Page 41 - The Book Thief

THE WOMAN WITH THE IRON FIST

Those first few months were definitely the hardest.

Every night, Liesel would nightmare.

Her brothers face.

Staring at the floor.

She would wake up swimming in her bed, screaming, and drowning in the flood

of sheets. On the other side of the room, the bed that was meant for her brother
floated boatlike in the darkness. Slowly, with the arrival of consciousness, it
sank, seemingly into the floor. This vision didnt help matters, and it would
usually be quite a while before the screaming stopped.

Possibly the only good to come out of these nightmares was that it brought Hans
Hubermann, her new papa, into the room, to soothe her, to love her.

He came in every night and sat with her. The first couple of times, he simply
stayeda stranger to kill the aloneness. A few nights after that, he whispered,
Shhh, Im here, its all right. After three weeks, he held her. Trust was
accumulated quickly, due primarily to the brute strength of the mans gentleness,

his thereness. The girl knew from the outset that Hans Hubermann would always
appear midscream, and he would not leave.

A DEFINITION NOT FOUND
IN THE DICTIONARY
Not leaving: an act of trust and love,
often deciphered by children

Hans Hubermann sat sleepy-eyed on the bed and Liesel would cry into his