In the days during and after the Soviets crushed the 1956  Revolution, tens of thousands fled the country by train.

The evil stepmother gave some money to her two young stepsons, and told them to board a train too.

One of the brothers had another idea at the station, and went to my grandparents. The other boarded an express to Yugoslavia. He sat down in a compartment besides an old railway worker.

At the border, the border soldiers came to control everyone. There was the problem: they made clear no child was allowed to travel alone, my relative didn't just have no home but would have been arrested. In desperation, he told the controllers the old railway man was his father.

The old man played along without wincing.

He didn't say anything until the train arrived, then gave some money or food or papers to him (I don't remember this part of the story).

My relative, who ended up with foster parents in Western Europe, never learnt who his savior was.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}