Another Me Read Online Free

you?”
    “Don’t be foolish, Hans,” she cried. “And mind your manners! Natan is here to buy yarn for his mother.”
    She turned her back on the lout and locked eyes with me as she bent down to pick up the tankard.
    “I’ll meet you in the lane tonight,” she whispered. “Behind the wall at the back of our garden. Be there when the cathedral bells strike eleven times. Knock on the wall when you get there.”
    I could barely untangle my thoughts from the hammering of my heart as I hurried toward our house in Judenstrasse. She wants to see me! She wants to see me! I crowed to myself. But then harsh reality intruded. Jews were not permitted in the streets of Strasbourg after eight o’clock in the evening. If I was caught leaving my house after curfew, I would be severely punished. But then I remembered the sweetness of Elena’s smile and the softness of her voice, and I told myself I would find a way!
    —
    I lay as still as I could, listening to Shmuli’s even breathing before gingerly sitting up, making as little noise as possible. I listened carefully. Papa was snoring loudly behind the curtained-off sleeping quarters he shared with Mama. The whole house was sleeping.
    The fire was dead in the fireplace and the room had an October chill. I pulled on my breeches andwrapped myself in a cloak before tiptoeing out the door. Fortunately, Judenstrasse was very dark. Only a few stars lit my way as I headed toward the end of our street. I was careful to press myself against the houses lining the road, becoming just another moving shadow. Good fortune was on my side. I didn’t meet the night watch.
    Before long, I was tapping on the wall that ran along the back of Elena’s garden. A gate, well hidden by a bush, creaked open and she appeared. Her face, framed by her white wimple, betrayed her anxiety, but her expression softened when she saw me.
    “I was afraid that you wouldn’t come, that you thought I was too bold,” she whispered, her gaze fixed on the ground. “I don’t want you to think I have ever asked another boy to meet me. My own boldness horrifies me.”
    Her distress gave me the courage I needed and I grasped her hand. “Dear mistress, never would I think that. Nor would I want you to believe it is my habit to visit maidens in the darkness of the night. I’m full of admiration for you. It fills my heart with joy that you found me worthy of your notice.”
    She smiled gently and pulled her hand out of mine. “Come with me,” she said.
    She led me back into the kitchen where she had given me ale a few short days ago. We sat down inthe same spot where we had sat before. I gathered my courage once more and handed her the poem I had written for her.
    “I have no jewels to give you, Elena. Only my poor words can express my regard for you.”
    She unfolded the parchment and handed it to me.
    “Read it to me.”
    “No need,” I said. “I know the words by heart.”
    I told them to her.
    “So beautiful,” she said. “You have the heart of a minstrel. I’ve never met anybody like you.”
    “Nor have I met anyone like you—so gentle yet so brave.”
    She turned her head away, but I could see in the starlight sneaking through the high window that she was smiling. Then we began to talk. And we talked and talked and talked until the sun peeked over the horizon and I had to bid her farewell.
    “Return to me, my minstrel,” she said as I bade her good-bye.
    —
    My brother and my parents were still asleep when I returned home, but Shmuli woke up for a moment when I lay down beside him.
    “Where were you?” he asked, rubbing his eyes,
    “The privy.”
    He was asleep again before I even finished speaking.
    From that night on, Elena and I met several times every week, and she became the anchor of all my dreams. Before long, I couldn’t imagine life without her sweet presence.

CHAPTER 4
NOVEMBER 1348
    E lena told me that it was her duty to fetch water for her family. She went to the town well every day