بخش 10-01

PART TEN

the book thief

featuring: the end of a worldthe ninety-eighth day a war makerway of the wordsa catatonic girl confessionsilsa hermanns little black book some rib-cage planesand a mountain range of rubble THE END OF THE WORLD (Part I)

Again, I offer you a glimpse of the end. Perhaps its to soften the blow for later, or to better prepare myself for the telling. Either way, I must inform you that it was raining on Himmel Street when the world ended for Liesel Meminger. The sky was dripping. Like a tap that a child has tried its hardest to turn off but hasnt quite managed. The first drops were cool. I felt them on my hands as I stood outside Frau Dillers. Above me, I could hear them. Through the overcast sky, I looked up and saw the tin-can planes. I watched their stomachs open and the bombs drop casually out. They were off target, of course. They were often off target.

A SMALL, SAD HOPE No one wanted to bomb Himmel Street. No one would bomb a place named after heaven, would they? Would they?

The bombs came down, and soon, the clouds would bake and the cold raindrops would turn to ash. Hot snowflakes would shower to the ground. In short, Himmel Street was flattened. Houses were splashed from one side of the street to the other. A framed photo of a very serious-looking Fhrer was bashed and beaten on the shattered floor. Yet he smiled, in that serious way of his. He knew something we all didnt know. But I knew something he didnt know. All while people slept. Rudy Steiner slept. Mama and Papa slept. Frau Holtzapfel, Frau Diller. Tommy Mller. All sleeping. All dying. Only one person survived. She survived because she was sitting in a basement reading through the story of her own life, checking for mistakes. Previously, the room had been declared too shallow, but on that night, October 7, it was enough. The shells of wreckage cantered down, and hours later, when the strange, unkempt silence settled itself in Molching, the local LSE could hear something. An echo. Down there, somewhere, a girl was hammering a paint can with a pencil. They all stopped, with bent ears and bodies, and when they heard it again, they started digging.

PASSED ITEMS, HAND TO HAND Blocks of cement and roof tiles. A piece of wall with a dripping sun painted on it. An unhappy- looking accordion, peering through its eaten case.

They threw all of it upward. When another piece of broken wall was removed, one of them saw the book thiefs hair. The man had such a nice laugh. He was delivering a newborn child. I cant believe itshes alive! There was so much joy among the cluttering, calling men, but I could not fully share their enthusiasm. Earlier, Id held her papa in one arm and her mama in the other. Each soul was so soft. Farther away, their bodies were laid out, like the rest. Papas lovely silver eyes were already starting to rust, and Mamas cardboard lips were fixed half open, most likely the shape of an incomplete snore. To blaspheme like the GermansJesus, Mary, and Joseph. The rescuing hands pulled Liesel out and brushed the crumbs of rubble from her clothes. Young girl, they said, the sirens were too late. What were you doing in the basement? How did you know? What they didnt notice was that the girl was still holding the book. She screamed her reply. A stunning scream of the living. Papa! A second time. Her face creased as she reached a higher, more panic-stricken pitch. Papa, Papa! They passed her up as she shouted, wailed, and cried. If she was injured, she did not yet know it, for she struggled free and searched and called and wailed some more. She was still clutching the book. She was holding desperately on to the words who had saved her life. THE NINETY-EIGHTH DAY

For the first ninety-seven days after Hans Hubermanns return in April 1943, everything was fine. On many occasions he was pensive about the thought of his son fighting in Stalingrad, but he hoped that some of his luck was in the boys blood. On his third night at home, he played the accordion in the kitchen. A promise was a promise. There was music, soup, and jokes, and the laughter of a fourteen-year-old girl. Saumensch, Mama warned her, stop laughing so loud. His jokes arent that funny. And theyre filthy, too. . . . After a week, Hans resumed his service, traveling into the city to one of the army offices. He said that there was a good supply of cigarettes and food there, and sometimes he was able to bring home some cookies or extra jam. It was like the good old days. A minor air raid in May. A heil Hitler here or there and everything was fine. Until the ninety-eighth day.

A SMALL STATEMENT BYAN OLD WOMAN On Munich Street, she said, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, I wish they wouldnt bring them through. These wretched Jews, theyre rotten luck. Theyre a bad sign. Every time I see them, I know well be ruined.

It was the same old lady who announced the Jews the first time Liesel saw them. On ground level, her face was a prune. Her eyes were the dark blue of a vein. And her prediction was accurate. In the heart of summer, Molching was delivered a sign of things to come. It moved into sight like it always did. First the bobbing head of a soldier and the gun poking at the air above him. Then the ragged chain of clinking Jews. The only difference this time was that they were brought from the opposite direction. They were taken through to the neighboring town of Nebling to scrub the streets and do the cleanup work that the army refused to do. Late in the day, they were marched back to camp, slow and tired, defeated. Again, Liesel searched for Max Vandenburg, thinking that he could easily have ended up in Dachau without being marched through Molching. He was not there. Not on this occasion. Just give it time, though, for on a warm afternoon in August, Max would most certainly be marched through town with the rest of them. Unlike the others, however, he would not watch the road. He would not look randomly into the Fhrers German grand-stand.

A FACT REGARDING MAX VANDENBURG He would search the faces on Munich Street for a book-thieving girl.

