"That may be so, Mr. Brackman. I must say, Mr. Willow, that I have never had anything like this happen to me before."
"I believe we could find precedent for it, your Honor."
"Yes, I'm sure we could, Mr. Willow," McIntyre said, "especially if we looked at Section 31.45 of the Cyclopedia of Federal Procedure."
"Your Honor, I'm not familiar with that section."
"I am, Mr. Willow."
"Forgive me."
"The section states, Mr. Willow — and next time you might wish to consult it before asking that a case be reopened — the section states that even after testimony has been entirely closed, the Court may receive additional evidence in its own discretion."
"Your Honor," Brackman said, "if this were a case before a jury…"
"It is not a jury case," McIntyre said, "but even if it were, Mr. Brackman, the Court could in its discretion permit additional testimony."
"I'm sorry, your Honor, I was not aware of that."
"I would like to remind Mr. Willow, however, that such additional testimony cannot be allowed for light reasons, such as to let in cumulative or immaterial evidence."
"Your Honor," Willow said, "I believe this testimony to be exceedingly important, and I know the record would be incomplete without it."
"If your Honor please," Genitori said, "I do not see how in good conscience we can exclude any testimony that may shed light on the matter before us."
"Mr. Brackman?"
"Your Honor, my summation was predicated on what the record already shows. If additional testimony…"
"I would have no objection," Willow said, "to Mr. Brackman making a second summation after the new testimony is given."
"Your Honor, I know you can in your discretion — you have just informed me that you can in your discretion reopen the case, but…"
"Don't you feel the record should be complete, Mr. Brackman?"
"Indeed, I do, your Honor. But I also feel Mr. Willow should have called all his witnesses when it was time for him to do so, and not—"
"Your Honor, this was unforeseen, and as much a surprise to me as it was to the Court."
"Well," McIntyre said flatly, "I will reopen the case."
"Thank you, your Honor."
"Let the record so indicate. Mr. Brackman, I will allow you to make a new summation later if you so desire."
"Thank you," Brackman said.
"Call your witness, Mr. Willow."
"Edna Belle Driscoll," Willow said.
"Edna Belle Driscoll, please take the stand," the clerk said.
Ebie rose hesitantly, and looked inquiringly at Willow, who nodded. She put her bag down on the bench in the jury box, looked plaintively at her husband, and then walked to where the clerk was waiting with the Bible.
"Edna Belle Driscoll, you do solemnly swear that the testimony you are about to give to the Court in this issue shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?"
"I do," Ebie said.
Her voice was very low. She looked puzzled for a moment as she tried to find the steps leading to the witness stand. When she located them, she moved rapidly to the chair, and then hesitated again before sitting. She looked up at the judge once, and then turned away as Willow approached her.
"Mrs. Driscoll," he said, "are you familiar with the novel The Paper Dragon?"
"I am."
"How many times have you read it?"
"Many times. I don't remember the exact number of times."
"Would you say you've read it more than twenty times?"
"Yes."
"From cover to cover?"
"Yes, from cover to cover."
"Then surely you are familiar with the nurse in the book, the woman called Lieutenant Jan Reardon."
"Yes, I'm familiar with her."
"What color hair does Jan Reardon have?"
"Blond."
"Will the record show, your Honor, that Mrs. Driscoll's hair is blond. What color eyes does Jan Reardon have?"
"Blue."
"Will the record show, your Honor, that Mrs. Driscoll's eyes are blue. Where is Jan Reardon from originally, what part of the country?"
"The South."
"Where in the South?"
"Alabama."
"Where are you from, Mrs. Driscoll?"
"Alabama."
"Mrs. Driscoll, is Jan Reardon left-handed?"
"Yes."
"Are you left-handed?"
"Yes."
"Does Jan Reardon have a crescent-shaped scar on her thigh?"
"Yes."
"Do you have a similar scar on your thigh?"
"Yes. Yes, I have."
"What was your maiden name?"
"Dearborn."
"Your Honor, may I point out to the Court that the name Reardon with the single exception of the letter b contains the exact same letters as are in the name Dearborn, transposed."
"What was that again?" McIntyre said. He picked up a pencil and moved a pad into place before him.
"The name Reardon, your Honor, can be formed by dropping the b from Dearborn, and then transposing the letters."
McIntyre wrote silently for a moment, and then studied the pad. "Yes, I see that," he said. "Proceed, Mr. Willow."
"Mrs. Driscoll, can you tell us when and where you first met your husband?"
"At Pratt Institute in 1947."
"Were you a student there at the time?"
"I was."
"How long had you been at the school?"
"A year."
"How long had Mr. Driscoll been there?"
"He had just entered. He was a first-year student."
"And you were an upper classman?"
"Yes, I was in my second year. It was a three-year non-accredited course. The course I was taking."
"So the relationship between you and your husband, in terms of seniority at least, was similar to the relationship between Lieutenant Alex Cooper and Jan Reardon in the novel The Paper Dragon?"
"Yes, it was."
"Was it similar in any other respects?"
"Yes."
"In which respects, Mrs. Driscoll?"
"All of them. Everything."
"Would you explain, please?"
"It was our story."
"Whose story, Mrs. Driscoll?"
"Ours. Dris and me."
"Dris?"
"Yes, my husband."
"Is that what you normally call him?"
"It is what I've always called him."
"What does the nurse call Cooper in The Paper Dragon?"
"Coop."
"Your Honor," Brackman said, "I have remained silent until now because I wanted to see where Mr. Willow was heading. It seems to me now that he is introducing Mrs. Driscoll's testimony as that of an expert on the novel The Paper Dragon, and I must object to this."
"Your Honor," Willow said, "I am introducing her testimony as that of an expert on what actually happened between her and her husband beginning in the year 1947 and ending in October of 1950. I don't think, your Honor, that I'm going to have to elicit too many responses in order to show what The Paper Dragon was all about."
"Overruled. Go on, Mr. Willow."
"If I understand you correctly, Mrs. Driscoll, you are saying that the events in The Paper Dragon parallel certain real events, is that correct?"
"Yes."
"Can you give us any examples of this?"
"Well… for… for example when Dris and I first met, we had a fight, not a fight, a sort of an argument. He asked me out and I… I thought he was just a fresh kid, he was younger than I, you know, and a first-year student, so I tried to discourage him, but he kept insisting, said he was going to be a famous artist one day, all that sort of thing. And the… the same thing happens in the book. When the lieutenant first gets to Korea, he's sort of a… a brash person and he tries to get friendly with this nurse, who just refuses his advances. They have this terrible argument, and he tells her she'll be sorry because he's going to be a war hero with the Medal of Honor, you know, he goes on about how he's going to win the Korean war singlehanded, but she still refuses. Then… she's sent to Tokyo for a week's leave, and he tries to find her, but he can't until a senior nurse in the book—"