The Grasshopper Read online

  “How is it possible that Prince approved a budget for such things?” Pascal wondered.

  “Because it was advantageous. Megapolis was gaining respect and significance. Apartments and office rent went up. Parents tried to work more and make more money so that they could send their children to Megapolis to school. There were numerous benefits.”

  “I understand. And what problems appeared?”

  “Like everywhere: hopelessness, pointlessness. The initial hope, which lasted for the first several generations, faded, disappeared, because the best graduates, Masters and PhDs, ultimately faced the reality of Kaella’s society. You only do what generates money for the Kaellas. And whatever you make, regardless of how much it is – you spend. You don’t create anything. You don’t leave anything behind you. Neither spiritually nor materially. In any case, why am I telling you this? This is why you mobilized the people against the regime.”

  “Yes. The Mayor said that you proposed…”

  “And that is why the results of the next several generations of students were poorer. They didn’t go to class. Alcohol, drugs, parties and depravity were widespread. It was especially hard on Julius when this happened in the two student dorms. It also bothered Noah a lot.”

  “Your Noah? Levi?” Pascal asked.

  “Yes. He wanted to quit Public Administration studies and transfer to the Inspectorate Academy. His parents and we tried to talk him out of it. He was an excellent student. We all thought that he would succeed his father as Mayor of Capital City. Or Julius here. But he was adamant.”

  “Did you really propose to the Mayor that he invite me? To talk to the students?”

  “This entire time, sir… you were only interested in whether I was…” Manami fell silent.

  “Yes. That’s all I’m interested in, ma’am.”

  “I don’t know… perhaps. The only thing I know for certain is that I had to meet you.”

  Chapter 95

  “Mom, when will dad come?”

  “I don’t know, Peter. You know that your father is busy. Let’s get you to bed.”

  “I don’t want to. Dad comes at night. And you don’t wake me.”

  “He also comes during the day. And you can’t interrupt children’s sleep, son.”

  “What difference does it make? Why do we care whether its day or night?” Peter still protested.

  “Peter, we can’t allow ourselves to not care. We have to keep our natural rhythm. Even under artificial conditions. Like Eir, you see…”

  “Eir! But she’s just a baby, mom!”

  “You’re mom’s baby too,” Manami kissed her son’s hair. “Come on, let’s get you to bed.”

  Peter silently got up from the armchair.

  “OK, I promise you,” said Manami when she saw how sad her son was. “If dad comes tonight, I’ll wake you up. But just tonight.”

  “Really?” Peter was overjoyed.

  “Really. I see that you want to be present when Mr. Alexander speaks well of you to your father. How smart you are and how you know everything.”

  “I want to,” Peter smiled. “But also the other thing we agreed to ask him.”

  “Alright, alright… we’ll ask him,” Manami smiled. “Now off to bed.”

  “I’m going. Good night.”

  “Good night, Peter,” said Pascal.

  Manami got up from the armchair and sat across from Pascal, at the table.

  “You’ve really won over my son,” she said. “You’re very good at that, sir.”

  Pascal silently looked at her.

  “You have nothing to say, sir?”

  “Ma’am, that red cover with the black rose… in the middle…”

  “Yes?”

  “You…” Pascal stopped and looked down.

  “What about it?” Manami asked.

  “It isn’t important. Forgive me… and this… what you were joking about. I will really tell the Mayor what a brilliant boy your son is.”

  “What about the cover?”

  “You sleep in that room, I assume? In that bed?”

  “Yes. With Eir. And Peter is in the room with the bunk beds. He says he doesn’t want to be in a girl’s room. He sleeps on the upper bunk. He finds it interesting. And I fear that he might fall down in his sleep…”

  “I slept on it…”

  “On the red cover?”

  “Yes.”

  Manami was silent.

  “I mean, I wasn’t really sleeping… when Raul and the Mayor drugged me. I guess it was easies for them to put me down there… I don’t know.”

