"Claude, leave them there." "I'll come back for them later." "You sure you don't want to stay for a drink?" "Some other time, Fi..." "Gotta brush up my local charm." "Tourist season, you know." "Do you mind taking this mail to the blue house?" "Watch out for ghosts, kiddo!" "Claire!" "Uncle Peat!" "Here she comes, there's my girl." "H uh..." "This must be Claire." "20 years in Europe..." " Long time away, Fiona." " I know." "I thought it was time she saw where her family comes from." "Though Mom's probably rolling in her grave with laughter." "There you go." "Oh!" "Leaving me this place out of spite." "Franny did have a cruel streak." "A bit of elbow grease and it'll be as good as new." "That's rustic chic!" "It's great." "What do you think, Claire?" "What do you think about the old rock?" "My opinion matters?" " Claire!" " It takes... some time getting used to it." "Another 50 years, you'll be fitting in just fine." "H e y!" "I thought you should practice." "I know what it gets like when you leave it." "I told you I was finished." "I told you!" "It was just an idea." "Claire!" "She won't even cry." "L... you did the right thing bringing her here." "You did the right thing." "Go on..." "Go on, imbecile." "Come on." "Hello?" "Hello?" "Eeny, meeny, miney, mo..." "Who in the Christ are you?" "Make a habit in breaking into strangers' homes." "Young mute girl took a wrong turn at the mall?" "I was asked to give this to you..." "That's all." "God damned sissy Clyde!" "His family was always afraid its own shadows." "What did you do, try to drown that?" "Pffff..." "Why they don't burn all the books in the world?" "No one's reading them, 'cause no one's publishing them." "Que sera sera." "Kiss my ass!" "No one cares about fairy tales anymore." "Goddamn publishers." "Bit'em in the ass!" "They want rejection letters," "I'll show them rejection letters..." "I reject all these black wearing know-it-alls." "Thinking, thinking... so busy thinking they forget their hearts." "I reject these bloody rusting clothes-pegs." "Never read the end of a story first." "Ever!" "A good story has the power to heal the soul." "Typical." "You don't know me." "You don't know anything about me." "Don't I know?" "So I thought tomorrow... we could pack a lunch and go look around." "The lighthouse, maybe." "Or go hike to the point?" "Claire?" "Are you sleeping?" "Broadcaster:" "Private sector bids to purchase local ocean frontage, land considered traditional fishing grounds, deemed to be of no commercial use to the communities, after the mysterious disappearance of fish stocks in recent years." "Sale of the land would bring revenue to this part of the country." "Though scientists hold little hope for the return of the stocks, out of work fishermen hold out for a miracle." "This is Andrew Young, and that's the news for this hour." "It's 10:15 and time for a little mid-morning Bach." "I need a boat." "There's only one boat on this island," "Peat's got it up on land." "Clyde won't be back 'til next week." "No way off this time of theyear." "That is unless you've got fins." "Stupid deserted rock!" "Fish's gone." "Kids grow up, get jobs in the city." "What's your excuse?" "It's quiet here." "Usually." "Well, I've got 20,000 breaths in a day, kid..." "I just wasted about 18 on you." "I've got work to do!" "You've got something to say, say it fast." "Your story..." "What's it about?" "Stupid deserted rock!" "Your basic love story." "By the sea." "Riveting." "You gotta hear the whole thing to understand." "If you're not up to it..." "Then I'll start at the beginning, as all stories must." "In kinder times, there was an island whose heart and blood was fish, more fish than any place in the sea." "Oh, thank God." " Rose?" "!" " Hurry!" "Come on, come on!" " Up on the table!" " It's okay, it's okay now." " On the table." "Yeah." "Just like I told you." "Breathe!" "That's right." "Okay..." "Now push!" "That's right, now push..." "Yeah!" "Aahhh!" "Yeah!" " Here she comes!" " Aaaahh!" "Yeah!" "Here she is!" "Isn't she beautiful?" "That's some pretty." "The first child of the fishing season." "It was a birth of great significance." "Perhaps this child was the one..." " Amen." " Amen!" "You two, stay away from her." "Stay away." "I've got a feeling about it, Stone." "I know it's her." "If she is, a sign will come." "She'll get a sign soon enough." "That offers bounty and mercy," "Who will grant to this child that, which by nature she cannot have, she will be baptized by water." "Ha, ha, ha, ha..." "Yeah!" "One day, Porter decided it was time." "Though her