On this occasion, in July, on what Liesel later calculated as the ninety-eighth day of her papas return, she stood and studied the moving pile of mournful Jewslooking for Max. If nothing else, it alleviated the pain of simply watching. Thats a horrible thought, she would write in her Himmel Street basement, but she knew it to be true. The pain of watching them. What about their pain? The pain of stumbling shoes and torment and the closing gates of the camp? They came through twice in ten days, and soon after, the anonymous, prune-faced woman on Munich Street was proven absolutely correct. Suffering had most definitely come, and if they could blame the Jews as a warning or prologue, they should have blamed the Fhrer and his quest for Russia as the actual causefor when Himmel Street woke later in July, a returned soldier was discovered to be dead. He was hanging from one of the rafters in a laundry up near Frau Dillers. Another human pendulum. Another clock, stopped. The careless owner had left the door open. JULY 24, 6:03 A.M. The laundry was warm, the rafters were firm, and Michael Holtzapfel jumped from the chair as if it were a cliff. So many people chased after me in that time, calling my name, asking me to take them with me. Then there was the small percentage who called me casually over and whispered with their tightened voices. Have me, they said, and there was no stopping them. They were frightened, no question, but they were not afraid of me. It was a fear of messing up and having to face themselves again, and facing the world, and the likes of you. There was nothing I could do. They had too many ways, they were too resourcefuland when they did it too well, whatever their chosen method, I was in no position to refuse. Michael Holtzapfel knew what he was doing. He killed himself for wanting to live. Of course, I did not see Liesel Meminger at all that day. As is usually the case, I advised myself that I was far too busy to remain on Himmel Street to listen to the screams. Its bad enough when people catch me red-handed, so I made the usual decision to make my exit, into the breakfast-colored sun. I did not hear the detonation of an old mans voice when he found the hanging body, nor the sound of running feet and jaw-dropped gasps when other people arrived. I did not hear a skinny man with a mustache mutter, Crying shame, a damn shame . . . I did not see Frau Holtzapfel laid out flat on Himmel Street, her arms out wide, her screaming face in total despair. No, I didnt discover any of that until I came back a few months later and read something called The Book Thief. It was explained to me that in the end, Michael Holtzapfel was worn down not by his damaged hand or any other injury, but by the guilt of living. In the lead-up to his death, the girl had realized that he wasnt sleeping, that each night was like poison. I often imagine him lying awake, sweating in sheets of snow, or seeing visions of his brothers severed legs. Liesel wrote that sometimes she almost told him about her own brother, like she did with Max, but there seemed a big difference between a long-distance cough and two obliterated legs. How do you console a man who has seen such things? Could you tell him the Fhrer was proud of him, that the Fhrer loved him for what he did in Stalingrad? How could you even dare? You can only let him do the talking. The dilemma, of course, is that such people save their most important words for after, when the surrounding humans are unlucky enough to find them. A note, a sentence, even a question, or a letter, like on Himmel Street in July 1943. MICHAEL HOLTZAPFEL THE LAST GOODBYE Dear Mama, Can you ever forgive me? I just couldnt stand it any longer. Im meeting Robert. I dont care what the damn Catholics say about it. There must be a place in heaven for those who have been where I have been. You might think I dont love you because of what Ive done, but I do. Your Michael It was Hans Hubermann who was asked to give Frau Holtzapfel the news. He stood on her threshold and she must have seen it on his face. Two sons in six months. The morning sky stood blazing behind him as the wiry woman made her way past. She ran sobbing to the gathering farther up on Himmel Street. She said the name Michael at least two dozen times, but Michael had already answered. According to the book thief, Frau Holtzapfel hugged the body for nearly an hour. She then returned to the blinding sun of Himmel Street and sat herself down. She could no longer walk. From a distance, people observed. Such a thing was easier from far away. Hans Hubermann sat with her. He placed his hand on hers, as she fell back to the hard ground. He allowed her screams to fill the street. Much later, Hans walked with her, with painstaking care, through her front gate, and into the house. And no matter how many times I try to see it differently, I cant pull it off. . . . When I imagine that scene of the distraught woman and the tall silver-eyed man, it is still snowing in the kitchen of 31 Himmel Street. THE WAR MAKER

There was the smell of a freshly cut coffin. Black dresses. Enormous suitcases under the eyes. Liesel stood like the rest, on the grass. She read to Frau Holtzapfel that same afternoon. The Dream Carrier, her neighbors favorite. It was a busy day all around, really.

JULY 27, 1943 Michael Holtzapfel was buried and the book thief read to the bereaved. The Allies bombed Hamburgand on that subject, its lucky Im somewhat miraculous. No one else could carry close to forty-five thousand people in such a short amount of time. Not in a million human years.

The Germans were starting to pay in earnest by then. The Fhrer s pimply little knees were starting to shake. Still, Ill give him something, that Fhrer. He certainly had an iron will. There was no slackening off in terms of war-making, nor was there any scaling back on the extermination and punishment of a Jewish plague. While most of the camps were spread throughout Europe, there were some still in existence in Germany itself. In those camps, many people were still made to work, and walk. Max Vandenburg was one such Jew. WAY OF THE WORDS

It happened in a small town of Hitlers heartland. The flow of more suffering was pumped nicely out, and a small piece of it had now arrived. Jews were being marched through the outskirts of Munich, and one teenage girl somehow did the unthinkable and made her way through to walk with them. When the soldiers pulled her away and threw her to the ground, she stood up again. She continued. The morning was warm. Another beautiful day for a parade. The soldiers and Jews made their way through several towns and were arriving now in Molching. It was possible that more work needed to be done in the camp, or several prisoners had died. Whatever the reason, a new batch of fresh, tired Jews was being taken on foot to Dachau. As she always did, Liesel ran to Munich Street with the usual band of onlookers. Heil Hitler! She could hear the first soldier from far up the road and made her way toward him through the crowd, to meet the procession. The voice amazed her. It made the endless sky into a ceiling just above his head, and the words bounced back, landing somewhere on the floor of limping Jewish feet. Their eyes. They watched the moving street, one by one, and when Liesel found a good vantage point, she stopped and studied them. She raced through the files of face after face, trying to match them to the Jew who wrote The Standover Man and The Word Shaker. Feathery hair, she thought. No, hair like twigs. Thats what it looks like when it hasnt been washed. Look out for hair like twigs and swampy eyes and a kindling beard. God, there were so many of them. So many sets of dying eyes and scuffing feet. Liesel searched them and it was not so much a recognition of facial features that gave Max Vandenburg away. It was how the face was actingalso studying the crowd. Fixed in concentration. Liesel felt herself pausing as she found the only face looking directly into the German spectators. It examined them with such purpose that people on either side of the book thief noticed and pointed him out. Whats he looking at? said a male voice at her side. The book thief stepped onto the road. Never had movement been such a burden. Never had a heart been so definite and big in her adolescent chest. She stepped forward and said, very quietly, Hes looking for me. Her voice trailed off and fell away, inside. She had to refind itreaching far down, to learn to speak again and call out his name. Max. Im here, Max! Louder. Max, Im here! He heard her.

