This morning, I heard the sound of horse whinnying and wheels scraping the courtyard cobblestone. I hurried to the window and looked down. There were two large wagons, each drawn by eight horses.

“I can escape with them,” I thought, but my room door was still locked.

I banged on my window to get their attention. The Black horseman looked up at my window and then said something to his Black gypsy friends. They laughed and then ignored me.

I watched them continued to unload their boxes. They carried the boxes easily, so they must’ve been empty. By late morning, there were a small mountain of boxes in one corner of the courtyard.