The Grasshopper Read online

  Chapter 105

  “You have to get through that moment, Pascal. This moment is the price that you have to pay for that night. You just squeeze her hand… Who says that you have to look her in the eyes? Look past her. And you just turn around and run to the elevator.

  “Noah will probably come tomorrow. He hasn’t been in a while. Tomorrow! Surely tomorrow! Only that one moment and the end. You go to one of your cities… I won’t go to one of our cities. I won’t. I’ll ask Seneca to explain to me the war situation. Then I’ll go to one of Erivan’s cities. Perhaps even to Capital City? No, not to Capital City. It is entirely controlled by him. I will go to one of the cities where our people are surrounded, where they are losing the battle. Yes, that’s it. Somewhere where I will certainly be killed, already on the first day. I will take a weapon and immediately rush the inspectors. Let them mow me down in an instant. And what if Noah appears now? If I hear the elevator now, in the middle of the night?

  “And she’s asleep. How will I say goodbye? How will I see her at least one more time? I cannot… I cannot leave. Let her drive me out! That’s it! I won’t decide anything. I won’t think about anything any more. I don’t have the strength to think. I can only look at her. Only love her.”

  “Sir, why are you not sleeping?” asked Manami, entering fully dressed into the living room in the middle of the night.

  “I can’t, ma’am,” Pascal kept his eyes pinned to her.

  “I feel like tea. I thought of making some, but now I won’t. I don’t want to bother you.”

  “You are not bothering me, ma’am. You never…” whispered Pascal.

  “Alright, if you say so,” Manami passed next to Pascal and went into the kitchen. She poured water into the kettle. “I’ll make some green tea. It is my husband’s favorite. Actually my husband is exceptionally fond of green tea…”

  “My husband! My husband! My husband!!!” Pascal exploded. “As though no one here understands that! It is as though someone here doubts that! That he is your husband, ma’am! The Missis has a husband! Nothing is more important than that! That is the only thing that should be discussed! That is the only thing that should be constantly repeated! My husband! My husband!!!”

  “How dare you!?” Manami shouted.

  Pascal didn’t pay attention to that; he didn’t listen to her nor did he control himself. He continued to shout.

  “Does that husband of yours have a name, perhaps?! As far as I hear, you call him Julius! And when you talk to the children you call him dad. Only when you speak to me, then he is ‘my husband’!”

  “What insolence!” Manami shouted, trying to outdo him.

  “What do you tell him? ‘Do you want some lunch, my husband? Here you go some green tea, my husband!’ Is that how you speak to him?!”

  “You should be ashamed of yourself, sir!? What gives you the right!? You are the last man in world who has the right to say something like that to me!”

  “The last?! I know that I’m the last one for you, ma’am! You don’t need to explain that to me! What do you tell him?! ‘Come to our room, to our bed, my husband!’ Is that how you call him?!”

  “Shame on you! Shame on you!” screamed Manami, as an uncontrolled rage came over her.

  Pascal suddenly fell silent. He awoke from a trans. Only then, when he had gotten it all out of him, did he realize what he had told her.

  “Forgive me, ma’am… forgive me, please…” he passed by her, on his way to his room. “As soon as your husband comes, I will leave… Forgive me, please… You will never see me again… forgive me…” He was already near the door.

  Manami ran after him, around him, opened his door, grabbed him by the hand and pulled him strongly into his quarters.

  “Close the door and turn on the light!” she said angrily, sharply, with a whisper. Pascal did as she said. “Where is your room?!” she asked, louder.

  “Here… over here,” Pascal said.

  Manami burst into the middle of the large dormitory, turned to Pascal and ordered him

  “Close the door and turn on the light in the room!”

  Pascal did so.

  “I won’t let you wake my children, sir!” Manami was now shouting as loud as she could.

  “Forgive me… forgive me…”

  Manami rushed at him and pushed him.

  “At least I have one husband!” she pressed her hands against his chest and pushed him. “And you, sir?!” she shouted. “How are you surviving in bed alone, for so long?! Without all those women of yours?! How?!”

  Pascal watched her lips twitch and ever muscle on her face tremble.

  “I know how! You have your memories! You have so many of them that you can remember a different woman every night!”

  “I don’t remember…” Pascal whispered.

  “If this were to last another hundred years, you wouldn’t lack the memories! You won’t, sir!”

  “I don’t remember anyone. Anyone…” Pascal took her clenched white fists in his hands.

  “Let me go!” she said, pulling back her hand. “Don’t touch me! I’m not one of your women! I’m not! Tell me one thing, which one do you think of most often? Which one do you dream of the best?”

  “No one… only you … only you…” he whispered.

  “That Svetlana of yours!? The youngest, isn’t she? If even she is young enough for Mr. Alexander?! Not one is young enough for the gentleman, isn’t that right?”

  “There is no one… only you…”

  “And the gentleman thinks that I’m to blame! He accuses me! Of course! It’s easier that way! Offense is the best defense!”

  “Forgive me… forgive me…”

  “And I’ve been waiting to see when you will tell my husband… there it is! My husband! My husband! And there’s nothing you can do about it! Nothing!!!”