MAX VANDENBURG, AUGUST 1943 There were twigs of hair, just like Liesel thought, and the swampy eyes stepped across, shoulder to shoulder over the other Jews. When they reached her, they pleaded. His beard stroked down his face and his mouth shivered as he said the word, the name, the girl. Liesel.

Liesel shrugged away entirely from the crowd and entered the tide of Jews, weaving through them till she grabbed hold of his arm with her left hand. His face fell on her. It reached down as she tripped, and the Jew, the nasty Jew, helped her up. It took all of his strength. Im here, Max, she said again. Im here. I cant believe . . . The words dripped from Max Vandenburgs mouth. Look how much youve grown. There was an intense sadness in his eyes. They swelled. Liesel . . . they got me a few months ago. The voice was crippled but it dragged itself toward her. Halfway to Stuttgart. From the inside, the stream of Jews was a murky disaster of arms and legs. Ragged uniforms. No soldier had seen her yet, and Max gave her a warning. You have to let go of me, Liesel. He even tried to push her away, but the girl was too strong. Maxs starving arms could not sway her, and she walked on, between the filth, the hunger and confusion. After a long line of steps, the first soldier noticed. Hey! he called in. He pointed with his whip. Hey, girl, what are you doing? Get out of there. When she ignored him completely, the soldier used his arm to separate the stickiness of people. He shoved them aside and made his way through. He loomed above her as Liesel struggled on and noticed the strangled expression on Max Vandenburgs face. She had seen him afraid, but never like this. The soldier took her. His hands manhandled her clothes. She could feel the bones in his fingers and the ball of each knuckle. They tore at her skin. I said get out! he ordered her, and now he dragged the girl to the side and flung her into the wall of onlooking Germans. It was getting warmer. The sun burned her face. The girl had landed sprawling with pain, but now she stood again. She recovered and waited. She reentered. This time, Liesel made her way through from the back. Ahead, she could just see the distinct twigs of hair and walked again toward them. This time, she did not reach outshe stopped. Somewhere inside her were the souls of words. They climbed out and stood beside her. Max, she said. He turned and briefly closed his eyes as the girl continued. There was once a strange, small man, she said. Her arms were loose but her hands were fists at her side. But there was a word shaker, too. One of the Jews on his way to Dachau had stopped walking now. He stood absolutely still as the others swerved morosely around him, leaving him completely alone. His eyes staggered, and it was so simple. The words were given across from the girl to the Jew. They climbed on to him. The next time she spoke, the questions stumbled from her mouth. Hot tears fought for room in her eyes as she would not let them out. Better to stand resolute and proud. Let the words do all of it. Is it really you? the young man asked, she said. Is it from your cheek that I took the seed? Max Vandenburg remained standing. He did not drop to his knees. People and Jews and clouds all stopped. They watched. As he stood, Max looked first at the girl and then stared directly into the sky who was wide and blue and magnificent. There were heavy beamsplanks of sunfalling randomly, wonderfully to the road. Clouds arched their backs to look behind as they started again to move on. Its such a beautiful day, he said, and his voice was in many pieces. A great day to die. A great day to die, like this. Liesel walked at him. She was courageous enough to reach out and hold his bearded face. Is it really you, Max? Such a brilliant German day and its attentive crowd. He let his mouth kiss her palm. Yes, Liesel, its me, and he held the girls hand in his face and cried onto her fingers. He cried as the soldiers came and a small collection of insolent Jews stood and watched. Standing, he was whipped. Max, the girl wept. Then silently, as she was dragged away: Max. Jewish fist fighter. Inside, she said all of it. Maxi Taxi. Thats what that friend called you in Stuttgart when you fought on the street, remember? Remember, Max? You told me. I remember everything. . . . That was youthe boy with the hard fists, and you said you would land a punch on deaths face when he came for you. Remember the snowman, Max? Remember? In the basement? Remember the white cloud with the gray heart? The Fhrer still comes down looking for you sometimes. He misses you. We all miss you. The whip. The whip. The whip continued from the soldiers hand. It landed on Maxs face. It clipped his chin and carved his throat. Max hit the ground and the soldier now turned to the girl. His mouth opened. He had immaculate teeth. A sudden flash came before her eyes. She recalled the day shed wanted Ilsa Hermann or at least the reliable Rosa to slap her, but neither of them would do it. On this occasion, she was not let down. The whip sliced her collarbone and reached across her shoulder blade. Liesel! She knew that person. As the soldier swung his arm, she caught sight of a distressed Rudy Steiner in the gaps of the crowd. He was calling out. She could see his tortured face and yellow hair. Liesel, get out of there! The book thief did not get out. She closed her eyes and caught the next burning streak, and another, till her body hit the warm flooring of the road. It heated her cheek. More words arrived, this time from the soldier. Steh auf. The economical sentence was directed not to the girl but the Jew. It was elaborated on. Get up, you dirty asshole, you Jewish whore-dog, get up, get up. . . . Max hoisted himself upright. Just another push-up, Max. Just another push-up on the cold basement floor. His feet moved. They dragged and he traveled on. His legs staggered and his hands wiped at the marks of the whip, to soothe the stinging. When he tried to look again for Liesel, the soldiers hands were placed upon his bloodied shoulders and pushed. The boy arrived. His lanky legs crouched and he called over, to his left. Tommy, get out here and help me. We have to get her up. Tommy, hurry! He lifted the book thief by her armpits. Liesel, come on, you have to get off the road. When she was able to stand, she looked at the shocked, frozen-faced Germans, fresh out of their packets. At their feet, she allowed herself to collapse, but only momentarily. A graze struck a match on the side of her face, where shed met the ground. Her pulse flipped it over, frying it on both sides. Far down the road, she could see the blurry legs and heels of the last walking Jew. Her face was burning and there was a dogged ache in her arms and legsa numbness that was simultaneously painful and exhausting. She stood, one last time. Waywardly, she began to walk and then run down Munich Street, to haul in the last steps of Max Vandenburg. Liesel, what are you doing?! She escaped the grip of Rudys words and ignored the watching people at her side. Most of them were mute. Statues with beating hearts. Perhaps bystanders in the latter stages of a marathon. Liesel cried out again and was not heard. Hair was in her eyes. Please, Max! After perhaps thirty meters, just as a soldier turned around, the girl was felled. Hands were clamped upon her from behind and the boy next door brought her down. He forced her knees to the road and suffered the penalty. He collected her punches as if they were presents. Her bony hands and elbows were accepted with nothing but a few short moans. He accumulated the loud, clumsy specks of saliva and tears as if they were lovely to his face, and more important, he was able to hold her down. On Munich Street, a boy and girl were entwined. They were twisted and comfortless on the road. Together, they watched the humans disappear. They watched them dissolve, like moving tablets in the humid air. CONFESSIONS

