On The Road With Danny Concannon '04-'05: Uniontown, Kansas
"And On the Third Day."
Companion Piece: Lift Off
-----------------------------
"Well, Gail, we're not in Kansas anymore."
CJ to Gail in "Lift off"
On the third day. On the third week of the month and the third day of the rest of his life Danny Concannon emerged from his self-contented exile with a duffle bag, a backpack and eighty-five and a half hand-typed pages. At first he seemed like a mirage, as his image slowly came into the focus from atop the large rocks, out of the woods, away from the middle of nowhere and into somewhere. His hair calmed, his beard now cleanly trimmed, he looked like man who was ready for travel, or church. He looked like a man with a mission. A man ready to start life again. Walking along the highway, Danny found his way to the bus station, only to find it wasn't open yet.
The door of the bar opened, bringing in sunlight that the bar's patrons didn't want. Danny walked in-- his shadow becoming a human figure. The group, the bar, all looked at him as only one thing: a stranger. Danny knew that look. He ran his hand over his beard and took it all in.
"Can I help you?" The man beyond the bar asked with his lowest register.
"I'm just waitin' for the bus."
"Bus doesn't come in 'til afternoon."
"Yeah, I saw the sign. I just need a place...while I wait."
"You gotta order somethin'."
"You got coffee?" Danny asked, approaching the bar and dropping his bags. The bartender gave him a deadly stare. "Yeah, I'll have a Corona."
Danny sat down on the bar stool and took a look around, noticing the people and soon the two television sets: One behind him and the one above him.
"You think I could watch CNN? Just for a moment." He pointed to the TV. A man at the pool table hit a shot and stopped to look at Danny. This wasn't a common request. Danny could feel the eyes of the people on his back. "I've be a little outta the loop." Danny laughed, but no one laughed with him. "Yeah...."
"No cable—don't believe in it. That and reality TV. Everything's this hyperrealism. If I wanted reality I'd step outside the door."
"Or watch the news." No response from the man. Danny knew his comedy was lost on most. "You have a paper?" Danny recovered.
"What?"
"A newspaper." Danny was eager to find out what he had missed. Now that he was back in the world again, his oblivion only made him feel naked.
"You pretty eager to know what's going on."
"Yeah." Danny sure was.
The man took a paper from behind him and slammed it down in front of Danny. It was the New York Times.
"Sometimes you don't need to know everything." The man gave Danny a look.
"You don't happen to have the Washington Post." The man gave Danny deadly eyes and Danny knew when to stop. "Yeah...noo." He put his hands up. "Thanks. This is good." Danny looked up at him as the man gave him his back. Danny took the paper with both hands and ran his fingers around the edges, getting down and dirty with the newsprint. It was nice to feel the ink between his fingers again.
The articles were about what Danny had expected, just with twists and turns he needed to catch up on. He was reading about Syria and the UN. He skimmed the headlines for a moment, getting an overview before diving in headfirst. He flipped the paper to below the fold and his eyes caught the article. "New Chief of Staff?" Danny spoke to himself. He kept reading, feeling this was the article he needed to read more than any other. It only took a few moments as Danny sped down the column. "WHAT!" Danny's eyes shot out. "Whoa..." And Danny fell backwards along with the stool to the floor. "Agg." Danny laid, back first, on the floor.
"You all right buddy." Said a man from above.
"Yeah." The man took Danny's hand, and he and another man helped pull Danny up. "Thanks, thanks." Danny shook it off as a waitress lifted the stool and put it back in its place.
"You all right, buddy?" The bartender asked. "Yeah, I just feel like I fell down the bunny hole."
"I'm sorry?"
"Never mind." Danny took a breath. "CJ Cregg is the chief of staff?" Danny asked.
"Yeah, where have you been?" said a man from the back.
"Who's CJ Cregg?" the waitress asked.
"Do you ever read a paper!?" The man behind the counter spoke, cleaning a class.
"For how long?" Danny demanded.
"How long?" The man asked.
"I've been.....out for a while."
"Where?"
"Don't matter, but I'm back now—and well---" He looked around. "A little confused—as to how long I was.....?"
"She announced yesterday---well, the President announced it. It was nice. The whole press corps gave her a standing ovation."
"The President---really? A standing ovation." Danny smiled.
"Yeah?" The man looked at Danny strangely. "Were you been buddy, a cave?"
"I need to use your phone." Danny finally found a direction for his anxious feeling.
"Phone's for employees only."
"Payphone?"
"Outside." Danny went for the door.
"You gotta pay for the beer." His voices strengthen along with his head.
"Yeah, yeah." Danny turned back around. "Sorry--sorry." He quickly and therefore rather haphazardly pulled out his wallet and paid his tab. Danny went for the door again, but stopped in the center of the room. He put his hand on his wallet. "Phone card? Where can I get a phone card?"
"About five miles down the road---there's the next bus stop."
