I met Meredith for lunch downtown Tuesday. Her firm's cafeteria is on the forty-fourth floor and has been redone as an amenity space. Meredith had to come down to security for me. I had thought giving her name would be enough. Four of us sat together once a robot arm had finished making my twenty-four-dollar salad. It took longer than I expected. Meredith says they are piloting it, and there was a small audience, so perhaps the timing improves when everyone stops watching.
Their office days are Tuesday through Thursday now. That makes Tuesday a good day for lunch, provided you book it properly. Claire told us her standing desk is covered with what she calls vertical clutter. She has never raised it.
At half past two everyone had to get back. I would have liked another coffee, but I could see their calendars lighting up, so we said goodbye by the enormous orange sculpture in the lobby. It is called Convergence. I checked because Meredith couldn't remember.
I took the Brown Line home. There were seats, the sun was out and I could look into all the little back gardens as we went north. I used to make that trip without noticing half of them. I was glad we'd chosen Tuesday.
— Ash