First Cycle - Spring

by Sarah Kassem

  All these thoughts about reptiles however only served to make him nervous again and he quickly looked under the bed once more, thankfully seeing that there was nothing there. For safety, he looked again in the closet and in his toy boxes and in his backpack and shone the flashlight in his shoes, but there was nothing there.

  He quickly performed a Sun Salutation, whispered “Ossu”, lay down, looked at the fish and the starfish until his eyes were tired and he fell asleep.

  Pollengrain

  Viktor was sitting with his father in the canteen of Bresolino Views, telling him about his karate lessons. Immanuel Abies found everything on the subject very interesting, and as such Viktor had a lot to explain, especially concerning the two rules he’d learnt. His father tried to say “Ossu” and Viktor corrected his pronunciation before standing up to show his father the Senkutsu Dachi and the welcome ceremony. He wanted to show him the Sun Salutation as well, but his father wouldn’t let him lie down on the dirty canteen floor so instead he returned to the table to finish his steak with peas and carrots. He wanted to skip the peas and carrots and go directly to the creme caramel, but his father insisted on him finishing all his vegetables. As such he wasn’t allowed to even look at the creme caramel till each pea had been eaten and the plate was therefore completely empty.

  His father told him something about microscopes and telescopes and Viktor listened attentively while resolving that night to look up both words in his children’s encyclopedia. His father told him about a telescope called the ‘TEAM 0.5’, adding that the management of Bresolino Views were very interested in this telescope and therefore were going to fly out to a conference in California in three weeks to see it. Supposedly, this model was the best in the world.

  “Do you want to come with us?” His father asked.

  Viktor asked where California is. When he heard that it was in America, and he in turn remembered that Canada is in America, he said no politely, saying that he had no time because he had too much to learn for school.

  Then Immanuel Abies told Viktor about a surprise he was planning for Helena’s birthday in two weeks. He had already held some secret discussions with the studio staff in which he had outlined his plan for them all to take a trip to the seaside. Viktor, however, did not share his father’s enthusiasm. The last time he’d been at the sea, he’d gotten some pretty bad sunburn. And sunstroke. And stepped on a broken shell that caused his foot to bleed. Helena had had to get her tweezers out to extract the bits of shell and Viktor had screamed like a baby from the pain.

  His father went on to explain that, as the sea was by Lantana Camara, a three-hour drive from Hedera Helix, they could set off very early in the morning and spend the whole day there before driving back in the evening. Viktor thought to himself and made some calculations, coming to the realisation as he did that this would equal about ten hours by the sea. Ten hours meant a lot of sun, a lot of wind, and a lot of shells. He carefully informed his father that he thought the sea wasn’t such a good idea, but Immanuel Abies ignored his son’s comment and continued talking.

  Viktor asked him when the chance arose who was going to go.

  “So far the studio people have all promised to come. Grandpa Gideon is also coming. Oded will take the studio car, I’ll drive my car, so all up we can take ten people.”

  Viktor once more did some calculations: He, his mother, his father, grandfather Gideon, Oded, Gem, Hala... that already made seven. Adding then Maricel, Donna, Andala, Hamid and Malek, there was no way they could fit as seven and five were twelve and there were only ten places.

  “Can Marco come?” Asked Viktor.

  “If he wants to,” Immanuel said, scooping his creme caramel from the plate with a spoon.

  “Can Rocco with come with us?”

  His father looked at him, shrugged his shoulders and said, “No idea. I guess it depends if he has to work that day.”

  “Can I invite Linda as well?” asked Viktor excitedly.

  “Who is Linda?”

  “Linda! Samuel’s daughter!”

  “Samuel? The barber?”

  “Yes. Linda is doing her training with him.”

  “The blonde girl?”

  Viktor nodded

  “I don’t think she’ll want to go to the beach with us.”

  “Can I ask Angh Park?”

  “Who’s Angh Park?”

  “My karate teacher!”

  “I don’t think he’ll want to come either.”

  “Can I ask him?”

  “If you want.”

  “Can I ask Gerald van den Berg?”

  His father laughed. “Gerald has to work, that I do know.”

  “Can I ask Emilia?”

  His father laughed again and shook his head.

  “I want Galina to come along!”

  “Who’s Galina?”

  “The cleaning lady!”

  “Which cleaning lady?”

  “The one who cleans your office!”

  “Oh, her. No Viktor, she has to work as well.”

  “Can I invite Emil from the karate school and my class?”

  His father laughed uproariously and put down his spoon. “Viktor, we only have 10 seats in the car and so we can’t take every single person you know. Don’t forget as well that it’s your mother’s birthday and so she picks and chooses who comes along.”

  Viktor nodded in crestfallen understanding.

  “Come on, Viktor. Eat your dessert. I’ve got to get going to a meeting.”

  Viktor quickly spooned his creme caramel into his watering mouth and declared once more that it was the best food in the world. He and his father then took their trays to the tray trolley and left the canteen.

