Мортон Рю - The Wave

Near the front of the room, a young black named Eric raised his hand urgently. “That's crazy,” he said. “How could you slaughter ten million people without somebody noticing?”

“Yeah,” said Brad, the boy who had picked on Robert Billings before class began. “That can't be true.”

It was obvious to Ben that the film had affected a large part of the class, and he was pleased. It was good to see them concerned about something. “Well,” he said to Eric and Brad, “I can only tell you that after the war the Germans claimed they knew nothing of the concentration camps or the killings.”

Now Laurie Saunders raised her hand. “But Eric's right,” she said. “How could the Germans sit back while the Nazis slaughtered people all around them and say they didn't know about it? How could they do that? How could they even say that?”

“All I can tell you,” Ben said, “is that the Nazis were highly organized and feared. The behaviour of the rest of the German population is a mystery — why they didn't try to stop it, how they could say they didn't know. We just don't know the answers.”

Eric's hand was up again. “All I can say is, I would never let such a small minority of people rule the majority.”

“Yeah,” said Brad. “I wouldn't let a couple of Nazis scare me into pretending I didn't see or hear anything.”

There were other hands raised with questions, but before Ben could call on anyone, the bell rang out and the class was rushing out into the hall.

David Collins stood up. His stomach was grumbling like mad. That morning he'd got up late and had to skip his usual three-course breakfast to make it to school on time. Even though the film Mr Ross had shown really bothered him, he couldn't help thinking that next period was lunch.

He looked over at Laurie Saunders, his girl friend, who was still sitting in her seat. “Come on, Laurie,” he urged her. “We have to get down to the cafeteria fast. You know how long the queue gets.”

But Laurie waved him to go without her. “I'll catch up later.”

David scowled. He was torn between waiting for his girl friend and filling his growling stomach. The stomach won, and David took off down the hall.

After he was gone, Laurie got up from her seat and looked at Mr Ross. There were only a couple of kids left in the room now. And except for Robert Billings, who was just waking up from his nap, they were the ones who seemed the most disturbed about the film. “I can't even believe that all the Nazis were that cruel,” Laurie told her teacher. “I don't believe anyone could be that cruel.”

Ben nodded. “After the war, many Nazis tried to excuse their behaviour by claiming they were only following orders and that they would have been killed themselves if they hadn't.”

Laurie shook her head. “No, that's no excuse. They could have run away. They could have fought back. They had their own eyes and their own minds. They could think for themselves. Nobody would just follow an order like that.”

“But that's what they said,” Ben told her.

Laurie shook her head again. “It's sick,” she said, her voice filled with revulsion. “Just totally sick.”

Ben could only nod in agreement.

“Robert Billings was trying to sneak past Ben's desk. “Robert,” Ben said. “Wait a minute.” The boy froze, but could not look his teacher in the eye.

“Are you getting enough sleep at home?” Ben asked. Robert nodded dumbly.

Ben sighed. All semester he had been trying to get through to this boy. He couldn't stand seeing him picked on by the other students and it dismayed him that Robert didn't at least try to participate in class. “Robert,” his teacher said sternly, “if you don't start participating in this class I will have to fail you. You'll never graduate at this rate.”

Robert glanced at his teacher and then looked away again.

“Don't you have anything to say?” Ben asked. Robert shrugged. “I don't care,” he said. “What do you mean you don't care?” Ben asked. Robert took a few steps towards the door. Ben could see that he was uncomfortable about being questioned. “Robert?”

The boy stopped, but he still could not look at his teacher. “I wouldn't do any good anyway,” he mumbled. Ben wondered what he could say. Robert's case was a tough one: the younger brother wallowing in the shadow of an older brother who had been the quintessential model student and big man on campus. Jeff Billings had been an all-team pitcher in high school and was now in the Baltimore Orioles minor league while he studied medicine in the off-season. In school he'd been a straight-A student who excelled at everything he did. The kind of guy even Ben had despised in high school.

Seeing that he could never compete with his brother's achievements, Robert had apparently decided it was better not even to try.

“Listen, Robert,” Ben said, “no one expects you to be another Jeff Billings.”

Robert glanced quickly at Ben and then started chewing nervously on his thumbnail.

“All we're asking is that you try,” Ben said.

“I have to go,” Robert said, looking down at the floor.

“I don't even care about sports, Robert,” Ben said. But the boy had already begun to move slowly towards the door.

David Collins was sitting in the outdoor courtyard next to the cafeteria. He had already wolfed down half his lunch by the time Laurie arrived, and he was beginning to feel like a normal human being again. He watched Laurie put her tray down next to his and then noticed that Robert Billings was also headed for the courtyard.

“Hey, look,” David whispered as Laurie sat down. They watched as Robert stepped out of the cafeteria carrying a tray, looking for a place to eat. True to form, he had already started eating and stood in the doorway with half a hot dog sticking out of his mouth.

There were two girls from Mr Ross's history class sitting at the table Robert chose. As Robert set his tray down, they both stood up and took their trays to another table. Robert pretended he hadn't noticed.

David shook his head. “Gordon High's very own Untouchable,” he mumbled.

“Do you think there's something really wrong with him?” Laurie asked.

David shrugged. “I don't know. He's been pretty strange for as long as I can remember. Then again, if people treated me like that, I'd probably be pretty strange too. It's just weird that he and his brother could come from the same family.”

“Did I ever tell you that my mother knows his mother?” Laurie asked.

“His mother ever talk about him?” David asked.

“No. Except I think she told me once that they had him tested and he really does have a normal I.Q. He's not really dumb or anything.”

“Just weird,” David said and went back to eating his lunch. But Laurie only picked at hers. She seemed preoccupied.

“What is it?” David asked.

“That film, David,” Laurie answered. “It really bothers me. Doesn't it bother you?”

David thought for a moment. Then he said, “Yeah, sure, as something horrible that happened once, it bothers me. But that was a long time ago, Laurie. To me it's like a piece of history. You can't change what happened then.”

“But you can't forget it,” Laurie said. She tried a bite of her hamburger, then made a face and put it down.

“Well, you can't go around being bummed out about it for the rest of your life either,” David said. He eyed Laurie's uneaten hamburger. “By the way, you gonna eat that?”

Laurie shook her head. The movie had left her without much of an appetite. “Help yourself.”

Not only did David help himself to her burger, he finished off her fries, salad, and ice cream as well. Laurie looked in his direction, but her eyes were distant.