EXTRACT

In Bratislava, we headed to Obchodná then called Schondorfská, and my mother decided that it was high time to buy me a ​new autumn coat, even though on that sultry day another season seemed distant and unreal. As we walked through the ​streets of Bratislava, I noticed on some houses derogatory inscriptions directed against the Jews or graffiti with a ​Jewish star, and again I had the strange feeling that although everything is the same as before - streets, houses, ​windows, and people intoxicated by the summer, but something is ominously violated and uprooted from the established ​order.

My mother finally bought me a blue fleece top, maybe even winter in thickness, and trying it on really killed me in the ​heat. I felt faint and my mother asked the shop assistant for a glass of water. However, when she saw how pale I became ​and a cold sweat broke out on my forehead as soon as we left the shop with my coat packed, she decided that, despite our ​previous decision to avoid my sister-in-law Agneša, we would go to the Krajčovič family to rest.

The KrajčoviČ family lived near Blumentál, those houses are no longer standing there, so we were not far, even if I could ​barely walk through them. I don't know what made me so suddenly, my mother attributed it to the fact that I am young and ​have low blood pressure. However, no one opened the door for us at the Krajčovič family, Uncle Palo was probably at work, ​working at the post office nearby, and my aunt was nowhere to be found either. We were about to turn around and go look ​for a place to buy lemonade when Agneša appeared behind us like a shadow and informed us not very kindly that uncle would ​not arrive until early evening.

"We won't be that long," her mother informed her. Probably because I wasn't feeling well, she wouldn't admit that she ​didn't make it inside.

Finally, we found ourselves in a dark but pleasantly shaded kitchen, and my mother laid me down on my uncle's sofa, while ​she asked Agneša for water. Finally, she offered to make us coffee, and as a result she asked if we were hungry.

"I don't, but you can give Aninka something," said mom, and I admired how assertive she was when it came to me. I must ​add that Agnesa was quite nice after all, she entertained us and wanted to see the coat we bought. Mom relaxed in the ​friendly atmosphere and talked about how things are worse with us now, because dad must save, he had a lot of expenses ​and he himself doesn't know where the extra money will go. At that, Agneša's face became measured again, and the moment ​of relaxed female chatter passed. Mom also sensed that as soon as her father mentioned her in front of Agneša, all hope ​that her sister-in-law was not such a malicious person vanished.

"I didn't like that Jožka was also involved in those prayers for Marton," Agneša finally revealed what had been sitting ​behind her neck the entire time. Mom asked her if it had hurt Jožka in any way. Finally, Agneša let her mother squeeze ​her into a corner, and out of anger she spewed curses at us about the Jews, about those fakes, Magyarizers, suckers of ​society, supposedly even Marton - that's what my father called, only by his original surname - got rich as a village ​lawyer only on human misery. "Himberany is a district town!" her mother spat, but Agneša just laughed contemptuously.

We got away smartly, but on the way to the station, the humiliation turned into my mother's tears, which she silently ​wiped from her cheeks.

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