Free Truancy Origins by Isamu Fukui Page B

“It’s not his birthday today, is it? Thought that was last month.”
    â€œCome now, mister, you’re prying into family secrets.” Zen frowned. “Father won’t like that at all.”
    â€œOh! No, it was my mistake to ask, sorry, I didn’t mean to . . .” The guard trailed off, sounding flustered. “Tell you what, son, why don’t you just go on up and see your dad? You can surprise him all you like; I won’t let him know you’re coming. His office is on the fifth floor, I’m sure you know the way.”
    Zen’s face split into a decidedly uncharacteristic smile. “Thank you very much!”
    Without waiting for a response, Zen darted through the lobby, through the busy crowds of people, past the stainless-steel doors of the elevator, and into the linoleum-tiled stairway. As soon as he was alone in the stairwell, his smile vanished, his carefree strides were replaced by a stiff gait, and his bright expression smoothed into a flat, emotionless face. Sometimes, Zen thought to himself, the stigma that came along with being a child could actually prove useful. Zen ran up the stairs two at a time until he reached the fifth floor.
    Then, taking a deep breath, Zen pushed open the stair doors and made his way towards the Mayor’s Office.
    Â 
    Y ou may all have noticed that I’ve not called a cabinet meeting for quite a while until now,” the Mayor said, folding his hands together upon the oval conference table at which they were all seated. “This is because, on the academic side at least, everything has been proceeding exemplarily. Indeed, though we’re only barely into the school year, it is shaping up to be one of our best thus far.”
    â€œSo then what has occasioned this, sir?” one cabinet member asked.
    â€œIf you’ll refrain from speaking out of turn, I will tell you,” the Mayor said. “If you’ll remember, six months ago we promoted an Enforcer named Rothenberg to the position of Chief Truancy Officer. Since then he has used most of his increased budget for a citywide crackdown . . . but on vagrancy much more than truancy.”
    All heads around the table nodded; every Educator was familiar with Rothenberg and his exploits.
    â€œActually, vagrancy levels
have
in fact been dropping.” The Mayor smiled wryly. “This is due in large part to the fact that Rothenberg’s men have been killing them all. It appears that it has gotten to the point where even Enforcers have been filing official complaints about it. Some of them have guilty consciences, others worry about the legality of such wholesale slaughter.”
    â€œWell, one of those is easily addressed, sir,” a cabinet member said quickly. “It is entirely legally sound. If you’ll recall City Code 916 . . .”
    â€œ
‘If deemed necessary, Enforcers may shoot miscreants in abandoned districts so as not to expose the inhabitants in the surrounding vicinities to danger.’
Yes, I’m quite familiar with my own laws,” the Mayor said. “The issue here is not the killings—it’s one man unilaterally taking action that might upset the entire system.”
    â€œI for one think that he has the wrong focus,” one cabinet member said. “The vagrants are no threat to our society—they’re already outcasts of our system; the dredges, the failures. What we should be worried about is curbing
truancy.
Shouldn’t the Chief Truancy Officer be mainly focused on catching
truants
?”
    â€œNot at all,” another member interjected. “Job titles aside, you’re losing sight of our larger purpose. The reason we exist and the only objective we’re to pursue is
control.
To me, the vagrants represent the ultimate defiance of our cause—the only individuals in this City that we
cannot
directly control. Their extermination would go a long way towards making ours the