Scene: A late-night conversation in a small café. Tomas Šablić and Jozo Jukić sit across from each other, coffee cups on the table. Outside, rain taps against the window.
Tomas:
You ever notice something strange, Jozo? Every time the world seems to move in one direction, there’s always some secret club behind the curtain pulling strings.
Jozo:
You mean those elite societies? Like that one at Skull and Bones?
Tomas:
Exactly. The one at Yale University. Presidents, bankers, intelligence chiefs… all walking through the same door.
Jozo:
(laughs)
And you think they have a feud with the Croats?
Tomas:
Maybe not a feud exactly. But think about history. Croats are stubborn people. Empires come and go—Ottomans, Austrians, Yugoslav communists—and somehow the Croats keep their identity.
Jozo:
That’s true. My grandfather used to say Croats are the kind of people who would argue with an empire and still show up to work the next morning.
Tomas:
Right. Now imagine secret societies built on control meeting a people who hate being controlled. That’s where friction begins.
Jozo:
So you’re saying the old elite networks prefer predictable populations. But Croats… we’re not exactly predictable.
Tomas:
Exactly. Look at the Balkans. Every power that tried to engineer the region ended up confused. The Croats, Serbs, Bosnians—everyone with their own memory, their own story.
Jozo:
(smiling)
Maybe that’s the real feud. Not between Croats and Skull & Bones specifically. It’s between centralized power and stubborn local identity.
Tomas:
Yes. Secret orders believe history is something they design. Croats believe history is something you survive.
Jozo:
My uncle would say the same thing, but louder and with more slivovitz.
Tomas:
(laughs)
And probably a lot more colorful language.
Jozo:
Still… it’s funny. Those societies think they’re immortal. But nations built on memory last longer than clubs built on secrets.
Tomas:
Exactly. A secret society can disappear in a generation. But a people? They carry their story for centuries.
Jozo:
Raises his cup.
To stubborn people then.
Tomas:
Raises his cup back.
And to history… which never goes exactly the way the planners expect. ☕