(Untitled)

[legendarymadman]

The coming of elections on the island is what they have instead of the turning of the seasons, a way of marking time and watching the island change half-year by half-year. And so Geoffrey finds himself on the stage again, not to start up a new play (but soon, very soon) but to announce the semiannual candidate speeches

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[polly_okeefe]

Oh, this line of questioning could get tricky. But I had no choice except to answer honestly, even if I wasn't entirely sure of the answer myself. I thought for a moment before I spoke.

"Well, here, the Island rules say that you have to be sixteen to vote, but where you and I come from, Coraline, it's eighteen. The difference, of course, is that back home, I was still in the care of my parents when I was sixteen."

And got into a fair amount of trouble on my own, but I didn't need to get into that.

"We have a lot of children who are here without their parents," I went on. "Many have grown up quick. But others are still young. I think, in your case, Coraline, that you are old enough to vote. But others aren't. There are others older than sixteen that maybe might not be ready to vote, yet. We set guidelines here to manage the best we can, and we deal with exceptional people on a case by case basis. I think that's fair. I know that, at sixteen, I still had a lot of learning to do. I still do, in many ways."

"As for places for children to be safe outside of school, while unsupervised, or with minimal supervision," I said, thoughtfully, "I'd be happy to hear your suggestions and take them up with the council. I'd be happy to do all that even as a private citizen."

[curiously_cora]

"Well, then everyone should take a test to see if they're ready to vote and not just make me do it because I'm young. If someone is old and silly why should they get a chance to con-trib-ute to the island and not me. And why should people who don't want to be here get to be on the council and voting? If they don't want to be a part of our home then they shouldn't be a part of it!" Coraline said her voice getting quite loud and irate by the end of the sentence. Coraline had mostly been keeping her temper in check recently but still there was times when she just- she couldn't cope with everyone else around her. "I want a place where we can go, were we can have fun and hang out and not have to worry about grown ups. That's all."

[polly_okeefe]

It hurt, to see Coraline so angry. The fact that I suspected that it wasn't about me didn't help. And whatever Coraline's motivations, I was still the one behind the podium, taking this.

"Maybe there should be a test for everybody before they get to vote," I said, with a brief smile. "But that system's been abused in the past. People have used 'literacy tests' in order to keep people from voting, and keeping them blocked from mainstream society.

"We have a system where everybody gets to vote once they turn sixteen," I went on. "It's a long time to wait, but everybody still does get to vote, and that's the ideal democratic goal, in my opinion. We've set that age, after a fair amount of discussion, as the best time when young people have grown enough to make their own decisions, and we've made exceptions for those who are younger, but ready to take care of themselves, through the test, because of the realities of the Island here. Is it a perfect system? No, of course not. But I think it's better than the alternatives."

"If you want a place to go, where children can be safe, and enjoy themselves, design it," I added. "Put together plans, and show them around. If it looks good to me, I'll help build it."