where it's cold. JACK and KIRK exchange a dismayed "Ah, shit" look. JACK reaches forward, attempting to take her arm and help her in before she gets too good a look.
JACK Ursula, I wouldn't look at that, if I were you . . .
She pulls free and sinks to her knees beside the wrapped corpse of her husband.
KIRK
(back over his shoulder) Mike! You better come here!
URSULA pays no mind. PETER'S green rubber boots are still sticking out, boots she knows well and may have patched herself. She touches one of them and begins CRYING SOUNDLESSLY. JOANNA stands behind her in the BLOWING, SWIRLING SNOW, not knowing what to do.
MIKE appears in the doorway, with HATCH behind him. MIKE understands the situation at once, and speaks with great gentleness.
STORM OF THE CENTURY 193 MIKE
Ursula. I'm sorry.
She takes no notice, only kneels in the snow, holding the patched boot and crying. MIKE bends, gets his arm around her shoulders, and helps her to her feet.
MIKE
Come on in, Urse. Come on in where there's light and it's warm.
He leads her in past JACK and KIRK. JOANNA follows, with one quick, shying look down at the bundle with the boots sticking out of it. JACK and KIRK follow, and KIRK closes the door behind him against the night and the storm.
128 EXTERIOR: THE TOWN HALL NIGHT.
Wrapped in thick clouds of BLOWING SNOW.
129 INTERIOR: THE TOWN HALL KITCHEN, WITH CAT WITHERS.
She sits on a stool, wrapped in a blanket, her eyes staring emptily. MELINDA HATCHER leans into the frame. She's got a damp cloth and begins to wipe the SPATTERS OF BLOOD from CAT'S face. She does this gently and kindly.
SONNY BRAUTIGAN
I don't know as you're supposed to do that, Mrs. Hatcher. It's evidence, or somethin'.
During this, THE CAMERA PULLS BACK, and we see a crowd of lookie-loos lined up against the kitchen walls and crowding in through the door. Next to SONNY an aspiring Archie Bunker with a big belly and a sour disposition is his friend UPTON BELL. We also may see LUCIEN FOURNIER and the others from the shed, plus JONAS STANHOPE and young ANNIE HUSTON. MELINDA looks at SONNY for a moment in wordless contempt, then goes on cleaning the eerily silent CAT'S FACE.
MRS. KINGSBURY is at the stove, ladling broth into a coffee mug. Now she crosses with it to where CAT sits.
194 STEPHEN KING
MRS. KINGSBURY Katrina, have a little broth. It'll warm you up.
UPTON BELL
Ought to spike it with rat poison, Missus Kingsbury . . . that'd warm her up, all right.
There's a little RUMBLE OF AGREEMENT . . . and SONNY laughs out loud at his friend UPTON'S sophisticated wit. MELDINDA gives them both a smoking look.
MRS. KINGSBURY Upton Bell, you shut up your ignorant mouth!
SONNY
(sticking up for his pal)
You're treatin' her like she saved his damn life instead of sneakin' up behind him and bashin' his brains out!
Another RUMBLE OF AGREEMENT. MOLLY ANDERSON pushes through the crowd. She looks at SONNY with a withering contempt he can't stand up to, then at UPTON, then at the others.
MOLLY Get out of here, all of you! This isn't a sideshow!
They shift around a little, but don't really move.
MOLLY
(a little more reasonable)
Come on you've known this girl all your lives. Whatever she did, she deserves a chance to breathe a little.
JONAS STANHOPE
Come on, folks. Let's go. They've got it in hand.
JONAS is some sort of professional man a lawyer, perhaps and has enough moral weight to get them moving. SONNY and UPTON resist the tide for a moment.
1
STORM OF THE CENTURY 195
CHAPTER 18
JONAS STANHOPE Come on, Sonny . . . Upton. There's nothing here you can do.
SONNY
Can take her down to the constable's and throw her murder-in' ass in jail!
UPTON BELL
(what a great idea) Yeah!
JONAS STANHOPE
I think they've already got a guy in there . . . and she doesn't exactly look like she's going to break loose, now does she?
He gestures to the girl, who is (pardon the pun) just about CATatonic. She has totally ignored the whole thing, may not even know it's happening. SONNY sees what STANHOPE means, and shuffles out, UPTON after him.
MOLLY
Thank you, Mr. Stanhope.
MRS. KINGSBURY, meanwhile, sets the cup of broth aside it's a lost cause and looks at CAT with tired perplexity.
JONAS STANHOPE
(to MOLLY) Not a problem. Where's my mom, have you seen her?
MOLLY
I think she's getting ready for bed.
JONAS STANHOPE Good. Good.
He leans back against the wall, his face and body language saying, "Good God, what a day."
130 INTERIOR: THE TOWN MEETING