From Sokrat Shyti
Part Fifty-Three
Memorie.al / The writer Sokrat Shyti is the “great unknown” who for several years has shown the tip of the iceberg of his literary creativity. I say this based on the limited number of his published books in recent years, mainly the voluminous novel “The Ghost Night” (Tirana 2014). The novels: “BEYOND MYSTERY,” “BETWEEN TEMPTATION AND WHIRLPOOL,” “THE DIGGING OF NIGHTMARES,” “THE SHADOW OF SHAME AND DEATH,” “COLONEL MAIN HAND,” “THE FADING HOPES,” “THE TWISTS OF FATE” I, II, “SURVIVAL IN THE COWSHED,” as well as other works, all novels with 350 – 550 pages, are in manuscripts waiting to be published. The dreams and initial enthusiasm of the young novelist, returning from studies abroad full of energy and love for art and literature, were cut short early by the harsh blade of communist dictatorship.
Who is Sokrat Shyti?
Having returned from studies at the State University of Moscow right after the rupture of Albanian-Soviet relations in 1960, Sokrat Shyti worked in “Radio-diffusion” (which at that time was located on Kavaja Street), in an editorial office with his journalist friends – Vangjel Lezho and Fadil Kokomani – both of whom were later arrested and subsequently executed by the communist regime. Besides the radio, 21-year-old Sokrat had passionate literary interests at that time. He wrote his first novel “Madam Doctor” and was on the verge of publication, but… alas! Shortly after the arrest of his friends, to fill the cup, one of his brothers, a painter, escaped abroad.
Sokrat was arrested in September 1963, and in November of that year, he was interned along with his family (his mother and little sister) in a place between Ardenica and Kolonje of Lushnje. For 27 consecutive years, the family lived in a cowshed made of reeds, without windows, while Sokrat was subjected to forced labor. During those 27 years, he was legally obliged to report three times a day to the local authority. He had no right to leave the place of internment, was deprived of any kind of documents, etc. In these conditions, amid a cowshed, he gave birth to and raised his children. Precisely from this event, or more accurately a very long story of persecution, he based his writing of the book “Survival in the Cowshed”!
Agron Tufa
Continued from the previous issue
EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK “SURVIVAL IN THE COWSHED”
– “Continued caution against provocations protects you from falling into a trap. Of course, we will rarely see each other. Do not show any impression to the commissioner and commander Sula when you enter the hangar dormitory. Restrain yourself and do not show any surprise of horror at this sight, like a provisional horse stable. Or when you wash in the primitive showers and put on the soldier’s uniform. I have raised my voice several times, accompanying it with the cost estimate, to build a dormitory according to standards. But the background of the ministry has turned a deaf ear, although we do not ask for a single ALL from the state budget, we cover all expenses with our own income. Even some bureaucrats who are pompous in comfortable offices, throw spikes: ‘Does Colonel Josifi want to give the NBU the appearance of a military department, with modern dormitories and showers, when his soldiers are farmers and shepherds’?!
I told you these details, so that you can be protected in every step, as you will be constantly on the verge of punishment. You should know that the Lushnje district chiefs, those who have your back, will spin spiderwebs with the leaders of our division, to set invisible traps. When the commissioner and commander Sula asks you how the director received you, you will tell him: he explained the internal regulations of the department to me thread by thread, after I told him my education and where I worked. That’s it, no more words! Because right after you, the commissioner will knock, to hear my answer. I know that the captain’s sharp grin, along with his appearance, as if he had emerged from a pool of red water, will irritate you.
But you are forced to make an effort not to talk back to him, even though I imagine that the commissioner has pulled him aside to give him the right orders for you. After these tips, do you have anything to add”?- he emphasized at the end with a tired look, as if he had said: “I treated you kindly, like my brother. That’s why you should be grateful to me”! Is there an assistant doctor in the ward”? – I asked him with some trepidation.
– “Do you have any concerns”? – the colonel asked.
