GYPSIES

Steve talked about the gypsies who traveled through the village of Drahovce. Although the gypsies (Roma) are a disliked minority in Eastern Europe, Steve described them as having a certain kind of cleverness. He said that the during cold weather the gypsies would make a large fire to warm the ground and then when the fire was out they would set up camp over that spot so that they would stay warm throughout the night.

A joke he often told – A gypsy man knocked at the gate of the priest’s house. When the priest answered the gypsy attempted to impress him by making the sign of the cross. He said, “In the name of the Father and the Holy Ghost, amen.” Noticing that the gypsy had left out a crucial part, the priest asked, “and where is the Son?” The gypsy responded that his son was out in the wagon waiting for the gifts that the priest was going to bestow upon them. Steve would laugh at that point.

At Steve’s wake the priest said that when Steve was housebound the priest would bring him communion on Friday mornings. He described the scene at the Miklo house. When he arrived Betty would be in the kitchen. She would tell the priest that the German Lutheran farmers who lived in Deer Creek Township east of town were always better at paying Steve for his work than the Irish Catholic farmers of Clare. Steve would then rattle into the kitchen with his metal walker. His hearing aid would be buzzing so he would have to fiddle with it. Betty would nag Steve about one thing or another. And then Steve would tell his story about the priest and the gypsies back in Czechoslovakia.