The Book Thief Chapter 86 Summary

Wood in the Afternoon

Himmel Street has been cleaned up after the bombing and nobody is sure what to do with Liesel.
She and her accordion are with the police when Ilsa Hermann comes for her. Grande Strasse was not bombed.
She rides home with Ilsa in the mayor's car. The mayor drives.
Liesel talks to herself all night long.
She doesn't take a bath.
She sleeps without dreaming and doesn't want to wake up.
Four days later, when she goes to the funerals, she still hasn't bathed.
Some people think they saw her in the Amper River with all her clothes on, saying something about a kiss.
Time passes and the war rages.
Liesel remembers her books. She goes to Himmel Street to try to find them, but there's no trace.
There's a second funeral for the Steiner family when Alex Steiner comes home, shortly after the bombing.
He thinks that if he hadn't kept Rudy from going to the Nazi school, Rudy might still be alive.
He tells Liesel he would give anything to have somehow traded his life for his sons.
Liesel tells him about kissing Rudy's dead lips.
Death says, "There were wooden teardrops and an oaky smile" (86.26).
(Since this is Rudy's funeral, the references to wood might have to do with Rudy's coffin, though it isn't really clear. What do you think? )