Читать книгу Test-&-mend - Juanna Artmane - Страница 8

Since Ali’s departure, changes started taking place rapidly. Not only did they occur within the family bounds, but the whole city of “N” stepped into a new phase of its development.

Year 2003 turned out to be the most determining in the political system. The fifth presidential election was to be held in the fall. Due care was taken not to allow any real opposition to put forward their candidacy against the son of the Leader, who was supposed to “democratically inherit” the position. There was only one group of real oppositionists, which consisted of religious bigots, ready to seize power and force the city into a Religious state. This group found support with the bulk of voters, who had fundamental religious education. By “science” they acknowledged information given by the Prophet in the “Sacred book” many-many centuries ago. Seemingly united by law of letter, the group was divided into numerous branches, which did not stay in perfect harmony, but waged constant wars in between. Still there were fears that if they had a chance to nominate their Leader for the upcoming election, they could win. In this case, the country would be found in a deplorable condition: these, obsessed by verses of the “Sacred Book”, people would not hesitate to spill blood to meet their ends.

To somehow avoid unnecessary victims, the government was to adhere to “certain” rules. For this 46

sake, they introduced a few “puppets”, labelled as “presidential contenders”. This elimination of real opposition could be seen as an outrageous demolishment of democracy. Yet, one should not rush to a conclusion and judge these undemocratic procedures severely. For westerners, or as they are periphrastically called “people from developed countries”, this particular way of election might seem unfair and cruel. Their outlook stems from a rather romantic point of view on freedom and individual choice. Many ideas, supported in western culture, pose a real danger for the eastern one, as people themselves are not ready for such a diversity. The unpleasant imprint of the oppressive regime of the Evil Empire, which lasted for decades, still firmly stayed in the DNA of the citizens. Taking into consideration the fact that this very country had been deprived of independence for almost 70 years and had been guided by appointed Leaders, the very notion of “taking reasonable decisions” was eradicated from their minds. Their blocked consciousness got used to be told what, when and in which way should be done. Yet after the downfall of the Evil Empire, there were futile attempts to create a democratic state – at least theoretically; at least – on paper. Be that as it may, we shall not condemn those, who could not make right choices shortly after. No way! If one is given options in an oblivious state of mind, it is hardly called “freedom”, but “a straight way to failure”.

To give the devil his due, the would-be president – the son of the current Leader – was a well-educated man, who ardently supported the western ideas of liberty. Having a Ph. D. in history, he fully understood of the roots of the underlying problem. This knowledge deterred him from thrusting freedom upon his nation all at once. Struggling with the stated dilemma, he developed a private scheme of gradual introduction of the concept under consideration: first – the integration with the idea of freedom, then – step-by-step immersion into a free way of life. Only under the condition of the aforementioned points’ successful implementation, freedom (in its western sense) could be attained.

Despite the devised plan, the newly elected President could hardly bring it into life. The previous Leader had already carefully adjusted each detail in the System in such a way, that it would work smoothly for many years to come. It did not really matter and could not make any difference as to who the next President was – his son or anyone else. Whoever took “the steering of the Machine”, he had no other choice but to follow the instruction, left by the previous “driver”. Otherwise, he would run the risk of crushing and killing himself, but not the perfectly built structure, each detail of which was thoroughly picked and installed. The man was wise enough to assign authorizations only to those, who were of the same breed. These people were supporters of his Regime; and they would not tolerate “outsiders”. So, being born with a political spoon in his mouth, the son of the former Leader happened to play the most appropriate candidate to presidency.

The predictable outcome of the upcoming election made common people weary to come and vote: “Why bother?”. After all, they knew very well, that the son of the former President would inherit the position.

Yet, the election campaign, officially launched in October 2003, did not run smoothly. Those religious tribes, whose Leader was excluded from the democratic process, came out into the streets, and for a good reason, were bitten by the police troops. This mistreatment of “common people” attracted the attention of Human Rights’ Watch and they managed to document the violence towards journalists and opposition.

