Spring 2024 - Recrudescence

Things To Do After My Death

underway. No way, thought Sanyi, there are no revolutions under Socialism. But more and more signs indicated that the guard was telling the truth. The prison doubled the number of its guards and decreased its extracurricular activities, such as daily walks, where prisoners might clandestinely exchange inside information. One of the prisoners found a discarded newspaper by the fence and quickly read it before it was confiscated. University students were demonstrating in Budapest. Authors were protesting and preparing manifestos. Mother of God, thought Sanyi. The next day the guards rattled the rows of cell doors and ordered the prisoners to head to the shower room with their assigned groups. What the hell? Prisoners were allowed one shower a week, and they just had one yesterday. They were chaperoned downstairs to the visitor area in groups of six. None of them could believe that they were actually being released. Their civilian clothes—stored in paper bags for years, now heavily covered in mold—were handed back to them. The few who escaped the villainous mold were not better off, because they had gained so much weight during their imprisonment that they could no longer squeeze into their old garments. Interestingly, the button-up shirt and linen pants Sanyi Kovács wore the day he came to prison still fit him perfectly; his shoes also felt comfortable, only their shoelaces had become thin and tattered with age. Next, they were herded into the inner courtyard—a straight path led from there to the double iron gates through which they were to gain entry to the outside world—where a few men hung around, dressed in pristine business suits, waiting for the prisoners to arrive, so that they could shake hands with each one and wish them good luck on behalf of the Budapest Revolutionary Committee. One of them was a famous actor whose brother was also locked up for political sins. Sanyi Kovács stepped through the iron gates and paused for a moment on the dusty road. It was a cool autumn day, but the sun 103