The Copper Sign Read Free Page A

to say what she’ll do with you now?” Ellen could see by his frown that Simon was worried about her.
    “But what shall I do?”
    The tanner’s son shrugged. “Why did you have to be so nosy?” he chided her. “You should have come and eaten the berries like me.” Then he threw a handful of dirt at the ants, which by now had come closer to where he was standing.
    The busy little ants paid no attention to the cloud of dust and kept pulling the bee along.
    “I’m not the one who wanted to go to the cottage! All you can ever think of is eating—that’s why we had to go there,” Ellen huffed.
    “I’m scared,” Simon whispered, feeling guilty.
    “Me too.” Ellen rubbed her temple with one finger. Worry showed in her eyes, and their color seemed to change from bright green to a mossy dark hue, though her red hair was still gleaming in the sunlight.
    In the distance they could hear a jay calling. The wind was sighing through the trees, and the mighty Ore burbled along peacefully. Close by, dirty white bubbles drifted along the surface of the tanning pit, then gathered at shallower places in the stream and were quickly carried off again. The river became somewhat narrower at the tannery, though it was still wide enough to allow two merchant ships to sail past one another.
    “But what shall I do now?” Ellen stooped down to pick up a flat stone and flung it far out into the river. It skipped once across the water with a splash and then sank with a dull plop. Simon was much better at that—his stones jumped across the water like grasshoppers.
    “In any case, you can’t stay here. Go to see the good woman, Aelfgiva; she’ll surely know what to do.” Simon wiped his runny nose on his shirtsleeve.
    “Simon,” they heard his mother calling. “Simon, come and help your father rinse out the hides.” Her warm and friendly voice didn’t seem to be in keeping with her gaunt appearance. Her linen dress was the color of sand—coarse and dirty—and it hung on her like a sack. Her face was pale. Ellen felt repelled by her calloused, gnarled hands and fingernails stained yellow from working in the tannic acid. Worst of all was the odor of urine and oak bark she gave off.
    “Brrr, you’re all wet, boy.” The tanner’s wife ran her hands lovingly through Simon’s hair.
    Ellen couldn’t bear to look at his mother. She was so different from Leofrun. She loved her children and would no doubt have let herself be drawn and quartered for each of them. Nevertheless, a bath now and then wouldn’t do her any harm, Ellen thought. Leofrun washed daily and put a drop of lavender oil behind each ear, just like the wives and daughters of the rich merchants of Ipswich. But inside she stank worse than the tanner’s wife, Ellen thought angrily to herself. Never could she wash this sin from her soul.
    “Come now, Simon, and help your father. You two can see each other again tomorrow.”
    Ellen stared at the ground, her eyes welling up with tears. Who knows what tomorrow will bring , she thought dejectedly.
    “Good luck,” Simon whispered, giving her a quick peck on the cheek. Then he got up and followed his mother into the house, his head hanging. He turned around just once and waved sadly.
    Ellen was startled by a rustling in the underbrush and turned around, but nobody was there. Simon was right, Sir Miles and Leofrun must never find her; she had to go to Aelfgiva. If anyone knew what to do, she would. Suddenly Ellen realized she had to hurry. She ran through the forest so fast her feet barely touched the ground, and she didn’t feel the sharp stones poking through her thin leather soles. She hardly even noticed those pale yellow flowers she loved so much that covered the ground around her. She couldn’t expect any mercy from Leofrun. Aelfgiva just had to help her! Before long she reached the midwife’s cottage in the little clearing and stopped, all out of breath.
    Little dust particles danced like specks of gold in the