  “It’s alright… forgive me…”

  “I’ve been waiting to see when you will tell him to bring your Svetlana here!”

  “I won’t…”

  “Your exceptional Svetlana! Isn’t that so, sir?! Exceptional, isn’t that right!?” she pushed him away again.

  “Manami, my love… love… Love!!!” Pascal shouted overjoyed. “You silly, you’re jealous! I’m so overjoyed! Overjoyed!!!”

  “I know that you’re overjoyed! I know! Because your Svetlana didn’t leave Megapolis! That’s why you’re overjoyed, sir! Now she can come to you here! To this dormitory of yours!” Manami spread her hands. “Because you cannot survive without her! Because the nights are too long!”

  “My love! My Manami!” Pascal cried out, trying to hug her.

  “Let me go!” Manami pushed his hands away. “You will tell him to bring her to you, because you’ve had enough of this prison with me!”

  “I haven’t had enough, Manami! I will never have enough! That’s all I want, my love! Just to be locked up with you! Do you know how much I have suffered? I thought that you don’t love me anymore, but you were only jealous of Svetlana! You silly…”

  “Don’t say that name any more!” she pushed him all the way to the wall. “I prohibit you! I prohibit!!!” she screamed.

  “I won’t, Manami! I won’t! Anyone’s name! Only yours! Manami! Manami! Manami! Do you hear, Manami? My Manami! Are you mine? Tell me! Tell me that you’re mine!”

  Pascal tried to hug her. Manami fought back wildly.

  “What do you need me for, sir? She is yours! She is!”

  “She is not mine, my love.” Pascal lowered his voice, realizing that he had to explain it to her, that he must calm her.

  “She’s not?! And whose is she!? Whose!?”

  “I don’t know… She knew from the first day how in love I was with you, Manami. From the first moment that I saw you. My love, my life… You cannot understand that; how much I love you. There is no me, Manami. There is only my love for you.”

  Manami started crying aloud and ran out of Pascal’s quarters.

  Chapter 106

  “Peter,
please wake Mr. Alexander. Tell him that lunch is ready,” Manami said the next day.

  “Finally,” Peter shouted. “He can test me.”

  He got up from the couch where he had been sitting with Eir, painting something on the tablet. He knocked on Pascal’s door.

  “Pascal, wake up! Lunch!”

  “I’m coming, Peter. Let me just wash my face.”

  Pascal entered the living room area and stopped dead in his tracks. Then he rushed towards the couch which was covered in their red cover. He sat down next to Eir.

  “What are you drawing?” he asked, passing his hands across the red silk.

  “A bunny,” said Eir.

  “What’s wrong with you, Pascal?” Peter was puzzled. “Sit at the table.”

  “I will, Peter… in a moment…” He touched their cover as though he was touching her.

  Manami placed a plate in front of her son, looked at Pascal and smiled.

  “There, there, sir. You’ve been sleeping all day. Peter has been waiting for you to test him.”

  “Mom saw that I know everything, and now she wants you to test me again, Pascal.”

  “That’s good… Has Eir eaten, or…”

  “She has. The child can’t wait for heavy sleepers,” Manami was radiant.

  “I sincerely apologize. But I haven’t slept a wink in two weeks.”

  “Why?” Peter asked.

  “I had constant headaches,” Pascal got up from the couch, approached the table and stood behind Peter. He was looking at Manami. “And last night the pain went away. It disappeared. Never again to return. Isn’t that right, ma’am?”

  “How would I know, sir? You have to take care of your own health,” Manami laughed.

  “Come on, Peter,” Pascal tapped Peter on the shoulder.

  “Come one, what?” Peter was surprised.

  “Well… go to your seat.”

  “What’s wrong with you, Pascal? This is my seat. You sit across the way.”

  “That is where I sat while I had a headache. You’ve forgotten that I used to sit here before.”

  “Whatever,” said Peter and moved. “I don’t care.”

  “I do,” Pascal sat in his place, with a view of the kitchen.

  “Bon appétit!” said Manami.

  “Thank you,” answered Pascal, and started eating.

  “Chili! Finally you’ve put it in, my love!” he said with his eyes. Manami didn’t touch the food. She just watched him and smiled.

  Chapter 107

  Peter did not leave the living room area the entire afternoon. Manami and Pascal were left alone only late in the evening, when Peter finally got tired. Pascal rushed to Manami, clutching her shoulders and feverishly whispering

  “Do you love me, Manami? Tell me! Tell me that you love me!”

  “Peter isn’t asleep, sir!” Manami was glowing.

  “Tell me! Tell me, my love!”

  “I was brought up in a conservative family, sir,” Pascal went silent and let go of her shoulders. “Where marriage is a sanctity.”

  “I knew it! I knew it!” Pascal shouted and ran towards his room.

  Manami rushed after him, grabbed his hand and turned him around.

  “What is the matter with you, sir?” she laughed. “Why are you so impulsive? One cannot explain anything to you completely.”

  “You love me! I know that you love me!” Pascal shouted, when he saw Manami looking at him lovingly and smiling.

  “You fixate on something,” she ran her fingers through his long wavy hair, “and you don’t notice anything else. It took you two weeks to realize how jealous I am.”

