The novel ‘A Woman between Two Men’, with an Albanian-American Theme, is authored by Carrie Hooper and Skifter Këllici
A group of policemen with electric lasers, led by San Diego police chief Ralph Kallagan, arrived at the place where the car ended up after Nik had rolled it down the hill. Almost fifty, Ralph was tall and handsome with a somewhat rough complexion. The officers looked around for any possible clues. One of the experts, after a thorough examination of the remains of the burnt car, announced, “Mr. Kallagan, it appears the driver was injured as the car rolled down the hill, and he may have escaped through a broken window, perhaps while the car was moving. Then the driver rolled down the hill. At that point, he disappeared without a trace.”
“So far, our investigations have confirmed the driver probably set fire to the car, threw himself down the hill, and escaped, with the other robbers, of course,” Ralph Kallagan explained. “Now they are trying to cover their tracks which, unfortunately, we have not found in spite of our efforts.”
While Kallagan was speaking, an officer handed him an empty, half-burned, plastic packet and said, “I found this in the back seat of the car.”
Ralph motioned to the expert who began to examine the remains of the packet with plastic gloves.
“Did it contain drugs perhaps?” asked Kallagan.
“I think it may have,” said the expert. “In any case, the laboratory analysis will confirm that.”
“If it’s true, that discovery will shed light on a lead in connection with the antidrug trafficking department,” said Ralph. “The drug traffickers or trafficker, it could be just one, set fire to the car to cover their tracks.”
“The car, as is usually the case with such crimes, might have been stolen,” the expert added.
“We will also verify that. The main thing is, they are criminals.”
At that moment, another officer arrived.
“Mr. Kallagan, the dogs followed some footprints and arrived at the stream,” he announced, and saluted. “But the prints don’t go any further. They disappear on the other side.”
“So the bank robbers or the drug traffickers, if that’s what they are, appear to have run through the stream and crossed to the other side. Where are they hiding?”
Ralph looked at the expert and the other officers, but no one answered him.
Nik continued to crouch under the bridge. He still shivered, not only because of the chilly, predawn breeze that bit his face, but also because he was afraid he would hear dogs barking. He was sure if that happened, the police would be right behind them. They would catch Nik, as a person traps a fox, with a sack full of drugs. Once they caught him, he would spend many years behind bars.
He expected Max to come any minute. Therefore, perhaps for the twentieth time, he checked his watch. The minute hand hardly moved on its gray face.
Nik had believed Max when he had said he would come. Would he really come to his rescue? Nik recalled his boss’s words, “You are as valuable as the drugs,” and was annoyed with him.
His cell phone rang. He answered it with an impatience that tired him.
“Nik, I am heading for the bridge,” said Max. “Climb to the top. Be careful. I will stop by the left railing. Wait until you don’t see anyone on the bridge. Then get in the back seat and crouch down there.”
“As you say, Boss,” said Nik. Warmth washed over him.
He carefully climbed up to the railing on all fours in order not to make the cut on his stomach worse. Once there, he lay down and gazed in the direction from which Max’s car would come.
The last clouds left the sky and slowly made way for the whitish light of dawn. In the distance, Kreshnik could make out some cars which crossed the bridge in the opposite direction. But he did not see Max’s car.
“What if he had an accident?” The thought terrified him. He grew even more anxious when a car stopped near the bridge. He moved back, still lying on the ground, wet from the rain. He shivered. Fortunately, it was not a police car.
Nik nearly cried out, however, when he saw someone, who appeared to be drunk, stagger from the car. He unbuttoned his pants, walked toward the railing, and, unable to control himself, urinated a few steps away from it. Then he returned to his car. Although he was in a fix, Kreshnik laughed at the thought that the drunk man could have urinated on his head, and he wouldn’t have cared one way or the other.
Other cars passed, and finally, through the windows of an approaching car, Kreshnik saw Max’s round, animated face, greenish eyes, and short mustache. The car stopped near the bridge’s railing. The back door opened, and without a moment’s hesitation, Kreshnik jumped up with his bag, got in the car, closed the door, and leaned over the seat so no one would see him from outside.
Max quickly turned the wheel and headed for the highway where he saw a billboard with an arrow that pointed toward the words San Diego.
“We will go straight to your house, where, I’m sure, James is anxiously waiting for you,” said Max. “You are his son, and he loves you. It will be easy for him to treat your cut, won’t it? You told me it was a slight one.”
