It's a question of attitude

"Does Mama have to visit Papa?" asked Zalánka, a little penguin-looking little boy of barely six years old, wearing a bright yellow raincoat.

"Yes!" You know, you get old suddenly, and you get lonely even faster! Learn to feed the suffering! - kindly toasted her grandmother, who worked a lot, but would never have dared to complain, because what kind of human attitude would it have been for Mrs. Deák to complain.

The ice-cold, already somewhat freezing late-autumn rain was pouring when they went in to visit the great-grandfather, who was born during the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, was a railway engineer and a farmer, and who wore a scruffy, droopy, bushy mustache on his face like József Ferenc when he was older. The old man was suffering from dementia and Alzheimer's disease. He stung the sisters a couple of times as a romantic suitor, as if they had just popped from the fire, and demanded a cigar from every doctor.

"Where did I put my quality Kaiser cigars?" - he complained, insulted. He kept looking for something, but he couldn't find it. The friendlier nurses then brought him half a cigar butt, with which the old man could puff to his heart's content, and it seemed that his only pleasure was to see the massive, thick tobacco smoke rise from his mouth blue. In such cases, he would always reminisce about the past world, and, telling anecdotes, he would talk cheerfully into the bellies of his fellow patients, with whom he was housed in the same ward. He had eight children, but only four of them survived. The rest were either decimated by war or disease. On the small metal table next to the hospital bed, there was always enough water, a grain or two of French toast, and fried meat or chicken, because the old man really couldn't stand the hospital dirt, which looked like disgusting laundry. It was the grandmother of one of his daughters, Zalán, who nursed and cared for him in his old age and paid money so that his elderly father could receive the best possible care.

One night, the old man's bristle toothbrush mysteriously disappeared along with the green paste and camphor-flavored toothpaste, which he liked to eat when he wanted to snack. While the next day, under mysterious circumstances, the whole tasty little pile of fried chickens was sold out to the last bite. When the grandmother visited her father in the hospital, she usually heard another incredible story about the partisans and the imperial officers who, under the mysterious cover of night, almost devoured everything, and Uncle L�'rinc is now starving because these sleazy rascals couldn't control themselves. for their grumbling stomachs.

"Good morning papa!" How is mom feeling? Who ate the fried chicken again, let me hear?! - said the grandmother hostilely, ordering her hands on her hips.

"Who the hell are you?" Are the Russians here again?! he asked unconsciously, confused, and was already preparing to take cover under the shelter of the snow-white hospital blankets.

"Well, well!" Eat it! Is that a good thing? Doesn't he recognize his own daughter?! So who am I?

"Well… maybe a spy or a spy… an informant…?" the old man tried, but he couldn't figure it out.

"I'm Terezke, your little girl!" And this here next to me is your great-grandson the Zalánka! Just come Zalánka! Thank dad very much and give him the curd bar! You can see how caring the little man was, he even brought himself sweets.

The little boy timidly, half-heartedly, penguin-like, waddled over to the old man, who believed, or not, that he suddenly had a new family out of nowhere. However, he carefully accepted the stick of cottage cheese from my pouty, loopy little hands and relished it, as if a cigar had already been prepared for him to light.

"Thank you my young friend!" He shook hands with Zalánka. "You're a handsome fellow!" Can you ride in Ostant, because we need exactly such people to deal with the partisans once and for all! - he shook hands with the curiously staring little child who understood nothing.

"Oh, he wants to light it again!" How many times have I said that smoking is prohibited in the hospital! Do you want to ruin your fragile health?! Eat that curd bar!

- THE! Indeed! - only now did he notice that the chocolate curd confection didn't even smoke. He took it and started nibbling with his nearly perfect set of teeth.

"Why isn't he shaved?" How many times do I have to tell you that a shaved chin is not attractive at all?! �" he went out and told a nurse on duty, whom he literally dragged into the ward:

"Do you see this old man here?" Why wasn't he shaved?!

"He didn't ask!" came the lazy reply.

