The Grasshopper Read online

  “Never. Neither Raul or I. Mr. Mayor, can you imagine me sitting down with Kaella and trying to change the world in small steps? As president Xing had done? He pushed back the first medical exam one year, he subsidized two percent of medical treatment costs… Can you imagine me in that role?”

  “I can’t. But what was your goal then? You must have had some concrete goal.”

  “Concrete? I don’t know how concrete it is for you, but my goal was to awaken the people, to spread free thinking… And Raul? He was planning on establishing a parallel government… He was convinced that the people’s resistance would increase enough and that Kaella would fall… that the system would simply collapse by itself. But neither of us were interested in the position of Kaella’s president. We entered the presidential race just so that we could have a greater opportunity to spread our ideas.”

  “I understand.”

  “Tell me, please, how is it that you and Raul decided to sedate me and bring me to this shelter?”

  “It wasn’t our decision. Raul demanded it of me. I mean, he didn’t demand… He convinced me.”

  “How?”

  “The most important thing for Raul was that you are safe until the elections. He believed that you would be safest in Megapolis, but that you had to be isolated and that you should not be allowed out into the street.”

  “Actually, for me to be locked up.”

  “Yes.”

  “As I am.”

  “Yes. And that no one should know where you are. Not even your staff, or anyone from my surroundings. Just him and me.”

  “Why did he trust you? And why did you agree to it at all, Mr. Mayor?”

  “Wouldn’t you trust me, Alexander? Don’t you trust me now? Now, that I have hidden my family here, too?”

  “I trust you, I trust you… Forgive me, please.”

  “You’re surely wondering why I’ve sheltered my family, when all the other people, all the other families are in jeopardy?”

  “I’m not wondering…”

  “I have to save Megapolis. I cannot allow myself to be vulnerable. I cannot allow Erivan’s squires to threaten my wife and children… to abduct them and blackmail me.”

  “Certainly, Mr. Mayor. Only you can save this city. You did the right thing.”

  “Yes… I hope so. The people, the citizens of Megapolis will judge me for this one day…” Seneca said deep in thought, and continued “And why I agreed to lock you up and safeguard you…” Seneca slightly smiled, recalling his conversation with Raul. “Raul was really talkative… He told me that it was best for me to keep you captive and to simply wait for the situation to unravel. I can always use you to benefit my Megapolis. I could hand you over to the Kaellas if it were necessary to protect the city. You can imagine, Raul teaching me how to hand you over to the Kaellas.”

  “My friend Raul…” Pascal smiled also, “Typical of him. Once he starts persuading someone…”

  “I told him that if I were to hand you over to Kaella, the citizens of Megapolis would carry me out of the city on their hands and throw me in the nearest ditch. When I think about how the students would react… Alexander, do you know that I allowed you into the city only because of the young people. Otherwise I would have refused Raul when he called me up, a year ago. It’s been a year, since we’ve been together, right?”

  “Yes, almost a year… but I didn’t know that… about the students.”

  “I had some problems at the University, in the student dorms… and that was very difficult for me to bear. You know, I consider the University the gem of Megapolis.”

  “I know. I felt that in you, Mr. Mayor. What problems did you have?”

  “Well… that’s not important now. We’ll talk… I’ll come by. But… then my wife recommended…”

  “Your wife?”

  “Yes. She’s an artistic soul. An art historian… You know what they are like… and she knows the mentality of the students. She was a teaching assistant at the University. And then, when Peter was born, we agreed that she should stay home and be with our son. Eir came along later… and my wife never did return to the university. It doesn’t matter. She is like that. She has a feeling for young people… and I don’t. I’m a practical person, a realist. I don’t understand these things… and that is why I didn’t cope well with the situation. And my wife recommended that I invite you, to visit Megapolis and the University. To speak to the students.”

  “You were right, Svetlana. The Mayor listened to her. You were right about everything, Svetlana,” Pascal thought.

