right on being upset, Harryâs brought you a copy of Fatherâs Opinion thatâs made all the trouble, thatâs the . . .
âThatâs not why Iâm upset! Thereâs 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?
âThose lawsuits are a dime a dozen, Oscar. Nuisance suits, people who hope to get paid off just to go away, look Iâve got to get downtown, the . . .
âNo but if he stole my idea, the same story all of it, itâs even the same battle itâs not a, just a nuisance it really happened, it was my own grandfather wasnât it?
âOscar you canât just, you canât own the Civil War. You canât copyright history, you canât copyright an idea now here, hereâs your fatherâs Opinion. Itâs great bedside reading, you can see if they could get theirhands on this Szyrk character down there they wouldnât bother with burning an effigy.
âNo but Harry?
He was up, closing the attaché case with a snap, âfrankly I think heâll 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 . . .
âHarry!
âRacist, leftist, theyâll dig up anything they can to kill his chances for the circuit court and a reversal wonât help.
âWill you just sit down for a minute? Oscarâs asking you something.
âWell what Christina, what. I just told him copyright law isnât my field and . . .
âMaybe thatâs not what heâs trying to ask you.
âWell what is he trying to ask me!
âHeâs expecting the insurance man about the accident and he told me he wanted your advice.
âLook I just said Iâm in corporate law, Iâm not one of these ambulance chasers I donât even know what happened, now let me . . .
âI told you what happened. Heâs been talking about getting the ignition on that car fixed for years, the way heâs talked about getting new teeth but he . . .
âOscar what the hell happened.
âWell this car, itâs not new, I mean it wasnât new when I bought it and about a month ago the ignition switch broke and the garage didnât have one, they had to order a new one but it hasnât 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 . . .
âHe 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 . . .
âBecause there was a puddle beside it and I didnât want my . . .
âLook nobodyâs asking him that, Christina. The insurance covers the owner of the car so he just sues the owner.
âBut he owns it Harry, itâs his car he owns it.
âThe ownerâs insurance would probably go after the driver.
âBut there wasnât any driver thatâs the point! The car ran over him and nobody was driving it.
âLet them worry about that, go after the carâs maker for product liability, it couldnât have been in Drive or it wouldnât have started, probably the only proof theyâd need, just the incident itself. Res ipsa loquitur Oscar, like the chandelier falling on your head. What kind of car is it.
âItâs a Japanese car a red one, whatever got into him to buy a red one.
âWhen you buy a used car Christina you canât always choose the colour, I saw the ad in the paper and when I . . .
âLook Oscar Iâve got to get downtown, hope the next time I see you youâre out
Michelle Ann Hollstein, Laura Martinez