The Mister

by James, E L

  At ten we stroll down one of the tree-lined boulevards toward the coffeehouse where we’ve arranged to meet our translator. I am struck by how many men are sitting around drinking coffee outside, even though it’s cold.

  Where are the women?

  * * *

  Thanas Ceka is dark-haired and dark-eyed, a postgrad student at the University of Tirana doing his doctorate in English literature. His English is excellent, he has a ready smile and an easygoing nature—and he’s brought his girlfriend. Her name is Drita, and she’s an undergrad studying history. She’s petite and pretty, and her spoken English is not as good as Thanas’s. She wants to come with us.

  Well, this could get complicated.

  Tom glances at me and shrugs. I haven’t got time to argue. “I’m not sure how long we’re going to be,” I state as I finish my coffee. It could double as paint stripper—I don’t think I’ve ever drunk coffee this strong.

  “It’s cool. I’ve cleared my schedule for the week,” Thanas responds. “I’ve never been to Kukës myself, but Drita has.”

  “What do you know of Kukës?” I ask Drita directly.

  She gives Thanas a nervous glance.

  “That bad?” I eye them both.

  “It has a reputation. When the Communists fell, Albania was…” Thanas pauses. “It went through a difficult time.”

  Tom rubs his hands. “I love a challenge,” he says, and Thanas and Drita have the grace to laugh.

  “We shall be okay with the weather,” Thanas says. “The motorway is open, and it hasn’t snowed for a couple of weeks.”

  “Shall we get going?” I ask, eager to leave.

  * * *

  The landscape has changed. Gone are the dreary, fallow fields of Northern Europe; the terrain is stark, rocky, and barren in the winter sunshine. Under any other circumstances, Alessia might have enjoyed this journey. She’s had a lightning tour of Europe’s highways. But she’s with Anatoli, the man she’ll be forced to marry—and she still has to face her father when they reach Kukës. She is not looking forward to the inevitable confrontation, and deep down she knows it’s because her mother will bear the brunt of his anger.

  They tear across another bridge at an alarming speed. Below them is a vast body of water, reminding Alessia of the Drin—and reminding her of the sea.

  The sea.

  And Maxim.

  He gave me the sea.

  Will she ever see him again?

  “The coastline in Croatia is very picturesque. I do a lot of business here,” says Anatoli, breaking the silence that’s hung between them since they left Zagreb.

  Alessia glances at him. She doesn’t care about his business. She doesn’t want to know what he does. There was a time when she was curious, but that time has passed. Besides, as his wife—a good Albanian wife—she will ask no questions.

  “I have several properties here.” He gives her a wolfish grin, and she realizes he’s trying to impress her, like he did when she first met him.

  She turns away, staring out at the sea, and her mind spirals back to Cornwall.

  * * *

  The drive out of Tirana is frankly terrifying. Pedestrians have an unnerving habit of just stepping out into the road, and the roundabouts are free-for-alls—cars, trucks, buses all jostling for priority. It’s like a giant game of chicken, and at this rate my nerves will be in shreds by the time we reach Kukës. Tom is constantly slamming his hand on the dashboard, yelling at pedestrians and drivers alike. It’s bloody annoying.

  “For fuck’s sake, Tom, shut the fuck up! I’m trying to concentrate.”

  “Sorry, Trevethick.”

  By some miracle we make it out of the city center unscathed. Once we reach the main road, I start to relax a little, but I drive slowly; drivers here are unpredictable.

  There are several car dealerships and countless petrol stations on the roadside. As we leave Tirana behind, we pass a grand, imposing neoclassical building that looks rather like a wedding cake.

  “What’s that place?” I ask.

  “It’s a hotel,” Thanas says. “It’s been under construction for many years.” He shrugs when our eyes meet in the rearview mirror.

  “Oh.”

