The Gypsy Witch (5 page)

I didn't see them. Three peasant boys of maybe sixteen years were pursuing me on horse back. I might have remained oblivious until they were upon me had one not cried out
"Zigeuya"
They were taunting me. All three of them had fire orange hair, and that made me think that they might be brothers. I had learned to ride early and my horse and I were as one. With a clucking sound as I leaned into her neck. I gave her our signal to pick up speed.
"Go Mara, hurry up girl"
The little horse threw her head back and whinnied as we whipped through the field and across an open dirt road. They were hot on my trail, but they couldn't catch me. Now the boys were hollering as their laughter pierced the air.
"Gypsy girl, come over here. Come on Zigeuya, tell our fortune, we won't hurt you."
Wildly they kicked their horses racing each other as much as they were trying to catch me.
I knew they meant me no good, learning early in life that boys in a group could spell danger. I turned my horse and rode up a hill and out of the clearing. I ducked back into the forest and road through tight openings in the trees until my horse and I were virtually lost to the gagos.
After a sigh of relief, I patted Mara, grateful for her help, and rode on.
Just as the sun was making her magnificent exit in shades of bright fuchsia calmed by brushstrokes of royal blue, I came upon the kompania. There just a few miles from the Swiss border
,
a band of gypsy vurduns had stopped for the night.
Dogs were barking as I dismounted, but I was immediately greeted and recognized as Rom. This was not my Kompania, but all gypsies are cousins
"Please, I need to see the Shuvani, the medicine woman. I need help."
The two young boys that greeted me were Chavvis, Romany children, and so they understood immediately.
"Come and follow."
They led me to a wagon made of logs, and badly in need of paint.
"In here" One of the boys indicated, and I entered.
A woman sat on the floor her legs splayed out in front of her, white hair caught up in a bun at the nape of her neck, she made a sucking sound as she puffed a silver pipe. Lined like a map, her weathered brown face showed no emotion. But her deep onyx eyes studied me.
"You're in trouble
,
child."
"Yes, mother. A great deal of trouble."
"Sit then. Tell me."
I told her everything, and she listened as I wept. Then shaking her head she looked into my eyes.
The smoke burned my eyes and made me cough as a gray fog floated out of the wide mouth of her pipe each time she inhaled. She rocked back and forth as she contemplated my situation. Finally after what seemed like hours, but in fact was only minutes, she placed her pipe on the ground. Only a few teeth remained on either side of her wrinkled mouth, her parched lips smiled in sympathy.
"I will help you. But you know child, you are a gypsy witch as I am. You, are a special one. As you grow older your powers will become stronger. I know you don't believe me, but you have the power to do this yourself if you so chose."
"Old mother, I have some magical abilities, I know, but not against him. He is so strong. I cannot get away. It is essential that the spell be broken, and that he no longer is able to control me. I wish for him to go from my life and leave me in peace."
She continued to rock. Lifting her pipe she stuffed it full again and lit it then continued puffing deeply in silence.
"If you do not believe that you can do it alone, you will not be able to."
Finally she rose and walked over to a cabinet. She took a bottle of herbs and mixed them with a liquid. "Take this sweet child, and by tomorrow, you will be free of his magic."
Kneeling she handed me the vial. For an old woman she was very limber.
I drank the potion, and felt nothing.
"Old mother, I would like to give you some money."
I took a small velvet purse filled with coins and put it on the floor beside her.
"Do not leave me money, you are Rom, you are one of us."
"But I can spare it and I wish to make this gift to you."
With gnarled fingers she took the money bag, and nodded her thanks.
"Hurry home, your husband is filled with worry. Go now, and all will be as you wish."
"Thank you, thank you mother"
Turning away, she dismissed me, then lifted her hand and waved to indicate that our time together was over.
I left.
Through the forest, I rode, the sound of galloping hoofs were all I heard. The tree branches scraped my face and arms but I continued faster than an arrow flies.
When I arrived the following morning, Jan skin was the color of the old mother's smoke. I could see by the dark thick swellings beneath his eyes that he had not slept.
"Where were you? I was so worried?'
"Please, don't ask me. I had to go and find a Kompania."
"For what? Couldn't you wait and I would have gone with you? I found the horse gone and I knew you'd ridden off somewhere. When I thought of you all alone in the dark night, I was distraught. I rode all around town looking, but I couldn't find you. I tore my hair out hoping it was not something I had done. My God, please don't ever do anything like this again."
"It's nothing you did. I walked over and touched his face. I felt him melt like butter.
"Promise me, please that you won't ever do anything like this again."
"I'm so sorry, I won't. I promise."
After riding all night I was dirty and spent. I bathed my body and my hair. As I lay immersed in the hot soapy water, I was thankful that Jan had not pressed me for more information. I retired to my bed and slept for two days.
I awoke to find Jan beside me, asleep in a chair. Rising from the bed I walked over to him. Tenderly kissing his cheek I helped him to lie down. I placed a light blanket over him and he fell asleep. For a few minutes I stood watching him, filled with tenderness.
Late that afternoon, while Jan was finishing work on the land, Grigori appeared.
"I was here several days ago, looking for you, where have you been?'
"Never mind where I've been. Don't come here anymore."
"You will come with me?"
"No, Grigori, it's over. Leave me in peace. Go."
He started towards me, but his eyes lost their magnetism and I lifted my fingers pointing them at him in the sign of a gypsy curse.
"It's over."
Above us a melody sprung from the throat of a songbird. I saw the fear in his eyes as he looked at my hand. Turning away, Grigori walked quietly out of my life.
I was sure that everything would be fine now. Jan and I would resume our happy marriage, and all would be well. And it was.
For six weeks.
Two events would take place that would change things forever.

