"I am."
Tim interrupted. "We're not answering _anything_," he warned.
"Oh, I don't mind admitting my identity," said James. "I've committed no
crime, I've broken no law. No one can point to a single act of mine that
shows a shred of evidence to the effect that my intentions are not
honorable. Sooner or later this whole affair had to come to a showdown,
and I'm prepared to face it squarely."
"Thank you," said Manison. "Now, without inviting comment, let me explain
one important fact. The state reserves the right to record marriages,
births, and deaths as a simple matter of vital statistics. We feel that
we have every right to the compiling of the census, and we can justify
our feeling. I am here because of some apparent irregularities, records
of which we do not have. If these apparent irregularities can be
explained to our satisfaction for the record, this meeting will be ended.
Now, let's relax until your attorney arrives."
"May I get you some coffee or a highball?" asked Janet Fisher.
"Coffee, please," agreed Frank Manison. Chief Colling nodded quietly.
They relaxed over coffee and small talk for a half hour. The arrival of
Waterman, Tim Fisher's attorney, signalled the opening of the discussion.
"First," said Manison, his pencil poised over a notebook, "Who lives here
in permanent residence, and for how long?" He wrote rapidly as they told
him. "The house is your property?" he asked Tim, and wrote again. "And
you are paying a rental on certain rooms of this house?" he asked James,
who nodded.
"Where did you attend school?" he asked James.
"I did not."
"Where did you get your education?"
"By a special course in home study."
"You understand that under the state laws that provide for the education
of minor children, the curriculum must be approved by the state?"
"I do."
"And has it?"
Waterman interrupted. "Just a moment, Mr. Manison. In what way must the
curriculum be approved? Does the State study all textbooks and the manner
in which each and every school presents them? Or does the State merely
insist that the school child be taught certain subjects?"
"The State merely insists that certain standards of education be
observed."
"In fact," added James, "the State does not even insist that the child
_learn_ the subjects, realizing that some children lack the intellect to
be taught certain subjects completely and fully. Let's rather say that
the State demands that school children be exposed to certain subjects in
the hope that they 'take.' Am I not correct?"
"I presume you are."
"Then I shall answer your question. In my home study, I have indeed
followed the approved curriculum by making use of the approved textbooks
in their proper order. I am aware of the fact that this is not the same
State, but if you will consult the record of my earlier years in
attendance at a school selected by my legal guardian, you'll find that I
passed from preschool grade to Fourth Grade in a matter of less than half
a year, at the age of five-approaching-six. If this matter is subject to
question, I'll submit to any course of extensive examination your
educators care to prepare. The law regarding compulsory education in this
state says that the minor child must attend school until either the age
of eighteen, or until he has completed the standard eight years of
grammar school and four years of high school. I shall then stipulate that
the suggested examination be limited to the schooling of a high school
graduate."
"For the moment we'll pass this over. We may ask that you do prove your
contention," said Manison.
"You don't doubt that I can, do you?" asked James.