The Master's Apprentice - Oliver Potzsch Page 0,7

one end of town to the other.”

“But we didn’t do anything!” protested Margarethe.

Gerlach raised his finger, trembling with fury. “I ain’t stupid, girl! I know what I saw. You’re not children anymore. Don’t try to fool me!” He shot a look of disgust at his son, who was still lying amid the stalks and wiping a trickle of blood from his chin. Then he turned back to Margarethe. “I’ve put up with my son making eyes at you for too long. He’s put a spell on you with his accursed tricks, and you fall for them like a silly goose!”

“But, Father,” Johann said, holding his burning cheek. He tried to curb his anger. If he provoked his father even more, he’d be forbidden from seeing Margarethe again. “Nothing happened—honestly.”

“Nothing happened?” Gerlach spun around. “Don’t you see what damage you’re causing with your wanton behavior? Margarethe is promised to a merchant’s son from Bretten! He won’t marry a girl who’s been touched by another. And then the prefect will raise my interest out of spite. I’m already the town’s laughingstock, thanks to you. You won’t ruin my reputation any longer. Not you!” He stamped on the playing cards. The jack with the rose in his hand was lying under the farmer’s heel, smeared with muck and dirt.

“Stuff of the devil,” he snarled.

Johann moved backward. Until now, Margarethe being promised to a merchant’s son had been nothing but idle gossip. Margarethe had never mentioned anything. But his father’s words had turned rumor to reality—and Johann’s dream of a future with Margarethe burst like a bubble. This blow hurt so much more than his father’s slap.

“Stuff of the devil!” shouted Jörg Gerlach again and ripped the jack of hearts into small shreds. “Accursed, heretic stuff of the devil! Made for jugglers, scoundrels, and fraudsters!”

Johann had never seen his father this angry before. His face was scarlet with rage. It seemed like he was letting out everything that had long been stewing in him. They had never been close, but lately they’d grown even further apart. Johann’s elder brothers, Karl and Lothar, were his father’s favorites. He took them out on the horse, asked them along on trips to neighboring markets—and Karl, the eldest, was even allowed to join their father at the tavern and drink wine at the same table. The Gerlachs were a respected family with a large farm. Their house was right by the Knittlingen church. Everyone knew that Karl would inherit the farm, and Lothar, who was apprenticed to the blacksmith, would take over the smithy one day. The two youngest sons, Johann and seven-year-old Martin, would go empty handed.

“I don’t want that pimply Bretten boy for a husband,” said Margarethe angrily. She had jumped to her feet and stood with her hands on her hips. “I’ve only seen him twice, but that was enough. Adalbert Schmeltzle is as dumb as an ox, with teeth like a horse. I’d rather enter a nunnery!”

Jörg Gerlach’s face twisted into a sneer. “You’ve got no say in the matter, girl. That’s between fathers. Now run along before word gets out that you’re rolling in the field with my son. And you . . .” He turned back to Johann. “Go home as fast as you can. Mother is worse, and she’s been calling for you.” He shook his head. “Aren’t you ashamed? While you’re out playing silly games in the field, your mother is coughing her lungs out! You promised to look after her—seeing as you’re no good for anything else.”

Johann, back on his feet, doubled up as if he’d been struck. His father knew he’d hit a sore point, and dealt the next blow.

“The priest said after mass that he’d soon have to administer the last rites. Who knows how many days she’s got left.” He nodded grimly. “Perhaps it’s better for everyone if she leaves us sooner rather than later.”

“How can you speak about Mother that way? You . . . you . . .”

Johann raised his arm, caught himself, and lowered it again. He spun around and started to run. He raced through the tall stalks of grain toward town, almost blind and deaf with grief. He didn’t hear Margarethe’s desperate cries and stumbled toward the city gate, his eyes swimming with tears of anger and despair. While he realized that his father just wanted to hurt him, he also knew in his heart that he was right.

His mother was dying.

With clenched teeth, Johann kept running, through the open gate,