Diana got up and put out her cigarette. “Your education begins today, my lad. Are you ready?”
“I’ve polished an apple for teacher.”
“That sounds nice. Now for works. Let’s pick out a few books. Here—yes, and this will do. And I mustn’t forget the Customs. I wonder where I put it. Oh, here it is. And you might be interested in this—it’s mostly engineering. Now let’s see if the records have arrived.” She stepped over and opened the receptacle. “Yes. Let’s see what Santa Claus brought: ‘Historical Panorama of the United States, sections 11-20, XXth Century, sections 21-28, XXIst Century’, plus supplements to date and a continuous narrative summary. Integrated world history in four sections. You won’t need the first two sections but you might run them anyway. ‘Illustrative Customs for Children, infancy to puberty’, in six sections. Same for adolescents, and the integrating series for full citizenship. ‘Taboo: a History of Social Conventions’. That will keep you busy for quite a while and you can pick out anything you are interested in from the general catalog. There is a list of special catalogs in the front of the big catalog. If you want to go after any particular subject, you can get its catalog. By the way did I show you how to stop the reproducer and make it repeat a portion?”
“No, I don’t think you did.”
“I’ll show you. It’s useful in study, especially for a slow poke like me. You’ll find that this particular historical series makes several references to this book of United States history. You can stop the machine if you like and read the reference and then pick up where you left off. I’m glad they sent this series. They were directed by the same master who wrote the book.”
“Where had I better start?”
“I would forget the books for a while and charge right through the historical recordings. Then I would view all the customs records. Then tomorrow you can start to run them piecemeal with the books, if you like. But be sure to read the Code of Customs all the way through. Lots of the customs aren’t illustrated in these records.”
“OK, where’s that first record? See if I put it on properly. All right—let ‘er roll.” The cool calm voice of the announcer stated the title of the record and the period covered, then ‘Washington, 1900’. Perry, staring into the stereoscopic picture, found himself floating over Pennsylvania Avenue facing west. It was winter and cold and grey. He moved along over a fairly dense traffic of carriages and hansoms, clop-clopping over muddy pavement and splashing through slush in car tracks. A street car clanged its bell and started. He floated over the tops of the vehicles and found himself approaching the White House. He entered the front door, proceeded to the West Wing and found President McKinley at his desk. Seated at ease near the President, but with his great frame exuding energy even in repose was the one and only Teddy, Teddy Roosevelt, the people’s darling. “I tell you, Mr. President, the only way to handle it is to speak softly but to carry a big stick.” The scene faded and others appeared with the voice of the commentator frequently in the background. Sometimes the voice carried the story and was merely illustrated by the living shadows. Again the picture presented the story and dialogue provided sufficient explanation, but constantly the scene shifted. At Kitty Hawk the Wright brothers lifted their ‘crazy contraption’ off the ground. The Panama Canal was dug and yellow fever conquered. ‘Too proud to fight.’ The Lusitania. War in the air. High Cost of Living. Automobiles poured over the continent. Chain stores melted into Tea Pot Dome and a market crash. ‘My friends—’ came out of a radio by a fireside and Boulder Dam climbed high. Then Perry leaned forward in tense anticipation as 1939 passed by. He kept very quiet for the better part of two hours except at first for a few ejaculations of surprise. After that, surprise left him. He stopped once to ask Diana for some cigarettes and again to get a drink of water. This time he discovered that Diana had gone out. A long time later he felt a touch on his shoulder.