elevator

TLT — This Magic Moment

Fandango11 Comments

I’m the practical, pragmatic sort, and the idea of pursuing, much less experiencing, magic was totally foreign to me.

And then it happened, this serendipitous moment when I stepped into the elevator and saw you standing there, the only other passenger in the car.

It took me by surprise, this feeling that suddenly came over me, when I looked at you and watched your face shift from expressionless to a warm, demure smile as our eyes locked, and I knew that you were pure magic.

Written for Sonya’s Three Line Tales prompt. Photo credit: Karly Santiago.

Share Your World — Body Odor or Wet Dog Odor

Fandango21 Comments

Share Your WorldMonday is Melanie’s day to post her Share Your World prompt. And this week’s questions are rather odd ones, in my humble opinion.

Where do you not mind waiting?

Well, my glib answer is that I don’t mind waiting when I’m in a waiting room of some sort because that’s what the purpose of the room is — to wait. But the truth is that, as long as I have my iPhone with me and there’s internet access, waiting, even in a waiting room, is not intolerable. I can write and read blog posts, I can read articles on my newsfeed, I can play solitaire, or read a book on my Kindle app.

What is in your fridge right now?

A picture is worth a bunch of words, right?FE1F5560-5334-4E10-8952-5532BAC4FDDA

If you could only speak one word today, what would it be?

I don’t know if this is a word, but it would be “Shh!”64D5378B-B359-4F10-9B00-1E5FD42313A7

Would you rather be trapped in an elevator full of men with BO or three soaked dogs?

At the risk of sounding like a grammar Nazi, this question is awkwardly worded. It seems to be asking if I’d rather be trapped in an elevator full of men with BO, or if, instead, I’d prefer to be three soaked dogs. Since I can’t actually be three soaked dogs, or even one, I’m going to assume Melanie meant the second option to be trapped in an elevator with three soaked dogs. My answers is neither. I’d rather take the stairs.

Fifth Floor Walkup

Fandango4 Comments

09C956B6-1877-4EC3-B1CF-A8A0A213AA26“Seriously, Jack, you had to rent an apartment on the fifth floor in a building with no elevator?” Jill yelled up at Jack.

“Come on, baby, you can use the exercise and stand to lose some weight,” Jack, leaning over the railing, shouted down to her.

“Go fuck yourself, Jack!”

Written for the most recent Three Line Tales prompt from Sonya. Photo credit: Alina Fedorchenko via Unsplash.

The Elevator

Fandango18 Comments

6B56D84C-DDC8-45B8-95F2-3201829C0842The elevator stopped on the thirteenth floor with a lurch. The three passengers, a young man, maybe in his early twenties dressed in jeans and carrying an envelope, a middle-aged man dressed in a suit and tie, and an older woman in an unflattering, matronly outfit, looked at one another other.

The middle-aged man immediately took charge and pressed the button to take him to his office on the 20th floor, but nothing happened when he hit it. He looked to see what floor the elevator had stopped at and saw the sign above the elevator door, which displayed the number 13. “That’s not possible,” he said.

The old woman looked worried and asked what the problem was. The man looked at her, then at the young man, and back up to the number displayed. “This building does not have a thirteenth floor,” he said. “It goes from the twelfth to the fourteenth floor.”

“You baby boomers and your stupid superstitions,” the younger man said. “Thirteen is just a number, like every other number.”

“Today is Friday the thirteenth,” the old woman said. “I knew I should have stayed home today.”

The young man chuckled. The older man pressed the emergency call button, but no sound was heard.

The old lady began to sob. The young man shook his head, and the older man attempted to pull the elevator doors apart with his hands. “A little help here,” he said to the younger man.

Suddenly the doors opened and a cold, eerie mist filled the elevator. The last sound that was heard was that of the younger man’s voice saying, “What the fuck?”

A moment later the mist cleared and a lone man was standing outside the elevator doors. He began to speak. “Three strangers enter an elevator in a high rise building on Friday the thirteenth. One a business executive, one a bicycle messenger boy, and one a kindly grandmother. What none of them knew when they boarded the elevator on that auspicious day, was that the elevator made only one stop. It stopped atD59D2BF3-CBBE-4395-8904-20CDCE959FC7Written for this week’s First Line Friday prompt from Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie. The first line is, “The elevator stopped on the thirteenth floor with a lurch.”

SoCS — The Company Bash

Fandango17 Comments

FB76A2DC-AD00-419F-86B3-84019A98BAEBDavid was a shy, bashful guy. He almost always felt abashed whenever he was in the company of women, which is why he almost always turned down invitations to any social gatherings where members of the opposite sex might be present.

Andrea was a self-assured, confident woman, an extrovert who always wanted, unabashedly, to be the center of attention and the life of the party wherever she went.

David and Andrea worked for the same company but rarely ran into one another. They worked in different departments and hung out with different crowds.

Then, one fateful day, they happened to share an elevator together from the ground floor to the executive offices on the 32nd floor. They were the only two people on the elevator at that time. David positioned himself in the back corner of the elevator, intently watching the lights next to the doors showing the floors as the elevator car ascended. He was almost holding his breath waiting for the car to reach the top floor.

Andrea was in the dead center of the elevator car and, not one to enjoy silence, she turned around to David and said, “So, are you going to be going to the company holiday party this weekend? I hear it’s going to be quite a bash.”

David looked at Andrea. He could feel the beads of perspiration forming on his forehead and he began to feel dizzy. He was afraid he was going to pass out. In a soft, almost inaudible voice, he said, “No, I don’t think so.” He looked at the floor lights and saw that they were only on the 18th floor.

“That’s too bad, David,” Andrea said. “I hear they’re going all out this year. You should go. Perhaps we can have a drink together.”

David was shocked. “How do you know my name?” he asked.

Andrea smiled and pointed to his company badge, which was clipped to his belt. “Your name is printed on it right next to your picture.”

David looked down at his badge, blushed, and said, “Oh yeah, so it is.” And he let out a nervous laugh.

“You’re kinda cute,” Andrea said. She reached out, grabbed his hand and squeezed. “I’m Andrea,” she said, “and I really hope you will change your mind and make it to the big bash.”

The elevator finally reached the 32nd floor, and just before the door opened, Andrea leaned in and kissed David on his cheek. Then she stepped out of the elevator, but before the doors closed, she turned to David and said in a sultry voice, “Please come.”

That’s when David realized he already had.

Written for the Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt from Linda G. Hill. Our assignment today: use “abash/a bash/bash” in a post.