Breed The Secret Design To Maintain Racial Inequality Among The Despised Classes (8 page)

looked at me to make sure I understood his point. He continued,
“Fostoria is of importance to both sides strategically. It lies
directly between Cuyamonga and Kliev with the neutral territory of
Lumpenproletaria located directly north of it. Most of the fighting
takes place in Lumpenproletaria or more specifically the
Lumpenproletarian Valley. If Fostoria became a part of the Union of
Animals, this would put us in a better position to finally wipe out
the resistance and allow the flow of history to continue its
natural path.” Niccolo put his paw on my shoulder affectionately
and said, “Comrade Christopher, as I mentioned earlier, the role
you will play is of vital importance. Are you up to the challenge?”
Again a feeling of warmth and comradeship began to radiate
throughout my body. I said, “I will do whatever it takes.” Again
Niccolo smiled widely bearing all of his teeth. He said, “Wait
until dark then follow this path along the edge of the
Lumpenproletarian Valley until you reach the border to Fostoria.
Keep walking until you reach the section of border where you
entered the first time you arrived in Fostoria. Although this
border is rarely guarded it is important that no one sees you
coming. No one can know about this meeting and our arrangement.
Understood?” I nodded. “Godspeed Christopher,” said Niccolo. He
then disappeared into the woods leaving me alone with my mission. I
couldn’t understand why it had to be such a secret. As I walked
back to Fostoria I meditated on this. “Why not just openly tell the
citizens of Fostoria about our plans?” I thought. “Surely any
animal with a reasoning mind would clearly see the virtues of
animalism. Who wouldn’t want to live in peace and harmony?”
Although I didn’t fully understand the rationality of Socrates’
plan I decided to go along with it. Suddenly I grew more alert as I
approached the Northeastern border of Fostoria. I was instructed to
enter along the same border that I did on my first arrival so I
walked along the northern border stealthily until finally I arrived
at the northwestern border, which looked familiar. It was very late
so I decided to make camp here right outside the border. Early the
next day I looked from side to side making sure no one was around
to see me enter. The coast was clear so I quickly entered my
territory.

As I walked towards the shelter of rock that
jutted into the sky I noticed a group of cats lying about lazily.
Upon seeing me they immediately stood erect in perfect rows. A
golden brown striped tabby stepped forward and said, “Sir did you
enjoy your tour of Fostoria?” I responded, “Yes. Thank you.
Everything seems to be in order.” I didn’t know what they would
make of that statement but I couldn’t think of anything else to
say. As we were talking I could feel the hairs on my back raising
and alerting me to the presence of danger approaching. I turned to
see Hector approaching me stealthily. Locking his eyes on mine he
said sarcastically, “Good day your highness! Is everything in the
territory to your liking?” At the time I didn’t catch on to the
sarcasm so I responded, “Yes everything is in order.” He glared at
me angrily then quickly looked away smiling as if he was the only
one privy to the joke. Changing his tone he demanded, “Where is
Rizzo?” For some reason I felt a jolt of terror run through my body
and a feeling of guilt quickly followed it. It was very strange. I
had nothing to feel guilty about. “He’s not here?” I asked with
surprise. “Of course not,” Hector exclaimed. “We all know he took
you out yesterday morning to show you the borders of the territory.
So how is it that you now act surprised about his absence?
Something smells fishy.” I began to panic. What could I say? I
really didn’t know what happened to Rizzo. I just assumed that
after eating he returned to Fostoria ahead of me. But I couldn’t
tell them that we were in Kliev. I had to lie. “That’s true,” I
said. “He did show me the borders of Fostoria but after showing me
the eastern border to Kliev he then told me to make my way back
towards the shelter because he had something to do.” I looked
around to see if they were buying it. Most of the cats nodded
understandingly and some were not even paying attention. Hector
however tilted his head to the side and with a scowl he peered up
at the wall of rock. It appeared as if he had spotted something on
the wall, but I knew that what he was actually doing was going over
my story in his mind and poking holes in it. “He didn’t tell you
what he had to do?” asked Hector. “As our official leader you have
a right to know what your subordinates are up to.” I responded, “I
didn’t think to ask him. It’s not that big of a deal. If Rizzo has
something to do…” “You didn’t think to ask him?” repeated Rizzo
interrupting me in mid sentence. One of the cats in the crowd spoke
up. “Hector, if he says that’s what happened then we have to
believe him. After all he is our leader.” Enraged, Hector began
shouting toward the crowd, “You fools! You don’t even know this
cat. No one knows where he is from? For all we know he could be
working for Zarathustra or Socrates.” Suddenly the crowd was alert.
