Folyosó Spring 2021 - Page 2

Letter from the Editor


Folyosó is a year old! It began in the spring of 2020, when school in Hungary had gone online in response to COVID-19. In the fall of 2020, we were briefly back together in person; then, in November, we returned to online instruction and did not return to school until mid-May. During this time, students wrote stories, essays, short absurdist plays, and speeches. We present many of these works here, in the Spring 2021 issue.

First of all, we offer you the Wall. What is a wall, what does it mean, what functions does it perform, and how does it affect our lives? Students from Varga and the Lycée Sainte-Pulchérie in Istanbul took up this topic in many different ways, giving us a labyrinth of walls to wend our way around.

Speaking of walls, in honor of this theme, Csilla Vágóné, the lab technician at Varga, contributed several of her photographs of of student-decorated walls to the Folyosó Gallery.

Next, we present a series of absurdist mini-plays by members of Class 9B. Here you will see a turtle pursuing her dream, a clock and a watch engaged in existential argument, a man visiting a grocery store to buy an elephant, and much more.

This issue also features a collection of speeches—again, by students at Varga and the Lycée Sainte-Pulchérie. Some of these are accompanied by audio recordings. Read and hear what the authors have to say about reading, self-transformation, interplanetary colonization, social media, sharks, the environment, and the real source of love.

If you have a penchant for flash fiction, please visit the Story Hour section, where members of Class 9B tell miniature stories from real life. They are funny, touching, and human; some of them are sure to evoke memories of your own.

As for the art, it is an honor to feature Lilla Kassai’s Renaissance Studies (from which the cover art is excerpted) and her drawn interpretation of Michelangelo’s David. Thank you, Lilla, for all the art you have contributed to Folyosó so far.

Folyosó is a place for students to take intellectual and creative risks, to test out ideas that will develop over time, and to enjoy immersion in reading and writing. All of the pieces were chosen for their unusual and genuine qualities.

We hope you enjoy this first anniversary issue of Folyosó! As ever, we welcome your submissions and comments.

Sincerely,

Diana Senechal
English and Civilization Teacher
Editor of Folyosó

Stories by Class 9B, Section 2


Every student in the class wrote a miniature story about a funny event from real life. Then they took turns telling the stories in class (online, during one of our Google Meet sessions).

Viktória Kiss

Two years ago (before Covid), me and my mom went cycling to Martfű.The road was long and exhausting (20 kilometers). I was in the front because I was the only one who knew where to go. During the journey we got attacked by three three-legged dogs, but finally we arrived at a certain place. We were extremely sweaty; it was summer back then and I was in a shirt (because I have been taking medicine and had a light allergy). We settled down, ate, drank, etc. Thirty minutes later we dropped into a wedding ceremony; the whole bridal party was there and we were just sitting there and watching the photography. In retrospect I hope good pictures were taken.

Fanni Korpás

This funny occasion happened when I was ten years old. I liked to play football with my friend Molly. We always played it at the end of the street. There was only one house. The owner was an old woman. She was sad, angry and selfish all the time. That is why she hates when we play football in front of her house. As I remember, when I played there first, she called the police because of me. I did not really care about her, because we had nowhere to play except this court. So one day when we were playing there, we suddenly heard a strange noise from the house. At that very time I passed the ball to my friend. She was really scared because of the noise, and she just kicked the ball somewhere. You will not believe it! The ball went flying into this woman’s house and broke the window. Me and Molly ran away as fast as we could. At home we laughed about it and were happy that we could get back at her.

István Márkus

Usually funny things happen to me in the restroom. It happened once about four years ago when I was in London. I went to the restroom. I went into the toilet stall and heard a guy next to me start yelling that he was out of toilet paper.

The other story happened here in Szolnok at the mall. An old man approached the toilet stall and started yelling at a child to come out immediately as he had been in there for more than ten minutes. He yelled: “I’m going to kill you after you get out of the toilet.” Eventually, the security guards took the old man away because he was aggressive.

Richárd Münich

Last summer one day we went to the Aquapark in Cegléd with my family. One of my cousins can’t really swim, and we encouraged him to slide down one of the biggest slides. We kept telling him all day, but he didn’t want to do it. We wanted to leave at two o’clock, but before we left he decided to slide down. He climbed the stairs and started sliding. He was screaming very loudly, and all the people at the aqua park were watching him. My father recorded it, and we were laughing very hard. The rest of the day he didn’t want to talk with us, he was scared, but the next day he was thankful and happy because he did it.

