Eventually, a 15-foot concrete wall topped with barbed wire was built around the entire town, complete with watchtowers from which the guards could see that no one got out. We were never really sure how they prevented people on the outside from seeing it and calling the police, but there were all kinds of theories: they had built a giant artificial swamp around the town to keep people away, the walls were coated with a polymer that bent light around them to render them invisible, the guards pretended they were rehearsing a play, etc.

I never came within 50 feet of the wall, because people who did would attract attention, and I sure didn't want to do that. From what I heard, people who made the guards suspicious ended up in an interrogation chamber, and the various accounts I've heard didn't sound any fun. Whether it was true or not, I had no desire to find out. So my family and I just stayed away from the wall, and went about our business.

I don't mean to make it sound all dramatic like East Germany or anything. It was really just a security measure put in place to protect us from something. We got used to it, and before too long no one ever thought about the outside world.

My aunt and uncle who we were going to see on that day in 1980, I never saw them again. I've actually never even thought about them again until now. Come to think of it, I've never even tried to make a phone call to someone on the outside. I have no idea if it works these days.

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