"1981" "For my mother, my father, my sister" "Northern Italy, 1944" "My father was born in 1937 or '38." "I never remember." "Anyway, it's not important." "What's important is, my dad grew up during World War Il, when everyone was poor and in black and white." "Before the war his family was loaded." "But one day, for a reason that nobody remembers, the Hrauts burned down their inn." "They lost everything." "'Cause of that, my dad couldn't buy stuff for himself." "It was no big deal, since in his village nobody could buy stuff." "Until one day, maybe somebody was tired of not having colors or buying stuff, and pulled one on the Hrauts." "It seems that someone in your gang stole our radio transmitter." "I know the Hrauts must have spoken German, but the way Dad told it, everyone spoke French." "We'll settle this quick." "I have his name here." "If the guilty party steps forward now, the rest can go." "Otherwise we'll shoot someone at random every five minutes till we find our man." "All right?" "!" "Which one of you is named Benito?" "Whichever one of you is named Benito, step forward right now!" "Damn it all!" "I'll ask one last time!" "Benito better shake his butt and step forward or the fat lady gets whacked." "Jesus Christ!" "Don't take me for an idiot!" "They didn't take him for an idiot." "Back then the leader of Italy was named Benito." "Benito Mussolini was their leader." "If you named your son Benito, you got a check for $1." "People were so poor, it worked." " And?" " And nothing." "There were lots of Benitos." " But the radio?" " What about it?" "The thief-- who was it?" "An older kid, I think." " Did they kill him?" " Who?" "The real Benito, the one who stole the radio." "I can't remember." "Come on, you can't remember?" "It's been 40 years." "You forget things." "You never remember where you left your shoes." "That's so random." "At your age I'd never have dared ask my dad for a $400 watch." "It was the war." "Nobody ever asked for anything." "One Christmas, do you know what my present was?" "Soup, you told me." "A small bowl of soup." "Dad came up with a story every time I asked him to buy something, without fail." "Mom probably told you I was always reading this." "I sometimes Ieafed through it, just for fun." "I always checked out the same stuff:" "Calculator watches, page 61 ;" "Electronic racing cars, page 63;" "Hockey net, that was page 75;" "Motocross bikes-- l forget which page." "Besides, everybody read it." ""Consumer's Distributors" was big." "Me, in '81, my neatest stuff was Uncle André's kit, my "Star Wars" bedspread, a 3-speed with useless brakes..." "Ricardo!" "...Sonic soccer shoes with spikes, the new album by Hiss, "Dynasty,"" "two Bédard Movers caps..." "Ricardo!" "What?" "...and a Swiss Army Hnife I wasn't allowed to touch." "Ah!" "I had no more toys." "I'd thrown 'em out." "I was changing." "Getting interested in girls, except sis." "I needed some flashy stuff." "I needed a sound system with huge speakers, a stroboscope for parties-- to dance robot style-- moon boots-- but not this color-- the new Intellivision game console-- 'cause Atari's graphics sucked-- the new Cooper SH2001 hockey helmet" "with a face guard like Drolet had, an inground pool and a Rubik's Cube for the school bus." "I knew we were middle class, but barely." "We'd nearly been rejected 'cause my dad didn't go to university." "He didn't work in an office." "With his job, he never had meetings." "The one time he came back from one, it was 4:" "OO A.M." "and Mom didn't believe him." "Mom didn't have a degree either." "Grandpa was a logger." "All I know about Gran is that she liked potatoes." "At one point she realized she was stuck in a poor family, so she left the boonies and moved to Québec City." "She soon landed a job in a Chinese restaurant and could buy all the smokes she wanted." "Other stuff too, but she went through lots of smokes." "Mom says she left the North Shore 'cause of all the black flies, but nobody believes her." "My sister had just gotten a retainer so we couldn't understand her." "To cheer her up, Mom brought her a cat from a client who was getting divorced." "So all she thinks about now is her Caramel." "Oh, yeah, she always answered the phone." "It's long distance!" "What's St-Exupéry?" "The school's name." "Here it is." "Come on." " Hello." " Yes?" "It's my kids' first day." "Your name?" " Benito Trogi." " Benito