the attributes of summer so there you have it you're well aware of exactly what was coming to him astray by the end of 1940 I know you know Liesel meminger however cannot be put into that category for The Book Thief the summer of that year was simple it consisted of four main elements or attributes at time she would wonder which was the most powerful and the nominees are advancing through the shoulder shrug every night reading on the floor of the mayor's library playing soccer on Himmel Street the seizure of a different stealing opportunity the shoulder shrug she decided was excellent each night when she calmed herself from her nightmare she was soon pleased that she was awake and able to read a few pages pop asked her and Liesl Liesl would not sometimes they would complete a chapter the next afternoon and down in the basement the authority's problem with the book was obvious the protagonist was a Jew and he was presented in a positive light unforgivable he was a rich man who was tired of letting life pass him by what he referred to as the shrugging of the shoulders to the problems and pleasures of a person's time on earth in the early part of summer and mulching as Liesel and Papa made their way through the book this man was traveling to Amsterdam on business and the snow was shivering outside the girl loved that the shivering snow that's exactly what it does when it comes down she told Hans Hubermann they sat together on the bed Papa half asleep and the girl wide-awake sometimes she watched papa as he slept knowing both more and less about him than either of them realized she often heard him and Mama discussing his lack of work or talking despondently about Hans going to see their son only to discover that the young man had left his lodging was most likely at already on his way to war slavka papa the girl sat is set at those times sleep well and she slipped around him out of bed to turn off the light the next attribute as I've mentioned was the mayor's library to exemplify that particular situation we can look to a cool day in late June Rudi to put it mildly wasn't sensed who did Liesel meminger think she was telling him she had to take the wash she had to take the washing and ironing alone today wasn't he good enough to walk the streets with her stop complaining soccer she reprimanded him I just feel bad you're missing the game he looked over his shoulder well if he put it that way there was a muzzle you can stick your washing he ran off and wasted no time joining a team when Liesel made it to the shop of Himmel Street she looked back just in time to see how him standing in front of the nearest makeshift goals he was waving soccer else she laughed and as she held her hand she knew completely that he was simultaneously calling her a saw mensch I think that's as close to love as eleven-year-olds can get she started to run to Grand Strauss in the mayor's house certainly there was sweat and the wrinkled pants of breath stretching out in front of her but she was reading the mayor's wife having let the girl in for the fourth time was sitting at the desk simply watching the books on the second visit she had given permission for Liesel to put one at one out and go through it which led to another and another up until up until up to half a dozen books were stuck to her the either clutched beneath her arm or among the pile that was climbing higher in her remaining hand on this occasion as Liesel stood and the pool surrounds of the room her stomach growled but no reaction was forced coming from the mute damaged woman she was in her bathrobe again and although she observed the girl several times it was never for very long she usually paid more attention to what was next to her to something missing the window was opened wide a square cool mouth with occasional gusty surges Liesel sat on the floor the books were scattered around her after 40 minutes she left every title was returned to its place goodbye Freud Hermann the words always came out it came as a shock thank you after which the woman said her woman paid her and she left every movement was accounted for in the book thief ran home as summer said in the room full of books became warmer and with every pickup or delivery day the floor was not as painful lisa would sit with a small pile of books next to her and she'd read a few paragraphs of each trying to memorize the word she didn't know to ask papa when she made it home later on as an adolescent when Liesel wrote about these books she no longer remembered the titles not one perhaps had she stolen them she would have been better equipped what she did remember was that one of the picture books had had a name written clung on the inside cover the name of a boy Johan Hermann Liesel bit down on her lip but she could not resist it for long from the floor she turned and looked up at the bathroom woman and made an inquiry Johan Hermann she said who's that the woman looked it beside her somewhere next to the girl's knees Liesel apologized I'm sorry I shouldn't be asking such things she left the sentence died its own death the woman's face did not alter yet somehow she managed to speak he is nothing now in this world she explained he was my the files of recollection oh yes I definitely remember him the sky was murky and deep like quicksand there was a young man parceled up and barbed wire like a giant crown of thorns I untangled him and carried him out high above the earth we sank together to our knees it was just another day 1918 apart from everything else she said he froze to death for a moment she played with her hands and she said it again he froze to death I'm sure of it the mayor's wife was just one of a worldwide brigade you have seen her before I'm certain in your stories your poems the screens you like to watch they're everywhere so why not here why not on shapely Hill in a small German town it's as good a place to suffer as any the point is Ilsa Hermann had decided to make suffering her triumph