Well, turn around, Bruno said, pointing to his stupid friend. I don’t want you to look at me.
Himl turned around. Bruno took off his coat, put it on the ground as carefully as possible, and then took off his undershirt. He shivered in the cold wind for a while before putting on the striped suit. When he got into the suit, he took a deep breath by mistake. This dress smells really bad.
When was the last time this dress was washed? He shouted. himl turned around.
I don’t know if I washed it, himl said
Turning around, Bruno shouted that himl did it, Bruno looked around again, and no one did it. So he had to wear boots on the ground with one leg and take off his trousers in the cold wind. It was a strange experience. He couldn’t imagine what people would think when they saw it, but in the end, he successfully completed it with great efforts.
Okay, he said that now you can turn around.
When himl turned around, Bruno added the last prop, wore a striped hat and himl blinked and shook his head. It was great. If Bruno wasn’t as thin and pale as the children on the wire, it would be difficult to distinguish him from them. They were almost the same. himl recognized it.
Do you know what this reminds me of? Bruno asked.
Himl shook his head. What did he ask?
I thought of my grandmother. He said I told you about her. Do you remember the one who died?
Himl nodded. He remembered that Bruno had visited many times this year and said how happy his grandmother was to be together. He regretted writing to her more before she died.
I remember that we played a drama together, and she always got me a lot of props in Gretel. Bruno said that she turned her eyes away from himl and remembered that there were not many in Berlin. I remembered that she always prepared suitable props for me, and the right dress would make you get into the role quickly. She always told me this. I think this is what I am doing now, right? Dressing up as a barbed wire person.
You mean a Jew? himl said.
It’s Bruno who lifts his feet uncomfortably. Here’s the thing
Himl pointed to Bruno’s feet. He’s still wearing boots. You have to leave them here, too, he said
Bruno looks unhappy, but the mud says you can’t let me walk barefoot, can you?
Then you will be found. himl said there was no other way.
Bruno sighed, but he knew that his friend took off his boots and socks and put them next to the pile of clothes. At first, he felt that it was terrible to step barefoot in so much mud, which covered his ankles. Every time he stepped on his feet, he felt even worse, but he soon realized this feeling.
Himself bent down to lift the bottom of the wire, but not too high, so Bruno could roll over the bottom. His striped pajamas were covered with mud. He looked at himself and laughed. He had never been so dirty in his life, which felt great.
Himl also smiled. Two boys walked awkwardly together. They were not used to being on the same side of the wire at the same time.
Bruno has an impulse to give his friend a hug and let him know how much he is and how happy he has been chatting this year.
But instead of hugging each other, they walked away from the barbed wire in the direction of the camp. This year, himl evaded the sight of the soldiers almost every day and went to the other side where it seemed that someone was guarding him. He was lucky to meet Bruno, a good friend.
Soon they arrived at their destination. Bruno looked at all this with his eyes wide open. In his imagination, there were happy families living in the room. In the evening, they would sit in rocking chairs outside the house and tell the children how wonderful their childhood was and respect their elders. Unlike children now, the children here all play ball or football in groups or play checkers.
There will be a shop in the center of his camp and maybe a small cafe, just as he knows the Berlin cafe, and he also wondered if there will be a vegetable and water shop here.
But in fact, his ideas are quite different. He imagines nothing.
No adults are sitting in rocking chairs in the hallway.
The children didn’t play games in groups either.
Not only are there no vegetable shops here, but there are no cafes like those in Berlin.
Here, groups of people sit and watch, and they are full of sadness. What they have in common is that they are all skinny, their eyes are dim and their heads are shaved. Bruno thinks there is a lice disaster here, too.
Bruno saw in a corner that three soldiers seemed to be guarding twenty people. They shouted at these people, and they fell down on their knees and held their heads in their hands.
In another corner, Bruno saw more soldiers talking and laughing in circles. From time to time, he raised his gun and aimed at it at random, but didn’t shoot it, which was just a scare.
In fact, no matter where Bruno looks, he can find that people in military uniforms are divided into two types: people who are happy to laugh and shout, soldiers who wear striped clothes are not happy to cry, and many of them have their eyes straight as if they were asleep with their eyes open.
I don’t think I’ll be here for a while, Bruno said
Me neither, himl said.
I think I have to go home, Bruno said
Himl stopped and looked at him, but what about dad? He said you said you would help me find him.
Bruno thought about it. He promised his friends that he shouldn’t break his promise, especially when they met for the last time. He said that although his confidence was much lower than before, where can we find it?
You said we had to find a clue first. himl said he felt depressed. Who can help him if Bruno doesn’t help him?
The clue is that Bruno said nod your head. You’re looking for us, right?
So Bruno kept his promise. The two boys spent an hour and a half in the middle camp looking for clues. They didn’t know what they were looking for, but Bruno insisted that a good explorer would know it was the object he was looking for when he found it.
But they found nothing and concluded that himl’s father was missing, and it was dark at this time.