the bundle with the boots sticking out of it. JACK and KIRK follow, and KIRK closes the door behind him against the night and the storm.
159
128 EXTERIOR: THE TOWN HALL NIGHT.
Wrapped in thick clouds of BLOWING SNOW.
129 INTERIOR: THE TOWN HALL KITCHEN, WITH CAT WITHERS.
She sits on a stool, wrapped in a blanket, her eyes staring emptily. MELINDA HATCHER leans into the frame. She's got a damp cloth and begins to wipe the SPATTERS OF BLOOD from CAT'S face.
She does this gently and kindly.
SONNY BRAUTIGAN
I don't know as you're supposed to do that, Mrs. Hatcher. It's evidence, or somethin'.
During this, THE CAMERA PULLS BACK, and we see a crowd of lookie-loos lined up against the kitchen walls and crowding in through the door. Next to SONNY an aspiring Archie Bunker with a big belly and a sour disposition is his friend UPTON BELL. We also may see LUCIEN FOURNIER and the others from the shed, plus JONAS STANHOPE and young ANNIE HUSTON. MELINDA looks at SONNY for a moment in wordless contempt, then goes on cleaning the eerily silent CAT'S FACE.
MRS. KINGSBURY is at the stove, ladling broth into a coffee mug. Now she crosses with it to where CAT sits.
194 STEPHEN KING
MRS. KINGSBURY Katrina, have a little broth. It'll warm you up.
UPTON BELL
Ought to spike it with rat poison, Missus Kingsbury . . . that'd warm her up, all right.
There's a little RUMBLE OF AGREEMENT . . . and SONNY laughs out loud at his friend UPTON'S
sophisticated wit. MELDINDA gives them both a smoking look.
MRS. KINGSBURY Upton Bell, you shut up your ignorant mouth!
SONNY
(sticking up for his pal)
You're treatin' her like she saved his damn life instead of sneakin' up behind him and bashin' his brains out!
Another RUMBLE OF AGREEMENT. MOLLY ANDERSON pushes through the crowd. She looks at SONNY with a withering contempt he can't stand up to, then at UPTON, then at the others.
MOLLY Get out of here, all of you! This isn't a sideshow!
They shift around a little, but don't really move.
MOLLY
(a little more reasonable)
Come on you've known this girl all your lives. Whatever she did, she deserves a chance to breathe a little.
JONAS STANHOPE
Come on, folks. Let's go. They've got it in hand.
JONAS is some sort of professional man a lawyer, perhaps and has enough moral weight to get them moving. SONNY and UPTON resist the tide for a moment.
160
1
STORM OF THE CENTURY 195
JONAS STANHOPE Come on, Sonny . . . Upton. There's nothing here you can do.
SONNY
Can take her down to the constable's and throw her murder-in' ass in jail!
UPTON BELL
(what a great idea) Yeah!
JONAS STANHOPE
I think they've already got a guy in there . . . and she doesn't exactly look like she's going to break loose, now does she?
He gestures to the girl, who is (pardon the pun) just about CATatonic. She has totally ignored the whole thing, may not even know it's happening. SONNY sees what STANHOPE means, and shuffles out, UPTON after him.
MOLLY
Thank you, Mr. Stanhope.
MRS. KINGSBURY, meanwhile, sets the cup of broth aside it's a lost cause and looks at CAT
with tired perplexity.
JONAS STANHOPE
(to MOLLY) Not a problem. Where's my mom, have you seen her?
MOLLY
I think she's getting ready for bed.
JONAS STANHOPE Good. Good.
He leans back against the wall, his face and body language saying, 'Good God, what a day.'
130 INTERIOR: THE TOWN MEETING HALL NIGHT.
The benches and the speaker's podium are empty, but a few people in nightwear are going up and down the side aisle. The only woman is old
196 STEPHEN KING
CORA STANHOPE, Little Tail's self- appointed queen. She has an overnight bag in one hand.
^
An older gent named ORVILLE BOUCHER passes her going the other way. He's wearing a bathrobe, slippers, white socks. In one hand he's got his plastic toothbrush case.
ORVILLE
Say, there, Cora! Just like camp, ain't it? Someone oughtta put a bedsheet up on the wall and show cartoons!
CORA sniffs, raises her nose slightly into the air, and passes by without a word . . . although she cannot help a horrified glance at ORV'S white and hairy old-man's shins, a generous portion of which are on view above the tops of his socks and below the hem of his robe.
161
