MIKE (voice-over)
Melinda Hatcher died in October of 1990. The local paper said it was a heart attack; Ursula Godsoe sent me the clipping. I don't know if there was more to it or not. Thirty-five's young for your pump to quit, but it happens . . . ayuh. Shoah, deah.
165 EXTERIOR: THE LITTLE TALL METHODIST CHURCH DAY.
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It's late spring. Cheerful flowers shout color along the walk leading from the front door. Faintly, we can hear the TRIUMPHAL ORGAN STRAINS of 'The Wedding March.' The doors burst open. Out comes MOLLY, laughing and radiant in her wedding dress. There are still lines on her face, but her graying hair is hidden. Beside her, dressed in a morning coat and clasping her waist, is HATCH. He looks as happy as she does. Behind them, holding up MOLLY'S train with one hand and clutching a bouquet in the other, is PIPPA, now bigger and with beautiful long hair. Her days of getting her head stuck between the banister posts are pretty well behind her. People follow, FLINGING RICE. Among them, smiling like a proud papa, is REV. BOB RIGGINS.
MIKE (voice-over)
Molly and Hatch married in May of '93. Ursula sent me that clipping, too. From what I hear, they've been good for each other . . . and for Pippa. I'm glad. I wish the three of them every happiness. I mean that with all my heart.
166 INTERIOR: A CHEESY RENTED ROOM NIGHT.
MIKE (voice-over) Not everyone from Little Tail's been so lucky.
THE CAMERA TRACKS ACROSS THE ROOM, past a rumpled, unmade bed that looks like it has seen its share of bad dreams. The bathroom door is ajar, and THE CAMERA PUSHES THROUGH.
370 STEPHEN KING
MIKE (voice-over)
Jack and Angie Carver divorced about two months after Hatch and Molly got married. Jack fought for custody of Buster it was pretty bitter, I guess and lost. He moved off-island, to Lewiston, rented a room, and killed himself there one night in the late summer of 1994.
The bathroom window is OPEN. Through it, FAINTLY, we can hear the SOUND of a bar band lashing its way through 'Hang On Sloopy.' JACK CARVER is lying in a dry bathtub with a plastic bag pulled down over his head. THE CAMERA MOVES IN RELENTLESSLY . . . until we can see the paisley eye patch over one eye.
MIKE (voice-over)
He left what little he had to a fellow named Harmon Brodsky, who lost an eye in a barroom fight back in the eighties.
167 EXTERIOR: LITTLE TALL ISLAND, FROM THE REACH MORNING.
It's still except for the SLOW TOLL OF A BELL BUOY and a little ghostly, misted in shades of gray. We can see that the town dock has been rebuilt, and there's a fish warehouse there, as well . .
. only it's a different color from PETER'S, and the sign along the side reads BEALS FANCY FISH
instead of GODSOE FISH & LOBSTER.
Now, as THE CAMERA BEGINS TO PULL BACK, we also hear THE LAP OF WATER against the side of a boat. It comes into view a small rowboat riding on the swell. During this: MIKE (voice-over)
Robbie Beals rebuilt the old fish house on the town dock, and hired Kirk Freeman to work there.
Kirk said Robbie's wife Sandra came down there one early morning in the spring of 1996, dressed in her yellow slicker and red boots, and told him she wanted to go for a little row. Kirk made her put on a life-preserver ... he said he didn't like the way she looked.
THE CAMERA reaches the boat and RISES, showing us the prow. Neatly folded there is a yellow fisherman's slicker. A pair of red
STORM OF THE CENTURY 371
galoshes stand beside it, and placed around their toes like a collar is a Mae West.
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MIKE (voice-over)
He said it was like she was dreaming with her eyes open . . . but what could he do? It was a mild morning, no wind, not much of a swell . . . and she was the boss's wife. They found the boat, but they didn't find Sandy. There was one strange thing . . .
CAMERA SLIPS ALONG the length of the boat. Written across the rear seat in either red paint or lipstick is a single word: 'CROATON.'
MIKE (voice-over)
. . . but they didn't know what to make of it. There were people on the island who maybe could have helped them a little there . . .
168 INTERIOR: THE TOWN OFFICE, WITH URSULA DAY.
A couple of STATE POLICEMEN are talking to her (we don't need to hear them; this can be MOS
[without sound]), no doubt asking questions, and she is shaking her head politely. Sorry, officers . .
. nope . . . can't imagine . . . and so on.
MIKE (voice-over)
. . . but island folk can keep a secret. We kept our share back in 1989, and the people who live there keep them still. As for Sandra Beals, she's presumed drowned, and her seven years are up in 2003. Robbie'11 no doubt have her declared officially dead as soon as '03 comes around on the calendar. Tough, I know, but . . .
169 EXTERIOR: LITTLE TALL ISLAND, FROM THE OCEAN DAY
MIKE (voice-over)
(continues)
. . . this is a cash-and-carry world, pay as you go. Sometimes you only have to pay a little, but mostly it's a lot. And once in a while it's all you have. That's a lesson I thought I learned nine years ago, on Little Tall, during the Storm of the Century . . .
A
372 STEPHEN KING
SLOW DISSOLVE TO:
170 EXTERIOR: SAN FRANCISCO, STOCK SHOT DAY.
MIKE (voice-over)
