Frolic of His Own

Frolic of His Own Read Free Page A

Book: Frolic of His Own Read Free
Author: William Gaddis
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right on being upset, Harry’s brought you a copy of Father’s Opinion that’s made all the trouble, that’s the . . .
    â€”That’s not why I’m upset! There’s something in one of the papers, can you just leave them there? Something about that big Civil War movie, somebody suing that man Kiester who made it, did you see that Harry? the one that made that Africa movie with those special effects that had people passing out in the aisles?
    â€”Those lawsuits are a dime a dozen, Oscar. Nuisance suits, people who hope to get paid off just to go away, look I’ve got to get downtown, the . . .
    â€”No but if he stole my idea, the same story all of it, it’s even the same battle it’s not a, just a nuisance it really happened, it was my own grandfather wasn’t it?
    â€”Oscar you can’t just, you can’t own the Civil War. You can’t copyright history, you can’t copyright an idea now here, here’s your father’s Opinion. It’s great bedside reading, you can see if they could get theirhands on this Szyrk character down there they wouldn’t bother with burning an effigy.
    â€”No but Harry?
    He was up, closing the attaché case with a snap, —frankly I think he’ll be overturned on appeal, a poisonous atmosphere like that down there the newspapers are already going after him just for being past ninety years old . . .
    â€”Harry!
    â€”Racist, leftist, they’ll dig up anything they can to kill his chances for the circuit court and a reversal won’t help.
    â€”Will you just sit down for a minute? Oscar’s asking you something.
    â€”Well what Christina, what. I just told him copyright law isn’t my field and . . .
    â€”Maybe that’s not what he’s trying to ask you.
    â€”Well what is he trying to ask me!
    â€”He’s expecting the insurance man about the accident and he told me he wanted your advice.
    â€”Look I just said I’m in corporate law, I’m not one of these ambulance chasers I don’t even know what happened, now let me . . .
    â€”I told you what happened. He’s been talking about getting the ignition on that car fixed for years, the way he’s talked about getting new teeth but he . . .
    â€”Oscar what the hell happened.
    â€”Well this car, it’s not new, I mean it wasn’t new when I bought it and about a month ago the ignition switch broke and the garage didn’t have one, they had to order a new one but it hasn’t come in yet so they showed me how to start it by touching a wire from the coil to the battery and usually I stand beside it but this time . . .
    â€”He was standing right in front of it Harry. When it started suddenly it slipped into Drive and I mean why were you standing in front of it Oscar, how could the . . .
    â€”Because there was a puddle beside it and I didn’t want my . . .
    â€”Look nobody’s asking him that, Christina. The insurance covers the owner of the car so he just sues the owner.
    â€”But he owns it Harry, it’s his car he owns it.
    â€”The owner’s insurance would probably go after the driver.
    â€”But there wasn’t any driver that’s the point! The car ran over him and nobody was driving it.
    â€”Let them worry about that, go after the car’s maker for product liability, it couldn’t have been in Drive or it wouldn’t have started, probably the only proof they’d need, just the incident itself. Res ipsa loquitur Oscar, like the chandelier falling on your head. What kind of car is it.
    â€”It’s a Japanese car a red one, whatever got into him to buy a red one.
    â€”When you buy a used car Christina you can’t always choose the colour, I saw the ad in the paper and when I . . .
    â€”Look Oscar I’ve got to get downtown, hope the next time I see you you’re out

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