My intellectual chin (The clockwork boxes 7)

Oskar Schlemmer

I was suddenly pushed by a guy who frantically wanted to bid for a man who was lying lustfully on the ribbon. A carefully folded scarf was on his lap. Next to him a young man was caressing his chest vehemently, moaning in low prolonged voice sounds. A woman, was smiling meaningfully at the frenzy crowd, shaking a red fan gracefully. All of them had small rectangular labels wrapped around their waists, on which their names were written.

I stumbled and  fell on the leather ribbon. My hand was caught in the alongside thin strap which was going back and forth next to it. However hard I was striving to release my hand I couldn’t make it and cold sweat started dripping all over my body. I remembered  what the man in the fancy tuxedo  had previously told me when he dragged me into that room when suddenly I felt a hand pushing me upwards and then another hand helping the first one. I found myself on top of  the leather ribbon. Someone else tied  a sign around my waist.

“Please, can I have your first name and your family name sir?’’

Both my names were written on the sign in seconds, along with the one dollar amount as a humiliating starting price for me. Anyone could buy me for a dollar. I tried to jump down but to my horror I realised that I couldn’t. Something kept me stuck on the ribbon. Maybe it was the wavy movement of the strap which made me feel like throwing up, maybe it was the fact that my curiosity was  much bigger than my resentment . Damn it! I had to be smiling if I wanted to find a buyer! From what I had understood, only if someone bought you, your  value could become higher afterwards. And that fucking one dollar starting price had got up my nose. Grinning like a stupid narcissus, I bent my head backwards, being careful to my intentional expressing some air of mystery and fascination. I took care so that my lips rose up a bit, up to a certain mouth angle and I half-closed my eyes. I was certain that my blurry, shy gaze, would remind all the possible buyers that they had in front of them a superior quality merchandise. I was like a rabid dog! A dollar! A fucking dollar! I would find the man who had signed that humiliating price on my label tag and I would break his neck. What a disgrace..And I had to lift my chin a bit up. How come had I forgotten this fundamental movement? Of course..there it was! A pinch of subtle pride and my chin was like a sail in the sea air, stating that it was an intellectual chin, a chin which belonged to a human being of a supreme genius. A chin like that, fucking shit, cannot cost only one dollar! I wanted to scream while the one dollar price remained one dollar as the minutes were running. But couldn’t all these people, who were shouting as if they were sane, see what an excellent quality stuff they had before their eyes? Did they prefer to buy the worst merchandise? What was the real value of an inflated arm muscle comparing to my matchless style? 


I leant over and pulled the sleeve of a man who being tired from the tension and the shouts, was wiping his forehead slowly with a small embroidered handkerchief.

«Psstt..sir!»

«Psstt..psstt..» I insisted, holding on his sleeve tightly. He didn’t seem to be listening to me. He kept wiping his forehead even when it was completely dry of any sweat.

«Sir! Sir!»

My voice was getting louder, some heads turned towards me. Under normal circumstances I would have felt embarrassed, as I usually feel when my voice tone becomes a little more harsh, but my frenzy was such that I didn’t care for anything. I wanted someone to pay attention to me. Anyone.

One dollar!

That dollar was a pain in my stomach and whoever priced me so, would realize his big mistake later.

I was fully aware of what a ridiculous spectacle I  was  up there, with that label tied around my waist  but also I was sure that for the first time of my life I didn’t give a damn for this public hilarity. After all, there were so many of us ridiculed in there! Big stuff! Half of us were lying like sleeping calfs on the rolling strap and the other half  were waiting like horny buyers in a meat market to buy the cheapest calf and at the same time trying to turn themselves into calfs too. A calf-what situation. I should start sighing at once! How is this possible that this brilliant idea had slipped my mind? Something like this would definitely attract the attention of that idiot whose sleeve I had been pulling for some minutes now with no result so far.

“Ufhh..ufff again ..and again ufff”