Part 44 (1/2)

Some days more than others. You didn't know, and Polly didn't remember.

HANK (gently) Remember what, doll?

KATIE.

Polly got married on the five-year anniversary of Bill's death.

HANK (hugs her) Come on to bed, why don't you?

KATIE.

In a little while.

HANK.

Okay. Maybe I'll still be awake.

KATIE.

Got a few ideas, do you?

HANK.

I might.

KATIE.

That's nice.

He kisses her, then leaves, closing the door behind him. KATIE sits in BILL'S old chair. Close by, on the coffee table, is a remote control for the TV and an extension phone. KATIE looks at the blank TV, and THE CAMERA MOVES IN on her face. One tear rims one eye, sparkling like a sapphire.

KATIE.

I do still miss you, big guy. Lots and lots. Every day. And you know what? It hurts.

The tear falls. She picks up the TV remote and pushes the ONb.u.t.ton.

INT. TV, KATIE'S POV.

An ad for Ginsu Knives comes to an end and is replaced by a STAR LOGO.

ANNOUNCER (voice) Now back to Channel 63's Thursday night Star Time Movie . . . Ghost Kiss.

The logo DISSOLVES INTO a guy who looks like he died in a car crash about two weeks ago and has since been subjected to a lot of hot weather. He comes staggering out of the same old crypt.

INT. KATIE.

Terribly startled - almost horrified. She hits the OFF b.u.t.ton on the remote control. The TV blinks off.

KATIE'S face begins to work. She struggles against the impending emotional storm, but the coincidence of the movie is just one thing too many on what must have already been one of the most emotionally trying days of her life. The dam breaks and she begins to sob . . . terrible heartbroken sobs. She reaches out for the little table by the chair, meaning to put the remote control on it, and knocks the phone onto the floor.

SOUND: THE HUM OF AN OPEN LINE.

Her tear-stained face grows suddenly still as she looks at the telephone. Something begins to fill it . . . an idea? an intuition? Hard to tell. And maybe it doesn't matter.

INT. THE TELEPHONE, KATIE'S POV.

THE CAMERA MOVES IN TO ECU . . . MOVES IN until the dots in the off-the-hook receiver look like chasms.

SOUND OF OPEN-LINE BUZZ UP TO LOUD.

WE GO INTO THE BLACK . . . and hear BILL (voice) Who are you calling? Who do you want to call? Who would you call, if it wasn't too late?

INT. KATIE.

There is now a strange hypnotized look on her face. She reaches down, scoops the telephone up, and punches in numbers, seemingly at random.

SOUND: RINGING PHONE.

KATIE continues to look hypnotized. The look holds until the phone is answered . . . and she hears herself on the other end of the line.

KATIE (voice; filter) h.e.l.lo, Weiderman residence.

KATIE - our present-day KATIE with the streaks of gray in her hair - goes on sobbing, yet an expression of desperate hope is trying to be born on her face. On some level she understands that the depth of her grief has allowed a kind of telephonic time-travel. She's trying to talk, to force the words out.

KATIE (sobbing) Take . . . please take . . . t-t- KATIE, IN THE PHONE NOOK, REPRISE.

It's five years ago. BILL is standing beside her, looking concerned. JEFF is wandering off to look for a blank tape in the other room.

KATIE.

Polly? What's wrong?

INT. KATIE, IN THE STUDY.

KATIE (sobbing) Please - quick- SOUND: CLICK OF A BROKEN CONNECTION.

KATIE (screaming) Take him to the hospital! If you want him to live, take him to the hospital! He's going to have a heart attack! He - SOUND: HUM OF AN OPEN LINE.

Slowly, very slowly, KATIE hangs up the telephone. Then, after a moment, she picks it up again. She speaks aloud with no self-consciousness whatever. Probably doesn't even know she's doing it.

KATIE.

I dialed the old number. I dialed - SLAM CUT TO:.

INT. BILL, IN THE PHONE NOOK WITH KATIE BESIDE HIM.