– “Recently, due to hard work, I have had hemorrhoids bleeding from time to time”!
– “There is something serious,” the director said thoughtfully. “Then one of the days next week, when our assistant doctor goes to the division doctor, I will order him to take you with him for a check-up. There, they will give an opinion on whether you can be treated at the division hospital or whether you should be admitted to the General Military Hospital. You did well to point this out before you started quarantine. Now I have a question: if you don’t mind, what work have you done during these years in the Lushnja district”?
– “Loader: I used to carry the oil canister by hand from the gas station in the SMT to the tractor, where he worked”! – I answered, shuddering.
– “They treated you so badly?!…Right there, in Lushnja, It seems to me that the chairman of the Executive Committee is a local peasant, and he must know your esteemed family… – said the colonel. – Or am I mistaken?
– “You are quite correct!” – I emphasized. – That is why I was surprised at first why he greeted me with his feet first, as if I were the son of a criminal”!
– “I do not know him personally, so I cannot give an opinion. But such harsh treatment of your family leaves me with a very bitter taste, because he had every opportunity to behave kindly,” the colonel added.
At this moment there was a knock on the door. The director told me in a low voice to take into account all his advice, and to remind him of the assistant doctor, because I might forget. His warm gaze followed me to the door. When I opened it, the commissar stood frozen in the frame, with the look of Shvejk.
“Can I come in, comrade colonel?” he asked, as I crossed the threshold. In the courtyard, my eye caught the silhouette of Commander Sula, and I headed there.
“Hey, how did the conversation with the colonel go?” he asked curiously.
“According to your prediction,” I said, to amuse him.
“Will he keep a department clerk or a cultural officer?” he added with interest.
– “I didn’t really get anything concrete. But from the conversation that took place, I sensed that he was leaning more towards the side of the director of artistic activities”.
– “I am very pleased that the progress of the service here for you took the right direction! – he emphasized with implication: you must always keep in mind that I am the pivot, so I have my share of the merit! – Now we will go to the famous showers, to wash. But first, military uniforms and underwear must be taken to the warehouse, so that after washing you can change and completely change your skin. According to the commissioner’s order, the new uniforms must be tried on, which are kept in reserve in case of inspection, since usually the soldiers here are only provided with work clothes. I’m glad the leaders are treating you the way you deserve”!…he added.
The department’s storekeeper was a career non-commissioned officer, of average height, around thirty, with short hair. He immediately straightened up when Commander Sula entered, and placed three new uniforms on the counter, with all the equipment.
– “It was the commissar a little while ago and he placed the order,” the storekeeper explained to the second lieutenant. “They are new, unworn fringos. Let him try them on in turn, which one fits him best. Then we’ll move on to shoes. Do you know how to use napkins instead of socks?” – he asked me.
– “First the uniform and then the napkins,” – said Commander Sula.
– “Will this one serve full military service, or six months, as a reserve officer?” – the storekeeper asked the second lieutenant in a low voice, when I started to put on my uniform. The second lieutenant did not answer, as if to say: “This is neither the place nor the time for such chatter”! After I put on the uniform, I asked both of them how they fit on my body. And when I got their consent, I took care of the footcloths. Fortunately, the shoes did not squeeze me.
– “Now we are taking them packed, and we are going to the showers, – said Commander Sula. – Because after putting on the uniform, we will visit the famous dormitory to assign your bed…”! The shower was formed from a barrel, where two metal pipes had been welded with water openers and closers on each: cold tap water flowed through one pipe; hot water from the large kitchen boiler came through the other. It took a few minutes to adjust the water temperature to the right level. But I finally managed. After washing and drying myself, I put on my underwear, military uniform, slippers, and high-heeled shoes. Commander Sula expressed his approval of my new appearance, in military uniform. According to him, with the visible gray hair on my shaved head, I gave the impression of a reserve officer who has come to do a few days of service according to the regulations.
