Can I help you?
Put your hands together.
What's your name?
Andre Linoge.
We've got word there's been a murder on the island.
Old Martha Clarendon.
Machias, this is Little Tall. We have a police emergency.
Is Daddy safe?
Yeah.
Shut up!
You make him do that somehow?
Did you make him write that note?
We could kill him.
Where could 200 people disappear to?
Give me what I want, and I'll go away
Tell them.
Jenny's out.
-How long do you think? -Hard to tell.
Since morning, anyway, by the feel of it.
Snow probably piled up and clogged the exhaust.
All right, Sonny, you and Henry are on meat patrol.
Grab the big cuts of beef, plus the turkeys and chicken.
The best stuff's back in the freezer.
-Will it still be all right? -Are you kidding me?
Let's get going. Dark is going to come early.
We'll stick with canned goods for this trip.
We'll come back later and get the potatoes, bread...
...vegetables and milk.
Little kids have got to have milk.
Hey, Mike.
Are you going to tell them what the guy's name spells?
When we moved the blocks around.
-What good would that do? -I don't know.
God, Mike. That gave me a chill.
Me too. But for now we're going to keep that chill to ourselves.
We've got one more night to get through.
-But Mike... -Come on. Canned goods.
Let's load up.
Angie Carver!
Billy Timmons!
Angie Carver!
Billy Timmons!
Angie Carver!
-Ferd. -What?
-Any sign? -No. Wouldn't I tell you?
Just keep blowing that thing.
Here, you watch. Let me honk.
Your eyes are better.
Mrs. Kingsbury!
George! George Kirby!
I'm ok.
Go upstairs. Find your husband and your little boy.
But the kids?
Who wants to play giant step?
Where's my mommy?
I'll just peek and see if she's upstairs, shall I?
-Or your daddy? -Yes. Please, Mrs. Beals.
-Where's Ralphie? -I just saw him.
Oh, he must have chased Donnie upstairs to get a doughnut, too.
I'll send them both down.
I don't know what I'm going to do.
I've got to find her, Molly.
You know what it's like out there, Jack.
I know she's out there.
Wandering around freezing to death
in a whiteout 50 yards from the building.
And if you go out there, you'll be lost, too.
They'll hear the horns, same as in a fog at sea. You know that.
Yeah. I'll go spell Ferd.
-Hatch said if you go... -Alton Hatcher...
can't tell me what to do. It's my wife out there.
Just don't go past the truck. Don't go wandering, Jack.
-Where's Ralphie? -I don't know.
Didn't he come upstairs with you?
He was picking up with the rest of them.
What are you saying? Ralphie's not down there?
-He's not with the others? -I didn't see.
Kat started to cry...
You were supposed to be watching him.
I didn't see.
You were supposed to be watching him.
Don't you yell at her.
One more trip.
Sonny, you and Henry get the bread and rolls.
Everything off the shelves.
You want to grab at least a hundred pounds of potatoes.
I'll get the milk. Come on, let's go.
I want to get back as soon as we can.
What the hell?
Oh my God, Mike.
It's Jane Kingsbury.
Ralphie?
-Did you see him? -Ralphie!
Oh God, what now?
I told you he didn't go upstairs with Donnie Beals.
Pippa! Pippa, where was Ralphie when you last saw him?
Ralphie?
Mom. I'm in here.
Hey, Mom. What's up?
What are you doing in here? You scared the life out of me.
The man was in here.
-The man? -The one Daddy arrested.
Except I don't think he's a bad man.
It's ok, honey.
Take him somewhere safe.
Jonas.
Molly.
What is it?
I don't know.
What is it?
-What the hell does he want? -Oh God.
Ralphie.
Ralphie, where did the man go?
He must have disappeared when I turned my back.
There's no door in there for a guy to go out of, dumbkins.
Shut up, Don Beals.
What is this, Ralphie?
It's a present. He gave me a present.
That's why I don't think he's a bad man like on TV.
Because bad men don't give kids presents.
Let Mommy see, ok?
Don't, Molly. Don't.
It's all right, Mom. Don't be scared.
You mean you know what's inside this?
You've already looked?
Sure, we even had a game, me and Mr. Linoge.
He said that these are special.
And I should share them. 'Cause they're not only for me.
They're for everyone on the island.
I don't think I'd open that, Mrs. Anderson.
Given the dreams we all had last night.
And the possible nature of this...
...this man.
