Behind the Grobains' bedroom was the room with a bathtub. Ordinary people in the Middle Ages had no access to clean water and bathing was reserved only for higher-ranking families. I was fortunate that the family owned a wooden bathtub. Hannah boiled water and poured it into the bathtub. When she finished, she knocked on the guest room door and then went back into the kitchen. As their steps receded and I snuck through the bedroom to the bathroom and immediately got into the tub. A sponge and a bar of soap lay on the edge. I had to put up with that now, in the Middle Ages I could be happy to be able to wash myself with water at all. When I was finished and I was dressed, I stepped into the kitchen where Quasimodo's family were sitting at the table with Jasmine.
"Regina, there you are.", Quasimodo said when he turned to me.
I smiled at him and sat down at the table next to him.
After Hannah returned from the bathroom, he asked her to sit at the table with John and Mary. They did and then Quasimodo nodded: "I'm glad that I could get to know you," he said slowly.
"It was a pleasure for us too. But ... what do you mean by that?" John asked.
"I've decided to return to Paris. I grew up there and that's where I feel at home."
The two parents looked at each other thoughtfully. Then they nodded.
"We understand that," said Hannah slowly, "are the two girls going with you?"
"Regina wanted to go with ...", Quasimodo said and then looked at Jasmine. Jasmine nodded to him and he understood that she would go too.
Hannah rose: "Then you should take enough provisions with you."
She began to look in the pantries and put bread and cheese and meat in a pile. She wanted to give that to the travelers as provisions. At that moment Regina entered the room, still with wet hair that was wrapped in a towel. Because the invention of the hair dryer was made centuries later.
"What's up?" I asked after taking a seat.
"Quasimodo has just told us that you want to return to Paris," said John.
"Oh. I hope you're not too disappointed," I said.
"I thought so. I couldn't just leave my home, where I've lived for as long as you.", John said and nodded, "Paris is only a day's journey away. So we can visit you anytime. "
"We're looking forward to it," I said as a matter of courtesy. After lunch we left and made our way back to Paris.
As we were about to leave Reims, we met a woman who had black, curly hair and she looked southern. Her colorful skirt clearly identified her as a gypsy.
"I found you!" She exclaimed, relieved.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"My name is Zafira, Alfonso told me about you and about him.", Said the woman and pointed to Quasimodo.
"Because you know, I brought him to Paris."
Jasmine and I stared at the gypsy in front of us.
"Really?" I asked.
"Yes. Alfonso gave it to my mother. He was quite small and weak for an infant. I was 14 years old myself at the time. My mother looked after him, she seemed to have made a fool of himself. My mother died 3 years later with the plague. I couldn't take care of him myself and no one in our clan wanted to take him in because everyone thought he was a demon. So I followed another clan who wanted to travel to Paris. There was a old woman there who took us on the way there in her care. When we got to Paris, I was advised to put him in the foundling crib in Notre Dame de Paris. At midnight I snuck into the cathedral and put him there. Later I heard that a priest had taken care of the child. I then returned to Reims after a year. ", Zafira explained.
"So that's how it was," I said thoughtfully.
Zafira reached out and handed me a bracelet.
"He had it with him back then," she said.
The bracelet was made of gold-colored sheet metal, rather unadorned, but there was an engraving on the inside. It said: Joshua McGrobain. Quasimodo's parents never mentioned the name they chose for him. To be honest, I forgot to ask about it too. Of course you could ask yourself now: How could they know that he was going to be a boy? There was no such thing as ultrasound back then. But maybe there were other methods of determining gender, though not 100% likely.
Quasimodo looked at Zafira, confused, and stared at the bracelet in my hand.
I would try to explain the whole thing to him on the way back ...
We thanked Zafira and now finally left Reims. As planned, I explained to Quasimodo what Zafira had said and handed him the bracelet that he probably had with him when he was a baby.
Quasimodo looked at it thoughtfully for a while, then suddenly stopped and said: "It is much too small to fit me."
We turned to Quasimodo and Jasmin said: "I guess your father didn't expect to have such a strong son."
Quasimodo stepped up to me and handed me the bracelet: "It looks like it could fit you. You keep it."
I stared at Quasimodo, speechless, then took the bracelet and pulled it over my arm. It fit me exactly. I nodded gratefully to Quasimodo.
"Well, shall we call you Joshua now?" Asked Jasmine with a grin.
Quasimodo shook his head in protest: "It may sound nicer, but I'm used to Quasimodo."
We went on, after all, there was a long way to go. However, we didn't want to get into any more trouble on the way back than on the way there, so we passed the farm where we had met Gringoire. The poet seemed to have stayed in Reims with Djali.