Revista Haemus nr. 30-32 - Libraria pentru toti

murdered my brother in Tirana without leaving a trace. We don't even know
where he is buried, so that we could say a prayer for him or lay some
flowers. You go with them. You've got the keys. But listen to me, don't
leave them alone for a second. God only knows what they're up to."
"We have been sent by the command to take down that rag flying from the
tower. It's a disgrace," they stated, "for that rag without the partisan star on
it to be flying over the main square in town!"
"But we don't have any other one."
"We have brought one with us, brand new! Look at it, it's the flag of our
Yugoslav brothers and has a partisan star on it."
"Two flags?" I inquired. "But we've only got one flagpole. We've never had
two flags."
"Well, you people put up the Italian flag, didn't you?"
"Never."
"What about the Vatican flag?"
"No, never."
"Well, what shall we do then?"
"Whatever you think."
"We'll go back and get another flagpole. You wait right here for us."
When they came back with another flagpole, they asked me for the keys to
the bell tower once more. I climbed up to the top of the tower with them,
above the clock, to where the flag was hanging. They were amazed at the
view of the town below them.
"Wow. Look how beautiful it is from here!"
From that vantage point you could see all of Shkodra. When they had had
their fill of the town, they took the flagpole off the holder and put the new
flag out with the partisan star.
Goosebumps covered my whole body. That heroic flag of the Albanian
highlands, worn and torn, and now lay there like a corpse. When they tried
to raise the Yugoslav flag, the pole would not fit into the holder.
"Where can we put up the flagpole? It doesn't fit. Damn!" they said, and
asked: "Do you have any wire so that we can attach it to the railing?"
"No, I don't. But listen, even if there were wire, it wouldn't hold because it
is stormy up here. You need a proper holder."
"Damn it all," they muttered, "we really do need a holder. Why didn't you
say that in the first place?"
"I didn't know, I never thought of it."
"Wait here, and we will go and get a mason."
They climbed back down and departed, returning with the mason. He
affixed two new holders on the tower. On the side opposite to the Albanian
flag now flew the Yugoslav flag. We had two flags."
The new power base, the Committee of the Party, was down in the city
centre, in the recently constructed house of the businessman, Zef Koka. The
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