THE BOYS IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS

The Fury

Some months earlier, just after Father received the new uniform which

meant that everyone had to call him 'Commandant' and just before Bruno

came home to find Maria packing up his things, Father came home one

evening in a state of great excitement, which was terribly unlike him, and

marched into the living room where Mother, Bruno and Gretel were sitting

reading their books.

'Thursday night,' he announced. 'If we've any plans for Thursday night we

have to cancel them.'

'You can change your plans if you want to,' said Mother, 'but I've made

arrangements to go to the theatre with-'

'The Fury has something he wants to discuss with me,' said Father, who

was allowed to interrupt Mother even if no one else was. I just got a phone

call this afternoon. The only time he can make it is Thursday evening and he's

invited himself to dinner.'

Mother's eyes opened wide and her mouth made the shape of an O. Bruno

stared at her and wondered whether this was what he looked like when he

was surprised about something.

'But you're not serious,' said Mother, growing a little pale. 'He's coming

here? To our house?'

Father nodded. 'At seven o'clock,' he said. 'So we'd better think about

something special for dinner.'

'Oh my,' said Mother, her eyes moving back and forth quickly as she

started to think of all the things that needed doing.

'Who's the Fury?' asked Bruno.

'You're pronouncing it wrong,' said Father, pronouncing it correctly for

him.

'The Fury,' said Bruno again, trying to get it right but failing again.

'No,' said Father, 'the- Oh, never mind!'

'Well, who is he anyway?' asked Bruno again.

Father stared at him, astonished. 'You know perfectly well who the Fury

is,' he said.

'I don't,' said Bruno.

He runs the country, idiot,' said Gretel, showing off as sisters tend to do.

(It was things like this that made her such a Hopeless Case.) 'Don't you ever

read a newspaper?'

'Don't call your brother an idiot, please,' said Mother.

'Can I call him stupid?'

Td rather you didn't.'

Gretel sat down again, disappointed, but stuck her tongue out at Bruno

nonetheless.

'Is he coming alone?' asked Mother.

'I forgot to ask,' said Father. 'But I presume he'll be bringing her with

him.'

'Oh my,' said Mother again, standing up and counting in her head the

number of things she had to organize before Thursday, which was only two

evenings away. The house would have to be cleaned from top to bottom, the

windows washed, the dining-room table stained and varnished, the food

ordered, the maid's and butler's uniforms washed and pressed, and the

crockery and glasses polished until they sparkled.

Somehow, despite the fact that the list seemed to grow longer and longer

all the time, Mother managed to get everything finished on time, although she

commented over and over again that the evening would be a greater success

if some people helped out a little bit more around the house.

An hour before the Fury was due to arrive Gretel and Bruno were

brought downstairs, where they received a rare invitation into Father's office.

Gretel was wearing a white dress and knee socks and her hair had been

twisted into corkscrew curls. Bruno was wearing a pair of dark brown

shorts, a plain white shirt and a dark brown tie. He had a new pair of shoes

for the occasion and was very proud of them, even though they were too

small for him and were pinching his feet and making it difficult for him to

walk. All these preparations and fine clothes seemed a little extravagant, all

the same, because Bruno and Gretel weren't even invited to dinner; they had

eaten an hour earlier.

'Now, children,' said Father, sitting behind his desk and looking from his

son to his daughter and back again as they stood before him. 'You know that

there is a very special evening ahead of us, don't you?'

They nodded.

'And that it is very important for my career that tonight goes well.' They

nodded again.

'Then there are a number of ground rules which need to be set down

before we begin.' Father was a big believer in ground rules. Whenever there

was a special or important occasion in the house, more of them were created.

'Number one,' said Father. 'When the Fury arrives you will stand in the

hall quietly and prepare to greet him. You do not speak until he speaks to you

and then you reply in a clear tone, enunciating each word precisely. Is that

understood?'

'Yes, Father,' mumbled Bruno.

'That's exactly the type of thing we don't want,' said Father, referring to

the mumbling. 'You open your mouth and speak like an adult. The last thing

we need is for either of you to start behaving like children. If the Fury

ignores you then you do not say anything either, but look directly ahead and

show him the respect and courtesy that such a great leader deserves.'

'Of course, Father,' said Gretel in a very clear voice.

'And when Mother and I are at dinner with the Fury, you are both to

remain in your rooms very quietly. There is to be no running around, no

sliding down banisters'-and here he looked very deliberately at Bruno-'and

no interrupting us. Is that understood? I don't want either of you causing

chaos.'

Bruno and Gretel nodded and Father stood up to indicate that this meeting

was at an end.

'Then the ground rules are established,' he said.

excitement. Bruno and Gretel took their places standing side by side by the

staircase and Mother waited beside them, wringing her hands together

nervously. Father gave them all a quick glance and nodded, looking pleased

by what he saw, and then opened the door.

