speech to the other board members, pointing at tiny graphs on a tiny slideshow. A quiet pattering of applause drifted out the window.
He knew exactly where to place the child. A playground in a lovely neighborhood, swarming with children, echoing with faint shouts of delight. He placed her in the sand and she instantly joined a game of tag, running around in circles with the rest of the pack.
The mother was the most difficult. She had been a surprise, so he hadn’t had a chance to plan her relocation. Wandering, he searched for a gap. Where was a solid, dependable, loving woman needed? Finally, he found it. A tiny house in a tiny suburb where a single, lonely father took care of his adorable, precocious son. The man with no shadow placed the woman from the grocery store down the street, as though she were taking a walk. As she approached the yard where the boy played in the grass, the father failed to notice her. The man with no shadow took the father between two fingers and gently moved him into her jogging path. He sidestepped and she apologized and they laughed and the boy smiled. The man with no shadow smiled and clapped his hands together. Another day’s work done.
With one last glance at the sea of tables, seeming to stretch further back than his basement had any right to stretch, the man with no shadow went back up the stairs. He entered his office and sat at his desk. Picking up a folder, he opened it, crossed off four items, and placed it in a drawer. Then he selected another folder. This one had three items that read: “A butcher, a baker, and a candlestick maker.” Under that was a comment. “First two located, will acquire. Third is difficult. Does function still exist? Factory worker? Yankee candle employee?”
The man with no shadow cracked open his laptop and began to work. The next hunt for perfection had begun.
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