  The lowlands look fertile and green considering it’s February. There are squat, red-roofed houses dotted among the fields. While I drive, Thanas gives us a potted history of Albania and shares more information about himself. His parents lived through the fall of Communism, and both of them learned English via the BBC World Service, even though it was banned under Communist rule. It transpires that the BBC, and most things British, are held in high regard by Albanians. It’s where they all want to go. There or America.

  Tom and I exchange a glance.

  Drita speaks quietly to Thanas, and he translates. Kukës was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000, after the town accepted hundreds of thousands of refugees during the Kosovan conflict.

  This I knew. I remember Alessia’s look of pride when she regaled me about Kukës and all things Albanian in the pub in Trevethick.

  It’s been two days since she left, and I feel like I’m missing a limb.

  Where are you, my love?

  * * *

  We join the main motorway to Kukës, and soon we are flying into the chilliest of blue skies, steadily climbing higher and higher toward the majestic, snowcapped peaks of the Albanian Alps, and the Shar and Korab mountain ranges that dominate the landscape. There are gorges with clear white-water rivers, craggy canyons, and steep, jagged cliffs. It’s stunning, and apart from this modern motorway the land around us seems untouched by time. There’s an occasional hamlet with terra-cotta-tiled houses, smoke rising from chimneys, stooks of hay flecked with snow, washing on lines, goats free, goats tethered—this is Alessia’s country.

  My sweet girl.

  I hope you’re okay.

  I’m coming to get you.

  * * *

  The temperature drops the higher we go. Tom has taken the wheel so that I can play DJ and take photographs with my phone. Thanas and Drita are quiet, enjoying the views and listening to Hustle and Drone, who are streaming through the car stereo system from my iPhone. We emerge from a long mountain tunnel to find we’re right among the peaks. They’re covered with snow but are surprisingly bare, with very few trees. Thanas explains that after the Communist regime fell, there were fuel shortages, and in some places the locals cut down all the trees for firewood.

  “I thought we were high enough to be above the tree line,” Tom says.

  In the middle of this rocky wilderness, we encounter a tollbooth, and while we queue up behind a few battered cars and trucks, my phone buzzes. I’m amazed I can get a signal in these mountains on top of Eastern Europe.

  “Oliver, what’s up?”

  “I’m sorry to interrupt your day, Maxim, but the police have been in touch. They were rather hoping to interview your…um…fiancée, Miss Demachi.”

  Ah…so now he knows. I ignore the fiancée part of his statement. “As you know, Alessia has returned to Albania, so they’ll have to wait until she comes back to London.”

  “I thought as much.”

  “Did they say anything else?”

  “They have recovered your laptop and some sound equipment.”

  “That’s good news!”

  “And the case is now in the hands of the Metropolitan Police. It appears that Miss Demachi’s assailants are known to the police and wanted in connection with other crimes.”

  “The Met? Good. Sergeant Nancarrow said those arseholes might have form.”

  Tom gives me a sideways glance.

  “Have they been charged?”

  “As far as I know, not as yet, sir.”

  “Keep me up to date with these proceedings if you can. I want to know if they’re charged and if they make bail.”<
br />
  “Will do.”

  “Just relay my message to the police about Miss Demachi. Say she’s had to return to Albania for a family matter. Everything else okay?”

  “Tickety-boo, sir.”

  “Tickety-boo?” I snort. “Great.” I hang up and pass Tom five euros to pay for the toll.

  If Dante and his accomplice are still in custody, the police must be treating this seriously. Maybe they’ve got them for trafficking; I hope so. I hope they lock the fuckers up and throw away the key.

  A short while later, we see a sign for Kukës and my spirits lift. We’re nearly there. Soon we’re driving alongside a huge lake, which, when I consult my Google Maps, turns out to be a river—the Drin which feeds Fierza Lake. I remember Alessia talking with such passion about the landscape around her town. My anticipation is growing exponentially. I urge Tom to drive faster. I am going to see her. I am going to save her. I hope.

  She might not need saving.

