the Jesse Owens incident as we both know Lisa wasn't on hand on Emmel Street when Rudy performed his act of childhood infamy when she looked back though it felt like she'd actually been there in her memory she had somehow become a member of Rudy's imaginary audience nobody else mentioned it but Rudy certainly made up for that so much that when Liesel came to recollect her story the Jesse Owens incident was as much a part of it as everything she witnessed firsthand it was 1936 the Olympics Hitler's Games Jesse Owens had just completed the four by 100 meter relay and won his fourth gold medal talk that he was subhuman because he was black and Hitler's refusal to shake his hand were touted around the world even the most racist Germans were amazed with the efforts of Owens and word of his feet slipped through the cracks no one was more impressed than Rudy Steiner everyone and his family was crowded together in their family room when he slipped out and made his way to the kitchen he pulled some charcoal from the stove encrypted in the smallness of his hands now there was a smile he was ready he smeared the charcoal on nice and thick till he was covered in black even his hair received a once-over in the window the boy grinned almost met maniacally at his reflection and in his shorts and tank top he quietly abducted his older brothers bike and pedaled it up the street heading to Hubert oval in one of his pockets he'd hidden a few pieces of extra charcoal in case some of it wore off later in Liesel's mind the moon was sewn into the sky that night clouds were stitched around it the rusty bike rumbled to a halt of the Hubert oval fence line and Rudy climbed over he landed on the other side and trotted we daliyah towards the beginning of the hundred enthusiastically he conducted an awkward regimen of stretches he dug starting holes into the dirt waiting for his moment he paced around gathering concentration under the darkness sky with the moon in the clouds watching tightly Owens is looking good he began to commentate this could be his greatest victory ever he shook the imaginary hands of the other athletes and wish them luck even though he knew they didn't have a chance the starter signaled them forward a crowd materialized around every square inch of Hubert oval circumference they were all calling out one thing they were chanting Rudy his name and his name was Jesse Owens all fell silent his bare feet gripped the soil he could feel it whole feel it holding on between his toes at the request of the starter he raised a crouching position and the gun clipped a hole in the night for the first third of the race it was pretty even but it was only a matter of time before the charcoaled Owens drew clear and streaked away Owens in front the boys real boys cried as he ran down the empty tracks straight toward the uproarious applause of Olympic glory he could even feel the tape break in two across his chest as he burst through it in first place the fastest man alive it was only on his victory lap that things turned sour among the crowd his father was standing at the finish line like the boogey man or at least the boogey man in a suit as previously mentioned Rudy's father was a tailor he was rarely seen on the street without a suit and tie on this occasion it was only the suit in a disheveled shirt was his loss he said to his son when he showed up all in his charcoal glory what the hell is going on here the crowd vanished a breeze sprang up I was asleep in my chair when Kurt noticed you were gone everyone's out looking for you mr. Steiner was a remarkably polite man under normal circumstances discovering one of his children smeared charcoal black on a summer evening was not what he considered normal circumstances the boy is crazy he muttered although he conceded that with six kids something like this was bound to happen at least one of them had to be a bad egg right now he was looking at it waiting for an explanation well Rudy panted bending down and placing his hands on his knees I was being Jesse Owens he answered as though it was the most natural thing on earth to be doing it was even something him implicit in his tone that suggested something along the lines of what the hell does it look like the tone vanished however when he saw this sleep deprivation whittled under his father's eyes Jesse Owens mr. Steiner was the type of man who was very wooden his voice was angular and true his body was tall and heavy like oak his hair was like splinters what about him you know Papa the black magic one I'll give you black magic he caught his son's ears between his thumb and forefinger Rudy winced oh that really hurts does it his father was more concerned with the clay texture of charcoal contaminating his fingers he covered everything didn't he he thought it's even in his ears for God's sake come on on the way home mr. Steiner decided to talk politics with the boy as best he could only in the years ahead would Rudy understand at all when it was too late to bother understanding anything the contradictory politics of Alec Steiner 0.1 he was a member of the Nazi Party but he did not hate the Jews or anyone else for that matter point2 secretly though he couldn't help feeling a percentage of relief or worse gladness when Jewish shop owners were put out of business propaganda informed him that it was only a matter of time before a plague of Jewish tailor showed up and stole his customers 0.3 but did that mean they should be driven out completely point for his family surely he had to do whatever he could to support them if that meant being in the party and meant being in the party 0.5 somewhere far down there was a niche in his heart but he made it a point not to scratch it he was afraid of what might come leaking out they walked around a few corners onto Himmel Street and Alex said son you can't go around painting yourself black you here Rudi was interested and confused the moon was undone now free to move and rise and fall and drip on the boy's face making him nice and murky like his thoughts why not papa because they'll take you away why because you shouldn't want to be like black people or Jewish people or anyone who is not us who are Jewish people you know my oldest oldest customer mr. Kaufman where we bought your shoes yes well he's Jewish I didn't know that you have to pay to be Jewish do you need a license no Rudi mr. Steiner was steering the bike with one hand and Rudi with the other he was having trouble steering the conversation he still didn't he still hadn't really pushed the hold on his son's earlobe he forgotten about it it's like you're German or Catholic oh it's Jesse Owens Catholic I don't know he tripped on a bike pedal then and released the ear they walked on in silence for a while until Rudi said I just wish I was like Jesse Owens papa this time mr. Steiner placed his hand on Ruby's head and explained I know son but you've got beautiful blonde hair and big safe blue eyes you should be happy with that is that clear but nothing was clear Rudi understood nothing and that night was the prelude of things to come two and a half years later the Kaufmann shoe shop was reduced to broken glass and all the shoes were flung aboard a truck in their boxes