"I can't go to your side Bruno! I'll get caught! And aren't you moving away anyways?" whispered Shmuel, looking nervously behind him.
"I'll hide you. They won't even notice. We're not even moving until tomorrow. Just come, quickly!" Bruno said, digging up the last bit of soil from under the fence.
After another look behind him, Shmuel took a deep breath, plopping down on the ground and began his slow crawl underneath the electrically charged gate. Finally on the other side, he got up, dusted off his clothes and looked up, wide-eyed, at Bruno.
"We did it!" screamed Bruno, as he grabbed Shmuel's arm and began to run towards the forest.
Shmuel stopped and pulled back his arm. "Bruno, but what about my dad?"
Bruno looked towards the forest, thinking quickly about how this should go. Finally, he turns back toward Shmuel. "I- I'll talk to my dad. I'll make him find your dad."
Shmuel started shaking his head. "No, that's not a good idea Bruno."
"I promise Shmuel! I promise that we'll find him! Just please, come!"
Shmuel turned and looked one last time toward the camp. Sighing, he turned back and smiled. "Let's go!" Shmuel yelled as he began to run towards the forest.
The two boys ran through the forest, arms wide open. Shmuel couldn't believe how good it felt to be out of that camp and he couldn't remember the last time he felt so free. They jumped over one more fallen tree and finally entered Bruno's back garden. Bruno led Shmuel through the garden and into the shed. They stopped before a door and Bruno turned to Shmuel.
"You have to be very quiet," Bruno told Shmuel. "We'll sneak into the house and then I'll hide you in my room until tomorrow. I'll figure out some way to sneak you with us when we move later. Now come!"
Slowly, Bruno opened the door and walked into the front garden, calling Shmuel to him. Seeing no one around, they ran to the front door and came inside. Pretending to be spies, they crawled along the walls and ran silently up the stairs to Bruno's room. With a smile on his face, Bruno began to open the door. However his smile didn't last long because sitting on his bed, with a wary look on her face was his mother, Elsa.
"Bruno!" Elsa whispered, staring at Shmuel. "What have you done? Do you know who you have just brought here? What have you done!"
Immeadiatly Bruno began to try to explain himself by telling his mother about how Shmuel has no one left he thinks and he's really a good boy. Little by little, Elsa's face lost all emotions until Bruno could no longer think of what to say. Elsa close her eyes and massaged her temples, thinking hard. After a long sigh, Elsa said she would speak to Ralph, Bruno's father, about what to do.
After a long conversation with Ralph, Elsa came out of his office to tell the boys the Shmuel will be smuggled to America the next morning.
"Mother, no!" Bruno exclaimed. "You can't take him away! Please!"
Elsa knelt down to Bruno's level and said, "It's either America or back to the camp I'm afraid. It's not safe for any of us to keep him around with us. We could get in big trouble if someone finds him here and who knows what might happen to your father if this gets out."
And so it was settled.
Epilogue:
40 years later
Bruno, now mostly known by Klaus, his middles name, was walking around his neighborhood as he usually does on Friday nights, when he noticed a new poster at a New York City bus stop. "Come to a reading of The Boy Across the Fence by author Samuel Klein this Friday night at Café Leer," it said. Without hesitation, Klaus decides to go. It's only a block away after all.
Once at the café, Klaus takes a seat in the back, steaming coffee in hand, and closes his eyes as he waits for the author.
"Hello everyone and thank you for coming to the reading of my first book The Boy Across the Fence." Klaus opens his eyes as he hears the author begin to speak and is immediately struck with how familiar the man looked. "My name is Samuel Klein and I'll be reading the first few chapters, which will hopefully interest you to buy the book. Let's begin."
As Samuel read, Klaus concentrated very little on the story as he couldn't stop wondering where he has seen this man before. Finally giving up, Klaus decided to just listen.
"… He stood before me, in his nice clothes. He told me he was exploring." Samuel takes a deep breath and quickly glances at his small audience before continuing to read. "He told me his name was Bruno, and what a strange name it was to me at the time. He asked for my name. "Shmuel", I said…"
Klaus gasped as memories began to flood his mind. He just found the man he had spent most of his twenties looking for. Life has a way of working itself out, it seems.