William Gaddis - A Folic Of His Own

— Yes we, we used to, Lily we used to, we used to do a lot of things. We used to play the piano up there, four hand pieces for the piano, that little Mozart sonata, the sonata in D? her voice taking up with an almost desperate eagerness — within three bars he'd flatted the G, Oscar? It was so long ago.

— No, no every time we did it you failed to play the A on time Christina, that's what I remember. We'd have to start again because you'd fail to play the A on time.

— Well my God it happened when we changed places too didn't it? because you couldn't turn the page fast enough to give us the next phrase?

— Because you always wanted to play the upper part, because you were supposed to be the stronger pianist so you'd always take the upper part because you said it was harder, it's just more strident that's all Christina. You took it because it dominates, the upper part always dominates that's why you took it.

— It was the pedals Oscar, because the lower part takes the foot pedals and back when we were first learning you always wanted…

— It wasn't like that, Christina. That wasn't it at all.

— I've never seen that, I wish I could see you playing it.

— Hear us Lily, hear us but with the music room locked off like all the rest of them to save heat and God only knows when it was tuned last, the sounding board's probably warped with all the dampness out here and, and it was all so long ago. When we read everything then didn't we, we even read Shakespeare aloud sometimes but Oscar would never go to a performance would you Oscar, he'd only read it. They showed Henry the Fifth on television not long ago and he turned it off sputtering after five minutes.

— Because it's on the page! he suddenly erupted, — it's always been that way, the silent beautiful words coming off the page together to stop and listen to them to, to savour them without some vain fool in a costume prancing around up there just getting in their way, any of them! Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more God it sends a chill down your spine doesn't it? Christina? but she'd gone silent, her still hands arched up to her face leaving only her cold eyes staring somewhere back, staring within, and she shivered.

A little touch of Harry in the night.

When they came out next morning she was gone: the morning's paper, tea cold in a cup and even some mail there on the kitchen table, a pale sun well up in the sky and now up the hall the clatter of doors.

— Oscar? There's this little man in a black suit out here to see you.

— No wait! don't…

— Frank Gribble, Ace Worldwide Fidelity, may I come in? You remember me Mister Crease? We got your message yes, thank you for calling. How are we feeling. May I sit down? and he'd done so, flattening a plastic portfolio on his lap, — I hope your pain is all a thing of the past? and he had out a yellow pad, — now. Let's not take too much of your valuable time Mister Crease. Just a paper or two here for you to sign and we can put this whole episode behind us, a lot of water has gone under the bridge but the mills of the gods, as they say? Now. Will you bring me up to date?

— I think the last thing I, I've got a letter here somewhere from my lawyer who…

— A Mister Preswig yes, I have a communication from him here but I believe he's no longer in the picture? digging into the portfolio and bringing forth papers — we understand that he has found employment elsewhere and in the interests of expediency I thought if I simply dropped in on you we could work things out together without all the bother and expense of further legal proceedings which seem calculated to merely muddy the waters as they say and to save you the costly annoyance of going to trial?

— Well yes by all means, I…

— By all means yes, yes we are in agreement then aren't we, after all our friendship goes all the way back to my hospital visit before these lawyers came between us simply to line their own pockets as they say? or as we say I should say, which is to say you could hardly be blamed for disclaiming the generous No Fault provision of your coverage which had come into being for the protection of persons like yourself over the vigorous opposition of the powerful lobby of trial lawyers like the one who took your case originally.

— Well he ought to be shot yes, he…

— I'm afraid that would only introduce new complications not included under your coverage, now to return to the matter at hand. When he filed to have you disclaim your No Fault coverage we had no recourse but to claim immunity as insurers of the car's owner and you are now seeking to recover under your coverage as the accident victim?

— More or less, yes.

— Yes. This motion filed on your behalf seeks to ensure that the controversy will take place in an adversary context since the court would lack jurisdiction to render judgment without adversary parties appearing before it whether, I have a few notes here from our legal department may I refer to them? bringing forth a sheaf of papers, licking a thumb — whether natural or artificial persons yes, you as plaintiff claiming bodily injuries being recognized as a natural person.

— Well what else would…

— Of course yes, as a party named in the record they've apparently listed them here under several categories, necessary parties, formal parties, indispensable parties, proper parties, indispensable parties being of course necessary parties who must take part in an action either as defendants or plaintiffs and indispensable parties those who must be included in an action in order for it to proceed, both of them signifying parties who should be joined in a proceeding though there has been some disagreement over the degree of such obligation expressed by the word should.

— Mister Gribble, I think…

— I agree yes, words always cause such problems don't they when it becomes less a matter of their actual meaning than their interpretation, take the word should here, I use it quite frequently myself without thinking twice about the…

— Mister Gribble listen! I'm quite busy, can't we cut through all this talk about parties and come to the point?

— But that's why I've come all the way out here to see you Mister Crease, I had a terrible time finding the place but we want to be certain of protecting your legal rights before you sign anything in your pursuit of justice, I believe you used that phrase yourself the last time we…

— Before signing what.

— Yes we'll come to that, but first may we clear up this matter of one person as both plaintiff and defendant in the same action? licking his thumb again, flurrying pages — suing in one capacity and defending in the other which creates certain problems, if you follow me.

— But I'm the victim, you just said that yourself didn't you? that I'm suing as the victim?

— Of course, yes, which means you need to find the defendant guilty of negligence as the proximate cause of your injuries, but that is to say even once negligence is established, since the scope of the defendant's liability can be no greater than the duty of care he owes to the plaintiff, he has not breached his duty if he has no duty and therefore he has no liability, and so in this case I suppose you would take the position that you owe a duty of care to yourself?

— Well obviously, that's what the whole…

— Do you happen to serve in the capacity of a public officer anywhere Mister Crease? licking his thumb again, turning pages.

— As what? Good God no, why.

— Because apparently the rule is confined to natural persons and as an individual you could join in a suit against yourself as a public officer, because this is where things get somewhat complicated. As they say here, whether an action is in contract or in tort, you see what I mean, the rule that one person cannot take the position of both plaintiff and defendant will not apply so long as the case does not add up to one party against himself. To put it in plain language you might almost say that this is a suit between who you are and who you think you are, the question being which one is the plaintiff and which one is the defen…