When the Jews were gone, Rudy and Liesel untangled and the book thief did not speak. There were no answers to Rudys questions. Liesel did not go home, either. She walked forlornly to the train station and waited for her papa for hours. Rudy stood with her for the first twenty minutes, but since it was a good half day till Hans was due home, he fetched Rosa. On the way back, he told her what had happened, and when Rosa arrived, she asked nothing of the girl. She had already assembled the puzzle and merely stood beside her and eventually convinced her to sit down. They waited together. When Papa found out, he dropped his bag, he kicked the Bahnhof air. None of them ate that night. Papas fingers desecrated the accordion, murdering song after song, no matter how hard he tried. Everything no longer worked. For three days, the book thief stayed in bed. Every morning and afternoon, Rudy Steiner knocked on the door and asked if she was still sick. The girl was not sick. On the fourth day, Liesel walked to her neighbors front door and asked if he might go back to the trees with her, where theyd distributed the bread the previous year. I should have told you earlier, she said. As promised, they walked far down the road toward Dachau. They stood in the trees. There were long shapes of light and shade. Pinecones were scattered like cookies. Thank you, Rudy. For everything. For helping me off the road, for stopping me . . . She said none of it. Her hand leaned on a flaking branch at her side. Rudy, if I tell you something, will you promise not to say a word to anyone? Of course. He could sense the seriousness in the girls face, and the heaviness in her voice. He leaned on the tree next to hers. What is it? Promise. I did already. Do it again. You cant tell your mother, your brother, or Tommy Mller. Nobody. I promise. Leaning. Looking at the ground. She attempted several times to find the right place to start, reading sentences at her feet, joining words to the pinecones and the scraps of broken branches. Remember when I was injured playing soccer, she said, out on the street? It took approximately three-quarters of an hour to explain two wars, an accordion, a Jewish fist fighter, and a basement. Not forgetting what had happened four days earlier on Munich Street. Thats why you went for a closer look, Rudy said, with the bread that day. To see if he was there. Yes. Crucified Christ. Yes. The trees were tall and triangular. They were quiet. Liesel pulled The Word Shaker from her bag and showed Rudy one of the pages. On it was a boy with three medals hanging around his throat. Hair the color of lemons, Rudy read. His fingers touched the words. You told him about me? At first, Liesel could not talk. Perhaps it was the sudden bumpiness of love she felt for him. Or had she always loved him? Its likely. Restricted as she was from speaking, she wanted him to kiss her. She wanted him to drag her hand across and pull her over. It didnt matter where. Her mouth, her neck, her cheek. Her skin was empty for it, waiting. Years ago, when theyd raced on a muddy field, Rudy was a hastily assembled set of bones, with a jagged, rocky smile. In the trees this afternoon, he was a giver of bread and teddy bears. He was a triple Hitler Youth athletics champion. He was her best friend. And he was a month from his death. Of course I told him about you, Liesel said. She was saying goodbye and she didnt even know it. ILSA HERMANNS LITTLE BLACK BOOK

In mid-August, she thought she was going to 8 Grande Strasse for the same old remedy. To cheer herself up. That was what she thought. The day had been hot, but showers were predicted for the evening. In The Last Human Stranger, there was a quote near the end. Liesel was reminded of it as she walked past Frau Dillers.

THE LAST HUMAN STRANGER, PAGE 211 The sun stirs the earth. Around and around, it stirs us, like stew.