"Five miles?"
"Give or take"
"Okay." Danny lifted his bag on his shoulder.
"But, I guess you'll want to use a phone, huh?"
"Yeah....."
"Well there's no phone there."
"No phone?"
"No phone."
"So, if I want to use the phone I have to walk the five or give a take miles to the next bus stop—then walk back here to use the phone—'cause there's no phone---and you have a phone, but---your phone...."
"For employees only."
"Yeah, I got that."
"Or you could wait."
"Yeah." Danny pulled his other bag onto his other shoulder. "I've done enough waiting."
--
Tired and exhausted, Danny walked into the store and set his bags down near the corner.
"How many phone cards you got?"
"Ahhh....three 90 minute cards."
"I'll take all of 'um."
Danny slammed a hand full of money onto the corner with a bang. He looked over at the television set just in time to see a clip of CJ smiling as the press stood: a recap of the past day's news.
--
The sun was almost setting. The sky behind Danny looked like a pink/orange and blue piece of foam smoothed together like shards of sea glass. Danny moved his bags next to the phone booth and leaned his hand on the booth's edge for a moment. Only pausing for an instant, he filled his lungs with air and determination, and pulled himself into the phone booth.
--
"Danny Concannon's Office, Washington Post." Maisy picked up the phone.
"Maisy what the hell is going on there!?" Danny asked.
"Danny! Danny! Oh, my god, thank god. Where have you been? You're missing everything! I told you. You go away and things happen."
"I know—I know---"
"CJ Cregg's the Chief of Staff---the Red Sox won the pennant—All hell's breakin' loose!"
"Wait, the Red Sox won the pennant?" Danny took a breath. "How long have I been gone?"
"Too long. Come home."
"What are they thinking?! She's not ready for something like this---she has no military experience—she belongs in the pressroom--- her talent is in the pressroom—her talents are.... What are they thinking?"
"I don't know—they don't explain these things to me—Danny...?" Maisy could hear a rustling of papers. "Danny?" She took a gulp. "Does this mean you and CJ—I mean she's not in the press room anymore."
"No." He looked away almost in pain. "It's more complicated now."
"But the conflict of interest—"
"Its still there, Maisy!" He snapped at her, really being mad at the world and not Maisy. There would be no more catches of her everyday and every morning on the TV. No more excuses to talk to her. They would no longer be sharing the same sphere in life.
"Danny, where are you---I'll send a plane ticket, Danny!?" But he was gone. "Danny! DANNY!"
-----
After wiping her tears at Leo's bedside, CJ went home. She walked into her living room and let the door close behind her. She could feel her bag slipping off her shoulder and the large reports in her other arm slipping out of their neat pile. Like an avalanche or domino effect she could feel it inch on and then fall out the bottom. She tried to stop it, but the next thing she knew everything had fallen from her person to the floor. It was the final straw in a stressful, sleep-deprived day and it sent CJ to her knees. She lingered on her knees for a moment, before falling forward onto the ground and groaning to the heavens. Her head burrowed in the floor, CJ rolled herself over, not wanting to even move from the spot. Her cell phone rang and CJ ran her hand around, feeling for where the contents of her purse had fallen. She took hold of the phone, not looking at the display, and brought the phone to her ear.
"Yeah." CJ spoke in a groggy voice. She set her hair away from her face, trying to feel a little decorum.
"What is going on there, CJ?"
"Danny?"
"I turn my back for maybe two seconds---and what is going on?"
"Whoa—whoa---" She sprung up into a sitting position. "Calm down---hold those reigns----okay---can you—."
"I'm calm. I'm calm." He insisted.
"Okay." She paused. "What is in your craw?"
"My craw?"
"Sorry, cause I really need to be yelled at right now—I'm not the Press Secretary anymore, Danny, so call Carol—call the Press Office—call Mickey Mouse for god's sake, cause I don't need this from you."
"You don't even know why I called."
"Oh, well I do. Let me think. Let me think why you called me! You don't think I can do this job! I don't hear from you in months and you call to tell me I shouldn't be in this job—it's a mistake—Leo McGarry must have been on some serious meds to pick that girl from nobody—cause as everyone else knows I got my BA in political science from the back of a cracker jack box—and I haven't been talkin' about military actions and being in the middle of it for like seven years---years now—so—may I suggest you cool it—cause if one more man—or reporter—or secretary of whatever treats me like I'm in over my head—I'll......"
"I'm sorry---you're right—I'm sorry. You're right." Danny said in sweet tones, feeling bad for how he'd reacted.
"Are you crazy? I'm in over my head!." CJ fell onto the couch "This is not gonna work." She slid down off the couch and onto the ground, her legs still on the couch. "This is not gonna work." She slid her feet off and held her hand to her head. "What was he thinking. I can't do this. I'm the only choice? I can't do this Danny. I can't do this! I can't do this!""