Chapter Ten…

I

was in the kitchen chopping potatoes when I heard mama cry out. Dropping the knife I ran to see what was wrong. On the wooden floor beside her bed she lay trembling, her face shrouded by a dark shadow.
"What is it Mama?" I knelt beside her.
"I am so dizzy. My head hurts. I am seeing two of everything."
I helped her up and back into bed. Then I ran to the kitchen to boil a pot of water and added a bit of chopped willow bark. The medicine simmered as I cut a chunk of her hair and then ran outside to bury it.
Upon returning I propped her up with pillows and spooned the mixture into her mouth. Unable to swallow the liquid dribbled from her formless lips, and her face seemed to sag drastically on one side.
"Mama, what can I do?"
"Go and get Jan."
I ran outside to find Jan brushing one of the horses in the barn. He looked up as I entered.
"What's wrong?"
"Mama is sick. She wants you."
"I'm coming."
He followed me back to the house. "I'm here, Mama. What hurts you?"
She told him, and he motioned that I meet him outside the room.
When we were alone he looked at me gravely.
"I think she's very ill. Perhaps I should go and fetch a doctor."
"Mama would never agree to a gago doctor."
"She might if I talked to her."
"No. I gave her some willow bark and buried a piece of her hair. That should help."
His hand caressed my face."Sweetheart, my love, I know you believe in all of this, but perhaps a doctor might help."
"You insult me."
"Never! I just want what's best for mama."
"I know what's best for mama."
Young and stubborn, I walked away from him. Within days my mother had become an old woman, left eye drooping down exposing the raw inside of her lower lid. Not willing to admit I'd been wrong, I decided I would go into town and find the gago doctor myself. Perhaps, I thought his medicine magic was stronger than my own.
Diligently at work, trying to harvest our crops before the first frost, Jan did not see me as I rode away on horseback.
The cool breeze felt morning fresh on my face, and the sweet smell of harvest permeated the air. Leaves of burgundy and orange crunched beneath her feet, as I maneuvered my horse along the trail into town.
When I arrived, people scurried about. Two men dressed in fancy suits leaned against a wagon wheel, their jaws fat with tobacco as they chomped. With hands flaying about they negotiated a sale. Hurried along with purpose, ladies dressed in cotton frocks with fancy hats carried baskets of colorful fabric and ribbons. Vendors of all shapes and sizes populated the streets offering fresh fruits and vegetables, along with livestock. The luscious smell of fresh bread wafted out the open door of a bakery. Because I had never learned to read, the signs were meaningless to me. Pacing the streets, I wondered how I would ever find the doctor.
Two of the red-haired boys who had followed me relentlessly when I had gone to see the medicine woman, stood munching on apples outside of a candy store. As they glanced over at me, I noticed them whisper to each other as their eyes narrowed. Being outsmarted by a gypsy angered them. One crossed the street and came towards me. A chill ran up the back of my neck and in an effort to get back to my horse I picked up my pace. Out of an alleyway the other boy came walking towards me, at his side a heavy set policeman sauntered along.
"This good for nothing gypsy stole a chicken from my brother and me." He said, pointing just inches from my face with his index finger.
