Different Seasons

Thirteen-year-old Todd Bowden looks like the stereotypical all-American kid with golden hair, blue eyes, white teeth, and flawless skin. He is tall and healthy and wears a bright smile. At the moment, he is riding his bike up a typical suburban street. He stops at the front of an ordinary house and approaches the door. The door is opened by a man who calls himself Arthur Denker, who looks to Todd like “a cross between Albert Einstein and Boris Karloff” (351).

Todd addresses the old man as Mr. Dussander. The man says that his name is Arthur Denker, not Dussander. Todd recites a list of German concentration camps where Denker/Dussander worked during World War II, finishing with Patin (a fictional creation of the author), where Dussander was the Unterkommandant (Lieutenant Commander). Denker/Dussander threatens to call the police, but Todd threatens in return to tell the police who Arthur Denker really is—in which case, he would be turned over to the Israeli Nazi hunters.

Todd tells Dussander that that he is a World War II buff and “grooves” on the concentration camps. He saw Dussander’s picture in an old book and recognized him at the supermarket. Some time ago, Todd encountered descriptions of the atrocities in the camps via True Stories magazines. He connected with the stories in those magazines on a visceral level and wants to know everything about the camps. He doesn’t tell Dussander that he read the stories with both disgust and excitement. Many of the magazines concentrated on sexual sadism. He did more research at the library, and the librarian called Todd’s father to report what he was reading (ostensibly for school). Todd’s father said that it was alright because children should find out the realities of life as early as possible. Todd actually did write a paper for school, but he had to leave out the really “gooshy” stuff and write it so that it sounded as if he thought it was all Dussander. Todd tells Dussander that he has written a letter detailing everything about Dussander and given it to a friend to open if anything happens to Todd.

Todd tells Dussander that he wants to know all about what it was like at the camps: all the gooshy stuff. Dussander calls Todd a monster. Todd replies that Dussander is the monster. Dussander committed the crimes, not Todd. Dussander argues that he only followed orders and that Americans may sneer at that, but American soldiers are lionized for killing screaming women and children, and men who refuse to follow orders are called cowards, imprisoned, or driven out of the country. Only the losers are called war criminals.

Todd is bored by philosophy. He thinks that politics is just lies that people make up to excuse whatever they want to do. Dussander says that people who refused to follow orders were strangled slowly with piano wire, and their deaths were filmed so that everyone could see what happened to people who disobeyed. Todd is interested again. He thinks that’s neat.

Dussander says that he would follow orders again, but he still had nightmares afterward. Eventually, Todd talks him back around to the subject of the camps, specifically the gas ovens used to dispose of bodies. Todd grins broadly all the time he talks.

October, 1974.

Months pass; Todd visits Dussander several times a week. He tells his parents that he is reading to Dussander, who has bad eyesight. Todd’s mother, Monica, has some concerns about what Todd might be reading but decides it’s alright; her husband says that it’s good for kids to explore everything. She congratulates herself on how healthy and well-adjusted her son is and what a good parent she is.

Meanwhile, Todd is demanding more stories about the camp. Every time Dussander tries to stop, Todd pushes him onward, delving ever deeper into the horrors, forcing Dussander to relive them. As the stories grow more horrific, Dussander begins to feel a creeping sense of something like nostalgia.

November, 1974.

Todd’s grades take a turn for the worse. Instead of As and Bs, he gets mostly Cs and even a D. His parents are horrified. They think that he is spending too much time with Mr. Denker. For a moment, Dick Bowden thinks that he sees a flash of rage in his son’s face, but it disappears almost immediately. Dick doesn’t want Todd to be angry with him. He thinks of Todd and himself as friends and assures himself that they have no secrets between them. He tells himself that his occasional marital infidelities don’t count. Todd persuades his father not to “punish” Mr. Denker by taking Todd away from him. Todd successfully manipulates his father into giving him a chance to bring his grades up.

December, 1974.

Todd gives Dussander an SS uniform costume. After their months’ association, Dussander is beginning to look as gaunt and haggard as the prisoners he oversaw at the camp. Dussander refuses to put on the uniform, but Todd reminds him what will happen if Todd turns him in: Dussander will be hanged like Adolf Eichmann. Dussander begs Todd not to make him do it, but Todd likes to hear him beg the way the prisoners at Patin must have done.

Todd barks orders, and Dussander obeys by reflex, standing at attention and goose-stepping around the kitchen. Once, he stumbles a little and reflects that a real commandant would have slammed him in the gut with a swagger-stick. It amuses him that Todd doesn’t know all the tricks of the trade.

