Storm of the Century

by Stephen King

  BILLY SOAMES Leave me alone!

  He lurches to his feet.

  134 INTERIOR: BY THE MEAT COUNTER, WIDER.

  LINOGE

  Before he gets too self-righteous, Katrina, ask him how well he knows Jenna Freeman.

  BILLY flinches, stunned.

  135 INTERIOR: KIRK FREEMAN, IN AISLE 2.

  KIRK FREEMAN

  What do you know about my sister?

  136 INTERIOR: RESUME MEAT COUNTER.

  LINOGE

  That horses aren't all she enjoys riding when the weather's hot. Right, Billy?

  84

  CAT looks at BILLY, stricken. He wipes at his BLEEDING NOSE with the back of his hand and looks anywhere but at her. His self-righteous, wounded anger has dissolved into a kind of slinking furtiveness. His face says, "lemme outta here." MIKE still looks like he can't believe how screwed up this whole thing has gotten.

  MIKE Move away from this man, Cat. You too, Billy.

  She doesn't move. Perhaps doesn't hear. There are tears on her cheeks. HATCH uses one hand to push her gently away from the door marked CONSTABLE'S OFFICE. He inadvertantly pushes her in BILLY'S direction, and they both shrink back.

  HATCH

  (kindly) Got to get out of his grabbin' range, darlin'.

  This time she goes blundering past BILLY (who makes no move to stop her) toward the front of the store. MIKE, meanwhile, steps forward

  and picks a package of plastic bags the kind you use to save leftovers off a display. Then he puts the muzzle of his gun between LINOGE'S shoulder blades.

  MIKE Come on. Move.

  137 INTERIOR: THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE.

  The WIND is VERY LOUD, SCARY shrieking like a train whistle. We can hear SHINGLES

  CLAPPING and BOARDS CREAKING.

  The door opens. LINOGE conies in, followed by MIKE and HATCH. LINOGE moves toward the cell, then stops as a PARTICULARLY HARD GUST OF WIND strikes the building and makes it shudder.

  Snow puffs in under the loading dock door.

  HATCH I don't like the sound of that.

  MIKE

  Move, Mr. Linoge.

  As they pass the desk, MIKE puts down the box of plastic bags and picks up a large combination padlock. From his pocket he takes his key ring, looking ruefully at the busted-off loading door key for a second. He hands the keys and the combination lock to HATCH. He also swaps weapons, giving HATCH his pistol and taking the shotgun. As they reach the cell: 85

  MIKE Put your hands up and grab a couple of bars.

  (LINOGE does) Now spread your legs.

  (LINOGE does) Wider.

  (LINOGE does)

  I'm going to pat you down, and if you move, my good friend Alton Hatcher is going to save us all a lot of wear and tear.

  HATCH gulps, but points the pistol. MIKE sets the shotgun aside.

  MIKE

  Don't even twitch, Mr. Linoge. You had your filthy hands on my son, so don't you so much as twitch.

  MIKE reaches into the pockets of LINOGE'S pea coat and brings out the YELLOW GLOVES. They are BLOTCHED AND STAINED with MARTHA'S blood. MIKE grimaces with distaste and tosses them onto the desk. He rummages in the jacket pockets some more and finds nothing. He reaches into the front pockets of LINOGE'S jeans and pulls them inside out. They're empty. Checks the back pockets. Nothing but a few lint balls. He takes off LINOGE'S watch cap and looks inside it. Nothing.

  He tosses it on the desk with the gloves.

  MIKE Where's your wallet?

  (nothing from LINOGE) Where's your wallet, huh?

  MIKE slaps LINOGE twice on the shoulder, first time sorta friendly, second time sorta hard. Still no response.

  MIKE Huh?

  HATCH

  (uneasy) Mike, take it easy.

  MIKE

  Guy had his hands on my son, had his face right down in my son's face; guy kissed my son's nose don't tell me to take it easy. Where's your wallet, sir?

