Storm of the Century
Page 33
COUNSELOR
Why does your husband hate you so, Molly? What really happened to Ralphie?
CAMERA MOVES IN ON MOLLY. She is still looking out the window. It's sunny in the COUNSELOR'S yard; the grass is green and there are flowers . . . but it's SNOWING. The snow falls thickly, coating the grass and the walks, heaping on the leafy branches of the trees.
We MOVE IN ON MOLLY, MOVE IN TO EXTREME CLOSE-UP as she looks out on the falling snow.
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MOLLY
He wandered away. People do, you know. They get lost. That's what happened to Ralphie. He was lost in the white-out. He was lost in the storm.
DISSOLVE TO:
157 EXTERIOR: THE FERRY MORNING.
It's trudging its way across the reach to Machias. The cars are parked on the apron at the back, MIKE'S among them. MIKE himself stands alone at the rail, his face up, the ocean breeze blowing his hair back from his forehead. He looks almost at peace.
MIKE (voice-over)
Nine years ago, that was. I just gassed my car and left on the 11:10 ferry. I've never been back.
DISSOLVE TO:
158 INTERIOR: THE COUNSELOR'S OFFICE MORNING.
MOLLY'S session is over. The clock on the wall reads 11:55. She stands at the COUNSELOR'S
desk, writing a check. The COUNSELOR looks at her with a troubled expression, knowing that she has lost, and once again the island has won. The secret whatever it is has been kept.
Neither of them see MIKE'S little white car go by.
MIKE (voice-over) I didn't think about where I was going, at first I just drove.
159 EXTERIOR: MIKE, THROUGH THE WINDSHIELD OF HIS CAR SUNSET.
He's wearing dark glasses against the BRIGHT ORANGE GLOW. Reflected in each lens is a SETTING SUN.
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MIKE (voice-over)
All I cared about was that I had to wear sunglasses every night when the sun went down. That every mile on the odometer was a mile further away from Little Tall.
160 EXTERIOR: THE AMERICAN DESERT MIDDAY.
Two-lane blacktop runs through the middle of the frame. The white car enters, moving fast, and THE CAMERA SWINGS TO FOLLOW.
368 STEPHEN KING
MIKE (voice-over)
The divorce was no-fault. Moll got the bank accounts, the insurance, the store, the house, and a little piece of land we had in Vanceboro. I got the Toyota and the peace of mind, (pause) What was left of it.
161 EXTERIOR: THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE TWILIGHT.
MIKE (voice-over)
I wound up here . . . back on the water again. Ironic I guess, huh? But it's different, somehow, the Pacific. It doesn't have that hard glow when the days start to run down toward winter, (pause) And it doesn't have the same memories.
162 EXTERIOR: A SKYSCRAPER ON MONTGOMERY STREET, SAN FRANCISCO DAY.
MIKE comes out an older MIKE, with gray at his temples and lines on his face but one who looks as if he's made his peace with the world. Or found some. He wears a suit (casual, no tie) and carries a briefcase. He and the man with him walk to a sedan parked at the curb. It pulls out into traffic, swinging around a cable car. Over this, MIKE talks.
MIKE (voice-over)
I went back to school, got a degree in law enforcement and another one in accountancy. Thought about going after a law degree . . . and then thought again. Started out keeping store on an island off the Maine coast and wound up a federal marshal. How do you like that?
163 EXTERIOR: MIKE, THROUGH THE WINDSHIELD DAY. JL
His partner is driving. MIKE sits quietly in the shotgun seat, his eyes distant. It's the look of a man visiting along memory lane.
MIKE (voice-over)
Sometimes the island seems very far away, and Andre Linoge just a bad dream I had. Sometimes
. . . when I wake up late at night, trying not to scream ... it seems very close. And, as I said way back at the beginning, I keep in touch.
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164 EXTERIOR: THE LITTLE TALL GRAVEYARD DAY.
MOURNERS move between the gravestones toward a newly dug grave, bearing a coffin (we see this from the middle distance). Fall leaves rush past in RATTLING BURSTS OF COLOR.