Ákos Skultéti

We have a dog, Tappancs. It lived in the garden, which is next to Szolnok. My grandmother wasn’t happy when the dog had to come to the apartment. Fortunately my mother’s sister lives there nowadays and she likes Tappancs, so she permits the dog to stay in the bed. That morning was very funny when the dog jumped onto my grandmother’s bed. She screamed and ordered the dog to get off. We laughed because my grandmother was scared and very nervous.

Katalin Szabó

When we wrote our first math test at this school, one of my classmates had to give the corrected tests back to us at the beginning of the lesson, after the teacher had checked them. We didn’t really know each other’s names yet, and my classmate who gave us our tests back asked me: You are Bogi, right? I said yes. I think I woke up from a coma just then, and that’s why I didn’t know my name. When I held the test and saw the name at the top of the paper, I said: oh, I’m not Bogi. Then I gave Bogi’s test to her. Almost everyone was laughing, and the teacher said: It’s OK, Kata, it’s Monday morning. I told this story to my mother, she laughed, and she still calls me Bogikám sometimes.

Zsombor Szegedi

Once this happened on a class trip (with my old class). So we were seventh-graders when we went on a three-day class trip in June. I can’t remember most of the details. But one thing yes. One of the days we went to hike in the forest. After an hour we found a lake. The teachers sat on a bench, and we walked around the lake. We found one shallow shore on the other side. We stayed there and splashed each other. Finally one of the boys fell in the water.

Zoltán Szekér

Last Thursday, I was cycling with one of my classmates when we got hungry. We went to the store to buy carbs because it’s very important to have energy. The mission accomplished, we bought everything we needed to survive the ride, so we went to the cashier. I paid for the food and walked out of the store. My classmate called me on his phone and said in a nervous voice: Bro, Don’t joke with me!!!! Where is my wallet???? I went back and there was a long queue, the seller was angry and an old woman said: I will be late for my train. My classmate was just looking for his wallet in his bag when I touched my pocket and discovered it there. I hadn’t remembered not giving it back to him, so I thought it was in his bag. When I gave back his wallet, the laughing cashier said: Oh my god boys…

Zita Tokaji

Two years ago we had an idea to go on a vacation with a couple of friends. My family and I had already been there, so I knew it would be fun. It was a very memorable week, and there was a story we’ve been laughing about ever since.

My friend Zsizsi is a rower; that’s why we decided to rent a canoe for a day. So we got in and for a while everything went well. You need to know that my friend Lili is very scared of bees. Therefore, when a bee flew towards her, she screamed and jumped out of the boat. As she jumped out, the boat moved and overturned, and we all ended up in the river. It all happened in only one minute. We were wearing life jackets, so we weren’t scared. It was funny in itself, but by the time we were able to turn the boat back and return to the place, it was even funnier to think and talk about.

We don’t meet very often because we live far away from each other. Ever since that summer, we have been going and meeting there to have memories like this.

Sándor Tor

This story happened a few weeks ago. One of my dad’s employees was given the task of moving away a pile of earth. He brought out a wheelbarrow and began packing the construction debris. When my father saw this, he told him again that he had to move the pile.

Then he brought out a shovel and began shoveling the gravel. My dad again didn’t understand what wasn’t clear to his employee, but he told him again that he had to move the pile.

Fortunately, the third time around, he understood, but since then it hasn’t been clear what wasn’t clear for him.

Roland Tóth

So this story took place in eighth grade after I wrote my entrance exam. I was paying less attention to classes sometimes, because I was already through with the exam. 

We were in English class when me and my friend (who also started to pay less attention to classes) realized that there were cucumber slices on the desk. So we imagined what would happen if we threw those cucumber slices to the ceiling. So we grabbed them and just threw them without suspecting that anything bad could happen. The only problem was that the slices got stuck on the ceiling. Also this was before the teacher came in, but then she entered and didn’t see the cucumbers on the ceiling. She started the class and everything was fine. Until the cucumbers started to fall down. She didn’t notice at first, but one slice of cucumber fell right next to her, and she was really angry. Luckily we managed to speak for ourselves and say that the other class had thrown them up.

Boglárka Trenovszki

Me and my friend were sitting and laughing.

Suddenly a young girl came to us and started talking, then she asked my friend, “Do you have only two teeth?” Because her teeth aren’t straight and she needed braces.