when it refused to let go of her she succumbed to it she embraced it she could have shot herself scratched herself or indulged in other forms of self-mutilation but she chose what she probably felt was the weakest option to at least endure the discomfort of the weather for all Liesel knew she prayed for summer days they that were cold and wet for the most part she lived in the right place when Lisa left that day she said something with great uneasiness in translation to giant words were struggled with carried on her shoulder and dropped as a bung bungling pair at Ilsa Herman's feet they fell off sideways as the girl veered with them and could no longer sustain their weight together they sat on the floor large and loud and clumsy two giant words I'm sorry again the mayor's wife watched the space next to her a blank page faced for what she asked but I'm had a lapse by then the girl was already well out of the room she was nearly at the front door when she heard it Liesel stopped but she chose not to go back preferring to make her way noiselessly from the house and down the steps she took in the view of the mulching before disappearing down into it and she pitied the mayor's wife for quite a while at times Lisa wondered if she should simply leave the woman alone but Elsa Herman was too interesting and the pull of the books was too strong once words had rendered Liesel useless but now when she sat on the floor with the mayor's wife at her husband's desk she felt an innate sense of power it happened every time she deciphered a new word or pieced together a sentence she was a girl in Nazi Germany how fitting that she was discovering the power of words and how awful and yet exhilarating it wouldn't feel many months later when she would unleash this power of this the power of this newfound discovery the very moment the mayor's wife let her down how quickly the pity would leave her and how quickly it would spill over into something else completely now though in the summer of 1940 she could not see what lay ahead in more ways than one she was witnessed only to a sorrowful woman with a room full of books whom she enjoyed and visiting that was all it was part two of her existence that summer part three thank God was a little more lighthearted Himmel street soccer allow me to play you a picture feet scuffing road the rush of voyage breath shouted words here this way scheisse the course bounce a ball on road all were present on Himmel Street as well as the sound of apologies as summer further intensified the apologies belong to Liesel meminger they were directed at Tommy Muller by the start of July she finally managed to convince him that she wasn't going to kill him since the beating she'd handed him the previous November Tommy was still frightened to be around her in the soccer meetings on Himmel Street he kept well clear you never know when she might snap he'd confided in Rudy half twitching half speaking in Liesel's defense she never gave up on trying to put him at ease it disappointed her that she'd successfully made peace with Ludwig Schmeichel and not and not with the innocent Tommy Muller he still cowered slightly whenever he saw her how could I know you were smiling for me that day she asked him repeatedly she'd even a few stints as a goalie for him until until everyone else on the team begged him to go back in get back in there a boy named Harold Mullin Howard finally ordered him you're useless this was after Tommy tripped him as as he was about to score he would have awarded himself a penalty but for the fact that they were on the same side Liesel came back out and would somehow somehow always end up opposing Rudi they would tackle and trip each other call each other names Rudy would commentate she can't get around him this time the stupid saw man job robble robble ER she hasn't got a hope he seemed to enjoy calling Liesel and a scratcher it was one of the joys of childhood another of the joys of course was stealing part for summer 1940 in fairness there were many things that brought Rudy and Liesel together but it was the stealing that cemented their friendship completely it was brought a lot about by one opportunity and it was driven by one an inescapable force Rudy's hunger the boy was permanently dying for something to eat on top of the rationing situation his father's business wasn't doing as well so well of late the threat of Jewish competition was taken away but so were the Jewish customers the Steiners were scratching things together to get by like many other people in the Himmel Street side of town they needed to trade leaves la would have given him some food from her place but there wasn't wasn't an abundance of it there either mama usually made pea soup on Sundays a Sunday night she cooked it and just and not just enough for one or two repeat performances she made enough pea soup to last until the following Saturday then on Sunday she'd cook another one pea soup bread sometimes a small portion of potatoes or meat you ate it up and you didn't ask for more and you didn't complain at first they did things to try to forget about it Rudy wouldn't be hungry if they played played soccer on the street or if they took bikes from his brother and sister and rode to alex einar shop or visited Liesel's papa if he was working that particular day Hans Hubermann would sit with them and tell jokes in the last light of afternoon with the arrival of a few hot days another distraction was lean learning to swim in the AMPA River the water was still a little too cold but they went anyway come on Rudi coke stir in just here it isn't so deep here she couldn't see the giant hole she was walking into and sink straight to the bottom dog paddling say her life despite nearly choking on the swollen intake of water you saw girl she accused him when she collapsed onto the riverbank Rudi made certain to keep well away he'd seen what she did to Ludwig Schmeichel you can swim now can't you which didn't particularly cheer