The Stand, Part II: The Dreams

[Settling down to a rare steak dinner in the city, Larry and Nadine duck when they hear a gunshot.]

Nadine Cross:
Oh, I think I lost my appetite.

Larry Underwood:
We gotta get outta here.

Nadine Cross:
I beg your pardon?

Larry Underwood:
I mean, we gotta get outta the city. I mean, it's not just the odds of getting shot. You have any idea what it's going to smell like in two weeks? Five million people rotting in the July sun!

Nadine Cross:
Ohhh-kay.

[Nadine pulls out a bottle of pills, but Larry stops her from taking any.]

Larry Underwood:
What is that?!

Nadine Cross:
Vitamin C.

Larry Underwood:
Yeah, I'm sorry. It's none of my business.

Nadine Cross:
Apology accepted...mostly because I think you're right. The Big Apple is baked.

[Repeated lines.]

Trashcan Man:
Bump-dee-bump! My life for you!

[Abagail Freemantle talks to God as she works around Hemingford Home.]

Mother Abagail:
I hear ya, Lord, and I'm in the way o' doin' your will… but I don't much like it!

. . .

Mother Abagail:
Oh, I'll do what you say, Lord - don't I always? But even your own Son prayed that the cup be taken from his lips, and I'm… prayin' the same thing. Heh heh. Probably… get about the same answer, too! [laughs]

[The Walkin' Dude visits Lloyd in his prison cell.]

Lloyd Henreid:
Can you let me outta here, mister? I'll do anything you want.

Randall Flagg:
You poor guy. You look like ka-ka! [giggles] Tell me something, Lloyd-

Lloyd Henreid:
How do you know my name?

Randall Flagg:
Lucky guess. How'd you stay alive so long?

Lloyd Henreid:
I saw it coming down, and I saved up some food, that's how.

[Flagg points to Lloyd's cot, and the mattress pulls itself up, revealing a partially-eaten rat.]

Randall Flagg:
Brer Rat, how'd he taste?

Lloyd Henreid:
[snivelling] Poke should be here, not me! Everything was Poke's idea!

Randall Flagg:
And you got stuck with nothin' to eat but Rat Tartar.

. . .

Randall Flagg:
Oh! I never even introduced myself, did I? Pleased to meet you, Lloyd. Hope you guess my name.

Lloyd Henreid:
Huh?

Randall Flagg:
Oh, uh… nothing. Just a little classical reference.

⇒ "Pleased to meet you / Hope you guess my name" are two lines from the chorus of The Rolling Stones' song "Sympathy for the Devil".

[Larry and Nadine argue over her refusal to enter the Lincoln Tunnel.]

Larry Underwood:
And you've had plenty of those, thank you very much!

Nadine Cross:
Hey! Give that back!

Larry Underwood:
No, ma'am. I'm not gonna stand here in the middle of five million dead people, and watch you commit suicide!

. . .

[After he throws away her pills, Nadine storms off.]

Larry Underwood:
Where're you going?

Nadine Cross:
Going to the George Washington Bridge! By myself!

Larry Underwood:
Pfft. I don't need this prima donna act… Missy! I really don't! You have fun… getting raped and murdered back on 7th Avenue! Sweetheart!

[Stu happily pets Glen Bateman's dog, Kojak.]

Stu Redman:
He's the first dog I've seen in, uh… well, since the third week of June.

Glen Bateman:
Yeah. Superflu took most of the dogs… right along with their idiot masters. Most unfair.

[Nadine dreams of the Dark Man.]

Nadine Cross:
So… cold! No! He's warm, not you!

Randall Flagg:
But I'm the one you belong to, Nadine. You are the Promised One.

Nadine Cross:
[petulantly] Why me? Who promised?

[Nick, meeting Tom Cullen, applauds his mannequin displays posed to replace the missing townspeople.]

Tom Cullen:
Thanks. Decoration is my hobby. M-O-O-N, that spells "hobby".

. . .

[While Nick is stymied trying to explain to an illiterate Tom that he's mute, Tom stares for a moment, then brightens.]

Tom Cullen:
I got it, Mister! I got it! You're just like old Albion Packalot's hired man! Tom Cullen knows what that is! M-O-O-O-N, that spells "deaf and dumb"!

. . .

[Tom frets to Nick about how everyone "up and went to Kansas City".]

Tom Cullen:
Everybody's… always talkin' about what a dull town this is, since the roller rink went bust. And there's just the drive-in theater out on Route 61, and… all they show is them diddly-daddly pictures, and they're all rated "X". M-O-O-N, that spells "X".

[Tom excitedly hops on the bicycle that Nick brought him.]

Tom Cullen:
All right, I'm ready! Laws, yes! M-O-O-N, that spells "ready"!

[The two of them start out for Hemingford Home.]

Tom Cullen:
Woo-hoo! M-O-O-N, that spells "Nebraska"!

[Nick and Tom meet up with spoiled-brat Julie Lawry.]

Julie Lawry:
You're name's Tom, right?

Tom Cullen:
Tom Cullen. M-O-O-N, that spells "Tom Cullen".

[On a Midwest highway, Ralph Bretner drives his pickup truck up alongside Tom and Nick on their bicycles.]

Ralph Bretner:
Name's Ralph Bretner.

Tom Cullen:
I'm Tom Cullen. M-O-O-N, that spells "Tom Cullen". I don't know his name, 'cause I can't read it. Sure wish I did, though - laws, yes.

[Nick hands Ralph a hastily scribbled note.]

Ralph Bretner:
Your friend's name here is "Nick Andros". M-O-O-N, I-I guess that spells "Nick". [laughs]

[Larry is surprised by a woman travelling with a feral boy.]

Lucy Swan:
I'm so pleased to meet you.

Larry Underwood:
Yeah, same here, believe me. [to the boy] How ya doin', son?

[The boy pulls out a knife and nearly slashes Larry before the woman pulls him back.]

Larry Underwood:
Whoa!

Lucy Swan:
Put that away.

Larry Underwood:
Nice kid! Has he had his rabies shots yet?

Lucy Swan:
I'm sorry, I'm sorry. He's-he's been… traumatized.

Larry Underwood:
Haven't we all.

[Mother Abagail talks to Ralph and Nick about what God has told her. Ralph reads Nick's response.]

Ralph Bretner:
Uh, Nick says that… he says he don't believe in God.

[Mother Abagail laughs.]

Mother Abagail:
God bless ya, Nick! But it don't matter! He believes in you.

[On the outskirts of Boulder, Colorado, little Gina calls Tom over.]

Tom Cullen:
What is it, Gina?

Gina McCone:
A parade! Come on up and look!

[He stands on the truck bed and hoists Gina up to see further.]

Tom Cullen:
Gosh, it is!

[Below them, a pack of motorcycles leads a caravan of other vehicles approaching.]

Tom Cullen:
M-O-O-N, that spells parade.