mother was from the mainland," "Silly was an islander through and through." "She'll live by the sea, she must learn to swim in it." "It was the sign that Stone had spoken of." "Indeed, Silly was the one." "They were brown, Doctor." "Her eyes were brown." "It's not uncommon, babies' eyes changing color." "We've got to get her to the main land." "There was something in that water..." "She's not the same!" " Calm yours elf, Rose..." " Tell him, Porter, tell him!" "Listen to doctor Stone, Rose." "She'll be fine soon enough." "All will be well." "But all was not well." "Little Silly refused to sleep." "Night after night, she tossed and cried out for something her parents could not possibly understand." "Give it to me!" "The sea was a powerful and mysterious mistress, and no one dared question her secrets." "No one but Rose, that is." "A schoolteacher from the mainland, she wasn't afraid to challenge the island ways." "She was determined to find out what happened to Silly in the water that day." "Doctor?" "Please." "I feel it, I know something's wrong." "As the head of the island's founding family, he was sworn to silence." "Your imagination is something to behold, Rose." "You should be putting her to better use than this." "If you care anything for her, and anything for me at all... if you still care at all, you must promise..." "Look out for her." "Please, John." "You have my word." " Yeah, I know..." "Silly, come here." "theyears of worry had taken their toll." "Rose grew ill from a fever that had swept the island." "No matter... what happens to Momma... promise me... you'll stay out of the water." "Promise me, Silly." "I promise." "Silly filled her sleepless nights wandering the island shore, an outsider with no one to understand her." "No one but the sea." "Day after day, year after year," "Silly immersed herself in the ways of her island." "Soon she had all but forgotten the mysterious image she had seen so long ago." "Silly had a way with the sea like none other." "She was strong and salty and smarter than any of them, and a welcome addition on the wharf on account of her agreeable disposition." "Oh Peat..." "Put your eyes back in your goddamn fat chowder head." "Then one day, something happened that even Silly could not explain." "The fish simply... disappeared." "Are the tides taking them out to sea?" "I would take a thousand tides, a thousand years to..." " clear out that bay." " It's happening again." "The curse." "Da..." "What curse?" "Oh..." "It's just old island lore, Silly." "Nothing for you to worry about now." "curse..." "What kind of a ridiculous story is this?" "You expect people to believe in curses?" "You want me to stop?" "Fine with me..." "No." "The fish were gone, and the villagers held a secret meeting in the church." "Something had to be done." "It's the only way to get the fish back, Stone." "You know that!" "Three founding families, Stone." "That's the way it's has always been." "That's right!" "If we don't do something soon, they'll be gone forever!" "There are other ways for this island to survive." "You must leave Silly alone." "Jesus!" "Till now, Silly had been respectful of her mother's wish to stay out of the water." "But now, it was her 16th birthday, she was old enough to do what she wanted." "She had to find out what was out there..." " Franny?" " Dr. Stone..." "Silly stole your boat." "She's got her on the beach." "I saw her put it in the water." "She's over there!" "Go on!" " Men:" "Come back here." " No!" "Leave me alone!" "Leave me alone!" "No!" " Come on!" " Let me go!" "Silly!" "Come on!" "Come now, Silly." "The boat drifted out into the bay, Porter." "Nothing but splinters when it hits the rocks." "I'll be expecting her to be making it up." "She'll do what you say, Doc." "Nothing like this will be happening again..." "You have my word." "The clue... was right under Silly's nose all the time." "It was the tale performed in a pageant by the children each year about the first European settlers." " The French?" " No, before that." "A Viking ship was said to have sailed the island's bay hundreds of years ago, looking for land... and a safe place to begin a new life." "they came upon a beautiful bay," "its waters thick with all the fish in the sea." "They felt they entered Heaven itself." "But... as the ship drew close to the island, a great storm came up." "And the rough s as crashed it... until finally it began to sink into the freezing bay." "On board, there was a man and his beloved new bride, pregnant with their first child." "they had fought to get to this new land, and