I know everyone here is too busy, so I’ll direct the requirements engineering myself. I’d like to thank everyone for their contribution in putting this together. We can all be proud of what we’ve accomplished. Comments?”

There was silence. Someone coughed.

Kay looked down at the table, deep concern on her face.

“Well, I, um, I think, you know, maybe we should just dialogue with people and hear them out first? You need permits from the bank czar, right? And the regulatory czar would need to issue special waivers? There are strict controls on this sort of thing, you can’t just offer what you feel might be a good deal to customers, you can’t change the official process that’s filed on record just like that,” she said, snapping her fingers for emphasis. “There are guidelines that must be followed, you know? There’re a whole mess of permits, and then there’s all the forms and the approvals and the lawyers and the administrative hearings. This all takes a whole bunch of time.”

Kay shook her head doubtfully. She turned to her colleagues for a glimmer of support but no one would return her gaze. She faced Benson with an earnest expression.

“Of course, I support you 100 percent — no, 110 percent. I mean, what do you think?”

“Thanks for sharing.”

A painfully thin woman at the table twisted her face in thought, looking down at her notes as she spoke up.

“It’s like…” She paused, attempting to choose her words carefully. “Look, I’m not sure you’re really hearing what we’re saying. Some people have been saying some things—”

“Some people? Some things?” Benson shot back, perhaps a little too aggressively, but his patience was wearing thin. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Maybe it would be too much to expect unrestrained enthusiasm, but he had at least hoped for simple cooperation. He was making it easy for them; all they had to do was go along with what they had already agreed upon. He would even let them take all the credit. Instead, he was meeting unaccountable resistance and ambiguous insinuations. He felt himself getting hot and took a deep breath to calm down.

“I feel what Stacy’s saying is, ‘Okay, look, maybe we should just listen to each other?’” Kay said. “You know?”

Benson gazed out the large window framing the room. Sparrows and pigeons swooped and bobbed, darting and flitting in the sunshine, happy and free. How he wished he could join them. One of the birds in particular caught his attention, a hummingbird of some extra large variety unlike any he’d seen before. It had a ruby-colored throat like those buzzing around now and then in his backyard, only much bigger. It was surprising to see a hummingbird in the city, especially at the eighth floor. Hovering by the window, it seemed to be staring inside, looking right at him.

Benson forced his attention back to his wretched meeting and gazed, absentmindedly, at Kay, who immediately turned away. He wondered how anything got done around here. If it weren’t for the Office of Human Capital Management, he’d have fired their lazy asses in a heartbeat.

Benson sat bored at his desk, looking out the window and daydreaming. This was becoming a disturbingly common event. He was trying to fight it and not succeeding. He had everything he’d ever wanted — a wonderful wife, a great son, and excellent health. Career, money, cars, house; he had it all.