The Good War

by Todd Strasser

  His mother went back to the kitchen and got one of the cold packs they kept in the freezer in case of emergency. Caleb took it and then limped into the bathroom.

  Half an hour ago he’d been on a skateboard going way too fast. The road curved to the left, but he’d gone straight…into a patch of tall grass and shrubs. And he actually had tucked and rolled! Maybe not on purpose. But he’d definitely rolled before landing on his back in some wet grass. He was breathing hard. His heart was pounding. His right knee throbbed painfully, and he could feel the dampness from the recent rain seeping through his clothes. But as he stared up at some white clouds in the blue sky, he felt something else. Pride. He’d tried something new and scary, and it had been fun. And the craziest thing of all? Even though he lost control and fell, it felt great.

  In the bathroom, Caleb sat down on the edge of the bathtub and pressed the cold pack against his knee. Just then his phone buzzed. It was a text…from Brooke Ford! She’d gotten permission to do the story. A shiver of excitement raced through him. He was going to be on KFKN!

  * * *

  Thanks to Ms. B’s stupid lecture about the Nazis, the Axis team missed the late bus. Gavin and Mackenzie walked home. But Crosby and Tyler lived farther away and decided to see if they could get a ride. Tyler called his mother, but she didn’t pick up, so Crosby tried his aunt. Because of all the medications his mom was on, she wasn’t allowed to drive, but Aunt Mary said she’d come.

  “Don’t say anything about gaming in front of her,” Crosby told Tyler.

  When Aunt Mary pulled up in her car, she stared at the boys. Crosby realized why: They were still wearing their gray shirts and Iron Cross medals. He wished they’d taken off the medals before she got there. Now he was worried that she would say something embarrassing.

  The boys got in the back. As Aunt Mary drove away from the school, Crosby waited for her to make a comment about their outfits, but instead she said, “What happened to the late bus?”

  “We missed it,” Crosby said.

  Aunt Mary looked at him in the rearview mirror and narrowed her eyes skeptically, as if she knew there had to be more to the story. Crosby braced himself for whatever totally humiliating thing she might say in front of Tyler.

  But all she said was “Where are we taking you, Tyler?”

  “Know where Old Oak Court is, ma’am?” Tyler asked in the polite way he saved for grown-ups.

  “I think so,” she said.

  They rode for the next fifteen minutes in silence. In the backseat, Tyler played with his plastic German soldier. He aimed it at Crosby, who took it and aimed it at the back of his aunt’s head and pretended to fire. The boys shared furtive grins. When they arrived at Old Oak Court, Tyler thanked Crosby’s aunt for the ride. Aunt Mary waited until Tyler disappeared into his house. Then she turned to Crosby and said, “What are you wearing?”

  “It was just for the eSports club,” Crosby said.

  Aunt Mary backed out of Tyler’s driveway, then said, “First thing tomorrow morning, I’m calling the principal.”

  “Don’t bother,” Crosby said. “Ms. B already yelled at us.”

  Aunt Mary shook her head in bewilderment. “I cannot believe they let you wear that in school.”

  Now that they were alone, Crosby felt a growing annoyance. Why did his aunt have to be what Dave called a liberal snowflake? One of those soy milk drinkers who wanted to take away everyone’s guns and for whom the whole world was a trigger.

  “You know, it just so happens that it’s a free country,” he said.

  “Yes, it’s a free country,” Aunt Mary repeated angrily. “And that means my nephew is free to walk around dressed like a neo-Nazi white supremacist. Is that really what you want people to think about you?”

  “I’m not a Nazi, and there’s no such thing as a white supremacist,” Crosby shot back, repeating something Dave had said. “I’m a patriot.”

  He was shocked when Aunt Mary hit the car’s brakes and pulled onto the road shoulder. She glared at him, her face reddening. “Where did you hear that?”

  “Nowhere,” Crosby said.

  “Where did you hear that?” Aunt Mary demanded again, this time nearly shouting. Crosby slouched in the car seat, crossed his arms, and tucked his chin into his chest.