not even the cruel, brutal sea would keep them apart." "And as the ship went down, they cried out to each other." "And for a brief moment, all the powers of Nature, the mighty seas themselves, heard their plea and rose up to grant the lovers a last wish." "The lovers wished a curse on the island that every 50 years, the fish would dry up." "And all the settlers in the future, would go hungry." "Payment for the lives of the sailors and the unborn child lost that day." "If the fish disappeared every 50 years, then... there had to be some way of getting them back." "U h-hu." "That's exactly what Silly said." " It's happening again." "I don't know." "A couple of weeks." "Well, I just couldn't leave her in Berlin staring at the ceiling, could I?" "No." "I don't know." "I don't think she can remember anything." "Well, she's your kid too, right Max?" "Hello?" "Hello?" "Shit!" "I didn't hear you come in." "Your father said the school called." "they wanna know whether to hold your room at the dorm." "I remember my first place in the city, woo!" "My God, we us ed to get in trouble." "Excuse me for chatting but..." "Uncle Peat isn't exactly the talkative type, and I've had this wretched song in my head all day." "A friggin' jig, for Pete's sakes!" "I know this is hard." "I've loved too, Claire." "I had noticed." "You can barely keep their names straight." "One of us is going to have to stop feeling sorry for hers elf." "Mind the steps, Silly." "Don't be missing spots." "Mmm-hmm..." ""Don't be missing spots."" "Finally." "Silly!" "Show my guest upstairs." "I hope that the room's done up as I asked." "I hope it'll do." "After that boat, this is heaven." "I assure you." "Wait 'til you see the crapper out back." "Top of the stairs, Mrs. Griggs, is your room... and the lavatory." "I trust you'll be comfortable." "Thank you." " I'll have your things brought up." " Good, good." "James!" "Insisting on carrying his own." "Stubborn as the Germans, that boy." "Ha, ha, ha." "Silly... go!" ""After that boat, this is heaven, I assure you."" "...plant's ripe for being torn down to make room for docks, barracks." "With a view of the sea, darling." " Mrs. Griggs:" "View of the sea?" " Yes." "Does it always smell like this?" "A storm brought in more kelp than usual this year." "Mrs Griggs:" "...How fascinating." "Not one nail." "I trust your base will leave space for local boats, Father." "Let's move along, shall we?" "Good Lord!" "That child has my emeralds!" " Mrs. Griggs:" "Steven!" " Steven come here." " Silly!" "Silly come here!" "Silly!" " She's got nerve." " She's a criminal." "Silly!" "Silly?" "Silly." "I'm told you've been..." "You've been bothering the admiral and his family." "Filthy liars!" "Stone is trying to make something off this place." "It's a chance for all of us." "even you!" "We won't be needing a base when the fish come back!" "Silly, it's just a story." "You're 16 years old, for God's sake." "A grown woman!" "Haven't you caused yourself enough heartache?" "Haven't you?" "Ever since the plant shut down, you sit in that chair all day praying the dead will come back." "She's gone!" "She's dead and gone." "And now you can't even fish." "There ain't no one on this island who's gonna put up with you anymore." "No one." " Ahem." "You've been spying on me?" "I got better to do than spy on anyone." " Let alone you." " Not what I heard." "And it's true what they say!" "Every friggin' word..." "Watch out, I'll get you!" "Doctor's house ain't fine enough for you?" "Biggest one on the island." "The sound of the water helps me sleep." "Well..." "A storm's coming up." "Your tent won't last one blow." "I'll take my chances, thanks." "H ere!" "One more!" "Come on!" "I feel like one of Melville's heroes..." "Ahab or Ishmael in the belly of the whale and all that." "They're city friends of yours?" "No..." "It's Moby Dick." "It's a story about a great white whale, and a man obsessed with conquering it... and the sea." "The most valiant battle there is." "they win the battle, your heroes?" "Mmm... yes." "In a sense, yes." "So..." "How did you know the storm was coming?" "The way you know about ideas and books." "I know about the sea." "Mmmm." "Rhubarb wine?" "Thank you." "You don't get boiled beef and potatoes on the mainland?" "Might be needing salt." "Thank you." "James!" "You know that's bad for you." "Silly, serve the food." "Well, all goes as planed." "Construction can begin right away." "I can't see how you'll be able to build on that wharf." "I have it on good authority that the rocks go out a hundred feet." "Landfill." "It'll