Love Letters Page #7

not to telephone the office.

Every call has to be logged in...

...and most of them are screened

by overeager college interns...

...who like to run back

to Cambridge and New Haven...

...and announce

to their classmates...

...that Senator Ladd

is shacking up on the side.

The phones simply are not secure.

At long last, the letter

beats out the telephone.

-Oh, no.

-And guess what.

I'm writing this with my old Parker 51 ...

...my father gave me

when I went away to school.

I found it in the back of my drawer

next to the Zippo you gave me.

I know you never liked writing letters,

but now you have to.

Dear Andy....

As for business, I'll be

in New York next Wednesday...

...and let's take it from there.

Sweetheart, I loved seeing you.

When's my next appointment?

I'll be stopping through

a week from Friday.

I have to go to San Francisco

to visit the girls.

Couldn't we meet on the way?

I don't see how we could

possibly go public.

Some country inn,

some deliciously seedy motel.

-I don't see--

-More than a few hours--

-Price we pay--

-Think about nothing--

I'm not sure I can change

my life so radically.

Other politicians have gotten

divorced:
Rockefeller, Reagan.

Jane, the children, my constituency.

You've become

the center of my life.

If you left...

-...I don't think I--

-Because of the election...

...I don't see how we can.

How'd you get away

from those reporters?

Down the back stairs,

out the back door.

I'm going home to meet Mother.

Do you want to meet me there?

Not a good idea.

I want to see you

for more than a few hours.

Well, that's a tough one

at the moment.

How about some

weekend somewhere?

Some deliciously seedy motel?

Hey, how about the Danton,

for old times' sake?

We'll work out something.

Those lucky ducks.

Well, let's move...

...before someone recognizes me.

A reporter stopped me on the street.

What should I say if it happens again?

Nothing.

I suppose you know all this.

There was a crack about us

in one of the weeklies...

...and Mother heard some radio

talk show where they name names.

What should I do, go away? What?

Nothing.

They talked to Darwin, you know.

They tracked him down.

The son of a b*tch said it'd

been going on for years.

Yeah, I wish it had been.

I hate lying.

Isn't there something

I can say to people?

Just say that we're good old friends.

Friends, I like. Good, I like.

Old, I'm beginning

to have problems with.

Just change the subject.

This too shall pass.

-Will I be seeing you soon?

-Better not for a while.

-I mean after the election.

-Better lie low for a while.

-I'll miss you terribly.

-Better lie low.

Last week, I sat by the phone

for three hours, hoping you'd call.

-Finally, I called you.

-We agreed not to use the telephone.

-I hadn't seen you in 10 days--

-The coming election, darling.

-Surely you can--

-If I wanna be re-elected--

You're Senator Ladd. I met you

at the benefit for Bosnia last March.

Oh, yes?

And you're the missus, right?

Don't I wish.

-Am I interrupting--?

-Yes, you are.

Well, excuse me.

Well, that didn't help.

-I'm sick of playing Bonnie and Clyde.

-Yes.

I've got a campaign meeting.

We'd better go back separately.

I need you, Andy.

-I need to be with you.

-Just hold on.

Hold on.

You're my anchor these days.

-I don't know....

-The election, Melissa.

The election.

I haven't heard from you

in six weeks, Andy.

Are you trying to tell me

something, Andy?

Is this it?

Andy?

Congratulations on a landslide

victory.

I hear there's a White House

in your future.

Love...

...Melissa.

Can we meet at your place

this Sunday?

Oh, thank God.

I meant that we have to talk, Melissa.

Talk? I'm scared of talk.

Me...

...I'm into letters.

-Who's that?

-It's just me.

My master's voice.

What's all this?

I was thinking it's time to move on.

You know, Andy, I don't have to.

I haven't sold the joint yet.

I could unpack in a minute if I--

If you--

If you and I....

That's what I wanna talk about.

Shoot. No blindfold.

I can take it.

This is the....

The toughest decision

I've ever had to make.

Oh, and you've made

some tough ones, Senator Ladd.

I honestly feel...

...that we've gotta go one way

or the other, and the other....

So you mean we're stuck

in the elevator again.

We are, sweetheart.

We are, and we've got

to get back to the ground floor.

-Which is?

-For me, it's my basic responsibilities.

-And for me?

-Your career, art, a life of your own.

-Get real, Andy, for once in your life.

-And "real" is what?

So long, Jane, I'm running

to Oz with the Lost Princess?

So once again, the princess

gets to run off on her own.

I have responsibilities, sweetheart,

to Jane, to my boys...

...to my constituency, for God's sake,

who stuck by me...

...in spite of all that crap in the papers.

Country, family, yourself,

in that order.

Your father would be proud.

I'm sorry. I know I sound

like a stuffy prig...

...but these things are who I am.

-Who you've become.

-Maybe.

But I can't just walk away

from my whole life.

I can.

I have. Several times. Try it.

It's fun.

Oh, Melissa.

We'd last about a week, you and I.

We're carrying too much

baggage on our backs.

I suppose-- I suppose you're right.

All of a sudden,

this feels very...

...very...

...heavy.

We can-- We can still

write letters, darling.

Melissa, we can always have that.

Letters-- Letters are our strength.

Senator and Mrs. Andrew

M. Ladd III and family...

...send you warm holiday greetings

and every good wish for the new year.

Andy Ladd...

...is that a picture of you?

Blow-dried and custom-tailored...

...and jogging-trim...

...hiding behind that lovely wife...

...with her heels together

and her hands discretely folded...

...over her crotch.

Is that your new dog, Andy?

And are those your sons and heirs?

And help?

Is that a grandchild

nestled in someone's arms?

God, Andy...

...you look like the Holy Family.

Season's greetings

and happy holidays...

...and even merry Christmas.

We who are about to die salute you.

I just reread your last note.

What's this "we who are

about to die" stuff?

May I see you again?

I want to see you again.

Dear Melissa, your mother wrote...

...that you'd returned

to the Land of Oz.

I'm flying up Thursday to see you.

No.

Don't, please.

Please stay away.

I've let myself go.

I'm fat. I'm ugly.

My hair is horrible.

I'm locked in the funny farm all week.

Then Mother gets me

on weekends if-- If, if I've been good.

They've put me on these new drugs.

Half the time, I don't make sense at all.

I can hardly do finger painting.

My girls won't even talk to me

on the phone now.

They say I upset them too much.

I've made a mess of things, Andy.

I've made a total, ghastly mess.

I don't like life anymore. I hate it.

Sometimes I think...

...if you and I had just....

If we had just....

Oh, but just...

...stay away, Andy, please.

Arriving Saturday.

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