Who tests the glass
Marlize does the buying. She has birded this wetland since she was at school, and every pair on the shelf has been out on the boardwalk at half past five before it was ever ordered in quantity. If a binocular flares against the sun coming up over the reeds, it does not get stocked, whatever the box says about the coatings. Thabo works the bench at the back. He collimates, replaces eyecups and focus wheels, cleans fungus out of old prisms and re-greases stiff hinges — on our glass and on whatever else you carry in, including the pair your father left you. The bench keeps the same hours as the counter, so you are welcome to stand there and watch him do it.
