21 Days in October (11 page)

A door slams and feet race up the stairs. As always, his two brothers tumble into his room. They scream:

“Happy birthday!”

“Come on! Get up!”

They tickle him. He struggles, but they know all of his sensitive spots too well. He gives it right back to them. All three writhe with laughter.

“Leave me alone if you want me to get up!”

This is all he needs to sweep away his dark thoughts. You shouldn't be too serious when you're sixteen.

His mother and father are waiting for him in the kitchen. A birthday cake sits on the table. He counts: all sixteen candles are there. He blows them out with one breath. His family launches into: “Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you…”

His brothers hug him. His parents hold him tightly in their arms. They seem happy. Deep down, they are proud of their son who has begun his life as a factory worker.

His mother gives him her gift: a sweater that she has knit for him. His father gives him a hunting jacket.

“We'll get back out there next year.”

His two brothers hand him an envelope. Inside he finds a ticket to a Charlebois concert.

“I love you guys! I've been wanting to see him live for so long! Thank you!”

His mother explains that the two boys had saved up their money from the deliveries they make each weekend for the neighbourhood grocer and they had been collecting empty bottles.

Moved, Gaétan doesn't know what to say. In his family they aren't given to sharing their emotions. Feelings are generally kept inside. But being so warmly surrounded is comforting; he realizes that his family is still his best sanctuary.

After supper, everyone gathers around the small screen to watch the show
Moi et l'autre
. They wouldn't miss it for anything in the world. But Gaétan has better things to do; he takes this moment to slip out.

“Where's he goin'?” his father worries.

“He's going to see his girlfriend.”

“The one who lives in the commune? It might not last that long. But now that he's working and goin' out and meetin' girls, he won't hang around here too much longer.”

“I'd like to keep him a bit more.”

“Don't get your hopes up. The bird's gonna leave the nest soon.”

“Hey, be quiet! We can't hear Dominique and Denise's jokes.”

Gaétan knocks. No answer. He enters. The apartment is dark, but Louise had told him to come by her apartment to celebrate his birthday. He goes as far as the dining room.

Suddenly, rock music bursts from a thousand places and light splashes everywhere, dazzling him. Louise jumps into his arms and kisses him.

“Happy birthday! I made them all leave for tonight. I didn't feel like having them around. Happy to be sixteen?”

“I dunno. I've been all mixed up since this morning.”

“You feel sick?”

“No, it's in my head. I don't know what I'm doing anymore.”

“Here, I have a present for you.”

She hands him a small, flat package. He opens it, touched.

A book.

It's the first time someone's ever given him a book for a present. He's a bit overwhelmed.

“Look at the title and author.”

L'Homme rapaillé
by Gaston Miron.

“There are some terrific poems in a really distinctive style. His language is sovereign, just like he said. He reinvents the way to talk about love. He expresses the pain and longing of someone who wants to build an entire country.”

Swept up in her enthusiasm, she opens the book and begins to read at random. Gaétan isn't used to these words. He doesn't really understand what they mean, but their rhythm and sound are strong enough to blow him away. He could listen to this forever.

Unfortunately, he has to break the spell.

“I have to go. You know, every day I feel less like going to the shop. I'm not lazy, but—it sounds strange to say—I feel like I'm wasting my time, like there's just a dead end ahead. Sometimes I wonder if I should go back to school. Ever since I spent those two days locked up, nothing's the same. I'm all confused and I feel like life is all off track!”

“You know, you can get your diploma by going to night school. And after, at Cégep, you can apply for a scholarship. You'd finish in two years instead of one. It might be worth it to try. I could help you.”

“I don't know if I could work and study at the same time.”

Gaétan is silent for a moment, thinking. Then, almost sheepishly, he adds, “And I don't really want to leave my neighbourhood. I love it there. It feels alive, all the colours and the smells. I just want the people in my neighbourhood to be respected so they can live properly and earn a living in their own language.”

“Maybe you should consider going into politics!”

L
e Journal de Montréal
is lying on the kitchen table. On the front page are pictures of the members of the FLQ who have just been arrested. The headline declares that the police have just broken up an FLQ information cell known as the “Viger Cell.” The members are mainly eighteen to twenty-five-year-olds. Among them Gaétan recognizes Paul.

He sinks into his chair.

He was right; Paul has ties to the FLQ.

Gaétan keeps reading. The article explains that for the past few weeks police have been searching for this labourer who has been involved in the trade union struggles. According to them, he went into hiding in early September. He already had a police record and spent several months in jail for planting bombs in Westmount mailboxes. His cell, the Viger Cell, had been created to distribute FLQ reports.

Gaétan thinks about the paper with the
Patriote
header that he saw lying on Luc's kitchen counter. Everything becomes clear; he realizes now that he just missed out on getting caught up in something completely out of his control.

And Luc?

He rereads the article carefully, but his name doesn't appear anywhere.

“Anyway, if all this is true,” Gaétan thinks, “they won't release Luc. The police know that Paul slept at his house. He'll probably at least be charged with aiding terrorists. There's definitely a reason he hasn't been released yet. Poor Mme Maheu!”

