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turning to page one
turning to page one
The room's cozy, attractive, cluttered, part dressmaker's workshop, part repository of Mary's endless purchases: clothing, fabrics, knicknacks, carpets. Books everywhere.
Lincoln reclines on a French chair, too small for his lengthy frame. He's in shirtsleeves, vest unbuttoned and tie unknotted, shoeless. He has an open folio filled with documents on his lap.
MARY LINCOLN sits opposite, in a nightgown, housecoat and night cap. She watches him in her vanity mirror.
She looks frightened.
TITLE: THE WHITE HOUSE
LINCOLN
I could be bounded in a nutshell
and count myself a king of infinite
space...were it not that I have bad
dreams.
I reckon it's the speed that's strange to me. I'm used to going a deliberate pace.
Mary looks at him, stricken with alarm.
LINCOLN (CONT'D)
I should spare you. I shouldn't
tell you my dreams.
MARY
I don't want to be spared if you
aren't! And you spare me nothing.
He looks down at the carpet, then back up at her.
MARY (CONT'D)
Perhaps perhaps it's the assault on
Wilmington port. You dream about
the ship before a battle, usually.
LINCOLN
(rapping lightly on his FOREHEAD:)
How's the coconut?
MARY
Beyond description.
She delicately touches her head.
MARY (CONT'D)
Almost two years, nothing mends.
Another casualty of the war. Who
wants to listen to a useless woman
grouse about her carriage accident?
LINCOLN
I do.
MARY
Stuff! You tell me dreams, that's
all, I'm your soothsayer, that's
all I am anymore, I'm not to be
trusted with - Even if it wasn't a
carriage accident, even if it was
an attempted assassination -
LINCOLN
It was most probably an -
MARY
It was an assassin. Whose intended
target was you.
LINCOLN
How's the plans for the big shindy
progressing?
MARY
I don't want to talk about parties!
You don't care about parties.
LINCOLN
Not much but they're a necessary -
Mary studies Lincoln, thinking. Then a revelation:
MARY
I know...I know what it's about.
The ship, it isn't Wilmington Port,
it's not a military campaign! It's
the amendment to abolish slavery!
Why else would you force me to
invite demented radicals into my home?
Lincoln closes his folio.
MARY (CONT'D)
You're going to try to get the
amendment passed in the House of
Representatives, before the term
ends, before the Inauguration.
LINCOLN
(STANDING:)
Don't spend too much money on the
flubdubs.
Mary stands, goes up to him.
MARY
No one's loved as much as you, no
one's ever been loved so much, by
the people, you might do anything
now. Don't, don't waste that power
on an amendment bill that's sure of
defeat.
Seeing that he's not going to discuss this, she turns away, walking to an open window.
MARY (CONT'D)
Did you remember Robert's coming
home for the reception?
Lincoln nods, though Mary isn't bothering to look at him.
MARY (CONT'D)
I knew you'd forget.
She closes the window.
MARY (CONT'D)
That's the ship you're sailing on.
The Thirteenth Amendment. You
needn't tell me I'm right. I know I
am.
She watches as he leaves the room, smiling in bitter victory: she's right.