by Stephen King
. like wolf's eyes.
149 INTERIOR: RESUME HATCH AND PETER.
HATCH is rummaging in the desk drawer. As he pulls out a flashlight, PETER seizes his arm.
PETER GODSOE Look at him!
HATCH, startled, wheels to look at LINOGE. The prisoner is still sitting just as before, but there's no WEIRD LIGHT shining out of his eyes. HATCH turns on the flashlight and hits LINOGE in the face with the beam. LINOGE looks back calmly.
HATCH (to PETER) What?
PETER GODSOE I ... nothing.
He looks back toward LINOGE, perplexed and a little afraid.
HATCH
Maybe you've been smokin' too much of what you're selling.
PETER GODSOE
(mixed shame and anger) Shut up, Hatch. Don't talk about what you don't understand.
150 INTERIOR: THE MARKET'S COUNTER, WITH MIKE AND TESS MARCHANT.
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Looks like they're the only two left, now, and with the lights out, the market is very dim the front windows are big, but the light coming through them has started to fail. MIKE comes behind the counter and opens a UTILITY BOX built into the wall. Inside are circuit breakers and one larger switch. He flicks this one.
151 EXTERIOR: BEHIND THE MARKET LATE DAY.
There's a little shed marked GENERATOR to the left of the loading dock. An ENGINE STARTS UP
inside it, and blue smoke, immediately ripped away by the WIND, starts to chug from the exhaust stack.
152 INTERIOR: THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE.
The lights come back on. HATCH SIGHS WITH RELIEF.
HATCH Hey . . . Pete.
He wants to apologize, and he wants PETER to help him with it a little, but PETER'S not in the mood. He walks away and looks at the bulletin board on the wall.
HATCH I was out of line.
PETER Yeah, way out.
PETER turns and gives LINOGE a look. LINOGE looks back at him, SMILING FAINTLY.
PETER
What are you looking at?
LINOGE doesn't reply, just goes on looking at PETER with that FAINT SMILE. PETER turns back to the bulletin board, troubled. HATCH looks at PETER, wishing he could take back his smart-ass comment.
153 EXTERIOR: THE STORE'S PORCH, WITH MIKE AND TESS.
TESS is wearing a parka, gloves, and a pair of high gum-rubber boots. Still, the WIND rocks her on her feet, and MIKE has to steady her before going to the display window on one side of the door.
Here, on either side of the window at the bottom, there are crank handles. MIKE grabs one, and TESS makes her way to the other. They crank as they talk (SHOUTING to be heard over the wind) 96
and lower the slatted wooden STORM SHUTTER over the glass.
MIKE Will you be all right? Because I can give you a lift TESS
It's the wrong direction! And I'm only six houses down ... as you well know. Don't baby me!
He nods and gives her a smile. They move to the window on the other side of the door and lower the other storm shutter.
TESS
Mike? Do you have any idea why he came here, or why he'd want to kill Martha?
MIKE No. Go on home, Tess. Make yourself a fire. I'll lock up.
They finish with the shutter and move to the steps. TESS winces and tightens her hood as another gust slams into them.
TESS
You mind him careful. We don't want him out and prowling around with this (lifts her chin into the blizzard) going on.
MIKE Don't worry.
She looks at him a moment longer and is reasonably comforted by what she sees. She nods and clumps down the snow-laden steps, holding tight to the railing as she goes. With her back to him, MIKE allows his face to show how worried he really is. Then he heads back inside and shuts the door. He turns the OPEN sign to CLOSED and pulls down the shade.
154 INTERIOR: THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE.
MIKE comes in, still stamping the snow off his boots, and looks around. HATCH has found a second flashlight and has set out some candles, as well. PETER is still studying the litter of notices on the bulletin board. MIKE goes over to the bulletin board, taking a paper from his back pocket.
MIKE Everything okay back here?
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HATCH
Reasonably okay, but I can't raise the state police in Machias. I can't raise anybody.
