“First of all, you’re not going anywhere, Pascal. Second, you’re not listening to me at all or you’re not understanding what I’m saying. I’m not in shock, Pascal. I’ve known the entire time that this moment would come. I’m just thinking intensely right now.”
“Alright, Manami, if that’s what you want, let’s think together. Let’s say that the mayor decides to kill only me. That’s emotionally the simplest for him. Do you agree?”
“I don’t agree,” Manami said firmly.
“Why? Explain it to me,” said Pascal.
“He won’t raise his hand against us. He would never threaten the life of another person. That’s what I think. But the two of us cannot rely on my opinion, because Julius was never in such a situation. Humiliated like this. Now I’m thinking about what he could do. What are the options that he has available?
“He cannot bring the inspectors to our shelter to arrest you and take you away, because he knows, he’s aware that… but even if he wasn’t sure of that, he cannot dismiss that possibility… that I’d jump on the inspectors, pull you from them, scream… in front of the children… in front of Peter.
“Such a scene in front of his son could destroy Julius. He cannot take such a chance. Even if he were only to send Noah... or come himself… the same thing would happen in front of Peter. No… he would never allow that, for any reason. To be humiliated in front of his son.
“He doesn’t have any choice… Julius is powerless, Pascal, while we are in the shelter. He must find a way to get us out of the shelter, all together, all four of us… and then to somehow separate us… to get you away from us… or you and me, together, away from the children.”
Manami sat up on the couch and looked at Pascal determinedly.
“Listen to me very well now, Pascal! When the time comes that we have to or want to leave the shelter, the four of us must not be separated even for a moment.
“Don’t you dare be a hero, defy anything, feel sorry, feel sorry for someone, because of some guilty conscious, because of some regret… anything.
“I won’t permit anything! I’m forbidding everything! You can’t think anything! Or feel!
“You must constantly repeat to yourself that the four of us must not be separated. At any cost! For any reason!
“That’s the only thing you must think about. And listen to what I tell you. And do what I tell you. Is that clear, Pascal?”
“It’s clear, my love,” Pascal whispered.
“What’s the first thing that I told you, Pascal?”
“I don’t know what you mean, Manami.”
“What’s the first thing that I said? What was my first thought? I said that Julius would do something to himself. Julius… and my father… the two of them would raise their hand against themselves if that meant that they saved face. The two of them… that’s how they are… that’s what they are made of… That’s the type of people they are.”
“And me? What am I made of, Manami?”
“You, Pascal? You’re not made of hard materials.”
“So, you think that I’m soft,” Pascal smiled.
“You are… made of… of love for me.”
Pascal didn’t say anything. He just ran his fingers across her hair, her face and her lips.
“Pascal, I couldn’t change any of that even if I wanted to. I have no guilty conscious. Why would I? Am I to blame? I’m not to blame. You simply appeared and I fell in love.
“I too was no stranger to love before that. No, Pascal,” Manami said thoughtfully. “I learned about different kinds of love. For my parents, cousins, friends… I loved Julius, too. And the children, of course. You know very well how much I love them…
“Julius and I, we had… not only the two of us… all of us, our family, we had wonderful moments… not only nice moments… everything was nice… our entire life… organized, decent… our luxurious ship anchored in a calm port.
“I tell you, Pascal, I knew very well what love is, even before you. But that love... all those loves… somehow they… how can I say… they… as my late father would say, they came with the territory. Do you understand what I’m saying?
And now this… this is… You’re an impulsive man… you can explode in an instant, become wild… But this, what I feel for you, how much I love you… Well, that love, Pascal, is the truly wild, wildest, crazed, strongest storm! It washes away everything in its wake! The ship, the port… even the coastline!... It washes everything away!”
“My love…” Pascal whispered.
“Don’t think that I’m trawling for titles. I want that to be clear to you. Like, the Mayor of Megapolis isn’t enough, and I need the President of Earth.”
“Manami, really…”
“I thought about that too, Pascal. I asked myself whether I’m that kind of woman. Are titles important to me? But I concluded that it isn’t so. That you could be working in a grocery shop or as a clerk… Anywhere, anything… and the first time that I saw you I would have fallen in love.”
“Manami… what are you saying, my love…”
“I would come every day to your shop to get a glance at you… to force you to fall in love too…”
“Silly, I would have fallen in love long before…”
“Pascal…”
“Yes, my love?”
“I can’t talk any more, I can’t think…”
“I know, my darling… Don’t worry… Everything will be as you said. The four of us will stay together.”
“I’m tired, Pascal, of all of this. I need you… Kiss me, please.”
Pascal moved towards her lips. Manami gently stopped him by placing her hand on his chest.
“But not that way, Pascal.”
“I don’t understand, Manami.”
“Don’t kiss me that way now.”
“What way?”
“Shamelessly.”
“Shamelessly?” Pascal laughed.
“Stop pretending! You know very well how shamelessly you kiss me.”
“Alright, I won’t kiss you shamelessly. So tell me, how should I kiss you?”
“Well… like… gently… just affectionately.”
YOU ARE READING
The Grasshopper
Science FictionImagine living in a world where Consumerism is the constitutional order, and where the Inspectorate is in charge of destroying goods whose season has passed, so as to maintain the Balance. In this world you can survive only if you work and buy goods...
