Synopsis of The Letter

Written by TK

Syd is dreaming. She hears a noise, gets out of bed, and walks down the hall to her father's room. Her father is sleeping, while her mother is rummaging around in the closet looking for a new dress to wear. She comments that it's been a year since her death, and she thinks a nice anniversary celebration at Chez Pascal, a very expensive restaurant, is in order. Linda tells Syd that it will be hard to talk her father into it because although he loves the vichysoisse at Chez Pascal, it's an expensive restaurant and plus Jim is wracked with guilt. Syd tries to ask what her father is wracked with guilt about, but then she wakes up from the dream.

In the morning, Syd is trying to talk Joanie into the Chez Pascal anniversary dinner. Joanie thinks they should just do something small at home. Robbie comes in and agrees that they shouldn't make a big deal out of the anniversary of their mother's death. Robbie also says that Jim wouldn't want to do a fancy dinner, he probably doesn't want to deal with thinking about mom at all. Jim comes in and accuses someone in the family of smoking in the house, because when he woke this morning his whole room smelled of it, just like when Linda was alive. Robbie prompts Syd to tell Jim her idea for dinner, so that he can watch Jim shoot Syd down, but before Syd can even get her idea out, Jim suggests the exact same thing, saying he thinks it's what Linda would want.

Down in Jim's office, Heather is fighting with a pen that won't give ink. Jim walks in with a cursing parrot, and comments that it smells like cigarette smoke. Heather's pen explodes all over Jim's shirt, and she apologizes profusely. He says, "Linda, it's all right." Heather asks who Linda is, and Jim realizes he just called his assistant by his dead wife's name.

Jim goes upstairs to change his ink-soaked shirt, and thinks for a moment that he sees Linda in the mirror. He gets to musing, and picks up the failed-wedding picture to look at it more closely.

Jim remembers getting dressed for the wedding. He picks up a letter out of a drawere, glances at it, and then tucks into his jacket pocket when he hears his wife coming. He lays the jacket on the bed as Linda comes whirling into the room saying that the men with the extra chairs are here, and asking Jim to go down and supervise so they don't scratch the walls bringing them in. She snatches up the jacket off the bed, saying that there's a spot on the lapel and she'll get it out for him. Jim tries to fight her on it, but she's insistent.

Syd is at the doctor's office with Kyle. The doctor, Dr. Jordan, comes running in from surgery and gets straight to the point. She tell Kyle, rather bluntly, that she thinks his shoulder has a hairline fracture, and that she'll need to go in surgically right away to better assess the situation. She says it's possible she'll have to end up amputating the whole arm. Kyle, totally unprepared for this, freaks out, and says that his old doctor, Dr. Melman, didn't say anything about amputation. Dr. Jordan says that's because Dr. Melman was an oncologist, not a surgeon. Syd is upset with the way Dr. Jordan is handling the situation. Dr. Jordan says she's just trying to be straightforward.

At Joanie's Barkery, Joanie is filling up a jar of milkbones, commenting that they've been selling incredibly fast. She jokes that maybe Doug has been eating them. Doug laughs nervously at her joke. Doug then announces the arrival of Bruno the dog. Joanie looks at the door and sees nothing. Five seconds later Bruno and his owner come around the corner and walk in the door. Doug immediately goes to play with Bruno, while Bruno's owner orders some Barkeries Best and watches Bruno and Doug play on the floor. Doug says that Bruno doesn't want the Barkeries Best. His owner says that he Bruno at it all last time. Doug says that's 'cause he's a dog. Doug suggest she try the Mutt's Medley because Bruno likes the way it smells. Bruno barks in agreement. The owner changes her order, and she and Bruno walk out happy. Joanie tells Doug that that was very well done, because the Mutt's Medley hasn't been selling well lately. Doug says Bruno really did like the way it smelled. Doug then yawns, walks around a chair three times, and collapses into it. Joanie watches, fascinated, and then asks him why he did that. He doesn't know.

Syd is in her father's room looking through her mother's dresses. Jim comes in, and they both talk about how they've been thinking about Linda lately. Jim mentions that he even thought he saw her earlier. He comments that when you lose a loved one, you don't really remember the bad stuff. He says that their marriage did have its problems, and they were getting worse toward the end. He mentions that on the day Linda dies, she found a letter he wrote.... He starts to back out of telling the story he started. Syd tries to encourage him to keep talking. He says she wasn't supposed to read it, particularly not on Joanie's wedding day. He regrets saying the things he said in that letter. Then he runs away from the conversation, leaving Syd confused.

