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  He found himself standing next to his wife's grave for hours. True, it was mostly in a mausoleum-like white building, a sort of mini crypt. People were always coming and going, especially older relatives who you knew had lost loved ones after a long, happy relationship.

Small wreaths and flower vases were placed in front of the entrance to the crypt, or the dead, rusted and browned leaves of deciduous trees were cleared away.

The sun seemed to be constantly obscured by a cloud of sheep, whose rapid movement made the cemetery uncertain, damp and surprisingly inhospitable.

He looked again at the ice-cold little marble cube in which his wife's ashes rested, and which now also bore his surname. He tried to remember what it was like when they met and fell in love. But he couldn't.

He was angry, he cursed himself. If they had talked more about the important issues of life, they might have been able to save his life. He now saw himself as a traitor who had deceived and manipulated almost everyone he had ever come into contact with in his life.

The last time they met, his beautiful, young wife was already lying in a hospital bed. He asked the nurses and orderlies to leave him alone for a few minutes. He took her tiny, almost tiny, ice-cold hand and kissed it, crying, because he couldn't find the right words. What can the living say to the dying when they are only seconds away from the final admission that they are breathing their last breath on this earth?!

- Sweetie! My darling! I... I'm so sorry for everything... - her drowning, shaking voice broke into sobs again and again.

- Honey! My only one! Calm down! - the frail woman, who was still able to preserve all the stars of her angelic ladyship and immortal soul, stroked her panting, balding hair. - These were her last words, and then she closed her soul-cleansing, holy deer's eyes and fell asleep forever.

He always wrote another love poem for his beloved. He could only know that she still loved him, yet he might not be able to do anything about his vows to her even now.

In the afternoon you will meet Silvia, who is direct, kind and still alive. He felt that, as if he were a robber or an occasional thief, he would always need her from now on, that to stay alive he needed another person's harnessed love energies.

In the afternoon he went to his appointment a little groggy and with a splitting headache. His own shadow faithfully followed him down the street, but he didn't trust it either, so he kept involuntarily glancing behind him to see if anyone was following. The sky had cleared by then and he was greeted by smiling sunshine as he walked across the square. His beautiful wife could manoeuvre their car in a way that would have been the envy of the most professional drivers. He just buckled his seat belt in the passenger seat, and although he professed to be an atheist all his life, there were many times when his instinctive reaction was to cross himself in order to soothe his troubled conscience.

Silvia was already waiting for him at the small café, and after knowing that he had a sweet tooth, she presumably ordered some chocolate mousse cake for the two of them.

Francis often did not understand why a woman of incredible beauty and exotic features, who could be a supermodel with her fortunate physical attributes, would eat on a man who was always philosophizing about the big questions of life, always melancholic, pessimistic and eccentric like him? Silvia seemed perfectly content with the careerist life she had built up so far. After all, as the saying goes: in the 21st century, it is fitting to have more than one foot on the ground. The man who had found such an exceptional treasure as Silvia could call himself lucky indeed.

They greeted each other kindly. While Francis kissed the ducks on the cheek, Silvia kissed him on the cheek as a more intimate gesture.

- So glad you could make it! You look very tired and sad! - Is there something seriously wrong?! - his sincere interest now took a great load off Francis's conscience.

- Forgive me, I don't want you to be angry, but today I felt I had to go to the cemetery again. - His voice became shy and shaky again. Like a big, helpless child.

- It's okay, sweetheart! If you've made up your mind, that's the way it is! - I could never be angry with you! For Silvia, Francis's eccentric, childish behaviour almost always held new dangers, new discoveries.

After the coffee, Silvia watched with jubilant delight as Francis ate his cake, deliberately taking small bites on his fork. She knew that he was doing it solely because he was eager to impress, and because he had learned that gluttonous gluttony was a guilty pleasure.

Francis - at first - treated the memory of his late wife and the frequent visits to the cemetery as a private matter, until he realised that if he really wanted to start a new life - which he promised his wife on her sickbed - Silvia might have a word or two to say.

- I see you like the cake! - now it was Sylvia's turn to fire small, almost nail-sized bites on the tip of her fork. This too she did with a delicate, feminine exoticism and a little flirtatious mystery. Real women have a highly refined instinct for this.