  MIKE shoves LINOGE, hard. LINOGE crashes into the bars of the cell, but keeps his high grip on the home-welded bars and his legs spread.

  86

  MIKE

  Where's your wallet? Where's your bank card? Where's your blood-donor card? Where's your discount card from ValuMart? What sewer did you crawl through to get here? Huh? Answer me!

  All his frustration, anger, fear, and humiliation are on the verge of coming out. He grabs LINOGE

  by the hair and SLAMS HIS FACE INTO THE BARS.

  MIKE

  Where's your wallet?

  HATCH

  Mike

  MIKE SLAMS LINOGE'S FACE INTO THE BARS AGAIN. He'd do it again, too, but HATCH reaches out and grabs his arm.

  HATCH

  Mike, stop it!

  MIKE stops, takes a deep breath, and somehow gets hold of himself. Outside the WIND GUSTS, and we hear the FAINT SOUND OF CRASHING WAVES.

  MIKE

  (he's breathing hard) Take off your boots.

  LINOGE

  I'll have to let go of the bars to do that. They lace up.

  MIKE kneels. He grabs the shotgun. He props the stock against the floor and plants the barrels dead center in the seat of LINOGE'S jeans.

  MIKE

  If you move, sir, you'll never have to worry about constipation again.

  HATCH looks more and more scared. This is a side of MIKE he's never seen (and could have done without). MIKE, meanwhile, unties LINOGE'S boots and loosens the laces. Then he stands up, takes 87

  the shotgun, and stands back.

  MIKE

  Kick them off.

  LINOGE kicks them off. MIKE nods to HATCH, who bends down (keeping a skittery eye on LINOGE as he does) and picks them up. HATCH feels inside them, then shakes them.

  HATCH

  Nothing.

  MIKE Toss them over by the desk.

  HATCH does.

  MIKE

  Step into the cell, Mr. Linoge. Move slowly and keep your hands where I can see them.

  LINOGE opens the door of the cell and swings it back and forth a time or two before going in. The door SQUEAKS, and doesn't hang quite true when it's all the way open. LINOGE touches a couple of the home welds with the ball of one finger, and smiles.

  MIKE You think it won't hold you? It'll hold you.

  Yet MIKE doesn't look entirely sure, and HATCH looks even more doubtful. LINOGE steps in, crosses the cell, and sits down facing the door. He draws his legs up so that the heels of his stocking feet (white athletic socks) are on the edge of the cot and he is looking at us from between his bent knees. We will see him in this same posture for some little time, now. His hands dangle limply. He wears a trace of a smile. If we saw a guy looking at us this way, we'd probably run. It's that caged-tiger look very still and watchful, but full of pent-up violence.

  MIKE closes the cell door, and HATCH uses a key from the ring to lock it. With that done, he shakes the door. It's locked, but he and MIKE share an unhappy glance, just the same. That door is as rattly the last tooth in an old man's jaw. The cell is for the likes of SONNY BRAUTIGAN, who has a nasty habit of getting drunk and breaking the windows in his ex-wife's house with stones . . . not for a stranger with no ID who beat an old widow to death.

  MIKE crosses to the loading dock door, looks at the dead bolt, then tries the knob. The door opens easily, letting in a FRIGID GASP OF WIND and a SWIRL OF SNOW. HATCH'S mouth drops open.

  88

  HATCH Mike, I swear it wouldn't budge.

  MIKE closes the door. As he finishes doing that, ROBBIE BEALS comes in. He crosses to the desk and reaches for one of the gloves.

  MIKE Don't touch that!

  ROBBIE

  (draws his hand back) Does he have any ID on him?

  MIKE I want you out of here.

  ROBBIE picks up the joke sign and shakes it at MIKE.

  ROBBIE

  I want to tell you something, Anderson: your sense of humor is entirely HATCH, who actually put that sign around the dummy's neck, looks embarrassed. Neither of the other men notice. M
IKE snatches the damned thing out of ROBBIE'S hand and dumps it in the wastebasket.

