Elevation By Patrick McManus

We are waiting for the Elevator.

It has been a while now.

I don’t remember what I wanted before I wanted the Elevator to arrive.

Is there anything that can make the Elevator come faster? Is there some supplication I can make? Or a deed I might perform? Is there any power above the Elevator to which it answers? I only know that I am far beneath the Elevator. Unless it is coming from the floors below. In that case, I am above the Elevator but only because that is the way the Elevator wants it.

There are stairs. When we first arrived, we flirted with the idea of taking the stairs. “Should we brave an adventure on the stairs?” we asked each other when we were young, but we decided to put our faith in the Elevator, which would do the work for us and now it’s too late to change course. It has been too long now to admit that maybe we should have taken the stairs.

Others arrive, and it looks like they are also waiting for the Elevator. Do they think that they can just show up at the last minute and get in the same Elevator as us? We were here at the beginning, and I have been subtly courting the Elevator, willing it to grace this floor.

What have they done to receive the favor of the Elevator? Nothing. They are talking and laughing. It’s so inappropriate. This Elevator bank is a sacred place. It demands somber reflection.

“What should we do?” I whisper to my companion.

“What? Why are you whispering?”

“About them,” I whisper lower and point my head in the direction of the others.

“Uh … nothing,” she says.

So we go back to waiting for the Elevator. After some time — a kind of lifetime — it arrives. I get in first. Then she gets in and then they do because there wouldn’t have been enough time to hit the door close button, I had already decided.

The whole ride I am filled with excitement. The thing I wanted to happen happened. We get to the top and the doors open.

Later on, I will see the Elevator again.

© 2015 Patrick McManus

Patrick McManus is a writer and comedian living in Chicago. He recently graduated from the University of Notre Dame. He enjoys Arthurian myth, pub trivia, and rooting for the New York Mets.

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