– “Now it’s your turn to see the most shocking part of the unit, the huge barracks, and half the size of a sports field…” – he whispered to me. After we had descended a few meters down the hill, on a plain a shack appeared on wooden poles with a terribly sad appearance, which made you shiver: instead of walls, there were unglued planks nailed together, at a distance of two fingers from each other, and on top it was covered with sheet metal! Inside this space, without a ceiling, with soil, wooden bunk beds were placed on both sides. It was the most terrible massive dormitory I had ever seen, which in summer scorched you like a sack, the unbearable heat of the sheet metal roof, while in winter, your body would freeze and freeze from the burning heat, and your lungs would fill with the cold, damp air that entered from outside through the gaps between the planks.
After a while, at the entrance to the dormitory (where instead of door leaves, there were two rail frames with an X, which in the summer were always left folded behind the “wall” of boards, while in the winter, thick paper painted with tar was nailed over it), the most slanderous and frightening creature of the unit, who took the breath and soul of the new recruits during quarantine, the red-eyed and red-headed captain, who was more like a water creature than was accepted as a human creature with reason!
The truck driver defined him very correctly; when he said that he came not from his mother’s womb, but from the Red Sea. The shrill cries while giving commands, or when he woke up in the morning, caused everyone a terribly irritating nervous tension. To escape them, the director used special earplugs, the only protective measure to stop the madness of this screaming, which he had been receiving from the vengeful deputy minister. (The general even considered the transfer from chief of artillery to the ministry as director of an agricultural farm a rather lenient punishment, even though he was exiled from the capital to a completely lost village in Burrel!
And since the monstrous revenge he had envisioned, to torture his hated opponent like an eagle that pecked at Prometheus’ liver every day, was not fulfilled, he found an original personal solution, which was easily implemented without the intervention of higher commands and miraculously performed its function, he brought to the NBU of Burrel, a being similar to a two-legged dinosaur, capable of emitting such terrifying screams from his gullet, that would drive the colonel crazy, to the point of delirium!
And he succeeded, since this constant torture, tearing him to the core, reminded him that the revenge of the punishment would not be granted until he I’m half a man! After two days I went to the division hospital in Burrel, accompanied by the ward’s assistant doctor. We walked the seven kilometers, because only in exceptional, extremely urgent cases did the ambulance come.
As expected, the companion began the conversation on the way with the piercing screams of the captain, making the same complaint as the truck driver, but adding in his turn that when it is his turn to perform the duty of guard officer at the checkpoint, twice a week, he plugs his ears with beeswax, so that his hair does not play.
– “The colonel is the biggest embarrassment, since he works in the ward day and night, so the captain’s screams are not separated from him either day or night, – said the assistant doctor. – It’s strange where all that snot comes from!..- he added with a surprised look. – I once asked the division doctor, what must be in our captain’s throat, that with his screams, he surpasses lions”?!…- “How did he answer? – I replied, to show him that I was listening attentively.
– “That he has something special, which others do not have, I do not doubt. But what specifically, neither I, nor the laryngologists can determine…, – he said laughing. – Because no one in our division had any idea that your captain’s screams would be heard all this way. Don’t be surprised. That’s why we’re complaining to your colonel, who has it in his ear.”
The division doctor was quite polite to me. From the way he visited me, with a pleasant humor, (when he said that women and girls who open their vaginas are not ashamed of me, and not you, who are a man), I formed the impression that the colonel must have spoken to him on the phone, and this suspicion made me believe that there were friendly relations between them. But even though I had this opinion, I still politely asked him not to have any nurses or assistant doctors from our department present during the visit.
– “I find your fear completely pointless, considering that you have traveled abroad and seen the world with your own eyes, so you have had the opportunity to undergo health checks completely naked,” – the doctor said after the visit, before describing how to proceed in the future. – Now I’ll tell you both options: Hemorrhoids can be cured temporarily. But the best thing is to have surgery. For your information: this operation does not present any complications or difficulties, since it is done almost superficially, so it is called a surgical intervention, without any subsequent consequences, and is performed under partial anesthesia.
