A SIXTY -FIVE YEAR OLD STORY

It was a very strange evening in Al- Bida park . It was late March - the weather started getting warm . After sunset it became all misty . The fog covered the park not evenly but in patches . When the park 's lights were on -it became even more whimsical .I was watching people walking on the paths - and disappearing in the dense fog then appearing again . Young ,slender girls walked into the mist like serious fairies in their black outfit and walked out of it .
. Pop corn, curry , biriyani , cardamom smell all mixed with the cool air from the sea . The park was loud with happy families relaxing , having picknick ,playing . Apart from the weather -it was a usual Friday night .
We met our friends there . Our children were playing ball and we were having hot tea and samosas and telling stories of our childhood .
Riding home we got stuck in a traffic jam . MY husband started to talk about the new car that we should buy .
And while he went on analysing the different models -I hardly could hear what he was telling .
IN my mind a picture appeared , a blurred but irresistible one . I stared into the lines of car to see he picture sharply :

I saw a woman walking on a country road . She was walking slowly with a big packet on her back . Hopelessly she moved forward . On her back there was a child crying :" Is it still far ?"
" Hush " - she kept answering " Soon we will be at home " - but less and less hope she had .Will somebody would feel sorry for her and take them?..
People in her village did no like what she did . When something started to grow on the neck of her little child
they kept telling her ;" God gave the child God takes her " ""we are not aristocrats , but poor villagers - we can not afford an operation "
But my grandmother had different view on this . She sold whatever she could and went to the town's hospital .
The doctor was rude to her ;" What do you want , Woman ?"
"Please , remove this from her neck " she was pointing to the small ball sized thing growing on her daughters neck .
"Where is your husband ?" " I am divorced ,I have no husband ." The doctor became furious hearing that :
" No husband ? What do you think ?An operation is too much money !!"
"Please ,listen to me ""It is true ,I have no husband -but I do have money ,I sold whatever I could - and if it is not enough I still have some lands to sell "
This way the doctor was ready to examine the little girl .He did not look into the her eyes when he took the money .Only little remained - my grandmother had to pay for accommodation and bought a little ,cheap toy for the five year old with a wound on her neck ...
There was no money left for paying for a bus ticket or horsed carriage ...
She took the child in the morning from the hospital and at sunset still there were some kilometres ahead of them . She had expected to arrive home before midnight . But there were also good men in her village .One of them stopped and took them home on his carriage ...

The next morning my grandmother went to the market to sell her fruit and vegetables and bought pigeons for the little girl .She had fed her by pigeon soup and she was living on bread and water . She was in great mood .She won .In spite of all the talk of the village -she saved her little girl .The doctor told her that type of cancer will not grow back most probably .
And he was right ! MY mum has just celebrated her 70 th birthday !


Slowly we arrived home from the park .We were packing our things and trying to arrange our memories . The misery of 1940 's today is only history in Hungary . But Europe is a long way from here . The distance is painfully big at times !