Widow's Bay

She's been acting weird for months.

Stopped saying good morning, always staying over at her sister's.

I even asked her to get dinner, and you know what she said?

"I think we're past that."

And then one day I look over,

and I see my suitcase packed waiting by the door.

By this point, I'd just about had it. I said, "Elaine, it's over."

Sounds like she had already ended it, Shep.

Nah, she's just playing her games.

Say, what's your heading?

I'm…

I'm seeing something.

- Lonnie? Hey, Lonnie? - I'm seeing something.

Guys.

Guys, can you seriously not hear me?

Oh, God.

Guys!

What the fuck?

Fuck you. It's not fucking funny.

Fuck.

Evan!

Motherf…

Well, if you felt the jolt last night, that was the first…

No reports of serious deaths or injuries.

Hope I'm not the only one with a generator…

Excuse me.

The entire island is out.

This is exactly why I wanted to use the Rule 20A credits.

Anyone talked to Mitch?

Rosemary says he's not in yet, but she's trying him at home.

Does anyone on this island work?

What are you gonna do about your writer? Is he still coming today?

Rosemary, any updates fr… from Mitch?

I had to call him five times to get him on the horn.

Said he'd call me back. He never called me back.

I'll tell you one thing, don't act like you're better than everyone else

- when you can't pay back your loans. - Who does he owe money to?

Don't… Don't answer that.

Hey, it's none of my business.

But his father-in-law might think differently.

And I'll tell you something else...

I just wanna know if you talked to Mitch.

I don't want any gossip. Not today.

- And you won't get any from me. - Great.

But apparently there's no age limit on syphilis.

Jesus Christ.

Guy says he's a quarter Cherokee. I ran his genealogy...

Did you talk to Mitch? Do you have any updates on the outages?

He said the south point should be back up at any time now.

- That was half hour ago. - Great. Thank you.

But you better talk to Wayne.

He says he's shutting down the restaurant for the rest of the day.

The fuck he is.

Hey, Ruth. Give me five minutes and get me Wayne at The Salty Whale.

Sure. What's his number?

- Salty Whale. - Wayne.

- Gotta do it, Tom. - No, no, no. You don't.

Look, the ice machine is down…

- …I got no appliances working… - No, listen…

- …I am done for the day. - No, listen…

- You gotta listen to me. - No, you listen to me. Look.

You can't shut down,

I've been trying to get these people to send someone for three years,

and he's on his way as we speak.

I cannot have our one nice restaurant shut down.

So what? I don't know this guy.

It's the goddamn New York Times.

- What? A reporter? - Oh, a travel writer.

- Unimportant. - No, it is important.

Wayne, Wayne. Our power, it's back on, it is coming to you soon.

All right.

- But I'm not happy about it. - Okay. Thank you.

Yes, table by the window and no Kathy. Thank you.

Fine.

- Oh, my God. - When will it run?

Well, if he writes the article, and that's a fucking big if right now…

You shouldn't assume the writer is a man.

The editor said a man was coming.

Well, that's fine then.

It would run before booking season.

And God, I wish these people would understand

what summer tourism would do for us.

I think the quake has people on edge.

Look, there was a quake in New York City last year.

All right. Patricia, not today.

And I mean it, okay? We have to show this man a good time.

What are you asking me to do, Tom?

What do you think I'm asking you to do?

Well, I didn't know.

Your rotary club lunch was moved to Monday.

Great.

Wyck Crawford called twice.

The Sheriff called, also twice.

What else? What else? It's…

What else is…

- That's it. - Great. Thank you.

- Sheriff's office. - This is Tom.

Shep Clark is missing.

Well, who's looking?

Why are you the mayor of this town if you hate everyone so much?

And let one of them be in charge?

Try the Barnabus.

Well, I called them before I called you.

Harbormaster said he had him on the VHF and lost him.

Disappeared.

Said there's a heavy fog settling in offshore,

and he wants to issue a cancellation of operations until it clears.

Bechir, we get fog 360 days a year. He cannot close the port, not today.

Yeah. But he says this doesn't seem like the usual fog.

Why is the 11:00 a.m. already here?

Not my job to know that, buddy.

Hey, Lee. You're not scheduled to come in for another 30 minutes.

Wanted to get ahead of the fog.

What? So we're just winging the schedule now?

Don't shit your diaper. I sent your writer to wait for you.

Oh, my God. He made it? Oh, my God.

Okay. Thank you. I'm sorry.

Wait, wait, wait, where did you send him?

The historical society.

Shit.

…and, you know, the economy was totally dependent on the whaling.

Which means that all the men would go out.

- They'd be gone for years sometimes. - Okay.

So it was… it could be very lonely.

And you'll find this worn patch of wood

in front of the windows of the older homes,

and it was from the wives pacing back and forth

waiting for their men to come home. Yeah.

Most would not.

They should've checked the bars.

I'm Tom Loftis.

- Or Tom. - Nice to meet you. Arthur.

- Yeah. I would've met you at the dock. - Yeah.

Oh, yeah, the ferry left early. I'm glad I was there.

- And I am so sorry about that. - Uh-huh.

So, you wanna grab some coffee?

No, I'm good. Gerrie was just taking me through some of your history.

That's great. Yes, well, remarkable story.

Forty-two passengers from the mainland embarked by sea

to find a settlement they could call their own.

Yeah. No. The 40… 43 passengers embarked...

I think it's a little early for that story, Gerrie.

But imagine arriving in an untamed wilderness.

Blank canvas, totally empty island.

- Except for the teeth. - The… Yeah,

but the point I'm trying to make is that there were no people here, you know?

They had to build everything from scratch…

- Uh-huh. - …during what is still believed

to be the harshest winter

- in Widow's Bay history. - Yeah.

And all thanks to this remarkable leader, Richard Warren.

Our first mayor.

I can't even get my assistant to stay past 2:00.

You know what, I was just about to show Arthur the witch trial.

Yeah.

Great source of pride. We caught 'em. We burned 'em...

Do you know what? You know what, Gerrie? I'm gonna take it from here.

- Thank you though. - Okay.

- Yeah. - Okay.

Well, I hope you like the local color, Arthur, because, we got a lot of it.

I was talking to the guy on the ferry…

- Uh-huh. - …and he said something odd.

What was that?

He said bad things happen here.

You know, Arthur, there is something about these seafaring towns.

Their superstitions, their tall tales.

Maybe it's that stories help pass a long day at sea.

I don't know, but I find it charming myself.

Was there cannibalism?

No.

Well, the article behind you.

"Forced inside the church, they immediately turned to cannibalism."

I don't think that's right.

I mean, it's in a framed article inside the historical society.

Yeah.

You know, these stories get so exaggerated over time.

I mean, look, was there a deadly storm in 1786? Yes.

Did a group of people get trapped inside a church? Apparently so.

Did they immediately turn to cannibalism?

- No, that took four days. - So there was cannibalism?

What I'd ask you in return, Arthur, is

what town doesn't have a checkered past?

You know, if we go back far enough in our country's timeline. Right?

The best way to learn about this island

is to step outside and see it for yourself, so follow me.

Okay.

I swear, I have been having the hardest time getting reception.

And you will welcome the peace and quiet.

But we do have plenty of landlines.

So…

I have marked all of my favorite spots

- on the island. - Okay.

But you should definitely check out the lighthouse.

- Second oldest in America. - Okay.

And I will meet you here for dinner, Salty Whale, 7:00 p.m.

- Best lobster in America. - That's a bold claim, Tom.

Is it better than the lobster pot on Cape Cod?

Fuck Cape Cod.

Okay.

- I said it. - I can report that, yes.