Knife Fight Page #9

pure and simple.

And what about

Helena St. John,

the woman at the center

of all of these charges?

Well, Dani,

Ms. St. John returned

to her parents' home

near Boston,

where she was briefly seen

yesterday.

Helena, over here.

We have a question!

Helena, Helena!

[All speaking at once]

Why are you denying the affair?

Why did you do it, Helena?

Was all the sex consensual?

Helena!

Helena!

Has the governor

been in touch with you?

Can we get an interview?

Is the governor gonna

divorce his wife?

- Helena, are you in rehab now?

- Helena!

And Ms. St. John

also came up back home,

when we caught up

with the governor

heading for a performance

of the Good Shepherd

Youth Choir,

run by Lexington

police officers.

The lady in question

is a good girl,

who, like so many fine people

from good families,

fell into that terrible,

terrible abyss of drugs.

I wish her all the luck

in the world

in getting her life together,

and I know that with

the assistance of clergy,

she'll be just fine

and become clean and sober

once again.

That's good.

Okay.

Here's the spot Jimmy just cut.

We're running it

at 2,000 points,

heavy rotation

for the next two weeks,

major cable buy.

Lifetime, Ellen,

just buying the sh*t

out of the mom demo.

Some things

are pretty darn expensive,

and it makes you wonder

where all that money comes from.

The cost of incarcerating

a cocaine dealer

in Kentucky for 15 months:

$28,313.

The cost of a brand-new pickup:

$34,201,

which was purchased

two days after claiming

he had a diary for sale.

The cost of cocaine rehab

for a month?

$14,000.

The cost of Wall Street banks

trying to ruin the reputation

of a man who has served

the commonwealth of Kentucky

his entire adult life:

Priceless.

Booyah, motherf***er!

I owe you, man!

But you better get your ass

out of Dodge.

Hey, next time you think

about running for office,

try France.

It's a better fit.

[Chuckles]

Well, merci beaucoup.

Taxi will be here in five.

- So you also have the...

- Paul.

You son of a b*tch.

I can't f***ing believe it.

Here.

When you graduated law school,

you know where I was, right?

Sure.

You were two years behind me.

Right, in the same class

with your favorite pal.

I got to tell you,

I have taken a lot.

- I know you have.

- I'm not sure you do.

My father was an artist

who struggled his whole life

to support us,

and he told me if I worked hard,

got good grades,

and got into Harvard,

I could do whatever I wanted.

Guess what I did

when I got there.

Fell for one

Larry Lincoln Becker,

dragged me back

to this godforsaken place.

Godforsaken?

If you grew up

in Brooklyn, absolutely.

You know,

I've been a good sport.

I've done my

stand-by-your man thing

for a guy who will f*** anyone...

anything in a skirt.

Honestly, it must be

so confusing for him

when those Scottish bagpipers

come here to play.

But it was all

between me and him,

but now you go ahead

and you drag this girl

through the mud,

a girl with her whole life

ahead of her?

Is that what it's come to?

- Hey, she did the coke.

- Big deal.

Half of America has done a line

once in their lives.

And she wasn't raped.

She was a completely

willing participant.

- Hardly.

- She knew what the score was.

What the f***, Paul?

Is it worth it?

Let me tell you

what I'm doing.

I am playing to win

so that your guy

gets another four years,

so that that a**hole Perkins,

who is diametrically opposed

to every single issue

that you care about:

Foreclosures, minimum wage,

clean air

and who doesn't so much

as take a sh*t

without first

having it stamped and approved

by Wall Street banks

and the mega-mining

and health care industries,

doesn't get to sit

where Larry sits.

And doesn't it bother you,

the way you get there?

It's just you and me here, Paul.

[Breathing heavily]

Thought you'd never

make it home.

- Hi.

- Hi.

- Is that more Kentucky stuff?

- No.

Penelope's petitions.

And they're not just petitions.

I mean, they are,

but there's also notes on them.

Oh, boy.

For example:

"Best doctor I ever had."

"Yes," followed by four

exclamation points.

"I wish I could sign ten times,

"because you are going to be

ten times better

than what we got."

And ten times as likely

to get slaughtered.

Why not Penelope?

You know why.

There's 101 reasons

why she can't win.

Yeah, I know.

And they're all

really good ones,

but I just feel like,

if she won,

this world would be

a better place.

[Chuckles quietly]

Not so?

No?

Hmm.

I didn't know

you were in town.

Can I talk to you

for a minute?

Yeah, sure.

Look, I know that you're still

upset about Helena, but...

this is what happens.

Paul, Helena tried

to commit suicide.

She took a container

full of pills,

but her mother found her.

It happened over the weekend.

They're keeping it quiet.

It's not in the media

and won't be.

But her mother called

to tell me,

and I thought

you should know too.

I had no idea it would...

I didn't think

it would play like this.

This is what happens.

Professor St. John,

it's just Paul Turner

calling again.

Um, I know it's a hard time

for you and your family,

but if you could give me a call

at the number

that I left earlier,

that... that would be great.

Thank you.

Hello, Helena.

It's Paul Turner calling again.

Um, look, if you'd like me

to stop calling you,

just text me, and I will.

Okay, thanks.

[Doorbell rings]

Please, I just need five minutes

of your time.

Pl... five minutes,

and I will go home.

I promise.

Please.

I can't begin to tell you

how sorry I am.

We never should have done it.

I never should have done it.

But you did.

Why?

Why me?

I don't know.

No, I do know.

What we do

is like a military guy

in Virginia

piloting a drone

over Afghanistan

and launching a missile.

It seems like a video game

and there aren't

real people involved.

And you hit the fire button,

and you're thinking,

"How'd we do?

Did we hit it?"

And sometimes we hit the target,

and other times,

we destroy the building

with a red cross

painted on the top.

It's not right.

It's so not right.

For years,

after a bad day at school,

I'd jump on that trampoline.

And I'd feel better,

feel like I was free,

floating in space.

But at some point,

my mom would come out

and tell me that I couldn't

stay here all night.

The last thing that I wanted

was to come back to Earth.

And this is a big dose

of coming back down to Earth.

Giant dose.

And my dad teaches

power and politics.

I should've known.

No.

Nobody really understands power.

I think that's why

we all abuse it so easily.

I'm sorry, but that's just

not good enough.

Actions have consequences.

And I think you do understand.

Hey.

You know better than that.

Oh, yes, I do.

[Cell phone ringing and buzzing]

[Cell phone stops ringing]

[Cell phone ringing]

We have last month's

foreclosure stats,

and we're cutting the spot now.

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