mounting those steps, with the hospital johnny flapping around her scrawny body. She points the tip of the cane at ROBBIE; her rheumy old eyes FLASH
MALEVOLENTLY.
FALSE MOTHER
236
Why don't you tell these people where you were and what you were doing when I died, Robbie? I think your wife would be especially interested, don't you?
320 STEPHEN KING
90 INTERIOR: ANGLE ON ROBBIE, LINOGE, AND THE FIRST FEW ROWS
BELOW.
ROBBIE
You keep your mouth shut! Sandra, don't listen to him! It's all lies!
SANDRA BEALS, puzzled and afraid, starts to get up. URSULA seizes her wrist and gets her to sit down again.
On stage, LINOGE reaches one hand out toward ROBBIE'S face, clutching with the fingertips.
LINOGE
Your eyes . . .
91 INTERIOR: THE FALSE MOTHER, FROM ROBBIE'S POINT OF VIEW.
FALSE MOTHER 111 eat your eyes right out of your head . . .
The bony old hand not holding the cane continues to make CLUTCHING GESTURES.
92 INTERIOR: THE STAGE.
ROBBIE stumbles backward, trips over his own feet, and FALLS DOWN. He skitters backward from LINOGE/MOM on his butt, pushing with his feet, finishing up crouched beneath his own small town-manager's table. There he stops, GIBBERING SOFTLY. His gun lies forgotten on the stage some five feet away.
The ISLANDERS MURMUR, FRIGHTENED, as LINOGE steps behind the podium and grips its sides like a confident politician about to orate.
LINOGE
Not to worry, folks he'll recuperate just fine, I'm sure. And in the meantime, it's sort of nice to have him under the table instead of pounding on it, wouldn't you say? Sort of restful. Come on. Tell the truth . . .
(he pauses; smiles) . . . and shame the devil.
STORM OF THE CENTURY 321 They look at him silently, fearfully. He looks back, smiling.
LINOGE
So now we come to it, don't we? I'll lay things out for you, then go downstairs and wait for you to take your decision.
93 INTERIOR: THE ISLANDERS.
SONNY BRAUTIGAN stands. He's scared but determined to speak.
SONNY
Why did you come here? Why us?
94 INTERIOR: MIKE AND MOLLY, CLOSE-UP.
V MIKE
237
(low; almost to himself) I guess there's just something about us that pisses him off.
MOLLY takes his hand. MIKE folds his fingers over hers, raises her hand to his cheek, and rubs it there, taking comfort from her touch.
95 INTERIOR: ANGLE ON THE STAGE AND THE HALL, FEATURES LINOGE
LINOGE
I'm here because island folks know how to pull together for the common good when they need to
... and island folks know how to keep a secret. That was true on Roanoke Island in 1587, and it's true on Little Tall in 1989.
HATCH
(stands) Tell us. Quit dancing around it. Tell us what you want.
HATCH sits down. LINOGE stands at the podium with his head bent, as if in thought. The ISLANDERS wait breathlessly for him to go on. Outside, the WIND MOANS. At last, the stranger raises his head and looks at his audience.
LINOGE
Your children are here with you . . . but they're not. It's the same with me, because part of me is with them.
322 STEPHEN KING
He points to his right, where the room's outer wall is lined with windows. On a nice day, these would give a western view of the slope that runs down to the docks, the reach, and the mainland.
Now the windows are DARK . . . except when LINOGE raises his other hand and points the wolf's head of his cane in that direction.
The windows fill with BRIGHT BLUE LIGHT. The ISLANDERS murmur in FEAR and WONDER.
Several of them actually shade their eyes.
LINOGE Look!
THE CAMERA MOVES IN on the center window. We see BLUE SKY ... we see the CLOUDS BELOW
... we see what could be a V-formation of birds (ducks, perhaps?) winging their way above the clouds. Except those aren't ducks or geese . . . those are . . . are . . .
96 INTERIOR: THE 'KIDS' CORNER' OF THE MEETING HALL.
ANDY ROBICHAUX lurches to his feet, eyes never leaving the GLOWING WINDOWS. His face is filled with dismay.
ANDY
Harry . . . oh, my God, that's Harry!
He looks wildly at his sleeping son, reassuring himself that the boy hasn't disappeared, then back at the image in the window. And now ANGIE gets to her feet beside him.
ANGIE
(screams) Buster! Jack, that's Buster!
97 INTERIOR: LINOGE, CLOSE-UP.
