Working at Avai the day before, we got around to Gemenc the usual, monday evening, close to midnight, with not much waiting at the border. The wait is usually much more when entering Yugoslavia, as the Hungarians are smuggling gasoline by and large, usually in the evening, after dinner. Around 22-23:00, when we usually cross it going there, they've already done their rounds for the day.
I was working on the MEC, the initial phases - items and other lookup forms. The transactions will be nasty, what with seven or nine phases each box of meds had to pass between the warehouse and the truck. Check this, check that, get this approval, get that approval. At least I got to drive the new Opel Astra, with my Tull tape in it („Songs from the wood“).
The guy who got us this job is some piece of work. When the Soviets started leaving, pretty much nobody wanted to have anything with them, nor to confess any knowledge of russian language. This guy, however, understood that money doesn't stink, so he socialized with the remaining soldiers, who were just getting drunk, sort of guarding the premises and selling the stuff they still kept getting from home. Portable TVs, binoculars, watches, cameras, anything. The soviet stuff wasn't top notch, but it was rock solid, optics and mechanics were very good, and this guy made a bundle reselling them to those who'd buy them but wouldn't want to be seen with the Russians. And now he's taking a cut of what I'm about to write. May even get more than I'll get.
At some point this month a funny thing happened. Joška and I went to weird working hours. We'd wake up at around eleven, then sort of buzz around the keyboards, along with the thousand flies buzzing in the programmers' room. The house was an old peasant house, with gonk, which was then closed by fixed windows and a door to the yard, where Erik the flying dog roamed. As gonk is traditionally facing south, it was very hot in the summer, and the small window in our room, facing neighbor's yard, was letting flies in. I once matched the feat of the little tailor - made a random sweep with the fly swatter and sure enough, killed seven with a single stroke. Wasn't a real master stroke: given the number of flies per cubic meter, that was the expected number.
Around 12-13:00 we'd go out for lunch, usually to the school's cantina, or the restaurant in the Culture home of the police, or some restaurant. The police place was the best, but it was rather far - next to the hospital. But then we frequently worked at the hospital, so on those days it was convenient. Sometimes we ate at the hospital itself, if Béla would provide the chits (which later Ileš provided, when he wrote the chits app - I only wrote the onscreen calendar and the output to the laser printer, in PCL codes)
After lunch, we'd start working, smaller stuff first. Then after 17:00, when everybody else left (the nine-to-five staff, which was everybody but us and sometimes Mihály and Vilmos, we'd consider the internal smoking ban banned, and start really working, with a dinner break, until wee hours of the morning, sometimes to 04:00.
On this particular july day, probably some time mid-month, I just went over to take a nap. I checked that we left it unlocked, so I didn't bring any keys. During my nap, Vanji came to take something, and wondering why it was left unlocked, locked me in and crossed the street back to the office. Few minutes later, he asked where was I. Joška said I was across, at granny's, sleeping. No he's not, I've been there. Well did you see his bed was exactly empty? Um... not exactly...
I managed to get out through the little window that led from his and Joška's room into the gonk and then went out through the other yard door - I knew where granny kept her key. The gate key was no problem, just about everybody knew where it hung. Vanji probably still thinks we played some trick on him. When he saw me he behaved as if he saw a ghost.
17-IV-2013 - 6-VIII-2025