An assistant I'm pretty sure we've never seen before is working with Toby. Where is Ginger? Where's Bonnie, for that matter? Wastin' away again in Mandyville, I suppose. Toby and the assistant are hassling over the colour-coding of the message calendar. Will arrives, and Toby asks if he got VPOTUS to sign off. Will: "Not exactly." Toby: "What did you get, exactly?" Will: "He offered me a job last night as his chief strategist." Toby laughs. Will would like to know what's funny. Toby: "Russell's an empty cowboy suit; you work for the leader of the free world...." Toby makes vague weighing gestures with his hands. Will corrects him: "No, I work for a guy who works for a guy who works for the leader of the free world." Sounds like somebody's already made his decision. Not-Ginger comes back to tell Toby that the Treasury Secretary is ready in the Roosevelt Room. Will walks into his office and tosses a paper down with annoyance. Toby reminds her that he needs the calendar, and walks into Will's office. Will says, "He has private lunches with the President. Direct access. He's not taking orders from us." Toby asks what he told Russell. Will hasn't told him anything -- yet. Toby: "You're not considering it." It's not a question. Will says that the clock's running out. Toby: "You are not considering it!" Will asks how many months they're going to spend making calendars. Toby: "You think I want to be making calendars? You think I like being in a PR dogfight with Congress, writing banner copy for photo ops?" He's yelling now. Not-Ginger reminds Toby that the Treasury Secretary is waiting, adding, "Did you want all this flush right?" Toby looks at Will, as if he doesn't know what to say. Then he turns to Not-Ginger: "Calendars aren't...." He sighs. "It's a calendar. Make it look like a calendar. How hard is that?" He turns to Will and says, "This is the NBA. You don't go back to shirts and skins." Somehow that point might be more compelling if he weren't being asked for guidance on margins by an assistant. Will looks unconvinced.













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