One dark, towards the end of the ninth and final level of school, I opened the door to my home and heard my parents’ voices coming from the sitting room. It was too early for Mother and Father to be home. How could they leave work without getting into trouble? Maybe they can teach me how to do that, I thought. That would definitely come in handy.

“Nathaniel, is that you?” Mother called.

It might seem strange that she didn’t know it was me, but in K of K, we weren’t allowed to secure our homes, so anybody could walk into anybody else’s dwelling. Once, a man tied a vine from the inside door latch of his family’s dwelling to a hole in the frame next to the latch. Soldiers came and told the four family members they had no faith in the King...

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