The Grasshopper Read online

Chapter 39

  Babe and Prince twitched when the old Mr. Kaella returned from the toilet, and they moved away from each other. Luckily the makeup artist immediately rushed in an started powdering the sweaty Mr. Kaella, her body concealing the two of them.

  Babe used the opportunity and turned up the volume on the monitor, so that her conversation with Prince could not be heard in the salon.

  The voice of the speaker rumbled from the monitor:

  “On that day it is time for all the bathroom accessories. That means we change: bathtubs, sinks, toilet bowls, bidets, faucets, showers, tiles, both wall and floor. We’re looking forward to the new designs and new wonderful pastel colors, dear Consumers.”

  And after that came a completely different, joyful and frivolous voice in the next advertisement:

  “Our Planet is heating up, dear Ladies. The temperatures are increasingly higher. You’re hot in your stockings. But you don’t reject them, since they make your legs long and sexy. Unfortunately, you cannot fully enjoy your sexy appearance because you’re sweating. Look, dear Consumer, how Miss Babe has solved this dilemma.”

  Prince swiftly turned towards the monitor and was petrified. Babe was lying on her stomach, in a luxurious pink stand, covered from her armpit to just below her derriere by a pink towel. Two top, publicly well-known tattoo masters were at that very moment doing the lace on her floral stockings.

  “What is Miss Babe doing, dear Consumer? Yes! You’ve guessed it! She’s tattooing stockings. Let’s hear what Miss Babe has to say, what is her experience with tattooed stockings?”

  In the next shot, sitting in a tight miniskirt on a bar stool, with her legs crossed, revealing to the viewers the very edge of the lace on the tattooed stockings, this time with a star pattern, Babe said:

  “I will never again put on real stockings... Forgive me, dear Consumer, I didn’t express myself properly, because these tattooed stockings are the only real ones. Tattoo them just once and you will see for yourself. You’ll confine the old ones to fashion history, where they belong. You can feel comfortable, with cooled legs, and look equally attractive or even more attractive,” here Babe moved a bit, her skirt rode up also revealing the skin of her thighs above the lace, “and feel…” Babe winked at the camera. “Girls, you know what I mean.”

  “Why are you doing this to me, Babe?” Prince panted after the advertisement.

  “You mean, Princess?”

  “Why are you doing this to me, Princess?”

  “What am I doing to you, Prince?”

  “Why are you clenching your knees the entire time? The entire world can look at your long, wonderful legs in tattooed stockings, only I can’t. And now, when they are fishnets. Why am I not allowed to see them? Why?”

  “You’ll see them.”

  “Babe, Mr. Kaella, please sit down. We’re live in thirty seconds,” the assistant director said.

  “When will I see them?” Prince asked.

  “Now,” answered Babe, and walked towards the couch.

  Chapter 40

  The students of the fifth and eighth grade, standing in line one after another, took black scarves with a blue Earth on them from one large box, and black hats with a blue Earth from another, which Mitke the janitor had brought from out of storage to the school hall.

  The boys from the eighth grade, some of them already young men with thin moustaches and a few hairs on their chin, with their highly changed voices, cursed as rudely as they could, aggressively shoving the fifth-graders, and without having tied the scarves around their necks or placing the hats on their heads, they went out into the yard, strutting as they walked. They were very angry because they couldn’t watch Babe’s show to the end.

  The girls from the eighth grade, some of them blossoming, were a lot calmer. They talked about how much money their parents would give them and which of Babe’s wonderful fashion accessories they would allow them to wear.

  The boys from the fifth grade were mainly tried to get out of the way of the enraged young men from the eighth grade, and when they had passed, they would smack one another upside the head and kick each other.

  The girls from the fifth grade stood around in small groups, muttering something among themselves.

  All this together caused a noise that spread through the acoustic hall and disturbed the students from the other grades, who were in their classrooms calmly watching the interview with Mr. Kaella and his son Prince.

  Being aware of this and his responsibility, Mitke the janitor kept repeating “Quiet, children, quiet!” without taking his eyes off the large screen hanging from the ceiling of the school hall.

  What was in common for both the boys and girls in both the eighth and fifth grades, was that walking through their teachers they all boarded the buses parked in the schoolyard, which were waiting to take them to the prepared, fenced-off space in the middle of Short Street.

  Chapter 41

  After the commercial break Babe sat at the very edge of the couch so that her head would be closer to her guest, Mr. Kaella. But not only for that reason. She leaned on the couch with her left shoulder so that Prince could see her profile. He saw a cascade of blue hair, long eyelashes, lips…

  “Your lips… How the two overhangs at the ends of the upper lip lie on the lower lip. And this leaves that gap in the middle… You can’t press them closed, can you? How I will open them, spread that gap with my tongue, tonight… and penetrate… Tonight? What tonight? Now! During the next break!” the impatient Prince decided.

  “You know, Miss Babe, before I continue with my recollections, I’d like to say something else to our viewers.”

  “Go ahead, Mr. Kaella.”