Botond Vass

The story takes place in the summer, between seventh and eighth grade. There was a kind of camping trip which was “available” for our grade and the grade above us. We weren’t able to choose a room, and we got one that could fit ten people in it. The first two days the higher grades came into our room to watch movies, have fun or anything, but eventually they got banned from there because they annoyed some guys we had to share the room with. So we had to go over to their room, and one day, while we were there, someone knocked on the door. One of the higher graders shouted out, “You are banned, you can’t come in.” Then the door opened and one of the teachers was standing there. It didn’t pass unmarked. The teacher said something that I’m not able to translate. After that, he told us he had come to open a door to air out the place, because someone had used the bathroom and left a not-so-pleasing smell.

Máté Zupkó

It happened a few years ago: my mom, my brother and I were at an adventure park or a similar place. It was our birthday present, mine and my brother’s, but our mom was more excited and happier when she saw a quite famous Hungarian actor who was there to have fun, I guess. She really liked him, and she would have liked to take a photo of him, but I think she didn’t want to bother him or she didn’t have enough courage to ask him. She wanted a photo at all costs. She even tried to take a photo of us while the actor was in the background. On that day we changed roles: my mother became a child (for a moment) and I was a parent, myself. It was a bit awkward, I must say, because my mom did it so noticeably that it was visible to the actor. But young and old people do these things because they’re human. By the way, we had great fun, and it was a nice experience.

Zsófia Vona

A few weeks ago, me and one of my friends had a sleepover. We were talking about the songs that our friends listen to but we don’t. I tried to show her a song, but I did not know the name of the performer, so I tried to describe it. Somehow, she understood what I was talking about and she told me the name of the band, or at least something like that. I didn’t even realize that she said something wrong because I understood what I wanted to hear. A few seconds later I looked at her and asked what she had said, and she repeated that wrong name again. It was “chromosome,” but the band is called Carson Coma. I knew that I had heard “chromosome” somewhere, and then I figured out that it’s a biological concept. We laughed a lot because of this misunderstanding.

Stories by Class 9B, Section 1


Every student in the class wrote a miniature story about a funny event from real life. Then they took turns telling the stories in class (online, during one of our Google Meet sessions).

Laura Antal

When I was in primary school, me and my classmates went to the zoo with our teachers. We were having a great time. After we arrived at the lions, one of my classmates thought that we could recreate The Lion King. We thought that it would be a good idea. So we assigned the roles to a few people. My best friend was Simba and her brother was Rafiki, and we were the other animals. We recreated the Simba scene. Her brother picked her up and lifted her into the air. My other friend thought that it would be funny to make the red stripe on her forehead, so he put his finger in the ketchup and pulled it across her head. Everyone laughed, even the teachers. My best friend and her brother fell and started laughing too. It was a great day.

Péter Bacsik

We were near Balatonfüred in an apartment with the family when we were swimming outside in the pool. I did a backflip from the trampoline into the water from about two meters high.

Then my father said “That’s easy,” then he tried it and he belly-flopped…

Everybody was laughing at him and his belly was red.

After that, I made a bet with him that I could do a backflip into the water plus a 180-degree rotation while backflipping, then I did a backflop (I jumped and fell on my back).

Plus this was recorded, and every time we watch this video we laugh.

Gergő Balla

Me and my family went on a holiday in 2018. We went to Turkey. There were lots of Russian people, so it was kinda crowded. And one night one of the Russian kids started to play a game in the hotel’s game room. The game was that concentration game where, for example, ground-squirrels pop up and you have to hit them with a hammer. The kid started playing without a hammer. So he started to punch them with his own hands and started screaming “davay davay,” which means ’’let’s go let’s go let’s go,’’ and everybody started laughing.

Bence Bathó

We went to Germany in sixth grade. There were about thirteen children and five teachers. It was a beautiful trip. In one room there were three people. But we wanted to hang out with others in the evening too.

In our room there was a big cupboard behind the door. So if the teacher opened the door, she would not see what was behind it. Of course, my friends were behind the door in the evenings in our room. All evening long. The teacher always looked inside but she saw only us. After three days she started looking for my friends. She was searching for two or three hours… She was really angry and confused. 

But unfortunately we failed. A guy told everything to the teacher.

Réka Bertha

In eighth grade, we had a study circle afternoon. There is a little store near my old school, so we went there to spend some time. My old classmates bought energy drinks, and we went back to the school. We went upstairs to the library, and they drank the energy drinks. We took funny pictures of each other, and there was a picture where one of my old classmates was holding his drink. Later, our history teacher came in to speak with the teacher who was in the library that day. Our history teacher saw my friend drinking her energy drink, and she asked us if she was the only one drinking it. Our friend told her that she was the only one, and we were laughing that he lied. Then I showed the picture that showed him holding his drink, and we started laughing with the teachers.