No, I suppose you wouldn't, Reverend.
But since he's had his filthy hands on my son twice...
Just old Mrs. K.
None of the others.
Where do you suppose they are?
George.
And Angie?
Bill Timmons?
How did he get her down there?
Where's the dummy?
Anybody see the dummy in the store?
How did he get her down there in this?
Let it go, Sonny.
Why is this happening to us?
You're the lay reader for Reverend Riggins
down at the Methodist church.
You always got a quote from the Good Book handy.
You must have some idea why this is happening.
Remember the story about Job? In the Bible?
Uh-huh...
Well, there's part of that story that's never been written down.
After the contest for Job's soul is over
and God wins, Job falls to his knees
and says, "God, why have you done this to me?"
All my life, I worshipped you,
and yet you destroyed my livestock,
you blighted my crops, you killed my wife and children...
You gave me a hundred horrible diseases.
And all because you had a bet going with the Devil?
Well, okay... but all I want to know, Lord,
is all your humble servant wants to know is, why me?
Job waits... and just when he's about convinced himself
that God's not gonna answer him,
a thunderhead forms in the sky, lightning flashes...
and a voice calls down...
"Job... I guess there's just something about you
that pisses me off."
Does that help you?
Me, either.
Angie!
Over here!
Angie!
Jack, get in, warm up...
No! She's out here somewhere, now keep hittin' the horn!
Take it easy, Jack, we'll find her.
My wife is out here, she's alive,
I can feel it!
So you just keep hittin' that horn!
Hatch! Jack! Look!
Angie!
We've been worried about ya, Buster's been worried sick.
My God, Angie... what'd he do to you?
Where did he take you?
We have to give him what he wants.
What? What, honey? Honey, I can't hear you...
-Linoge? -Yes, Linoge...
We have to give him what he wants.
He brought me back so I could tell you...
We have to give him what he wants...
Do you understand?
We have to give him what he wants.
Angela...?
Oh, my God.
What does he want? Did he tell you?
He said he'd tell us tonight...
He said we're gonna have a special town meetin',
and he'd tell us then.
He said if some folk don't want to go along,
don't want to do what's best for the town,
they should remember the dreams we had last night.
They should remember what happened in Roanoke.
They should remember "Croaton", whatever that is.
Jack! Take me inside!
I'm freezing! I wanna see Buster!
Yeah, sure...
Hatch...
Any sign of Bill Timmons? Or George Kirby?
Nah. No Mrs. Kingsbury, either.
Jane Kingsbury's dead.
My God.
So the little puppy said...
"I know where my ball must be.
"That mean little boy put it in his pocket.
"and took it away.
But I can find it because my nose is..."
Sally, honey, you shouldn't be singing, now.
This is storytime...
What's going on, Kat?
I don't know.
I guess they wanna sing.
All right, folks.
just settle down.
Everyone take a seat.
Mike?
-The kids are acting funny. -Funny? What do you mean?
Now I know how easy it is...
just to get yanked out of the world.
I wish I didn't, but I do.
Come on.
Ah!
I was just standin' there, see?
Watchin' the lighthouse. Then, I was his.
It's okay, it's over.
I burned my fingers, see? They're red.
but they're still cold!
Angie, do you want to go someplace more private?
Because you can if you want to.
No, this is for everyone, everyone should hear.
What happened to you, Angie Carver?
We were watchin' the lighthouse fall down,
then I was flyin' backwards into the snow.
First, I thought it was somebody's idea of a joke.
Then, I turned around, and what had me...
It wasn't a man.
It wore clothes like a man and had a man's face, but...
There was just blackness where its eyes shoulda been!
And when it smiled at me...
I saw it's teeth...
I fainted. First time in my life!
I fainted.
When I came to, I was flying.
It that sounds crazy, but it's true.
Ahead of us, as if it was leading us
or it was holding us up, there was a cane.
A black cane, with a... a silver wolf's head.
And as fast as we flew, that cane was always
right ahead of us.
It was the island we saw.
The storm was over, and the sun was out,
but there were cops on snowmobiles everywhere.
Mainland cops, and state cops and game wardens, too,
and newspeople, too.
From the local stations and the networks.
They were all, all of 'em, they were lookin' for us.
But we were gone.
Were were gone where nobody could ever find us.
Like in the dreams.
Yeah... Yeah, like that.
Then we stopped going up and I could feel the clouds!
Not cold the way you think snow clouds would be
but damp like...
like wet cotton.
