Chapter 33
Invasion
In January winter took seriously its job, there were cold days on end and snow fell too. The cold winter weather brought me such bothers that I was not prepared for. At first puzzling noises came from the attic and roof (there is an empty space between slate and chipboard), as I have heard about weasels nesting on attics, I thought it was them. But soon I found a bag of flour leaking and one morning a little grey thing glided through the kitchen floor diagonally. At that time I was convinced that mice had been driven inside by cold. Alas, circumstances were and still are beneficial for it, one of our neighbours keeps her house desolate and it is no incident that cats frequent it, there are mice in the trash within. Also both my young tomcats perished there a few years ago, they were devouring dieing mice and modern rodent poisons kill also the predator through the victim. However, it seemed, not all mice had died from poison and the house is near enough to ours for the small villains to find their way here. By my traditional method (an empty fruit jar supported on a piece of cheese) I caught two specimens, I took them out without pardon to the far side of the garden, there they could find themselves hiding places. For a short time all was peaceful, also the cold yielded, I hoped that there were no offspring yet. By the way, it was the same cause that provided fine environment for mice that did it with cockroaches in my Moscow flat in the third year. There I had succeeded to maintain a minimum level of the pests for two years as long as I lived there alone, however, with the arrival of my family all had changed. For example, I buy only as much dry pastry as I need and even that I keep in a refrigerator. My wife purchases it by wagonloads and there lies several opened packs in the food store, which is a kind invitation for visitors. I emergency she was inclined at last (temporarily) to take my advice: if she wouldn’t keep her pastry in a closed place, at least to stare flour and semolina in closed plastic boxes. In ancient times we had poured purchased flour into its tin box as soon as it had come home from shop. There it was always safe.
In February the mild weather began come step-by-step. Alas, it was not true at all for political situation. A very inconvenient period it was for us, I mean for the country. We became outcasts in the eyes of all the world. The blinkered (a)politics of the godfather had had a lot of bad consequences already, and it seemed then, that up to the next election, the false trust in this man of that half of the Hungarian people that helped him to get into power, would not weaken to an extent when he wouldn’t be able to win ninety percent support for his party’s plenary session, i.e. he calls parliament. What an enormous waste he had caused by his action of sabotage in his seven years in opposition, until he had succeeded in ruining the leftist government, since the actions of the godfather made the country ungovernable. An unsuccessful reform costs much money not only because of its launching, but also, because their failure caused by sabotage means even more waste. And there is no better proof of the necessity of these reforms than his statements uttered at the time I am writing about, namely that he wanted to take measures he himself had made impossible to take. However, it was his problem already to raise money for the elimination of damage he himself had caused.
There were great challenges for the public transport of the capital. I have written already about these questions. I think they cannot be solved in a society where government stands behind the well-to-do, because it is those who help it against the opposition. Until people’s approach alters drastically and cars are forbidden from the middle part of the city, in order to make it possible for public transport to have enough paying passengers and to be able to develop, situation will not change and the municipal transport company must be saved every third month. The congested road traffic fouled up air so much that our CO signal device in the apartment tweeted continually. That wasn’t the fault of our heating system, but the ambient air sucked in by the heating boiler through gaps under windows and doors was of so bad quality that it was considered foul by the gauge. As soon as wind began to blow it altered at once. Air in the capital can be kept clean only when it is not polluted, i.e. we all use trams and underground for transport.
Around that time I only had hobby occupation, I wanted to complete the arrangement plan of the seven metre sailing that was one of a series for the lake Balaton. The body plans for them I had already drawn. It was my intention to be able to show something in case someone would be interested in them.
The invasion of mice wouldn’t stop. Even so that I was fed up with them and made a search on the Internet for an ultrasonic mouse repellent. Several offers could be found and, as I saw, only the prices were different, features and type were the same. At last I selected one offer with a local seller and direct reception as well as not too expensive. However it wasn’t cheap either, so I bought only one. First I placed it in their most favourite location, i.e. the food store, and some days later it appeared in their main highway in the kitchen. Although there was no spectacular results, one day I had to start work with internment. It looked that the elimination of munching stuff as well as the ultrasonic repellent made one individual taste the poisoned bait (until that time it had never been touched, although it had been laying around for a long time). That morning a mouse came upon me that was easy to catch, and as soon as I reached the far corner of the garden, it was not to be freed, only laid in peace.