Máté Biró

One time I was home alone, and it was around dinnertime when I decided to make myself something to eat. I opened the freezer and dug around until I found what appeared to be chicken nuggets in an unopened plastic bag that, for some reason, didn’t have any cooking instructions. Thinking that my parents must have thrown the box away, I called my mom to ask how long and at what temperature to cook chicken nuggets. She told me both of them, I laid out about twenty on a tray and stuck it in the oven, setting the timer before I walked out of the kitchen. When it was almost time to get my chicken nuggets, I walked into a cinnamon-scented kitchen. I searched all over that kitchen, trying to find the cinnamon scent, which led me to the oven. I decided to turn on the oven light to see if maybe my mom had stuck some cookies in the oven and forgot to bake them, but instead, I found that the tray my chicken nuggets were on had cookies on it instead! As I was trying to process what had just happened, I heard the front door open and my mom shout delightedly, “Ooooo, what’s that smell?” She walked into the kitchen and caught my confused expression. That’s when the spark ignited and she realized exactly what had happened. Somehow in some form, I had accidentally baked cinnamon biscuits.

Zselyke Bognár

This happened a long time ago. My mom, my sister and I were at the mall. There are usually small stands in the middle of the malls, where you can buy all kinds of jewelry, bags and other things. My mom saw something, so of course I had to go there to see it. She told me not to touch anything, because I would break something in the end…. She saw a hairband, and when she was reaching out with her hand, she pushed the whole ring holder down with her elbow. The stones fell out of some of them, so we had to pay for about six rings. At that moment it was a little bit embarrassing, but in retrospect it is funny that my mom told me not to touch anything, but in the end we had to pay because of her.   

Bettina Czékus

Back in 2017, when I turned twelve, I experienced something horrible. If I think back on it now it was funny, but I felt really unlucky then. I celebrated my birthday with my parents. Firstly we had lunch together in a restaurant and went to the cinema. It was an amazingly great day, the weather was warm, and I had such a lovely time. Until we decided to get ice cream. Obviously I didn’t mind the ice cream part, but an accident happened on our way there. We were walking under trees, where pigeons were sitting, when I felt some things falling on me. Those flying things had just disrespected my favourite coat in four directions. However, Hungarians believe that if a bird lets its unnecessary nutrients fall on people, they are lucky. I need not say that I did not feel lucky after this little accident.

Virág Dénes

This winter, when we had that big snow day (February 12), me and my friend decided to go sledding because there was so much snow. We live on the same street, and it was a Friday, so right after our classes we could go. We live about one kilometer away from the dam at Szandaszőlős.

Anyways,we got there and we started sledding. After twenty minutes I decided to call my cousin because they live there and I wanted to borrow their sled. She gave it to me so it was all good, until we decided to slide together on one sled. I was in front and she was behind me. I’m not really sure what we did, but we fell off the sled, especially me. I really hurt my thighs and I did not find it that funny back then, but now looking back (with no purple or green or black spot) it is a bit funny for me. And at the same time we found a big box near the Tisza but we had no idea what was in it. So we went back home after two hours, and it was an awesome and really funny little trip.

Liliána Erdei

Around two months ago when I met with my friends, two of them came with bikes; they came together because they live in the same neighbourhood. So we didn’t know what was happening on the road when they came, we just knew that they were thirty minutes late. It was snowing that day, and the roads were slippery. So we thought there was something wrong. We couldn’t see them, we just heard someone screaming and arguing and we recognized his voice because he was a boy but had a girly scream. When we could see them, everyone started to laugh. Because they came with one bike, one of them was sitting on the handlebar and the other one tried to steer the bike, but he could barely see anything. They fell more than once while they were trying to get to us. It was really funny. They were not injured so much, and after that they laughed at themselves too.

Vivien Fedor

When I was seven years old, me and my family travelled to Italy for the summer holiday. I really enjoyed our holiday. I loved the city, the food and the beautiful beach. The only problem was that I couldn’t speak English, so sometimes I felt a little bit left out. However, my older sister already knew English very well, even better than our parents, so she handled everything. It’s no surprise that I was jealous of her.

That is why, when my father wanted to ask my sister to ask the receptionist for the wifi password, I volunteered. I wanted to show my parents that I could do that too, so I went down to the hall instead of my sister. My task was simple, I had to go to the receptionist’s table and say “wifi please.”

I stepped out of the hotel room, went down the stairs to the receptionist’s table, said it and proudly waited for the password. But then a longer answer came which I didn’t understand. I panicked and ran up the stairs without saying anything. So I arrived back at our room without the password, only with a shameful memory.

