Another Me Read Online Free Page A

when the sun reached the top of the sky. I was determined to meet her there because I wanted to see her beautiful face in the sunlight.
    I dressed in my warmest cloak, for winter was in the air. Mama was pleased when I offered to get our water.
    “Be careful who you talk to,” she warned. “Your father told me that a traveling merchant brought Rabbi Weltner a letter from his brother, who lives in Bern. The letter says that the sickness has arrived in that city.” She sighed deeply. “More and more people are dying there every day. The Jews of Bern have been accused of poisoning the wells of the town to bring on the sickness. Several of them were arrested and tortured onthe wheel until they confessed to the crime. Then they were put to death.” She drew a worried hand across her brow. “Who wouldn’t confess if they were tortured? Rabbi Weltner’s brother wrote to warn him that the same kind of thing could happen to us in Strasbourg.”
    “Oh, Mama, it’s so unfair! It shows how much they hate us.”
    She kissed me on the cheek. “That’s why you must be careful,” she repeated. “I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to you.”
    “I won’t do anything rash. I promise.”
    Guilt squeezed my heart with all its might, and suddenly I wanted to tell her about Elena more than anything in the world. But I allowed my words to die on my lips, for I knew Mama well enough to realize that she would be upset. She’d point out that both Elena and I were breaking the law prohibiting Jews and Christians from fraternizing. She’d warn me that we’d be put into the stockades if the authorities discovered our relationship. She would be so frightened that she’d surely forbid me ever to see Elena again. I didn’t want to risk that, so I picked up the buckets and set out for the town square without saying another word.
    —
    I couldn’t see Elena anywhere. Instead of the usual organized chaos in the square, all the merchants,artisans, knights and ladies were gathered by the well, pushing and shoving each other.
    “Show the damned Jew that he can’t get away with it!” cried a man in the middle of the crowd.
    “Make him pay!” said another. “He surely makes us pay enough. This’ll teach him to stop demanding the settlement of his cursed loans.”
    “Let’s see how high and mighty the Jew acts now,” cackled a woman behind me.
    I shouldered my way to the front of the mob. Lying on the cobblestones was old Meyer, a moneylender who lived two doors away from us. One man was tugging and pulling on his snowy beard, while another was kicking him. A third—an absolute giant—was pouring water from a jug into the old man’s mouth, making him cough and sputter.
    “Let’s see how you like drinking the water you poisoned, you bloody Jew!” the giant hissed.
    Violent choking noises were the old man’s sole reply. The other people in the crowd were laughing, clapping, encouraging the attackers.
    “Kaspar, I beg you to think of what you’re doing. He may be a Jew, but he’s a man too.”
    It took me a moment to place the lone voice of dissent. But then I turned and saw Hans, Wilhelm the draper’s journeyman. He was wringing his hands and was white with fear. I ran to him.
    “Go and get your master!” I ordered. “Be as quick as you can!”
    He scowled. “You can’t tell me what—”
    I pointed at the giant in front of us. “He’ll kill the old man. Get Master Wilhelm, now!”
    He turned on his heel and ran. I grabbed the man with the jug and spun him around by the arm, pulling him away from the moneylender. I was confronted by an angry face with a red goatee.
    “What do we have here? Another cursed Jew!”
    He grabbed me by my tunic and lifted me into the air before throwing me to the ground and pummeling me. I covered my face with my hands to protect myself, peeking through my fingers at the scene above. A large boot suddenly obscured my vision of the sky. Then pain in my head and all was