348 STEPHEN KING
MOLLY No. Please. You.
URSULA plunges her hand into the bag, takes one of the two remaining stones, then steps back, fist clenched. MOLLY steps forward, looks at LINOGE, and takes the last stone. LINOGE tosses the empty bag aside. It flutters toward the stage . . . then DISAPPEARS IN A DIM BLUE GLOW before it ever reaches the boards. No reaction from the ISLANDERS; their silence is so thick and tense you could cut it with a knife.
LINOGE
All right, my friends; so far it's done very well. Now, who has the courage to show first? To put fear aside and let sweet relief rush in to take its place?
No one responds. They stand, eight parents with their hands clenched before them, each in utter 254
white-faced terror.
LINOGE
(genial)
Come, come have you never heard that the gods punish the fainthearted?
JACK
(cries out) Buster! I love you!
He opens his hand. The marble he holds is WHITE. The AUDIENCE MURMURS.
URSULA steps forward. She holds out her closed, trembling fist. She nerves herself up, and her hand springs open. This marble is also WHITE. The AUDIENCE MURMURS AGAIN.
ROBBIE
Let's see, Sandra. Show it.
SANDRA
I ... I ... Robbie, I can't ... I know it's Donnie ... I know it is ... I've never been lucky . . .
STORM OF THE CENTURY 349
Impatient with her, contemptuous of her, in a frenzy to know one way or the other, he goes to her, seizes her hand, and pries the fingers open. We can't see, and at first we can read nothing from his face. Then he seizes what she holds, and lifts it up so they can all see. He's GRINNING
SAVAGELY; looks like Richard Nixon at a political rally.
ROBBIE
White!
He tries to embrace his wife, but SANDRA pushes him away with an expression beyond disgust this is outright revulsion.
Now it's LINDA ST. PIERRE's turn to step forward. She holds out her closed hand, looking down at it, then closes her eyes.
LINDA ST. PIERRE
Please, God, I beg of you, don't take my Heidi away.
She opens her hand, but not her eyes.
ANOTHER VOICE
White!
The AUDIENCE MURMURS. LINDA opens her eyes, sees the stone is indeed WHITE, and begins to WEEP, closing her hand again and holding the precious stone to her breasts.
LINOGE
Jill? Mrs. Robichaux?
JILL ROBICHAUX
I can't. I thought I could go through with it, but I can't. I'm sorry She heads for the stairs, still holding her clenched fist in front of her. Before she can get there, 255
LINOGE points his cane her way. She is driven back at once. LINOGE now dips the silver wolf's head at her hand. She tries to hold the fingers closed and can't. The stone drops to the stage, rolls like a marble (which is what the stones look like), and
350 STEPHEN KING
THE CAMERA TRACKS IT. It finally stops, resting against one of the legs of the town manager's table. It's WHITE.
JILL collapses to her knees, SOBBING. LINDA helps her to her feet and embraces her. Now there is only HENRY, MELINDA, and MOLLY. One of them has the black stone. We INTERCUT their spouses. CARLA BRIGHT and HATCH are watching the stage with passionate, terrorized fascination.
MIKE is still looking at the floor.
LINOGE
Mr. Bright? Henry? Will you favor us?
HENRY steps forward and slowly opens his hand. The stone is WHITE. He all but deflates in his relief. CARLA looks at him, smiling through her tears.
Now it's down to MOLLY and MELINDA, RALPHIE and PIPPA. The two mothers look at each other with LINOGE smiling in the background. One of them is about to cease being a mother, and both of them know it.
128 INTERIOR: MOLLY, CLOSE-UP.
She's imagining:
129 EXTERIOR: BLUE SKY DAY.
Flying high above the clouds is LINOGE, but now the V is very short. Of the eight children, only RALPHIE and PIPPA are left, each gripping one of LINOGE'S hands.
130 INTERIOR: RESUME STAGE NIGHT.
LINOGE
Ladies?
MOLLY looks a thought at MELINDA. MELINDA catches it and nods slightly. The women hold out their closed fists, hand to hand. They look at each other, frantic with love, hope, and fear.
MOLLY
(very soft) Now.
STORM OF THE CENTURY 351
131 INTERIOR: THE CLOSED HANDS, CLOSE-UP.
They open. In one is a white 'marble'; in the other is a black. There are MURMURS, GASPS, and CRIES OF SURPRISE from the audience . . . but we can't tell not
