Recap: The girls are caught in a torrential downpour. They find an empty barn and fall asleep there for the night. They wake up to see a lady staring at them.
The lady spoke in Spanish, and two gold bangle bracelets jangled on her wrist.
Sabrina began talking to her in Spanish. “We were caught in the storm. We are leaving now.”
“Who are you? Where are you from? Why did you come to my barn?”
It was hard to tell from her tone of voice if she was angry or just curious.
“We are traveling to our sick uncle. We were caught by the floods. We will pay you for staying.” Sabrina stood and answered in rapid Spanish.
“Are you good Christians?”
I understood that question. My neck muscles tightened.
“Yes, yes.” Sabrina then crossed herself.
I looked down at the hay. I prayed she wouldn’t notice that Katie and I didn’t do that.
“I will bring you some food. It is still raining and cold outside.”
“No, it’s fine. We are in a rush. It’s fine.”
“Three nice girls must be hungry. Wait, and I’ll bring you something.” She scurried away.
Katie translated what she’d said.
“Quick, let’s get out of here,” I said. There was no way of knowing her view of the Inquisition, and I didn’t want to test it out.
“We can’t. She’ll see us from the house, and then she might suspect and send someone after us. We have to stay calm,” Sabrina said.
A little while later, the woman bustled in with a tray laden with mugs of hot coffee and plates of food.
“Our own homegrown ham. Cured ourselves. Enjoy,” she said.
Sabrina translated what she said.
My stomach clenched. I didn’t want to be rude, but of course we couldn’t eat such food. How could we defer without raising suspicion?
Sabrina and I exchanged worried glances. Then Hashem gave me an idea. I whispered in Sabrina’s ear. She nodded and smiled.
“Gracias,” Sabrina explained in Spanish. “So kind of you. We are vegetarian. We are sisters, and we have stomach problems. We can’t eat meat or cheese, but thank you so much. If you have some apples or mangoes, that would be the best.”
The lady hesitated. She stared at us for a long time. I had the awful feeling she suspected we were Jewish.
Then she took the tray back and headed back to the house.
“Do you think she suspects why we can’t eat it?” I whispered.
“Shh!” Sabrina put her finger to her lips.
She came back a few minutes later with some mangoes on a plate.
“Gracias!” we chorused.
I couldn’t wait to bite into that fruit. I had never felt so hungry. We mumbled brachos under our breath.
The sweet, succulent fruit slid down my throat, and before I knew it, all the pieces on the plate were devoured.
“You better leave now. I heard the carriage.” She glanced towards the door. “My husband is home. He doesn’t approve of any guests. He would not want to find any strangers here. Best you go quickly out the back door. He could be back at any minute.”
We heard the sound of heavy boots approaching.
Her eyes widened with fear. She pointed. “Quick, hide behind that hay.”
I understood what to do without translation.
There was a tall bale of hay towards the corner of the barn, and the three of us knelt behind it. It was wide and tall, and I prayed he wouldn’t see us.
A man with angry dark eyes stormed into the barn. He screamed at his wife in Spanish. “I heard voices. Someone was here?” He pointed at the table where our plates were sitting. “Answer me!” He slapped his wife.
She cried out.
My neck muscles tightened, and my heart was pounding.
To be continued…
Susie Garber is the author of 11 popular Jewish books, including her newly released historical fiction novel The Blizzard (Menucha 2026) and recently published novel Captured (Menucha 2025). She is also the current news editor of Binyan Magazine.