  “Alexander, I realized that Megapolis couldn’t be isolated from the world. That the entire world must be free so that Megapolis could shine with all its splendor. And only you can change the world, just as you changed my students.”

  Chapter 78

  Off all the things in the world, what Sayash and Lucky loved the most were the movies. In the theater Lucky would sit in Sayash’s lap, and Sayash would pet his hairy head, passing his index finger between Lucky’s two pointy and unusually large ear, covered in light brown spiky hair, as were his nose and paws, unlike the black, slightly curly hair that Lucky used to cover his small and slender but muscly and tough body from unwanted eyes.

  Sayash got all soft. He remembered how the two best friends first met. And he passed the fingers of his other hand beneath Lucky’s chin, even though Lucky did not explicitly demand this type of petting in the theatre.

  “Come on, Lucky, pal. I had no idea that you were in that dumpster,” Sayash repeated yet again the same story to Lucky. That was why Lucky wasn’t listening to him at all, but rather was entirely focused on the movie. “How could I know? Right? I’m telling you, it was pure luck that your buddy Sayash came along. I opened your dumpster and what did I see?! Not what, but who did I see! But I barely saw you, Lucky, do you know that? You were a little baby… man, you were… I could fit you in the palm of my hand, that’s how small you were. And completely hairless. You were covered with snot and phlegm. A disgrace, but we won’t tell anyone about it. And look at how tall you are now, buster! Fourteen and a half centimeters, man! Not only fourteen! But a half, too! And Lucky, you really irritated me… I straightened out your tail to measure you, to see how long my little dude is, and instead of stretching your neck as much as you can, you turned your silly little head and looked at me, puzzled by what I was doing. Oh, I was so angry… but it doesn’t matter… somewhere between thirty eight and forty centimeters. Depends on how I cut your hair. That’s a good length! You fit in my arms perfectly. You’re just right for me, Lucky!”

  When Sayash would stop petting him between the ears, Lucky would have some understanding for his friend if there were no finger on his head for a moment. He knew that Sayash wanted to look good in the theatre and that he scrunched his eyebrows, and that he would soon put back his finger and continue petting him. And when Sayash would start jabbering like this, or stare at the screen, and when the finger would remain motionless between his ears, Lucky would smack him with his tail on the leg, without taking his eyes off the screen. And Sayash would resume petting him. And this now, when the finger was motionless and the other hand still played with the hairs beneath his chin, which he neither demanded nor deemed important – that angered Lucky so much that he turned his head, shot arrows out of his eyes at Sayash, and whacked him twice with his tail. On the stomach.

  “Oh, sorry, Lucky… I got carried away…” said Sayash, quickly moving his finger back and forth. “And you… you have to get mad immediately? And hit me twice, hmm? I’m asking you a question, Lucky!”

  Chapter 79

  “The man is a beast,” Seneca said to Pascal.

  “Erivan?” Pascal asked.

  “Yes. He reduced to dust an entire street in Capital City, which Xing’s motorcade was going down. He killed hundreds of people. And children, pupils. A monster! He’s a monster! And that is why I have to safeguard you. I have to convince you to stay in the shelter. Raul is right. He said…” Sene
ca fell silent.

  “What did he say, Mr. Mayor? Tell me everything. I want to know everything,” Pascal said.

  “I didn’t want to make things more difficult for you tonight, to tell you the details. I’ll tell you another time. When some time has passed, when we calm down a bit.”

  “Tell me now. There are no details more horrific than their deaths.”

  “When I called him, while I explained that Erivan’s planes were flying towards them, Raul was silent - the entire time. He didn’t pay attention at all to the fact that your airplanes were taking off, that my squadron was around them… He knew that all of them together didn’t stand a chance, that they were too few… He was just silent. When I finally fell finished, he said ‘Seneca, in the entire world, only you know where Pascal is.’ It didn’t occur to me what he would do, so I was surprised. How was it that only I knew, how about him… and all your people knew that you weren’t on the airplane. And Raul repeated once again ‘Only you, Seneca.’” Pascal bowed his head. Seneca continued. “And he only said that thing… that I must safeguard you, that you are the world’s only hope… and he hung up, Alexander. He simply hung up.”