The national holiday of March 15 passed in a peaceful way, although there were ’events’. Peaceful means normal, since those who were in a governing position, had been kicking up a row during the previous cycle, while those in opposition at that time had also inhibitions. Events I am referring originated from the extreme right. The Bank Center built within the National Bank endured, the crowd broke in and security forces was unable to get them under control. Only when they staged fireworks was the police called on the spot and policemen did their job well (of course, they were not in the same danger as their colleagues six years earlier, they would not be called to account for putting ruffians into their place).
A thought occurred in my mind, namely that I was going to stop my activity as an expert of justice. At that happened, to tell the truth, that one of my expertises that I had prepared for one of the courts and that was waiting for hearing turned a boomerang. The advocate whose client was at a losing position because of my opinion tried to disqualify me by certain legal manipulations. Although I wrote an objective reply on his proposal, but, as lawsuits are generally decided by people, neither of both possibilities was excluded, just as at the parliamentary elections two years earlier.
At the end of March I began to get restless about weather. A severe drought dominated during the previous fall, even it was needed to irrigate ripening grapes. After that winter was also very dry, only twenty centimetres of snow fell, and in the year in question there had been no rain that far. Winds common in fasting season came, of course, like during every spring. My father called them ‘winds that blow, because sloe is blossoming’. The windy weather wasn’t only drying up everything, but it also caused dust storms known on the Great Plains from chronicles written in Turkish times. The temperature was right for the season, perhaps even higher, and it made fruit trees blossom. It was still early for bees to come forward, but pollination was quite good by wind. However, it was expected that a large part of conceived small fruits would fall down, since they would need much more water to ripen. The more delicate trees like apricot could even die. To avoid it, rain would be needed very much.
In the political life there were signs that the opposition started to radicalize, I mean they chose the same road their opponents used during their own time in opposition. One of their operation proved a boomerang soon, they wanted to corrode the head of state through his doctor’s degree. What happened in his case was the opposite of what occurred to me when I tried to become a doctor in my profession. In my instance only a certain lack of fresh data could have given a handle for rejection, because I passed the exam successfully and also my theses was original, while opponents were chosen erratically and for this reason they had a negative view about my dissertation. In his case, however, ninety percent of the stuff was stolen and judgement gracious. Anyway, at that time I am writing about, his doctoral degree was taken from him.
His reaction to the press was rather quick: he wouldn’t resign, his conscience was clean. Nobody expected him to do. First, he didn’t have a proper backbone for it, second, it doesn’t go so simply with mafia. The godfather would have kicked his bottom with a fanged boot, since he hadn’t posted him in one of the key positions to be let down by him.
At the beginning it looked like this way wasn’t leading to anywhere, because the plenary session of the CC of Fidesz (alias parliament) wouldn’t let it do. But later he lost his soil for other reasons and had to resign after all. The expression boomerang I used, because soon the topic returned to the opposition with the contrary sense. Well, you have to be careful if you use the antagonist’s tools, they probably handle them better.
That spring was not very gracious to us Hungarians, in the morning on Tuesday after Easter all firstling fruits froze in the minus nine degrees, such as apricots, cherries, even strawberries under foil suffered. A few sorts of apples got by and so did late sour cherries. We knew that on the market there would be fruits, but at higher prices and they would come from abroad.
As far as I was concerned, nothing was touched by frost except my walnut tree. Its buds began to turn dark, then they fell down and for two months it looked as if the tree itself had died. All the walnut trees in the street got the same fate. A long time passed when it began to bring new leaves, and in that year the whole tree produced a dozen nuts at most.
Unfortunately, the situation hadn’t improved in the country. Although the piece of brick used by the godfather for banging his breast was growing continuously, people began to de-mesmerize slowly from the nightmare that had made them give two thirds to him.
Society was going more bitter every day, it was one of the factors that motivated such crimes never heard of earlier. Following Easter four beastly murders were committed. At the last one a bar owner shot two of his foes dead with a fowling piece in an open street in the town of Gyor in broad daylight. He stated afterwards that it had been self-defence. Prior to that two similar slaughters were discovered in the country, in one of them a young man attacked his whole family with a sword. His grandparents, brother and father were killed, his mother and two other women seriously wounded.
As I heard it I felt it would always be impossible for me to understand those people. Perhaps I haven’t reached the same depth yet where they are, but I rather think I am different.
Several features of this present government are not likable for me, but I agree with them in one thing, namely that they want to stop the wasteful large liberalism started around twenty years before. Even the godfather is telling it all the time that the honour of work has to be restored. Well, how earnestly he says it remains for the young to judge, they still have time to see it before he would be driven away like his great predecessor in ‘89. On the other hand, I have always had the conviction, and those who have proven already their competence like Demjan say it too, that Marx had completely been right in what he had said about capitalism, and most of all in that value can only be created by production of labour.
