The next day- Friday- was another wet day. Bruno hoped that he was going to still be able to visit Shmuel for their big adventure together. Through out the day, the rain seemed to slowly die down and Bruno was glad when it finally stopped, just after his lessons finished.

            He pulled on his heavy raincoat and boots, and smuggled some food into his pockets. He packed some bread, chicken and some of his chocolate because he thought he would give Shmuel something special.

            Bruno’s boots squelched in the mud as he walked to the spot on the fence where he met Shmuel. For the first time, Shmuel wasn’t sitting down, staring at the ground, but he was standing up, leaning against the fence, holding a pair of striped pyjamas.

            ‘Hello, Bruno,’ said Shmuel as he leaned down and carefully passed the striped pyjamas under the fence. The pyjamas stank but Bruno didn’t mind because he was so excited about exploring the other side of the fence with Shmuel. When Bruno gave Shmuel the food, his eyes lit up when he saw the chocolate.

            When Bruno had changed into the striped pyjamas, he carefully crawled under the fence but still got covered in mud.

            ‘You still want to help me find Papa?’ asked Shmuel, and Bruno nodded quickly.

            They began walking towards the camp and it was nothing like Bruno expected to be. He thought there would be people sitting on their porches, singing in front of their huts, and children playing football on the streets. Instead, the children only moved around in small groups with their heads down, looking very thin, unwell and scared stiff of all the soldiers.

            ‘Come, I’ll show you my hut,’ said Shmuel. Bruno agreed and they walked to a small, nondescript hut. When they went in, there was a strange man sitting on the ground with his hands behind his back and a boy sitting next to him who looked almost exactly like Shmuel. ‘Papa! Joseph!’ yelled Shmuel as he ran up and hugged Papa, ‘I thought I would never see you again!’ Shmuel’s Papa looked at Bruno with a quizzical look. ‘And this is my friend Bruno. He lives on the other side of the fence in that big house, but don’t worry; he is not mean like the soldiers. He gives me food.’