At the time, Liesel only thought of it because the day was so warm. On Munich Street, she remembered the events of the previous week there. She saw the Jews coming down the road, their streams and numbers and pain. She decided there was a word missing from her quote. The world is an ugly stew, she thought. Its so ugly I cant stand it. Liesel crossed the bridge over the Amper River. The water was glorious and emerald and rich. She could see the stones at the bottom and hear the familiar song of water. The world did not deserve such a river. She scaled the hill up to Grande Strasse. The houses were lovely and loathsome. She enjoyed the small ache in her legs and lungs. Walk harder, she thought, and she started rising, like a monster out of the sand. She smelled the neighborhood grass. It was fresh and sweet, green and yellow-tipped. She crossed the yard without a single turn of the head or the slightest pause of paranoia. The window. Hands on the frame, scissor of the legs. Landing feet. Books and pages and a happy place. She slid a book from the shelf and sat with it on the floor. Is she home? she wondered, but she did not care if Ilsa Hermann was slicing potatoes in the kitchen or lining up in the post office. Or standing ghost-like over the top of her, examining what the girl was reading. The girl simply didnt care anymore. For a long time, she sat and saw. She had seen her brother die with one eye open, one still in a dream. She had said goodbye to her mother and imagined her lonely wait for a train back home to oblivion. A woman of wire had laid herself down, her scream traveling the street, till it fell sideways like a rolling coin starved of momentum. A young man was hung by a rope made of Stalingrad snow. She had watched a bomber pilot die in a metal case. She had seen a Jewish man who had twice given her the most beautiful pages of her life marched to a concentration camp. And at the center of all of it, she saw the Fhrer shouting his words and passing them around. Those images were the world, and it stewed in her as she sat with the lovely books and their manicured titles. It brewed in her as she eyed the pages full to the brims of their bellies with paragraphs and words. You bastards, she thought. You lovely bastards. Dont make me happy. Please, dont fill me up and let me think that something good can come of any of this. Look at my bruises. Look at this graze. Do you see the graze inside me? Do you see it growing before your very eyes, eroding me? I dont want to hope for anything anymore. I dont want to pray that Max is alive and safe. Or Alex Steiner. Because the world does not deserve them. She tore a page from the book and ripped it in half. Then a chapter. Soon, there was nothing but scraps of words littered between her legs and all around her. The words. Why did they have to exist? Without them, there wouldnt be any of this. Without words, the Fhrer was nothing. There would be no limping prisoners, no need for consolation or wordly tricks to make us feel better. What good were the words? She said it audibly now, to the orange-lit room. What good are the words? The book thief stood and walked carefully to the library door. Its protest was small and halfhearted. The airy hallway was steeped in wooden emptiness. Frau Hermann? The question came back at her and tried for another surge to the front door. It made it only halfway, landing weakly on a couple of fat floorboards. Frau Hermann? The calls were greeted with nothing but silence, and she was tempted to seek out the kitchen, for Rudy. She refrained. It wouldnt have felt right to steal food from a woman who had left her a dictionary against a windowpane. That, and she had also just destroyed one of her books, page by page, chapter by chapter. Shed done enough damage as it was. Liesel returned to the library and opened one of the desk drawers. She sat down.

THE LAST LETTER

Dear Mrs. Hermann, As you can see, I have been in your library again and I have ruined one of your books. I was just so angry and afraid and I wanted to kill the words. I have stolen from you and now Ive wrecked your property. Im sorry. To punish myself, I think I will stop coming here. Or is it punishment at all? I love this place and hate it, because it is full of words. You have been a friend to me even though I hurt you, even though I have been insu ferable (a word I looked up in your dictionary), and I think I will leave you alone now. Im sorry for everything. Thank you again. Liesel Meminger She left the note on the desk and gave the room a last goodbye, doing three laps and running her hands over the titles. As much as she hated them, she couldnt resist. Flakes of torn-up paper were strewn around a book called The Rules of Tommy Ho fmann. In the breeze from the window, a few of its shreds rose and fell. The light was still orange, but it was not as lustrous as earlier. Her hands felt their final grip of the wooden window frame, and there was the last rush of a plunging stomach, and the pang of pain in her feet when she landed. By the time she made it down the hill and across the bridge, the orange light had vanished. Clouds were mopping up. When she walked down Himmel Street, she could already feel the first drops of rain. I will never see Ilsa Hermann again, she thought, but the book thief was better at reading and ruining books than making assumptions.

THREE DAYS LATER The woman has knocked at number thirty-three and waits for a reply.

It was strange for Liesel to see her without the bathrobe. The summer dress was yellow with red trim. There was a pocket with a small flower on it. No swastikas. Black shoes. Never before had she noticed Ilsa Hermanns shins. She had porcelain legs. Frau Hermann, Im sorryfor what I did the last time in the library. The woman quieted her. She reached into her bag and pulled out a small black book. Inside was not a story, but lined paper. I thought if youre not going to read any more of my books, you might like to write one instead. Your letter, it was . . . She handed the book to Liesel with both hands. You can certainly write. You write well. The book was heavy, the cover matted like The Shoulder Shrug. And please, Ilsa Hermann advised her, dont punish yourself, like you said you would. Dont be like me, Liesel. The girl opened the book and touched the paper. Danke schn, Frau Hermann. I can make you some coffee, if you like. Would you come in? Im home alone. My mamas next door, with Frau Holtzapfel. Shall we use the door or the window? Liesel suspected it was the broadest smile Ilsa Hermann had allowed herself in years. I think well use the door. Its easier. They sat in the kitchen. Coffee mugs and bread with jam. They struggled to speak and Liesel could hear Ilsa Hermann swallow, but somehow, it was not uncomfortable. It was even nice to see the woman gently blow across the coffee to cool it. If I ever write something and finish it, Liesel said, Ill show you. That would be nice. When the mayors wife left, Liesel watched her walk up Himmel Street. She watched her yellow dress and her black shoes and her porcelain legs. At the mailbox, Rudy asked, Was that who I think it was? Yes. Youre joking. She gave me a present. As it turned out, Ilsa Hermann not only gave Liesel Meminger a book that day. She also gave her a reason to spend time in the basementher favorite place, first with Papa, then Max. She gave her a reason to write her own words, to see that words had also brought her to life. Dont punish yourself, she heard her say again, but there would be punishment and pain, and there would be happiness, too. That was writing. In the night, when Mama and Papa were asleep, Liesel crept down to the basement and turned on the kerosene lamp. For the first hour, she only watched the pencil and paper. She made herself remember, and as was her habit, she did not look away. Schreibe, she instructed herself. Write. After more than two hours, Liesel Meminger started writing, not knowing how she was ever going to get this right. How could she ever know that someone would pick her story up and carry it with him everywhere? No one expects these things. They dont plan them. She used a small paint can for a seat, a large one as a table, and Liesel stuck the pencil onto the first page. In the middle, she wrote the following.

