Henry, just having arisen from an untroubled sleep, and facing what he expected to be an untroubled day of work, limited social engagements, and much self-appreciation, looked in the mirror. He saw a strong jaw on a squarish face, which radiated self-assurance. Also, a body that was fit, or, at least, fit for purpose, tall, and with a dark head of hair. He had no piercings, tattoos, or other invasive or glaringly obvious affectations. 

As he dressed he briefly thought of his girlfriend, Jenny. He considered her a necessary affectation, one which calmed would-be investors just by her presence, and gave the impression of normalcy or, at the least, a reasonable appearance of a typical heterosexual couple. That had seemed to be important to investors, so Henry indulged them. At the odd company-related dinner or social gathering she came in quite handy, what with her ability to small talk, observe the important things one mentions to the ladies present, and, to the men, be the object of their attention. 

That was perfect, because Henry had no desire to be the object of anyone’s attention except his own. He would normally studiously avoid dealing with his employees, leaving that to his partner, George, who managed both the business and personal sides of the company, while Henry dealt with science. 

The company, “ZeeT”, was a provider of security software for Zero Trust applications, ones that provided protection, visibility, and control. In other words, security, for its clients’ companies. Henry was an idea guy, with no idea or grasp of social skills. George, on the other hand. excelled at the day-to-day ‘pressing the flesh’ aspects of the company. He knew all the employees, always asked after Richard’s cold, or Mary’s trouble with her boyfriends (plural intended). If the company was a vehicle, George was the chassis, with all the bells and whistles, keeping everyone comfortable, and Henry was the engine, providing the mechanics, the means for forward movement. 

Being the company’s face was a full-time job, especially with the upcoming stockholder’s meeting this afternoon, so George was in his element, Henry assumed, and Henry was actively making himself scarce because of the very real possibility that he would have to participate in the dog and pony show (as he thought of it) for all assembled. 

 As he ruminated on the upcoming day’s event, his phone buzzed, but seeing it was from Jenny, he didn’t answer it. Because the text said, “we need to talk”, he figured it would only be about her, not him, so could be put on the back burner for a while. They had been together for the past year, a year in which Henry had worked tirelessly on his new dot com business, along with his business partner, and had been exceptionally adept at keeping the stockholders at bay after his company had been taken public. He kept Jenny at bay as well. They went out of course, it was difficult not to with a somewhat outspoken and outgoing girlfriend. To Henry, she was of acceptable physical beauty, to others she was an exceptional beauty. Henry had limited experience in that department, but did appreciate that she was educated. She and Henry had met in grad school at The University of Chicago. She had her own head-hunting business, so she was kept busy enough that the times they connected were infrequent enough that it suited Henry. They never talked about whether it suited her. 

George could not, for his life, understand why Jenny stayed with his partner, but ‘different strokes’ he guessed. Henry lived in a high rise in the Gold Coast section of downtown Chicago, not too far from the river, the one that ran Green in March, through a politically Blue city, and which has a significantly Black population. He liked Chicago because the city just ‘worked’. It was flanked by Northwestern University and The University of Chicago, two good schools, on a ‘great’ lake. The city has a transport system which is the of envy of many cities. The El, the elevated rail system running around the “Loop”, works tirelessly day and night, and, except for the occasional accident, was reliable, albeit noisily so. There was a pedestrian subway, called a Pedway, which connects much of downtown; quite handy during the famous Chicago winters. The city also ranks as a “World City”. 

Henry’s general environs would never be said to not have enough Irish pubs. He had even been to the Billy Goat Tavern, mainly because he had heard about it on a Saturday Night Live show a long time ago. He did things like that. 

He went to places so that he could say he had been to them, not because he was interested in them or liked them. He did not know enough about the BGT to not order fries, or that you had to order a ‘double’ hamburger because the meat patty was so thin. He would read the inside of a book’s jacket just so he could be thought of having read it when asked, and if Jenny was not able to deflect the question for him. As social superficiality seemed to work for Henry, the opposite seemed to work for Jenny. She would have ordered chips, not fries, a double not a single hamburger, and would have read the entire book.

