The Visitor (20 page)

“Madam Okkala! Madam Okkala!”

She turned and saw Madame Ukkuulaae who, slowly rolling in a small red car, was prompting her by opening the passenger side door.

“Would you like me to accompany you somewhere?” she proposed.

“Gladly, if you don’t mind!”

Telling herself that it surely wasn’t her fault if fate refused to let her exercise, she entered the vehicle and offered:

“
Thank you so much, you’re very kind.”
 

“
Oh, its nothing! Where do you want me to take you?”
 

“
To the railway station, please.”
 

“
Here we go!”
 

“
A glance to the rear-view mirror, signaling... She drove into the trafic and asked:
 

“
Where do you live if it isn’t too indiscreet?”
 

“
In Ravales.”
 

“
Wow! How about that!”
 

“
Why?”
 

“
That’s where I live too!”
 

“
No!”
 

“
Yes, yes! Well... Rather than the railway station... would you like to make the trip with me...”
 

“
Ah... in that case... of course, I’m really grateful to take advantage of this happy coincidence.”
 

Ukkuulaae drove with a certain ease through traffic jams. After two minutes of embarrassed silence, it was she who broke it:

“
What a drama! What a terrible tragedy! Did you know this Mister Ukkosal?”
 

“
Yes,” Okkala was forced to admit.
 

She couldn’t deny it, because she was the only one that hadn’t fled the set and many had noticed Ukkosal talking to her after having committed his insane act. Pending the arrival of the police, the channel’s security service had intervened to isolate Ukkosal. He had offered no resistance. To conceal her desire to leave it at that, she felt necessary to add a small inconsequential complement to her probably too laconic reply:

“
He’s from Ravales, too.”
 

Ukkuulaae felt her discomfort. She had the delicacy to change the subject to avoid the heavy silence:

“
You know...” she said searching for words.
 

“
Yes?”
 

“
Earlier, on the set of The Inquirer, I told you that I love and respect my beasts.”
 

“
Yes…”
 

“
You joked in response that you were hoping not to be respected by me, so I wouldn’t take you to the slaughterhouse.”
 

“
It was in jest, yes. But... nonetheless...”
 

“
My bovs are in an outdoor pen. They aren’t imprisoned their entire lives in a building like Nature Foods or Ralchadomac. I wouldn't want you to put me in the same camp as the people there. I swear to you that I love animals.”
 

“
I know that, Ukkuulaae. I know. I know you far more than you think, you see?”
 

“
Oh yes? How so?”
 

“
I’ve seen you before on television. In a show about racism. I heard you speak lovingly of your hinec and your two thacs. That wasn’t the subject, but nevertheless, you spoke of them when you presented yourself and gave us some details about your family. Your participation in this program was because you had painfully suffered from racism. You’re green. Your husband is blue. You have two mixed-race children. You suffer each time that people complain that there are too many blues here. Whenever your children undergo painful teasing about the mixed colors of their scales. I remember that.”
 

“
What’s your point?”
 

“
The point is, it’s discrimination, Ukkuulaae. It’s all about discrimination.”
 

“
I don’t understand...”
 

“
You've decided arbitrarily, or rather you haven’t decided it because an arbitrary decision is doesn’t make sense. Let’s say that, by education, you discriminate against animals. In fact, you feel that your hinec and your thacs deserve hugs and good care throughout their lives, while your bovs are made to be eaten. Why? Why don’t you eat your hinec? Or your thacs? Why don’t you pamper your bovs until they die?”
 

“…
That’s life... It’s like that. What do I know?”
 

“
When the greens held blues in slavery... It was life, it was like that. Today, fortunately, that’s no longer so, because otherwise, your husband would’ve been a slave and you would’ve been severely punished for having a relationship with him. The ideology on which slavery of blues was based is called racism. The one that allows us to exploit animals, as we do, is called speciesism. These two ideologies are basically the same. Racism and speciesism have the same essence: discrimination towards one that is different.”
 

A new silence settled upon them. They were leaving the city on a highway.

“
There are jobs, lots of jobs in this field, Okkala...”
 

“
Abolition of slavery also caused the loss of a lot of jobs. All those who made their living by this commerce. All those who captured slaves for sale, all the resellers, those who whipped
them to work, manufacturers of chains and whips... Wow! That had to be quite an economic disaster!”
 

Again silence. They were now on the highway.

“
You’re right, Okkala. It’s more easy for me, and less praiseworthy, to admit it anyway... You know... I don’t believe that the Minister will do anything for us, small farmers. We’re going to die.”
 

“
I was scared of saying that to you. The worst being always more profitable than the best and profitability always winning out at the end... It can only get worse. Your only way to survive would be to do worse than them. But to do that, it’s obvious that you won't catch up, Ukkuulaae; they’re way too in advance!”
 

Silence. The sound of air on the vehicle. Headlights of cars in the opposite lane.

“
You know, Ukkuulaae... There’s something that I haven’t told you yet.”
 

“
Hmm?”
 

“
My parents were farmers.”
 

“
Ah!”
 

“
Yes... Their farm was barely larger than yours. About three hundred heads.”
 

“
Truly! I wouldn’t have thought so.”
 

“
There is another thing that you would’ve thought even less...”
 

“
...”
 

“
Imagine that the manager, the majority shareholder, the boss actually, of Nature Foods... he’s my brother.”
 

“
What! But... Noooo... You’re pulling my leg!”
 

“
No. I swear to you that it’s the strict truth. Nature Foods is only the small farm that my parents and my brother were able to increase in size. He’s a good businessman... He has taken associates and today he still owns fifty-one per cent of the shares.”
 

“
But... It must be tense between you two? How er... “
 

“
It’s often very very tense, yes.”
 