  “Let me tell you something, young man,” she said. “White supremacists do exist. Neo-Nazis do exist. Racists and anti-Semites and homophobes do exist. And they all have something in common. They hate anyone who is different. Anyone who doesn’t look like them or believe what they believe in. And you are starting to sound just like them.” She pulled the car back onto the road and began driving again. “You heard that somewhere online.”

  “No,” said Crosby.

  “Then where did you hear it?”

  “Uh, from someone in school,” Crosby lied.

  “Who?”

  “No one you know.”

  “I don’t have to know them,” said Aunt Mary. “I just want to know who they are.”

  Crosby stared out the car window and didn’t answer. There was no talking sense with Aunt Mary. She was a hard-core liberal feminazi who probably didn’t even think men were necessary. Why else had she never gotten married? At best she was a lost cause. At worst she was the enemy.

  They drove the rest of the way home without speaking. As soon as Crosby got to his room, he did the stupid homework Ms. B had assigned. According to various websites, there’d been lots of genocides in history. When Europeans settled in America, it was genocide against the Indians. Not that the Indians were ever going to do anything with the country except ride around on horses and hunt buffalos. When you thought about it, wasn’t just about every war genocide? Not to mention about half the video games he’d ever played, whether he was wiping out an entire enemy or an alien race or all the dinosaurs.

  * * *

  When Zach’s number popped up on Caleb’s phone, he hesitated before answering. He and Zach had never spoken on the phone before. They’d always texted or talked online. For Caleb, speaking on the phone represented a different level of familiarity. It was something he reserved for close friends. Not that Zach wasn’t becoming a close friend. But Caleb hadn’t had to decide if he was or wasn’t. He knew that Zach must have been calling to see how he was after the fall. Caleb appreciated the fact that he cared. It was more evidence that Zach was a good guy.

  “You okay?” Zach asked when Caleb finally answered.

  “Yeah,” Caleb said. “A little banged up. That’s all.”

  “I’m really sorry,” Zach said. “I shouldn’t have pushed you to try that hill. You needed more practice.”

  “Not your fault,” Caleb said. “I wanted to do it.”

  “Man, when I found you on your back in the grass laughing,” Zach said, “I didn’t know what to think.”

  “You looked like I’d totally lost it,” Caleb said.

  They shared a chuckle over the memory.

  “Think you’ll try again?” Zach asked hopefully.

  “Sure, uh, one of these days,” Caleb said. What he didn’t say was that he was thinking of switching to a sport that was slightly less dangerous, like badminton.

  It felt like they’d come to the end of the conversation. Then Zach said, “Well, the weekend’s coming up. Want to hang out?”

  Caleb detected a needy edge in Zach’s voice. Here was a kid who hadn’t had a lot of friends in his life. The truth was, Caleb would have been happy to do something with Zach, except that he only had Saturday, and he already had plans to meet his cousins from Springdale at the mall. Should he invite Zach along? Caleb hadn’t seen his cousins in a while and was eager to catch up with them. Plus, he knew how squirrelly Zach could be around new people. Caleb was worried that it might be awkward for everyone involved.

  When he said he had plans to meet his cousins at the mall a
nd wouldn’t have any other time to hang out, Zach didn’t reply. Now Caleb felt bad, so he said, “But maybe we can hang out next weekend, okay?”

  “Uh, yeah, sure.” Zach tried to sound upbeat.

  “Well, I better go,” Caleb said. “See ya.” He got off the phone, but the bad feeling didn’t go away. Every time they got together, Zach was super nice and sincere. Why couldn’t he be that way, too?

  * * *

  When Crosby found Dave online that night, he couldn’t tell him about what had happened in the eSports club that day because he’d led Dave to believe that he’d graduated high school and was working in a warehouse. Before they started playing, Dave told him about a rally being planned in Franklin. Wasn’t that near where Crosby lived? The event would be the following week. It was being organized by a group called Identity Evropa, who believed that America had been founded and created for white Europeans. The rally wasn’t going to be against anything. It was just meant to show support for the white race. But, of course, that hadn’t stopped the blue-pill snowflakes from trying to go to court to prevent it.

