KING OF THE WORLD
I was listening to Daniel’s self-gratifying speech, which was really hard to swallow, so I had to ask him something, ironically. “When I listen to you, you sound like king of the world!”
Daniel struggled to understand what I meant at first, but then started defending himself. “Nothing like that. Nothing like that… It’s more a feeling of a great accomplishment.” Daniel was now trying to be humble again.
I thought for a moment. Why was he telling me all this? Why to me? Why tonight? He wouldn’t last long in his job being loose-lipped. I would expect him to keep everything top-secret like a snake hiding its legs, but he was doing quite the opposite. I needed to know why.
“Can I ask you something bluntly?”
“Shoot.”
“Why are you telling me all this? That is one thing I cannot figure out. Somebody who kept all these secrets safe for fifty years is suddenly opening his soul and telling everything to random cabdriver. I don’t get it.”
“Well, you just answered the question.”
“What do you mean?”
“You are a random cabbie, driving me to my last meeting. When I retire, I will be forgotten overnight. That is the downside of my job. I might get known only for my failures, while my successes remain secret. All the other people that I know will also keep it concealed.” Daniel paused and I could see in his weary eyes that he was tired. Tired after years of secret dealings, sleepless nights and mountains of conspiracies. “I don’t know. After I heard your story and everything that happened to you, I thought that you might be somebody who might appreciate a little bit of truth, after all the lies you were exposed to over the years.”
“As nobody would ever believe a word I say, even if I tell to anybody what you just told me.”
“Well, yes, although I am sure you won’t try to tell a word about this for at least the next twenty years.” Daniel gave me a sharp look as though to threaten me.
“Don’t worry. I have enough of my own conspiracy theories to worry about.”
“I bet you do.”
Both of us were quiet now. I couldn’t guess what Daniel was thinking about.
The red traffic light made me realize that we were almost at our destination. While I was at the traffic light, I took out the street directory I bought when I was in New York the last time, with Linda. I wouldn’t have guessed that it would become so handy so soon. I realized that I needed to clear something up.
“Daniel, can you please do me a huge favor?”
“Shoot.”
“Can you swear by most precious thing in your life that you are not just screwing with me, but you are telling me things you honestly believe that are true. I am not asking you if those things are true, but just if you believe they are true.”
Daniel got his confident tone back and said proudly, “Of course I know they are true. I created or pushed through some of these plans and scams. Of course I know about them.”
“You know, some of them are really unbelievable. Like that fake-dollar scam.”
“You are forgetting that while we are controlled by laws, governments are still out of reach with their secret agencies and covert operations. Hillary Clinton used her influence to convert counterfeit money into legit US dollars through Bush controlled Riggs and Crozier Banks of Grenada. Part of that went to her campaigning fund for the Senate run, while the remaining went to Mark Thatcher and other E-System guys for their projects in Africa.
“I can see that they invented scheme and now they are exploiting it to the max.”
“By the way, for your information, the fake-money scheme is nothing original or new. It was invented by the Germans a long time ago.”
“Fake Deutsche marks?” Again, Daniel was telling me more secrets I didn’t care about. It looked like the mix of alcohol and sleep deprivation was hitting Daniel hard. He continued.
“I am sure you are aware that there are many workers from Turkey and Yugoslavia in Germany.”
“Gastarbeiters.”
“Right. And that in Yugoslavia and Turkey you could use Deutsche marks almost like the local currency.”
“Of course I know that. We could not survive hyperinflation without them.”
“By the way, that inflation was partially caused by the weakening of national reserves by those fake dollars I was telling you about, but also by the war. Anyway, the Germans realized that there are around forty billion Deutsche Marks that will never be used in Germany. So they printed some extra. And they wouldn’t have gotten caught either if wasn’t for the Euro.”
“Currency?”