Zsófia Fehérvári

When I was eight years old, my sister, mother, and I were waiting in a long line at the Pronto Pizzeria. The entire time I was waiting, I was mentally rehearsing what my order would be. “One slice of cheese pizza with corn please,” my mind was repeatedly screaming at me. When we got up to the cashier to pay, I got distracted by his cuteness, so instead of asking for the pizza, I confidently said “one popcorn please,” which Pronto Pizzeria has none of. Once I realized my mistake, I screamed “Nooooo” loud enough for 20-30 people to start looking at me. Embarrassed, I ran away, and my mom and sister had to bring me the slice of pizza. To this day, I beg people to order for me when anyone remotely attractive is working the cash register.

Janka Gulyás

My best friend slept over at my house, and after we woke up we went to the living room and watched TV. My father had just arrived home from the shop, and he kissed my best friend’s cheek and stroked my head because he thought that my best friend was me and I was my best friend. He confused us with this. At the time we were very similar from behind; the colours and lengths of our hair were almost the same. And we had our backs to my father, and this is why he got us mixed up.

Tamás Harcsa

Last summer I was at the train station waiting for the train to take me home (to Szajol). When it arrived, I got on the train and it started. I just closed my eyes for a minute (I thought), but when I opened them, the train had passed Szajol. I was a little embarrassed because usually I don’t travel by train. I got off at Törökszentmiklós. I checked when the next train came, and I waited an hour for it.

For me it was so embarrassing, but when I told my parents what had happened, they laughed at me.

Ádám Juhász

A strange but kind of funny thing happened to me and my elementary class two years ago. We were sitting in a boring grammar lesson when we heard someone shout. It wasn’t clear at first who was shouting and what the occasion was. All we heard was the shouting growing clearer.

After a few seconds we could hear the shouts clearly, and the toilet room next to us was closed shut with a big force. The class burst out laughing as we heard the situation unfold. The sentence that the child was repeating was simple. “I really have to poo!”

Fanni Kepenyes

Two years ago, in January, we were on a ski trip in Austria. It was already afternoon and we were getting a bit bored, so we came up with very weird things. One of these was “snow flu,” which meant we tried to talk only using expressions related to snowy weather. It was very absurd, and we came up with really weird sentences.

One of these that I still remember was when we got separated for a few minutes because parts of the main slope have alternate paths. I went down one of these while my cousin took the other one. It was a really short part of the slope, so we were together one or two minutes later. She said: “Fanni, hol a hóba voltál? Már azt hittem hót egyedül havazatok tovább.”

We had a good laugh at that time. Looking back, it looks more weird than funny, but we had a great time and we occasionally try to do this again when we are bored.

When Time Is Up

Sándor Tor


Characters:
Old clock
Watch

Place:
In a house.

Old clock: Hey, what are you doing, sir?

Watch: My time.

Old clock: Your time??

Watch: Yes, my time. My time is up.

Old clock: What do you mean, it’s up?

Watch: Just look at me.

Old clock: Look at you … but what should I see?

Watch: You don’t see it?

Old clock: What?

Watch: Well, how I’m getting older.

Old clock: You’re getting older? This is the best joke I’ve ever heard.

Watch: What’s so funny about that?

Old clock: It’s just that you think you’re old.

Watch: I didn’t say I was old.

Old clock: But you said you’re getting older.

Watch: OK, that’s true, but what do you mean by that?

Old clock: That you’re not old. I, maybe, but you, I doubt it.

Watch: But….

Old clock: But what? You still haven’t answered my question.

Watch: What question?

Old clock: Well, where do you want to go?

Watch: Well, I don’t know exactly.

Old clock: So you just want to run away?

Watch: Yes, what’s wrong with that?

Old clock: Wake up already … You’re just a watch.

Watch: And you? You’re not even a watch..

Old clock: I know it hurts, but you can’t just run away.

Watch: And why can’t I do it?

Old clock: I thought we had already discussed this.

Watch: Then we going to die here?

Old clock: Not necessarily.

Watch: Look! If I ask you something, I expect a normal answer.

Old clock: I mean, maybe  one day we will get out of here.

Watch: And when is that day coming?

Old clock: I don’t know.

Watch: Then how can you be so confident that it will come?

Old clock: Well, that can’t be the end, am I right?

Watch: Yes, you’re right.

Old clock: I’m glad you finally understand and don’t want to….

Watch: Yes, you’re right, and this will not be the end.

The watch starts to run and jumps off the cabinet. The old clock watches it and is sad, but this watch isn’t the first who has jumped from there.