THE BOOK THIEF a small story by Liesel Meminger THE RIB-CAGE PLANES

Her hand was sore by page three. Words are so heavy, she thought, but as the night wore on, she was able to complete eleven pages.

PAGE 1 I try to ignore it, but I know this all started with the train and the snow and my coughing brother. I stole my first book that day. It was a manual for digging graves and I stole it on my way to Himmel Street. . . .

She fell asleep down there, on a bed of drop sheets, with the paper curling at the edges, up on the taller paint can. In the morning, Mama stood above her, her chlorinated eyes questioning. Liesel, she said, what on earth are you doing down here? Im writing, Mama. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Rosa stomped back up the steps. Be back up in five minutes or you get the bucket treatment. Verstehst? I understand. Every night, Liesel made her way down to the basement. She kept the book with her at all times. For hours, she wrote, attempting each night to complete ten pages of her life. There was so much to consider, so many things in danger of being left out. Just be patient, she told herself, and with the mounting pages, the strength of her writing fist grew. Sometimes she wrote about what was happening in the basement at the time of writing. She had just finished the moment when Papa had slapped her on the church steps and how theyd heil Hitlered together. Looking across, Hans Hubermann was packing the accordion away. Hed just played for half an hour as Liesel wrote.

PAGE 42 Papa sat with me tonight. He brought the accordion down and sat close to where Max used to sit. I often look at his fingers and face when he plays. The accordion breathes. There are lines on his cheeks. They look drawn on, and for some reason, when I see them, I want to cry. It is not for any sadness or pride. I just like the way they move and change. Sometimes I think my papa is an accordion. When he looks at me and smiles and breathes, I hear the notes.

After ten nights of writing, Munich was bombed again. Liesel was up to page 102 and was asleep in the basement. She did not hear the cuckoo or the sirens, and she was holding the book in her sleep when Papa came to wake her. Liesel, come. She took The Book Thief and each of her other books, and they fetched Frau Holtzapfel.

PAGE 175 A book floated down the Amper River. A boy jumped in, caught up to it, and held it in his right hand. He grinned. He stood waist-deep in the icy, Decemberish water. How about a kiss, Saumensch ? he said.

By the next raid, on October 2, she was finished. Only a few dozen pages remained blank and the book thief was already starting to read over what shed written. The book was divided into ten parts, all of which were given the title of books or stories and described how each affected her life. Often, I wonder what page she was up to when I walked down Himmel Street in the dripping-tap rain, five nights later. I wonder what she was reading when the first bomb dropped from the rib cage of a plane. Personally, I like to imagine her looking briefly at the wall, at Max Vandenburgs tightrope cloud, his dripping sun, and the figures walking toward it. Then she looks at the agonizing attempts of her paint-written spelling. I see the Fhrer coming down the basement steps with his tied-together boxing gloves hanging casually around his neck. And the book thief reads, rereads, and rereads her last sentence, for many hours.

THE BOOK THIEF LAST LINE I have hated the words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right.

Outside, the world whistled. The rain was stained. THE END OF THE WORLD (Part II)

Almost all the words are fading now. The black book is disintegrating under the weight of my travels. Thats another reason for telling this story. What did we say earlier? Say something enough times and you never forget it. Also, I can tell you what happened after the book thiefs words had stopped, and how I came to know her story in the first place. Like this. Picture yourself walking down Himmel Street in the dark. Your hair is getting wet and the air pressure is on the verge of drastic change. The first bomb hits Tommy Mllers apartment block. His face twitches innocently in his sleep and I kneel at his bed. Next, his sister. Kristinas feet are sticking out from under the blanket. They match the hopscotch footprints on the street. Her little toes. Their mother sleeps a few feet away. Four cigarettes sit disfigured in her ashtray, and the roofless ceiling is hot plate red. Himmel Street is burning. The sirens began to howl. Too late now, I whispered, for that little exercise, because everyone had been fooled, and fooled again. First up, the Allies had feigned a raid on Munich in order to strike at Stuttgart. But next, ten planes had remained. Oh, there were warnings, all right. In Molching, they came with the bombs.

A ROLL CALL OF STREETS Munich, Ellenberg, Johannson, Himmel. The main street + three more, in the poorer part of town.

