Spring 2024 - Recrudescence

Things To Do After My Death

end of a stick, but the gendarmes took him back home each time. His return was met with brutal beatings from his father; he hit him so hard with the bully stick that for days he couldn’t even stand on his feet. This’ll teach you, you scumbag!—he yelled, as he thwacked him. Bam, bam, bam! One day the Reverend Mihály stopped by the house and tried his best to exhort Sanyi’s father to pull himself together, but he refused to hear the priest out, no matter how hard he tried to talk some sense into him. He stood his ground and was firm in his resolve: No one can tell me what to do, I fathered the child, and I can wipe him off the face of the earth, if I want to. And now, if you excuse me, Reverend, get the hell out of my house! Sanyi did only six grades in elementary school; afterward, his father sent him out to work in the fields, often to take over for him, so that he could carry on with his farrier job, which brought in more money than the revenue from the crops. He must have been around seventeen when one day his mother could not completely remove a stain from his father’s shirt. She took the initiative and lay down on her stomach at her husband’s feet, so that the majority of the lashes would be absorbed by her back. His wife and son were surprised when, instead of reaching for the whip, Béla Kovács began to undo his belt. Sanyi’s mother whimpered and begged her husband, Béla, please don’t use the buckle, I beg you, may God have mercy on your soul, don’t use the buckle! But her yowling only added fuel to the fire and before she could say another word, the metal buckle landed on her back, across her spine, nearly breaking her bones. Sanyi jumped to her rescue, did his best to act like a human shield, but the buckle somehow hit his eyes, causing him to momentarily lose sight. He grabbed the closest thing, which happened to be a rake, lifted it above his head as he would an ax, and swung it really hard. Béla Kovács collapsed. His mother screamed, Sanyika, ohmygod, my dear Sanyika, what have you done, ohmygod, what have you done?! She kept shaking her husband, trying to resuscitate him, but her attempt was in vain. By then, Sanyi had regained his sight, turned around, and went out the door. It was drizzling cold raindrops, as if 97