Downstairs parlor

...and the grandfather clock stops ticking, the pendulum

stopping dead, the glass face cracking neatly up the center...

BEDROOM

...and a windowpane cracks. Then another. A picture falls off

the wall. A lightbulb bursts, showering glass.

Paul smells smoke, realizes the fringed coverlet of the bed

has caught fire. Moving like a man in a dream, he reaches for

the waterglass on the nightstand, douses the flames.

Coffey keeps kissing Melinda in that deep and mysterious way,

inhaling and inhaling, her hand held in his like a tiny white

bird. For a moment we actually hear something screaming, as

if some willful imp were being extracted by force...

...and then it's over. Coffey raises his head, revealing:

Melinda's beautiful face. Her mouth no longer droops. Color

is coming back to her hair. Her skin is shining with life.

Coffey regards her raptly for a moment or two, then starts

coughing violently.

He turns away and drops to his knees, hacking like a man in

the last stages of tuberculosis.

Paul and his men are expecting Coffey to spit out the " bugs",

but he doesn't--he just keeps coughing, deep and hard, barely

finding time to snatch in the next breath of air.

Hal goes to his wife, beyond stunned, sits at her side. She

looks back at him with amazement, her face like a dirty

mirror that's been suddenly wiped clean.

John's coughing grows even worse. Brutal drops to his side

and slaps his broad, spasming back.

BRUTAL

John! Sick it up! Cough 'em out

like you done before!

Coffey just keeps retching, eyes watering from the strain,

spit flying from his mouth.

BRUTAL

He's choking! Whatever he sucked

out of her, he's choking on it!

Paul starts toward them. Coffey crawls away, pressing himself

into a corner with his face against the wallpaper. He's still

making gruesome deep hacking sounds, but getting it under

control. He weakly waves Paul off--let me be.

Paul looks to the bed. Hal sits with Melinda, stroking her

brow. Color is blooming in her cheeks even as we watch.

MELINDA

How did I get here? We were going

to the hospital in Indianola,

weren't we? We stopped and you

bought me a packet of posies...

HAL

Shhh. It doesn't matter. It

doesn't matter anymore.

MELINDA

Did I have the X-ray? Did I

PAUL

Yes.

They both look at him.

PAUL

It was clear. There was no tumor.

Hal bursts into tears. Melinda sits up, comforting him. Her

eyes are drawn to the corner.

MELINDA

Who is that man?

Coffey is struggling to rise. Brutal does his best to help.

PAUL

John? Can you turn around? Can you

turn around and see this lady?

Coffey turns. His face is ashen gray, seriously ill.