Henry Hellis sipped his coffee at his desk. He stroked his blotter with the bottom of his mechanical pencil, invisibly drawing a square and invisibly redrawing it, over and over and over again. He would repeat one thought on the up and down stroke, another on the sideways strokes.
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Donald stepped through his open door and sat on his guest chair. Henry put down his pencil.
"Good morning, Donald."
"Good morning."
"Sorry to have a meeting on a Monday morning," he laughed in an attempt at joviality. "It really couldn't wait."
"No problem," said Donald. Donald was very easy going. A good employee, actually. He was never any trouble. This thought made Henry smile before he could stop it.
"Donald, I hear you've been on television."
"Yeah, the Miss Roc Show."
"Right, right. Very interesting, very interesting stuff."
"You saw it?"
"No, no I didn't. I … we have a problem, Donald."
"You heard what the show was about?"
"No. I hear you're Jesus. That's about it."
"Is that a problem?"
"Not at all. Go right ahead."
"What is the problem?" asked Donald.
"Parking," said Henry with the alacrity and relief of saying what he meant. Honesty could be almost like a sigh. "No one can park. People are having trouble getting here."
"Oh, the news vans."
"Yeah, they say John Harrie turned around and went home when he saw them. Thought they found out about his affair or misappropriation of funds or something." Henry let out an unusually hearty laugh.
"Are you going to fire me?" asked Donald without a trace of fear. In fact, he seemed almost eager. Henry laughed some more.
"Oh, no! This is not going to be the company that fired Jesus!" Henry looked at his hands and imagined he held history in them. How strangely vivid it was, like something he could actually see in his hands. "You're telecommuting," he declared, clapping his hands together as if to dispel his vision.
"But I can't go home."
"You can't? Do you have a place to stay?"
"I'm staying with a friend."
Henry could tell from his tone of voice that Jesus was shacking up with somebody! He had so many questions he wanted to ask Donald, but that would be crossing a line he did not want to cross. "See Jacob. He'll set you up with a laptop. You can work from anywhere."
"Okay."
"Is it okay? How do you feel about this?"
"Hey, things happen. It's all one."
"It's all one? What does that mean?"
Donald reached over and picked up Henry's mechanical pencil. He drew a visible circle over Henry's invisible square.
"It's all one. You may feel like things are your fault, or your responsibility, and sometimes it's your job even to act that way. But things happen. You're part of something bigger. You're in this circle, or you're a point on this circle, or an arc of it."
Henry looked down. He couldn't see his invisible square, the square he had been fortifying for years. It had been broken.
"Anyway," continued Donald, "it's starting to roll now. You can't stop it, and nobody's expecting you to. You know it'll be tough to get my job done from home, but I'll figure out a way."
"We're all in this circle," said Henry. "It has no sides, right? It's just one big curve and it meets itself. I appreciate what you're saying. I think I was wrong about this whole thing. I had the wrong perspective on it. You um you're Jesus? Are you Jesus, like they say?"
"Come on, you know who I am. You have my W-4."
"Donald Uffizi," said Henry.
"Donald Uffizi," said Donald.
"Donald Uffizi, Lord and Savior," thought Henry, with just the thoughts, not the square, "Donald Uffizi, Lord and Savior, Donald Uffizi, Lord and Savior," so that the thoughts no longer moved, the thoughts were always the same thought, the same unmoving thought and his brain just moved over it like a flashlight. How comforting, the thought of an unmoving thought.
"Are you getting lost in my circle?" asked Donald.
Henry realized that he was staring at it. "Sorry. It was a pleasure meeting with you. Get your laptop as we discussed and you can begin your new arrangement tomorrow. Let me know if you have any questions or difficulties whatsoever, and I'll facilitate whatever you need. Okay? Talk to me."
"Okay. Thank you." Donald left the office. Henry looked down to make sure the circle was still there. Of course it was.