"CJ, calm down. Breathe. Listen to me."
"Okay." She paused. "Say something quick!"
"You can do this." But CJ trailed over Danny's sweet words.
"Why did he pick me? There's no reason he picked me? He should have picked Josh."
"Josh doesn't wanna be a traffic cop. He needs to be knee deep it."
"Toby? Toby could do it." She said inflecting up and not really believing it.
"If Toby was Chief of Staff they'd find bodies in the basement."
"Who says there aren't already?"
"Toby is a man of words—well written words—not those spoken without pause..." CJ laughed. "In front of large crowds." He paused. "Toby's like me. He needs to write and Leo knows that. He needed someone who can delegate. You've come a long way CJ."
"Yeah." Her voice broke as she thought of her accomplishments. There was a pause.
"Still not convinced?"
"Not so much."
"Well, you're smart."
"Well, yes."
"One of the smartest woman---people I know."
"Yeah?" She needed more.
"Diplomatic."
"True."
"You have this way of just charming both parties. Figuring things out---looking at the problem from both sides. You delegate like the best of 'um. And you know what you're doing. So I don't think it's so far fetched he picked you, CJ. You're the one on the ball."
"Really?"
"Really-- You need to look inside you, CJ. You have all the tools. You're still a traffic cop, your burg is just bigger. It's the same job, CJ..... Just with a smaller crowd...and more heavy lifting."
"Same job, this isn't the same job. My god without Margaret..... I'd be already in orbit by now."
"You have the tools already, CJ. I think you'll do fine. I'm pretty positive of that. And you can quote me on that."
"Kind of corny there, Danny." She gave him a dig.
"Well, I try."
CJ seemed to be coming over to Danny's side.
"The tools? What did you mean by the tools?"
"You have to think of it all like a press briefing—"
"A briefing? You obviously haven't been to one of my briefings in a while, Danny." She joked.
"Listen to everything---take note of all the details----you're good at that--know everything about your subject---everything—just like a briefing—you don't know what a reporter will ask and you don't know what the President will ask or need to know---that's one of your talents---Just like a Press Secretary, you're the filter. You're just briefing the President instead of the press this time. In no time you'll have the hang of it--you're a smart woman, CJ. This is something you can do. See, you already have the tools." There was a pause. "And I feel like these are things you already know." CJ laughed. "What?"
"I imagined—I mean I figured you of all people—your reaction would---"
"Like the press?"
"Yeah."
"I'm not the press today, CJ. I'm just your friend." He paused. "I'd be lying to you if I said I wasn't surprised when I found out---and I know you were just as surprised about that fact."
"Yeah."
"But, you got the job now---so you gotta do it. And I know you can."
"Talk about fitting a square peg into a round hole."
"It'll fit."
"Thanks."
"Well...."
"Yeah...."
CJ could hear the rap of a man hitting the payphone booth.
"What was that?"
"Yeah...looks like I need to go."
"Where are you?"
"Somewhere?"
"Somewhere?"
"Kansas. I'm in Kansas."
"Over the rainbow?" She laughed.
"Yeah."
"Listen Danny........."
"Yeah?" But CJ didn't say anything. "So..." he paused. "I guess I won't have so much of an excuse to talk to you as much."
"Yeah." CJ smiled bitter sweetly and her eyes became misty. She was very emotional lately."
"My cover's been blown." He laughed.
"Danny...." CJ spoke as if she had wanted to say something, but stopped herself.
"Nothing...nothing." She paused. "I just...." She paused again. "I don't think you ever need an excuse to bug me---I'll have to warn Margaret."
"I have to go now, CJ." He didn't want to.
"Yeah sure...I have to get....I have to be up early in the morning. You know in case I need to stand in a field with a cow."
"I'm sorry?"
"Just a little cow humor....you wouldn't understand---never mind." She paused. "Danny, don't go."
"My card is running out of minutes. I'll be cut off soon."
"Your card?"
"Long story."
"Okay." She smiled through tears. "Just don't...." She didn't say a thing.
"CJ?"
"Yeah."
"Some advice. Be ware of Hutchinson, he's a...."
"Son of a bitch—yeah I got that."
"Yeah." He smiled.
"Danny..." CJ spoke again, but she heard Danny yelling to someone in the background about use of the payphone.
"Yeah, CJ? What did you say?"
"Yeah....no....you go..."
"Okay." Danny nodded his head and hung up.
After Danny hung up, CJ spoke what she had been waiting to say. "I was gonna say don't go." She wiped the tears from her face and laid her hand out to her side, then clipped the phone closed. She was too tried to move and soon found her eyes drifting and her focus blurred, falling asleep on her living room rug.
Danny turned to find the man who had been banging on the booth was gone. Danny slowly dragged his body along the booth until he was sitting in the corner of the booth like a little boy. He was drained and he was full of emotions of all sorts. For many reasons he was lost.