Aaron's Ring
Collection item used as inspiration
Rennie's creative response
Aaron’s Ring – a short story
The day after Father’s funeral, Mama called us into his study. It felt like going into church. We’d never been allowed through the door whilst he lived, not even Daniel, the oldest and his favourite.
We stood nervously at the door. “He wouldn’t like this,” Daniel said is a quiet voice. “He never let us in.”
“Close the door,” Mama said. “Close the shutters. I need your help. We have to go through his papers. You are the man of the house now, Daniel. You will have to learn to manage his affairs or we will lose our home.”
She pointed to a strongbox on the desk, made of dark oak with iron bands and a large iron lock, took a large iron key from her pocket and gave it to Daniel. “Open it,” she said. “Carefully. Look what’s inside. He never let me look.”
Daniel turned the key, hinges groaning as he opened the box. There were papers, sealing wax, a seal with his initials on it, red ribbon to tie up documents. He picked up a small leather box, a candlestick sculpted into the lid. It contained a ring.
Mama went very quiet. “Aaron’s ring,” she said, a catch in her voice. “His merchant’s ring.”
“I don’t understand.” Daniel said. “Why would Father have a Merchant’s ring? He was a baker. And why are you calling him Aaron. He was called Andrew.”
“His father gave the ring to him when he wasn’t much older than you, Daniel. We were Jewish then. His father was a Merchant. He gave him the ring on his first business trip, so he could seal his first deal. Look at it closely. You can see it has his initials, and his symbol engraved, very small, but just like the big seal. He was so proud.
Everything started to fall apart, with Jews being accused of dreadful crimes, like that business in Winchester when they accused a Jew of killing and mutilating a child, and then the king bringing in the Statute of Jewry. That was in 1255, and the new law said Jews weren’t to mix with Christians. They had to wear a yellow badge to show they were Jews. People spat on the Jews in the street. You father could see the way things were going. That’s when we converted to Christianity. To keep us all safe. Too dangerous to be a Jew in England. We moved to Kent. A fresh start, changed his name, set himself up as a baker. Everyone needs bread He was a good baker, well, you know that. We opened a second shop. Always the businessman your father, but he was never the same, not after the King’s decree. I thought he’d thrown the ring away when his father died. Bury it. It’s not safe to keep it.
Rennie leads a creative writing and poetry group at his local U3A and chose to write a short story inspired by this signet ring
