The Town Council in Zolf’s village had a Jewish representative, who took it upon himself to warn Zolf’s father when a tax collector was about to make an unscheduled visit. In those days, a father was subject to a three-hundred rouble fine if his son failed to report for military service. Zolf had two older brothers who had already fled to America, so his family lived in deathly fear of the tax collector. Fortunately, in those days, one could not tax what one could not find. In Chapter Seven, Zolf describes how they would get an "inside tip" that trouble was on its way....