RALPHIE as before, and the other kids string out behind them, making that V. The kids are laughing, happy, TOTALLY BLISSED OUT. Until-LINOGE (voice)

And if I drop them there-LINOGE opens his hands, letting go of RALPHIE and PIPPA. Their expressions of happiness immediately turn to terror. SHRIEKING, unlinking from each other, the EIGHT CHILDREN tumble downward and are swallowed in the floor of clouds beneath them.

99 INTERIOR: LINOGE, CLOSE-UP.

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--they die here.

100 INTERIOR: RESUME STAGE AND AUDIENCE, FEATURING LINOGE.

LINOGE lowers his cane, and the BRIGHT BLUE LIGHT leaves the windows; they FADE TO

BLACK. The ISLANDERS are terribly shaken by what they have seen. None, quite understandably, are more shaken than the parents.

You’ll see it happen. They’ll puff out . . .

He turns slightly to his left, PUFFS WITH HIS LIPS, and several candles (eight, in fact) mounted along the wall GO OUT.

(smiling, continues)

. . . like candles in the wind.

URSULA GODSOE totters to her feet. Her once-pretty face is now battered and twisted with grief. She sways and almost falls. MELINDA HATCHER rises and steadies her. URSULA pleads with all her heart.

(through tears)

Please don’t hurt my Sally, mister. She’s all I got left, now that Peter’s gone. We’ll give you what you want, if we have it to give. I swear we will. Won’t we?

101 INTERIOR: TOWN HALL MONTAGE.

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CAT WITHERS . . . SONNY . . . BELLA BISSONETTE . . . JENNA FREEMAN . . . JACK, LUCIEN, and ALEX HABER in a guilty little huddle . . . they all nod and MURMUR AGREEMENT. Yes, they will give LINOGE what he wants. They are ready to do that.

102 INTERIOR: THE FRONT ROW.

(stands beside his wife)

What is it? Tell us.

103 INTERIOR: RESUME STAGE AND AUDIENCE, FEATURING LINOGE.

I’ve lived a long time--thousands of years--but I’m not a god, nor am I one of the immortals.

LINOGE holds his cane in the middle, raises it above his head, then brings it down horizontally in front of his face. A faint shadow, thrown by CANDLELIGHT, crosses his face from the forehead down. As it does, the strong and handsome features of a man in early middle age CHANGE . . . AGE. LINOGE’S

face becomes the lined and sagging countenance of a man who is not just old but ANCIENT. The eyes peer out of sagging sockets and from beneath puffy eyelids.

The AUDIENCE GASPS AND MURMURS. Once more, the director will intercut the faces he wants, getting reactions. We see ANDY ROBICHAUX, for instance, sitting beside his son, holding and stroking the boy’s small hand.

So you see me as I really am. Old. And sick. Dying, in fact.

LINOGE raises his cane again, and as the shadow goes back up, LINOGE’S YOUTH RETURNS. He
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waits as the AUDIENCE MURMURS.

By the standards of your mayfly existences, I have long to live yet--I’ll still be walking the earth when all but the freshest and newest among you . . . Davey Hopewell, perhaps, or young Don Beals . . .

We INTERCUT SHOTS of DAVEY with his parents and DON sleeping on his cot.

(continues)

. . . have gone to your graves. But in terms of my own existence, time has grown short. You ask me what I want?

104 INTERIOR: MIKE AND MOLLY ANDERSON.

MIKE already knows, and his face is filling with HORROR and FURIOUS PROTEST. When he begins speaking, his voice rising from a WHISPER TO A SCREAM, MOLLY seizes his wrist . . .

No, no, no, no ...

105 INTERIOR: LINOGE, AT THE PODIUM.

(ignores MIKE)

I want someone to raise and teach; someone to whom I can pass on all I have learned and all I know; I want someone who will carry on my work when I can no longer do it myself.

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106 INTERIOR: MIKE.

He rises to his feet, dragging MOLLY with him.

No! No! Never!

107 INTERIOR: LINOGE.

(ignores MIKE)

I want a child. One of the eight sleeping back there. It doesn’t matter which one; all are just as likely in my eyes. Give me what I want--give it freely--and I’ll go away.

108 INTERIOR: THE STAGE AND THE AUDIENCE, ANGLE ON MIKE AND LINOGE.

Never! We’ll never give you one of our children! Never!

He pulls away from MOLLY and lunges for the stairs leading to the stage, meaning to tackle LINOGE. In his fury, any doubts he might have had about his ability to prevail over LINOGE’S supernatural powers have disappeared.

Grab him! Unless you want me to drop the children! And I will! I promise you I will!