The other KIDS watch this with fascination. One, a boy of five, is JILL ROBICHAUX'S son.
HARRY ROBICHAUX
Can I feed her, Missus Anderson? I fed a monkey once, at the Bangor Fair.
The other kids laugh. PIPPA is not amused.
PIPPA I'm not a monkey, Harry! I'm a child, not a monkey!
DON SEALS
Look, you guys, I'm a monkey!
He starts leaping around at the foot of the stairs, scratching under his armpits and being foolish as only a four-year-old can be. At once, the others start imitating him.
PIPPA I am not a monkey!
And begins to cry. MOLLY strokes her hair, but can't talk her out of this one. Getting your head 25
stuck between the bars is bad; being called a monkey is even worse.
MOLLY
You kids, stop that! Stop it right now! It's not nice, and it's making Pippa sad!
Most of them stop, but DON BEALS, a little booger of the purest ray serene, goes on prancing and scratching.
MOLLY Don, you stop. It's mean.
RALPHIE Momma says it's mean.
He tries to grab hold of DON. DON shakes him off.
DON BEALS I'm bein' a monkey!
DON does the monkey thing twice as hard, just to spite RALPHIE . . . and RALPHIE'S mother, of course. The hall door opens. MIKE and HATCH come in. HATCH sees the problem at once and reacts with a mixture of fright and relief.
PIPPA
Daddee!
She starts yanking backward again, trying to free herself.
HATCH
Pippa! Hold still! You want to yank your ears right off your head?
RALPHIE
(runs to MIKE)
Daddy! Pippa got her head stuck and Don won't stop being a monkey!
RALPHIE leaps into his father's arms. HATCH climbs to where his daughter has been caught by the incredible girl-eating stairs and kneels by her. MOLLY looks over her back at her husband and sends a message with her eyes: "Please fix this!"
A CUTE LITTLE BLONDE GIRL with pigtails pulls at the pocket of MIKE'S white butcher's pants.
26
She is wearing most of her own strawberry jam treat on the front of her shirt.
SALLY GODSOE
Mr. Anderson? I stopped being a monkey. As soon as she said.
SALLY points to MOLLY. MIKE gently disengages her. SALLY, another four-year-old, promptly pops her thumb into her mouth.
MIKE That's good, Sally. Ralphie, got to put you down now.
He puts RALPHIE down. DON BEALS promptly pushes him.
RALPHIE
Ow, hey! Why'd you do that?
DON BEALS
For acting smart!
It comes out "sma'aat." MIKE picks DON BEALS up and raises him to eye level. DON isn't afraid a bit, the little craphead.
DON BEALS
I ain't afraid of you! My dad's town manager! He pays your salary!
He sticks out his tongue and BLOWS A RASPBERRY right in MIKE'S face. MIKE isn't the slightest put out of countenance.
MIKE
Pushers get pushed, Donnie Beals. You want to remember that, because it's a true fact of this sad life. Pushers get pushed.
DON doesn't understand, but reacts to the tone. He'll get up to more dickens eventually, but he's been put in his place for the time being. MIKE puts DON down and goes to the side of the stairs.
Behind him we see a half-open door marked WEE FOLKS. In the room beyond the door are little tables and chairs. Happy, colorful mobiles hang from the ceiling. It's the classroom of MOLLY'S day-care center.
27
HATCH is pushing at the top of his daughter's head. This isn't accomplishing anything, and she's consequently growing panicky again, thinking she'll be stuck forever.
HATCH
Honey, why did you do this?
PIPPA
Heidi St. Pierre dared me.
MIKE puts his hands over HATCH'S and moves HATCH aside. HATCH looks at MIKE hopefully.
31 INTERIOR: THE CHILDREN AT THE FOOT OF THE STAIRS.
HEIDI ST. PIERRE, the five-year-old daughter of LINDA ST. PIERRE, is a carrottop wearing thick glasses.
HEIDI Did not.
PIPPA
Did so!
HEIDI ST. PIERRE
Liar, liar, pants on fire!
MOLLY
Stop it, both of you.
PIPPA (to MIKE)
It was easy going out, but now I can't get back in. I think my head must be bigger on this side.
MIKE It is ... but I'm going to make it smaller. Do you know how?
PIPPA
28
(fascinated) No . . . how?
MIKE
I'm just going to push the smaller button. And when I do, your head will get smaller and you'll slide right back where you were. Just as easy as you slid in. Do you understand, Pippa?
He speaks in slow, soothing tones. He's engaged in something that's almost hypnosis.
HATCH What kind of
MOLLY Shhh!
MIKE Are you ready for me to push the button?
PIPPA Yes.
MIKE reaches up and pushes the end of her nose with the tip of his finger.
MIKE
Beep! There it goes! Smaller! Quick, Pippa, before it gets big again!
PIPPA pulls her head out easily from between the posts. The kids clap and cheer. DON BEALS
hops around like a monkey. One of the other boys, FRANK BRIGHT, hops around a little, too, then sees RALPHIE giving him a disgusted look and quits it.
HATCH gathers his daughter in for a hug. PIPPA hugs back, but eats her bread and jam at the same time. She stopped being scared when MIKE started talking to her. MOLLY smiles at MIKE
gratefully and puts her hand through the stairwell posts where PIPPA was stuck. MIKE takes it on his side and kisses each finger extravagantly. The
KIDS GIGGLE. One of them, BUSTER CARVER (BUSTER, the last of MOLLY'S day-care pupils, is about five), puts his hands over his eyes.
BUSTER
(moaning) Finger-kissin'! Oh, no!
29
MOLLY laughs and pulls her hand back.
MOLLY Thank you. Really.
HATCH
Yeah thanks, boss.
MIKE
No problem.
PIPPA
Dad, is my head still little? I felt it get little when Mr. Anderson said. Is it still little?
HATCH No, honey, just the right size.
MIKE walks to the foot of the stairs. MOLLY meets him. RALPHIE is there, too; MIKE picks him up and kisses the red mark on the bridge of the little boy's nose. MOLLY kisses MIKE'S cheek.
MOLLY
I'm sorry if I pulled you away at a bad time. I saw her head that way and when I couldn't get it to come out on my own, I just. . . freaked.
MIKE It's okay. I needed a break, anyway.
MOLLY
Is it bad down at the store?
HATCH
Bad enough. You know how it is when there's a storm
coming . . . and this is no ordinary storm. (to PIPPA) Got to go back, sweet girl. You be good.
DON BLOWS ANOTHER RASPBERRY.
30
MIKE (low) Gee, I love Robbie's kid.
MOLLY says nothing, but rolls her eyes in agreement.
MIKE What do you say, Hatch?
HATCH
Let's roll while we still can. If they're right, we're all apt to be cooped up for the next three days.
(pause) Like Pippa, with her head caught in the stairs.
None of them laugh. There's too much truth in what he says.