A Quarter Life

The Dictator

The canteen, it looked like before. Same gestures, same smiles, everything.

They entered the canteen, quite silently. There were quite a more people than before. The place felt lively, a little, just a little. Mike could understand, sometimes a little chaos was necessary to remind the existence.

They sat on a table. A waiter came by, 'What will be the order, sir?'

Bruno thought, 'I will have an egg omelet, with a bacon fry. And you, Mike?'

He was tired, 'Just a black coffee, and please, tell to make the crushes half completed before mixing.'

The waiter was confused, 'But sir, we use coffee powders, not beans.'

He sighed, 'Then give me the bacon also, but with a poached egg.'

The waiter went away.

Bruno asked, 'Okay, so what is that you wanted to ask?'

He said, 'Firstly, I owe you an apology. I am the one who asked for the information.'

Bruno laughed, 'Well, I know. Jenny told me before. I just didn’t tell you because she told me not to. She loves you a lot.'

He knew that, he feared that.

Bruno pats his shoulder, 'Cheer up, Mike. It’s not your fault. I was the one to be careless, and let the authority know about this. I should have been careful. Well, I don’t regret this. The army thing, you know, is quite fearing.'

He smiled, 'Like getting killed?'

Bruno laughed, 'No, not that, that is a noble thing. The fear is to, get influenced by the government. A major portion is a part of it, and it’s quite like selling your soul to devil.'

He said nothing. Did he sell his soul to the devil? He didn’t know. Was his soul within him?

Bruno said, 'You know, as you owe me an apology, let me ask you something. Jenny didn’t tell me why you needed them?'

Mike laughed, 'I have no sort of problem whatsoever to share them with you. But, you wouldn’t believe them.'

Bruno smiled, 'Who said I need to believe everything I hear. Let's assume I am a baby boy, lying on the bed, and you are my grumpy old granny, ready to tell me some bedtime stories.’

They both laughed, very hard. The waiter came with the dinner.

He cut the egg from the center. The slimy raw yolk came out, it was soothing. He took the slimy yolk on his fingertip. He tasted it, like a kid from underground. The yolk was delicious, delightful.

Bruno said, 'So, shoot some mythology.'

He started, 'So, it was, maybe the first day of lockdown and all this s**t, I had a dream. A dream, where I was nearly dead. A big sized rock, crushing both of my legs to crumbs. I was in a cave, an old terrifying cave. I was rejoicing quite alone.'

Bruno asked, 'Old? Terrifying? How could you describe so clearly?'

He laughed, 'Because, for me it wasn’t like a dream. I could really feel the crushing, smell the old odor of dead animals, hear the crickets and bats. I was in that. A doctor called it Hypnagogic Hallucination, where dreams are felt like reality, like a simulation.'

Bruno nodded, 'I heard about that.'

He continued, 'Then he gave some pills, anti migraine ones.'

Bruno asked, 'Did it work?'

He laughed, 'In a way. I got rid of the cave dream. But that night, I saw a new one. I saw myself, in a camp, sitting outside, with a Bourbon. A guy was with me. We laughed, gossiped, enjoyed fully. He seemed a very, very close one to me. I was addressing him as Charles.'

Bruno asked, 'Was it one of those Charles' I sent you?'

He nodded, 'Yes, Charles McCourt, he was exactly identical. He was addressing me as Captain Reeve.'

Bruno sighed, 'But there was nothing on him in the archive. No photo, but I think, maybe he was identical like you.'

He was silent for seconds. Should he tell him about the manuscript?

“We quickly ran to the investigation camp. The prisoner was still there, on the floor. His eyes, they were open, and looking above. He had a last, lasting smile on his face. The smile made me angry.

Lieutenant shouted on them, 'You faggots, you had a simple job, just to extract the plan from him. But, you fools killed him.'

The chief investigator was afraid, 'Sir Lieutenant, I apologize for this.'

Reeve was looking at the body for quite a long time.

The Lieutenant shouted, 'You, you fucker, now you will face consequences in the military jury board.'

The chief was crying. Well, I knew that guy, he was a soft man.

Suddenly, Reeve said, 'Spare him, Lieute. He didn’t kill him.'

Lieutenant was angry already, 'What the f**k did you say?'

Reeve asked, 'Can you do yourself a favor? Get his blood sample tested in the lab camp. You will get to know what the f**k I said, in hours.'

He then looked at the chief, 'Aye man, it’s okay. Do you have the documents of your inspection with him?'

Within an hour, we three were back in Lieutenant's office. The hard copy of the inspection was in our hands. I read it carefully:

- Who are you?

- (Silence)

- (Hits with a stick) I'll ask again, who are you?

- (In rough voice)

- Okay, what do you know about Hitler?

- (In more rage) A great ruler, savior of the mankind.

- My ass. I didn’t want his praising.

- (laughing) You are lucky just to hear his name.

- (hits hard) Just tell me about his goddamn plan.

- (silence)

- (hits again) I don’t have all the time.

- (in normal voice)He just wants peace.

- Peace? Killing is peace?

- No, reducing bad is peace, creating equality is peace, changing genetically...

- (hits harder) shut up, you faggot.

- (laughs) You got nothing from me. You will not get anything. Try, try all you can. Tr...(falls on the floor, still tied with the chair)

The inspection was quite weird.

Lieutenant broke the silence, 'What kind of word selection is this?'

Reeve sighed, 'Can't blame him. He is quite a good investigator, but the Germans are well trained for it.'

Lieutenant wasn't convinced, 'But still, the words.'

Reeve said, 'I know. But maybe there's another thing. Was there any interpreter?'

Lieutenant sighed, 'No, just one of our soldiers, who knew German.'

Reeve laughed, 'Then it was to happen. The communication was quite uncertainly done. But-'

I was eager, 'But what?'

Reeve frowned, 'But I am not getting the catch. How does he want to create peace?'

Lieutenant was angry, 'By ruling the whole world.'

Reeve was not convinced, 'No, that's a poor possibility. He hates the Jews, he loves Germany. That's why he declared the war. But creating peace? It wasn’t his field.'

We were confused.

Reeve again said, 'What did he mean by changing genetically?'

I said, 'Maybe he meant slavery.'

Reeve sighed, 'No, not exactly. He is a cruel dictator. But he isn’t fully inhuman. He never forced anyone to join his army. He is rather, a great influencer. He will motivate to suicide, and you will hang yourself happily, for him.'

I thought. How could a man be so much influential on you, your brain? No one had never hung himself, happily, to see a guy rule the world. What was his catch?

Reeve continued, 'But he is quite a visionary. He can make his desire your habit.'

I was surprised, 'And how's that?'

He laughed, 'When he attacked a particular area, I forgot the name, he ordered to use Fluorine in the brushing.'

I said, 'And people agreed?'

He continued, 'Not exactly. But, you know, curiosity. Some used them, and saw their teeth becoming more white. They used them afterwards, and shared the fact.'

I wondered, 'Well, that's very nice.'

He laughed, 'Not exactly. Excessive and regular use of Fluorine can break your teeth, slowly.'

I was shock. What a man, what an ideology!

Lieutenant was fuming, 'Is it some Hitler fan club? You motherfuckers, you didn’t even let me sack the investi-'

Somebody was near the door. It was the guy, from the lab camp.

Reeve and Lieutenant asked together, 'What happened?'

The guy said, 'Presence of some high toxic poison was found in the blood.'

We three stood up. Some unknown sudden poison killed him, we didn’t even know.”