Todd is suddenly struck by terror. He has a memory of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice and the walking brooms that get out of control. He tells Dussander to stop, but Dussander continues to march back and forth in the kitchen. Todd shouts at him to halt again, and he finally stops. Todd recovers his nerve and chides himself for forgetting that he is the one in control.

January, 1975.

Shortly after the new year, Todd’s report card is all Cs, Ds, and two Fs. When his parents see it, they won’t let him continue seeing Mr. Dussander. Some part of Todd whispers that maybe that would be for the best. He has been having bad dreams in which he is either a prisoner at Patin or he is Denker/Dussander himself. In another, he is a convicted Nazi, his parents are SS guards, and Dussander is the judge. He is on his way to be hanged. Pulling himself together, Todd doctors his report card to show all As and Bs.

Dussander is also having bad dreams and starting to talk to himself when he is alone. At the same time, it is a relief to him to have Todd to talk to; he is able to relive a past in which he was young and powerful. He knows that he and Todd are mutual parasites. On sleepless nights, Dussander sometimes puts on the SS uniform and is able to sleep without bad dreams.

February, 1975.

Todd’s family invites Dussander over to dinner. Todd is uneasy about it, but Dussander plays his role perfectly by charming Todd’s parents. Dick Bowden asks Dussander what he did in the war, and Dussander talks about being in the army reserves and having initially liked Hitler. He claims to have lost faith in Hitler and been against him in the end. He remarks that the camps would be Hitler’s shameful legacy to Germany forever.

Dick Bowden disagrees; he has read that the German people didn’t really know what happened at the camps. Secretly, Dussander is contemptuous of this. He knows that the people around the camps knew perfectly well what was going on and pretended not to know.

Dussander asks Todd to walk home with him after dinner. They argue. Todd accuses Dussander petulantly of charming his parents. Dussander asks if that wasn’t what Todd wanted. Now Todd can continue seeing him. Todd snaps that nobody is forcing him to spend time with Dussander. Dussander tells him that he is welcome to stay away. Todd says that if his parents really knew who Denker was, they would spit on him. Dussander privately thinks that Todd’s father would ask the same kinds of questions that Todd does. He asks Todd what his parents would think if they found out that he had spent the last eight months hanging out with someone whom he knew to be a Nazi war criminal. He assures Todd that he can visit Dussander or not as he pleases.

The next morning, Todd’s mother tells him how delighted she and Todd’s father were at meeting his friend. His father had even said that Mr. Denker reminded him of his own father–Todd’s grandfather.

March, 1975.

Dussander has begun wearing the SS uniform to bed every night. At first it relieved his nightmares, but now he dreams constantly of fleeing through a wet jungle pursued by the Putin inmates he tortured. He has found another way to subdue the nightmares. He kills a cat in his gas oven. Afterwards, he buries it under the dirt floor of his cellar. It keeps the dreams away for a while, and when they come back, he decides to try a dog next time.

Todd comes early one day–before school lets out. He flings his report card on the kitchen table and Decker sees that it is almost entirely Fs. Todd tells Dussander that it is his fault. Todd can’t sleep for nightmares, and when he is awake, he can’t stop thinking about Dussander’s stories long enough to concentrate on his schoolwork. The report card comes with a note from the guidance counselor requesting a meeting with Todd’s parents to discuss what may be the problem. Todd demands that Dussander get him out of the problem somehow; if Todd’s parents find out about his real grades, they will know that it has something to do with the old man, and they will eventually find out everything–including who Dussander really is. Neither one of them wants anything about the relationship to be uncovered.

They make a plan: Todd can alter the report card the way he did before, but the meeting with the counselor is another problem. They work up a story about family conflict that requires Todd’s “grandfather” to stand in at the meeting. Posing as Todd’s grandfather, Dussander convinces the school counselor, Ed French, that Todd’s grades are due to family troubles at home and that Dussander will personally see to it that Todd’s grades improve.

When Todd arrives at Dussander’s house after school, Dussander tells him that now both of their futures depend on Todd passing all his classes. The most important thing is for Todd to get his grades up enough that he won’t receive any “flunk cards” from teachers warning that he is failing. From now until the end of the term, Todd will come to his house every day after school and Danker will make sure that he studies. Dussander warns Todd that if either one of them is exposed now, they will both go down. As Todd takes out his schoolbooks, Dussander recognizes the look of murder in Todd’s eyes.