PIPPA manages to plant the tail somewhere in the region of the donkey's ass.
MOLLY
(continues)
. . . when they all finally fall asleep, I intend to track down the nearest alcoholic beverage and make it disappear.
123
CARLA
I'll pour.
DON BEALS
I wanna be next!
MOLLY (to CARLA) Done deal.
She takes the blindfold off PIPPA and starts putting it on DON.
8 INTERIOR: THE TOWN HALL, UPSTAIRS NIGHT.
FERD ANDREWS bursts in, wild-eyed and covered with snow from top to tail.
FERD
(top of his lungs) Lloyd Wishman's dead!
All bustle and activity stops. Forty or fifty faces turn to FERD. Central to this group is URSULA GODSOE, with her clipboard.
STORM OF THE CENTURY 135
INTERIOR: THE TOWN HALL BASEMENT.
The KIDS are still having a good time, shouting "Warmer!" and "Colder!" to DON SEALS as he tries to pin the tail on the donkey, but all the ADULTS have turned toward the SOUND of that SHOUT. ROBBIE BEALS drops his pile of blankets and heads up the stairs.
10 INTERIOR: THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE NIGHT.
HATCH grapples with the SHAPE, hysterical with fear, until MIKE Stop it, Hatch! Whoa! Whoa!
HATCH stops it and looks up at MIKE, his terror becoming relief. He hugs MIKE tightly does everything but rain kisses on MIKE'S face.
MIKE
What's the-Then, without the distraction of being grappled by his rather overweight second-in-command, MIKE sees what the trouble is. His face fills with wonder. He walks slowly past HATCH to the dangling body. He looks at it ... then looks at LINOGE. LINOGE smiles back at him.
11 INTERIOR: THE TOWN HALL, FEATURES FERD NIGHT.
FERD
Lloyd Wishman's killed himself! Chopped his face in two with a axe! Oh, God, it's awful! Blood everywhere!
ROBBIE comes upstairs. His wife, SANDRA (a plain little thing), is there, and she grabs ineffectually at his shoulder, probably wanting some comfort. He yanks her hand off him without so much as a look (pretty much the way he treats her even in ordinary circumstances) and goes to FERD.
FERD
(babbling)
I ain't never seen nothin' like it! Knocked his own brains right out! And he wrote on the side of 124
the new pumper, didn't make no sense
136 STEPHEN KING
ROBBIE
(grabs him, shakes him) Get hold of yourself, Ferd! Get a damn grip!
FERD quits babbling. It's so quiet now you could hear a pin drop except, of course, for the CEASELESS WHOOP OF THE STORM OUTSIDE. FERD'S eyes are filling with tears.
FERD
Why would Lloyd chop his head in two, Robbie? He was going to get married, come spring.
12 INTERIOR: THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE NIGHT.
HATCH (also babbling)
I just went out to use the can and get a fresh coffee he was fine then. But he kept lookin' at him
. . . like a snake lookin' at a bird ... he ... he ...
MIKE looks at LINOGE. LINOGE looks back.
MIKE What did you do to him?
No reply. MIKE turns to HATCH.
MIKE Help me get him down.
HATCH Mike ... I don't know's I can.
MIKE You can.
HATCH gives him a pleading look.
LINOGE
(very pleasant) Let me out and /'// help, Michael Anderson.
STORM OF THE CENTURY 137
MIKE looks at him, then back at HATCH, who is pale and sweaty. But HATCH takes a deep breath and nods.
HATCH
Okay...
13 EXTERIOR: BEHIND THE STORE NIGHT.
A snowmobile pulls up next to the loading dock, and two men, bundled up in heavy nylon snowsuits, clamber off. They have rifles strapped over their shoulders. It's KIRK FREEMAN and JACK
CARVER, the next watch. They go up the steps.
14 INTERIOR: THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE.
MIKE and HATCH have just finished putting a blanket over PETER we can see GODSOE'S
fisherman's boots poking out when a HAMMERING on the back door begins. HATCH gasps and lunges for the desk, where the pistol sits beside the makeshift sign, which the men took off the suicide's chest. MIKE grabs HATCH'S arm.
MIKE
125
Relax.
He goes to the door and opens it. KIRK and JACK come in with snow swirling around them, stamping their feet.
138 STEPHEN KING
KIRK FREEMAN Right on time, by God, storm or no st
(sees the blanket-covered corpse) What ! Mike, who's that?
JACK CARVER (sick to his stomach) Peter Godsoe. I reckinize the boots.
JACK turns to look at LINOGE. KIRK follows his gaze. These men are new to the situation, but still understand instinctively that LINOGE has been a part of what has happened they feel his power.
In the corner, the CB RADIO CRACKLES.
URSULA (radio voice)
. . . ike . . . come in, Mike An . . . have a bad sit ... town hall . . . Lloyd Wish . . . gency . . .
emergency . . .
That last word, at least, comes through clearly. MIKE and HATCH exchange a startled, worried look what now? MIKE goes to the shelf where the CB sits and snatches up the microphone.
MIKE
Ursula, say again! Say again, please . . . and go slow! The roof antenna's snapped off and I'm barely picking you up. What is your emergency?
He lets go of the button. There is a tense pause. HATCH reaches past him and TURNS UP THE
VOLUME. SOUND OF STATIC, then:
URSULA (radio voice)
. . . oyd . . . shman . . . Ferd says . . . Robbie Beals . . . Henry Bright . . . have . . . can . . . hear me?
MIKE looks frustrated, then has an idea.
MIKE (to HATCH)
Go out front and get her on the Island Services CB. Come back as soon's you know what her trouble is.
HATCH
Right.
STORM OF THE CENTURY 139 He starts away, then looks back doubtfully.
HATCH You'll be okay?
MIKE He's locked up, isn't he?
HATCH looks more doubtful than ever, but he leaves.
KIRK FREEMAN Mike, do you have any idea what's going on here?
MIKE holds up a hand, as if to say, "Not now." He reaches into his coat pocket and brings out the Polaroids he took at MARTHA CLARENDON'S house. He shuffles through them until he finds the one from over the door. He lays this down in the corner of the paper he and HATCH took from around PETER GODSOE'S neck. They are identical even the drawing of the cane over MARTHA'S living 126
room door looks the same as the ones dancing on the sheet of paper.
JACK CARVER
What in God's name is happening?
MIKE starts to straighten up, then sees something else.
15 INTERIOR: THE OPEN POWERBOOK, FROM MIKE'S POINT OF VIEW.
The entire grid of HATCH'S crossword has been filled in with variations of "GIVE ME WHAT I WANT AND I'LL GO AWAY," plus the little cane-icons in the black squares.
16 INTERIOR: RESUME CONSTABLE'S OFFICE.
MIKE I'll be damned if I know.
17 INTERIOR: THE TOWN OFFICE, WITH URSULA NIGHT.
She's working the CB microphone for all it's worth. Behind her, looking anxious, are a number of men and women, SANDRA BEALS and CARLA BRIGHT among them.
140 STEPHEN KING
Mike, are you there?
URSULA f
MOLLY, also understandably worried, works her way through the knot of onlookers.
MOLLY Can't you get him?
URSULA
The wind's knocked the damned antennas down! Over here . . . over there ... all over the island, most likely.