  “This reminded me… I mean, this between the commercials… Although it sounds kind of coarse… But, dear Consumers, it isn’t so. We trust you completely… but… we all know how fast we live today, how many obligations we have. And a person simply forgets to surrender to the Inspectorate… I don’t know… a toothbrush… paste… from last season. And then this is discovered and completely unnecessary problems are created.

  “So we are reminding you so that you, dear viewers, will be spared such unfortunate situations. And don’t be angry at our inspectors, when they go through your houses and apartments. Do you know how many people are employed by the Inspectorate? How many families survive from their earnings? The inspectors are part of us, part of our community and they are working solely for the common good.”

  “Of course they understand that, Mr. Kaella,” Babe said.

  “I know, I know that you understand, dear Consumers,” Mr. Kaella continued. “I just mention that in passing… to pay homage, to take this opportunity to thank the inspectors for their effort and fervor… Actually,” a smile lit up his old face, “I wanted to say something else. I was reminded by this, when the speaker listed everything that had to be returned, and says ‘children’s toys’… It reminded me of my granddaughter. I adore her, Miss Babe.”

  “You do?” Babe uttered with tight lips.

  “Yes. I also love my two grandsons. But they are young men… and she… she’s grandpa’s little butterfly. And these toys… We returned them at the end of every season. I mean, dear viewers,” Mr. Kaella looked at the camera very sincerely, “so that you don’t think that we Kaella’s don’t abide by the law. On the contrary – very strictly. To show through action, not only words, that we respect the laws and Constitution of our State.

  “And … what was I … ah, yes… grandchildren… it is never a problem for them to return the old toys. Boys… as you know yourself…” Mr. Kaella grinned at the camera, “they destroy them the second day, disassemble their toy car…

  “And grandpa’s butterfly… she had a little pony. And when we were supposed to hand it over to the Inspectorate, my little granddaughter cried and cried. And this son of mine, strict as he is, wanted to take away her little horsy. And I jumped up, dear viewers and shouted ‘Well, this won’t do!’ I picked up my little granddaughter with h
er pony in my hand, and ran away from my son and daughter-in-law to my chambers, and immediately called the President of the State… I don’t remember who it was at the time… and ordered him to change the law, that children don’t have to return toys.

  “You know how it is… Everything in life is important. What you do, what you have achieved, what you have given humanity… But children, grandchildren… they are the most important and the most beautiful thing of all.

  “And then this son of mine, and a bunch of people from the Company, from the Inspectorate, from the university… all kinds of psychologists, lawyers, psychiatrists, sociologists… I don’t know who all… started convincing me that it didn’t work that way, that it undermined the Constitution, that it fundamentally perverts the young consumer’s soul… and so on. But I wouldn’t allow them to take that little horse from my butterfly.”

  “Stop boring with the stories about that granddaughter of yours and that nag, old man!” Babe panicked, thinking that this would discourage Prince. So she slowly raised her leg and glanced over at him.

  “And finally we agreed that children could keep only one toy until their fifth year. That is what we said. Anything more than that and the future Consumer would be forever lost in space and time,” Mr. Kaella concluded his recollection.

  Having seen Prince’s lustful gaze, Babe realized that he wasn’t at all listening to his father. On the contrary, he had completely leaned over towards her when her blue-black skirt rose up… when she crossed her legs, when the squares on the two fishnets intertwined, when the tattooed black lace on her perfect, smooth thigh eliminated all other thoughts, everything else…

  Chapter 42

  The staff members, better yet brothers in arms and friends, because they had been roaming the planet for years as part of Pascal’s freedom caravan, and diligently, tirelessly, and wholeheartedly carried out their tasks, were gradually calming down on the plane and approving Raul’s and Pascal’s decision as the most rational one at the moment.

  “There, you see for yourself, that now, when you have all the information, that we acted appropriately. Each of you would have done the same, right?” Raul said contentedly.

  “I would, undoubtedly,” said Jagdish.

  “I don’t know... I don’t know. The only thing that is important to me is for this to pass as quickly as possible. So that I can be at Pascal’s side again, all the time. Only then will I be at ease,” Liam sighed.

  “Can someone finally tell me why Svetlana was devastated? And where did she go?” asked Svetlana’s secretary, Jin.

  “What do you mean ‘devastated’?” the other secretaries shouted all at once.

  “I only know what Pascal told me, Jin. And I don’t know where Svetlana went. And the fact that she was crying, that she was devastated, that is only their affair. It is not up to us to discuss that.”

  “I have the right to know what happened to Svetlana. She’s my best friend,” Jin said unremittingly. “Perhaps last night someone else saw or heard something… or knows something? Someone from security? Liam?”

  “We only know that she left the hotel in the early morning,” Liam said.

  “Jin, what do you mean ‘did someone else see’? Who saw Svetlana last night?” anxiously asked Marina, a secretary, looking at her colleagues Phoebe, Eve and Dorika, who, also surprised, shrugged their shoulders and shook their heads.

  “Gloria saw her,” Jin said.

