The Angel Makers by Jessica Gregson Page A

sits bitterly in Father István’s stomach: what seemed like his big chance, his one opportunity to break through the casual crudity and dismissiveness of his flock, has come to nought.
    He hasn’t told anyone yet, but he’s decided – his sister is in Vienna with her husband, and when the weather is better he’ll join her there. He stopped loving the village when it stopped loving him, and feels little when he looks down from the pulpit. Already he’s wallowing in pleasant fantasies of providing consolation and spiritual solace to the war wounded, who, he hears, are besieging Vienna these days.
    The official statement comes from one of the scrubbed, clean-looking, shiny-buttoned soldiers they’ve all been spying on from afar, and of course it comes as no surprise at all to everyone assembled: the Gazdag family have generously offered their property to be used to house enemy prisoners for the duration of the war, and a volley of knowing glances shoots around the church.
    Adrián Jokai is the first on his feet after the official stops speaking, which is to be expected. Adrián is fourteen, and his two older brothers as well as his father are away, fighting.Adrián stammers and always has, despite the remedies that Judit and, latterly, Sari have made up for him, but this time he manages not to tangle his words around his tongue. He asks the obvious questions – how many, and who, and what about the security – and the answers are comforting: the prisoners are largely Italian officers.
    Lujza manages to catch Sari’s eye, and winks.
    They will be allowed a little more freedom than ordinary soldiers, but they certainly won’t be permitted to wander around unsupervised; while they won’t be kept in confinement all the time, their walks will be limited to areas of countryside away from the village, and they’ll be accompanied by guards all the time. The women of the village have nothing to fear.
    Judit waits on the porch throughout the announcements and subsequent buzz of questions, but grabs Sari’s arm as soon as it’s over, her face twisted into its slightly ferocious grin. Sari can’t help grinning back, though she senses a tinge of connivance in Judit’s expression.
    ‘Why are you looking so cheerful? Did you hear all of that?’
    ‘Of course I did, fool. There’s nothing the matter with my ears.’
    ‘What do you think, then?’
    They are surrounded by a crowd of people, and Judit shakes her head abruptly.
    ‘Not now. Wait until we get home.’
    ‘This is going to be very interesting, Sari. Very interesting,’ Judit says, as soon as they are safe inside the kitchen.
    ‘Really?’ Sari is casual, and Judit responds by growing snappish.
    ‘Think about it, idiot child. This is the first time – as long as I’ve been alive, at least – that so many new people have come here. New men, too, and when so many of our men are away. What do you think’s going to happen?’
    Sari shrugs. ‘You heard what they said. They won’t be coming anywhere near the village. What difference is it going to make that they’re here, if we’re not going to see them?’
    ‘Oh, Sari,’ Judit laughs. ‘You can’t put people so close together without things starting to happen. Maybe they’ll relax their system after a while, and the men will start coming closer to the village. Or maybe the women will start going up there – after all, they’ll need things, washing, and cooking, and,’ she grins suggestively, ‘and maybe medical care. They can’t live in isolation, you know. Well, maybe they could closer to the town, but all the way out here – they’re going to need us.’
    ‘Maybe, maybe not. I still don’t understand why you find it all so funny, though.’
    Judit raises a ragged eyebrow. ‘When you’ve been alive as long as me, you know that nothing’s going to happen to you anymore, so you become more interested in what happens to other people. And when you’ve been alive as long as I have, you realise