  After he had ensured the security of the company with Gerald van den Berg, Viktor asked Gerald what the term ‘Guard Battalion’ meant. Gerald used both Ruud van Nistelrooy and Mark Bommel as examples, and after Viktor not only understood, but also made a note to himself to read up on Holland in his children’s encyclopedia. He realised that he knew nothing about Holland and didn’t even know what the difference between Holland and the Netherlands was. What he did know was that the Netherlands had the best football team in the world, this he had learnt from Gerald. As he had already seen Marco coming in the entrance hall on the security monitors, Viktor took his backpack and joined Marco in order to go to the top floor and the empty conference room where they could work on Viktor’s homework.

  When they were done and they still had more than half an hour left, Viktor demanded that Marco tell him something about reptiles. Marco told him about dinosaurs and the Galapagos tortoises, supposedly the animals with the longest lifespan in the world. This was all very interesting to Viktor, but he had the feeling that none of it was very relevant. He asked about lizards and Marco said that if you cut the tail off a lizard, it grows back. Viktor was very creeped out by that. Marco then told him about chameleons that could change their colour depending on the colour of the ground or the wall or the tree they were on, and therefore can hide themselves excellently. Viktor began to sweat. Marco interpreted this horrified expression as fascination and promised to take him to the zoo in Salix Alba. Viktor had already been to the zoo with Marco and he remembered all the fun they’d had. All the animals had been behind bars or glass and as such he thought it might in fact be a good idea. After all, not only would the reptiles be imprisoned, but Marco would be there as well.

  When their time was finished, Marco brought Viktor to Emilia where he was seated on a chair to whittle away time while she was occupied on the phone.

  Emilia was quite different to his mother when she was on the telephone. Helena Abies had only two forms of talking on the phone, both of which depended on her motivation. When she was involved in an unimportant conversation that she viewed as wasting her time, choppy sentences and monosyllabic words were employed. If, however, she was to be found screaming, cursing or issuing commands, one could easily assume it was either an upsetting or anger inducing conve
rsation. For any conversations that lay in-between these two categories, it was Oded who took over the talking, for Helena had quickly realized that Oded’s friendly and patient attitude was very well received by the customers, meaning that he was designated the ‘kindness and similar matters’ speaker.

  In contrast, Emilia spoke slowly and with elongated words, smiled all the time and flirted constantly, made compliments, wished people a wonderful day and promised all who were at the end of the line that he or she would have the highest priority, adding that Mr. Abies would look into the matter as soon as possible and that she would immediately, of course, and without delay, forward the message, and furthermore ensure that the matter would be dealt with promptly and to their absolute satisfaction. She had long, painted pink fingernails and a sparkling ring on her left hand. Her nails clacked as she tapped on the keyboard and her long, black eyelashes peeked lasciviously over the small thin glasses tenderly placed on her nose. A wonderful fragrance filled the room from a mingling of the lilies in a large vase, Emilia’s perfume, and the open windows. Viktor recognised in the scent chamomile, or perhaps gasoline, he wasn’t exactly sure which. Surrounded by Emilia’s singsong voice, Viktor became drowsy and began to doze. He was woken when Emilia stroked his cheek and said, “My Sweet Sparrow, you were sleeping so deeply. I have to close the office now as it’s time for me to go. Are you going next door to your father? He’s busy but he knows you’re waiting for him.”

  She gave him a chocolate, a kiss and rushed away. Viktor sat at his table and looked at his fingers under the microscope. His fingernails looked very long and dirty. Viktor remembered that long and dirty fingernails were not good for karate and that Angh Park would be very angry if he were ever to see Viktor’s fingernails under the microscope. As such he chewed the ends of his nails and then scrubbed what remained with soap in his father’s small bathroom. Finally, he looked at them once more under the microscope. Although they looked a bit better, they were now a bit jagged and the cuticles were torn. He decided to ask Emilia the next time he saw her as her fingernails always looked so beautiful.

  Soon Galina came with her cleaning carts and greeted him effusively. Viktor tied out the “Dobri dien” he had learnt. She touched his chest and said something Viktor interpreted as an expression of joy. She sat down on the chair next to him and began to talk incomprehensibly. Viktor tired to focus and watch her lips, but he didn’t understand a single word. When she finally finished, he nodded vigorously and said again “Dobri dien”. Galina laughed, hugged him and began to chat about something while emptying the trash and wiping the desks with a cloth. Viktor said “Ossu”, the only other exotic word that he knew.

  Later Viktor was sitting on his bed reading in his children’s encyclopedia about both microscopes and Holland (which reassuringly was not in Canada nor near Helsinki), after which he made sure that the magpies were still there and that the trees were full of birds. Then there was a knock. Viktor slammed shut the children’s encyclopedia, threw it in a corner and ran to the window. He let Cristobal in and ran into the kitchen and got some honey, because Cristobal had collapsed on the bed, exhausted, and whined that he was dying of hunger. He made himself a jam sandwich, even though he was not hungry. When this was all done, he sat down on the bed with Cristobal and they ate together. Viktor remembered something and he asked, “Are chickens birds?”