“
If I understand correctly, you also could’ve you been rich, but... you’ve chosen to stick to your convictions.”
 

“
Yes.”
 

“
But, how do you make a living?”
 

“
I’m an ethologist.”
 

Silence.

“
But, Okkala! When you told me that for worse, they're way ahead of me, it’s of, among others, your own brother that you were talking about.”
 

“
Yes. But what can I say? I’m not passing Manichean judgment on the animal exploitation industry. As Ukkosal said earlier, responsibility lies with our culture. It’s primarily consumers of animal products that sustain it. Ralchadomac and Nature Foods are just two of the many monsters in competition that this market has created.”
 

“
One would profit from better knowing you, Okkala.”
 

“
From knowing you too, Ukkuulaae.”
 

“
In a way, I envy you because you’ve given meaning to your life.”
 

“
...”
 

“
More than that of a chicken, anyway... Oops! Let’s not make you angry with this speciesist comparison. I meant more than Mister Akkoronta.”
 

Okkala smiled:

“
You’re a good person, Ukkuulaae. You should join Two One Four.”
 

Shaking the scales of her neck, Ukkuulaae made a sound that was the equivalent of a disenchanted laugh:

“
And what would my family and I do to live?”
 

“
We’ll find a solution all together. Why not convert to the production of organic products for the vegans? Cereal, pulse , oilseed crops... You could even provide finished products such as tofu or seitan. I would make you known to the vegan community.”
 

“
I'll talk it over with my husband and think about it with him.”
 

“
Don’t hesitate to call me if you need me.”
 

“
Thanks. I would like to ask you... your companion and your children?...”
 

“
My companion! He eventually got tired of my activism. He left.”
 

“
And your children? I assume that you’ve given them a vegan education. It mustn’t have been always easy... the school canteen, for example.”
 

“
I’ve an adult daughter. I didn’t give her a vegan education, no. I wasn’t vegan yet when she was a minor.”
 

“
Well well! And now, how’s it going with her about that?”
 

“
Nothing’s happening on this subject. She prefers that I don't speak about it.”
 

“
Is that so! And... how to say? … Does it bother you?”
 

“
At the beginning no doubt, but today not much. I’ve come to terms with it. Isn't it said that no one is a prophet in his own country?”
 

“
It's surprising that you've given up talking about it with her, while you openly and officially make war with your brother’s company.”
 

“
Surprising! Not really... First, my daughter isn’t involved in a murder factory. Also, it’s more difficult to be opposed on an idea with a child than with a brother. A brother feels equal. A child won’t hesitate to claim her right to be an adult, even if she still needs you physically. If you try to convince her, she’ll contest, almost by principle.”
 

“
Yes, but that’s only in adolescence!”
 

“
Some adolescences last longer than others.”
 

Ukkuulaae remained a silent moment, appearing to be focused on her driving.

Okkala thought about Ukkosal again, to the years of prison awaiting him. She couldn't help blaming herself saying that she necessarily had something to do with it, that she should never have entrusted him with that mission, that she ought to have realized that he wasn’t strong enough to bear it. Ukkuulaae took her from her thoughts:

“
There goes our mutual friend,” she exclaimed.
 

It was a big truck with a tarpaulin having "Ralchadomac" written on it in large white letters on a red background. Under this logo was a drawing of a lion and three cubs with a slogan: ‘
a mother's instinct knows what’s best for her children!
’.
 

“
Aha! The famous example of carnivores to justify the fact that we ourselves can eat animals!”
 

“
That reminds me, Okkala, of your reply to Ykkypol concerning lions earlier on the show.”
 

It was midnight. In Nature Foods’ veterinary laboratory, the head of the department, crouching near the wild bov’s body, was watching the screen of her medical device.

“
Don't take any risks, Ikkillu. I mean don’t try to save her by yourself just to look good in my eyes. You can make use of other means or other people if necessary. The only thing that counts is to succeed in this undertaking. I’ll pay. I’ll pay.”
 

She looked up at her boss:

“
Mister Akkal, its heart is no longer beating...”
 

“
Can’t you try to revive her? Cardiac massage, defibrillation... whatever?”
 

Ikkillu didn’t believe in it, but given what was apparently at stake for him, but mostly for her, she was determined to try everything.

“
Let’s move it as soon as possible to Animal Comfort clinic. It’s the best and I worked there for three years. We must call an ambulan...”
 

Akkal was already screaming into his phone:

“
I need two men immediately in the veto lab. It’s of the utmost urgency.”
 

He responded to the interrogative gaze of the veterinarian:

“
If we waited until the ambulance arrived, we would’ve lost time. I asked for assistance from security. I know that it’s outside of their task description, but... Well, that’s where we find the most muscular.”
 

The two guards arrived running with four elbows held to their sides.

“
Mister Akkal, what...?” muttered the most senior.
 

“
Take this beast to the Animal Comfort veterinary clinic as fast as you can and taking maximum possible precautions. If anything happens to it, you'll be all fired on the spot. So stop looking at me with dumb looking eyes! I said it was urgent! Use the most appropriate service vehicle at your disposal. We’ll follow you. Madam Ikkillu, watch the way these gentlemen do this so that they lift it properly.”
 

*

Lying on his back, Etos seemed to be looking at the ceiling of his cage. His pupils were projecting correctly the image on his retinas, but, nevertheless, he didn't recognize it, because he only saw Mahisa in his mind. Nor did he feel Gentle Lightning who was lying by him and whose head rested on his chest. She talked to him, but he didn’t perceive her whistling, because his consciousness only heard Mahisa. His entire being was hungry for her. His hands wanted to caress her, his arms to embrace her, his eyes to behold her, his ears to listen to her, his skin to feel hers. His fingers dreamed of slipping through the long hairs on her head.