Transcript

TWENTY-TWO · I Believe

0:03
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to I Believe, where we talk about America.
0:07
SPEAKER_00: I'm Joel Douglas, and I believe in America.
0:10
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for joining me.
0:40
SPEAKER_07: TikTok.
0:43
SPEAKER_07: New York City in December, Manhattan.
0:47
SPEAKER_07: No snow yet, but the cold sits like it's waiting for something.
0:52
SPEAKER_07: A kid walks home from work.
0:54
SPEAKER_07: 24 years old, jacket zipped to the throat.
0:57
SPEAKER_07: Same route he always takes.
0:59
SPEAKER_07: Down from Midtown, cutting through the side streets.
1:02
SPEAKER_07: Too many tourists on the main streets.
1:04
SPEAKER_07: He wants to move through the world without it touching him.
1:07
SPEAKER_07: It's 6 12 p.m.
1:09
SPEAKER_07: The sun is already gone.
1:10
SPEAKER_07: The crosswalk timer across the street blinks 12, then 11, then 10.
1:15
SPEAKER_07: Tick, tick, cars honk.
1:17
SPEAKER_07: Little beeps, long beeps, the ones that hold down the horn.
1:21
SPEAKER_07: Trash trucks, ambulances with sirens blaring, delivery drivers on bicycles, all stuck.
1:27
SPEAKER_07: The kid walks by the way he walks by everything.
1:30
SPEAKER_07: Eyes forward, keep moving.
1:32
SPEAKER_07: Cops on almost every corner, keeping the peace.
1:36
SPEAKER_07: On the buildings, American flags, lit from below, snapping in the wind that cuts between the towers, red and white and blue against the black.
1:45
SPEAKER_07: And the steam.
1:46
SPEAKER_07: It comes up through the grates, the vents, somewhere underneath.
1:49
SPEAKER_07: The water in the gutter catches it, and the whole street looks like it's breathing.
1:53
SPEAKER_07: Like the city has lungs.
1:55
SPEAKER_07: A waist-high stack painted orange and white hisses near the curb.
2:00
SPEAKER_07: Warm air in cold air.
2:02
SPEAKER_07: He asked someone once.
2:04
SPEAKER_07: Why does it do that?
2:07
SPEAKER_07: Why is there always steam?
2:09
SPEAKER_07: Like the water is smoking.
2:12
SPEAKER_07: The subway, they said.
2:13
SPEAKER_07: The pipes, the heat below, the cold above.
2:16
SPEAKER_07: The whole city is a machine, and the steam makes it run.
2:21
SPEAKER_05: I love it.
2:22
SPEAKER_05: The city breathes, exhales, makes it feel alive.
2:27
SPEAKER_05: Like something's happening under the surface, even when nothing's happening at all.
2:31
SPEAKER_05: I put my headphones on.
2:33
SPEAKER_05: The noise is still there.
2:34
SPEAKER_05: I can see it.
2:35
SPEAKER_05: Mouths moving, cabs lurching, cops talking into their radios, but I can't hear it.
2:42
SPEAKER_05: I'm inside my own head now.
2:44
SPEAKER_05: The tourists look up.
2:45
SPEAKER_05: They stop in the middle of the sidewalk to take pictures.
2:48
SPEAKER_05: Big coats, shopping bags, walking three across like the city belongs to them.
2:54
SPEAKER_05: The New Yorkers move like water around rocks.
2:57
SPEAKER_05: They don't stop.
2:58
SPEAKER_05: Just flow toward wherever they're going.
3:01
SPEAKER_05: I'm one of them now.
3:02
SPEAKER_05: Four years in.
3:03
SPEAKER_05: The headphones that say, Don't talk to me, don't see me, I'm not here.
3:10
SPEAKER_07: The lights from a bodega spill onto the sidewalk.
3:13
SPEAKER_07: Red and gold.
3:14
SPEAKER_07: A pizza place on the corner line out the door.
3:17
SPEAKER_07: A woman arguing into her phone in a language he doesn't recognize.
3:20
SPEAKER_07: He turns onto his block.
3:22
SPEAKER_07: Streetlights tinge yellow-orange.
3:24
SPEAKER_07: A guy smokes on his stoop, looking at nothing.
