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by jackie thomas
Stan: If I had any sense I’d walk out on you
Ollie: Well it’s a good thing you haven’t any sense
Stan: It certainly is
Josh saw Sam outside in the Rose Garden. He was in his coat, standing in a sheltered spot but he was still getting wet in the driving rain.
He joined him outside.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hey.”
“This’ll be the tropical storm then.”
“This’ll be the storm,” Sam confirmed staring ahead. “If you’re President you get portentous weather.”
“The President is in a pretty portentous mood. Did you know he stayed after the funeral? They closed up the Cathedral. I guess he was praying.”
“I expect so. You’d have thought he’d have given up on God by now. Along with the rest of us.”
“Is that what we’ve done?”
Sam shrugged. “Or the other way round.” He lifted his face to catch the rain against his cheeks. “Why are you coping so well with this Josh?”
“I don’t know. It’s politics, its what I do. If I think about it too much…” he made a gesture to signify everything crumbling. “You’re doing all right? I hardly see you except in meetings. How are you doing?”
“I’m so angry Josh.”
“There’s a newsflash.”
“I know, big secret huh. I spent an hour snarling at Dr Bartlet this afternoon. It’d be a miracle if she doesn’t complain about me.”
“I think she’s probably got some other things on her mind. Anyway when did she become Dr Bartlet again?”
“This afternoon. Right after I called her Mrs.”
“Right before she gets her license revoked.”
“Do you think she’ll…?”
Josh shrugged. “It’s a big fucking mess. But he’s running again. That’s big…”
A gust of wind sent a spray of rain into their sheltered area.
“How are we going to get him re-elected? Josh. How?”
“We’ll do it.”
“I don’t even know if I’ve got energy for the fight. I don’t even know if I can.”
“Sam, you’ll do just fine. It takes a while to adjust but you will. The President can’t do without you. Neither can I.”
“He did well though. Today.”
“He did do well.”
Sam bleeped. He plunged his hands into his pocket and came out with his pager. “That’s CJ.” But he didn’t move. “Are we like the President? I mean are we keeping something secret that we should disclose?”
“As far as I know sleeping with me doesn’t impair your judgement.”
“It shows it was already impaired though.”
“Probably. To me it’s a different thing. To me it’s no ones business but our own.”
“But what about the White House gay agenda? That’ll be what everyone says.”
Josh regarded Sam for a moment. “Sam, you know, I’ll tell anyone you want to tell. Lets do an interview in the Mural Room right now.”
“The Presidents already got MS, do you want to give him a stroke too?”
“I’m just saying...”
“I know, and I love you. I just think about it sometimes. If we spoke now it’d be a lot better than someone jumping out of the bushes with a camera and setting off the gay alarm.”
“I thought you had that disabled.”
“Josh, I just don’t like keeping us a secret, like we’re something dark and unpleasant.”
“But it’s not a great moment for revelations just now.”
“And the award for understatement goes to…”
“Yeah, okay. But lets not do this now. Lets just be careful.”
Sam tried to brush a drip of water off the lens of his glasses with his finger. “Do you think we should ease off for a while?”
“Is that what you want to do?”
“I don’t know. Maybe its safer.”
“No,” Josh said firmly. “I couldn’t stand it. You’re all I’ve got that isn’t nonsense.” He didn’t realise that was true until he said it.
“Josh, if you had any sense.”
“If I had any sense I’d walk out on you.”
“It’s a good thing you don’t have any sense.”
“It certainly is.”
They stared at each other for a while. Then Josh took off Sam’s glasses and held them up. “Can you actually see through these?”
“Not really.”
Josh polished them carefully with his handkerchief and put them back on the end of Sam’s nose. Sam smiled at last. “I was glad you were next to me at the funeral.”
“Me too.”
“How’s your shoulder?”
“Don’t even ask.”
“We could go home and I’ll give you a back rub.”
“Oh, that sounds good. However, I’ve got Babish tearing me to shreds in half an hour and then I’ve got a dinner meeting with Leo, a breakfast meeting with the Deputies and at least one other meeting to fit in between 10pm and 6am. Which doesn’t count the meetings I’ve forgotten about.”
“Lets go home anyway.”
“’kay.”
“Where are you supposed to be now?”
“In a meeting with you.”
Sam looked at him with interest. “Really, what about?”
“You scheduled it, Sam.”
“I did?”
“You did.”
“I did. Yes.” Sam looked pleased with himself. “I’m so smart.”
“That you are. And here we are. So what were we meeting about?”
“I missed you.”
“You got Donna and Ginger to book us a meeting because…”
“I missed you.”
Josh smiled, delighted. “You’re a genius.”
“I know.”
“We’re so going to get caught but anyway…” He pulled Sam closer to him by the sleeve of his coat and kissed him lightly on the lips. Then their lips hovered close together and their foreheads met. “Sam,” Josh whispered. “You’re going to be my downfall.”
“If you had any sense you’d leave me.” Sam whispered too.
“It’s a good thing I don’t have any sense.”
“It certainly is.”
End.
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email jackie: Jackiethomas73@hotmail.com
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