41 The fourteen-carat Volvo his lover's arms. Kati was bright and beautiful – after numerous drawing lessons, there could be no doubt about the latter – who first helped calm his rampant state, then, proving her innate intelligence propped herself up on the old couch, lit a cigarette, and came up with the following simple, but genius suggestion: "Let’s tell Granny!" "Good idea," said our man, looking for his socks. The entire floor of the villa in Rózsadomb (Rose Hill, an affluent area in Budapest) was filled with relics of Kati's late grandfather. Among the furniture of the former Israelite owners, the Soviet NKVD (State Security) uniforms and the Lenin Award given by Brezhnev in Moscow matched well with the French cognac and the love of our youngsters. It was a great idea because "Granny" was actually the widow of Ferenc Münnich (the same Münnich whose statue earned the Kossuth Prize to Comrade Kiss), the second man of the early Kádárist era, the man who called in the Russians in 1956. In the communist era, she was omnipotent – refuting the prevailing atheist thesis of the time. So, after a supposedly brief phone conversation, probably spent standing to attention, the rector revoked the irrevocable and recommended Gábor for the scholarship. Revising his earlier misapprehension, he personally congratulated his student, calling him "Gáborka" endearingly. After the unavoidable briefings from Internal Affairs, our protagonist's belief solidify in the competitive advantage of socialism, and he is prepared for the ongoing class struggle beneath the surface in Sweden. To his bafflement, there is little sign of this in Grödinge, 20 kilometers from Stockholm. What the village does have is snow up to his waist, silly cows, long nights, Swedish blondes indifferent about foreigners, and a limited supply of alcohol at the public liquor store. The studded tires on the surprised Volvo station wagon are worn smooth by the third day. The flabbergasted car is not the only one to accept that life becomes truly challenging over 50. We will get to this – but not in relation to the acceleration of cars – in a later chapter. 1 P. Howard, or Jenő Rejtő, was a Hungarian journalist, pulp fiction writer, and playwright of the XX. century, “The fourteen-carat roadster” his novel was published in 1940. 2 Ivan Gorchev is the main character of “The fourteen-carat roadster,” who was not yet twenty-one when he won the Nobel Prize in physics. To win a scientific award at such a young age is unprecedented, though some might consider the means by which it was achieved a flaw. For Gorchev won the Nobel Prize in physics in a card game called Macao. 3 The Internationale is a left-wing anthem: it has been a standard of the socialist movement as its official anthem. 4 Living East of the Iron Curtain meant that traveling was limited, if not impossible. To dream of a scholarship outside the socialist states was highly improbable. 5 Under the Soviet regime, it was not uncommon to have your mail rerouted – state censorship was rarely avoidable. 6 Ferenc Münnich was a Hungarian Communist politician who served as Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the People's Republic of Hungary. Reversing his earlier misconception, he personally congratulated his student. The statue of Ferenc Münnich created by István Kiss sculptor, the Rector of the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts at the time.
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