The Lottery Number and the Call
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Richardson prepares to call Sergeant Dokes' family, and Toby requests to stay for the call, showing solidarity despite their political differences.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Absent but represented; the mention carries implied professional readiness and political exposure.
C.J. is referenced as the promised public voice—her forthcoming podium statement is the bargaining chip Toby offers; she does not appear in the room.
- • Deliver a calibrated White House message that balances policy defense with political damage control.
- • Serve as the administration’s public mouthpiece to secure necessary votes.
- • Public statements can be traded as political currency.
- • Messaging must be precise to avoid escalating controversy.
Not present; referenced policy stance frames the moral and political constraints of the negotiation.
The President is invoked by Toby as the source of the administration’s position against reinstating the draft; he is not physically present in the scene.
- • Avoid reinstating the draft while advancing foreign policy objectives.
- • Maintain institutional control over messaging and legislative strategy.
- • Reinstating the draft is not administratively or politically acceptable.
- • Congressional leaders should be engaged through respectful debate rather than coercion.
Somber and steady; outwardly controlled but carrying impatience and righteous anger about inequality and loss.
Richardson finishes a phone call, interrogates the political bargain by reframing it in terms of class and the draft, asks Toby his lottery number, then picks up the phone himself to call Sergeant Dokes' family while keeping Toby physically present.
- • Force the White House to confront the human cost of its policy trades.
- • Notify and honor his constituent (the bereaved family) personally.
- • Educate or shame the administration about class-based inequities in wartime burdens.
- • Draft policy and economic status are inextricably linked; money buys safety.
- • Elected officials have a duty to personally account for constituents' sacrifices.
- • Symbolic gestures (a podium statement) are insufficient without recognition of systemic injustice.
Conflicted and subdued; professionally composed but privately guilty and exposed once the draft question turns personal.
Toby enters Richardson's office, reads the White House position and offer (C.J.'s podium statement for Black Caucus votes), concedes his personal draft-lottery number, and quietly asks to remain while the family is called.
- • Secure the Black Caucus votes necessary for the Kuhndu peacekeeping appropriation.
- • Protect the administration’s political interests while minimizing additional damage.
- • Be present for the human consequence of the administration's policies (to reckon with his complicity).
- • The President will not reinstate the draft and the administration must negotiate through political concessions.
- • Economic inequality shapes who fights and who does not; money can insulate people from military service.
- • Personal honesty can reduce distance between policy and consequence.
Not onstage; their grief looms over the interaction and converts political bargaining into personal duty.
The Dokes family are the absent, immediate human victims referenced by Richardson; they are the reason for the impending phone call and the emotional pivot in the room.
- • Receive official notification and recognition of their loss.
- • Hold the government accountable for the circumstances of their son's death (implied).
- • Families deserve direct, personal notification and respect from elected leaders.
- • Private grief should not be subsumed by political expediency.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The White House Press Room Podium is invoked as the explicit bargaining chip — C.J.'s promise to speak from it tomorrow is the concession Toby offers in exchange for Black Caucus votes. Narratively, the podium stands in for public voice and the transactional nature of messaging.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Kuhndu is the distant site whose violence precipitates the scene; it is the subject of the appropriation vote and the location where the friendly-fire incident occurred, providing the moral stakes of the exchange.
Mark Richardson's office functions as the private setting where formal political negotiation becomes intimate moral reckoning. The room frames Richardson’s authority and allows him to convert a legislative bargaining session into a personal act of constituency duty.
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
The Congressional Black Caucus is the bargaining partner whose votes are the currency Toby offers to buy with a public statement; its collective leverage forces the White House to negotiate policy concessions in exchange for legislative support.
The White House is the negotiating institution offering a public statement (via C.J.) in return for legislative cooperation; its position (the President's opposition to the draft) constrains bargaining and frames the administration’s political calculus.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
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Key Dialogue
"TOBY: "The President does not think we shoud reinstate the draft nor does he intend to do so, but he respects Chairman Richardson as a leader in the Congress, and he's eager to hear what he has to say and to engage in thorough debate.""
"RICHARDSON: "What was your lottery number?" TOBY: "125. It was the last six months of the draft. It went up to 90 that year... but I didn't have the 300 bucks.""
"RICHARDSON: "I'm going to call Sergeant Dokes' family now." TOBY: "I'd like to stay if you don't mind." RICHARDSON: "No, but stay standing.""