Secretly of course, because the walls in those days had ears. They anticipated a battle, maybe World War Three. They were all heroes, they were all with the Resistance. It was easy to be a man when a Hail-Mary could land you in jail and three people talking on the street would turn heads. It is a good thing we are the Russians' ally, we said, because with Hungary at its side Russia will surely lose.
History proves it.
Now one comes here. Without a fight, we lose. There is nothing in this village, nothing but men getting drunk and women trying to raise their dead. We are on nobody's side but our own. In Budapest the red stars came down years ago, my friend Agi wrote.