Fortunately for some and unfortunately for others, this “violation of human rights” was soon hushed up with a remarkable generous gesture. As it was already mentioned, the new President was an expert on history, which significantly helped him to rule out from such awkward situations. While he was brooding over the ways of resolution of these minor unpleasantries, concerning the Human Rights’ Watch, the words of an ancient ruler – Alexander Makedonskiy – flashed in his mind: “A loophole to let a gold laden donkey can be found even in the most protected fortresses.” Undoubtedly, from the beginning of mankind and up to our days, thousands of strategies have remained true and applicable, when it comes to dealing such mundane matters as “violence of human rights”. Therefore, “a gold laden donkey” was what he needed for this particular case.

Laying the foundation of his career on the time-proven concepts, the new President was cultivating his own unique, yet inherent to his nation, policy. Later it came down in history under an acquired nick – “fishegg policy”. Many major alternations were yet to come.

His reconstruction of the city and minds of the citizens were to be witnessed. Such comforts as regular and stable electricity, hot and cold running water, properly working heating and health-care systems, which were previously seen as luxuries, – slowly but steadily were incorporated in the norms of the whole country. Little by little, the ghost state got filled with blood and flesh, which diluted the greyness of its existence with bright colors. Everyone was pleased with the sight of blooming cities. Comparing the improvements with the former way of life, only the ignorant failed to acknowledge that the First Post was occupied by the right person. There were no evident obstacles for the hope, that prosperity was bound to come.

The life of the Bakhtulovs’ witnessed considerable changes, too. But the awaited blooming prosperity was not up their street. It took some time for every member of the family to adjust to Ali’s absence. As silly Ulduz once predicted, still talking about the prodigal son and calling out his name, they started to forget, that some months earlier Ali was under the same roof. Each of them found their own ways to accept the loss.

Entering the middle-age crisis, Abdul was no better than other men in coping with the coming Doom. Futile attempts to prove, that he was no worse than men in their twenties, were exposed through innumerable love affairs. However, he hardly possessed enough strength to keep them up. The desire to grasp his sliding youth was behind his inappropriate behavior. The undertaken actions were typical of an inconsiderate boy – rather than a man of his status. Moreover, all his belongings – a house with a fixed style of life and a conventional wife – now served as reminders of his regularity, the imminent feature of Solid Age. All these conveniences, towards which a man struggles, and achieves through putting his youth on the altar of Life, were a harsh price for the unnoticeably passed yeasty years. Ready to return the irretrievable, Abdul threw his cap over the mill. The luring power of the young careless life dangerously blinded the man.

Uncertainties, torturing Abdul’s mind were not only bound to the milestone of his age, but to the vast predictable – yet displeasing – shifts in the local authority. The city government had to put on airs of fairness – in order to persuade the citizens in implementing probity in every sphere of the State Machine. To this aim, they carried out some purging, which was absolutely insignificant to bother “superior persons”, standing above. Yet they were too visible to produce an appearance of “clean hands”. They would imprison some minor officials on the take; and made shows out of these cases by broadcasting them on TV. Common people would watch these investigatory reports and pin their faith in the new government: “Finally! Those swindlers must have been put in jail long ago!”.

Being a “minor official” – just a tiny screw in the gigantic Machine – Abdul could be subjected to this new tendency, either. This “witch-hunt” might inflict something more troublesome on him, worse than a mere loss of his work – his position. On the face of his declining health, a thought of early retirement crossed Abdul’s mind. Over and over again proving to himself the necessity of such a step in his career, he realized the worst: the pathetic sum of money, to which he was compelled to confine in case of retirement, would put him on the same scale with those, he looked down on, mockingly. In reality, salaries of Abdul-likes were no higher than those of other workers; his future pension was to be about the same size as his legal income. The explanation was obvious: once you retire, you are no longer part of the Machine to be taken care of – at least through constant palm-oiling. This loss of benefit would mean a serious blow to his budget. Abdul started to set deadlines to pluck up courage to resign, but constantly put off the full stop with the words: “I will investigate one more case – the last one! There is no way I should refuse it and let down my boss! Besides, it looks rather lucrative. Some spare money will not hurt my wallet, when I retire”. A case after case blinded his mind, ripping him off the possibility to leave the field of evil for good.