“Yes, as all the Deutsche Marks had to be replaced. That’s why President Kohl was against the Euro and was using all possible reasons to avoid the use of it. The condition was even set for France and other European powers to recognize independent Slovenia and Croatia, which was something that all of them knew would trigger a war. So when Mitterrand agreed even to that condition, Kohl had no choice but to accept the Euro and find another way out of his predicament.”
“So you are saying that Yugoslavia paid price for united Europe?”
“You could say that. Anyway, Kohl tried to fix the problem by raising the interest rates and through integration of monetary systems of both East and West Germany. Yet, there was still more Deutsche Marks in circulation than there should have been. Now the whole Europe will have to pay the cost. Europeans’ standard of living will get worse once they switch to Euros. The Germans put their hands in the pockets of the entire Europe. It’s no wonder that many Europeans disliked the whole European Union idea. But only time will tell.”
“Isn’t same thing happening with US dollar? I mean, not just counterfeits, but massive amount of dollars used all over world.”
“Nicely spotted. I am glad you are listening to me.” Daniel was now playing the teacher. “It’s true. You know what they say: The UK’s number one export product is the English language, while America’s major export is the dollar. But there is a big difference between the Germans and the Americans. America has a defense force strong enough to make up for any lack of economic performance, but Germany does not.”
At that moment Daniel’s beeper beeped. I was surprised that he was carrying one. I noticed that Daniel immediately tried to catch my attention, and then I realized what he wanted. I quickly handed him my phone without him even having to ask for it.
“Thank you.” Daniel took the phone, inserted his card again and started dialing a number.
“Is it something urgent? …Thank God. Why did you buzz me? …Don’t tell me things like that over the phone. …I will be there on time. That is if the guys are not early. Don’t buzz me if it isn’t something really critical… OK, keep the champagne on ice, but don’t open it until everything is done as intended… Tell Larry to calm down. It will be OK. He will get more than he bargained for. …I hope that Rudy is ready. You know, all we can do now is wait. I can’t wait to see it. I am going to die if I miss it. It will be an amazing display. I will be there in…” Daniel looked at me, knowing that I was eavesdropping.
“In fifteen minutes to half hour,” I said.
Daniel repeated. “I will be there in a quarter of an hour. I hope I will make it on time. OK, see you soon.” Daniel hung up and seemed distant as he returned the phone to me, with not even a thank you, which was strange for somebody as polished as Daniel.
“Is everything OK with your meeting?”
“It seems so.”
“I’d suggest that you refresh and tidy up before your meeting.”
“Thanks. But it should be a relaxed meeting. I am too old and too important for anybody to say anything.”
I sensed history repeating, anticipating something bad was going to happen. “What are you preparing, some new scam?”
As I said that, a brown Chevrolet Malibu going in the lane left of me cut me off and blocked my way. I immediately tried to turn into the right lane, but there was a van, so I stepped on the brakes and felt shivers down my spine. I closed my eyes, but still managed to hear the screaming tires. I was counting down the seconds until impact and until my head hit the airbag.
Instead, when I opened my eyes, I could see that the car had made a right turn into a side street, practically from the middle lane, cutting off two lanes of traffic.
“Idiot!” Daniel was also scared.
It took a while for my heart to stop pounding like crazy. I realized how scared I was by the whole experience and wondered if I would ever be able to react to bad drivers like the rest of the world: honk or swear at them, and not be scared to death. However, it also became clear to me that I wasn’t the only one really stressed and nervous. Daniel’s nerves seemed to get shorter the closer we got to New Jersey.
“You never told me, what kind of business are you doing in New Jersey?”
“Well, I can’t really tell you, and trust me, you do not need another conspiracy theory in your life.”
“Conspiracy theory?”
“I am just kidding. But me being a Jew I wouldn’t be surprised if you are already constructing some outrageous conspiracy theory in your head.” Daniel sounded like he was trying to provoke me. “Whenever something big happens, they blame it on a Jewish conspiracy and that it’s our fault. Fourteen million Jews are always responsible for all the world’s miseries, which is a whole lot of bullshit if you ask me, and we go unrecognized for tangible life improvements created by Jewish ingenuity.”