give us an extra quarter of a mile." "Silly:" "What about the fishing boats?" "Silly, you know as well as I do that there are no fish here." "The water is barren." "It ain't barren... it's cursed." "I'd heard about these local stories." "How quaint." "What makes you so sure they're just stories?" "I think you're forgetting we're guests here, James." "Invited to destroy a way of life." "The bas e will bring jobs." "The bas e will bring this rock out of the dark ages." "The base will save us." "Liar!" "Silly, that will be enough!" "Where I come from, you can't see the ocean at all." "It's all you see here." "Salt makes everything hard." "Gets into your lungs... and your head." "And here." "So..." "What is it about this place?" "I mean, what are they trying to hide?" "There's something in the bay." "I know it!" "I've seen it." "It's true." "Most people are afraid to know the truth." "About anything." "My mother wasn't afraid." "She knew." "Was she... like you?" "She... sang me songs and... she wore a string of pearls," "even when she was down scrubbing floors." "She was smart about people, and if she were here, she'd give a piece of her mind to that admiral and his too-good-for-everybody wife who wouldn't know a curse if it bit her in the..." "I mean your mother." "I think... when people die... they only die on the outside." "The rest is... here." "And here." "And here." "You're not like no one I ever met before." "I think I can say the same about you." "Do you believe me, James?" "Yes." "I believe you." "Come on!" "Whoo-hoo!" "Don't move." "She's coming." "Afraid of me when she was a child." "I haven't lost my touch." "The island ain't big enough for the both you, huh?" "Mothers worry, Claire." "Makes them feel useful." "How would you know?" "Making it up as I go along." "She doesn't understand." "She has no idea." "Understanding and caring are two different things." "Both are hard to come by." "Haven't seen one of these in awhile." "Little thing must have outlasted a hundred storms." "Amazing what can survive out here." "I trust you've come to your senses and packed up that tent." "I've come for my books." "I know why you're down there." "It's that girl." "Don't think I haven't heard." "Cavorting around as if you were on holiday." "I am on holiday." "A simple island girl knows a good thing when she sees it." "Fine family, good looking boy... there's a future there." "Be cause she's not like the fools you invite over, caring for nothing but their latest dress, and their father's money." "Silly's not like that." "You're wrong." "Oh, am I?" "She's dangerous, James, I'm warning you." "Stay away." "James:" "Rhubarb wine..." "disgusting!" "Stone's got barrels of this stuff in the cellar." "Here." "Priest's got ears like radars." "'Bout friggin' time." "Going home and frying up kittens for supper, I'm sure." " I'm going in." " No!" " Look..." " Wait." "I never had no one to keep look-out for me before." "Mmm-hmm..." "And now that I do, I gotta find out what they're hiding." "Throw me luck, James." "Throw me luck." "Damn!" "We'll be at our own place and out of that shack." "Family or no family." "Malcolm?" "Malcolm, are you listening?" "What the Jesus is she up to now?" "Huh!" "Searching for sea monsters again, I'll bet." "Every 50 years." "Aaaahh!" " Malcolm, run!" "Silly!" "Silly!" "I'm coming!" "No!" "James:" "Leave it, it's not worth it!" "Oh, it's okay." " It's okay." "Your pipe, Silly." "I didn't light no fire." "Mrs Griggs:" "What kind of a monster are you?" "Don't you speak to her that way." "And look at you, you can barely stand!" "It's because I'm drunk." "Only one child, a boy..." "To make me proud..." "To make something of himself." "To be something!" "My son..." "I'd sooner choke than trade on your name." "Pack your things." "You're going back to the Academy!" "You can't tell me what to do." "I'm a man." "Is that what she told you?" "Get your things, now!" "Dad, do something." "Do something!" "Do something, please." "Mind the line there, Peat." "And so the story goes..." "As suddenly as James had come to the island... like that, he was gone." "She felt she didn't want to live anymore." "First her mother, and now James." "She felt that she hers elf was dying." "Stop!" "I don't wanna hear anymore of your stupid story." "Claire?" "Is everything okay?" "It's late." "I want you home." "Sleep tight, child." "Sleep tight." "Night, Celia." "Claire!" "What were you two doing up there, all those hours?" "Claire?" "Answer me!" "Talking." "You can talk to her but you can't talk to me!" "?" "Are you going