Weather was peculiar as before, already in May it was forecast that dog-days were coming, they really came with record breaking 33 degrees. Also colour codes were announced as well as hailstorms and strong winds. I assumed that if it was coming true, all sprayings in the remaining part of that year would only serve the next year’s produce. By the way, the walnut tree hadn’t died. A month after the frosty morning, following a period of apparent death, little red leaves were appearing on it. However, stamineous (wormlike) blossoms didn’t develop on it. Other trees of this kind took it better in other parts of the capital, they bore new blossoms and it could be expected that even fruits would be on them.
At the same time, our greatest sorrow in the family had not been caused by natural catastrophes.
It was the birthday of my grandson, May 2. The unwanted surprises created bad financial standing for us, he got no present for the day, only a cake with a bigger and a smaller candle on it (11). But the child must ascertain that it was the saddest day of his life so far. The previous day my daughter-in-law went to visit her mother who was living in short distance from us and taking her some of the fresh meal she just finished. She found her sitting in the garden, but, alas, already no life in her. For a time she had been suffering from a sickness similar to cold, she was to go to the doctor two days later. Her organism couldn’t go on so far. She had always been a hard smoker and she hadn’t much cared for her health. She also had animals and was working a lot. My grandson clang to her very much, there was a close tie between them. The child was weeping for her, it was very hard to console him.
It was a great trauma also for my daughter-in-law, although she is a courageous woman, very spirited. Her father died already ten years earlier, he was much older than me, her mother was by some years my junior.
I had liked them both for their diligence. Then the feeling came over me that nothing would be the same after that. It was another warning that the package must always be kept ready in case you have to go. A very interesting thing, that my son made up the same thought about her passing that came into my mind at once: she was there in her final moment where she most liked to stay, in her own garden, among her little beasts. I wouldn’t like it either, in my last minutes to be kept alive by plastic tubes and other equipment, to leave this world in a strange environment.
Comrade Howdy (our previous head of state who had been forced to resign because of discrediting by the opposition about his doctor’s degree) had vanished, we had a new president (appointed again by the godfather instead of election), he was another reliable close friend of the boss, Ader Janos. He reminds me of Grigory Melyehov from And Quiet Flows the Don, not only for his appearance and manner, but even his speech sounds like the beat of galloping horses, similar to how Russian announcers in the TV read the news. I wonder how long he holds out.
There was cold front that lasted, ice saints are inescapable in any year. Fortunately, they made no ice. However, the front arrived with such a strong wind that I was afraid of the same damage in vines as in the previous year. It didn’t occur, but during that night I slept very little, there were so forceful gusts that I was afraid they would lift of the roof. Around that time it was widely heard everywhere, TV news showed even mini-tornadoes captured by mobile phones.
Our most dearest godfather went on visit to America, he tried to eyewash Hungarians living there, but I don’t think he succeeded, they are a little wiser perhaps. In the meantime, because of his ‘blessed’ activities, the Little Entente began to come into existence here once more. Slovaks are wooden-headed, even head-scraping is not advised with them to avoid getting splints under the nail. Nobody can expect them to know better without forcing circumstances. They wouldn’t stop until all Hungarians living in that country loose their Slovak citizenships. Sad that also Romanians chose the same road after those few years when they had behaved sensibly. All of them, however, worst would be Serbs, at present they pretend the good boy as they want to join the EU, but as soon as they would be inside, they would be much more nationalistic than Slovaks.
The godfather is an excellent intriguer, he almost outdo Osztap Bender, in spite of that Ilf and Petrov had created that character very well (I wonder what character would they create in today’s Russia?). He knows well that if he throws a large bone to people they can munch on he can do his undermining work quite leisurely. So long as all cave in and in that case he would not be the only person entombed.
