Lincoln Page #3

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.

8.

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

9.

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.

10.

INT. HALLWAY, LEAVING MARY'S BOUDOIR - NIGHT

Lincoln encounters ELIZABETH KECKLEY, a light-skinned black

woman, 38, Mary's dressmaker and close friend, holding a dark-

blue velvet bodice embroidered with jet beads.

LINCOLN:

It's late, Mrs. Keckley.

ELIZABETH KECKLEY

(holding out the bodice:)

She needs this for the grand

reception.

Lincoln bends down to look at the intricate beading.

ELIZABETH KECKLEY (CONT'D)

It's slow work.

He nods, smiles, straightens up.

LINCOLN:

Good night.

He continues down the hall. Mrs. Keckley starts to enter

Mary's boudoir, then stops, sensing something amiss. She

calls quietly after Lincoln:

ELIZABETH KECKLEY

(concerned, a little

EXASPERATED:
)

Did you tell her a dream?

INT. LINCOLN'S OFFICE, SECOND FLOOR, WHITE HOUSE - NIGHT

A working room, sparsely furnished. Lincoln's desk is heaped

with files, books, newspapers. The desk's near a window, now

open. Comfortable chairs and a rocker are in a corner. Near

the fireplace, in which embers are dying, there's a long

Rate this script:2.9 / 8 votes