Bruno
finds life at "Out-With," as he calls it, rather tedious to say the least. Left to his
own devices and with plenty of time on his hands, he suddenly finds that he has to make his own
entertainment to stave off the perennial danger of boredom.
One way he does
this is through building a tire-swing out in the garden. At first, it's all rather fun as Bruno
swings back and forth on his wonderful new toy. Unfortunately, it isn't very long before things
turn sour. Bruno falls off the swing and cuts his knee. On seeing this, Pavel, the family's
servantactually more of a slaverushes out from the kitchen and tends to the boy's wound. While
treating Bruno, Pavel reveals that he used to be a doctor.
Bruno also tries
to entertain himself by making friends with Shmuel, a young Jewish inmate of Auschwitz. As
Shmuel is stuck on the other side of the fence from Bruno, there's no chance that the two boys
can play together. Nonetheless, Bruno still finds the time that he spends talking to Shmuel to
be most agreeable and a very good cure for boredom. Over time, the two boys will develop a close
friendship that will end in tragic consequences for both of them.
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