"I did not. I never stole anything from you. You chased me and I got away."
The policeman looked skeptical.
"We had your kind here in town before, it usually means trouble. Where are the rest of you people? You folks always come in big groups, you call them caravans, right?"
"I don't live in a caravan anymore. I am married. My husband is Jan Reinhard."
"She's a liar. You know how they are, they're all liars. They come into town and steal from the farmers and con our women with their fortune telling."
The police man licked his lips as he looked at my breasts. Fat jiggled on his sweaty face as I saw him stand straighter. Thick fingers grabbed my arm. I was frightened. We had been taught as children to fear the law. When the police came upon the gypsies they always came to arrest us or if we were lucky send us on our way. Early on I knew that as far as the Rom was concerned the law had absolute power. He could do as he wished with me and there would be no one to answer to.
"Please, I never stole anything from these boys. I came to town to find the doctor.'
"Sure and you expect me to believe that?" Fingers twitching his grip on my arm tightened, and I tried to pull away.
"Let me go, please..."
"I don't think so, I think we need to take a deeper look into this situation"
The way he was staring at my body, I knew I was in trouble.
"Please" I begged again, struggling to get away.
A tall slender woman close to my age walked out of a doorway just a few feet in front of us. In the sunlight her hair was the color of maple syrup and as she turned towards me I saw that her eyes were golden like liquid honey.
"What's going on here?"
"I'm sorry if we disturbed you, miss, but we have a gypsy girl here causing trouble."
"I'm not causing any trouble. I need to find the doctor, my mother is sick and now these boys are accusing me of stealing and I'm being arrested."
I tugged trying to release his grasp.
"Let her go. I know this girl; she's come to see me."
When she motioned for me to follow the officer's hand went limp.
"My father's a physician. Perhaps, he can help you."
She led me to a building up the street, opened the door and together we walked into a crowded office. People of all ages sat in rows waiting their turn to see the gago medicine man, but she took me in ahead of everyone.
"Father, do you have a moment?"
"Yes dear, always for you. Come into my office."
An ornately carved desk placed in front of a large picture window was the first thing I saw when I entered the doctors office. A rug of muted colors covered most of the hardwood floor. The doctor motioned for us to sit and we both did.

"Who is your friend?"

"Actually, I don't even know her name, but I heard a commotion outside and when I went out the police were arresting her. It seems she had come into town looking for a medical assistance for her mother."
"So, what is your name, young lady?"
"Zigeuya  Reinhard. I need help, sir, because my mother is very sick. It might be a curse someone has put on her, but I don't think so. I tried all the medicine I know. She can no longer walk and needs help to eat. I would have brought her here if I could, but she is unable to travel."
"I see. Where do you live?"
I gave him directions to the farm and he promised me he would visit after finishing the day's patients. In the face of the gago doctor, there was a special light of kindness. That was my first impression of him, and I was right.