ANOTHER "DAD"...

2024-10-06 10:57:00, Kulturë Agim Xhafka

Dawn Xhafka

I was surprised when the girl at the bank teller told me I had to hand her a family certificate.

- Get it easily at e-Albania. You have one click, he smiled.

It was Friday and the clock was going to three in the afternoon. Because I was going to leave Tirana, I asked her to issue me a certificate. It was easy for him to have the computer in front of his eyes. When I gave him my personal number, he printed it quickly.

- I made two copies, - he said.

As she took one, I glanced at the other. I read my name and added "Abeydin".

-Who is this Abeydini? - I asked him.

-Your father, who else? - laughed the girl.

- My father is not called like that. His name is Alajdin, - I spoke to him a little harshly. - Print another certificate, - I almost told him as if by order.

Because I would have frowned a lot on my face, she got scared, as it seems, and printed it again. Two pieces. I snatched it from his hand and read again the name "Abeydin" in the paternity column.

- My father's name is Alajdin, - I repeated, straightened my legs and snorted.

The woman who knows how much I love my Alajdin, like every child loves its parents, pulled me by the coattails. Let's go ie.

- So you have it marked here, it's not my fault, - said the girl and showed the computer.

True. She was not at fault. And my father was innocent. No guilt at all. Changing his name, now that he is dead, seemed to me a crime. Serious and very ugly crime.

- Like Alajdin, like Abeydin, you will have the same money in the bank. They will not be added to them, nor will they be reduced, - said the cashier.

Meanwhile, I felt like those who go to Gjebre's show. Those who seek to find the real parents. While the opposite is happening to me. I lost my father and this "Abejdini" adopted me. I felt bitterness in my mouth. My face should have turned yellow. It seemed to me that as soon as I left the bank, my father would come out and tell me:

- How did you replace me with another father, son? How?

I never thought that I would have attached to my name another name like father. I ran to the civil registry office in the neighborhood. Luckily I caught them, they were about to close it.

- To fix it, you need a birth certificate of your father and a family one of his. Then bring it to us, we take it to e-Albania and they do the correction.

As I was hammering these into my brain the woman whistled:

-Son, all these ramblings!

I looked at him angrily. Shut up.

- It's been 28 years since my father passed away. He was born in Korçë and died in Korçë.

- There you will go. At the archives, they find and give the certificates.

- Ok, - I said and started to crawl towards the house.

The name "Abejdin" kept ringing in my head. Like a sledgehammer that scarred my skull. I knew it was human error, but it seemed to me like part of an action movie when some thugs in masks attack and kidnap the father. My closest friend, the one who, when he hugged my neck, smelled like a sturgeon under the balcony.

- Tomorrow before dawn, I will leave for Korça, - I told my wife.

- It's work that waits, don't rush, - she said.

- Work is waiting, but father is not waiting.

What I would say:

-Moj, you understand that they took my father hostage, you understand that they changed my father, you understand that all day you can say ex-husband, ex-wife, but you can't say ex-father.

Actually, she didn't blame me. So I found some softer words in response.

- I will definitely go to Korça tomorrow. I will take my father and put him in his rightful place. I will have it forever attached to my name that this "Abejdini" seems to itch my body, as if it moves my brain. Do you understand? This is how the dignity of that man and the family name he has left us loves. That a certificate with my name and without my father, but with an "Abeydin" next to it is the same as e.g. to go to a birthday with a bouquet of artificial flowers in my hand, and not with natural flowers.

So many words and silence. Silence until the next day. When I started the "Jeep" I made it to Korça before the sun came up.

- Wait for me, father, - I said to myself, I gave him gas.

Meanwhile, the new certificate appeared in the mirror above my head like a dove in flight. White, beautiful and with visible lettering. Where it was written: "Agim Alajdin Xhafka".