Bohuta Miller

the Tuesday before Whitsun, at Compline

I saw Ulrich Porter moaning again today about his strict father. Lord above, I wish I had a father with a shop to inherit. I would sweep the floors and keep my mouth shut, God willing.

• 
  Ulrich Porter

  You do not know my father, Bohuta. He would have you beaten for dropping a single nail.

the third day of Easter week, at Sext

Menhard Koch and Francis Vejmola are fighting again over the clerk Wenceslas and his levy list. Fools, making such a noise. Better to have no fixed address, I say. They cannot write down what they cannot find, God willing.

• 
  Menhard Koch

  Easy for you to say, sitting on a bench outside the cookshop while the rest of us pay tolls.

• 
  Francis Vejmola

  That clerk is a snake, and Koch is a fool to buy him ale.

Nota scribaeHe rubbed his hands together constantly while speaking.

the Feast of the Annunciation, at Vespers

I dropped a bundle of shingles today. The master threw me out without a groschen. My hands are just clumsy when the wind is cold. I sat by Saint James's church hoping a kind soul might buy me a small beer.

the Thursday after Ash Wednesday, at None

I-I wrote a letter. It is folded and ready. I confess to the chipped iron and offer two groschen a week until the debt is paid. Now I only need a passing stranger, someone brave, to hand it to Master Miller while I am far away. God willing.

• 
  Walter Cooper

  What debt is this, Bohuta? Have you broken another man's tools?

Nota scribaeHe stared at his boots the entire time he dictated this.

Candlemas, at Terce

A dark day. I borrowed Master Miller's brass-bound block plane to smooth some boards. Just a few days, I thought. But it slipped from my clumsy hands onto the paving stone. The blade is ruined. I pushed it under my pallet. He will break my jaw, God willing.

• 
  Roger

  I saw Miller looking for you at the market. He had a face like thunder.

• 
  Bohuta Miller

  Christ almighty, keep your voice down, Roger, God willing.

Nota scribaeDictated in a hurried whisper. He jumped when the church bell rang.