  MIKE

  I don't have the time or the patience for this. Get out or I'll throw you out.

  ROBBIE looks at him and sees that MIKE absolutely means it. ROBBIE backs toward the door.

  ROBBIE

  Come town meeting, there's maybe going to be a change in law enforcement on Little Tall.

  MIKE

  Town meeting's in March. This is February. Now get the hell out.

  ROBBIE leaves. MIKE and HATCH hold their positions for a moment, and then MIKE lets out his breath in a long WHOOSH. HATCH looks

  relieved.

  89

  MIKE I think I handled that pretty well, don't you?

  HATCH Like a diplomat.

  MIKE takes another long, steadying breath. He opens the sandwich bags. As he and HATCH finish talking, he puts the bloody gloves in two bags, and the cap in a third.

  MIKE I have to go out and

  HATCH You're going to leave me alone with him?

  MIKE

  Try to raise the state police barracks in Machias. And stay away from him.

  HATCH I should say you can count on that.

  138 INTERIOR: THE REAR OF THE MARKET, BY THE MEAT COUNTER.

  Perhaps two dozen TOWNSFOLK have clogged the aisles, looking hopefully and fearfully toward the constable's office door. To one side, glowering like a banked furnace, is ROBBIE. ROBBIE has now been joined by the other two members of his family . . . wife SANDRA and the charming DON, from day care. In the forefront of the TOWNSFOLK is MOLLY, with RALPHIE in her arms. When the door opens and she sees MIKE, she hurries forward. MIKE puts a reassuring arm around her.

  RALPHIE

  You didn't hurt him, Daddy, did you?

  MIKE No, honey, just put him safe.

  RALPHIE In the jail? Did you put him in the jail? What did he do?

  MIKE Not now, Ralph.

  He kisses the fairy saddle on RALPHIE'S nose and turns to the gathered people.

  90

  MIKE

  Peter! Peter Godsoe!

  People look around, MURMURING. After a moment or two, PETER GODSOE shoulders forward, looking embarrassed and blustery (also a little frightened).

  PETER GODSOE

  Mike, about what that fellow said that's the biggest crock of MIKE

  Uh-huh. Go on back there with Hatch. We're gonna watch this guy, and it's gonna be by the buddy system.

  PETER GODSOE

  (immensely relieved) Okay. You bet.

  He goes through the door to the constable's office. MIKE, his arm still around MOLLY, faces his neighbors.

  MIKE I feel like I have to have to close the store, folks.

  (murmurs of reaction)

  You're welcome to take what you've got; I trust you to settle up when the storm's over. Right now, I've got a prisoner to deal with.

  A worried-looking middle-aged woman, BELLA BISSONETTE, pushes forward.

  DELLA

  Did that man really kill poor old Martha?

  More murmurs this time FRIGHTENED, UNBELIEVING. MOLLY is looking at her husband tensely.

  She also looks as if she wishes she could strike RALPHIE temporarily deaf.

  MIKE

  In time you'll have the whole story, but not now. Please, Delia all of you help me do my job.

  Grab your stuff and go home before the storm gets any worse. I want a few of you men to stick around a minute or two longer. Kirk Freeman . . . Jack Carver . . . Sonny Brautigan . . . Billy Soames

  . . . Johnny Harriman . . . Robbie . . . that'll do for a start.

  91

  The men move forward as the others turn and start to go. ROBBIE looks typically puffed up with self-importance. BILLY has a wad of paper towels pressed to his nose.

  139 INTERIOR: THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE.

  HATCH is at the desk, trying to use the radio. PETER looks at the cell, with nervous fascination.

  LINOGE, sitting on the bunk, looks back from between his spread knees and cocked feet.

  HATCH

  Machias, this is Alton Hatcher on Little Tall. We have a police emergency here. Do you read, Machias? Come on back, if you read.