  “Gloria?!” shouted Marina, Phoebe, Eve and Dorika, looking at their colleague in disbelief.

  “How could you not tell us?” Phoebe asked Gloria in an excited tone, still not believing that such a thing was possible.

  “I’m sorry… How could I tell you when Raul said that she left Pascal?”

  “You should have, in any case…” Phoebe was relentless.

  “Alright, let it go, Phoebe. Come on, tell us what you saw,” Eve said impatiently.

  “I was just falling asleep…”

  “What do you mean ‘you were falling asleep’?!” Dorika exclaimed in shock. “So, you were in our room, and you didn’t wake me?! How could you?! How?! Margot, please, I don’t want to sleep in the same room as this person… I mean, in the next hotel. Don’t talk to me anymore, Gloria! Is that clear?”

  “Dorika… forgive me… I’ll explain everything in private. I was waiting for something… I can’t talk about that right now…”

  “I’m not interested! Now you’re going to make things up!” Dorika raged on.

  “I’m not making anything up, I just didn’t want to…”

  “Wait! Wait, Gloria!” Raul interrupted. “You girls will go on for days. Now tell me, what did Svetlana look like? Was she really in tears?”

  “Yes, she was. She was desperate… miserable. As though it wasn’t her, as though…”

  “Do you hear, Raul? That’s not a girl that left…” Margot said.

  “She left someone?” said Gloria. “Pascal? Nonsense! Who could leave Pascal? I’m sorry, Raul, but you are very naïve if you really believed Pascal.”

  “You think?” Raul asked.

  “Of course!” said Gloria with the authority of an expert. “And even if she had left him, she wouldn’t be crying because of it. I’ve left guys… I mean, it’s unpleasant while you tell them, but when that moment passes, you immediately forget everything and think about him. I mean, the new one… that you like. Right?” Gloria asked her colleagues.

  “Exactly,” the girls confirmed.

  “Alright, alright… You’re probably right,” Raul interrupted them. “Svetlana left for some reason of hers. It’s not important. What’s important is that she is safe. She’s neither with Pascal nor with us. No one will be looking for her,” said Raul. “Now please return to your seats. I have to think in peace about which city we should go to. Liam, I expect to hear your recommendations.”

  “Very well,” said Liam.

  Chapter 43

  “You know, I’m getting old… I get sentimental very easily… but let’s continue…” said Mr. Kaella. “Yes, dear viewers, that was the state of Earth when I was born. And as a boy, growing up alongside my father, I wondered… what is my mission? What is it that I have to do, to create in my life, to prove worthy of my name?”

  “Growing up and pondering, I realized that it wasn’t enough that our family, our Company, provides mankind with energy. People also need food and water. When I looked around, I was surprised with what I saw.

  “Numerous companies that used our energy, at a very cheap price, were selling food to people at astronomical prices and profiting from the hungry and the thirsty. That is why I increased the price of energy to a level that they couldn’t withstand. And I bought them all and merged them with our company. The prices of water and food immediately dropped drastically for all people.”

  “Then I wondered, what next? What else do people need? What belongs to people? Education, healthcare, protection of lives and properties… Does every person have this? Does every person, to who my family selflessly gives energy, food and water, also have everything else necessary for a decent life? No. And why not? Because not every person can earn enough to be able to put their children through school, get medical treatment… And why not? Because there is no work for them, or they aren’t paid enough, or the company that they worked for went bankrupt. Is a person responsible for their company going bankrupt? Is another person responsible for their company not going bankrupt and for being able to educate their children? While their neighbor cannot.”

  “At one moment, I was nearing forty, it became clear to me what I must do. I have to create an Association of Companies within which all companies will collaborate, and not compete against and destroy each other.”

  Chapter 44

  The elevator doors opened. Bear stepped out into the garage and passed by his colleagues with his head hung low, carrying a role of duck tape. He walked up to the presidential car, opened the passenger door, bent over and said to the dead driver

 
; “Hello, Barney.”

  He threw the tape on the passenger seat, stood up and went to the rear door, opened it wide and knelt beside them.

  The Xings were seated, fastened to the seats and backs by wide gray adhesive tape. Seated on Bear’s left were her mom and dad, and across from them, to Bear’s right, looking with dead eyes at their parents was she, and next to her - her brother.

  Bear reached into his jacket pocket and took something out. He put his hand on her lap.

  “I found this in your sheets last night, Liv,” whispered Bear, gently laying Henry on her nightgown. “I didn’t know… you know, your Bear isn’t very smart, Liv… that there used to be birds in tuxedos.”

  With angry jerks of the fingers and nails of both hands he tore the tape fastening her upturned palm to the seat. He raised the bluish hand to his lips and kissed it.

  His colleagues looked on in silence as Bear slowly rose, closed the rear door, took the roll of tape and sat down in the passenger sat.

  At that moment Iceman ran up and held the door with both hands, preventing Bear from shutting it.

  “What are you doing, Bear?”

  “Let go of the door, Iceman.”