Broken April

Gjorg makes it back to his village. He spots a small tombstone, or mouranë, erected for the man he killed. Gjorg bemoans the grave, feeling: “Here’s what’s left of…of… (he meant to say, the other man’s life), but within him he thought, here’s what will be left of my own life” (157). Dread washes over Gjorg as he wonders if his life has amounted to nothing. He returns home and speaks briefly with his family. The last days of March pass in a haze. He lacks the desire to do anything, and he recognizes that soon, come mid-April, he will be either dead or stuck in a tower of refuge.

He considers leaving the High Plateau and finding work as a traveling woodcutter, a common profession for mountaineers who leave the High Plateau. Gjorg has only ever known the plateau, however, and decides against leaving. He tells his father, “Father, I’d like to go and wander around during the days I have left” (159). To Gjorg’s surprise, his father gives him a small purse of money and tells his son to have a good trip. Gjorg visits several inns, listening to the patrons as a fly on the wall. Rumors circulate about a carriage transporting a beautiful woman.