NEW YORK – NEW YORK
We finally came to the Waldorf Astoria,
as they say one of the best luxurious hotels in the world.
For somebody who hadn’t had a night in a hotel for ten years,
you can be sure it was a huge shock. A boy picked up the cab
and parked it in the garage. He was initially surprised that
he had to park the cab, that a cabby himself could actually
be a hotel guest. The boy looked puzzled. Linda went straight
to the reception to sort out everything regarding our stay
and she made sure we had separate apartments, even though
it cost me an arm and a leg. Nonetheless, after the incident
at the lakeside, being separated was kind of a good thing,
although, I would rather stay with Linda than Selma.
“Here is your room card.” Linda gave us the card.
“Last time we were in hotel it had old-fashioned keys,” I
told Linda, and Selma laughed with me.
“It’s so nice here.” Selma was obviously impressed with the
lobby and the stairways.
“Well, this is probably the most famous luxury hotel in the
world,” Linda said proudly.
Selma just glowed with joy.
We took the elevator to the fifth floor where our apartments
were. Two gentlemen in the lift were checking out Linda. Bloody
Secret Service. They manage to find us as soon as we reached
our destination. I was really worried. Then the two guys checked
Selma and me out and made a face I will remember forever.
They looked at us like we were nobodies. That made me angry,
but at the same time relieved. They weren’t after us. We got
out on the fifth floor, while the fancy guys continued their
way to the top.
“This place has everything. A gym, massage parlor, sauna,
everything.” Linda seemed to enjoy acting as our tour guide.
“Did you come here before?”
“No, Zoran, I haven’t been here before, apart from the occasional
lunch or dinner. It’s overpriced for the service it provides,
although it really has its art deco charm. Oh, here is yours
and this is my room.” Linda pointed at the doors. “The boy
will bring your stuff soon. Give him at least five dollars.
Do you need some change?”
“No, we will be OK.” I wanted to show her that we were still
independent.
“Enjoy it and take your time. We have four days before all
the IT geeks come together to celebrate. See you at dinner.”
Linda entered her room and closed the door behind her. I inserted
the card in the door, but it didn’t work. I tried it another
way and surprisingly, the lock made a click sound, so I pushed
the door and entered the room. What we saw inside really surprised
us.
***
“The room was tiny, Daniel! Like in
old Yugoslav socialist resorts.”
Daniel laughed. “Yes I know. I stayed there a couple of times
and the rooms are really small. It’s an old hotel.”
“Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t expect Richard Gere’s room in
Pretty Woman, but staying in most famous luxurious hotel,
I thought it would be you know… well, more luxurious. Especially
after the mansion on the lake.”
“Must have been horrible being with your wife in such a confined
space. Worse than the lakeside holiday.”
“Actually, it was better than lakeside, even being alone with
Selma. We went around Manhattan. We saw Brooklyn Bridge, China
Town and usual stuff. Hey, did you know that French artist
that created Statue of Liberty modeled her face based on his
mother, and the body based on his mistress?”
Daniel laughed. “So the wife got left out.”
“Obviously. Anyway, best thing in New York was that for first
time we weren’t scared. Even at lakeside we always suspected
Secret Service knew where we were and that one day they could
just come and kill us all without any witnesses.” I felt shivers
down my spine again as I was reminded of what could have happened
to us.
“I agree that New York is a bit safer, despite its reputation.
So, how did the celebration go? I guess they would have had
a couple of other big shots like Larry Ellison and that Moore
guy from Intel that created Moore’s law.”
“Well, two days down the track and still nobody showed up.
So we were getting a little bit worried.”
“You and Selma.”
“I would say all three of us.” I was getting more disturbed
as I started talking about the more stressful parts of the
whole ordeal. “And then, something happened that I cannot
make sense of.”
“Again?” Daniel said sounding like he was tired of listening
to things I couldn’t understand. “Something strange about
the celebration? Did all those geeks come to the anniversary
celebration dressed as Star Wars characters, a satanic cult,
the Simpsons or something even weirder, like Doctor Who?”
