LUKE AND NICK EXPLAINED
"I walked a mile with Pleasure; She chatted all the way;
But left me none the wiser, For all she had to say.
I walked a mile with Sorrow; And ne'er a word said she;
But, oh! The things I learned from her, When Sorrow walked with me."
― Robert Browning Hamilton
THE STUFF OF NIGHTMARES
It played like a feedback loop every time Luke drifted off…. Ezra Shaw had just finished his 'pat-down' of him, then Luke went in to face Serena Joy - their first meeting since the airport. This is what was always in the dream, in fine detail.
Luke: - nervously sarcastic - It must be weird, Serena, to contemplate the number of people who wish you dead.
Serena: From my seat here at the Information Centre, Mr. Bankole, it looks quite the opposite. - she looked at the papers which were spilling from a file his was holding - Mr. Bankole! You've been busy!
Luke: Not everyone here in Canada is thrilled with Gilead. Nor with you. - fumbled to take a paper out - This here? Fifteen! Fifteen code violations. Your Information Centre here, it'll be closed in no time. Seems the fire-chief had a sister down south, and he's not impressed.
Serena: You came here with that!? - arrogant snicker -
Luke: Not just this. - pause - You know June will kill you, don't you? And me, I'm going to let her. - pause - You, you have a choice. You can get kicked out of here, get killed…. or help us get Hannah.
Serena: Mr. Bankole, Agnes is a happy daughter of Gilead, with good parents. Who am I to question God's will? - pause - I wonder…. why was it you never went back to get her? Why let June suffer the consequences? - pause - I suppose you're lucky, though. You, it was you who let Nick into June's heart. You left her, put her in his care. Alas, inaction and cowardice does that. - pause - How's it caring for Nichole?
Luke: - rage - You stay away from my family! I'll kill you myself!
Ezra Shaw then wrestled Luke to the door. Then the loop always started again, with Shaw giving him a pat-down. Luke always nervously walked towards Mrs. Waterford with pages falling out of his file.
UNIT CORPS GOD COUNTRY
Standing in from of Mark Tuello was a man who needed to choose. Behind Tuello on that otherwise abandoned Gilead road, was his one, loyal American body-man for 200 miles. On Nick Blaine's side was a whole corps of what looked to be Gilead regulars. For Tuello, the odds weren't good, and this was their soil.
Then again, Tuello hadn't accompanied Serena Joy Waterford to Commander Waterford's funeral for the after-funeral buffet. This clandestine meeting with Blaine, it was both dangerous as well as why he'd come.
Given the subject matter on this dark night in that isolated location, Tuello assumed that Blaine's men operated on the universal military creed. Tuello bet his life on it. 'Unit, Corps, God, Country'. In that order. If that creed held in Gilead, then they were there for Blaine, not necessarily for their country.
Ergo, if Blaine thought that Tuello was safe, then he was safe.
Nick: Hey, Tuello, how are Nichole and June doing?
Mark: You know, Commander, I have a lot of admiration for you. - Tuello pointedly looked past Blaine to Blaine's men -
Nick: Oh, them. They're good. They know that. They take care of me.
Mark: Okay, I meant no insult.
Nick: They don't get insulted until I tell them to be.
Mark: - pause - You've made a remarkable career out of Gilead, of flying under the radar. Me, I'd love to be able to sit down with you, chat about people like Andrew Pryce.
Nick: Why am I not surprised you know about Commander Pryce?
Mark: It's not what you think, Nick. It's curiosity. Hey, I'm from the south - Atlanta. We Georgians, we had as many grievances with The United States as you and Pryce did. If you and I chatted, it would be like chatting with Commander Pryce.
Nick: Is this why you called me out here? I asked about June. About Nichole.
Mark: We can chat about them if you'd like. - pause - Look, I won't insult your intelligence. Assuming your country lets me leave, - chuckle - I can make things happen. For you. In Canada. - pause - America can forgive a man like you, you've already made amends with people like Martha Lori. With June. You'd see Nichole….
Nick: What about….. him?
Mark: Mr. Bankole? Look, I don't do marriage issues. That's for you folk to settle in private. But think about being in daily contact with Nichole.
Nick: Now? You want me to go with you…. now?
Mark: No, not now. You keep doing what you've always done for a little while longer….
Nick: Look, I get it. I'll consider it.
Mark: That's all I ask.
LATER
At the Lawrence's, in the gazebo.
Nick: There you are. Lawrence said you were out here, freezing. It was his 'no spies' policy.
Mark: No worries. I'm from Atlanta, but now live in Anchorage. You never do adapt. Best reason to get our country back that I know!
Nick: - glancing back at Lawrence's house - Look, Tuello, I want to be the one to tell June about Rose.
Mark: Does that mean you're thinking about the offer?
Nick: - pause - I can't, not right now.
Commander Mackenzie: - approached the two - Well, I wonder what you two are talking about!?
THE CALL FROM THE CAMP
- at the border, Lily woke June with a phone handset. Later, June told all to Luke -
June: I now know what purple means.
Luke: What?
June: It started as Rubies Preparatory, a school for girls, girls preparing to be Commanders' wives.
Luke: What the….? She's twelve, June, she's twelve!
June: Don't you think I know that? - crying, finally said more softly - Don't you think I know that?
Luke: Who'd you talk to, June? I mean, you were at a resistance camp…. - silence - was it him?
June: - silence - Yes, it was him. - weeping - He said she was strong, our girl, she was smart. And that the Mackenzies, they love her.
Luke: - weeping - He's as fucking evil as any of them.