Oh, and George saw what it meant to do.
He screamed...
But that thing just opened its right arm and...
I was in its left.
Then what happened, Angie?
He told me he was bringin' me back.
Back through time and back through the storm.
He was gonna let me live, so I could come back
and tell you... tell everybody.
That we have to give him what he wants
when he comes tonight.
If we have something that this man Linoge wants,
why doesn't he just take it?
I don't think he can.
I think we have to give it to him.
The next thing I was sure of,
I was stumbling around in the snow in the whiteout,
and I could hear the horn, and I thought
the lighthouse must not have blown down after all,
'cause I can hear the foghorn...
I tried to go toward it,
and I saw someone come out of the snow
I thought it was him coming to take me back up in the air
except this time he was gonna let me drop.
But it wasn't! It was you, Jack!
It was you.
Why?
Why us?
Maybe because he knows we can keep a secret.
I brought these games...
What? What's goin' on?
Buster?
Heidi?
Pippa?
Ralphie, you okay?
Pip?
Pip, what's wrong, honey?
Pip? Pip... what's wrong, honey?
Honey?
Pip! What's wrong, honey?
What is it? What's wrong with the kids?
I don't know... but...
but their eyes... there's...
There's nothing there.
Pip... wake up.
Wake up!
Come on, honey, wake up!
All of you... wake up!
No...
Hey, look!
It's got a doggie head, a silver doggie head.
How cool!
A doggie!
Yeah, look at the doggie head.
What are they looking at...?
Go get Mike.
Right now! Go get Mike!
A doggie's head! Yeah!
Why don't you see if you can get her to lay down for awhile?
That's a good idea.
Mike!
Mike, there's something wrong with the kids.
-Oh, Jesus. -Buster?
There's something wrong with Buster?
Angie, no... Maybe you shouldn't...
-Angie! -Buster!
Buster? What're you doing?
Melinda, what is going on?
What are they looking at?
Donnie, stop!
Let me go! I wanna see the doggie head!
Pip, stop it! Stop it!
-No, Ralphie! -Let me go, let me go!
No, Ralphie!
Hey... Neat.
Let me go! I wanna see the doggie!
Pippa, no! No!
What's going on?
-Let me go... you bitch! -Ah!
Pippa!
Honey...
They're dead! He's killed them!!
No, please God, no! Not Sally. Not my Sally!
Ralphie? Is he?
-No. -Oh, thank God.
Are they alive?
Mr. Soames!
You're trampling him, stop!! You're killing him!
-Is he asleep? -I don't know...
Come here, baby. Come to mama.
-I need a doctor... -You'd be lucky, Beals.
The closest one's across the Reach in Machias.
The wind's blowin' up a hurricane.
Where's Ferd? At least he has EMS training!
Ferd Andrews, where the hell are you?
-I'm here! -Get your ass over here...
take a look at my son.
C'mon, people, get out of his way!
That's enough! Would you just shut up!
Don't tell me to shut up.
I've taken all the crap I'm gonna take...
Everyone, just shut up!
Robbie, I don't think Don's in any immediate danger...
or Pippa, or Ralphie, or any of them.
They're not dead?
-I think he's sleepin'. -This isn't sleep...
If they were asleep, we could wake them up.
It's okay.
-He'll bring you back. -Then, what is it?
I don't know.
Having fun, kids?
Are we gonna lose the generator, do you think?
Ayuh. It's a miracle it's run as long as it has
with no one able to keep it dug out.
Wind must have kept the exhaust pipe clear.
But now it's shifted.
In a way that's good news, means the storm's almost over.
Main meetin' hall?
Yeah, sure. Mike wants that ready first.
A couple of emergency lights in there,
but that's not enough for him.
Just caught a little bit of the latest NWS bulletin
on the shortwave, they say we might see the moon tonight.
-Oh, that's wonderful! -Ayuh.
-Where's Ursula, do you know? -She's downstairs with Sally
and the others... Sleepin', the last I saw.
But not like the kids' sleepin', you know...
They'll be all right, they'll wake up
and be just fine, you'll see.
I hope you're right, Tavia Godsoe.
I pray you're right.
Can I help?
Well, you can go down to the kitchen
and get the rest of the candles if you want.
I'm afraid we're gonna lose the generator.
-Any change? -No.
Any change in any of 'em?
Their respiration's normal, reflexes are normal...