3:27
SPEAKER_07: Somewhere above, music loud enough that the bass comes through the walls.
3:32
SPEAKER_07: Home, he steps inside.
3:36
SPEAKER_05: There he is.
3:38
SPEAKER_05: My little brother.
3:40
SPEAKER_05: Sitting on the couch, looking at me like he's got something to say.
3:44
SPEAKER_07: Daniel stands in the doorway, doesn't move.
3:46
SPEAKER_07: His brother looks up.
3:48
SPEAKER_07: People call him Kay, nineteen years old.
3:52
SPEAKER_07: Named after his great-grandfather.
3:55
SPEAKER_07: Same face Daniel's known his whole life.
3:58
SPEAKER_07: But something's different now.
4:00
SPEAKER_07: The way he sits, the way he holds himself.
4:04
SPEAKER_07: Kay speaks first.
4:06
SPEAKER_03: I tried to call you a few times.
4:10
SPEAKER_07: Daniel pulls off his jacket, tosses it on the chair.
4:13
SPEAKER_07: He moves to the kitchen, opens the fridge.
4:15
SPEAKER_05: He's right, I never pick up.
4:17
SPEAKER_05: You hungry?
4:18
SPEAKER_05: I've got leftover Thai.
4:20
SPEAKER_05: The good place.
4:21
SPEAKER_05: Kay says he's not hungry.
4:24
SPEAKER_07: Daniel grabs two beers, pops the caps, sets one on the coffee table in front of his brother, and sits down across from him.
4:31
SPEAKER_07: Kay has been waiting for him to sit down.
4:33
SPEAKER_03: I joined the Navy.
4:36
SPEAKER_07: Silence.
4:37
SPEAKER_07: Daniel's beer stops halfway to his mouth.
4:40
SPEAKER_03: What?
4:42
SPEAKER_03: The Navy.
4:43
SPEAKER_03: I leave in two days.
4:45
SPEAKER_05: I don't say anything.
4:46
SPEAKER_05: I'm trying to hear it again.
4:48
SPEAKER_05: Navy?
4:50
SPEAKER_05: Two days?
4:51
SPEAKER_05: When did you decide this?
4:53
SPEAKER_05: A while ago.
4:56
SPEAKER_03: And you didn't tell me?
4:58
SPEAKER_07: The brother looks at him, doesn't flinch, doesn't apologize.
5:01
SPEAKER_03: I'm telling you no.
5:04
SPEAKER_03: That's a waste.
5:05
SPEAKER_07: It comes out before Daniel can stop it.
5:08
SPEAKER_07: Kay's jaw tightens.
5:10
SPEAKER_05: You're smart.
5:11
SPEAKER_05: You could do anything.
5:13
SPEAKER_05: You're going to swab decks and take orders from guys who peaked in high school?
5:18
SPEAKER_07: Kay doesn't look away, but something closes behind his eyes.
5:23
SPEAKER_03: Great grandpa Kenneth was navy.
5:25
SPEAKER_05: That was different.
5:26
SPEAKER_05: That was a real war.
5:28
SPEAKER_07: The words hang there.
5:30
SPEAKER_07: Kay picks up his beer, sets it back down.
5:35
SPEAKER_03: I needed to do something.
5:36
SPEAKER_03: You were doing something.
5:38
SPEAKER_03: You had a job.
5:39
SPEAKER_03: I was delivering packages.
5:42
SPEAKER_07: Kay stops, looks down at his hands, then back up.
5:45
SPEAKER_03: I want it to matter.
5:49
SPEAKER_05: He says it like it's simple.
5:50
SPEAKER_05: Like that explains everything.
5:52
SPEAKER_05: And I just told him it was a waste.
5:55
SPEAKER_05: Told him his war wouldn't be real enough.
5:57
SPEAKER_07: K stands up.
6:00
SPEAKER_03: I should go early flight.
6:02
SPEAKER_03: Kay?
6:03
SPEAKER_03: It's fine.
6:05
SPEAKER_07: It's not fine.
6:06
SPEAKER_07: Daniel can hear it, but Kay's already at the door.
6:09
SPEAKER_04: Be safe, okay?
