We Are Wolves chapter sampler

But Papa still smells like pickled onions. ‘Please, Papa,’ I beg, ‘don’t be sad. The war will end soon and you’ll come home and we’ll have an enormous party.’ ‘Yes. Yes!’ agrees Papa. The blob falls apart. Papa kisses Mama on each eyelid. He pecks Oma on the forehead. And last of all, he shakes his father’s hand. Opa must feel like that isn’t enough because he reels Papa in by his arm until they are hugging, pressing their cheeks together, their tears mingling. And then Papa is gone. Otto and I run to the window and slip behind the curtains. We lean on the windowsill and watch as Papa walks away down the street. His newly cut hair bristles at the back of his soldier’s cap. His right foot drags behind him, catching on the cobblestones. It’s because of his bad leg, the one which was squashed beneath a horse when he was just a boy. The one that has stopped him from being a soldier. Until now: October, 1944. So many years into the war. Otto leans against me like he always does when he’s sad. I wrap my arm around him and squeeze him into my side. We watch as Papa stops in the middle of the street. He is joined by the others from our village who have been called up, at last, to serve as soldiers in the glorious German Army. There is Herr Wagner who has three fingers missing, Herr Schmidt who has a glass eye, and Jakob from three doors down. Jakob’s uniform is too big. It has been made for a

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