And if you pull back an eyelid,
their pupils respond to light. All that's good.
She's dreamin'.
They all are.
Where's Robbie, Sandra?
Don't know.
Wanna help get some candles?
-Honey? -Go ahead.
The radio says the storm will pretty much
be over by midnight.
If Linoge intends to do something...
I think we can pretty much count on that.
Oh! Dear.
Hello, Joanna Stanhope...
Glad the old bitch is dead, aren't ya?
I did you a favor there, didn't I?
You kept a straight face,
but inside, you were dancing a jig.
I know.
I can smell it on you like musk.
Shh.
When this fella comes, Michael,
we must give him what he wants.
I've prayed on it, and this is the guidance.
We'll listen to him, and then we'll decide, okay?
There is a time to be stubborn, Michael,
but there is also a time to let go of the reins
and look toward the greater good, hard as that may be.
"Pride goeth before destruction...
and an haughty spirit before the fall."
Book of Proverbs...
"Render therefore unto Caesar the things
"which are Caesar's...
and unto God the things which are God's."
Book of Matthew.
Stay here, please. We've got this under control.
I know you believe that, Michael
but not all of us are convinced.
Come in, come in, boys.
Don't do that, Constable Anderson,
unless you want to watch this woman burn her face off.
Shall we watch it burn?
-No. -Come in, then.
Having a little trouble with the local witch doctor, are you?
Here's something you can file away for later.
Always assuming, of course, that there is a "later".
The Reverend Bobby Riggins
has a couple of nieces over in Castine.
Eleven and nine, they are, cute little blonds.
He likes them a lot.
Quite a lot.
They run and hide when they see his car pull into the drive.
-In fact... -Let her down!
Unless you want to see Mrs. Stanhope's impression
of the world's biggest birthday candle,
I advise you not to speak again
until you're invited to.
Hatch! Close the door.
You don't like... knowing, do you?
Not your brand of it, no.
Perhaps you don't believe me.
I believe you, but the thing of it is, you see only the bad,
none of the good.
By and large, Constable, the good's an illusion.
Little fables folks tell themselves
so they can get through their days without screaming too much.
-I don't believe that. -I know...
A good boy to the last.
But I think you'll find yourself on the short end this time.
Your town is full of adulterers, pedophiles,
thieves, gluttons, murderers, bullies,
scoundrels and covetous morons.
And I know every last one of them.
"Born in lust, turn to dust.
Born in sin, Come on in."
What do you want, Linoge?
Everyone on those benches an hour from now.
That will do for a start.
We're going to have an unscheduled town meeting.
Nine o'clock pm, prompt.
After that...
Well... we'll see.
See what?
If I'm through with this town...
Or just beginning.
Nine o'clock, Constable.
You, Hatch, her, Reverend Bobby.
Town Manager Robbie.
Everyone.
He's the Devil! He's the Devil!
Don't let him near me! I'll do anything,
just don't let him near me again!
Mike, what are we gonna do?
What can we do?
Listen to whatever else it is he wants...
If there's another way, I just...
I don't see it.
Come on, let's tell Robbie.
What about the children?
I'll watch them... I don't want to be where he is!
-Not ever again! -Jo, no! He said everyone...
that means you, too.
We'll, uh...
We'll bring the kids up, cots and all...
put 'em in the back of the meeting hall.
Yeah, that'll do.
Ladies and gentlemen...
Like you, I don't know what we're waiting for...
But, uh...
Then why don't you sit down,
and wait like the rest of us, Robbie?
Yeah, Robbie, sit down.
I just wanted to say, Johnnie... that I'm sure
that we can find our way through this situation...
if we stick together...
like we've always stuck together on the island.
Davey Hopewell...
Your day off from school would make
quite an English composition, wouldn't it?
Your father's a thief...
Over the last six years or so he's stolen more than
$14,000 from that marine supply company he works for.
He gambles with it.
He loses.
Dad?
I don't know who you are, mister, but you lie.
-You lie! -"Born in vice...
Say it twice." Eh, Davey?
At least twice.
Well... Johnny Harriman.
The fellow who burned down the planing mill
across the Reach there in Machias.
-I never did that! -Of course you did!
Two years ago, right after they fired you.
And Kirk helped... didn't you?
After all, what are friends for?
70 men lost their jobs, but you got your payback
and that's all that matters, isn't it?
There now, you dope, look at the trouble you got us into!
Shut up!
You boys really oughta go see that gay fella you beat up.