6:11
SPEAKER_07: Kay nods once, but doesn't look back.
6:16
SPEAKER_05: The door closes, I sit there with two full bottles, and the thing I said still in the room.
6:21
SPEAKER_05: He wanted to matter.
6:22
SPEAKER_05: So he signed a contract, raised his right hand, and now he belongs to something I don't understand.
6:48
SPEAKER_07: Duration.
6:50
SPEAKER_07: The train pulls into the station, New Jersey suburbs, Christmas Eve, Daniel's on the platform, cold air, gray sky, not cold enough to bite.
7:00
SPEAKER_07: Just there.
7:02
SPEAKER_07: He didn't want to come.
7:03
SPEAKER_07: His mother called three times.
7:05
SPEAKER_07: The third time, she didn't ask.
7:07
SPEAKER_07: She just said what time dinner was.
7:09
SPEAKER_07: So here he is.
7:11
SPEAKER_07: The house is 20 minutes from the station.
7:14
SPEAKER_07: His father picks him up.
7:15
SPEAKER_07: They don't talk much.
7:17
SPEAKER_07: The radio fills the space.
7:19
SPEAKER_07: Sports, weather, traffic.
7:21
SPEAKER_05: Dad asks how my place is.
7:23
SPEAKER_05: He asks if work is good.
7:25
SPEAKER_05: We talk about sports.
7:26
SPEAKER_05: That's the whole ride.
7:29
SPEAKER_07: The house is already full when they arrive.
7:31
SPEAKER_07: Cars in the driveway, lights on in every window, a wreath on the door, same wreath since Daniel was a kid.
7:36
SPEAKER_07: Inside, the house is warm.
7:38
SPEAKER_07: The smell of food.
7:39
SPEAKER_07: Voices overlap.
7:41
SPEAKER_07: Christmas music competing with a movie, playing in the other room.
7:44
SPEAKER_07: His grandmother finds him first.
7:46
SPEAKER_07: There he is! Look at you! So skinny.
7:49
SPEAKER_07: Are you eating?
7:50
SPEAKER_07: I'm eating.
7:52
SPEAKER_07: She doesn't believe him.
7:53
SPEAKER_07: She never believes him.
7:54
SPEAKER_07: She tells him she made a brisket and pulls him toward the kitchen.
7:58
SPEAKER_07: His mother finds him before he gets there, hugs him like she's checking if he's real.
8:02
SPEAKER_05: She says I look tired.
8:03
SPEAKER_05: She asks about work.
8:05
SPEAKER_05: She asks if I'm seeing anyone.
8:06
SPEAKER_05: And there it is.
8:08
SPEAKER_05: I say no.
8:10
SPEAKER_05: She tells me about a girl, Rachel's daughter, in law school.
8:13
SPEAKER_05: Very pretty.
8:14
SPEAKER_05: She could introduce us.
8:16
SPEAKER_05: Mom, she's just saying, I need air, quiet, to be anywhere but in the middle of this.
8:28
SPEAKER_07: He escapes.
8:29
SPEAKER_07: The back room.
8:30
SPEAKER_07: Used to be his grandfather's study.
8:32
SPEAKER_07: Now it's just a room with old books and a chair nobody sits in.
8:35
SPEAKER_07: Except tonight.
8:37
SPEAKER_07: Kenneth is there, in his late 90s, a circle of cousins around him laughing at something he just said.
8:42
SPEAKER_07: He's holding a glass of wine like a prop.
8:45
SPEAKER_07: He won't drink it.
8:46
SPEAKER_07: Just likes having something in his hand.
8:48
SPEAKER_05: Great grandpa Kenneth, everyone's favorite person.
8:51
SPEAKER_05: Always has been.
8:52
SPEAKER_05: He's the one who remembered every birthday.
8:55
SPEAKER_05: Sent five dollars in a card until I was 10, then switched to 20s because, in his words, inflation is a thief and you deserve to keep up.
9:04
SPEAKER_05: He's sharper than anyone expects, mixes up some names, thinks my cousin Mike is still in college, even though Mike is 32 and sells insurance.
9:13
SPEAKER_05: But he knows what year it is, knows who's president, has opinions about both.
