Love, Mum
Stevie,
Be sure to be at home this evening—Uncle Béla’s coming. The last time I was absolutely ashamed because you just said “hello” and left. Tell Mari, too. And in any case, get some milk.
Love, Mum
Stevie love,
I put your dinner on the stove—when you are heating the potatoes stir them about or they’ll stick to the pan. Do your homework.
Granny
P. S. If you get a bad mark I won’t sign it, you can go to your father with it and he’ll give you a good thrashing!
Mari,
Mum says to be at home in the evening because our darling Unde Béla’s coming. I’m going to training so I’m sorry—make excuses for me. Oh, and get some milk, and be a good girl!
Steven
Steve,
I was here but you weren’t at home though we arranged it. And you don’t answer the calls. You can think again if you think I’m going to run after you. Ring me up or else I won’t be speaking to you!!!
Susan
I went to the shop and it’s unbelievable but they were just running out of milk!
Mari
Penda Family,
Please, pay the rent. It is past the 10th. And the lift money too.
Concierge
Went to the café.
Dad
Stevie,
If you get home by then, wake me up because I want to have a word with you. It’s disgraceful what you’re doing. You don’t consider anybody else! (On top of all this your father was half an hour late, too.) You just withdraw from every family matter. I can’t understand why you hate Unde Béla so much. He’s never harmed you in any way, has he? He brought a present for everybody, as usual. I put yours on the bedside table.
Love, Mum
Mother,
I came home after eleven. Get me up, will you, tomorrow morning not later than a quarter past six because I still have to look over the physics. The chocolate was good.
Steven
Mari,
Please go to the store and pick up:
4 lbs. potatoes,
1 lb. butter,
3 lemons, but not too big,
two wedges of cheese,
and two litres of milk,
but absolutely definitely! Yesterday I was speaking to Mrs. Vernyák on the third floor and she said there was still milk at eight o’clock when you claimed there wasn’t any. The money is on the sideboard. Incidentally, it’s scandalous the way you never wash up. By evening tidy up the kitchen.
Love, Mum
Granny,
I took a ten forint note from your purse. Have to pay it at school and Grandpa wouldn’t give it to me.
Steven
Stevie,
Granny’s gone off for a walk with Grandpa. You go, too, because there’s a fellow coming up in the afternoon. Thanks.
Mari
Mom,
I have to pay 20 forints at school. Leave it out for me please. I got a bad report in geography but it wasn’t my fault—Lisznyai started the trouble. Sign it, please!
Steven
Stevie,
This is no way to behave, leaving out your report book for me and then off you go loafing about somewhere till late at night. Not to mention that apart from the bad report there are two new bad marks in it. I’ve told you already that if you neglect school like this all you’lI be fit for later is carrying sacks. It’s not for me you have to study, but for your own good. The next time I’ll show it to your father, let him see what sort of a son he has and he can sign it! I’d have shown this one to him if I had known where he was, he just left a note on the sideboard not to wait for him with supper. You see, there was someone from whom you inherited this wanderlust. Sometime or other we really must have a serious talk! Or don’t you want to become a real man?
Love, Mum
Went to play cards. Don’t wait for supper.
Charles
Mari,
Grandpa had a shouting match with Grandma because she wasn’t willing to turn off the radio or turn it down. Grandma got ill and they took her off in an ambulance, to St. Roch’s I think. Tell Mum. There’s a parcel here. Take it in to Grandma cause it’s got a nightgown, slippers, and soap in it. Bye!
Steven
Mum,
They’ve taken Grandma off in an ambulance. And Grandpa has smashed the water jug and he drank two bottles of wine and he’s raving drunk. Take this parcel in to Granny. It’s got a nightgown, slippers, and soap in it. She’s at St. Roch’s. I’m off to drawing class.
Mari
I’lI be late this evening, don’t wait up for me.
Father
Charles,
We can’t go on like this! You’re behaving like a perfect stranger. After all you are my husband, the father of my children. No matter how late you get home, get me up. So far I’ve taken it and taken it, but now I’ve had enough.
Irma
Mum,
Leave me out 40 forints, be an angel, I need it badly!
Steven
Charles,
It’s absolutely impossible to catch you all week. They’ve taken my mother to the hospital, Stevie is going to fail in everything, Mari’s been seen by lots of people kissing with a boy down at the entrance, and you don’t take the slightest notice of anything! Don’t be surprised if one fine day I simply refuse to let you into the flat! Then you can go off to your little ladyfriends’ to your heart’s content!
Irma
Stevie,
Your mother’s been complaining you’re not doing your school work properly and that you are wandering around till all hours. Be good, or else I’ll give you a good kick in the ass. You can tell Mari too.
Dad
Mari,
Go to the cleaners to pick up the clothes.
Love, Mum
Mum,
The doctor was here. Grandpa can’t get out of bed—he’s got to lie absolutely motionless ’cause he’s had a heart attack. The prescriptions are on the table, get them a.s.a.p.
Steven
Mom,
This morning Dad brought a woman up to the flat again and wouldn’t let me in. Nowadays it’s hardly possible to come home at all. Here’s the change.
Mari
Charles,
I’ve had enough. I’m divorcing you. Drop dead.
Irma
P. S. I put your clothes in the little room. From now on, Mari is going to sleep in your place. Don’t let me lay eyes on you, shit head!
Irma,
You always were an idiot. But I couldn’t care less, you slut. Good night.
Charles
Mom,
I’ve had enough. I’m leaving school. I’ll tell my story tonight. If there’s going to be someone at home to listen to it.
