I thought my writing needed a correction by a person, whose first language is English; So, here is my short story how it looks like after the correction; Regards;
Memories: Episode 1:
“Give me a star”!
My days in JNA (Yugoslav People’s Army) were fulfilled with hard work, strong discipline, fun, humor, making friendships, and sometimes lonely evenings walking by myself from my army work to my sleeping barrack at the end of the town. I loved that old Dalmatian coastal town; loved its narrow ancient streets, lying on the beaches around, swimming in the sea after work and going out at night. My service in JNA was in those happy times, when it was still safe and when a solid Yugoslavian brotherhood and unity still kept the country united. However, it wasn’t too long before the nationalists took over, sending thousands young people into a brother-killing war, to fight against their yesterday’s countrymen, which consequently ruined the country.
As Yugoslavian soldiers, we were more than welcome everywhere in Dalmatia. Dalmatian people loved us and treated us with a high respect whenever they could. Anti-fascism and anti-nationalism are deeply in Dalmatians’ tradition, and the majority of Dalmatians have always been open to the Yugoslav idea of brotherhood and unity. It would have probably stayed that way forever, if it wasn’t for the raise of nationalism in almost every province of Yugoslavia, which followed as a reaction to the fall of the communism. Unfortunately, the Dalmatians weren’t immune to being brainwashed by the nationalistic propaganda, which resulted majority of them to vote for the nationalists on the elections in 1990. The Croatian nationalists won the elections, which led them to control the media with the worst ever propaganda of hate. Their hate propaganda was pointed against everything that was built for decades, everything that was kept sacred with much love and care by the peoples of Yugoslavia, i.e. against everything that was symbolizing Yugoslavia. This sadly happened even in the cosmopolitan Dalmatia. Today however, a majority of them regret for that big mistake and reject any nationalism on their soil.
As an honored JNA soldier in peaceful time, I was offered a day work at the JNA’s central office in the center of the town. Together with a dozen of other soldiers we worked in the main officer’s building, taking care of its restaurant, mail delivery, maintenance and other related stuff.
Having finished my work for the day at the army officer’s restaurant, I left the main building of the army’s administrative centre a little later than usual. It was time to go back to the soldier barracks at the end of the town, where we slept. Far in the western sky the sun was having its shiny sunset, flashing out its last red rays on the buildings of the town. It was one of those hot summer nights, when people just rested and sat in the front of the buildings and when the children played outside till late at night. The city was still alive, and you could see young adults heading to the city center and its pubs.
That evening, on my way back to the barracks, I decided to save myself from the long walk around the city blocks filled with small buildings and Mediterranean style houses. I started walking on one of the narrow streets towards my barrack cutting through the block, which I wanted to use as a shortcut. As I passed by a bunch of kids on my new route, suddenly I heard them screaming and pointing at me:
-‘Hey, soldier, give me a star’! ‘Please give us a star’! The voices asking for a star flew from little kids’ throats. They wanted me to give them the small metal red star, which we had attached at the front of our JNA army caps, as a symbol of the socialist society our army belonged to.
It was the first time I was asked for a star. I have heard that children in this town were happiest when they see a Yugoslav soldier and ask for a star. They would keep them and collect the stars as trophies, and would always compete between themselves as to who has collected the most stars. I knew many of my soldier mates had always kept a few spare stars in their pockets, so that they can give them to the children when they asked. I never carried any spare stars with me because there were no children playing on the streets of my regular route to the barracks. I didn’t ever think that I would one day need them.
Now, here I was on my new discovered shortcut with only one star on me, the one that is safely attached to my cap and with my pockets empty. As I looked at the kids with surprise, they were becoming louder and louder begging for a star.
I had no choice than to take off my only star from my army cap and to give it to the closest and loudest of the kids. The kid grabbed the star from my hand and being all happy and satisfied with his new treasure, moved away from the bunch. I apologized to the other kids saying that that was the only star I had. Some of them were disappointed, and some of them hoped to receive a star on my next passing through their street. I continued walking, happy that I had given my first star to a kid.
I passed through the barrack’s gate quite easily, being lucky enough to know the soldier, who was on guard that night. We just saluted to each other and he let me pass through the gate, not even noticing my cap was missing a star. The Army rules didn’t allow us to have our caps without a star. Every morning we stood in a line and sang our anthem. We’d be watchfully scanned over by the higher ranked officers, making sure we had all the elements that made as proud Yugoslavian soldiers. The stars were crucial parts of it, and we had to have them on our caps for the morning salute.
I entered the sleeping room filled with double beds; some of the soldiers were already asleep. I didn’t want to make noise by looking inside my locker for a star, but I had to find a new one. I needed it attached to my cap for the morning salute. I wasn’t sure if I had one, which made me a little upset. My bed was on the bottom position of the bunk bed; the soldier on the bed above me greeted me shortly and turned on to his other side, trying to asleep. I sat on my bed and started thinking what could I do about the star.
I changed into pajamas, but couldn’t sleep. I was sitting on my bed and thinking, when suddenly the guy above me said: -“you’re not going to bed”? –“what are you thinking about”?
-“Well”, I said, -“I need to find a new star; I gave it to the kids playing outside”.
-“That’s nothing to worry about”, he said -“I was at the storage today and picked up a few stars for myself”, he added. -“You can have one tomorrow”. I was very happy and felt lucky to have found a solution to my problem. The guy above me has also had a job in the army’s office centre, but we rarely saw each other for he worked in another area of the building. He was not one of my closest friends, but we still had respect for each other, even with little interaction. That night he was my hero. I thanked him the best I could, and all relieved I went to bed. He was already sleeping, and very soon I fell asleep as well.
The next morning he gave me the promised star and I attached it to my cap, thanking him again. Since then we have became closer friends, and we continued to share our stuff when the need arose. I also started inviting him to visit me in the restaurant area, where we would have coffee and friendly conversations many times after this episode with my army cap star. Another good friendship of mine was born, that lasted till my last days in the army.
