12
I remember this night specifically, the sky above me was a pale blue as the sun lost its daily battle to the darkness of the evenings. There were no clouds, and the moon was like a big, bright circle, bone white in colour. On this night in particular, only half of the moons glossy shine was visible, the other half seemed to have disappeared. I remember thinking as I hastily loosened the souls of the dead, the way the moon had lost its other half must have been from the endless waves of bombs falling on unsuspecting German cities that night. Delivering these bombs were hundreds of English planes soaring through the night sky. One plane however, was different than the others, this one was headed to Mulching. This one was headed for Liesel.
Liesel sat in the basement with her Papa, she listened quietly as he played a song for her on his accordion. Mama's voice fell down the stairs and reached their ears.
“Move it Saumensch!” said Mama. “ Do you want this house to come down on all of us? Or are you crazy?” she asked.
Once he heard her voice Hans stopped playing his music, then he immediately heard the sirens warning the town of another air raid. The accordion must have drowned out the sirens! Quickly Liesel, Mama and Papa were all out the door on their way to the Fielders' basement to take shelter. Once inside and down the stairs, Liesel realized it. She had forgotten her books!
“Papa!” she cried “Die Bücher!“ the books!
“ Liesel, No!“ shouted Papa over the roar of the incoming planes.
But it was too late, Liesel was gone, she needed the books, they kept everyone calm and she knew that. She knew she had to go back.
The man in the cockpit was focused, he knew his job and he knew what must be done. He lowered his altitude and adjusted his goggles, Mulching was close and he would be there shortly. His task nearly complete he allowed himself to relax, it would be over soon. The man sighed as he realized the magnitude of what he was about to do. Mulching became visible on the horizon, roofs lit by the moonlight. The pilot felt his stomach turn over, it was time. A few more seconds and he would complete his task, the only reason he was out here on this cold night, “These people... they're innocent” whispered the pilot, then at that instant he veered off course and began to fly away from the town of the book thief.
I followed him as he flew, he just passed over a river when he called me. He new he could never return to his country, he just saved the lives of the enemy. But the children! He thought. They'd done nothing wrong. The pilot flew over a grassy field about half an hour outside of Mulching. That's when I heard him call. I watched as the nose of the plane dove towards the ground, faster and faster until it crashed with the sound of wrenching metal followed by the scream of two-thousand pounds of explosives went off from the carrier in the underbelly of the plane. As I lifted the mans' soul and carried it from the wreck I wondered, what was the book thief doing, did she know that this man had just spared her life? Of course not, how could she know something like that.
“Liesel you're back, danke Gott!“ thank God! Said Papa and Mama began to cry.