32 EXTERIOR: THE ANDERSON HOUSE ON LOWER MAIN STREET DAY.
The Island Services four-wheel drive is parked at the curb. In the foreground, by the walk, is a sign reading WEE FOLKS DAY-CARE CENTER. It's on a chain, and swinging back and forth in the wind. The sky overhead is grayer than ever. The ocean, visible here in the background, is full of gray chop.
The door opens. MIKE and HATCH come out, pulling down their hats to keep the wind from tearing them off, raising the collars of their jackets. As they approach the car, MIKE stops and looks up at the sky. It's coming, all right. A big one. MIKE'S anxious face says he knows that. Or thinks he does. No one knows how big this baby is going to be.
He gets into the car behind the wheel, waving to MOLLY, who stands on the porch with her sweater over her shoulders. HATCH waves, too. She waves back. The four-wheel drive pulls around in a U-turn, headed back to the market.
33 INTERIOR: THE ISLAND SERVICES VEHICLE, WITH MIKE AND HATCH.
HATCH
(quite amused) The "smaller button," huh?
MIKE
Everyone's got one. You gonna tell Melinda?
HATCH
No . . . but Pippa will. Did you notice, through the whole thing, she never lost sight of her bread.
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The two men look at each other and grin.
34 EXTERIOR: ATLANTIC STREET DAY.
Coming up the center of the street, oblivious of the impending storm and rising wind, is a boy of about fourteen DAVEY HOPEWELL. He's dressed in a heavy coat and gloves with the fingers cut off.
This makes it easier to handle a basketball. He weaves from side to side, dribbling and talking to himself. Doing play-by-play, in fact.
DAVEY
Davey Hopewell in transition ... he avoids the press . . . Stockton tries to steal the ball, but he doesn't have a chance . . . It's Davey Hopewell at the top of the key . . . clock running out . . .
Davey Hopewell's the Celtics' only hope ... he shakes and bakes ... he DAVEY HOPEWELL stops. Holds the ball and looks at:
35 EXTERIOR: MARTHA CLARENDON'S HOUSE, FROM DAVEY'S POINT OF VIEW.
The door is open in spite of the cold, and the overturned walker is lying by the porch steps, where LINOGE threw it.
36 EXTERIOR: RESUME DAVEY.
He tucks his basketball under his arm and goes slowly to MARTHA'S gate. He stands there for a moment, then sees something black on the white paint. There are CHAR MARKS where LINOGE
tapped his cane. DAVEY touches one with a couple of bare fingers (cutoff gloves, remember) and then snatches them away.
DAVEY Owww!
Still hot, those marks. But he loses interest in them as he looks at the overturned walker and the open door that door shouldn't be open, not in this weather. He starts up the path; climbs the steps.
He bends, moves the walker aside.
WEATHER LADY (voice)
What part does global warming play in such storms? The fact is, we just don't know . . .
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DAVEY (calls) Mrs. Clarendon? You all right?
37 INTERIOR: MARTHA'S LIVING ROOM, WITH LINOGE.
The weather is still playing. The storm graphics have moved closer toward their eventual point of impact. LINOGE sits in MARTHA'S chair, with his bloody cane drawn across his lap. His eyes are closed. His face has that look of meditation.
WEATHER LADY
One thing we do know is that the jet stream has taken on a pattern which is very typical for this time of year, although the upper flow is even stronger than usual, helping to account for the terrific strength of this western storm.
DAVEY (off-screen)
(calls)
Mrs. Clarendon? It's Davey! Davey Hopewell! Are you all right?
LINOGE opens his eyes. Once again they are BLACK . . . but now the black is shot through with TWISTS OF RED . . . like FIRE. HE GRINS, showing those AWFUL TEETH. We hold on this, then: FADE OUT. THIS ENDS ACT 1.
Act 2
38 EXTERIOR: THE PORCH OF MARTHA'S HOUSE DAY.
We are looking out through the open door at DAVEY HOPEWELL, who is approaching the door slowly and with growing unease. He's still got his basketball under his arm.
DAVEY
Mrs. Clarendon? Mrs.
WEATHER LADY (voice-over)
Large windows should be taped to improve their integrity in the face of strong wind gusts.
He stops suddenly, his eyes widening, as he sees:
39 INTERIOR: THE HALLWAY, FROM DAVEY'S POINT OF VIEW.
33
Sticking out of the shadows are two old-lady shoes, and the hem of an old-lady dress.
WEATHER LADY (voice-over) Gusts in this storm may range into . . .
40 EXTERIOR: THE PORCH, WITH DAVEY.
His fears temporarily forgotten he thinks he knows the worst, that she's fainted, or had a stroke, or something DAVEY drops to one knee and leans forward to examine her . . . then FREEZES. His basketball slips out from under his arm and rolls across the porch as his eyes fill up with horror. We don't need to see. We know.
WEATHER LADY (voice-over)
. . . speeds we normally associate with hurricanes. Check the dampers on stoves and fireplace chimneys! This is very important . . .
DAVEY pulls in breath, and at first can't get it out. We see him struggle. He is trying to scream.
He touches one of MARTHA'S shoes and makes a little wheezing noise.
LINOGE (voice)
Forget the NBA, Davey you'll never even play first string in high school. You're slow, and you couldn't throw it in the ocean.
DAVEY looks down the shadowy hall, realizing that MARTHA'S killer is likely still in MARTHA'S
house. His paralysis breaks. He lets out a SHRIEK, bolts to his feet, turns, and pelts down the steps.
He stumbles on the last one and sprawls on the walk.
LINOGE (voice)
(calling)
Also, you're short. You're a dwarf. Why don't you come on in here, Davey? I'll do you a favor.
Save you a lot of grief.
DAVEY scrambles to his feet and flees, flinging terrified glances back over his shoulder as he buttonhooks out of the CLARENDON gate, across the sidewalk, and into the street. He pelts down Atlantic toward the docks.
DAVEY
(screaming)
Help! Missus Clarendon's dead! Someone's killed her! Blood! Help! Oh, God, somebody help!
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41 INTERIOR: MARTHA'S LIVING ROOM, WITH LINOGE.
His eyes are back to normal ... if you can call that cool, unsettling blue normal. He raises one hand, and makes a beckoning gesture with his index finger.
WEATHER LADY
The best way to sum up what we're saying to you is "prepare for the worst, because this is going to be a bad one."
42 EXTERIOR: MARTHA'S FRONT PORCH.
Faintly, we can still hear DAVEY HOPEWELL bawling for help. His basketball, which came to rest against the porch rail, rolls across the
boards slowly at first, then gathering speed to the front door. It bounces up over the doorstoop and inside.
43 INTERIOR: MARTHA'S HALL, LOOKING BACK TOWARD THE PORCH.
In the background is MARTHA'S body, just a dark lump of shadow. DAVEY'S basketball bounces past it, leaving great big smacks of blood every time in lands.
WEATHER LADY
Another piece of advice? Make sure you've got plenty of Smile-Boy all-beef bologna on hand.
When the weather turns nasty, nothing warms you up ...
44 INTERIOR: THE LIVING ROOM, WITH LINOGE.