The Circle

Please stop, they asked. Please, no more.
And they, like Mercer, insisted that she cease to contact them unless privately. She
tried to explain to them that they were on the wrong side of history. But they weren’t
listening. Mae knew that eventually she’d convince them, that it was only a matter of
time, for them and for everyone—even Mercer. He and her parents had been late to get
PCs, late to buy a cellphone, late to everything. It was comical and it was sad, and it
served no purpose, to put off the undeniable present, the unavoidable future.
So she would wait. In the meantime, she opened the chute. There were few people with
pressing needs at that hour, but there were always unanswered queries waiting for
business hours to start, so she gured she could chip away at the load before the newbies
came in. Maybe she’d nish them all, stun everyone, let them come in with a clean slate,
an empty chute.
There were 188 latent queries. She’d do what she could do. A customer in Twin Falls
wanted a rundown of all the other businesses visited by customers who had visited his.

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Mae found the information easily and sent it to him, and instantly she felt calmer. The
next two were easy, boilerplate answers. She sent surveys and got 100s on both. One of
them sent her a survey in return; she answered it and was done in ninety seconds. The
next few queries were more complicated but she kept her rating at 100. The sixth was
more complicated still, but she answered it, got a 98, followed up and brought it to a 100.
The client, a heating/air-conditioning advertiser from Melbourne, Australia, asked if he
could add her to his professional network and she readily agreed. That’s when he realized
she was Mae.
THE Mae? he typed. His name was Edward.
Can’t deny it, she answered.
I’m honored, Edward typed. What time is it there? We’re just nishing our workday here.
She said it was late. He asked if he could add her to his mailing list, and again she readily
agreed. What followed was a quick deluge of news and information about the insurance
world of Melbourne. He o ered to make her an honorary member of the MHAPB, the
Melbourne Heating and Air-Conditioning Providers Guild, formerly the Melbourne
Heating and Air-Conditioning Providers Brotherhood, and she said she would be attered.
He added her to the friends on his personal Circle pro le, and asked that she reciprocate.
She did.
Gotta get back to work now, she wrote, say hello to all in Melbourne! She felt, already, all
of the madness of her parents, of Mercer, evaporating like mist. She took the next query,
which came from a pet grooming chain based in Atlanta. She got a 99, followed up, got
back a 100, and sent six other surveys, ve of which the client answered. She took
another query, this one from Bangalore, and was in the middle of amending the
boilerplate to the query when another message came through from Edward. Did you see
my daughter’s request? he asked. Mae checked her screens, looking for some request from
Edward’s daughter. Eventually he clari ed that his daughter had a di erent last name,
and was in school in New Mexico. She was raising awareness of the plight of bison in the
state, and was asking Mae to sign a petition and mention the campaign in whatever
forums she could. Mae said she would try, and quickly sent a zing about it. Thank you!
Edward wrote, followed, a few minutes later, by a thank-you from his daughter, Helena. I
can’t believe Mae Holland signed my petition! Thanks! she wrote. Mae answered three more
queries, her rating dipping to 98, and though she sent multiple follow-ups to these three,
she got no satisfaction. She knew she’d have to get twenty-two or so 100s to average the
98 up to 100 overall; she checked the clock. It was 12:44. She had plenty of time. Another
message came from Helena, asking about jobs at the Circle. Mae o ered her usual advice,
and sent her the email address of the HR department. Can you put in a good word for me?
Helena asked. Mae said she would do as much as she could, given they had never met.
But you know me pretty well by now! Helena said, and then directed her to her own pro le
page. She encouraged Mae to read her essays about wildlife preservation, and the essay
she used to get into college, which she said was still relevant. Mae said she would try to
read them when she could. Wildlife and New Mexico brought Mercer to mind. That self-
righteous waste. Where was that man who made love to her on the edge of the Grand
Canyon? They had both been so comfortably lost then, when he picked her up from

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college and they drove through the Southeast with no schedule, no itineary, never with
any idea of where they’d stay that night. They passed through New Mexico in a blizzard
and then to Arizona where they parked, and found a cli overlooking the canyon, with no
fences, and there under a noonday sun he undressed her, a four-thousand-foot drop
behind her. He held her and she had no doubts because he was strong then. He was young
then, he had vision then. Now he was old and acted older. She looked up the pro le page
she’d set up for him, and found it blank. She made an inquiry to tech and found he’d been
trying to take it down. She sent him a zing and got no answer. She looked up his business
page but it had been taken down, too; there was only a message saying he was now
running an analog-only business. Another message came through from Helena: What did
you think? Mae told her she hadn’t had time to read anything yet, and the next message
was from Edward, Helena’s father: It sure would mean a lot if you were to recommend
Helena for a job there at the Circle. No pressure but we’re counting on you! Mae told them,
again, that she’d do her best. A notice came through her second screen about a Circle
campaign to eradicate smallpox in West Africa. She signed her name, sent a smile,
pledged fty dollars, and sent a zing about it. She saw immediately that Helena and
Edward rezinged the message. We’re doing our