My Name Is Leon

by Kit de Waal

‘Are you from America?’ Leon asks. ‘I’ve been called some bad things in my time. That’s one of the worst. I am an Irishman, child.

He looks at the mess that the police have made of the path. He looks at the plants their black boots have trampled. ‘They’re the same all over the world,’ he says. ‘Small minds, big feet.’

Do you understand? It’s hard work. It might look easy but it isn’t. Responsibility never is. What does responsibility mean?’ ‘When you’re in charge of something.’ ‘That’s only part of it.’ ‘And it means you have to look after something and it’s always there in your mind even when you can’t see it because you’re thinking about it all the time and you have to make sure it’s safe and everything you do is about looking after that thing and making sure it’s all right even when you don’t want to do it. Because that’s your job.’

‘When people fuck with you, you got a choice. You fuck back or you swallow down.’