from the beam. The coffee drops from his hand, hits the floor, splashes his boots.
235 INTERIOR: THE FIREHOUSE, WITH FERD.
FERD ANDREWS Lloyd! Where the hell are you? Did you go to sleep, or wh 120
He starts around the rear of the closest pumper, then stops. There's a pair of boots sticking out.
FERD
Lloyd? Lloyd . . . ?
Slowly, not really wanting to, he goes the rest of the way around, to where he can see his partner. For a moment he's silent, so shocked he is unable to vocalize. Then FERD screams like a woman.
236 INTERIOR: HATCH, CLOSE-UP.
His face is frozen in an expression of utter horror.
237 INTERIOR: THE SIDE OF THE PUMPER.
'GIVE ME WHAT I WANT AND I'LL GO AWAY' painted in bloodred capital letters.
238 INTERIOR: THE SIGN AROUND PETER GODSOE'S NECK.
'GIVE ME WHAT I WANT, GIVE ME WHAT I WANT, GIVE ME WHAT I WANT AND I'LL GO AWAY.'
Plus those creepy little dancing canes.
239 INTERIOR: THE SCREEN OF HATCH'S POWERBOOK, CLOSE-UP.
The answers he filled in are gone. Now, filling the crossword grid, are the words 'GIVE ME WHAT
I WANT AND I'LL GO AWAY.' Across, down, interlocking at every point. And in the center of every black square is a little white cane-icon.
240 INTERIOR: LINOGE, EXTREME CLOSE-UP.
Grinning. The sharp tips of his teeth showing.
SLOW DISSOLVE TO:
241 EXTERIOR: THE CENTER OF TOWN, HIGH ANGLE NIGHT.
121
It's mostly dark, except for the town hall. And now the storm emergency signal begins to blow: two shorts, one long, a pause, and then once again. Take shelter.
The image of LINOGE LINGERS, superimposed over the snowy town and perhaps suggesting there will be no shelter for the inhabitants of Little Tall Island . . . not tonight, perhaps not ever again. At last LINOGE'S image FADES OUT . . . and we do the same.
THIS ENDS PART ONE.
PART 2
The Storm of the Century
Act 1
[We begin with a MONTAGE OF SCENES from PART ONE. This ends with the final image: LINOGE'S predatory tiger's face superimposed upon the intersection at the center of town.]
1 EXTERIOR: THE CENTER OF TOWN NIGHT.
The blizzard is rising toward a state of total fury, with snow falling so fast and hard that the buildings look like ghosts. Drifts are already beginning to pile up against the storefronts on Main Street.
As LINOGE'S image fades, we hear a SOUND, LOW at first, then UP TO FULL: THE TOWN
WHISTLE, blowing the EMERGENCY SIGNAL over and over again: two shorts and one long.
On Main Street, we can see a STRING OF MOVING LIGHTS and hear the SOUND OF ENGINES as folks comply.
132 STEPHEN KING
2 EXTERIOR: MAIN STREET SIDEWALK, WITH FERD ANDREWS NIGHT.
He comes pelting along toward the town hall through the snow, sometimes slipping and falling, then picking himself up again. He makes no attempt to go around the building drifts, but bulls his way straight through. He approaches a group of five or six men who are skiing toward the town hall.
One of them is BILL TOOMEY.
BILL TOOMEY Say, Ferd where's the fire?
Because of Ferd's job (it says LITTLE TALL V.F.D. right across the back of his parka), this breaks BILL'S friends right up it doesn't take much to amuse island people, let me tell you, and these fellows have probably been having a little storm refreshment.
FERD takes no notice, just picks himself up again and continues running toward the town hall.
3 EXTERIOR: MIKE ANDERSON'S STORE NIGHT.
Battened down for the storm. The porch has already drifted in. The storm shutters RATTLE on their tracks. PETER GODSOE'S pickup truck and MOLLY'S little car are now little more than snow-covered humps, but in the case of the truck, it's no big deal; PETER'S driving days are over.
4 INTERIOR: THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE NIGHT.
HATCH is as we left him at the end of Part One, staring up at PETER'S dangling legs. Nearby is the overturned chair PETER stood on while he was putting the noose around his neck.
5 INTERIOR: THE SIGN AROUND PETER'S NECK, CLOSE-UP.
122
'GIVE ME WHAT I WANT' written all over it, helter-skelter, along with the dancing canes. And, at the top, like a title, is the complete thought in capital letters so big they almost scream: 'GIVE ME
WHAT I WANT AND I'LL GO AWAY.'
6 INTERIOR: RESUME CONSTABLE'S OFFICE.
HATCH looks from the dangling legs to LINOGE, sitting there in the cell, his stocking feet cocked up on the cot's edge, his faintly smiling
STORM OF THE CENTURY 133
face peering out from between his spread knees. LINOGE'S eyes have gone back to normal, but he projects a terrible quality of hunger and predation, just the same. He's locked up, yes, but it's such a ridiculous sham of a cell, with its wood floor and home-welded bars. HATCH is getting the idea that he is the one in trouble, locked up with this tiger in human form. We can take it a step further: the whole town is in trouble.
Between the dangling body and the silent, staring LINOGE, HATCH starts to lose it.
HATCH What are you lookin' at?
(no reply from LINOGE)
Did you make him do it, somehow? Make him write that around his neck and then hang himself?
Did you?
Nothing from LINOGE. He only sits there, looking at HATCH. HATCH has had enough and heads for the door. He tries to do it at a walk, but can't hold on to himself well enough to keep that pace.
He begins to hurry . . . then simply BOLTS. He grabs the knob, turns it, yanks the door open . . .
and there is a SHAPE out there by the meat counter. It GRABS HATCH. HATCH shrieks.
7 INTERIOR: TOWN HALL BASEMENT, FEATURING PIPPA HATCHER, CLOSE-UP.
