DISAPPOINTMENT IN TORONTO...

2024-12-29 12:20:00, Kulturë CNA

- Wake up, Sander! Wake up, man!

Ollga spoke softly close to his ear.

-Get up and pay the rent. - she continued.

Sandri listened, but did not want to answer. He didn't even want to open his eyes. He pretended to take a nap on the couch in the living room. He used to sleep for a few minutes during lunch. With the TV on and the noises made by my wife from the kitchen. But today he was sleepily watching the movie of the last twenty years. Ever since that day when the son from Canada told him in the cell:

- Oh, you became a grandfather. May your grandson live with us!

He was so happy that he was at the construction site that day. The eighth palace he was building was almost finished. Not as an owner, but as an engineer. That's why he gathered the employees of the tenant for lunch. Everyone drinks and becomes a cork. Çakërqejf went home and started toasting with Olga again. They had the son alone. He was educated as an engineer and as soon as he finished school, he applied for a Canadian green card. It did not say. I was lucky. Doubly lucky that the lottery also included his girlfriend. They flew away and there they started happily. She in a nursing home as a nurse, the son, Nesti, as an engineer in a medical equipment factory. They talked every week in those first years that there were no cell phones and WhatsApp back then. And things were going well for Sandri. The palaces were sold as soon as the foundations were opened and life began to be generous. It paid well, but also saved. As you have learned in life. Modest in food, luxury and expenses. The nephew was added to this kindness. They spread the news everywhere. They used to boast that when you have a grandfather, you become late. Lucky that Sandri and Ollga got this title when they just turned 50 years old. One afternoon, it was Sunday, Nesti takes them on the phone.

-Oh, why don't you come to Canada for a month? Will you find us new and inexperienced parents?

Sandri did not answer. He showed it to Olga.

- Let's go as soon as possible, - she said.

It seemed that mother and son had hatched their plans. Sandri left the orders to the other engineers and one day in May they flew straight to Canada, to Toronto. In recent years, he had made tourist and work trips, but that place amazed him. Nesti met them at the airport and straight to the house. They lived in a small apartment building. Two rooms and a kitchen. As soon as they met with their nephew and daughter-in-law, Nesti told them in a low voice that they would sleep in the kitchen, while the boy slept in one of the rooms.

- Learning to sleep alone, - he explained.

But as Sandri and Ollga were tired, they did not speak. They approved and slept as in the royal palace. The next day they took the grandson. Likewise in the following days. The bride left everything in their hands. After a week of shopping, cooking, and cleaning, Olga squeezed a pacifier with milk in her hand and told her to feed her grandson at night. Sandri and Olga did not get tired. They felt useful and young. One morning, when Nesti was leaving for work, he said to his father:

- You snored so much last night that I am sleepless. Put that rubber mattress, (that Sandri and Olga used to sleep on), right there in the sink. It's a wide place there and it got hot.

Sandri took it as a joke. He laughed and did the day's work. At dinner, when they were going to sleep, he saw the mattress put under the sink. Nesti had taken him. As soon as he spoke, Ollga bit him.

- Don't talk. And we're going to Tirana for a week.

Sandrin went to sleep. Good thing he wasn't taken to the bathroom at night. But Ollga scratched her forehead twice when she got up to feed her grandson. Returning to Tirana was a great joy. As soon as they entered the house, Sandri kissed the floor. He returned to work and stayed behind until Ollga told him that the boy had joined the family.

- We will live in Canada now, - she told him.

Sandri flatly opposed it, but Ollga started with prayers, crying, moaning and one day the man surrendered.

- The money we have in the bank to buy a good apartment in the building I built because we will need its rent for difficult days.

So they did. The remaining part was taken to a bank in Canada and flown. With pain and joy. The nephew grew up, but he also became a sister. Sandri on top of the car for shopping and taking the grandson to kindergarten.

-Buy a car, dad, - the boy told him. - That you need it. Don't be dependent on mine or the bride's.

Olga approved. They bought a small car. Then he paid for the health insurance himself, and... he broke it to them one evening:

- Oh, increase the payment for food a little. That expenses have increased. You understand it yourself.

Sandra's eyes darkened. He didn't speak. The next day he called Moza from the ticket agency and asked him to come back.

- I will be in Tirana for three days, he said.

- We are in June, you will come in December, - she reminded him.

But Sandri didn't back down.

- The day after tomorrow we will leave - he said to the chun. - I have an important job.

And he did not wait for an answer. He lay with his head under the sink. His wife came up to him. He squeezed it like then.

- We agree, - he was relieved.

Return days like children when they finish school. Full of gas and joy. Happy and freed from the mess of the sink. But unfortunately they didn't hire Sandrin anymore, there were a lot of young people around. He didn't mind. He was approaching retirement age and together with Olga they pushed him a bit. The rent of the apartment they bought was their security. That some medicine, some visit to the doctor or some week's vacation somewhere was enough. And so years passed. Until the news came that the boy would return to Tirana.

- The factory went bankrupt, - said Ollga. -With assistance and the work of the bride, they cannot support three children.

That another grandson was born. And so they arrived in Tirana. They did not come to Sandri's house. They had found one for rent, a little bit cheaper. They came to visit and Ollga cried with joy. Sandri also agreed, children are life, an elixir. Then the boy started looking for a job. Maybe he would have caught something, but the pandemic, the lockdown... he ended up a waiter at a friend's house. It's almost gone. Ollga sometimes brought food and sweets to the reeds. The bride found a job at an ambulance. But that income was not useful.

- Let's pay them the rent, - Ollga said last month.

Sandri was silent. But he didn't say no. He gave him the money.

-Give it to the bride, -he ordered.

Now he was listening to his ears:

- Sandri, get up. Give the rent because they are in trouble.

The voice seemed to come from under the sink. He opened his eyes and left a key in the woman's hand.

- What is this?

-The key to our apartment. I drove away the inhabitants. Tell Nest to go there. There is no rent.

-And we will stay only with pension? Will they work out for us?

- If we don't succeed, they will overwhelm us, - said Sandri and closed his eyes again.

He held them like that until the outer door slammed.

- The woman took you away, like a butterfly, - he said. - Eh, blood does not turn into water, - he sighed and looked at the TV. Lucky that there was football on the screen./ CNA