SHOTS of DAVEY with his parents and DON sleeping on his cot.
LINOGE
(continues)
. . . have gone to your graves. But in terms of my own existence, time has grown short. You ask me what I want?
104 INTERIOR: MIKE AND MOLLY ANDERSON.
MIKE already knows, and his face is filling with HORROR and FURIOUS PROTEST. When he begins speaking, his voice rising from a WHISPER TO A SCREAM, MOLLY seizes his wrist . . .
MIKE No, no, no, no ...
105 INTERIOR: LINOGE, AT THE PODIUM.
LINOGE
(ignores MIKE)
I want someone to raise and teach; someone to whom I can pass on all I have learned and all I know; I want someone who will carry on my work when I can no longer do it myself.
106 INTERIOR: MIKE.
He rises to his feet, dragging MOLLY with him.
MIKE
No! No! Never!
107 INTERIOR: LINOGE.
LINOGE (ignores MIKE)
I want a child. One of the eight sleeping back there. It doesn't matter which one; all are just as likely in my eyes. Give me what I want give it freely and I'll go away.
326 STEPHEN KING
108 INTERIOR: THE STAGE AND THE AUDIENCE, ANGLE ON MIKE AND
LINOGE.
MIKE
Never! We'll never give you one of our children! Never!
He pulls away from MOLLY and lunges for the stairs leading to the stage, meaning to tackle LINOGE. In his fury, any doubts he might have had about his ability to prevail over LINOGE'S supernatural powers have disappeared.
LINOGE
Grab him! Unless you want me to drop the children! And I will! I promise you I will!
109 INTERIOR: THE "KIDS' CORNER"
The KIDS are MOANING AND TURNING on their cots, their serenity broken by some interior fear ... or something that's happening to them FAR AWAY and HIGH ABOVE.
JACK CARVER (horror and panic) Get him! Stop him! For God's sake, stop him!
STORM OF THE CENTURY 327
110 INTERIOR: RESUME STAGE AREA.
REV. BOB RIGGINS throws his arms around MIKE'S shoulders before MIKE can do more than reach the foot of the stairs. HATCH joins him and also grabs hold before MIKE can throw off RIGGINS, who is big but a touch on the blubbery side.
HATCH Mike, no we've got to hear him out at least hear him out
MIKE
(struggling) No, we don't! Let me go, Hatch! Dammit
He almost gets free, but then he's swamped by LUCIEN, SONNY, ALEX, and JOHNNY. Big boys all, they drag him back to his seat in the first row. We can see they're embarrassed to be doing it, but we can also see that they're determined.
JOHNNY
You just sit tight for a bit, Michael Anderson, and let him have his say. We'll hear him out.
LUCIEN We got to.
MIKE You're wrong. Listening to him is the worst thing we can do.
He looks to MOLLY for help and support, and what he sees there stuns him ... a KIND OF DESPERATE UNSURETY.
MIKE (horrified) Molly? Molly?
MOLLY I don't know, Mike. I think we better listen.
MELINDA Surely it can't hurt to listen.
328 STEPHEN KING
SONNY
He's got us over a stump.
They turn back to LINOGE.
111 INTERIOR: THE ISLANDERS.
CHAPTER 30
All of them turn back to LINOGE, waiting for the bottom line.
112 INTERIOR: RESUME LINOGE.
As he speaks, THE CAMERA MOVES SLOWLY IN TO CLOSE-UP.
LINOGE
In a matter such as this, I cannot take . . . although I can punish; I assure you I can punish. Give me one of the babies sleeping yonder to raise as my own and I'll leave you in peace. He or she will live long long after all the others sleeping there are gone and see much. Give me what I want and I'll go away. Refuse me, and the dreams you shared last night will come true. The children will fall from the sky, the rest of you will walk into the ocean, two by two, and when the storm ends, they will find this island as they found Roanoke Island. Empty . . . deserted. I'll give you half an hour. Discuss it ... isn't that what a town meeting is for? And then . . .
He pauses. We have reached EXTREME CLOSE-UP.
LINOGE
Choose.
FADE TO BLACK. THIS ENDS ACT 4.
ActS
113 EXTERIOR: THE LITTLE TALL ISLAND TOWN HALL NIGHT.
The wind is still blowing the snow around, but the stuff falling from the sky has stopped. The Storm of the Century Mother Nature's version, anyway has ended.
114 EXTERIOR: THE SKY NIGHT.
The clouds have begun to tatter and pull apart. This time when the FULL MOON appears, it remains in view.
115 INTERIOR: THE TOWN MEETING HALL, FROM THE CORRIDOR.
We're looking in through the glass doors, and running across the bottom of our view, like