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Nasso breathed a sigh of relief and put his phone back in his backpack. The landlady of the villa had confirmed her consent for him to live there, in return for guarding and maintenance, as she did three months before. Then, Nasso met her in her flat. Mrs. Chichilova was the owner's mother; her son had been living abroad for years.
The manager of the electricity cooperative of villas, Panko, was with Nasso in the upper room of the villa and had heard the conversation through the phone speaker. He reacted as if a written rental agreement had been shown to him. In the villa zone, the saying "A word spoken - a stone thrown" was apparently in force. Panko had checked the wires on the second floor of the villa. He changed a fuse and the light bulb, and the room lit up. Nasso had to fix the broken door lock and could move in.
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The electricity cooperative was an informal group of around twenty villas, all connected to the only one electrified, at their own expense. The co-op manager collected both data from the individual electricity meters and money and paid the bill. Co-ops like this probably appeared here in the early 1980s, when the area was turned into a villa zone for the locals. At the time, it must have been either impossible or too expensive to connect every property to the electricity grid. Co-ops had remained, although villas kept leaving them gradually. Becoming a direct client of the electricity distribution company was expensive in the mountain. The villa owners who stayed either used very little electricity or could not afford to separate. It also depended on whether the co-op functioned smoothly. The atmosphere of the villa area had something of the romance and freedom of camping in nature. It added up to "The Spirit of the place" in the Sub-Balkans, which still kept something of the Bulgarian Revival. Most of the villas were not permanently inhabited; the owners hopped over to them to grow food for their families. The town was minutes away by car and accessible on foot. There were a few small cow and sheep farms. The co-op manager Panko was perhaps the only permanent resident in the entire villa zone. He inhabited someone else's property while completing the construction of his own villa next to It.
Nasso saw Panko to the gate and then sat down on one of the piles on the floor of the upper room. There was garment, bed linen, tablecloths, books and notebooks, various small souvenirs, utensils, bags, and jars with different seeds... All this must have been in the furniture before it was taken out. The room was left with a very old refrigerator, a TV stand attached to the wall, and a short bar cabinet, apparently too heavy and wide to be carried down the narrow metal staircase to the yard. There was no internal staircase to connect the two floors of the building. And there was no place for it in this room of less than 10 square meters. It was dry, which indicated that the roof was in good condition. Only from the northwest eaves, above the metal ladder, a few tiles had fallen down. Strong northwestern winds were a frequent occurrence in this part of the Sub-Balkans. They appeared when the temperature dropped sharply.
Nasso recalled his first meeting with Mrs. Chichilova. She lived in a six-story block of flats close to the centre of the town. She was a lady in her 80s, with a pleasant appearance and a smart look. Before her retirement, she had been a teacher. She had difficulties moving, and walked slowly. The elderly lady invited Nasso inside, as soon as he told her what he had come for. He interpreted it as a sign of trust. Mrs. Chichilova herself had looked for someone to live in the villa, to guard and maintain it. Nasso tried to be frank and comprehensive, if concise. She also told him something about the villa and her family. The small villa had helped the family a lot in difficult times, especially in supporting their talented and ambitious student son. The late Chichilov Senior had established a small pig farm. They had got a horse, and had grown loads of fruit and vegetables…
Mrs. Chichilova was really proud of her successful son. He had graduated with honors in all four of his majors. He and his partner had been doing great in their second homeland. He had won the right to work independently in his medical specialty from the very beginning, and then, managed to acquire the expensive technical equipment needed. People from all over Europe would go for treatment to "The Bulgarian". He had been helping his mother with money… And yet Mrs. Chichilova continued to worry about him. She was considering selling her big apartment for a smaller one, maybe to be of help to him.
