The Grasshopper

Chapter 47

“And these shares in our companies guarantee you a good life even after you’ve finished working, dear Consumers. They are constantly increasing… our stock exchange does not have, like there once was… bubbles, and then they burst, and shares lose their value and an entire generation of older people is left without a livelihood. You are certain that your shares will always be at least worth the same.”

“That’s right, Mr. Kaella,” Babe confirmed. “Even average people, thanks to the sale of shares, can extend their lives for months. Here, I am working on a story about a lady, with quite an average income, who fell ill, who isn’t able to work anymore, and who managed to live off the money from the sale of the shares for another two and a half years. Do you hear that, dear Consumers?” Babe looked at the camera. “Two and a half years! She paid her bills, bought the seasonal goods and got treatment. Albeit, she did eat every second or third day… but she had money for the medicaments. Well… in the end she didn’t have enough for the surgery… but that’s normal. Surgery is expensive. I won’t tell you any more, dear viewers. You will see my story. We filmed the lady the day before she went to Euthanasia. You’ll see, a very positive inspiring human story.”

“There, you see all the things that I have provided for the people. And I can’t wait to see your report, Miss Babe,” said Mr. Kaella, and continued. “It was really funny… You know, some people accused me of being a communist.”

“Impossible!” Babe was stunned.

“Yes, yes, Miss Babe. Communist? Me? I, who consider private ownership the greatest sanctity? I mean, not only mine, but that of every person. And when they saw that everything had worked out, that these people were actually the owners of shares in various sectors, then they accused me of being an usurper, an oligarch. They asked why I didn’t go public with company on the stock exchange, so that anyone could buy its shares. Can you imagine that, Miss Babe?”

“Ridiculous!” Babe shook her head in disbelief.

Then for a moment she turned towards Prince, smiled at him and with a glance gestured toward her side. His eyes obediently looked down and he saw that Babe, running the tips of her black nails upward from her knee, slowly passed over the haunch, all the way up to the edge of the skirt, and as though by accident raised her skirt even higher, and she tilted sideways even more and he saw… Prince saw… how the black lace ended… and the beginning of her curve… firm and protruding… tanned…

“I can’t take it anymore… Don’t do that to me… Sit like you were before… Clench your knees… I can’t… I can’t anymore!” Prince was going crazy, tearing at the leather armchair with his nails.

“…that I take risks,” Mr. Kaella startled Babe. “That I don’s sleep at night, thinking about whether that day energy, water, food, pharmaceuticals reached every Consumer, their families, children? That this is decided by some managing board of dispersed owners? Come on, please! Our family discovered Cosmic Energy, brought it to Earth, gave it to the people. We have been proving this humanity for generations. This is simply in our genes. That is what we Kaellas are like, the only guaranteed benefactors of all the people on Earth.”

“The only one, Mr. Kaella, the only ones.”