To join the Circle means you have to invent excuses for abrupt absences, disappear into the night without an explanation. You have to accustom yourself to half-truths and deceptions, to lying again and again, even to those you love. You become wary, distrustful. You watch your acquaintances for signs that they are Gestapo informants. Stories about children reporting their parents begin to circulate. The Circle’s members turn into anxious people, paranoid people.