  Cristobal nodded. “Yes, they’re birds.”

  “What do they do?” Asked Viktor.

  “Roosters are in the infantry. They’re really good fighters! And the chickens are among the scouts, collecting information, providing eggs and chicks for infiltration, observing our allies, looking out for reptiles and giving us information.”

  Viktor thought about all the chickens that famer Hugo had in his farm. Helena always sent Oded to the farm to buy eggs and sometimes allowed Viktor to go with him.

  “Can I eat chicken?” Asked Viktor.

  Cristobal took a sip of honey. “Jennifer Connelly asked me that very same question! She eats nothing from animals.”

  “Can you eat chicken?”

  “Yes,” Cristobal said. “There are so many chickens, it’s not really a problem. Phoenix says: ‘Everything that lives and moves about, will be food.’”

  “Who is Phoenix?”

  “That’s our God! Our resurrected and reborn god. He was burnt and died, but he lives on and on.”

  Viktor nodded.

  “Phoenix said that everything that liveth, is our food. So you can eat chicken,” repeated Cristobal.

  “Even reptiles?”

  Cristobal turned pale and stared in horror at Viktor. He grimaced and stammered: “E-eat rep-reptiles!”

  Viktor didn’t say anything else as Cristobal’s reaction seemed to point out well enough how stupid a question it had been.

  “Why would you want to eat reptiles?” Cristobal choked out.

  “I don’t know,” Viktor said.

  “Phoenix said, ‘And every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth shall be an abomination; it shall not be eaten. Whatever goeth upon the belly, and whatever goeth on four or more feet among all that creep on the earth, you shall not eat, for it is an abomination. Purify your souls to not be a monster and do not be defiled by them, or ye should be defiled. For I am the Lord your God. Therefore ye shall hallow yourself, that ye are holy, for I am holy, and you shall not defile your souls with any creeping animal that creeps upon the earth.’”

  Viktor nodded.

  “If you eat a reptile, then that will sink into your soul and contaminated it,” said Cristobal with an air of repulsion.

  “All right,” Viktor said, thinking to himself. “But reptiles live and move, don’t they? Didn’t Phoenix say we can eat whatever lives and moves?”

  By now Cristobal was both hyperventilating and clutching at the bed sheets. “But not reptiles!” he shouted.

  “But if you eat a lot of reptiles, then there will be less of them on earth and that’s good, if there are less. Right?”

  “But Phoenix said that what creeps is a monster and pollutes the soul!” whimpered Cristobal. “He even said that lizards and chameleons are unclean and whoever touches them shall be unclean until the end. No matter what, you can never eat reptiles! In fact, I’m not hungry anymore. I feel sick,” wailed Cristobal and pushed the jar of honey away.

  “I’m sorry,” said Viktor. Cristobal turned the other direction with a concerned and disgusted look.

  “I’m going to Lantana Camara,” Viktor said before telling Cristobal about his mother’s birthday.

  Cristobal listened attentively, making notes about the date and writing down the name of the city. He then said it wouldn’t be a problem as he would mobilize the gulls, providing Viktor therefore with an escort for the way.

  Viktor remembered something. “Are there any crocodiles there? Crocodiles live by the sea.”

  Cristobal turned pale and tottered dizzily back and forth. “You can’t go there!” He breathed in a horrified voice.

  “Why not? Are there crocodiles?”

  “You can’t go there! I’ll talk to the seagulls and the owls, they’ll explore the area first and see if there are any crocodiles. Once that’s done I’ll tell you if it’s safe for you to go!”

  “I’ve never seen a real crocodile,” Viktor said. “Maybe I’ll go to the zoo with Marco, there are reptiles there.”

  “Why in God’s name do you want to see reptiles? You’ve seen Edison, that should have been terrible enough!”

  Viktor thought to himself that Edison wasn’t all that terrible, but he suspected that he wasn’t allowed to say such a thing. “I want to know the enemy,” he said finally.

  The answer was apparently a good answer, because Cristobal thought for a moment and then nodded vigorously. “Good. Good idea. I like that! You’ll go there with a big man, right?”

  Viktor nodded.

  “And the reptiles are locked up, right?”

  Viktor nodded again.

  �
��That’s ok then. We do that sometimes. We fly into zoos and use the reptiles there for training purposes. There are always big birds there as well which take care of us and so far nothing has happened.”

  That night they took another walk. They returned to the dimly lit, nameless place beside Quercus Street and then carried on walking till they got to the circus. They arrived at the field and stood at its edge, a barbed wire fence separating them from many caravans and metal rods with tents and equipment that signaled the beginning of the circus. A pair of white and black horses stood at the edge of the field and grazed on the few tufts of grass that grew there.

  “I have a special pass for the circus. It begins in a few days, I can go as often as I want and it costs nothing,” Viktor said.