The situation here resembles that when a ship is leaking and foundering, but the captain has a dislike for bilge pumps and, for this reason, he wouldn’t let is start, instead he distributes all teaspoons in the ship to the crew, and everyone has to scoop by them. It is totally evident that his policy of taxes is leading in the wrong direction. History has proven already that several different taxes are a dead end, because society can only be sustained by productive labour that provides jobs for people and thus they will have income to be taxed, i.e. the state will have incomes too. Therefore income tax must be well established. What the godfather does is a nightmare. He reduced income tax key so much that it is underrated, no more that 16 per cent. But that is to be paid by all equally. He who earns little, because it is so determined by a lot of factors beside his competence, can keep hardly any, while he who does well can live like fighting cocks. At the same time, incoming money wouldn’t be enough for the state, this is why he is always inventing new types of taxes. Today it is already taxed when you transfer a certain sum, what is inviting black money movements. Also it is liable to tax if you speak on phone. I could go on, but perhaps it is enough. A kind of tax he considers the most important source of money is VAT, although it is a dead end too. Once upon a time it had been invented in order to make it sure that the state has money temporarily in its budget even in such cases it hasn’t got a bean. Sooner or later all the world will perceive it and this kind of tax will be abolished. It means an obstacle in the way of consumption, ergo in works against production. Lately he invented the notion of reverse VAT, when the way of the money is not buyer to seller to state (through prices by their VAT content), but it goes directly from buyer to state.
What I said about incomes means in essence that once a fair system of multi-degree income tax is created, everyone pays voluntarily and the state wouldn’t have to invent other taxes. Our first all-rounder tax expert Kupa Mihaly made the best system in ‘86. Also the tax on property is unfair, since properties are generally purchased from already taxed income (assuming that there is a discipline of finance), taxing it means that it is taxed twice. Besides it is unfair, because only those pay tax who contributes to the national goods, he who spends it on travel and drinks doesn’t.
With the usual thunderstorms and mini-tornadoes at the end of May also this Whitsun passed, as in previous years. Fortunately Arpad had led his people into a good country, here there aren’t that kinds of storms as in the New World. Even we had a little hail, but only the regular small grains, it didn’t do any damage. The wind carried away no slates from the roof either.
Of course, storms there were also in politics. Nobody was surprised probably by the reaction of the Romanians when some of our compatriots endeavoured to rebury Nyiro Jozsef in his homeland, i.e. Szekler Land, a novelist judged negative by official circles there.
Nationalism means the same everywhere: an evaluation of one’s own nation essentially higher than the others. And something more that is also generally present that nationalism comes together with the injured self-respect of a formerly great country (maybe empire). There are two very good examples for it, one of these are Russians (who are actually to thank for what happened after the end of the Soviet Union only to their own factious politicians, since every one of them wanted to level exclusively his own way, Yeltsin, the oligarchs and most of all Putin). They trampled unscrupulously on Ukraine when it was in their interest, or played the same game in Abkhazia as they did in the Baltic in 1940: Abkhazian marched unsolicited into Russia from Georgia. And what was done with South Ossetia four years earlier is nothing but land grab by military force. There is no difference between 19th Century Tsars and Stalin or Putin, the formers considered Circassions and Chechens as their own backyard, Putin does it with other small peoples.
Another similar example is Turkey. I have heard in the news that a charge was brought against (although in his absence) the Israeli officer who prevented a Turkish ship to sail into Gaza (beside food there was evidently an arsenal of weapons there too). Just as if he were there own citizen. As if the Turkish Empire still existed and Gaza belonged to it.
All of the above I related only, because the behaviour of the present Hungarian government – together with the ultra right party that, although despised by them, support them all the same – is nothing else than revanchism and, by it, the resuscitation of the Little Entente. Here I don’t see any ground for optimism. A peaceful coexistence based on common sense has no chance at present. Our neighbouring countries (I mean the majority population) bear rather hard already the psychological paradox in itself, i.e. the sin they committed an injustice against another country a century ago, they dismembered it and turned several millions of its citizens a minority. And following that they discredited and dispossessed them regularly. It is very hard to do with, since remorse is a serious thing. But it is already beyond reason, if they are harassed deliberately. In the concrete case I was referring to the novelist in question (I myself don’t like his works, I have seen only a film shot on one of his novels, but only the actors attracted me, Tolnai Klari and Javor Pal) hadn’t made him very popular as a politician in that country, for which Transylvania had been thrown as a quarry. For this reason his memory is not acceptable there even today. At that time his ashes were brought home from Spain where he was buried in the ‘50s and his followers wanted to rebury them in his homeland, in Szekler Land. The Romanian government couldn’t do any other thing than object it. First their disagreement was expressed, then a ban was issued on transport of the urn by the train carrying the Hungarian participants of the would-be celebration and, at last, all cars suspected of carrying the object in question were searched. And finally, when the urn was smuggled in in spite of all measures, a regulation was issued that forbade the re-burial. Even the originators could defy that.