  Manami was still silent.

  “That red cover… it’s made of silk?”

  “Yes,” said Manami.

  “When I woke up… it was dark, I didn’t know where I was… but I felt its smell… It was stale…”

  “I immediately washed it. It smells nice now.”

  “Do you also sleep on it? Or do you cover yourself with it?”

  “No. I don’t use it. I put it away in the dresser.”

  “Not even once… You’ve never laid on it?”

  “I’m sleepy, too. Good night, sir.” Manami got up and went to her quarters.

  Chapter 96

  “There, you see, Peter, dad doesn’t come only at night,” said Manami.

  “Dad! Daddy!” shouted Peter, when Seneca entered the living room. “You’ll let me, won’t you? Mom says it’s ok.”

  “Don’t make things up, Peter!” Manami laughed. “I told you to ask your dad.”

  “Ask what?” Seneca smiled, caressing his son’s hair.

  “Dad, Mr. Alexander wants me to call him Pascal, to be on a first-name basis.”

  “That’s out of the question,” Seneca got serious. “I’m so grateful to you, Alexander, for helping my son in his studies…”

  “Allow him, Mr. Mayor. It will make it easier for me too. I demanded that of all my students. I always had a friendly relationship with children. And I had excellent results.”

  “What do you say, Manami?” Seneca asked.

  “Say it’s alright, mom! Say it’s alright!” Peter pleaded.

  “I’m alright with that, Julius. Peter is doing very well. If Mr. Alexander believes…”

  “Alright, alright…” Seneca smiled. “I see that you’ve already decided.”

  “Pascal!” shouted Peter

  “Yes, Peter?” Pascal smiled.

  “Tell my dad what kind of a student I am!”

  “This is tearing my eardrums,” Seneca whispered to his wife.

  “Let them, Julius… if they want.”

  “You have a brilliant son, Mr. Mayor. Intelligent, hard working, responsible, well-behaved… in every way.”

  “Ts, ts, ts,” Seneca smiled. “Peter, how did you bribe your teacher to praise you so much?”

  “I really think that, Mr. Mayor. Your son will succeed you. He is similar to you in every way.”

  “Thank you, Alexander, for those words. They mean a lot to me in these times,” Seneca bent over and kissed his son.

  “Julius,” said Manami. “You’ve come at the right moment. Let’s all have lunch together.”

  “Dad…” Eir called out. She was leaning forward and stretching her hands towards her father.

  Seneca took her from her mother’s arms.

  “How is daddy’s girl?” he asked, kissing her hair and sitting down at the table.

  After lunch Peter went to his room, to study. After Manami put Eir to bed in their bedroom, she returned to the living room.

  “Manami, it’s nice that you covered up that fluorescent-green color of the couch. Not only does it remind me of Prince, it’s also an eyesore,” Seneca said.

  “Yes,” said Manami. “It’s too irritating.”

  “And this is a nice cover. Raul and I placed you on it that day, Alexander.” Seneca looked at Pascal. “I still didn’t know that I would be brining my family to the shelter. I thought it best if you slept in that room. It’s the most comfortable one.”<
br />
  “I know,” Pascal bowed his head.

  “Forgive me for reminding you of Raul,” Seneca apologized.

  “Yes. I’m trying not to think about my friends. And then I have a guilty conscious. You thank me for working with your son, Mr. Mayor.” Pascal looked at Seneca again. “But it means a lot to me, too. It sidetracks my thoughts.”

  “I understand.” Seneca nodded and got up from his chair. “Thank you for lunch, Manami. I have to leave,” he said while going towards the door.

  “Julius,” Manami called out to him, while getting up from the table.

  “Yes?” Seneca turned around.

  “The next time you are buying food for us, buy a few packages of chili.”

  “Chili? For Mr. Alexander?”

  “Ma’am, please don’t burden the Mayor with that,” Pascal protested. “That really isn’t important.”