The Weirdest Dreams

Zsófia Vona


Characters (turtles):
Tino
Cato

Place:
A playground.

CATO: I am so bored, let’s talk about something interesting. Now it’s your turn to choose a subject.

TINO: Okay, then let me think. What did you have for breakfast?

CATO: I said interesting. Do you know what that means?

TINO: Of course, I know, but I was inquisitive. If you always say that my questions do not makes sense, then why am I the one who has to pick a topic?

CATO: Because I thought you could say something meaningful this time.

TINO: Do not be rude, I can if I want.

CATO: Then show me.

TINO: So … for example, do you know what you want to be when you grow up?

CATO:  Finally, a thought-provoking question. And yeah, I know. I have always wanted to be an athlete. I think I will become a famous one in the future.

TINO: Seriously? An athlete? You? You are a turtle. What do you want to be, a sprinter? That is the biggest joke I have ever heard.

CATO: You can’t laugh at my dreams, in fact you should feel honoured because I told you this. I will show the world that a turtle can be fast too if it wants.

TINO: Of course, I will be curious about that

CATO: You are the one who asked about my dreams, I just answered.

TINO: But you are the one who said I had to ask something.

CATO: You can be really annoying sometimes, but if it is that funny, then let me hear about your dream job.

TINO: Well, to be honest, I want to be a hairdresser.

CATO: Oh, and you are the one who laughed at me. You can’t be a hairdresser, turtles don’t have hair. And anyways, an animal has never become a hairdresser.

TINO: That is true, and that is why it is cooler. I can be the first one ever. By the way, turtles can wear wigs, so my job makes sense.

CATO: And where do you want to learn the skills that you need?

TINO: I can show you. Come with me.

CATO: Why are we here? I do not think that a bakery is the best place to learn how to braid hair or anything like that.

TINO: How do you think they make the braided bread? They braid it. So, if I can make that, I can do it with hair too.

CATO: I do not think so, but maybe you are right.

TINO: Of course I am right. Do you want me to show you how am I going about it?

CATO: Show me … but hurry before I change my mind, and just to remind you, my dream job is still better than yours.

TINO: If you say so….

A Happy Ending

Zoltán Széker


One day a man went into the grocery store to buy an elephant. The situation was very absurd, but it was not the strangest thing in the story. The man who was looking for the elephant was wearing a black suit and an old-school black hat. He looked like someone who had never gone to any store before, so the people there assumed he was a spy or maybe an inspector, to the delight of the shop asisstants.

The story began on the streets of London in a grocery  shop on a gray, rainy day:

The man entered the store.

SHOP ASSISTANT: Good afternoon, sir!

MAN: Hmm.

He said only this, with a serious face, though it was covered with a black hat. The shopkeeper already figured out that he would not be a simple buyer, but she didn’t get upset, because she had to be nice to everyone who came into the store.

A few hours later the mysterious man was still looking for something. He was nervous; this could be gleaned from his way of talking to himself and using bad words.

SHOP ASSISTANT: Excuse me, but can I help you with something? Because I see you have been looking for something for a long time and thought I would ask.

MAN: No.

10 minutes later:

SHOP ASSISTANT: I’m sorry to bother you again, but are you sure I can’t help you?

MAN: Well….

SHOP ASSISTANT: Say anything, Here you can find everything you like. On this shelf you can find basic things, and here the ingredients of a good Italian dinner.

Ohh, I haven’t even mentioned the sweets here, and listen now.

Today you can get a 20 percent discount on everything.

What do you say?

MAN: Can you stop speaking just for a moment? Thanks.

SHOP ASSISTANT: Sorry, but I don’t understand why you are talking to me like that, when I’m just doing my job and trying to help.

MAN: OK. So can I tell you what I want to buy?

SHOP ASSISTANT: Yes, of course, but before that let me ask a question.

MAN: Yes, say it.

SHOP ASSISTANT: I think I’m a very friendly and intelligent person, so I’m good at my job, and most importantly I enjoy what I do. My day started really well, I sold a lot of things, now you came and I don’t understand what’s wrong with me, so now I feel bad about it.

MAN: Am I to blame for your having a bad day?

Since the woman was a sensitive person, she began to cry. But she quickly tried to collect herself, because a good shop assistant doesn’t start arguing with a customer and won’t have a bad day about it. The woman just cried and something happened that no one expected.

The rude, old man who hates lovely, smiling people suddenly hugged the crying woman.

And he said this to her (kindly):

MAN: I’m so sorry I treated you like that, I shouldn’t have done that. You are a good person and don’t cry, please.

SHOP ASSISTANT: Okay, thank you.

