Work Text:
Full Circle
"You know they say there was a man who jumped from the forty-fifth floor? But that's another story..."
I wondered how long it'd take for someone to ask about that other fella. You know, the one that fell from the forty-fifth floor. One floor higher than both Waring and Norville. Since you ask, I guess it's the least I can do. Was I making a joke? Well, some folks say I have a sense of humor, but in this case I really did mean it both ways - it was another floor AND another tale.
You didn't read about it in no paper - even the Manhatten Argus didn't get the scoop on that one. Truth is, that paper's best reporter - nice lady by the name of Amy Archer - was leaning on the bar at Ann's 440 Juice and Coffee Bar at the time it happened, just a couple of minutes before Norville Barnes rushed into her arms with that all important Blue Letter that made him majority stockholder of Hudsucker Industries. I guess in all the commotion of Norville becoming the bona fide leader of that company, he and Amy getting engaged, and Sidney J. Mussberger getting talked off that ledge and into a straight jacket - well, nobody seemed to notice right away that a certain janitor went missing. It was a big building with lots of employees running in and out everyday and I guess it was over a week before Miss Slater in payroll noticed that Aloysius Noir had not only failed to pick up his pay packet, but that he hadn't even clocked in during the past week.
You know how it is. Sometimes you get to seeing a face so often, that when it ain't there no more it takes a person a while before they can put their finger on exactly what ain't right. Once word got around, then people were having that "oh, yeah" kind of moment. The man had been in the building longer than anyone could remember, and he always seemed to be around just about anywhere at any time. Never flashy, never smiled, and barely spoke to most folk. Even the old-timers on the Board of Directors couldn't think of a time before he had been there; but then again, they didn't much care for anyone that worked from about the thirty-eighth floor down, anyhow.
I remember when he showed up. I was already minding the great Hudsucker clock on his first day. Second by second, minute by minute and hour by hour the many parts of the great clock turned, gears meshing and shafts turning, as they had done since the day that skyscraper first lit up the New York skyline. As long as that clock ticked, the world of Hudsucker Industries moved with it, and so did the world. I don't know that he saw me then, but he knew who I was when we finally did see each other face to face. You might say we were old acquaintances. When he heard my name was Moses, he just snorted. Snorted! He knew I just borrowed it from a friend of mine I had some years back; seein' it isn't used much nowadays, I picked it. Kinda like the sound of it, really. I have no idea where he got the name Aloysius from.
Of course, that was years before Norville Barnes showed up. Waring Hudsucker was still firmly in control of the company's destiny, Mr. Mussberger was a junior executive, and in the heady optimism of the country after World War II the sky was the limit. Over the years I noticed how things changed; sure, the company was still growing by leaps and bounds, but it was becoming sterile. Almost like salt losing its savor, if you prefer to think of it that way. Business is good and fine, but it can't be the only thing in life. But Waring and his board seemed to lose sight of that, and a keen eye couldn't help but notice that a certain janitor seemed to always be dishing out observations and suggestions that seemed perfect to keep big business running as it was consumed with what was always the next step. "The Future is Now" they'd say, with no thoughts of the past and its lessons. It really did become one of those "us versus them" things, when any wise man knows we're all "us". Maybe there just aren't as many wise men as there used to be.
For the world is a circle. Sputnik showed folks that not long ago. IT was a circle, too. The seasons cycled. Business cycled. People came and went. Even the planet itself moved around that big circle called the sun in a path that was really just a squished circle. The circle is a natural thing - even the clock showed that, with its hands sweeping around constantly. They don't call it a 'circle' of friends for nothing. Even that cartoonist for the paper, Ignatius 'Smitty' Smith, could tell you all about news cycles. What is fresh today gets on the front page, a day old and its buried towards the back, and lines a bird cage by the third day and you look to cover the next big thing. You may not hear it, but the world spinning is just like that second hand going around that big, circular clock face. Most folks around these parts were more worried about the rectangle of a balance sheet than the circle of life.
But sometimes, someone comes along that through no fault of his own gets caught up in those gears and circles of others. Norville was like that. Young, innocent, fresh, he was no match for the machine that Hudsucker Industries had become. He could see the simplicity and natural beauty of a circle. There are those who are so earnest and naive that they are blinded to the machinations of others. That was Norville all over. I have to say that I saw it coming a mile away, and when he got manipulated into being the CEO just to be a patsy, he never had a chance. He was the underdog, and with the pack on his heels he was pushed to the edge of the cliff with nowhere else to go. Except in this case, that cliff was the forty-fourth floor ledge.
But back to Aloysius. He was the one that closed the window on ol' Norville after the man had second thoughts about taking that final dive. Then watched the man slip and cling tenaciously to the ledge. Watched, his breath just steaming up the window, as Norville lost his grip and fell. I imagine there was a slight grin on his face.
And me...well, most of the time I just let peoples do what they's do; it's their life, and Hudsucker Industries wasn't my company. But Norville Barnes was one of those people that was going to put joy into a lot of people's lives, and there's no such thing as havin' too much joy in the world. So I took the extraordinary step of...well...stepping in, and with that I stuck that broom handle into the gears to stop the clock.
'Taint the first time I done that, but for that I have to go all the way back to my friend Joshua when he found hisself in a bind. But as you can imagine, Aloysius didn't take to that too kindly and we got into a tussle - same as we been doin' for as long as folks been payin' attention. Well, I ended up having to give him a whack with that broom, which sent him over the railing and down while the gears started turning and Norville continued his fall. Well, I got those gears stopped again temporarily, just in time to save poor Norville, who ended up stoppin' about a foot off the ground before things started up again. He just rolled to the ground from there and the rest is the history that everybody talks about to this day.
Nobody talks about that ol' janitor that disappeared, or the clock keeper that left not too long after - although he made sure to punch his time card the last time before walking away from the company after giving notice. Don't worry, they both gonna show up again sometime, somewhere. You see, that wasn't the first time that Aloysius fell. Truth be told, he had a much bigger fall many years before that - back when he got so full of hisself that HE tried to be the Chairman of the outfit he was workin' for. You might say he and his associates took quite the tumble from the company at the time. Don't feel sorry for 'em - they's still around, causing trouble. But that's alright. You see, not only do I know what happened, but I also know what's GONNA happen. "The future is now" isn't just a saying to me, it's how I operate. And when somebody like Aloysius, Haman, Keenan or whatever he calls hisself shows up to cause problems with a real great guy like Norville Barnes that's gonna help the world - well, you'll find someone hangin' around to make sure everything works out in the end. And I'll more than likely get me another name too. We never use the same one twice, 'cause good and evil always lookin' different and goin' by different names. And someday, even if you find yourself at the end of your time thinkin' that you did right but things never seemed to GO right, don't fret. 'Cause in the big end of all things, it's ALL gonna work out. And that's THE biggest circle of all.
In the meantime, I'm gonna try to not stop time again. That's just showin' off.
The End