✦ AUGHTY ✦ The Room 21 11:04 AM. THE MEETING ROOM. Q3 ALIGNMENT SYNERGY slide 3 of 47 11:09 AM. pen has not moved. 11:14 AM. The body is still present. The rest is negotiating. 11:17 AM. ≈ 4° 11:19 AM. Nobody has said anything important yet. (nobody will) 11:34 AM. THE MEETING ENDS. COLLEAGUE You okay? Yes. Fine. What did we decide? Nothing, really. Aughty nods. This tracks. I used to think I was lazy. Or rude. Or that something was wrong with me specifically — beyond the general wrongness of sitting in a room while things happen that do not affect my work. Sustained social and sensory exposure without purpose exhausts the autistic nervous system neurologically. The body was not being difficult. The body was being honest.
The notepad was empty. It was empty because nothing worth writing down was said. This is, in retrospect, the most accurate meeting note I have ever taken.