Chapter 5
At school the following week I found Mr. and Mrs. Rittenhouse in the book room next to the shelves, their heads hanging over the open textbooks in their hands. On the floor by their feet was a mound of books, and Mr. Rittenhouse took the pile from the floor and threw the books into the nearby trashcan.
“They threw the German language textbooks into the trash,” I told Hilde as we sat with our Coca-Colas in the soda shop across the street from school.
Hilde nodded. “They have already spoken to me. I am not to teach German any longer, and I am not to be heard speaking German near the children. Mrs. Rittenhouse said it is not good for the children to hear the language of American enemies.”
“She’s a fool.”
“But if she is a fool then we are surrounded by fools because everywhere t
