Free Ruthless by Ron Miscavige

the next morning repainting the whole kitchen. The first attempt had barely dried and we were at it again. The kids stayed up and helped, and this time it looked great.
    The next day I got more of the powder blue trim paint, and we painted our wooden kitchen table and chairs. I had the chairs drying in the living room and my mother sat on one that was still wet. At that point I said, “Mom, this isn’t working. I’m taking you back home.”
    Meanwhile, Loretta had not called once from England. I finally called her and asked, “How come you’re not calling? How’s it going? How was your auditing?”
    â€œOh, it was fine. It’s good,” she said noncommittally.
    I don’t think Scientology ever had the same impact on her life as it had on mine. At one point she even suggested that we move back to Mount Carmel, which would have more or less meant leaving Scientology since there was no center in the town. The most important thing in my life in those days was Scientology. Still, Loretta remained active in Scientology for the rest of her life and ascended to the most advanced levels. In the early years, though, I think her main reason for participating, as I said earlier, was her hope that it would make me a better person.
    Nevertheless, after school let out for the summer of 1972, the whole family went to East Grinstead. We were there for the next 15 months, until September 1973.
    We had sold the house, and off we went with all our savings. To some extent it was a roll of the dice, but I looked at it as an adventure. I was searching for a way for me and my family to make more rapid progress through Scientology. It had improved my life radically, and I felt that it would be a good way for my kids to improve their chances for success too. When we left the United States, Ronnie was 15, Dave and Denise were 12, and Lori was 10. When I brought up the idea, they were all for it. Loretta was less enthusiastic, especially because the kids would miss a year of school while in England, but she agreed that it would be good for the family overall.
    East Grinstead is a pretty little town with many historic buildings, about an hour’s train ride south of London. We rented a house there. The owner’s wife did such a thorough job of cleaning the place for us that she even emptied the salt and pepper shakers. When we arrived, we were starving, but there was not so much as a stale crust of bread to be found. It happened to be a bank holiday, so almost everything was closed, but fortunately we found an open sandwich shop. That was our welcome to East Grinstead.
    I bought a car, an Austin Westminster, that was large enough to put all four kids in the back, so we could drive the mile or so from our house to St. Hill. I always bought cars from the same guy. I made several trips to England during the 1970s and always picked up a used car from him for 100 pounds or so, real cheap. One car had a hole in the floorboard, and you could watch the road going by as you drove.
    The first Scientology service we all took was a study course. Then I did more advanced auditing services, while Loretta and the kids all began training to become Scientology practitioners, or auditors. In those days the place was packed. There must have been hundreds of people studying. Today I would be surprised if there were a fraction of that; press reports indicate that the 2011 British census found only 2,418 self-identifying Scientologists across England and Wales.
    Life in England was good for the whole family. On Friday nights, we usually went to a fish and chips shop for dinner. David, Denise and Ronnie became trained to audit people. Lori decided she wasn’t interested, and we did not push her. She was the only child who was in school during that time. The others were doing Scientology training at St. Hill full time—that was their schooling. My view was that they would learn more of value by studying Scientology. This was