In a different article, the newspaper also reports that several individuals who were being held since October 16 will appear in court today. But again, there is no mention of Luc.

Gaétan folds the newspaper up and decides to pass by the courthouse to see if his friend is among the accused. But just as he is about to leave, there is a knock at the door.

“Now's not a good time,” he grumbles as he goes to answer.

Luc is right there in front of him, beaming. The two friends exchange a warm hug.

“So, we goin' to get that beer? I just got back from some forced time off at Parthenais Beach. I've got so much to tell you.”

“Me too. You're just in time, I was about to head to the courthouse. I was sure you were gonna go before the judge today.”

“You thought I was in the FLQ?”

“I gotta admit that with everything that's happened in the past three weeks I don't know what to think now!”

“Well I don't know anything. They kept us in solitary confinement the whole time. Zero information from the outside world. You'll have to tell me all about it.”

“Look at the newspaper, there's a picture of Paul.”

“Why?”

“Read the article.”

Luc frowns.

“Unbelievable! That guy can't possibly be a terrorist. He always told me you had to get involved in unions if you wanted change. And he would never hurt anyone.”

“Maybe he was sick of being nice. Did you know that he was staying at your place for a few days while you were in jail?”

“That's possible. He told me he'd lost his apartment 'cause he got into a fight with his landlord. He was looking for a place to stay. I told him he could come whenever he wanted. I didn't think it was to hide. But you're right—I got pretty close to being charged. But the police must have believed me because in the end they let me go. Pretty long, three weeks. Anyway, if there's one thing I learned, it's that one day we're gonna get our country back! I don't think they got anywhere by throwing all those people in jail. The opposite, actually.”

“I don't know … Most people support the government, and Mayor Drapeau was re-elected, hands down.”

“You got any other good news for me?”

“I think I fell in love.”

“Wow! You'll do anything when I'm not around!”

The two friends head out, wrapped up in their winter coats. As the first snow falls lightly over Montréal, they walk with a spring in their step towards the tavern, ready to change the world. And this time, winter has certainly arrived.

October 5
: the FLQ's Liberation cell kidnaps James Richard Cross, British Trade Com­missioner to Montréal. They issue a statement demanding the release of twenty-three detained FLQ sympathizers as well as the broadcast of the FLQ Manifesto.

October 7
: first radio broadcast of the FLQ Manifesto on the CKAC radio station.

October 8
: the television news anchorman on Radio-Canada, CBC's French network, reads the FLQ Manifesto.

October 10
: Québec's Justice Minister refuses to negotiate with the FLQ. This decision prompts the Chénier cell to kidnap Pierre Laporte, Québec's Deputy Premier and the Minister of Labour.

October 11
: Robert Bourassa, Premier of Québec, announces his intention to negotiate with the FLQ. In fact, the supposed negotiations are meant to stall for time.

October 14
: “Call of Sixteen.” Sixteen eminent Québec personalities, including the head of the Parti Québécois, René Lévesque, the publisher of
Le Devoir,
Claude Ryan, and three union leaders call for the government to release the FLQ sympathizers in exchange for the two hostages. The Call of Sixteen leads to rumours about a provisional government and the threat of a coup.

October 15
: the Canadian Army sends 8,000 troops to occupy Québec.

October 16
: at 4 o'clock in the morning, the federal government proclaims a state of “apprehended insurrection” and invokes the War Measures Act. The Canadian Bill of Rights is suspended. In the hours and days that follow, some 500 people (actors, singers, poets, writers, journalists, union leaders, and activists) are imprisoned without a warrant. Prisoners could be detained incommunicado for up to twenty-one days without access to their families or a lawyer. Ninety percent of detainees are released without charge. The army protects rich neighbourhoods and government buildings.

October 17
: the Chenier cell announces that Pierre Laporte has been executed. The circumstances of his death remain unclear even today.

October 20
: Pierre Laporte's state funeral.

October 25
: Montréal's municipal elections are held; Mayor Jean Drapeau is re-elected with an overwhelming majority.

November 5
: release of almost all prisoners still being detained since their arrest on October 16. Only twenty-four people are brought to court, the majority of whom are acquitted.

November 6
: Bernard Lortie, member of the Chénier cell, is arrested.

November 25
: after trailing the suspects, police discover where James Richard Cross is being held in Montréal-North.

December 3
: following negotiations with the FLQ, Cross is released after fifty-nine days of captivity. In exchange, his abductors are granted safe passage to Cuba.

December 28
: Paul Rose, Jacques Rose, and Francis Simard, all members of the Chénier cell, are arrested.

January 4, 1971
: the Canadian Army withdraws its troops from cities in Québec, but the War Measures remain in force until April 30, 1971.

*
From Louis Fournier's F.L.Q.,
Anatomy of an Under­ground Movement
, NC Press, 1984, and
F.L.Q. Histoire d'un mouvement clandestin
, Lanctôt, 2001.

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