The Boy Who Dared by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

Author:Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2017-09-01T04:00:00+00:00

It isn’t a holiday, but Mutti and Oma treat Gerhard’s homecoming as one. The flat is crowded with friends and family and feels as festive as Christmas. It doesn’t even matter that Hugo is there, as proud of Gerhard in his smart uniform as if he were his real father.

Opa leads the family in a mealtime prayer, and then bowls and spoons are passed out. Oma ladles thick, milky potato soup, carefully scraping the bottom to find enough for all of them. Somehow there are plates of sausages, and thick, crusty bread, and even a brown cake with nuts. She cuts the cake in small pieces, enough to go around.

Helmuth is about to bite into the cake when Hugo says, “So tell us, my boy, what are you learning in school these days?”

Helmuth sets down his fork on the plate. “I’m writing my thesis for graduation,” Helmuth tells him. “It’s about the difference between National Socialism and a plurocracy.”

“Splendid,” says Hugo. “A political paper! Too bad the war will soon be over. The army could use soldiers like you. With your mind, you’d make a smashing officer. It’s too bad you will have missed it.”

Helmuth stops listening, feels a dark numbness spread inside. He thinks about what Mutti once said, that silence is how people get on sometimes.

With his fingers, Hugo shoves the last bite of cake into his mouth. He stands and straightens his trouser legs. “Time to go, Emma,” he says to Mutti. “I’m tired, you’re tired, we’re all tired.”

He stretches out his hand. Mutti smiles at Hugo, grasps his hand. As Helmuth watches her leave, he wonders if he’ll ever understand how she could love such a man.

That night, Helmuth, Gerhard, and Hans retreat to the bedroom at Oma and Opa’s flat. Hans falls asleep right away, exhausted from his day’s work at the shipyards.

Helmuth lies on his back in the darkness, arms linked behind his head, watching the moon shimmer the walls. He feels like a small boy again. “Gerhard,” he whispers. “Are you awake?”

“Yes.”

“Do you believe God has cursed us with Hitler?”

“No,” says Gerhard. “We can’t blame God for Hitler. The German people gave us Hitler, when they voted Nazis into office. Like it or not, he’s our Führer.”

“But he’s a madman. How can we support him?”

“We must support our country, especially now, in time of war, and that means supporting our leaders.”

Gerhard rolls over, his back to Helmuth, conversation ended.

Helmuth lies awake for a long while, wondering if Germany deserves to win such a war.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.