“And here comes the post!” Dad shouted merrily, his gold crown bobbing with his head.

Post was my favorite time of the week. All the other days were filled with work from Tutor and Dad was always busy with his kingly duties. When he did eventually finish his work for the day, I’d have fallen asleep. The only meaningful time we could spend together was in the mornings or while reading the post. That is, of course, forgetting the best part.

“Look at you son! You’ve got party invitations from the Creeves, the Spences, and even the Walkers!”

“But the Walkers are boring, I mean sure, the mansion is nice, the toys are great, but the people are so boring it’s unbelievable. Besides, the reason I’m invited is because I’m your son.”

“Let’s change the subject shall we? Read the paper perhaps?”

“Whatever you say Dad,” I sighed.

Then, the strangest thing happened, Dad stood bolt upright. He stood up so fast, the crown that was on head fell to the ground and hit the silver cup on the table. I almost fell out of my shoes, when sparks flew from the crown.

“OK, first, what’s in the paper? Two, what happened there?” I said, gesturing tentatively towards the crown rolling back-and-forth on the polished wooden floor. 

“The crown is made of pyrite,” he replied, “it sparks when it hits metal.”

“I thought it was gold”

“That's the point,” he replied, “There’s a whole story, I’ll tell you later.”

“But the paper?” I asked, even more confused than before.

“The most scathing critique of me that was ever written. Apparently, I haven't been working hard enough. And some snitch told the journalist that I’ve been sleeping in court. Oh, how I’d love to remove free speech.”

“You’re sleeping in court?” I said incredulously.

“Only, a few times,” he lied.

“It says ‘almost everyday’,” I said glowering at him, “‘The last time he meaningfully contributed to courtly discussion was months ago.’”

“Uh…”

“You know what? I should take this crown for repair,” I said, failing to hide my anger.

“You’re going to work?”

“Someday, I’m going to be a king dad. A king needs to work as much as he says he does,” I said not breaking eye contact with him 

“Actually, I should probably just replace it with a gold one.”

“NO, don’t do that, gold crowns are really heavy, they aren’t as shiny, and they require much more maintenance.”

“Well maybe you should learn to maintain a crown,” I spat.

“Maybe then you’ll learn to properly manage a kingdom.”

“But the invites…‘

“Invites to huge mansions can wait, if I go later maybe I’ll actually deserve the invites just a little more,” I said, slamming the palace doors behind me.