We Are Wolves chapter sampler

‘Liesl Wolf, that’s ridiculous!’ snaps Fräulein Hofmann. ‘The city of Königsberg is far, far away. Besides, it’s two months since it was bombed, and those silly British pilots missed their targets completely. All they hit were a few derelict warehouses on the edge of the city.’ Otto zooms in and lands between me and my teacher. ‘We watched from Mama and Papa’s bedroom window!’ he shouts. ‘We could feel the explosions and see the glow from the fires. And then the British pilots came back three nights later and bombed it all over again.’ ‘Just warehouses!’ snaps Fräulein Hofmann. ‘The British did us a favour, getting rid of all those rat-infested old shacks.’ ‘Rats!’ cries Otto. He flies off across the schoolyard, arms stretched wide. Now he is bombing all the rats in East Prussia. ‘Boom! Boom! Boom!’ I smile at Fräulein Hofmann. I am glad to know that nothing important was bombed in Königsberg and even happier that nobody was hurt. Except for the rats. I sneeze again. ‘Perhaps it’s a cold after all,’ I say. Fräulein Hofmann nods and smiles. ‘Of course it’s a cold. Königsberg is fine, Liesl. East Prussia is fine. Germany is strong.’ She puffs out her chest. ‘We are not losing the war.’ I stare at her. Who said anything about Germany losing the war?

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