Paved with Gold

Nothing Changes

"Fiú, wake up my son. It's time for work." Katalin spoke gently to her son, János as he slept on his old and lumpy cot. It was around 5am, and he and his grandfather needed to hurry to the farms.
"Yes, Anya, sorry for oversleeping." János said in his tired and raspy voice.
"Overworked men need their sleep, my dear."

János dressed quickly and sat down beside his grandfather at the kitchen table.
"Jo reggelt" his grandfather groaned through a yawn.
"Good morning, nagyapa. Which farm are we headed to today?" János inquired, picking up a piece of 3 day old, crusty bread.
"Just a little south to Kiszombor, their paprika farms seem to be replenished."
The Fodor family lived in the small village of Máko, Hungary, on the outskirts of the city of Szeged. Szeged was the home of the spice paprika, and families like the Fodor family had been farming it for years. János and his grandfather Josef were contract workers, meaning they moved to whichever farm needed them that day or that week. As pickers, this worked in their favor. Once a field is picked there isn't much left to do, so they move on to the next field. Sometimes this means staying overnight in the fields when they have to travel long distances. One time they traveled for two whole days to a huge farm that was going to pay them almost double their normal wage. It was something they couldn't pass up.
They traveled for two days, catching rides on horse and buggy when they could. They arrived in Szekkutas in the morning and worked all day in the muggy heat. The farm fed all the workers a weak soup and let them sleep in between the rows of peppers. The labor and the conditions were all worth it when they arrived home and Katalin, János' mother and Zsuzsanna, his grandmother, almost burst into tears at the amount of money they brought home. While is was still barely enough to live on, it was a considerable difference from what they were used to. That weekend his nagymama made gulyás, a thick and hearty stew loaded with paprika and laden with hunks of beef. Normally they couldn't afford to make a meal like that, but nagymama insisted that they deserved it.
"Off you go then, és szeretlek" Katalin motioned them out the door.
"I love you too, anya." János said kissing his mother on the cheek.
János and his grandfather walked for two hours to the farm in Kiszambor, which was their usual trek. Josef was nearing 67 years old, but he still journeyed as easily as János did. They walked in silence for the first little bit, until Josef spoke up.
"Fiú, you're a grown man now. 19 years old." Josef said awkwardly.
"Yes nagyapa I would say I'm grown." János laughed, looking wearily at his grandfather and wondering why he was tiptoeing around whatever this conversation was.
"What are you plans for the future?" Josef asked abruptly.
"...plan? I'm not sure as though I have a plan, nagyapa." János mumbled the last part, kicking a stone.
"Well I'm assuming you will get married? Have a family? Find a better job?" His grandfather inquired.
János thought about his answer as they walked.
"There is this girl, Évike." János smiled thinking of her. "As far as a job goes, I think I'll be doing this for a while. I would love to own my very own farm."
"Who is Évike?" Josef asked, cutting off his grandsons dreaming.
"She's the bakers daughter. The little one up the road from us." He said meekly.
"György's daughter?" Josef asked surprised.
"Yes. Évike Balog." János affirmed giving her full name.
"What are you doing in the bakery? We can't afford anything in there." Josef said with an almost laugh.
János smiled back at him.
"I know I can't. I just go to talk to her. She usually gives me a plum dumpling to be nice."
"Ah, so she returns your affections." Josef smiled.
They walked in silence for a while after this exchange. János started thinking of Évike, and how her emerald eyes sparkled when he walked through those bakery doors. He visited her at least twice a week after work. They spoke of everything under the sun and shared plum dumplings while talking. Nothing romantic ever happened. Sometimes János was afraid she only viewed him as a close friend. János could see more, however. He envisioned her being his wife and them having a family. They would live the same simple life he grew up in, with his farming and her baking bread like her father. He didn't need anything more than that. A simple life and in love with a beautiful woman is all he wanted.

"Don't you want to have a better life than what we have now?" Josef asked awkwardly yet again. János stopped walking and looked at his grandfather.
"What's wrong with what we have now?" János asked, getting angry.
"Fiú, nothing ever changes. It's the same thing day in and day out. We barely have enough to feed ourselves. We live in a broken down cottage that I grew up in." Josef drawled, the glare from János cut him off.
"I just wondered," he began again "if maybe you wanted more for your own children. To break this cycle."
"And how do you suppose I do that?" János begged, voice elevated in disbelief. "Should I just magically enroll myself in the University of Szeged? Do you think they would accept my 6th grade education?"
János kept going and Josef had to grab his shoulder.

"Calm down, János. I didn't mean to upset you. Your mother and I were talking and wondered what you might think of moving away from this nothingness."
"Moving away?!" János yelled. He had never spoken to his grandfather with such a tone. He couldn't help it, he was so confused and hurt that they would suggest something like that.
"Yes, fiú! To Germany or England. Or America!" János' mouth gaped open at the suggestion.
"There is so much more opportunity in those places. I also fear the Hungarian government and what they are getting themselves into." Josef continued.
János stated at his grandfather. Almost in tears, he began walking again to their job site destination. He was enraged at the thought that his own mother wanted him to immigrate to a new country with the very strong possibility of never returning. Josef stayed behind him, and they reached their work. They toiled all day in the fields and walked back in silence to their cottage. János couldn't imagine the thought of walking in and seeing his mother.
After the two hour walk back, János entered the house and blew past his mother standing by the stove.
Shocked at his unusual behavior, Katalin ran toward his bedroom.
"Fiú!" She called out.