Syd is sitting outside behind the house. Joanie comes out with the baby and comments on how early it is. Syd says she couldn't sleep. They talk a bit about Kyle and how awful his surgeon is. Syd says she's really not sure if Kyle will be okay or not. Syd asks Joanie if she remembers anything about mom finding a letter on Joanie's wedding day. She mentions that it's from dad, and he can't forgive himself about it. Joanie says she was a little distracted by other things on her wedding day, but she does remember....

Joanie remembers walking into her mother's room bitching about the taffeta under her dress and how Richie will never be able to find the garter under it all. As she and her mom get into a huge argument about the fact that Joanie's walking down the aisle pregnant, a letter falls out of Jim's jacket, which Linda picks up and puts away in a drawer.

Joanie says she hasn't thought about that argument in forever. Syd says it's true, you don't remember the bad stuff when you lose a loved one.

Down in Jim's office, Heather is dealing with the foul-mouthed parrot. When Jim walks in, Heather starts to brag about how many swear words the parrot knows, although some of them are just different words for the same bodypart. Jim is not really interested in a demo. Robbie comes down with a box of supplies and mopes his way through the room. Jim asks him what's wrong, and finally gets Robbie to admit he's still upset about the dinner plans for the anniversary of his mom's death. Robbie mentions that he still feels like Linda is watching them and knows all their secrets. Robbie declares that he won't be attending the dinner. Jim says everyone is going... it will be a reminder of good times. Robbie scoffs at the idea, but won't explain why.

Joanie is bustling around the Barkery and hears noises coming from the kitchen. She looks in and busts Doug scarfing down dog food. Doug says he's sorry, but he has no will-pwer, it just smells too good. Joanie asks for his resignation. She says that Doug is a nice guy, but he has a problem. Doug sadly takes off his Barkery jacket and hands it to Joanie as he walks out the door apologizing.

Syd and Kyle are leaving the clinic, chatting amicably and both saying how they're not so fond Kyle's surgeon. Kyle tells Syd about his dream of getting a boat. Syd says dreams are like memories... like hearing an old song. Kyle says that's just like looking at Syd.

Joanie comes home to find her father rummaging around in the closet. He asks why she's home so early and she tells him about having to fire Doug. She asks what Jim's doing and he says that he's looking for an old hat box that Linda used to keep personal papers in. Joanie asks what particular paper he's looking for and he avoids telling her.

Joanie comes into the kitchen where Syd is doing dishes. She whispers to Syd about Jim looking for the hat box. They make sure that Jim is engrossed in watching TV, and sneak upstairs to look for themselves. They're going through paper after paper, not finding what they're looking for, when Jim walks in and busts them. He's very upset. His daughters beg him to share his pain with them, and he just snaps that he's afraid that the letter killed Linda.

In the morning in the kitchen, Syd tells Robbie that she'll be out all day, but she'll meet everyone at 8 for dinner at Chez Pascal. Robbie is really upset about the dinner, and again says that he won't be going. Syd asks him why he's so upset about this, and Robbie says she wouldn't understand. Syd says she feels like she missed something, but looking back, she remembers on the day of Joanie's wedding that she walked into something that she didn't even realize at the time.

Syd walks into her parents' room looking for some perfume. Linda comments that Joanie isn't ready to be married. Syd says Linda herself wasn't much older when she married Jim. Linda says bitterly, "And look how that turned out." Sydney is confused by Linda's attitude. Linda says Syd should never have left home. Joanie wouldn't have gotten knocked up if Syd had stayed home. Sydney says that Joanie always did the exact opposite of what Syd did, and her being around wouldn't have prevented any of this. Syd starts to leave, and Linda pathetically asks her what she's supposed to do now. Syd says it's not that big a deal, it's just a daughter getting married. Linda says she's not taking the blame for everything. Syd is really confused. Linda backs out of the conversation.

Robbie comments that he always thought his mother blamed him. Syd doesn't understand what it was he would be blamed for. Robbie coldly says that mom's gone, and it doesn't matter whose fault it is, but a bogus dinner in her honor won't wipe the slate clean. Syd says that Robbie must know about the letter. Robbie leaves the room.

Jim is trying to get some paperwork done. He feels he's being stared at, and turns to the parrot asking it if it has something to say. The parrot tells Jim, "You suck." Jim says that about sums it up.

Syd comes into Kyle's hospital room and they talk about how his surgery got pushed back until 5pm because Dr. Jordan had an emergency. Kyle talks about watching a religious show the night before. Kyle is terrified that he might lose his arm. He says the only thing he's sure about is Sydney.

