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01:08
'War? What kind of war?'
Jacob raised his eyebrows. It seemed as if he had been annoyed.
'Let me tell you a story. On the day you left everything was fine for some time. People got used to eating vegetables. The father managed to buy the majority of the grounds and he rented the rest that people didn't want to sell to him. He was prosperous. He was pleased. For some time we lived like kings. I got married, you see. I got married to the most beautiful girl that made me so happy and loved me for who I was, regardless of my flaws. She, in contrast, was flawless. I showed you her picture, Mel. Even before you departed, I knew with whom I wanted to spend the rest of my life. The father was opposed, he didn't want me to marry, he wanted me to take over the farm. I didn't want to have anything to do with the farm, not my cup of tea, you see. We argued. I moved out of the house. I took some part of the land which belonged to me, started my own company, employed some men. We were crazy in love. We didn't leave the bed for months. We weren't rich but money is not everything, Mel. The father was enormously rich but you were away and he didn't speak a word to me since the day I got married. I didn't want to be a farmer. I didn't like his idea of me since I was a child. I was envious of you, Mel. You were allowed to live your life with your nose in books, somewhere far far away. I had to be rejected to be happy. I had to fight for it.
And then there was another bad year. I'm not sure if you can compare it to the year when all animals died. People still remembered how it felt. But this time they were so scared that they started behaving beyond their control. Crops failed. The loss was huge. People were hungry. There were some supplies, but people didn't think about the future so there weren't enough for everybody to survive. Some people died of hunger. And then there was winter. It was cold, people were starving, Mel. Starving.
One day they found one man. A week later they came across another incomplete body. No one even cooked the meat. They just bit into it and devoured like on a roasted chicken. It was madness, Mel. For months people hunted each other and ate one another with the satisfaction of a beast. You couldn't trust anybody. You were afraid to walk out at night. It lasted for a year. One day they broke into my house and they ate my wife in front of my eyes. The only woman I have ever loved, Mel. I was there watching her body disintegrated and I couldn't do anything. I thought that they were going to eat me as well, but they didn't. They left me devastated. I buried what they left of her and I wanted to kill myself. And then they came. I knew them from my youth. Those attractive men, those charismatic leaders. Surprisingly, in times of hunger, they looked like well-nourished pigs. They were never hungry. They knew who the father was. They asked me to take them to him. They explained what they wanted to do. I asked for his quick death. It was all in the will. The land was to be inherited by his progeny.
One day they found one man. A week later they came across another incomplete body. No one even cooked the meat. They just bit into it and devoured like on a roasted chicken. It was madness, Mel. For months people hunted each other and ate one another with the satisfaction of a beast. You couldn't trust anybody. You were afraid to walk out at night. It lasted for a year. One day they broke into my house and they ate my wife in front of my eyes. The only woman I have ever loved, Mel. I was there watching her body disintegrated and I couldn't do anything. I thought that they were going to eat me as well, but they didn't. They left me devastated. I buried what they left of her and I wanted to kill myself. And then they came. I knew them from my youth. Those attractive men, those charismatic leaders. Surprisingly, in times of hunger, they looked like well-nourished pigs. They were never hungry. They knew who the father was. They asked me to take them to him. They explained what they wanted to do. I asked for his quick death. It was all in the will. The land was to be inherited by his progeny.
You were away, Mel. I was waiting for you. I was his only child here in K., After they shot him in the head, I became the sole owner of the land. And then they wanted a division. They needed protection. They didn't want to be eaten, as they were eating others. At the same time, they didn't want to be hungry. Within weeks they gathered their families and friends. We chose the area and we separated it with a wall. I was their leader, I felt it. I felt that they accepted my right of birth. This is how N. was created. Our only problem was how to deal with those in K. ...'
Melquiades listened silently. There were very few people who called him Mel. Again, he felt as if he was only a teenage boy in front of an older brother. And the more he listened, the more he regretted that he hadn't come back earlier.
Melquiades listened silently. There were very few people who called him Mel. Again, he felt as if he was only a teenage boy in front of an older brother. And the more he listened, the more he regretted that he hadn't come back earlier.
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