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A nation that put children in harm’s way while its leaders cowered in bunkers had already lost; it just wouldn’t admit it.
The illustration was just comical enough to keep from frightening children, but there was no mistaking the message, the implied threat. The wolf is no animal, but a type of man. And this man is dangerous.
Wild things were beautiful; maybe their wildness was their beauty, the knowledge that you could never possess them. Also, the wolf’s size, its hugeness, created an irrepressible excitement. There was something otherworldly about it. It could be a magical creature sent expressly to find him. To see him.
A simple thing can turn you into a monster.
He broke down in tears. He was no longer the fundamentally good man he had always believed himself to be. The man who had taken care of his mother his entire life, who loved his wife and put his little girl first. He feared he would never be that man again.
He thought he heard himself scream. The screams of the others rang in his ears. He knew it was important to remember as much of this as possible. It was not the time to be weak and will it away. He could no longer pretend it wasn’t happening. This had been his choice, after all. He had to be a witness to it.
His beast’s body was nature’s perfect creation. Even if it was the Devil who had created it.
The wolf was strong, and the man was weak and ashamed of his weakness.
After all, who was to say conventional wisdom was correct? The Devil made Uwe feel strong and powerful and accepted by his fellow man, and there was a goodness there. When had God ever made Uwe feel good?
It had been a mistake to listen to him, to turn a blind eye to his lies and posturing. To pretend the bad parts didn’t exist. Hans was a coward who killed women and children but who had fled from the battlefield. A man who desperately wanted to be a hero but lacked the selfless love of his fellow man that true heroism required.
“I can understand why you would feel this way, but I can never let myself be used like that again.” He gave both men a wan smile as he lifted the sergeant’s pistol, still in his hand, to the side of his head.
