Excerpt: One

...the argument which had devolved into a shouting match, however, came to an abrupt end when all three of them heard a voice from the back of the room passionately shout, nearly at a scream,

"I am not a number!!"

For the first time in anyone's memory, that red room, that loud, noise-filled, unusual room was so quiet that the drop of pin would have cracked louder than deafening thunder.