Jack, you'd get a kick out of that paisley
eye-patch he wears.
Please, just stop it!
Fella lives in one of those walk-ups on Canal street
behind Lisbon, I can give you the address.
Maybe the three of you would like to go
and take away the rest of his light.
What do you say, Lucien?
Wanna poke out his other eye? Finish the job?
Alex?
"Born in sin, come on in."
Robbie, why did I have to die among strangers?
You still haven't explained this.
Why did I have to die calling for you?
When all I wanted was a kiss.
Put that down!
Why don't you tell these people
where you were and what you were doing
when I died, Robbie?
I think your wife would be especially interested,
-don't you? -You shut your mouth.
Sandra, don't listen to her.
This is all lies.
Your eyes.
I'm going to eat your eyes right out of your head!
Not to worry, folks, he'll recuperate just fine, I'm sure.
In the meantime it's kind of nice to see him
cowering quietly in a corner, wouldn't you say?
Come on now! Tell the truth!
And shame the devil!
Now we come to it, don't we?
Let me lay things out for you.
Why'd you come here? Why us?
Maybe there's just something about us
that pisses him off.
I'm here because island folk know how
to pull together for the common good when they need to.
And island folk know how to keep a secret.
That was true on Roanoke Island in 1587
and it's true on Little Tall Island in 1989.
Tell us! Quit dancin' around! Tell us what you want!
Your children are here with you.
But they're not.
It's the same for me.
Because part of me is with them.
Look...
Jack! He's got our Buster!
That's all of them.
And if I drop them there...
They die here.
You'll see it happen.
They'll puff out...
Like candles in the wind.
Please don't hurt my Sally, mister.
She's all I got left now that Peter's gone.
We will give you what you want
if we have it to give... I swear we will.
Won't we?
What is it? Tell us.
I've lived a long time. Thousands of years.
But I'm not a god, nor am I one of the immortals.
So now you see me as I really am.
Old and sick...
Dying, in fact.
By the standards of your mayfly existence,
I've long to live yet.
I'll still be walking the earth
When all but the freshest and greenest among you,
Davey Hopewell, perhaps,
or young Don Beals have gone to your graves.
But in terms of my own existence...
time has grown short.
You ask me what I want.
No... no.
No.
I want someone to raise, and teach...
someone to whom I can pass on all that I've learned
and all that I know,
someone who will carry on my work
when I can no longer do it myself.
I want a child.
One of the eight sleeping back there.
No.
No. Never.
It doesn't matter which one.
All are just as likely in my eyes.
Give me what I want, and give it freely...
and I'll go away.
Never.
We will never give you one of our children!
Never!
-Get him! -Let go of me!
For God's sakes, stop him!
Grab him unless you wish me to drop the children,
and I will, I promise you, I will.
-Let go! -Michael!
Damn it! Let go of me!
Mike, we gotta listen to him.
No, we don't!
Listening to him's the worst thing we can do.
Be still, Michael Anderson! Let him have his say.
Molly?
I don't think we have a choice, Mike.
We have to listen.
In a matter such as this, I cannot take...
but 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 see much, and live long...
Long after the others sleeping there are gone.
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,
and the rest of you will walk into the ocean, two by two.
And when this storm ends...
they will find this island as they found Roanoke Island.
Empty... Deserted.
I'll give you half an hour.
Discuss it...
and then... choose.
I call this meeting to order.
I think it's best if we deal with this matter
as we would any piece of town business.
After all, that's what this is, isn't it? Town business?
Any objections to that?
No.
All right.
The item on the floor...
is whether or not to give to this...
this... thing
that has come among us, one of our children.
He says that if we give him what he wants, he'll go away.
And he'll kill us all, including the children...
if we don't.
Have I stated that fairly?
All right.
How say you then, Little Tall, will you speak to this?
I don't see what choice we have,
if we believe he can do what he says he can do.
Do you believe him?
That's the first thing I asked myself...
I do... I do.
Roberta Coigns has a good point there, though.
How many of you believe Linoge is telling the truth?
That he can and will wipe out everyone
on the island if we stand against him?
A show of hands...
Mike, it's not a question of what we're going to do,
not yet... It's just a question...
I know what the question is.
Once we start down that road,
every step of the way gets easier, I know that too.
All right. I guess we believe him.
That's one issue out of the way.
Now, if there is any discussion
of the main question...
I have something I'd like to say.