- Yes! Thank you! It really tastes good! - he didn't even notice, and a few stray flecks of icing sugar inevitably remained in the corner of his full, fleshy mouth.

- Look at you! - Sylvia smiled dreamily. -Come a little closer, darling! I'll help you in a minute! - With her thin, long hands she was already gently removing the powdered sugar stains from the corners of her friend's mouth.

- Oh, forgive me! This is a bit embarrassing! I must look like an adult baby who can't even eat! - again these deliberate, notorious apologies, usually accompanied by remorse. A grown man shouldn't have to apologise for something as trivial as, say, eating cake.

- It's OK, honey! It doesn't bother me! It's even a little funny! - the lady replied lightly.

Francis' face turned sad as he heard the amusing expression, for it reminded him of his childhood public humiliations. Even now, the wounded, painful feeling that after his car accident his father had begun to see him as a kind of retarded cripple, and later treated him as some kind of mentally totally retarded idiot, was alive and visceral, throbbing inside him.

- Is something wrong, sweetie?! - she asked worriedly, noticing the sadness on his face.

- That's something! I just remembered my childhood again! - He tried to smile shyly, but the gesture was really a wounded man's gesture.

- I'm sure you're very angry with me for saying things that are in my heart! I'm sorry!

- Come on! What I love about you is that what's in your heart is on your lips! You are an honest person, which is a rare treasure these days!

- Well... thank you very much! It feels good to hear that from a man's mouth! - she smiled again, but now more thoughtfully and wisely than before.

They didn't even notice when a small, athletic businessman in a dark blue suit with a beard came to their table, and as if Ferenc were air, he greeted Silvia with a friendly hug and then a small kiss on the lips.

- Hi baby! How's the weather? - he didn't give a damn about the awkward situation he had caused, but sat down immediately instead. - So glad we ran into each other here! You're looking better and better, my little kitty!

- What do you think Tibi???? We've been broken up for three years and you bring me here! Who do you think you are?!

-Hey, hey! My little mother! Back off! I thought you'd be happy to see me! - the sporty businessman had only just noticed the modestly hunched Ferenc. - Don't tell me that this little dust-farting twit is your new knight in shining armour?

- Welcome! My name is... - Francis would have liked to introduce himself with polite directness, but you can never deal with a rude jerk.

- I haven't dealt you a card yet, dude! Shut the f**k up for now!

- ...And then you have the nerve to ask me why I broke up with you!

-Really, my little heart! Why is that?!

- Because of your disgusting, disgusting, redneck, redneck, redneck behaviour! Listen! Just because you own a business and raise money, doesn't mean you should get so high on yourself! When are you gonna learn that money isn't everything!

- Á! The nail just popped out of the bag! So it's about your lack of luxury! - now carelessly unbuttoning his jacket, he threw himself back in his seat and turned to Francis. I gave him diamonds, a twenty-four carat gold bracelet, dream haircuts in Bali and Fiji, and I bought him a new luxury SUV! What more do women need?! - from his waistcoat pocket came a cigar, which he lit, and of course Francis inhaled the intoxicating fumes, which made him cough and choke.

- Hey, girl! Looks like your boyfriend doesn't like my cigar!

- Tibor! I ask you to put out that damn cigar right now! - his determination he dared not contradict.

The businessman, probably to show everyone how much pain he could take, extinguished the cigar's bulbous end in the palm of his hand, not caring that he was suffering from minor burns.

- Here you go! Happy now?!

- Yes! Thank you! - she turned to Francis: - Sweetheart! I'm sorry! Are you okay?

- I-yeah... - he said, a little shyly.

-Well, I can't believe that you were willing to give up everything for the sake of a... for the sake of a bellyful of a bum! What does he know that I don't?! - he turned to Francis again, a little more intimately. - Hey, man! What do you know that women want to know? - his eyes became a little threatening.

- I apologise, my dear sir, but if you don't mind my being here, I'll be on my way," he rasped out a half-hearted reply. But he immediately changed his mind when Silvia came up. After all, she was his girlfriend now.

- Hey, hey! Take it easy, buddy. We got some grown-up stuff to do first.

- Excuse me Tibor! But I have nothing to settle with you!" she was about to get up from her seat when the brute squeezed her fragile, thin wrist a little harder.