MIKE Doesn't really surprise me.
He thumbtacks the scribbled duty roster to the bulletin board, where PETER immediately begins studying it. MIKE walks over to the desk and opens a bottom drawer.
MIKE (to HATCH)
You and Peter until eight, Kirk Freeman and Jack Carver from eight till midnight, Robbie Beals and Sonny Brautigan from midnight until four, Billy Soames and Johnny Harriman from four until eight tomorrow morning. After that, we'll figure some more.
MIKE finds a small attache case and a Polaroid camera. He takes them, shuts the drawer, and looks at the two men for comments. He gets only an awkward silence.
MIKE
You guys all right with this?
HATCH
(too hearty) Fine.
PETER Yeah, fine.
MIKE looks at them more closely and gets an idea of which way the wind is blowing. He opens the case we catch a glimpse of various items that might come in handy if you're a small-town police officer (big flashlight, bandages, first aid kit, etc.). He puts the Polaroid inside.
MIKE Stay alert. Both of you. Understand?
No reply. HATCH is embarrassed, PETER is sulky. MIKE looks back at LINOGE, who looks at him with that faint smile.
MIKE Later on we're going to have that talk you wanted, sir.
He closes the case and starts for the door. A HUGE GUST OF WIND hits the building, making it CREAK. Out back, something falls over with a CRASH. HATCH winces.
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HATCH
What do we do with him if Robbie and Ursula decide to blow the town whistle and bring everybody in? We can't very well sit him in a corner of the town hall basement with a blanket and a cup of chowder.
MIKE I don't know. Stay right here with him, I guess.
PETER And blow away if he blows away?
MIKE
You want to go home, Pete?
PETER
No.
MIKE nods and leaves.
155 EXTERIOR: MARTHA CLARENDON'S HOUSE DUSK.
The Island Services vehicle comes out of the growing gloom, crunching through drifts and driving over fallen limbs in the street. It stops by MARTHA'S gate. MIKE gets out, carrying the little case, and goes up the walk. The storm is worse than ever; the GUSTS OF WIND push MIKE around. He struggles up the snow-laden porch steps.
156 EXTERIOR: THE PORCH, WITH MIKE DUSK.
He opens his case, takes out the flashlight and the cased Polaroid. He hangs the camera around his neck on its strap. The WIND MOANS. Branches CLACK against the porch. MIKE looks around, a little nervous, then returns his attention to the case. He takes out a roll of white adhesive tape and a Sharpie-type pen. Holding the flashlight (now turned on) between his chest and his arm, MIKE tears off a strip of the tape and puts it on MARTHA'S door. He uncaps the pen, thinks, then prints: "CRIME
SCENE DO NOT ENTER MICHAEL ANDERSON
CONSTABLE." Then he puts the roll of tape on his arm like a bracelet and opens the door.
He picks up MARTHA'S walker, holding the grips in his gloved hands, and sets it in the hall. Then he closes his case, picks it up, and steps inside himself.
157 INTERIOR: THE HALLWAY DARK.
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MIKE puts his flashlight, turned on, in his coat pocket. The beam SHINES UPWARD at the ceiling.
MIKE himself is little more than a MOVING SHAPE in the dark as he readies the Polaroid and raises it to his face.
FLASH! and we see:
158 INTERIOR: MARTHA CLARENDON.
Her battered, bloody face. Just for a moment. Then it FADES. This picture and those that follow have the stark quality of crime-scene photos ... of evidence . . . which is just what they will b
e in a courtroom someday. Or so MIKE hopes.
159 INTERIOR: THE HALLWAY DARK.
MIKE turns, putting the first photo in his coat pocket, then triggers the Polaroid again.