Steven
Charles,
It’s about Steve. He wants to leave school. He says there’s no point in it. Would you try and talk with him. No matter what’s happened between us, you are still his father! Some crazy friend of his has turned his head and he wants to learn a trade. He says he’s sick and tired of having to kneel down and beg every time he needs a little money. What will became of him?
Irma
Nobody’s bothering with me at all. This is no life. I detest lying here motionless. God be with you.
Grandpa
Mom,
It’s awful! Grandpa swallowed a whole bottle of sleeping pills. Mrs. Vernyák called a doctor straight away, Dr. Varga on the second floor, but it was no use. I got home at half past three and by that time they’d taken him away. I phoned Dad in the factory but they said he wasn’t there. I waited for him till seven. I’m going over to my girlfriend’s. I’m frightened here alone. You might come home yourself now and then. Are you going to spend all your evenings with that hateful Béla from now on? It’s always just these notes on the sideboard.
Mari
Stevie,
Take the death certificate extract down to the caretaker, and then buy:
2 loaves of bread,
8 oz. spam—tell them to slice it thin,
and 2 litres of milk.
Love, Mum
Mari,
Some guy called Kálmán Szakály telephoned for you.
Steven
Charles,
What perfect cheek! You didn’t even come to my father’s funeral! All right, you put in the divorce application but that doesn’t mean you have the right to ride over everything so mightily. Don’t you care what people say? In any case, shouldn’t we be friends? I’m left without any support.
Irma
Mom,
Dad said to tell you he’s moving out. You only speak to me, of course, when there’s some message to be handed over. He’s taken all his clothes with him in the big suitcase. I’m off to the cinema. Greetings to pudding head Béla. Incidentally, just in case you’re interested, I’ve been a printer’s apprentice for the last three days.
Steven
Mum,
I waited for you to come home in the evening because Attila was here. You know, I told you about him. We get on very well together and I wanted to introduce him to you. Of course, there was no sense in waiting for you. Attila bought tickets for the theatre, so I’ll be home late.
Mari
Stevie,
This really is too much. First of all, not Béla, but Uncle Béla to you. Secondly, he’s not the least bit pudding-headed. Thirdly, you know very well what the position is. I won’t put up with this sort of tone!
Love, Mum
Mother,
Get me up at half past six.
Mari
Stevie,
Be absolutely sure to go in to see Grandma today—nobody’s been in to see her all week. Take her some fruit, and I’ll pay for it later.
Love, Mum
Mari,
Be a good girl and go in to see Grandma—I haven’t any time at alI. Take her some preserved fruit.
Steven
Mum,
You go and see Grandma today I’m going dancing with Attila. In any case, she’s your mother.
Mari
Stevie, Mari,
Be sure you’re both at home this evening because I would like to discuss a very important problem with you. You’re grown up now, and you’ll understand. It’s possible that Uncle Béla will be moving in with us.
Love, Mum
Steve,
Some Susan phoned for you.
Mari
Mother,
They’ve been for the electricity money now two times. Leave out some money for it or they’ll cut the service.
Steven
Béla,
Off to the seamstress but I’ll be right back. Supper is on the stove. If you’re really hungry, heat it up, but I’d be much happier if you’d wait so we can eat together.
With love, Irma
The water’s being turned off because there’s a burst pipe on the fourth floor. Run off enough of a water supply.
Concierge
Mother,
I’m going to marry Attila. The wedding will be in three weeks. I hope you agree and are happy for us. If not, I don’t much care.
Mari
Mother dear,
I should be so grateful if you would be so kind as to ask Béla not to touch my things. He took a box of cigarettes without so much as a word. And that’s not the first time either. Not to mention that he should wash out the bath tub after he’s used it.
Steven
Mari,
Be at home at evening because I’d like to discuss the idea with you. You’re a clever girl and you mustn’t go into a marriage too young. It’s a question of a bond for life. Attila’s a nice boy, but he’s just a simple technician. You could get a really special husband for yourself. That’s how I feel, but more of this in the evening. That’s how Béla feels too.
Love, Mum
Mother,
Your opinion is of no interest. I couldn’t care less about Béla’s. I want to live my own life.
Mari
Stevie,
Speak more politely with Béla. He’s been complaining about you. Don’t forget I am your mother and he belongs to me no matter what you think of him.
Love, Mum
I’ll be a little late tonight.
Béla
Stevie,
Go down to the store and get:
2 loaves of bread,
12 oz. spam,
1 lb. flour,
8 oz. cooking chocolate,
and a bottle of wine Kövidinka.
This is Béla’s name day. Make sure you’re all at home. I’m going to make something special.
Love, Mum
Off to the pub with the boys. Because we got a little bonus.
Béla
Béla,
Here we were, waiting for you with a grand supper. In case you didn’t remember it’s your name day. I cooked and baked all evening but you didn’t show up at all. You should be ashamed of yourself. Always with the boys. At least eat the tart when you come home, I left it on the bedside table.
Irma
Stevie,
Tell Béla I’m afraid I’ve got to put in some overtime so I’ll only make it home about half past six.
Love, Mum
Mother,
Béla told me to tell you that he’s at the pub but that you’d better not dare go after him because then he’d really show you a thing or two. And that you should leave him alone.
Steven
Steve,
Some girl left this note for you: “Steve, did you forget? We arranged to meet today. This was a very bad joke! Vera.”
Mari
Steve,
Be sure you go out in the evening because Uncle Dezsö is coming up. You know, I told you about him. Tell Mari too.
Love, Mum
(Translated by Fred Macnicol)
Otium