MIKE (voice-over)
Melinda Hatcher died in October of 1990. The local paper said it was a heart attack; Ursula Godsoe sent me the clipping. I don't know if there was more to it or not. Thirty-five's young for your pump to quit, but it happens . . . ayuh. Shoah, deah.
165 EXTERIOR: THE LITTLE TALL METHODIST CHURCH DAY.
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It's late spring. Cheerful flowers shout color along the walk leading from the front door. Faintly, we can hear the TRIUMPHAL ORGAN STRAINS of "The Wedding March." The doors burst open. Out comes MOLLY, laughing and radiant in her wedding dress. There are still lines on her face, but her graying hair is hidden. Beside her, dressed in a morning coat and clasping her waist, is HATCH. He looks as happy as she does. Behind them, holding up MOLLY'S train with one hand and clutching a bouquet in the other, is PIPPA, now bigger and with beautiful long hair. Her days of getting her head stuck between the banister posts are pretty well behind her. People follow, FLINGING RICE. Among them, smiling like a proud papa, is REV. BOB RIGGINS.
MIKE (voice-over)
Molly and Hatch married in May of '93. Ursula sent me that clipping, too. From what I hear, they've been good for each other . . . and for Pippa. I'm glad. I wish the three of them every happiness. I mean that with all my heart.
166 INTERIOR: A CHEESY RENTED ROOM NIGHT.
MIKE (voice-over) Not everyone from Little Tail's been so lucky.
THE CAMERA TRACKS ACROSS THE ROOM, past a rumpled, unmade bed that looks like it has seen its share of bad dreams. The bathroom door is ajar, and THE CAMERA PUSHES THROUGH.
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MIKE (voice-over)
Jack and Angie Carver divorced about two months after Hatch and Molly got married. Jack fought for custody of Buster it was pretty bitter, I guess and lost. He moved off-island, to Lewiston, rented a room, and killed himself there one night in the late summer of 1994.
The bathroom window is OPEN. Through it, FAINTLY, we can hear the SOUND of a bar band lashing its way through "Hang On Sloopy." JACK CARVER is lying in a dry bathtub with a plastic bag pulled down over his head. THE CAMERA MOVES IN RELENTLESSLY . . . until we can see the paisley eye patch over one eye.
MIKE (voice-over)
He left what little he had to a fellow named Harmon Brodsky, who lost an eye in a barroom fight back in the eighties.
167 EXTERIOR: LITTLE TALL ISLAND, FROM THE REACH MORNING.
It's still except for the SLOW TOLL OF A BELL BUOY and a little ghostly, misted in shades of gray. We can see that the town dock has been rebuilt, and there's a fish warehouse there, as well . .
. only it's a different color from PETER'S, and the sign along the side reads BEALS FANCY FISH
instead of GODSOE FISH & LOBSTER.
Now, as THE CAMERA BEGINS TO PULL BACK, we also hear THE LAP OF WATER against the side of a boat. It comes into view a small rowboat riding on the swell. During this: MIKE (voice-over)
Robbie Beals rebuilt the old fish house on the town dock, and hired Kirk Freeman to work there.
Kirk said Robbie's wife Sandra came down there one early morning in the spring of 1996, dressed in her yellow slicker and red boots, and told him she wanted to go for a little row. Kirk made her put on a life-preserver ... he said he didn't like the way she looked.
THE CAMERA reaches the boat and RISES, showing us the prow. Neatly folded there is a yellow fisherman's slicker. A pair of red
STORM OF THE CENTURY 371
galoshes stand beside it, and placed around their toes like a collar is a Mae West.
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MIKE (voice-over)
He said it was like she was dreaming with her eyes open . . . but what could he do? It was a mild morning, no wind, not much of a swell . . . and she was the boss's wife. They found the boat,
but they didn't find Sandy. There was one strange thing . . .
CAMERA SLIPS ALONG the length of the boat. Written across the rear seat in either red paint or lipstick is a single word: "CROATON."
MIKE (voice-over)
. . . but they didn't know what to make of it. There were people on the island who maybe could have helped them a little there . . .
168 INTERIOR: THE TOWN OFFICE, WITH URSULA DAY.
A couple of STATE POLICEMEN are talking to her (we don't need to hear them; this can be MOS
[without sound]), no doubt asking questions, and she is shaking her head politely. Sorry, officers . .
