The Rise and Fall of Comrade Zylo

1.

Everything had become clear. That slender curtain of doubt was torn. Araniti was officially informed that he was to be promoted to the post held by comrade Zylo.The people congratulated him for the new post, expressing their pleasure with a lot of praise. Araniti, self-controlled and as always cold-blooded, thanked them and left with his eyebrows knitted. Comrade Zylo was handing over his dossier, explaining the instructions and plans .He was trying to be calm and friendly .He did not want to have any new conflicts with this tough person in these last moments. Conflicts in these cases are of no utility; they only cause trouble. Hence, the advice he was giving to Araniti was careful, well-thought-out, and tactful. How careful was comrade Zylo! He could have left without giving any advice and without showing so much care. Nothing! I am leaving! Good luck, Aranit, in your future job waiting here for you! But no, comrade Zylo could not leave without advising the new clerks. He was tormented about how things would go in the place he had directed himself, in the place where he had put so much effort, had shed sweat and left a part of his mind.

After having done all the hand-over to Araniti, he called me and told me to prepare a short speech, that he would deliver at the cocktail party organized in the reunion hall to honor him as he left his post .He told me where I had to concentrate and added:

-I want it to be sketched around only four or five topics, and then I will extend it myself as I speak...

-Ok, comrade Zylo,-I said.

Then, he took down from the shelves the books he had brought from home and those he had checked out from the library, put them on the table, sighed deeply and said:

-So many years, Demkл, so many years! A man feels sorry to leave his job!...It is not little effort we put in this, it is not little sweat we shed!

Comrade Zylo called the cleaning lady and showed her the books .She understood. She should take the books to his house a few at a time, because they were a lot. Most of them were in a hard cover, thick, in foreign languages and the rest were in the mother tongue.

When the cleaning lady went out, he looked at the books moved.

- Demkл, I could have left them to Araniti, but he does not know these languages and would keep them only to decorate the shelves. But I had never liked to see the book as a piece of furniture. The book does not fall in the category of usual belongings. It seeks to move. If you leave it there, sedentary, you commit the worst sin ever and deserve a curse for it. Do you understand, Demkл?

-It is like that, -I said.

-If I leave them to Araniti, I will destroy him, because he will be cursed. I am not a believer. I believe only in books. But let us understand each other: there are books that can never be trusted.

Comrade Zylo shook his hands off the dust of the books and papers he was taking out of the drawers. Holding his hands away form the suit he was wearing, he stared at the walls of his office and the table in the shape of a big T.

-How many debates have we had at this table! But why have we had so many debates, Demkл? In vain? For the sake of work, of progress!

Afterwards he sat on the chair. He held his beard on the palm of his hand and looked out of the window. These were the moments when comrade Zylo was thinking and I did not dare break the thread of his thoughts. And what other thoughts could comrade Zylo have, besides those for the future of the sector he had directed for such a long time?

But the thread of those thoughts was interrupted by the phone ring.

-Alo! Araniti?

-Araniti has his own office, dear friend. I am Zylo Kamberi! - and he put the phone down shaking his head.-I recognized him from his voice-he told me.-It is Zaim Avazi ,the imitator of Xhibilet Xhibiletov. I am really sick of him. Well, Demkл, well!

Comrade Zylo stood up and put the chair in its place.

-However, Demkл, work on the topics about the preservation of the cultural monuments. Remind Aranit of this! That problem should be addressed.

He was being called to go somewhere and he was getting ready to go out. I also had an appointment with Bakir to decide upon the cocktail we were organizing for the conduction of comrade Zylo.

2.

Bakiri came by my house. We talked for a long time about comrade Zylo and about Araniti, for the one who was leaving and for the other who was coming. I was feeling ease in my soul. It seemed as if I had got rid of a heavy burden I had been holding on my shoulders that tormented me for years. I had the confidence that I would get rid of the reports and would deal with something better and more useful. I showed this feeling to Bakir, and he, like me, hoped that I would get rid of that boring burden. But I felt something else. I had got used to comrade Zylo. He was a strange person for me and I was feeling sorry to get separated form him. It is surprising but I felt sorry. Bakiri laughed at this feeling but believed me .At the same time I both accepted and rejected the character of comrade Zylo. This was a mixed feeling. In general I was duplicating the others and myself. I wrote reports. Another second person was reading them in front of the people. That second one in fact was me, but without my body. This second one was holding the speech for me and tried to convince me. Eh, I was holding a speech to myself!...But what is more surprising, listening to this second one, I believed that they were not my words, but his. And once, in a conference, like a madman, I said: "This expression is very good!" I forgot it was mine. Do you know? I had got used to this way of living and became nervous when I did not have to write reports and speeches for the others. And so, the promotion of Araniti now to substitute comrade Zylo made me happy and sad at the same time. "Araniti knows how to write the reports himself,-I was thinking.-And me, what will I do?"

-You go and work in a newspaper, Demkл! -Bakiri advised me as we were standing in front of my house.

-This is what I have thought, -I told him.

- You can even write novels, -he said without irony at all.

-I am afraid I would fill in the sentences with expressions from speeches-I said and trembled.

I trembled and got goose bumps for a reason. There I was, confronted with the reality