From Agim Xhafka/ SONILA ME NISHAN...

2023-10-01 08:57:00, Opinione CNA

Dawn Xhafka

Surprise breakfast today. My childhood friend and neighbor at the palace in Korça where I lived for a lifetime joined me for coffee with Flaguri. Among many news from there, he also told me this:

- Bedri Çupa left us last month. Byrazer, do you remember Bedri?

I remembered instantly. Even though several decades have passed, Bedriu came before my eyes, a tall, elegant man, smiling and with such a sense of humor that we were holding our hips with our hands before he started telling us anything. His apartment window overlooked our kitchen window. Those days in Korça, as November entered and until March, you didn't dare to go out for a walk in the city because of the cold. That's why we sat for hours behind the window glass. We saw the neighbors and they saw us. We waved hello from time to time, but that was it. Since there was no internet, we couldn't send sms or send and receive photos.

When I was little I once asked my father:

- Why did Bedri get the nickname Çupa? I know that he does not have that last name from his daughter, Sonila, who is in my class. Does she have Shehu as her last name in the registry?

Sonila was a beautiful star girl, with a mole a little higher than her full lip, so Calja often explained to everyone that the expression, bite my lip and mole together, was born from this maid.

The father cut short:

-Korça, boy, it's all full of puddles. Hey, can you explain to me why, for example, Miti, the photographer, is called Miti Kecka? Or why Nandi who has the eyes of an artist is called Nandi Qorri! Or Jaku, who serenades in the alley, why do they call him Jaku Goja?

My mind was full, but I didn't linger. Later I learned that Bedriu's family had his father in prison for agitation and propaganda. That's how it was said in those years. So he probably cursed someone from the government during the milk queue. That's all it took, they gave him 15 years of isolation. He left his wife at home with two children, Bedriu and a daughter, Hope. Hope was married then and her husband worked as an officer. They had to divorce, but since the officer was the nephew of a war hero, they told him to keep her, but on the condition that she never meet anyone from her own tribe. And so it happened. Years and years of Desperate Hope without seeing her mother and brother, Bedri, that is. One night, Bedriu's mother suffered a heart attack from the troubles and pain. A doctor, who came from the ambulance, dashed their hopes.

- I don't get the morning for this!

In fact, three mornings passed and the mother did not give a breath. A neighbor, Nadirja, said to Bedri:

-Bir,nuk ikën kjo po mos pa të bijën. Nuk i del xhani nga malli,do vuajë e shkreta.

Që të vinte Shpresa qe e pamundur. As Bedriu nuk e donte një ardhje të saj se kishte fëmijë e nuk trajtohej keq krahasuar me Bedriun.Ndaj gjeti zgjidhjen. U vesh vetë fiks si e motra,me një fustan të kuq që ia solli Nadirja. Vuri një shami në kokë,bëri buzët me të kuq dhe provoi a e hollonte dot zërin. Pas ca minutash i doli para nënës. E nga që e donte shumë nuk u mundua fare për lotët,i rrodhën lumë. Murga mama nuk e kuptoi fare marifetin. U lumturua ca çaste,i shtrëngoi dorën vajzës sipas mendjes së saj dhe fluturoi. Iku lart.

Fluturuan dhe shpjegimet më pas. Qysh të nesërmen Bedriun nisën ta thërrasin Bedri Çupa. Qeshi ca ditë,u mërzit ca javë,por u mësua me këtë nofkë shumë e shumë vite. Aq u mësua sa kur shkoi të bënte letërnjoftimin,asaj vajzës që e pyeti si e ka emrin, ia tha vetiu:

-Bedri Çupa më quajnë.

Më pas mësova nga Flamuri se Bedriu vdiq duke bërë humor,ashtu siç qe si karakter. Edhe ai pësoi infarkt. Por njësoj si e ëma nuk po largohej dot. Pranë i rrinte vajza,Sonila. Djali i tij u bënë tre vjet që punon në Londër. Por nga që nuk kishte në rregull dokumentat nuk mund të vinte pranë Bedriut.

-Po vuan mungesën e djalit,-i thanë Sonilës komshinjtë.

And she, like Bedriu, did the same trick. Put on a brother's suit. She tucked her hair under a hat and raised her voice. And of course he cried and cried over his father's face. Bedriu opened his eyes, put a light smile on his face, laughed a little and, after three days in a haunted state, spoke:

- Sonila, daughter, it's a good thing you didn't cover the mole because you would be called Sonila Çuni all your life.

He ran away, closed his eyes, the smile, as a sign that you couldn't throw it at me, was stamped on his face, it didn't fade. The chest that was there and started to cry, but also to laugh. That's how Bedri Çupa was. Full of troubles, but also full of happiness and optimism. He was a man-sun who had many clouds in his life, but he overcame them all with full faith in good, in virtue.../ CNA