Page 308 - The Book Thief

THIRTEEN PRESENTS

It was Maxs arrival, revisited.

Feathers turned to twigs again. Smooth face turned to rough. The proof she
needed was there. He was alive.

The first few days, she sat and talked to him. On her birthday, she told him there
was an enormous cake waiting in the kitchen, if only hed wake up.

There was no waking.

There was no cake.

A LATE-NIGHT EXCERPT
I realized much later that I actually visited
33 Himmel Street in that period of time.
It must have been one of the few moments when the
girl was not there with him, for all I saw was a
man in bed. I knelt. I readied myself to insert
my hands through the blankets. Then there was a

resurgencean immense struggle against my weight.
I withdrew, and with so much work ahead of me,
it was nice to be fought off in that dark little room.
I even managed a short, closed-eyed pause of
serenity before I made my way out.