- Until I say so, you're not going anywhere! Do you understand?!

Even Francis could not tolerate this, because his grandparents had raised him to be an impeccable gentleman. If there is to be a fight, then let there be a fight.

- Dear Sir! It's really not nice to treat a lady like that! I must ask you to refrain from violence.

- What are you barking at me you little prick?! - she snapped at him. It was obvious that he could strike his victim with his biceped arms at any moment.

- What do you think you are doing, Tibor, coming here and insulting my friend?! - Silvia snapped.

- Whoa, mama! This little guy is your friend! And have you slept with him yet, or are you just playing with him?!

- Tibor! That was not nice! Now get out of here or I'll call the police!

Most of the customers sitting in the small café just raised their heads at the sharp, crude exchanges and involuntarily turned towards their tables. Everyone was wondering if a fist fight was about to break out between the two men for the favours of a pretty, stylish lady.

- Calm down, calm down!" the businessman calmed down. "It's completely unnecessary to lose our heads over something like this! - he stood up, adjusted his expensive jacket, flashed his gold watch, also expensive, and leaned towards Ferenc:

- Hey, buddy! You can get laid! Everybody's already had it! - and, as if he had done his job well, he left amidst some confusion from the guests.

Sylvia could see that she was extremely resentful and angry about this minor melo dramatic interlude, caused mainly by her ex-boyfriend. Yet now she was doing her best to preserve her feminine nobility and dignity.

- Sweetie! Forgive me for this little interlude as well! I tried to tell you that unfortunately my life has had its dark spots, but I don't regret anything from my time with you.

Francis, apparently pale as death, was so frightened that he could still hear his heart pounding wildly in his ears. If that muscle-bound brute had beaten him, he would certainly have suffered injuries that would take more than eight days to heal.

- Hey, honey! How are you feeling? - she took his cold, sweaty hand.

-Well... thank you for asking... it wasn't an everyday scene... - of course, in himself he must have felt a good deal of guilt and shame, since it would have been part of his duty to defend the honour of a fragile and vulnerable lady. But this is not the Middle Ages! This is the postmodern 21st century.

- Well... that didn't sound very optimistic! - the lady acknowledged what she had heard. -You know what? Let's go for a walk in the air, and you can ask me anything you want to know!

Now it was Ference's turn to demand a small, legitimate explanation for the disturbing incident. He stood up obligingly, pulled out her chair, waited for her to get dressed in her little coat, and after they had both put their chairs in, they started towards the quay.

The weather was still smilingly clear. Almost no sign of lamb clouds. Francis did not notice, but he began to squeeze Silvia's tender hands a little tighter. And she immediately noticed that something was wrong.

Right next to the flowing Danube, Silvia stopped by a bench and questioned her friend:

- Please, let's not be subtle with each other! I think we've known each other long enough to feel quite comfortable being completely honest with each other! Look! I was the one who broke up with my ex-boyfriend because I found out what kind of person he really was! You could see that he refused to accept that and that's why he exploded like an atomic bomb. - He took Ferenc's chubby, slightly tortured, nervous face in his hands. - Please, look at me! I am happy with you now, and I feel like a real woman! I'd be the happiest man in the world if you'd let me get a little closer to you and try to live together! - with those enchanting, radiant deer eyes, she really could bewitch people's hearts. -As they say, we have plenty of time! But I don't want to force anything! I leave the decision to you!

Francis also turned to face her, and in his heart he felt that he had not often heard a more sincere and truthful sentence from a woman in love. So now he, too, was trying to be honest.

-you are very important to me too, but I wouldn't have the heart to tell you that I still love my wife, and however painful it is, I can't let go of the memory of her as if she never existed! Come, sit down for a moment.

They sat down.

- You know, the last time I was in the hospital with him, we held hands and he made me promise that I could live a full life without him and maybe I could find happiness again. I won't deny it! I was a little afraid to be happy, because I was surprised to find myself feeling as I did when I was young - he rarely spoke with such deliberation, determination and wisdom. Most of the time he always blended his sentences with a boyish naivety.

She stroked his cheek gently, and in that loving, loyal, loving look was the hope of another, perhaps more promising life. Later that day they walked for a long time up and down the quay. They watched the huge body of water flow lazily, languidly.