Chapter 4

Chloé brings someone home

  1. Sunday lunch in the dining room: Gérard half stands to yell at the old TV, Monique has her arms crossed, Chloé is on her phone, Papy René is asleep.

    LIARS! ALL OF THEM! AND THE ROAST TOO!

    Sunday at Saint-Curd, Wisconsin. The American news is on, the roast is served, and Gérard yells at both.

  2. Through the window: Kévin parks a huge rusty pickup truck in Monique’s geraniums, grinning; behind him, the red barn and the cornfields.

    VROOOM!

    Then a pickup truck parks in Monique’s geraniums.

  3. Chloé walks in without looking up from her phone. Behind her, Kévin waves: tiny head, huge shoulders, red cap on backwards, American flag T-shirt.

    This is Kévin. He’s literally my boyfriend.

    Hey! Big fan. You guys are so authentic!

  4. Close-up on Gérard, frozen, eyes bulging at Kévin, a twisted fork in his fist.

    Monique. He called us authentic. Like a cheese in a museum.

  5. Monique, arms crossed and one eyebrow up, looks Kévin up and down; Kévin gives a proud thumbs up.

    And what do you do, Kévin?

    Content creator!

    So, nothing.

  6. Papy René, suddenly awake, shakes Kévin’s hand with both of his, moved to tears: he takes him for a western star. Kévin bends down, smiling stiffly.

    Hank Tumbleweed! You died very well in your western!

    …thanks?

  7. Kévin crouches to film the roast with his phone; behind him Gérard turns the color of wine and points at the plate.

    Your roast is a bit dry for the algorithm, Madame.

    HA! Even the boy knows! Thirty years I’m chewing this shoe!

  8. Monique brings a baguette down on Gérard’s head: his beret flies, he collapses with crossed eyes. Kévin films it, delighted. Papy René looks straight at us, his glass of red raised.

    BONK!

    In 1965, Hank Tumbleweed brought wine.