In the space of a few minutes, all of them were gone. A church was chopped down. Earth was destroyed where Max Vandenburg had stayed on his feet. At 31 Himmel Street, Frau Holtzapfel appeared to be waiting for me in the kitchen. A broken cup was in front of her and in a last moment of awakeness, her face seemed to ask just what in the hell had taken me so long. By contrast, Frau Diller was fast asleep. Her bulletproof glasses were shattered next to the bed. Her shop was obliterated, the counter landing across the road, and her framed photo of Hitler was taken from the wall and thrown to the floor. The man was positively mugged and beaten to a glass-shattering pulp. I stepped on him on my way out. The Fiedlers were well organized, all in bed, all covered. Pfiffikus was hidden up to his nose. At the Steiners, I ran my fingers through Barbaras lovely combed hair, I took the serious look from Kurts serious sleeping face, and one by one, I kissed the smaller ones good night. Then Rudy. Oh, crucified Christ, Rudy . . . He lay in bed with one of his sisters. She must have kicked him or muscled her way into the majority of the bed space because he was on the very edge with his arm around her. The boy slept. His candlelit hair ignited the bed, and I picked both him and Bettina up with their souls still in the blanket. If nothing else, they died fast and they were warm. The boy from the plane, I thought. The one with the teddy bear. Where was Rudys comfort? Where was someone to alleviate this robbery of his life? Who was there to soothe him as lifes rug was snatched from under his sleeping feet? No one. There was only me. And Im not too great at that sort of comforting thing, especially when my hands are cold and the bed is warm. I carried him softly through the broken street, with one salty eye and a heavy, deathly heart. With him, I tried a little harder. I watched the contents of his soul for a moment and saw a black-painted boy calling the name Jesse Owens as he ran through an imaginary tape. I saw him hip-deep in some icy water, chasing a book, and I saw a boy lying in bed, imagining how a kiss would taste from his glorious next-door neighbor. He does something to me, that boy. Every time. Its his only detriment. He steps on my heart. He makes me cry. Lastly, the Hubermanns. Hans. Papa. He was tall in the bed and I could see the silver through his eyelids. His soul sat up. It met me. Those kinds of souls always dothe best ones. The ones who rise up and say, I know who you are and I am ready. Not that I want to go, of course, but I will come. Those souls are always light because more of them have been put out. More of them have already found their way to other places. This one was sent out by the breath of an accordion, the odd taste of champagne in summer, and the art of promise-keeping. He lay in my arms and rested. There was an itchy lung for a last cigarette and an immense, magnetic pull toward the basement, for the girl who was his daughter and was writing a book down there that he hoped to read one day. Liesel. His soul whispered it as I carried him. But there was no Liesel in that house. Not for me, anyway. For me, there was only a Rosa, and yes, I truly think I picked her up midsnore, for her mouth was open and her papery pink lips were still in the act of moving. If shed seen me, Im sure she would have called me a Saukerl, though I would not have taken it badly. After reading The Book Thief, I discovered that she called everyone that. Saukerl. Saumensch. Especially the people she loved. Her elastic hair was out. It rubbed against the pillow and her wardrobe body had risen with the beating of her heart. Make no mistake, the woman had a heart. She had a bigger one than people would think. There was a lot in it, stored up, high in miles of hidden shelving. Remember that she was the woman with the instrument strapped to her body in the long, moon-slit night. She was a Jew feeder without a question in the world on a mans first night in Molching. And she was an arm reacher, deep into a mattress, to deliver a sketchbook to a teenage girl.

THE LAST LUCK I moved from street to street and came back for a single man named Schultz at the bottom of Himmel.

He couldnt hold out inside the collapsed house, and I was carrying his soul up Himmel Street when I noticed the LSE shouting and laughing. There was a small valley in the mountain range of rubble. The hot sky was red and turning. Pepper streaks were starting to swirl and I became curious. Yes, yes, I know what I told you at the beginning. Usually my curiosity leads to the dreaded witnessing of some kind of human outcry, but on this occasion, I have to say that although it broke my heart, I was, and still am, glad I was there. When they pulled her out, its true that she started to wail and scream for Hans Hubermann. The men of the LSE attempted to keep her in their powdery arms, but the book thief managed to break away. Desperate humans often seem able to do this. She did not know where she was running, for Himmel Street no longer existed. Everything was new and apocalyptic. Why was the sky red? How could it be snowing? And why did the snowflakes burn her arms? Liesel slowed to a staggering walk and concentrated up ahead. Wheres Frau Dillers? she thought. Wheres She wandered a short while longer until the man who found her took her arm and kept talking. Youre just in shock, my girl. Its just shock; youre going to be fine. Whats happened? Liesel asked. Is this still Himmel Street? Yes. The man had disappointed eyes. What had he seen these past few years? This is Himmel. You got bombed, my girl. Es tut mir leid, Schatzi. Im sorry, darling. The girls mouth wandered on, even if her body was now still. She had forgotten her previous wails for Hans Hubermann. That was years agoa bombing will do that. She said, We have to get my papa, my mama. We have to get Max out of the basement. If hes not there, hes in the hallway, looking out the window. He does that sometimes when theres a raidhe doesnt get to look much at the sky, you see. I have to tell him how the weather looks now. Hell never believe me. . . . Her body buckled at that moment and the LSE man caught her and sat her down. Well move her in a minute, he told his sergeant. The book thief looked at what was heavy and hurting in her hand. The book. The words. Her fingers were bleeding, just like they had on her arrival here. The LSE man lifted her and started to lead her away. A wooden spoon was on fire. A man walked past with a broken accordion case and Liesel could see the instrument inside. She could see its white teeth and the black notes in between. They smiled at her and triggered an alertness to her reality. We were bombed, she thought, and now she turned to the man at her side and said, Thats my papas accordion. Again. Thats my papas accordion. Dont worry, young girl, youre safe; just come a little farther. But Liesel did not come. She looked to where the man was taking the accordion and followed him. With the red sky still showering its beautiful ash, she stopped the tall LSE worker and said, Ill take that if you likeits my papas. Softly, she took it from the mans hand and began carrying it off. It was right about then that she saw the first body. The accordion case fell from her grip. The sound of an explosion. Frau Holtzapfel was scissored on the ground.

