how pointless everything is, how little any of this matters. So you start either laughing at nothing, or laughing at everything. And it’s a lot more agreeable to laugh at everything.’
CHAPTER FIVE
Irritating as Judit often is, with her tendency to present herself as grand provider of wisdom, Sari has to admit that she’s got a habit of getting things right. Within a week, when Sari meets Anna and Lujza down by the church, and Anna says, good-humoured, ‘God, Sari, you should hear what this one’s been up to,’ Sari is remarkably unsurprised when Lujza gives a conspiratorial smile, and says:
‘I went down to the Gazdag house yesterday.’
Anna laughs, and Sari can’t help but roll her eyes. Lujza looks slightly put out.
‘What are you looking like that for?’
‘Nothing, really. Just that – Judit was saying just the other day how she thinks that, no matter what the officers said about keeping the officers apart from the village, something was bound to happen. I should have known that you—’ She breaks off because Anna is laughing again, and so, rather reluctantly, is Lujza.
‘Well, I’m glad not to disappoint you. Now, do you want to hear what happened or not?’
Sari grins and shrugs; Lujza’s obviously going to tell her story, no matter whether anyone else is listening or not. Anna’s calling over Lilike to listen as well; for a split second, over Anna’s beckoning arm, Sari catches the eye of Orsolya Kiss, and quickly looks away.
‘I was thinking about the prisoners,’ says Lujza, ‘and I thought about all the things that they would need in that camp. They need to wash their sheets and clothes, and they need food – maybe not every meal, but at least bread, and things like that. I heard that at the big camp near Város they have enough staff to take care of those things, but all the way out here, I thought they might be having problems. And so I thought well, times are hard, we all need a bit more of everything at the moment, so what would it hurt to ask whether they had any use for me?’ Lujza pauses, frowning slightly, as Anna and Lilike guffaw, and Sari smiles. ‘Not that kind of use, you filthy women! I mean, mending, or washing, or cooking. I spoke to that man, you know, the one who came to talk in the church, and he seemed very pleased that I had come—’
‘I’m sure,’ Lilike murmurs, as Lujza ploughs on regardless.
‘– and he said that they were hoping that some of the women from the village would want to come and help with those sorts of things, and in exchange they could offer us food, and fuel, wood and coal, and material, things like that – or, if we were prepared to accept it, some of the men could come and do some work for us – the officers don’t have to work, he said, not like the ordinary soldiers in the other camps, but it must be boring for them, stuck in there, and so they might be able to give us a hand with, you know, the sort of jobs that men do …’
Anna snorts at this, and Lujza stops, looking genuinely disgruntled. ‘What? Look, I know you all think that I’m just interested in picking up some sort of – I don’t know, some sort of playmate – but I’m not. This is work , this is a chance to get something better than the shit that we’ve got to deal with at the moment; this isn’t about fucking foreigners. In case you’d forgotten, I’m married, and what’s more, I actually like my husband.’
She shoots a pointed glance at Anna as she says this, who flushes slightly; Sari feels for her. ‘Anyway. Gunther – the one who was talking in church, you know – he said I should tell my friends about the offer, and if anyone’s interested – in work , not men – we should come along tomorrow morning and meet him outside the stables. He’ll be able to tell us how many of us he needs, and what we can do, and what we can get in return. I’ve already told my mother; she’s going to be coming along, and so will some of the other older
CHAPTER FIVE
Irritating as Judit often is, with her tendency to present herself as grand provider of wisdom, Sari has to admit that she’s got a habit of getting things right. Within a week, when Sari meets Anna and Lujza down by the church, and Anna says, good-humoured, ‘God, Sari, you should hear what this one’s been up to,’ Sari is remarkably unsurprised when Lujza gives a conspiratorial smile, and says:
‘I went down to the Gazdag house yesterday.’
Anna laughs, and Sari can’t help but roll her eyes. Lujza looks slightly put out.
‘What are you looking like that for?’
‘Nothing, really. Just that – Judit was saying just the other day how she thinks that, no matter what the officers said about keeping the officers apart from the village, something was bound to happen. I should have known that you—’ She breaks off because Anna is laughing again, and so, rather reluctantly, is Lujza.
‘Well, I’m glad not to disappoint you. Now, do you want to hear what happened or not?’
Sari grins and shrugs; Lujza’s obviously going to tell her story, no matter whether anyone else is listening or not. Anna’s calling over Lilike to listen as well; for a split second, over Anna’s beckoning arm, Sari catches the eye of Orsolya Kiss, and quickly looks away.
‘I was thinking about the prisoners,’ says Lujza, ‘and I thought about all the things that they would need in that camp. They need to wash their sheets and clothes, and they need food – maybe not every meal, but at least bread, and things like that. I heard that at the big camp near Város they have enough staff to take care of those things, but all the way out here, I thought they might be having problems. And so I thought well, times are hard, we all need a bit more of everything at the moment, so what would it hurt to ask whether they had any use for me?’ Lujza pauses, frowning slightly, as Anna and Lilike guffaw, and Sari smiles. ‘Not that kind of use, you filthy women! I mean, mending, or washing, or cooking. I spoke to that man, you know, the one who came to talk in the church, and he seemed very pleased that I had come—’
‘I’m sure,’ Lilike murmurs, as Lujza ploughs on regardless.
‘– and he said that they were hoping that some of the women from the village would want to come and help with those sorts of things, and in exchange they could offer us food, and fuel, wood and coal, and material, things like that – or, if we were prepared to accept it, some of the men could come and do some work for us – the officers don’t have to work, he said, not like the ordinary soldiers in the other camps, but it must be boring for them, stuck in there, and so they might be able to give us a hand with, you know, the sort of jobs that men do …’
Anna snorts at this, and Lujza stops, looking genuinely disgruntled. ‘What? Look, I know you all think that I’m just interested in picking up some sort of – I don’t know, some sort of playmate – but I’m not. This is work , this is a chance to get something better than the shit that we’ve got to deal with at the moment; this isn’t about fucking foreigners. In case you’d forgotten, I’m married, and what’s more, I actually like my husband.’
She shoots a pointed glance at Anna as she says this, who flushes slightly; Sari feels for her. ‘Anyway. Gunther – the one who was talking in church, you know – he said I should tell my friends about the offer, and if anyone’s interested – in work , not men – we should come along tomorrow morning and meet him outside the stables. He’ll be able to tell us how many of us he needs, and what we can do, and what we can get in return. I’ve already told my mother; she’s going to be coming along, and so will some of the other older
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