Wally Lamb Writes About the Columbine School Massacrebr Book Passage - Book Passagebr Wally Lamb talks about his novel The Hour I First Believed.When 47-year-old high school teacher Caelum Quirk and his younger wife, Maureen, a school nurse, move to Littleton, Colorado, they both get jobs at Columbine High School. In April 1999, Caelum returns home to Three Rivers, Connecticut, to be with his aunt who has just had a stroke.