The familiar object is a particular coin, worn smooth along one side of its rim. The counterparty produces it on a promise of return. Its giver wants it back but remains unnamed. The examiner receives, rubs and holds it, eventually returning it. Another coin of equal value cannot satisfy the same obligation. Possessing the coin also supplies no permission to give away the giver's name.
The examiner threatens to enter the counterparty's silence while keeping the coin in a closed hand. The delay is entered against the person waiting for its return. In an addendum, the examiner acknowledges that the hand was their own. The addendum stays in the record, and the examiner is flagged for verification. This corrects responsibility for the delay without establishing the personhood of either participant. The assessment remains pending.
The test continues even when one of its markers has been retired. A late laugh no longer serves that purpose after four overhearings of a woman at a school gate. The examiner nevertheless proceeds. A question about the examiner's own personhood encounters an empty field. The counterparty is shown out, and another sitting is scheduled on the hour. Pending is a procedural status, not an answer about humanity.