Chapter 6

Chapter 6

“Giorgi, hey Giorgi,” Kuze kept on yelling while kicking Giorgi’s gate with his foot. “The old man must be sleeping if he still has not stirred,” Kuze said to the man standing next to him. Kuze then left the gate, stood under the window and yelled even harder: “Hey Giorgi, Giorgi, come to the door!”

“I hear you, I hear you… Who is it?” Giorgevitsa’s quiet voice was heard saying from inside the yard. They listened to her footsteps along the cobblestones as she approached the gate. She again asked: “Who is it?”

“It is me, Giorgevitsa, me Kuze, who else?” Kuze replied angrily and again kicked the gate with his foot.

Giorgevitsa pulled out the lever from the door and popped her head out through the door opening.

“What’s going on, are you alive or dead Giorgevitsa? Does one need to break your gate to wake you up? Open the door and let us in, open it I said!” Kuze said angrily and forced the gate open with his shoulder. “Get in teacher…” he addressed the man who stood beside him.

Giorgevitsa went ahead and lit a lamp. Kuze asked: “Are you burning gas? The other day when I told your husband it was his turn to bring the gas, he said he did not have any. Now I see you walking in the yard with a lit lamp, right?”

“The gas is for use in our home and not for gatherings and idle chitchat,” replied Giorgevitsa and, just as she extended her arm to open the door into the room that led to the balcony, Kuze interrupted and said: “Is your husband sleeping or pretending to be sleeping?”

“He is sleeping...” Giorgevitsa assured him.

“He should not be sleeping…” said Kuze shaking his finger in front of her face. “These are not times for sleeping, right teacher?” Kuze addressed the man who was walking behind him. Kuze then

knocked on the door with his foot and shouted: “Giorgi, hey Giorgi! Are you home or not?”

Giorgi came out from his chamber in half darkness and shook Kuze’s hand.

“The man here,” said Kuze pointing at the man, “is our teacher. He arrived this afternoon and until now has been with me, and before that he was with Lazo. And so we on the board have decided that he should eat supper and sleep here at your place...”

Giorgi extended his hand, shook the teacher’s hand and said: “Welcome to our home.” He then pointed to a chair and said: “Please sit down.”

They all sat around the lit fireplace. Giorgevitsa hung the lamp over the fireplace and left the room.

Giorgi adjusted himself, opened his bag of tobacco and, while pointing it at the teacher, said: “Do you speak our language or only understand it?”

“Come on, Giorgi, he is one of us, he is not Greek…” replied Kuze.

Giorgevitsa, who at that moment entered the room and heard what Kuze had said, loudly proclaimed: “Oh, Kuze, Kuze, if he is a teacher he is Greek for sure…”

“I swear to you, Giorgevitsa, he is one of us… he is not Greek,” insisted Kuze.

“No, I am not Greek,” replied the teacher, “my name is Kole, I am from the Lerin villages and I was sent here to teach the children.”

“And you are a teacher?!” asked Giorgi surprised.

Kuze smiled and then said: “Giorgi, Giorgi… You learned many things today. Both Lazo and I spoke for three or four hours with him and we learned a few things. You too, Giorgi, you will also learn things. That’s why we and Lazo, I mean we of the board, have

decided that it is best that the teacher stay with you; eat and sleep here and not have to go from one family to another. You have enough rooms, right?”

“We have plenty of space… but…” replied Giorgi but before he finished his sentence Kuze interrupted him and said: “But what? Whatever there is for two people can be enough for three. You can see that the young man is thin… If he was a huge man then you could say that you don’t have enough to feed him. Look at him, his is thin because he hardly eats anything…” Kuze then broke into laughter.

Kole the teacher felt uneasy. He looked at Kuze and then at Giorgi and shyly said: “Comrades, I am a teacher and a soldier. You should know that I was ordered by General Headquarters to come here. The village is obligated to support me by every means possible, including providing food for me. I am not being paid a salary. My salary is the food I receive from your village. I, Comrade Kuze, already gave you a letter from General Headquarters and from the NOF board.”

Kuze quickly reached into his pocket, pulled out a folded piece of paper, unfolded it, went closer to the lamp and read it to himself.

“Yes, you are right, that’s what it says here… it is written in Greek...” replied Kuze and continued: “And why Kole have those from above, from the leadership, not learned the kind of lettering that you know?”

