Recap: Miri’s throat is hurting. She overhears the gypsy girls talking about turning them in for a reward, and Paulina is leaving to do it.
I watched Paulina stashing our food into a sack. Gypsies, what would stop them? Please, Hashem, help me think of what to do. Please!
Just then, I thought of a story my housekeeper used to tell us. I could hear Lucinda’s lilting voice in my head.
“Gypsies are scared of lots of things like black cats and doing laundry in May. They won’t walk on cracks in the road, and they won’t go anywhere near an owl hooting. Superstitions.”
Now I knew what to do. That was it! I raced over to the closest tree and shimmied up so I was perched on a branch right over Josephina’s head.
A branch creaked. No, they couldn’t know I was here. It would spoil my plan.
I froze.
Silence.
I took a deep breath. I had to do something fast. They were going to report us to the Inquisition. My heart pounded. I asked Hashem for help. This had to work!
“Ahoooo!” I said in the spookiest voice I could make.
“Ahooo!” I spoke in their native tongue. “Be careful!”
“Who said that?” Josephina rose and called to Paulina.
“Did you hear that?”
Paulina was busy tying up her sack. “Hear what?”
“That sound!”
“Ahooo!” I called into the wind. My voice echoed, and the effect even scared me.
“Traps can trap the trapper! Ahooo!” I whispered in a croaky voice.
“Who is that?” Paulina grabbed Josephina’s arm.
“Who’s talking?” Her voice shook.
“Go escape before you get trapped!” My voice echoed in an eerie way.
“Jo, we have to go.”
“It’s nothing,” Paulina said. “I’m sure it’s nothing.”
“Ahoooh!” I shrieked.
Both girls jumped. “Let’s get out of here. I’m not staying here another minute!”
The two gypsy girls took each other’s hands and ran away.
Baruch Hashem. Thank you, Hashem! It’s wrong to scare people, but this was a matter of pikuach nefesh.
I shimmied down the trunk and headed back to my makeshift bed. I was still shaking. I was so thankful those two gypsies left.
Everyone was still asleep. I had to wake them. We needed to hide. We were too much out in the open.
I strained to hear something. There was the steady buzz of insects and the distant call of an owl or coyote, but there was something else. I heard the drumming of what could be horses. A chill ran through me. What if the people looking for us were on our trail?
It was still very dark and the middle of the night. We had to leave this exposed spot quickly. I nudged Katie awake, and then I whispered to Sabrina. “The gypsies were planning to turn us in for a reward.”
Sabrina gasped.
“Where are they now?”
“I scared them away. I’ll tell you about it later. We’ve got to go.”
Soon we were all awake and packing up. I told her about the gypsies’ evil plan and how I’d scared them away.
The sound of hoofbeats was distant but steady, and Sabrina motioned to us to be very quiet.
We moved farther into the woods, breaking a trail through vines and heavy bushes. My head started pounding. It was painful to swallow. I needed a drink. I stopped for a minute to catch my breath. The drumming sound of hoofbeats drew closer.
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.