When I got home and developed my pictures, I sent Ilir, the hotel clerk in Shkodra, the pictures I had taken of him and his family, including the first pictures of their newborn son.
When I had checked into the hotel in Shkodra, Ilir was the clerk behind the desk. Albania was a pretty unusual place to be visiting, so I wanted to send post cards to all my friends. After checking in, I asked if he had post cards, and he pulled out a six-inch stack of them, all different. We both laughed at this, and he made whimsical remarks as I went through and chose fifteen or twenty of them. I liked him. I bought and affixed the stamps.
I wrote and addressed them the next day while I was sitting with Agim Bono, drinking a cup of coffee, waiting for the ferry across Lake Komani. The next morning when I checked out, there was a different clerk at the hotel desk. I asked her if I could just give the post cards to her to mail, and she said yes.
The post cards never arrived.
What happened instead was that all of the women--none of the men--only and all the women whom I had written post cards to--began to get letters from Ilir. No explanation in his letters of where he got their names and addresses. Just out of the blue. He asked them in very flowery terms if he could be their friend.
I first heard of this from my secretary and another woman, and I asked around, and it turned out that all of them had gotten these letters. No one responded.
Several months later I got a letter myself from Ilir. No mention of what he had done to my post cards or of the letters he sent to my friends. Let me quote this letter in full:
``My dear honourable friend MR. HOBBS,
``I am very pleased to hear from you. I was besides myself with joy, for that very day I received the letter from You it was the 30th anniversary of my wife Elisabeth and my family thank you from the bottom of our hearts for Your respect and kindness. Once again thank You for the photos You send they have come out so well.
``My dear honourable friend, I wish from the bottom of my heart, may this letter finds you and Your honourable family in good health and may successes attend You with Your work.
``Special thanks are addressed from my wife and my old mother.
``My dear friend it will be a great honour and respect for me and my family if You become Godfather of my new born little daughter Antonella if you want to. [I was sure he had said the newborn baby was a boy.] This is the desire of my family and particularly my wife.
``My dear friend almost a month has lapsed since I lost my job or kind of `social assistance'. The excuse was poor and ridiculous I have been working at the hotel during the times of ex-regime so me and 5 reception colleges lost our jobs. You see DEMOCRASY is working full steam. So I am turning to you as if my brother. So my friend `necessity has no law'. Winter is knocking at our doors. No wood (our heating sistem is a modern medieval one) No electricity, no water. My little children are scared of the darkness they start crying as soon as the darkness sets in. So if possible send me a solar lamp, a rechargable latern battery lamp. I and my family should be very much obliged and undyingly thankful for your kindness. Now I am bringing this letter to a close wishing You all the best of the world. May God bless You! and a very happy Christmas!
``Sincerely Yours
``Ilir & family.''
I would not want to belittle his suffering, which I am quite sure was genuine. Before the episode of the post cards, I certainly would have responded in any way I could. If I had gotten such a letter from the other people I met there--Mustafa Kaçi, for example--I would have gladly responded. But I did not respond. Ilir had already lost my sympathy.