The Grasshopper (6 page)

“Please, continue,” said Prince,
once the waiters had gone.

“You know, this breakfast of ours
has gotten pretty long. I didn’t expect that.”

“I know. But you saw yourself.. my
father wanted to go through all the questions with you once more.
Please understand him.”

“I understand, I understand…
certainly. But I have obligations.”

Prince waited for them to be served
the coffee and then asked:

“But what obligations? Now
everything is being done by the members of your team: technicians,
cameramen, the director… Miss Babe, I listened very carefully when
you explained to me how your show is produced. All you need to do
is get to the studio fifteen minutes before the show time. What are
you hiding from me?”

“I obviously don’t have a choice. I
have to tell you, otherwise you won’t allow me to leave,
right?”

“I won’t allow you. You can be
certain of that. Now just admit everything.”

Babe sighed and said:

“Mr. Kaella, an entire team of
people of various profiles have been waiting for me in the adjacent
hotel for an hour already.”

“Why?”

“Well… to touch me up for the
interview.”

“Really? I thought that you will…
that you’re already touched up. Although it seemed a little too,
how would I say it… conservative. But I thought that you chose such
a style for my elderly father. Although, on the other hand… your
viewers are not used to seeing you like this.”

“Mr. Kaella, I’m leaving this
instant,” Babe said, already getting up from the table. “Some
procedures, treatments take some time. Forgive me, please, I’m
getting nervous…”

Prince also got up, and looked at
her with a smile.

“With all due respect to your
father… and today I don’t really care what my viewers are used to.
I’m getting touched up for you, if you really want to know! Now
I’ve lost the element of surprise and I’m very angry because of
that!”

Babe abruptly turned spun around
and started walking briskly towards the dining room exit. Prince
ran after her, got around her and stood in front of her.

“Miss Babe,” said Prince, eating
her up with his eyes.

“Yes?” Babe asked
angrily.

“I have reserved a superb
restaurant, I mean the entire restaurant, just for the two of us,
tonight… with candles. Will you…”

“If you wish so after the
interview.”

“If I wish so?!”

“Mr. Kaella, you know how to rule
the world but you have no idea how much time it takes a woman to
prepare for… please, let me pass.”

Prince watched as her curves
strained the fabric of the slim conservative skirt, as she walked
away, at almost a running pace.

Chapter 18

“Pascal, wake up! Pascal!” shouted
Raul Bukowski, the head of Pascal’s electoral staff, while pounding
on the door of his room.

“Here, here… take it easy, Raul,”
said Pascal, getting up from his bed, fully dressed and hung
over.

He went to the door and unlocked
it. Raul, a small stocky man nearing sixty years of age, stepped
into the room.

“Where’s Svetlana?” he
asked.

“She’s gone,” Pascal responded,
while locking the door.

“Without goodbye?”

“Don’t be angry at her.”

“You got drunk because of
Svetlana?” Raul questioned him.

“Yes… everyone is probably talking
about it… What time is it?” asked Pascal, passing his hands over
his face.

“Nine.”

“Nine? Why are you waking me so
early? In any case, why are you still here? You haven’t decided to
stay in Megapolis, have you? You have no obligations to me
anymore.”

“We have no obligations to you
anymore?” said Raul staring furiously at Pascal. “Shame on you! You
think that we did all this because of some obligation to you? At
any rate, how do you dare say something like that? I don’t allow
you to insult such wonderful people from our team.”

“Forgive me, Raul, forgive me,
please… I didn’t mean it like that… you know that I didn’t… my head
hurts… Wait here. Let me wash my face… to get… to come to my
senses. You burst in like that…” said Pascal in a hoarse voice,
while closing the bathroom door behind him.

After ten minutes, washed and
shaven, he came up to Raul, who was standing at the window watching
the workers taking down the stage in the square. An echelon of
inspectors in helmets and carrying shields prevented angry
protesters from approaching the stage, the hotel and the television
station.

“Get away from the window,” Raul
said, turning towards him and pushing him deeper into the room.
“Sit on the bed. Here, in this blind spot,” he said pointing at the
pillow.

“You’re overreacting, Raul,” said
Pascal, who sat on the bed anyway.

“I’m not overreacting. This window
might already be in the sights of one of Erivan’s
snipers.”

“It might…” Pascal
whispered.

Raul sat down next to him and
patted him in a friendly manner on the knee.

“Come on, Pascal. Our entire team
is already in the lobby. They’re waiting for me to bring you down.
The mayor will send a bus which will take us safely to the airport.
And there’s an airplane waiting for us. We can fly away wherever we
want. I recommend a smaller city, one that is completely in our
hands. An old decrepit one, one that Prince Kaella is not
interested in. We can’t provoke him anymore. Hmm? What do you
say?”

“There, there… I agree. That’s
wise… go.”

Raul took
a deep sigh, got up off the bed and looked at Pascal.

“We should go? Without
you?”

“Yes. Why are you torturing me
again, Raul? Do you think its easy for me to part with all of you?
I told you clearly that I would hold that speech.”

“How? The stage is being
dismantled, people are being driven away. Who will you speak
to?”

“I don’t know. I’ll go out into the
square and speak. To the inspectors if need be.”

“Pascal, in all these years, how
many times have we been driven out of some city?

“Countless times.”

“And what? Nothing. We continued
on. And we returned to those cities a few months later, a year
later, when our movement gained strength in them, when our people
took local power. So what’s the difference?”

“This is Megapolis.”