The elderly woman was alone and probably lonely. Old age loneliness was one of the silent problems of modernity, which seemed intractable, at least in Bulgaria. Maybe, somewhere in the world, they had found a way to relieve it. This was also the paradox of successful parenting: successful parents became lonely in old age. It happened because independence and separation of grown-up children crowned upbringing, like a laurel wreath of victory. Offspring grew up strong, brave, capable, and willing to take risks for the sake of achieving their dreams. They flew away from the nest to make their own mistakes, learn from them, and build their own nests. Nasso had flown from his parental nest by sea, too. They interacted with people, groups, and communities, but could survive on their own if needed. Love and the chance to become independent were the best of all good things that children received from their parents. Parents were never perfect because people could not be perfect. Psychologists and counsellors claimed that everyone had carried some childhood trauma. Independence might have been won in a fight with parents. That was the case with Nasso. However, what mattered was the result. Parents had given in at some point. Their love proved to be stronger than their selfishness, possessive impulses, the fear of being alone in their old age and having no one to look after them... Successful lonely parents were happy and unhappy at the same time. They were not abandoned: they were thought of and cared for from a distance. The future took precedence over the past. And the future could not do without the past either…
The mother of Nasso, while still alive, also wanted to sell her small apartment by the sea, so that she and Nasso could buy something in the capital or near it. Back then, Nasso was living in Sofia, in lodgings, pursuing his dream of a scientific career. He had not yet met Yulia, with whom they later moved to her town in the Valley of Roses. Probably, his mother wanted to help him, knowing that he longed to finally solve his housing odyssey permanently, and devote the time and energy saved to study and work. However, his mother was a successful parent... Nasso did not agree to the sale, because he cherished his independence, and also believed it was better for herself, with her sociable, artistic, and vulnerable personality. By the sea were her social circle and her kinship, particularly her niece, who was like a daughter to her. Her best friend lived in the apartment ten floors above; they spent much of their daily life together and got along fantastically. His mother passed away at the age of 67, five years after his father. Nasso felt guilty that he had not been more sensitive to her request, and had not tried a compromise. He could have found a way to buy a tiny house for her near Sofia while keeping her flat.
Thoughts like these were passing through the mind of Nasso when Mrs. Chichilova suggested that he move into her flat for the winter.
"The rooms stay empty. I hardly ever use the kitchen, because I go to eat in the community canteen."
Nasso really could not accept the suggestion because of his two big dogs, as he told her. Certainly, the idea was spontaneous and was not discussed with her son. She herself sounded more reserved on the phone further on when he called to ask how she was, and if she needed any help. Nasso had more sound reasons for staying in the mountain, each one sufficient in itself. He had finally started living eco, in nature, for which he had been preparing for a long time. He wanted to stay close to his meadow. And Nasso feared for the safety of Mrs. Chichilova.
He had lost people, pets, and things, significant to him, under strange circumstances and coincidences, after Wonder Kuker appeared in his life. Nasso harbored doubts about the stroke and the death of his mother, too. The Influential, who could not bring him under their control, seemed to use that way of pressure to force him to complete silence. Nasso was a helping type of person, and adhered to the rule "Do no harm!"; they harmed others because of him... The fear of causing harm was the main reason, from his side, to be alone. Nasso did not dare to get close to anyone. If they were his people - freedom-loving, independent and decent, not allowing anybody to use them as pawns in their hands, relations with Nasso put them at risk. If they were ready to do anything for the sake of some benefit, it was bad for Nasso. Coming unstuck from the latter was very difficult. There could not be natural interpersonal relations with them, because they were like androids, homo-robots, whose actions and reactions were dictated from outside. Probably, most of them found themselves in such a role without realizing it; they had delegated somebody, whom they trusted, both control and responsibility for their actions and relations.
Sometimes, Nasso would take a dog or a kitten, if it came to him and he could afford it. Their life on the street or without good care would be neither easy nor long anyway. These pets of his, supposedly, shared his life and his chances of survival. However, in practice, they periodically "burned out" like safety fuses, or more precisely, were "burnt out" because of Nasso. That always hurt…Nevertheless, Nasso had hope for the future. Humanity had survived the Inquisition, fascism, and any sort of other obscurantism. So there had to be a chance, again. As for himself, God knew…
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