That's fine, you're a taxpayer, sure enough, have on.
No. He's not a man.
I, uh... I didn't vote,
but I agree with that just the same.
I am your constable.
The man you elected to enforce your laws.
And I saw what he did to Martha Clarendon,
What he did to Peter Godsoe...
And I've seen what he's done to our children.
So I understand as well as any of you...
better than some, maybe,
the reality of what he's threatening.
But folks, we don't... we don't give our kids away to thugs,
do you understand that?
We don't give away our children!
What's the choice, then?
What do we do, Mike? What can we do?
We stand against him!
Side by side, we use our will and tell him "no"!
In one voice!
We do what it says over the door we use
to come into this place...
We trust in God!
And in each other!
And then...
maybe he goes away.
The way storms always do when they've blown themselves out.
"Render, therefore unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's."
Book of Matthew. You said that to me yourself, Michael,
not an hour ago!
"Get thee behind me, Satan,
for thou savorest not the things that be of God"!
Book of Mark!
Folks...
If we give up a child...
One of our own...
How will we live with each other?
Even if he lets us live.
By the grace of God.
We've all got something to hide, Mike.
Or maybe you're different!
Jack, no. No, I'm not different.
But this isn't like trying to live with a test you cheated on,
or the memory of someone you hurt when you were drunk.
We're talking about a child!
Do you understand that, Jack?
Michael, Michael...
Suppose you are right about sending him away,
suppose we put our arms around each other
and we gather our will and we come out
with a bit collective "no".
Suppose we do that and he just disappears.
He goes back where he came from.
You saw our children.
Now, I don't know where he actually has them,
but I have no doubt
that flying high above the earth
is an accurate representation of it...
they can fall.
I believe that.
All he has to do is wave that cane of his and they fall.
How are we gonna live with ourselves if that happens?
He could be bluffing.
He's not, Michael.
And you know it. You saw it.
You speak as though
he were going to kill the child, Michael.
As though it were some kind of human sacrifice.
It sounds more like an adoption to me.
And a long life as well...
If you believe him, that is.
After seeing him,
actually, I guess I do.
I just don't believe this... I don't believe this!
Linoge killed Martha Clarendon with his cane!
He knocked the eyes right out of her head!
And we are debating whether or not to give
this monster a child?!
We might as well give away our souls!
You wanna know the worst thing I can think of, Michael?
Suppose you're half right...
Suppose we live and they die...
How are we gonna look at each other?
How are we gonna live with each other then?
And how would we ever live with you?
He said half an hour, people, we have ten minutes left.
We can't do this!
Don't you understand that?
We cannot do this! Don't you see?
We cannot allow...
I think we've heard your side of the story, Mike.
Take a seat, why don't you?
-Sonny... -Mike...
Maybe you should do what he say.
All right... all right.
You need to think about this, folks.
You need to think about this. Very carefully.
I need to go sit with Ralphie.
What do you say, folks?
What's your pleasure?
God help us, let's give him what he wants.
Let's give him what he wants, and send him on his way.
Even if it's Sally...
Better she live with a bad man than die.
My God, Michael Anderson, where's your heart?
They're children!
We can't let him kill all eight children!
Anyone else?
Don't.
Please.
Ursula... please.
Hatch... Jack...
Robbie, all of you...
Don't do this.
Don't give in to this!
This is damnation!
All right, then let's restrict the vote.
Let the parents vote and the parents only!
-They're all residents... -No! That's not fair!
I raised her by myself. Oh, I've had plenty of help
from folk on the island,
including you and your wife, Mike.
But mostly by myself.
I shouldn't have to make a decision like this
all by myself...
What is a community for, if it isn't supposed to help people
when something terrible happens?
When none of the choices look good?
Couldn't have said it better myself, Lin.
For God sakes, let's vote and have done!
Call the question, Robbie. Call the question!
All right, fine. But you understand this...
My son is not a part of this. All right?
Do you understand that?
My son is not a part of this obscenity!
Yes, he is.
We have never shirked our duty, Michael.
We have taken part in all the life on this island
and we will take part in this as well.
You don't mean that, Molly.
You can't mean that.
I do, Mike.
Well... Well, screw this!
Screw all of you!
I am taking my son and leaving!
You can't leave... we're in this together!
Let go of me!
Stop it, you're hurting him!
-That's enough. -Michael, calm down...
Calm down.
Michael, Michael.
All right.
Okay... I'll sit.
