By Agim Xhafka
"Besnik from upstairs has lost his mind," the woman told me. "He asked me three times today, 'Are you my neighbor?'"
I couldn't express my surprise that at that moment, Besnik appeared before me.
-You're my neighbor, right?
I didn't let it continue.
-Why do you ask anyone like that, Besnik? We've known each other for a lifetime!
-That's true. Yes, I worked in Greece for 6 years and yesterday I returned home, -he began. -I ran to go shopping because the house was empty of food. But as if I had lost my mind. Milk from 1 thousand lek that I left I found 2 thousand. And yogurt from 1 thousand jumped to 2 thousand and 200, cheese 19 thousand from 7 thousand. So meat, fish, fruits... My world turned upside down when I saw the onion. It had cost 2 thousand lek. It made you cry before you even started cleaning it. As soon as you start, you see the tears flowing. Or the whole tomato, close to 3 thousand lek.
-Why are you asking me, are you the neighbor? Do you think this crazy price has anything to do with me?
-No, no. But maybe the plane we boarded in Athens instead of landing in Tirana landed us in Prague or Vienna, for example. We've read that pilots change their destination due to storms!
He walked away from me and grabbed Uncle Llaz who had just gotten out of the elevator.
"Uncle Llazi, are you?" he asked.
"I told you yesterday that I'm Llazi, I'm Llazi so I don't have to be," the old man said angrily, and instead of going out into the street, he got back into the elevator.
