Aaron Hart turned on his tape recorder and started up his friendly chat with Donald.
"So, how'd you meet Sarah?" he asked.
"Her toes were sad."
"Oh. So... you helped her? You were helping her with her toes?"
"Sometimes it's enough just to tell them," said Donald. He watched New Jersey appear from the tunnel.
"But how did you meet?"
"If you ask me the same question twice, you're acting like I didn't answer it."
"So you're saying you did answer it?"
"Yes," answered Donald. "You're taking me to Sarah. I appreciate that. And so I'm answering your questions. But what good is it if you don't accept my answers? Are you going to keep asking me until you get the answer you like?"
"But... I don't understand your answer."
"Maybe you don't understand the truth. Are you going to make it a lie so you understand it?"
"No!" protested Aaron. "No! You met Sarah because her toes were sad."
"Like I said."
"So, it follows that that must have been the first thing you said to her. That her toes are sad."
"I wrote it down, actually."
"So you wrote to her. How did you get her address?"
"She was standing right in front of me. How else could I see her toes?"
"You passed her a note!"
"Yes."
"And then you struck up a conversation about feet."
"No. She was leaving."
"Even better! Your phone number was on the note!"
"Yeah, it was."
Aaron laughed. "I love it. You came on to her. And what a strange come-on."
"I really was concerned about her."
"Of course you were."
"But yeah, I guess I did." Donald smiled.
"Wait. How can toes be sad?"
"I'm not good with how. But ever since that moment I've been able to see people's problems. I feel them. I feel them hard. But the pain turns into God. Sometimes, they say their problem went away. Sometimes. I don't know whether it's true or not."
Two questions occurred to Aaron in such quick succession that he didn't know which one was first, but if he had to guess he would have been correct. The first one was not a reporter's question. It turned the focus on the questioner. So he went with the second, which he believed originated from his years of training. "What about your pain, the pain that's yours to begin with?"
"That's a really good question," said Donald. "I can't seem to be able to heal myself. My problems don't fade away like that. My worries. Sometimes I feel like I wish I had my own Jesus."
"So, what's my problem, then?" asked Aaron, blurting out his first question.
"The problem all reporters seem to have. You ask the wrong questions. But it looks like you're healing already."
Object: larkspur