The Book Thief(101)

He told himself in the weeks to comeor in fact, pleaded with himselfthat if hed heard the rest of the conversation that night, hed have entered the kitchen much earlier. Ill go, hed have said. Please, take me, Im ready now.



If hed intervened, it might have changed everything.





THREE POSSIBILITIES





Alex Steiner wouldnt have suffered the same punishment as Hans Hubermann.



Rudy would have gone away to school.



And just maybe, he would have lived.



The cruelty of fate, however, did not allow Rudy Steiner to enter the kitchen at the opportune moment.



Hed returned to his sisters and the dominoes.



He sat down.



Rudy Steiner wasnt going anywhere.





THE THOUGHT OF RUDY NAKED





There had been a woman.



Standing in the corner.



She had the thickest braid hed ever seen. It roped down her back, and occasionally, when she brought it over her shoulder, it lurked at her colossal breast like an overfed pet. In fact, everything about her was magnified. Her lips, her legs. Her paved teeth. She had a large, direct voice. No time to waste. Komm, she instructed them. Come. Stand here.



The doctor, by comparison, was like a balding rodent. He was small and nimble, pacing the school office with his manic yet business-like movements and mannerisms. And he had a cold.



Out of the three boys, it was difficult to decide which was the more reluctant to take off his clothes when ordered to do so. The first one looked from person to person, from the aging teacher to the gargantuan nurse to the pint-sized doctor. The one in the middle looked only at his feet, and the one on the far left counted his blessings that he was in the school office and not a dark alley. The nurse, Rudy decided, was a frightener.



Whos first? she asked.



It was the supervising teacher, Herr Heckenstaller, who answered. He was more a black suit than a man. His face was a mustache. Examining the boys, his choice came swiftly.



Schwarz.



The unfortunate Jrgen Schwarz undid his uniform with great discomfort. He was left standing only in his shoes and underwear. A luckless plea was marooned on his German face.



And? Herr Heckenstaller asked. The shoes?



He removed both shoes, both socks.



Und die Unterhosen, said the nurse. And the underpants.



Both Rudy and the other boy, Olaf Spiegel, had started undressing now as well, but they were nowhere near the perilous position of Jrgen Schwarz. The boy was shaking. He was a year younger than the other two, but taller. When his underpants came down, it was with abject humiliation that he stood in the small, cool office. His self-respect was around his ankles.



The nurse watched him with intent, her arms folded across her devastating chest.



Heckenstaller ordered the other two to get moving.



The doctor scratched his scalp and coughed. His cold was killing him.



The three naked boys were each examined on the cold flooring.



They cupped their genitals in their hands and shivered like the future.



Between the doctors coughing and wheezing, they were put through their paces.



Breathe in. Sniffle.



Breathe out. Second sniffle.



Arms out now. A cough. I said arms out. A horrendous hail of coughing.



As humans do, the boys looked constantly at each other for some sign of mutual sympathy. None was there. All three pried their hands from their penises and held out their arms. Rudy did not feel like he was part of a master race.



We are gradually succeeding, the nurse was informing the teacher, in creating a new future. It will be a new class of physically and mentally advanced Germans. An officer class.



Unfortunately, her sermon was cut short when the doctor creased in half and coughed with all his might over the abandoned clothes. Tears welled up in his eyes and Rudy couldnt help but wonder.



A new future? Like him?



Wisely, he did not speak it.



The examination was completed and he managed to perform his first nude heil Hitler. In a perverse kind of way, he conceded that it didnt feel half bad.



Stripped of their dignity, the boys were allowed to dress again, and as they were shown from the office, they could already hear the discussion held in their honor behind them.



Theyre a little older than usual, the doctor said, but Im thinking at least two of them.



The nurse agreed. The first and the third.



Three boys stood outside.



First and third.



First was you, Schwarz, said Rudy. He then questioned Olaf Spiegel. Who was third?



Spiegel made a few calculations. Did she mean third in line or third examined? It didnt matter. He knew what he wanted to believe. That was you, I think.



Cow shit, Spiegel, it was you.





A SMALL GUARANTEE

The coat men knew who was third.