“I don’t believe you, Pascal. I
don’t believe that you are being stubborn against Prince Kaella
because of Megapolis. Those that want power are stubborn. And
Pascal Alexander is not like that. I don’t believe you, Pascal.
There’s something else going on. Svetlana, right? You’re
disappointed and miserable because of her?”

“Yes, because of her.”

“Why? What happened? Liam reported
to me that his guard in the lobby saw Svetlana leave the hotel,
suitcase in hand, at dawn.”

“She left me.”

“Left you?” Raul was surprised, and
then asked “Did you tell Svetlana what happened at Seneca’s place
yesterday?”

“I did.”

“And you told her that you were
still going to hold the speech?”

“Yes.”

“And it didn’t occur to you that
she left only in order to make you go with her? To get you out of
Megapolis?”

“That’s not why she
left.”

Pascal stared at the floor the
entire time, with his head hung low and speaking softly. He did not
look up even once at Raul, who stood in front of him.

“Pascal, excuse me, but I have to
tell you. You too are not as young as you used to be. Svetlana is
probably the first woman to leave you?”

“Yes.”

“You are actually in shock now. I
can understand that. But you’ll realize that it is normal, natural.
Time does its thing, Pascal. We’re getting old. And Svetlana is
young. She has the rest of her life to live. Someone her age
probably caught her eye… but… where did she meet him? She’s been
with us the entire time… Is it someone from the campaign? No, no…
someone would notice it. OK, OK… you’re in shock. Svetlana could
have waited a bit longer, she could have chosen a better moment.
Not like this… to disable you. I did notice, I really did, that
she’s been kind of quiet lately… restrained. And you, Pascal, when
you calm down you can finally find yourself a serious woman your
own age. Well, not exactly your age… just a little younger. And you
can have children, create a family. As befitting a democratically
elected president. That’s what I’ve been telling you all these
years. Now you see for yourself that I was right… Admit
it.”

“I admit it.”

“There, you see… You’ll be better,
I’m not worried… But hey, let’s not talk about women now. We’ll go
somewhere. We’ll hide out until the elections, even if we have hide
in a foxhole. You won’t appear in public. We don’t need any more
speeches. Think about it. You’re the rival of Kaella’s current
president. Officially. Your name is printed on the ballots. People
take their telephone and circle it. Sixty-two percent of the
people. And what do they need you for at that moment? They don’t
need you. And after that… we’ll wait for Kaella’s move, and then
we’ll decide. You can set up your office in any city. Wherever you
are will be the capital of Earth. Understand?”

“You’re right,” Pascal said
softly.

Raul was delighted, with a huge
smile.

“Of course I’m right. When was your
Raul ever wrong? When?”

“I’m old. I’m very old… and
tired.”

“I didn’t say that you were old for
president. You’re tired… Its normal to be tired. We all
are…”

“Raul, I had no idea… I never
thought that it was possible to be this old.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Look at me.
I’m fifteen years older than you. But our struggle has made me a
young man. I’m full of energy, life. Come on, pack up so that we
can get going.”

“I’m not going anywhere
anymore.”

Raul walked to the door, grabbed
the doorknob and turning to Pascal he asked:

“Will you at least say goodbye to
the staff? The bus for airport is almost here. We’re leaving,
Pascal.”

“I can’t.”

Chapter 19

Julius Seneca, the mayor and
director of Megapolis TV, watched from his office on the last floor
of the tall building as a torrent of people converged on the square
from four avenues.

He ordered the Megapolis
Inspectorate to use force only in extreme, isolated cases. For
example, looting, torching, the breaking of shop windows. This
would in any case be done only by delinquents.

The citizens of Megapolis would
not. Nor would he ever use force again them. Megapolis was not made
up of its magnificent buildings, avenues and squares. Megapolis was
made up of its citizens. They are Megapolis. And he is their
mayor.

The ring of the telephone pulled
him from his thoughts. He picked up immediately.

“Yes, Raul?”

“Mr. Mayor, as we expected, he is
not giving up. He will hold his speech,” Raul said, breathing
heavily, while walking down the stairs from Pascal’s room to the
hotel lobby.

The mayor didn’t respond. He wasn’t
surprised. “Each of us is fighting his own battle,” he
thought.

“Mr. Mayor, do you hear
me?”

“I hear you, I hear
you.”

“He’s in a worse mood than he was
yesterday. Svetlana has left him. It seems that it has completely
crushed him. The man simply won’t accept any arguments.”

“What Svetlana? What does that mean
now?”

“Svetlana… you know… she sometimes
came with us to your place for meetings.”

“How? She is a very young
woman.”

“She is. And that is what has
crushed him. He feels terribly old and tired, he says.”

“But these are things not becoming
a presidential candidate. Such a gentleman. I am very
surprised.”

“You didn’t know that? He’s been
chasing women his entire life. That is to say, they’ve been chasing
him. And now he has been dumped.”|

“Alright, alright… leave that.
These are Mr. Alexander’s personal affairs,” Mayor Seneca
interrupted the conversation on this topic.

“Perhaps it is better like this.
The two of us have an agreement, Mr. Mayor.”

Mayor Seneca didn’t
answer.

“Mr. Mayor, you promised me,” Raul
was concerned because of Seneca’s silence.

“Alright, Raul, we’ll do it…”
Seneca finally spoke.

“Thank you, truly,” Raul sighed a
sigh of relief.

“What did Mr. Alexander say, when
will he go to the square?”

“He didn’t say anything. The stage
is gone. Your inspectors have surrounded the hotel. They are
appealing to the people to disperse from the square. Pascal is in a
strange state, Mr. Mayor. He’s very nervous. He’s going to take a
shower, get dressed and go to the square as soon as
possible.”