Бруно Травен - Aslan Norval

New maps appeared before their very eyes. The maps were large and the letters and numbers printed in bold so that the newspaper reporters and the few members of the audience in the chambers could read them without having to stand up. The committee had never seen such a well-led and cleverly organized performance. Every new map or table appeared as if by magic and seamlessly corroborated Aslan’s speech.

It had been Beckford’s idea to use the displays. It was a great idea, which she would never have thought possible, since she did not deem him very intelligent at all. Whenever Aslan turned around during her speech to see the assistants with their maps, she felt gratitude for Beckford’s input. She had never spoken in public before except during her studies, when she had sometimes given a speech in front of an invited audience or recited Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address during school ceremonies. The help and support she received from the maps and tables gave her an unexpected feeling of superiority. However, the greatest sense of confidence came from the knowledge that she was fighting for a project that she deemed good, feasible, and most beneficial for the general public.

To her surprise, she managed to sufficiently enthrall the interrogating senators: in part, with her personality, her beauty, and her elegance, but to a greater extent with her carefully chosen words. The committee was spellbound by her command of statistics. The data served to prove that her plans were feasible and that her company was healthy.

“Yes, gentlemen, as I said, this canal from Galveston to Houston takes the route we have chosen for our canal and has existed since 1914. You might be interested in the fact that it has the same length as the Panama Canal. You will be even more interested to hear that this Houston Canal has a width of sixty-seven meters, while the sluices of the Panama Canal are only thirty-six meters wide. The Panama Canal is therefore thirty-one meters narrower, and wide ships cannot pass. Even the Suez Canal, which causes so many headaches for certain governments, is only thirty-seven and a half miles longer than the Houston Canal, and you will be very surprised to hear that it is only one meter narrower and thirty centimeters deeper. A canal like the one that our company intends to build and will build, gentlemen, might appear impossible with its one thousand two hundred thirty-seven miles. However, you should take into consideration that the total length of all shipping canals built in the last one hundred years is almost four hundred fifty nautical miles. This distance does not include the canal that begins at the Rhône river in France and ends in the Vistula river in Poland, which therefore runs across all of Europe. Also not included is the Chicago Drainage Canal, one of the eight technological wonders of the Americas, which allows a ship to go from Chicago to New Orleans, granted, mainly using the Mississippi River. That is a distance of about eight hundred miles, and if the ship crosses Lake Michigan, the journey can begin in Canada. This long waterway would not be possible without connecting canals built by humans. We could not export grain, just to name one indispensable product, at the price at which we do now.

“Gentlemen, when I am talking about prices of products transported via waterway, and about the influence of low shipping costs on a country’s economy, I would like to name the Netherlands and Belgium as examples. Both countries are among the most densely populated nations in the world, and yet they are wealthy to an extent that you might never expect. However—and this might be the explanation for their prosperity—the Netherlands, which are so small that almost everyone steps on someone else’s toes, possess four thousand eight hundred seventeen miles of canals, and Belgium, nine hundred ninety-eight miles. Moving goods via waterway is still the cheapest mode of transportation. Shipping costs have a huge influence on the determination of product prices. The lower the shipping costs, the cheaper we can sell products to the consumer, which clearly reduces the danger of inflation. Gentlemen, I am sure you are aware that the state of Illinois is one of the most highly developed states in terms of industry, agriculture, and commerce. What has contributed more than anything else to this unique development of the state—which might appear more important—is the waterway system built by humans. Illinois possesses one thousand—”

At this point, the map of the state of Illinois unfurled, and a table full of numbers appeared next to it. The pointer swept across the map and stopped on the numbers that Aslan rattled off from memory.

“This state has one thousand one hundred seventy-eight miles of navigable waterways. There is no doubt that this circumstance has significantly contributed to the incredibly fast development of the state.”

“Miss Norval,” the chairman interrupted. “I admit that what you have just explained is new to me. You could be right that this system of canals explains to a large extent the state’s rapid development. I understand what you are trying to prove with your reference to the waterway system of the state of Illinois. Otherwise, I would have said that the price of grain for export has nothing to do with our task of determining the financial security of your company and your shares.”

“Mr. Senator, I only brought up Illinois, its connection via canal to the Gulf of Mexico, and the state’s length of navigable waterways, because the canal we plan to build is only a few miles longer than this canal system of only one of the fifty states of the Union.”

“That is what I suspected, Miss Norval. It was too obvious to be overlooked or more accurately, not to be heard.” Looking at his watch and comparing it to the clock on the wall, he banged his gavel and declared: “This hearing is adjourned until five o’clock.”

Accompanied by her secretary, Aslan called a cab and drove to her hotel. She took a short hot bath, threw herself onto the bed, closed her eyes, and banished all thoughts having to do with the hearing.

As Aslan had wished, Amy appeared by her bedside forty minutes later: “Ma’am, it’s time. Your meal is served.”

Aslan picked out a new dress. When she entered the living room, she found Amy already sitting at the table with a platter of beef and four kinds of vegetables in front of her.

“It’s a shame, ma’am, that you can’t eat such a good meal as this. It is wonderful, and I am hungry as a wolf in northern Manitoba in the deepest winter.”

“Have you ever been to Manitoba, Amy?”

“Three years ago. But it was summer. It was lovely. Many lakes. Many mosquitoes. Friendly inhabitants. And the food! Every plate you got would have fed four people.”

Aslan looked at the slab of meat on Amy’s plate as she was cutting off a nice chunk dripping with red juice. Squinting at Amy’s meal with longing, Aslan said: “Order this dish for me later tonight, Amy. However, given the hot afternoon I am about to face in the hearing, I will stick to my normal daily lunch so as to keep it light on my stomach.”

It was indeed a modest meal for a healthy young woman like Aslan who had been on her feet since six o’clock in the morning: a soft-boiled egg, a sandwich with one slice of ham and one slice of cheese, three salad leaves, a pear, a banana, an apple, and a large glass of milk.

“Have you talked to Mr. Beckford on the phone, Amy?” asked Aslan, pulling the slice of cheese out of the sandwich and placing it back on the plate for fear of overeating.

“Yes, ma’am, while you were asleep. He said he would be here on time with the materials you put on the list for this afternoon.”

“Putting materials in order and having them ready at exactly the right second is something he knows how to do. It seems that’s the only thing he’s good for at all.”