Michael.
Mike, are you...?
Get away from me!
-Mike... -Shut up, Hatch!
When you've had a chance to think about it,
you'll understand... you'll come around.
It's the only thing we can do!
What else is there? Die for a principle?
Every one of us?
You have to think about it.
And if it's Pippa Linoge ends up taking?
Well, then, I'll tell myself she died as an infant.
It was crib death, something we couldn't help or foresee.
And I'll believe it.
And Melinda and I will both believe it.
Oyez, oyez, oyez!
The question has been called.
Do we or do we not give Mr. Linoge
what he wants pursuant to his promise to leave us in peace?
How say you, Little Tall?
All those in favor signify in the usual way.
I'm Harry's father and I vote yes!
I'm his mother and so do I.
I vote yes.
-Carla and I vote yes -Yes.
We have no choice.
No choice.
I vote yes... it's the only way.
Got to.
To lose one in life is better...
than to lose them all in death. I vote yes.
Those opposed...?
I count all in favor, save one...
The motion is carried.
Have you reached your decision?
We have. We voted in favor.
Excellent. You've made the right choice.
You've done a hard thing, my friends.
And despite what the constable may have told you,
it's also a good thing.
The right thing... The only thing, really,
That loving, responsible people could have done
under the circumstances.
These are weirding stones.
They were old when the world was young...
and were used to decide great issues
long before Atlantis sank into the African Ocean.
There are seven white stones in here and one black one.
You're eager for me to be gone, I know...
and I don't blame you.
Will one parent of each child come forward, please.
Let's finish this.
It's perfectly simple.
You each draw a stone from the bag.
Do not reveal your stone until all have been chosen.
The child whose parent draws the black stone
comes with me.
To live long, see far, and know much.
Mrs. Robichaux? Jill... Will you start us off?
Go on, honey... do it.
Mrs. Hatcher?
I can't, Robbie. You.
Go ahead. Draw.
Ladies?
You go first, Molly.
No. You. Please.
Well, my friends, so far it's gone very well.
Now then... who has the courage to show first?
To put fear aside,
and let sweet relief rush in to take it's place?
Come come, have you not heard...
The gods punish the faint of heart?
Buster... I love you!
Show it, Sandra... let's see!
I can't, Robbie! I can't!
I know it's Donnie, I know it's him. I've never been lucky.
White!
Please, dear God, I beg of you...
Don't take away my Heidi.
White.
Mrs. Robichaux?
-Jill... -I can't...
I thought I could go through with it,
but I can't. I'm sorry!
Mr. Bright...
Henry?
Would you favor us?
No! No!
-Michael, stop! -No!
No!
No! No!
Pip, Mama's comin', Mama's comin', sweetheart.
Mama's comin' sweetheart.
Mike!
No, this... This can't be!
You can't have my son!
I feel your grief keenly, Molly, but you agreed to the terms.
I'm sorry.
No. You fixed it! You fixed it somehow!
I assure you that's not so.
The game was, as you'd say... straight.
And since I believe that long drawn out farewells
only add to the pain...
No! You can't do...
Oh!
Ladies and gentlemen, residents of Little Tall,
I thank you for your attention to my needs...
And I now declare this meeting at an end.
With a suggestion.
The less you say to the outside world about our arrangement,
the more happy you are apt to be.
Although of course, such matters are ultimately up to you.
With that, I'll take my new protegé...
and leave you to your thoughts.
May they be happy ones.
Go, go... Go!
Mike! Stop him!
For God's sake, do something!
I can't!
Stop him! Don't let him take my son!
Sorry, Mrs. Anderson, but we made a deal...
You tricked us!
Perhaps you tricked yourselves.
He'll never belong to you! Never!
But he will.
He'll come to love me.
He'll come to call me "Father".
No!
Mike, I don't think you should...
Don't touch me!
Don't ever touch me ever again! Any of you!
Any of you!
Ralphie!
Ralphie...
Please... Bring him back!
I'll do anything... anything you want...
Bring him back...
Please! Bring him back!
Ralphie!
You and Mike haven't slept together for how long?
Five months.
The last time was the night before the big storm.
The "Storm of the Century."
When you lost your son?
Correct. When I lost my son.
And Mike blames you for that loss?
I think he's going to leave me.
You're very afraid of that, aren't you?
I think he's running out of ways to stay.
You understand what I mean by that?
Molly, tell me again what happened to Ralphie.
