7/29/2019 The Prince of Freedom Ranchland

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The Young Prince of Freedom Ranchland

Toby sat across from his uncle Jeremy and looked at the paper on the table in front of him. Evenout in Freedom he could not escape worksheets, but this one was unlike any he had ever seen before.

Name:Toby Wallace KeithAge: 13Occupation:

He looked up at his uncle, who was sitting patiently with his hands folded on the table in front ofhim. Just put 'student,' the man suggested.

He copied his passport number, his old student ID, he added his school picture from the yearbefore, the one where he looked relatively happy despite having to wear an itchy sweater. He barelyknew that Toby Wallace Keith anymore, but it was going down in the history books as the one whocame to Freedom.

It was the Toby that had not yet kissed a girl, the Toby who had never tried a beer, the Toby whohad the luxury of being yelled at by his mother. Now he had left Laura behind after having kissed her, hecouldn't sneak out to the fort in the woods where he and Al had drank, and his mother couldn't yell

anymore. She couldn't speak, she couldn't move. She lay motionless in a bed in a hospital in New York,and now Toby was thousands of miles away in a place he had only ever heard of as a sarcastic joke.

He finished the intake form, a single page of paper. He had never immigrated anywhere before,but he guessed that his mom would have laughed at the process, so he decided it was foolish too. Theywere in a small office with an aerial picture of the ranch on the wall and a massive photocopyingmachine and printer and not much else. The florescent lights buzzed above them, the air conditionerhummed and rattled in the window, and Uncle Jeremy looked over the form in a serious way whilenodding his head.

Finally he put the paper back onto the desk and pulled out a stamp. Do you understand that youare entering the sovereign territory of Freedom Ranchland, and are no longer under the juristiction ofthe United States of America?

Toby had no idea what that meant. Glancing outside he could see the expanse of rolling hills thatseemed endless here. It was nothing like New York, there were almost no trees, the air was different, thepeople had different accents, even the roads were different, but until now it had still been America. Helooked back to his uncle, the enigma that his mother had often joked about, but he was serious and Tobyjust wanted to get out of the office. Yes.

Sign here. his uncle turned the paper back and pointed at the bottom of the page, to a lineunder a small declaration that said Toby knew he was leaving the USA.

Toby signed and then his uncle slammed the stamp down on the page, leaving a bright redimprint that read Application Accepted. Toby didn't know where to find a stamp like that, but it didseem quite official. Uncle Jeremy then took the paper in inserted the signed part into a sort of staplerwith a wide, round mouth and pressed down hard. When it came out the paper had been deformed sothat a seal was punched into it with raised letters that read Secretary General of Freedom Ranchlandwith a small coat of arms. Toby was impressed, not even the bank had that kind of stamp.

Welcome, son. Uncle Jeremy reached over the table and shook Toby's hand, and that was thefirst step toward him becoming the Prince of Freedom Ranchland.