THE NEXT DOZEN SECONDS OF LIESEL MEMINGERS LIFE She turns on her heel and looks as far as she can down this ruined canal that was once Himmel Street. She sees two men carrying a body and she follows them.

When she saw the rest of them, Liesel coughed. She listened momentarily as a man told the others that they had found one of the bodies in pieces, in one of the maple trees. There were shocked pajamas and torn faces. It was the boys hair she saw first. Rudy? She did more than mouth the word now. Rudy? He lay with yellow hair and closed eyes, and the book thief ran toward him and fell down. She dropped the black book. Rudy, she sobbed, wake up. . . . She grabbed him by his shirt and gave him just the slightest disbelieving shake. Wake up, Rudy, and now, as the sky went on heating and showering ash, Liesel was holding Rudy Steiners shirt by the front. Rudy, please. The tears grappled with her face. Rudy, please, wake up, Goddamn it, wake up, I love you. Come on, Rudy, come on, Jesse Owens, dont you know I love you, wake up, wake up, wake up. . . . But nothing cared. The rubble just climbed higher. Concrete hills with caps of red. A beautiful, tear-stomped girl, shaking the dead. Come on, Jesse Owens But the boy did not wake. In disbelief, Liesel buried her head into Rudys chest. She held his limp body, trying to keep him from lolling back, until she needed to return him to the butchered ground. She did it gently. Slow. Slow. God, Rudy . . . She leaned down and looked at his lifeless face and Liesel kissed her best friend, Rudy Steiner, soft and true on his lips. He tasted dusty and sweet. He tasted like regret in the shadows of trees and in the glow of the anarchists suit collection. She kissed him long and soft, and when she pulled herself away, she touched his mouth with her fingers. Her hands were trembling, her lips were fleshy, and she leaned in once more, this time losing control and misjudging it. Their teeth collided on the demolished world of Himmel Street. She did not say goodbye. She was incapable, and after a few more minutes at his side, she was able to tear herself from the ground. It amazes me what humans can do, even when streams are flowing down their faces and they stagger on, coughing and searching, and finding.

THE NEXT DISCOVERY The bodies of Mama and Papa, both lying tangled in the gravel bedsheet of Himmel Street

Liesel did not run or walk or move at all. Her eyes had scoured the humans and stopped hazily when she noticed the tall man and the short, wardrobe woman. Thats my mama. Thats my papa. The words were stapled to her. Theyre not moving, she said quietly. Theyre not moving. Perhaps if she stood still long enough, it would be they who moved, but they remained motionless for as long as Liesel did. I realized at that moment that she was not wearing any shoes. What an odd thing to notice right then. Perhaps I was trying to avoid her face, for the book thief was truly an irretrievable mess. She took a step and didnt want to take any more, but she did. Slowly, Liesel walked to her mama and papa and sat down between them. She held Mamas hand and began speaking to her. Remember when I came here, Mama? I clung to the gate and cried. Do you remember what you said to everyone on the street that day? Her voice wavered now. You said, What are you assholes looking at? She took Mamas hand and touched her wrist. Mama, I know that you . . . I liked when you came to school and told me Max had woken up. Did you know I saw you with Papas accordion? She tightened her grip on the hardening hand. I came and watched and you were beautiful. Goddamn it, you were so beautiful, Mama.

MANY MOMENTS OF AVOIDANCE Papa. She would not, and could not, look at Papa. Not yet. Not now.

Papa was a man with silver eyes, not dead ones. Papa was an accordion! But his bellows were all empty. Nothing went in and nothing came out. She began to rock back and forth. A shrill, quiet, smearing note was caught somewhere in her mouth until she was finally able to turn. To Papa. At that point, I couldnt help it. I walked around to see her better, and from the moment I witnessed her face again, I could tell that this was who she loved the most. Her expression stroked the man on his face. It followed one of the lines down his cheek. He had sat in the washroom with her and taught her how to roll a cigarette. He gave bread to a dead man on Munich Street and told the girl to keep reading in the bomb shelter. Perhaps if he didnt, she might not have ended up writing in the basement. Papathe accordionistand Himmel Street. One could not exist without the other, because for Liesel, both were home. Yes, thats what Hans Hubermann was for Liesel Meminger. She turned around and spoke to the LSE. Please, she said, my papas accordion. Could you get it for me? After a few minutes of confusion, an older member brought the eaten case and Liesel opened it. She removed the injured instrument and laid it next to Papas body. Here, Papa. And I can promise you something, because it was a thing I saw many years latera vision in the book thief herselfthat as she knelt next to Hans Hubermann, she watched him stand and play the accordion. He stood and strapped it on in the alps of broken houses and played the accordion with kindness silver eyes and even a cigarette slouched on his lips. He even made a mistake and laughed in lovely hindsight. The bellows breathed and the tall man played for Liesel Meminger one last time as the sky was slowly taken from the stove. Keep playing, Papa. Papa stopped. He dropped the accordion and his silver eyes continued to rust. There was only a body now, on the ground, and Liesel lifted him up and hugged him. She wept over the shoulder of Hans Hubermann. Goodbye, Papa, you saved me. You taught me to read. No one can play like you. Ill never drink champagne. No one can play like you. Her arms held him. She kissed his shouldershe couldnt bear to look at his face anymoreand she placed him down again. The book thief wept till she was gently taken away. Later, they remembered the accordion but no one noticed the book. There was much work to be done, and with a collection of other materials, The Book Thief was stepped on several times and eventually picked up without even a glance and thrown aboard a garbage truck. Just before the truck left, I climbed quickly up and took it in my hand. . . . Its lucky I was there. Then again, who am I kidding? Im in most places at least once, and in 1943, I was just about everywhere.