Presidential Telephone
Characters:
The President
Charles
Bill
Presidential Aid
General Gillespie
Comm Guy #1
Captain
Henry
Fighter Pilot
Setting:
A group of important looking people are gathered in the Oval Office. They are pacing around and looking at their watches and checking the door. One of the men is sitting to the side of the president’s desk next to a bank of phones. It is clear from the anxiety on all of their faces that something important is happening and that they are waiting for someone to join them.
The door opens and several secret service men enter the room and stand at either side of the open door. The president enters tailed by several more men in suits. As the president enters the men in the room straighten, those sitting stand.
President: (striding in and taking his place behind his desk) I’m sorry that it took so long for me to get here. I came as soon as I got the word. Charles would you like to get me up to speed on what is going on?
Charles: (standing next to a large flat screen on the wall) Yes sir Mr. President. At approximately 1400 hours today Delta flight 212 ceased communications with ground control at their destination airport in Delaware. We have been unable to establish any communication with the cockpit but we have received several calls from people on the plane that confirm the presence of armed men who have forcefully taken control on the plane.
President: Do we know the hijackers’ intentions?
Bill: Yes, Mr. President. Lately we have been intercepting an increased of chatter from key terrorist cells located in Afghanistan and Iran. From what we have been able to decipher the terrorists plan is to crash the plane into the Empire State Building in New York City.
Charles: Mr. President this information is consistent with the altered course flight 212 is taking.
President: (pausing for a beat he massages his temples looking worried) How many people would be in the Empire State Building on a day like today.
Bill: On an average work day… about twenty-one-thousand. But then you have to factor in tourists…
President: Okay, I think I get the point. (pausing for another beat he looks up as if for guidance) Charles what type of protocol do we have for this situation?
Charles: Mr. President after 9/11 we have come up with a number of protocols to guide us in events like this. Given the intelligence we have received and the flight path of the hijacked vehicle, protocol is that we scramble fighters to intercept and bring the plane down before it can reach its target.
President: (slumping into his chair behind his desk, looking overwhelmed)(After a beat) How many people are on that flight?
Charles: Sixty-five Mr. President.
President: (after another beat) What do I need to do?
Charles: We have taken the liberty of scrambling a squadron of hornets to intercept the plane. I have the pentagon on line and they are connected to Andrews Air Force Base. We just need you to give the okay and the fighters will engage.
President: (Getting to his feet) It pains my soul to have to do this Charles.
Charles: I know Mr. President. It is a tough decision to have to make, but we will support whatever you decide to do.
President: (after a beat) Tell them to take the shot.
Charles: (turning to a presidential aid sitting next to the bank of telephones) Take the shot.
Presidential Aid: (into the telephone) Take the shot.
We cut to the inside of the pentagon. It is a situation room, there are large screens on the wall showing satellite footage of the plane and maps of flight plans. General Gillespie is standing next to a table holding a phone to his ear.
General Gillespie: (turning to comm. guy #1 sitting at a table next to him)(slurring the words a little bit) Take the shot.
Comm. Guy#1: (into his headset)(more slurred than the General) Dake the shot.
We cut to the inside of a communication room at Andrews Air Force Base. There are computer terminals all around. We can see radar screens and personnel are stationed at computer terminals hooked up to headsets. The captain is standing next to a desk holding a phone to his ear.
Captain: (turning to Henry stationed across the aisle from the station he is at)(more slurred and distorted than the guy before him) Dake the shop.
Henry: (into his headset) Bake the shop.
We cut to the inside of a jet fighter.
Fighter Pilot: Bake the shop? What does that mean “bake the shop.” There is no way that is what the president said. (the screen splits and we see the inside of the hornet and the inside of the communications room) Henry, put the president on the phone.
Henry presses a button on his phone and his half of the screen switches to the inside of the oval office.
Fighter Pilot: Mr. President, what did you say?
President: I said, take the shot.
Fighter Pilot: You won’t believe what it was by the time it got to me. I heard “bake the shop.” (pauses a beat) Isn’t that wild!
The room is silent for a moment then the oval office bursts into laughter. Charles doubles over laughing. The president almost loses his balance and has to sit down at his chair. Bill pounds on the table and the other aids in the office react similarly. In the other frame the pilot is laughing uproariously (evidenced by how his helmet is moving and the distorted sound of his laughter through the comm.) Before the laughs subside the president reaches for the phone.
President: Lets get the pentagon on the line. They need to hear this!
He presses the button and the screen splits in three. The pentagon is in the bottom frame.
General Gillespie: (answering the phone) This is General Gillespie.
President: John! You know how I told you to take the shot? Guess what it was by the time it got to the fighter pilot? BAKE THE SHOP! That’s not even close!
The Pentagon erupts into laughter. Every technician at every terminal laughs uproariously. The oval office erupts into laughter anew.
Fighter Pilot: Henry!
The screen splits into four and now we see the comm. room of the air force base again. Henry is sitting at his terminal, he has his phone switched to speaker.
Henry: (taking off his headset) What?
Fighter Pilot: The message was “take the shot.” You told me to bake the shop.
The comm. room bursts into laughter.
Henry: (through his laughter) I swear that is what I heard!
All four frames are laughing wildly. Slowly the laugher starts to die down. The rooms calm down until finally everyone is left panting, occasionally remarking about how humorous that was.
President: Man, that is just rich.
The laughter dies entirely and everyone is left standing shaking their heads.
Fighter Pilot: (after a beat of silence) But, take the shot though right?
President: (not missing a beat) Yeah take the shot.
We cut to the exterior of the fighter as it launches a missile. We hear an explosion.
THE END
