Örkény István: Tóték

1978

Lajos Tót, municipal firefighter at the Mátraszentanna. His house is clean, his garden bathed in sunshine. If his son weren't serving on the Russian front, Lajos Tót would only know there was a war on from the radio. When his son's commanding officer turns up one fine day to rest from the shocks of war at the Tót's, Lajos Tót and his family do everything to make the Major feel at home. Everything that is humanly possible. But what is humanly possible, in times of hardship at least, is a matter of opinion. "If a snake (a rarity) devours itself, is there a snake-sized void left behind? And is there any power that can feed a man his being? Is there? No? Is there? A toothy question!"