Quasimodo couldn't believe what Regina was doing. She wanted to help him at all costs. He had initially hated her for bringing him back. But now she was crouching in front of him, tearful and trying to stop the blood that was running from his forehead.
"I run back to the monastery and ask for a bandage," said Jasmine and then hurried down the stairs again.
"Why? Why are you doing this?" Asked Quasimodo.
Regina meanwhile pressed 2 handkerchiefs on Quasimodo's forehead. The blood kept flowing.
"I want you to live, Quasimodo.", She said, "You too have something to live for. Even if it doesn't look like it at the moment. I swore to myself, even if it has always been unrealistic for me so far was, should I ever meet you, I will change your fate. You will live. I will make sure of that. I will show you that life goes on. "
Her hand trembled as she put it on Quasimodo's cheek and caressed it. Quasimodo, who had stared at her at first, now closed his eyes and just enjoyed her touch. Something in him had longed for such a touch. Yet he did not want to understand what drove this woman to want to save him so badly. Was she something like a guardian angel sent by God? He found it very difficult to understand that God might have other plans for him.
When I heard Jasmine come closer, panting, I abruptly dropped my hand from Quasimodo's cheek.
"I have a bandage!" She shouted breathlessly as she walked in the door and showed me the bandage. It was white and appeared to be clean. The nuns had also given her a wound and healing ointment, which I applied to the wound with a clean handkerchief. Then Jasmine helped me bandage Quasimodo's forehead. Then I took him to his simple straw mattress that served as a bed. "But ... my work ..." said Quasimodo.
"We'll take care of that. We're strong women, you know?" I said, raising my arms like a bodybuilder.
Quasimodo shrugged and lay down. Then I turned to Jasmine: "Show me your watch." I said and compared her time with that of the church. They where at the same time.
"Okay, I'll go down now and ask Brother Martin when we have to ring the bells. You rest and keep an eye on him." I said.
"Oh, do you trust me that much?" Said Jasmine with a broad grin.
"Oh come on. You'd never be so sneaky ... I just don't trust you to do that. You know how much he means to me." I said.
Jasmine nodded to me and then sat down against a wooden pillar while I went back down the stairs to find Brother Martin.
I found him in the cloister where he was lighting candles.
"Brother Martin, we need your help. Quasimodo was injured. We took care of him, he is now resting. My friend and I, we wanted to take care of the bell."
Brother Martin made the sign of the cross: "What happened?"
"He hit his forehead with blood," I explained.
Brother Martin sighed and went up to the tower stairs: "Quasimodo has this tendency to harm himself every now and then. Nobody knows why." Before we climbed up, Brother Martin handed me some wax: "Take this to protect your ears."
"Do you have something like that?", I said and thought astonished about the medieval earplugs, "How is it then that Quasimodo ...", I began.
"Is deaf? Well, unfortunately his thirst for action is often faster than his memory. He has often just forgotten it.", Brother Martin explained.
We climbed the stairs. When we got to the top, Brother Martin got an hourglass from a corner.
Meanwhile I woke Jasmine, who had dozed off. When she got up, I handed her some of the wax.
"We have to ring the bells for 5 minutes, lunchtime mass is about to begin," he said and then handed us a rope of a small bell. He himself grabbed the rope of a somewhat larger bell. Then he turned the hourglass over and we stuffed the wax in our ears while he placed the hourglass on the floor next to him. Then he immediately started pulling the rope and we followed suit.
Even with the wax ear plugs, the bells were still incredibly loud. I had my doubts whether these could have prevented Quasimodos deafness.
Apart from that, it was really exhausting. It was like a workout in a gym to get those bells that weighed tons in motion.
Ringing the bells for 5 minutes and Jasmine and I were completely out of breath.
"Should you ever ring the high mass, you will probably not survive it.", Brother Martin said.
If you knew where we came from, you would have saved yourself this comment, old man, I grumbled in my head, because we were both completely out of breath. I had previously thought it would be fun to ring the bells. How naive I was. That was a real tough job and not without risk, as the bell ringer was also responsible for the maintenance of the bells. First of all, you had to be free from giddiness because you had to climb up to the bells, and secondly, very daring, as you could easily fall into the depths, which would often be fatal.
Brother Martin looked briefly at Quasimodo, who slept soundly as if nothing had happened. then Brother Martin nodded goodbye and left.
We both sagged exhausted leaning against a wall on the floor and fell asleep.