Kreshnik nodded.
“In case a patrol or a police car stops us, I will explain that I happened to see you lying unconscious near the bridge, and I picked you up to take you to a hospital in San Diego. But don’t tell anyone who I am. Understand?”
“Don’t worry, Boss,” Nik replied. But he thought to himself, “Of course I have to tell the police that in order to save your bacon, while I …”
Kreshnik and Max drove on.
As he lay in bed, Kreshnik practically groaned when James, with gray hair and a bony face, bandaged the cut on his stomach. Max Cooper sat in a chair near his bed.
“That wasn’t so bad, Nik,” said James sweetly. “You will be back on your feet in a couple of days.” Then, turning to Max, he added, “I will be indebted to you my whole life, Boss, because if it weren’t for you, Nik would probably be in prison now. He might have spent many years there.”
“No, James. Nik escaped because of his courage and cleverness. He saved himself and almost all of the drugs,” Max added. “He was only missing one packet. He’s very brave, I tell you.”
Max’s final words irritated Nik.
“Drugs again,” Nik said to himself. “What an accountant! He praises me to the hilt as if I could do no wrong. As he said, the drugs are worth much more than I am.”
“We didn’t make it this time,” Max continued, his green eyes on James. “Maybe I did not need to be afraid. Maybe Nik could have made it past the road blocks the police set up since they were looking for the bank robbers who, in fact, were caught when they got to Long Beach.”
“True, but you and Nik couldn’t have known that,” James replied. “As they say, `Fear guards the vineyard”`
“That’s true, but next time, we will throw ourselves at the police and will fight them tooth and nail. But let’s wait until things settle down. Good-bye.”
Max rose, reached his hand out to Nik, who had absolutely no desire to shake his hand or to look at him.
Then, as if remembering something, Max turned to Nik and, as if to encourage him, said, “Although you didn’t succeed, I will not leave you empty-handed.”
When he saw that Nik had closed his eyes, he turned to James who bowed his head to Max in gratitude and accompanied him to the outer door.
“Thank you, Mr. Cooper,” he said, almost bowing to kiss his hand.
When James returned to the bedroom, Nik had fallen asleep. What else would one expect after so many anxious and exhausting hours?
James stayed by Nik’s bed for a little while, covered him with the blanket that he had pushed aside, and muttered with much emotion, “My son, may I be cursed that I made you Max Cooper’s slave! You made him money with the sweat of your brow while I, stupid as I was, squandered my money at the casino, and to win it back, I borrowed money from that scoundrel!”
He could not hold back his tears.
Nik recovered after two days. He and James ate lunch as they watched the midday news on TV.
“Now that you are well, Nik, don’t stay inside all day. Go out, get some fresh air, take a walk. Visit friends, find a nice girl. Heaven knows you’re not a eunuch,” said James.
But Nik did not appear to be paying attention to him for all of a sudden, his eyes sparkled dully. A report came on about a birthday celebration for a famous surgeon at San Diego Medical Center. Hospital workers wished the surgeon a happy birthday. Then a gracious woman said, “On behalf of the emergency room nurses, I, too, would like to express my gratitude to our distinguished professor, Ted Peterson, on his sixtieth birthday.”
“Why, that’s Mary Davenport,” said James in a mocking tone.
Burning with curiosity, Nik’s eyes were glued to the screen, and he motioned for James to be quiet. James shook his head and jerked his mouth open with disdain, revealing a few yellow teeth.
“You still have your mind on her,” he said, taunting Nik. “You met her at the hospital and thanked her for taking care of me when I was sick. She didn’t belong to you, so that was the end of it. It’s over. Find another one, my good man. They’re only young once.”
Annoyed, Nik replied, “You’re so banal, James. But it’s not your fault. You have no idea what love is. You’ve never experienced it.”
“That may be true. Follow her like a shadow. I’ve heard she spends the weekends at Del Mar Beach.”
“How do you know?” asked Nik impulsively.
“One day, she happened to go to the pizzeria where your late father worked. She was with a friend. She did not recognize me. And when the other girl asked Mary where she spent her weekends, she replied, `usually at Del Mar Beach`”
Surprised, Nik asked, “Why didn’t you tell me that before?”
“I’m telling you now.”
Nik was stunned. (Continues)
Click here for Part-1, Part-2,
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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]