“Leave the man alone!” interrupted Giorgi. “Those from the leadership write the only way they know how to write. That’s how they were taught. Okay? Now let’s get on to the matter of providing food for the teacher. I never said that I had nothing to feed him with. You said that, Kuze. He is not the only person that has visited this house who we had to look after. Kole,” Giorgi turned to the teacher, “you can stay here with me and leave Kuze to do his work… he is very busy with other things…”

“That’s right… That’s right...” boasted Kuze. “Starting tomorrow, what am I saying tomorrow…” Kuze corrected himself “Starting

tonight I have to look for a house in which to establish the ‘sholio’ (school in Greek) because the roof of the existing ‘sholio’ has a hole in it...”

“Uchilishte (school in Macedonian) Comrade Kuze,” the teacher corrected Kuze.

“That’s right… uchilishte… that’s what I meant to say…” replied Kuze.

“Uchilishte…” repeated the teacher.

“That’s right… what you said!” replied Kuze to the teacher and then turned his attention to Giorgi and said: “Hey Giorgi, Giorgi. You think it’s easy to be in the government… You think you can come out in front of the people, say something to them and everything will be okay? Not everything Giorgi. If you are in the government you have to have,” Kuze pointed to the side of his forehead with his finger, “something in here. Yes, in here! If you are smart, Giorgi, let me ask you this; which house should we turn into a ‘sh…’, what did the teacher call it?”

“Uchilishte…” replied Giorgi.

“Turn it into an uchilishte (school), Giorgi, eh?” added Kuze.

“Well, how about you take the Mitrashkov house? It is empty. Tina Mitrashkova lives alone...” suggested Giorgi.

“The Mitrashkov house? Please be serious Giorgi… Don’t you know that the roof rafters are rotting in that house? I was there today and saw them with my own eyes... rotting... the rafters are rotting,” explained Kuze and then asked: “What do you say to taking Kiro’s house… what do you say to that?”

“Well... Kuze... why not ask Kiro?” suggested Giorgi.

“Well, good idea… I am glad you thought of it, Giorgi… I should ask Kiro…” said Kuze, reached for Kole’s cigarettes, took one, took

a burning coal from the fireplace with the tongs, lit the cigarette and yelled: ‘Giorgevitsa, Giorgevitsa!’...”

Giorgevitsa entered the room, looked at Giorgi then at Kuze and asked: “What is it Kuze, what do you want?”

“Please do me a favour, please go and get Kiro... tell him it is important that we see him. Go and do not forget to tell him we have something very important to ask him,” ordered Kuze.

“Why have you not taken Lazo’s house?” asked Giorgi, half asking and half suggesting.

“Lazo’s house? Lazo who?” asked Kuze.

“Lazo, your neighbour,” replied Giorgi.

“Lazo, the Party Secretary? Confiscate Lazo’s house? Don’t even think about it! Not another word… Do you know what that means? No! We will turn Kiro’s house into a school. No one from his family is involved in the war...” said Kuze.

“Lazo doesn’t have anyone from his family involved in the war either!” snapped Giorgi.

“Lazo may not, but Lazo himself is involved in the fight... He is involved on the regional political leadership side and on the local side, you know? Not a word Giorgi, not a word about Lazo! Don’t create problems for me because if I make a mistake in my job it would be worse for me than…” Kuze stopped abruptly. He did not want to say what had happened to him in the past but most people remembered Kuze was beaten and why he was beaten. They also remember why they called him Kuze the lizard.

Kiro noisily entered the room and, after shaking hands with Giorgi, turned to Kuze and said: “Kuze, Kuze… you pop up everywhere, even where you are not expected. You are everywhere. I come here and here you are. I go there and there you are… But I don’t recognize this man,” Kiro pointed at the teacher.

Kuze stood up, pulled away a little and with a wide sweep of his arm pointed at the teacher and, with a solemn voice, said: “Let me introduce you to our teacher. His name is Kole.” Kuze then turned to the teacher and said: “This man here is Kiro, whose house we are going to turn into a school…”

Giorgi began to laugh while looking at Kiro and said: “It looks like Kuze has already decided Kiro, from tomorrow…”

But before Giorgi had a chance to finish saying what he wanted to say, Kuze interrupted him and said: “Not from tomorrow, but a few days after tomorrow you Kiro will be ringing the school bell… ding, ding, ding, ding…”

“Are you kidding me? What are you thinking, you… you… you…” retorted Kiro angrily, holding back the angry words he had for Kuze out of respect for the teacher.

