Page 287 - The Book Thief
P. 287
THREE ACTS OF STUPIDITY
BY RUDY STEINER
RUDY STEINER, PURE GENIUS
He stole the biggest potato from Mamers, the local grocer.
Taking on Franz Deutscher on Munich Street.
Skipping the Hitler Youth meetings altogether.
The problem with Rudys first act was greed. It was a typically dreary afternoon
in mid-November 1941.
Earlier, hed woven through the women with their coupons quite brilliantly,
almost, dare I say it, with a touch of criminal genius. He nearly went completely
unnoticed.
Inconspicuous as he was, however, he managed to take hold of the biggest
potato of the lotthe very same one that several people in the line had been
watching. They all looked on as a thirteen-year-old fist rose up and grabbed it. A
choir of heavyset Helgas pointed him out, and Thomas Mamer came storming
toward the dirty fruit.
Meine Erdpfel, he said. My earth apples.
The potato was still in Rudys hands (he couldnt hold it in just the one), and the
women gathered around him like a troop of wrestlers. Some fast talking was
required.