Why? We've been through this. What good would it do?
He's gone... What good can that do?
It was the second day, we were in the Town Hall
where we took shelter.
The storm... you can't believe how bad it was.
I know, I was here.
Yes, Lisa, you were here on the mainland.
It's different on the island...
everything's different on the island.
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,
but none of the others ever did.
Mike?
You got something to say, you better say it.
The ferry leaves in 20 minutes, and I don't intend to miss it.
Where're you going?
Mike, don't. Don't leave.
Would it do any good to tell you
I haven't had a good night's sleep since February?
Would it do you any good to tell you
that maybe we might have been wrong?
I've gotta go, Hatch.
Robbie says to tell you
the constable job's yours again whenever you want it.
All you have to do is ask.
No, I'm done here.
I've tried 'til I can't try anymore.
Molly needs you.
Have you seen the way she is now, have you even looked?
You look for me, okay?
Ayuh.
Melinda's not doin' very well either.
She takes a lot of tranquilizers.
I think she might be hooked on 'em.
That's too bad.
But you got your daughter, at least.
You may not sleep so well...
but you can go into Pippa's bedroom
and watch her sleep.
Any night you want.
Can't you?
Good luck, Hatch.
He wandered into the whiteout.
Maybe he was with Bill Timmons, the gas-station man.
I'd... I'd like to think so, that he wasn't alone in the end.
They must have lost their bearings completely
and gone into the sea.
They were the two who were never found.
There's a great deal of this story
you haven't told me, isn't there?
Until you do, until you tell someone...
it will just keep festering.
It'll fester no matter what I do.
Some wounds can never be cleaned out.
I didn't understand that before, but now I do.
Molly, why does your husband hate you so?
What really happened to Ralphie?
He wandered away.
People do, you know, they get... lost.
That's what happened to Ralphie.
He was lost in the whiteout.
He was... lost in the storm.
Nine years ago, that was.
I just gassed up my car and left on the ferry.
I've never been back.
All I cared about was I had to wear sunglasses
every night when the sun went down.
That every mile on the odometer
was a mile further away from Little Tall.
Moll got the bank accounts, the insurance,
the store, the house,
and a little piece of land we had in Vanceboro.
I got the Blazer, and peace of mind...
what was left of it.
I wound up here, back on the water again.
Ironic, I guess.
But it's different, somehow, the Pacific.
It doesn't have the hard glow
when the days start to run down towards winter.
And it doesn't have the same memories.
I went back to school, got a degree in law enforcement,
and another one in accountancy.
Thought about going after a law degree,
then thought again.
Started out keeping store on an island off the coast of Maine
wound up a federal marshal, how do you like that?
Sometimes the island seems very far away...
and Andre Linoge is just a bad dream I had.
Sometimes, when I wake up late at night,
trying not to scream...
It seems very close.
And as I said way back at the beginning, I keep in touch.
Melinda Hatcher died in October of 1990.
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.
35's young for your pump to quit, but it happens.
Molly and Hatch married in May of 1993.
Ursula sent me that clipping, too.
From what I hear, they've been good for each other.
I'm glad.
I wish them every happiness. I mean that with all my heart.
Not everyone on Little Tall has been so lucky.
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 the island to Lewiston,
rented a room...
killed himself there one night,
late in the summer of '94.
He left what little he had to a fellow named Harmon Brodsky
who lost an eye in a barroom fight back in the '80s.
Robbie Beals rebuilt the old fish house on the own dock
and hired Kirk Freeman to work there.
Kirk said Robbie's wife, Sandra, came down there
early one morning in the spring of 1996,
dressed in a 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.
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...
but they didn't know what to make of it.
There were people on the island
who maybe could've helped them a little there.
But island folks can keep a secret.
We kept our share back in 1989.
And the people who live there can keep them still.
This is a cash-and-carry world. Pay as you go.
Sometimes you only have to pay a little.
Mostly, it's a lot.
Once in a while, it's all you have.
That's the lesson I thought I learned nine years ago
on Little Tall during the Storm of the Century.
But I was wrong.
I only started learning during the Big Blow.
I finished just last week.
Ralphie?
Ralphie!
I could have written Molly and told her...
I thought about it.
I even prayed about it.
When every choice hurts,
how do you tell which one's the right one?
In the end, I kept silent.
Sometimes, mostly late at night when I can't sleep...
I think that was wrong.
But in daylight, I know better.
In daylight, I know better.