Hector continued, “I don’t believe that Rizzo had something to do.
I think that one of our own is missing and Christopher is hiding
something about it.” Hector looked at me and continued his assault,
“If Rizzo sent you back from the eastern border then why did you
approach the shelter from the west?” “Was Hector following me the
entire time?” I thought. “How much did he see?” I decided to go for
broke. Instead of answering Hector’s questions I looked out over
the crowd. Ignoring Hector I spoke to the crowd in an impassioned
voice, “Brothers! The other day you unanimously elected me to be
your leader. Are you in the practice of publicly interrogating your
leader? In order for this arrangement to work out, it must be
established in trust. I need to be able to trust you to support my
decisions and act on them without questioning my motives. And you
need to be able to trust me knowing that everything I do is in the
best interest of the citizens of Fostoria. I promise you I will
work hard to earn your trust. My question is, can I trust you?” The
crowd was swayed. They began shouting with one accord. “Great is
Christopher the ruler of Fostoria! Great is Christopher the ruler
of Fostoria! Great is Christopher the ruler of Fostoria!” They
repeated this for about fifteen minutes. When the crowd finally
settled down I looked at Hector who was now looking very uneasy. I
said, “Do you have any other questions you want to ask me?” Hector
looked at the ground in defeat and said, “No.” To ensure my victory
was complete I inquired, “No, what?” Defeated Hector looked up at
me and said, “No sir.” I then said, “Hector why don’t you gather
the rest of the gang including the border guards and meet me at the
creek on the west side of Fostoria. We will discuss the future
direction of Fostoria.” Hector’s eyes opened wide when I mentioned
assembling even the border guards. He said, “With all due respect
sir, shouldn’t we leave at least some of the guards at the border
for the sake of security?” I sighed deeply and asked, “Do you trust
me Hector?” Looking at my army of support he quickly said, “Yes
sir. Of course.” I commanded, “Then do as I ordered.” Without
another word Hector marched off to complete his mission. As soon as
I was alone I began to shudder. Walking towards the creek I began
to think about all that recently transpired. Everything seemed to
be happening so fast I really didn’t have much of an opportunity to
stop and take it all in. I was now the undisputed ruler of Fostoria
with the exception of a number of small-scattered regional gangs.
They trusted me to lead them in the right course. This was a great
deal of responsibility. I worried, “What if I can’t live up to the
challenge? I’m sure glad I have Socrates’ philosophy to back me
up.” I nodded. “As long as I stick closely to the tenets of
animalism, the results will be happiness for all.”

Later that day around evening all of the gang
was assembled at the creek. There was a large stone at the edge of
the creek, which was stationed at an ideal location to serve as a
platform in addressing a crowd. I took my place on top of the rock
and began to speak. “Brothers! You are all probably wondering why I
had you gathered here today. We are here because it is time for us
to wake up and realize where we are in the stream of time.” I
pointed to the rushing waves of the creek as I said this. “We have
a choice to make. We can drift about in a sea of confusion being
born and dying without ever understanding the purpose of life or we
can take our places in the pantheon of heroes, confident that our
victory is inevitable because we are on the right side of history.
Are you prepared…” While I continued my speech I began noticing
individual faces among the crowd. Many in the crowd looked as if
they didn’t understand anything I was saying but they nodded their
heads in approval just the same. I realized at that moment that I
could be arguing in favor of specieism or some other philosophy and
this crowd most likely would still follow my lead. What seemed to
matter to them was not the content of the message but rather the
conviction expressed in the delivery. This thought frightened me a
little. As I spoke a badger ran towards the crowd from the
direction of the east. Out of breath he interrupted my speech by
exclaiming, “We are being invaded!” “So it appeared that Hector
didn’t follow my orders about the guards completely,” I thought.
All of the animals looked worriedly towards the east but they
refused to act without being given orders. Hector stood up and
shouted, “You see! Had I listened to Christopher we would have had
no warning of the coming assault. Brothers! Follow me and see how a
real leader acts!” About a third of the gang began to rise and walk
towards Hector. I shouted, “Halt! You are making a big mistake if
you follow him. Remember what we said about trust? If you stay and
continue to trust me you will be safe. But I can’t protect you if
you follow Hector.” With these words the group that supported
hector was divided and an even smaller number of animals defected.