  She might want to be here.

  Don’t think that!

  As we round a sweeping curve of the motorway, Kukës finally comes into view. It’s nestled in the valley, with a wide, blue-green river-lake in front of it and ringed by dramatic mountains. The vista is spectacular.

  Wow.

  This was Alessia’s view, every day.

  We cross a sturdy bridge over the water. On a bluff above, a ghostly abandoned building stands sentinel, and I wonder if it’s another unfinished hotel.

  * * *

  On the outskirts of Nikšić, in Montenegro, Anatoli pulls in to the parking lot of a roadside café. Alessia stares listlessly out the window.

  “I’m hungry. You must be, too. Let’s go,” he says. Alessia doesn’t bother to argue but follows him into the pleasant, clean space. It’s relatively new and decorated with a fun theme—automobiles—a cherry-red hot rod is painted above the bar. It’s an inviting place. But not for Anatoli; he’s irritable. He’s slapped the steering wheel several times and sworn loudly in the last couple of hours, infuriated by other drivers. He is not a patient man.

  “Order something for both of us. I’m going to the restroom. Don’t run. I’ll find you.” He scowls at Alessia and leaves her to choose a table.

  She’s now keen to make it home. Given how Anatoli behaved yesterday evening, she doesn’t want to spend another night with him. She’d rather face her father. She skims the menu, trying to find common words that she might recognize in either English or Albanian, but she’s tired and can’t seem to concentrate. Anatoli returns. He looks tired. Of course, he’s been driving constantly for several days now, but Alessia refuses to feel any sympathy for him.

  “What did you order?” he snaps.

  “I haven’t. Here’s the menu.” She hands it to him before he can gripe. A waiter joins them, and Anatoli orders without asking her what she wants. She’s amazed that Montenegrin seems to be yet another language he speaks fluently. The waiter scuttles away, and Anatoli pulls out his mobile phone.

  Cool blue eyes meet hers. “Keep quiet,” he says, and he dials a number. “Good afternoon, Shpresa, is Jak there?”

  Mama!

  Alessia sits up. Fully engaged. He’s talking to her mother.

  “Oh…Well, tell him we’ll be home around eight this evening….” Anatoli’s eyes slide to Alessia. “Yes, she’s with me. She’s well….No…She’s in the restroom.”

  “What!”

  Anatoli puts his index finger to his lips.

  “Anatoli, let me talk to my mother,” Alessia insists, holding out her hand for the phone.

  “We’ll see you then. Good-bye.” He hangs up.

  “Anatoli!” Tears of anger threaten as a lump swells in her throat. She’s never felt as homesick as she does now.

  Mama.

  How could he begrudge her a few words to her mother?

  “If you were a little more docile and grateful, I would have let you talk to her,” he says. “I have come a long way for you.”

  Alessia glares at him, then drops her eyes. She doesn’t want to meet the challenge in his; she cannot bear to look at him after this latest outrage. He’s cruel and vindictive and petulant and childish. Fury quietly seeps into every vein in her body.

  For all that he’s done, she will never forgive him.

  Ever.

  Her only hope is to plead with her father and beg him not to force their marriage.

  * * *

  Close up, Kukës is not what I thought it would be. It’s a nondescript town of weathered Soviet-style apartments built in blocks. Drita informs us via Thanas that it was constructed during the 1970s. The original old town of Kukës is now at the bottom of the lake; the valley was flooded to feed the hydroelectric dam that provides power to the surrounding region. The roads are lined with fir trees, there’s a blanket of snow on the ground, and the streets are quiet. There are a few shops, selling household goods, clothes, and farm equipment, and a couple of supermarkets. There’s a bank, a pharmacy, and many cafés, where, as is customary, men sit outside in the afternoon sunshine wrapped up against the chill, drinking coffee.

  Again, where are all the women?

