Number the Stars

Faced with the soldiers, Annemarie pretends to be a silly girl and tries to behave as Kristi would. She greets them, and when they ask her about the basket, she tells them it is for her uncle who forgot his lunch. The soldiers ask her why he doesn't eat fish, then chatter amongst themselves. One tears apart the bread, then tosses it to the dogs. Asking Annemarie if she's seen anybody, which she hasn't, he takes the cheese, offers it to the others, then tosses it back. He considers taking an apple, but puts it back after seeing brown spots. He asks if there's meat, but Annemarie says the army eats all the meat. The soldier says his dogs smell meat, but Annemarie says it must be squirrels. The soldier asks what is at the bottom of the basket and Annemarie starts to cry, saying her mother will be angry with her and so will her uncle. The soldier takes the packet, wondering why it was hidden. He opens it, but it is just a handkerchief, which he throws on the ground. The soldiers leave, laughing. Annemarie finds Henrik at the dock, saying that her mother has sent him lunch, but the soldiers took the bread. Relieved, Henrik tells her that all is well, and he hopes “they choke on it” (Page 119).

That night Henrik laughs at Annemarie milking the cow for the first time. When Annemarie arrived home that morning after delivering the packet, her mother and Kirsti were gone. The doctor had taken them to the hospital, but they left a note for Annemarie. The cow had made so much noise that Annemarie had milked her. Kirsti says she could have done it too and asks if Ellen is coming back. Mrs. Johansen explains that Ellen had to go with her parents. Henrik offers to give Annemarie a milking lesson, while Kirsti takes care of Mrs. Johansen.

In the barn Annemarie watches Henrik milk and asks where the Rosens were, since they weren't on the boat. He says that it's safer not to know, but “I will tell you just a little, because you were so very brave” (Page 122). Annemarie protests that she wasn't brave, just frightened, but Henrik says that she risked her life without thinking about the dangers. He explains there is a hidden place on the boat where, like a lot of fishermen, he hides people that Peter and the Resistance bring. Annemarie didn't know Peter was in the Resistance but thinks she should have. She asks if the Rosens were there, and Henrik says yes. She wonders if they could hear her, and he says that Ellen said she did later. The soldiers often search the boats but rarely find people, in part because they have to go through piles of dead fish.

Annemarie asks about the handkerchief. Henrik says that the dogs are trained to sniff out people and can smell through fish. There's a special drug on the handkerchief that temporarily ruins the dogs' sense of smell. All the boat captains have them to take out when the dogs come. Annemarie asks if this is what happened this morning, and Henrik says yes. She asks if the people are safe in Sweden, and he replies that people are waiting to take them to a safe place. Annemarie worries that the Nazis will take Sweden, but Henrik explains they want Sweden free for complicated reasons. Annemarie wonders if the hiding place was dark. Henrik says it was cramped and that Mrs. Rosen was seasick, but everyone was brave. Annemarie asks if she will ever see Ellen again, and Henrik says that this will end someday. The chapter and conversation end with Thor the kitten falling into the milk pail.

Two years later the war ends. Annemarie stands on the balcony of her apartment with her sister and parents, remembering how the neighbors cared for the apartments of Jewish people who were gone. They wave flags. Kristi is growing up. Meanwhile, Peter is dead, captured and executed by the Nazis. The night before he was shot, he wrote the Johansen family a letter saying that he loves them and is proud to have done what he could. He wanted to be buried by Lise, but the Nazis buried him instead. Annemarie and her family went to the grave, where her parents told her the truth about Lise. Lise was also a member of the Resistance and was killed during a Nazi raid where Peter was shot in the arm. The Germans saw her running from them and hit her with a car. Annemarie takes out the trunk with Lise's trousseau; the dress is starting to fade. She puts Ellen's necklace in her pocket and asks her father to fix the clasp. He agrees and says they will give it to Ellen when she comes home. Annemarie decides she will wear it herself until then.