9:18
SPEAKER_07: The cousins drift away when someone announces food.
9:21
SPEAKER_07: Kenneth stays in his chair.
9:23
SPEAKER_07: Daniel sits down across from him.
9:25
SPEAKER_05: Do you think the Jets will make the playoffs next year?
9:28
SPEAKER_07: Kenneth laughs.
9:29
SPEAKER_07: A real laugh starts in his chest.
9:32
SPEAKER_02: I've been waiting on the Jets since 1970.
9:35
SPEAKER_02: Thought we were going to repeat.
9:37
SPEAKER_07: He looks out the window.
9:39
SPEAKER_07: His fingers tap the arm of the chair.
9:41
SPEAKER_07: Something shifts behind his eyes.
9:44
SPEAKER_02: You know what waiting really is?
9:46
SPEAKER_02: I learned it in the Pacific.
9:49
SPEAKER_07: Daniel didn't expect this, but you don't interrupt Kenneth.
9:52
SPEAKER_02: Picket duty.
9:54
SPEAKER_02: Small ship.
9:54
SPEAKER_02: Radar watch.
9:56
SPEAKER_02: You sit out there and wait.
9:57
SPEAKER_02: Okinawa, 1945.
10:00
SPEAKER_02: We were the first thing the kamikaze would see.
10:03
SPEAKER_02: That was the job.
10:05
SPEAKER_02: Spot them.
10:06
SPEAKER_02: Report them.
10:07
SPEAKER_02: Hope they didn't get through.
10:10
SPEAKER_02: We were at sea when Roosevelt died.
10:12
SPEAKER_02: April.
10:14
SPEAKER_02: Someone came through the ship saying the president was dead.
10:18
SPEAKER_05: What did you think?
10:19
SPEAKER_02: We didn't believe it.
10:21
SPEAKER_02: He'd been president my whole life.
10:23
SPEAKER_02: Since I was a kid.
10:25
SPEAKER_02: Didn't know there could be another one.
10:28
SPEAKER_02: You know what they told us when we signed up?
10:31
SPEAKER_02: Duration plus six.
10:33
SPEAKER_02: That was the contract.
10:35
SPEAKER_02: You serve for the duration of the war plus six months.
10:39
SPEAKER_02: No end date.
10:41
SPEAKER_02: Just until it's over.
10:44
SPEAKER_02: However long that takes.
10:46
SPEAKER_02: What if you wanted a different deal?
10:49
SPEAKER_02: Only deal there was you signed or you didn't.
10:53
SPEAKER_02: I signed.
10:55
SPEAKER_02: I wanted to matter.
10:59
SPEAKER_07: He looks at Daniel, eyes clear, present.
11:02
SPEAKER_02: I heard your brother signed up.
11:04
SPEAKER_02: He just started boot camp.
11:07
SPEAKER_02: I know.
11:07
SPEAKER_02: Your mother told me.
11:09
SPEAKER_02: Navy.
11:10
SPEAKER_02: Like me.
11:11
SPEAKER_07: He nods.
11:12
SPEAKER_07: Proud.
11:14
SPEAKER_07: But something else crosses his face.
11:17
SPEAKER_02: I enjoyed serving.
11:19
SPEAKER_02: Proud of it.
11:20
SPEAKER_02: Still am.
11:23
SPEAKER_07: He pauses, looks at Daniel like he's deciding whether to finish the thought.
11:28
SPEAKER_02: But the men who send them.
11:30
SPEAKER_02: The men who decide where they go.
11:33
SPEAKER_02: What we did was right.
11:35
SPEAKER_02: But it isn't always right.
11:37
SPEAKER_02: Those men should be bound too.
11:40
SPEAKER_05: What do you mean?
11:41
SPEAKER_02: Limits.
11:42
SPEAKER_02: A clock on them.
11:44
SPEAKER_02: Something that says you can't keep sending boys forever just because you feel like it.
11:48
SPEAKER_07: Someone calls from the other room.
11:51
SPEAKER_07: Dessert! Kenneth waves his hand.
11:53
SPEAKER_07: He'll be there in a minute.
11:54
SPEAKER_07: Daniel waits for more, but Kenneth is looking out the window now.
11:58
SPEAKER_07: Somewhere else.