She became happy again and at last asked the question:

SHOP ASSISTANT: What can i do for you?

MAN: I’d like to buy an elephant.

SHOP ASSISTANT: Sorry, i didn’t hear it well. Would you repeat it please?

MAN: Yes, sure. E-L-E-P-H-A-N-T elephant.

SHOP ASSISTANT: We don’t sell toy animals, it’s a food market.

MAN: I feel we misunderstood each other. I would like a real elephant.

She burst out laughing when she saw that the man had said this seriously, so she stopped herself and started to take it seriously.

SHOP ASSISTANT: Why would you like an elephant?

MAN: Because I feel lonely, and unfortunately I don’t have any friends. I think I messed up something in my life.

SHOP ASSISTANT: No. No. You are a good person, you just didn’t get love from anyone. But today you get a friend.

MAN: Yes? Who is that?

SHOP ASSISTANT: Me.

The man turned to walk out the door and just said: Thank you so much!

This is an absurd story about a man who wanted an animal friend and got a real one.

Journey to the Moon

Zsombor Szegedi


The story takes places at Heathrow Airport in the summer of 2019. The story has two characters: a passenger and an airport  worker. The passenger’s name is Harry. The airport worker’s name is Thomas. Harry enters the airport and goes up to a ticket desk.

Harry: Good afternoon!

Thomas: Good afternoon! Can I help you?

Harry: Yes. I want to travel.

Thomas: Where do you want to go?

Harry: I want to go to the Moon.

Thomas: The Moon?

Harry: Yes. I want to go to the Moon.

Thomas: What do you want to do on the Moon?

Harry: I just want to journey to the Moon.

Thomas: Why don’t you travel to the Canary Islands?

Harry:  How is this better than the Moon?

Thomas: There are sandy beaches, hot sun, sea, palm trees in the Canary Islands, and you don’t have to wear a spacesuit.

Harry: This island isn’t too boring?

Thomas: No. The travel agency organizes many interesting programs. Anyway, there aren’t any people on the Moon; it is sure to be a boring place.

Harry: Not sure! I consider the Moon therefore exciting!

Thomas: Won’t you be frightened alone?

Harry: No, I won’t … So, is there a flight to the Moon?

Thomas: No, there isn’t any flight to the Moon.

Harry: Oh, no!!

Thomas: I’m sorry.

Harry: If there are any flights to the Moon in the future, please let me know first.

Thomas: I promise I will let you know first.

Harry: Thank you. Goodbye!

Thomas: Goodbye!

Absurd Story

Katalin Szabó


This story takes place in a house, in the street, and at a strange grocery store in the morning.

Characters:
Carl
Suzie (Carl’s wife)
Marie the cashier
little boy
elephants

(7:30 a.m.)

CARL: Good morning, honey! You won’t believe what I dreamt last night.

SUZIE: Good morning, come and tell me.

CARL: So, in my dream, I was in a flowery meadow when someone said: Go and buy an elephant! That’s why I bought an elephant somewhere. It was talking to me and it was huge. We became good or best friends, and I wanted to call you, but I woke up.

SUZIE: Wow! What a crazy dream!

CARL: (disappointed) Yeah, I wish it would happen to me once, I really want a special pet, like he was.

SUZIE: OMG! (spits out the coffee) I’m reading this newspaper about our city, and it says that a new store has opened nearby. You can buy fantastic things there (mostly food), for example bacon lollipops, flying pens, flower-shaped beds, and an elephant! What is more, it’s marked down this week.

CARL: (excited) This is great news, I have to go there and buy it before someone else does.

SUZIE: The shop opens and 10 a.m, so….

CARL: I don’t care, I want to be their first customer. Where did you say this place was?

SUZIE: It’s near the zoo, next to the flower shop; you will find it easily.

(Carl leaves home cheerfully.)

Later:

CARL: (looks at his watch impatiently) I can’t belive it! It’s 10:02 and they haven’t opened yet…

MARIE: Good morning, Carl! How can I help you?

CARL: Ohh Marie, I didn’t know you worked here.

MARIE: (starts story time) Yes, this is my new job, you know I have a big cat called Snowball, we lived together until she escaped…. After a while, she came home pregnant, and now I have to feed the baby cats, so I had to find a job to make money for cat food.

CARL: What a pity! Anyways, I’m looking for an elephant, I heard I can buy one here.

MARIE: Oh yes, he’s next to the pink peppers, but he is dangerous, be careful!

CARL: (runs to the elephant) What are you doing here?

LITTLE BOY: (cries) I want this elephant!

CARL: No!