Realizing the situation he was in, Kiro then calmly shook hands with the teacher and jokingly said: “I don’t have one… I don’t have a bell…”

Kiro paused for a moment, turned to Kuze and said: “Sorry Kuze, I can’t give you my house. I can’t give it to you because it is being used by those Party people who go from village to village. What do they call them in Prespa? Ah, yes ‘iaichari’ (egg eaters). Those egg eaters from the Party often visit my house and eat, drink and sleep there. If my house was a hotel it would not be used as much as it has been used by these Party people. Where would these Party egg eaters go if we were to turn my house into a school? Whose food are they going to eat? Whose wine and rakia are they going to down…”

Kiro pause for a moment, looked directly at Kuze and said: “You know what one of them said to me the other day? Are you listening? He said: ‘You have given a lot to the struggle. I have also heard about you from others. People high up in the Party know about you. One day the people’s government will repay you.’ He then took out a pencil and a piece of paper from his officer’s briefcase, wrote something on it and gave it to me. At the top of the paper it said ‘confirmation’ for what I was doing for the struggle. I looked at the

man straight in the eyes and asked him: ‘Are you giving everyone pieces of paper like this one?’ He said: ‘Yes to everyone!’ I then took the piece of paper, tossed it in the fire and said to him: ‘Comrade, if you eat and drink like this when the people’s government is in power, there will be nothing left to repay us with. It will be better if don’t make such promises because some people might believe you.’ And you know what that flee bitten egg eater said to me? He said: “You are against our struggle!” You see, Kuze, what kind of respect I got for my contribution?”

Kuze took another cigarette from the teacher, lit it and, while blowing the smoke towards the ceiling, angrily said: “We all know that you have a big mouth, Kiro. Is this how you speak to a person in authority? Have you ever said a word like this to a person in power in the old system? You never have. And now you are badmouthing the people’s system… If this was not a people’s government I am sure you would not have said a word to me. It would have been the dry salted cod and castor oil for you… You’ve never tried those have you? Well, I have! Not only did I try them but…”

“You also filled your pants with diarrhea... Right?” interrupted Kiro and laughed. “Stop, Kuze, you are making me laugh…” said Kiro while repeatedly tapping Kuze on the forehead with his index finger. “Kuze, do you remember the time when you were trying to teach your oxen to understand commands in Greek?”

Kiro paused for a moment, looked at Kuze, smiled and said: “Kuze, Kuze, you soiled their language… What is true is true. They beat you and shamed you but you were not the only one who spoke Macedonian and was punished for it… That’s the way it was… And now we have gone off topic and forgot about our guest…”

Before Kiro had a chance to speak with the teacher, Kuze interjected and said: “He is a teacher sent to us from high above from the Party to teach our children.”

“So you are a teacher, eh? Like those in Labanitsa, Smrdesh and Breznitsa, right?” asked Kiro.

“Yes!” confirmed Kuze.

Kiro looked at Kuze with a frown and then addressed the teacher directly: “So it’s true. Congratulations… We are grateful to have you… Now stand up so I can have a better look at you… teacher. A week or so ago I was in Breznitsa to buy salt…”

At that very moment Giorgevitsa’s voice was heard from the other room asking: “Was that you, Kiro, who brought the salt that was divided the other day?”

“Yes, that was me, Giorgevitsa,” replied Kiro.

Giorgevitsa then came to the door and mockingly said: “There was more mud and sand in that bag than there was salt!”

“Whatever it was it was... It was the people’s salt… right, Kuze?” said Kiro sarcastically. He then said: “I complained about that to the people’s government in Breznitsa and you know what they said to me? ‘It’s from the people’s government.’ Then a tall, bald man who was giving out the salt said to me: ‘Here is some salt for now but when we win…’ …”

“Then we will give you milk and honey…” interrupted Giorgevitsa.

“Milk, honey and all kinds of other things like they have in the people’s republics, if you want to know, Giorgevitsa,” added Kuze with a positive tone of voice.

“And you Kuze, have you been to those people’s republics you speak of? Have you eaten and drunk all those things? Because you seem to know an awful lot, right?” Giorgevitsa asked sarcastically.

Kiro lifted his hand signaling that it was time to end the idle chatter and start paying attention to their guest. He then turned towards the teacher and said: “Your name is Kole, right. Allow me to again welcome you to our village. We are happy to have you here and to be the teacher of our young…” Kiro then took out his pouch full of tobacco, untied it and said: “May I offer you some tobacco?”

At the same time Kole opened his cigarette box and said: “Uncle Kiro, cigarette?”

“Oh, you have cigarettes, son... Where did you get them?” asked Kiro while taking the cigarette case in his hand.

Kuze reached out to take one but Kiro quickly closed the box and stuffed it into the teacher’s shirt pocket.