  “Terrible, terrible…” Pascal whispered.

  “Julius, you came,” said Manami, entering the living room.

  “Why aren’t you sleeping, Manami?” Seneca asked.

  “Eir is sleeping restlessly. She’s excited… she turned over and woke me up. And then I heard you. Can I get you anything? Would you like some tea? Do you want something to eat?”

  “I’ve already eaten. But I’d like a large cup of coffee,” said Seneca. “Because when I go back to the office I have to function all day long, and I haven’t had any sleep.”

  “Sleep here a bit, Julius.”

  “I can’t. I don’t have any time. I’ll have the coffee and leave.”

  “And you, Mr. Alexander, you haven’t eaten anything all day.”

  “No, thank you, ma’am. I’d like some coffee, too, if it’s not too much trouble.”

  Manami prepared the coffee in the kitchen. The dining room table and the kitchen were separated only by a counter. Manami listened to her husband say

  “The only difference between Raul and me is that now that he’s gone I cannot hold you here against your will, Alexander. I’ve already told you, I want you to stay as long as necessary. Raul thought that we would hold you captive only until the elections and he knew that you would forgive him. And now we don’t know how long this war will last.”

  “It’s not about how long the war will last, Mr. Mayor,” said Pascal. “Even if it lasts only one day, I have to be with the people during these times. I will go to one of our cities, anyone, and I will fight against Erivan. I know that I’m not a commander. Perhaps I am this world’s only chance… or a dreamer, as someone told me…” Pascal paused, wanting Manami to hear, to understand why he cannot obey her wishes, why he could not stay. “But I will cease to be that if I hide here like the greatest coward. Come on, tell me, Mr. Mayor, what would you do in my place? What would Raul do?”

  “Both Raul and I would think like you, Alexander. And we’d go to the fight. But neither Raul or I are Pascal Alexander. First of all – the two of us would be good commanders,” Seneca smiled.

  “That’s true,” Pascal smiled back.

  At that moment Manami placed a cup of coffee in front of her husband and stood behind him.

  “Thank you, Manami,” said Seneca, lowering his head and raising the cup to his mouth.

  Manami and Pascal looked at each other, as though it was green tea, as though they were in the salon of her house. She moved her lips silently, and from them Pascal read

  “Stay. Stay. Stay.”

  Chapter 80

  Having taken a sip of coffee, Seneca raised his eyes towards Pascal. When he saw that Pascal was persistently looking past him, looking at his wife, Seneca turned towards her slightly and asked

  “And the coffee for Mr. Alexander, Manami?”

  “Yes, right away, Julius… I was just waiting for you to try… Is it sweet enough?” said Manami, while returning to the kitchen.

  “Yes, is good,” said Seneca and continued. “I’ve already told you, Alexander. By leaving the shelter you’ll be rendering the your friends’ sacrifice, a courageous act – futile. In any case, what do you think, Alexander? That all this that you are saying didn’t occur to Raul? That he wasn’t thinking about that while he was silent during our conversation? That he didn’t think of the possibility that you might come across as being a coward if you stayed? He did, Alexander. You can be sure of that. In such moments, when a person knows that they are about to die and that they will die for you, in the moments of such courage, such determination, Alexander – a person’s thoughts are surely crystal clear. And he obviously didn’t believe that you remaining in the shelter would represent an act of cowardice.”

