TE19 Iberian Adventure

Gabi Csutak

A Minute’s Silence We first saw the execution on television on Christmas Day. In the weeks that followed, it would be played over and over, many times a day. There were many people, allegedly, who were still not convinced that the Leader and his wife were really dead. Maybe that was because the gaunt old man and the grey-haired old woman on the TV barely resembled the middle-aged couple, glowing with health, who were pictured on the posters. These were the people we had had to call the Mother and Father of the Nation. Before they were shot, their blood pressure was taken, as if the most important thing was that they die healthy. As the man dropped to the floor after the volley of shots, however, he still somehow managed to break his leg. Soon after, we heard shouting, drumbeats and chants coming fromthe street. The noisewas similar to the sounds of marchers assembling before a procession or football fans gathering ahead of a game. Grandma ran over to the windows and quickly let down the shutters. She stuck blue wrapping paper on the bathroom window, like she did when there were military exercises. As if taking their cue from her and her alone, all the sirens in the city started wailing. In his fright, our dog jumped into the bath. He landed with such a thud we were worried that he’d broken something. Despite our efforts to tempt himout, he stayed there till the evening, flattened against the bottom of the bath, motionless. Grandma said she was going out to see Aunt Margó. She 234