An Elephant in the Garden

At the nursing home, Lizzie pauses in telling her story when she hears church bells chiming nearby. She tells Karl and his mother that she loves the sound of bells ringing because it makes her think “that there is hope, that life goes on” (135). She explains that every year in Dresden on the anniversary of the bombing the city rings its bells. Lizzie apologizes for taking so long telling her story and says she thinks she should tell the rest of it another day, but Karl and his mother insist on staying until she finishes it. Stroking Peter’s compass, which she holds in her hands, Lizzie “contemplate[s] it for a while” and then continues (135).

With Peter’s compass guiding them west, the group stays safe by traveling through the countryside at night and finding places to hide during the day—“some remote barn or shepherd’s hut of forester’s shack” (137). When they encounter other groups of refugees traveling through the countryside, everyone stays in the same shelter, reserved and suspicious of one another, but Marlene dispels the awkwardness. As Mutti tells the story of rescuing Marlene, other refugees share their stories of escaping Dresden.