A few weeks ago, our cuckoo clock stopped working. I knew my dad knew an older guy who worked out of his house fixing clocks – my dad had used him – so I got the number and gave the guy a call.

This clock guy lives only minutes from where I work, so I called and asked when I could drop off the clock; he was free then.

So I ran over.

He looked at the clock, diagnosed, fixed and oiled the clock in about 10 minutes.

Cost? $5.

Honest.

And then I made a blunder – as he was marking the clock to indicate when it was oiled, I asked him where he learned the craft (he does watches and clocks). He said back where he was born, in Europe.

I asked what country (he sounded German, but not really).

He replied “Hungry,” and then the floodgates opened.

This guy works out of his house in a little room which I assume was once a bedroom, and he probably doesn’t see many people during the day (he had pictures of grandkids, but I don’t know if his wife was still alive) – so when I asked him what country, I proceeded to get his life history. Honest. Here is just some of what I can remember:

1. The house he grew up in had only three rooms, the main room dominated by the pot-bellied stove, which was used for cooking and heat.
2. One small room was used as a pantry of sorts, to store produce. Carrots they’d stick into the sand that was the floor, and pull them out and use as necessary.
3. 10 people lived in this house – seven children, mom, dad and grandpa. Everyone slept in the main room around the stove.
4. House was made of abode, with walls about 15 inches thick. The front of the house, while adobe, was covered with stone.
5. Very hot in the summer, and they’d have to take the Hungarian equivalent of a a siesta during midday. Too dangerous to work outside at this time.
6. He violated this siesta rule once and was sun-struck. He almost died.
7. Dangerously cold in the winter too; people outside could freeze to death.
8. His grandfather froze to death. He was going to another town although his parents begged him to not go at that time. He didn’t listen; he froze.
9. Water was pulled from the well and poured into shallow wooden troughs for use.
10. He moved to the Dominican Republic at some point.
11. Very hot in the Dominican Republic, too – everyone wore broad-brimmed straw hats to shield from the sun, plus – when you moved – the brims would flap up and down, stirring up a little breeze for your face.
12. He saw then Vice President Richard Nixon while in the Dominican Republic.
13. After coming to America, he was drafted right before the Bay of Pigs Invasion.
14. He couldn’t fill out his draft form because he only spoke/wrote Hungarian and Spanish, not English. Some Sargent tore him a new one for not filling it out, but he can only guess he was sworn at because he didn’t speak the language.
15. They gave him a Spanish form to complete, and they told him he’d be going to Cuba, but that never happened.

A remarkable torrent of tales.