Two people stood outside: a rather small man and a taller woman.

Father saluted them and ushered them inside, where Maria, her head

bowed even lower than usual, took their coats and the introductions were

made. They spoke to Mother first, which gave Bruno an opportunity to stare

at their guests and decide for himself whether they deserved all the fuss being

made of them.

The Fury was far shorter than Father and not, Bruno supposed, quite as

strong. He had dark hair, which was cut quite short, and a tiny moustache-so

tiny in fact that Bruno wondered why he bothered with it at all or whether he

had simply forgotten a piece when he was shaving. The woman standing beside him, however, was quite the most beautiful woman he had ever seen

in his life. She had blonde hair and very red lips, and while the Fury spoke to

Mother she turned and looked at Bruno and smiled, making him go red with

embarrassment.

'And these are my children, Fury,' said Father as Gretel and Bruno

stepped forward. 'Gretel and Bruno.'

'And which is which?' the Fury said, which made everyone laugh except

for Bruno, who thought it was perfectly obvious which was which and hardly

cause for a joke. The Fury stretched out his hand and shook theirs and Gretel

gave a careful, rehearsed curtsy. Bruno was delighted when it went wrong

and she almost fell over.

'What charming children,' said the beautiful blonde woman. 'And how old

are they, might I ask?'

'I'm twelve but he's only nine,' said Gretel, looking at her brother with

disdain. 'And I can speak French too,' she added, which was not strictly

speaking true, although she had learned a few phrases in school.

'Yes, but why would you want to?' asked the Fury, and this time no one

laughed; instead they shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot and Gretel

stared at him, unsure whether he wanted an answer or not.

The matter was resolved quickly, however, as the Fury, who was the

rudest guest Bruno had ever witnessed, turned round and walked directly into

the dining room and promptly sat down at the head of the table-in Father's

seat!-without another word. A little flustered, Mother and Father followed

him inside and Mother gave instructions to Lars that he could start heating up

the soup.

'I can speak French too,' said the beautiful blonde woman, leaning down

and smiling at the two children. She didn't seem to be as frightened of the

Fury as Mother and Father were. 'French is a beautiful language and you are

very clever to be learning it.'

'Eva,' shouted the Fury from the other room, clicking his fingers as if she

were some sort of puppy dog. The woman rolled her eyes and stood up

slowly and turned round.

'I like your shoes, Bruno, but they look a little tight on you,' she added

with a smile. 'If they are, you should tell your mother, before they cause you

to injure yourself.'

'They are a little tight,' admitted Bruno.

'I don't normally wear my hair in curls,' said Gretel, jealous of the

attention that her brother was getting.

'But why not?' asked the woman. 'It's so pretty that way.'

'Eva!' roared the Fury for a second time, and now she started to walk

away from them.

It was lovely to meet you both,' she said, before stepping into the dining

room and sitting down on the Fury's left-hand side. Gretel walked towards

the stairs but Bruno stayed rooted to the ground, watching the blonde woman

until she caught his eye again and waved at him, just as Father appeared and

closed the doors with a jerk of his head-from which Bruno understood that it

was time to go to his room, to sit quietly, and not to make any noise and

certainly not to slide down any banisters.

The Fury and Eva stayed for the best part of two hours and neither Gretel

nor Bruno were invited downstairs to say goodbye to them. Bruno watched

them leave from his bedroom window and noticed that when they stepped

towards their car, which he was impressed to see had a chauffeur, the Fury

did not open the door for his companion but instead climbed in and started

reading a newspaper, while she said goodbye once again to Mother and

thanked her for the lovely dinner.

What a horrible man, thought Bruno.

Later that night Bruno overheard snippets of Mother and Father's

conversation. Certain phrases drifted through the keyhole or under the door

of Father's office and up the staircase and round the landing and under the

door of Bruno's bedroom. Their voices were unusually loud and Bruno could

only make out a few fragments of them:

'... to leave Berlin. And for such a place...' Mother was saying.

'... no choice, at least not if we want to continue...' said Father.

'... as if it's the most natural thing in the world and it's not, it's just not...'

said Mother.

'... what would happen is I would be taken away and treated like a...' said

Father.

'... expect them to grow up in a place like...' said Mother.

'... and that's an end to the matter. I don't want to hear another word on the

subject...' said Father.

That must have been the end of the conversation because Mother left

Father's office then and Bruno fell asleep.

A couple of days later he came home from school to find Maria standing

in his bedroom, pulling all his belongings out of the wardrobe and packing

them in four large wooden crates, even the things he'd hidden at the back that

belonged to him and were nobody else's business, and that is where the story

began.