11:59
SPEAKER_07: Sixty years back.
12:00
SPEAKER_07: Small ship, radar, waiting.
12:03
SPEAKER_05: I sit there another minute, then I get up.
12:07
SPEAKER_05: Thanks, Grandpa.
12:08
SPEAKER_05: You want me to bring you some food?
12:10
SPEAKER_05: I walk back into the noise, the laughter, the questions, but I'm not there.
12:16
SPEAKER_05: I'm somewhere else.
12:18
SPEAKER_05: The men who send them?
12:20
SPEAKER_05: They should be bound too.
12:22
SPEAKER_07: Daniel leaves the next morning, early train, the city, waiting.
12:27
SPEAKER_07: But something is different.
12:29
SPEAKER_07: He wants to move through the world without it touching him.
13:09
SPEAKER_07: January.
13:10
SPEAKER_07: The city has its rhythm back.
13:12
SPEAKER_07: The holidays are over.
13:13
SPEAKER_07: The tourists have thinned out.
13:16
SPEAKER_07: Daniel's at a cafe in the West Village with his friend Margot.
13:19
SPEAKER_07: She loves the coffee here, says it's the only place in the city that does it right.
13:23
SPEAKER_07: They've known each other since college.
13:26
SPEAKER_07: Margot works at a think tank now.
13:28
SPEAKER_07: Policy stuff.
13:29
SPEAKER_07: She reads everything.
13:30
SPEAKER_07: The kind of person who sends you articles at midnight with thoughts in the subject line.
13:35
SPEAKER_05: Margot is my smartest friend.
13:37
SPEAKER_05: She'd tell you that herself, not in a bad way.
13:41
SPEAKER_05: She just knows what she knows and she knows a lot.
13:45
SPEAKER_05: When I want to argue about something, I call Margot.
13:48
SPEAKER_05: When I want to feel dumb, I call Marg.
13:51
SPEAKER_07: They're on their second espresso.
13:53
SPEAKER_07: Margot is reading something on her phone, frowning at it.
13:56
SPEAKER_07: Then she looks up.
13:58
SPEAKER_01: You following this term limits thing?
14:00
SPEAKER_01: You should.
14:01
SPEAKER_01: Someone's going to float it again.
14:03
SPEAKER_01: Repeal the 22nd.
14:04
SPEAKER_01: Let him run again.
14:06
SPEAKER_01: Or let whoever comes next run forever.
14:09
SPEAKER_05: Why would we do that?
14:11
SPEAKER_01: Why wouldn't we?
14:13
SPEAKER_01: She takes a sip.
14:14
SPEAKER_07: She's enjoying this.
14:16
SPEAKER_01: The 22nd isn't a founding document.
14:19
SPEAKER_01: It's from 1951.
14:21
SPEAKER_01: A reaction to Roosevelt.
14:22
SPEAKER_01: Republicans shoved it through because they were mad at FDR.
14:26
SPEAKER_01: Now they're the ones floating ways to get around it.
14:29
SPEAKER_05: So we just erase it?
14:32
SPEAKER_01: If the people want someone, why should dead people get a veto?
14:35
SPEAKER_01: The men who wrote the rule are gone.
14:37
SPEAKER_01: Every generation should get to decide for itself.
14:40
SPEAKER_05: So term limits are anti-democratic.
14:44
SPEAKER_07: She leans in a little.
14:46
SPEAKER_01: If 60 million people want someone to be president, and you tell them no because of a rule written by guys who've been dead for 70 years, who's the tyrant?
14:55
SPEAKER_05: What if they're wrong?
14:56
SPEAKER_01: Then they're wrong.
14:57
SPEAKER_01: You don't get to protect people from themselves.
15:00
SPEAKER_07: She sets her cup down.
15:02
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying I want it.
15:04
SPEAKER_01: I'm saying the argument against it is weaker than people think.
15:08
SPEAKER_01: The 22nd is a leash, and the hand holding it has been dead for decades.
15:13
SPEAKER_07: Daniel's cup is empty.
15:15
SPEAKER_07: He doesn't order another.
15:17
SPEAKER_05: I think about Kenneth, the chair by the window.
