The Grasshopper (16 page)

“That’s right… that’s
right…”

“And you… while you’re cutting them
down… Only you can do it, my Prince…”

“What?”

“At the same time, with your other
hand,” said Babe, gazing up towards the ceiling, raising Prince’s
hand towards the lapel of her jacket and placing his hand on her
breast “at the same time you are gently fondling your Princess’
bosom.”

Prince completely lost it. He tried
to be gentle, like in her description, but he failed. And how could
he not be when he felt that little Earth hanging from Babe’s
nipple. He squeezed Babe’s breast forcefully, wildly, as though it
was the hand in which he held the razor-sharp saber.

“Hey, Prince, that’s not exactly
gentle,” Babe laughed.

“It’s not, it’s not… and you are
yet to see… Taunting me the entire time… driving me mad… Driving me
mad!!!”

“Driving you mad?” asked Babe,
suddenly dropping her hand to his pants.

Prince’s eyes opened wide when she
squeezed his crotch.

“You have yet to feel what it’s
like to be driven mad. This is nothing. I’m just starting to drive
you mad,” she whispered in his ear, while continuously opening and
closing her hand.

“Yes, yes… that’s what I want… what
I need…” Prince grunted, while his hand started going up Babe’s
skirt.

Babe suddenly pushed him away with
both hands, so forcefully that Prince staggered.

“You can’t touch that, Mr.
Prince.”

“What do you mean ‘I can’t’? Why
can’t I?” he almost shouted, rushing her again.

Babe stepped back and
laughed.

“You can, of course you can, my
Prince… you can do everything… but only when I want it.”

“And you don’t want to now?” Prince
froze.

“Not now. I want it to be nice for
you…”

“We’ll its nice…”

“Even nicer… much
nicer…”

“Ah, I know… You want in the limo.
Alright, I’ll order a limo for the two of us. Father can go back by
himself.”

“Well…” Babe laughed, “didn’t you
promise me dinner? Just the two of us, with candles?”

“I did, I did… but I can’t wait
anymore.”

“Well you’ll have to. You’ll go
back with your father, just as you came. And you’ll wait for me at
the restaurant. I have to prepare for you.”

“What do you mean ‘prepare’? You
can’t get any prettier.”

“I will be. And let me tell you
what I’ll look like. And you can imagine it until dinner. Long
dress, blue-black, sliding behind me…”

“I’m going to die…”

“Bare back, two strips tied
together across my breasts…”

“You’re killing me…”

Babe came around behind him,
pressed her bosom against his back and rubbed his crotch with both
hand. She whispered to him

“And those two strips…”

“Yes?”

“Don’t worry… they aren’t very
wide… just covering the nipples and the little Earths.”

“Aaaah!”

“And the slit on the
dress…”

“Yes?”

“High above my hip…”

“No…”

“So that it’s clear to you that I’m
completely naked underneath the dress.”

“Naked! Aaaaah!”

While he had been screaming Prince
had once again tried to get his hand up her skirt again. And Babe
pushed him away once more.

“Why don’t you give it up? I just
wanted a touch, to see whether you’re naked now too.”

“Nonsense! What were you thinking?
I’m doing an interview with you and your father, and
not…”

“Alright, alright… Why do you have
to get angry immediately?”

The bodyguard turned around and
said

“Sir, your father is
coming.”

Babe went to the couch. Prince ran
up to her and tried to unbutton her jacket.

“What are you doing?” Babe
screamed.

“I have to see them. At least that…
please.” Prince panted.

“I would like to show you my
breasts. I was thinking about it. I really was. But I
can’t.”

“Why?” Prince was
surprised.

“Because you’d see my
bellybutton.”

“Ah, the bellybutton… I’ll drill it
with my tongue… drill it…”

“I’m afraid you won’t be able
to.”

“Why? Does it too have a little
Earth?”

“Not a little Earth. Something
else… it’s not important…”

“What else? What?!”

“Something just for you. Something
that belongs only to you, my Prince.”

“Tell me, don’t torture me anymore.
What is that which is just mine?”

“I won’t tell you. I want you to
see.”

“But when? When will I see
it?”

“Now,” said Babe, turning from
Prince and walking with her hands held out, like a caring
daughter-in-law, to Mr. Kaella, who was at that moment entering the
submarine salon.

Chapter 56

When he saw that Prince had sat
down in his armchair, Mr. Kaella whispered to Babe, who was
standing next to him “Miss Babe, you know, I’m a little tired. I
will talk about the Balance in another interview. Here, next week,
for example. You now talk to my son…”

Babe was aghast. “What’s with you,
old man?” she thought in panic. “How can I talk to Prince?! I have
to show him something! Do you want a daughter-in-law like this or
not?!”

“That won’t do, Mr. Kaella,” Babe
said resolutely. “This is your interview. The viewers want to hear
you. Only you, Mr. Kaella.”

“I know that… I’m aware…
but…”

“This is what we’ll do, Mr. Kaella.
I believe that you are already tired. But you have a written text
about the Balance.”

“Yes, I do…”

“We’ll put it up on the
teleprompter. You can look at the camera, the text will appear, and
you will read it. Without any burden or too much thought. And I
won’t ask you anything. Do you agree?

“Alright… But next week a new
interview. I want to explain everything in greater detail. This was
too short.”

“Of course, Mr. Kaella. We have
received countless consumer messages during the show; people are
begging you for more interviews.”

“Oh? Is that true, Miss
Babe?”

