Artur

Nagorno Karabakh, Shushi, October 2010

It’s late evening. We are drinking coffee outside, next to autos. A boy is coming.Strange it’s late for a lonely boy.

- What is your name boy?
- Artur.
- How old are you?
- 11.
- Do you have parents, Artur?
- Yes. I also have a brother.
- What do they do?
- Brother is in special services, and mom is staying home.
- And why your mom is not working?
- We don’t want her to. She is taking care of us, cooking.

Artur is asking:
- Is in Europe every woman smoking?
- No. But there are women who do. It’s not good to smoke.
- Here, in Shushi, only one woman is smoking. She is a Russian.

I bring a chocolate from auto and want to give it to Artur.
- No, you don’t have to.
- It’s for you, take it.
- No, thank you.
- Take it for your mom.
- Ok then. Thank you.
Artur takes the chocolate, and immediately opens and eats it. He throws the paper on the ground.
- It’s not good to throw garbage on the ground.
- If there will be no trash, then street cleaner will have no job anymore.

Artur is asking:
- What kind of autos are these?
- These are campers. Houses on the wheels.
- I like more BMW, Mercedes. My father and brother presented me a car.
- Is it so? But you are not allowed to drive it yet?
- I already did.
- ??
- Of course, not here. Further from town, where there are no policemen, no control.

- Do you go to school Artur?
- Yes, it’s not far from here.
- What do you learn there?
- To shoot.
- ???
- I hope one day, Turks will cross our border, and then I can shoot them.
- It’s not good to shoot people Artur.
- And was it good when Turks killed a lot of Armenians, long time ago?
- It was not good.