Apt Pupil

2

They sat on Dussander’s back porch under a cloudless, smiling sky. Todd was wearing jeans, Keds, and his Little League shirt Dussander was wearing a baggy grey shirt and shapeless khaki pants held up with suspenders — wino-pants, Todd thought with private contempt; they looked like they had come straight from a box in the back of the Salvation Army store downtown. He was really going to have to do something about the way Dussander dressed when he was at home. It spoiled some of the fun.

The two of them were eating Big Macs that Todd had brought in his bike basket, pedalling fast so they wouldn’t get cold. Todd was sipping a Coke through a plastic straw. Dussander had a glass of bourbon.

His old man’s voice rose and fell, papery, hesitant, sometimes nearly inaudible. His faded blue eyes, threaded with the usual snaps of red, were never still. An observer might have thought them grandfather and grandson, the latter perhaps attending some rite of passage, a handing down.

‘And that’s all I remember,’ Dussander finished presently, and took a large bite of his sandwich. McDonald’s Secret Sauce dribbled down his chin.

‘You can do better than that,’ Todd said softly.

Dussander took a large swallow from his glass. "The uniforms were made of paper,’ he said finally, almost snarling. ‘When one inmate died, the uniform was passed on if it could still be worn. Sometimes one paper uniform could . dress as many as forty inmates. I received high marks for my frugality.’

‘From Glucks?’

‘From Himmler.’

‘But there was a clothing factory in Patin. You told me that just last week. Why didn’t you have the uniforms made there? The inmates themselves could have made them.’

"The job of the factory in Patin was to make uniforms for German soldiers. And as for us…’ Dussander’s voice faltered for a moment, and then he forced himself to go on. ‘We were not in the business of rehabilitation,’ he finished.

Todd smiled his broad smile.

‘Enough for today? Please? My throat is sore.’

‘You shouldn’t smoke so much, then,’ Todd said, continuing to smile. ‘Tell me some more about the uniforms.’

‘Which? Inmate or SS?’ Dussander’s voice was resigned.

Smiling, Todd said: ‘Both.’