. nope . . . can't imagine . . . and so on.
MIKE (voice-over)
. . . but island folk can keep a secret. We kept our share back in 1989, and the people who live there keep them still. As for Sandra Beals, she's presumed drowned, and her seven years are up in 2003. Robbie'11 no doubt have her declared officially dead as soon as '03 comes around on the calendar. Tough, I know, but . . .
169 EXTERIOR: LITTLE TALL ISLAND, FROM THE OCEAN DAY
MIKE (voice-over)
(continues)
. . . this is a cash-and-carry world, pay as you go. Sometimes you only have to pay a little, but mostly it's a lot. And once in a while it's all you have. That's a lesson I thought I learned nine years ago, on Little Tall, during the Storm of the Century . . .
A
372 STEPHEN KING
SLOW DISSOLVE TO:
170 EXTERIOR: SAN FRANCISCO, STOCK SHOT DAY.
MIKE (voice-over)
. . . but I was wrong. I only started learning during the big blow. I finished just last week.
171 EXTERIOR: A BUSY DOWNTOWN STREET DAY.
Lots of folks are shopping. We MOVE IN on an upscale deli one or two storefronts up from the corner, and MIKE comes out. It's his day off, and he's dressed casually light jacket, jeans, and a T-shirt. He's got a couple of shopping bags in his arms, and he juggles them, trying to snag his keys out of his pants pocket as he angles toward the curb and his car.
Coming in the other direction, entering the frame with their backs to us, are a MAN and a TEENAGE BOY. The MAN is dressed in a gray topcoat and homburg hat. He carries a cane with a silver wolf's head. The BOY with him is wearing an Oakland As jacket and jeans. MIKE will pass them on the way to his car, but he takes no particular notice of them at first. He's gotten his keys out; now he's trying to peer at them over one of his bags just enough so he can see which one will unlock the door. Then, just as the MAN and TEENAGE BOY reach MIKE: 269
LINOGE
(sings) "I'm a little teapot, short and stout. . . ."
BOY
(joining in) "Here is my handle, here is my spout. . . ."
MIKE'S face fills with terrible recognition. The keys fall from his fingers and the shopping bags SAG in his arms as he turns and sees:
172 EXTERIOR: LINOGE AND THE BOY, FROM MIKE'S POINT OF VIEW (SLOW MOTION) DAY.
They are already passing MIKE, and there's only time for a glimpse, even in SLOW MOTION. Yes, it's LINOGE beneath the homburg, now looking not like a psychotic fisherman but like a ruthless businessman, and not thirty-five but sixty-five.
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The BOY with him smiling up at him and HARMONIZING PRETTILY on the well-loved old nonsense-jingle is a handsome child of fourteen. His hair is MOLLY'S shade. His eyes are MIKE'S
shade. And lying across his nose, faint but still visible, is the fairy-saddle birthmark.
LINOGE AND RALPHIE
(echoing dreamlike voices)
"You can pick me up and pour me out. . . . I'm a little teapot, short and stout!"
During this, we lose our angle on their faces which we have seen for only that heartbreakingly brief moment, anyway. Now they are only a pair of backs: a well-dressed man and the child of his late middle age, heading for the corner. And beyond the corner, for anywhere.
173 EXTERIOR: RESUME MIKE DAY.
He stands where he is, BAGS SAGGING IN HIS ARMS, thunderstruck. His mouth opens and closes soundlessly . . . and then, at last, a whisper comes out. . .
MIKE Rah . . . Rah . . . Ralphie . . . Ralphie? RALPHIE!
174 EXTERIOR: LINOGE AND RALPHIE DAY.
They are beyond the deli. Almost to the corner. They stop. And look back.
175 EXTERIOR: RESUME MIKE DAY.
He drops the bags from his arms stuff inside smashes and RUNS.
MIKE RALPHIE!
176 EXTERIOR: LINOGE AND RALPHIE DAY.
RALPHIE'S mouth opens; he HISSES LIKE A SNAKE. His good looks are gone in an instant, as the FANGS beneath his lips are revealed. His eyes DARKEN and become BLACK, shot through with WRITHING RED LINES. He raises hands that are hooked into talons, as if to claw MIKE'S face open.