"Papa?" Where did your razor supply go? Just don't say that it was also taken by the partisans, because I'm evading peace tolerance!

"Oh, it wasn't him, it was the Germans!"

- Of course, of course! Well, now I'm going to shave quickly! It's lucky that I was prepared for such cases! Just make some space next to you! - with that he grabbed a chair and pulled him closer to the old man, who tried to protest, but his daughter had already taken out the shaving foam and already thickly applied it all over his face, then took a Gilette razor and began to shave the old man with professional movements, while the rest of the ward its resident just stared at the adults.

"And now, if you want something good for yourself, you're going to lose, because I'm going to cut something!" he warned cynically. The old man didn't need more. He felt exactly that this grandmother-aged woman - who was supposed to be his daughter - was carved from hard, stout wood, and it was not good to make a new one with her. This way he remained calm despite his hyperactive, restless nature!

In less than ten minutes, the grandmother turned her worried father into such a tall, soldier-like figure that even his mustache stood like it did when he was a young bachelor.

"Tell me...my soul...brought my sword and my horse?" asked the old man. Even in his sober moments, he kept talking back and forth.

"Not daddy!" Where are you thinking? Now he's eating the delicious lunch right here in front of me! I brought dill pumpkin stew with fried meat, which he loves so much! - she had already taken out the tasty food carefully packed in the small plastic food barrels, since the grandmother was always proud of her gastronomic knowledge.

"Blow!" My soul will not eat this disgusting móchsing, even if it has to be dragged away with a hundred horses! - grimaced, the old man blew, like a small child. Even Zalánka smiled, snuggling into her grandmother's dress, because she was originally afraid and afraid of the unknown old man's anger.

"Please don't make me upset, papa!" Get a nice napkin and eat it! �" with that, he tied a napkin around the old man's ugly, withered neck, and started feeding him, like a full-grown baby.

"A spoonful for mommy!" One more for Zalánka! That's right! Isn't it delicious?

The old man forcedly and repulsively swallowed the boiled vegetables, as he had no other choice. Then he couldn't wait to eat the fried meat.

"It's interesting that he almost eats the fried meat!"

"My sweet soul, it's because it's meat, and a man needs meat, not laundry!" - the latter's statement was rewarded with loud applause from the other residents of the ward. The old man was always in his element when he could get applause.

"Are they treating you well, papa?" - asked the grandmother when they finished the meal.

"Well… less care would sound more believable!" I'd rather not complain! - he pulled the blanket over himself, as if he shuddered at his own words.

"Well, it would be nice if you didn't feel comfortable here!" I will pay well, just treat anyone with dignity!

"Why spend the money, the eternal hunting ground is waiting for you soon!" �" as if he had quoted from an old Indian film.

"Don't be silly, dad, because I'm going to die!" The sooner he recovers, the sooner he will be released home! Just think about it and watch it heal!

"Ostan, who is this little fellow?" - now he noticed for the umpteenth time his little granddaughter, who until now had been huffing and puffing quietly behind her grandmother's back.

"This is Zalánka!" Your great-grandson! Come on baby! Shake hands with the uncle! Feel free to! He won't bite me! - the woman urged her grandson forward.

"I'm a candy..." the little child stammered almost mortally, trembling, and held out his chubby little fingers.

The old man looked at him with slightly narrowed, piercing eyes, examined him, and then a strange smile appeared on his face, and he shook hands with his unknown miniature relative with his outstretched hand.

"Welcome, glorious knight!" You seem like a nice little guy! You're about to become a warrior! - it seemed that the old man was getting a little tired of talking, so the visiting time was set a little earlier. The grandmother packed the belongings and the barrels of food with painstaking precision, then wrapped the old man with care, and they carefully said goodbye to him in the hope that they could welcome him again soon.

Early the next morning, one of the chief doctors on duty called the grandmother on the phone and asked her to go to the hospital if she could, because the old man, who had lived his whole life unexpectedly, quietly fell asleep forever.