Responsibility and reality

In the 1990s, being an eccentric child was definitely tough and challenging.

Döme also knew this about himself, who - compared to his age - was quite short, wore glasses and had acne. Sort of a Harry Potter imitation. With his blonde mushroom hairstyle, he looked as if he had stepped into the crowd from the Beatles.

Luckily, his control-obsessed mother immediately installed a telephone in his children's room, so he could call one or two more kind-hearted boys to play or be a little silly together. Sawyer had a lot of floppy disks for the good old 486 Pentium two personal computer, on which you could play great games, and if you really got into it, it didn't matter if the minuses were flying outside or the sweltering heat was raging, because he was comfortably seated. in the supercharged office chair, and the match or the battle could start depending on the exciting shooting games.

"Hey hey buddy!" So? What's up? Shall we have dinner in the afternoon or what? asked Döme. He tried to relax his figure, but not very much, because the easy, relaxed style was not at all characteristic of him. Rather, he had the reputation of a withdrawn, introverted person.

"Hello, barn!" I didn't know you could handle the phone by yourself! - Laci, who was a real IT guru, started teasing. He took everything apart immediately, but also put it back together exactly. "I'll be there at about three-quarter to two, if that's all right?"

- OK for me! Just please hurry because I don't want my father to come home early! - Döme's voice always had a tremor mixed with fear when the word was unexpectedly diverted to his somewhat neurotic bus driver father, who unfortunately tended to take his unpleasant job home with all its fussiness and hair-splitting temperament.

"Hey buddy!" Don't worry! I'll be there in time! - his friend had already hung up. Maybe he secretly didn't like being whispered about behind his back either. And her little sister always managed to be near her older brother, as she looked up to him and wanted to imitate his every move.

Döme's father was on a drop-in shift as it was Friday. This meant that his given shift consisted of two sections. One in the morning and one in the afternoon. His bad luck only happened when one or two buses had a technical fault or just burned out and a mechanic had to be called, because then the given work - at least - remained worthless for that day. After all, it was an hourly wage, and if four hours were missed, you could rarely make up the other four. At that time, Döme's father usually came home a little earlier.

Now it was Döm's turn to manage his free time as he wished. So he decided to do all the homework and lessons in question so that he could do whatever he wanted to do during the two-day weekend. Maybe his new friends will finally invite him for a bike ride, or to the newly opened arcade in Budaörs, where he can finally try out the new gaming machines or billiards like the bigger, edgier boys.

That's why he was really bursting with joy when his classmate called on their intercom in a jingling voice right at the appointed time and announced that a bunch of w****s had brought a good toy that would make one's hair grow inwards.

- Hi buddy! I came! Let me in! - he announced, while Döme had already pressed the door opening button.

If Laci came, the other good friend Gábor couldn't be left behind either, who with his calm, mature seriousness far exceeded his peers. It could be because his father was some kind of big-headed a*****e at one of the banks, or it could just be that his parents' early shouldering brought him a sense of early adulthood.

Döme already ran out to the front door, and he didn't even have to disguise his enthusiastic excitement. Now he was really like a real, crazy teenage guy who was really happy with the friendship he had so little of.

- Hello! he greeted them. - Come in! Take it easy!

- Wow! This is my dust nest barn! - whistled Gábor, who had a Dalmatian dog, but that didn't make him like the cartoon One Hundred and One Puppies.

"Didn't I tell you that Döme can be trusted!" Not like other idiots! - Laci entered the apartment without shoes, and valuable treasures are hidden in her backpack.

You didn't have to go far, because the children's room was located right next to the front door in an upside-down L-shape, where, unfortunately, in the heatwave, the air tended to get trapped inside and become stale and worn out.

"They asked me for the evening... something to drink, something to eat..."

"I'll have a double whiskey with a lot of ice, and Gábor whatever he likes!" - they started teasing and had a good laugh for a while, before Döme got the point.

- Jokes aside! We have cola and chips at home! Who wants what?

"Yes!" Both can come! - Laci the moment she saw the desktop computer, which was like a work of art to her and shone with cleanliness, because Döme's mother couldn't stand dust and dirt, even though she knows that electronic items maniacally attract port - he had already taken a seat in the swivel office chair, took out the finger-thick floppy disks and already put them in the drive. Windows 95 had just come out. It was still light years away from the old Dosos operating system, which was bleak, black and white, and deadly uneventful. And with Windows, everything became perfectly transparent and simplified at the same time.

Döme put the chips and crisps in a plastic bowl, and also prepared cola in a clean plastic cup. Don't let your friends say that you weren't an exemplary, reliable host. In the end, by the following Monday, the news would have already spread that little Döme is a bit of a scumbag.

"I'm already here!" How are you doing? he inquired as he tried to balance himself so that hopefully not a stray drop of coke would leave an unfriendly stain on his wild new carpet, or his mother would most certainly rip a strap from his back.

- Thanks buddy! Your machine is not bad, but its performance could be a bit better! - he took a large portion of chips and stuffed them in his mouth as if he hadn't eaten in months. So that Gábor wouldn't miss out, he took a sip of the cola.

All three waited excitedly until the installation program of the given game ran through the entire complex sequence of operations, and then when everything was approved and accepted, the real game could begin.