FLASH! and we see:
160 INTERIOR: PICTURES ON THE HALLWAY WALL.
Boats at sea. The town dock in 1920. Old Fords chugging up Atlantic Street Hill in 1928. Girls having a picnic by the lighthouse. The pictures are stippled with BLOOD. Between them, on the wallpaper, are THICKER SPRAYS OF BLOOD. FADES.
161 INTERIOR: THE HALLWAY DARK.
The shape that is MIKE ANDERSON bends a little.
FLASH! and we see:
163 INTERIOR: THE HALLWAY DARK.
MIKE moves up the hall toward the living room.
164 INTERIOR: THE LIVING ROOM DARK.
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It's pretty spooky in here, with the furniture just dim shapes and the WIND HOWLING outside.
BRANCHES TAP and TREES GROAN.
MIKE moves forward, the flashlight beam still spraying up from his coat pocket. He inadvertently KICKS SOMETHING. A DARK SHAPE rolls across the floor, hits a leg of MARTHA'S chair, and ricochets out of frame. MIKE follows after, takes the flashlight out of his pocket, and shines it into the lens of THE CAMERA he's looking at the object he kicked, although we can't see it from where we are. He replaces the flashlight in his pocket, raises the Polaroid, and bends forward.
FLASH! and:
165 INTERIOR: DAVEY'S BASKETBALL.
Splotched and stained with blood. Looks like some weird planet. FADES.
166 INTERIOR: THE LIVING ROOM, WITH MIKE DARK.
He rips off a piece of the tape, prints "EVIDENCE" on it, and sticks it to the basketball. Then he walks around the chair and aims the Polaroid at the TV.
FLASH! and:
167 INTERIOR: THE TELEVISION.
The picture tube totally smashed. The electronic guts of the thing visible inside the ragged hole.
It's like a gouged-out eye. FADES.
168 INTERIOR: THE LIVING ROOM, WITH MIKE DARK.
He's frowning, puzzled, thinking about the TV. He and Hatch heard the damned thing. They really did. He moves carefully toward it, then turns and raises the POLAROID.
FLASH! and:
169 INTERIOR: MARTHA'S CHAIR.
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Stark and bloodstained, as creepy as an instrument of torture. The cookie plate and bloodstained teacup are still on the table beside it.
170 INTERIOR: RESUME MIKE.
He wants a second one of this. He raises the Polaroid, then stops. He looks up at: 171 INTERIOR: ABOVE THE DOOR BETWEEN THE LIVING ROOM AND THE HALL.
There's something up there, written on the wallpaper above the arch. We can see it, but it's too dark to read.
172 INTERIOR: RESUME MIKE.
He points the Polaroid up, aims, and
FLASH!
173 INTERIOR: ABOVE THE DOOR BETWEEN THE LIVING ROOM AND THE HALL.
It's a message printed in MARTHA CLARENDON'S blood: "GIVE ME WHAT I WANT AND I'LL GO
AWAY." Above it is a drawing
We may or may not recognize it. FADES.
174 INTERIOR: RESUME MIKE.
He's shaken, and badly. Still, he's determined to do his job. He raises the Polaroid for that second shot of the chair.
FLASH!
175 INTERIOR: MARTHA'S CHAIR.
This time LINOGE'S cane lies across the arms of the chair, the bloodstained wolfs head snarling into the flash. If we didn't understand the significance of the drawing on the wall, we do now.
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176 INTERIOR: RESUME MIKE.
The camera drops out of his hands; if not for the strap, it would fall to the floor. He is understandably freaked. The cane wasn't there before. The WIND GUSTS the strongest one yet.
Behind MIKE, the window facing the street EXPLODES INWARD. SNOW SWIRLS into the room, twisting in ghostly cyclones. The sheers billow like ghostly arms.
MIKE is startled (hopefully we will be, too) but recovers quickly. He pulls the drapes across the broken window. They BILLOW OUT, but he quickly moves a table into place to anchor them. Then he turns back to MARTHA'S chair . . . and that unexpected cane. He bends over it, then raises the Polaroid.
