Cobi's dad was away, covering a Cubs's road trip. So Cobi and his sister had the home to themselves. Cobi grabbed a can of coke and sat down at his Commodore 64
He plugged in the modem and dialed. The phone line clicked and buzzed and connected. The familiar screen for MUD II appeared. Cobi logged on but this time he didn't start playing. Instead he went to his guild's chat room.
"Any of you guys ever heard of Restoration Therapy?" he typed.
"Oh shit," came the response, "stay away from those guys."
"Why, what do they do?" Cobi typed.
"They're bible thumpers that think any rebellious activity is the work of the devil."
Cobi was confused. "What do you mean?" he asked.
"Like if your parents hate you, because you play too many video games or listen to heavy metal music or whatever, they hire those guys to kidnap you and condition you to never play video games or listen to music ever again."
"Condition you...how?" Cobi typed.
"You ever seen A Clockwork Orange?"
Cobi chuckled. "Oh come on," he typed, "that can't be real."
"One hundred percent real," came the response.
"But that kind of thing has to be illegal," Cobi hoped, growing more and more concerned for Tony's safety.
"If you're a minor, and they have your parents' consent, they can get away with it."
Cobi was deeply worried. He reassured himself that it had to be a coincidence. The van couldn't have been there for Tony. "They ever condition someone for playing Dungeons & Dragons?" Cobi asked.
"Of course, man, that's the top of their list. All the bible thumpers think it's a Satan game."
Cobi bit his lip. He was having trouble believing this. Tony's parents wouldn't have hired some quack religious therapists just to make him stop playing Dungeons & Dragons, would they?