TE20 Migrant Mosaics

Fleeing Father

From then on there were more and more jokes about Chinese people in Romanian folklore. And that indicated a kinship. A kinship in suffering. Only the little Chinese people were much worse off. But when one wanted, there was another superlative. The Albanians. The Cultural Revolution had to be strictly protected. That’s why censorship was reinstituted. One had to like to build a Chinese Wall. But that didn’t fit with our Specific Național. National pride had saved us once again. It stayed with the barbed wire. Death. Gray. Depression. Hundreds of words were banned. It was a positively minded society that threatened us. With negative effects. The times have changed. Being connected to the outside world was suddenly a brave act. • Vigilenţa . Vigilance.

XXII

Father decided to give in. To listen to Mother. She’s your daughter too, Mother said. But Father never wanted a daughter. He went to the Consiliu de Partid . To the Party organization of the local government. Told them about me. They already knew. We can’t 247