Something I’d normally reserve for the Notes section, but that I’d like to mention while we’re in this scene: the “old route” being closed isn’t about a washed-out bridge. Active political campaigns against the Rom population were afoot in many German and Czech-speaking territories at this time, shifting according to the whims of the local power structure, including the demands of the trade guilds whose members suffered (theoretically at least) from the competition offered by Rom tradespeople.

The Empress Maria-Theresa, who ruled or co-ruled over much of this portion of Europe at the time this story takes place, had a particular reputation for being a hard case on religious and ethnic minorities; the Sheriff Joe Arpaio of her day. Her most brutally effective edict required the forcible removal of Roma children from their families.

The need to be constantly on the move, to not grow too attached to any one route or area, and to keep abreast of what municipalities were doling out which punishments for the crime of being Rom, was literally a matter of life and death.

But you still have to serve dinner on time.