Chapter 3 The scene outside the window

First of all, they are not children at all.At least not all of them.There are little ones, big kids, fathers, grandfathers, and possibly uncles.There are still people who are lonely, as if they have no relatives.There's something for everyone here. "Who are they?" Gretel's mouth opened like his brother these days, "what kind of place is this?" "I don't know," Bruno could only analyze as accurately as possible, "it's not as beautiful as my hometown, and I can't see anything else." "Where are the girls?" Gretel asked. "And the mothers, the grandmothers?"

"They probably live on the other side," Bruno guessed. Gretel agrees.She didn't want to look any further, but she couldn't take her eyes away.From her room, it was a small forest, a little dark, as long as there was a small open space inside, it would be a good place for a picnic.But from this side of the house, the view is completely different. Nearby is good.Beneath Bruno's window was a garden, a very large garden.The gardens are well-maintained and the flowers are blooming, and it can be seen that someone has taken good care of them.They knew that growing flowers in such a place was as necessary as a tiny candle lit in the corner of a dark castle on a misty moor.

There is a lovely path beyond the flowers, and there is a long wooden bench beside the path. Gretel imagines that she can sit on this bench, bask in the sun and read a book.There was a nameplate on the bench with a line engraved on it, but it was too far away for her to see clearly.The bench was facing the house--this is usually a rare situation, but now Gretel could see the purpose. Twenty feet or so from the garden and benches the scene is quite different.There is a barbed wire fence that cuts off the entire house from the outside world, and extends infinitely in both directions. Gretel can hardly see the end of the barbed wire.The barbed wire is very high, higher than the house they are in, and there are wooden pillars like telegraph poles every other distance to support the barbed wire.The wires on the top of the barbed wire were spirally wound, forming countless barbed wire balls, which made Gretel shiver coldly.

There is no grass on the other side of the barbed wire. In fact, it should be said that there are no green plants within the field of vision.On the contrary, the land over there was like a sandy land, and Gretel could only make out low huts and square buildings scattered around.There were two or three chimneys in the distance.She opened her mouth wide to say something, but suddenly realized that her surprise was beyond words.So she just kept her mouth shut. "Did you see that?" Bruno said, standing in the other corner of the room.He was satisfied because wherever it was outside the window—whoever they were—Bruenor had discovered it first, and he could see them whenever he wanted, because these people were right outside his bedroom window, not Outside Gretel's window.So they belonged to Bruno, and Bruno was king of it all, and Gretel was his inferior.

"I don't understand," said Gretel, "who built such an ugly place?" "It's an ugly place, isn't it?" Bruno agreed. "I think the huts are one-story too. Look at how low they are." "They're probably modern buildings," Gretel said. "Father hates modern things." "So, he won't like them too much," Bruno said. "Yes." Gretel said.She stood silently for a long time, looking at the houses.She was twelve years old and thought she was one of the smartest girls in her class, so she bit her lip and squinted her eyes, forcing her brain to work fast so she could make sense of what she was seeing.After much deliberation, she finally had only one explanation.

"This must be the country," Gretel said, turning triumphantly to look at her brother. "countryside?" "Yes, that's the only explanation, do you understand? Our home in Berlin is in the city, so we see so many people and houses, and the school is overcrowded. If you walk to the city center on a Saturday afternoon , You can’t get there without pushing and pushing.” "Yes..." Bruno nodded, trying to understand what Gretel said. "But we learned from geography class that farmers live in the countryside. They raise livestock and grow food. The place where they live and work is as big as here, and our food is provided by them." She said, looking out the window Looking over, I looked at the vast stretch of open space in front of me and the distance between each hut.

"That's the way it must be, this is the country. Maybe it's just where we go on vacation," she added hopefully. Bruno thought for a moment and shook his head. "I don't think so," he said firmly. "You're only nine years old," Gretel said again, "how could you understand? You won't understand until you're my age." "Maybe," Bruno said.Although he is younger, he will not easily agree with what he thinks may be incorrect, "If this is the countryside you mentioned, where are the animals you mentioned?" Gretel opened her mouth wide to answer him, but couldn't find a suitable answer, so she looked out the window again, trying to find the animal, but there was no one.

