The novel ‘A Woman between Two Men’, with an Albanian-American Theme, is authored by Carrie Hooper and Skifter Këllici
When Mary had finished speaking, Charlie clenched his jaws in a threatening manner while Ralph stepped between Mary and the disgusting stranger. He grabbed his arms as if he were afraid this headstrong man, who surely only wanted sex, would attack him again. But soon he grew somber. His searching eyes bored into Kreshnik, and he shook his head mockingly.
“Well, look who’s here,” Ralph said to Wilma. “I’m sure you remember that drunk who caused a commotion at the cafe near our station a few months ago.”
Wilma nodded in surprise and did not take her eyes off of Kreshnik who winked, unsure of what to say. His worst fear had come true. He found himself face to face with Ralph Kallagan whose size was enough to scare anyone. A thought flashed through his mind.
“If Ralph’s colleagues had followed the dogs’ tracks, they would have noted me in their file. Now Ralph is here. What if he suspects I was the person his colleagues were following?” he asked himself.
“I swear, Officer,” he muttered, “I accidentally fell on the lady. I wanted to apologize to her.”
“Get that scoundrel out of here, Ralph!” Charlie interrupted. He walked over to Mary as if he, like Ralph, wanted to protect her from an attack by this rascal, as Mary rightly called him.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Ralph blew his whistle. Two officers, who had been standing on the sidewalk, entered the restaurant.
“I just wanted to explain a few things to Mary that I thought were important,” said Kreshnik with a deadpan expression. “Tell the truth, Mary.”
He cast her a pleading glance. But Mary, frozen in place, did not speak. Wilma’s curious eyes followed first Mary, then Kreshnik. She understood some of what was happening.
“So, according to you this honorable lady, whom I have known for years, wants to pull the wool over our eyes?” said Ralph. “You’re just like all vagabonds who are caught red-handed. That night at the cafe, although you were drunk and making a scene, I let you go. I just ordered the police to throw you out. But not tonight.”
Ralph picked up his cell phone.
“Hello, Scott, come to Crystal. I think you know where that is. … Okay. Come as quickly as you can.”
Then, turning to the other officers, Ralph said, “Hold him until the car from Police Station 2 arrives. I’ll take it from there.”
The officers approached Kreshnik and grabbed his arms. Convinced he had done nothing wrong, he resisted and pushed them with his elbow. He even tried to escape.
“Cuff him!” ordered Ralph Kallagan.
Kreshnik grew somber when one of the officers started to put handcuffs on him. He tried to get away from him and punched him so hard that he almost fell.
Here and there, a passerby or a customer leaving the restaurant stopped to watch the scene.
Mary noticed Kreshnik’s flaming eyes. The officer, who almost fell because of Kreshnik’s resistance, beat him with a rubber stick he kept in his belt. The other policeman hit him, too.
Kreshnik looked at Mary, sighed, and smiled bitterly. He was shaking, and his face was bloody. When Mary saw him, she covered her eyes with her trembling hands.
“Stop, please stop!” she cried with fright.
Charlie stood next to her. In an attempt to comfort her, he put his arm around her neck. Wilma looked crosseyed at Ralph as if she wanted to say, “Enough! You’ve gone too far!”
Just then, Scott arrived in a police car. Ralph seemed to lose consciousness momentarily because of the unexpected turn of events, and, in particular, because of Wilma’s scolding look. He immediately stepped between the other policemen and Kreshnik, pulled a notepad out of his jacket pocket, and asked, “What is your name?”
“Kreshnik Germeni.”
Ralph knit his brow in surprise. Something stabbed Wilma in the heart, and she lowered her head toward Mary who seemed distracted.
“What did you say your last name was? Germeni?”
“Yes, Germeni.”
Ralph continued to write on his pad. He could not hide his concern.
“Aren’t you Albanian?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Now he will examine me closely and will remember me from that rainy night. Then he will check my photo which I’m sure he kept in his police files,” thought Kreshnik. He grew anxious.
Ralph Kallagan wrinkled his forehead, and his eyes twinkled. He remembered something, but not what Kreshnik suspected.
“Are you Loni Germeni’s son?” he asked. “I know he had a son.”
“Yes. Loni was my father.”
“But you are nothing like him!” he almost shouted. His animated face expressed a mixture of surprise and sorrow.
“He remembers my father after all these years,” said Kreshnik to himself.
Then, turning to Wilma, Mary, and Charlie, Ralph asked, “Have you heard of Loni Germeni?”
They remained silent, but when she heard the last name Germeni, Wilma suppressed a scream, gently elbowed Mary, and, after regaining her composure, fixed her gaze on her as if she were asking her the all-important question: “That’s Kreshnik?!”