  “My love… My Manami…” Pascal whispered while hugging her.

  “I was angry at you for two weeks, and you didn’t get it, my darling!”

  “Well, I thought… alright, alright,” said Pascal holding her by the shoulders again and looking her in the eye, “you said yourself that you consider marriage a sanctity.”

  “Yes, I did. And you only know how to go crazy. You didn’t let me say that I’m not a saint. And that I’m madly, madly in love with you!”

  Pascal moved towards her lips. Manami pressed her head against his chest.

  “Let me kiss you! I have to kiss your lips, Manami!”

  “I won’t let you. We cannot. We have to behave like nothing has happened.”

  “How, Manami, how? I can’t go on like that.”

  “You have to… We have to. Promise me.”

  “I can’t…”

  “If you love me, promise me.”

  “Alright… if you wish so. I don’t want to force you to do anything, my love. Everything will be as you wish.”

  Manami wriggled out of his embrace and said

  “I’m going to see whether Peter is asleep. And to put on my nightgown. I want us to sit on our cover until dawn. In our room. That’s all I’ve been dreaming of, Pascal.”

  Chapter 108

  “The generals have turned against me, Grasshopper,” Erivan moaned. “They say that they want no part in this and that they will not be held accountable for crimes against humanity and for gecide.”

  “Genocide.”

  “Yes, that’s it. They say that they convicted you, without any mercy.”

  “So you are also a doubter, Mr. President?”

  “Me, a doubter?!” Erivan was in shock.

  “Well, if you doubt our victory.”

  “Me doubt victory?! Be careful of what you say, Grasshopper!” Erivan rumbled.

  “Of course you have doubts. Have the defeated ever judged the victor?”

  “Well, that’s true. You’re right, Grasshopper. That has never happened. We will try them for gecide.”

  “Genocide.”

  “Yes, that.”

  “And what did you tell the generals to that, Mr. President?”

  “Nothing. Charlie killed them all.”

  “That’s good. How is my friend Charlie?”

  “He is well. They are all well, and I haven’t slept in nights, Grasshopper.”

  “Why do you permit yourself this, Mr. President? You do your office hours, your eight hours, then to bed. Or a casual stroll around the residence. You have to think about your health, above all.”

  “I do, but it’s no use. I’m always swamped by people.”

  “By whom?”

  “Everyone. From all sectors of the Company. They complain that they can’t deliver goods to shops under these conditions. That the few that they do deliver are not selling at all. That is why the workers are not getting paid. Then they don’t want to work. They go on strike. No one is paying for energy anymore. Even in the places where you haven’t switched it off. They’re a wanton mob, Grasshopper.”

  “What salaries? There’s a war. Introduce labor duties.”

  “I’ve already tried that, Grasshopper. It doesn’t work. The inspectors have created a labor union and even they won’t work. Neither to arrest the Non-Consumers nor to take them to the camps. They are demanding regular pay and an increase of 30%. Where do I get the money for that?”

  “What happened to Prince’s money?”

  “Its all gone. I bought cheap shares for all the money in the vault, and the price started to go up. But now the sectors are not producing. They’re on strike. The stock is worthless. It’s a disaster, Grasshopper. Even I received only one quarter of the salary for this month.”

  “What do you care about your salary? You can have whatever you want.”

  “I know… I’m just saying, so you can see that the situation is difficult.”

  “I really don’t see any problem there.”

  “Its easy for you up there, Grasshopper. That’s why you can talk like that.”

  “What is money, Mr. President?”

  “What do you mean ‘what is it’? Money is…”

  “Its just printed paper. That’s what money is.”

  “Yes, Grasshopper, but…”

  “Print it, Mr. President, as much as you need
. For our squads, for the Inspectorate, for weapons production.”

  “I don’t need it for the squads. I told them that all the war booty is theirs. Some of your colleagues are already very rich. They could buy both you and me, Grasshopper.”

  “I believe you. But I’m telling you, print money for everything else.”

  Part III: The Apocalypse

  Chapter 109

  “What did you do to the entire city, Grasshopper?” Erivan asked anxiously.

  “I vaporized it. That’s easy. You increase the strength of the cosmic energy beam to the maximum and you reduce the entire city to atoms. You vaporize it. That’s what I call it. Because the city makes a ‘puff’ and that’s it.”

  “But why the ‘puff’!?!”

  “I saw that in that city the bandits were preparing a secret weapon for the destruction of your residence, Mr. President. I’m merciless in that respect, when your safety is in question, Mr. President.”

  “Wow, thank you, Grasshopper. What would I do without you? Who would defend and protect me? By the way, do you see how bloodshot my eyes are?’

  “I do. They’re really red.”

  “I’m still not sleeping. It’s getting worse and worse.”

  “How is that?”

  “I printed the money. I gave the inspectors their salaries. And I increased them 100%, not 30%, like they had asked…”

  “And?...”

  “And they started working normally, but then they came and said that I had tricked them, that the money was worthless.”

  “What do they mean worthless?”

  “It isn’t worthless, but they said that all the prices had gone up. That they can’t buy even a kilo of potatoes for their monthly salary.”