41

03:58

'To kill me? I actually don't believe you have the ability to kill, Mel. Such a weak old man! It's funny how we see each other after all these years and we are still the same. The same younger brother. The same old house...'

'Right, why did you recreate the house in which we were living? Don't you have those palaces, don't you have those seaside villas, hundreds of chambers and endless corridors? Why do you need another house like the one we used to live in?'

'Palaces, Mel! I didn't need any palaces. The ruler has to have houses greater than everyone in the country to make his people respect him. In those chambers, you aren't happier than in a tent, Mel. These concrete walls, sculptures, and gold remind you how little you are worth without them. I needed a home. A home was in K. I wanted to have a home for myself. I ordered the reconstruction of the one we had been so happy as children. But coming back to your murder plan, why do you intend to kill me? Do you think I was a bad ruler? Do you think I am to blame for all that happened? Am I solely responsible for every single event, every single crime? I'm just a little piece of this machine. A piece of the puzzle. There's a system. Not even you will be able to change it.'

'I changed it already.', said Melquiades with a surprising confidence 'I tried for years to change the ways of K.'s men, but now I see that the obstacle was that they were drugged and they couldn't think about anything but procreation and food. They didn't want to limit their number. They weren't scared by fear. Those trains were for them as certain as death and taxes. A chain smoker rarely looks at the hazards of indulging in his favorite pleasure. I realized something else.'

'What then?,' Jacob was visibly curious.

'Brother, you made your country rich and prosperous. You allowed people to own far more than they needed to survive. And you allowed K. to stay for years in the same poverty it was left after the war. I just showed them that they can have more. Education was a hard work. They were drugged, they didn't want to make an effort. But there are far stronger instincts than desire. Jealousy is one of those things.'

'Jealousy?! What are you talking about?'

'I'm talking about possession. Everyone desires something, Jacob. You desired Gemma, so it was her I was raising for you for all these years to get closer to you. People desire material goods, so I brought thousands of those goods to the country. People could own something for the first time, Mel. Apart from food. They started to dream about having something they didn't have before. Cars, clothes, furniture. Imitation. Adoration. Whatever you call it. I had access to the system. We have TV sets, brother. We could show them how you live here. We could make them jealous. We could make them think for themselves. We could make them wonder what is so special about you that you have it all and they have nothing. And it generated a bigger result than years of education that I tried to give them. This simple solution actually outwitted even me. I came here only for one reason. The rest is up to them. This is not our nation, brother. You were a terrible ruler. You were a terrible man. But you are my brother and I have to be the one who will end the martyrdom of you and your people.'

'Unless I kill you first,' Jacob took a gun from underneath the table and placed his finger on the trigger.

Melquiades actually smiled.

'That's not necessary, brother. We will both die, either way. We are the victims of circumstances and I don't believe that there's a chance for any of us.'

Jacob looked straight into his brother's eyes.

'You're mad.'
'Maybe so. But you're my brother, Jacob. And after your death, there's no purpose on this planet for me. Blood is thicker than water. And I had already sacrificed one innocent girl for you, I deprived her of love, family, and pleasure of her destiny. I deprived her of the flawed normalcy the people of K. possess the right to have. For love, Jacob. You are the only person in the world I actually loved. Beside the father. And that girl. After you are gone, there's nothing for me here.'
Jacob was holding the gun and the weapon didn't give him the sense of security it usually gave him. Melquiades was mad indeed.