Mary just closed her eyes.
Scott arrived in a police car.
“Now is not the time, but I’ll tell you about Loni later,” said Ralph.
Then he turned to Kreshnik and said with disdain, “Tonight you’re coming with us to the station.” He motioned to Scott to take Kreshnik away. Mary noticed the solemn expression on his face and the beastly fire in his eyes. She thought about the night when she first saw him at the emergency room. His face had had that same expression because he had just found out the doctors were watching a soccer game on television, oblivious to the possibility there might be accident victims like James in need of first aid.
As the officers put Kreshnik in the car, he looked at Mary, smiled, then groaned with sorrow. Mary did not know if his eyes expressed hatred or disappointment.
Unused to such sights, she fainted and collapsed into Charlie’s arms.
She came to in a fog, looked around, and saw white walls and a window with a white curtain. A man with kind eyes, dressed in a white coat, stood over her. Mary realized she was in a bed in a hospital room, and the man was the doctor.
He smiled, touched her arm lightly, opened the door, and went out into the lobby where Charlie, Wilma, and Ralph were waiting.
“After the events which you, Mr. Kallagan, told me about,” said the doctor, “the patient went into immediate shock. But she has recovered, and you may take her home in an hour.”
“May we see her now?” asked Charlie.
“Certainly,” said the doctor. “In the meantime, I will write my report and a prescription for a tranquilizer. But don’t worry if I’m a little late. I have to look in on another patient.”
Charlie went in first, ran to Mary’s bed, and embraced her. Wilma and Ralph followed after him, and the three of them sat in chairs around her bed. Mary raised her pillow a little, propped her head up, and waited for the doctor to return.
“How are you feeling, Mary?” asked Charlie as he kissed her gently on the lips.
“I’m fine now,” she said, her voice faint.
“Look what Kreshnik did to you,” Ralph said, unable to contain himself.
“He has to pay for what he did,” said Charlie. He shook his head with anger and readjusted his glasses which had slid down on his arched nose. “To harass a woman and hit a policeman! And who? A nobody who is rotting one hour away. Lock him up, Ralph. He’s responsible for Mary’s condition. He forced the police to take action. What’s more, he ruined our evening.”
“You’re right,” said Ralph, raising his eyebrows. “But I may have acted impulsively, too. I should have exercised more self-control.”
“I agree,” said Wilma. “You shouldn’t have beaten him.”
“Ralph did the right thing, Wilma. Kreshnik pushed the two officers,” Charlie said. “Later, when one of them put the cuffs on him, he hit him so hard with his elbow that he almost fell. That’s no small matter. I know that in such cases, the police have the right to use force. Right, Ralph?”
“Yes. The law allows that,” he replied and raised his eyebrows again. “But I had no idea Kreshnik was the son of that great Albanian, Loni Germeni.” (Continues)
Click here for Part-1, Part-2, Part-3, Part-4, Part-5, Part-6, Part-7, Part-8, Part-9, Part-10, Part-11,
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About the Authors
Carrie Hooper was born and raised in Elmira, New York. She has been blind since birth. She received a B.A. in vocal performance from Mansfield University, Mansfield, Pennsylvania. She went on to receive an M.A. in German and an M.A. in vocal performance from the State University of New York at Buffalo. After completing her studies, she spent a year at the Royal University College of Music in Stockholm, Sweden as a Fulbright scholar. Carrie currently lives in Elmira, New York. She taught German, Italian, and Romanian at Elmira College. She has a passion for foreign languages and in addition to the languages mentioned above, she is also proficient in Swedish, Spanish, and Albanian. Music also plays an important role in Carrie’s life. She teaches voice and piano lessons, gives vocal concerts, plays the piano and organ at a church, and sings in a community chorus. Carrie not only loves music and languages, but also enjoys poetry. She has published three books: “Piktura në fjalë” (“Word Paintings”), a bilingual collection of poetry (Albanian-English), “My Life in My Words”, and “Away from Home.” She has also translated texts from Albanian and Romanian to English.
Skifter Këllici was born in Tirana, Albania and received a diploma in history and literature from the University of Tirana. He worked as a journalist, scholar, and sportscaster on radio and television. He is the author of several novels and nonfiction books, including the children’s books, “Memories of the Old Neighborhood” and “In the Footsteps” as well as the historical novels, “Assassination in Paris”, “The Murderer with the White Hands”, and “September Disaster.” He wrote the screenplay for “In the Footsteps” which won a special prize at the International Children’s Film Festival in Giffoni, Italy in 1979. He has lived in Boston, Massachusetts since 1999.
[The book ‘Disastrous September is being reproduced in episodes with the consent of the author]