  “Everyone knows that you like spicy food, Alexander. Of course I’ll get some,” Seneca laughed and walked out of the shelter.

  As soon as he heard the elevator go up, Pascal sat down on the couch covered with the red cover with the black rose.

  “Could you sit on the couch for a moment, ma’am… on the other end… please,” Pascal whispered.

  Manami looked at him for a while. Then she approached him and stood in front of him:

  “I won’t sit now, sir. I will sit tonight… when the children are asleep. And I won’t sit on the other end. I will sit next to you and place my head on your shoulder. And I will sit like that… for a long time, a very long time.”

  Chapter 97

  Pascal sat on the couch, waiting for Manami to check whether Peter and Eir had gone to sleep.

  “Don’t turn around, sir,” said Manami, while entering the living room.

  “Why?” Pascal asked with a surprised tone.

  “Because I’m in my nightgown,” said Manami as she turned off the light. She walked over to Pascal in the dark, sat next to him and put her head on his shoulder.

  “I could die right now,” Pascal thought. “Do you know that, my love? I don’t need anything else.”

  Pascal took a deep breath. He simply slowly placed his cheek on her head. “Darling, I have to… just that… to touch your hair. To smell it. Only that.”

  “You know, my husband had come already twice at night and found us sitting at the table. I mean to say that we weren’t sleeping. That is a bit odd, you must admit.”

  “I’m aware of that ma’am. But I cannot leave first. I simply cannot. Until you go to bed.”

  “That is why this is how we will do it from now on: I will be in my nightgown, and you will be dressed. When we hear the elevator, we will have enough time to run to our rooms in the darkness. Do you agree?”

  “Yes.”

  “And if Peter wakes up, we will hear the door to his room. I will run to my quarters and tell my son that I was in the kitchen, that I was getting something from the freezer. Some meat. To defrost it for lunch tomorrow. That I suddenly woke up and remembered it. That’s a logical explanation, isn’t it?”

  Pascal occasionally moved his cheek across her hair.

  “This cover means a lot to you, sir?” Manami asked after a while.

  “A lot. It means a lot to me. You know, that day, when I was preparing to go into the square… I wondered… why isn’t there something…”

  “What?”

  “A room… our room… and now… it exists.”

  Chapter 98

  “Why won’t you have dinner with us tonight, Julius,” Manami asked her husband from the kitchen. “Dinner will be ready in half an hour.”

  “I can’t Manami, really. I don’t have time. I came just for a bit… to tell you something.”

  “Julius!” Manami raised her voice and looked at her husband, who was sitting at the table and holding Eir in his lap. She gestured towards Peter, who was sitting with his back towards her.

  “Don’t worry, Manami. Everything is alright, just… obligations are piling up. I won’t be able to keep it up like this. I mean, I’ve been coming almost every day. And I actually have to go to our house. The house is being guarded by inspectors as though my family was in it. I have to stay the night there sometimes. Noah will provide and bring food for you from now on.”

  “Noah? Does he know that we are here?” Manami was surprised.

  “Noah is great, Pascal!” Peter shouted out. “Colonel! He has a black belt in karate! He taught me a kata!”

  “Alright, Peter, alright…” said Seneca. “I had to tell someone, Manami. I can’t provide for you on my own and lock the office. It’s too intense. Do you understand? I have to be available, to make decisions at every moment. A huge number of people are calling, coming… day and night… events are sudden, unpredictable…”

  “I understand, Julius, it’s clear to me. Does Noah also know about Mr. Alexander?”

  “He does,” Seneca looked at Pascal. “I had to tell him everything, Alexander. He will bring you food, cosmetics… perhaps you will also need clothes. He will realize that there is also an adult male in the shelter.”

  “Mr. Mayor, please, don’t trouble yourself with that. You know best who you can trust.”