her up as she marched away her hair was pasted to the side of her face and snot was flowing from her nose he called after her does this mean I don't get a kiss for teaching you suck Carl the nerve of him it was inevitable the depressing pea soup and Rudy's hunger finally drove them to thievery it inspired their attachment to an older group of kids who stole from the farmers fruit stealers after a game of soccer both Liesel and Rudy learned the benefits of keeping their eyes open sitting on Rudy's front step they noticed Fritz hammer one of their older counterparts eating an apple it was one of the Klara variety ripening in July in August and it looked magnificent in his hand three or four more of them clearly bulged in his jacket pockets they wandered closer what did you get those Rudy asked the boy only grinned at first Shh and he stopped he then proceeded to pull an apple from his pocket and toss it over just look at it he warned them don't eat it the next time they saw the same boy wearing the same jacket on a day that was too warm for it they followed him he led them toward the upstream section of the AMPA River it was close to where Liesel sometimes read with her papa when she was first learning a group of five boys some lanky a few short and lean stood waiting there were a few such groups in mulching at the time some with members as young as six the leader of the particular outfit was an agreeable 15 year old criminal named Arthur Berg he looked around and saw the two eleven year olds dangling off the back owned he asked and I'm starving Rudy replied and he's fast said Liesel Berg looked at her I don't recall asking for your opinion he was teenage tall and had a long neck pimples were gathered in peer groups on his face but I liked you he was friendly in a smart-mouth adolescent way isn't this the one who beat up your brother and Earl were word had certainly made its way around a good hiding transcends the divides of age another boy one of the short lean ones with shaggy blond hair and ice colored skin looked over I think so Rudi confirmed it it is and he should walked across and studied her up and down his face pensive before breaking into a gaping smile great work kid he even slapped her among the bones of her back catching a sharp piece of shoulder blade I'd get whipped for it if I did it myself Arthur had moved on to Rudy and you're the Jesse Owens one aren't you Rudy nodded clearly said Arthur you're an idiot but you're out our kind of idiot come on they were in when they reached the farm Liesel and Rudy were throat were thrown a sack Arthur burg ripped his own burlap bag he ran a hand through his mild strands of hair either have you ever stolen before of course Rudy certified all the time he was not very convincing Lisa was more specific I've stolen two books which Arthur laughed in three short snorts his pimples shifted position you can't eat books sweetheart from there they all examine the apple trees who stood in long twisted rows Arthur bird gave the orders one he said don't get caught on the fence you get caught on the fence you would get left behind understood everyone nodded or said yes to one in the tree one below someone has to collect he rubbed his hands together he was enjoying this three if you see someone coming you call out loud enough to wake the dead and we all run Rick dig Rick jig it was a chorus two deputy deputy tante apple thieves whispering weasel are you sure do you still want to do this look at the barbed wire Rudy it's so high no no look you throw the sack on see like them all right come on then I can't hesitation Rudy I move it's a mensch he pushed her toward the fence through the empty sack on the on the wire and they climbed over running toward the others Rudy made his way up the closest tree and started flinging down the apples Liesel stood below putting them into the sack by the time it was full there was another problem how do we get back over the fence the answer came when they noticed arthur berg climbing as close to a fence post as possible the wires stronger there Rudy pointed he threw the sack over made Liesel go first then lana beside her on the other side among the fruit that spill from the back next to them the long legs of arthur berg stood watching an amusement not bad land at the voice from above not bad at all when they made it back to the river hidden among the trees he took the can gave Liesel and Rudy a dozen apples between them good work with his final comment on the matter that afternoon before they returned home Liesel and Rudy consumed six apples apiece within half an hour at first they entertain thoughts are sharing the fruit at their respective homes but there were considerable there was considerable danger in that they didn't particularly relish the opportunity of explaining just where the fruit had come from Liesel even thought that perhaps she could get away with only telling papa but she didn't want him thinking that she had a compulsive criminal on his hands so she ate it on the riverbank where she learned to swim each apple was disposed of unaccustomed to such luxury they knew it was likely they'd be sick they ate anyway savage mama abused her that night why are you vomiting so much maybe it's the pea soup Liesel suggested that's right pop a code he was over at the window again it must be I feel a bit sick myself Lord you saukerl quickly she turned back to face that the vomiting saw Mensch well what is it what is he filthy Pig but Liesel she said nothing the apples she thought happily the apples and she vomited one more time for luck the Aryan shopkeeper they stood outside Freud dealers against the whitewashed wall a piece of candy was in Liesel meminger mouth the Sun was in her eyes despite these difficulties she was still able to speak and argue another conversation between Rudy and Liesel hurry up sauna Ange that's ten already it's not it's only eight I've got two two to go well hurry up then I told you we should have