Not Leaving {The Book Thief}

9

                        Liesels POV
   I walked over to the table and took my seat by Sarah. I nibbled on bread and poridge. "When are we going to the newspaper Charles? I desperately want to apply!" I asked. "They don't open till 9:00 so I'm afraid you will have to wait an hour."

I ate the last bite of my poridge and walked over to the chair by the window. I reached beneath the seat and pulled out "Anne of Green Gables." I have read it multiple times. Sarah looked at me from across the room. She always seems to feel bad for not being able to find Rudy. But I have come to terms with the fact he is probably in the war. Max was back in a camp no doubt. "Sarah I finished Anne of Green Gables, surely it's 9:00. Can we please go?" I whined. Sarah always says yes to me."It's 8:40 but I'm sure we can amuse ourselves on the way there." I slipped my coat on and we hooked arms as we walked out the door. We made our silent decent down the main road. Nazis were everywhere, knocking on doors to find recruits. Escorting parades of Jews down the street. I kept an eye out for my poor Rudy. He must be so unhappy, if he even is with the Nazis. Children were playing ball in the street, screaming and giggling. Just like my games back in Molching there was one child who was obviously more athletic than the others. The little dark haired boy was so much like Rudy I couldn't help but smile to myself. "Liesel shall we stop in the tailors real quick? I need to buy some yarn." We walked up the steps into the dusty old room. "Hello? Oh you are new here aren't you. I'm Sarah Wolfgang. Could you get me some blue yarn?" I looked up at the new worker at the shop. His face was so familiar and sad. "Alex!? Alex Steiner!" He looked up at me. "How do you know my name?" He answered, startled. "It's me Liesel! From Himmel street!"I cried. He rushed from behind the counter and scooped me up, grateful for a familiar face. "Rudy loved you Liesel, did you know that? He always talked about you. I'm sorry." He whispered to me. "He does love me. He still is alive. Don't you know that? I mean he might be fighting right now, but I'm sure he is still alive." I told him. He started to cry, "You mean I still have my son? I'm not alone?" He smiled at me. "Now let's get you two some yarn." He wiped his eyes and reached up on the shelf and pulled down a ball of blue wool. "Take this, free of charge. You have made me happier than I've been in years. Now you come get me the moment you here anything about Rudy." He handed Sarah the yarn and we walked out the door,the bell chiming behind us. "That was a splendid sight. Let's get going to the newspaper now!" We spead down the street until we were a few feet from the newspaper office. I smoothed out my plaid suit dress and marched into the complex, waving goodbye to Sarah. "Hello. I'm Liesel Meminger. I'm here to enquire about the mail room position." The elderly lady squinted at me, "How old are you exactly?". "I'm 16, and I'll be 17 in 3 months." She nodded her head in aproval. "How long were you on school?" I hesitated to answer. The proper answer would be "I left school last week." But sadly I had to answer honestly. "I left school when I was 14 due to my town being bombed and my family passing. I should have loved to stay in school longer though." She seemed unimpressed with my answer. "You seem to be qualified, but it's to early to decide if your the right fit. Write down your address right here and we will get a hold of you when our decision is made."

   I left the building quickly, eager to tell Sarah everything. "Stop it! Let go of me! Liesel! Help me!" I turned quickly to see two men dragging her away from me. "Stop! What has she done! She was waiting for me!" One of the two men turned to address me. "Was she waiting for you? What were you doing?" He enquired. "I was applying for a job! She wasn't doing anything wrong! Please! What did you think she was doing?" This time the pale blonde man turned to me "We have had trouble with people waiting on the streets, feeding the Jews." They tossed Sarah at me. She cried on my shoulder. "Well I assure you she was only waiting for me to leave my interview." The men scowled at me and walked away. "Oh Sarah! I'm so sorry! Let's hurry home. Are you hurt at all?" She shook her head no. When we arrived home she ran into Charles arms. "Some Nazis tried to take her away, they accused her of feeding the Jews. "Thank you Liesel for helping her. Sarah dear, why don't you rest. I will brew you some tea." I wondered over to my chair by the window and started to read. "When you hear from Rudy..." echoed about my head. Would I ever here from Rudy? Had he been brain washed by the Nazi? Had he protected Max before he left?

    I wanted to ask Rudy everything. An idea suddenly sprung into my head. If I worked in the mail room I would be able to read all the reports of people joining and leaving the army! I waited by rhe window everyday for the next week, watching the mail box and rushing to read the mail when it did arrive. Exactly a week after my interview I ran to the mailbox, if I had been accepted I would know today. "Bills, Bills, Newspaper, etc. Addressed to Liesel Meminger!" I ran into the house tossing the mail on the table and running to my chair, ripping the envelope open. "Dear Liesel Meminger. We a pleased to inform you that you have been approved a position in the mail room of "The Munich Report" We wish you luck in your new job!" I squeeled and did a quick dance into the kitchen. "Charles, Sarah! I've been accepted! I'm working in the mail room!" They smiled at me. "I'll find you a dress to where, let's go." We walked upstairs to Sarahs oak wardrobe, arguably the nicest piece of furniture in the house.
She handed me a blue skirt with a matching blue blouse. "Your hair is so curly, there isn't much I can do with it to fix you up." She sighed. I smiled. I didn't care how nice I looked, this job has given me the opportunity to find out what for sure happened to Rudy.