  “I have absolute trust in Noah, especially now that…”

  “Julius!” Manami was afraid that Seneca would mention the death of Noah’s parents in front of Peter.

  “Peter,” Seneca turned towards his son. “You won’t see Noah. He will just bring the supplies down to the corridor and immediately return to my office. And mother will distribute them later.”

  “Why?” Peter was disappointed.

  “Noah doesn’t have time. He is now head of my personal security. He has to be with me at all times. Those are the Inspectorate rules.”

  “That’s great, dad! That Noah is protecting you!”

  “It is,” said Seneca. He got up, kissed Eir and put her on the floor. The little girl ran off to the armchair full of toys.

  “Peter, help Eir get up,” Manami said.

  “I have to go,” Seneca said goodbye. “Son, you just keep on studying.”

  He stroked Peter on the head and started towards the door. Then he remembered something and turned towards them.

  “Alexander, do you know who turned up at my office yesterday?” Seneca smiled.

  “Who?” Pascal wondered.

  “Your assistant, Miss Van Andel.”

  “Svetlana?” Pascal shouted.

  “Yes. She left your staff a day earlier. That’s what Raul told me.”

  “Yes, she did. But I thought that she had left Megapolis.”

  “She didn’t. She’s here. We also thought that she had left… I was just telling my wife that Miss Van Andel was wrong…” Seneca looked at Peter. “If you understand what I mean?”

  “Yes… I understand,” said Pascal. “Why did she come to you?”

  “To ask for a job. She has no income.”

  “And?” Pascal asked.

  “I immediately gave her a job in my secretariat. Miss Van Andel is educated and a very capable young woman. That is the impression I got when you came to our house. I need associates. It is especially important that I can have full confidence in her. That is of the utmost importance at times like these.”

  “It is. I’m glad for Svetlana, I truly am. You won’t regret it, Mr. Mayor. Svetlana is exceptional,” said Pascal.

  Chapter 99

  “Did you watch the evening news, Grasshopper?” Erivan asked as soon as the Grasshopper picked up.

  “Yes, Mr. President. You were fantastic.”

  “Hm? Was I?” Erivan chirped. “Here, I’m playing back the recording. I can’t stop. And the hand on the back? What do you think?”

  “Unique.”

  “And one foot a bit back, straight, sharp like a sword, a?”

  “Phenomenal.”

  “The most phenomenal, Grasshopper! Had I not stuck it out, the spotlight would not have shined on the boot.”

  “No, it
surely wouldn’t.”

  “And like this it gleams!”

  “It gleams.”

  “You’re not exactly thrilled?”

  “Of course I am. I watched it many times.”

  “Really?”

  “Of course… Nevertheless, I’m watching events in different cities. Everywhere… across the Earth. I’m zooming in the images from our satellites…”

  “Why?”

  “Because such things interest me. I zoom in on people’s faces. It’s a pity I don’t have audio.”

  “You are a strange one, Grasshopper.”

  “I’ve been thinking.”

  “What? You have a proposal?”

  “No, no… I see… in one city Consumers and Non-Consumers are mixed together.”

  “Yes, that’s the case in most cities.”

  “They’ve set up barricades in the middle of some street.”

  “Yes, they’re doing that everywhere. The city is split into the Consumer and Non-Consumer part, and each flees to their own.”

  “I see. But not everyone makes it across. In this street, the one I mentioned, they fell a man behind the barricades, and they’re kicking him. And he hasn’t moved in a while. He’s probably dead.”

  “What does that have to do with me on the news?” Erivan was curious.

  “And behind the other barricades, on the same street, in the same city, the same picture. They are kicking another man. The only difference is the clothes. Ones have t-shirts with vertical stripes, and the others have t-shirts with horizontal stripes. Then I thought how lucky these people are today that they can clearly differentiate between themselves. The seasons have provided people with uniforms, already in this initial phase of the war. For all of them. There will be no civilians in this war, Mr. President.”