In addition, you will be given the best opportunity to rest your ears for a few days from the screams of your little one… he added, trying to laugh. – Because you will be hospitalized for almost a week, before and after the operation. Then you will be given a week of absolute rest, with the note with your family, not in the ward. I will take this on, – he emphasized seriously. – First, I will talk to your director in advance, describing the entire procedure, so that immediately after leaving the hospital, you can go home with a clear mind, without worrying about breaking military regulations.
– “Will you accompany me to the General Military Hospital?” – I wanted to make sure that there would be no complications there.
– “Of course I am,” the doctor replied. “Two years ago, I was part of the medical staff of this hospital, so I have some of my own company. Forced transfer: party internship…”, he added, raising his eyebrows, as if to say: “that’s how a mule loves wood”!
– “Then you have hope of returning after completing your internship,” I told him.
– “Only that is unknown,” he emphasized with open disbelief. “Because various machinations are used to delay the return, including, first of all, my replacement, which sets in motion all the gears that prevent my arrival at my previous place.”
– “However, there is hope,” I added, sighing, as if I had said: one day the swallow will bring the good news.”
After this social conversation, the doctor invited me to have a coffee in the division bar, on the first floor of the stately command and headquarters building. Although this invitation was polite on his part, I did not want it, because I might run into a familiar face from the local officers, and dangerous harassment would automatically arise. But fortunately, the bar was empty, except for the bartender. – “As soon as the order for the ambulance to travel to the General Military Hospital is issued, since in the army every action is carried out only by order, I will come to the ward to receive it”, – the doctor said when we left the bar.
– “Now let’s see if any division vehicles are on their way down, from there…”, – he added, motioning with his hand for a soldier to approach us. – Is there a vehicle heading towards the NBU of the Congress”? – he asked the soldier, who came running.
– “Are you going, or are you going to send this reservist officer?” – The soldier asked.
– “He came with the paramedic, but now I don’t see him…” – the doctor replied, looking around the yard. – Did you catch his eye?”
– “He was here, we exchanged a few words. But all of a sudden the rearguard car arrived”!
– “Why didn’t you let me know?” – the doctor got nervous.
– “Actually, he went up to look for you, but he didn’t find you. And since the car was working in a hurry, they set off, convinced that you would return the patient to the ward safely,” the soldier explained.
“Then I am assigning you an urgent task: find him a means of transport as soon as possible, and order the driver to drop him off at the turn of the road to the ward!” the doctor instructed. “I wish you to spend these days until your departure, with as little trouble as possible!” he turned to me, shaking my hand.
When I went to the ward, I noticed near the command building the silhouette of the director, who had come out to calm down and stretch his legs after spending hours locked in his alcove, the only place where he spent his corrosive loneliness, hoping and waiting for a rainbow to suddenly appear and the leaden clouds to disperse in the sky of punishment.
From what I observed, I formed the impression that the despair of contempt tortured him terribly, that he would have accepted to be promoted to company commander in a dignified unit, just to avoid being exiled and isolated here, completely devalued, in a suffocating isolation!
At the beginning of the second week of May, I set off for Tirana in the divisional ambulance. At that moment, it seemed to me as if the gates of heaven had opened and I was being given the opportunity to unload the burden of hellish experiences that had bedeviled me during these days and nights overflowing with torturous nightmares. It seemed to me that my two temporary saviors, Colonel Josifi and the divisional doctor, opened the door of the cage, to free me for a while from the terrible quarantine!
I greatly appreciated their attitude, considering that this action contradicted the rigid internal regulation, which does not allow any soldier to interrupt quarantine, except in urgent cases, which pose a health risk. Thanks to the secret agreement between the colonel and the doctor, (who explained my urgent departure, with the necessity of two operations, acute appendicitis and suppurating hemorrhoids), the division command issued the travel order. Memorie.al
Continued in the next issue