At first, of course, it was Laci who had to show Döme what was for what? Which items, tools, and weapons must be acquired in order to successfully complete each of the more complicated levels, and then - due to time constraints - he immediately exited the game and installed the next one with his floppy disks in sequence. That day, at least five or six games went onto the empty hard drive, and Döme couldn't help being naively childishly grateful that he also had super-frank friends, and that he could finally really feel like he had made it and was accepted with his eccentricity.

In the meantime, however, the tide turned. Döme's grumpy, somewhat insufferable father came home, and he had already gone to the kitchen to smoke his well-deserved cigarette and drink his cooling beer. Now he looked into his son's nursery, somewhat dejected and bewildered.

"Goodbye!" Hi Dome!

"Kiss me!" - you two say hello!

- Hi Dad! - Döme's greeting turned out to be a bit reserved and shy, but he was happy that he could hopefully get away with that, at least for that day.

- What do you do? he wondered.

"I like to know we're just... playing... there's some computer games and stuff..."

Döme's father sensed that everything was fine, so without wasting any more words he went to the bedroom to change his clothes, and when he was done with that, he collapsed into his favorite, comfortable armchair in the living room and started reading the newspaper, to see if sleep would catch up with him. After a few minutes, he was already snorting tasty treats.

"Your father can be a really grumpy figure!" - waved Gábor distrustfully, who could not stand his old man. Maybe that's why he was a little anti-social.

"I think he's a good person, but he shouldn't pick up the water, because then it's better if no one is around him!" "Döme only told the truth."

"So he's such a down-to-earth, lone wolf type." Is it true?!

"Well... sort of..."

Laci patiently showed all the installed toys, and when a lot of time had passed and it was early evening, the two good friends decided that it was time to leave. Döme, just let him play all these silly games by himself.

"Then we stepped down, my dear!" Laci and Gábor offered their hands together! "Take care with your old man so that he doesn't get into trouble because of us!" Then we'll have fun at school on Monday! Hi! - they hurriedly said hello and left.

Döme almost always spent the weekends at his maternal grandmother's house, because it became a regular habit for his parents to laze around between the four panel walls when there was a garden house, open air, and a whole range of recreational opportunities waiting for them.

His parents had a minor quarrel over why Döme did not want to go out with them to his grandmother. Why does he have to mess with his toys at all costs instead of being able to ride a bike or breathe like other kids?

"I simply cannot understand your son's thinking!" Why does he have to do this when he is also a family member and a family should stick together! - the nervous father seethed during his quarrel.

"Calm down dear!" Our son is just a teenager, and he wants a little independence and self-reliance! See me! If we let him now, he will thank us for the high level of trust later! �" tried to speak to her husband's soul, the thoughtful and recovered wife, who knew exactly what her son needed.

"Oh!" - the arrogant father surprised me. "I didn't even know you promoted yourself to volunteer psychologist!" Your son is a… I don't even know what kind of person…

"Come on!" Just say what you think! I know what you think about it, but you are very wrong! Döme is indeed a fantastic child, and if that's not enough for you, then just sit back and relax in your soup! And if I said that this year I'm going on vacation alone?! �" now it was the wife's turn to come out of the peace tolerance standing on shaky legs.

"Don't make me nervous, mom!" Don't pull on my already strained nerves, because it will end badly! - he started pacing around the apartment in anger.

"Yes!" Maybe you want to slap me???

- No! I would never hurt you! I just… wish we were a family! - he calmed down the figure, and it could be seen that the emotions were grinding inside him, like millstones.

- Look! We are both adults! Let's respect our child at least to the extent that if he doesn't want to come with us now, he doesn't have to! After all, he's already a teenager, isn't he?! We can't hold anyone's hand forever! Not true?!

The husband went out to smoke a cigarette in the kitchen, and it could be seen that the veins on his forehead and face were coiling with giant tendrils, as if some primeval forest wanted to appear on his face. In the end, the father reluctantly gave the wife the waist, and the next day - being the weekend - only the two of them visited the grandmother.

Döme could not have been happier and more balanced. It's like climbing, he's freed himself of tons of rock masses that have done more damage to his self-confidence than the average person could ever imagine. He decided to divide his time as he pleased. First the school assignments, which are still pending, then the whole series of never-ending computer games can go.

As usual, his mother always called him on the phone at lunchtime.

"Hello honey!" How are you? I hope you calmed down a bit and at least relax! Grandma's are fine too! They kiss you a lot and miss you!

- Hi Mom! I kiss grandma too! I feel good! - he could say out loud for the first time, relieved. - When you come home?

"There's still some work to be done around the house, but we'll definitely be heading back in the evening!" Until then, eat what you find in the fridge, and nothing bad! OK?!

"You already know me!" - he carefully put down the phone and then continued the game he had started. At a little past twelve, he went to bed to rest a little. He felt exhausted. His heart may have stung a little, but not too much. Rather, such feelings swirled in the depths of his soul, as if he had betrayed or let down another person, thought, or idea.

When he got up later, he decided to read a little. He opened an old book full of quotes. He was wondering if life is as complicated and complex as it is in its current form, how can lasting change be achieved?

His parents opened the front door at around six o'clock in the evening. His mother hugged him intimately, as if they hadn't seen each other in years, while his father simply shook his hand, mimicking forced politeness with piercing green eyes.

"Just tell me, my sweet boy!" What was it like being the master of the house? - asked.