FLASH! and:
177 INTERIOR: THE WOLF'S HEAD CANE, CLOSE-UP.
It stares at us with its bloody teeth and eyes like a ghost wolf in a stroke of lightning, then FADES.
178 INTERIOR: RESUME MIKE.
He remains where he is for a moment, trying to get himself back together. Then he pockets the last picture, tears off another strip of white tape, and tags the cane. On it he prints "EVIDENCE" and
"POSS. MURDER WEAPON."
179 INTERIOR: MARTHA'S DINING ROOM DARK.
MIKE comes in, removes the pine-cone-and-candle centerpiece from the table, then removes the white linen tablecloth.
180 INTERIOR: THE HALL, WITH MIKE.
He comes out of the dining room and approaches the shape of MARTHA'S body. As he does, he notices something on the wall by the door. He trains the beam of his flashlight on it. It is a key rack, in the shape of a key. MIKE runs the light along it, and finds the set of keys he's looking for. He takes them off their peg.
181 INTERIOR: THE KEYS ON MIKE'S PALM, INSERT.
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The tag on one reads "FRONT DOOR" in MARTHA'S spidery old-lady's writing.
182 INTERIOR: RESUME HALL, WITH MIKE.
He pockets the keys and sets his case and camera aside on the stairs for the moment.
MIKE I'm so sorry, old girl.
He billows the tablecloth over MARTHA, then takes up his gear again. He opens the door to the porch just enough to slip through and goes out into the SHRIEKING STORM. Night has fallen.
183 EXTERIOR: ON THE PORCH, WITH MIKE NIGHT
He uses MARTHA'S key to lock the door. Tries it to make sure it's locked. Then he goes down the steps and begins floundering back down the walk to the Island Services vehicle.
184 EXTERIOR: A HOUSE ON UPPER MAIN STREET NIGHT.
We can barely see it through the sheeting snow.
185 INTERIOR: THE CARVER KITCHEN, WITH JACK, ANGELA, AND BUSTER.
No generator here. The kitchen is lit with two Coleman gas lanterns, and there are big shadows in all the corners. The little family is eating
cold cuts and drinking soda. Each time the wind GUSTS and the house CREAKS, ANGELA looks around nervously. JACK is a lobsterman and less worried about weather (what's to worry about when you're on dry-back land, for gorry's sake?). He's playing airplane with BUSTER. The plane is a bologna sandwich; BUSTER'S open mouth is the hangar. JACK keeps approaching (making the appropriate airplane noises as he does), then pulling away. BUSTER is laughing heartily. Daddy is such a comedian.
There's a RENDING, SPLINTERING CRASH from outside. ANGELA grabs JACK'S arm.
ANGELA
What was that?
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JACK CARVER
Tree. Robichaux's backyard, from the sound. Hope it didn't hit their porch.
He starts playing airplane again, this time landing the sandwich in BUSTER'S mouth. BUSTER
chomps off a bite and chews with gusto.
ANGELA
Jack, do you have to go back to the store?
JACK Ayuh.
BUSTER
Daddy's gonna guard the bad guy! Make sure he doesn't get away. In a PLAYYNE!
JACK That's right, big guy.
JACK dive-bombs another bite into BUSTER'S mouth and ruffles his hair, then looks seriously at ANGELA.
JACK
This is a bad situation, honey. Everybody's got to do his part. Besides, I'll be with Kirk. It's the buddy system.
BUSTER Don Beals is my buddy! He knows how to be a monkey!
JACK Ayuh. Trick he learned from his dad, most likely.
ANGIE laughs and covers her mouth. JACK smiles at her. BUSTER starts making monkey sounds and scratching at his pits. Typical five-year-old dinner behavior. The parents treat him with absentmi
nded love.
JACK
If you hear the whistle, take Buster and go. Hell, go before then, if you get nervous bundle up and take the snowmobile.
ANGELA
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Are you sure?
JACK