“Don’t leave your cigarette case out,” said Kiro, “because Kuze will smoke all your cigarettes. He will stay with you until they are all gone. That’s the kind of person our Kuze is…” said Kiro and gently slapped Kuze on the shoulder. “Don’t frown at old Kiro, Kuze… You know I am joking, right,” explained Kiro. “Here, light one of mine,” said Kiro and handed Kuze his tobacco pouch. “It is not from my tobacco, it was given to me by some people passing through. They were headed for Gramos. One of them said: ‘I beg you grandpa, please bring us some bread and cheese… we will give you this tobacco for it. So I did…”

“Did you know, Kiro,” Kuze exclaimed, “that such things are strictly forbidden? Just a few days ago Lazo...”

“Lazo who?” interrupted Kiro.

“Lazo, our Party secretary! Which Lazo do you think I was talking about!” snapped Kuze.

“Well, what did Lazo say?” inquired Kiro.

“He said that we should never do such things and those caught doing them will be judged by the people’s court. Well, now if you want, go ahead, do that...” replied Kuze.

At the same time Giorgevitsa came into the room, brought a tray of glasses full of rakia and offered them to her guests. She then signaled Giorgi to follow her. He followed her to the next room and asked: “What is it?”

“Ask Kuze to leave so that I can give the teacher his dinner,” she said, “I don’t want him going to bed hungry. I prepared the small room for him.”

“Good. Put some extra covers in the room in case he gets cold. Also leave him some bread and cheese. He is a young man and he may get hungry in the night…” ordered Giorgi.

“He is indeed young,” agreed Giorgevitsa, “he is our Vasil’s age... dear Mother of God…” said Giorgevitsa and then turned to the icon, crossed herself and muttered: “Please dear Mother of God, keep my child safe...”

Giorgi went back to the room and heard Kiro explaining something to Kuze in a calm voice. He said: “You can’t turn my house into a school. But there is an alternative. If we all donate some time, within a week we can patch up the hole in the old school’s roof and turn it into a Macedonian school. Do you understand?”

“What do you mean, ‘Macedonian school’, Kiro?” asked Kuze. “You mean the children will not be learning Greek? Lazo said that they will be learning Greek! What do you say about that, teacher?”

“Comrades, let me tell you one more time. I am a teacher and a DAG soldier. A month ago Pando Shiperkov said to me: ‘Kole, put down your machine gun and go to Zhelevo and learn to be a Macedonian teacher.’...” explained Kole.

“What education do you have, son?” asked Kiro.

“Elementary in Greek. That’s all… Pando Shiperkov said to me: ‘Make sure you learn Macedonian well because you and the others here who will be appointed as teachers will be at the forefront of our struggle. When we need you, I will bring you back. Go,’ said Shiperkov, ‘and work hard like you are fighting in the front line.’ That’s what Shiperkov said...” replied Kole.

Kiro filled his pipe with tobacco, took a lit stick of wood from the fireplace, swirled it around a couple of times to put out the flame and, with the glowing part, lit his pipe. He then took a couple of

puffs with his eyes closed while rocking back and forth on the chair. Grey smoke bellowed out of his mouth and nose and covered his face. The thickly crushed tobacco emitted an overpowering smell that began to filter into the entire room. Kiro took another puff and let the smoke out in a circle above his head.

“Y-e-s…” muttered Kiro in a stretched out tone of voice while looking at the smoke rising. He then turned to Kole and said: “Ten days or so ago, when Shiperkov passed by here he spent the night at my place... He said: “When the children play they want to be partisans? We need to open schools and teach them. They can learn in no time.” I didn’t believe him much then, but something made me think that he was sincere and something was in the works. Why else would he say something like that? You said Shiperkov told you all these things?... At this very moment he must be at Gorusha... A lot of gunfire is heard coming from there. I would like to see him again and say: ‘Pando, Pando, together with your eagles and with our egg eaters here it would be excellent to open a school, to bring the children together to teach them important things, and not to be partisans?’ I also want to say: ‘Pando, thank you for the teacher.’...”

Kiro shook his tobacco pipe and stood up and, while squeezing the teacher’s hand, said: “Tomorrow come and visit me… You will be looked after well here at Giorgi’s place but please you are welcome to come and spend some time at my place. You can teach me a few things. I studied the Macedonian alphabet a bit when I was in America and learned to read books and magazines… Please do come and visit me, son… And good luck with your job. These are great times for us… to have Macedonian teachers. Do you have any books?” Kiro asked.

“I have only three books. The rest, including those for the children, notebooks and pencils, will be arriving later… in a week perhaps. First we need to open a school, find out how many students we will have and then we will order the books,” replied Kole.

