Page 253 - The Book Thief

perhaps watching what he planned to produce on them. Many months later, he

would also paint over the cover of that book and give it a new title, after one of
the stories he would write and illustrate inside it.

That afternoon, in the secret ground below 33 Himmel Street, the Hubermanns,
Liesel Meminger, and Max Vandenburg prepared the pages of The Word Shaker.

It felt good to be a painter.

The Showdown: June 24

Then came the seventh side of the die. Two days after Germany invaded Russia.
Three days before Britain and the Soviets joined forces.

Seven.

You roll and watch it coming, realizing completely that this is no regular die.
You claim it to be bad luck, but youve known all along that it had to come. You

brought it into the room. The table could smell it on your breath. The Jew was
sticking out of your pocket from the outset. Hes smeared to your lapel, and the
moment you roll, you know its a seventhe one thing that somehow finds a way to
hurt you. It lands. It stares you in each eye, miraculous and loathsome, and you
turn away with it feeding on your chest.

Just bad luck.

Thats what you say.

Of no consequence.

Thats what you make yourself believebecause deep down, you know that this

small piece of changing fortune is a signal of things to come. You hide a Jew.