Kree by Manuela Draeger

Author:Manuela Draeger [Draeger, Manuela]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FIC028070 FICTION / Science Fiction / Apocalyptic & Post-Apocalyptic, FIC101040 FICTION / World Literature / France / 21st Century
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press
Published: 2024-10-22T00:00:00+00:00

The cooperative has taken over the area of Central’s former commercial gallery. Its purpose is to provide food for those interested in food or who need it in order to continue living, which is not at all the case for everyone. Basic food products are available in trays and containers. All night, teams of reeducateds sort through it. Surveillance patrols lend a hand as well. The food is crude, with little variety. Vegetables and fruits come from the gardens in the Jan Oltchum sector. Dried meat is prepared in the Baherdjee combine. You can take some at your discretion, although not in excess, of course. Canteens have priority, but after distribution to the collectives, individuals are allowed to glean as they wish from whatever’s left. There are always two or three terrible mendicants there to prevent abuse, spot the sneaks, and begin elimination procedures against them. Their system has never failed so far, and no one dreams of questioning it. The products never run out. Dishonest gluttons and thieves disappear and do not reappear. The terrible mendicants take care of it. It’s the basis on which both our present and our future is constructed.

After making her selections, Kree goes to the House of Mendicants. She carries a bag full of provisions over her shoulder, she has taken some for herself and some for Myriam Agazaki. Basic ingredients. Flour, strongly scented pieces of meat, dried beef, maybe, or lizard. A small armful of greens.

Brother #15 is sitting on a stool, before the front desk. They exchange casual greetings. They know each other by heart. Kree has been doing the housekeeping here for years.

Look, thinks Kree. A weird look what he’s got this morning.

Is he angry with me or what? she thinks.

Bah. I’ve got nothing to fear from him.

Nor from the others, she thinks.

The terrible mendicants are like all administrators and directors since the dawn of time, they are privately rejected by the population that they administer. All things considered, though, they aren’t so terrible as all that. That adjective was attributed to them when they first took power in the city, and to get started, they established rules and put an end to disorder. It is true that, during that time, it was better not to go against them. But today, once you’ve understood and you share their vision of the world, there isn’t really much to fear from them. Kree has little trouble molding herself in their image, she doesn’t have to do any mental contortions to adapt to their language. All in all, the terrible mendicants’ ideology is basically very close to her own. She adopts their vocabulary with sincerity, she repeats their magic words. With sincerity, and, at the same time, without belief, because she doesn’t believe in anything. She entrusts herself to fate as if she were walking in the world after death, she feels that she is floating without memories in an existence that does not end, that will not end, she moves forward in that existence from day to day.

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