  The most distinctive feature of the town is that at the end of each street, wherever I look, the mountains stand tall and proud in a dramatic backdrop. We are surrounded by their majestic beauty, and I find myself wishing I’d brought my Leica.

  My travel agent has booked us into a hotel called, of all things, Amerika. Google Maps guides us through the backstreets to the hotel itself. It’s a curious mix of old and modern, with an entrance that looks like a Christmas grotto, especially now, as it’s dusted with snow.

  Inside, it has to be one of the kitschiest places I’ve ever seen, crammed with touristy knickknacks procured from the USA, including several plastic Statues of Liberty. The decor is impossible to define, a mishmash of styles, but the overall effect is…cheery and friendly. The host, a wiry, bearded man in his thirties, is warm and welcoming and greets us in a broken version of English before ushering us upstairs to our rooms via a tiny lift. Tom and I take the twin room, leaving the double for Thanas and Drita.

  “Will you ask him for directions to this place?” I hand Thanas a crumpled piece of paper with Alessia’s parents’ address.

  “Yes. What time would you like to go?”

  “Five minutes. Just give us time to unpack.”

  “Steady on, Trevethick,” butts in Tom. “Can’t we have a drink first?”

  Hmm…As my father would say, some Dutch courage always helps.

  “A quick one. And just one. Okay? I’m going to meet my future wife’s parents—I don’t want to be stocious.” Tom nods enthusiastically and claims the bed nearer the door. “I hope to God you don’t snore,” I say as I unpack.

  * * *

  An hour later we are parked in a small layby that leads to two open, rusty metal gates. Beyond, down a concrete driveway, is a solitary, terra-cotta-roofed house on the banks of the Drin. Only the roof is visible.

  “Thanas, you’d better come with me,” I say, and we leave Drita and Tom in the car. The glow of the setting sun casts tall shadows across the driveway. We’re on a large plot, surrounded by naked trees, though there are a few firs and a sizable, well-kept vegetable patch. The house is painted a pale green and has three stories and two balconies that face the water, from what I can see. It’s larger than the other houses we saw on our way here. Perhaps Alessia’s folks are affluent. I have no idea. The lake looks magnificent, lit up with the hues of a fading winter sunset.

  On the outside of the house, there’s a satellite dish, and it reminds me of a conversation I had with Alessia.

  And I’ve been to America by watching TV.

  American TV?

  Yes. Netflix. HBO.

  I knock on what I assume is the front door. It’s made of a good soli
d wood, so I knock again, harder this time, to be sure to be heard. My heart is pounding, and in spite of the cold a trickle of sweat runs down my back.

  This is it.

  Game face on, dude.

  I’m about to meet my new in-laws—though they don’t know that yet.

  The door half opens, and a chink of light behind her reveals a slight, middle-aged woman in a headscarf. In the fading evening light, I see that she’s giving me a quizzical look, a little like Alessia.

  “Mrs. Demachi?”

  “Yes.” She looks bewildered.

  “My name’s Maxim Trevelyan, and I’ve come about your daughter.”

  She gapes at me, blinking furiously, then opens the door a little wider. She’s trim with slight shoulders, and she’s rather dowdily dressed in a voluminous skirt and blouse. Her hair is hidden beneath her headscarf, reminding me of the moment when I first saw her daughter standing like a frightened rabbit in my hallway.

  “Alessia?” she whispers.

  “Yes.”

  She frowns. “My husband…is not here.” Her English sounds rusty and her accent much thicker than her daughter’s. She peers anxiously past me, scanning the driveway—for what, I don’t know—and then she looks directly at me. “You cannot be here.”

  “Why?” I ask.

  “My husband is not at home.”

  “But I need to talk to you about Alessia. I think she’s on her way back here.”

  She tilts her head, suddenly alert. “We are expecting her soon. You have heard she is returning?”

  My heart leaps in response.

  She’s coming home. I was right.

  “Yes. And I’ve come to ask you and your husband for…” I swallow. “For…permission to marry your daughter.”