  Dave told Crosby that his brothers needed his support, and it would be great if he could go to the rally and march with them. Crosby said he’d definitely think about it. Then he had an idea. “Know what, Dave? I’m having a problem with a bunch of blue-pill snowflakes myself. They’re guys I’ve been gaming with forever, but now they think they’re hot stuff because they’re in college.”

  “Colleges back east, I bet,” Dave said with a snicker. “So what’s the problem, Croz?”

  “Next time we game, I’d like to take ’em down a few notches. Got any suggestions?” Crosby said.

  “Oh yeah,” Dave said with a laugh. “I know just the thing.”

  * * *

  It was nearly midnight. Emma had been reading for hours and could hardly keep her eyes open. But at the same time, she couldn’t stop. She felt so much like Anne Frank. When Anne wrote that she had everything she needed in life except one true friend, Emma felt like she could have written those exact words herself. When Anne wrote about how smart her sister, Margot, was, Emma felt like she was describing her sister, Sarah. When Anne wrote about her resentment toward her mother for favoring Margot over her, it was exactly how Emma felt about her own mother.

  And so, when Anne and her family had to hide in an attic from the Nazis, Emma felt like it was her and her family. She shared with Anne the confusion about why the Nazis were so determined to kill Jewish people. She felt the fear Anne felt each time the doorbell rang, terrified that it might be the Gestapo, coming to take them away.

  Finally, when Emma couldn’t keep her eyes open for another second, she put the book down and turned off the light. But as she lay in the dark, feeling the heaviness of sleep overtake her, she thought she finally understood what was bothering her about the eSports club.

  On Saturday, Caleb met his cousins at the mall. They shopped and ate pizza and caught up on one another’s lives. After lunch they were at a kiosk trying on sunglasses when Caleb’s cousin, Stephanie, nudged him and whispered, “I think we’re being followed.”

  Caleb was trying on a pair of glasses, so he looked in the mirror to see if he could spot anyone in the background. And there was Zach, pretending to look in the window of Sephora, the cosmetics and perfume store. Caleb told his cousins he’d be right back, then went over and said hi.

  “Oh, hi!” Zach acted like he was surprised to see Caleb there. He seemed as jittery and squirmy as the day two months before when Caleb came to the library to ask him to try the eSports club. Even though Caleb didn’t ask, Zach offered an explanation for why he was at the mall. “A couple of months ago my uncle sent me an Under Armour shirt for my birthday, but it’s too big, so I’m exchanging it.”

  Caleb nodded at the Sephora window. “Don’t see much Under Armour in there.”

  Zach’s face reddened. “Oh, yeah, I, uh, thought I’d get a few other things while I was here.”

  “Like sun-kissed body glove oil?” Caleb teased.

  “Uh, for my mother,” Zach quickly said, and changed the subject. “So how’s it going?”

  “Hanging out with my cousins,” Caleb said. “I think I told you that I was going to meet them here today.”

  “Oh, did you?” Zach mimed slapping his forehead. “Must’ve forgotten. So, what’re you guys up to?”

  It struck Caleb that if Zach had been following them, he already knew exactly what they’d been up to. But he didn’t want to embarrass him by pointing that out. In fact, Caleb was tempted to ask Zach to join them. He really was. But that wasn’t what the day was about.

  “Listen,” Caleb said. “I’ll see you in school, okay? I’m really stoked for the next match. Can’t wait to hear what your strategy will be.”

  Zach stared down at the floor. He wasn’t very good at hiding his emotions, and Caleb could see that he was disappointed. Knowing how difficult these things were for Zach, Caleb began to debate whether he should change his mind and invite Zach to join him and his cousins after all. He looked toward the sunglass kiosk to see if his cousins were still there. When he turned back, Zach was gone.