These happenings could have been avoided, had the at present sovereign Romanian territory been not still considered as a part of Great Hungary. It is time to accept the fact that the right way is not urging the re-drawing of the borders into their original state, but becoming reconciled to status quo in order to make even those living with guilt calm.
Every day it occurred that running fronts caused problems in one of the small villages, a few roofs were blown off, for this reason we had to learn place-names we had never heard of.
I was losing a couple of days from my life every time too when I was listening under stress to the wind banging the roof. All the time I expected that I was going to start a reconstruction of the house again, if I survive it at all. However, my trees and other plants liked that kind of weather, also the walnut tree was full of greenery. Fruits were on it much less, however, so many pieces as many kilos in normal years.
That morning when the planet Venus was to pass in front of the Sun, Zoli ascended into our flat to see the phenomenon. I prepared a temporary device from a plus and a minus lens to project the celestial bodies on to a sheet of paper. Then, as the device didn’t satisfy him, we have seen it through the Internet. Another 113 years the event would not be seen again.
Summer was hot as usual, around Medard day it was expected that more rain would come. One Saturday night it really came with a torrential rain and thunders. Fortunately, greater damage as house fires from lightning, I got to know only from TV news.
At that time news were rare in TV, there were soccer matches instead. Around that time was organized the European Championship of evil memory, which in 2006 was cheated from our country by the former French footballer with the Italian name, Platini, one of the howdy men, who was the boss of FIFA, and given to the Polish-Ukrainian couple. For me, however, these program changes meant more leisure time, I am not interested in football.
For my grandson the school-year ended, there remained the class-day, then could follow the summer holiday. Because of the hot weather we hadn’t gone anywhere with Zoli so far, although from that time I stopped my going for lunch to the catering kitchen, I didn’t want to have any obstacle in case the boy wants to go for an excursion. It has always been our habit to prepare food at home during summer, not a very easy task considering the mentality of my grandson, he is like cats: when you put food before him you see at once that he was expecting something else.
All the same, we could live on fruits, vegetables and sometimes a little meat. I often fried pancakes and filled them with sweet cheese, they had a larger success rate than the sorrel sauce of my wife, although it was always very fine too. I also prepared pastry several times. And it went so until holiday ended.
In the political field things slowly went on unchanged, mainly of economic causes. Greeks were in the most serious trouble that had the same sources as ours: people like to live better than they can afford and when they must pay for it they don’t like it. Greeks were and still are with their whole national economy at the point of debt, for which the sponging-house was established in England in the 18th century. I have no idea how to solve this problem. Either that country goes down into total poverty until all debts will be paid, or the population of the country accepts that governments from other countries have word in what they have to do.
The whole euro zone, I think, has the origin of similar troubles in the contradiction that the common financial order needed for a common currency has not been created. Either it will be put aright later, or the euro will vanish. America was a much smaller zone two hundred years ago, everyone spoke a common language, it was almost completely isolated from the rest of the world, and still, it last at least fifty years until the dollar became viable. And even so that there also the necessary institutions existed. I am no oracle, I cannot tell what will be here.
Spain is in a serious situation too. I appreciate Spaniards, they make a great nation, but individuals are lazy as they are Latin. As the popular saying goes: Saxon (English, German, even Swedes) live to work, Latin work to live. I think it fits Spaniards too I said for Greeks.
About our own problems I had better say nothing. What we need is not something, but the lack of someone.
My grandson’s school record was good, although it could have been a little better, he got only good for three subjects. One of them was physical exercise that can be taken this or that way, it is like art, there is no exact gauge. He is not bad at exercise, only he is not for a pro. The other two bothered me more: literature and environmental studies. Well, it is true that my attempts to make him read books was a failure. But the latter is queer, I cannot see, how is it that a child whose interest is first of all natural things cannot be attracted also to topics within the curriculum by the teacher. At the same time I hoped he would get over these hitches.
It was my desire that for him not only TV and PC should exist during the holiday. I bought him a model ship to assemble, as he spoke about Viking ships for a while. At the beginning we were doing a little work on it every day, gluing and painting was slow work at any rate. Alas, as soon as the model could stand on its base, he lost his interest and it is in the same state still.
Summer heat lasted longer than forecast, thus Zoli wouldn’t come with me as before, he got up late and it was already hot then. Only the small plastic pool in the garden made a good usage.
At last the heat became less severe, that evening it was twenty degrees instead of thirty outside, and in the morning only twenty six in place of thirty two in the apartment.