"If this is really a farm, there should be cows, pigs, sheep, and horses here, not to mention chickens and ducks." Bruno said. "Nothing really." Gretel agreed with Bruno. "If they grow food like you say," Bruno went on, looking very smug, "then I think it's going to look a lot better in here, doesn't it? I don't think you can grow food on this piece of rubbish. Something came out." Gretel looked out the window again, agreeing with Bruno that she wasn't stupid enough to insist on a wrong opinion in the face of the facts. "Probably not a farm," she said.

"No." Bruno agreed. "That means this isn't the country anymore," she went on. "I don't think so," Bruno replied. "That would mean the house is not a vacation home at all," she concluded. "I don't think so," Bruno said. He sat down on the bed, wishing Gretel would sit down next to him, wrap his arms around him, and tell him that everything would be fine, that sooner or later they would love this place and not want to go back to Berlin.However, Gretel was still looking out the window, but this time, she was not looking at the garden, the path, the bench, the barbed wire, the wooden pole, the wire ball, the hut, or the chimney. On the contrary, She is looking at those people.

"Who are those people?" she asked quietly, as if she wasn't asking Bruno but someone else for an answer. "What are they doing there?" Bruno stood up, and for the first time, the siblings stood shoulder to shoulder, observing their new home fifty feet away. There are people everywhere, tall and short, old and young, walking around.Some stood very neatly, one by one, with their heads held high. The soldiers standing in front of the queue opened and closed their mouths, as if they were shouting at these people.Some lined up and pushed carts from one side of the camp to the other before disappearing from view.A few others stood quietly near the hut, all of them looking down at the ground, as if they were playing a game that they didn't want to be clicked on.Others, on crutches and in bandages, were taken by several soldiers to a place where they were never to be seen again.

There were thousands of people Bruno and Gretel saw with their own eyes, but there were many small houses in the distance, and the camp was too big to see the end, so there should be tens of thousands of people there. "They live so close to us." Gretel frowned. "In Berlin, on our quiet street, there are only six houses. There are so many here. How could Father want to be here?" To work in such a dirty place with lots of neighbors? I just don't understand." "Look there." Bruno suddenly shouted loudly, and Gretel looked in the direction he pointed.In a small house in the distance, a group of small children appeared huddled together, and a group of soldiers shouted at them.The more the soldiers shouted, the more they huddled together.Suddenly a soldier stabbed at them, and they dispersed, as if standing in a row at the soldier's request.Then the soldiers started laughing and some applauding. "Probably some kind of drill," Gretel speculated, not noticing that there were some older children, some of whom looked like they were on the verge of tears. "I told you there were children here," Bruno said. "But they're not kids I want to play with," Gretel said firmly. "They look dirty. Hilda, Isabel, and Louise take a bath every morning, and so do I. Those kids look Looks like I've never had a shower in my life." "It does look dirty in there," Bruno said, "maybe they can't shower yet?" "Don't be stupid," Gretel said, though she was repeatedly told not to call her brother stupid. "What kind of person can't take a bath?" "I don't know," Bruno said. "For example, people without hot water?" Gretel looked out of the window for a while, then turned around trembling. "I'm going back to my room to play with my dolls," she said. "They're much nicer than that place." After saying that, she walked away, walked through the hall, returned to her room, and closed the door behind her.But instead of fiddling with her doll right away, she sat on the bed, full of thoughts. While her younger brother was still looking at the hundreds of people outside, those little boys, big boys, fathers, grandfathers, uncles, people who lived together but didn't seem to be relatives, he One last thought that came to mind - they were all wearing the same clothes - striped pajamas and a striped hat. "That's weird," he muttered before leaving.