“Yes, it’s true,” Babe responded
briefly and ran to the control room to organize the
teleprompter.

“But all that wasn’t enough,” Mr.
Kaella read his text about the Balance, while looking at the
camera. “The state didn’t have enough revenue for carrying out its
most basic functions. I increased the taxes and therefore filled
the state coffers, but I also increased the poverty of both the
people and the sectors of the Company. People had less money to
spend. This is why the sectors’ profits dropped. In order to
salvage their profits the sectors laid people off. Those that
hadn’t been laid off worked all day long for the same salary, so
that they too would not lose their jobs. This is how the sectors
reduced costs and increased productivity. Those that had been laid
off did not have money to spend, and those that still worked didn’t
spend it, but saved it for a rainy day. Therefore the cost-cutting
did not help the sectors much, because their revenue dropped faster
than their expenses. This is why profits waned. And that is why I
could collect fewer taxes. This created a vicious
circle.”

Chapter 57

Babe again sat at the edge of the
couch, next to Mr. Kaella, but her body faced Prince, and she
clenched her knees. This humble position was the complete opposite
of the great lust that she felt throughout her body. She wasn’t at
all listening to Mr. Kaella. She was overjoyed, because she had rid
herself of that last fear.

No,… not fear, certainly not fear.
She wasn’t in fact afraid of it… she wasn’t. “Why would I be afraid
of something that isn’t at all important?” Babe seriously
contemplated. “Alright, it’s true that it isn’t important, but it
also isn’t insignificant. Actually, it is secondary. That’s it.
That’s the right expression. Secondary.”

And she wasn’t afraid of secondary
things. Sometimes, recently, when she would think about it she
would just get a little worried. She was a little anxious that she
might face the same fate as the secretary of the executive producer
of her media company, Capital City TV.

That secretary told Babe that while
she was once in the producer’s office taking his instructions, he
suddenly bent her over his desk, pulled up her skirt and pulled her
panties down her legs. While bent over the desk, she listened to
the producer unbuckle his belt and drop his pants. When she was
pinned down on the desk by the producer’s big belly, she realized
that he was having trouble getting close enough. Even though she
wanted to, she did not come to his aid, because her panties
prevented her. However, after a while she heard his chugging, which
she thought was a little suspicious. To eliminate any suspicion she
asked

“Sir, is it in?”

“It is… it is…” the producer
wheezed.

That secretary was a smart girl.
Babe also appreciated her. The same moment she started moving her
hips and said

“Oh, how big it is!”

“Some of our sectors were already
reporting losses,” Mr. Kaella read his text on the Balance. “There
was a growing number of unemployed people. And what did that mean?
That I had to give them energy, food, water, apartments,
pharmaceuticals… for free? Well that wasn’t possible.

“Then at one moment I realized …
that was the moment of my enlightenment, that I have to create the
Balance. This meant that every person must be employed and earn
enough to pay all the expenses and buy as many shares as possible,
for the greatest possible extension of life.

“And how could we achieve this? It
was simple. The produced goods and offered services had to be
completely spent in a given period of time, so that production and
services would continue uninterrupted. That way people would have
constant jobs and enough income. This meant that the basic driver
of our most perfect and final form of capitalism is constant
consumption.

“The modern information systems
have calculated for each type of goods and services the time after
which the old must be destroyed in order to produce anew. Today we
call that seasons. For clothing this is three months, as we know,
two years for cars, seven for apartments, for household
appliances…”

“No, no… I won’t share her fate!”
Babe’s soul cried out. “My hand wasn’t empty! On the contrary!
There is something between my Prince’s legs. There is, there is…
and that is why you will now see what I promised, my Prince. That
thing on my bellybutton!”

Babe unbuttoned the lower button on
her jacket and looked at Prince, whose entire body trembled in the
armchair.

Chapter 58

Pascal returned to the bathroom. As
a well-behaved man he closed the door behind him so that he could
urinate, even though he was alone in the suite. While he was
washing his hands, he realized that the soaps, gels, shampoos,
toothpaste which were arranged in a large box on the dresser – were
contemporary. From this season.

“Come on, Pascal,” he forced
himself. “Come on, play detective. Did you see how you forgot about
her for a moment at least, while you were trying to guess where you
were. It hurt less, at least for a moment. Come on… you see that
the soaps are new. What can you deduce from that,
Pascal?”

“I conclude that this apartment was
prepared for me by someone,” Pascal spoke to himself. He pretended
that he was not alone and strived for the other person not to
notice that he was only thinking about her.

“Excellent,” said the imaginary
person and asked “And what do you think, who prepared it,
Pascal?”

“What do you mean ‘who’? Seneca and
Raul.”

“Is that right? Seneca and Raul?
And where did they get this shelter?” said the counterpart
curiously.

“Raul certainly doesn’t have it,”
Pascal answered obediently. “And Seneca… why wouldn’t the mayor of
Megapolis have a shelter for him and his family? One of the most
important functions in the State,” Pascal nodded to himself in the
mirror.

“Aha! And you’re saying that he
built it a long time ago?” the counterpart still wasn’t pleased
with the response.

“Yes. At least ten years, maybe
even more.”

“Aha! For himself and his wife –
the bedroom, one room for the daughter and one for the two sons.
Seneca now has one son, and ten years ago or more Senece didn’t
have any children. Nor was he married.”

“He didn’t have any children, he
wasn’t even married. You weren’t married either! Where was I then?!
What was I doing at the time?! Why didn’t I rush to Megapolis and
steal you from your parents’ house?! Why?!!!”