15:20
SPEAKER_05: The men who send them should be bound too.
15:23
SPEAKER_05: Margot doesn't know about Kay, doesn't know about Kenneth.
15:26
SPEAKER_05: She's arguing in the abstract.
15:28
SPEAKER_05: I'm somewhere else.
15:30
SPEAKER_05: But I don't say that.
15:31
SPEAKER_05: I don't have the words.
15:33
SPEAKER_07: They step outside.
15:34
SPEAKER_07: The cold hits them.
15:36
SPEAKER_07: Margot heads up town.
15:37
SPEAKER_07: Daniel walks home.
15:39
SPEAKER_07: The city hums, steam from the grates, American flags wave in the sunlight.
15:44
SPEAKER_07: He puts his headphones on, but today they don't work the way they're supposed to.
15:49
SPEAKER_07: Kenneth's voice is there.
15:51
SPEAKER_07: The men who send them should be bound too.
15:54
SPEAKER_07: And now Marg's voice the dead have no rights over the living.
15:58
SPEAKER_07: Because they don't agree.
16:34
SPEAKER_07: Didn't want to cook.
16:36
SPEAKER_07: It's a Tuesday, almost empty.
16:38
SPEAKER_07: A couple in a booth by the window.
16:40
SPEAKER_07: A guy at the end of the bar, watching the game.
16:42
SPEAKER_07: Daniel sits in the middle, orders a burger and a beer.
16:45
SPEAKER_07: The bartender is older, sixties maybe, gray hair kept short.
16:50
SPEAKER_07: Moves slow but not tired.
16:52
SPEAKER_07: The kind of guy who doesn't need to talk but will if you want him to.
16:55
SPEAKER_05: I've been carrying it around for a week and haven't said it out loud to anyone.
17:00
SPEAKER_05: And then I say to the bartender, My brother just shipped out.
17:04
SPEAKER_05: Navy.
17:05
SPEAKER_07: The bartender looks up, nods once, keeps wiping the glass.
17:10
SPEAKER_06: Or two.
17:11
SPEAKER_07: He can't say.
17:13
SPEAKER_07: The bartender nods again, like he knows that feeling.
17:18
SPEAKER_05: I don't know why I ask him.
17:20
SPEAKER_05: Maybe because he's right here.
17:22
SPEAKER_05: What do you think about term limits for presidents?
17:25
SPEAKER_07: He doesn't laugh, doesn't act like it's weird.
17:28
SPEAKER_07: People talk to him about all kinds of things.
17:30
SPEAKER_07: He sets the glass down, thinks about it.
17:33
SPEAKER_05: You know why we have them?
17:35
SPEAKER_05: Roosevelt served four terms.
17:37
SPEAKER_05: People got nervous.
17:38
SPEAKER_06: That's the history, maybe not the reason.
17:41
SPEAKER_07: He shrugs like the rest is simple.
17:44
SPEAKER_06: We don't do kings.
17:45
SPEAKER_07: He says it plain, like Daniel should already know.
17:49
SPEAKER_06: That's the whole point.
17:50
SPEAKER_06: Some guy sits in the chair until he dies, and then his kid sits in it.
17:55
SPEAKER_06: We said no.
17:56
SPEAKER_06: We said the people get to choose.
17:58
SPEAKER_07: He leans in a little.
18:00
SPEAKER_06: But the people choosing the same guy forever, waiting for him to die, that's just a king with more steps.
18:06
SPEAKER_06: But if the people want him.
18:08
SPEAKER_06: People thought they wanted kings for thousands of years.
18:11
SPEAKER_06: Might have worked for Europe, but it's not America.
18:15
SPEAKER_07: He pours a beer for the guy at the end of the bar, comes back.
18:19
SPEAKER_06: There's no guy so important the whole thing falls apart without him.
18:22
SPEAKER_06: I think about what Margot said.
18:24
SPEAKER_05: The dead have no rights over the living.
18:27
SPEAKER_06: The guys who wrote the Constitution, they'd seen what happens.
18:31
SPEAKER_06: A guy gets power, he wants more.
18:33
SPEAKER_06: Stays long enough, he thinks he deserves it.
18:36
SPEAKER_06: Stays longer, he thinks he's the only one who can do it.
