Maggie yawned as she finished the merry-go-round trip through the revolving door of her office building. She wasn’t really tired but this was the first step of a process repeated each morning as she walked toward the elevators. For the convenience of the tenants in the 45-story building, the designers had wisely included six elevators. Each had a modern display showing the elevator number, its current floor and direction.
As she sauntered past the elevators, Maggie glanced to determine the location of number Five. It was currently on the 22nd floor and heading downward. Even though number One was at the lobby level with doors open, that wasn’t the one she wanted. She kept walking toward the statue gracing the end of the lobby.
Once there she studied it with a concentration that gave no indication she repeated the same process almost daily. At the same time, she watched the elevators until number Five came available. Maggie quickly boarded it along with other passengers. As she pressed the button for her floor, her face softened in a contemplative smile which graced her lips but gave no hint of its reason.
Standing at the front desk of the lobby, Michael watched this process with the same curiosity he felt every morning. He turned to Jason, the security guard seated at the desk, who remarked, “You’re right, boss, she did it exactly the way you said.” Michael mused, “It makes me wonder why.” Jason replied, “I guess that as head of security , you could declare it suspicious behavior, detain her and make her tell you.” The same thought had crossed his mind, but he felt it would be an intrusion that he didn’t care to impose.
Michael’s brow furrowed as he developed a strategy to board the elevator with only her . Jason smiled his approval when he told him the plan. One morning as she entered number Five, he nodded at the security guard, strode over and boarded the car. Michael randomly pressed a number higher than her floor.
Maggie scrutinized him in a way that would be considered appropriate for a woman alone on an elevator with a stranger. Not really a stranger; she realized she had seen him before in the building. She nodded a polite but non-committal hello. Just after the car started, it executed a series of jilts, the lights flickered and the car stopped completely, leaving them in total darkness. Before she even had a chance to decide if she was going to panic or not, the emergency lighting came on, bathing them in a pale glow. She saw a look of frustration and concern on the face of the man as he reached for the phone at his waist.
Michael pressed the button for the walkie-talkie and spoke into it, “Jason!” “Yeah, boss?” was the response. “I’m in the elevator on car,” he glanced up to the sign as if he hadn’t paid attention when he got on, “ Five and it has come to an emergency stop. What’s going on?” Maggie determined during the ensuing conversation that apparently theirs was the only car stopped and Jason, the security guard from the lobby, was going to make haste and get maintenance to fix the problem and rescue his boss.
Michael then told Jason that there was a passenger with him and turned to Maggie to ask if Jason could notify someone where she was. “Oh please. I don’t want my office to worry.” He relayed the information to Jason and she thanked him. He smiled in a way that filled her with confidence and introduced himself, “Since you just told me your name.”
Informal conversation followed, and Maggie and Michael discovered they had much in common. As they talked, they found themselves moving closer to each other, and the dim light in the car seemed to glow with an unexpected intimacy. Suddenly Michael’s face flushed and he turned away from Maggie. Almost angrily he snapped into the walkie-talkie, “Jason, I think this elevator ought to be working by now.” Just then the lights returned to normal and the car began to move.
As he turned back to Maggie, he was surprised to see that she was stifling a laugh. “You arranged this, didn’t you? And you’re blushing!” Her sudden blush mirrored his. Hesitantly he explained why he was so curious about her and why she always rode number Five. During this explanation, he realized that the reason was no longer important to him. What mattered most is that he was extremely attracted to this intriguing woman.
She touched his hand lightly. “It’s a long story, and a bit silly,” she responded. “But,” she continued, “I am looking forward to taking a long time to tell it.”