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LINOGE puts an arm around his shoulders and (without taking his eyes away from MIKE) urges RALPHIE to turn. Then they sweep around the corner together.
177 EXTERIOR: RESUME MIKE DAY.
He stops outside the deli, his face filled with DISMAY and SICKENED HORROR. Pedestrians stream 270
around him, some looking at him curiously, but MIKE takes no notice.
MIKE Ralphie!
He dashes for the corner and goes around.
178 EXTERIOR: MIKE DAY.
He comes to a stop, eyes searching.
179 EXTERIOR: THE STREET, FROM MIKE'S POINT OF VIEW DAY.
People come and go on the sidewalks, or dart across the street, or hail taxis, or get newspapers from curbside vending machines. There is no man in a gray topcoat. There is no boy in an Oakland As jacket.
180 EXTERIOR: RESUME MIKE.
LINOGE (voice-over) He'll come to love me. (pause) He'll come to call me Father.
MIKE slumps against the wall and closes his eyes. From beneath one of those closed lids, a single tear slips. A YOUNG WOMAN comes around the corner and looks at him with cautious sympathy.
YOUNG WOMAN
Mister, are you all right?
MIKE
(doesn't open his eyes) Yes. I just need a minute.
YOUNG WOMAN
You dropped your groceries. Some of it's probably okay, but some of the stuff broke.
f
'
STORM OF THE CENTURY 375 MIKE now opens his eyes and does his best to smile at her.
MIKE Ayuh, some of the stuff broke. I heard it.
YOUNG WOMAN
(smiling) What kind of accent is that?
MIKE The kind you learn on the other side of the world.
YOUNG WOMAN
What happened? Did you trip?
MIKE
I thought I saw someone I knew, and I just kind of ... lost my grip for a second there.
He looks down the street one more time. He reached the corner seconds after LINOGE and RALPHIE turned it, they should be right there, but they're not . . . and MIKE isn't really surprised.
YOUNG WOMAN
I could help you pick up the stuff that's still okay, if you wanted. Look, I got this.
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She reaches into her coat pocket and brings out a crumpled-up net shopping bag. She holds it out to him, smiling tentatively.
*
MIKE That would be very kind.
They go around the corner together.
181 EXTERIOR: MIKE AND THE YOUNG WOMAN, A HIGH ANGLE DAY.
As they approach his car and the spilled groceries, we see them from above . . . then BOOM
HIGHER YET, TURNING AND LOSING THEM. Now we see the bright blue sky and water of San Francisco Bay, with the bridge spanning it like a dream that has begun to rust a little around the edges.
376 STEPHEN KING
There are swooping gulls . . . we track one of them . . . we: DISSOLVE TO:
182 EXTERIOR: SWOOPING GULL DAY.
We follow it, then BOOM DOWN to discover Little Tall Island, and the town hall. There's a car parked at the curb. Three people walk toward the cupola that holds the plaques and
the memorial bell. One a WOMAN walks ahead of the other two.
MIKE (voice-over)
I could have written Molly and told her. I thought about it ... I even prayed about it. When every choice hurts, how do you tell which one's the right one? In the end, I kept silent. Sometimes, mostly late at night when I can't sleep, I think that was wrong. But in daylight, I know better.
183 EXTERIOR: THE CUPOLA ON THE TOWN HALL LAWN DAY.
MOLLY approaches it slowly. In her hands she has a bouquet of flowers. Her face is serene and sad and quite beautiful. Behind her, HATCH and PIPPA stand at the edge of the grass, HATCH with his arm around his daughter's shoulders.
MOLLY kneels at the base of the plaque commemorating those lost in the Storm of the Century.
She puts her flowers at the base of this plaque. She is crying a little now. She kisses her fingers, then presses them to her son's name.
She gets up and walks back to where HATCH and PIPPA wait. HATCH puts his arms around her and hugs her.
184 EXTERIOR: LITTLE TALL ISLAND, LONG DAY.
MIKE (voice-over) In daylight I know better.
FADE TO BLACK.