to analyze that too?" "Have you called a shrink?" "How much did he charge you this time, Mom?" "Why are you so angry with me?" "Can't you see I'm trying to help you?" "There is nothing you can do to help me!" "It's your life." "Do whatever you want with it." "I want to know the ending." "You shouldn't be here." "Your mother asked me to stop." "I saw the church." "I saw those gravestones." "It's true." "The whole thing is true!" "There's churches and graves all over this part of the world, Claire." "Only outnumbered by crazy old women and their stories." "I want to know!" "Time to say goodbye now, Claire." "Because finally, she had found someone worthy of finishing her tale." "Silly, I can't have you sleeping out here forever." "I had hoped you changed your mind." "You can't waste away up here on account of that boy." "It ain't right." "It ain't right." "Mama wouldn't have gone." "Her pearls." "I gave them to her the day we was wed." "One pearl for every day it took to win her." "My hands were so raw from polishing the damn things," "I wore gloves everytime she was near." "I'm sure she thought I had hooks or something." "You know... after the wedding, she said she didn't marry me on account of the pearls." "She said... she fell in love with me 'cause I was such a damn fool," "always with my head in the clouds." "Not like the others, she said." "Not like the others." "How you doing, Peat?" "Griggs:" "Allow me." " To the base!" " All:" "To the base!" " Here, the base!" "Hey, where you've been?" "Come on!" "What?" "Oh my Jesus, Franny." "If I ain't seen her with my own eyes..." "Where's your fancy boyfriend, Silly?" "Gone back home now that he's had his fun?" "Wearing her mother's old dress." "Where's Silly going?" "What's going on?" "It's a new life, for all of us." "We're ocean people." "We was meant to fish." "Your mother..." "I loved her, you know." "She could have done a lot better than marrying a fisherman." "I could have made her happy." "My father is a better man than you 10 times over." "She would have never been happy with the likes of you." "Out for yours elf, ruining the island!" "You must understand." "It's what she wanted, Silly." "I've been doing all of this for her." " For you!" " No, you're lying..." "Silly!" "There's something I need to tell you, sir." " H uh?" " It's about your son." "This better not be another fairy tale." "What have you done now, Peat?" "What have you done for that girl?" "Well, they can't be far!" " Mrs Griggs:" "Steven?" " We got to find them." "We got to find her before it's too late!" "It's time to end this, Stone." " It's us or her!" " Mrs. Griggs:" "What's going on?" "Find my son now!" "Come on, come on... move!" "Mrs. Griggs:" "What is wrong with you people?" " Griggs:" "You take the beach!" " We'll check the wharf." "Oh!" "I thought you was gone for good." "I have a boat waiting at the breakwater." "And I've food and fuel enough for a week." "Soon we can be far away." "What's wrong?" " The water, I..." " Think of it." "Just you and me and... you can forget this place, my family, everyone." "We can be together." "Can't you see?" "None of this will matter anymore." "I can't do it without you." "I can't do it." "They're coming!" "It's around the other side!" "Come on!" "They're not here!" " They'll catch up to us." " No, they won't." "It's your starter, Admiral." "Someone's rigged her." "All the boats are hauled up." "Peat's boat..." "Peat's boat's missing." "James:" "There... to there." "What do you think?" " Hmmm..." " Hmmm?" "How about... there?" "I never knew there were so many places." "Close your eyes." "Okay." "Now open." "I am the captain of this ship, am I not?" "One of them, anyways." "Such as joining dastardly stowaways in wedlock." "Unless, of course, you don't want to." "I do." "You do?" "In that case, I do too, then." "We'll need a binding kiss, then." "Yes." "Celia narrating:" "And as the boat drifted out into the bay, for the first time in as long as she could remember," "Silly slept." "Good evening, Madam." "What are you up to?" "I'm partaking in a ceremonial dunking." "For tonight..." "I am a man." "You'll be blue as frozen fish guts in 10 minutes flat." "That means I have nine minutes left." "I'd rather spend them with you." "No, my pearls!" "I've got them!" "Grab on to my hand!" "James!" "James, come back!" "James!" "James!" "James!" " I can't..." " James!" "Come back to the boat!" "James!" "Get back to the boat!" "James..." "Help!" "But why take the chosen, when true to Viking lore, the greater suffering is in taking the chosen's love?" "5@y3"