The candidate had been warned but she felt that at this stage, she could not afford to show the slightest reluctance to face one of the well known hard line inquisitors that seemed to have grown like discordant melodies in the radio waves and like lurking shadows in the TV screens. They seem to specialize in digging into past events in the life of whoever happened to be interviewed, and brutally grilled about any minor event that could be construed in many ways. If the person interviewed had at one time exhibited a preference for Chinese Silk scarves, it was easy for the inquisitor to link such preference to a decided political inclination that spelled an extreme liberal touch and perhaps a bit of admiration for China's successful Capito-comunistic system.

"Listen" she told her advisers, just let me remind you of a wise saying popular during the Spanish "Inquisition. It goes: Por la boca muere el pez! Which means 'the fish dies through his mouth'" She was ready.

For a moment there, the inquisitive host looked as if he would scream. He had raised a copy of the Constitution in his right hand and with his left index finger pointed at it with vehemence. But he did not say a word. Instead, he looked at the handsome, tastefully dressed woman sitting at the defendant's table, with a mixture of hatred and, somehow, a tiny glimmer of envy. Her dress was a stunning, yet sober creation that was elegant and solemn. He almost forgot that she was a national figure, as she was one of the better regarded candidates to the presidency of the United States.

At last, he came out of his momentary lapse and putting the Constitution down, said:

"Now, we have irrefutable evidence that during your last year in a Little Rock High School, you showed no respect for law and order; you placed no less than 12 pieces of chewed gum under your desk in the public school that you attended. This offense has not been discovered until recently thanks to the untiring work of our trained investigators. You realize that defacing government property is a federal offense. Further, I feel that your silence all these years has probably been its own punishment, by keeping this onerous offense locked in your heart. If you have one. . ."

The defendant looked at the Inquisitor squarely in the eye and replied in a well modulated voice with a slight trace of an Arkansas accent:

"Sorry, but there were 12 piieces of regular Wrigley's Chewing Gum, 5 Adams, 2 Bubble gums and one piece of anchovy that had stuck to my braces. Your Inquisitors do not seem very proficient. They also missed the traffic ticket I never paid when I was vacationing in Millinocket in Maine in 1968. That was August 19 at about 6 P.M., dear Sir. Or should I call you your Blessed and Exalted Excellency?"

"Sarcasm will get you nowhere. Now, what about the files?"

"What files?"

"The ones that turned up at your family quarters in the White House?"

"Sir, when we moved from Arkansas to Washington, we packed 165 boxes with books, records, pictures, Oxford awards, Rhodes certificates, photo albums, old letters, manuscripts of my husband's letters to girlfriends of his, and a complete music sheet library of popular tunes for saxophone and claves. From my office, we shipped 92 boxes with files, old bills, last wills, college thesis, legal briefs, yellow pads, pencils and green leather pillows. We put all the boxes in Vice President Quayle's office, which became the laundry room, and began taking some files and other materials upstairs as the need arose."

"Like what?"

"Well, the saxophone sheet music for one. My husband helps my mood by blowing a couple of old romantic tunes once in a while, you know. . "

"How about the files from your legal days?"

"Same thing. My secretary used to bring up a box occasionally when looking for old correspondence and records. Most people keep old boxes in the attic and once in a while get a box down when they look for something. The only difference is that while living at the White House, we used an ex-Vice President's ground floor office instead of an attic and brought boxes to rooms that were once occupied by Washington, Wilson, Roosevelt, Truman and Carter."

The host's eyes lit up. He leaned forward and in his usual aggressive tone asked the candidate:

"Ah! You admit moving the boxes! Just what I thought! It is clear then that at that time and in accordance with legal considerations having to do with concealment of evidence, you have been guilty of infringement. . ."

The candidate raised her hand politely, but firmly, and said:

"Your Exalted Honor, or whatever, first of all this is not a trial. It is more like a voluntary interview and if you wish to insert a legal aspect to this charade, my appearance here answers to Article 23, Paragraph 51 of section 122 of Chapter 9 of the Derivative Amplified Legal Introspection code of 1932. You are certainly familiar also with the protection afforded me by several legal precedents such as the Simonson versus State of Idaho in 1912, the famous Pickering and Barton case against the Caspian Society of Irvine, California and the well publicized decision involving Garcia Pacheco Morales and the San Bernardino City Council. Any questions?"

The host heard everything but his mind was elsewhere. He kept looking at the defendant with a great deal of interest. She wore the dress with unique poise and elegance. It made him wonder how it would look on him. His mood changed and he smiled to himself. But this time it was a soft look, full of admiration and maybe even envy. There was the usual dramatic silent interlude before he asked:

"Where did you buy that dress?"