the alguacil, and on the other end was an interrogation room. There were tiny cells on both sides of the corridor connecting the two rooms. Most of the cells had an occupant lying curled up on the stone floor of that limited space, or sitting against the wall.
Isidoro Alvarez told Yonah that among his prisoners were three thieves, a murderer, a drunkard, two foot-pads, and eleven New Christians charged with being secret Jews.
A guard armed with sword and club sat sleepily on a chair in the corridor. The alguacil told Yonah, 'He is Paco,' and muttered to the guard, 'This one is Tomás.' Then he went into his office and closed the door against the powerful stink.
Yonah knew with resignation that any attempt at cleanliness in that place would have to begin with the slop buckets, filled to overflowing, so he asked Paco to unlock the first cell, in which a vacant-eyed female watched listlessly as he took her bucket.
When he tethered Moise behind the jail he had noticed a spade hung against the wall, and now he took it and found a sandy place where he dug a deep hole. He emptied the odorous contents into the hole and then twice filled the bucket with sand and emptied it. There was a tree nearby with very large heart-shaped leaves that he used to wipe out the sand, then he rinsed the bucket in the trickle of water in a nearby ditch before returning it to the cell.
Thus he cleansed the buckets in five cells, his pity growing as he witnessed the poor condition of their occupants. When the door to the sixth cell was opened, he went inside and paused for a moment before picking up the bucket. The prisoner was a slender man. Like the other males, his hair and beard had been allowed to grow long and untended, but there was something in the face that Yonah seemed to know.
The guard grunted, irritated to be kept standing by the open door, and Yonah picked up the slop bucket and carried it outside.
It was only when he reentered the cell to return the bucket, trying to see the prisoner's face as it may have been with barbered hair and a neatly tended beard, that he received a blow of memory. It was a picture of his dying mother, and the man who had come every day for long weeks to bend over Esther Toledano and spoon medicines into her.
The prisoner was Bernardo Espina, the former physician of Toledo.
14
The Holiday
At night Yonah slept on the flagstone floor of the interrogation room. Once a day he fetched food cooked nearby by the wife of the night guard, Gato, and fed the prisoners. He ate what they ate, sometimes feeding it to Moise to supplement the burro's slim fare of weedy grass. He was waiting for a propitious time to flee. Paco said there was to be a large auto de fé soon, with many people in the city. That seemed to Yonah a good time to leave.
Meanwhile he kept the jail clean and Isidoro, content with his labor, left him alone. In his first days at the jail the thieves were severely beaten by Paco and the night guard, Gato, and then they were released. The drunkard was released too, only to be returned three days later to a different cell, sodden and shouting wildly.
Gradually, from the muttered curses or conversations between Isidoro and his men, Yonah learned about the charges facing some of the New Christians. A butcher named Isaac de Marspera was accused of selling meat prepared according to Jewish rite. Four of the others were accused of habitually buying Marspera's meat. Juan Peropan was accused of owning pages of Jewish prayer, and his wife, Isabel, of willingly participating in Jewish liturgy. Neighbors of Ana Montalban had observed her using the seventh day of the week as a day of rest, laving her body each Friday before sundown, wearing clean clothes during the Jewish Sabbath.
Yonah began to be conscious of the eyes of the physician from Toledo, following him each time he worked near the man's cell.
Finally, one morning when he was working inside the cell the prisoner spoke to him in a low voice.
Isidoro Alvarez told Yonah that among his prisoners were three thieves, a murderer, a drunkard, two foot-pads, and eleven New Christians charged with being secret Jews.
A guard armed with sword and club sat sleepily on a chair in the corridor. The alguacil told Yonah, 'He is Paco,' and muttered to the guard, 'This one is Tomás.' Then he went into his office and closed the door against the powerful stink.
Yonah knew with resignation that any attempt at cleanliness in that place would have to begin with the slop buckets, filled to overflowing, so he asked Paco to unlock the first cell, in which a vacant-eyed female watched listlessly as he took her bucket.
When he tethered Moise behind the jail he had noticed a spade hung against the wall, and now he took it and found a sandy place where he dug a deep hole. He emptied the odorous contents into the hole and then twice filled the bucket with sand and emptied it. There was a tree nearby with very large heart-shaped leaves that he used to wipe out the sand, then he rinsed the bucket in the trickle of water in a nearby ditch before returning it to the cell.
Thus he cleansed the buckets in five cells, his pity growing as he witnessed the poor condition of their occupants. When the door to the sixth cell was opened, he went inside and paused for a moment before picking up the bucket. The prisoner was a slender man. Like the other males, his hair and beard had been allowed to grow long and untended, but there was something in the face that Yonah seemed to know.
The guard grunted, irritated to be kept standing by the open door, and Yonah picked up the slop bucket and carried it outside.
It was only when he reentered the cell to return the bucket, trying to see the prisoner's face as it may have been with barbered hair and a neatly tended beard, that he received a blow of memory. It was a picture of his dying mother, and the man who had come every day for long weeks to bend over Esther Toledano and spoon medicines into her.
The prisoner was Bernardo Espina, the former physician of Toledo.
14
The Holiday
At night Yonah slept on the flagstone floor of the interrogation room. Once a day he fetched food cooked nearby by the wife of the night guard, Gato, and fed the prisoners. He ate what they ate, sometimes feeding it to Moise to supplement the burro's slim fare of weedy grass. He was waiting for a propitious time to flee. Paco said there was to be a large auto de fé soon, with many people in the city. That seemed to Yonah a good time to leave.
Meanwhile he kept the jail clean and Isidoro, content with his labor, left him alone. In his first days at the jail the thieves were severely beaten by Paco and the night guard, Gato, and then they were released. The drunkard was released too, only to be returned three days later to a different cell, sodden and shouting wildly.
Gradually, from the muttered curses or conversations between Isidoro and his men, Yonah learned about the charges facing some of the New Christians. A butcher named Isaac de Marspera was accused of selling meat prepared according to Jewish rite. Four of the others were accused of habitually buying Marspera's meat. Juan Peropan was accused of owning pages of Jewish prayer, and his wife, Isabel, of willingly participating in Jewish liturgy. Neighbors of Ana Montalban had observed her using the seventh day of the week as a day of rest, laving her body each Friday before sundown, wearing clean clothes during the Jewish Sabbath.
Yonah began to be conscious of the eyes of the physician from Toledo, following him each time he worked near the man's cell.
Finally, one morning when he was working inside the cell the prisoner spoke to him in a low voice.
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