  * * *

  Nathan lifted the brass knocker on Tanisha Proctor’s front door but didn’t let it drop. Are you ready for this? he asked himself. Because what happens in the next few hours is going to go a long way toward determining what your life is going to be like for the next few years.

  Nathan thought he was ready. Tanisha’s UnPlug2gether was something he had prepared for. Standing in front of the bathroom mirror at home, he’d practiced thanking Tanisha for the invitation. He practiced complimenting Callie Potendo on the cool self-portrait she’d painted in art class. He planned to tell Bethany Willis that he’d seen her student council poster in the hall and was definitely going to vote for her.

  And he had a strategy. He wasn’t going to smile too much because he thought it made him look goofy. And if he felt himself growing nervous, he wouldn’t start talking too much. Just be cool and listen to what the other kids say. The best way to get them to like you is to act interested in them.

  Nathan let the knocker fall with a clank! A few moments later a woman he assumed was Tanisha’s mother welcomed him inside. Since the party theme was unplugging, he put his phone in an envelope with his name on it and left it in a basket by the front door. Then he went down to the basement game room. There were about twenty kids there, playing pool, foosball, and cornhole.

  Because he was new, Tanisha took him under her wing and made a spot for him at the foosball table. It had to be pure chance that the other three players at the table were Gavin, Crosby, and Mackenzie. Tyler was across the room shooting pool, which meant the whole Axis squad was there. Meanwhile, Nathan was the only one from the Allied squad.

  Nathan was tense when he joined the foosball game, but Gavin was different than he was at school or in the eSports club. He appeared relaxed and actually smiled now and then. They talked about sports, and it turned out that both of their fathers were Notre Dame football fans.

  As the evening continued, it seemed to Nathan that some of the Axis squad were actually warming up to him. They shared a laugh when Gavin called Ironville “the armpit of the nation.” Then Mackenzie asked Nathan to be her cornhole partner, and maybe it was his imagination, but he thought she might be flirting a little. Later he wound up playing eight-ball against Tyler, who greeted Nathan by clicking his heels and extending his right arm into the air with a straightened hand. It was the salute the Germans used in World War II.

  The only member of the Axis squad who wasn’t friendly was Crosby. The kid was like Gavin’s shadow. Whatever game Gavin played, Crosby either tried to play or stood close by watching. Nathan got the feeling that a few of the other kids had noticed Crosby’s clinginess to Gavin, too. At one point, Gavin told Crosby to go upstairs to get some ice for the sodas, and the kid hopped
right to it. What a twerp.

  MATCH TALLY

  THE AXIS: 3

  THE ALLIES: 4

  Caleb wandered into the kitchen bleary-eyed and tired. He felt like he’d hardly slept. The photographer was more than a week late with the yearbook portraits, and Caleb was worried. Had he made a mistake by recommending the guy? The yearbook was on a tight schedule. Not only would it cost a ton of money if they had to hire another photographer to reshoot all the student portraits, but the yearbook company would charge them extra for being late.

  At first, Caleb was so preoccupied with worry that he didn’t notice that his father was having coffee alone at the kitchen table. Caleb went to the cupboard, imagining what it would be like if just for once he found a brand-new box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. But the only cereals were oatmeal and the antioxidant high-fiber gluten-free cardboard-flavored variety. Caleb poured himself a bowl and doused it with almond milk.

  “No green hair today?” Mr. Arnett asked.

  Now Caleb noticed that his father was alone, which meant that his mom had already left for work. That seemed odd, since his parents almost always left together.

  “Not today,” Caleb said, and nearly gagged on a spoonful of the cereal. Was there anything worse than soggy cardboard for breakfast?

  “What’s the latest with Brooke Ford?” his father asked.

  “It’s going to be a few weeks before she can begin working on the story,” Caleb said. He felt both excited and disappointed. The good news was that not only did KFKN plan to send a video crew to the school to record the eSports club in action, but they also wanted Caleb and his parents to come to the KFKN studios to be interviewed! The bad news was that Brooke Ford had a really busy schedule, and the story would have to wait until she found time to do it.