FERD
(finally at the front of the crowd) Then what is it?
MIKE I don't know.
He looks down into RALPHIE'S serene face, as if trying to read whatever is happening behind the boy's closed eyes. THE CAMERA FOLLOWS HIS GAZE, moving in and in on RALPHIE'S face, from MEDIUM SHOT to CLOSE-UP, from CLOSE-UP to EXTREME CLOSE-UP. And as it does, we: SLOWLY DISSOLVE TO:
54 EXTERIOR: BLUE SKY, WHITE CLOUDS DAY.
The sky above is that DEEP, PENETRATING BLUE that we see only from airplanes. We are at about 22,000 feet above the surface of the earth. Below us, at 21,000 or so, is a WIDE DECK OF
CLOUD an enormous ballroom floor in the sky. We can see tendrils of cloud smoking off the top of this deck and into the blue. Up where we are, all is sunlit and serene. Below, still driving like hell, is the Storm of the Century.
A V-SHAPE becomes visible through the clouds, grayish against the white. It's like watching a submarine running just below the surface, or a plane about to break into the clear. You'd think
'plane,' given our location, but it isn't.
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The V-SHAPE rises out of the clouds. At the tip of the V is LINOGE, dressed in his watch cap, pea coat, blue jeans, and yellow gloves. Ahead of him, leading the way like a lodestar, is the CANE.
LINOGE holds his hands out to either side, slightly spread. Clinging to one is PIPPA HATCHER.
Clinging to the other is RALPHIE ANDERSON. Clinging to the hands of these two are HEIDI and BUSTER; clinging to HEIDI'S and BUSTER'S are SALLY and DON; clinging to their hands and STORM OF THE CENTURY 297
bringing up the rear are HARRY and little FRANK BRIGHT. Their hair flies back from their foreheads. Their clothes ripple. They are totally blissed out.
LINOGE (calls back) Having fun, kids?
KIDS
Yeah . . . yeah . . . Cool. . . This is great!
(etc.)
55 EXTERIOR: LINOGE, CLOSE-UP.
His eyes are BLACK, shot with TWISTING RED VEINS. When he smiles, he once more reveals those SHARPENED FANGS. The shadow of the CANE lies on his face like a scar. The KIDS think they have gone flying with a fabulous friend. We know the truth: they are in the grip of a monster.
FADE TO BLACK. THIS ENDS ACT 2.
Act 3
56 EXTERIOR: THE TOWN HALL NIGHT.
It's still almost blotted out by the snowstorm, its few lights flickering bravely.
57 EXTERIOR: THE GENERATOR SHED BEHIND THE TOWN HALL NIGHT.
It's barely visible, almost buried by drifts, but it's impossible to mistake the ENGINE ROAR. Then the ENGINE COUGHS . . . SPUTTERS . . .
58 EXTERIOR: THE TOWN HALL NIGHT. The lights flicker on and off . . .
59 INTERIOR: THE TOWN HALL KITCHEN NIGHT.
TESS MARCHANT, TAVIA GODSOE, and JENNA FREEMAN are taking BOXES OF CANDLES out of the supply closet adjacent to the pantry and stacking them on the kitchen counter. The overhead lights CONTINUE TO FLICKER. TAVIA and JENNA look up, nervous.
TAVIA GODSOE (nervously, to TESS) Are we going to lose the generator, do you think?
TESS
Ayuh. It's a miracle it's run as long as 't 'as, with no one able to keep it dug out. Wind must have kept the exhaust pipe clear, but now it's shifted. In a way, that's good news. Means the storm's almost over.
She hands several stacked boxes of candles to JENNA and gives more to TAVIA. She takes a third stack for herself.
JENNA
Main meeting hall?
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STORM OF THE CENTURY 299
TESS
Ayuh, shoah Mike wants that ready first. There's a couple of emergency lights in there, but that isn't enough for him. Let's get as much done as we can while we can still see to do it, ladies.
60 INTERIOR: A CORRIDOR LEADING TO THE FRONT OF THE TOWN HALL.
Up ahead are URSULA GODSOE'S glassed-in office and the stairs going down to the basement. To the right is the main meeting hall, visible through the corridor windows. Through these we can see perhaps a hundred and twenty ISLANDERS, some grazing the buffet (scant provisions there by now), most sitting on benches and talking as they drink coffee.
There are chairs lining the corridor; these are used in less disastrous times by people waiting their turn to do some bit of town business licensing a car, a dog, a boat; paying property tax; checking the voter rolls; perhaps renewing a commercial fishing or clamming permit. In these are sprawled another two dozen ISLANDERS, some talking quietly, some dozing. It's the storm they're waiting on now.
TESS, TAVIA, and JENNA come hurrying along with their bounty of candles. Up ahead, HATCH
comes out of URSULA'S office.
HATCH
I just caught a little bit of the latest NWS bulletin on the shortwave. They say we may see the moon tonight.
TAVIA GODSOE
That's wonderful.
Those sitting in the hall like patients in a doctor's waiting room think so, too MANY APPLAUD, waking the dozers, who look around and ask what's up.
TAVIA Where's Ursula, do you know?
HATCH
Downstairs, with Sally and the others. Sleeping, the last I saw. (pause) But not like the kids're sleeping. You