  “Mr. Mayor…” Pascal interrupted him, then paused while Manami placed a cup of coffee in front of him. He continued when Manami had sat down next to her husband and looked at him. “Raul… all my friends made the decision for me. I don’t make decisions about my life anymore… about myself. Am I the hope? Am I a criminal who caused the war? The man who created the opportunity for an Erivan to sow evil throughout the world? Am I a dreamer? Am I a coward? I don’t know. And I don’t care. Others decide that. Someone else…” Pascal briefly looked at Manami and returned to Seneca. “I’ll stay in the shelter, Mr. Mayor. And if you don’t mind, I’ll retire to my quarters now.”

  “Certainly, certainly, Alexander. I’ll be leaving now, too.” Seneca took another sip of coffee and got up from the table. “I’d just like for you to lock the door behind me, to see how it works. Here’s the key,” Seneca held out a card.

  “Good night, Julius,” said Manami, heading towards her quarters. “Actually, for you a new day is just beginning. And who knows what it will be like. Who knows what all awaits you.”

  “I’ll make it through, Manami. I’m much more at ease now that we’ve reached an agreement with Mr. Alexander. You get some sleep, until the children wake up.” Seneca was already heading out the door of the shelter. “Lock up, Alexander.”

  Pascal closed the door behind him and locked it. When he heard Seneca’s elevator go up he turned towards the interior of the room. Manami was standing in front of her door. They looked at each other for a long time, in silence.

  “Give me the key, sir,” Manami finally said.

  “The key? The card?” Pascal was surprised.

  “Yes. The key will be with me at all times. In my room. You are an impulsive man, sir, and I cannot trust you.”

  Pascal walked up to her and handed her the key. “Here you are, ma’am.”

  “Am I that ‘other’ who decides about your life, sir?”

  “Yes, you are, ma’am. You decided,” Pascal said quietly.

  “You’re wrong. I didn’t. You decided. Good night, sir,” said Manami and entered her quarters.

  “Good night… my love,” Pascal whispered, after Manami had shut the door.

  Chapter 81

  “Grasshopper, how much longer until reach the Command?” asked Erivan, when the Grasshopper answered his call from the flight deck.

  “Another ten hours, Mr. President. Why do you ask?”

  “Well… no special reason. Just to complain a bit…”

  “What do you wish to complain about, Mr. President? Did someone…”

  “The grieving parents are infuriating me!”

  “The parents of the pupils from Short Street?”

  “Them. Imagine, they don’t want to give statements. Like – its difficult for them.”

  “Doubters!” said the displeased Grasshopper.

  “They locked themselves in their apartments and won’t let the television crews in.”

  “Well break down their doors, Mr. President.”

  “I don’t need you to lecture me!”

  “I apologize…”

 
“Of course I sent the inspectors. They drove the parents into the children’s rooms… and all around – school charts, toys, posters, pictures of the children on the walls… just as it should be.”

  “Now I’m relieved,” the Grasshopper sighed a sigh of relief.

  “And they complained, whined…”

  “Wonderful!”

  “You’ll see it tonight, right after the evening news. A special program.”

  “I don’t know whether I’ll be able to watch. I’ll be reaching the Command about then. But I’ll watch it later. I’m excited about it.”

  “Well… We can’t exactly be excited, Grasshopper. Those are our children, consumers. But, what can we do about it, right?”

  “We can’t do anything at all, Mr. President.”

  “In every war you have colonoscopic damages.”

  “A very adequate name, Mr. President.”

  “No, no. I meant coronarographic damages.”

  “Well, you could use that too, if the heart were not just a pump.”

  “They keep forcing me to have all these tests, Grasshopper, and then that’s all that’s in my head. I’m not crazy to go for tests, and for them to find something. You really like to be a smart aleck, do you? OK, tell me what it is.”

  “Collateral damage.”

  “What?”

  “Col-lat…” the Grasshopper pronounced the syllables.

  “Col-lat…” Erivan repeated.

  “…er-al.”

  “…er-al.”

  “Col-lat-er…” the Grasshopper helped Erivan pronounce the entire word.