Nachzehrer : Galleon Books : 9781998122097 : 1998122093 : 01 Jun 2024 : Nachzehrer is the story of a ninety-nine-year-old man, Gary Paine, tortured and forgotten, living in a cardboard box covered with thick dark plastic. As death approaches, the man narrates the truth and lies of his life to his only friend, the teacher, as they share coffee and donuts under an abandoned bridge. Gary's story begins in 1936 when he is seventeen years young. Gary tells his friend about the innocence of his early years and how he stole a Curtis Jenny Canuck biplane and zoomed upside-down dropping rotting pumpkins and leaflets at Halloween. In 1939 Gary decides to travel from rural Ontario to London England to join the Royal Air Force and fly Spitfires or Hurricanes. On a train to Montreal, he meets a kind and generous man who assists Gary in his quest to become a fighter pilot. Against orders, Paine chases an ME 110 across the channel and is shot down over France, eventually captured, and is assigned