Another Me by Eva Wiseman

Author:Eva Wiseman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tundra
Published: 2016-09-13T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 15

Even though I believed my mother was right, I still felt that I should continue trying to help my people. I decided to visit Rabbi Weltner to ask him to arrange another appointment with the Ammeister. I had to know for sure if the councilors had believed that lying Kaspar over me.

When I arrived at the rabbi’s house, he was talking to an older man dressed in country clothes.

“Ah, Hans. Welcome!” he said. “I was just telling Yehuda the peddler about you. Yehuda is from the Mulhouse region. Didn’t you once tell me that your family comes from there?”

I had no idea where Hans’s family came from, but I couldn’t tell that to the rabbi with the peddler hanging on our every word, so I nodded. “I’ve never been to Mulhouse myself.”

“I knew your grandparents well,” Yehuda said. “Your grandmother was my wife’s cousin once removed. What a pity that both of them departed from our world so young. Your grandfather wasn’t of our faith, of course, but he was a most decent man. In them times, a Jew and a Christian could spend their lives together, but that’s forbidden nowadays.”

My ears perked up. If Hans’s grandmother was Jewish, didn’t that make him Jewish too?

“My grandmother was Jewish? Nobody ever told me that.”

“That she was, as am I. And you?”

“I’m—”

“You and I will talk in a moment, Hans,” the rabbi said, throwing me a meaningful glance. “Yehuda must return to his family before the setting of the sun.”

With that, he stood up and ushered the man out of the room. I waited for him to come back, my mind racing. It had set my imagination on fire—Hans was one of us!

When Rabbi Weltner returned, he sat down and clasped his hands together in a satisfied manner. “I was right, Natan!” he exulted. “Hans has Jewish ancestors—although perhaps even he doesn’t know about them. That’s why you were able to settle into his body when you became an ibbur.” His pleasure dimmed as he took in my drawn and anxious face. He leaned toward me, his eyes reflecting his concern. “How are things? It can’t be easy for you.”

I choked back my tears. He was the first person to show concern for me. Not even Mama and Elena—both of whom loved me but were caught up in their own grief—realized the pain I was experiencing.

“It’s difficult,” I acknowledged, “but that’s not why I came to see you.”

I told him I was concerned that I hadn’t heard back from the Ammeister.

“He promised to notify me as soon as the councilors made up their minds. It’s been over two weeks and he still hasn’t told me which of us the councilors believed.”

“I don’t understand why Schwarber hasn’t contacted you. He is a man of his word. There must be a reason for his silence.” He shook his head slowly from side to side. “It’s certainly not a good sign.”

“What do you advise me to do, Rabbi?”

He stood up and fetched his cloak. “Let’s walk down to his office and talk to him now.

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