LITTLE BOY: MOM! This rude man wants to buy my elephant. (continues to cry)

CARL: I wanted to buy him before you were born, silly kid.

ELEPHANT: (bored) Please be quiet, I’m trying to sleep!

MARIE: (running over slowly in her high heels) That’s enough, calm down! We have another elephant in stock.

CARL: Let me see him. Alright little kid, you can have this lazy boring elephant….

(The little kid leaves.)

MARIE: It’s a girl elephant, your wife will be happy to have another woman in the house. (She goes to the storage room.)

CARL: (pays and goes out happily) And now … What do you want to do?

ELEPHANT: Let’s paint our nails!

Buying an Elephant

Botond Vass


Characters: customer, shopkeeper, manager

The customer enters the grocery store.

CUSTOMER
Good afternoon.

SHOPKEEPER
Good afternoon, sir. How may I assist you?

CUSTOMER
I’m just wandering around.

SHOPKEEPER
Are you sure? You seem like you are looking for something but can’t find it.

CUSTOMER
To be honest, I saw a commercial that said I can buy some kind of elephant here.

SHOPKEEPER
Are you sure you came to the right place, sir? This is a grocery store, and I don’t think we sell any kind of elephant here.

CUSTOMER
Well, the commercial was on a billboard, and it had the name of this place on it and that they sell these elephant things here.

SHOPKEEPER
If you are willing to wait a couple seconds, I will ask the manager. I’m sure he can help you.

CUSTOMER
I would be grateful if you asked him.

SHOPKEEPER
I will be back in a minute.

The shopkeeper enters the manager’s office.

SHOPKEEPER
Sir, there is a customer outside who saw an advertisement that said we sell some kind of elephant here.

MANAGER
(spits out his coffee) We sell what here?

SHOPKEEPER
Some kind of elephant, sir.

MANAGER
He must be drunk or something. I will see what I can do. In the meantime, would you be so kind to clean the coffee up?

SHOPKEEPER
Of course, sir.

The manager leaves his office.

MANAGER
Good day to you, sir. I’ve heard that you are looking to buy an elephant here, but the problem is that we don’t sell any of those here, since this is a grocery store. (While he says all of this, he starts walking around, with the customer following him.)

CUSTOMER
I know they don’t sell elephants in grocery stores, but I was curious because the advert said they sell them here.

MANAGER
There must have been a mistake with the advertisement then. We are sorry, sir, but there isn’t any elephant here. I will take care of it and get the advertisement removed from the billboard.

CUSTOMER
No problem, sir. Mistakes can happen, don’t worry about it…. (Raising his voice.)

 There! There they are!

MANAGER
Sir, those are eggplants, not elephants.

CUSTOMER
But it says on the tag that these are… (leaning closer) Ohh, sir. I totally forgot that I have dyslexia and I must have misread it. My apologies for wasting your time with this nonsense, sir.

MANAGER
It’s totally fine, mistakes can happen, as you said. At least we both will have a story to tell once we get home.

CUSTOMER
Sure thing, we will. I don’t want to waste your time anymore. Have a nice day, sir!

MANAGER
Nice day to you too!

The Wordless Crime

Boglárka Trenovszki


King: Where have you been all this time, Albert?

Albert: I’m really sorry, your Highness, we were investigating the egg-crime.

King: Oh, I see, you caught that scoundrel. So you are the reason why I couldn’t eat scrambled eggs for breakfast yesterday! I hope you know you are in huge trouble, Mr. Egg-thief. I hope you have great excuses, so speak.

Silence.

King: I said speak, I’m the king, so do what i say! Or else I have to use my methods….

Still no word.

King: I’m starting to lose my patience, do you know what happens to those who don’t obey my commands? I’m sure you wouldn’t like to experience it.

Silence.

King: I see you are getting nervous. Wait a moment … You didn’t take a bow when you came in … This is one of the most disrespectful things you can do to a real king. Why aren’t you say anything?

Silence.

You are too stupid even to speak? Or did somebody cut your tongue out because of your crimes?

Silence.

ALBERT! This bad boy deserves the most exciting treatment in the castle. Take him to our biggest apartment, it’s known as jail, I’m sure you will have fun there.

Pause.

And now go, you disrespectful, evil creature! I don’t want to see you anymore!

Albert grabs his neck and tries to bring him to the door.

Albert: Damn, this evil monster just tried to bite me!

Finally the guards force the criminal out.

King: I still can’t believe how living beings can steal my breakfast….

Albert: Me neither, but your Highness, don’t you think this procedure was too cruel for a dog? He will bark in jail all day!