MAN WITHOUT A SURNAME

2024-10-27 13:02:00, Kulturë Agim Xhafka

Every time I have a meeting with the publisher, I go half an hour before. As if I have a lover. Because I am attracted by many conversations about the next book, its layout, circulation, distribution. Like the manager of a wedding restaurant who takes care of the menu, the service, the table setting, the setting of the chairs and the lighting of the hall.

I sat down in an armchair by the window to take a look at the boulevard filled with autumn leaves. They wake me up with nostalgia, but also warmth. And while in this friendly environment I ordered an espresso, but not a short one because I had plenty of time, a couple of young people sat next to me.

It was clear that the girl was far away pregnant, maybe she will give birth here, I laughed. The boy, a young man in sportswear with a charming portrait. As far as I saw, they made me taste good. I wish you health and luck. I have a habit of doing it for anyone I like, as long as I don't know him.

- Are you excited that your day is coming? - he asked with a laugh.

- I look forward to it with happiness. And don't forget to take some lessons from your father. That he is an example of caring.

The boy remained silent for a while and said:

- I have Berti as a lesson. Even the father, but Berti overcomes it.

And he didn't wait for questions to be explained. After getting comfortable, he started. A monologue that amazed me. I was following it so eagerly that I wished my publisher would be late. So that not a single phrase was left unheard.

-Berti is a neighbor of ours, he lives one floor above, - said the first words. - When I was little, I often went to his house. I had a friend Besnik, his son. There were many people moving around inside. When they passed us, Besnik would say to me, this one who is coming is my brother, this other one who left is my brother, this one sitting opposite, this one too... While the one at the window is my sister. The one who gave us milk is another sister, I also have a third sister. I was dizzy from that mobility. One day I asked the father, what time is Berti's child? There are 8, he told me, 5 boys and 3 maids. There were so many, I counted them one day. They had two rooms and a kitchen. The boys slept in one, the girls in the other. Bert in the kitchen.

- Where is the mother? - asked the girl.

- Mother was in the sanatorium. He was infected with tuberculosis and spent almost the whole year there. Berti worked as a mechanic at the park. Often, after getting the milk and doing the shopping, he would leave a casserole of potatoes or vegetables ready for lunch with the note, take it to the oven. Then to work. Wonder and lectures are not his fatigue and care. Nor insistence on children's lessons. Not even trying to get them to university. Evidence of parenting is what you will hear now.

- Hey, talk!

-One day when I took a look at Besnik's little sister's arithmetic notebook, I saw that her name was Pranvera Tosja.

- Where was the surprise?

- What a surprise, that Besnik was Besnik Bardhi. So they didn't have a brother and sister surname. They had different surnames. Later I learned that his older brothers were neither Tosja nor Bardhi. Two were surnamed Sholla. He believes that 9 people lived there together with Berti, but they had three different surnames.

- What was Berti's last name?

-Berti didn't have a last name. I also asked my father. He knew the last names of the 8 children, but not Bert's. It was understood that those children were either from Bert's marriage to his sick mistress, or she had had a child from a previous marriage, or Bert was also raising a sibling's child. A knotty equation, but with a big lesson. Berti himself remained without a surname in order to carry the three children's surnames. Due to his fatigue and care, he was left without a surname, there was no time to call him Berti Filani or Berti Pistek. But that's how he left his name free. Totally free. That the children with three different surnames called Berti father, without hesitation. That's why I know the lesson to grow our calamansi by heart. - finished the speech.

I was amazed, but not for long. Someone tapped me on the shoulder. Qe publisher./ CNA