Paved with Gold

The Road to Budapest

János quickened his pace as soon as his boots hit that dirt road. He sucked cold air into his lungs as it turned to a jog, then almost to a run, like he needed to run away from his life in Szeged. The adrenaline of leaving Évike standing in the street calling out for him fueled his steps on the dirt and rocks. He wanted more than anything to turn around, and wrap his arms around her, but she was not his journey. Hopefully she realized it as well.
János ran until his lungs and throat burned from the frigid air. At least running kept his temperature up and kept his mind from wandering to his family who were probably sitting at the kitchen table, already worrying about him.
Realistically it should take about two days to walk to Budapest. Hungary is a small country, and the road from Szeged to the capital is a straight shot. The head paprika farmers use the one road to carry paprika to the city daily, and János was hoping he could catch a ride with someone generous enough to allow him on their wagon.
He left early in the morning, allowing about 10 hours to reach Kecskemét, a decent sized city halfway from Szeged to Budapest. He figured he could find somewhere to have a very small meal for cheap, and sleep under a tree somewhere.

He had traveled roughly 10 miles of his 100 mile journey when he heard horse hooves clacking on the road behind him. János didn't want to appear desperate, so he ignored the sounds. The wagon got close and János moved over to the edge of the road to let him pass.

"Where you headed?" The mans voice boomed at him.
"Budapest, sir." János responded politely.
The man looked at János, weary of his tattered clothes, trying to figure out if he was a criminal.

"I am too. You can come with me if you'd like. I was planning to spend the night in Kecskemét."

János' eyes lit up.

"Perfect." He exclaimed, and climbed up beside of the man steering the wagon. 
The two men sat in silence for a bit, neither one of them knowing what to say. The horse trucked on, and János peered into the bed of the wagon to see bushels of wheat.
"I'm János by the way," he exclaimed as he turned back around from looking into the wagon. "János Fodor."

"I'm Costin Barbaneagra." He said simply. The name was very foreign to János, as it was not Hungarian.
Costin had very dark skin and dark hair, and János guessed he was Serbian or Romanian. Not that he had been to any of those places to know, but Szeged bordered both countries and had visitors frequently.

"Are you..." János started to ask where he was from but trailed off in fear he sounded rude.

"Romanian- yes." Costin responded quickly.
"But I'm from Bucharest, so I'm not a part of your little empire." He sounded annoyed.

János didn't respond. He knew Costin was referring to The Austro-Hungarian Empire, that expanded through all of Hungary, Austria, and Czechoslovakia, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Croatia. But it bled into places like Romania, Poland, and the Ukraine. Not every country was happy to be a part of the empire, especially places like Romania where they only controlled half the country.

"I don't care to be a part of the empire either." János said finally, Costin glancing at him suspiciously.
"I'm leaving for America out of Germany." János said finally.

Costin's mouth hung open for a second and then he smiled big, let go of the reins of his horse and clapped one big time. János stared at him with eyes wide, and smiled back at him confused at what the big deal was.

"That's the dream right there János!!!" Costin smiled and clapped his back out of excitement.

"The dream?" János asked confused. "I wasn't given an option."

"It's called the American Dream, boy." Costin explained, still with a big excited grin on his face.
János was still confused as ever, as he had never spoken to someone else about America before.

"It's when people leave their shithole countries to go to America and have a life they could have never dreamed of back home." Costin explained. "You're so lucky."

János sat there as Costin's words rang in his ears. He didn't know if lucky is the word he would choose to describe his situation. How lucky is it to leave behind your entire family and the girl you love to go live in a foreign country where you don't speak the language and have no idea what to do when you get there? János wasn't seeing the correlation, but he is glad the conversation seemed to put Costin in a better mood.

"Why do you seem so somber about it?" Costing asked eventually, seeing János twiddling his thumbs.
"I don't know, probably because I'll never see my mother or my grandparents again? And just left them to fend for themselves?" János said with a sarcastic tone.
"You will have so much money to send back, János!!" Costin laughed.
"I've heard the buildings are HUGE!" He continued, throwing his arms up as far as he could reach them.
János flinched, trying to not be hit by his flying arms.
"You left a girl behind, didn't you?" Costin inquired. János peered at the man, eyes squinted wondering how he just knew that.
"Yes. She wouldn't come with me. Her father called me a filthy peasant." János croaked.

"A peasant that will be rolling in money in America!" Costin yelled again.

They both laughed and continued talking the rest of the day as their wagon made steady time. János didn't really believe Costin's ideas about money in America, but he went along with it to keep the conversation going. He wondered where Costin got all of his information from, but he guessed as a tradesman he met lots of people.

After nightfall they finally reached Kecskemét, and they parked the wagon in front of an inn. They had decided to both sleep in the wagon of wheat bushels, and pick back up tomorrow to reach Budapest.
"Let's go get some soup from the inn." Costin's said yawning. János reluctantly went with him even though he didn't have enough money.

They sat at a table and a plump old woman walked over to them.
"We will each have a bowl of gulyás, please." Costin said quickly and plopped two gold coins in her hand.

János' eyes got wide and he started shaking his hands at him, trying to say he didn't need to be paid for.

"Relax, János. In exchange maybe you can give me a room in America one day." Costin smiled at him.
János thanked him and they ate their gulyás in silence. János had never tasted something so good, and he couldn't even remember the last time he ate beef. The hunks were huge and the broth was full of paprika, all spice, and bay leaves. At the bottom of the bowl were csipetke, tiny dough balls to soak up the broth.

After they were finished, they thanked the lady at the inn, and János thanked Costin one last time before they made themselves comfortable in between the rows of wheat in the wagon.