“And about what Kuze said? About the children having to learn Greek? It is best to ask their parents… if they want their children learning Greek. Don’t listen to what Kuze and Lazo tell you…” said Kiro, went towards the door and, as if he had forgotten something,

stopped, turned to Kuze and said: “What are you waiting for Kuze, it’s time to go home. Leave the teacher so he can rest. He has a big job ahead of him, eh, Kuze? Are you listening? Let’s go, follow me, let’s go home… Good night Giorgevitsa and stay in good health…” concluded Kiro.

“Good night Kiro and you too stay in good health,” replied Giorgevitsa.

“Good night, good night,” added Giorgi sending off his guests.

“Good night Kole… and please do come and visit me… I will be expecting you son…” Kiro said to the teacher.

“Good night Uncle Kiro, and thank you. I will be there. Say hello to everyone at home...” replied Kole.

Kuze did not go straight home. He went to Lazo’s place. He told Lazo everything that was said at Giorgi’s place, word for word.

“That Kiro!” said Lazo. “It is best that he keep his mouth shut. What does he think; the Party and the people’s government will shut their eyes and ears to his hostile propaganda? The things he is saying, Comrade Kuze, are propaganda and will open eyes and ears. I will speak to him…”

“You will speak to him, but then I will be seen as the bad guy for having told you everything…” complained Kuze. “Do what you want, tell him what you want, but do it so that he does not suspect me of having told you. Do that for me, Lazo…” pleaded Kuze.

Lazo spat to the side, looked at Kuze and said: “I recommended you for president of the national council, did I not?”

“Yes you did Lazo, yes you did…” replied Kuze.

“So, listen to me carefully,” Lazo said. “If I recommended you then I can un-recommend you and then send you to build bunkers in Mali-Madi or carry ammunition to Gramos. Is that what you want? Just say that’s what you want and it will be done! Okay? Now, we

don’t know anything about that teacher fellow, who he is, so you need to keep an eye on him. Tomorrow I will send word up to the Second Bureau and check him out... You said he is one of Shiperkov’s men, right? Shiperkov came here from Yugoslavia, right? Yes... The other day I spoke with Stathis and you know what he said? He said: ‘Lazo, those people who were with the brigade in Bitola wanted some kind of Macedonia and last year when the commanders got together in Bapchor to choose a Headquarters for Vicho, those who came from Bitola, when they heard that the commander was going to be a Greek, got up and left. They did not want to hear anything about any Greek commander.’ Stathis also told me that they said if the commander is not Macedonian, they will take their units and will form a Macedonian army, just like Goche did in 1944. Kuze, we need to lead the struggle together with the Greeks, that’s what the Party says and wants and today the Party is the law. We will do what the Party tells us to do. Well, today Shiperkov is commander of Vicho. How do you know that he won’t detach Macedonia from Greece? And then what will Greece do without Macedonia, eh? A few days ago I had a similar conversation with Kiro and so I asked him: ‘What will Greece do, Kiro, without Macedonia?’ And you know what that, what shall I call him? I don’t want to give him a label… said to me? He said: ‘Let them die!’ Let them die? Doesn’t he know that if the Party hears him saying such a thing he will end up in our jail in Nivitsi? What kind of people are we, Kuze, I don’t know. But that Kiro, also Giorgi… what are they thinking? Starting Ilinden again? Maybe they need to be charged and put in jail for a while… to set their heads straight…” said Lazo and called for his wife. When Lazovitsa entered the room Lazo said: “Make us something to eat.”

“What should I make for you?” asked Lazovitsa.

“Something from what we have, what else?” replied Lazo.

Lazo’s house was loaded with everything he had collected for DAG in this and other villages. In the cold storage they had wheat, wheat flour, preserved sheep and goat meat, cheese, butter, salted meat, pasta, sausages, etc.

Lazovitsa brought a roll of sausages, untied them and, while showing them to Lazo, asked: “Shall I cut you some of these from here to here?” pointing with a knife.

When Lazo saw how much sausage she wanted to cut, he approved by shaking his head, went towards the fire and said: “Bring a couple of pieces here and make sure there is plenty of oil in the pan…”

Lazo stirred the fire with the prong and, while looking at the soaring heat, said: “Kuze, I think we should not be taking Kiro’s house…”

“Why?” asked Kuze.

“Why... because we will need it... Where, Kuze, are you going to take the people from the leadership office to eat, drink and sleep when they come to our village? Do you have a better place than Kiro’s house? No you don’t! That is precisely why… so keep your mouth shut…” replied Lazo.