Tony Dunbar - Tubby Dubonnet 00.5 - Envision This by Tony Dunbar Page A

amazing,” he said.
    “All locally grown.” The waiter glowed with pride.
    * * *
    During the course of their meal, Tubby got quite a few more details out of Jason about the wonderful glasses.
    His invention was quite a mindbender. The contact lenses functioned like screens on a laptop or iPhone. The eye worked like the cursor, and at the present stage of development Jason’s handheld phone selected the applications and programs the wearer wanted to look at.
    “There will come a day when you won’t need the handheld at all,” he explained. “Right now it is difficult to have normal vision when certain effects are selected, but all those are just bugs to work out. With this baby, the entire Internet is in your head.”
    “That seems astonishing.” Tubby was enthusiastic. “You mean I could pull up legal precedents in the middle giving an argument in court?”
    “Yes, and at the same time check the results from the horse races at the Fairgrounds, operate a GPS, and find a recipe for a Sazerac.”
    “Jeez, Jason, this is hot stuff, right?”
    “And you can see it all in the blink of an eye,” Jason beamed. And blinked again.
    “But no X-ray vision.”
    “It’s coming,” Jason assured him.
    Tubby became serious. “You should get this patented right away.” He waved at the waiter for the check.
    “That is certainly true,” Jason said, “But this one is geometrically more difficult than anything you and I have ever done before. There are a lot of pieces to this. I have to admit that some are already in the public domain. Many of the elements probably belong to someone else. It’s really going to take some R and D just to sort out what I’ve got and lock it up. This could be bigger than television. Hell, this could be bigger than the home computer itself.”
    Tubby wasn’t sure he’d ever want to stick a computer into his eye, but the way Jason told it, the possibilities were, well, unlimited. His mind started traveling down a path toward golden moments, keynotes at American Bar Association conferences, Presidential Awards at Lincoln Center.
    “I’ve got a meeting coming up,” Jason went on. “I talked to some people I know, and they turned me on to this venture capital company out of Biloxi. I outlined the idea to them in general, and the top team wants to come over here and take a look.”
    “A company in Biloxi, Mississippi? Casinos?” What else was in Biloxi but Gulfside gambling, lounge acts and cirques?
    “There may be casino money behind it. The company is called RevelationIt. They’ve done some work for the Air Force I know about. They’ve got some technical know-how and the bucks to put this over the top. I’m supposed to meet with them Saturday.”
    “And?”
    “And I want you to hold my hand, Tubby. I don’t know if they’re bringing a lawyer or not, but I want to be prepared for anything.”
    “Sure. Where’s the meeting?”
    “How about your office?”
    “That’ll work. You’re going to give them a demonstration?”
    “Why certainly.” He picked at the tablecloth with a breadstick. “There’s one other thing.”
    “What’s that?”
    “I’m scared shitless something’s going to happen to me or to this…” he tapped his forehead again.“I feel like I need to have a little protection.”
    Tubby didn’t hesitate.
    “Sanre Fleures, my investigator. He goes by ‘Flowers.’ He isn’t cheap, but he can babysit you as long as you want, and you won’t have to worry about a thing. He is highly competent.”
    Jason liked the sound of that. “It would be a relief,” he said.
    “Let me call him up.” Tubby dug his cell phone out of his jacket pocket and tapped in the number.
    “May I speak to Flowers, please?” He introduced himself. Then he frowned. Watching him, Jason did the same. “Oh, well, too bad.” Tubby said. “Just ask him to call me when he gets back.” He clicked the phone shut.
    “Afghanistan,” he muttered. “Flowers has gone to Afghanistan for