Ed McBain_Matthew Hope 12 Read Online Free PDF

her original drawings for Gladly and her requirements for the eyeglasses the
     bear would wear.
    “She kept calling them the specs for the specs,” Nettleton said, and smiled.
    He testified that his design for the eyeglasses was original with him, that he’d received a flat fee of three thousand dollars
     for the drawings, and had signed a document releasing all claim, title and interest to them and to the use or uses to which
     they might be put.
    Brackett approached the witness stand.
    “Tell me, Dr. Nettleton, you’re not an ophthalmologist, are you?”
    “No, I’m not.”
    “Then you’re not a physician, are you?”
    “No, I’m not.”
    “You just make eyeglasses, isn’t that so?”
    “No, an
optician
makes eyeglasses. I prescribe correctional lenses. I’m a doctor of optometrics, and also a Ph.D.”
    “Thank you for explaining the vast differences, Doctor,” Brackett said, his tone implying that he saw no real differences
     at all between an optician and an optometrist. “But, tell me, when you say the design for these eyeglasses is original with
     you, what exactly do you mean?”
    “I mean Miss Commins came to me with a problem, and I solved that problem without relying upon any other design that may have
     preceded it.”
    “Oh?
Were
there previous designs that had solved this problem?”
    “I have no idea. I didn’t look for any. I addressed the problem and solved it. The specifications I gave her were entirely
     original with me.”
    “Would you consider them original if you knew lenses identical to yours had been designed
prior
to yours?”
    “My design does not make use of lenses.”
    “Oh? Then what are eyeglasses if not corrective lenses?”
    “The lenses in these glasses are piano lenses. That is, without power. They are merely clear plastic. If you put your hand
     behind them, you would see it without distortion. They are not corrective lenses.”
    “Then how do they correct the bear’s vision?”
    “They don’t, actually. They merely
seem
to. What I’ve done is create an illusion. The teddy bear has bilaterally crossed eyes. That is to say, the brown iris and
     white pupil are displaced nasalward with respect to the surrounding white scleral-conjunctival tissue of the eye. As in the
     drawing Ms. Commins first brought to me. What I did…”
    “What you did was design a pair of eyeglasses you say are original with you.”
    “They are
not
eyeglasses, but they
are
original with me.”
    “When you say they’re original, are you also saying you didn’t copy them from anyone else’s eyeglasses?”
    “That’s what I’m saying. And they’re
not
eyeglasses.”
    “Your Honor,” Brackett said, “if the witness keeps insisting that what are patently eyeglasses…”
    “Perhaps he’d care to explain why he’s making such a distinction,” Santos said.
    “Perhaps he’s making such a distinction because he knows full well that his design is copied from a pair of eye—”
    “Objection, Your…”
    “I’ll ignore that, Mr. Brackett. I, for one, certainly
would
like to know why Dr. Nettleton doesn’t consider these eyeglasses. Dr. Nettleton? Could you please explain?”
    “If I may make use of my drawings, Your Honor…”
    “Already admitted in evidence, Your Honor,” I said.
    “Any objections, Mr. Brackett?”
    “If the Court has the time…”
    “I do have the time, Mr. Brackett.”
    “Then I have no objections.”
    I carried Nettleton’s drawings to where he was sitting in the witness chair. He riffled through the stapled pages and then
     folded back several pages to show his first drawing.
    “These are the plastic crossed eyes that are attached to the teddy bear’s face. As you can see, the iris and pupil are displaced
     nasalward.”

    “And this is a drawing of the plastic
straight
eyes as they’re reflected within the spectacles I designed.”
    “May I see it, please?”
    Nettleton handed the drawing to him.

    “By reflected…”
    “With mirrors,