gotten a knife and sign it in half come on that's two all right here and don't swallow it do I look like an idiot a short pause this is great isn't it it sure is cement at the end of August and summer they found one funning authentic on the ground pure excitement it was sitting half rotten in some dirt on the washing and ironing route a solitary Corona coin take a look at that Rudy swooped on it the excitement almost almost stung as they rushed back to Freud dealers not even considering that a single Fenig might not be the right price they burst through the door and stood in front of the Aryan shopkeeper who regarded them with contempt I'm waiting she said her hair was tied back in her black dress choked her body the framed photo of the friar kept watching the wall watching from the wall Heil Hitler Rudy led Hitler she responded straightening taller behind the counter and you she glared at Liesel who promptly gave her a Heil Hitler of her own it didn't take Rudy long to dig the coin from his pocket and place it firmly on the counter he looked straight into Froy Froy Diller's spectacled eyes and said mix candy please Froy dillert smiled her teeth up her teeth elbowed each other for room in her mouth and her unexpected kindness made Rudy and Liesel smile as well not for long she bent down did some searching and came back here she said tossing a single piece of candy onto the counter mix it yourself outside they unwrapped it and tried biting it in half but the sugar was like glass far too tough even for Rudy's animal-like chompers instead they had to trade trade sucks on it until it was finished ten sucks for Rudy 10 for Liesel back and forth this Rudy announced at one point with the candy tooth grin is the good life and Liesel didn't disagree by the time they were finished both their mouths were an exaggerated red and as they walked home they reminded each other to keep their to keep each other they reminded each other to keep their eyes peeled in case they found another coin naturally they found nothing no one can be that lucky twice in one year let alone a single afternoon still with red tongues and teeth they walk down Himmel Street happily searching the ground as they went the day had been a great one and Nazi Germany was a wondrous place the struggler continued we move forward now to a cold night struggle will let the book thief catch up later it was November 3rd and the floor of the Train held him onto his feet in front of him he read from the copy of mind Kampf his Savior sweat was swimming out of his hands finger marks clutched the book book thief productions officially presents mine Kampf my struggle by Adolf Hitler behind Max Vandenberg's the city of Stuttgart opened its arms and mockery he was not welcome there and he tried not to look back as he as the stale bread disintegrated in his stomach a few times he shifted again and watched the lights become only a handful and then disappear altogether look proud he advised himself you cannot look afraid read the book smile it's a great book the greatest book you've ever read ignore that woman on the other side she's asleep now anyway come on max you're only a few hours away as it had turned out the promised return visit in the room of Darkness didn't take days it had taken a week and a half then another week till the next and another until he lost all sense of the passing of days and hours he was relocated once more to another small storage room where there was more light more visits and more food time however was running out I'm leaving soon his friend Walter Kugler toll told him you know how it is the army I'm sorry Walter Walter Kugler max his friend from childhood placed his hand on the Jews shoulder it could be worse he looked his friend in his Jewish eyes I could be you now it was their last meeting a final package was left in the corner and this time there was a ticket Walter opened mine comp and slid it inside next to the map he brought with the book itself page 13 he smiled for luck yes for luck and the two of them embraced when the door shut max opened the book and examined the ticket Stuttgart to Munich two pacing it left in two days in the night just in time to make the last connection from there he would walk the map was already in his head folded in quarters the key was still taped to the inside cover he sat for half an hour before stepping toward the bag and and opening it apart from food a few other items sat inside the extra contents of Walter coolers gift one small razor a spoon the closest thing to a mirror shaving cream a pair of scissors when he left it the store room was empty but for the floor goodbye he whispered the last thing max saw was a small mound of hair sitting casually against the wall goodbye with a clean-shaven face and lopsided yet neatly combed hair he had walked out of that building a new man in fact he walked out out German he hang on a second he was German or more to the point he had been in his stomach was the electric combination of nourishment and nausea he walked to the station he showed his ticket an identity card and now he sat in a small box compartment of the train directly in danger spotlight papers that was what he dreaded to hear it was bad enough when he was stopped on the platform he knew he could not withstand it twice the shivering hands the smell no the stench of guilt he simply couldn't bear and fortunately they came through early and only asked for the ticket and now all that was left was a window of small towns the congregations of lights and a woman snoring on the other side of the compartment for most of the journey he made his way through the book trying never to look up the words lolled about in his in his mouth as he read them strangely as he turned the pages and progressed through the chapters it was only two words he ever tasted mine Kampf my struggle the title over and over again as the train prattled on from one german town to the next mine com of all things to save him