The Last Song

frightened with each day that passed. I sought out Mama in her room. She was sitting in front of a pier glass. Her maid was brushing her hairwhile another slave fanned her. She seemed to be in a trance. Her shoulders were slumped and her eyes were closed.
    “I must speak to you, Mama.”
    Slowly, she turned her head. “Yes?”
    “Privately.”
    She dismissed the servants with a motion of her hand. I closed the door, waited a minute, and then opened it again quickly. The corridor was empty.
    “We must help Papa before he is tried and it’s too late.”
    “What can we do? I would give my life to free your father.” She wiped her eyes.
    “There is only one thing left. We must tell Fray Torquemada about the letter you found. If we tell the Grand Inquisitor about the letter, he’ll let Papa go. Torquemada doesn’t want anybody to know that he is a New Christian.”
    “Think, girl! I told your father that he was wrong. If we threaten Torquemada, he’ll arrest us, too. That won’t help.” She pulled me so close that I could barely breathe, her arms wrapped around my middle as I stood before her. “I will not put your life in danger,” she cried. “Papa wouldn’t want me to.”
    “There is no other way – ”
    She let go of me and held up her hand. “I don’twant to listen to you. There must be something else we can do.” She stood up and began to pace the room. She stopped in front of me. “We must go see Juana. She has always known about our Jewish ancestors, but she has never spoken of them to anyone. She’ll help us.”
    “She won’t, Mama. She is a good Catholic. She thinks that we are condemned to hell. That’s why she speaks of the Grand Inquisitor with such admiration.”
    “That doesn’t matter! Juana has been a sister to me. Our families have known each other forever. Juana is your godmother. Diego has great influence. She will make sure that he’ll help your father.”
    She sounded so definite that I almost believed her.
    She rang the bell and ordered Yussuf to get the litter ready.
    “Faster, faster!” Mama called to the slaves carrying us on their shoulders.
    They picked up speed as we bounced up and down, up and down, until my teeth chattered. I kept fanning myself, but my clothes were sticking to my body in the summer heat. The hair at the nape of my neck was wet, and I could feel perspiration running down between my shoulder blades. We were traveling so fast that Yussuf,walking behind the litter, had to break into a trot to keep up with us. Before long, we arrived in front of Tia Juana’s house.
    “My lady, do you want me to ring?” Yussuf asked.
    “No! Help me out.”
    Mama climbed out of the litter and ran up the steps to the heavy oak door. I followed her. We could hear muffled voices and footsteps through the open windows above us. Mama pulled the iron bell. The door did not open. She pounded on the door. It became quiet inside the house.
    “Why aren’t they opening the door?” she asked. “Where could they be?”
    The litter bearers began to whisper among themselves.
    I walked down the steps and looked up at the windows. I thought that I saw a movement behind the curtains. “Let’s go home, Mama. Tia Juana won’t let us in.”
    “That’s not possible.” Her face was flushed. She banged on the door with all her might. The house remained silent.
    I took her arm. “We’re not doing any good by standing here.” I pulled her toward the litter.
    “There must be some explanation. Juana would never refuse to receive us. We are like sisters,” sherepeated all the way home. “Where could Juana have gone without telling me?” She wiped her eyes. “I don’t understand why the servants didn’t answer the door. Something must be wrong.” She sighed. “What shall we do?”
    “We will have to use great-grandmother’s letter.”
    “And risk torture or worse? It’s out of the question.”
    “We’ve tried everything else. We have no choice, Mama.”
    “I’ll go to see your father. He’ll tell me what to do.”
    “But how can we get permission to see him?”
    “We can’t. Not from the Inquisition. But there is always another way. Somebody we can bribe.”
    She was deep in thought the rest of our journey. When the bearers finally lowered the litter to the ground, Luis and his slave Habib were waiting for us in front of the villa. Habib was holding the reins of two horses and a mule packed with provisions.
    Luis greeted us awkwardly. “I came to say