  Lets go of the button. There's nothing but STATIC.

  HATCH Machias, this is Alton Hatcher on channel 19. If you read PETER GODSOE

  They don't. You've lost your good antenna off your roof.

  HATCH sighs. He knows it, too. He turns down the SOUND, muting the STATIC.

  PETER GODSOE Try the phone.

  HATCH gives him a startled look, then picks up the phone. He listens, pushes a few buttons at random, then hangs up.

  PETER GODSOE

  No, huh? Well, it was a long shot.

  PETER looks back toward LINOGE, who is staring at him. HATCH, meanwhile, is looking at PETER

  with some fascination.

  HATCH

  You don't really have a load of Panama Red out there behind your lobster traps, do you?

  92

  PETER looks at him . . . and says nothing.

  140 INTERIOR: THE REAR OF THE MARKET, FEATURING MOLLY, RALPHIE, MIKE.

  The townspeople are on the move (except for the little group of men MIKE has singled out), draining toward the front of the market and the outside world. There's a STEADY JINGLING from the bell over the door as folks leave.

  MOLLY

  You going to be all right?

  MIKE Coss.

  MOLLY When will you be home?

  MIKE

  When I can. Take the truck you won't get three hundred yards in the car. I've never seen it come down s'hard 'n' fast.

  I'll use the Island Services truck, or get someone to drop me off when this is squared away. I have to go back to Martha's house long enough to secure it.

  There are a thousand questions she'd like to ask, but really can't. Little pitchers have big ears.

  She kisses him on the corner of the mouth and turns to go.

  141 INTERIOR: BY THE CASH REGISTER, WITH CAT AND TESS MARCHANT.

  CAT is still SOBBING. TESS holds her and rocks her, but we can see she (TESS) is pretty blown away by what LINOGE said. MOLLY gives TESS a questioning look as she carries RALPHIE toward the door. TESS nods, as if to say she's go it under control. MOLLY nods back and goes on out.

  142 EXTERIOR: IN FRONT OF THE MARKET.

  MOLLY carries RALPHIE carefully down the steps in what has become a BLINDING SNOWSTORM.

  She walks toward THE CAMERA, having to brace against the wind with every step . . . and this baby is just getting warmed up.

  93

  RALPHIE

  (shouting to be heard) The island won't blow away, will it?

  MOLLY

  No, honey, of course not.

  But MOLLY doesn't look so sure.

  143 EXTERIOR: THE CENTER OF TOWN, HIGH ANGLE.

  The snow is coming down furiously. There are a few vehicles moving on Main and Atlantic, but they won't be moving much longer. Little Tall Island is effectively cut off from the outside world. The WIND SHRIEKS; the SNOW SHEETS; and we:

  FADE TO BLACK. THIS ENDS ACT 5.

  Act 6

  144 EXTERIOR: THE TOWN, A HIGH ANGLE LATE AFTERNOON.

  This is the same shot we went out on, but it's later, now there isn't much daylight left. The WIND SHRIEKS.

  145 EXTERIOR: THE WOODED AREA SOUTH OF TOWN LATE AFTERNOON.

  We're looking down at the SURGING OCEAN through a power-line cut. There's a CRACKING

  SOUND and a HUGE OLD PINE topples on the lines. They go down in a SHOWER OF SPARKS.

  146 EXTERIOR: MAIN STREET LATE AFTERNOON.

  In a reprise of the first scene, all the lights, including the blinker at the intersection, GO OUT.

  147 INTERIOR: THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE, WITH HATCH AND PETER.

  The LIGHTS GO OUT.

  94

  HATCH

  Aw, damn!

  PETER makes no response. He's looking at:

  148 INTERIOR: THE J
AIL CELL, FROM PETER'S POINT OF VIEW.

  LINOGE is just a dark hump . . . except for his eyes. They GLOW with a TROUBLED RED LIGHT . .