STAIRS.
HEIDI ST. PIERRE, the five-year-old daughter of LINDA ST. PIERRE, is a carrottop wearing thick glasses.
HEIDI Did not.
PIPPA
Did so!
HEIDI ST. PIERRE
Liar, liar, pants on fire!
MOLLY
Stop it, both of you.
PIPPA (to MIKE)
It was easy going out, but now I can't get back in. I think my head must be bigger on this side.
MIKE It is ... but I'm going to make it smaller. Do you know how?
PIPPA
28
(fascinated) No . . . how?
MIKE
I'm just going to push the smaller button. And when I do, your head will get smaller and you'll slide right back where you were. Just as easy as you slid in. Do you understand, Pippa?
He speaks in slow, soothing tones. He's engaged in something that's almost hypnosis.
HATCH What kind of
MOLLY Shhh!
MIKE Are you ready for me to push the button?
PIPPA Yes.
MIKE reaches up and pushes the end of her nose with the tip of his finger.
MIKE
Beep! There it goes! Smaller! Quick, Pippa, before it gets big again!
PIPPA pulls her head out easily from between the posts. The kids clap and cheer. DON BEALS
hops around like a monkey. One of the other boys, FRANK BRIGHT, hops around a little, too, then sees RALPHIE giving him a disgusted look and quits it.
HATCH gathers his daughter in for a hug. PIPPA hugs back, but eats her bread and jam at the same time. She stopped being scared when MIKE started talking to her. MOLLY smiles at MIKE
gratefully and puts her hand through the stairwell posts where PIPPA was stuck. MIKE takes it on his side and kisses each finger extravagantly. The
KIDS GIGGLE. One of them, BUSTER CARVER (BUSTER, the last of MOLLY'S day-care pupils, is about five), puts his hands over his eyes.
BUSTER
(moaning) Finger-kissin'! Oh, no!
29
MOLLY laughs and pulls her hand back.
MOLLY Thank you. Really.
HATCH
Yeah thanks, boss.
MIKE
No problem.
PIPPA
Dad, is my head still little? I felt it get little when Mr. Anderson said. Is it still little?
HATCH No, honey, just the right size.
MIKE walks to the foot of the stairs. MOLLY meets him. RALPHIE is there, too; MIKE picks him up and kisses the red mark on the bridge of the little boy's nose. MOLLY kisses MIKE'S cheek.
MOLLY
I'm sorry if I pulled you away at a bad time. I saw her head that way and when I couldn't get it to come out on my own, I just. . . freaked.
MIKE It's okay. I needed a break, anyway.
MOLLY
Is it bad down at the store?
HATCH
Bad enough. You know how it is when there's a storm
coming . . . and this is no ordinary storm. (to PIPPA) Got to go back, sweet girl. You be good.
DON BLOWS ANOTHER RASPBERRY.
30
MIKE (low) Gee, I love Robbie's kid.
MOLLY says nothing, but rolls her eyes in agreement.
MIKE What do you say, Hatch?
HATCH
Let's roll while we still can. If they're right, we're all apt to be cooped up for the next three days.
(pause) Like Pippa, with her head caught in the stairs.
None of them laugh. There's too much truth in what he says.
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.
31
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 . . .
