Number the Stars: Chapter 13 Summary & Analysis

Annemarie dashes out of the house and runs through the meadow to the edge of the woods, calling for her Mama. When she gets to her mother’s side, she is relieved to see that she’s all right. Mama says that everyone is safe with Uncle Henrik—on the way back from the docks, though, she tripped and hurt her ankle. She continued to drag herself through the woods, determined to make it home by morning. Annemarie helps her mother stand and supports her as she hobbles all the way back up to the house. As they walk together, Mama is visibly in pain but also happy to have made it home. She asks Annemarie what time it is, and when Annemarie says it’s about four-thirty, Mama says happily that Henrik, Mr. Rosen and Mrs. Rosen, and the other Jews will soon be setting sail for Sweden. 

At the steps leading up to the house, Annemarie spots something in the grass. She bends to pick it up—it is the packet Peter gave to Mr. Rosen. Seeing what it is, Mama nearly swoons—she worries that their work will “all have been for nothing” without the packet. Annemarie tells Mama that she will take the packet down to the docks. Inside, Mama tells Annemarie to go into the house, put some apples, bread, and cheese into a basket, and bury the packet at the bottom of it. As Annemarie heads out the door, her mother urges her to act like a “silly, empty-headed little girl, taking lunch to a fisherman” if a soldier stops her on the road. Annemarie kisses her mother and goes, as her Mama calls out for her to run as fast as she can.