Sunday Story/ Husband's Mistress

2023-10-29 10:16:00, Kulturë Agim Xhafka

Agim Xhafka, journalist

Egla goes to her husband's grave once a month. Usually after noon. He will not see who is taking a flower to the one who turned his life upside down in recent years.

That black guy, Lex, killed himself there from the Vaqarri motels. He also killed her, his young lover. As small as if she were his daughter. In fact, they did not have a daughter from their long marriage. Except for two boys. The eldest is married and has a family in Greece, the other is finishing his studies in London this year. Lexi, the husband, did not spare himself to educate the children, he encouraged them and what he earned he invested first in their education. Without knowledge, there is no competition without competition for capitalism, he ordered.

The change of regime found the man new. Small children and one day he was left without a job. That these protestors came and almost kicked him out of the committee. But he did not despair. He joined Ladi and started trading in Turkey with some money borrowed from Shyqyriu, our krushku. And the fatigue was rewarded. They made a lot of money and got land for construction.

Then the palace was sold faster than the bread in the oven. Lexi expanded the offices, hired people and began to demonstrate the inferiority of middle age. He would see young girls, seduce them, and then continue the conversation at the motel. That's how the years went. He delegated the work to some young people who had been educated in Italy and himself one day at home and one week wandering inside and outside the country.

Meanwhile, things were moving forward. Until he met Mona and he got stuck there. He connected as if he had first love. The woman found out something, but he denied it. One day he went and met him at school. Lexi had introduced him to music. Beautiful girl like light.

- I am the woman.

-I know. I know you.

There was no further conversation. Egla turned back and was not giving up on this relationship. This girl can fall in love with anyone. Why did you stay with my husband?

From time to time he thought of divorce, but he remembered the boy who had just got engaged, the other one in England... Shame, shame, but for whom? He was silent and let the event flow by itself. Somewhere the water would find an ambush.

That day came. Vera, her friend, told him that her lover, as they called her, had taken a boyfriend, a guy from Tirana who had started working in the municipality as an engineer. He was relieved and thought that God does not forget. But, one morning the ringing of the phone took him away. He thought that it was:

- Hey, son, how are you?

-Speaking from the police station. Your husband killed himself and a girl we are identifying. You can come as soon as possible.

As if the city fell on top of him. With slippers he reached there and recognized both of them. Then the dilemmas, should I bury him or the municipality, call people, or no breath around the funeral. Boys asking how he felt. They learned everything and told him whether to come for the funeral or after.

-Come, a sick tooth is removed, it is not pushed, it only brings pain.

He was not surprised to see so many people. Lexi was sociable and charitable, he only spent with women, he gave help to anyone. It appeared to people not with pain, but not with laughter. They buried him almost as if he were a football player. She looked at the oyster plot and saw only her mother with the two gravediggers. Monk, he pronounced almost out loud.

Since then, he comes to Lexi once a month. He did not forgive him, but he pitied him. Look at his picture for a while. He remembers many beautiful days and years. After that, I don't hang around anymore. Rises and does not leave the cemetery. He walks towards the grave of Mona, the lover. A mound of earth tilted above her name. Kallogre, what is this black fate for you, he sighs and feels sorry. Not that he got attached to Lex, but that he was sold to him. He enjoyed the gifts, the trips and the pleasures of age. The man was healthy and alive, but his name was her father. Love bought and sold, where one becomes a courtesan and the other the owner. That's where the breaking of balances starts, jealousy grows because property is a soul, it's a war. Lexi took it with her so as not to leave it to anyone. Fatzeze, my raven.

Then he leaves a red carnation for his lover and points at the name board. So that when he comes again he does not find it stolen. Kallogre, kalogre... leaves and runs towards her house...