waiting // r. bortuzzo

Chapter 10

As I was handing out the syllabus for my first class of the semester, I heard snickering. "Is there something funny?"

The student looked up at me, unsure of what to say. "I uh. I just don't think the Holocaust happened."

"Excuse me?" I looked at him, completely dumbfounded.

"I just don't think-"

"Why the hell are you in my class then?" I was seriously confused as to why he would take a class about genocide if he didn't believe the Holocaust was real.

"I heard you were a good teacher and that it would be an easy class."

"Trevor, is this class easy?" I asked the kid who seemed to always be in my classes. He was my favorite, but very rarely did he get all A's.

"It's easy because you make it fun. You make it seem interesting. Not because it's actually easy. You want to know more about what happened. And that assignment in the World War II class where we researched a person, whether it was a Nazi or an ally soldier was amazing."

"We'll be doing something like that in this class. But I will give you a name and you will find out whether they survived or not in whatever camp they've been in." I stared at the non-believer for a while.

"The concentration camps were never there."

"Just because there's only train tracks at Treblinka doesn't mean there weren't ten other extermination camps and countless labour camps."

"But-"

"Get out. I will not have you in this class. You may as well drop it." I kept passing out my papers and went back to the desk area. "If anyone else doesn't believe in the holocaust, that sucks. You're in here or you're out. If you're in, I sure hope you believe this horrible event occurred because this class is literally called the Holocaust."

"Olivia catch." I looked at my TA in the corner and he tossed me a small tin can. "Figured you need it more than I do." I opened up the can of silly putty and started playing with it.

"Thanks Jay. Okay, so I'm Olivia. I don't go by professor or my last name because of my brother. And I don't like feeling like a really old guy boring you. That's not me. You want a boring class, go find my brother and fail his math class. Just like I did." The class laughed at me. "I take pride in my teaching style. This is a 200 level course so it's not that hard.

"I have a daughter. She has cancer. Extra credit if you spend time reading to her friends at the children's hospital. Not joking. My boyfriend is on the Blues, please don't ask me to get you tickets. Robert is on leave to help me. I'm only teaching this class and another in person, two online. You will have 2 big papers due. One is due at midterm, one at finals. And then we will have papers at least one page about the text or something I have you watch. First one is due next class time. It will be on the netflix movie Steal a Pencil for me and will just be about your thoughts on the movie. It's really good. You'll be watching a lot of movies with me, especially since we have 3 hours together."

I was interrupted by the door opening and a little girl with no hair, followed by a boyfriend with no hair. They both had such beautiful hair.

"Mommy look what we did."

I started to cry. I can't believe this was really happening right now. Then I started to laugh, "You are so beautiful Addie. Robert, you have a funny shaped head."

"Her hair was starting to fall out and I didn't want her to go through the stress. So we shaved our heads together. So did Joel."

"Everyone, this is Addison and Robert. Get your pictures with my newly bald boyfriend if you want them. Class is over. I'll post everything on blackboard. Watch the movie. Romantics will love it."

We went to frozen yogurt, letting Addie pick whatever she wanted knowing that in a couple days chemo would take her spirit away again. Or at least it would try.

Robert sat down across from me, with a bowl of sorbet filled with fresh fruit. I looked at him, wondering where his usual chocolate was. "No chocolate today?"

"I uh knew you would want to share with Addie so that nothing was wasted so I got what you really wanted." If I didn't have skeletal muscle, I would be a puddle on the floor. He really was the sweetest.

"I love you. Thank you for being our rock."