#558 Camp Sundown- Nathan Englander
This story starts out innocent enough. We are at a Jewish summer
retreat. Young people come for summer camp and old people come to play bridge
and relax in a nice serine environment. Josh is the new director, having been
there as an assistant the previous six years. Josh sees a synchronicity between
the young and the old:
“Every summer the old people grow smaller as the children
grow big. Josh as decided that there is only so mush height in the world and
the inches must change hands."
The summer is winding down and Josh starts losing the rein
of control. The veteran old people have worn down his patience and he has
become uncharacteristically angry and demonstrative.
“They are old. They talk a lot. They push buttons. They have
lost the sense, or the will, to self-edit. They enjoy the privileges of old
age.”
The dialogue is funny and the story seems benign. Then it
turns dark and deadly serious. One of the older woman, a Holocaust survivor,
swears she recognizes another old man as one of the Nazi guards at the camp
where she was imprisoned. Josh is befuddled and deals with the situation
poorly. The camp members take things into their own hands. The outcome of which
will be something that will stick with Josh for a lifetime. Like elephants,
turtles, and survivors, he will not forget easily.
This story deals with some pretty heavy topics, and as
always Englander handles them deftly. I will leave it to the readers to draw
their own thoughts on them.
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