Мортон Рю - The Wave

“They let you out?” Alex asked.

“I had to go to the john,” Carl answered.

“Hey, man,” Alex said. “You got the wrong place.”

Carl grinned. “This is where I went after the john. Anywhere but that rally.”

“Join the club,” Laurie said.

“Maybe we should give ourselves a name,” Alex said. “If they're The Wave, we could be The Ripple.”

“What do you think?” Carl asked.

“About calling ourselves The Ripple?” Laurie said.

“No, about The Wave.”

“I think it's time we put out that issue of The Grapevine,” Laurie said.

“Excuse me for injecting my own not always serious opinion,” Alex said, “but I think we ought to put it out fast before the rest of the staff gets carried away by The Mighty Wave.”

“Pass the word around to the other staff members,” Laurie said. “On Sunday at two o'clock we'll have an emergency meeting at my house. And try to make sure only non-Wave members are there.”

That night Laurie stayed alone in her room. All afternoon she'd been too preoccupied with The Wave to allow herself to feel anything about David. Besides, they'd had fights before. But earlier in the week David had made a date to take her out that night, and here it was ten-thirty. It was obvious he wasn't coming, but Laurie couldn't quite believe it. They'd been going together since sophomore year and suddenly something as trivial as The Wave had broken them up — only The Wave wasn't trivial. Not any more.

Several times during the evening Mrs Saunders had come up to her room to ask if she wanted to talk about it, but Laurie said she didn't. Her mother was such a worry-wart, and the problem was that this time there really was something worth worrying about. Laurie had been sitting at her desk trying to write something about The Wave for The Grapevine , but so far the page of paper before her was empty, except for a few water marks where a tear or two had fallen.

There were knocks on her door, and Laurie quickly wiped her eyes with the palm of her hands. It was no use; if her mother came in she'd see that she was crying. “I don't want to talk, Mom,” she said.

But the door had started to open anyway. “It's not your mom, babe.”

“Dad?” Laurie was surprised to see her father. It wasn't that she didn't feel close to him, but unlike her mother, he usually didn't get involved in her problems. Unless they somehow concerned golf.

“Can I come in?” her father asked.

“Well, Dad,” Laurie smiled slightly, “considering the fact that you're already in ...”

Mr Saunders nodded. “I'm sorry to barge in, babe, but your mother and I are both worried.”

“She told you David broke up with me?” Laurie asked.

“Uh, yes, she did,” Mr Saunders said. “And I'm sorry about that, babe, I really am. I thought he was a nice boy.”

“He was,” Laurie said. Until The Wave, she thought.

“But, uh, I'm concerned about something else, Laurie. About something I heard on the golf course this evening.” Mr Saunders always left work early on Fridays to play nine holes of golf in a twilight league before the sun went down.

“What, Dad?”

“Today after school a boy was beaten up,” her father said. “Now I got this story second-hand, so I don't know if it's all accurate. But apparently there was some kind of rally at school today, and he had resisted joining this Wave game or said something critical about it.”

Laurie was speechless.

“The boy's parents are neighbours of one of the men I play golf with. They just moved in this year. So the boy must have been new at school.”

“It sounds like he would have been a perfect candidate for joining The Wave,” Laurie said.

“Maybe,” said Mr Saunders. “But Laurie, the boy is Jewish. Could that have had anything to do with it?”

Laurie's jaw dropped. “You don't think ... Dad, you can't believe there's anything like that going on. I mean, I don't like The Wave, but it's not like that, Dad, I swear it isn't.

“Are you sure?” Mr Saunders asked.

“Well, I, uh, I know everyone who was originally in The Wave. I was there when it began. The whole idea was to show how something like Nazi Germany could have happened. It wasn't for us to become little Nazis. It's ... it's — "

“It sounds like it's got out of hand, Laurie,” her father said. “Has it?”

Laurie just nodded. She was too shocked to be able to say anything.

“Some of the men were talking about going to the school on Monday to talk to the principal,” Mr Saunders said. “Just, you know, to be on the safe side.”

Laurie nodded. “We're going to put out a special issue of The Grapevine. We're going to expose this whole thing.”

Her father was quiet for a few moments. “That sounds like a good idea, babe. But be careful, okay?”

“I will, Dad,” Laurie said. “I promise.”

For the last three years during the football season, sitting with Amy at Saturday afternoon games had become a habit for Laurie. David, of course, was in the team, and while Amy didn't have a steady boyfriend, the guys she dated were almost always football players. By Saturday afternoon, Laurie couldn't wait to see Amy; she had to tell her what she'd learned. It had surprised Laurie that Amy had gone along with The Wave so far, but now Laurie was certain that as soon as Amy learned about the boy who was beaten up, she would quickly come to her senses. Besides, Laurie sorely needed to talk to her about David. She still couldn't understand how something as dumb as The Wave could have made David break up with her. Maybe Amy knew something she didn't know. Perhaps she could even talk to David for her.

Laurie got to the game just as it was starting. It was by far the best turnout of the year, and it took Laurie a moment to spot Amy's head of curly blonde hair in the crowded bleachers. She was way up, almost at the top row. Laurie hurried to an aisle and was about to start up when someone yelled, “Stop!”

Laurie stopped and saw Brad coming towards her. “Oh, hi, Laurie, I didn't recognize you from behind,” he said. Then he did The Wave salute.

Laurie just stood there without moving.

Brad frowned. “Come on, Laurie, just give me the salute and you can go up.”

“What are you talking about, Brad?”

“You know, The Wave salute.”

“You mean I can't go up into the stands unless I give The Wave salute?” Laurie asked.

Brad looked around sheepishly. “Well, that's what they decided, Laurie.”

“Who are they?” Laurie asked.

“The Wave, Laurie, you know.”

“Brad, I thought you were The Wave. You're in Mr Ross's class,” Laurie said.

Brad shrugged. “I know. Look, what's the big deal? Just give me the salute and you can go up.”

Laurie looked up at the crowded stands. “You mean everyone in the stands gave you the salute?”

“Well, yeah. In this part of the stands.”

“Well, I want to go up and I don't want to give The Wave salute,” Laurie said angrily.

“But you can't,” Brad replied.

“Who says I can't?” Laurie asked loudly. Several students near them looked in their direction.

Brad blushed. “Look, Laurie,” he said in a low voice. “Just do the stupid salute now.”

But Laurie was adamant. “No, this is ridiculous. Even you know it's ridiculous.”

Brad squirmed slightly. Then he looked around again and said, “Okay, don't salute, just go ahead. I don't think anyone's looking.”

But all at once Laurie didn't want to join the people in the stands. She had no intention of sneaking anywhere to join The Wave. This whole thing had just gone insane. Even some of The Wave members like Brad knew it was insane. “Brad,” she said. “Why are you doing this if you know it's stupid? Why are you a part of it?”