“What do you mean? Things like Hollywood.”
“Well, I didn’t have that in mind, but you could add that to the list too. I was thinking of all those scientific breakthroughs created by Jewish scientists who won Nobel Prizes. Those fourteen million Jews deserved almost every second Nobel Prize awarded. This is concrete proof that Jews enrich this world in a very profound way.”
I felt that I touched Daniel’s soft spot here and wanted to push it slightly further. “Don’t get me wrong Daniel, but maybe that Jewish ingenuity was also used for those conspiracies. The one you were talking about minutes ago.”
“Define conspiracy. For me a conspiracy is faking the Moon landing, Area 51 in Roswell or the engine running on water…”
“Several people told me about that engine that oil companies keep locked up from public.”
“Well, if Jews are so smart, we would be the first to get hold of this engine, and get rid of the oil, the only source of power for the Arabs.”
“Yeah, I can see what you are saying.”
“The things I told you are not conspiracies. That’s the way international politics works. Their only rule is a law of the stronger and the wiser. Governments can do whatever they want as long as it is portrayed in the right light by the media, much like churches throughout the centuries approving and blessing wars.”
“So we are back to media again. You are telling me that whole Fox News story Linda told me might be true.”
“Of course it could. Wait and see what will happen in the next six months or five years. Observe closely where CNN and Fox News are now, and where they will be in, let’s say, 2005. Don’t forget that for a clever man everything is an opportunity. But please, don’t be like the others and pin it all on the Jews.” Daniel sounded hurt and angry.
“But you must agree that Americans are doing everything to support Israel.”
“Yes, but please don’t forget the reasons for that. It has very little to do with American Jews. Now, when the oil is precious, the Western world needs Israel to keep a pulse on the region and to help them if something unexpected happens, like the Egyptian closing down the Suez Canal.”
“Isn’t all that a conspiracy?”
“Come on, that’s just politics. It was always like that, since the first tribes. Only if you are smarter, you do it better.”
“Then accept that people don’t like Jews because you are particularly skilled at those political speculations, as your own stories show.”
“How many times do I have to tell you: I am not a Jew?”
“What are you then?”
“Didn’t we discuss this already? I am the citizen of the world and I can be whomever I like.”
“I understand that. You are like my kids. When they want to be victims, they are Bosnians, when they are in anti-Muslim environment, then they are Serbs.”
“Smart little brats.” Daniel sounded like he was happy that we had moved away from the sensitive topic. “Listen, Zoran, we have almost arrived at our destination. I don’t want to brag about all this anymore. I will just tell you the last thing you need to know. In politics and in your conspiracy theories, everything is actually the opposite of what it looks like on the surface. Whenever something looks like a Jewish conspiracy, be sure it has been created by anti-Semites.”
“Meaning whenever something looks like it has been done by Arabs or Muslims, it must be orchestrated by Jews.”
Daniel didn’t reply to my last remark. He just smiled. He smiled like somebody who has all the power and whose ego is close to exploding. I knew I was close to something, so I asked him, “You did not tell me what you are doing in New Jersey.”
“I already told you: it’s not your damn business.” Daniel sensed what I was targeting, but I kept asking him.
“Are you closing a deal?”
“Well, I’d rather call it witnessing the results and receiving the recognition.
“Is there anything you regret?” I was looking for some signs of remorse, but on the contrary, Daniel kept looking forward.
“I only regret that I haven’t done any job with India and Pakistan before they got the nukes. Now it’s too late. Once the country gets nuclear weapons, it’s too risky to play any games with them. That’s why every time a country gets them, the Americans and the Brits freak out.”
I gave up. “So, you are retiring tomorrow.”
“Well, you could put it that way.”
“I guess you don’t have to worry about finances.”
Daniel smiled, but it was a bitter smile. “You can be sure about that one.”
“I wish I could say same.”