***
On the second day I was standing in
the lobby of the Waldorf Astoria, trying not to draw any attention,
while looking for clues of IT big shots or the Secret Service.
I was waiting in the hotel lobby for Sima to come to pick
up his car and drive it back to Washington. When Sima entered
the hotel he was all confused.
“Hej, pa gdje si ti? Što se to zbiva?” 22
“Ne privlaci pažnju. Pricaj na njihovom. Everything is OK.”
23
“If somebody told me I would have to tip another cabbie, I’d
say ‘You are full of crap’.”
“Well, circumstances, you know.”
“Yes, where is my car?”
“The boy will bring the car in fifteen minutes.”
“I am not in hurry, Zoki. Will you tell me what is going on?”
“I can’t Simke. I simply can’t.”
“Do you owe money to somebody?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Why did you sell your car then? Why you did lease your apartment
in such rush?” Sima had a whole bunch of questions in English
that was even worse than mine.– “Oh, before I forget, here
are papers real estate agency send you. Just sign here.”
“Sure.” I signed. “I thought that I already signed everything.”
“It’s faster this way they say,” Sima simply explained.
“Ok.”
“So what you are doing with money?”
“Mail checks you get from car sale and entire rent advance
to this address, together with this form.”
“Sure. What is that?” Sima asked.
“Never mind. A little safety net fund if black days come.”
Sima took the envelope. “What about grand you promised me?”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot.” I took my wallet out. “I have only
four hundred cash. Do you want to go to ATM with me?”
Sima was thinking it through. “No, four hundred dollars is
enough.” He took the cash. “You will give me rest when you
see me next time.”
“No, we can go to ATM if you want.”
“It’s OK.” Sima didn’t feel comfortable. “Well, I guess you
are all right here. This looks like nice hotel. Decent one.
Better than hotel Lav in Split.”
I smiled at Sima’s inappropriate comparison. “Can’t complain.”
“When you are coming back to Washington?”
I was thinking, should I tell him something or not? I decided
to keep it quiet. “Soon, Simke, soon.”
***
“You know what really annoys me, Zoran?
When I am telling you really important things, you start talking
about the bloody hotel and your friend and other minor details.
I am talking about big things here! Big things. You are telling
me crap about who killed who at the wedding. Who wrote which
book or declaration? Who cares? You are talking reasons, I
am telling you the real causes and motives.” Daniel was now
out of control. Or the whisky was getting to him.
“Motives, Zoran. Motives are the key to solving every crime.
And every war is just a crime done for someone’s benefit.”
I was listening carefully to what Daniel was saying. Although
his Y2K 24 bug story
was simply unreal, I was aware that every war has its hidden
agendas, but I cannot accept the notion of creating major
conflicts over such banal reasons.
Daniel continued his story. “I know they teach you in school
about the real causes of wars, like re-partitioning of colonies
for the First World War, while for the Second World War they
usually say was a response to unjust and humiliating terms
of the German capitulation in the Great War.”
“Or they simply say Hitler was crazy,” I added.
“Exactly!” I saw how Daniel’s eyes came to life as he was
getting ready for another round of lecturing.– “There was
a well-oiled machine behind Hitler. That’s something most
people don’t know. Did you know that Hitler and the Nazi Party
were heavily financed by American industrialists? One of Hitler’s
major sponsors was Henry Ford. Hitler even kept a photo of
Henry on his desk. Also, there were other strong supporters
like J.P. Morgan, Remington and the Du Pont families. You
forgot to tell me about your friend from the Du Pont family,
Mr. Ball Junior.”
“I don’t know anything about them, apart from staying in their
lakeside shack,” I simply replied.
“I knew the old man, George W Ball, if we are talking about
the same Ball family. They were good friends of the Du Pont
family and really prominent Freemasons, Illuminati, Bilderbergers,
members of Trilateral Commission, CFR, and if I remember well,
George was high in President Kennedy’s, Johnson’s and Carter’s
administrations. Well, at least I thought you would have some
juicy detail for me about their involvement in the conspiracy.”
