The Trotsky Page #2

- Yeah.

- Jesus. Yeah, O.., Ma.

- O...

Oh, t'es fin! T'es fin!

l want you to

do me another favour.

- Mm-hmm?

- l want you to come

on Friday for Shabbat.

- Oh! l...

l--l--l don't want

to eat with that man.

- For me.

Do it for me. Please?

- l'll make all your favourites.

- Shepherd's pie?

- Oui.

Merci, mon chou.

- l love you very much, mom.

e careful.

- Bien sr.

- O..?

- Hmm.

- Thank you very much

for not pissing on me.

- xcuse me, sir.

re you Frank McGovern?

- Yeah.

- Oh, l'm so glad you're here.

- l'm not here. l'm leaving.

l'll be back this afternoon.

- Oh, no, no, no.

Uh, we need to talk now.

Um, unfortunately, neither of us

has any choice in the matter.

lt's fate.

l mean it's...

not just that the conditions

were deplorable,

which they were,

believe you me.

Certain people weren't being

given a full hour for lunch,

let alone any semblance

of a break.

l mean, are we in

the industrial revolution?

Have these people never heard

of the Reform ill of 1832?

This is all to say

- that each of these ills seem

- union.

- nd so you staged

a hunger strike?

- Yes, l did.

perfectly legal hunger strike.

fter which

l was detained illegally

at the urging of my father.

- nd now you wanna--

- Sue him.

- For?

- l don't know.

What are my options?

l'm thinking, uh, wrongful

imprisonment, false arrest?

l--l--l'm not sure.

You see, this is

why l need council.

- No, l don't know

how l can help you, kid.

l haven't practiced law

in 20 years.

- Yeah, that's right,

not since the concentrator

and pellet facility

closed down

in Sept-les in 1982.

- Right.

ut l still don't think

you need a lawyer.

- Oh yes, l do.

nd l need it to be you.

- lt's Leon, right?

- Yes, sir.

- Well, Leon, you're half right.

You need counselling.

ut you haven't got a case

against your father.

Sorry.

- This isn't over.

- Yeah, it is.

- What would your colleagues of

the Communist Party of Canada,

which you led from 1971 to 1982,

think of you turning me down?

- You're following me?

- Maybe.

- Go home.

- ln your Ph. D. dissertation,

you stated that

the dialectic is only growing...

that the illusion

of the middle class will die

and that a new

leadership will rise

from the ashes of that dream.

- My writing isn't that flowery.

- l am that leadership!

What about your fellow

Vietnam War draft dodgers?

What about taking haven

in this country

and in turn becoming

the chief architect and guinea pig

for our extradition laws!

Don't you feel an obligation

to see our labour laws

progress further?

- l'm this far away

from calling the cops, Leon.

- l'm not freaked-out

about finishing my Ph. D.

Maybe l don't want to go back

to being a Federal prosecutor.

- Oh, for Christ's sake!

- Please take my case!

- You have no case to take, Leon.

- How--

What the hell happened to you?

- Get up off the street!

- h! l see...

Have you, uh, turned into

one of those people?

- Sorry, lexandra.

- You Menshevik!

- This is Leon.

- Wait, wait!

Stop, stop, stop, stop.

oth of you.

You.

Uh, what is your name?

- lexandra.

- ls she making that up?

- Why would anyone do that?

- Uh, yeah, yeah.

How old are you?

- How old are you?

- Uh, 17 and three quarters.

Give or take.

How old are you?

- l'm a whole 27.

- Oh my god!

Oh my god!

Oh, my god! lt's happening.

lt's happening.

So it's happening.

- What's happening, Leon?

- Uh, l think

l'm gonna throw up.

- What are you talking about?

- O.., you see, ever since

l first heard about him,

when l was a little boy,

and then as l got older,

l swear to you more and more

things started making sense.

nd now, this...

This whole...

- Uh...

- This is...

What l'm about to say to you,

l've never said aloud,

aside from when l'm pretending

that Gourevitch is interviewing

me for The Paris Review.

Uh...

So, uh...

l'm the reincarnation

of Leon Trotsky.

Uh, and you and l

are gonna get married.

Nice to meet you.

- Leon! Leon!

l think it might be better

if you just let her go.

- Really?

Huh. Fair enough.

l mean it's, uh,

it's inevitable anyways, so...

- Right.

- Yeah.

Leon? Supper.

- One minute.

- Oh, come on. You can finish

your little revolution after you eat.

- Please stop reading my journal!

- Well, l figured out

why you're gonna marry him.

- Did he tell you?

No! l looked it up.

Listen to this here.

"Long before Leon Trotsky

and Lenin stormed into Russia

"and created the first

communist state in 1917..."

- Hey, Tiger.

l'm not in your first year

World History survey class.

l know who Trotsky was.

- Fine, then l guess you know

that Trotsky's first wife

was named lexandra, right?

- ig deal.

- And that she was 9 years

older than he,

and that they were introduced

by a man named Franz...

something Czech...

who hosted politically-themed

garden parties in iev, where Trotsky--

then of course still Leon Bronstein--

went to school.

- Come on...

- l'm reading it out of the biography.

You can borrow it.

- No, thanks.

- You should.

- It's kind of creepy.

- Yeah.

- Creepy, funny, harmless.

- For now,

until he starts stalking me.

nd l get the vibe

that's right up his alley.

What's so funny?

- lt's just that apparently

lexandra hated Leon

when she first met him.

- Hmm. lt's so nice

to have you back, Leon.

lt's always so nice when the whole

family is here for Shabbat.

- Yeah, you're always such

a pleasure, Leon.

- l hate you, li.

- Go home, li. Just go.

- See, this is my dad's home too,

which means it's my home.

So l can't really go home,

but nice try.

- li.

- What?

- You're unbelievable.

- She started it.

l'm just-- O...

Sarah, can you stop?

For God's sake.

- - Yeah.

- Shh!

- How's the brisket?

- lt's dry.

- lt's pretty good for a shiksa, Mom.

- li!

- What?

- Dad, make him stop please!

- Sarah!

- l have a question for you.

Leon, you recognize this, don't you?

My Life, by Leon Trotsky.

- How--how did you--

Uh, have l been betrayed so soon?

- Leon!

- You are such a dipshit.

- Can you not act your age?

- l am.

- For God's sake!

- Now, circa 1860 or so...

l just can't find

where your Leon went to

a boarding school in here.

- lt wasn't at

a boarding school.

lt was a public school with

a liberal arts emphasis.

- Oh, of course. l'm sorry.

- l'm sorry.

- Of course

it was a public school.

Let me get it straight.

lt's a little confusing.

So this Leon's father, he didn't

have to pay for his son's--

What would you call it?

lngratitude? lnsensitivity?

- Delusion?

- How dare you?

- l am just asking a question.

- O.., wait.

sk my lawyer!

- Just calm down, Leon.

- Your what?

- l'm calm!

- Will you stop?

- No, he's passionate!

You believe in something.

You have a hero...

- Please stop, David!

lt's upsetting him!

- He's a great man.

Look how thick the book is.

ut listen, you want

to be just like him?

l'm gonna make it

really easy for you.

This coming fall, you, Leon,

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