The Book of Everything Read Online Free PDF

he become.
    At home, he wrote in The Book of Everything , “I have to write letters to people. That cheers them up. And then they like me.”
    He pulled Mrs. van Amersfoort’s letter from his pocket. He looked around. Where to hide it? Among the clothes in his cupboard? No, for his mother tidied that up every week. Under the mattress? No. Behind the loose piece of wallpaper? No.
    By his side on the table lay Emil and the Detectives . He sat staring at it and suddenly he knew. The solution was in the story. A pin. No, he had an even better idea: a safety pin. But how to get hold of a safety pin? Yes! In his head he saw his mother’s apron. He crept down the stairs and slipped into the kitchen. There was the apron, hanging on a hook. Not by a loop, but by a safety pin. He took the apron off the hook, snapped open the safety pin, and there, it was his. He hung the apron loosely back over its hook and crept back to his room. He got out the folded letter and worked the safety pin through the four layers of paper. Then he unbuttoned his shirt. With the safety pin he fastened the letter to the inside of his shirt, behind the breast pocket, so you couldn’t see itat all from the front. He rebuttoned his shirt. Now he wore Mrs. van Amersfoort’s magic spell over his heart.
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    After the meal, Father read aloud from the Bible:
    â€œAnd God said to Moses: Pharaoh’s heart will still not soften. He will not let the people go. Tomorrow you must go to Pharaoh. He always walks by the water. Wait for him on the bank of the Nile. Take your staff. Strike the water with it, and the water of the Nile will change into blood.”
    â€œThat is the first plague,” Thomas thought. “The water turned as red as cordial. That must have terrified Pharaoh.”
    â€œ The fishes died and began to stink,” Father read on.
    â€œThe fishes?” thought Thomas. “The swordtails too? It wasn’t the fishes’ fault that the Pharaoh was a bad man, was it?”
    He looked at his aquarium that stood in the back room, its light glowing. It had a greenish look. Just imagine if the water suddenly turned red as blood … would that kill the fish? “All the plagues of Egypt,” he whispered. “One after the other.” He loved his fishes a lot, but sometimes it was necessary to make sacrifices.
    â€œThus far,” said Father, closing the Bible. “What did you say, Thomas?”
    â€œI said, ‘All the plagues of Egypt.’”
    â€œYes,” Father said, pleased. “This was the first. Tomorrow we’ll do the second.”
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    Thomas was playing in the street when a police jeep came around the corner. It stopped, tires squealing, and three policemen jumped out. They ran to number one and rang the bell. At the same time, they kicked the door with their boots. It was quite scary. Very quickly, a lot of people gathered around.
    â€œWhat’s going on?”
    â€œThey’re picking up Bikkelmans.”
    â€œThat Nazi?”
    â€œDon’t know if he was actually in the Party, but he was as pro-German as … eh …”
    â€œAs Hitler?”
    There was laughter. The door opened, and the policemen stormed up the stairs. That’s when Mrs. van Amersfoort arrived. She put her heavy shopping bag down and silently watched the stairwell at number one.
    â€œAnd about time too, eh, Mrs. van Amersfoort?” someone called out.
    Mrs. van Amersfoort shrugged and said, “Oh, that little man.”
    For a long while nothing happened. Then there was thumping and shouting at the top of the stairs. Two policemen came out, a struggling man between them. One pulled the man along by his hair, the other had a tight grip on his neck. The third policeman walked behind the man, pushing him in the back.
    â€œI wish you all had been so brave during the war!” Mrs. van Amersfoort shouted suddenly. “He is a human being, not a pig!”
    The