A Mountain Range of Rubble

Prologue: Dominoes and Darkness

* * * A Short Prologue * * *

There were two monsters sitting in the kitchen.

"Can we light a candle, Rudy?"

It was something their father had often done with them. He would turn out the light and they'd watch the dominoes fall in the candlelight. It somehow made the event grander, a greater spectacle.

His legs were aching anyway. "Let me find a match."

From the other side of the door, his mother and father were there, with two huge men.

"The best scores in the class," said one of the monsters. Such depth and dryness. "Not to mention his athletic ability." Damn it, why did he have to win all those races at the carnival?

Rudy Steiner lit the candle and switched off the light.

"Ready?"

"But I've heard what happens there." That was the unmistakable, oaky voice of his father.

"Come on, Rudy, hurry up."

"Yes, but understand, Herr Steiner, this is all for the greater purpose. Think of the opportunities your son can have. This is really a privilege."

"Rudy, the candle's dripping."

He waved them away, waiting again for Alex Steiner. He came.

"Privileges? Like running barefoot through the snow? Like jumping from ten-meter platforms into three feet water?"

Rudy's ear was pressed to the door now. Candle wax melted onto his hand.

"Rumors." The arid voice, low and matter-of-fact, had an answer for everything. "Our school is one of the finest ever established. It's better than world-class. We're creating an elite group of German citizens in the name of the Führer."

Still listening through the door, he tried his best to place down the candle. Unfortunately, as he bent down, the flame went out the second before it touched the ground. He heard his younger sister, Emma, call out, "Rudy!" "Entshuldigung," he said, barely audible. "Sorry."

He turned his attention back to the conversation in the kitchen.

"If you refuse, I'm sure you'd be willing to serve, Herr Steiner." The monster's steady tone had changed to a sort of mocking one.

At that moment, Rudy froze. They were going to send his father to the war. In Russia. And it would be his fault. Without thinking, a boy with hair the color of lemons opened the door. 

"I'll go," he said. "Please take me, I'm ready now."