After our weekly Chiropractic appointment this morning, Lily really wanted to ride the old elevator (or elegator, if you ask her) down the three flights to the parking lot. It’s an old thing, rarely works and I was surprised by her request since only last week she was afraid of the darn thing. Something told me to take the stairs, but the sparkle in her eyes was just too much for me and so I let her press the button and we climbed inside.
Floor 3
Floor 2
Floor 1
Doors should open now.
Anytime would be great.
“Mommy, I want the doors to open now.”
“Me too, honey, but I think we’re going to have to wait.” I said in a falsely positive and cheery voice. I took a look at the yellow Emergency Alarm button and thought better of it. A loud blaring alarm would not assure Lily that everything would be fine and the baby hates noise above all things. With cheerful voice still at the ready, I grabbed my cell and called my chiropractors office. “Hi Catherine, its Elaine. So yeah, we’re stuck in the elevator. Could someone come free us?” She started spewing apologies and made a break for the building guy.
We danced and sang and told stories cheerfully to distract as the elevator went to the fourth floor, and then the second, back to the third, power went out completely, back to the first and stopped again. I took stock: cup of snacks for Lily, extra diapers in bag, boobs full of milk for the baby, heart rate fast but not in a full panic, now if only I didn’t have to go to the bathroom! Weeeee! We sat on the floor and Lily pointed out how you could see our reflection in the door and in the ceiling, “I see you!”
I thought to myself that at least now I’d have something interesting to blog. It was during this thought that the doors finally opened and Dr. Joe stepped into the door way to make sure we got out before they closed again. Apparently he had been trying to open the thing using brute force, but had only got the outer doors to budge a bit. Then he resorted to doing sprints up and door the stairs, chasing our wayward elevator in its random travels, trying to get it to open every time it paused.
Our total time stuck was only about ten minutes. And I managed not to act like an idiot or freak my children out. Will we be riding that thing again? Ah, no. Thank you very much.