Syd is in the hall of the hospital when Dr. Jordan comes rushing out in scrubs. Syd asks Dr. Jordan if she could scrub in to Kyle's surgery to observe. Dr. Jordan asks if Syd is Kyle's primary care physician? His wife? His girlfriend? Any kind of significant other? Syd says no. Dr. Jordan says Syd has no place her OR. Syd asks her if she's always this much of a bitch. She says she doesn't care for herself, but Dr. Jordan scares the crap out of her patients. Dr. Jordan basically says she's a good surgeon and that's all that matters.

Bruno and his owner come into Joanie's Barkery, and Bruno's owner says Bruno loved the Mutt's Medley, and she baked something for Doug as a thank you. Joanie says Doug isn't here and won't be coming back. Bruno's owner asks why, and Joanie can't bear to tell her that she fired Doug, so she says Doug is sick. Bruno's owner says Bruno will really miss Doug. After they leave, Joanie gets out Doug's job application and looks for a phone number. There isn't one. So she gets the address instead.

It's dark and raining, and finally Joanie finds Doug's address. It's a pet grooming establishment, and it's closed for the night. Joanie looks around back and finds Doug sleeping in a dog house, one hand twitching slightly like a dog in its sleep.

Robbie goes to the garage, puts up a ladder, climbs up and finds a metal box which he opens. He pulls out the letter.

Robbie remembers the day of his wedding, going to his parents' room to steal some money from his mother's bureau. He finds the letter. Linda comes out of the bathroom and Robbie starts to make a swift exit. She says she would have given him the money if he asked. He says he knows, and that's the problem. Jim comes in to get his jacket. There is palpable tension in the room between the three family members. Jim walks out of the room and starts rummaging through his jacket pockets looking for the letter. Robbie rushed out of the room behind him and runs down the hall.

Robbie starts to burn letter, but can't go through with it.

Jim, Joanie and Robbie are gloomily sitting at Chez Pascal. Syd shows up and apologizes for being late. She says that she left before the end of Kyle's surgery, and she wants to get back right after dinner. Robbie comments that hopefully that means they can get this over with fast. Jim starts a toast to Linda, but Sydney interrupts him. She asks how they can just sit there and toast their mother when their father thinks that he killed her. Joanie seconds the emotion. Jim starts to stammer that he doesn't actually think he killed her, but maybe what she read.... Robbie pulls out the letter from his jacket pocket and angrily threaten to read it aloud. Jim snatches at it and almost knocks over the table in the process. Jim finally has the letter and sits down. He says it wasn't even a letter for Linda, it was a letter for Joanie on her wedding day. It was supposed to be a letter about what marriage should be, but instead it turned into a letter about what marriage shouldn't be.

The three sibling are standing in the parking lot of the restaurant. Syd comments that they're ridiculous, four adults without lives living under the same roof. She says they shouldn't idealize mom, they should remember that mom was a pain in the ass. Robbie tells Syd that she's lucky she got out. He was at home as his parents' marriage started to break down and he thought it might be his fault... if he wasn't such a screw up their marriage might have been okay. Syd can't believe he really thought that. Syd says she's going back to the hospital.

Sydney walks into Kyle's room where he's sleeping. With some trepidation she lifts the blanket to check on his arm. With relief she sees that it's still there. She kisses Kyle on the cheek and walks out.
B In the hall, Sydney sees Dr. Jordan tiredly sitting on a bench. She walks up and shakes Dr. Jordan's hand.

Back at home, Sydney walks into the kitchen, turns on the light, and tiredly collapses in a chair. Robbie walks in. She asks if dad is home and he says he isn't. Robbie asks about Kyle, Syd says he's okay. Joanie comes in, worried about the fact that Jim isn't home. Joanie says it's Robbie fault for pulling out that letter. Robbie says he just thought everyone deserved to know what a sham the dinner was. Jim comes in and says that Robbie is right. Jim tries to explain. He has a few false starts, and then tells his kids about how every morning before he went to work he used to tell Linda that he loved her. He figured if anything should happen to them during the day, he wanted those words to be last she heard from him. Then one morning he didn't say it. And the next morning he didn't say it. And so on. He really regrets not saying it the morning Linda died. Robbie hugs him. Joanie suggests they all go to bed. Jim says he's starving. They prepare an impromptu family dinner and finally have a real toast to Linda.

Sydney is dreaming. Jim is sleeping and Linda is looking down at him. Sydney asks her mom if she did read the letter. Linda tells her that even if she did, it's not what killed her, what killed her was the three packs of cigarettes she smoked every day. Linda says Jim wasn't the easiest guy to live with, but she stuck by him. She comments that Jim still sleeps on his side of the bed. Linda gets into bed with her husband. Syd leaves. As she turns out the light to her parents' room, she looks back at the two of them lying in bed together. They each shift in their sleep, rolling towards the outside of the bed in unison.

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