“Hitler,” I tried to remind Daniel what he was talking about.
“Really? I don’t know about Ball working for Hitler.”
“No, I am just reminding you. You were talking about Hitler’s
supporters. Du Pont and Ford.”
“Naturally. Du Pont were in gunpowder and explosives and also
owned a large chunk of General Motors. They would profit tremendously
from the war.”
“Money again.”
“Of course.” Daniel made a brief pause. “Oh, I almost forgot
our friends, the Bush family. George Herbert Walker Senior
and Prescott Bush, George W. Bush’s grandfather, were on the
board of the Union Banking Corporation which was a Nazi money-laundering
operation. Even Walt Disney was a close friend of Benito Mussolini.”
“So you are telling me that all those millions of Jews and
Slavs got killed just to have a chosen few drive their Rolls
Royces, Cadillacs, eat caviar and drink Moët champagne?”
“Don’t forget the Germans,” Daniel added.
“Germans, what?” I didn’t understand.
“Don’t forget that millions of Germans also died in the Second
World War. They didn’t all die just to make somebody rich,
but they also died to make somebody powerful. Never underestimate
the human desire for power. I am not old enough to know for
certain, but some historians claim that the rise of the Nazis
and Hitler was an orchestrated move to destroy Europe and
create America as the world’s superpower. As a Jew, I’d say
the experiment got a little out of control, but the goal,
if that was the goal, has been achieved. America emerged from
the Second World War as the number one superpower. Unfortunately,
the Russians did too.”
“As far as I know, Swiss bank deposits also became filled
with Jewish gold. I always thought that poor Jews were actually
killed because of their gold. Cursed for their success.”
“Hey, that’s really nice to hear. I thought you would be anti-Semitic.”
“No, we Serbs always liked and respected Jews. We were hiding
them from Germans. They were always wealthy and smart people.”
“Maybe it’s not appropriate for me to say it, but it has been
scientifically proven that Ashkenazis have an IQ fifteen percent
higher than other Jews and Europeans.”
“Ashkenazis?”
“Yes, East European Jews.”
“Aaah. Possible.”
“But we have some other genetic problems, allergies, mental
illnesses. I can’t have any seafood.”
“And you are also becoming insane,” I added.
“Hey!” Daniel didn’t like that.
“Sorry.” I continued explaining that Serbs are not anti-Semitic.–
“No, we really liked Jews, until the last war.”
“What did the Jews have to do with your bloody war?”
“You are Jew.”
“Oh please spare me the Jewish conspiracies.” Daniel was now
really annoyed.
“What were you telling me whole night? About conspiracies
with Jews in them.”
“It’s just a coincidence. Don’t forget that the Vaticans and
Germans, who you must agree don’t really like Jews, recognized
independent Slovenia and Croatia unilaterally and started
the whole Balkan mess in doing so.”
“What about Madeleine Albright. She is Jewish.”
“What about her?”
“She pushed for bombing in 1999, your Y2K Bug bombing…” I
reminded Daniel of his apparent involvement in the whole thing
“…Despite Serbs hiding her family from Nazis and saving her
life in Second World War.”
“She told me they were in England during the war.”
“She must have been lying to you. She was in Serbia in Belgrade
and Vrnjacka Banja.”
“I thought her father was the Czech Ambassador in Belgrade
after the War.”
“I am telling you: we saved her life and she bombarded us.
Since then we don’t like her.”
“Well, she isn’t the most compassionate person. Remember that
she said it was worth killing half a million Iraqi children
with sanctions for the goal achieved. So that says it all.
She is a very capable woman; I don’t want to say anything
bad about her. What were we talking about?” Daniel showed
again he was getting senile. “Now I have forgotten how the
whole thing started.”
“You were telling me what caused Second World War.”
“Ah, yes. You know, after fifty years it looks like Europe
is back on track. United, it poses a threat to American domination.
That’s why America just finished its latest war against Europe,
and won again!”
22 - Hey, where are
you? What is going on?
23 - Do not attract their attention. Speak
in English.
24 - Year 2000.
