A Tinn’s tale

hey gave him some porridge and fruit juice and he looked a bit better, although he kept coughing.

Frank watched them and helped as much as he could, but what he did not understand was why his mother had not known this?

 

He wasn’t sure what to think of this. True, his father had disinherited him and his shouting of Frank being a bad son was still fresh in his memory. But he was his father after all, and he could never forgive himself if this sickness would become fatal and he would’ve never made it up again.

 

 

Frank heard his little sister approaching and he turned round to meet her eyes, which were full of tears. Francene was only ten years old and was horrified by the idea of her big, strong father being ill.

He hugged her tightly and Francene whispered in his hair: ‘He’s not gonna die, is he?’

‘Certainly not,’ he whispered back. He loosened his grip and looked her in the eyes.

‘The ladies think it’s just a normal illness that should recover when he rests. They are feeding him healthy fruit juices and Robyn’s here, so it will be all right.’

 

‘Robyn?’ she looked puzzled. ‘Oh- the one that you’re gonna marry?’

Frank’s smile widened. ‘Yes.’

Francene looked relieved. ‘Oh, that’s good. She’s nice.’

 

 

Mart Parlanti indeed got bits better in the following days, in which Robyn and Jantine often found themselves in the little farmstead. Frank was pleased with this as he had gotten accustomed to the idea of marrying her and was really going to like her. Being around her all day gave him the trusted feeling of living together already. And, ofcourse, they looked after his dad.

 

 

Whenever Frank went to the town market, he always heard people whispering, exchanging the latest gossip. Sometimes he caught some, and what he heard, worried him. The villagers were talking about Robyn’s father.

 

 

‘-heard about Dorus?’

‘Yes, he thinks mad about the Church, doesn’t he?’

‘That weird ideas of his, almost heretic..’

 

 

‘-and Thalia’s pregnant, did you know?’

‘Oh my! Isn’t she engaged?’

‘Yes, but they’re still too young to marry..’

 

 

The worst was, that each time Frank heard the Dorus gossip, it became more accusatory. As it happens with mouth-to-mouth stories, most people soon believed Dorus to be a heretic.

 

 

When he shared his thoughts with Robyn, she, too, was worried. Worried that her father would keep nagging the Church. Worried that she might lose him to the law. Worried, because, who knew what they’d do to him…