After they marched off, I looked out on the slightly reduced crowd.
They looked worried. I decided to continue on with the speech
although the distant sound of growling and hissing sometimes stole
the attention of the crowd. I continued, “The other day when I
spoke to the dog many of you couldn’t understand how this was
possible? You need to understand that what I did was not from any
special power of my own. Rather it was the realization that we are
all brothers no matter what species we belong to. Many of you…” As
I spoke I continued to notice the makeup of the crowd. It was not
only cats that I was addressing. There were raccoons, squirrels,
rabbits and beavers. They were spread among the crowd but it was
apparent that they didn’t share the same status of equality as the
cats. The inequality certainly wasn’t as bad as what I’d seen
during my brief stay in Cuyamonga but it still made me feel
uncomfortable. I spoke with great emotion as I concluded my speech,
“If we come to realize that the diverse breeds of cats and dogs and
the various species of animals all belong to the same family we
will begin to embark on a new journey. It will be a true
brotherhood of animal and together there is nothing we can’t
accomplish!” At this the crowd once again began shouting in unison
“Great is Christopher the ruler of Fostoria!” They were in such
fervor that they had forgotten all about the alleged invasion. With
this larger crowd their shouting seemed to drown out all
surrounding noises. That is why no one noticed the approach of a
large army of assorted animals entering the camp. The citizens of
Fostoria were suddenly on their feet and the crowd separated as the
invaders approached placing themselves in the center of the crowd.
Muffled noises could be heard among the group of invaders. It was
soon discovered what these noises were as large dogs began emerging
from among the invading army. Each of them was gripping with their
jaws two or three cats by the neck. They deposited them at the
center of the crowd. The defeated defenders tried to call out to
the crowd but they had there mouths tied shut with shoestrings.
They also had their paws tied tight with shoestring. For some
reason the shoestring caught my attention. Something was familiar
about it. “Where did I see this before?” I wondered. Before I had a
chance to remember why the shoestring was significant to me,
Niccolo walked out of the crowd of invading soldiers. They were
split down the middle like a sharp knife cutting through soft cat
food. As he walked among the masses they would look down to the
ground to avoid making eye contact. This detail struck me as a
little strange especially because we were all supposed to be equal
now. Many of these soldiers had a blank look in their eyes as if
they were under a hypnotic trance. Niccolo continued walking up
towards the citizens of Fostoria and they too were split like soft
cat food. Finally he approached the platform and jumped up onto it
by my side. He placed his paw on my shoulder as he had done the
previous day and whispered, “Well done Christopher.” Again I felt a
warm feeling quickly spread throughout my body. Niccolo faced the
crowd and spoke, “Citizens of Fostoria! You are now a part of the
Union of Animals! Comrade Christopher will continue to lead you but
from now on you will address him as Commander! Understood?” The
animals in Fostoria looked at one another apprehensively then began
nodding. Someone shouted from the crowd, “What’s to become of our
fellow citizens whose only crime was to defend our borders?”
Niccolo looked out at the crowd and responded, “The term is
comrade. From now on you will refer to one another as comrades and
not citizens. As far as what is to become of these traitors, I was
just about to address that.” Niccolo then looked toward his troops
and shouted, “Begin the purge!” I had no idea what was going on.
Things were not going as I had imagined but Niccolo reassured me
that everything was going according to schedule. He said,
“Christopher, to purge means to refine or cleanse. It is a
necessary process of animalism. But don’t worry. You wont have to
do the work yourself. I’ve provided you with help.” He stepped
aside and two Siamese cats with piercing blue eyes and elongated
faces stepped forward. They were identical twins. It was impossible
to tell them apart. “This is Truth,” said Niccolo as the one cat
bowed. “And this is Justice.” His twin took a bow. “I am assigning
them to oversee the purge. You of course are in charge but you will
be busy with other necessary matters.” He placed his paw on my
shoulder and said, “Truth and Justice have a very specialized skill
set. This is not their first purge. Make use of them.” Niccolo then
gathered up the majority of his troops and marched back to Kliev.
He left a battalion of troops with orders to assist Truth and
Justice. They were to take orders only from Truth and Justice.
Hector and his cats were rounded up and marched outside the city. I
asked Justice, “What is going to happen to them?” I was relieved to
hear they would be freed. He said, “They are going on a freedom
march. Since they felt oppressed by the Union of Animals they will
be led to freedom elsewhere.