What those around him saw was a singularly self-absorbed man, brilliant no doubt, but not a warm and fuzzy human being. He did, of course, provide work for those around him and had a stable life. As Henry’s phone buzzed a second time, he glanced at it, saw that it was Jenny again so promptly sidelined it again, and then, immediately after, received a text from his attorney, Sam. The text said, “I need to talk to you, now.” Sam never dealt with imperatives such as that, so Henry checked his watch, and, seeing that he had about an hour before the stockholder’s meeting, texted Sam that he was on his way. Because Sam’s office was near the Trump Tower, over by the river, it would be a quick trip. 

After that third text Henry was seriously considering ditching smart phones in the interest of isolating himself from ‘other people’, as he thought of the rest of humanity. 

At Sam’s office, after Sally, Sam’s secretary ushered Henry in, without the usual “would you like some coffee or water?” a singularly remarkable event, he sat facing Sam and noted that he seemed a bit tense, also a remarkable event. “Henry” Sam said, “I’ve some news for you that is disturbing but I’d like you to look at it as a ‘door closing and another one opening’ sort of thing if you will.” At this, Henry sat up straight and said, “What’s going on Sam?”

“I’ve just gotten off the phone with George” he said. “George intends to take control of ZeeT this afternoon, to be announced at the stockholder’s meeting.” Henry looked stunned, and, after regaining some control, said “How can he even do that without the stockholders’ and my approval, after all, I’m the only other partner?” Sam pulled some papers out from a drawer saying, “I have here the company contract, drawn up between you two over a year ago, it gives George 51% of the stock, mainly because of his monetary investment. It also gives him discretionary power to take control of the company if he feels it necessary.” “I do not understand how he feels it’s necessary to do this,” Henry said, stiffly. 

Sam looked at Henry with some sympathy, also an unusual event, and said “George feels, as does the Board, that you have been not only distant in your involvement with ZeeT, but also that you have actively refused to engage, to the detriment of company expansion, resulting in a negative effect on company finances.  You can interpret that as affecting the company’s stock price. In reviewing the documents, I can see no reason he and the Board cannot exercise this clause.” 

After leaving the office, Henry, absorbed as he had been with his lawyer’s visit, and the subsequent rancorous stockholder meeting with the embarrassing end to Henry’s involvement, eventually noted his phone blinking at him. Another text from Jenny, the girlfriend he also kept at a distance. This time she was not saying to call her but letting him know that their time together had run, well, out of time. She also mentioned that Jorge, a friend who was exceptionally fit (her words), and who entertained a remarkably short temper coupled with a distinct absence of tact or diplomacy, would be picking up her things from Henry’s place today, at 1500 hours (she was a fan of military time). Because Jorge is physically impressive and Henry not so much, she advised Henry to fully cooperate as she could not predict Jorge’s response to any resistance on Henry’s part. 

Great, Henry thought, the icing on the cake of a now crappy day that has barely just begun. Who breaks up with someone via text? It must be a generational thing. She being of the current one and he of the just passed one, that might very well be the case. It is as if the clock goes from one minute to the next and everything shifts. They say the future will arrive whether we like it or not, but Henry’s was arriving faster than most.

Henry’s absorption in the text, checking the time, and counting the minutes before the impending encounter with Jorge, ended with an unfortunate meeting of man and metal. In this instance it was on Michigan avenue, in the form of Henry and the Red Line bus! Thus started the recapitulation of his life and times, recounted by those few who had known him, some intimately, some professionally, and some quite marginally. Fodder for discussion over a cocktail or two. A life of little consequence in which time, as it does, revised, repaired, and retired to its final resting place: the minds of those remaining. Sam, his attorney, would miss him though.

Henry’s tale is one of betrayal on several levels, personal, professional, and social. Personal, as represented by the just-received text and all that went before that; professional, as represented by his company’s rejection; and social, as represented by the, well, lack of a social safety net. Henry had never really taken social-emotional learning out for a walk in the park and had abruptly lost that opportunity. It has been said that Fate is what happens to you if you don’t run fast enough. Henry was never a runner.