18:39
SPEAKER_07: He taps the bar with two fingers.
18:42
SPEAKER_06: After that, you're not voting him out.
18:44
SPEAKER_06: You're waiting for him to let go.
18:46
SPEAKER_06: And men like that don't let go.
18:49
SPEAKER_06: So the limit protects us from ourselves?
18:52
SPEAKER_06: It reminds the guy in the chair it doesn't belong to him.
18:55
SPEAKER_06: He's just sitting in it for a while.
18:57
SPEAKER_06: He gets up and someone else sits down.
18:59
SPEAKER_06: That's the deal.
19:00
SPEAKER_07: The burger comes.
19:02
SPEAKER_07: Daniel eats, the bartender moves down the bar, checks on the other guy, comes back.
19:07
SPEAKER_05: You're questioned?
19:09
SPEAKER_05: You're chewing on something.
19:11
SPEAKER_05: I keep thinking about it, my brother.
19:13
SPEAKER_05: He's signed.
19:14
SPEAKER_05: He's bound.
19:15
SPEAKER_07: The bartender nods.
19:17
SPEAKER_06: Then the guys who send him shouldn't be able to do anything they want.
19:21
SPEAKER_07: He lets that sit.
19:22
SPEAKER_06: If my kid's going to war, the man who sends him should know he won't be there forever.
19:27
SPEAKER_06: The longer you sit in that chair, the more you think it's yours.
19:30
SPEAKER_06: There's gotta be a limit.
19:32
SPEAKER_06: I stop chewing.
19:33
SPEAKER_06: That's it.
19:34
SPEAKER_05: That's what Great Grandpa Kenneth said, almost the exact words.
19:38
SPEAKER_06: A king doesn't think about that.
19:40
SPEAKER_06: A king thinks he'll be there to see how it ends.
19:43
SPEAKER_06: A president with a limit knows he won't.
19:46
SPEAKER_06: That changes how you decide.
19:48
SPEAKER_06: Something good for the country is one thing, something good for him is another.
19:53
SPEAKER_07: Daniel finishes his burger, finishes his beer, pays the tab, leaves a good tip.
20:01
SPEAKER_07: Two voices in his head all week.
20:04
SPEAKER_07: Kenneth, Margot, now a third.
20:08
SPEAKER_07: There's no guy so important, the whole thing falls apart without him.
20:12
SPEAKER_07: He walks home, headphones off, the city, the machine, the noise surrounds him.
20:30
SPEAKER_07: Act four, the limit.
20:34
SPEAKER_07: May.
20:34
SPEAKER_07: Three in the morning.
20:36
SPEAKER_07: Daniel's apartment.
20:37
SPEAKER_07: Dark.
20:37
SPEAKER_07: Phone buzzes.
20:38
SPEAKER_07: Unknown number.
20:40
SPEAKER_04: Hello?
20:42
SPEAKER_04: Hey.
20:43
SPEAKER_04: Okay?
20:44
SPEAKER_04: You okay?
20:44
SPEAKER_04: Where are you?
20:46
SPEAKER_03: I'm good.
20:47
SPEAKER_03: Can't say.
20:49
SPEAKER_03: Is it cold?
20:51
SPEAKER_03: They feeding you?
20:53
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, food's fine.
20:54
SPEAKER_03: Look, I can't be on long.
20:56
SPEAKER_03: There's a line, but I need a favor.
20:58
SPEAKER_03: Tell mom I'm good.
20:59
SPEAKER_03: Doing the job.
21:01
SPEAKER_05: I picture it.
21:03
SPEAKER_05: A line of guys at sea waiting for two minutes with a phone.
21:06
SPEAKER_05: Two minutes of home.
21:08
SPEAKER_05: And he's using his to check on mom.
21:11
SPEAKER_05: I will.
21:14
SPEAKER_07: Silence on the line.
21:16
SPEAKER_07: Daniel hears voices in the background.
21:18
SPEAKER_07: Someone waiting for the phone.
21:20
SPEAKER_03: Hey, I gotta go.
21:21
SPEAKER_03: There's a line.
21:24
SPEAKER_05: Wait.
21:25
SPEAKER_05: Kay, I was wrong.