Troji." "G. Trogi." "Benito Tro-gi." "Wait outside." "I'll tell Mr. Dagenais." "Nice here, huh?" "Dad hadn't gone to university 'cause of the war." "The Hrauts also burned down his school." "He didn't finish grade 3, so he couldn't help me much with my homework." "He was good in math, but conjugations?" "Forget it!" "Still, he was smart." "He could easily have been a lawyer." "You should apply to be a judge." "I don't like long hours." "I prefer to take my son shopping." "Check this, counselor!" "A calculator watch?" "I bought the same for Ricardo." "Christ, he's loaded!" "Hello, children." "Hello, sir." "Michel Dagenais, the principal." "Benito Trogi." " Mr. Troji." " Tro-gi." " Trogi." " Trogi." "Trogi." "Class, as I told you last week-- lf you wondered why Dad enunciated like that, you'll see." "His name is Ricardo Troggy." "It's Trogi." ""Trodgy," with a D?" "No, you just pronounce it that way." "I see." "All right, everyone, say hello to Ricardo Trogi." "Hello." "Ricardo just moved here, and that's always hard." "He'll need help getting to know the school and class." "Now to get to know him a bit, who'd like to ask Ricardo a question?" "Nobody's curious?" "Then I have a question for you." "What is the origin of the name" ""Ricardo"?" "." ""Origin" means where it's from, which country." "Nobody wants to guess?" "Ricardo, tell us where your name's from." "My dad is Italian." "Italian, that must be neat!" "Do you speak Italian?" "No, 'cause Mom's from here." "Okay." "So his name comes from Italy." "I think that'd be a great new word." "Ricardo, take some chalk and write your name in the box." "It'll help us remember." "Aline?" "I have a way to remember his name." "You do?" "It's like Ricardo Crunchy!" "Think you're funny?" " Apologize right now." " It was a joke." "Apologize right now!" " l'm sorry." " Stand up." " But Aline!" " Move, I don't have all day!" "I'm sorry." "Anybody else have a funny joke?" "Open your math books to page 31, division." "I know he was only joking, but I'd heard that one about Ricardo Crunchy so often that I was used to it." "The whole family had heard it." "Someone had told it in 1942." "Someone else in 1912." "It went back all the way to 1894." "Plus there are no other Trogis." "Someone tried to do our family tree, but they got nowhere." "There were no concentrations of us, even in Italy, and that meant we descended from Gypsies." "And back then, Gypsies didn't keep track." "They didn't use family names much." "The first Trogi wasn't even a Trogi." "He was some accordionist and suddenly it vanished from his head." "He couldn't remember his family name." "He must've tried, but it never came back." " He took any old word." " Trogi!" "And that word was Trogi." "What's going on?" "Beat it." "Go play with your class." "I don't know anybody." "Neither do I." "You know me, silly." "That doesn't count." "Okay, I overdid it, but put yourself in my shoes." "In sixth grade, who wants to hang out with immigrants?" "Go to hell!" "You too!" "After recess, it started to click." "I wasn't sure, but it seemed people in this school had dough." "Maybe not millions, but more than me." "They had mechanical pencils like my old teacher, and they cost a mint." "They had leather pencil cases." "It seemed obligatory." "Nobody had a plastic one like mine." "It might seem like a small detail, but that's just the start." "I'm sure lots of 'em had inground swimming pools." "I could feel it." "They all wore sweatshirts and white turtlenecks." "It was the fashion." "Ricardo, would you come up here please?" "Bring your book with you." "I hope you don't call that a book." "I didn't know we were reading." "Take this." "At St-Ex School everyone's read "The Little Prince."" "I've already read it." "It'll have to do for today." "Did you do dictation before?" "Not too often, no." "We do it every morning." "Really?" "Do you know longhand?" " Yes." " Perfect." "Go sit down." "No, you can have it back at the end of the day." "Aline, about the catalog" "Forget the catalog." "Go sit down." " l can't write longhand." " You can't?" "At my old school we were going to start." "Why so late?" "How do I know?" " Tomorrow I have dictation." " Tomorrow?" "It's okay, I'll teach you." " l'm not working tonight." " Very funny!" " What?" " Your French is lousy." "We use the same letters." "Of the 100 Polish immigrants" "Their damn school reform is to blame."