The clouds were painted across the sky like sheets covering a bed that had previously been slept in. Liesel was taking a nap. It had been five years since the day she lost everything. There were many days when Liesel could not move because her mind was so heavy with words. Words that would never be said. Then there were days when Liesel would awake with the desire to suck the marrow out of life, living with light and with hunger. Just before, she was flitting about the kitchen, waiting for Heinz, her second adoptive father, to come home. Every now and then that window would catch her eye, calling her to glimpse the outside. The window with yellow framing and white fringe curtains. Framing that was the color of Rudy's hair. Curtains the color of snow.

Liesel had stared out this window many times before. Just in the distance, one could spot the Amper River, guiding a silver line directly through the place where the sun is swallowed by the earth itself. Many times, she told herself she would go there. She came close one day. But just within a mile of the place, Liesel began to cry tears of anger and of loneliness and of longing. She yearned for something. Rudy. But Rudy was gone, as was her heart. Her heart had climbed out of the window many years ago.

In a discontented slumber, Liesel's eyelashes rested against her cheeks. They were the black needles, harshly contrasting her porcelain skin. The wind whistled through the window with the lemon-color panel. The front door creaked, but Liesel did not stir. A man stepped into the house. As soon as he set foot to floor, the sharp black needles flew. Liesel was awake.

There, in the doorway, stood a man whose hair color was that of the window frame. A man who was surrounded by light and laughter and thievery and excitement. A man who belonged to the name Rudy. His eyes found hers and Liesel did not make a sound. Her throat was grasped by black hands dripping in blood, the blood of her father and mother and of Rudy.

Suddenly, Liesel rushed forward and unforgivingly landed her tightly curled fist square into Rudy's nose. She was screaming, pitching, wailing, shrieking German profanities at him.

Saumensch!

Saukerl!

Arschloch!

Five years!

Rudy stood as a frozen soldier, blood streaming from his nose from Liesel's swing. Finally when the shouting receded, Rudy caught Liesel's fists, gently punching him in the chest, and felt his knees sink to the ground as Liesel collapsed into his embrace. Like the waves washing over the sand, Rudy pulled her in and brushed her cheek with his fingertips. He breathed in the smell of her kindness, the way she smelled of words. He listened to her voice, like her tongue and teeth elicited the sounds of the universe.

In her moment of weakness, Liesel looked up at Rudy with eyes that could crack the earth in two.

Five years.

Five years, and my heart went shortly after that.

He still did not say anything, and Liesel choked out another sob.

Why didn't you return before?

Still nothing.

Rudy, I loved you!

Rudy, the words only meant something when you were here!

Rudy, I've loved you since the day you jumped into that river to save my book!

I've loved you ever since.

Rudy looked at her, looked into the days her eyes had seen. The white days, the red days, and the black days. She reached her hands up to him and he caught them and pressed them both to his lips.

He grinned.

How about that kiss, Saumensch?