THE CITY THAT IS ABOUT TO DISAPPEAR BEFORE OUR VERY EYES
Today is the 13th of August. Today is the great feast of the City that is about to disappear before our very eyes. Today is the big carnival, and three musicians will play and sing in different streets until late at night. Today, women dance bare-breasted and, laughing, shake their breasts to the rhythm of the music. All women. Regardless of age and regardless of their appearance.
And the men? The men look at them with undisguised longing in their eyes. Their eyes don’t hide a passion, and their hands tremble before the elusive touch. That is the point of the great feast of the City that is about to disappear before our very eyes.
I was the one who invented the great festival of my city, of the city that will disappear before my eyes.
The city that is about to disappear before our eyes is on one of the edges of the European desert. No one enters that city. No one gets out of that city. No one will enter and nowhere to exit. The city is self-sufficient. The city is self-sustaining.
We have the most important and clever city administration. It knows what the City that is about to disappear before our eyes need. How many bakers are needed to feed the city with bread is known. How many doctors are needed to treat it is known. And how many cleaners to clean up the trash is known.
I am the journalist in the City that is about to disappear before our very eyes. The only journalist. I am the one who spreads the truth about the city among its citizens.
One of my most important chores is going to the morgue and the maternity ward every day. And to count whether more people died or more babies were born. And always, always more people die. Old, young, women, children… And always fewer babies are born.
And I bring that data to our City Administration. These are clever people. I am waiting for their approval to publish it in the newspaper. And they never approve. They know what is best for our city. And I believe them. For example, when a doctor dies, they immediately recruit a scavenger to take the vacancy. People being healthy is better than the city being clean. When a baker dies, they immediately replace him with a doctor. People being fed is better than being healthy. When a cleaner dies, a musician takes his place. Who needs music compared to hygiene? And so on. I’m telling you – our City Administration is wise. It holds the City that is about to disappear before our very eyes in life.
And I don’t know why, I don’t know how, but just once I didn’t do it right. It was that August 13th. Then, and only then, there was only one more death than the number of babies born. And I reported in my newspaper that 30 more babies were born that day than people died.
The City Administration took advantage of the general enthusiasm, and since then 13th of August become a great holiday of the City that is about to disappear before our very eyes.
It is a day of the fertility of the City that is about to disappear before our very eyes.