Different Seasons

Dussander’s roommate in the hospital is Morris Heisel. By coincidence, Heisel had been interned at Patin under Lieutenant Commandant Kurt Dussander. There, his young wife and two daughters had died. When Heisel sees his new roommate, he feels that the man looks familiar, but Heisel can’t place him.

Todd visits Dussander in the hospital, and Dussander asks Todd if he went back to the house after Dussander was taken away. Todd says that yes, he went back to burn the letter for fear that someone would pick it up and realize that it was 10 or 20 years old. Dussander asks Todd to bring him something to drink next time he comes, but Todd tells him flatly that he is never coming back.

Dussander smiles almost kindly. He tells Todd that he never wrote any letter hidden in a safe deposit box, and he knows that Todd never did anything of that kind, either. However, he reminds Todd of a spate of news stories about “winos” brutally murdered. If he wanted to, Dussander could tell the press what happened to those men just as Todd could tell them about a number of people who are now buried in an old man’s basement. They still have leverage over each other, but at least Dussander’s death won’t expose Todd to scrutiny. They can indeed call it quits.

Todd doesn’t believe Dussander’s claim that there is no safe deposit box. Dussander tells him that the only way they will ever really be done with each other is if they trust each other.

Reflecting on it afterwards, Todd is terrified by Dussander talking about trust. Trust is so very far from any part of their relationship to this point. He is also terrified that Dussander is still harboring a tiny flame of hatred for Todd. Most of all, he is terrified by the fact that Dussander has never used Todd’s name. Dussander has always called him “boy.” Todd sits in his spot overlooking the highway, thinking all the more strongly about going on a shooting spree.

One day, a casual remark by Dussander triggers his roommate Heisel’s memory, and he recognizes Dussander as the camp commandant at Patin.

Ed French, the guidance counselor who met Todd’s (supposed) grandfather, is at a convention in San Remo where Todd’s grandfather, Victor Bowden, lives. French has always been impressed by the way the old man got Todd back on track. He telephones Victor Bowden and they chat about Todd, but Victor Bowden sounds different from the man who came to French’s office, and he has no memory of their meeting. Curious, French pays a call on Victor Bowden and finds that he is not the man with whom he met. When he returns from the conference, Ed French digs through the school’s old records looking for Todd’s report cards. Finding them, he sees that they have been altered.

At the hospital, Dussander wakes from a nightmare to find a stranger in his room, wearing a silver Star of David pin on his lapel. The stranger introduces himself as Weiskopf and addresses him as Kurt Dussander, Commandant of the Patin concentration camp. He tells Dussander that he was recognized by his roommate, Morris Heisel (who has since been discharged from the hospital). Overriding Dussander’s protests, he warns that he will be back once Dussander is well enough to be extradited. When Weiskopf leaves, Dussander realizes that his only option now is suicide. He steals a bottle of sleeping pills and overdoses.

A few days later, Dick and Monica Bowden are looking at an article in the newspaper reporting that Todd and three other boys have been named Southern California All-Stars. They see a second headline in the newspaper reporting that a fugitive Nazi has died by suicide. A pair of photos show Dussander as an old man and as the Commandant of the concentration camp. Todd recognizes the more recent photo as one that had been in Dussander’s house. There is no mention in the article of the dead bodies in the basement, but Todd knows that it is only a matter of time before they are found. Meanwhile, Ed French, seeing the same article, recognizes Dussander as the man who posed as Todd’s grandfather.

Sometime later, Todd is being interviewed by Lieutenant Richler. Todd is reciting in a colorless voice a list of books he (supposedly) read to Dussander. Todd leads the discussion around to Dussander’s stock portfolio and remarks that he supposes that Dussander kept his stocks in a safe deposit box somewhere, but the police have found no sign of a safe deposit.

Richler asks what happened to the letter that Todd was supposedly reading to Dussander when he had his heart attack, and Todd says that it was on the table when Dussander was taken out. Richler says that the letter isn’t there. Todd’s parents say that it must have been stolen, but Todd, seeing the trap, points out that nothing else was stolen and no thief would bother with a letter.

Richler asks whether Dussander ever received phone calls, and Todd sees a possible way out. Dussander had virtually never gotten calls, but Todd tells the detective that Dussander got around two calls a week. Richler becomes excited. He thanks Todd and his parents for their help and takes his leave.

Richler meets Weiskopf and they discuss the interview with Todd. Richler is convinced that Todd knows much more about Dussander than he admits. In particular, Todd fell into the trap of the phone. When Richler mentioned the phones, he saw Todd’s eyes light up, but Dussander’s phone records show that he was getting no phone calls. Also, Todd made the mistake of assuming that only the letter had been taken from Dussander’s house and nothing else, which he could have only known if he had gone back and taken the letter himself.

Weiskopf wonders why Todd didn’t turn Dussander in the moment he recognized him. Richler says that he doesn’t care why; he just wants to know how deeply Todd was involved with Dussander’s crimes. Weiskopf suggests that there was more to that relationship than they imagine. He suggests that Todd is responsible for the men who have turned up beaten to death. Maybe, he suggests, Todd was actually drawn to the darkness represented by Dussander. Maybe the enduring fascination of the concentration camps has to do with the sheer ordinariness of the people involved.

A short guy who goes by the name of “Hap” enters the police station smelling like the inside of a garbage truck and announcing that he knows who has been killing “winos” around the city. A police offer is dubious. Several men who hung around the Salvation Army and the nearby soup kitchen had described one of the murdered men as being seen with a young, blond, white kid, which was not a helpful description. Hap, however, shows the police a picture of the killer under a headline announcing Todd Bowden as one of the Southern California All-Stars. The police offer recognizes the name; there is a Todd Bowden associated with the Dussander case. He goes straight to Richler and Weiskopf.

Todd is home alone, cleaning his rifle in the front yard when Ed French turns his yellow Saab into the Bowdens’ driveway. He shows Todd the picture of Dussander in the newspaper and almost begs Todd to give him a reasonable explanation.

In retrospect, Todd knows that he made mistakes in his interview with Richler. He guesses that the police are already onto him. They just need some concrete evidence of conspiracy between him and Dussander–evidence which Ed French could give them. It won’t take them long to start showing his picture around the places where Todd found his victims. Todd picks up his rifle and shoots French. He then fills a backpack with ammo for his rifle and goes to the place above the freeway where he used to practice dry firing at passing cars.

The final paragraph of the story reads: “It was five hours later and almost dark before they took him down” (518).