The Bum Foot

Franc came hobbling out of the hills of Budapest to where a group from his hostel waited by the Danube. Franc murmured something to members of the group but it was inaudible due to the sounds of fireworks on Hungary’s national holiday. To some members, Franc’s bandaged foot looked even more twisted then it had when they first met him the day before. At the time, Franc explained his bandaged foot was due to a large and possibly obese Hungarian falling on his leg at a concert.

Earlier on the Hungarian national holiday, roads had started to close all around Franc and he didn’t know Budapest well enough to avoid what was effectively entrapment. Franc would begin down one road that appeared accommodating only to quickly find a mostly meat-eating Hungarian police officer turning him back. Franc would briefly consider the pub before trying another road.

The road closures reminded Franc of Sydney when either George Bush or the Pope visited the city. Franc often had voiced the opinion that it can’t be easy to know that you need that much security to avoid being killed. Neither was in Budapest though, instead the fuss Franc found pitted against him was specifically for the firework display occurring later that evening.

Franc later told people that under other circumstance, he would have gone to that pub, sat down with a pint and would have enjoyed the chaotic mixture of closed bridges and dangerously excited eastern Europeans. However the circumstances he found himself in saw a pretty girl from the hostel waiting for Franc. She was waiting on the other side of the closed Buda Hill, a hill preparing for a very pivotal performance in the firework exercise.

The protein-charged police officers did suggest for Franc to walk around the hill but Franc is much more tenacious than that. Besides, Franc later told people, the ninety minute walk around the hill would make him thirty minutes late for the date. Consequently, once out of sight of the police, Franc began to scale a steep, unguarded grassy incline up the hill on his bum foot.

As Franc pulled himself to the very top of the incline, he found himself being photographed by two French girls who giggled upon sight of his clumsiness. Franc soon discovered that the pair thought they had best vantage point for the fireworks. They went onto to try to convince Franc to stay with them by cutely dropping French words in their English sentences. Franc giggled in response to this charm.

Franc later told us that he looked back at Budapest, a beautiful Hungarian in its own write, and thought ‘Why not?’ He figured that there would be nothing wrong with sipping on French wine on the side of the hill as thousands of Hungarians bustled below. Franc decided to sit down for a rest at least and practiced his French on the girls.

“Comment vous appelez-vous?”, asked Franc.

“What?”, replied the French girls.

Franc went on to mutter ‘Baguette’ at them and promised that his French would get better. The French girls smiled at Franc and Franc smiled in response to the charm of a French girl’s smile. The sun started to set and Franc started to consider how lonely the pretty girl from the hostel would be during the romantic fireworks. Franc looked to the French girls and said ‘Au revoir’ before standing on his bum foot and starting along another path.

Franc soon found up himself on a residential road filled with homes that overlooked the city and we’re clearly designed for the wealthy. As he hobbled, Franc considered the wine that most flow amongst friends that were celebrating the nation inside these houses. With this thought, Franc wandered a little up the street and then a little way back, unsure of which direction to head.

Soon a local man appeared on the road carrying a glass of the red wine that Franc had thought so much of before. The local man stopped Franc and quickly pointed to a Mercedes that he owned. Franc smiled at the Mercedes before explaining to the local man that he was lost and in a hurry. Franc hoped that the local man would offer him a ride down the hill in his Mercedes.

The local man did not offer Franc a ride in the Mercedes, but he did offer a sip of the wine to warm Franc’s Hungarian spirit. Franc took the sip and thought it quite pleasant; he started to explain to the local man about the pretty girl from the hostel. The local man was quite sympathetic and offered Franc a glass of wine.

Franc, glass in hand, was pointed in the right direction and he started his descent down Buda Hill. As Franc went down, he soon found a small lump to stand on to get his bearings. Franc’s footing quickly became uncertain however and he fell. Later Franc was proud to say he didn’t spill a drop of wine but he did hear a snap and pain from that same injured ankle shot through his body.

Franc hobbled to a stone and sat down as he tried to come to terms with the intense pain. Once he had, Franc wiggled his toes to make sure it wasn’t broken and he found he was successful. Still, Franc was depressed. Time was running out and he didn’t think he could walk and he had no phone to send a message. Franc was stuck

Franc looked down at the glass of wine he carried, thinking to himself that if had spilled some, surely it would have been a gulp. So Franc took a gulp. And Franc stood up and started walking down, promising to himself that the rest of the wine would be for her.

Franc came hobbling out of the hills of Budapest and spotted a group from his hostel waiting by the Danube. The fireworks started and the group could barely hear what Franc was muttering them as he looked for the pretty girl. The fireworks finally died down and the streets of Budapest were dark when one backpacker told Franc that the pretty girl had left for Bucharest this very evening.