June: Oh, Luke, … no he's not. - pause - I asked if he could transfer to Hannah's District…. he said he had 'obligations' in New Gilead.
Luke: - pause - Rose?
June: - stared at Luke an icy stare - You knew and you didn't tell me!?
Luke: June…. this is a strain, for all of us. Each of us thinks it's the other who has the obligation….. me, I couldn't handle it.
June: YOU couldn't handle it!? - silence - Have you talked with him?
Luke: June, you don't know who you're dealing with. Apparently, I've lost cred with you to comment about him. - pause - It started in a bar in Toronto, when your postcards got out. He handed them to me. That was him, a real Mayday thing…. then he'd call, asking about Nichole, always on a hyper-secure line, not even Tuello could crack. Asking about you. Me, I just wanted to kick his ass…. but until you showed up, he was all I had for news….
June: - pause, weeping - You know I care for him, Luke. Still.
Luke: Yeah, I heard. - pause - He's our best shot to get Hannah.
June: Past tense, Luke, past tense. I told him to be happy with his new obligations, he said he remembered our time together. Past tense. He then hung up.
Luke: And if he calls me again?
June: Tell him he promised, he promised to look out for Hannah.
OPERATION EAGLE CLAW
For the first time, Mark Tuello started to lose it. The meta-data on the DVD, it had shown where Rubies Preparatory was, the one where Hannah Bankole/Osborne had been in training. The best remaining American covert minds had gone over it. The commando raid to rescue 30 girls in the former Colorado, it should have been a slam-dunk.
It was 'Operation Eagle Claw' all over again. Jimmy Carter had been the only Democrat that Tuello's family had ever supported for the White House. But not after Carter had bungled freeing the Iranian hostages.
Years later, when Gilead shot down what remained of America's Delta Force, Tuello was reminded of why his dad had supported Ronald Reagan in 1980 over a fellow Georgian.
Instead of it being a daring success, it became one of the last nails in America's coffin. Both against Iran, as well as now with Gilead. Especially as it turned the tide against American refugees in Canada. Tuello's career? You can guess. Especially as it related to Canadian sentiment about how so many American-refugees were drawing from the Canadian trough.
Mark: - to June - I can arrange a meeting, a meeting with you and Commander Blaine.
June: What would THAT accomplish.
Mark: We have few moves left. If you could persuade him that now is the time, the time for him to come over to us… That could reverse the tide.
June: You sound desperate, Tuello.
Mark: - silence - Lawrence, he's holding meetings with Americans here in Toronto. About that New Bethlehem crap. People, they are listening.
June: To Lawrence?
Mark: He wants to kill off America, once and for all. - pause - He wants you to go, June. You're a symbol. If you go that gives legitimacy.
June: Don't put that on me.
Mark: Lawrence is their Gorbachev. If he fails, Gilead has Putin's waiting in the wings. You in New Bethlehem, June, that would undermine Mayday, America….. democracy.
June: How can you not know that I don't care about any of that!? Without Hannah!
Mark: - silence - You know who's on your side? - June looked at him - Rita Blue. It's not my place, but she's the best friend you have, who you never talk with. It's almost as if she's been written out of your narrative, June. - pause - Okay, it's Nick, then. I could set it up, for today.
June: Boston is a long way away…
Mark: America can still move people around….
BREAKING UP WITH SORROW
I walked a mile with Sorrow; And ne'er a word said she;
But, oh! The things I learned from her, When Sorrow walked with me.
June: - approaching him as he sat on the farm-house stairs - Well, Nick, geography doesn't seem to bother you!
Nick: - pause - I wish you'd said 'yes'. To Lawrence's offer.
June: Why didn't you say 'yes'? To Tuello's offer? - pause - He told me. He told me he could help you come to Canada. Why the fuck didn't you take that offer, Nick?
Nick: I can't just pick up and leave…..
June: … but you expect me to!?
Nick: I'm married now. I have a wife….
June: … I have Luke, I have Nichole! You've done nothing for Hannah.
Nick: Rose would never come. Her father, he's a top Commander. It's her home.
June: Yah. 'Rape-central' is her home, you wouldn't want to mess with that! - pause - What happens when they issue you a Handmaid, Nick, and she has to hold her down! Huh!? …
Nick: She's pregnant.
- silence -
June: Oh. - pause - Right.
Nick: We're making progress in Gilead. Lawrence is making it better.
June: - softly - "We"!?
Nick: I have to do what's best for my family.
June: I have to do what's best for both our families! - June froze as Nick approached her - Well, this is a fine mess, isn't it?
Nick: The world is a mess.
June: You know what I wish? I wish the world would disappear. Just for a bit.
Nick: It's going to be hard for us to see each other.
June: - burst into a gaffaw - You're here!…. Tuello summoned you on 6 hours notice! All the way from….. - pause - I won't make trouble for you.
Nick: Tell Nichole I love her. I think about her every day. - pause - I love you, June.
June: - in tears - I love you. - Nick walked away without a kiss, that's how she knew it was over - Hey Nick! Children look to their fathers. Set an example. - As Nick walked away, June sighed, preparing to reunite with pleasure and wisdom, which now left her none the wiser -
THE MEMORIAL
As June prepared to speak in the crowded park, she thought of that song, "it hurts so good." She looked down at the young girl whose Delta-force father had been killed in the raid. Was Hannah worth that girl's father? The girl's obvious pain outshone the protesters' chants behind the police line on the street.
Tuello, he was finished. June went to the front, stood in front of the American Flag.
Then shots rang out.