Benjamin

the eve of Pentecost, at Vespers

Daniel is shaking with the fever on his pallet again. I would buy him some bread to soak in water if I had the copper, but my purse is as empty as my belly.

• 
  Daniel

  Thank you kindly Benjamin, but keep your pennies for your rent.

• 
  Joseph

  Maybe if you hadn't set the watch on me I'd have caught a fever in the snow instead of him.

the second Tuesday of May, at Prime

They say the soldiers on the Prague road are turning back the carts. A stale loaf costs more than a day's sweeping now. Katchka would have wept to see such times.

Nota scribaeDictated slowly, with much rubbing of the face.

the third day of Easter week, at Compline

Simon accused young Thomas of stealing pennies from the Saint Barbara alms box. It cost the lad three days of work. I said nothing, for my bones cannot take a beating, but God sees the truth.

• 
  Simon

  Keep your mouth shut, old man, or I will give you that beating myself.

• 
  Thomas

  He lied, Benjamin, and you all stood there and let him!

the Monday after Saint Gregory, at None

I ask only for my plate back. It was my Katchka's, the only thing of hers I kept. Joseph took it from the cellar hearth and uses it for his own meals, all for a bitter grudge.

• 
  Joseph

  You set the watch on me and left me to freeze in the snow! Admit it and you will get your tin.

• 
  Benjamin

  I merely asked the watchman the time, boy. Give me back my Katchka's plate.

Nota scribaeThe man sighed heavily before and after speaking.

Candlemas, at Terce

The widow Lettice came for the rent today. I paid her my last pennies. The younger men grumble, but her cellar is dry and the snow is deep outside Saint James's.

• 
  Adam

  Better poor and dry than frozen dead in the church porch.