Free My Own True Love by Susan Sizemore

amazement as he held the cap out significantly and a few coins were tossed onto the stage.
    They like me, she thought, they really like me. She kept hold of the guitar with one hand while she scrambled to pick up the coins. Toma presented the cap to her with a flourish so she could drop the money into it. Then he graced her with a proud look before he hustled her offstage in order to get on with his own act.
    She passed the ever-disapproving Sandor going up the rear steps as she came lightly down. A familiar face was waiting for her in the fenced courtyard.
    "Mala?" Sara said in surprise. "What are you doing here?" Sara looked angrily at the ring. "How did she get back here?"
    "Please call me Aunt Molly, dear," the woman answered. "You know I don't use my Romany name anymore. The dear late Mr. Macalpine always preferred Molly." She sighed. "May he rest in peace."
    "Molly?" Sara questioned the woman who looked just like her friend.
    Maybe the woman didn't look exactly like Mala; she was a little shorter and a little rounder, but her dark eyes were certainly the same. She wore a black dress, and a black bonnet covered her graying black hair. Behind them a roar of adoration went up from the crowd. Sandor must have lit the flames beneath Toma's tightrope. Sara tried not to worry about him performing the dangerous stunt. She concentrated on the woman instead.
    "Aunt Molly Macalpine? My aunt?" Must be more reincarnation stuff, Sara decided. My father here looks like my father back home, only with a temper. So in this life Mala is my aunt instead of my math teacher. Right. Sara smiled weakly at the woman. "Hi, Aunt Molly."
    Beth appeared before anything more could be said. She snatched the hat away from Sara and quickly ran the coins through her fingers. "Gawd!" the girl complained loudly. "Call this an honest living. You can't buy a quart o' gin with this."
    Sara took back the cap; it felt lighter. She didn't know how much money she'd actually made, but she definitely had less now. Beth must have helped herself to a few shillings.
    She held out her hand. "Hand it over." Beth grinned and unashamedly dropped three coins into Sara's palm. "We aren't going to be buying gin," Sara informed the girl. "This is for basic necessities."
    "Gin's necessary," Beth answered. "Ask anyone."
    "Nonsense," Molly answered. "Nothing and no one is necessary but our Lord and his Commandments. You'd be wise to heed the word of Jesus Christ, my girl.”
    Beth looked at the woman as if she were about to spit on her. Molly looked at Beth as if she were about to launch into a sermon. Sara got the idea that Aunt Molly was a missionary. She didn't know what to say.
    She was saved the need to when another roar went up, not from the stage this time, but from the entrance to the courtyard. Sara recognized the bellow even before she turned her head to look at the man charging toward them. She smiled wanly at Beng's approach, but Beng's anger wasn't directed at her this time.
    "You!" he shouted, halting in" front of Molly. "What are you doing here, mirame?"
    Molly didn't flinch at the insult, but looked Beng squarely in the eyes. "Sara's young man asked me to have a little talk with her. As her only female relative."
    "You are no relative of mine. You make me unclean just looking at you."
    "Who's asking you to look at me?" Molly shot back. She pointed at Sara. "I'm here to try to save my niece's soul, not listen to your heathen ravings about cleanliness. Mr. Macalpine was the finest man I ever met. How dare you call me dirty for marrying him?"
    "He was a filthy gajo," Beng stormed back.
    "He was my husband and I loved him!"
    Sara and Beth looked at each other. Sara could tell that the little girl didn't want to hang around and listen to this argument any more than she did. Maybe they could sneak out before anyone noticed them.
    Without exchanging a word she and Beth began to sidle toward the alley door.
    Beng rounded on her immediately. "What's that thing? What are