MORNING.
The sky is bright blue, and so is the reach. Fishing boats chug stolidly; pleasure boats dash, dragging wakes and whooping water-skiers. Overhead, gulls SWOOP AND CRY.
151 EXTERIOR: A SEACOAST TOWN MORNING. TITLE CARD: MACHIAS, SUMMER OF 1989.
152 EXTERIOR: A SMALL CLAPBOARD BUILDING ON MAIN STREET MORNING.
The sign out front reads SEACOAST COUNSELING SERVICES. And, below
this: THERE IS A SOLUTION. WE'LL FIND IT TOGETHER.
THE CAMERA MOVES IN on a side window. A WOMAN sits there, looking out. Her eyes are red, her cheeks wet with tears. Her hair is gray, and at first we do not recognize MOLLY ANDERSON. She has aged twenty years.
153 INTERIOR: THE COUNSELOR'S OFFICE MORNING.
MOLLY sits in a bentwood rocker, looking out at summer and CRYING SOUNDLESSLY. Sitting across from her is her COUNSELOR, a professional woman in a light cream-colored summer skirt and silk summer blouse. Nicely coiffed, nicely turned out, and looking at MOLLY with that kind of sympathy good psychologists show often helpful, but scary in its distance.
The silence spins out. The COUNSELOR is waiting for MOLLY to break it, but MOLLY only sits in the rocker, looking out at summer with her streaming eyes.
COUNSELOR You and Mike haven't slept together in ... how long?
361
362 STEPHEN KING
MOLLY
(looking out the window)
Five months. Give or take. I could tell you exactly, if you thought it would help. The last time was the night before the big storm came. The Storm of the Century.
COUNSELOR
When you lost your son.
MOLLY Correct. When I lost my son.
COUNSELOR
And Mike blames you for that loss.
MOLLY I think he's going to leave me.
COUNSELOR You're very afraid of that, aren't you?
MOLLY
I think he's running out of ways to stay. Do you understand what I mean by that?
COUNSELOR
Tell me again what happened to Ralphie. Х
MOLLY
Why? What good will it do? For God's sake, what good can it do? He's gone!
The COUNSELOR makes no response. After a bit, MOLLY sighs and gives in.
MOLLY
It was the second day. We were in the town hall where we took shelter, you know. The storm . . . you can't believe how bad it was.
STORM OF THE CENTURY 363
COUNSELOR I was here. I went through it.
MOLLY
Yes you were here, Lisa. On the mainland. It's different on the island, (pause) Everything's different on the island, (pause) Anyway, Johnny Harriman came rushing in while we were having breakfast and said the lighthouse was going over. Everyone wanted to see, of course . . . and Mike . . .
154 EXTERIOR: THE ANDERSON HOUSE SUMMER MORNING.
There's a SMALL WHITE CAR at the curb with the trunk lid up. There are two or three suitcases in it. Now the door opens and MIKE comes out, carrying two more. He closes the door, descends the porch steps, and goes down the walk. Every motion and gesture, every look back, tells us that this is a man who is leaving for good.
MOLLY (voice-over)
Mike told us it was whiteout, and to stay close to the building. Ralphie wanted to see . . . Pippa and all the kids wanted to go out and see . . . and so we took them. God help us, we took them.
MIKE stops by the WEE FOLKS DAY-CARE sign. It's still chain-hung from a low branch of the yard maple, but now it looks dusty, somehow. Forgotten. Of no importance. MIKE yanks it down, looks at it, then turns and throws it back at the porch, momentarily FURIOUS.
MOLLY (voice-over)
It was a mistake for any of us to go out, especially the children. We underestimated the storm. Several people wandered away and were lost. Ralphie was one of them. Angie Carver found her way back. None of the others did.
MIKE looks at the porch, where the sign has landed, then turns and walks down to his car. He puts the last couple of bags in and slams the trunk. As he starts around to the driver's side, digging the keys out of his pocket:
HATCH (voice) Mike?
364 STEPHEN KING
MIKE turns. HATCH, looking strange in a T-shirt and Bermuda shorts, walks up to where he stands. He looks painfully unhappy to be here. MIKE looks back at him coolly.
MIKE
If you've got something to say, best say it. Ferry leaves at 11:10, and I don't intend to miss it.
HATCH
Where you going?
(silence from MIKE) Don't, Michael. Don't leave.
(silence from MIKE)
Would it do you any good to tell you I haven't had a decent night's sleep since February?
(no answer from MIKE)
Would it do any good to tell you that . . . we might have