The Summer Program was over and Derek van Buuren had just picked up his son, Tyler. There they were, on their way home and even though they hadn’t seen each other for almost a month, their father-son conversation had already dried up. The boy had his AirPods in and was watching or playing who knows what on his phone. 

But Derek van Buuren was quiet for a different reason. Evidently, Tyler and his friends hadn’t heard the news yet. Either their teachers were too afraid to tell them because of the verbal abuse that would have been rained down upon them or they reckoned it was something they needed to hear from their parents. Either way, the news would have to be broken as Derek promised his wife Sarah that it would be taken care of long before the brooding teen got home.

Half an hour into the trip, Derek spoke up. “Tyle, have you heard of the thirteenth amendment?”

Tyler was too absorbed in his own world to hear a thing.

“Tyler! Tyler!”

Tyler sensing that his dad had said something, removed one AirPod from his ear and said, “Did you say something, da?”

“Yes. I asked if you knew what the thirteenth amendment was?”

“No, sounds like a retro band or something?” he said as he started putting the AirPod back in his ear.

Derek chuckled and said, “No, if only.” With the AirPod still hovering at the entrance of his ear, his dad continued, “It’s like a law in our country that states that no-one can be forced to do anything against their will. For example, they cannot force you to go to war or to volunteer to join the police force.”

The poor pod never had a chance and ended up in Tyler’s lap. “Aah,” he said rolling his eyes. “Good to know. I really wasn’t planning to do either of those things anyhow. Who cares about politics. Our presidents are all a bunch of old geezers anyway. Why don’t they get younger people to run the country?”

Derek sighed and took a moment’s break and then continued, “But here’s the thing, my boy. The thirteenth amendment has been modified, altered, changed which means now they can force one to do something even if you don’t want to.”

Tyler looked at his dad with his eyes open wide. He took out the other AirPod and asked, “Are they forcing you to join the police, Dad? If that is what they’re doing, it’s bull! You have your rights! You just say no. They tell us that all the time!” Tyler started putting his AirPods back in his ears again.

“No, not the police and not me,” Derek said carefully.

“What are you saying?” Tyler asked, starting to place the pods back in their box and trying to fight off the nasty premonition he was feeling.

Derek again breathed deeply and then started to speak. “Next year, on the first day of September to be exact, all school-leavers, boys and girls will be enrolled in the national service.”

“But next year is my last year. So, that means me? And what’s the national service? Is it like a green peace thing where we have to hand out food and pick up garbage and stuff? Do we get to travel oversees?” he said, looking a little excited.

Derek decided it was time to stop the car and pull off to the side of the road. As he did so, alarm spread over Tyler’s face.

“Dad, you’re scaring me. What’s going on?” he said, his voice rising.

As they stood there, the engine still running, Derek looked at his son and said, “Russia has let us know that they will be declaring war on the US and will attack the country in exactly two year’s time. Because our combat troops are outnumbered, the government has decided that all school-leavers will have to undergo military training for one year starting on September first next year.”

“What?! You’re joking, right?”

“No, all girls and all boys. Your country needs you.”

Tyler started to frenetically look around the car searching for any devices, “You’re videoing me, right? This is all a joke, you and mom are playing with me, right? A welcome home joke!” he said laughing out loud. ‘Ok, mom! You got me!’ 

But when he looked at his dad, the pained expression on his father’s face told him that it was no joke.

“Why? I don’t want to go to the army! I’ve got other plans!” he whined. “Let the government fight its own battles. I have my rights! They can’t make us do it! I won’t go. I just won’t do it. What can they do to me?!” he shouted.

“Calm down, Tyler. It’s going to be ok. And that’s just the thing. Before they couldn’t force you but now they can,” Derek said, trying to keep the boy calm.

“But why now? And why us? We don’t believe in all that political stuff anyway. Why can’t you go? I don’t want to go!” Tyler shouted and turned to look out of the side window as his eyes started to well up.

“Listen carefully and maybe you’ll understand what’s going on,” Derek said confronted by the back of his son’s head. “If Russia attacks us and we’re not ready or strong enough to fight them, they will take our country. They will make all our students cut their hair, wear their uniforms and there will be no more freedom. They will take away your phones, your games, your money and your happiness. And they will completely remove the thirteenth amendment so that we will always have to do exactly what they say.”

Tyler remained silent but he heard everything his dad said. For a long while he kept looking out the window and without moving he eventually spoke up. All his dad heard was, “Bastards.”