play anything as long as it's 'Louie Louie' or 'Hang On Sloopy,' and he prays to St. Andrew to bring back the sight in his left eye. He can't drive anymore; he lost his depth perception. That happens when you lose an eye. He can't even read for long, because it gives him headaches. Still, he had that swishy way of walking . . . and that lisp . . . and you guys kind of liked the way his hair looked, all around his face like it was, although you'd never say that to each other, would you? Kind of turned you on. Kind of wondered what it would feel like to run your hands through it
JACK grabs the gun off the desk and points it at the cell.
STORM OF THE CENTURY 157
JACK
Shut up or I'll shut you up! I swear!
MIKE
Jack, put that down!
LINOGE never moves, but his face has taken on a kind of DARK GLOW. No special contact lenses or special-effects tricks here; it's all in his face goading . . . hateful . . . powerful.
LINOGE
There's another bedtime story for a stormy night. I can see you in bed with your arm around your little boy's shoulders. 'Buster, Daddy wants to tell you how he put the nasty queer man's eye out with the end of a pool cue, 'cause '
JACK pulls the trigger of the pistol. MIKE falls off the chair he's been sitting in. He utters a CRY
OF PAIN. LINOGE never budges from his place on the bunk, but now MIKE is on the floor, face down.
137
FADE TO BLACK. THIS ENDS ACT 1.
Act 2
49 EXTERIOR: THE ISLAND MARKET NIGHT.
The storm is HOWLING, the snow falling so thick and fast the store looks like a ghost.
SOUND: A RENDING, SPLINTERING CRACK. A tree falls, missing GODSOE'S truck but mashing the front end of MOLLY'S little car and pulverizing one end of the porch rail.
JACK (voice-over) Mike! Mike, are you all right?
50 INTERIOR: THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE.
MIKE is getting to his knees. His right hand is clapped to his left biceps, and a little blood is trickling through his fingers. JACK is overwhelmed with remorse and terror at what he's done ... or almost done. He drops the gun back on the desk and rushes forward. MIKE, meanwhile, is getting to his feet.
)
JACK
(babbling) Mike, I'm sorry ... I didn't mean . . . are you all r MIKE pushes him violently backward.
MIKE Keep a safe distance from him didn't I tell you that?
But that's not why MIKE pushed him; MIKE pushed him for being an asshole, and JACK knows it.
He stands between the cell and the desk, his mouth quivering and his eyes wet. MIKE takes his hand away from his arm to examine the damage. His shirt is torn, and blood is oozing out of the rip.
158
STORM OF THE CENTURY 159
SOUND: ENGINES. The four-wheel drive and the Sno-Cat, approaching.
MIKE Barely clipped the skin. Lucky.
(relief from JACK) But six inches to the left, I'm dead and he's laughing.
MIKE turns and looks at the cell. One of the bars has a scar of fresh, gleaming metal. MIKE
reaches out and touches this with the tip of one finger, his expression wondering.
MIKE Where
LINOGE Here.
He holds out one hand, curled into a fist. Like a man in a dream, MIKE puts his arm through the bars, his hand open and palm up.
JACK
Mike, no!
MIKE pays no attention. LINOGE'S curled hand hovers over his palm, then opens. Something small and black drops. MIKE withdraws his hand. JACK comes forward a step or two. MIKE tweezes the tiny object between his fingers and holds it up so they can both see it. It's the slug from the bullet JACK fired.
SOUND OF ENGINES IS LOUDER.
138
MIKE
(to LINOGE) You caught this? You did, didn't you?
LINOGE only looks at him, smiling, saying nothing.
51 EXTERIOR: THE MARKET NIGHT.
The Island Services four-wheel drive pulls into the parking area, and 160 STEPHEN KING
the Sno-Cat pulls in next to it. The four men get out and look at the downed tree that's mashed the car and the porch.
HATCH Will his insurance cover that, Robbie?
ROBBIE
(don't bother me with trivialities) Come on. Let's get out of this.
They start up the porch steps.
52 INTERIOR: THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE.
MIKE'S shirtsleeve is rolled up, showing a shallow gash across his biceps. There's an open first-aid kit on the desk beside the handgun. JACK puts a folded-over gauze pad on the wound, then anchors it with a Band-Aid.
JACK
Mike, I'm really sorry.
MIKE takes a deep breath, holds it, lets it out, and stops being mad. It takes an effort, but he manages.
The market's main door opens. The bell above it TINKLES; there's the CLOMP OF BOOTS and the MURMUR OF APPROACHING VOICES.
MIKE That's Hatch!
JACK About the stuff that guy said . . .
JACK turns a hateful, bewildered look on LINOGE, who looks back at him calmly. MIKE holds up a hand to quiet JACK. The door opens. HATCH comes in, followed by HENRY BRIGHT and KIRK
FREEMAN. Last of all is ROBBIE BEALS, looking both truculent and scared. Not a good combination.
ROBBIE
All right, what's going on here?
STORM OF THE CENTURY 161 MIKE