21:26
SPEAKER_05: What you're doing matters.
21:28
SPEAKER_05: I didn't get it then.
21:29
SPEAKER_05: I do now.
21:30
SPEAKER_05: We're all proud of you.
21:33
SPEAKER_07: He stops.
21:34
SPEAKER_07: That's not what he meant to say.
21:36
SPEAKER_05: I am proud of you.
21:40
SPEAKER_07: Quiet.
21:41
SPEAKER_07: Just the static of wherever Kay is.
21:43
SPEAKER_07: When Kay speaks again, his voice is different.
21:46
SPEAKER_07: Younger, almost.
21:49
SPEAKER_03: Hey, I'll be home in a few months.
21:51
SPEAKER_03: We can go to that Thai place.
21:53
SPEAKER_07: That's all he says.
21:55
SPEAKER_07: It's enough.
21:57
SPEAKER_05: It'll be my treat.
21:58
SPEAKER_05: Be safe, Kay.
22:00
SPEAKER_05: You two.
22:03
SPEAKER_07: Daniel sits on the edge of the bed, phone dark in his hand, his brother, somewhere he can't name, for a duration he doesn't control.
22:11
SPEAKER_05: Kay signed the contract, gave them his time, his body, maybe his life.
22:17
SPEAKER_05: Duration plus six.
22:19
SPEAKER_05: That's what Kenneth signed in 1943.
22:22
SPEAKER_05: You serve until they say you're done.
22:25
SPEAKER_05: Kay trusts the people spending his life know the value of it.
22:29
SPEAKER_05: America sends her sons and daughters to serve.
22:31
SPEAKER_05: The nation owes them something back.
22:34
SPEAKER_05: If Kay is bound, can't say no, can't leave, can't tell me where he is, then the men who sent him should be bound too.
22:42
SPEAKER_05: A clock.
22:44
SPEAKER_05: A limit.
22:45
SPEAKER_05: You don't get to do this forever.
22:47
SPEAKER_05: But in my head, Marg's voice is there too.
22:51
SPEAKER_05: The dead have no rights over the living.
22:54
SPEAKER_05: If the people want someone who are the dead to say no, he walks to the window.
23:01
SPEAKER_05: Two ideas, both American, both true.
23:05
SPEAKER_05: The dead have no rights over the living.
23:07
SPEAKER_05: We owe allegiance to no king.
23:10
SPEAKER_05: What happens when they collide?
23:12
SPEAKER_05: The 22nd says the people will have no king, even if we want one.
23:17
SPEAKER_05: But the dead can't enforce anything.
23:19
SPEAKER_05: The only thing holding the line is the living agreeing to keep it.
23:24
SPEAKER_05: Kay is inside the machine, bound by iron.
23:28
SPEAKER_05: He serves the American people, not a king.
23:30
SPEAKER_05: His oath is to the Constitution, not a personality.
23:35
SPEAKER_05: If we unbind the men who send him, what was the point?
23:38
SPEAKER_05: What did Kenneth sit on that ship for?
23:41
SPEAKER_05: What is Kay doing right now in the cold?
23:43
SPEAKER_05: The men at the top have to be bound too.
23:46
SPEAKER_05: Power is alone.
23:48
SPEAKER_05: You are not a king.
23:49
SPEAKER_05: We don't do kings.
23:51
SPEAKER_05: You sit in the chair, then you get up.
23:53
SPEAKER_05: That's the deal.
23:55
SPEAKER_07: Daniel steps outside, same route.
23:58
SPEAKER_07: The tourists, the cops.
24:00
SPEAKER_07: He reaches for his headphones, leaves them in his pocket.
24:04
SPEAKER_05: I wanted to move through the world without it touching me.
24:07
SPEAKER_05: But my brother is somewhere cold.
24:09
SPEAKER_05: Someone sent him there.
24:10
SPEAKER_05: And that someone is either bound by a clock or they're not.
24:15
SPEAKER_07: He looks at the crowd, the living, the ones who decide.
24:19
SPEAKER_07: The dead have no rights over them, and they owe allegiance to no king.
24:23
SPEAKER_07: Both true.
24:24
SPEAKER_07: The question is which one wins?