The Wednesday Wars

Throughout the month of May, Holling’s class takes cover under their desks to practice the government drill regulations for responding to an atomic bomb. Holling also takes cover from the eighth graders, who aren’t happy about losing to a seventh grader. Family dinners are quiet after Mr. Hoodhood learns about Kowalski and Associates’ new multi-million-dollar project: renovating Yankee Stadium. Holling’s father buys a white Mustang convertible to remind the neighbors—and himself—of his business success. Tension in the family builds as Holling’s sister makes plans to attend Columbia University after graduation, while her father says she’ll stay at home and continue the job she already has. Holling’s sister leaves to find herself in California with her boyfriend Chit, leaving only a note, and the Hoodhood house grows quiet and empty.

At school, Holling reads Hamlet for his afternoons with Mrs. Baker, and spends his lunch recesses helping Danny prepare for his bar mitzvah speech. One Wednesday while the class is gone, an atomic bomb drill sounds, and Mrs. Baker decides it’s ridiculous to practice with just the two of them in the class. She takes Holling to “survey points of local architectural interest” (221) around town. Looking at historic buildings like the first abolitionist school and the church where British soldiers stayed during the Revolutionary War, Holling begins to see his town with new eyes. He talks to Mrs. Baker about what would actually happen if an atomic bomb were to hit the school: everything would be destroyed, and hiding under their desks wouldn’t save them. Mrs. Baker counsels Holling that he can only do two things: “Learn everything you can—everything,” and pray (225). Holling prays for Lieutenant Baker, still missing in action; for Danny Hupfer, and his bar mitzvah; and for his sister, driving towards California.

That night, Holling gets a phone call from his sister. She never made it to California. She’s alone, at a bus stop in Minneapolis, with only four dollars, and no way to pay the $44.55 fare back to New York City. Just before the time on the payphone runs out, Holling tells her to go to the nearest Western Union station in the morning.

Holling skips school in the morning, and cashes in the savings bond he won at the cross-country meet. He asks to send the money to the Western Union closest to the Minneapolis bus station, only there are two to choose from: one on Heather Avenue and one on LaSalle. Holling chooses the Heather Avenue Western Union, hoping that his sister will be at that station, waiting for the money.

On Friday, Holling hears from his sister. She’s in Chicago on her way home. The next morning, Holling tells his parents that she’s coming home, and needs to be picked up from the Port Authority station. However, his father refuses to pick her up, and his mother doesn’t dare go against his father’s wishes. Holling considers driving the Mustang into the city, but gets a last-minute solution when Meryl Lee invites him to come to Yankee Stadium with her and her father. They drop him off at the station, and he embraces his sister—Heather—as she gets off the bus. They share a perfect day together and a new sense of appreciation and closeness in their relationship.

Holling finishes Hamlet and learns that Hamlet, all along, was trying to find himself; what he really needed, though, was to “let himself be found” (234), kind of like his sister.

The last Wednesday afternoon of May, Mrs. Baker gets a telegram. After being missing in Vietnam for three months, Lieutenant Baker has been found and will be home soon, “in time for strawberries” (236).